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Dan was grateful that the hotel they were staying at had a pool. The American summer heat plus being crammed on a tour bus was finally getting to him. He really needed the coolness of the chlorinated water and the relaxation of floating instead of standing on his feet on a stage.
He put on a pair of black swim trunks and threw on a hoodie to cover his bare torso. For once he was feeling chilly from the hotel’s aircon rather than sweating.
“Phil, you ready?” He asked from outside the bathroom in their hotel room.
“Yee,” Phil answered before he twisted the handle to open the door. His trunks were brightly coloured and a fun print - quite representative of his personality.
With flip flops on their feet and towels under their arms, they made their way to the ground floor where the pool was. Dan scanned their hotel key to enter the room and was pleased to find out they had the place to themselves. It was pretty late so the pool was void of children screaming and ignoring their parents commands to stop running on the slippery floor.
Dan and Phil removed their tops and stepped into the calm body of water. It was the perfect temperature - not too hot, not too cold. Dan submerged himself until he was shoulder deep.
“Aren’t you glad you don’t straighten your hair anymore?” Phil teased as he splashed water onto Dan.
Dan’s mouth hung open in disbelief before swimming over to Phil to get his revenge.
“Not the hair!” Phil shrieked while covering his head with his arms.
“But Phil, I miss the fringe,” Dan replied mischievously before wrapping his arms around Phil’s neck, through Phil’s arm shield. Phil, thinking he was safe, placed his arms down at his sides to cherish the affection Dan was showing before Dan shot him an evil smile as he dunked both of them underwater.
“Dan, I hate you,” Phil yelled out once he resurfaced. His hair was now a curtain over his eyes.
Dan’s laughter filled the air as he watched Phil sort his hair out. The black locks now fully resembled his pre-quiff emo fringe. Once Phil finally gave up on trying to fix it, Dan came closer once again with his arms up in surrender.
“No more dunking, Howell,” Phil warned him.
“Promise,” Dan said as he took his index finger to sweep Phil’s hair to the side. “I do kind of miss your fringe sometimes.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. You’ve had it since we met. Just makes me think of younger times.”
“We have had quite a few hair changes since then, haven’t we?”
“We have.”
“You do like the quiff too though? Even if it makes me look older?” Phil asked him with an unsure look in his eyes.
“Of course, you spoon. I’d like you no matter what your hair looks like, Phil.”
“And I’d like you even if you had square hair forever.”
“Shut up,” Dan rolled his eyes as he began to swim backwards away from Phil, but Phil grabbed his waist and pulled him back to his chest.
Phil placed a quick peck on Dan’s lips as they briefly stood in an embrace - Phil had his arms enclosed around Dan’s waist while Dan’s hands rested on Phil’s chest. They were careful not to stand too close for too long in case someone walked in. Moments like these solidified in Dan’s mind how he’d always choose Phil no matter what changes they went through as they both got older. No matter how often they changed their hair or if they began to get wrinkly over time, Dan couldn’t imagine his feelings weakening for the man stood before him.