Work Text:
“Bartender? Another drink, please?”
Dan looked up from his empty plastic cup branded on one side with “JFK Airport” in textured letters. The bartender walked over and poured more champagne into his cup. He gave the man a nod and he turned to serve other customers down the bar.
Dan took a sip from his third cup as a man slid into the seat beside him. “Champagne, please?” The bartender poured him a cup identical to Dan’s and then left the two alone. “Lemme guess,” he said, catching Dan off guard. “Snowed in?”
“News flash, buddy; we all are.” He thrust a thumb over his shoulder at the departures screen behind him. Every flight was accompanied by a red ‘cancelled’. “Not a single flight leaves until this damn snowstorm dies down and they clear the tarmac.”
“Good to know you’re just as annoyed as I am.” The man chuckled. Dan had never been one to talk to people in social settings, but he seemed to be a good-hearted man trying to make light of a shitty situation.
Dan rotated his barstool toward him and got his first good look at him. He had raven-black hair, and he was wearing a grey jumper covered in foxes along with a jean jacket the cold weather had prompted him to throw on over it. He could only see half of the man’s face, but, in all honesty, he was pretty attractive for an airport luck of the draw.
“I’m Dan.”
“Phil.”
Dan had done his part in the social contract, and they drank in silence for a moment before Phil finally spoke up.
“So, where-” he was cut off by a computerized voice ringing from speakers nobody could seem to locate.
“Attention all travelers. The weather forecast shows the current snowstorm continuing into the morning hours. Our crews cannot clear the tarmac until precipitation stops, so all flights are delayed until at least daylight tomorrow morning. We apologize for the inconvenience; thank you for flying through JFK International Airport.”
There was an audible groan from both men as well as everyone around them. Whines of tired children were heard even from outside the bar.
“Guess we’re gonna be here a while, huh?” Phil asked, shrugging off his jean jacket.
“Sadly,” Dan muttered, swirling the champagne remaining in his plastic cup.
“Hey, lighten up a bit!” Phil shouted, attracting a few glares from people around them. “You look plenty fun; you’re wearing a Christmas jumper in February.” He looked Dan up and down. “And it looks like you brought it through a wormhole from 2009.”
“Oh, thanks. Random strangers talking about my fashion sense is my favorite thing to encounter on an already shitty day.”
“Always happy to deliver.” Another moment’s silence passed. “I like your nails, by the way.”
Dan glanced down at his black-painted nails. He really did look like a 2009 emo. “Thanks,” he said monotonously.
“You seem upset. Like, beyond the level of upset a person would be just by this situation. I know we just met, but do you wanna talk?”
Dan sighed, throwing himself backwards and holding onto the bar to lunge himself back forward. “Boy, have I got a story.” He waved to the bartender. “Another round.”
“So let me get this straight,” Phil said, at least ten minutes later. “You wanted to use Valentine’s Day tomorrow as an excuse to confess to this guy you like, but there’s someone else he likes, and they’re ALSO planning to confess tomorrow, and now that your flight’s delayed, they’ll beat you to it?”
“Yup. I sound like a bloody teenager, but that’s what’s happened.”
“You really are having a bad day. I’m sorry, man. But come on!” he called out again, apparently the loud type. He threw his arm around Dan and shook his shoulder a bit. “Enjoy yourself! It’s not like you’ve got anything better to do.”
Dan rolled his eyes. “Have you got any suggestions?”
“You wanna go grab a bite? Might as well get some food before everyone gets paranoid and buys it all up.”
Dan shrugged. “Sure, why the hell not? Might as well not spend the night alone. Besides, I should probably stop drinking, or else I’ll spend the night alone and blacked out.” The two of them looked at the bartender and called out in unison.
“Check!”
A few moments later, they were rounding out their ice cream cones as they strolled through the terminal.
“Remind me why we decided to get ice cream during a snowstorm?” Dan joked, making eye contact with Phil. He hadn’t gotten a good look at his eyes earlier, but they were absolutely gorgeous. They were a wonderfully mixed turquoise with yellow flecks around the pupils; he’d only seen them once, but he knew they would be impossible to forget.
“Because we’re inside a heated airport and there just happened to be an ice cream shop in this terminal.”
“Fair enough,” Dan smiled, taking his first bite of the cone.
“Speaking of, what terminal are you headed to?”
Dan thought for a moment, almost having forgotten the details of his flight after a few drinks. “Terminal three. I only checked in here because the website said the security wait times were slower. I have a bit of a tendency to be late for flights. I thought I was going to miss this one, but, you know...” he trailed off, gesturing to the snowflakes falling through the illuminated night sky.
“Oh, nice! Same here.”
“The terminal, or the irresponsibility?”
Phil laughed, and Dan couldn’t help but smile just at that laugh. “Both.”
After they each laughed and Dan gushed over Phil for a moment, he returned to normal conversation. “Do you think there’s a tram we can take over there? I’ve had enough exercise for one day.”
“Should be. I took a train in, and I’m pretty sure it runs through the airport.” Phil paused for a moment, forcing Dan to do a double take and walk back. “It should be...” he trailed off, looking around; they’d found themselves in a four way intersection. “that way.” He pointed left and turned that way.
“There’s a sign right in front of us, Einstein.”
“Let’s just say I got pretty bored earlier and I happened to be sitting near an airport map.”
Dan rolled his eyes. “Nerd.”
After a short ride on the oddly fascinating tram, they were in terminal three, and they were both pleased to find that the terminal had a McDonald’s. Ice cream or no ice cream, Dan was planning to eat dinner on his flight back to London, and he was starving.
“A 20-piece McNugget meal, please.” Phil said to the worker at the counter, who clearly just wanted to go home.
“20 piece! I guess that ‘everyone’ who was buying up all the food out of paranoia was just you.”
Phil shrugged. “Man’s gotta eat.”
There ended up being two 20 McNugget meals in front of them as they sat in the far corner of the terminal. They hadn’t really discussed where to sit; they’d simply walked until they found an open outlet to plug their phones into, which took until the last gate in the terminal. That gate didn’t seem to have a flight planned to fly out of it, so there were no people gathered around it, allowing the boys to have their own little corner in the crowded airport. Sure, there were plenty of people within the vicinity, but it still felt as if they had a bit of privacy in their own space. And, most importantly, they could charge their phones.
“I cannot believe you got ketchup,” Phil scoffed at Dan as he dipped his McNugget into the ketchup pile he’d made on the open lid of his box.
“Don’t shame me for my dipping sauce choices!”
“Come on! Barbecue is obviously superior.” Phil made sure Dan was watching as he dipped a nugget of his own into his barbecue sauce and dramatically ate it.
“Do you wanna fight, Phil?”
“Do it, you won’t!” Dan quickly dipped a nugget in ketchup and shoved it in the direction of Phil’s mouth, smearing ketchup all over his face. “Hey!”
Phil glared at him as he dipped a nugget in barbecue and attempted to give Dan a taste of his own medicine. The two continued to shove nuggets in each other’s faces like children until finally Dan cried out. “Stop! Stop the violence!” The two paused, getting a few looks from random travelers in earshot. “I’ll eat yours, and you’ll eat mine.” They politely handed each other their nuggets and each took a bite. “Hmm,” Dan said, surprised. “This isn’t half bad.”
Phil looked up from the cup he was downing a sip of soda from. “Ketchup still sucks.”
Dan shoved him a bit, and they both laughed. Luckily, they ignored the dipping sauce choices for the fries and continued their meals until they’d each eaten to their heart’s content. They both smelled horribly of ketchup and barbecue sauce, but it was definitely worth it.
It was beginning to grow late, and the airport had dimmed the lights, allowing people around them to settle down and try to sleep. “This is so fucking uncomfortable,” Dan whispered, turning to Phil.
“We’ve both got carry-ons, right? We’ve got to have some useful things in there.” Phil sat up and unzipped the bag he was resting his head on. “I, for one, never travel without a blanket.”
“Phil, you’re a life saver.” Dan opened his carry-on, which was significantly smaller than Phil’s. “I’ve got a pillow, but it isn’t big. I think there’s still one store open down the terminal we can buy some small pillows from. If they’ve got enough, we can buy some to sit on and to rest our backs and heads on. Here’s some money; we can pool some together.”
“That’s a great idea!” Phil exclaimed, rummaging through his bag and pulling out about the same amount of money as Dan. “Stay here; I’ll go buy them out.”
“You really like buying people out of things, don’t you?” Dan asked, a smile crossing his face.
“It’s my specialty.”
A few minutes later, Dan looked up from his phone to see Phil waddling back down the terminal with pillows stacked up over his head. He jumped up and took a few from him so that he could see his face. “How did you get back down here in the dark with all those blocking your view?”
Phil shrugged. “Luck?”
Dan rolled his eyes and set down a couple of pillows for them to sit on. “Guess you didn’t bring back any change.”
“They had a lot of pillows,” he said as if to defend his actions. They each took a pillow and placed it behind their backs, topping it off with a pillow behind each of their heads.
“Clearly.”
After sitting independently on their phones for a while, Dan decided his phone had enough charge and unplugged it, favoring a pair of headphones and a dongle. “You want to watch some Netflix?” Dan asked, nudging Phil.
“Hell yeah!” he gravitated closer to Dan to see the phone. “What’ve you got?” Dan scrolled through his Netflix for a few seconds before Phil reached out and scrolled back up and settled on an icon. “You watch Queer Eye?”
“I love Queer Eye! I’m only halfway through season 2, though.”
“I don’t have Netflix, so I’ve never seen it, but I’ve always wanted to. Pick up where you left off; I’ll get into it quickly.”
They dove immediately into the show. Dan had to explain the premise and characters to Phil, but he really did pick up quickly. Then, every now and then they’d have to pause to discuss a good joke or especially gay moment. Ultimately, it ended up taking them an hour and fifteen minutes to watch 46 minutes of content. After the one video, they were both about ready to doze off.
“You know, Phil,” Dan said, plugging his phone back in. “I’ve never really had anyone to discuss Queer Eye with before. I really enjoyed that.”
Phil’s face was difficult to see in the darkness, but Dan could tell he was smiling. “I enjoyed it a lot too.” Phil bit his lip, avoiding eye contact. “I enjoyed... you.”
“What do you mean enjoyed?”
“Huh?”
“I’m still here.”
“What?”
“You said enjoyed. Past tense. But I’m still here. Enjoy, present tense.”
“Oh. Well, I enjoy your presence, I guess.”
“Hey Phil?”
“Yeah?”
“You know why I said that?”
“No. In fact, it just made this situation extremely awkward, so I can’t imagine why.”
“Because it would be significantly more awkward if I told you I liked you in the past tense, when, in fact, I like you. Present tense.”
“Oh.” They sat in silence, the sound of people shifting in their sleep around them filling the void. After a few seconds, Dan felt a hand slide into his underneath the blanket. He turned his head to see Phil grinning wildly at him. “I like you too.” Then Phil was leaning in, and before Dan even had time to think about it, Phil was kissing him. Dan’s eyes bugged out of his head, but he settled into it and eventually began to kiss him back, a feeling of peace filling his stomach. For that one moment, they forgot that they were complete strangers. They forgot that they didn’t even know each other’s last names, and they definitely forgot that they’d wake up in the morning and go their separate ways. In that one moment, none of those things mattered. After what felt like an eternity that somehow wasn’t long enough, they disconnected, but their fingers remained intertwined at their waists.
“Goodnight, Phil,” Dan said, nestling his head into the crook of Phil’s neck.
Phil kissed his forehead and settled himself under the blanket with him. “Goodnight, Dan.”
Dan awoke to sunlight pouring in through the airport windows. He yawned and checked his phone before slipping it in his pocket; it was a bit past 8:00. Other travelers were moving about the terminal and getting breakfast, but there was still no movement at any of the gates.
Dan immediately and painfully realized that he hadn’t gone to the bathroom in about twelve hours and tried to carefully slide out from under the blanket so as to not wake Phil. It took him a few seconds to stand up, but when he did he looked down and saw Phil still asleep, and he exhaled a sigh of relief. He started to walk in the direction of the bathroom when he heard stirring behind him. He clenched his face up in knowledge that he had failed and pivoted to face Phil, who was blinking his eyes open.
“Morning,” Dan said, looking down at him.
“Morning,” Phil groaned, his voice deep from sleep.
“I’m gonna go to the bathroom; you start getting our stuff together.”
Phil nodded groggily as Dan made his way down to the strip of stores in the middle of the terminal. He glanced at the flight screen to find that no flights had been announced to be leaving soon; he was thankful for that, as his gate was in the half of the terminal on the other side of the stores from where he and Phil had set up camp, and he definitely didn’t feel like running back and forth that early in the morning.
The trip to the bathroom took ages; the line was so massive that he was sure Phil could have packed twenty bags in the time he was gone. Eventually, he returned from emptying his bladder to find Phil extending his bag to him. It was significantly puffier than it was the night before. “How many pillows did you put in there?”
“Two.”
“I can’t believe you fit the other four in your bag.”
“I’m magic.”
They walked down the terminal and back to the McDonald’s. “You know, Dan,” Phil said, a grin on his face. “I know McDonald’s serves breakfast, but I’d rather have a McFlurry.”
“Do you always eat this much ice cream?”
Phil laughed. “I wish!”
They stood in front of a window as they each downed their respective M&M McFlurry. The tarmac was blanketed in a layer of white, and trees in the distance glimmered in the winter sun. Dan could see a snowplow clearing off the tarmac in another terminal. “Isn’t it beautiful?” Dan asked. “I love to see the world blanketed in snow.”
“Yeah,” Phil said, turning to look at Dan. “But not as beautiful as you,” he said, pulling a bouquet of chocolate roses out of nowhere. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Dan.”
Clearly Phil was thinking of another kind of blanket. A dark, anxious feeling made its way into Dan’s stomach. “Where did you even get those? And when?” he asked, reluctantly taking them.
“Airports have everything. I found them this morning while you were in the bathroom.” He smiled, seeming quite proud of himself.
Dan sighed. “We should probably talk about this.”
“What? Did I overstep?”
“No, it’s not that. It’s just-I met you yesterday, and we’re complete strangers. After this is over, we’re probably never going to see each other again. Are you sure we should do this?”
Phil took Dan’s hands, and Dan elected to stare at the floor. “Look at me.” Dan sighed and looked into Phil’s colourful eyes. “Maybe we’ll never see each other, or maybe we’ll come across some sort of miracle and we will. Regardless, what have we got to lose?”
Dan bit his lip and took a deep breath. “You’re right.”
“Of course I am,” Phil said, giving Dan a short kiss.
“Attention all travelers,” said the computerized intercom voice. Both gasped and separated to listen to the message. The entire area settled into complete silence. “The tarmac is currently being cleared, and flights are beginning to be rescheduled. Arrivals will continue as scheduled, and departure times will depend on whether your plane was here when the snow began or if it still has to fly in. Please check the departure board for specific flight details. Thank you for flying through JFK International Airport!”
A cheer erupted through the terminal as a whole wave of passengers made its way towards the arrival and departure screens. “Something tells me we should finish our ice cream before going over there,” Phil said.
Dan watched people shouting at each other as they attempted to jump and shove each other out of the way to see their flights. In all honesty, it was purely terrifying. “Smart.”
After the area cleared up some, the two gathered their things and strolled over to the screens. Dan found his flight fairly quickly. “Mine’s back on. Leaving in half an hour.”
“Mine is too.”
The two turned to each other, a somber look on each’s face. “Guess this is goodbye?” Dan said, taking Phil’s hand in his.
“Guess so.”
They fell into a tight embrace. “Thanks for the blanket.”
“Thanks for the ice cream.”
They fell back into a kiss lasting longer than their first. This time, Dan felt a spark he didn’t feel the first time. He bit his lip, angry at himself for falling for someone in the last moment they’d ever be together. “I’m gonna miss you, Phil.”
“I’ll miss you too.” They smiled faintly at each other before Dan turned and began walking toward his gate. It wasn’t long before he realized Phil was still beside him. After walking about half the terminal, they were still side by side.
“Well, this is awkward,” Dan chuckled. Could Phil just leave already so he could mourn in peace?
Dan began to trail off towards his gate. “Dan?” He turned to see a genuine smile on Phil’s face. “Don’t tell me you’re flying into London.”
“Oh my God,” Dan said, doubling over in laughter. “We’re on the same flight, aren’t we?” Phil nodded, unable to speak from laughter. “Do you live in the city?” Phil nodded again, attempting to compose himself. “I do too!” Dan sighed as they wandered to take two empty seats in the corner. “How do these things happen?”
“I have no clue.”
“We were together for twelve hours; how did we never one ask each other where we were going?”
“I was going to when I first met you, but that dumb announcement cut me off!”
Dan couldn’t help but laugh again. “We both have British accents; how did we not expect this?”
“Two Dumbasses in an Airport: 2018′s worst romance movie.”
Each of them laughed so hard their stomachs hurt. When Dan finally wiped the final tear from his eye, Phil gave him a bit of a nudge. “Hey Dan?”
“Yeah?”
“When we get back to London, do you wanna go out sometime? Like, on a date?” Phil asked, excessively awkward for the context of their situation.
“Of course, you dork. I’ve kissed you what, four times now? You think I’m going to turn down a date?”
“Hey, you never know. You were talking about that guy earlier.”
“Hey. I found someone else.” The corners of his mouth twitched up into a smile.
An intercom beeped on near them and this time a real, male voice spoke from the desk near the gate. “Flight 1728 to London is now boarding.” The two jested of their stupidity as they turned their boarding passes in to the attendant and boarded the plane. Dan found his seat about midway through the plane, but Phil kept walking.
“Guess this is goodbye,” Phil said, altering his voice to sound like Dan.
“That’s a horrible impression of me,” Dan said, rolling his eyes. He smiled at Phil as he took his seat. “See you in London, valentine.”
“Or sooner,” Phil said with a wink, taking off before Dan had a chance to respond.
Dan stared off into space as he put in his earbuds. It was going to be an interesting seven hours.