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Dan was nothing if not a troll. “Oh my god, you actual diva, get in!”
“Da--” started Phil, followed by a squeak. “NO, I’m not playing your mind games!”
It was truly a beautiful scene. Already comfortably boarded, Dan was rocking the boat side to side with a hand on each trim, glaring evilly. Ripples spread to each side of the stream, and a stork on the further bank gave them both the stink eye.
“Come on, Phi-- Look, it’s fine, I’m stopping!”
But of course, all it took was Phil raising one foot off the crumbling pier tentatively for Dan to start again. The ripples crashed onto the shores, and the stork swept off with an indignant squawk.
“You’re upsetting nature, just let me in,” said Phil with a pout.
Dan laid back in resignation, arms behind his head. He left one eye open in Phil’s direction. “Fine, but you’re rowing.”
Even with the boat mostly stable, it took a further few minutes for Phil to pluck up the courage and trust to finally get in stance. Dan watched the entire time, smirking offensively. Once in a while he would make a show of checking his nonexistent watch.
The wooden planks of the pier groaned in complaint as Phil slowly, carefully lowered himself onto an empty seat. “Looks like last night’s pizza stuck around,” he quipped. Dan laughed good-naturedly, then even louder when Phil’s stomach rumbled none too quietly.
To Phil’s delight, the current did most of the work; the little rowing boat carried down the stream like a feather in the breeze. He still made a show of pushing the oars back and forth, back and forth, mostly because he could see Dan watching lazily. Might as well gain the bragging rights of taking his partner on a romantic boat-trip.
The hull broke the surface firmly but gently, and the landing of the waves on the banks either side reminded Phil vaguely of Isle of Man. But truth be told, this was much nicer: dozy willows rather than stubbly gorse, a whispering breeze in place of a screaming wind, lush meadows over rocky cliffs, birdsong and scuttering squirrels instead of nothing at all.
And Dan. Always much nicer with Dan.
They knew with almost complete certainty that there were no other people to be found since the boat rental place, and the vendor had said that they were the first today. No loud crowds, no bawdy friends, no nosy viewers. Just Phil and the view… and perhaps the nature too.
To put it best, Dan looked divine. The wind was doing his bouncy curls plenty of favours. How he was surviving the sun of late summer in his ‘UGH’ sweater, Phil could not explain, but he could not complain about the eyeful of long, tanned, hairy, male legs on show. When getting dressed earlier, Phil had remarked on them with a cheeky grin; Dan had simply stretched one out and replied, “Legs out for the lad.”
Best of all, he looked relaxed. Loose shoulders; a long, open body; arms draped over the sides, fingers leaving a trail in the water; chest rising and falling in slow succession. A gorgeous, genuine smile: Phil was sure it was doing more to warm the day than the sun itself.
They both stared, taking each other in. Dan’s smile became a beam, and Phil felt himself beam back from what seemed like miles and miles away. He was fully and utterly entranced.
Dan’s head tipped back to observe the clear, blue sky. “No plane trails. Reckon we’re the final people on earth?”
“Good. All the better to see you with, my dear.”
“Shut the fuck up,” was Dan’s best response, but he sounded pleased. The bright blush spreading its way across his face also did little to help his case.
Phil grinned again. He nudged his bare leg with his foot, Dan kicked back, and it soon devolved into a full game of footsies. It took the hull shuddering against a bank with a jump and a snort from both to be broken out of their playful stupor.
Phil resumed his rowing. After a while, he asked, “When do you wanna stop?”
Dan waved a hand aimlessly. “Soon, this is nice.” He looked like he was about to drift off: his eyes had been shut since their near-crash, and Phil recognised that breathing as that of the weird limbo between being awake and asleep. Wow, how long have I known his exact breathing patterns for? It was a nice thought.
But their picnic really did need eating before the cooler box warmed up. Phil continued at the oars for what felt like another quarter-hour or so, content watching the scenery around and in the boat. As he turned a corner a particularly flowery meadow came into view; even after a rough knock of the boat when docking, it seemed that Dan truly was fast asleep.
Phil let him be. But once the blanket was laid down and the meal set out, with Dan somehow still resting throughout all the rocking of Phil disembarking and embarking a few times over, he couldn’t resist a little fun.
It was only when he leaned over Dan, wondering how to prank him, that Dan opened his eyes and blew a wet raspberry in his face.
“DAN- oh my g- you felon!” screamed Phil, struggling not to fall into the water on their swaying vessel of adventure.
Dan was shaking uncontrollably with laughter as he leapt onto soft grass with agility Phil would never understand or relate to.
“You really thought I was asleep that whole time?! Like I’d ever miss your clunking abo- Phil...”
Phil couldn’t be too mad for the warm look on Dan’s face. Once upon a time, it had felt odd, almost presumptuous, to like it whenever Dan looked at him in a certain way. But ten years settled a lot of rough edges, no matter how small, and Phil now knew that it wasn’t arrogant to acknowledge and enjoy many of Dan’s happiest, fondest looks were reserved for him alone.
Phil took Dan’s hand when offered to him, and he used the momentum to throw himself into his space. He sneaked his arms around his waist and Dan stepped into the embrace instinctively, wrapping his own arms around Phil’s neck.
“So how’d I do? Is the world ready for Philly’s Buff Boating?”
Dan groaned and deflated like a loose balloon. “You went there. You really went there. It was going so well…”
“Hey, I kept us alive!” Phil retorted.
“You know what, though? You did keep us alive, well done. Although we did nearly cra-”
Phil kissed him before he could finish; Dan reciprocated with a smile in it. It was a small payment for such a lovely dream of a day.