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They’ve bought their first real house together. Everything seems to be going pretty smoothly for once, and Dan’s feeling pretty excited about how things are going.
Now the holidays have rolled around. It’s December first. Dan’s feeling more festive than usual.
So, when Phil comes home one day, he’s surprised when he sees boxes everywhere, and Christmas music playing rather loudly. But, he sees no sign of Dan anywhere, which is a little worrying.
“Dan?” Phil calls as he shrugs his winter jacket off, hanging it on the coat rack. He sighs when he doesn’t get a response from his boyfriend. When he doesn’t find Dan downstairs, he heads upstairs.
“Daniel!”
“What? I’m a little busy!”
Phil can’t help but laugh at Dan’s response. He then finds Dan in their storage closet, which is the last place he expected to find his boyfriend.
“Honestly, Daniel. What in the world is going on in this house? And, why is there Christmas music playing?” He blinks a few times when he hears noises coming from the wardrobe, and chuckles when Dan clumsily stumbles out.
“Dan.”
After quickly catching his balance, the younger boy looks up with an innocent smile, melting Phil’s heart at just how adorable the younger boy looks. “It’s finally December first, and I’ve been waiting all bloody year to be able to listen to Christmas music without any shame. Did you know the Jonas Brothers dropped a Christmas single? It’s brilliant!”
“Um, yes?” he blinks, Dan's reply confusing him. “You’re never usually this festive though. I mean, aren't I the one who usually has to drag you into being super festive?”
“Yeah, I know that, which is exactly why you should take advantage of this while you can,” Dan retorts, placing a hand on his hip.
“But Dan, we literally just finished unpacking the house like two weeks ago, and now the house is a mess again!” Phil exclaims, throwing his arms up in exasperation. “Who are you expecting to clean up this clutter?”
Dan honestly hadn’t thought of cleaning up after getting all the decorations up. It was the last thing on his mind due to all the festive activities he had planned. Which, speaking of… “Hold that thought, Phil,” comes the reply, as he races down the hallway to the bedroom.
Phil sighs, crosses his arms against his chest as he waits for Dan to return, and then he laughs when Pentatonix Christmas music starts playing a moment later. He looks over as a figure comes out of the bedroom. “Really, Dan?”
“What? You can’t have a proper Christmas without listening to Pentatonix!” he grins.
Phil shakes his head fondly. “Alright love, whatever you say!”
“Now, will you please help me take the tree downstairs? It’s the last thing I need out of the closet. Oh, and then we need to go shopping for more Christmas decorations because we hardly have any, and this is our first house together so we finally get to be as festive as we bloody well want!” Dan exclaims.
“Right. But you still haven’t answered my question about the mess,” Phil groans. “I hope you’re planning on cleaning this up!”
“Sure I will,” Dan says, grabbing Phil’s hand and pulling him into the closet.
Reluctantly, Phil helps Dan unearth the Christmas tree and carry it downstairs along with whatever other Christmas decorations they had left in the closet, before popping out to buy even more.
Although it’s strange to see Dan in such a festive mood, Phil can’t help but succumb to how cute it is.
When Dan and Phil return home after hours shopping, the living room is filled with even more clutter. The mess stresses Phil out, but he can’t bring himself to be angry in the face of Dan’s adorable enthusiasm for the holiday festivities.
“What are we doing first?” Phil asks, standing in the middle of the crowded living room. “Where do we even start?”
Dan responds with a “hm” as he glances around the area they're standing in. “Let’s start with the tree, then we’ll make our way around.”
“Fine. You get started on that, while I go and make some hot chocolate.”
Dan frowns, placing a hand on his hip. “Hang on just a bloody minute. Why do I get the hard job?”
“Well, to be fair, you’re the one who wanted to bring out all the Christmas decorations in the first place,” Phil argues, smirking when he sees the look on the other man’s face.
“Fine.” Dan grumbles. “Go make your stupid hot chocolate while I slave away here.”
Phil snorts at Dan’s response, placing a kiss on his cheek as he saunters off into the kitchen.
Dan sighs as he looks around at the mess they’ve made in the living room, before he grabs his phone and presses play on his Christmas playlist, grinning when Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want for Christmas’ starts blaring through his phone speakers. “Now we’re fuckin’ talking,”
He walks over to the tree box and starts pulling out pieces, suddenly remembering how horrible it is to actually get the Christmas tree out and put it together. All he wants to do is decorate the tree and make it all nice and festive. Why does it take so much work?
About ten minutes later, Phil comes back into the living room with two mugs in his hand.
“Here you go my dear,” he says as he hands over one of the mugs.
“Thanks, babe. Holy shit. Are those mini marshmallows?” Dan asks excitedly when he glances at the hot chocolate.
“Well, obviously. You can’t have hot chocolate without marshmallows, and the mini ones are the best,” Phil grins, and laughs when his boyfriend leans over and kisses him.
“I knew there was a reason why I loved you,” Dan jokes.
Phil rolls his eyes playfully before taking a sip of his hot chocolate, smiling when he sees that Dan has almost finished putting up the Christmas tree.
“Wow. That was... oddly fast, Dan,”
Dan shrugs his shoulders, taking a sip of his own hot chocolate. “It was actually pretty easy to put up. It’s just a lot of work,” he groans.
“Well now comes the fun part. We get to decorate the tree!” Phil exclaims excitedly.
“It’s a good thing we bought all those new Christmas tree ornaments too,” Dan adds, reaching over and grabbing one of the bags full of festive decorations.
By the end of the night, the pair of them have finished decorating. Dan feels quite proud with how the tree turns - not only does it look great, but he and Phil did it together, and Dan enjoyed himself. He honestly has no idea what’s gotten into him, or why he’s in such a festive mood so early this year, but he’s not complaining. Not really.
Phil knows exactly what he’s getting Dan for Christmas. He’s been working on this gift for a while, and even though he’s excited, he’s also extremely nervous about Dan’s reaction. Who wouldn’t be?
Fast forward to December 25th - it’s Christmas morning at the Dan and Phil household and all the presents have finally been opened. Well, all presents except for one: Phil’s final present to Dan, and the one he’s most nervous about Dan opening.
“Wait a second, Phil, I think we actually missed a present- ” Dan says, sitting down in front of the tree.
“Huh? What do you mean?” Phil looks under the tree and sees the last present, having to pretend that he has absolutely no idea what’s inside. He reaches under the tree and grabs the little box, showing it to Dan. “Looks like it has your name on it, love!”
“Phil?” Dan asks, staring at curiously. “What have you done?”
Phil snorts. “What? What makes you think I’ve done anything?” He asks, smiling innocently. “Come on, Dan. It’s your present. You have to open it.” He hands the small black box over.
Dan rolls his eyes as he grabs the box, peering at the tag to see that it is from Phil. “You’ve spoiled me way too much this Christmas, Lester,”
Phil chuckles. “So, what? It’s Christmas. You’re supposed to spoil the ones you love,” he replies softly.
Dan carefully pulls the ribbon and tears the wrapping paper. He looks up at Phil once he starts to realize what the box holds inside.
“Phil?’ He asks as his heart starts pounding against his chest.
“Open it,” Phil urges, carefully scooting closer.
Dan shakes his head with a smile and finally pops the box open, gasping as soon as he sees the shiny, silver ring resting inside.
“Oh my… Phil,” he whispers, looking up at his boyfriend with pure shock. “Wha-?”
Phil clears his throat. “Well, um, this isn’t exactly how I was planning on doing this if I’m being honest, but I wanted to get you the perfect Christmas gift. It’s our first Christmas together in our new house, after all, and I had to make it extra special. Plus I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time anyway.”
Dan chuckles as he stares fondly. “Phil, babe, you’re rambling.”
“I am? Right! Right.”
Phil blushes as he gets up on one knee. He holds out the velvet box, ring sparkling as tears come to Dan’s eyes. Phil smiles reassuringly, trying to contain his own nervousness.
“Dan, I love you so much, and there’s no one else that I’d rather spend the rest of my life with than you. Will you-” he stops, pausing to collect himself so he can say the words properly.
“Will you marry me?”
Dan squeals the moment that Phil finishes the question, instantly nodding his head ‘yes’ without hesitation.
“Yes, yes, yes! Of course I’ll marry you, you- you absolute... spoon!” He laughs as a couple years slip out of his eyes, as then he throws his arms around Phil’s neck and hugs him tightly, laughing as they nearly fall over.
“Only you would insult me after being proposed to,”
“Oh, please. It’s a term of endearment, not an insult. Come on, you should know this after being with me for so many years.” He gently pulls away from the hug, keeping his arms around Phil’s neck, before leaning in for a long, passionate kiss.
“Fuck. I love you so fucking much, Phil,”
Phil smiles as he stares up at Dan. “I love you too, Bear. So much. Can I put the ring on you now? I've been waiting for this moment for weeks!”
“What? Oh,” Dan laughs as he looks down and sees the ring still in Phil’s hands, wiping his eyes. “Yeah. You can- You can go ahead and do that.”
Phil takes a deep breath as he takes the ring out of the box and carefully slips it onto Dan’s finger. “Perfect,”
“Of course it’s perfect. You picked it out,” Dan chuckles.
In a moment of peaceful silence, the pair gaze at each other lovingly.
“Wow. I think this goes as one of the best Christmas ever, don't you think?” Phil asks, grinning.
The other man laughs. “Yes, I think that’s a fair statement.”
“What do you think? Should we tell the people the big news?” Phil asks, immediately wanting to tell their friends and family about the exciting announcement. Phil’s only told a select few people that he was going to propose to Dan on Christmas, somehow managing to keep it a secret without giving the surprise away.
After giving their permission, Dan’s parents had kept it a secret from their son, and he couldn’t not tell his own family - otherwise, he would have gone mad with the secret!
“Mm, maybe later,” Dan replies, which comes as a surprise. Dan smiles and rests his arms around Phil’s neck once more. “We’ve got all day to do that. Right now, I just want to take in this moment while I can, and spend Christmas morning with my fiancé,” Dan whispers, kissing Phil once more.
“Fiancé?” Phil asks, unable to stop the smile on his face from growing. “Well, I like the sound of that!”