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It’s been a running joke for as long as Dan can remember. It’s usually one of Phil’s parents, or sometimes his brother, that brings it up.
“Our son-in-law” or “my brother-in-law” is said and then they all chuckle. Dan and Phil are attached at the hip, he’s basically our son, my brother. And Dan does consider them family.
They both silently freaked out when it happened the first time and joked about it later at home. Laughed at the absurdity of his parents of all people, shipping them just like fans did.
It’s been years and the joke has never died.
He’s on the patio now, it’s late and the Lester’s have all gone to bed after an evening of too much good food and laughter and drink.
Phil’s parents had made the journey to London, since neither of their children had been to the Isle in months. Something had always gotten in the way of plans.
A day of being tourists and a long, late dinner had left everyone exhausted.
But Dan needed some time to wind down from the social activities before trying to sleep. As usual, Cornelia joined him. It was becoming something of a tradition.
The Lester clan could be a bit much.
Cornelia was sat on the bench beside him, legs crossed under herself, wrapped in Martyn’s coat. A hood was covering her curls, it was still fairly cold in the evenings.
Dan watched out of the corner of his eye as she brought the joint to her lips and inhaled. She passes it back to Dan as the smoke escapes from her lips.
The two of them talked a lot, but in moments like these, they rarely did. Sometimes a fleeting comment about the night sky and sometimes a deep and dark confession.
Dan thought it was a quiet night, they were both silent for the longest time.
Until Cornelia finally put out the joint in the empty pot beside her. Her mouth open and shut numerous times, as if she’s going to say something. He wonders if she feels the same strange bubble their silence brings and doesn’t want to break it.
“Today was nice,” her voice barely over a whisper.
“Yah, that dinner was delicious.”
She hums a small agreement.
“We really lucked out in the in-law department, didn’t we?”
Dan doesn’t answer. He looks over at her again, there’s a calm smile on her face like she’s reliving the day they had. She’s staring out over London, not looking at him, clearly not joking.
It takes him too long to stumble towards an answer and all he can respond with is a garbled, “What?”
This pulls Cornelia out of her trance a bit and she frowns slightly towards him.
“You remember, those lovely people that are sleeping in your guest room right now,” she chuckles a bit and turns towards Dan more.
Dan’s confused, Cornelia is never the one to bring up the in-laws joke. His mind feels like mud as he tries to wrap his head around the fact that Cornelia doesn’t sound like she’s joking. So he says as much.
“You never make those jokes.”
“What jokes, love?” her soft voice is laced with the slightest bit of confusion.
He’s glad he’s not the only one.
“The in-law jokes. It’s always Kath or Nigel, sometimes Martyn. Never you, though.”
It takes Cornelia a minute to respond, her facial expression changing second by second.
“Hold on, what? You know they genuinely consider us family even if we never actually get married, right? We are Lester’s whether it’s on paper or not. That’s how they are.”
Dan feels like his brain is frozen, yet running a million miles a minute.
“Married? Of course they’re like my family but... what are you talking about?”
“I’m just saying that the people we chose to spend our lives with have great parents and a great sibling and I’m glad you are the one on the other side of this, with me.”
Noises come out of Dan’s mouth. But nothing intelligible. He rambles for far too long.
“What — I’m not — we’re not — what?”
After a minute or two, Cornelia’s eyes shoot wide open and she gasps, hands flying over her mouth.
They stare at each other for what feels like forever. He’s searching her eyes for answers and she seems to be doing the exact same to him.
Lowering her hands from her mouth, she reaches over and grabs onto his forearm.
“Are you two not together?”
He can’t believe he has to tell her this.
“No.”
“Never?” It’s said with such disbelief.
“No.”
Her eyes are darting all over his face and he thinks she’s blinking too rapidly.
“I really don’t understand, how aren’t you together?”
This makes Dan laugh, louder than he probably should for the time of night.
“We just aren’t? It never worked out that way, I guess?”
“Daniel. I’m so sorry. We’ve been assuming this whole time you two were together.”
He’s deep in his own head, reliving memories and conversations from the past that make so much more sense now. They never were jokes.
Maybe they are closer than most friends, and Dan can’t lie that they maybe crossed a line or two over the years, but it never turned into anything more.
He’s thinking back on sharing beds at Phil’s parents house, every time they visit the Isle, Florida. No questions ever asked after a few of Dan’s first visits, they were just assumed to share.
The number of times Nigel would pat him on the back after telling him he was so glad he and Phil found each other.
Kath’s comments about all of her children, including Dan as though it was without a second thought.
The in-law comments made so much sense now.
“I guess we do seem close, don’t we?”
Cornelia nods her head, has just been silently waiting through Dan’s internal flashbacks.
“You really do. I would never have thought otherwise. The two of you just seem so connected.”
“I mean, we are.”
She smiles at him.
“Okay, so wait. Are you both single, then?”
“Right now, yah,” he laughs at her softly.
“Have you dated people? Has there been anyone serious? How have we never known this!”
“There’s been a few guys over the years for both of us, but nothing serious enough to mention, I guess,” he’s thinking how they’ve gotten this far without either of them mentioned dates or hookups, at least to Martyn and Corn.
“You’ve mentioned dates before, now that I think about it. I think we always assumed they were with each other,” she starts to giggle.
It sends Dan off the deep end, into his own fit of giggles.
“Wait, you sleep in the same bed?” Cornelia says as she finally can control herself again.
He shakes his head, “Only when everyone is staying over, we need the space so we share.”
“Oh my goodness, so we’re staying in Phil’s actual bedroom? Not some fake room you have for filming?”
“Yah.”
It’s a few minutes of silence before she speaks again.
“Have you ever tried it? You’d be so good for each other, I think. You’re practically dating the way you live already.”
A small smile plays on his lips and he laughs a little, taking his time to answer.
“Don’t get me wrong, I love Phil. And we’ve had a few moments,” his face blushes at the thought. “But we've always just decided it’s not worth the risk to our friendship.”
She’s moved herself closer to him, her arm looped around his and her legs curled up, tucked into his side.
“But shouldn’t your partner be your best friend?”
She has a smile on her face, it’s playful and he knows her comment doesn’t need to bear any weight if he doesn’t want it to.
“Corn...” his tone a light warning.
“I’m just saying, you have fooled all of us for ten years, maybe you’ve fooled yourselves a bit too.”
They share no more words and soon decide to head inside to bed. She hugs him tightly, they share “I love you’s” and make their way to bed, each shared with a Lester.
Dan gets himself ready for bed slower than usual, his mind is hung up on Cornelia’s words. Have they been fooling themselves this whole time?
Pulling his covers back, he looks over at Phil, fast asleep on his side of Dan’s bed. It is his side, he’s fallen asleep there numerous times over the years for various reasons.
Tonight it’s simply the need for more space in their home, last night it was because they were watching a film in bed and fell asleep, a week ago because they had gotten tipsy and fell into each other’s arms once again.
He shakes the thoughts from his head and he lays next to Phil.
There’s going to be one hell of a conversation around the breakfast table tomorrow morning.