Work Text:
The thirteenth of June is a day that Dan will always have memorised in his head as an important day in Daniel Howell history. The day he came out as queer to the entire world is something special to him.
He knows coming out isn’t a scary thing for a lot of people, because, for one reason or another, people just know they are going to be accepted by their loved ones. But for Dan, it was more than that. He knew his family would love him regardless, he’s seen them rant and rave about gay rights throughout the years to know he would be somewhat safe but that still didn’t mean it was any less terrifying for him. Internalised homophobia meant coming out was kind of final for him, almost like he was accepting his sexuality himself and that was a huge deal.
So, he knew, and still knows to this day, that the day he finalised the whole sexuality debate rattling in his head was going to be a big anniversary for him for years to come. Because it is big for him.
The country has been in quarantine for several months now, with both Dan and Phil spending mostly twenty-four hours a day seven days a week together. It is not like they don’t spend every waking moment together usually but having no choice but to do that is a different story.
So, they decided amongst themselves to have a few days once a week where they don’t hang out for the entire day, unless it’s a mealtime until they go to bed. It’s working a lot of the time, because Dan is too busy writing to even notice if Phil is in the same room as him anyway.
That sounds awful to admit, and Dan cringes to himself at how much of a dick he sounds, but when he can’t help but throw his entire self into his work in progress book, it doesn’t sound too bad. And he knows that Phil understands.
That being said, Dan doesn’t think he has got anything more done today than he would have if Phil was in the room. In fact, he has probably got a lot less done because he doesn’t have someone tapping on his shoulder every five seconds to tell him to concentrate. After all, apparently, that works even though at the time, Dan would always be annoyed about it distracting him further.
Luckily for him, he hears the padding of feet walking along the hallway and then a small knock against the door of their shared office – which reminds Dan of how guilty he feels that he had banished Phil from working in his own office in order to have some peace and quiet, but Dan and Phil had both agreed to this, with Phil working in the lounge, so he decides to not feel too guilty.
He does not have an opportunity to reply because before he so much as opens his mouth, the door handle gets pushed down and the door opens slowly. The slowness of it all almost grills Dan but before he has a chance to be even the tiniest amount mad, Phil’s face peers from behind the doorframe with that cheeky smile across his face that Dan knows all too well.
“Do you want to go to bed?”
Dan watches as Phil’s eyes dart across to Dan’s work station and cringes, similar to how he would feel when his high school teachers would in the middle of the class, but then he remembers that Phil isn’t judging him and his eyes are probably just wondering out of the boredom of waiting for Dan to reply.
“Please,” Dan groans, as he closes his laptop and pushes himself backwards against the desk, using the wheels on his chair for comfort. He stands up finally, already trying to force his eyes to stay open with the desire to fall asleep at the mere thought of his bed.
“Come then, Dan.”
Dan gladly takes the hand that Phil has reached out towards him and follows as Phil walks the pair of them into their bedroom, not taking his hand out of the others the entire walk down the hallway.
They do, however, break apart momentarily when Phil pulls his hand away to use it instead to get two oversized shirts out of their shared pyjama drawer before walking over to where Dan embarrassingly stood still watching in awe of his boyfriend.
Phil makes a small noise that Dan can make out that means that Dan needs to put his hands up so Phil can replace the shirt that Dan has worn all day with a new fresh one.
So Dan just follow these instructions as Phil wraps his fingers around the bottom hem of Dan’s shirt and gently tugging it up the expanse of Dan’s chest, allowing it to pop over his head with ease.
Dan isn’t sure what happens next because he just can’t take his eyes away from the face in front of him.
It’s when he feels a gentle pat on his stomach, that’s when he falls back into consciousness and he returns to see a small smile spread across his boyfriend’s face.
“You okay?” Phil frowns for a second, and Dan can only assume it’s because he has noticed how dazed Dan is.
“Yeah,” Dan mutters and offers a genuine smile this time, reaching for Phil’s hand again which earns him a little giggle from Phil.
Almost like he planned it, Phil uses this as an excuse to pull Dan onto his side of the bed, detangling their hands to use his own hand to push Dan onto the bed, gently of course because Phil never would do anything to cause Dan harm.
Dan uses this opportunity to shuffle backwards and tuck his legs under the duvet, being greeted by the familiar feeling of warmth.
“How was your day without me?” Phil asks as he climbs into bed alongside Dan, wrapping the duvet around him. Dan knows he should be annoyed at that action, because wrapping the duvet around Phil’s body meant it got pulled off of Dan’s body, leaving him exposed, but living with Phil and thus sharing a bed for several years means he is used to Phil’s blanket hogging personality trait.
“It was good actually, got quite a bit of my work done.”
“Good, I’m really glad.”
“And you?” Dan asks, feeling Phil shuffle closer and wrap his hand around Dan’s waist before resting his head down on his shoulder. Dan leans into it, and rests his head on the top of Phil’s and just breathes in the familiar scent of his boyfriend.
“I did my work pretty early on and I zoomed my parents instead,” Phil mumbles, probably because his face is squished against Dan’s chest. He could move, to speak and it would be so much easier, but Dan can’t help but feel like Phil is having the same feeling that he is too.
“Oh yeah? What did they have to say?” Dan replies, pressing his lips into Phil’s hair and peppering a few kisses in the same spot.
“Nothing really, it was just nice to speak to them you know?”
Dan hums, turning his eyesight just north of Phil’s head and zones out. He does not mean to, he really doesn’t, because he does actually want to listen to what Phil has to say. He did ask after all, because he could not help but think about just how happy he is to be in this moment.
It shouldn’t be a shock, because throughout all of his life, albeit short because he hasn’t really been alive that long in the grand scheme of things, of course he deserves some good. It’s not like he had the worst upbringing in the world but he also has realised that that means nothing because someone can have what is deemed a picture perfect life but still struggle and comparing means nothing.
But that being said, he still deserved something good in his life and he doesn’t think he is being too far out to suggest that good thing that he has is Phil.
They began speaking in 2009 and if someone had told little Dan then that this person would have had such a profound effect on his life, Dan would have laughed and said of course a male-aligned person would not have done that for him. But here they are, in love and Phil still continues to win Dan over day after day.
“Earth to Dan!”
“Sorry,” Dan jumps as he responds, the sorry mumble coming out of his voice automatically without Dan urging it to do so.
“Did you even listen to what I had to say?” Dan hears the smile spreading across Phil’s face as he speaks, and he can particularly feel it against his chest even though there is a kittens in space shirt in between his skin and Phil.
“Yeah of course!”
“Okay, then?”
“You zoomed your parents.”
“And?”
“I’m sorry,” Dan smiles shyly, hiding his face into the hair on Phil’s head out of embarrassment. “I did try to listen I just got distracted.”
“It’s okay, is everything okay? What were you distracted about?”
“Oh nothing,” Dan mumbles, getting even more embarrassed at the fact he almost outed himself as a guy hopelessly in love.
“What’s on your mind, Howell?” Phil repeats again, with a bit more seriousness in the tone. Usually, this would intimidate Dan because it is usually only reserved for when Phil is mad, but Dan knows he isn’t mad and it’s just to get his own way.
“You know, I think we shouldn’t continue spending the day apart anymore?”
“You think?”
“No, there’s no reason to.”
Dan says as he climbs out of his comfort spot in the bed, pushing Phil off of him into his own side of the bed. He quickly follows him and settles his body down onto Phil’s lap.
Phil instinctively meets him to offer a small kiss, knowing not to deepen it because sex is not Dan’s intention right now, and placing his hands on Dan’s hipbones, “You wanted to so you could concentrate?”
“I didn’t get anything done today and I missed your company,” Dan whines, something he would be embarrassed about doing later when he thinks about this moment again, but right now he isn’t going to think about it.
“You missed me?” Phil’s eyes light up at the words, teasing Dan slightly as he does.
“I may have.”
Phil brings his hands to either cheek on Dan’s face and pulling him into a kiss. It is a deeper one this time and Dan can’t help but melt into it, allowing himself to feel every inch of Phil and allowing Phil to take control.
Dan’s left hand finds Phil’s hair, now droopy after a day of being hairsprayed up into a quiff. The hairspray is failing to do its job any longer and Dan runs his hand through it for good measure, tugging lightly at the ends of it to separate them both for a few moments.