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Regret. It filled every centimetre of Phil’s body. He regretted being too awkward to decline the invitation, he regretted not finding a last-minute excuse, but most of all he regretted not accompanying his friends to the cigarette break they left for ten minutes ago.
Phil stood awkwardly near the wall of the club, not sure what to do. As far as he could see, there was no one else standing alone, so he fit in with the people as much as a sheep in a herd of cows. Only that the cows were dancing in clothes that were way too short and the sheep was just standing there.
Just when Phil decided to go outside to find his friends - well, he says friends. They had, in fact, first met a day earlier - he noticed a very cute brunette guy standing at the bar. He looked slightly helpless, gazing around the room like he looked for a saviour while nodding towards the man next to him. The other man was blonde and - as much as Phil never wanted to judge a book by its cover - looked exactly like someone who didn’t know where to stop.
The cute brunette clearly looked uncomfortable, shuffling away from the blonde one, who immediately came nearer again. Phil knew exactly what he had to do. Or, at least, what a confident person would do. But the brunette was exceptionally cute and when he flashed a dimple, Phil adjusted his hair and put on a confident walk. He reached the two men in no time.
“Hey, babe. I was looking for you!” Phil exclaimed as he stepped next to the brunette, slipping his hand into the taller man’s. After flinching and sending Phil a questioning look, the brunette played along, giving a non-descript answer, allowing the black-haired men to continue acting.
“Who’s that?” Phil asked and looked at the blonde man, while laying his head on the brunette’s shoulders. He would lie if he said that he didn’t enjoy this. The blonde man seemed to look more and more uncomfortable and irritated.
“That’s Ryan, my co-worker,” the cute brunette said, before putting a few notes on the counter and leading Phil away, still holding his hand.
“I have to go now, sorry.” he called towards Ryan, while continuing to lead Phil through the crowd until they left the building. The fresh air was a pure pleasure to breathe in. Phil let go of the other’s hand and awkwardly took a step back.
“Sorry for attacking you like that, I just-,” he started but the brunette interrupted him.
“It’s okay, seriously, thank you so much! Ryan has been trying to get with me ever since I started working at the radio. You basically saved me, he should let go of it now.” the taller said while flashing his adorable dimple once again. Phil found himself smiling widely and blushing slightly.
“At least I didn’t have to wear a skintight suit to be a hero,” he grinned, immediately cringing at the bad joke, but the brunette chuckled.
“Wouldn’t have complained, skintight would suit you,” he answered with a smirk. Phil felt his blush creeping up his neck. He quickly looked down, hoping that the scarce light of the streetlamp wouldn’t show his without doubt rosy cheeks. When he noticed that neither of them had said anything in a while, he quickly started talking again.
“Well, then, it was nice to meet you. See you around.” Phil added the last part with a wave before turning around. During his whole walk home, he couldn’t stop smiling. Only when he unlocked his front door did he realize that he and the cute brunette didn’t exchange any contact details.
“I’m such an idiot,” he mumbled as he entered his flat.
But luck was on his side. After enduring an incredibly boring chat with a lady called Lydia who had started giving him flirty looks as soon as he entered the studio, Phil saw a tall figure from the corner of his eye. And when he, after praying a collective prayer to every god he knew, turned around, it sure was the cute brunette standing in the entrance, grinning at him.
Phil excused himself from Lydia and walked towards the brunette. He decided that it was time for a formal introduction.
“Phil Lester, new technician here at Radio 1,” he said, holding his hand out to the other man.
“Dan Howell, radio host here at Radio 1. Welcome to the team,” the other - Dan - answered, smirking slightly, as they shook hands.
“Come on, Dan, you’re gonna be live in ten minutes. You’ll have time to greet the new technician later,” a voice called from behind them, and when they turned around, both of their faces fell. Ryan.
“Coming,” Dan exclaimed before nodding towards Phil and then following Ryan.
“Phil?” Lydia called, making Phil jump.
“Yeah?” he said absentmindedly, still trying to get a glimpse of Dan behind all the screens and equipment.
“You’ll have time to swoon over Dan later. The boss wants to talk to you about your responsibilities.”
‘The boss’ was a friendly looking mid-forties guy who basically told him to help out the main technician and not fuck things up. Sounded easy enough, right? That attitude changed the second Phil realized that the main technician was Ryan. At least, if he was good enough, he’d be working alone in a month.
Since Dan’s show was on air at the moment, Phil got sent to the studio right away. He was just in time to catch Dan quietly singing along to the last lines of ‘Breaking Free’.
“In a way that’s different from who we are,” Phil sang along with the last line, making Dan jump and blush furiously. He seriously looked like he was about to throw some sarcastic comment at him, but since the song had just ended, he had to fulfill his job as a radio host.
“And that, dear people, was Breaking Free from the High School Musical Soundtrack. A, if I may, true masterpiece.” he said, clearly directing the last comment towards Phil, who just stood there, covering his grin with his hands.
Then Dan continued the show by starting to read out and comment on tweets sent in by the listeners. Phil tried to help him as much as he could, but since he hadn’t yet been made familiar with the system, he ended up just leaning against a wall and watching Dan.
Ryan tried to get him to do unnecessary things a few times, but after a few glances from Dan, he stopped. Phil thought he’d gotten the message, but apparently, he was only changing tactics.
After leaving the room for a short time, in which Dan and Phil stared into each other’s eyes way too much, leading to grinning faces and rosy cheeks, Ryan came back in. Going by the heavy scent of musk in the air, he’d been refreshing his cologne.
Phil didn’t think much of it, but then the blonde man started standing a bit too near to Dan. The brunette didn’t really notice, since he was working, and Phil started wondering what goal Ryan had. That’s when he realized that this attack was aimed towards Phil.
After ten minutes of whispering orders too near to his ear and ‘accidentally’ brushing his hands against various body parts, even Dan started giving Ryan death glares. Phil suffered silently. He shouldn’t feel that jealous, right? He’d only known Dan for a day after all. But ever longing glance of Ryan was like a punch in the stomach for Phil. By the time Dan’s show had reached his end, there was only one announcement of Dan left, Phil was balling his fists and grinding his teeth.
But Dan hadn’t been as oblivious to the whole thing as both Phil and Ryan had thought. With a “Okay, it’s enough. We need to talk,” and an added “Phil, make the last announcement and wrap the show up!” Dan grabbed Ryan’s arm and pulled him out into the corridor.
Phil just stood there, jaw dropped, until he realized that the song that was playing only had a few seconds left. He immediately rushed to the microphone, putting on the huge headphones and hoping, that he’d watched Dan enough to know what to do. He pressed a button, hoping that it would be the one to unmute the microphone, and started talking, helplessly glancing towards the notes.
“That - the last song - was ‘We Don’t Believe What’s On TV’ by the band Twenty One Pilots and this is BBC Radio 1?” he said, hoping that his voice didn’t really sound as high and squeaky as he thought it did.
“This is Phil, because Dan’s busy. Right now. Anyways, I’m gonna read out a few of your tweets now.” he said, then cleared his throat. It looked so easy when Dan did it. So why did he cringe at every sound he made?
“‘@nicolemv05’ says, that her perfect boyfriend would have to be able to do a pizza without burning it and added the hashtag ‘#myperfectpartner.’” Phil announced. “Very good approach, Nicole.”
Right, Dan had introduced a hashtag at the beginning of the show. Phil read out a few more tweets saying basic things, but the last one was different.
“And the last tweet for today: ‘@dieJayJay’ describes her perfect partner as tall, brunette, brown-eyed and with a dimple.” Phil grinned widely. “I’ll say, JayJay, I do agree. I apologize for my awkwardness as I’m actually just a technician who worked here for the first time today. Thanks for tuning in and the Dan Howell show will be back next week with the main man at the microphone, and now enjoy the tunes of ‘Starlight’ by Muse.”
“So you agree?” said someone right next to Phil, making him flinch. Dan. He had heard what Phil sad about him. But instead of being his usual awkward self, Phil ignored the rising blush and smirked at Dan.
“Believe me, I do.” That had Dan laughing out loud and Phil captured every detail of Dan’s face in that moment. He looked so truly happy and free of all sorrows. His expression was full of light, and like the sun, it started to light up Phil’s face too.
“You were really good, by the way,” Dan said as he started to pack up his things. “Maybe we could have a show together one day.” Phil shook his head at that thought, but was still smiling.
“Come on, it would be great! The Dan and Phil Show on BBC Radio 1.” Dan continued to tease Phil, grinning when he saw the blush in his cheeks. The brunette wrapped his arms around Phil and gave him a kiss on the forehead.
“You’re cute when you blush.” he whispered, but Phil punched his chest halfheartedly.
“Shut up, you nerd!”