Work Text:
It was a work in bed kind of day. Phil can acknowledge that it’s probably easier to answer work emails in the study on his desktop, but sometimes you just lack the willpower to be that productive. Instead, he’s sitting up, leaned against the headboard, half under the duvet, scrolling absently on the laptop balanced on his legs. It was a good way to be productive, he thought. Dan is somewhere else in the apartment, probably getting dinner ready. It’s quiet, or it was quiet, until Phil’s heart rate spikes rapidly.
“PHIL,” comes a very loud, very shrill voice from several rooms away. “YOU UTTER FUCKING BITCH.”
For a moment his brain tries to come up with what he’s done today to deserve that outburst, and, when he remembers, grins helplessly to himself. Right. The haircut video had gone up today, not all that long ago.
“NOT SURE WHAT YOU MEAN,” Phil calls back, unable to keep the smile out of his voice.
He expects to hear another impassioned response, but instead, his phone buzzes.
Dan: don’t come out for a bit im hiding
Phil: 👍
Dan: did you just fucking thumbs up me STOP DOING THAT. I HATE YOU
Dan: im leaving and never coming back actually that was my final straw
Phil laughs softly to himself, setting his phone aside. He’d wait for Dan to have his moment before going to find him.
It only takes around fifteen minutes for Phil to hear approaching footsteps. He nearly jumps out of his skin when the bedroom door slams open. There’s Dan, and Phil doesn’t even have time to get a good look at his facial expression before he’s skipping forward and catapulting himself onto the bed and tackling Phil.
Phil laughs as Dan winds his arms around him and buries his face completely in Phil’s sweater, face successfully hidden. Phil, on instinct, wraps his arms around Dan’s shoulders in return.
Dan says nothing for at least a full minute. Phil starts to get worried about Dan’s breathing capacity.
“You’re a twat,” are the first muffled words out of Dan’s mouth. He doesn’t look up from Phil’s stomach.
“Definitely,” Phil says happily, scratching gently at the nape of Dan’s neck.
It’s quiet for several more moments. Phil blinks when Dan starts shivering slightly, and then there’s the sound of ragged inhales, and gratuitous sniffling.
“Oh, Dan,” Phil says, switching in a heartbeat from cheeky to concerned, “Dan, Dan, don’t cry, it wasn’t anything.”
“You added a secret part of the video,” Dan sniffles. “Where you said you’re proud of me and that you liked my book.”
He sounds much younger, when he says this. With his face fully hidden in Phil’s sweater, Phil can almost pretend he’s holding an eighteen-year-old Dan again. It makes him swallow thickly himself.
“That’s a pretty low bar for a ten-year relationship, honestly, Dan,” Phil says softly. He clears his throat. “I was just being performative, anyway. And I really just wanted to promote your book because of our shared bank account, you know. I was being entirely selfish.”
“Sure. You bitch.”
Dan doesn’t seem to want to come out anytime soon. Phil rubs a gentle hand through his hair, hair that is much shorter than it had been a week ago.
It’s been a difficult year or two. Or…well, to be honest, Phil can’t remember when things weren’t difficult. It just is how things are. And yet, here they are, together. Here they are, less than a month away from moving in to a place that they own, a place they’ve built from the ground up, a place that they feel safe. Here Phil is, still with his arms around Dan: a Dan that’s never gone away. The video had really been the least of what he could say.
“Thanks for buying a house with me,” Phil says thickly, grasping on to one of Dan’s curls. He’s glad he doesn’t have to look him in the eyes. “Thanks for…doing this with me. For so long.”
He can feel Dan’s jaw clench. Dan’s hand wanders up the back of his sweater, rubbing circles into the skin of his lower back.
“Who else would I do it with,” Dan says, nearly inaudible. “Idiot.”
Phil leans down to kiss the top of Dan’s head. Dan makes a small noise.
They lay like that for a while. Phil leans back against the headboard, still carding fingers through Dan’s hair, halfway to dozing. He blinks in surprise when Dan abruptly raises his head.
His face is red and blotchy, eyes surrounded by damp patches. Phil reaches his thumbs down and without thinking wipes away the leftover tears. Dan huffs, rolling over, propping himself up on his elbows.
“Hi,” Phil says, barely a whisper. His finger reaches over to brush against Dan’s dimple.
“Hi yourself,” Dan says, laughing. They look at each other. Phil loves Dan’s eyes, he really does.
“You think I’m inspirational,” Dan says, a half-smile raising the corner of his lips. “You think I’m talented or whatever.”
“A bit, maybe,” Phil says, grinning back. “As long as you don’t get too cocky.”
“Yeah, well,” Dan says happily. “Too late for that.”
Almost too quick for Phil to register, Dan leans up and kisses him, fiercely. Phil kisses back, surprised. He reaches a hand up to hold the back of Dan’s neck, keeping him there, even after they’ve pulled away.
“Thanks,” Dan says thickly, nose pressed against Phil’s. His eyes are screwed up tight. “I know this hasn’t been…I know you just…”
“Dan, don’t-”
“Thanks.” Dan swallows, presses his lips to Phil’s again, and then rolls over onto his back.
“Feel free to add in a secret part of a video where you compliment me too,” Phil says, just to watch Dan roll his eyes and snort. “One no one would expect it on, maybe. A golfing one.”
“We don’t even do gaming videos anymore, you twat.”
“Maybe one day we might again, though,” Phil muses. “I’m playing the long game.”
“Sure you are,” Dan says, and they both giggle, and don’t leave the bed for at least another hour.