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Dan got back to him and Phil's house, just coming back from the shops. He unlocked the front door, shutting and locking it behind him as he got inside.
“Phil?” He called out for his partner, unsure of where he might be. “Phil, where are you?”
No response.
He looked around the rest of the phouse, not sure if the other was playing some sort of prank on him. Eventually, he reached their bedroom. Lights still turned off from not turning it on when they woke up.
Just as he was about to leave to check somewhere else, he saw a light coming from their bathroom.
“Phil?” He said softly as he reached out for the door handle, opening it ever so carefully.
Phil sat on the floor in front of the sink, knees curled up to his chest, his eyes closed shut.
“Phil! Oh my God, are you ok?!” Dan knelt down to him, instantly regretting being so loud, his panic instantly turning into guilt. “Shit- sorry, sorry” he whispered as he sat down next to Phil. “I didn't mean to yell.”
Phil only nodded slightly in response, still keeping his head buried in his knees.
“Phil,” Dan said quietly, rubbing Phil's back gently. “How long has this migraine been going on?”
“Since you left,” Phil admitted, Dan immediately becoming more concerned.
“Babe, why didn't you call me?”
“I didn't want you to worry.”
Dan, in an instant, started to regret leaving earlier that morning, wishing that he could've been with Phil the whole time.
“Philip, I'd be more worried if something happened to you and you didn't tell me,”
Dan carefully pushed Phil’s hair back from his face, frowning when he noticed how pale he looked.
“Can you stand?” he asked.
Phil gave a weak shrug that didn’t exactly guarantee anything.
“Are you ok with me carrying you?”
Phil hesitated for a moment before giving the smallest nod.
“Okay,” Dan whispered.
It took a bit of maneuvering to pick Phil up, it being even more difficult with trying not to jostle him much and the both of them being equally sized people. But eventually, Dan managed to pick him up, (bridal style prolly) carrying him to the bedroom.
He gently lowered him onto the bed, placing the blanket over him before shutting the curtains, blocking out as much light as he could.
“I'll get you your meds,” Dan said, still somewhat hesitating leaving Phil alone again. “Just stay where you are.”
“Don't take too long.“
“3 minutes. Max.”
He shut the door behind him, cursing quietly when it creaked. He couldn't take long so he quickly got some of Phil's stronger medication from the back of their medicine cabinet and a glass of warm water, grabbing the pheal that was on the couch on his way back.
Dan slipped back into their room, trying to shut the door as quietly as possible. Phil had not moved much, still under the blanket he had just placed over his lover just minutes before.
“Hey,” Dan whispered, kneeling beside the bed as he placed the pheal next to Phil. “I got your meds.”
It took Phil many tries before he managed to sit somewhat up enough to be able to drink his medication.
Dan kept one hand steady against Phil’s back while he swallowed the pills, the other holding the glass carefully so he wouldn’t have to lift it much himself.
“There you go,” Dan whispered once he finished. “Good job.”
Phil let himself fall back against the pillows with a small groan, immediately pulling the blanket closer around himself.
Dan frowned. “Still really bad?”
Phil gave a tiny nod against the pillow. “Feels like my head’s being stabbed through my eye.”
“Jesus, Phil…”
Dan carefully sat beside him on the bed, making sure not to shake the mattress too much. For a moment he just watched him quietly, thumb brushing over Phil’s wrist in slow motions.
“You should’ve called me.”
“Didn’t want to disturb whatever you were doing.”
Dan’s face immediately softened into something almost pained.
“Phil,” he said quietly, “you being in pain will ruin my day way more than coming home early ever would.”
Phil laughed quietly, still wincing at the pain. “You really do mean that, don’t you?”
“Ofcourse I do, bub.”
Phil smiled weakly, eyes still squeezed shut against the pain.
Dan brushed a hand through his hair, carefully untangling a few strands from where they'd fallen across his face.
“Think the meds will kick in soon?”
“Hopefully,” Phil mumbled.
“Good.”
The room fell quiet after that.
Dan kept one hand resting on Phil's arm, slowly tracing circles against his sleeve. Outside the room he could hear the faint hum of traffic and the occasional creak of the house settling, but in here everything was dark and still.
Phil shifted slightly beneath the blankets.
“Dan?”
“Yeah?”
“Don't leave.”
Dan's heart immediately cracked in half.
“Wasn't planning on it.”
For a while neither of them spoke.
Dan continued running his fingers through Phil's hair in slow, gentle motions. He remembered reading somewhere that migraines could make even the slightest touch unbearable, but Phil had always liked having his hair played with. Judging by the way he slowly relaxed beneath the blankets, that hadn't changed.
Phil's breathing had already started evening out beneath the blankets. Not asleep yet, Dan could tell, but close. The medication was finally beginning to take the edge off the migraine, and exhaustion was slowly taking over where pain had been for hours.
Dan continued combing his fingers through Phil's hair.
"You're falling asleep."
A small noise came from somewhere beneath the blanket.
"No, I'm not."
Dan smiled. "Right, and I'm the king of England, Phil."
Phil huffed a laugh that quickly dissolved into a yawn.
"There it is."
"Shut up."
"You literally yawned in the middle of insulting me."
"I can multitask."
"Clearly."
The room settled back into silence.
A few minutes passed before Phil spoke again, his voice noticeably slower than before.
"Love you."
Dan's expression softened immediately.
"Love you too."
No response.
Dan waited a moment.
Still nothing.
"...Phil?"
A quiet snore answered him
Dan had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from laughing.
"You are fucking unbelievable."
Carefully, he reached over and pulled the blanket higher around Phil's shoulders.
“Sleep well, Phil.”
₊˚ ✧ ━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━ ✧ ₊˚
Phil woke up a few hours later, room only illuminated by the street light out their window. The clock on the bedside table read 8:07pm, meaning they had slept for a solid 4 hours.
The pain in his head was still there, yes. But it had died down to a manageable intensity.
“Mmm…”
Dan stirred beside him, burying his face in the pillows.
Phil froze in place. “Shit.”
Dan's eyes cracked open.
"What?"
"You were asleep."
"So were you."
"Yeah, but I woke you up."
Dan stared at him for a second before dropping his face back into the pillow.
“I’m fine as long as I know you’re fine.”
Phil blinked slowly, adjusting to the dim light as Dan shifted beside him again, properly waking now.
“Sorry,” Phil murmured automatically. “Didn’t mean to-”
“Stop apologising,” Dan said immediately, voice rough with sleep as he finally pushed himself up on one elbow. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
Phil gave a small hum, like he didn’t fully believe that was allowed.
Dan reached out, brushing Phil’s hair back again, slower this time. More awake, more present.
“Head better?” he asked quietly.
Phil hesitated. “Still there. But not so bad to the point I can' t think anymore.”
Dan exhaled, like he’d been holding his breath for four hours straight. “Good. That’s… good.”
Phil shifted slightly closer without really thinking about it, until their shoulders were touching under the blanket.
“…you stayed the whole time,” Phil said.
Dan glanced at him. “Yeah. I said I would.”
“I thought you might’ve gone back to the shops or something.”
“In the middle of you being unable to function?” Dan scoffed softly. “Phil, be serious.”
That made Phil huff a quiet laugh.
A pause.
“You scared me earlier.”
Phil went still.
“I didn’t mean to,” he said quickly.
“I know.” Dan nudged him gently with his shoulder. “I’m not mad. I just-” He stopped, searching for the words. “Walking in and finding you like that… I don’t like it.”
Phil looked down at the blanket. “Sorry.”
“Phil.”
“Sorry,” he repeated, weaker this time.
Dan sighed, then just leaned in, resting his forehead lightly against Phil’s temple.
“Don’t do that,” he murmured. “Don’t say sorry for doing nothing wrong.”
“…okay.”
The silence that followed wasn’t awkward. It was warm.
After a while, Phil spoke again, quieter than before.
“Do you think we’d survive if we were married?”
Dan blinked. “What?”
Phil shrugged slightly. “Like… if this is what we’re like now. I get a migraine and you immediately turn into a stressed mother hen.”
“I do not-”
“You do!”
Dan huffed, then gave in with a reluctant smile. “Okay, maybe a little.”
Phil’s mouth twitched.
“Imagine if we were married,” he continued, gaining a bit of energy now. “You’d be asking me to do this or that and-”
“And you’d ignore me,” Dan added instantly.
“…yeah.”
They both paused.
“I think I’d still marry you though.”
Phil went still again, but this time it wasn’t from pain.
“Like… actually?” he asked.
Dan nodded like it was obvious. “Yeah.”
Phil stared at him for a second, then turned his face slightly into the pillow to hide the fact he was smiling.
“Loser,” he muttered.
“Yep.”
Another pause.
Then Dan shifted closer, properly wrapping an arm around him under the blanket this time.
“Would you take my surname?” Phil asked as the two were still wrapped in eachother's embrace.
“What..?”
“Would you take my surname?”
“Well, would you take mine???” Dan laughed, amusement clear in his voice.
“What, so ‘Philip Micheal Howell’?” Phil asked, immediately regretting the thought. “Ew no.”
“Ow???” Dan gasped dramatically
“I’d sound like a manager of a Tesco!”
“You’re insulting my name!”
The two laid there laughing in eachothers arms, the heaviness from earlier gone.
“Ok though, wait.” Dan started, laughter still heard in his voice. “Make your last name Lester-Howell.”
“Love, that sounds like a law firm.”
“Well, if it was, I could’ve worked there and now I’m here making sure you don’t fucking die on me!”
The two looked at eachother for a long moment, legs all tangled up together and arms wrapped around one another.
“I wouldn't mind being called that actually.”
“Yeah? ‘Philip Micheal Lester-Howell’?”
“Yeah. As long as you’d be ‘Daniel James Howell-Lester.’”
“I don’t mind it either.” Dan admitted.
Phil smiled softly before burying his face into Dan’s shoulder, neither of them feeling the need to say anything else.