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”Oh no.”
Dan perks up, one suitcase in each hand, and looks after Phil, now fully inside the hotel room.
”What?” he asks, preparing for the worst.
It’s the night of their premiere, they walked off the stage of their first Hard Launch Tour show just a couple of hours ago, and they’re both running on a mix of adrenaline and relief, which is bordering exhaustion. Dan is not ready to be met with whatever might’ve caused that ”oh no”, but he follows Phil into the hotel room anyways.
”Look,” Phil says once Dan is in, voice coated by something in between disbelief and amusement. ”What are the odds?”
He gestures at the room and Dan’s eyes follow the direction of it, to the two single beds in the middle of the room, intentionally placed as far away from each other as possible.
”Oh.”
”Yup.”
Dan puts down the suitcases and exhales as he tilts his head, to the left, to the right, forward. His neck is stiff, probably from the long flight, and all he wants to do right now is to crawl down beneath the covers with Phil.
”Didn’t we book a double room with a queen bed?” Phil asks, shoulders slouched, and he sounds defeated, just like Dan is feeling.
”I think I did,” Dan says, because he’s pretty sure he did. He remembers it somewhat clearly: the feeling of, for the first time, choosing a room with only one bed for a tour. It had felt huge. Freeing. Like they reached a new level of their relationship. Which is a feat in itself after 17 years together.
Now he’s suddenly doubting himself. Did he accidentally choose a twin bedroom out of pure habit when he booked the room?
”Fuck it, let’s push them together then,” Dan sighs, and starts walking towards one of the beds.
”Nooo.”
Phil’s whine is instant, and when Dan looks at him his eyes are big and the corners of his mouth turned downward; he looks a bit like a wet dog.
”What do you mean ’no’?”
”I want to sleep next to you,” Phil replies, voice sulky.
”You always sleep next to me.”
”Yes I know, but… This isn’t what we planned,” Phil says, and now he’s pouting. Fucking pouting. Dan sighs in defeat, because he knows he’s already lost. The moment Phil starts to pout it’s over for Dan, and both of them know that he’ll do anything for him in moments like this.
Fuck him and his pretty, pouty face.
Then something hits him. A memory, from ten years ago, when they were in the US for their first world tour. Phil had talked for months about seeing fireflies for the first time, he had even planned a little date night on one of their nights off. As the date approached, Dan saw him excitedly google facts about fireflies, and research what spot would be best (apparently, the top of a remote hill in a park where it would be fairly dark). Even Dan, who couldn’t care less about fireflies, was getting excited about the whole thing.
Then, one night, when they were walking home from an outback steakhouse after one of their shows in Florida, they saw a firefly. One, single, tired firefly who buzzed in front of them, before flying away. The whole ordeal was over in a matter of seconds, and after the initial feeling of surprise, Phil had gotten sad.
Because this wasn’t how he had planned their first firefly encounter to go. They were supposed to go on a date, sit on a hill, in the darkness, close together, and watch ten million fireflies lit up the world as it fell asleep. They were supposed to experience it together, in silence, just the two of them. Not on a fucking car park in Florida, surrounded by tired people, streetlights and a busy highway.
The whole thing had meant more to Phil than Dan had realised. And now he can see the same reaction seeping out of Phil. Phil, who’s contained his love for Dan for over 16 years, who kept quiet for so long, and didn’t tell anyone about the most beautiful guy in the entire world that happens to be his, despite wanting to shout it from the rooftops. Phil, who’s always been there, who's always kept a light spirit, who’s always loved Dan to death.
Dan decides that he wants to wipe that pout from Phil’s face, and walks over to him to take said face in his hands.
”Hey, I’ll see what I can do,” Dan says, thumbs stroking the nascent stubble coating Phil’s jawline, before leaning in to place a chaste kiss on his lips. ”Just wait here.”
A moment later Dan exits the lift and enters the generic, beige, dimmed lit hotel lobby. He walks up to the desk, back straight, trying to gather up some courage. Why he’s needing that all of a sudden, he doesn’t really know, because he’s normally not the one to back away when it comes to standing up for his boyfriend.
”Good evening, Sir,” the lady behind the desk greets him as she looks up from her computer screen. She smiles, but her smile doesn’t really reach her eyes, and Dan can tell that she’s tired, despite her sleek ponytail pulling all her facial features back towards her ears. ”How can I help you?”
”Hi, I think we booked a double room but somehow ended up with a twin room instead?”
”I see. Your name please, sir.”
Dan gives her his last name and watches her click her way around on her computer, long fingernails clattering against the keyboard, facial expression never leaving the state of rehearsed kindness, before she hums quietly.
”I see. It seems there was a problem with the room you booked, so we moved you to your current room instead. It’s a deluxe room that costs a bit more per night, but we’ll cover that for you, sir.”
She still has her eyes glued to the computer screen, and it just now dawns on Dan that she doesn’t get it.
”But there’s two beds,” Dan says, trying to make his point without having to spell it out for her.
”Yes?” she replies, and now she looks at Dan, tilting her head slightly. ”Is that a problem, sir?”
”No, or- I booked a room with one bed.”
”And that room is unfortunately not available at the moment, hence why we upgraded you and your friend -,” she says as her eyes dart back to the computer ”- Mr Lester to a deluxe twin room.”
As the words leave her dark, red lips, it’s as if she realises, and Dan can see her pupils widen just the slightest as it dawns on her. Mr Lester isn’t just a friend to the guy before her. Of course they don’t want to sleep in two separate beds.
Without saying a word, there’s a few clicks at the keyboard, a scroll with the computer mouse, before she turns back to Dan again, eyes a tad bit warmer this time.
”I’m sorry for the inconvenience, Mr Howell. I’ve booked the suit for you and Mr Lester tonight, we will cover the difference. It’s located on the top floor, my colleague will meet you there with the room keys.”
With that, she smiles, and it’s closer to a real smile this time. Dan can’t do anything but smile back as he utters a ”Thank you, mam”, before he turns on his heel to return to their current room.
He’s got a boyfriend to surprise.
When the door to the suite opens ten minutes later, Phil is no longer pouting.
”Dan, this is incredible! How much did you have to flirt with the receptionist to get this?”
He’s already inside, in the middle of kicking off his dirty sneakers and eyeing the gigantic hallway when Dan closes the door behind them.
”I think she just assumed we were friends and felt bad when she realised we were more than that.”
”Just friends? With one bed? Where were those assumptions ten years ago?” Phil chuckles. ”We could’ve saved a whole lot of money if people had assumed that about us during TATINOF.”
Dan smiles, because he feels warm inside again. Phil is happy, his back is straighter and the cute pout is gone. He’s not a fast walker normally, not like Dan, but now he’s scurrying around the suite, oooh-ing and aaah-ing at the big balcony and the stacked mini bar.
”I’m gonna take a bath,” Phil decides the second he sees the huge bathtub in the bathroom, and Dan barely has time to register the beautiful tiles on the bathroom floor before they’re covered by Phil’s clothes.
”Phil,” Dan chuckles, and he can feel himself grin like an idiot, but it doesn’t matter. Phil is so excited that he cannot not smile. So what if he has what their fans call heart eyes when he looks at his boyfriend? Sue him.
”You want to join?” Phil asks eagerly, and he’s standing next to the bathtub, already butt naked apart from his doomed-cap and glasses, waiting for the bathtub to fill. Dan wants to eat him up.
”I’m good,” Dan says, and walks over to the bathtub where something that looks like a bottle of bubble bath is placed at the edge. He knows Phil’s too eager to read labels and will probably fill the tub with conditioner if Dan’s not acting quick enough. ”Pour some of this, I think it’ll make it bubbly.”
Phil replies by taking the bottle and squeezing out way too much of the peach coloured liquid into the bath, causing shiny bubbles to erupt immediately.
”I’ll leave you to it,” Dan says as he watches the bubbles spread over the water surface. ”Maybe I’ll try out the sofa in the meantime. If you want we can order some food when you’re done?”
Phil puts down the bottle and leans into Dan’s space. He grabs Dan’s shirt collar with his hands, which smells like peach and vanilla from the bubble bath.
”I love you, Dan Howell,” he says, pupils wide, eyes sparklier than the bubbles in the bath, glasses slightly askew. He leans in for a kiss and it’s quick, light, warm, but still leaves Dan with a familiar, tugging sensation at the bottom of his stomach. It takes everything in his power to leave the bathroom and not take Phil apart right there and then on the bathroom floor.
They have another show tomorrow and need all the sleep they can get.
Fifty minutes later, Phil exits the bathroom wrapped in a white, fluffy bath robe. He’s wearing his glasses, which are a bit fogged up, and his hair is wet, messy, and splaying down before his eyes. His face is a bit red and puffy from the warm bath, and his bare feet leave wet footprints when he walks over the hardwood floor to where Dan has collapsed on the sofa.
”Hi you-” Dan starts, but is interrupted by Phil collapsing on top of him, his face finding the crook of Dan’s neck and his arms snuggling in under the broad back of his boyfriend. ”You’re heavy,” Dan grunts, but he drops his phone to the side and wraps his hands around Phil’s waist, and allows himself to breathe in the sweet scents of Phil’s hair. It doesn’t smell like it does at home, but it smells good.
”Hmm,” Phil hums contently, wriggling his body to become even more flushed against Dan.
”Nice bath?”
”Hmm.”
”You hungry?”
”Mm.”
”Should we order?” Dan asks.
”Hmm… no.”
”No?”
Phil breathes out against Dan’s neck, a long and warm stream of air that somehow makes him even heavier on top of Dan. ”Want to stay like this for a while.”
Dan smiles against the top of Phil’s head, surrounded by the foreign, sweet smells of hotel schampoo. Against the wet hair with the bleached tips, dark roots and greying temples. He wraps his arms a bit tighter around Phil’s waist, and he can feel the warmth of his skin through the thick bath robe. He shuffles his legs a bit so Phil’s settle between his own, and it’s impossible for them to get any closer to each other.
He loves Phil so much it hurts.
”So do I,” Dan mumbles, lips pressed against the top of Phil’s head, and he can already feel his boyfriend's breaths grow heavy on top of him.
They don’t move until a few hours later, when they wake up in that exact same position but with aching backs and squished up cheeks. Together, and in a sleepy haze, they pad over to the large bedroom, get undressed and slump down on the white, fluffy, cool sheets. They fall asleep, next to each other, finally sharing the same, big bed.
It’s not fireflies, but it’s another first, and even though they will wake up hungry because they forgot to order food, it’s even better than Dan could’ve ever imagined.