Author's Note: Just a bit of fluff I wrote on a plane home from vacation last night, wishing you all a happy Valentine's Day.
Conversation Hearts
Dan was shuffling down the hallway toward the kitchen, scratching his stomach and yawning, when suddenly his lunatic of a flatmate rounded the corner from the lounge and demanded, "Be mine!"
Dan stopped walking and his mind slogged along at a pre-coffee pace. "Be your what?"
"Be mine!" Phil insisted again, and then held out a green candy heart with those words printed on it in all caps. He giggled, his tongue showing briefly to one side. "Happy Valentine's Day!"
Dan took the candy heart and groaned, "It is too fucking early for this."
"It's past noon," Phil supplied cheerfully, but Dan just shot him a dirty look. He popped the candy heart in his mouth and crunched it. "Tastes like a sugar cube made of chalk." But Phil just grinned.
An hour later, Dan was sitting on the sofa scrolling through Tumblr when Phil walked up to him and said, "You're sweet!"
Dan rolled his eyes. "This again?"
Phil laughed and placed a yellow heart with the words "YOU'RE SWEET" printed on it onto the corner of Dan's laptop.
"What's got into you this year? You aren't usually such an idiot on Valentine's Day."
Phil shrugged. "My mum sent me a box of those conversation heart candies with the words printed on them. I thought they were funny. Some of them are pretty weird, though. One of them said, 'Fax Me.'"
"Very romantic," Dan agreed. Phil just smiled and sat down at the other end of the sofa to pick up his own laptop, and they proceeded to while away a couple hours in mindless browsing side-by-side.
Dan was playing Final Fantasy on his computer when Phil knocked on the door. "Come in!" Dan shouted.
Phil opened the door and walked into the room, but didn't say anything immediately. He was ... humming.
"Yeeeessss?" Dan inquired impatiently, but Phil just continued to hum a vaguely familiar tune before abruptly handing him a pink candy heart with the word "ALLSTAR" written on it.
"Oh for fuck's sake!" Dan exclaimed, bursting out laughing in spite of himself. Phil cackled and ran out of the room.
Dan stood in the kitchen pondering what to cook for dinner when he heard Phil walk in behind him. He turned to look and saw Phil with a mischievous grin. He braced himself.
"Kiss me!" Phil said, then couldn't contain his giggles. He held out an orange heart with the words written on it.
Dan scrubbed both hands over his face and then looked at Phil again. Time to teach his flatmate a lesson. Dan walked over to Phil, took the candy heart from him, and said, "Okay." Then he leaned over and kissed Phil quickly on the lips. When he pulled away, Phil's eyes were huge and round, his lips parted in a slight "O" of surprise. Dan smiled smugly and turned to the fridge. "Stir fry for dinner tonight?" But Phil didn't answer, obviously shocked into silence.
Dan had finished the stir fry, but Phil had disappeared somewhere while he was cooking and hadn't returned. "Phil?" Dan shouted. No response. "Phiiiiiillllll!" No response. With a heavy sigh, Dan put a lid over the pan to keep the food warm and went in search of his wayward friend.
He found Phil in his bedroom, sitting on his bed with his head bent studiously over some fiddly task. When Dan looked more closely, he saw that Phil appeared to be sorting dozens of little candy hearts.
"Phil, what are you doing?"
Phil glanced up and saw Dan, a slightly guilty expression flashing over his face. "Um ... nothing."
"Right. Well, dinner is ready."
"Okay, I'll be there in a minute. Just give me a sec." Phil bent his head back to his work.
Dan shrugged and returned to the kitchen to get the plates and cutlery ready. A moment later, Phil reappeared. Dan shot him a smile but then paused at the hesitant look on Phil's face. "Something wrong?" Dan asked, putting the plates down.
Phil shifted from one foot to the other, then held out a yellow candy heart without saying anything. Dan took it and read it. It was another "KISS ME" one. He glanced up at Phil and raised an eyebrow. Phil's smile was tentative but hopeful. This guy was certifiable! Dan rolled his eyes good-naturedly and stepped forward to peck another kiss to Phil's lips before turning back to the counter to pick up the plates. Phil cleared his throat meaningfully and Dan looked back. Phil was holding out another candy heart. Dan took it. It was another "KISS ME" one.
Dan stopped, holding the candy heart in his hand, and looked at his flatmate. "Is this what you were doing in your bedroom, looking for all the 'kiss me' candy hearts?"
Phil looked down at the floor and blushed. "Stupid, huh?"
Dan decided the stir-fry would reheat pretty well and left the plates sitting on the counter when he faced Phil and said, "Yeah, pretty stupid." Phil's face fell, but Dan continued, "All you had to do was tell me you were interested and we could have skipped the whole chalky candy thing." Phil's eyes shot up to meet Dan's and he looked surprised again. Dan stepped close and brought a hand to Phil's cheek, tilting his face upward slightly and lowering his lips to kiss him slowly.
As they pulled apart, their eyes held. Then Phil said, "You taste like sugar and chalk."
"That candy tastes like crap," Dan replied.
Phil shrugged and grinned. "I ended up liking it a lot better than I expected."