Both Dan and Phil were sat on the couch by each other like most afternoons, Phil's laptop on his lap while Dan scanned over what he was doing. Although today, Dan was unusually silent and flexing his jaw every now and then. Phil had sworn he seen Dan wince each time he did so. But of course, with Phil being the less argumentative of the two, he decided not to bring it up until Dan was ready.
"Ugh, Phiil. My tooth. It won't stop hurting." Dan spoke, his voice even telling the misery he was in at the moment. It seemed as if Dan even spoke, the tooth would ache. Phil just sighed and put down his laptop to see Dan now futzing with some tooth at the back of his mouth. Phil knew how protective Dan got over his teeth, so if he suggested for Dan to go to the dentist, it would just create an argument. Although the more Dan started to complain about his tooth, the more it got on Phil's nerves. Maybe he would just bribe the younger boy to go to the dentist.
"You know what you have to do right? Well, if you want it to stop hurting." Phil shrugged and raised an eyebrow to see Dan's mouth drop open in disapproval. To be honest, Phil had no idea why Dan had such a problem with going to the dentist. Something little probably may have happened when he was a child that he won't let go of, but it wasn't like they were going to kill him or anything along the sort.
"They'll probably just numb your tooth and then fix it. Simple as that. It won't hurt one bit, I promise." Phil tried again, but was responded back with a protesting glare from Dan.
"I dont think you understand, Phil. They're going to rip out all of my teeth and tell me to put them under my pillow for some made up fairy with wings to pick up. What the hell kind of people do that? They're like devils in long white coats!" Dan explained, his voice slightly raising similar to like it does when he gets upset. Phil had to bite his lip to stop himself from laughing at Dan's obnoxious comparison. "Devils in long white coats.." Phil restated again, not able to bite back his laughter anymore. Even for Phil to say it out loud made him laugh even harder.
A moment or so later, he was soon being avalanched with pillows for laughing at Dan. The pillows smacked into his face, but they were mostly soft so it hardly hurt him. "Dan.. seriously?" Phil laughed between the blows of the pillows. "Throwing pillows at me isn't going to solve your tooth problem. Or your dentist fear for that matter."
It took a few more pillow blows for Dan to realize this. Throwing pillows at Phil just because he mentioned the dentist wasn't going to solve anything. Though, whenever a dentist was mentioned, memories from his childhood fled within his mind. With them pulling and yanking on his mouth, it was all he could think about.
"Phil, I really can't go." Dan's voice was much weaker this time he spoke, almost childlike. That was when Dan finally broke.
Phil couldn't help but feel sympathy for the younger boy, even if he didn't exactly know why Dan was so afraid to go. He noticed the boy looking dazed and far out, which never was a good sign. "Come here," Phil opened his arms to comfort the boy and Dan took the offer by crawling into them. Phil enclosed his arms around the fearful boy, murmuring soft, cooing things in Dan's ear in order to get him to calm down. He could feel Dan's body timidly shaking underneath his own and at that moment Phil realized how much of a fear Dan had of the dentist.
"Baby, I'm telling you the only way were going to get through this is if you go to the dentist. I'll even come with you." Phil mumbled against Dan's skin, placing a delicate kiss on the tip of his ear. He could feel the boy slowly stop shaking and start to melt into his touch. Phil continued to pleasure Dan, trailing endless kisses from his neck to his lips, trying desperately to get his mind off the fear until the time was right. Phil had finally made his way up to Dan's plump looking lips, pressing his own down onto them softly. After a few seconds of their soft yet meaningful kiss, Phil pulled back to meet Dan's gaze, but still they were only inches apart.
"I'll make sure no dentist hurts you, okay?" Phil tried again, hoping to get some sort of response this time.
"Okay." Dan finally agreed, his voice hardly audible. Phil had never even heard Dan's voice so quiet before.
Soon with Dan's agreement, he called up the local dentist whom made an appointment that was scheduled in the next two hours.
By now, Dan's whole jaw was hurting. It worried Phil that Dan was in so much pain over a small tooth, thinking maybe there was something much worse wrong than just a simple cavity of some sort.
Although with much convincing and another one of Dan's breakdowns, they finally made it out the door. It didn't take very long to get there, but most the struggle was getting Dan to move. Phil had to practically drag him into the dentist office, where the office people kindly greeted him.
"Hi! Appointment for Daniel Howell? Right this way." One of the nurses motioned for Dan to follow, but Dan refused to move from his spot by Phil.
Phil tried to give him a slight, boosting push towards the nurse, but it was almost like Dan was glued to the floor.
"Please don't make me go in there with them." Dan pleaded almost silently to Phil, his brown eyes full of worry once he met Phil's gaze.
"It will be over in an hour or so. Suck it up and be a man." Phil gave Dan one more reassuring smile and tried to get Dan to move yet again.
Finally, Phil saw Dan hesitantly follow the nurse into the operating room and he could tell how terrified and uncomfortable Dan was just by watching him.
It had been around an hour when the nurse finally came out into the waiting room to speak with Phil. For the last hour, he had just been lazily scrolling through his twitter and tumblr, replying back to some of his fans. He decided not to tell about Dan's surgery, only because he didn't want Dan to get mad at him for doing so.
"Phil Lester?" The nurse called for him, resulting him to quickly sit up and walk over to her. He'd be lying if he didn't say he was worried about Dan.
"We looked at Daniel's back teeth and decided on pulling out the one that had been bothering him. We just need to make sure you'll sign to come back and get the one refilled so it's not a gaping hole in the back of his mouth." The nurse finished, handing him a clipboard that needed a signature.
"Sure." Phil replied kindly, taking the clipboard and quickly signing. Oh god, Dan was going to hate him.
"Great, Dan should be out in a couple of minutes. Just be sure to change the gauze every now and then." The nurse gave him a smile before scurrying off back into the operating room.
After a few minutes on debating whether he should just tell Dan right away that he has to come back or if he should wait, Phil was popped out of his thinking bubble to see Dan coming out of the operating room. He was holding a bag full of dentist related things, but Phil could see the unamused look on his face.
"Can we go now?" Dan's voice was restricted from the cotton, making it sound quite funny. Phil had to again bite his lip to stop his laugh from coming out.
"Sure," Phil beamed at him, proud that Dan had finally faced his fear. "How do you feel?" He asked, only to see Dan glaring at him as they made their way out of the dentist office and out into the city.
"How the fuck do you think I feel, Phil?" Dan spat at him, lowering his eyes down to the ground as they walked.
Dan was clearly still upset. Phil didn't want to push the subject anymore so the walk back to their flat was deadly silent.
When the lift had opened to their floor, Dan was still refusing to speak or even look at Phil. He just continued on walking toward the door to their flat, unlocking it and strolling in. Phil had no choice than to follow behind, almost like a sad lost puppy.
"Dan?" Phil asked once he got inside their flat, this time his own voice was quiet and distant. He really hadn't meant for Dan to get upset at him, he just wanted Dan to feel better. And the only way that would happen was if Dan went to the dentist.
"What do you want Phil?" Dan's voice was cold, making Phil cringe. Dan was never angry and it shocked Phil once he heard how bitter his voice was.
"Please don't be mad at me." His eyes threatened to water, but he did everything to keep the tears from falling. Over all, Phil was a pretty sensitive person. Not many people knew it because he tried to act like he was strong so people wouldn't label him.
"I'm not mad at you." Dan sighed, making his way up the stairs and to his bedroom without another word.
Phil debated whether he should follow Dan or not, and he decided he probably should. It was mostly his own fault that Dan was being like this. If only he wasn't so blunt about making Dan go. Plus he didn't want Dan mad at him, or anyone to be mad at him really. He wasn't the kind of person that people hated.
Grabbing the blanket that laid on top of the couch that they both snuggled with before they left, Phil was soon on his way up the stairs. He wrapped the fuzzy blanket around himself once he stood outside Dan's door, reaching his fist out to gently knock on it. There was a long pause before Dan answered.
"Phil go away." The voice muffled through the door.
"Please can I come in?" Phil's tone wavered as his hand reached down to grip the door handle.
"Whatever."
Phil took that as a yes, hurriedly turning the handle and letting himself in to see Dan laid upon his bed, facing the other direction. His feet scampered over to the bed, reluctantly climbing on top of it and squirming his way over to lay beside Dan.
They both lay in silence as the time went by. They could feel eachothers heat radiating onto the others body. To Phil, it almost seemed like it were night time and they were both going to sleep. But of course, Phil knew better.
"I'm sorry." Phil finally whispered out, breaking the silence that sat between them. "I just wanted you to feel better and I thought… I thought that maybe facing your fear and going to the dentist would make you feel better." He protested before letting out a relieved sigh. He had finally gotten out what he had been wanting to say.
Despite how upset Dan was, Phil heard the bed creak to see Dan turn his body so it was now facing him. Phil's eyes fluttered close and felt Dan's lips brush against his forehead. His heart physically ached for Dan and realized he could never stand for Dan to be mad at him. It would be to hard for Phil to bare. Him and Dan did everything together.
"Does this mean you forgive me?" Phil slowly opened his eyes back up see Dan's now passion filled brown eyes staring down at him. Just glancing into Dan's warming eyes said yes. They didn't have to speak to communicate. They knew eachother so well that Phil could see his eyes were forgiving.
Phil carefully pulled half the fuzzy blanket that was still on himself and draped it over the majority of Dan's body. The warmth and affection of having his Dan so close made his whole body tingle. His stomach almost filled with butterflies.
His head curled down into Dan's chest as their bodies molded together. Phil just laid there, listening to the younger boy's perfect heartbeat until he slowly felt himself drifting off into dream land.
And all of the fears would soon to be forgotten. Until the next dentist appointment.