Sorry, it's not proof-read, let me know if there's any mistakes! I know I need to update other stuff but my feels exploded so I wrote this...

Glitter Rush

A game of truth or dare.

Who knew such a trivial thing could lead so many new opportunities?

Dan and Phil didn't, and when they do figure it out, they find they don't really mind.

"I dare you to…" Louise trails off as she pretends to deeply contemplate their dare.

Dan groans, rolling his eyes yet again – an action that he's in the process of perfecting throughout his teenage years.

"What are we talking about?" Maria asks as they flop down in the empty seat next to Louise, dumping their schoolbag under the table.

"She can't think of a dare," Phil explains without looking up from his English homework.

"You were playing truth or dare without me?" Maria exclaims, folding their arms with a semi-serious pout on their face.

"Shut up, you... globule." Dan seems to regret the nickname as soon as it leaves his mouth, shaking his head and having to blink a stray lock of hair away from his eyes, causing Phil to chuckle under his breath and Dan to elbow him in return , which sends Phil's pencil flying at Louise.

"Cut it out! You're meant to be mature!" Louise grumbles.

"Sorry Mum," Dan grumbles, sitting back with a smug huff.

"Oh, come on, I'd have to be from the sixties or something to be your mum," Louise retorts.

Maria's face lights up as they suddenly remember something, and they turn to the boys with a suspicious grin on their face before looking at Louise. "I have an idea for your dare."

"No way, that's not a trustworthy look." Now it's Phil's turn to shake his head as he retrieves his pencil from Louise.

"You trust Dan and he looks like a-"

"Watch how you finish that sentence," Dan warns Maria, but they know he's not too serious.

"What's your dare idea?" Louise asks, curious.

"You know how you said you've gotta be from, like, the sixties…?" Maria starts.

"Ever heard of being concise and to the point?" Phil interrupts.

"We're not all doing English, you word nerd!" Maria throws back, "Anyway, I know of this great themed party…"

"Themed party?" Dan echoes, looking the exact opposite of enthusiastic.

"Uh huh. Now, shut up a sec. Right so, basically, it's this dude's birthday today and his friends planned a party for him. You have to dress up all nice and appropriate, and then go chill there. It's starting later tonight and anyone willing to go is invited."

"That's all? No catches?" Dan asks, ever the sceptical when it comes to parties.

"Nope."

Louise claps her hands gleefully. "Okay. I dare you to go with Maria to the themed birthday party."

"Oh, I'm not going," Maria corrects her, "I have some games to game."

Dan and Phil simultaneously stare at them in disbelief, their matching looks of regret sending Louise into a land of hysteria, with Maria joining soon after. It takes them a good few minutes to recover, by which time Phil has finished his essay and Dan has stolen Phil's pencil again.

"So, what do we wear?"

Louise tuts at them, "I'm picking your outfits."

"I'd be disappointed if you didn't!" Maria says, probably as their approval.

Which is why the three of them end up at some random tall guy's house, Louise using both arms to drag a stroller behind her and using her threats to drag Dan and Phil into the admittedly very aesthetic abode.

"This is definitely not the sixties," Phil declares as soon as they step inside, noticing the alarming lack of tie dye, bandanas, and peace signs.

"We'll just have to adapt." Louise shrugs, beckoning for the two disheartened boys to follow her, grinning to herself when they do, despite their evident reluctance.

"Why do you have a stroller though?" Phil asks as a girl nudges them into a spare room, clearly bored of people trailing in before they're ready; apparently the theme was a sudden change that nobody had quite prepared for – except Louise, of course.

"Because I was being hella precautious," Louise replies, already opening the zip and pulling a few shirts out.

Dan immediately grabs a metallic cream-coloured one, slipping it over his black top and leaving it unbuttoned 'for the authentic aesthetic and shit'. Phil, on the other hand, lets Louise pick one for him, laughing when she picks a strange piece of fabric that would probably be better suited as an elderly cat lady's living room curtain.

"You look like trash!" Dan laughs.

"Your mum looks like trash," Phil mutters under his breath, sticking his tongue out.

"You're teenagers!" Louise chides, pushing them both onto a stool in front of the vanity mirror.

"What are you doing?" Dan asks, frowning at the silver box Louise pulls up on to the dresser.

Louise just rolls her eyes. "What, you thought you could get away without a sprinkle of glitter to fit the seventies' theme?"

"Glitter?"

"Oh look, the room has an echo now." If dry sarcasm could have an award, Louise would get it.

Albeit grudgingly, Dan lets Louise gently brush over his face with some powder, and then use what looks like a paintbrush to dab some glitter onto the corner of his eye. She's finished the first layer of multi-coloured glitter when Phil accidentally nudges her and a strange streak of shine runs up to Dan's eyebrow.

"Phil!" Dan whines, sighing.

"Sorry!"

"You will be!" Dan starts to get up but Louie pushes him back with a firm clearing of her throat and a dramatic make-up brush flourish.

"I will fix this, don't you worry."

"You put pink glitter on my face and I will literally murder you," Dan mutters quietly, only half serious.

With a laugh, Louise gets to work, painting the silver glitter in the shape of a crescent moon as if she's done this type of thing a million times before. Once she's done, she goes over it with something that smells like a chemistry experiment gone wrong, and steps back with a satisfied "Voila!"

"That's just dan-tastic!" Phil winks.

Dan tries to simply glare, internally laughing, but his dimple gives him away and Phil smirks in satisfaction as Louise picks up her brush again. This time, she does it with a little more care. That is, until Dan purposely nudges her and causes Phil's meant-to-be-matching moon to turn into a deformed fish.

"Daaan!" Louise groans, "Why am I friends with you idiots?"

"How many other guys would let you dress them up for a themed party?" Phil asks.

Louise pretends the question is rhetorical as she sets on fixing the newest smudge. In the end, Phil ends up with what can be classed as a fish, but could be accepted as a moon, or just taken to be an example of abstract art. Either way, it's colourful and shiny and perfect to Phil.

"Thanks!" Phil beams, gently poking the hardened glitter, then frowning. "How are we meant to get this off?"

"Well, would you look at the time? You're going to be late! Bye now!" Louise manages to shove the both of them through the door before they can realise she has no idea exactly how to remove the glitter from their faces.

Phil links his arms with Dan's as they walk into the conservatory, where the loud music is radiating from. The two of them awkwardly merge into the crowd, sliding towards the food table so they can grab some edible encouragement in case of spontaneous dance break-outs.

"You guys came late! You've missed most of the dancing!" someone tells Phil.

"Sorry, we dressed for the wrong era to start with!" Phil laughs.

Dan can't help low-key admire the way Phil's social skills can seem genuine when he's talked to, as opposed to Dan, who literally refuses to utter even a single word unless his moral compass calls for it.

"That's alright, and at least you won't miss the main activity!" the guy laughs as he twirls into someone's duet, and Phil turns to Dan with a puzzled look.

"Main activity?"

"Like I know," Dan reminds him, "We're just going off what Maria said."

"They said we just had to chill!"

"They better not have been lying…"

"Yeah, because lying makes you go to hell." Phil says randomly, and Dan files that under 'things Phil has said that should be used later in life but forgotten right now'

"ALRIGHT, LISTEN THE- I MEAN, LISTEN UP!" someone, assumingly the host, bellows.

Dan and Phil both jump and crash into each other, their heads thudding and similar groans escaping them. Rubbing their throbbing heads, they turn to the guy who'd yelled and both groan again as he announces they're going to be heading out soon.

"Where exactly are we going?" Dan mutters, not expecting anyone to hear.

Someone does hear; a girl with short, curly hair turns to them with a puzzled look. "What did you do, not read the invite? We're going rollerblading…" she trails off as she walks to her friend, leaving Dan and Phil to share a look.

"Rollerblading? You must be joking…" Phil's voice is quiet, so only Dan hears, and has to fight the urge to laugh aloud. Instead, he snorts and pretends to cough in attempt to hide it.

Before either of them can find Louise to protest, they're moved along by the swarm of glittered teenagers and end up stumbling along with everyone else. Luckily, the half drunk, equally clumsy, and even more clueless students stumble just as much as them so they don't particularly stick out as idiots amongst a hive mind.

"I will never get my feet out of those," Phil comments as soon as he sees the potentially problematic devices he has to stick his feet into.

"What are you, a chicken?" Dan jokes, nudging Phil.

"Fine. Let's see who can get the least bruises."

"Get ready to lose, sucker!" Dan winks, going to grab a pair of rollerblades.

"Sucker? What are we, nine?" Phil asks himself as he follows, trying to find a pair that seem reasonable and ending up with ones that seem like they won't fuse to his limbs.

Between taunting each other, trying to slip the rollerblades on, and waiting for the mass of giggling students to diminish, it takes them a good seven minutes to actually get going, both of them immediately overbalancing and going to lean on each other, then landing with solid thuds.

Dan swears as Phil laughs and pulls himself up with the help of a passing stranger, then reaches to help. With a sigh, Dan takes Phil's hand and uses the taller boy as a ballast until they're both upright once again. He goes to unlink their hands but Phil has other ideas, firmly lacing their fingers together and smiling slyly.

"Phil…?"

"No-one's going to see us past the neon lights and purple shadows." Phil shrugs.

Dan goes to argue but gives in after he sees the bright sparkle in his favourite blue eyes and simply lets Phil pull him along, starting to move his feet forwards in alternating patterns so he can speed up and avoid pulling Phil to the floor with him. It's not long before they have a decent rhythm.

They would have been fine too, if it hadn't been for the random student that crashes into them with absolutely no warning. Accidental kicks are definitely exchanged as the three boys try to regain their balance and fail, eventually landing in an unceremonious heap.

"Sorry guys!" the boy says sheepishly, pulling himself up with an elegance that pales in comparison to the average person but shines in contrast to Dan and Phil.

"No worries. We'd probably have fallen sooner or later," Phil replies as Dan finishes inwardly cursing.

"You here with the party?"

"Why else would we be wearing these clothes?" Dan asks, still grumpy from having fallen over.

To their shock, the boy just laughs. "Fair point, mate."

"Are we in the same classes?" Phil asks, struggling to work out if they know the boy or not.

"Shouldn't think so. I'm not even in the same school as you."

Dan can't help but visibly relax, feeling a lot less guilty already. Naturally, they don't get to make much small talk because wheels aren't the best for stability and all three of them would prefer to make it home as unbruised as possible.

"Catch you guys later! If you want me, yell 'Anthony' and I'll find you!" apparently-Anthony calls over his shoulder, subtly saluting as he glides away from them.

"I'm not yelling anything," Phil says as soon as he's out of earshot.

Dan elbows Phil with a small smile, a strange emotion flowing through his stomach as he realises that their hands are still linked and Anthony hadn't made a comment about it. Of course, it's more than possible that he'd assumed they were helping each other up, or that he hadn't seen it in the first place, but a part of Dan wants to believe he didn't care at all.

Because that would mean he could carry on.

So, because they can, they do. The two of them keep their clutch on each other's hands tight as they attempt to glide around, eventually mastering the movement and giggling to each other as they whoosh past others who are trying to do the same thing.

"See? It's not so bad."

Just as Phil says that, Dan slips and emits a croaky shriek, stumbling into Phil and sending them crashing into the pillar at the side. They do stay on their feet – or rather, wheels – but it counts as a minor calamity of clumsiness anyway.

"You were saying?" Dan raises an eyebrow as they check for bruises, thankfully coming up with no obvious ones.

"Oh, shut up," Phil mutters.

"That's not what your mum said last night," Dan retorts.

Phil manages a strange combination of rolling his eyes and opening his mouth in mock surprise, resulting in an expression that quickly renders Dan incapable of standing upright, and he has to double over as he tries to breathe through his laughter.

"Don't laugh at my face, Howell."

Of course, Dan just carries on laughing.

Even though Phil tries his hardest to stay composed, he's soon smirking, then grinning, then chuckling, and pretty soon, he's also doubled over with a case of acute hysteria. He ends up slipping and sliding until he finds himself on the floor, his legs stretched out in front of him and his arm wrapped around his stomach as if physically trying to hold his laugher inside.

Dan, who'd been forced to sit down next to him because of their clasped hands, recovers first, and pulls out his miraculously undamaged phone, snapping a picture of Phil mid-laugh. He's never seen someone look so radiant.

"Oh, hey, no fair!" Phil exclaims, quickly lifting his phone close to Dan's face and taking a picture without even looking.

Dan scrunches his nose up but doesn't complain, knowing that revenge is justified. He grins at Phil. "Want to try taking a selfie?"

"Try?"

"Sorry, Mr Vocabulary. Wanna take a selfie?"

Phil chuckles, then nods, lifting his phone up and pressing his head to Dan's to get them both in the frame. For a minute, Dan worries that they'd ruined their glitter but, thanks to Louise, they both have it on opposite sides of their face and it's not really a problem.

Still giddy, Dan presses his face to Phil's, laughing when he feels the warmth from the older boy's blush, and smiles for the camera. Before he can even blink, Phil's turned round and taken a close up of Dan's glitter moon.

"What? It's a good moon."

"And yours is a great… fish," Dan decides, clicking a photo oh Phil's facial fish.

"Fish?" Phil echoes questioningly.

"Yeah… A fish… So it can go swimming in your eye…" Dan improvises, biting his lip.

Phil's loving smile of amusement is hands down the cutest thing Dan's seen in his whole life, and one hundred percent makes the surprise exercise worth it.

"It's a good thing these lights are purple, or else I would look sunburnt," Phil murmurs.

It's so peaceful sitting behind the pillar with a soft neon light shining down on them like a purple sun that they decide not to move at all.

Of course, they have to get up when someone announces that they're about to be kicked out if they don't all vanish in the next five minutes, and so they awkwardly make their way to the benches where they can pull their shoes off.

Dan manages to pull his rollerblades off with surprising ease, but Phil has to curse his previous neglect of intuition when his stay firmly jammed on his feet. Dan grins, and grabs one of the wheeled menaces, yanking with all his might as Phil pulls in the other direction. Both of them go flying, but Phil's foot emerges, unscathed aside from a dull ache.

The fact that Phil has two jammed feet means that they're the last to childishly return their rollerblades and slip on their trainers, ignoring the looks of both bemused and exasperated staff as they follow the trail of people returning to the original party address.

Of course, neither of them know that they'll pay the place a visit when they're much older, and much less immature – or rather, much better at hiding their immaturity. And, because they don't know, they assume that they've simply satiated a dare and regard the whole thing as a standalone event in their lives.

This thought naturally leads to Dan laughing as he asks, "Why on earth did we agree to do that?"

Phil shrugs, a wide smile still painted on his face. "Must have been the glitter…"

"Right. The glitter. It was definitely the glitter. The glitter on our faces. The glitter is the cause of this," Dan rambles, giggling.

"Shut up! You don't even sound this bad when you're on a sugar rush!" Phil isn't really one to say anything though, because he's laughing just as hard, fondly smiling at Dan's unnecessary commentary.

"Maybe I am on a sugar rush?" Dan looks as bewildered as a toddler being lectured on trigonometry.

"Glitter rush, more like." Phil nods solemnly, and Dan can't help but mentally compare him to a trainee teacher who's assuring themselves that they're teaching their class the right thing.

"Mhmmm…" Dan hums as their fingers interlock once again, and their shoulders brush as they swerve to avoid crashing into a lamppost.

"We're still wearing the shirts!" Phil realises suddenly, his eyes widening.

"It's not like Louise will need them," Dan says, "She probably doesn't care."

"Sure?" Phil asks, but he already knows the answer because he's smiling again.

"Sure!" Dan answers anyway, still giggling loudly.

Phil turns to Dan, grinning at his dimples and carefree smile, the way his eyes reflect the streetlights, and the glitter that's escaped his moon and landed on the rest of his skin, making him literally sparkle.

"Dan?"

"Yeah?"

"Kiss me?"

Dan smile freezes only for a moment, but his emotions must have been steadily climbing the belt before the drop on the rollercoaster because he doesn't hesitate any longer before he leans in to do exactly that, and make the bubble of joy in Phil's stomach drop faster than a theme park ride.

Phil barely remembers his initial intention and just manages to take the picture he thinks will turn out good before the two of them pull away for breath, grinning harder than Cheshire Cats.

"You took a photo? You sly little-"

"Shut up for a second and look at it?" Phil grins confidently, showing Dan the photo.

The two of them having glitter on opposite sides has worked out perfectly, and Phil's photography skills had not failed him. They're kissing, obviously, but you can see the glitter shapes on their faces shining in the foreground, with their closed eyes shadowed but distinguishable, and the glow of overhead streetlights illuminating them like angels in the candlelight.

"We look…" Dan can't even finish his sentence, his smile too wide.

"…Like we're both drunk on vintage clothing and neon spotlights?" Phil offers.

Dan laughs, and nods his agreement, gently elbowing Phil before linking their hands together and softly starting to hum nothing in particular.

As the two of them walk back together in the beautiful autumn evening, they don't think about anything else except each other, occasionally muttering something and cracking up, having to stop walking as they catch their breath.

It's already way past fashionably late when they get back to the party, but they don't care. Their fingers stay entwined and they must appear to be glued together, but they don't care. Despite being at a birthday party, they never do figure out who exactly is celebrating and wish them, or at least thank them, but they don't care.

Of course, they do afterwards blame it on their glitter rush.

Please leave a review! Any thoughts and feedback or requests for something else? Have a good one :)