Dan sat quietly on the couch, sipping his now-cold tea. He stared at the black screen of the tv. Phil being gone for a day or two wasn't new to him, but this time his best friend had left to go to a family reunion, leaving the younger one alone in London for a week. It was way past midnight by now and even though the boys slept apart a lot lately (the result of Phil complaining about his best friend stealing his blanket as well as keeping him up until 4 am), Dans brain just didn't feel like settling down without the safety of knowing that his boyfriend was sleeping just down the hallway. Leaving out a frustrated sigh he got up only to reluctantly make his way to his room and plop down on the bed. But no matter how hard he tried to get comfortable, sleep just didn't settle in and Dan ended up tossing and turning for what felt like hours. Defeated he rolled over and grabbed his phone, dialing his boyfriends number.
"Phil?"
"Hey babe." Phil sounded irritated, after all they had just got off the phone a little while ago.
"Hey." Dan smiled weakly, just hearing his best friends voice made him feel better almost instantly.
"You okay?" The genuine concern in the other boys voice almost made him feel bad, he didn't want him to worry unnecessarily but right now the sheer desperation to finally get to sleep did overweigh that thought.
"Yeah... Well actually no, not really."
"What's wrong?"
"Can't sleep, I miss you." Dan was audibly embarrassed, burying his face in his pillows he made it hard for his boyfriend to understand his muffled voice. The other end of the line was quiet for a second before the boy could hear a small giggle.
"Stop laughing, it's not funny, I'm tired!" Phil could almost hear Dan pout over the phone.
"I'm really sorry, you just sounded so cute." The elder was still chuckling, to him there wasn't anything more adorable than his sleepy flatmate. His teasing was answered by a mumbled "shut up" and a long sigh.
"Okay, listen Dan, here's what we're going to do: First things first, you go to my room and get yourself some pyjamas and, just this once, my adventure time sweater."
"Really? You never even let me touch that thing, it's like holy to you or something."
"It's for a good cause, isn't it?"
"And that would be?"
"Making sure my amazing boyfriend get's a good night's rest of course."
"You're the amazing one here." Dan grinned before adding: "Literally."
"Did you really just ... ? God Dan, you're such a meme."
"I'm so sorry, I had to." He could almost hear Phil rolling his eyes on the other end of the line.
"Anyway, are you planning on going to sleep soon or would you rather make a few more horrible puns?"
"Aww come on, that's like the only thing I'm good at, let me make my puns."
"Okay, first: that's not true, you're probably the most talented person I know, and second: just shut up and get changed you dork." Dan could hear Phil struggle to maintain his serious voice while surpressing a laugh.
"Fine, just give me a second."
The line was almost silent for a while, only the quiet rustling of clothes could be heard before Dan spoke up again.
"Okay, I've changed."
"You ready? Okay, then lie down in my bed and get comfy, yeah?"
"As you say beautiful boyfriend o' mine." The younger one snickered, frankly said, he quite enjoyed teasing his flatmate. He knew though, how far he could go with that and even though he wasn't good with people, he'd never intentionally crossed that line before.
"God Dan, I swear I'll turn my phone off the next time I go somewhere alone."
"Then I'll just have to make sure that doesn't happen again."
"Be quiet." Phil chuckled before quietly adding: "Adorable idiot."
"Uh-oh, caught you cussing there Mister 'I-never-swear'."
"Just get to bed Dan." Phil could almost see his flatmate grin and he had a hard time surpressing his giggle as well. He was used to Dan getting like this when he was sleepy and even though it was really cute, it was also somewhat exhausting for the older one to handle when he wasn't in London, especially as he was used to going to bed quite some time before his boyfriend. It didn't matter though, they loved each other so much that they had gotten accustomed to adapting to each others habits and quirks to a point that neither of them even noticed that they actually did any longer.
"Already am, didn't you hear me almost falling up the stairs?" Phils trail of thoughts was interrupted by Dans voice.
"I didn't, no. I really hope the stairs are doing alright though." The elder laughed, his boyfriend wasn't the only one who enjoyed occasional teasing.
"Meanie." Both boys were laughing by now. Dan spoke up again once they had calmed down.
"Your bed smells like you, y'know."
"I'll just file that under 'things Dan said that were meant to sound nice but actually creeped me out'." Phil chuckled.
"I like the sound of your laugh."
"Okay Dan, you're going from horrible puns to teasing and saying cute things that you'd never say while being fully awake when you're tired and that's the ultimate sign for you really needing sleep."
"You're probs right, I don't wanna hang up though, just thinking about it makes me miss you again." Phil could tell his boyfriend was truly frustrated, hearing his quiet sigh echo through the speaker.
"How about I'll tell you about my day and stuff until you fall asleep? Maybe that'd help."
"You'd actually do that?"
"Of course." Phil smiled softly. "Now chin up beautiful and put your phone so you can still hear me but stay cosy."
"Done."
"Alright, so you know how I went hiking with my brother today? I thought we were just taking a walk or something but he was planning to actually like climb a mountain. Anyway we were halfway there and ... " Phil spent some time talking about all the things that had happened in the last few days and even though Dan knew most of the stories he still managed to be almost as attentive of a listener that Phil usually was, asking questions and making small comments, yawning from time to time. When the silence on the other end got more frequent, the elder knew it was time to end the call.
"Hey Dan? I love you, you know that, right?"
"Yeah. And I love you too, more than anything else." Dan knew he had the best boy- and more importantly best friend possible and that meant the world to him. He was incredibly grateful for Phil and in contrast to when they first started dating, he had no problem telling him so.
"You don't have any clue how happy that makes me. Two more days, okay? I'll be back before you can say 'more people should respect Kanye as an artist'." He could hear the younger one giggle quietly on the other side of the line.
"Phil?" Dan was almost sleeping by now, his voice barely a whisper.
"Yeah?"
"Thank you. A lot."
"You're welcome." Phil smiled, he expected some kind of response, but instead of getting an actual answer, only Dans steady breathing could be heard through the speaker.
"Sleep well beautiful." And with that he ended the call, returning to the silence of the night.
Phil fell asleep only minutes later, his best friend on his mind and a huge smile on his face.