Dan Howell was known for constant pacing. Whether it was because work was stressing or his unusual questions concerning his importance in the universe, he was pacing.
He couldn't help it, though. When stressed, confused, anxious, or was hiding something, he fidgeted with whatever was obtainable at the moment. Just last week he had to give a report in a meeting, and he distracted everyone from his presentation by toying with the hem of his shirt.
So it was obvious that constant fidgeting meant constant pacing.
But why exactly would Dan Howell be pacing at 3:28 in the afternoon?
Dan was panicking.
He and his girlfriend had been together for five months. Yes, that was a good thing, considering Dan had to fight the urge to poke her eye out constantly.
Don't get the wrong idea; she was an amazing girl. Aria spent the weekends at an animal shelter, supportive about Dan's idiotic ideas, and god, she could bake.
Dan loved her, and that was the whole truth, but something happened to them three months into their relationship.
Aria began demanding snogging sessions. She nagged at him to let her move in. She became agitated with him when he refused to have sex with her.
He wasn't afraid of commitment. In fact, he preferred long-term relationships over a nightly one-off.
He was afraid of sex.
Dan Howell was afraid of embarrassing himself with his lack of experience.
Why would someone be nervous about kissing their lover? After all, he should feel most comfortable with her.
Dan felt like crying. Or laughing. Or both.
So here he was, walking in a thin line up and down his bedroom, mumbling to himself about how stupid he was being.
The brown wooden tiles on the floor creaked as his feet was shifting around the room. The curtains were drawn and the sun shone inside, revealing a trail of dust floating in the air.
One last creak from the floor could be heard before loud banging erupted.
Normally in romance stories like these, sudden door-knocking would be unusual.
For Dan Howell, however, he received these unfriendly demands daily.
The door swung open almost violently as Phil Lester's angry face came into view. Dan flinched at the ugly sight. Seriously, some under-eye concealer would help his unhealthy bags.
"What do you want, Lester?" Dan demanded.
"Funny you should ask, Howell." Phil shoved a leaf that was kept behind his back in Dan's face.
"Lester, I'm not interested in ogling over leaves with you."
This seemed to redden Phil's face, and Dan knew it wasn't because he was blushing.
"Howell, this is the third time this week your leaves blew into my yard. Rake them or I will."
"Thanks for offering, Lester. I did hope I could find a maid," was the response, which only raised Phil's annoyed expression.
"I'm being serious, Howell. Don't test me."
"Oh, right, I forgot. Your lazy self doesn't cooperate with actual manual labor. How about you ask one of your many girlfriends, I'm sure they would agree if you offered another casual fuck."
Phil somehow took the insult as an invitation inside the house, because he took a step inside to grab Dan by his shirt collar.
"You are dangerously close to getting your face pounded in." Phil spat.
"Playing high school bully again, are we?"
Phil stepped back.
"Just don't let it happen again, Howell," he growled as he turned away.
"Wait, I need you to teach me how to kiss." The words were out of his mouth before he registered it in his mind. He didn't intend to blurt it out, but the fact that Phil had a wide range of knowledge on kissing taunted him.
"Your girlfriend not doing the job?"
"Look, I just want to know how. I-" he lowered his voice to an octave above a whisper. "- I don't know how and I'm nervous Aria would be disappointed."
A single eyebrow was raised.
"And you think I would be helpful why?"
"You had a lot of relationships."
"Doesn't mean I know what I'm doing," Phil pointed out.
"Please."
Phil, surprisingly, seemed consider it.
"Okay, say I do agree to help you. You learn how to kiss, and are able to please your girlfriend temporarily, until she realizes she's way out of your league. What's in it for me?"
"I'll do anything you want."
"Anything?" A single eyebrow of his rose once again, and Dan cursed himself at his poor choice of words.
"Not anything, of course. Nothing illegal or brain-damaging. I'm willing to humiliate myself, though."
Phil's head turned to the side as he contemplated.
"Alright. Just to be clear, you did say anything that didn't involve brain-damage or prison time, so you can't back out if you feel like it."
The intimidating stare from the older made Dan rethink his suggestion. They locked eyes and Dan willed himself not to make himself appear frightened by fidgeting with his trouser belt loop.
"Okay, we begin tomorrow. I have work, so maybe around six? Why do I bother asking, you do nothing all day. Of course six would work for you."
Phil nodded as he left the house, leaving a frozen Dan blinking at what had just happen.
Dan arrived at Phil's house thirty minutes early. He had paced around his backyard for three hours, thinking about his and Phil's agreement.
As his head hit the pillow the night before, his eyes widened as he replayed the scenario in his mind for the umpteenth time. He wondered what kind of impression he gave to Phil, just blurting it out.
He didn't end up falling asleep until five.
He woke up with a headache.
He paced some more.
After hours of anxious movement, he knocked three times on the front door. The first knock was too hard, the second too soft, and the third seemed uneven, as if he wasn't sure if three knocks were necessary.
And yes, he contemplated what the knocks should be like the night before.
Instead of the raven-haired man opening the door, a skinny dark-skinned female greeted him with a scowl.
"Who are you?" she asked with distaste.
"Er, I'm here for Lester."
That seemed to be enough for her because she shrugged and opened the door wider.
The outside of the house wasn't all that great. It was painted a pretty blue shade with windows strewn across the walls. The inside, however, seemed much more grand. Dan wondered if Phil possibly had a sugar-daddy, because considering the house was larger than most, he would have believed it.
It all seemed a bit intimidating for Dan.
He glanced up the staircase to see an upset Phil. Obviously, he was unwelcome.
"You're half an hour early," Phil sneered.
"So what?"
"I was busy. I obviously specified a time where we would have no interruptions." Phil was annoying, that much was clear.
"What, didn't want a lover to know you associated with low-class plebeians like myself?" He grumbled.
Phil dismissed the lame argument with a wave of his hand.
"Alright, let's just get this over with," he said, but he didn't move except to place his hands on his waist.
"Don't you think we should sit on the couch? Standing would be tiring."
Phil rolled his eyes but seemed to agree because he motioned Dan to follow him as he lead him into the living room. They passed a blonde girl on their way and Dan couldn't help but mumble, "One girlfriend not enough?"
Apparently Phil heard as he lightly smacked the top of his head.
"She's a maid."
The couch was black and the cushions seemed droopy. Phil sat on the left side of the sofa while Dan sat on the edge of the right side.
"Well?"
Dan felt awkward and knew he was showing it.
"Howell, I can't teach you if I don't know how much improvement you need."
Dan didn't understand.
"Why not just tell me the basics first, then get on with the more complicated stuff?" Dan asked.
Phil looked at Dan as if he grew another head.
"You do realize we will have to kiss, right?"
Finally, Dan got it. His eyes widened and his heart rate increased.
"No, I didn't. I thought we would just talk."
"For the most part, yes. But there is only so much you can explain, you need to practice." The shocked expression on Dan's face never left.
"I.." Dan couldn't finish his sentence. He didn't even know what he was going to say.
"I understand you are slow to process things, Howell, but this is just sad."
Dan gulped as he slid closer to Phil.
"What do I do?" He asked, fidgeting with the small pillow on the sofa.
Phil was impatient and he snapped, "Just kiss me so I know what I need to explain."
"Okay, um." He leaned forward so that their noses were an inch apart. He froze there, though, and looked into the blue eyes of the other.
Phil rolled his eyes and closed the remaining gap between them.
Dan stood still, not knowing what to do, and Phil remained frozen as well, obviously wanting Dan to deepen the kiss.
Dan still was confused about how kissing worked, so he just pushed his head towards Phil. hoping he was doing something right.
He wasn't.
Phil pulled back with a disgusted look, eyebrows knit close together.
"What in the world are you doing, Howell?"
Dan flushed.
"I don't know, I told you I didn't know how to kiss."
"Yes, but surely you noticed kissing involves moving your mouth."
He didn't respond, so Phil huffed and pressed their lips together once more.
This time, Phil moved his mouth.
Dan didn't.
He remained still as cold lips mapped out his own. Phil caught Dan's lower lip between his teeth and pulled gently. Dan whimpered.
Phil pulled back.
"Really, Howell, that wasn't even that hard, you shouldn't be in pain, you wimp." Dan didn't want to explain it was anything but painful, so he settled with a small shrug.
Dan's courage grew as he was the one who initiated the next kiss.
It was sloppy, and the angle was weird, but that didn't stop Dan from pressing his lips tighter to the other man's. He pecked the outer corners of Phil's lips. He rubbed his lips against Phil's, still not sure what he's supposed to do.
Phil pulled away and despite the fact that Phil's lips were chilly, his own lips suddenly felt cooler than before.
"No, no, this is all wrong. Howell, you suck at kissing. No wonder your girlfriend doesn't give you some."
"If I'm so bad at it then, why don't you explain what I'm doing wrong to I can fix it."
"If this is how you have been kissing your girlfriend, I say it's a lost cause. But if you really want to know, it's because you freeze up whenever anything touches your lips. You press to hard. You move your lips only up and down, and that's not considered properly kissing."
"This was a bad idea from the start. Let's just forget it."
"Hey, it's your first try. We'll get there. Eventually."
Dan shrugged.
"Look, we'll practice longer tomorrow. Will three work for you?" Dan nodded and awkwardly stood up.
"Oh, and Howell? Get some sleep, you look like you got run over by a truck."
Dan only half smiled, knowing the statement was more of an insult.
If insults hurled his way half the time, he didn't feel this was worth it.
"No, no, no. You're screwing this up, Howell."
They broke apart and Dan pouted. He thought he was doing a pretty good job, even though they had been kissing for only fifteen minutes.
"What's wrong? I think I'm getting the hang of this."
"You can't breathe and kiss simultaneously. Pick one and stick with it."
"Well I'm sorry I need oxygen," he snapped sarcastically.
Dan took a deep breath before resuming to their snogging. Their lips met a tad more violently than he anticipated, but his lips instantly softened. He got three seconds in before he exhaled violently onto Phil's face.
Of course, Phil shoved him away immediately.
"God, your breath stinks."
That's not normally what people wanted to hear after kissing.
"I can't hold my breath for very long, Lester."
"Breathe through your nose, then," he demanded.
"I'm not a nose breather."
"That's not my problem."
They were being immature, Dan knew, but since when did they ever get along?
"There seems to be more insults than kissing."
"Maybe if you improved a little then I wouldn't need to criticize you as often," Phil sneered.
"Maybe if you actually told me how to improve instead of telling me what I did wrong, then I would improve." He folded his arms in a childish way and stuck out his tongue.
"Oh, real mature. It's a mystery why you have a girlfriend."
"At least I have a girlfriend. Whores just live here to do chores in exchange for sex."
Phil pushed Dan against the window.
"Maybe you ought to shut your mouth," he spat angrily.
"Maybe you ought to make me." The taught in his voice brought them both over the edge.
Phil pinned Dan's arms above them, gripping his wrists tightly as he attacked his face with his lips.
He pressed violent kisses to his forehead, nose, chin, cheeks, his temples. He finally reached Dan's lips and pressed against his lips, giving him open mouthed kisses. His breath was scorching and Dan felt as though he was on fire.
"You're. So. Stupid," Phil breathed, kissing his lips roughly between words.
"I hate you," Dan gasped as his Phil's tongue pushed through his lips, invading his innocent mouth.
"The feeling's mutual," he mumbled as he pressed his body flush against Dan.
Dan gasped and tilted his head back, giving Phil the opportunity to remove his tongue from Dan's mouth to bomb his neck with kisses.
His neck has always been a sensitive spot, though he's never sure why. It's no surprise Dan feels instantly hard as Phil sinks his teeth into the skin, sucking on it, then pressing a kiss to the red mark he left.
Phil shifted and Dan realized he was dangerously close to finding how his dick was reacting to the situation.
Dan pushed Phil away with the little strength he had.
"I need to go," he panted. He ran out the door without finding an excuse.
"Fuck!"
Dan grumbled as he stomped out of the bathroom.
This was a nightmare. His girlfriend would sure find out now. This entire thing with Phil was a mistake.
He was angry. He was himself for not stopping Phil when he bit into his neck. He was angry at Phil for not considering the possibility that Aria would realize the love bites. He was angry at himself for loving it so much.
Dan give it much thought when he marched to Phil's house and angrily knocked on the door.
As usual, one of Phil's shagging buddies opened the door.
He didn't explain himself as he walked right into the room.
He ran into Phil's room, stood right in front of Phil, and yanked the top of his shirt down to reveal the red bruises on his neck.
Phil simply raised a delicate eyebrow.
"I am very close to murdering, Lester, so give me a valid reason as to why I shouldn't," he growled,
The calm expression on Phil's face remained as he replied, and Dan wished right then he had the courage to slap his face.
"Murder is illegal."
"I'm not joking around. The lovebites are obvious and there's no way Aria won't notice"
Phil scoffed, "Lovebites. Don't be ridiculous, there's no 'love' in what I did."
"That's not the point," Dan growled.
"Yes, alright, whatever. I was busy before you rudely interrupted."
"Doing what, exactly?"
"Some of us have work. Unlike you, who probably never worked a day in your life."
"I work," Dan insisted.
"Oh, really? Please enlighten me, I'm extremely curious," Phil insisted, but his sarcastic tone explained he couldn't care less.
"I study law."
Phil's eyebrows raised. "You, doing law? Yeah, that'll be the day."
"I do, actually. Law's a bitch, but I still get it done."
"Do you not actually enjoy it?"
"Not really," he shrugged.
"Then why this that your career?" Phil appeared astonished at the revelation of Dan's dislike for law, but Dan didn't see why. Plenty of people had a job they hated.
"Pays well."
"I don't get you, Howell."
"So, what about you?" He conversed.
"What about me?"
"What do you do?"
"Video Post-Production."
Dan didn't believe it. "You make videos?" He asked, unconvinced He meant it as a question but it certainly didn't come out that way.
"Is that such a surprise?"
"Er, I guess. I just assumed you stayed at home all day, letting your servants get you food."
Phil took it to offense. "That would be you, Howell. Except your house is small and your servant is your girlfriend."
Dan scowled. "She's not a servant."
"Why are you even here?"
Dan seemed to have forgotten about the hickeys as their argument grew until now. He had no problem reminding Phil this was his fault because he pushed his shirt down once more to expose the larger marks.
"Because I want you to get rid of this."
"Oh, I'm not entirely sure how to fix that. Amanda, on the other hand, is."
Dan blinked. "Who's Amanda?"
Instead of answering, Phil picked up a small bell next to him and shook it softly until a young woman, probably in her teens, appeared.
"Yes, Phil?" She giggled, and Dan was torn between wanting to slap her or slap Phil.
"My dear friend here begged me to mark him yesterday, and now he refuses to live with the consequences."
She giggled once more.
"I apologize, Phil, but I don't know how to get rid of hickeys," she shrugged and walked off.
Phil seemed pleased at the answer.
"Well, Howell, looks like your girlfriend will find out."
"My girlfriend has a name, you know," he snapped, rapidly growing agitated.
"Congratulations, I don't give a flying fuck," he drawled in a lazy tone.
Dan growled. "Whatever, I'm leaving."
"Have a safe trip home, darling," Phil mocked.
"Fuck off."
Attempting to hide the hickeys from Aria was a task. Before she arrived, he wrapped himself in a blanket, making sure his neck was hidden.
Yes, if you were curious, he spent ten minutes pacing before he thought of putting a blanket on himself.
Aria knocked on the door softly. She greeted him with a smile and a hug. Dan grabbed her hand and pulled her to the living room, where he set up piles of blankets and pillows.
"A pillow fort," she smiled.
"I thought we could have a movie night. That is, if you want to? We can do something else if you don't like it," he said quickly, but she shushed him.
"No, no, this sounds perfect. Thank you."
So there they sat, cuddling in a mountain of couch cushions and warm blankets, snacking on popcorn and watching Harry Potter.
He took a glance at Aria and noticed her eyes were becoming droopy. She was about to fall asleep.
She was adorable when she was tired, he decided. Her hair was messed up from the friction of the blankets, and dark circles formed under her eyes.
Dan's mind drifted to thoughts of Phil. He wondered what he would look like when he was sleepy. Dan snorted at the thought; Phil would probably ring a bell and demand his maid to brush through his hair, the ponce.
Dan tried to understand why his stomach churned whenever he and Phil kissed. He didn't feel like that he was around Aria.
Phil was different.
With Aria, he felt comfortable and loved. He noted all the small details about her and thought she was adorable.
With Phil, however, he felt fire. Heat radiated off him and he felt as though there were scorching flames burning the insides of his flesh.
Dan knew he was bi. He knew he was attracted to men as he was attracted to women.
But he didn't know why he felt so odd near Phil, because he certainly didn't find Phil attractive in the least.
Two days later, at ten at night, Dan could be found sitting on his sofa with his laptop. It was an extremely slow day; he thought an hour passed when in reality it was ten minutes.
An angry knock on the door made Dan jump.
He opened the door to see an annoyed Phil glaring daggers at him. Dan raised an eyebrow.
"There is cat poop on my lawn."
"Er, good job?" Dan didn't know how to respond. He didn't even know why Phil was here.
"I'm blaming you," Phil explained.
"I don't even have a cat," he said, squinting at Phil's stupidity.
"Just because you don't own one doesn't mean it's not your fault."
Dan was becoming more confused. "I didn't leave cat shit in your yard, Lester."
Phil then pulled a small plastic bag of cat poop out of his pocket and dumped it into Dan's yard.
"There, now we're even."
"But I didn't even do anything," Dan sputtered.
Phil ignored him.
"So, did your girlfriend break up with you after finding out your secret?"
"Luckily, she fell asleep before she saw."
"You were that boring?" Phil smirked.
"Fuck off, we were watching a movie."
Phil took a step inside to inspect the blanket fort.
"We, er, made a fort," he said awkwardly.
"You're such a child." Phil probably meant to say it with malice, but it didn't come out very insulting. Dan, being a mature adult, didn't comment about this.
Phil climbed inside the tiny fort and pressed play on the television remote.
"What are you doing?" Dan asked.
"Watching a movie. What are you doing?"
"Get out of my house!"
Phil tapped his cheek. "Hm, I don't feel like it."
That was how they ended up both under a heap of blankets, chewing pizza and talking.
Dan turned to tell Phil this was his favorite part of the movie and saw Phil fast asleep on Dan's Haru pillow.
He looked different when he's asleep, Dan noted randomly. He didn't scowl or sneer when sleeping, a look Dan usually saw upon his face.
Dan thought it would be cruel to mess with the peaceful look on his face.
Not long after, Dan fell asleep as well, dreaming of dark-haired angels with blue eyes.
Dan woke up to sticky sheets and an empty bed.
What a great time to have a wet dream, he thought.
Dan got out bed and walked to the bathroom before realizing that he didn't fall asleep in bed. He fell asleep in the living room with Phil.
Phil carried him to bed at some point in time.
Dan searched his room for a note from Phil. Because obviously, when you do these things, you leave a note to avoid any confusion.
Of course, most people wouldn't need to leave a note because they wouldn't leave.
When Dan had asked Phil for kissing tips in the beginning, he had expected a few stiff answers. He didn't expect he would be experiencing any and every type of kiss.
Two weeks later, though, he found himself lying on Phil's bed with Phil on top of him, thoroughly french kissing.
Dan's arms were pinned above him, where Phil gripped his wrists tightly. Dan noticed Phil had a habit of arm-pinning, but didn't want to mention it in case he was sensitive about his unusual kink.
Phil's legs rested on either side of Dan's body and he could vaguely feel an outline of a warm body. Phil plowed his tongue inside Dan's mouth as Dan gasped and opened his mouth more to welcome the intruder.
Their tongues swirled together and Dan wasn't sure if this was how proper tongue kissing went, but knew that even if he asked, Phil would get upset over nothing and the mood would be ruined.
That's the other thing, though. They spent more time kissing sloppily than talking about his kissing strategies. Phil wouldn't bother explaining on how to kiss, he just did it.
Dan had no idea if he used the correct method of kissing when they snogged, but Phil's purrs and tiny groans seemed to entail he was doing a pretty decent job.
Phil removed his tongue from Dan's mouth to give his lips a few licks. He nipped his bottom lip teasingly before proceeding to give light pecks under his chin.
Dan felt himself rapidly growing an erection. It didn't help when Phil decided to lower his mouth onto the sensitive spot on Dan's neck and licked a single wet stripe down. He ignored Dan's gasps and whimpers, sliding his tongue over the flesh before pressing a kiss to his chin.
Dan tried to angle himself to where Phil wouldn't feel his erection, but Phil chose that moment to press into the younger man, leaving Dan to gasp and writhe with his dick pressed against Phil's thigh.
Phil froze and removed his hands from Dan's wrists, giving Dan the opportunity to bury his face in his hands in shame.
"Howell, are you growing hard?" The voice was stern but not disgusted. Dan shook his head but said nothing more.
"I always knew you were a fag," he continued. "I just didn't want to anger you."
Dan grew confident enough to pull his hands away and tell Phil exactly what he thought, but as he did, Phil slid his body lower, now at eye-level with Dan's crotch.
"Does your girlfriend get you hard like this or am I just special?" Dan didn't know that a tone could be dark, but Phil somehow managed it.
Dan refused to answer, because no, his girlfriend didn't, but admitting it was far too humiliating.
Phil palmed his erection and Dan whined. This resulted in Phil smirking as he slowly rubbed the length. Dan did nothing.
"Does your girlfriend know how to properly get you off?"
"F-fuck off..." Dan trailed off, his voice raspy from the pleasure.
"You should know how you want it, shouldn't you. I don't usually offer these things, I'm not a slut, but I'll make an exception this once."
"W...What are you talking a-about?"
Phil removed his hand and sat up. Dan followed. He realized Phil was now sat on his lap.
"You need to know how you like it. Hard? Soft? Fast? Slow? Do you enjoy foreplay and teasing, or do you prefer to cut to the chase? I'll provide answers."
"You're offering a blow job?"
Phil looked horrified. "No, goodness, no. A hand job. Though if you beg, I might be persuaded." Dan shivered as Phil's voice softened to a purr.
"That's only if you accept the offer, Howell."
Dan counted to three before replying.
"I accept." He hoped his voice sounded more confident than he felt.
Phil pressed his palms against Dan's chest and pushed, making Dan fall onto to the bed. He stood from Dan's lap to push Dan's trousers off. Dan had tried taking his boxers off himself but Phil slapped his hands away.
Phil lowered his head and took the hem of his boxers in his mouth. He used his teeth to pull it down slightly and gave the small patch of pubic hair a lick or two. He then proceeded to fully remove the pants, taking his time and licking one small patch of skin at a time.
Dan's eyes drifted closed as he felt Phil's hand wrap around his dick. Phil slid his hand up and down excruciatingly slowly and Dan was on edge.
Dan felt like crying. Phil's hand barely even felt there; he was taking his time. Every time Dan lifted his hips, Phil would push his hand back so Dan would always get the same slow hand movements.
"Lester, please," he cried out.
Amazingly, Phil's hand moved faster. Dan finally understood- Phil wanted him to beg.
"Please, Lester, please."
"Tell me what you want," Phil's husky voice making Dan shiver with arousal.
"Please, Lester, I want more. Give me more."
Phil's hand sped up for three seconds then stopped. Dan suddenly felt like sobbing. That is, until the hand was replaced by something much warmer. And... wet?
Dan's eyes widened as he realized Phil shoved Dan's cock in his mouth.
His head bobbed and cheeks hollowed. Until he pulled out to say something.
"Beg for it, Dan," he commanded and that's all it took. Dan came, white pearly liquid shooting out viciously and Phil's name on the tip his lips.
Phil collapsed on top of him and Dan rolled to his side. Dan tried to get up but was interrupted by Phil's arm grasping his.
"Go to sleep, Howell. You need the rest."
Dan would have protested but he came to the conclusion sleeping sounded wonderful after the tiring event that just occurred.
"Goodnight, Phil." He yawned and closed his eyes.
"Goodnight, Dan," and Phil pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead. That was all Dan remembered before drifting off into slumber.
Dan awoke to another empty bed and a disgusting smell. Last night's actions floated through his mind and he felt the need to hop in the shower to clean off the unpleasant aroma.
The bathroom was hard to find. He never really had time to explore Phil's house; whenever they were done with snogging lessons, Phil would kick him out.
He was accustomed to the downstairs rooms, such as the living room, kitchen, laundry room, and dining room. He even knew his way around the yard, but that was only because he interrupted Phil's private time in the pool once.
He was not, however, used to the rooms upstairs. There were hallways he never noticed before and dimly lit rooms he dared not walk in to, just in case Phil was hiding a kinky torture room somewhere.
He peeked through a room with lots of crayons and paper. He looked to the left and saw a conglomeration of small knick-knacks. On the right were piles of assorted art was an art room.
Dan swears that crayons were the last thing Phil would touch. It just didn't fit his professional personality.
He quickly backed away from the room and walked down a narrow hallway. The hallway was unusual; normally Phil's halls were wide and open and slightly dark. This hallway was bright and warm and the color of the tiles completely clashed with the light blue wall.
It took him five more minutes to find the bathroom. He searched most of upstairs, walking into a room and backing out of it a bit startled at some of the childish decor and items. He even found an entire walk-in closet dedicated to board games with two tiny suede chairs in the corners.
He ended up back in Phil's room before turning two rooms to the left and walking into the restroom.
The bath was large, complete with a window above eye level and three small silver sinks lined up.
Dan stripped his dirty clothes off and turned the knob, water flowing through the shower head. He saw three different scented soaps on tiny shelves made specifically for soap bars. Dan hoped there were assigned ones for certain body parts, but knowing Phil, he wouldn't doubt it.
He chose a pink bar of soap that smelled of sugary watermelon. There were tiny black specks on the bar, probably an exfoliation, which added to the watermelon appearance. The soap foamed as he rubbed it against his body, the bar becoming slippery as pink foam was spread across his chest.
After rinsing off the soap, he reached towards the shampoos. There were five scented shampoo bottles, two of which weren't even a fourth of the way empty.
The scents were blueberry, strawberry, chocolate and vanilla, one that smelled like after-shave, and another watermelon scented bath product. Clearly, Phil liked fruity scents.
Dan was unsure what the chocolate and vanilla mix would result in, so he decided against that one and instead opted for the strawberry.
Just like the soap, it was foamy as well.
After thoroughly cleaning his body, he grabbed a gold-tinted towel from the rack of the side. He contemplated whether Phil would be nice enough to lend him some clean clothing, but changed into his own after thinking of the row Phil would have.
His hair was slightly damp when he entered the dining room. Phil was sat on a blue chair, reading the newspaper. Dan wrinkled his nose. Who actually reads that boring thing, anyway?
Phil looked up and scowled at the younger man towel-drying his hair.
"I see you found my shower," he grumbled.
"No help from you, thanks for that."
Phil rustled his newspaper as he spoke, "Well, you ought to be leaving now. I've got work."
"Paperwork?" Dan asked conversationally, hoping Phil would let him stay, though he wasn't sure why he wanted to.
Phil shook his head, "No, editing a video."
This peaked Dan's attention.
"So who's the video for?"
"Me," he said baldly.
"I post videos every once in a while," he explained further when Dan's head turned to the side in question.
"Like, on youtube?"
Phil didn't answer.
Dan look around the dining room in search of a plate of pancakes. He found nothing.
"Where's breakfast?"
"I already ate a while ago," Phil said.
Dan frowned.
"Aren't you going to make me some, me being your guest and all."
"You aren't my guest," Phil sneered. "I let you rest out of the goodness of my heart."
"You have a heart?" He asked sarcastically.
Phil didn't find it funny. He shooed Dan out of the house. It was fine by Dan, though, because he didn't like the house anyway.
Dan was bored. It was the middle of the afternoon. There was a stack of papers Dan had to sort through for Law, but instead he was sat on his laptop.
He recalled what Phil had said earlier; Phil was editing a video.
Dan wondered if he could possibly find any videos of his on the internet.
He automatically went to Youtube, but that's because he didn't know of any other video sharing sites.
He searched in 'Phil Lester', the keys of his keyboard furiously clicking. The first result was a video titled 'The future quiz with KickThePJ'. The thumbnail was of what appeared to be Phil with a curly-haired man. He clicked.
"Hey guys, so I'm here with KickThePj," Phil said on the screen, pointing vigorously with his arms to the other man. The supposed 'Pj' said a quick hello and Phil continued.
"So how do you feel in a sound?"
Pj made a bird noise and Phil replied with a "nice".
Phil told the screen about the amount of bacon pancakes he had and the video continued with a very ugly (in Dan's opinion) red box with a face.
The video ended and Dan automatically clicked the next suggested one.
The screen displayed Phil wearing a mint colored shirt and laying on a bed. He rested his back on a blue pillow, the matching pillow on the left of him. There was a green blob to the right of Phil, and Dan assumed there was a third pillow. He wore a pair of black glasses, which was very surprising considering Dan never saw Phil wearing glasses. Phil's hair was mussed and if it weren't for the 2:00 am text in the corner of the screen, Dan would have been annoyed at the messiness of Phil's hair.
"Hey guys, so it's currently two a.m. and I made the huge mistake of drinking a whole pint of coffee earlier," Phil's voice came out in a hushed whisper.
"I thought it was decaf but it's enough to be a full on caffeine fest." He pulled out a Universal Studios mug and compared the size of the mug to the size of his head.
A few seconds in, Phil told the camera he had decided to tidy his room, and then showed stuff that he found on his floor.
Dan nearly fell off the chair. That was his house?
Dan had been inside Phil's house. Many times, in fact. Phil's house was mostly colored with gold or silver, with massive windows everywhere. The rooms were huge and there was not a speck of dust to be found anywhere. His bedroom had a plain black bedspread, unlike the blue and green checkered duvet.
The room in the video differed from the other rooms in Phil's house. The video room seemed cluttered and small, whereas the rooms Dan visited where open and provided lots of space. There were many trinkets and small items loose around shelves and such.
Dan wondered why there was one specific room decorated differently from the rest of the house.
Phil in the video showed his laptop, completely covered with various stickers. Dan knew Phil preferred it when things were tidy and clean; why Phil would cover his electronics with stickers was completely beyond him.
The video ended and left Dan more confused. The personality Phil presented in the video was completely different from the professional business-y personality Dan knew about.
So, of course, it was only natural Dan click on another video to find answers.
Fifteen videos later, however, and he still felt confused.
Which personality was real: the bubbly one in the videos or the firm professional one Phil showed in real life?
Dan groaned as Phil flushed his body against Dan's. Their mouths connected together, passionate kisses stolen from both men.
Their kissing lessons were somehow growing more intense. Or at least, intense for Dan. Any time Phil would press their mouths together, all thoughts left Dan's mind and he could barely form words. His mouth would always tingle, preventing them to make words.
Phil, however, seemed collected and didn't even act fazed. Well, for the most part. Often times Dan would catch Phil staring with an odd expression. Not really odd, just an expression Dan couldn't place. They were enemies, so Dan refused to claim the expression Phil showed resembled a mild liking to Dan. Dan shuddered. What an unappealing thought.
Phil's arm wrapped around the back of Dan's neck, holding him in place as a mother would do with their child drinking a bottle. However, his actions were not as innocent. Phil's free hand clutched Dan's shirt as he pulled it upwards, revealing slightly-tan skin.
Phil splayed his hand over Dan's smooth stomach while nudging Dan's lips apart with his tongue to gain entry to his mouth. Dan let him and their tongues rubbed together. Dan expected Phil to cringe of Dan's horrible tongue skills, but Phil just sighed as his tongue softened as he swirled it around Dan's.
A few droplets of spit dribbled down their chins and Dan wondered when Phil would back away, disgusted at the spit. Phil didn't retreat, though, and kept plunging his tongue into Dan's mouth.
After thoroughly snogging, Phil licked and nipped Dan's top lip before releasing his hold on Dan and sat crossed-legged on the sofa.
Dan suddenly remembered his intention for coming over. He went over to Phil's house to ask about his YouTube videos when Phil suggested that while Dan was already there, they could get extra practice time. Dan would have refused, but Phil gently shoved Dan onto the sofa and attacked his mouth. And it would be rude to stop in the middle of a kiss. Yes, Dan was just being polite.
"I...I wanted to ask you about something," Dan panted, still a bit out of breath.
"Yeah?"
"I watched your videos yesterday. You know, the ones on YouTube."
Phil tensed. "Oh?" Phil attempted to act calm, but it was obvious to Dan that he was uncomfortable.
"The room, you know, in your videos. You said it's your room, but your room is upstairs. I know, I've been been in your room. And the room in your videos look nothing like other rooms in your house," Dan rambled.
"Yeah, well, I have a room specifically for videos."
""Why's that?" Dan's eyebrows knit together and his mouth turned slightly to the side.
"It just seems more friendly, is all."
Dan snorted, "Since when have you ever been worried about friendliness?"
Phil crossed his arms in defense. "All the time, actually. I like my videos to have a special connection to the viewers. As if we were friends."
"Well, it works."
Phil looked up. "What?"
"I meant your videos are really welcoming. And you're so open about your life. In the videos, that is."
"That's what I aim for," he shrugged.
"And, well, I spent a lot of time thinking about your videos and um," his voice hushed to a whisper, "I kinda wanna do a video with you."
Despite how quiet Dan talked, Phil gasped and his eyes widened.
"You want to make a video? With me?" Dan thought Phil's eyes would fall out any minute now because of how large his eyes were bulging.
"I mean, if that's alright with you."
Phil blinked. "Why?"
"I don't know, okay? I just keep thinking about it. I don't know," he sighed.
Phil hesitated. It was clear he was contemplating it. Finally, Phil inhaled.
"Yeah, alright. When you do want to film?"
Now, maybe? I mean, I'm already here and all."
Phil nodded and smiled. Dan found it very catching, as he felt himself smiling back.
They sat on the floor of Phil's room with the camera in front of them.
Phil had a list written down of video ideas, but they decided to just do a Q and A because they didn't have the time to get supplies for original videos.
Personally, Dan was disappointed Phil deemed him not good enough to waste a creative video idea with him, but didn't voice his thoughts because Phil would probably get the wrong impression and think of him as a drama queen.
Dan was surprised at how many questions were tweeted to Phil in such short time.
Dan turned on the camera and pressed record. He turned to Phil.
"You ready?"
At Phil's nod, he glanced at the paper asked the first question.
"Why do you always draw cat whiskers on your face?"
"Because I'm not willing to show the camera where else I draw them on," Phil winked.
Dan laughed and Phil picked up a black sharpie marker. He leaned into Dan and Dan thought he would kiss him.
He didn't. Instead, he popped the lid off and drew a mark on Dan's nose. He swirled in around his nose, creating a small circle. He then made three stripes on his left cheek before continuing with the right. Phil rested his hand on Dan's left cheek, marking whiskers on the right cheek. It heated Dan's face and he was horrified when he realized he was blushing. Phil brushed his thumb against his cheek before putting the lid back on the marker with a vicious 'click'.
Dan cleared his throat before asking, "What does a giraffe sound like?"
Phil made an usual sound and Dan just chuckled.
"Every animal makes that noise to you."
"Not true," he defended and did it again."
"Then what sound does a turtle make?"
"Oink."
Dan laughed and pressed his index finger upwards, making a pig snout. Phil made another weird noise while Dan oinked.
Dan picked up the paper and read, "If you had to lose your leg or you nose, what would you choose?"
The older man laughed. "I would lose my leg. Imagine my face without a nose. I would look like Voldemort."
"I would bang Voldemort," Dan cut in but Voldemort wasn't the person he was thinking about banging.
"Harry!" Phil imitated.
These questions went on, Dan asking a question and Phil answering with unreasonable and ridiculous answers.
"Do you know any French?" Dan asked, laying comfortably on the bed. It really was a soft bed. Dan imagined exactly how soft it would be if he slept there. With Phil.
"I only know a little bit. Fortunately, I remember from French class more common words."
Dan raised an eyebrow. "Well, let's hear it, then."
Phil turned to stare at Dan. They locked eyes for a moment and Phil's breath hitched. Dan didn't even remember Phil was supposed to be speaking French until his silky voice reached Dan's ears.
"Je suis en amour avec vous, Dan."
And Dan totally didn't find it erotic.
"What does that mean?"
Phil's eyes widened and Dan wondered if he said something inappropriate.
"Nothing, nothing. I just said 'I think you need a shower; you stink.'"
Dan rolled his eyes. "Whatever, Phil."
Dan decided the small flutter of Phil's eyes when Dan said his given name was because a speck of dust got caught in his eye. That's obviously the case.
They went to different topics, weird answers being made up for weird questions. After the last question was answered, Phil suggested they do an outro.
"This was the most fun I've ever had," Dan said honestly. And when Dan thought about it, it really was true.
All of a sudden, Phil tackled him to the ground. Dan didn't have much to say before falling other than 'oh, okay'. Dan fell onto the floor with an oof, Phil landing on top of him.
They locked eyes into an intimidating stare. Well, intimidating for Dan. Phil didn't seem too fazed. He just smiled down at Dan, pearly white teeth peeking through his incarnadine lips. Silence swept over them, and Phil didn't appear to be getting up any time soon. Dan panicked.
"Say something else in French."
The demand probably startled Phil. His eyes seemed to widen and a blush crept onto his pale face. His eyes wandered to the side then back to the middle of Dan's eyes. He seemed to be searching. What for, Dan wasn't sure. But it wasn't too weird because Dan was probably doing the same.
"Dieu, tu es adorable. Je veux que tu sois à moi"
The room suddenly became too hot. The urge to remove his shirt became itching. Yes, because it was hot. There was a bead of sweat on Phil's hand. Phil was probably hot, too, and should also take off his shirt.
Dan wanted to speak but couldn't. His voice was failing him as his clothes became less bearable and Dan felt the need to lift his hips closer to Phil.
Then something happened. Phil's eyes grew dark. He leaned closer. Dan's eyes fluttered shut. Their lips met. Dan's eyes flew back open.
You couldn't exactly consider it kissing. Dan was unresponsive and Phil seemed too nervous to move his lips. They stood still, perfectly frozen, staring at each other.
There was an odd look in Phil's eye. Dan could have sworn it was fondness. Or something deeper.
Phil suddenly moved his lips. Dan gasped. Phil smiled.
Then Phil did it again. And again.
They kissed for nearly half an hour, exploring each other and smiling and moaning.
Phil pulled away. "I know what I want my part of the deal to be," Phil smiled.
"What?" Dan asked, confused.
Phil's small pants were distracting Dan. "When I agreed to help you with kissing lessons, you said you would do something for me. I figured out what I want," he explained in between kisses.
"What would that be?"
Phil grinned. "A date."
"With me?"
"No, with your girlfriend. Of course you." Phil rolled his eyes.
Dan decided right then that the odd expression Phil would always make was definitely something deeper than fondness.