Summer Solstice
The Summer Solstice.
Some know it, others know a little bit about it, but most aren't even aware that it exists.
Obviously, being the nerd he is, Dan had read into it.
He'd researched the sun's peak on the Northern Hemisphere and he'd looked into the significance of Stonehenge, then read more about the Tropic of Capricorn and how that affects the weather, among other things.
But one thing had stood out: the sun.
It's all about the sun.
So, when Dan wakes up on the morning of the summer solstice, he can't figure out how to celebrate it. He doesn't even know why he wants to, he just knows that it's interesting and worth acknowledging. He can't think why else he'd suddenly want to celebrate it.
"Morning, Dan!" Phil calls as he grabs his butterfly t-shirt, having just taken a shower.
Dan smiles, stretching and leaning against the headboard. "Is it really morning?"
Phil grins. "Yeah, it's only eight."
"Eight? What are we, normal people?" Dan half-groans, half-jokes.
Dan can't help the warmth that rises in his stomach when Phil giggles, his tongue peeking out and his soaking-wet fringe flopping over his eyes.
"Damn, you look cute… you rat," Dan blurts without thinking, hoping that the borderline-insulting nickname will avoid any awkward blushes creeping up.
Phil giggles again, throwing a cushion at Dan. "And you have bed-hair. Get up, lazy-bones."
Dan uses the cushion to cover up his flushed cheeks, yawning as he sits up.
The yawn dies before it can finish, overridden by Phil's lips. By the time he's unfrozen, Phil's pulling away with a cheerful smirk on his face, winking as he walks out of Dan's room.
"Fuck you," Dan mumbles, a wide smile stretching across his face anyway.
"Maybe later!" Phil yells back, his laugh reverberating in Dan's heart despite them being in different rooms.
Still, he doesn't figure it out until later, when the two of them are tucked up on the sofa with their hair pushed back in matching quiffs. Phil's sitting mostly upright with his legs resting on the coffee table in front of them and his back against the sofa's back. Dan's lying across Phil, his head on the armrest and his legs stretched out over the rest of the sofa.
As Dan looks up from the video he's editing, he catches sight of Phil's glasses glinting in the sunlight currently falling through their open window. He catches sight of Phil's quixotic blue eyes travelling across the page and he watches as one lone strand of hair falls onto Phil's forehead.
He thinks of all the times they've done this over the past so many years, in various places and at various times. But they've always done it together: stayed beside each other despite the surroundings. He thinks of the apartments, the parties, the hotels, the tour bus, the sleepovers and the countless trips on public transport, especially when one of them has fallen asleep.
And, within the few seconds it takes for all of those images to join up in his mind, he figures out why he'd wanted to celebrate the summer solstice.
"Phil?"
Phil blinks, tugging his gaze away from the sentence he's reading and smiling at Dan.
"Do you know what day it is?"
Phil pulls a face. "Wednesday?"
Dan giggles but shakes his head. "Try again."
Phil closes his book. "Not Wednesday? I could have sworn it was Wednesday…"
"No, no, it is Wednesday," Dan clarifies. "But what else is it?"
"Dan, are you dehydrated? You know that we can only go through one day of the week at a time…"
Dan groans, "No, you hypochondriac, I'm fine."
"Well, then, what's today?" Phil asks, confused.
Dan reaches up and puts his hands behind Phil's head, interlocking his fingers and making Phil bend down. Phil only has time to questioningly frown before Dan kisses him and steals his breath, the two of them passing the taste of lemonade back and forth between their lips.
Phil gasps as he pulls away and smiles. "Are you okay?"
"Of course."
This time, Dan sits up and pushes Phil backwards, once again sharing oxygen, the remnants of a chilled drink and their eventual breathlessness.
They don't move apart once they break their kiss, staying close enough to use each other's eyes as a mirror. The air they exhale collides between them, their faces no more than a single centimetre apart.
"Thank you," Dan breathes. "Thank you for being the best and only sunshine I need when skies are dismal and grey."
Phil laughs, still catching his breath. "Your skies are only grey because you're staring at the back of our sofa."
Dan rolls his eyes but lets his forehead fall against Phil's. "I'm serious."
"So am I. Go look out of the window and you won't have grey skies anymore…"
"Phil!" Dan groans.
Phil kisses Dan's nose, a solemn but bubbly smile on his face. "I know, love, I know."
"Happy Summer Solstice, Phil," Dan whispers, "I love you."
"I love you too," Phil murmurs softly.
Then his soft smile morphs into a sly grin. "You still up for the promise from earlier?"
Dan's confusion only lasts a moment before he chuckles, his smile so wide that his dimples re-appear. "You bet."
"Actually, I didn't have to bet because I already knew you'd say yes," Phil says.
"Oh yeah? And how's that?" Dan asks.
Phil plants the lightest of kisses on Dan's neck, waiting the two seconds it takes for his signature pink blush to surface.
"Because of that," Phil tells him, winking.
"You fucking cheat," Dan mutters, but not sourly.
"Do I need to remind you of monopoly?" Phil's grin matches the one on Dan's face.
Dan laughs, giving in with no complaint, and lazily wraps his arms around Phil's shoulders. He can't think of a better place to be, but he can think of how to celebrate the summer solstice.
He'll celebrate it with his own personal ray of sunshine, not the ones visible through the ancient rocks of a mysterious landmark. He'll celebrate it with the sunshine that cares about him, not the one that either gives him an alarming tan or vicious burns. He'll celebrate it with the sunshine that stays with him, not the one that vanishes behind clouds for most of the year.
But, most importantly, he'll celebrate it with the sunshine he loves.
He'll celebrate the summer solstice with Phil.
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