The prompt ("liar") probably sets it up for some fic about cheating or some shit, but I made it into fluff for Dan's 25th birthday. Yay fluff!
Disclaimer: No one owns them. They're real people. They don't have owners.
I think we can just start now.
The day before Dan's birthday, he stayed up late.
This was nothing unusual, of course. Dan rarely went to bed any earlier than one in the morning, and the only thing he bothered to do differently was wish himself a silent "Happy Birthday, you're a quarter of a century, three more of these and you'll be one hundred, that is if you don't die first," and then spend the next four hours mindlessly scrolling through Tumblr while also thinking about the inevitability of his own demise.
In other words, the usual.
He wasn't expecting anything anyway. Maybe a cupcake or something nice like that. Now that he was getting older, he didn't really want anything for his birthday, which was kind of sad to think about (goodbye childhood) but also less stress for his friends.
Besides, he'd asked Phil, who'd said that no one was planning anything for his birthday this year, unless he wanted them to, in which case of course they would!
"No, it's fine," Dan had said in response to Phil's offer. "I don't need anything."
Phil had stared at him oddly. "Okay then," he'd said, leaning over to peck Dan on the cheek, which had prompted a smile from the taller man. "Nothing this year."
"Okay then," Dan had replied, nodding and ending the conversation in favor of un-pausing the anime they'd been watching.
Anyway, back to the point. Staying up late.
At 11:58, Dan happened to glance up at the clock. He stared at the clock until it struck twelve, then wished himself a quiet, "Happy birthday."
At 5 AM, he'd had enough of trolling through Tumblr and staring mindlessly at the ceiling, so he went to sleep.
He woke up at noon.
As soon as he vacated his room, Dan knew something was up. The apartment was...quiet. It was never fully quiet. There was always sound coming from somewhere- the kitchen, the bathroom, the living room. It was only fully silent when Phil was out, and Phil hadn't mentioned needing to run any errands on Dan's birthday, which meant he'd either (a) decided on an impromptu shopping trip or (b) was still asleep. Neither of these were normal occurrences.
So what was going on?
Wiping the sleep from his eyes and stifling a yawn, Dan walked down the hall. He opened the door to living room and-
"SURPRISE!"
"What in the- bloody- fuck!" Dan yelped in shock, clutching at his chest as his heart tried to jump out of his chest. "What the hell? What are you all doing here?"
Louise laughed and rushed forward to hug him (which made him suddenly realize that he was not wearing a shirt and also made him extremely thankful that he had decided to wear sweatpants when he went to bed). "Because it's your birthday, you dolt!" she exclaimed, squeezing him lightly.
Still reeling from the abrupt wake-up call he'd received, Dan didn't know what else to do besides hug her back. He observed the remaining occupants of the room. PJ, Chris, and- most surprising out of anyone- Cat.
"Happy birthday, Dan!" PJ, Chris, and Cat said in unison.
"Bet you're surprised to see me, huh?" Cat added with a giggle.
Dan nodded. "I'm surprised to see all of you! Phil said he wasn't planning anything this year!"
"I lied," said a voice from the direction of the door. Dan turned towards it.
Phil was standing in the doorway, wearing a shit-eating grin and holding a small cake with a flickering candle in his hands.
Dan grinned. "Phil, you little- you fucking liar! I can't believe you did this!" He rushed over to his friend to give him a hug, but paused when he remembered that there was cake in Phil's hands and if he wanted to eat any of it he needed to not make Phil drop it or set Phil on fire. "When did you find the time?"
"I had to make the cake in a rush," Phil admitted. "Luckily, I had my elves here to help!"
"Well, yeah, but how did I not hear you?" Dan persisted.
Chris snorted. "From what Phil tells us, you sleep like you're hibernating, so it's not that big of a surprise."
Dan blushed slightly. "I do not!"
"You kind of do, Dan," Phil replied, amused. He placed the cake on the table and said, "Everyone gather round so we can sing!"
Dan groaned. "No, don't sing!"
Phil and the guests grinned as they began to chant the birthday song.
"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you," they sang.
"Happy birthday dear Danny," Phil crowed, causing a quick burst of laughter to erupt from Dan's mouth.
"Happy birthday to yoooooooooou!" everyone finished.
"You guys suck at singing," Dan mumbled, glaring at the floor with a pleased smile on his lips. He leaned forward to blow out the candle. A quick whoosh of breath and the flame on the end was out, nothing but thin trails of smoke left to show that it had been there at all.
His friends cheered and Phil produced a small knife from seemingly nowhere (which was slightly disconcerting, but Dan wasn't going to ask) and gave it to Dan to cut the first slice of cake.
"Thank you," Dan said to Phil when he handed him the knife. "For all of this."
Phil just smiled. "Don't thank me. After all, what are friends for?"
"Apparently scaring the shit out of me because I didn't know there were going to be people here," Dan joked. As he turned to cut the cake, he heard Phil laugh. He grinned as he cut himself a huge slice. Making Phil laugh was always a plus.
After the cake, Chris immediately suggested a Mario Kart tournament, to which Phil made a face but nodded.
"He's going to destroy us," Phil informed everyone in a deadpan voice. "You know that, right?"
"We'll see about that!" Chris crowed with determination, grabbing a controller as Dan put the game in.
Dan smirked. "Yeah. We'll see."
Chris was scowling as he played, muttering curses under his breath. Dan just let out a loud laugh while still concentrating on staying ahead of everyone else.
"I didn't know he was this good!" Chris protested, pouting.
Dan chortled. "Shouldn't have assumed you were better than me!"
At the end of that race, Chris tapped out. PJ did as well, after staring at the controller in his hands for a good long moment and then walking over and dropping it into Dan's lap dramatically, briefly blocking Dan from the screen, causing a large amount of swearing from the tall brunette.
"Get out of my way, PJ!" Dan yelled, followed by an even louder, "Phil, you fucking spoon, don't you dare- HA! EAT MY DUST, WOODPECKER!"
"Do you have any idea of what's going on?" Louise asked Cat.
Cat shook her head, amused at the display. "No clue, but it's hilarious!"
The end of the party came hours later, but not before there had been some consumption of alcohol and a few party games.
"I totally destroyed you at Twister," Louise declared.
PJ chuckled when Chris leaped up to defend his title of Grand Twister Master, and that's when Cat yawned. As soon as she yawned, Phil yawned, and then everyone was yawning.
"Bed," Phil decided. "Time for everyone to head on home, I think."
There was a groan from Chris, but everyone else seemed fine with that plan. They filtered out the door, each wishing Dan a happy birthday once more with hugs (or shouting it over their shoulder as they left, in Chris' case).
As soon as everyone was gone, Dan slumped onto the couch and sighed happily. "That was great," he said to Phil, smiling widely. "Thank you for doing this for me. It was too much, really, I didn't need anything."
Phil sat down next to him to receive a hug. "It's your birthday, Bear," he mumbled into Dan's ear. "Nothing is too much."
They separated, and Phil grinned. "Sorry your present hasn't come yet," he said sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck. "I ordered it too late."
"That's all right," Dan reassured him, nudging Phil's arm with his own. "This was an excellent present on its own."
The End
Sorry I was late guys! This took longer than I expected. I still think the ending was a little weak, but otherwise I liked this!
Thoughts? Comments? Criticism? Praise? RFF to give me your opinion!
The word of the day is MacGuffin (not in all caps because of the capital letters already in the word)! It's some character or event or whatever in a story that is not "intrinsic" (look that up if you don't know it) to the story, but keeps the plot moving. Huh. Interesting. One day I will create a character who is a MacGuffin and name him/her/them Charlie MacGuffin and see how many people get it.
I think that's it. Lulu out!