I wrote this for the 2013 Christmas Fic Exchange organised by potatoes-are-not-for-sex. This story was written as a present for StarFox-chan, who is an amazing writer and also very lovely. Here's a fluffy Christmas fic for you! Prompt below.

It's a cold Christmas Eve, and the wind is blowing outside and it's snowy and all that cold weather shiz, and Dan is in the apartment alone, nearly burning the whole apartment while trying to light a fire. Phil has gone out to get some last Christmas shopping and Dan gets really worried. Phil soon comes back (or does he? DUN DUN DUN!)...and fluffy Christmas Eve goodness from there, some kisses, some hugs, yeah. :3

Christmas Eve. Such a joyous, beautiful, exciting, loving time; right? Maybe, but it certainly didn't seem that way to Dan. To be quite honest, he was fed up with all the snow outside (it made it awfully hard to get around and being in the city was more like sludge anyway), fed up with the cold (he had the heater turned to temperatures that he was sure could completely cook him through) and to top it all off he couldn't get the damn fire to light properly.

He was sure that it should have been easy enough, considering the amount of times he'd watched Phil do it - but unfortunately for him Phil was currently out doing some very last-minute shopping. See, Dan had always not been the biggest fan of hot things. Not in the metaphorical sense (because he sure as hell had no aversion to Jennifer Lawrence or Zayn Malik or, say, Phil for that matter) but in the literal sense - he'd always figured he was just especially sensitive to temperature or something like that. It meant he always played it safe with embarrassingly lukewarm water whenever it was his turn to do the dishes, and he hated having to be close to a hot stove for long periods of time. So when it came to a gas fireplace over which he had to hold a burning match with one hand WHILE turning the switch with his other hand, and not get burnt in the process, well, he was pretty much screwed.

It was already his third attempt - the first try he'd not got to the gas switch in time and nearly burnt off his whole hand with the match after which sheepishly having to blow it out and start again, and the second time he'd accidentally dropped the match. Which may or may not have resulted in a bit of the carpet catching on fire and Dan frantically tipping his entire glass of water onto it before trying painfully for fifteen minutes to find the goddamn switch on the smoke alarm. At least it hadn't been any worse. This time, he was very careful about the way he held the match and luckily he was able to get it to light. The huge sense of satisfaction and pride he felt over accomplishing this was admittedly too large considering the "simplicity" of the task, but he didn't let that stop him from pumping his fist in the air and dancing around a little bit… meaning he saw his watch.

9:30 pm? Had he really spent two fucking hours on that stupid fireplace? And, fucking hell, where was Phil? He surely should be back by now… after all it was really late to be shopping. Dan probably shouldn't have worried, but he did. He was just the worrying type - the smallest little thing could set him off and for some reason he always imagined the worst possible circumstance. And while there was the tiny little rational voice in his head telling him that Phil is a grown man, he'll be fine and yes it's dark but think of how many decorations and lights there'll be and Christmas Eve is probably one of the most crowded and safe times to be out late, he couldn't help but scan his News app to make sure there was nothing bad going on.

After twenty minutes of accomplishing absolutely nothing Dan decided to try Phil's phone. He knew it was a long shot, because if he had remembered to take it with him at all there was only ever a 50% chance of him actually picking up and plus he wouldn't be able to hear it with all of the shopping crowds. Despite all of this he still called Phil, and got no response. Just as he expected. He tried calling a few more times with a similar result. So with nothing else to do, he went to lie on the couch and worry and feel sorry for himself until Phil returned (which he WOULD).

-o-o-o-

At 10:17 pm Phil finally pushed through the door of his apartment, thoroughly exhausted from trying to shop in the most horrendous crowds he'd ever witnessed. He supposed that was his payback for leaving it so late. He dropped the numerous shopping bags on the ground too tired to carry them another step and headed upstairs to finally see Dan. He hadn't, of course, planned on returning so late, and then again he hadn't really accounted for having to more than halve his walking speed desperately trying to find a way through hordes of shoppers.

He hoped Dan was alright, and understood - of course he would, otherwise he was just being stupid. He took out his phone and Oh. Seven missed calls from Dan. Oops. He vaguely hoped Dan hadn't done anything stupid, for both of their sakes. Dan was kind of known for doing stupid stuff.

"Dan?" he called out as he ascended the stairs. No response.

"DAN." he tried again, but to no avail.

A - very - slight panic in his chest, he slowly walked around trying to find signs of life, and stopped when he reached the couch. On the leather cushions in front of the fire was none other than his Dan, fast asleep. Phil's gaze immediately shifted from anxious to loving and he knelt down beside his peaceful boyfriend softly pecking his lips.

"Hey Dan." he said softly, with a smile on his voice.

"Hrmmmph," came Dan's reply. He always had such a way with words.

"It's Christmas Eve still, you have to get up so we can have cuddles and hot chocolate and sing Christmas songs badly."

"Go away…" Dan said sleepily and halfheartedly as he reached out an arm for Phil but just ending up grabbing aimlessly at the air.

Soon he felt himself being lifted up and into Phil's warm embrace, who despite having just spent several hours outside in the cold still maintained an absurdly warm body temperature, which Dan was especially thankful for now.

"Did you miss me?" Phil joked.

"Yeah… you didn't pick up your phone…" Dan replied, still groggy.

"Oh, right, sorry about that. I didn't hear it go off with all the crowds."

"S'okay. I thought so."

They sat there in each other's arms for a few more minutes (or it might have been hours, time was hard to work out) with a few lazy kisses every so often before Dan spoke up again.

"Hey Phil, can you go make us hot drinks? Pretty please Christmas tree with a star on top?"

"Of course I will, Bear. I love you."

"I love you too."

Merry Christmas everyone!