A/N: i'm so.. SORRY I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN LIKE FOREVER THERE'S A THING CALLED LIFE THAT ENJOYS MESSING ME UP SO. I'M SO SORRY
summary: Dan Howell had just started college, and he's roommates with someone named Phil Lester, who at first ignores him. They soon realize that they like the same things, listen to the same music, and they even have matching fringes. They're also basically polar opposites, but that's what makes them attracted to each other, even if they don't know it themselves yet. Phan College AU.
enjoy :)
X.
—
love letter
.
.
.
Needless to say, Mr. and Mrs. Howell were more than surprised to see two teenagers covered in snow standing in their doorway.
Dan didn't really have time to call his parents right after everything happened, (mostly because he didn't really feel like doing so) so he figures that maybe they won't mind. It's no longer Christmas because it's now one in the morning, but he really hopes that his parents don't think that he's a robber since he's dressed in all black. Luckily, after ringing the doorbell, he isn't attacked by them at all. His mom had looked from him to Phil and had welcomed them in immediately.
"Good morning, Mrs. Howell." Phil smiles, holding his hand out for her to shake. She seemed surprised at this action, maybe she had no idea that people still had good manners these days. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Phil Lester, a friend of your son. I'm sorry we've come at a late hour." He finishes his greeting with a warm smile, and Dan bites back a grin. Based on his mom's expression, he knows she likes Phil already.
She smiles at him in return. "Oh, no, it's completely fine dear. It's nice to meet you too, Phil. We just weren't expecting to see anyone this early in the morning." She steps aside to let Mr. Howell shake Phil's hand, (it's funny because both of Dan's parents are in pajamas for they had just woken up). Dan takes off his winter coat and puts it on the coat hanger while Phil and his parents are talking.
Pretty soon, everyone is in the dining room—Dan's mom prepares tea for both of them ("If you have coffee now, then you really won't be able to sleep at all!") and Dan sort of lies about why they're here so early in the morning. He doesn't want to reveal the whole truth yet because Phil had just met his parents, and also Dan feels like that his boyfriend has probably had enough explaining to do for the night.
So Dan just tells them that they missed a train which was supposed to leave at 8:30, and the only train that was available that night was the 11:15 one. His dad seems to accept the story, but his mom seems a little bit apprehensive since the two didn't really bring any luggage with them. To explain this, Dan said that he still had shirts to wear here, and that he offered Phil some of his clothing beforehand.
She still seemed a little suspicious, but after Dan and Phil finished their tea, she told them to get some rest.
"Phil, we have a room for you upstairs. Daniel can show you where it is." Mrs. Howell says. "I hope you sleep comfortably."
Dan stops her. "Actually, he can sleep with me. I have a big bed. It's okay, mom."
Mrs. Howell raises her eyebrows, and Phil gives her a soft smile. "It's fine, Mrs. Howell, I can stay with Dan. Thank you." Dan is surprised that Phil sounds so polite and composed—usually when it's just Dan, Phil, Chris, and PJ he's always fooling around with the rest of them. But then again, if Dan was going to meet Phil's parents, he'd want to make a good first impression too.
"Whichever works for the both of you." Mrs. Howell says, but she still seems a little surprised. "Goodnight, you two."
"Your parents are nice." Phil muses.
He's dressed in Dan's clothes, wearing blue and white checkered pajama bottoms and a plain white t-shirt with a small pocket on the left breast. Dan really likes how Phil looks in his clothing—they fit him well. On the other hand, Dan is wearing black sweatpants with a red shirt with the word "red" on it, but the letters in "red" are white. It's one reason why he likes that shirt, because the words in white say red when the actual shirt is red. It's stupid, but Dan likes it.
"You should see my mom whenever I fail a test. She isn't so nice then. But she likes you, and my dad does too. I think that's a good sign." The brown haired teen smiles, brushing a hand through his hair. He sits on the bed where Phil already is, hands folded. The door is closed already, and Dan's sure his parents have gone to sleep already. "I'm sure that your parents are really nice too."
At that, Phil breaks into a small, sad smile. "I'm sure they would've liked you."
"That's all that matters to me." Dan says softly. "Good first impressions are a good thing."
Phil makes a noise in agreement, and then the two sit in silence.
Dan's still processing everything that had just gone on in the last two hours—Phil finally telling him about his past. It's like the two of them have automatically gotten extremely closer than before, even though the two are together in the first place. Now Dan feels like Phil really is a part of him, and he never wants to let him go. I am happy. Phil had said. Those three words made Dan's heart flutter, and Phil sure does know how to make his heart flutter.
"You okay?" The brown haired teen whispers, scooting closer to Phil—close enough that their arms are touching. Phil's skin is surprisingly warm, and it heats Dan up right away. Dan stares at Phil, awaiting his answer even if it does take a while. Then, the black haired teen nods.
"As long as I'm with you, I'll always be okay." Phil says, smiling softly.
Dan chuckles, and afterwards the two get in bed. After he turns off the light, he shifts in his position so that he was facing Phil. His boyfriend's eyes are staring right into his own. They're beautiful, Dan has always loved them. He smiles a little as he gazes at Phil, the other teen smiling back at once. "Dan." He whispers. "You know how you say my eyes are much more gorgeous than yours?"
"I say it because it's true." The brown haired teen giggles, and Phil rolls his eyes in the darkness.
He shakes his head. "I think your eyes are just as beautiful, actually."
"You flatter me."
"It's true." Phil insists. "You always say that your eyes are shit colored, and that's not true at all. Your eyes are like a lightish brown. It's so pretty whenever the sun is reflected off of your eyes because it's just beautiful. It's like I can see the sunset in yours, small flecks of gold in them. If you can see the stars in mine, then I can see the sun in yours." He smirks once he's finished explaining.
The brown haired teen can't help but laugh, even though the sleepiness is getting to him. "It's like... we're opposites."
"You know what they always say about opposites." Phil whispers in response. "They attract."
Dan cracks a smile at this. The two of them laugh lightly together—it's really nice. They should do this back at their dorm, sleep together (not like that... cough), laugh at stupid things they say, and just say nice and heart-warming things to each other. It makes Dan really happy even though this feels like the shit characters do in cliché romance movies as well as novels, but he enjoys it. He notices that Phil's eyes are beginning to close, and he smiles. "Goodnight, Phil." He whispers, inching his face closer to the other teen's.
"Goodnight, Dan. I know that I've told you this already, but I'm really thankful for you. I don't think I can ever thank you enough." He replies. Dan smiles at these words, feeling himself warm up. Next to him, Phil shifts for a bit and then sighs softly. It's silent for a while, but it's a comfortable silence. "Goodnight, Dan. I love you."
His eyes are closed, but he still hears Phil's statement.
"I love you too."
It's seven AM in the morning and Mrs. Howell peeks though the door to see if they're doing alright.
Dan had forgotten to close the door all the way—his mom can't blame him though, because he looked extremely exhausted early this morning. She was a little surprised when the two boys wanted to sleep with each other, whenever Dan had friends come over they'd always sleep in the other room and they'd just continue having fun the next day. But she respected their decision, Phil seemed like a really nice guy anyway.
She had to admit that she was impressed by his manners. There need to be more people like him in the world.
When she looked in to see how they were, the two were snuggled up against each other. Dan's arms were securely wrapped around Phil's body, and Phil's arm was draped across Dan's side. Their legs were tangled together underneath the blanket, the two both breathing softly. Mrs. Howell's eyes widen, and just like that—everything makes sense now. She smiles to herself as she closes the door softly.
The only thing she hopes for is for Phil to make Dan happy.
They both wake up around eleven AM.
"Hey." Phil smiles. The sound of Phil's morning voice makes Dan laugh a little. He opens his eyes to see Phil smiling at him, and he snuggles further into his chest. He sighs softly as the black haired teen massages the other's scalp gently—playing with his brown hair, his straight hair already curly. It's always been like this every time he woke up. "I really like your curly hair." Phil whispers, kissing his head. "It's pretty."
"Shut up. I'm sleepy." The brown haired teen mutters.
Phil raises his eyebrows, and then raises his head a little. Dan's head falls back against the pillow, for Phil was sitting up now. He grins as he inches towards Dan's neck, breathing on it softly and lightly. "Wake up." He says softly, and then places a small peck on the other teen's neck. At this, Dan blushes violently. He sits up almost immediately, his face still heated up.
"Was that really necessary?" He mutters, while Phil is laughing besides him.
"Of course it was, it's always necessary."
Dan rolls his eyes as he climbs out of bed. "Do you think Chris and PJ are going to stay at their parents' houses until New Year's?" He says, getting up and crossing his arms. Phil flops back down on his pillow, shrugging. He looks like he wants to fall asleep again, but he brushes a strand of black hair away from his face before responding.
"Probably, that's what they said right?"
"Maybe I'll invite them over." Dan muses. "That way we can have a proper New Year's celebration." He looks over to Phil, who's now sitting at the edge of the bed. He's frowning at his hands, and the brown haired teen blinks. "Phil? Are you okay?" He asks, starting forwards. Phil nods slowly, but Dan isn't quite convinced. He sits down next to him, worry in his eyes. "Phil?"
Phil sighs, and relaxes. "It's okay. I was just thinking about... you know. About the crazy stuff that happened last night."
"You don't have to force yourself to talk about it if you don't want to." Dan immediately says, sort of interrupting him. He places a hand on Phil's arm softly. "I really don't like seeing you upset, because I know it'll end up making me upset too." Phil looks up, and then gives him a small smile in return. He runs a hand through his hair, and gives a deep sigh while staring at the floor under them.
"I'm just glad I told you." The black haired teen says. "Ever since I've told you what happened, my thoughts have become clearer. It feels like I've just woke up from a really, really deep sleep and now I'm officially back to reality again." He stops talking and then raises his eyebrows. When Dan opens his mouth to speak, clearly confused by Phil's sudden action—the door creaks open.
Mrs. Howell stands in the doorway, smiling gently at the two of them. "Good morning, boys, I hope you've had a wonderful sleep. Breakfast is ready if you guys are hungry, I've made waffles and pancakes if you want some." Phil smiles warmly at this statement, and Dan starts grinning from ear to ear. Breakfast does sound really good right now, actually. He hasn't really eaten ever since earlier last night.
"Thanks, Mum." Dan says. "We'll be down in a minute."
"Hurry, or your food'll get cold. And also, I hope you won't mind accompanying me to a trip to the grocery store, I'm making pasta tonight and I still need some ingredients." She just says, before closing the door after her. Dan listens as he hears his mother's footsteps down the staircase and turns back to Phil once he hears them fade away. Phil's studying him now, looking at him strangely. Dan frowns, raising an eyebrow.
"Uh, do I have something on my face?" He asks, raising a hand up to his cheek.
Phil blinks, and then looks away. "Er, sorry. You don't have anything. It's just—" He shakes his head, and buries his face into his hands before responding. "I feel so weird. I have this weird energy bubbling up inside of me and hell, I don't know why I'm excited. It's that weird. I guess what's even stranger is that I haven't felt this feeling in a really long time actually..."
"What you said earlier, about 'waking up from a really deep sleep', I find that funny because you actually did just wake up a few minutes ago."
"No, it's not that." Phil says, while laughing a little bit. "I've been feeling like this ever since yesterday night. But maybe you're right, Dan... I think I'm just hungry or something. Wanna go downstairs now?" He asks, having stood up already.
A sudden realization popped into Dan's head. "Actually... I'm going to stay up here for a bit longer. I'm still a little bit drowsy." He replies, looking at his boyfriend from across the room. Phil's eyes narrow slightly, but he doesn't question him—which Dan's grateful for, honestly. Instead, he gives a half-shrug and opens the door wider, stepping out of it. He turns back to look at Dan, who's looking right back at him.
"You better hurry, or all the food will be gone by the time you get downstairs." Phil grins.
Then, he closes the door behind him. Immediately, Dan grabs his phone which is charging right where he left it, on top of his nightstand. He tugs the charger out and opens the home screen, then presses the 'messages' icon after he enters his password. He presses Chris's contact, and presses the 'New Message' button, the keyboard on the phone popping up almost instantly.
Hey chris you up? Just want to ask something.
A moment passes, and then a reply pops up. Hola, mi amigo! What's up?
Can you tell me how Phil was like before Christmas last year?
This time, a reply doesn't come as quickly. The textbox with the three dots indicating that the person is typing jumps in and out of sight, and Dan frowns at the screen for a while before Chris finally responds. I guess he told you about that already, hope it went well. I'm sure I already told you most of the stuff already though? Anyway he was really happy all the time and really outgoing... He never really got mad at anything that would usually make a person mad. He had a personality like the sun, but I think it's changed to the moon how hasn't it? *laughing emoji* How come you asked?
Dan bites his lip. He said he felt a weird energy bubbling inside of him this morning.
Shit, Chris then texts. Shit, really?
Yeah, why? Is it that bad?
I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! Chris then types, Dan can feel his excitement through the phone screen. What in the WORLD did you do?!
Uh... nothing?
That can't be, it must be something. I can't believe this—I've got to tell PJ RIGHT NOW. The text reads.
Now, Dan's very confused at this point—why was Chris so hyped about this? Personally, Dan thought that Phil was sick or something... he normally didn't feel things like these. His stomach growls, and he impatiently waits for Chris to reply back to the text he sent right afterwards, which was What? He didn't get why Chris was so excited about this thing... shouldn't he be a bit concerned?
DAN LISTEN TO ME WHATEVER MAGIC YOU'RE DOING—YOU BETTER KEEP AT IT. I have a feeling that he's starting to return to his old self again. You must've really told him something good to make some of his old brightness come back. What the heck do you say? Whatever, I already know you're planning on inviting us to celebrate New Year's. Come on, Dan. After all you've gotta let the moon disappear for the sun to be able to rise, right?
Dan looks down at his phone screen for a few moments, and then his eyes widen.
Phil's returning back to his old self?
Dan then goes downstairs and sits at the dining table where Phil and his parents were seated.
His dad is reading the paper while sipping coffee, Phil's busy eating a waffle and his mother's drinking her tea while staring outside the window. Dan greets them as he sits down, stabbing a pancake with his fork and biting into it. He grins suddenly at the taste of it—it tastes just like it did when he was still young. After everyone is done eating their fill, Mrs. Howell tells them to go get changed so that they could join her shopping at the grocery store.
The two teens then proceed to get ready, Dan tells Phil to just rummage in his drawer to get something to wear as Dan goes into the bathroom to straighten his hair. As soon as he comes out of the bathroom door, wearing black jeans and a white 'SAD BOYS' sweater he smiles at Phil at once, looking at what he's wearing. His outfit consists Dan's black jeans along with a gray owl sweater that he's never seen before—he looks good in it though. He tells Phil that he could keep the sweater (the other teen's eyes brighten, it's clear that he likes it) and they both put socks on and go back downstairs to meet Dan's mom at the door.
As Phil puts his winter coat on (along with his glasses that he had in his pocket) Dan turns to his mother with a bright smile on his face. He doesn't really realize how much he needs to tell her until he sees her. All of the mess that started when college happened... "I missed you a lot, mum, college isn't the same without your cooking." He says, grinning slightly. She smiles up at him, placing a hand on his cheek and massaging it softly.
"I missed you too, Dan. Thank you for bringing someone wonderful like Phil here. I'm sure you have many other wonderful friends as well." She replies, and smiles sweetly at him as he too puts his coat and shoes on. "Now say bye to your father, and we'll be on our way." Mrs. Howell then opens the door and steps outside into the cold air as Dan says a goodbye to his father (Phil says one too) and then closes and locks the door behind him.
The walk to the grocery store is not long as Dan remembered it, for they're there in no less than ten minutes. It's cold, but Phil's presence warms him.
His mom tells him to get the noodles for the pasta, which is all the way on the other side of the store so he goes at once to get them leaving both Phil and his mom behind. Mrs. Howell tells Phil to get chicken broth, and he obliges, looking up and down the aisles until his eyes landed on the item he needs. He grabs it, looking to see the expiration date, and when he notices that it's still good—Dan's mom starts talking to him.
"How'd you meet Dan?" She first says, her eyes on the items in front of them.
Phil blinks, a bit surprised at the sudden question. "We're roommates, so I met him the first day of college." He walks over to the basket they've brought and puts the chicken broth in there before continuing. "We had a bit of a rough start," he says, remembering the times where he used to refuse to talk to Dan, "but we're good now." Mrs. Howell studies him intently before returning to her grocery list.
"I see. I hope he didn't give you too much trouble."
Phil gives a light chuckle, putting his hand inside his pocket. "I'm afraid that I was the one giving him trouble at first."
"Really? You seem like a well-mannered young man."
"Ah, thank you."
Mrs. Howell then mentions that she's going to make cookies for dessert later, so the two of them go and find flour. That's when she continues asking him more questions, to which Phil provides answers for happily. Then, she asks him, "So, are you seeing anyone at the moment?" which startles Phil at first. He almost drops the flour he's holding, but he knows better than to do that so he just chooses to study the label instead.
"Well... yes." Phil says slowly, looking up from the flour. "I am."
Mrs. Howell raises her eyebrows. "I'm sure that she's a very lovely woman. Is she friends with Dan?"
Phil almost wants to laugh at the statement, but he keeps it in. "Ah, no, actually—he's a very lovely guy though." He says softly, before looking at Mrs. Howell. He takes this moment to place the flour in the basket and looks at her for a while, reading her expression which isn't exactly giving a lot away at the moment. It's scarily similar how Dan is similar to his mother—sometimes Phil can't even tell what Dan's thinking sometimes, and he's seen this expression on his face.
The two of them continue to look at each other for a while, until Dan's mum smiles. "I'm sure that he is."
"Yeah. He was raised well." The black haired teen says, not really sure what else to say.
"All I would want is to make sure that he will be happy, you know?" Mrs. Howell then says. "Can you promise that for me?"
Phil nods, smiling. He doesn't know how she knows about their relationship, but either way he's happy that he's being trusted with this. After all, Phil wants to make him as happy as possible too—he does love him after all. "Of course. You can count on me, I promise." He glances at her for approval, and thinks that her eyes look a little bit watery, but then she turns away to look back at her list without saying anything else.
Dan comes back at that moment, a little out of breath but holding the noodles in hand. Phil gives him a small smile when he approaches them and slips his hand into his, giving it a gentle squeeze. After he lets go he sees Dan smile brightly back at him, causing his heart to do the thing it always does whenever Dan gives him those kinds of smiles. "Sorry I took so long," the shorter teen breathes. "I grabbed the wrong ones at first."
At this point, Mrs. Howell is looking at the two of them quite intently. "That's fine, Daniel. We just need to get a few more ingredients and we'll be done."
Phil must've looked pretty dazed or something, for Dan nudges him to ask what was wrong. He says nothing in response, and although he knows that Dan doesn't believe what he said—he can't stop thinking about the look on Mrs. Howell's face when she asked for Phil to make him happy. It's all too familiar to him, and it sort of brings back some memories that are a little too painful to remember.
It almost makes him want to break down inside the store, but he manages not to.
As his mum prepares dinner, the two of them are in Dan's room.
Phil's doodling on some old notebook Dan found at the bottom of his bed earlier once they got back. He's making several lines and scribbles across the page, and even though he's not exactly drawing something the sound of pen and paper calms Dan for some reason. He's resting his head on Phil's shoulder, the space is comfortable and he likes it. He closes his eyes, relaxing, as Phil continues to draw continuously.
"You know, when I was a kid," Phil then says quietly. "my father would look at the messiest scribbles I created and call them masterpieces."
Dan doesn't say anything for a while. "That's really nice of him."
"I know that he was lying to my face now, but I bet little me was always overjoyed to always hear those comments. I always drew these for him." Dan sees the lines on his notebook, and he smiles a little at the sight of them. "It's pointless and everyone could do these, so I don't know why my dad kept telling me to keep drawing those every day." He scribbles some more on the notebook before sighing intently.
The brown haired teen smiles to himself. "He believed in you from the start. He's always believed in you."
Phil doesn't say anything for a while, and Dan worries that he might've said something wrong—except when he looks back up at Phil he sees that he's smiling. His grip on the pen tightens as he nods slowly. "Yeah." He says, his voice coming out quiet and breathy. "I guess he did." Dan trains his eyes on his piano across from him, not wanting to disturb Phil any longer. He knows that Phil's feeling a little nostalgic, as well as sad at the moment.
"I'm going to take a shower." Phil then says suddenly, patting Dan's head as he steps off the bed. "That's okay, right?"
Dan scoffs, rolling his eyes. "Of course it is. You're staying with me at the moment."
Phil gives him a dry smile before closing the door that led to Dan's bathroom. Dan grabs his phone and takes it off his lap, the same time he starts to hear the water running in the shower. As he turns it on, he's more than a little surprised to see 187 unread messages—all from Chris Kendall himself. The brown haired teen can't help but think Typical as he scrolls through all the messages he missed.
He sees snippets of the things Chris had sent him, most of them saying "DAN", "YOU IDIOT", and "why the HELL do you turn your notifs off" until he scrolls down all the way to the most recent message. It says: Whatever, if you guys are making out or something you should've told me beforehand so I could give you some tips smh and Dan pulls a face as he types in a response quickly.
Sorry, we just went to the grocery store to get some stuff. Also, I don't need any tips.
You'd be thankful if I gave you some. Chris responds. Anyway how's Phil doing?
Dan doesn't really know what to say at first. He's alright, kind of sad though. He's in the shower now but he was talking about his dad earlier, dunno what happened that made him remember that. Not sure if he's going to go back to his original self at this point.
Ah, well you can't blame him for that really. I don't think you'd ever recover from something as serious as what happened, but you can distract yourself momentarily from it I guess. Maybe it's best for him to remain the way he is now, I never know what the hell he's thinking.
The brown haired teen sighs before typing in a response. I hope he's okay.
A few moments later, Chris texts back.
He'll always be okay if he's with you. How many times have I told you that already?
The brown haired teen rolls his eyes at the last text.
Not enough.
Dan's finger hovers over the 'send' button, but in the end he decides not to reply.
Phil comes down to dinner first, for Dan takes a shower right after he does.
After Dan finishes his shower, he puts on a fresh pair of pajamas consisting of a black shirt, with gray bottoms (wow, wasn't his wardrobe exciting), wraps a towel around his shoulders and rushes downstairs at once. His hair's a little messy, but he doesn't care that much about it. "Sorry I'm late," he says, addressing his parents as he takes a seat next to Phil at the dinner table. The pasta smells delicious, and although the cookies are still baking in the oven at the moment Dan can already tell that he's going to enjoy this dinner.
However, he's a little bit confused when Phil looks the slightest bit nervous, he's looking at Dan with a hint of urgency in his eyes and his fingers are gripping his fork tightly. Bewildered, Dan glances at him—and then to his parents, who look perfectly content. This is when Dan knows that something's up. His parents have a knack for making people uncomfortable the first time they visit, back in secondary school his friends had to be asked about their background which was very embarrassing.
But why in the world would they ask Phil that? Dan already knew that his parents liked him already, so what exactly was the problem here?
The brown haired teen bites into his pasta. "Mm. This is good." He says, in an attempt to lighten the mood a little. "Your cooking's always the best, mom." When his mother doesn't say anything about this statement—Dan starts to panic. What the hell happened when he was upstairs? The tension was so thick, he felt like he would be able to cut it with the knife on the table.
"I just want to ask you one question Daniel, and one question only." His mom then says at last, and Dan almost is able to feel Phil tensing up next to him. It seems like he's already been asked this question. Dan gulps, not really sure what to expect. It's eerily silent for a few more moments until his mother says, "Are you gay?" Once he hears it, he's not sure how to react.
Dan nervously looks at his plate. "Uh, I think so."
At the corner of his eye, he sees Phil relax a little bit although he still looks pretty anxious. Dan coughs, not really able to look his parents up in the eye. "I mean... I dated girls, Mom, Dad—you've seen them come and go. It's just I never felt like I actually enjoyed those relationships. At the time I was entering college, I was, uh, single, and I sort of started liking this guy. I mean, I've never really been attracted to guys in the beginning but now I can say that I am. And if you're going to kick me out because I like guys, well, that's messed up on your part. I'm allowed to like who I want to."
"So, are you single now?" Mr. Howell asks.
Oh, gosh. This is so awkward. Dan runs a hand through his hair before responding, but he knows what he's going to say already. "No." He says, a little shaky at first. Then he clears his throat and somehow manages to make eye contact with his mum and dad. "No, I'm not single. Surprisingly." Next to him, he hears Phil cover his snicker with a swift cough. "Phil is my boyfriend."
It's agonizingly silent once more, and then his mom and dad smile at him.
"That's completely fine with us." Mr. Howell grins. "Your mother here, she's had a suspicion. Brilliant woman she is, I'm glad I have her as my wife and you as my son." Dan gives his dad a smile as his gaze then shifts to Phil, who straightens up at once. "And I'll be happy to have you as a part of our family—if you and Dan will still be together in the future, that is." Phil raises his eyebrows, and looks to Dan who blinks at him in response.
Mrs. Howell smiles as well. "I wanted grandchildren, but the thing that I want for you the most is for you to be happy, Dan. I'm really glad that you were able to find someone very suitable for you. We'll have to start planning the wedding soon!" She says, as she takes a bite into her pancake. Dan and Phil look from them to one another, and instantly a huge smile breaks out on Phil's face—that's when Dan knows he's really happy.
Dan feels his face reddening at once at the mention of getting married, muttering silently that "we haven't really talked much about getting married to each other yet" earning laughs from his parents and Phil at once. Even though it appears as if they're joking around, Dan can't really help but think about the future—what is he going to do? He knows for sure that he wants to be with Phil forever... getting married would be absolutely wonderful, but then again it's really too soon to be thinking about that.
Dinner is absolutely delicious, soon enough Dan and Phil share stories from college and both the Howells end up sharing things that happened to them in the past. Laughter and loud voices fill the room, and it's so comforting. It feels so good to be back at home, away from all the mess and all the stress. It feels so good not to worry about stupid projects or big tests. It feels so good not to worry about Sarah, that girl that was Phil's girlfriend at one point.
It makes him so incredibly happy.
A/N: you want to hear a funny story? i typed this all up about a few weeks ago and i forgot to post it. mainly bc i was thinking if i should add more parts but i looked at how many words this chapter already had and it was over a whopping 6,000. shit man i really do lose track of time and idk what i'm even doing anymore lol
but HEY! i updated. and this was sort of a filler chapter if you were wondering. next is the new year's chapter i think, new year's is only a few days after christmas after all. and guess what. CHRIS AND PJ ARE HERE TO JOIN THE PARTY (again, wow so exciting)
i'm so sorry for not updating as frequently as i promised i would,, i've been so unexpectedly busy But i hope everyone is doing well!
-choco xx