#Dash Phan AU | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bramble-scramble · 6 months

Text

SO!!!! Recently @bowletta sent me an ask about vamp!Phantom taking care of Woodrow while he was sick, and my brain went "yeah but what if Phantom was sick instead, WHAT ABOUT THAT HUH??? How do vampires even get sick?"

And then... this entire story exploded into my head almost instantly. Apparently that ask was just two days ago but it feels like longer because this fic has been clawing at my brain incessantly the whole time. It is BY FAR the longest Phanpire thing I have written and makes me all squishy inside!! These bunnies SO are not done with me yet! I hope you enjoy my Phandrow vampire AU hurt/comfort fic ty ty

One Paw in the Grave

It was the middle of the night, and the poet found himself wandering the castle.

By any measure, its rooms and hallways were oppressive. Dimly lit by torches, if they were lit at all; windows closed by default so that no one would forget to close them and let any sunlight in during the day; barely-visible portraits and suits of armor and tapestries haunting the imagination at the corners of one's eyes. It led to a feeling of claustrophobia- and yet, this was his home now, and there was comfort and familiarity in it.

The poet felt the alternating textures of cold stone and ancient carpet beneath his footpads as he went onwards, with no particular destination in mind. He had written well in the past few hours, and thought he deserved a break. It was still a long time before the dawn, before his Lord would return. Perhaps he would visit the castle's plentiful library, and find a new book for inspiration-

And then a noise peirced him to his core. It was a plaintive howl, from far up above, echoing as if it came from within the castle itself. Even worse: the howl terminated suddenly into a series of sharp yips. Then the howling started again for a few seconds, and then more barking- the distressing cycle began to repeat. Like an alarm.

Just as the writer was recovering from his shock and beginning to move again, a blur passed him. It was one of the castle's servants, a Depleter, traveling somewhere in a hurry. He turned and blinked after the newcomer, only to hear a scrabbling- a Lone Wolf skittered and scrambled past him, going the same direction, down the hallway and dashing up a set of stairs. The howling had not stopped. In terror, but at least able to move, Woodrow pulled his coat close around himself and dashed after them.

"Excuse me," he said with trembling voice as another wolf came up beside him, "what's going-" ...but the canine rabbid had overtaken him and disappeared to join the others without saying a word in response.

Woodrow followed the noise of the howl, and the flow of what seemed like every servant in the castle, up and up, along further hallways and stairwells, until he arrived at what he knew to be the castle's tallest tower. He climbed up the stairs, panting and out of breath - he was never a very energetic creature at the best of times, and especially not lately. Indeed, he seemed to be the last person to arrive on the scene. So frightened was he, that he just now registered that the howling siren had stopped at some point.

As he reached the landing at the top of the stairs, he saw the wooden door that led to the small garret observatory was ajar. A multitude of the castle's residents were inside, crowded around something, whereas even more were on the landing as they could not fit inside. In front of the door, looking angry and out-of-sorts, was a Spooky Buckler whom Woodrow recognized as the captain of Lord Phan's guard.

"What's- going on?" the poet asked again, this time his ragged breath choking out the words. "Has something- happened?"

The Buckler looked at him furiously, the pinpricks of light in his black eyes glowing extra-bright. "Of COURSE something's happened, idiot mortal. Get out of here. You should not be here."

Woodrow's heart leapt into his throat. "W-why?!" he stammered. "What's wrong? Is- where's Tom-"

"Get OUT of here, little prey," snarled the Buckler ferociously. "You will only trouble us."

"No! I want to see him-"

"You shall not," said the guardsman, now closing the door behind him. "It will break you." He slammed the bottom of his shield onto the ground in front of the poet. "Now GO. To your chambers."

----

Woodrow stared down at his paws in the candlelight. He was too riddled with anxiety and terror to care that he had sprinted through the castle and exhausted himself for nothing. He sat now in his room, as he had been ordered.

But for how long had he been here? Twenty minutes, an hour? It was impossible to say. Of course he could not read, or write, or do anything- he had only stared at his paws, or lain in bed and stared at the top of the canopy. He tried to fall asleep, but of course he could not do that either. He had found himself staring at the bloodstains on blankets and pillows, stains that it was as pointless as it was futile to try and remove. Stains of his own blood, to which more were added every single day, at the border between darkness and sun.

Every second seemed eternal. What was going on? What was the emergency? Surely Tom could not be in trouble... that was impossible. He was, after all, himself- the great beast of the night, unchanging and ever wonderful. And yet- vampires WERE vulnerable. Mortals had figured out so many ways to kill them, had pinpointed their weaknesses. What could have happened-

The poet jolted as if electrified, and nearly screamed as the heard the door to his room slam open. Then, when he looked up- he DID scream, and jumped out of his chair.

In the doorway, several Depleters and Ghostly Walkers were supporting a large, ghostly body that was unrecognizably Tom. Only- he was naked, and he was not well. Splotches and speckles of livid red covered his chest, his neck, his arms, and even parts of his face - in some places smooth, others swollen into a welt or rash - they were burns. Half of his fur had been burned away. No blood swirled in his belly, only a gramophone that itself now looked old and tarnished. One of his eyes was swollen shut, and with the other, he looked up weakly. "Tristan..."

The poet dashed over, reaching out a hand to gingerly touch the side of the vampire's face where there appeared to be no injuries. "Oh, Tom!" he cried in anguish. "What- what happened-"

"Get him into the bed," came a gruff voice, and Woodrow saw the captain of the guard again, in the hallway. The ghosts supporting Phantom did so, laying him down in the bed that he and his beloved prey so often shared. They lifted the blankets and covered up his lower half.

"Begone now," said the vampire, weakly but firmly, looking out at his servants. "Prepare the ritual for the next sunset. I shall summon you if I need more attention."

"But my Lord-" the Captain began.

"I shall be FINE," said Tom Phan, and the others all bowed and left, closing the door. No one remained in the room but the vampire and his beloved.

Woodrow had been standing at the bedside in shock, and now clambered onto the bed, sitting up next to the vampire. Tom's eyes were closed, and he was propped up on some pillows. Once his servants were all gone, he let out a tremendous cough, a bit of darkened old blood dribbling from his mouth.

"Oh, Tom," the poet said again, his voice shaken with grief, taking up one of the vampire's large paws in both of his own. "Who did such a thing to you? How could this happen??"

Phantom opened the less-injured eye, and smiled weakly at the poet. "My darling," he said with a quiet laugh. "Surely you must have realized that I have enemies?"

"Well..." said the poet, stroking the velvet softness of the vampire's paw-pad and looking down at the claws that extended above them. "I suppose so, yes. Creatures of darkness usually do. I know you have rivals. I just, I never thought-"

"You never thought anyone could best me, eh?" The vampire smiled wider. "You are as sweet as your blood, mon cœur. If charmingly naive."

"Before you tell me what happened, tell me- will you be alright?"

Tom nodded. "Yes. I am stable for now, and I will recover. But I will not do it on my own. I am not mortal, and I will not heal naturally. There must to be rituals, although it is too late to perform them tonight. Until then, I desired to rest here throughout the day. I am stable for now."

"Rituals?" asked the poet.

"Yes," said the vampire. "And I will need plenty of fresh blood, too- Ah! Stop it!" Woodrow's hand had gone immediately to his own collar, ready to unbutton his coat. "Do not be silly. I need far, far more than you could give. Even at your fullest."

"Still- can I at least help? Please, Tom, let me."

"Mmm..." murmured the vampire. "I do not think it will be nearly enough to matter. Still, I suppose it couldn't hurt, either."

And before the ghost could say more, Woodrow had taken off his coat and thrown it aside, as quick as he had ever done anything in his life, nestling down under the blankets next to his Lord. Slowly, weakly, but eagerly and deliberately, Phantom slid his arm underneath his beloved's neck and lifted him, pulling him close to his side. He closed his eyes and bit into the usual spot, but without the usual panache or passion, and drank and swallowed at a steady pace. Woodrow felt no pain; not today. Only that familiar, curious sensation: as if every vein and artery and cell in his body was being pulled towards the wound as his blood was taken from him. He released a heavy sigh laden with worry and agony and love, and ran his hand through his darling's hair as he tenderly fed.

It was not long this time before Phantom left off, letting go, licking his lips and his fangs. Woodrow got up silently to clean and treat his wound- it was something Tom usually did for him, but he could manage it for himself today. As quick as he could, he returned to sit on the bedside.

"Do tell me you feel at least a little better now," he said, putting his glasses back on, and Phantom nodded, seeming contented indeed.

"Now..." the poet continued. "Will you tell me what happened?"

Lord Phan sighed. His swelling had gone down somewhat, and he looked at his beloved with both of his eyes. "Tristan," he said, "there are worse things out there than other creatures of the night. I have enemies. Mortal enemies who wish me great harm. And the worst of them all are the Brothers."

"The Brothers?" said the writer curiously. "Go on."

"Yes. There are two of them, twins, although everyone thinks of them in terms of the firstborn and the young one. The firstborn, the Red Warrior- he is a vampire hunter. Well, a hunter of vampires and werewolves and all manner of physical beasts. And the secondborn, the Green Mage, is a ghost hunter. Now, do you see? I am their perfect target- a vampire, but also a spirit. With me they can collaborate. I coalesce into being their perfect rival- and oh, how I hate them both."

"Are they Rabbids like us?"

"No. They are humans."

"Humans!" cried Woodrow.

Phantom laughed wryly. "Indeed, I do not blame you for being surprised. They are hardly intimidating creatures, normally. And yet- when they are powerful, they are astonishingly so. Take the Princess of this very kingdom, for example. She wields power that keeps us creatures of the night isolated here on the outskirts - places like Spooky Trails, the Darklands, Forever Forest. But she is busy, and more of a protector than a fighter- and so she sends the despicable Brothers into the places her magic does not touch, to do her dirty work. Still, I am smarter than them- usually."

"I see," said Woodrow quietly. "So you encountered the Brothers tonight?"

"Indeed," Phantom continued. "It was... I was a fool. I thought them above using such dirty tricks. But they lured me into a trap, like a feral and careless animal. I was ambushed." He shook his head, his face contorted with disappointment at himself. "An injured Toad, in a clearing- I could not resist, you know. Pathetic creatures, but their blood tastes like mushrooms- one of the few times I can get a taste of old food, that I remember from centuries past. Mushroom soup! Ha-" another violent cough- "Ah- but 'twas not an injured Toad at all. Merely one in cahoots with the vile Hunters, playing along. As I got ready to attack, he sprang up, gave the call, and out jumped Red and Green, and-" he closed his eyes again for a moment, then opened them, and lifted his arms to stare at the burns and patches of missing fur.

Woodrow did not speak, only stroked a non-injured patch of his shoulder, methodically, repeatedly, lovingly.

"And, well, they attacked me," said the vampire finally. "They had brought everything in their arsenal. Holy water from the springs of Star Road. And they had Power Stars- vile, holy things, each one of them a miniature sun. They used them on themselves, all glowing like the agonizing sunlight, and being in their mere presence was enough to injure me. They hardly needed to lay hands on me at all. I struggled, but they got the best of me, I-"

"Tom," whimpered the poet, tears dripping down from behind his glasses, as he held the vampire's paw to his cheek.

"I shall spare you the gory detail. Just now that- I actually looked far worse than you see me now. I really believe they meant to kill me, tonight. It was all I could do to retreat in the end. I turned into a bat, and with all of my strength flew home, to my tallest tower. The powers of my servants and of the castle itself stabilized me, and restored me somewhat. But I will need further rituals to heal."

"And you will heal?" the poet asked softly.

"Yes. I will be my old self again, in time. Although how much time, I cannot say."

They were quiet for a long time. Woodrow let Tom rest from his long speech, and from reliving those memories. As the vampire closed his eyes, his prey gently stroked his hair, his cheeks, anywhere he could find a spot with no burns.

Then the writer suddenly spoke, after some time. "My Lord," he said, softly but with determination. "These brothers... where can I find them?"

The Phantom opened his eyes, meeting those of his partner, and let out a laugh. "Oh! What shall you do, my lamb, my dove? Do you wish to avenge me? You, gentle artist?"

"I.... I must do something. Perhaps I can spy on them, and make sure they do not repeat such a plan as tonight."

The vampire's smile became tender, and he reached up to touch the other's face. "Very well," he said. "c'est une bonne idée, mon amour. We can speak of such things later, perhaps. They do not know you, and they do not know your relation to me. But for now- you must keep yourself safe and whole. That is the best you can do for me."

"But how can I help you? How can I help you right now, besides giving of my blood?" He swallowed, trying to fight the lump in his throat. "I... I am frightened, Tom. I- I did not know you had such enemies."

The vampire was quiet for a moment. He took his companion's small, delicate paw into his own, and stared at the flickering candle on the bedside table.

"Mon poète," he said. "Have you never considered the power you have? You know a mortal can kill a vampire. It is not even difficult. The hardest part is access."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm taking about you, chéri. You could so easily snap your umbrella in half, and with its broken shaft, pierce my heart. You could go out and procure a bulb of garlic and slip the whole thing into my mouth when I am in my death-rest. There are so many, many ways you could harm me."

"Tom-" Woodrow said, his voice trembling. "I... suppose you are correct, but it has honestly never occurred to me. Why would I ever do such things? Such horrible things? Not even when I first came here did I consider it, and now... to drive a stake through your heart would be to drive a stake through mine own. As you live or perish, so goes my soul. Oh, surely you understand that I love you with every drop of blood in my body, all of which I would gladly give, if it were the only way to save you-"

"Shhh! Calm down, mon cœur!" The vampire squeezed his companion's hand; the poet had grown extremely passionate indeed. "You do not need to explain. I know you would never do such things. And therein lies the beauty. You are not my thrall; your loyalty to me is of your own will. And yet... I trust you, as I have never trusted a mortal creature of the daylight, in all my years of undeath. At first when I brought you here, I had fearful day-dreams of your betrayal... but I soon saw that I could share your bed, that I could pass into torpor by your side, and that you would not harm me. My sweet dove of the dawn... I can assure you that I love you, as you love me."

Woodrow felt himself melt; in an almost involuntary movement, he was under the blankets again, nestling into his beloved's body, ever so tenderly, careful of the welts and rashes, his eyes closed, his glasses off, his face buried in the crook of his neck.

...It took him a moment to realize.

"But Tom," he said softly. "You never answered my question. How can I help you now?"

"By being with me," was the answer. "Because, when you have existed for as long as I... in darkness and cold and an endless cycle of hunger... well, sometimes when faced with the prospect of your own annihilation, you want to take it. Well, what would be so bad about letting their holy light burn me away to nothing? Finally, rest..."

Tom felt the warmth of tears on his neck as Woodrow reacted to the thought. But he continued: "And yet, I refused to take that rest. Because I wanted to get home. I needed to make it home. I have a reason to exist. To get home and hear the poems you wrote tonight. To get home and see your face."

"Oh, my Lord-"

"Shh. None of this My Lord, anymore." The vampire nuzzled into his beloved's head, his chin on his wispy hair, and spoke softly into his ear. "You are my partner, the sustainer of both my body and soul. You may not be vampire, but you shall be Lord in this castle just as much as myself. I declare it. I heard my Captain refusing to let you see me, although I was too weak to argue at the time. But I wanted nothing more than to see you, to touch your face, for I thought I might still perish in that moment. From now on, none in this place shall refuse your desires. I am yours, and you are mine, and we are Lord Tom Phan and Lord Tristan Woodrow. ...Now, doesn't that sound nice?"

"Dearest Tom! Why, it's almost like a fairy tale... the strangest and most macabre one to still have a happy ending." He pulled away and looked the other in the eyes. "...Is this a proposal? Are we getting married?"

Tom laughed again, weak but jolly, his large body shaking under the blankets. "I do not think there is such need for the rituals of the living," he said. "I have enough rituals to worry about at the moment. ...But when I am recovered, we can discuss it." He smiled. "Now... I do believe the sun must be coming up, for I feel myself sink ever more into exhaustion. Will you read me your new poems, while I fall into my rest?"

"Of course, my dear," said the writer. "I do not need to retrieve my notes, for they are still fresh in my head."

And so while the injured vampire closed his eyes, his fellow-Lord purred verses into his ears, words that only the two of them would ever know. The vampire's powers kept the poet safe from his own misfortune - and though he be but mortal, and weak, he would do anything to protect his darling in turn.

#mario plus rabbids #mario + rabbids #phandrow #the phantom of the bwahpera #ts woodrow #woodrow #soh vampire au

38 notes · View notes

subukunojess · 8 months

Text

Phantom Moth AU: A Mario and Rabbids Supernatural Adventure!

Hello. As I'm slowly getting back into writing, my hyperfixated brain has decided to focus on Mario and Rabbids content. Specifically Tom Phan/The Phantom. I knew of him years ago and how my mutuals and dash would bring him up. For Me, Phantom (while minor in comparison to my regular faves) definitely falls into the platonic self-indulgent bestie with benefits. He's the type of character my self insert would be friends with but can understand the appeal and will swoon if he tries anything.

I decided to create an AU for him since I seen a lot of creative AU's on my dash and I wanted to create something for future stories. I ran this by with @hostess-of-horror and I'm kind of surprised what I made up so far. Without further ado, here is the Phantom Moth AU.

How it is going to be made up: it will be on Archive of Our Own and cross-posted on here. While one-shots and the like will be a Reader fic, a multichapter fic would feature an OC as the MC. Couldn't decide between the two, so I did both.

More about the AU under the cut:

Content includes giant monsters, voice/sound powers, people/rabbids getting eaten, secret identities, betrayal, curses, transformations, possible slow burn, hypnotism/siren, bats, and much more!

This has been said to be like a blend of Hunger Games, Beauty and the Beast, and Shrek.

MC (reader/OC) is a gender-neutral small-time performer living in the city. In the world they live in, it is modern like our world in the daytime, but at night, giant monsters are said to roam under the ground or in the shadows.

While MC is not popular per se, they are talked about and they do have a small fanbase. They sing, dance, and even write when they get a chance.

They also have a rabbid oc companion named Otieno (He/Him) who serves as their bodyguard/advisor/agent.

One day, there's a rumor going around about a mysterious idol and performer named Tom Phan who is holding a contest for anyone (human, rabbid, or inbetween) to go on a date with him/perform with him and become a star. MC agrees to go to get the experience, try their shot, and meet new people.

The contestants (once going to a mysterious underground location) sign a contract and each performer goes to their own room, each having a wall in which only one side can see the other.

There are three rounds to the contest: Interview, Audition, and Performance. The first one is a voice (Tom Phan) asking questions and after doing so, the semi=finalists are chosen. The second involves a solo audition in private. Then the last round has the finalists coming out of their rooms and performing a song chosen by the group. Only then will Tom Phan choose his partner.

Two things make this contest complicated. One having to do with the MC. In their past, a jealous rival/bully had cursed them with dark magic, claiming that whatever would make their heart beat rapidly in a romantic sense, that will be the form they take for a limited time. For example, if MC saw a werewolf as a crush, they would either sprout ears and a tail or become half wolf depending on the intensity of the crush. For the most part, MC's curse does not activate as much if at all. When it does, the MC either does not notice or the effect lasts a few days or a week at best.

The second thing lies with Tom Phan. Thomas was once alive with dreams of being a star. However, upon his death, he became The Phantom, a giant ghost Rabbid/Bat with the power of voice and sound at his command and hankering for both love and prey.

Put those two things together and you get this: MC hears a soft yet smooth voice conversing with them and they get interested in getting to know him better. In reality, Tom Phan is going through each contestant's room like a giant cubby hole and using control on his volume. For the first round, he closed his eyes to judge on voice and answers alone. The second part, he did open his eyes and saw each solo audition. Up to this point, MC has not seen Tom Phan and thinks he's either a human or a rabbid.

Lo and behold, the finale begins, the wall opens up, the performers come out. Instead of anything else greeting them, MC sees a giant head with large ears and fangs to match. MC has a thing for giant monsters. Upon seeing Phantom, their body splits in two. The human body falls back asleep while the other part become half ghost.

Although the show must go on, MC freaks out not only because of their crush being a giant ghost bat monster who could devour them if he wants to, but that they are HALF-DEAD.

Meanwhile, the Phantom, seeing the MC that he had high hopes for suddenly becoming part ghost, gets excited, choosing MC as his partner.

The rest of the AU is somewhat of a slow-burn story with the MC coming to terms with the development, using their newfound powers to become a hero, and dealing with the side effects when bonding with a giant monster.

On Phantom's side of things, he not only has to decide whether to keep things as they are with MC or make it so they become a complete ghost monster and they will never leave him.

Monster stuff, monster fighting, sound-based powers, comedy, past histories, and consuming others are blended together to make this AU.

The reason for the name of the AU is because of the ghosts being the subject and MC's main monster form is part butterfly/moth in the beginning.

I'll do more specific information in a separate post. In the meantime, if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask! Thank you.

#mario and rabbids #alternate universe #mario and rabbids spark of hope #rabbid #phantom of the bwahpera #Tom Phan #Rabbid OC #OC #reader insert #OC: Otieno the Rabbid #giant #g/t #monster #bat #ghost #Phantom Moth AU #just a self indulgent AU I came up with #hoping to write when I get the chance

4 notes · View notes

ajitated · 2 years

Text

Aj's 2021 Fic Wrap-Up!

(Originally posted 1 January 2022)

This year, I actively started writing and posting my fic, and joined the DP fandom!

Works: 38

Total WC: 111,590

Events: Invisobang, Phic Phight, DannyMay, Ectoberhaunt

All my 2021 fics are linked below the cut in reverse-chronological order! (literally all DP fic)

Fic title (event) | Ship, WC, Rating | Shortest description I could come up with

Drifting | Gen, 1.1k, G | Danny emotions / character study

Facing Facts (phight) | Gen, 5.6k, T+ | Danny and Dash heart-to-heart

Phan Merch (phight) | Gen, 1.2k, G | Dannypocalypse meme fic

Plausibility (phight) | Gen, 1.4k, G | Vlad and Maddie-the-cat

Fire and Ice (phight) | Gen, 3.1k, G | fire core!Danny, class ski trip

More of You (phight) | Dark Ages, 2.3k, T+ | Pariah got new piercings

What Can be Found (phight) | Gen, 4.9k, G | A ghost ship and the Fentons A+ parenting

Gossip-monger (phight) | Gen, 1.8k, G | Casper High gossip

Captivated (phight) | Gen, 1.1k, G | Eldritch ghost that manipulates happiness

Blank Spaces (may) | Dark Ages, 4.8k, T+ | Clockwork memory-loss fic (pre-Danny era)

Where the Heart Is (may) | Dark Ages, 898, G | Domestic fluff

Retrospection (phight) | Gen, 2.7k, G | Lancer overhearing a convo between Danny and Wes

Masters Portal (may) | Gen, 1.1k, G | invisobang fic preview

The Brightest Burns (may) | Dark Ages, 2.8k, T+ | human rockstar au, star!cw and manager!Pariah

More Than Bargained For (phight, may) | Gen, 2.3k, T+ | corpse au fic, outsider POV

Second Chances (may) | Gen, 1k, G | Pariah motive study

Never To Be (may) | Dark Ages, 1.1k, G | Cw yearning for Pariah

Stargazing (may) | Royal Family, 1.3k, G | Cw, Pariah, and Danny stargazing

Candlelight (may) | Royal Family/Dark Ages, 1.7k, T+ | Danny meddling to set up Cw and Pariah

One Another (may) | Lost Time, 1.2k, G | Start of Eldritch!Danny

Past, Present, Future (may) | Lost Time, 648, G | How people view time

You, Yours (may) | Dark Ages, 1k, G | Pariah's scars

Of You (may) | Dark Ages, 1k, T+ | Pariah dreams about Cw

Ceiling Stars (may) | Royal Family, 1.8k, G | Danny leaves to the GZ permanently

Of Trees and Teas (may) | Gen, 1.8k, G | Kitsune!Danny

Next To You (may) | Dark Ages, 1.5k, G | Rockstar au continuation

Caged (may) | Dark Ages, 745, T+ | Pariah catches Cw

On Ice (may) | Royal Family, 1.4k, G | Danny freezes Pariah by mistake

Feathers and Freedoms (may) | Dark Ages, 2.3k, G | wing au

Luck, or the Lack Thereof (may) | Gen, 1.4k, T+ | arena au, Danny forced to fight

Rainy Days (may) | Veggie Burger, past trio, 795, G | Danny misses Sam and Tucker

Fen's Origin | Gen, 4.6k, T+ | oc origin story fic

Irrefutably Human (bang fic) | Gen, 35k, G | Danny grows up in the GZ au

Brightest Burns (V2) | Dark Ages, 3.6k, T+ | Rockstar au continuation

Hellfire (ectober) | Dark Ages, 1.5k, T+ | based on the disney song :D

Escape (ectober) | Gen, 3.2k, T+ | oc fic, Fen and 31 escape the GIW

Kitsune au Preview (ectober) | Gen, 2.9k, G | preview of a longer kitsune au fic

Evermore | Gen, 1k, G | Danny loneliness character study

#ajility writes #ajs fanworks #danny phantom #moving onto blog #dp fic #dp ff #2021 fic wrap #2021 fic compilation #fic compilation #dp fic compilation #eoy creation stats

10 notes · View notes

ghostsray · 4 years

Text

the greatest generation: (2004-2007) joined the phandom while danny phantom was still airing. posted on forums run by butch hartman. probably interacted with the hartman himself. lived through the truephan/antiphan war.

the silent generation: (2007-2009) joined when the show was cancelled. wanted nothing to do with the truephan/antiphan war. probably joined a "bring back danny phantom" protest. read/wrote fanfiction on wattpad.

baby boomers: (2009-2014) the angst boom. dissection fics were everywhere. ghost speak, ghost hunger, etc were popular. lots and lots of gore art. followed haiju's phantom of truth.

gen x: (2014-2017) joined around the time "it's not gay if he's dead", wes weston, pink pants, etc. the phandom was still mostly angsty but starting to gain memes. space au and reverse au were popular. beccadrawsstuff's fankids dominated the nextgen tag.

millenials: (2017-2019) the diddly era. everyone was following diddly-darn-ghost or saw her posts every day on their dash. memes everywhere. has accepted as fact that danny loves guacamole. witnessed the amazing scientific discovery of diddles piddles.

gen z: (2019-2021) like 40% chance of having even watched the show. phandom events are all you know. likely got impersonated at some point. dennys is only known as a fighting zone. food discourse. bullying lexx.

gen alpha: (2021--) phandom reawakening. a lot of phans who left before are slowly coming back. nickolodeon's new strategy of selling nostalgia means that, for the first time since the silent generation, there's an actual chance of new content coming out. every once in a while b*tch h*rtman makes another dumb oc that the phandom improves. wes weston has an entire family tree now. crossovers with marvel and dc are insanely popular. the vlad thirst has gotten stronger, but in a "he's so pathetic" kind of way. lil nas x is one of us.

#danny phantom #phandom shenanigans #mine #tag urself im millenial #update: added gen alpha

4K notes · View notes

jadenoryuu · 2 years

Text

I posted 1.032 times in 2021

117 posts created (11%)

915 posts reblogged (89%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 7.8 posts.

[Well, not much content from me after all! (‘◉⌓◉’)]

I added 1.004 tags in 2021

#danny phantom - 407 posts

#i cackled - 199 posts

#fic rec - 80 posts

#bnha - 58 posts

#ectober month 2021 - 50 posts

#this is awesome - 46 posts

#ectoberhaunt 2021 - 46 posts

#the fluff - 41 posts

#crossover - 41 posts

#jack fenton - 36 posts

[Wow, I cackle a lot!]

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#at first i wondered if only the person who got shot could see the vestige but then i thought 'no actually it'll be more fun if everyone has

My Top Posts in 2021

So, I was looking out for hero names in my 5-Halfa AU and came upon this:

And it's kind of a mind-blown that she had her plant-related theme already inside her name, isn't it?

(≧▽≦)

I guess Amity Park is going to meet this "Antheia" newbie soon! (AKA during Ectoberhaunt)

86 notes • Posted 2021-09-09 22:29:11 GMT

Girl help, I'm shiny hunting the Unown.

[Image description: a 2DS is playing Pokémon Alpha Sapphire in a cave with the Navidex settled on the Unown page with the count of 999 met Pokémon of that species. On its left there are two pieces of paper: the one yellow on the left has the already caught letters and the counter of how many Unown were necessary to find each of them; the white paper on the right has the sequence of every Pokémon found with the counter over 3100. The colored blue letters on the latter are the latest shiny found.]

98 notes • Posted 2021-11-06 18:03:52 GMT

So, I read the spoilers of chapter 319 of BnHA and the only thought my brain came up to was:

(EDIT: I finally had access to a PC so I now I can hide the

SPOILERS)

"This is an INTERVENTION!"

137 notes • Posted 2021-07-08 16:09:16 GMT

Phans!

PHANS!!

I found some spoilers for the upcoming comic, but in order not to spoil everyone I'll just put the link here.

ヽ༼⁰o⁰；༽ノ

315 notes • Posted 2021-08-30 12:31:37 GMT

There's a prompt that's running wild in my head and I need to type it down somewhere before I forget:

What if Dash bullying on Danny was really traumatic for him?

So much that, after/during a ghost fight, after a blow on the head from whatever foe that leaves Phantom concussed, Dash tries to help him up from the ground, but Danny is too out of it that recoils like when he's Fenton? That he even begs to not be hurt?

What kind of emotional whiplash will this be for Dash?

What kind of consequences will this have on Phantom public image?

364 notes • Posted 2021-11-09 17:13:45 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

Well, I joined Tumblr this year and seeing everything I did was a trip! Thank everyone for following/answering/indulging/bearing with me!

Let's attack 2022 together!

#the dragon speaks #my tumblr 2021 year in review #danny phantom #bnha #bnha manga spoilers #pokémon #long post

2 notes · View notes

phanfictioncatalogue · 4 years

Text

Co-Worker AUs Masterlist

Links Last Checked: April 3rd, 2022

As Long As I’m With You - mogars-sword

Summary: Dan, a hotel employee, is asked to come home with Phil, his coworker that he’s only known for a month, for Christmas. The only catch is Dan has to pretend to be Phil’s fiance, and things happen.

Confessions Beneath Motel Bedsheets (ao3) - scifi (orphan_account)

Summary: In a small town in Maryland, a young girl has been murdered. Special agents Howell and Lester, partners for seven years, are called out to the case due to suspicions that it was paranormal. With a mystery to solve in the sleepy town of Millers Grove, the agents find themselves spending the night in the town’s only dodgy hotel, and beneath cheap motel bedsheets Howell and Lester work out that maybe their partnership is more than it seems.

Life Finds A Way (ao3) - pasteldanhowells

Summary: Dan and Phil in the Jurassic Park world! With a genderswap twist. Daisy and Penelope are sent to Isla Nublar to check out the upcoming Jurassic World amusement park. Daisy wanted a nice trip, wanted to see some dinosaurs, and hang out with co-workers. Nothing more, and nothing less. Unfortunately, a dinosaur breaks out of containment and all hell breaks loose.

rose-colored boy (phan) (ao3) - coffeeandcatwhiskers

Summary: "but hearts are breaking. the wars are raging on, and i have taken my glasses off."

in which phil thinks dan could use a dash of sunshine and dan thinks phil could shove it, but frankly, dan appreciates phil’s adorable reckless optimism.

also, they work together in a bookstore.

also, dan has the largest crush in the world on phil, but his deteriorating pessimism gets the best of him on the daily and he acts super rude to try and put the idea of ever loving phil out of the question.

Secrets and S'more (ao3) - flowerchilddeeno

Summary: In which Dan and Phil are coworkers who seem to hate one another, but then something happens at the staff Christmas party.

Stand Proud - nebulous-frog

Summary: Dan finally got the job he’d always wanted: he was officially the newest curator at the Marquee Art Museum. He already had the perfect idea for his first exhibit and with the much-needed support of his coworker, Phil, he could make it a reality.

The Anatomy of You and Me. - phangirlingforphan

Summary: phil lester knew he hated dan howell as soon as slapped his ass and winked at him on their first day as surgical interns. he didn’t want a romance, he just wanted to get through the year in peace, no matter how pretty the guy’s face might be. AU.

Vows (ao3) - lionkid (orphan_account)

Summary: Phil works as a video producer for Buzzfeed UK. Dan, a coworker he’s not particularly fond of, comes up with a video idea: two single people have to act married for a week. He just so happens to volunteer to ‘marry’ Dan. Based on Buzzfeed’s “Single people get married for a week” series.

Written in the Stars (ao3) - AmberNotes (orphan_account), mollieblack

Summary: Dan and Phil are friends. Best friends. Coworkers. Flatmates. Partners. They're just about everything two people can be, but they're not together. No, they're just platonic friends, which is why Dan's sudden obsession with Phanfiction throws everything off balance.

Can Dan’s writing become a reality?

#phanfictioncatalogue #phanfiction #phanfic #phan #masterlists #au #work #work masterlist #coworkers

31 notes · View notes

ineverhadmyinternetphase · 7 years

Text

Steal My Heart (steal my whole life too) 12/24

Genre: Chaptered, fantasy AU, Prince!Phil, Thief!Dan, romance, enemies to lovers, angst and fluff, slow burn (like serious slow burn)

Warnings: some violence, mentions of death (no main characters), dark magic, descriptions of wounds/blood, some hints of sexual scenes (but no actual smut), murder, dangerous situations, stealing/thievery

Summary: Captain of the Royal Guard and Prince of Morellia, Philip Lester has never been given the chance to find love. Instead, he’s run from a system that works to end class differences and improve equality for its citizens. Happy as he is to make the world a better place, Phil can’t help feeling bitter towards his ancestors for making it impossible for him to find someone who will actually love him for more than just his title, and strives instead for a life of justice and doing good - only to meet his match in the King of Thieves, a man who will change everything he once thought he knew in life. Together, they must depart on a quest to save the kingdom, and, in the process, destroy their differences and find their own form of love.

Word count: 240,000+

Updates: Sunday

Thanks so much to @botanistlester for betaing this giant monster, as she’s been super helpful and encouraging with her little comments and endless excitement. We couldn’t have done it without you <3

Disclaimer: In no way do I claim that this is real or cast aspersions on Dan or Phil

For reference, @snowbunnylester is Phil, @ineverhadmyinternetphase is Dan

Just a quick notice to our lovely readers. There will be no update next Sunday, as final’s are upcoming, and Julia is finishing up her final paper, which is amazing!! Please send her encouragement and love, as she completely deserves it! We’ll be back with an update in two weeks :))

(AO3 Link)

Chapter Twelve

When Phil finally left his mother’s side, it was with a heavy heart and tears still dripping steadily down his face that he couldn’t quite seem to get a hold of. It wasn’t his fault, really. His mum had once been someone he considered his best friend, in a world where Phil had been too terrified to have anyone else, and to see her so distressed on his behalf, on Cornelia’s behalf, on the kingdom’s behalf… it had been a hard thing to swallow.

Not to mention, he knew how worried his entire family was over the fact that they were sending him after a dragon of all things. Phil had never even be sent on a quest against any magical creatures in their land. Society had grown over the years, and while the fearsome beasts of legend had grown with them, feared and mighty and dangerous, very few in the world were dumb enough to think them lesser, or go on quests to hunt them down and kill them for something as silly as - as - a feather, or, god forbid, a dragon scale fresh from the hide of a dragon.

Phil shuddered even remembering his task at hand. A fight with a beast as mighty and ferocious as a dragon only came once in a lifetime, and even then only to defend oneself and their home. It took a mighty warrior to fell a creature like that…

Phil wasn’t trying to fell a dragon, or hunt it, or anything like that. He was not on a hunt for prestige, or glory, and yet that did not change the danger any. Phil was terrified that he would never see his family again, but he had to do something, had to try, or they’d all be dead anyway.

Sniffling one final time, Phil wiped aggressively at his eyes, and shouldered his pack up higher on his back as he continued the trek through the castle back down to the fountain outside where he’d promised to meet Dan.

There was no one around, just like before, except the guards who stood as sentries to prevent all but Phil from leaving. He nodded at them, if they caught his eye, but otherwise, they ignored each other. They all had a duty to do here, and even those unaware of the current circumstances knew better than to interfere when Phil was on a mission. Especially regarding his family.

All knew that there was nothing more important to Phil than his family.

It felt, in that moment, like the weight of the world was on his shoulders, and Phil had to continue to fight back tears as he headed straight out one of the side doors of the palace, and treked down the pathways of the gardens towards his special place.

Their special place now. Phil’s lips twitched at the thought of Dan.

His thief, the man who’d quite honestly stolen his heart, and knew it too. There was no coming back from this. Phil had decided what he wanted, and no matter what they faced in their future - Phil shuddered at the thought of having to discuss what had happened to his Uncle - he was determined that this would work out.

As Phil rounded a hedge to his fountain, he fully expected to find Dan sat and waiting for him on the bench that marked their very first moment of romance. In fact, his lips were already twisted up in a half grin, teasing words sat on the tip of his tongue, when he realized that he had somehow managed to beat his thief here.

The sun sat almost directly above him in the sky, casting shadows that bounced gleefully against the hedges surrounding him. For a moment, Phil wondered if maybe Dan was hiding from him in the bushes somewhere, but as he squinted and looked around, he became quite certain that he had somehow managed to beat Dan here.

Instantly, terror filled Phil. Surely, speaking with Phil’s father and brother should not have taken more time than Phil speaking with his mum had? Surely, Dan should already be here, unless - unless he’d left without Phil, determined to take care of this himself and protect Phil by forcing him to stay at home like some - some - damsel in distress.

Instantly, the tears were back, and Phil’s hands began to shake. He had no idea how to survive on his own for a long journey in the deserts close to home, nor did he have a map to the caves Dan knew the dragon might be hiding in. For all he knew, the bag Dan had helped him to pack was useless compared to what Dan had in his, and it had been a mere ploy to make Phil think that he was going to go on this journey with Dan.

Well fuck Dan if that’s what he had done. Fuck him, if he thought leaving Phil behind to toil in his own terror for his thief’s well being, for his family and his kingdoms well being, was okay.

Shaking his head, Phil tried to gather hold of himself. Admittedly, he didn’t know his thief that well, but Dan had once told him that a thief kept his word, and that was one thing that he believed. He needed to stop letting his emotions take over him, and he needed to stop and think logically.

Surely, surely Dan did not leave without him. Surely, something else had kept him tied up, and Phil just needed to relax.

Despite his reassurances to himself, Phil’s eyes kept darting around the clearing around him, skin prickling and heart racing as he checked the shadows over and over and over again for any sign of Dan, until - his eyes landed on the loose stone that was his hiding place, and instantly, he was jolting towards it.

If Dan had left without him… would he have left Phil a note?

Falling to his knees in front of the loose stone, Phil wedged his fingers into the cracks surrounding it and started to wiggle it out of position. It must have been the sudden adrenaline rush, because suddenly, it seemed like it was never going to come out. Phil had pulled the stone free thousands of times since he’d found it, and now it wouldn’t budge?

He was on the verge of tears again when it finally came free in his hands, and Phil sighed out a breath of relief. Thank god. For a moment there… he’d thought maybe, just maybe, he was going crazy.

With the stone removed, Phil reached his fingers in blindly to look around for any kind of sign that Dan was gone, hoping that there would be nothing, when his fingers came upon a note and his heart quite literally seized. Phil’s entire body froze for a moment, fingers clenched tight around what was most definitely a bit of parchment, and then he was dragging it free from the confines of the hiding spot.

Phil’s heart was in his throat as he unfolded it slowly, too afraid to read the contents inside, and yet determined to find out what exactly was happening here. He bit his bottom lip, tugged it into his own mouth and worried it away incessantly, and finally, finally read the scribble of words that had been left for him.

A ring, my prince? That’s all you’ve left me, to make up for your long absence in my presence? I suppose I have no choice but to accept it - but really. Next time, I expect your presence in mine.

The words were such a shock, a surprise to Phil, that for a moment, he could do nothing but read the note over again. What did that mean, what was Dan talking about?

And then Phil remembered. The ring. He’d left Dan his ring, back before the wedding, when he’d had no time to escape the palace to see his thief, before any of this nightmare had begun. Phil had never gotten the chance to come back and check this spot, to see if Dan had received his gift, and therefore hadn’t known about Dan’s cheeky response.

God, that felt like such a lifetime ago, now. After everything that had happened.

Phil couldn’t help it. He threw his head back, and he laughed, bright and loud to the sky, clutching Dan’s note to his chest and feeling the terror drain away.

Surely, Dan had not left him. Surely, Dan was just - caught up, with something. Phil had nothing to fear. And, if Dan had taken off to start this journey without Phil… well, then, Phil would have no choice but to chase after him.

Shoving the loose stone back into place, hands no longer trembling, Phil stood and headed over to his bench to sit down and wait. Dan would come. He knew he would.

Once he'd managed to get away from the King and Martyn, Dan made his way down to the kitchen with a note from the King for the cook saying that he was able to take anything he thought necessary. The cook looked at him with distrust, but Dan kept his hood well over his face and spoke as little as possible, his heart racing at the thought of getting caught now, when he was so close to freedom.

Thankfully, the King's note was enough to convince anyone to let Dan do as he pleased, and the cook let Dan into her parlour with a displeased expression on her face.

Dan nearly had a heart attack when he saw how much food was on offer. He'd never seen so much collected in one place. This could feed an entire city for weeks, and the thought that it was just sitting here when there were children starving on the streets made Dan's blood boil.

At least Phil was trying to do something to correct the imbalance, but the rest of the upper class could go to hell for all Dan cared.

Dan loaded up with as much as he could carry, and then he hurried his way back up through the castle, extra relieved that he'd made Phil carry all the heavy stuff earlier.

The sun was high in the sky by the time he reached their fountain again - and Dan's heart still skipped a bit at how Phil had called it our fountain, like it was their special place now, not just Phil’s.

By the time he arrived, Phil was already there, sitting looking down at a note that Dan remembered scrawling when he'd first happened across Phil's ring. That had only been two days ago, and yet it felt like a lifetime.

Dan dropped his newly heavy bag with a crash, alerting Phil to his presence, and he smirked. "So your father and brother don't completely hate me. They sent me off to the kitchens, which may have been a mistake. I don't have much self restraint."

Phil was staring down at the note Dan had left him with a small smile on his face when Dan finally appeared, making such a racket that Phil actually jumped in surprise and had to suppress a squeal, the sound coming out strange and high pitched through his teeth. Mortified - when was he not mortified in front of Dan? - Phil’s cheeks turned a deep shade of red.

The note Dan had scrawled for him fell to the floor, and Phil bent over to retrieve it, shoving it into his trouser pocket and trying to not make it so obvious just how much it actually meant to him, as did every little thing Dan had ever given or written for him (it was true that he might have hidden away the few raven’s Dan had sent him before as well, buried away in the drawer he kept locked with a key he’d allowed Dan to see him hide just that morning when he’d given Dan the watch currently adorning his wrist.)

Once the note was safely tucked away, Phil stood and grabbed the bag he’d placed down next to him, shouldering it once more.

Due to Phil’s surprise, it took a moment for Dan's words to actually register in his mind, but when they did, Phil not only grinned, but chuckled, a hand pressed to his chest as he stared at his thief with a mix of relief and disbelief. He could see from the way Dan's bag was bulging that he had definitely not bothered with any restraint, and couldn't help eyeing up his cloak as well.

"Should I be worried that the next time I hug you, you'll smell like dried meats?" Phil teased, nodding at the pocket lined cloak of his thief that he'd only just refilled with treasures that morning.

His mind flicked back over his bedroom, then, and he touched his pocket to find his bedroom key. No, he didn't particularly want anyone going in there right now. Dan's treasures were still scattered about his room.

Dan's grin only widened at Phil's startled reaction, and he chuckled, stepping closer. Then he noticed the little piece of parchment Phil had dropped, and watched as his prince bent to retrieve it, and then shove it into his pocket nonchalantly as if it meant nothing. The fact that it so definitely meant something warmed Dan to the core, and he felt his heart warm at the idea of Phil treasuring something as small and as tiny as a piece of parchment with his writing on it. Phil was basically irresistible to Dan just then, so he stepped forward once more with the full intention of dragging Phil into a hug.

That is, until Phil’s gaze bounced over his cloak, and Dan got an idea, his eyes glinting wickedly as he sidled himself right up into Phil’s arms.

"I don't think I'll be the one smelling of dried meat," Dan disagreed with a wicked smirk, and pulled Phil in for a quick kiss, their mouths melding together so wonderfully and sweetly.

With that distraction in place, Dan was able to slide his hands into his own cloak and retrieve a slice of ham he'd taken from the larder in the kitchens. He slipped it into Phil's pocket instead, and then jumped away again, dusting himself down and biting back his grin.

"After all, you'll be the one carrying everything." He nudged his bag towards Phil as well, just to be cheeky.

Phil hadn't missed the wicked glint in Dan's smile, but his thief was incredibly disarming when he slipped into Phil's arms, wrapping his own around Phil's waist in a way that forced Phil to reciprocate, his face in the crook of Phil's neck as he nuzzled close. Having Dan in his arms at all was something that Phil knew he would always want, and so, despite his better judgement, he let himself relax into the touch.

When Dan spoke up, however, the words a barely audible whisper against the shell of Phil's ear, he tensed, only for Dan to lean in for a quick, disarming kiss, and then retract from Phil so fast that it left Phil’s head spinning. Startled and confused, it took Phil a few seconds to notice that Dan had slipped a piece of ham into his trouser pocket, and he groaned loudly, pulling it out and throwing it at Dan's head for good measure when he continued to speak.

"What, am I your pack horse now?" he complained, but he didn't really mind it. Phil was used to carrying large and heavy loads, considering the armor he wore most days. Picking up Dan's bag, Phil was already shouldering it with his own, grunting a bit as he shifted it up onto his back. Straightening, Phil took the weight, and turned to Dan.

Dan dodged the ham thrown at his head with a snicker, and watched with delighted eyes as Phil shouldered both their bags. He would be lying if he didn't admit to envying Phil's strength - Dan was strong, yes, but more in endurance, he could run for hours without tiring if he had to. He paled in comparison to Phil when it came to other matters, though.

"Anyway, father allowing you into the kitchens was far from a mistake. In fact, when we return, I beg you not to restrain yourself. Perhaps my daily duties could use a little help from a little known thief, and the people might be more forthcoming and accepting of food from someone of their own, especially when it’s the King of Thieves," Phil hummed thoughtfully, thinking on the many unhappy faces he'd encountered in his attempts to serve his people. No one wanted to trust in the Prince, and Phil couldn’t blame them.

When Phil started talking about the future, Dan's face fell a little. He didn't want to think about the future, couldn't imagine any kind of one where he and Phil could both be happy. Dan didn't want to come and live in the castle - it was the last thing he wanted - but equally, he didn't want to drag Phil into a life of danger away from his family. But he didn't want them to be apart, either, and therein lay the problem. Dan didn’t know how to be with someone, let alone someone who was meant to be his mortal enemy, who lived a life so separate from his own that it seemed almost impossible that they even - that they were even on the same side right now.

Phil seemed to have a whole ideal view of them, though, from the way he was talking about Dan helping him to feed the poor from the Royal supply. Dan allowed himself a small, sad smile. "Yes, I suppose it would be better coming from a thief. They trust me, some of your people - the ones that aren't shit scared of me. I try to give them what I can."

Phil didn’t miss the way Dan’s expression seemed to fall at what he’d said, and he felt his heart twist a little. He didn’t know which part of it had upset his thief, but it worried him. Did Dan not want to be with him in the long run? No, surely that was not true. Dan had more than proven that he wanted to keep Phil.

So what was it? The fear that this could not possibly work out? Phil felt something bitter rise in his throat. He had not forgotten the way the sorcerer had accused Dan of being a traitor last night, had not forgotten that in many ways, Dan being with Phil was far more dangerous for Dan than it was for Phil to be with Dan…

Phil shook his head. These were things they would have to deal with later. For now… Phil just wanted to focus on the task at hand.

"To your home, then? I want to see it," Phil said, changing the subject and grinning all over again. "And then, maybe I can understand you a bit more."

Mostly, though, Phil just wanted to be on the road already. There was an itch under his skin for adventure, and it was fueled by the way Phil had always felt suffocated behind the palace walls.

The look on Phil’s face was bright, and there was no way Dan could ignore that for long. Regardless of his worries about the future, whether or not he felt that he could truly stay with Phil when their worlds were so different, it was difficult to ignore that look.

"Come on then, eager." Dan reached out and took Phil's hand again - possessively, claiming ownership. "Stick by me, though. And cover your face. Trust me, I know faster ways through the city than you, but you won't want to be seen as the Prince when we take them."

Pulling up the hood on his own green cloak, Phil nodded his consent. Dan definitely knew Phil’s city better than his own, and while so many were locked up in the palace after the curse yesterday, they were many more dangerous people out in the city still. Phil had no choice but to trust Dan - then again, he’d always trusted Dan, it seemed.

Twining his own fingers in return through Dan’s when his thief took his hand, Phil smiled to himself. He was never going to get over Dan's constant need to hold his hand. How long had they been doing that, now? At least a while. The first time they'd tangled fingers together, Phil's heart had fluttered hard in his chest, and to this day, it still did. He wondered if the sensation would ever fade. He kind of hoped not, feeling laughter bubbling in his throat.

Bags packed and shoulders on Phil’s back, the two finally began their journey. Dan was quick on his feet, with Phil doing his best to follow him, and they headed over to a nearby wall in the palace that Dan seemed to be looking for, but which looked the same as every other one to Phil.

The two men were quick to scale the wall, Phil following behind Dan, trusting him to find the quickest and smartest ways to traverse the kingdom and scout out of town. He dropped their two bags down to Dan, trusting him to catch them, and then made the leap himself, falling with a small "oomph." It wasn't that odd for Phil to climb all kinds of strange places, but it wasn't as often as Dan, and though his landings were safe, they always took the breath out of him while Dan remained unfazed.

Dan waited on the other side for Phil to throw the bags down to him, and then watched as Phil dropped down to his side as well. Dan instantly gave them back to him, grinning. "Pack horse, indeed. I quite like that look on you."

And then he was darting away with a cackle, scurrying through the back streets he knew so well with Phil chasing not far behind.

Rolling his eyes as Dan took off running, seeming high off the excuse to make fun of Phil, Phil raced off after him, ducking behind strange items and bins, people and carts, as he raced after Dan, just barely keeping him in view. If it weren't for Phil's training, he might have lost the black cloak altogether the way most people probably did. As it was, instead, he was able to keep up with Dan quite well, bags bouncing roughly against his back.

Phil didn't care. Phil was used to this kind of thing.

For a moment, he almost wished that he and Dan had thought to take a pair of horses, but then he figured Dan knew best. Perhaps it wasn't smart to bring two more mouths to feed, let alone two more lives to ruin, animal or not.

By the time he and Dan had made it out of the city and into the desert beyond, Phil was breathing heavily, and a little disconcerted by the things he'd seen as he'd whooshed by. He knew the evils that happened in his cities streets, but it was different when he was forced to see the young orphan boys and girls he was meant to be protecting being corrupted or abused. It made his stomach roll unpleasantly.

Dan kept up a fast pace through the city, even after he'd dropped back and returned to Phil's side, rather than racing on ahead of him, not wanting to lose Phil at all - they had a lot of ground to cover, but he also didn't want to risk having Phil be seen. The longer they remained in the city, the more likely it was that that would happen. Dan would have a hard time explaining that, even if the people often didn't dare to question the King of Thieves.

Once they were through the city gates and out into the desert though, Dan visibly relaxed. This was where he was at his most comfortable - out here in the wild, where he could be himself without fear, without the constant worry of getting caught. He laughed a little, throwing his head back to the sun, his hood falling down to reveal his face.

While Phil stood somewhat awkwardly, a bit cautious and strained as he looked out into the desert, Dan had become all loose all over. It was clear that this was where he belonged, loved to be, while Phil was having a hard time adjusting. It wasn't that he was upset by this turn of events, but despite Phil's itch for adventure, he didn't know what to do with himself now that he had it. He needed direction if he wanted to relax.

A glance at Phil showed Dan that he wasn't comfortable. Phil mustn't have spent anywhere near as much time out here as Dan had, so it stood to reason that he might not feel quite as home.

Dan was quick to quiet his fears. He crossed back into Phil's space and took both his hands in his own, sending Phil a sincere look. "The time has come to trust me, my Prince. You promised me that much."

Dan returning to him and taking his hands in his helped Phil to calm down a bit, and he moved his gaze from the seemingly endless rolling hills and swirling sand in front of him, back to Dan and his warm brown eyes.

Grinning himself, Phil leaned in, "Oh, I am so ready to be out here with you, my thief. Show me your world," he stated gently, hoping the excitement he really was feeling would shine through and help Dan to relax.

There was something about Dan out here that felt right. Phil could see the happiness radiating on his face, telling Phil just how happy and free he was out here, and it made something lurch in Phil's stomach, something confused and happy all the same.

Dan's grin got wider at Phil's words. There was real excitement in them, despite the nerves Dan could still see shining in his eyes, and that was enough to tell Dan that Phil was ok with being out here. The thought had warmth spreading through him until his veins were tingling.

“I want to show you my world, too,” he promised his prince.

Dan turned his head then, pointing further West. "My ca - uh - shelter, is that way, about half a day's walk. We should just make it before sundown. We can stay there tonight and set off for the border tomorrow, once I've got some more supplies." Dan's fingers were itching to have his hands on his bow again - he was safer out here than in the city, yes, but Dan would feel much more at home when his familiar belongings were back with him again. Plus, he was excited to show Phil where he lived. Phil had wanted to see some of Dan's precious things, and Dan kept them all out here.

Nodding, Phil pulled one hand from Dan's grasp, and motioned them both forward.

"Lead the way. I think I might get lost out here without you to take me."

Dan grinned, answering Phil easily enough. "I won't let you get lost." He was glad that Phil kept one of their hands entwined, even while dropping the other - Dan liked the physical reminder that Phil was here with him.

Having said that, it was certainly a new experience to travel the desert with someone hanging off his arm. Where Dan was sure footed and knew the safest path to take, Phil was less confident and stumbled often, so Dan leaned into his side and supported him. But even with Phil fumbling and struggling along beside him, Dan was happier than he'd ever been.

Because alone, he would put his head down and streak across the desert as fast as he could, but with Phil, he paused to take in its beauty. He pointed out shifting dunes because he thought Phil might want to hear about them, and he showed Phil how to spot a snake's nest in case Phil was worried, or curious.

All in all, travelling was definitely better with someone else to enjoy it with.

"There, look!" Dan pointed up to the sky, eyes brightening. "It's a hawk, I'm sure of it. There's one big female who owns most of this territory, I bet it's her. I call her Two-Tail because she's missing a feather so it makes her look like she's got two - can you see?"

Dan turned to Phil with eagerness in his eyes, for once not concerned about what image he was putting across. He knew he was safe out here, where no one would challenge the King of Thieves, and he wanted to enjoy his time with Phil. They were covering the ground relatively slowly, but Dan didn't want to push them too hard on the first day, and it was good to have some time to properly relax with Phil, away from prying eyes.

Phil had never had a best friend in his life, let alone a romantic partner, and yet Phil was beginning to feel both from Dan. The way they could lean into each other as they walked (though admittedly that was mostly on Phil's part in an attempt to keep himself in a straight path), and how Dan excitedly pointed everything out to Phil, made him feel for the first time that he had a proper companion. Any other time Phil had ever had to cross this desert, or scour through the forests on the other side, the Guard members at his side had not felt like this. They kept Phil's head low, got him through as fast as they could in an attempt to protect him, and never spoke to him about the world around him. The only reason Phil knew the forests as well as he did was due to his own curiosity, and the burning need to check it out whether anyone else wanted him to or not.

He had a lot of stories he could share with Dan about that, but for now, he was too busy looking on in awe as Dan showed him scene after scene, startling him when he jostled him to look to the sky.

Phil's gaze caught on that of a huge bird, a Hawk apparently, and as he squinted up to try and see the two-tailed look she apparently sported, his fingers squeezed around the hand in his and he couldn't help grinning. He was just so fucking happy. He'd never been on a proper adventure, and there was no one he'd rather be on this one with than Dan.

Laughing with delight when Phil's eyes adjusted enough to make out the finer details of the hawk's shadow, he did a little dance. "I see it!" he shouted at Dan, turning a bright eyed grin on her. "She's beautiful," he added, feeling all warm inside. "How many more are there? Can we go see them? Is it safe?" Phil asked, positively vibrating in place with the questions.

Dan couldn't help but laugh at Phil's eager response. The hawk was flying proudly above them, her wingspan huge as she swept easily across the sky.

"Calm down," Dan snickered with a nudge to Phil's side. "There are a few males who come by a few times a year, but she owns this territory. She's super strong, I first saw her about - four years ago? And she hasn't been challenged once since then."

Dan's eyes shone a little, gleaming in the sunlight as he watched the bird circling. She'd been a comfort to him on some of his darkest nights; it was good to see her still out here, surviving despite the madness below.

"I don't think we can go see them, though," Dan told Phil, smiling wider when he saw Phil's disappointed look. "Hawks are pretty savage, and I don't want her pecking your nose off. I quite like your nose. Do you like birds, Phil? Have I accidentally embroiled myself with some kind of animal fan?"

Dan was chuckling, but he was also curious. He felt like he knew lots about Phil the Prince, and even more about Phil the Royal Guard, but he was itching to know Phil the person, what he liked and didn't like. So far, all he really knew was that Phil hated small enclosed spaces and had a slightly irritating love of dimples.

Despite Dan's admonishment, Phil couldn't calm down. This was quite possibly the best thing he'd ever gotten to do, and seeing a bird he'd never seen before was really, really cementing that fact home. Grinning like a mad man, Phil turned his gaze back up to the sky and the hawk who was now flying away from them, her huge wingspan the stuff of legends in Phil's mind, though he realized it was probably quite normal to Dan.

Unable to help himself, Phil began to pout, though it didn't come a surprise to him that Dan was cautioning Phil against getting close to a hawk. Finally tearing his gaze away from the bird, Phil looked back at Dan, and shrugged a little, something sad pulling at his smile.

"Definitely embroiled yourself with some kind of animal fan. I just like animals, creatures in general, learning about them and seeing them as close as possible. If I thought I could have, I might have chose to study them instead of being a Guard, but...well, let's just say my upbringing was a little protective. Even now, it's not much better. The older Guards who grew up with me still see me a the child they're meant to protect, and the younger Guards are afraid of me. It doesn't matter who I take out with me though, when I get to leave the city or the palace for one thing or another; they all treat me the same. I may be Captain, but they put my life above all else as Prince. It can be...difficult," Phil explained, turning and encouraging Dan to start walking again.

He let out a deep sigh of frustration, but quickly perked up again.

"That doesn't mean I don't go out on my own, though. You've seen me. The things I could tell you about the forest, the things I've seen," Phil explained, still vibrating in place with excitement. "I want to see the world, more than anything else." Phil quickly wilted again.

"But it never seemed possible before. So I chose to protect my people instead, driven by my frustration with those who would claim to love me. For a long while, I hated them all. I wanted...I didn't want to protect so much as prove myself, take down criminals because they were doing bad things rather than trying to understand what caused them to turn to crime in the first place. Part of me hated the lower classes purely for the fact that my family had tried to make them equal to us. Don't get me wrong," Phil quickly interrupted himself, squeezing Dan's hand in his, "It's not that I actually want to see you as less. I hate being a Prince, I hate the status and title and power that comes with it. What I mean is...I hated that anyone could approach me, pretend to love me, and I might one day end up with a woman or a man who had only married me to rise in power, and then, what if they killed my brother so I'd be forced to be King? It terrified me, the entire time I grew up, because...because the last thing I wanted was to be a Prince at all, and now I was forced to live in fear of the lower classes that I was meant to protect in case they tried to use me. I guess that was dumb. As Prince, everyone was always going to try and use me."

Sighing again, Phil shook his head.

"I was young, and dumb. I'm still young and probably still dumb, but...if it weren't for you, my thief, I'm not sure I would have ever seen sense. I have you to thank for that, among other things."

Dan had been quiet as Phil spoke, and Phil swallowed nervously now that he was done, terrified that Dan would hate him now or not understand what he'd gone through. It was hard, being so open, but Phil wanted to share everything with Dan, even the horrible parts of himself.

Dan had gone quieter and quieter the more Phil spoke, and it was because he was processing everything he'd been told - everything that explained exactly who Phil was, and why he was the way he was. It made so much sense, and Dan's heart burst for him, burst for the Prince he'd always scorned for being privileged, but who was actually far more trapped than Dan had ever had to be.

Dan was having to completely reassess his view of Phil again, and the picture was so much more whole now. Phil was letting him in - completely and utterly. Dan was floored by just how open Phil continually was.

Dan leaned into his side, letting out a small sigh. "I can't even imagine it, to be honest. My life may have been hard, but I've always been free to walk outside and go anywhere I want, at any time, and no one could stop me or judge me. It was different for you, I suppose. Though now I understand why you worked so hard to put literally every single one of us thieves in jail - trying to prove yourself as more than your birth, eh?"

The fear that Dan would reject him now was nearly suffocating, but Phil waited, not one to regret opening up at all. He was biting his lip when Dan finally spoke up again, his fingers warm against Phil's hand, and his body soft and pliant as he moved to nestle in impossibly closer to Phil's side. Glowing with the touch, the closeness, Phil found himself able to relax.

He couldn't help chuckling at Dan, though he bit his tongue on any words to reply with. Dan had given him the floor when he'd wanted to speak, and Phil would not interrupt now, despite how true it was that Phil had wanted nothing more than to prove himself when he started working his way down the wanted list.

Dan shook his head again, nestling in close to Phil's side and giving his fingers another squeeze. "One thing I can promise you, though - I'm not going to let you marry some fool who wants to use you. And, Phil-" Dan turned to face him, eyes suddenly very sincere, voice soft, "I know I haven't said much, but I am not using you. I promise. I - I would never use someone I truly care about."

Phil's heart jolted as Dan turned to him, eyes sincere and words hushed to convey how truly Dan meant them. He blinked at Dan, allowed himself a sweet smile, but it wasn't something Phil needed Dan to say. He knew it already, even if it did make him feel all warm inside to be reminded.

"You better not let me marry someone else. I thought I was yours, my King." Even now, the thought of that was making Phil's heart thump hard in his chest. "And, I'm not the perfect person you think I am, though, Dan. Please don't forget that. The last thing I want is for you, of all people, to have the wrong view of me. I'm just Phil. Your imperfect Phil."

Dan chuckled, glad when the tension dissipated some. Dan's eyes were still a little dark, but he smiled in response to Phil. "Yes, you are mine, Phil. And don't worry, I know you're not perfect - you steal bedcovers, for one thing, and you're heavy. I hardly slept with your hefty weight sprawled on me last night, you know?"

Phil snorted. Dan was such a liar. He'd already said that morning that sleeping in Phil's bed had been the best sleep he'd ever had, but on top of that, Phil quite clearly remembered Dan being the one lying on top of Phil that morning - by technicality, if nothing else. He wouldn't deny the bedcovers issue though. Phil was a sheet hog. He'd woken up completely covered by both the sheets and Dan's warm body, and his brother used to complain about it when they were children. Still, Phil chose not to reply to that, instead allowing Dan to continue speaking, as it seemed he was not done.

Dan drew in a slightly shuddering breath and he looked away from Phil again, eyes hardening as he remembered everything else that he still wanted to say.

"But Phil. You say you hated the lower classes, but I've seen your work. You're a good man, Phil Lester. You help everyone you can. And I - I have not always done that."

Dan swallowed, still avoiding Phil's gaze, holding up a hand to stop him interrupting as he continued, knowing he needed to say this while he could. "I - I'm sure you've heard of some of my escapades. I was not born a bad man, but the world took my family away, so I turned my back on it and took to hatred itself. I've been alone ever since." He took in another small breath, still avoiding Phil's gaze, fearing judgement that he knew would never come. "Being alone, it hardens you. I forgot compassion, I forgot companionship, I forgot what it is to be human. Until you showed up and turned everything upside down again."

Phil’s heart and brow crumpled with pain, knowing what Dan had gone through. There was so much hurt in him. Phil had never lost everyone he'd ever cared about; even without the possibility of finding love, Phil had always had his family, and that had been more than enough for him in a lot of ways. He couldn't imagine losing everything. Of course someone would forget human compassion in a situation like that. He squeezed Dan's hand, tried to get him to turn to Phil, but he refused, so he spoke up instead.

"I understand, you know? Maybe not...maybe not personally. I've never been through what you've been through, but… but I'd never judge you for the things you've done. They might take me by a surprise, they might even horrify me at first, but... you're already forgiven for every bad thing you've ever done."

Phil's gaze was just as intense as Dan's had been, just as serious and needy. He wanted Dan to know that no matter what was revealed to Phil, nothing would make him run away.

Dan trembled a little with the knowledge that not all was ok. Phil's words were hugely comforting, of course they were, if Dan could only believe them. He'd said that Dan was already forgiven for everything he'd done - but how could he be? Dan knew that Phil had heard from Chris about Dan's involvement with his Uncle's death, so Phil couldn't possibly mean Dan was forgiven for that without even knowing all the details. He couldn't.

Dan was too much of a coward to bring it up, though, so instead, he changed the subject slightly.

"Do you have any idea how annoying you were? Getting in the way constantly? It was like I couldn't turn around without you being there. Now, though...now I can't imagine wanting you anywhere but at my side." His eyes narrowed. "And don't you dare tell anyone ever just how soppy you've made me."

Phil could do nothing but laugh at that, feeling his heart swell with the notion of that. His cheeks hurt from smiling at Dan, and he nudged his shoulder lightly with his own.

“It’s true, though, that we both needed to find each other I think. And, to be fair,” Phil continued, nudging Dan again and taking his moment as an excuse to change the subject, to lighten the air a little from their heavy talk, “you were just as annoying, thief. Always in such constant need of my attention; I mean, really, you said so yourself the only reason you stole half the things you did in my city this past month or two was to get my attention on you. So needy. What am I going to do with you?" Phil teased, but really, really, he wanted to say so much more.

"Well, it worked, didn't it? I don't see your attention on anyone but me right now, which is exactly where it should be." Dan gave a haughty sniff. "Besides, I had to prove I was better than you - you locked up all my comrades, after all." So Dan was needy - Phil was just going to have to learn to deal with it. After so long without companionship, Dan was only just realising how much he enjoyed it. He planned to smother Phil for the month they had together, and he wasn't going to think about anything past that.

"It definitely worked. I don't want to look at anyone but you," Phil replied cheekily, grinning at Dan when he gave Phil a look of absolute disdain. He could see that Dan was loving it though, wanted to shower his thief with his attention, and unlinked their fingers just to wrap his arm around Dan's waist and drag him in that little bit closer.

They walked on through the desert, Dan leaning into Phil's side. He loved just watching Phil out here, seeing him experience things, for the first time truly free. It warmed Dan's heart, to get to be the person who saw Phil like this. He wanted his Prince to be free..

They continued walking after that, dropping the heavy conversation to instead replace it with things less important and more fun. This was a time to enjoy other’s company, considering all the hard things they were going to have to face in the next month, and the months after that.

Phil just wanted to focus on Dan right now.

The sun was moving steadily through the sky, a bright orb the two of them were steadily chasing before it would make its descent, the moon rising behind them.

Dan, ever the best companion, continued to point out plants and creatures that Phil had never had the chance to enjoy before, hidden in dunes as they moved across the desert sands. Phil cast his gaze wildly about in a desperate attempt to take everything in, to capture every last second of it all, with Dan giggling at him from beside him.

Phil could hardly blame him. He probably looked a right sight sending his gaze so wildly about the world around him.

Despite the chuckles, Dan didn’t make fun of him. Instead, he just continued to point strange things out to Phil, and allowed him to ask thousands of questions during their trek across the sands.

It wasn’t until the sky had begun to dim slightly, signifying an incoming sunset, that Phil saw it - a Komodo dragon, a beautiful sight that Phil had only ever read about in books. His breath hitched as he watched it scuttle across the sands, disappearing behind a dune, and then, before he could stop himself, he let go of Dan and took off running in pursuit of the animal.

"Phil!"

Dan's tone was a mix of fond and exasperated. He watched helplessly as Phil went tearing away from him regardless, shouting something about a Komodo dragon that he was following. Dan lifted his eyes heavenward. He was glad the universe had decided to give him the gift of a companion, yes, but did they have to give him someone so impossible?

Laughing off the sound of Dan shouting his name behind him, Phil kept running. He wanted nothing more than to follow the animal, to see where it went, and to find out if it had any other family or friends out here. He’d so rarely gotten to see much of the world, no one could blame him for wanting to chase after this one interesting anomaly.

With Dan following behind him, Phil felt sure that he was safe, and he chased the creature behind another sand dune until he stopped just at the edge of a pit in the ground that looked almost like mud.

Taking off after Phil, Dan felt his cloak streaming out behind him as scampered across the sand. Phil was easy to follow, thankfully, what with his bumbling walk and the two giant packs on his back, but Dan's heart froze in his mouth the moment he saw where Phil had stopped.

The strangely shifting mud-like sand was enough to warn Dan.

Quicksand.

They were right at the edge of a swamp of quicksand.

"Phil!" Dan shouted again, but it was with full urgency now. His legs pumped faster, until he was right behind Phil, and he grabbed at his packs with just enough force to topple them both over.

Dan went rolling straight away, forcefully moving them away from the quicksand until he had Phil safely pinned underneath him, far away from treacherous ground. Dan's chest was heaving, his eyes heavy and dark with worry and fear.

Phil had just been about to turn to Dan and inform him that he'd potentially found a source of water under all that mud, just about to step forward and crouch next to the hidden spring, when Dan very sharply shouted his name, his voice full of panic and urgency.

Turning anyway, Phil froze, eyes wide as he watched Dan barrel towards him, gripping tight to his packs and dragging Phil backwards until they were both falling to the sand below. The movement didn't stop there, even as Phil groaned at the feel of landing on top of their bags, because Dan then immediately rolled away, taking them both back down the dune Phil had run up and over, until they came to a stop with Dan on top of Phil, a well of horrified emotion in his brown eyes.

"Do not do that again," he hissed, studying Phil's shocked face closely, hunting his eyes for any harm, and promptly collapsed against him when he was sure that Phil was safe and still with him.

Dan's heart was racing in his chest, and he was trembling just from the thought of losing Phil. It was then that Dan knew he could never, ever, bear to lose his Prince. Not ever.

Dan’s voice shook, and there was so much fear there that Phil could only stare, confused and distressed because Dan was upset on top of him.

In the tiniest voice Phil could manage, he said, "Okay," letting out a little "oopfh," as Dan dropped fully on top of him in seeming relief. That expression terrified Phil as he reached around to wrap his arms around Dan's waist.

The man was trembling. This fact terrified Phil.

"What did I do wrong?" he whispered. "Tell me so I don't ever do it again. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you," he whispered, the words soft against the shell of Dan's ear. The last thing he'd been expecting when he'd taken off was for Dan to not only tackle him, but to collapse on top of him in such obvious relief, as if he’d truly feared for Phil’s safety and wanted nothing more than to protect him. This was something entirely new to him.

Dan let out a shuddering laugh, because Phil didn't even realise what had just happened. He was trembling, he could feel it, but he relaxed when Phil's arms wrapped around him and anchored him in place. Phil was safe. Phil was here. Phil wasn't going anywhere.

Dan wasn't going to lose someone else.

He let out a shuddering gasp, then sat up and glared down at the Prince. Calmly, he punched him in the shoulder.

"You are an idiot."

Dan would have been seething, but his voice cracked with relief.

"That was quicksand, you great big bumbling fool, don't you dare ever scare me like that again. I thought - I thought you-"

Dan broke off again, hiding his trembles behind a fiery glare. He couldn't lose Phil, not now that he'd let him in so close. Dan couldn't lose someone else, not after he'd finally remembered just how good it was to have someone to share his life with.

Feeling Dan let out a shuddering gasp made Phil's heart lodge in his throat, and when Dan sat up over him, glaring down at Phil with surprisingly dry eyes for the amount of emotion trembling through his body, Phil could only stare back with a furrow in his brow.

Until Dan punched him in the shoulder of course, at which point Phil groaned.

"What was that for!?" he complained, only for Dan to call him an idiot, voice cracking with relief.

So Dan didn't wear his emotions on his sleeve, but every sound he made was currently telling Phil just how terrified he'd made him.

Eyes going wide at the realization that he had nearly just walked into one of nature's worst traps, Phil gasped, reaching up to cup Dan's cheeks with his hands, forcing his thief to look at him and recognize that he didn't have to be scared anymore, because Phil was right here and Phil was very much alive.

"I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry. I didn't know. I didn't mean to scare you,” he whispered, as reassuring as he could be. “I'll be more careful next time. I promise. It's okay, I'm still here," he continued, seeing straight through Dan's glare to the hurt and pain underneath it all.

Dan shuddered again when Phil reached up to cup his cheeks, once more grounding him. His words were even more soothing. Yes, Phil was here, he was safe, he was still with Dan and nothing was going to change that.

Dan squeezed his eyes shut, suddenly realising just how vulnerable he must seem. He reached up to grip Phil's wrists, holding his hands against his face, and let out another tiny breath of relief.

"Just stick next to me from now on," Dan stated tersely, "And be careful. Don't just go running off if I haven't pointed out a path. I can't risk - I can't lose you too."

Dan's voice shook, and he squeezed his eyes shut tighter, surprised to feel them burning. When he was a little calmer, he drew out of Phil's grip and rolled off of him, letting Phil sit up too. Dan felt raw and vulnerable now, not quite sure he could be this open to Phil. It hurt, to be so scared for another.

When Dan reached up to grip his wrists, Phil half expected him to tear Phil's touch away, angry as he was. But Dan didn't, instead seeming to be trying to ground himself in the knowledge that Phil was there and Phil was okay and he had nothing to worry about. Phil had never seen Dan this scared before, not even when Phil had gotten into a heated argument with him over who was going to go after the Dragon, and it was horrifying. He never wanted to see Dan looking this scared again, not when his thief was usually so strong.

"Okay," Phil replied again in an equally small voice, terrified to upset Dan anymore. He could listen to Dan, obey him even, if it meant keeping them both safe and not terrified for each other’s safety. If he was curious about something, he'd ask Dan, rather than just running off like an idiot again. It hurt him to hear the hurt and fear in Dan's voice at the idea of Phil being lost to him, and he swallowed hard, hearing Dan's voice shake. He thought he saw Dan's eyes rim red with tears, but he was too quick with closing them for Phil to know for sure.

"I'm sorry," he whispered again, squeezing Dan's cheeks a little for added reassurance now that Dan's eyes were closed and he couldn't see Phil alive and well in front of him.

"What would I tell your father if you died on the first day," Dan muttered, shaking his head. He leaned against Phil, grabbed his hand tight, and started walking again, the firm grip more than enough to tell Phil not to run off again. Dan was itching to be back in the safety of his cave, where Phil couldn't get hurt, and Dan could keep them both safe. It wasn't far now.

It wasn't even relieving to Phil to have Dan roll away from him, but he went obediently when Dan grabbed his hand and pulled him up, walking more quickly now. His fingers were bruising in their grip, but Phil didn't complain. He understood, after all.

"I'm sorry," he said one last time. "I won't do it again."

Dan relaxed a little as Phil apologised to him again, until it finally sunk in. Phil was still here. He wasn't going anywhere, and he wasn't lost to Dan.

Dan leaned into Phil's side, loosening the death grip he currently had on Phil's hand. "It's alright," Dan sighed heavily, "And it's not your fault. I overreacted, I just - I can't lose you, Phil."

Dan dropped his head, more vulnerable than he'd ever felt before. Worry made him raw with emotion, not something he was used to anymore, and he nestled as close to Phil as could while they were still walking. He managed another shaky smirk. "Much as I don't want to make you any more arrogant, I do actually care about you quite a bit. Alright?"

He kept his gaze determinedly ahead, not wanting to take in Phil's undoubtedly smug smile. Dan was going to have to get used to being a bit more open and free with his emotions, but it would take time. He already felt bruised and battered, and emotions were a lot harder to battle than any physical fights.

"We're almost to my shelter," Dan added with a small smile. "Just over there. You see that little outcrop of rock?" Dan pointed it out, relaxing a little more.

Phil had understood, even from Dan's playful remarks and attitude, that he meant a great deal to the thief. He had no doubt that he had stolen Dan's heart just as firmly as Dan had stolen Phil's, and yet, it all seemed so much more real now, with Dan next to him still shaking with the fear of losing Phil, nuzzled up against him, seeking comfort in his touch.

However, when Phil tried to turn to Dan, to catch his eye and reassure him that Phil already knew this, Dan wouldn't meet his gaze. Brow furrowed, and heart racing in both joy and pain, Phil merely sucked in a deep breath, and decided to deal with it later. They had time, and if Dan was feeling too emotionally vulnerable right then, then that was okay. Phil could wait. He didn't want to hurt Dan anymore than he already was.

Still frowning, Phil turned back to looking ahead, spying Dan's shelter as he finally pointed it out. He nodded at seeing it, feeling his heart beat that little bit harder in his chest. It was clear how Dan had kept himself hidden for so long. The little outcrop of rock showed no indication of hiding any kind of entrance inside, and it disappeared into a swelling dune of sand. Phil wondered how often Dan's little hideout found itself buried by storm.

"Let's get going then," he said, voice a curious mix of subdued and excited. He was still hurting over having scared Dan so much, having forced him to be so vulnerable when he knew Dan didn't like that, but he was undoubtedly ready to see Dan's home.

Phil was still sounding subdued and small, which Dan didn't like at all - not knowing he'd been the cause of it. So he tightened his grip on Phil's hand again and led him the last few steps towards his shelter.

"See, when I said cave, that may have been a bit misleading." Dan turned to Phil with a wicked little grin, although oddly enough there were nerves dancing around in his stomach. He really wanted Phil to approve of his living space - wanted to let Phil in as much as Phil had let Dan in, in his own chamber in the Palace.

Dan bent down and shifted some sand and rock away, revealing a tiny, narrow passageway that was too small to stand up straight in. Dan usually crawled, but he knew that might be a problem for Phil.

"I want you to go first," Dan explained, turning to pull Phil closer and sending him a reassuring smile. "And I promise, this tunnel is only the entrance. It opens up beyond there. I'll be right behind you, ok?"

Dan was tingling with anticipation by this point. He was proud of his little shelter - the tunnel only went on for a tiny way, and then it opened to reveal a large cavern that Dan had decorated with jewels and draperies and fine cloths stolen from various market places over time. The best part was the roof, though. While the sides were covered to protect Dan from the elements, the centre of the cavern had a jagged hole in the roof, giving a perfect view of the desert sky, which was currently amid a quite spectacular sunset.

The excitement was growing, and when Dan turned a wicked grin onto Phil, he couldn't help grinning back, nearly jittering in place all over again. He'd probably never stop feeling so excited when he was with Dan, but more than anything, this was exactly what Phil had been wanting; for Dan to let him in.

He did, however, gulp when Dan crouched down and shifted away rock and sand only to reveal a tiny, narrow passageway that Phil was mostly definitely going to have to crawl through to reach Dan’s home. Unable to hide the panic in his eyes, Phil merely stared at Dan. Shaking his head aggressively at the thought of being made to go first trapped on either side in an enclosed space, Phil took a step backwards, only for Dan to meet him step for step and pull him into him instead.

Meek, Phil said "I bet when you found out how terrified I was of enclosed spaces you realized you were safe as hell here didn't you?"

He was shaking, though, just trying to get the attention off of him, but knew the joke had fell flat.

"Promise?" he asked, voice quieter and more unsure. It wasn't that he didn't trust Dan, it was just that this was a lot. Phil hated, hated enclosed spaces, and it was a fear he'd never quite been able to make himself get rid of, irrational as it might be.

Dan could see the fear trembling in Phil's eyes and hands and face, and he soothed him as best he could, gently stroking Phil's palms with his thumbs.

"I promise," Dan murmured. "I'll go first if you're more comfortable - I just need to hide the entrance again, once we're inside. And I promise you, the tunnel is tiny and there's a great big space after it. You don't feel trapped. I just don't want to spoil the surprise." Dan winked.

Phil was still trembling, though, so Dan drew away and looked around, having an idea. He reached into his cloak and drew out a small ruby set into a pendant, stolen in the capital, and showed it to Phil. "Look. I'm going to throw this in the tunnel, and it'll land in the cavern. That'll show you how much space there is."

So Dan bent down and threw the ruby into the tunnel. It rattled as it went, landing in visible sight, and there was a loud echo when it dropped to the ground, reminiscent of a large open space.

"Ok?" Dan checked with Phil again, hovering by the entrance. "I'll be right here the whole time."

Phil couldn't help shakily laughing when Dan reached into his cloak and pulled out a very expensive pendent that he then immediately threw into his home as if it were nothing. The sound it made, reverberating loudly like it had landed in a very open space, soothed his nerves a bit more than anything else had, but he still wasn't quite ready. Shaking all over, Phil gripped Dan's hands hard again in his.

"I can't believe you just threw that," he teased, laughing shakily all over again. The idea of Dan's home being unlike anything Phil was suspecting made him eager to just get this over with and head inside, but it was hard when the panic was already starting to squeeze off his airways. He swallowed thickly, warmed by the look in Dan’s eyes, and finally closed his own. He took a deep breathe, and then he was taking one last glance around the open desert around them before steeling himself to crawl instead.

"No, I'll go first. You have to hide your home. I'd never let you leave yourself open and vulnerable to anyone," he stated, gulping one last time before finally moving closer to the entrance. Dan's soothing words kept echoing in his head, reminding him that Dan had and would do anything to make Phil feel comfortable. This was a far cry from that day in the underground, when Dan had held a knife to Phil's throat and thrown his crown into a dark passageway just to fuck with Phil, attempting to scare him rather than soothe. There was a gentleness to Dan now that Phil loved, and was so proud to be a part of it.

Getting down on his knees, Phil moved forward quickly, pushing through the panic rising in his chest as his breathing grew heavy immediately. His hands pressed into rough sand, but he didn't care as he began to crawl, just wanting to reach the other end of the tunnel he’d just knowingly entered. He squealed a little when he felt something touch his leg, realizing quickly that it was just Dan, and tried not to freak out when Dan moved a rock back in front of the entrance, destroying the light that had been shining in from behind them. Phil could still see the light from up ahead, though, from Dan's cavern, and he couldn't help wondering where it was coming from.

Dan scrambled through the tunnel after Phil, eager to see his face when he saw the cavern, accidentally brushing up against Phil in his haste to get inside as well. Phil's little squeal was adorable, if not for the fact that Dan knew he'd be freaking out about the small space, so Dan made a soothing noise rather than the chuckle he itched to release.

Limbs shaking, and breathing ragged, Phil started to crawl again from the brief pause Dan’s touch had given him, and rushed towards the light at the other end. By the time he reached the end, Dan was right behind him, and Phil could see the exit in sight, far closer than he had been anticipating.

Scrambling forward those last few meters, Phil rushed into Dan’s home, and the minute his head was free from the low hanging ceiling of the tunnel, he stood and took in a deep breath -

Which was then immediately stolen from him when he managed to take in the room.

The first thing he noticed was the giant hole in Dan's roof, a ragged piece of missing rock that sent light filtering down below. The sun was just now barely setting, and so the rays of light and colored sky filled the cavern in a way that made everything glow. Phil's gaze was stuck on it for a moment, jaw having dropped open, but he shook himself in order to take in the rest of Dan's home.

Ornate draperies and fine clothes lined the sides of the room, lending something soft to the space, something un-thief like, nearly un-Dan like if Phil didn't know how gentle his soul really was. Piles of things Phil couldn't quite make out, and exotic plants took up much of the space around the edges of the surprisingly large cavern, but there were thick furs and recycled animal parts from Dan's hunting that kept the ground just a bit more soft than it might otherwise be.

Overall, it was beautiful, littered with lost treasure far more grand then the simple jewels Dan often stole and that the palace held, and Phil was downright awed by it’s beauty.

Everything about it felt like home. Everything about it felt lived in, and warm, and treasured. Everything about it felt… like everything that Phil had ever wanted in life.

Turning back to Dan, Phil's lips quirked up happily.

"Would you believe me if I said I'd rather live here than my own home?" he murmured softly, knowing already that Dan would doubt him, possibly tell Phil that he'd miss his own beds soon enough, and turned back around to wander under the hole in Dan's ceiling.

Immediately, Phil was sitting down and sprawling out on his back.

"How wonderful a view this must be at night," he said softly, staring up at it in wonderment, and imagining the sights that Dan had seen.

This was the life he wanted to live. He wanted to create a home like Dan had, not be stuck with rooms like the palace where Phil couldn't really be Phil. He wished he could explain that to Dan, even as Dan moved to sit down right next to him.

Phil liked the way Dan refused to leave any space between them.

The tunnel ended soon enough, and Dan jumped up to his feet quickly, itching to see Phil's reaction. He wasn't disappointed in the slightest. Dan felt a little tremor of happiness at how taken Phil seemed to be - no one else had ever been in here, after all. It was entirely Dan's place, entirely for him, and he wanted Phil to be a part of it.

Which was why Dan's breath literally stopped when Phil said he'd be happy to live here.

He stood, speechless, simply watching as Phil went to sit under the gap in the roof, looking up at the sky. Dan immediately went to join him. He didn't like leaving any space between them, not if he could help it, so he lay back next to Phil, their sides touching all the way down, and Dan smiled softly. Phil was looking at the sky, but Dan was watching Phil.

"Wait until you see it when the stars are out," Dan nodded with a knowing grin. He nestled in next to Phil, laying his head lightly against Phil's chest. It was strange, this constant desire to be near Phil. It itched away at his skin until he felt cold every time they weren't touching.

"And, I mean... you'd be more than welcome to live here," he murmured after a moment, enjoying listening to Phil's heartbeat speed up under his ear. "But be careful saying things like that around me, my Prince. I might just be tempted to steal you away for good."

Dan nestling his head over Phil's heart was quickly becoming Phil's favorite thing, and he moved his arm to close it around Dan's shoulder, enjoying the way it felt to have his thief lying on top of him again. There was something particularly vulnerable in Dan allowing Phil to be the comforter, rather than the comforted, which was exactly what it felt like he was doing. Phil knew Dan needed reassurance that Phil truly liked the place he lived.

Phil hadn't been able to imagine his thief's hideout, but now that he'd seen it, he didn't think there could ever have possibly been anything else.

Biting his lip against replying to Dan's soft words, Phil turned to look down at him, watching as Dan's fingers nervously played with Phil's shirt. In that moment, Phil wanted to say he'd be happy to let Dan steal him away, but it wasn't that simple, and Phil needed to stop making too many promises before it was too late. They didn't know what their future held just yet, but if there was nothing else, Phil knew he wasn't letting Dan slip back out of his life - and if he could help it, he'd find a way to juggle both of their lives.

Already, he had a few ideas.

Trading out a few nights in the palace for Dan's desert hideout from time to time was definitely on the list.

Thinking of the future was a nerve-wracking thing for both of them, and Dan didn’t want to dwell on it too much. It was difficult for him to see any way for them to be together in the long-term, no matter how much he willed that to be possible. It just seemed so difficult.

Phil had his princely duties. He was going to be tied up at the Palace, especially if this mission was successful and they were able to heal Cornelia, and then there would be another royal wedding to attend. Never mind that Phil was also Captain of the Royal Guard, where his very job was to capture Dan.

And capture him he had, if not quite in the way he’d been meant to.

Dan sighed, trying to get past his own thoughts. The future might be dark, but his present - his present was the best he’d ever had, at least since he was a child. Phil in his arms, himself in Phil’s arms, wrapped up in Dan’s home where he never thought he’d be able to bring another person.

He wanted to let Phil in completely - to show him everything. That included the deep reaches of Dan’s past, and everything he didn’t want to think about.

For Phil, though - there were some things Dan would very much like to give Phil.

Dan sat up, untangling himself from Phil’s arms and prickling with uncontained excitement. He tugged lightly on Phil's arm. He hated to interrupt Phil’s perusal of the sky, but he had other things he wanted to show his prince. "So you know how you said you wanted something precious to me? I think I can finally give you that."

Cuddling with Dan was quickly becoming one of Phil’s absolute favorite things. He could probably lay like this forever and be happy, which is why when Dan rather suddenly pulled out of his arms, it came as a surprise to Phil, who let out a soft sounding whimper of distress at the movement.

Dan moving away from him was enough, in fact, to tear Phil’s gaze away from the quickly setting sun, and he sat up as Dan stood and rushed away, saying something about precious things and how Phil had asked for something that morning.

Heart quite suddenly racing all over again, Phil felt a grin beginning to tug at the corners of his lips.

“Yeah?” Phil asked, the sound breathless as he watched Dan scuttle away.

Without further explanation, Dan jumped back to his feet and moved over to the corner by his sleeping furs. Here was where he kept his most personal of belongings - the ones he couldn't bear to lose. The fairy tales that Phil had helped him to steal were sitting open on top of a chest, along with the emerald Dan had stolen the first time he’d met Phil which was, indeed, sitting next to a magnolia tree (a favourite of Dan's mother's).

Underneath were a few other trinkets with various personal meaning, including a tiny wooden figure carved by his brother, but Dan had one particular item in mind. A little locket shaped in an oval, with a tiny engraving of a bear etched into the silver.

Dan moved slowly back over to Phil after retrieving it, sitting cross legged with the locket in his palm.

Dan didn’t give Phil any more explanation as he moved away towards a corner of the cave that Phil could just make out as a sort of bedroom. There were furs laying on the ground, and something that looked like a pillow made from cushions possibly stolen from someone’s sofa, and a pile of precious looking objects hidden away in a small looking chest beside Dan’s bed, a few other things, including what appeared to be a tree, sat outside of the chest next to it.

As Dan shifted things away to reach into the chest, Phil felt his heart quite literally leap into his throat. The idea of finally literally holding Dan’s heart in his hands, the way Dan held Phil’s, the two of them having something precious and important to each other on their beings all time signifying where their heart lay, made him feel… blessed.

Once Dan had retrieved whatever he’d been looking for, he returned to Phil’s side, where he had waited rather patiently for whatever Dan might think to give to him. Phil was practically holding his breath as Dan settled back down next to him, something clasped loosely in the palms of his hands.

"My father gave this to me, right before he died," Dan started quietly. "He was given it by his father, who apparently picked it up from a traveling salesman when they came through our village sometime back. The bear is something to do with our family - a guardian, I think. Father never got to tell me the whole story." Dan looked up slowly, and, grasping the locket by the chain, held it out to Phil.

"Not as rich as your watch heirloom, but it's all my family has. It's all I have to offer you, my Prince.”

Looking into Phil’s eyes made Dan brave enough to continue. There was a pain in his heart, an ache Dan very rarely allowed himself to feel, but just now, feeling as vulnerable and open as he was, and trapped in Phil’s gaze, Dan felt brave enough to continue.

He sucked in a breath and said, “I am Daniel Howell, and before I was the King of Thieves, I was just the son of a village healer. Will you accept me anyway?"

Phil’s mouth went dry as Dan spoke, his hands shaking and his eyes wide at the idea of having something of Dan’s that had been passed down to him by a father Phil knew to be long dead. How Dan could even bear to give such an object up to Phil… Phil could not comprehend, and yet he did not question it. Not now, when Dan was being open and vulnerable, not now when he knew such a careless question would do nothing but hurt.

So Phil listened, and he stared as Dan opened his palms and offered Phil a long, silver chain with an oval locket at the end.

Reaching out, Phil took it into his hands carefully, drawing it near with bated breath as if he terrified Dan would snatch it away again. As with Phil's family watch, the silver locket was battered and aged, scratched and scuffed in ways that gave family heirlooms there character. Phil's thumb pressed over the engraving of the bear, and then his eyes flicked back up to Dan's at his final words.

Howell. Daniel Howell.

Phil finally had a family name.

Mouth slowly curling into the brightest smile of Phil's entire life, he slowly unclasped the back of the necklace, and threaded it around his neck, the oval locket falling between his collarbones as he clasped it again at the back. He wasn't looking at Dan as he reached down and touched the silver oval against his chest, marveling at the way it felt and looked against his skin.

It looked beautiful there, like it belonged, like it had always been Phil’s.

It was the only piece of jewelry that Phil had ever willingly worn, other than Dan’s braclet, and it was the only piece of jewelry that he would ever wear around his neck again.

This… this made Phil feel like he truly belonged to Dan, and that fact had never made him feel so happy as it did then.

Dan wasn’t quite prepared for the way the locket looked against Phil’s skin. That locket had been Dan’s only possession before he started stealing, when he’d abandoned his home after his brother’s death and run for a long, long time. It was his talisman, his only companion. Dan couldn’t even count the number of nights he’d spent curled up alone in the cold, gripping the locket tight in his trembling fists and barely allowing himself to remember.

His father had looked proud, handing the locket over to Dan when he’d been old enough to understand. Dan had promised to keep it safe, to uphold their family name and allow it to guard those Dan loved the most.

There had been a time Dan never expected to love anyone again.

Until Phil.

Now, the locket looked perfect hanging between Phil’s collarbones, and Dan could feel tears stinging at the back of his lids. He bunched his fingers into fists, curling his nails into his palms, and tried to bite back the uncontrollable waves of emotion. He wasn’t used to this, hadn’t ever expected to find this.

And yet, here Phil was.

Swallowing against the lump in his throat, Phil caressed the locket against his chest once more, and finally let it go to look up at Dan once more.

There were tears in his eyes, and when had those gotten there? Phil could feel his bottom lip trembling. This item, this locket, it was the only piece of Dan’s family that he had left, and he had given it freely to Phil, as something to claim Phil as his.

A courting gift that perhaps meant more than any other would in their lifetime.

“Daniel Howell,” Phil whispered, enjoying the way Dan’s full name felt curling around his tongue. He smiled at the man before him, whose face was a mask of nerves. “Don’t you know, yet?” he asked, getting up and propping himself on his knees.

Slowly, he put his hands on the cold floor of Dan’s cavern, and started to crawl over to where he sat cross legged across from him, eyes dark as he stared up at him.

“I will always, always accept you,” he said, simple as ever.

His thief was pliant under his hands as Phil gently crawled over him, reaching up to grasp at his shoulders and lead him to the ground under Phil. Phil didn’t know what he was doing, not really, and the tears had started to seep down his cheeks, but it was okay because Dan was crying too.

Phil could see the wetness in his eyes as his lips parted in eager surprise at all that Phil was offering him right now.

Steady, endless acceptance.

Phil grinned to himself, and with Dan on his back underneath him, Phil crawled on top of him properly, hands bracing himself on either side of Dan’s head.

The way Dan’s curls looked spread out on the floor underneath him…

Phil’s heart was racing in his chest.

The locket he’d been given moved to sway and hang between their faces as both Dan and Phil’s eyes flicked back and forth between each others, just trying to take each other in. Gently, Phil moved so his legs were spread on either side of Dan’s, braced himself on one elbow, and cupped Dan’s cheek with the other hand.

His heart was racing like it never had before, but in that moment, Dan had given Phil everything, and Phil wanted nothing more than give Dan everything in return.

“Dan,” he whispered, lashes lowering as his gaze moved from Dan’s wondering gaze to his parted lips instead. “My King of Thieves,” he said, caressing Dan’s cheek with the rough pad of his fingers. “You are mine,” he said, and finally leaned in close to kiss his thief.

The kiss was possessive but sweet. Gentle. Loving. Everything that Phil had ever wanted to give Dan, to show him and make him see. Dan made a soft sounding, surprised humming noise underneath him, his hands moving up from their prone position on the cave floor to bracket Phil’s cheeks, the touch rough and a little unsure, like Dan didn’t know how to be - kind, to his lovers.

The idea of that, it flared hot through Phil until he could feel himself becoming aroused, and the desire to give all of himself to Dan resurfaced all over again, bright and more eager than even a mere few seconds before.

Dan might be the experienced one in this department, but Phil was going to show Dan how to love if it was the last thing he ever did.

Grinning into the kiss, and playing lightly with Dan’s lips to guide them into something gentle and sure, Phil allowed his weight to fall on Dan so he could reach up with both hands and capture Dan’s wrists in his.

Dan made a surprised sound against his lips that turned into something that almost sounded like actual pleasure, for the first time, and Phil grinned, pinning Dan’s wrists to the ground.

“Dan,” Phil whispered, drawing away and slowly moving his fingers up Dan’s wrists to twine their fingers together instead, still keeping Dan’s hands pinned to the ground. His heart was pounding away in his chest, a heat burning under his skin that he’d so rarely felt before except for with Dan, and he knew he wanted nothing more than this.

He was ready.

“Take me to bed,” Phil whispered, his breath puffing against Dan’s lips.

Dan let out a soft sounding moan, and Phil watched as his thief’s eyes closed.

Proud to be in such control just then, knowing that in moments, this would be Dan taking control, leading them both through this, Phil trailed a lot of kisses up Dan’s jaw and to the shell of his ear.

“Take me to bed, and teach me how to love you. At least, in this way.”

Dan nodded shakily under Phil, his lips trembling and still parted as he gasped for breath, swallowing thickly and quite obviously trying to recover from Phil’s acceptance of his gift, the offer he was giving him now, and Phil knew in that moment that he could trust Dan implicitly, even with this.

As Dan leaned in to kiss him again, rolling them over so that he was in charge, lips searing and yet soft in the way they touched Phil, Phil allowed Dan to drag him into a pleasure that he had never known.

#phanfiction #iwritephanthings #snowbunnylester #phan au #phanfic #steal my heart #OOPS SORRY ABOUT FORGETTING THE READ MORE #FIXING THAT #SORRY EVERYONE WHO'S DASH THIS RUINED

107 notes · View notes

lexosaurus · 5 years

Note

Hey, Lexx! So I'm just another DP phan but I just recently discovered the Tumblr danny phandom. As the unofficial official meme central of the group, do you have any idea how I could join the phandom?

WELCOME TO THE PHANDOM MY DUDE!

This is it this is how you join. You just show up and declare “I am here” All-Might style and yup now hacker voice you’re in.

There’s some blogs you can follow if you want. I’ve made a comprehensive list of them here but honestly there are more blogs that I forgot to put in there so I’m just gonna redo that list below.

We also have a discord server which is open to the public, just DM me for the invite link.

Ok some blogs I personally find enjoyable to see on my dash include but are not limited to:

@totallycorrectdannyphantomquotes (typical fake quote page)

@reallydumbdannyphantomaus (funny phandom au’s)

@awkwarddannyphantomphotos (funny screencaps)

@awkwarddannyphantomscreencaps (also funny screencaps)

@phandomphightclub (event page, semi active atm, event happened in january)

@dannypocalypse (biggest phandom event page, event happens in april)

@dpreanimated (dp fan reboot)

@danphanwritingprompts (writing prompts page)

@dannyphandump (phandom member, amazing artist like 11/10 art)

@earthphantom (lawful good artist that u need in ur life trust me)

@diddly-darn-ghost (meme legend, cartoon artist, creator of diddles piddles)

@d-o-t-s (phandom member, literally so good at art i crie)

@heyheyitsstillgay (phandom member, actually rlly good at shitposts but they don’t do them often, just a good person all around)

@lumanae (phandom member, all around A+ individual)

@ladylynse (like unfairly good at writing, just ugh yes 👏)

@cordria (probably the best phiccs ever in my unbiased opinion)

@imekitty (again with the amazing writing, like superrr good at angst)

@haikujitsu (author of the most well-known DP fanfiction of all time)

@ceciliaspen (amazing art AND fanfiction, legit like 2 qualities wrapped into one human being I Can’t)

@ectopusses (just great memes like come here for a good time)

@going-dead (phandom member, great writer)

@ghostboyconceps (phandom member, a wholesome individual)

@qlinq-qhost (phandom member, another A+ individual all around)

@ghostgothgeek (straight chaotic evil i’m not kidding she printed out this hell post i started and MAILED IT TO ME and it took up the entire length of my living room)

@narwhalsarefalling (one of the creators of the dannypocalypse)

@elmerthotman (chaotic evil in a blog)

@elmerbutchhartman (birch tree fartman receipt blog we stan)

@phantombreadproject (a wholesome individual, 10/10)

@what-is-love-babey-dont-hurt-me (our phandom mother)

@mostlikelynothuman (great art, great fanfiction, cosplay, just ugh yes a trifecta of a human 👏👏)

@ectoplasmbender (great DP blog we stan)

@imdeadtiredtm (great writer, just ugh yes get those words 🙏)

@daddyphannypack (yet another great quality DP blog and person)

@quishaphantom (great writer honestly tho)

@babypop-phantom (just in general a solid DP blog)

@wastefulreverie (fucking outstanding fanfiction)

@gostriley (a memer, funny human being)

@grimgrinningghoul (phandom member, good DP blog)

@rayhoosier (just a good person all around tbh)

@phan-pheeking-tastic (good writer, great fic recs)

@phanboyo (another solid DP blog)

@gggoingghost (great artist and human being)

Ok I’m gonna stop here but even with this more detailed list I for sure missed some blogs so feel free to rb with some more recs!

Welcome to the phandom, Anon! Hope you enjoy your stay!

#ask #blog recs

195 notes · View notes

auroraphilealis · 6 years

Text

just a small list of fic recs

Earlier this morning my friends asked for some fake dating phan AU fics and I realized that making a fic rec list might be a good way to show some appreciation for fanfic author appreciation day!

I don’t have all day free like I wish, so I asked my friends for a few smaller catagories that I could shift through and find a few fics to rec from, that way I can get a good mix of fics for people to enjoy, and find as many authors as possible to thank!

Of course, I can’t possibly have read every fic out there ever, so if you aren’t on here that’s no like, disrespect to you or anything. Every single person whose ever written and posted a fanfic deserves to be recognized and loved for what they’ve produce for us, so just know that I appreciate every single one of you, on or off this list!

To add to this, I tired to pick some older, or smaller works that people may have not seen before to give the authors a little lift if possible :)

Without further ado, below you’ll find some fic recs and author appreciation below !

Fake Relationship:

Our Threadbare Lies - @ramonaspeaks - Dan is eighteen years old and newly single. He's ready to come out to his family but he thinks it would be a hell of a lot easier if he had a boyfriend to help him through it.

This is like one of my all time favorite fake relationship fics of all time. Honestly it was so well done and really realistic and the writing is just superb. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I’ve re-read this fic, (as well as most of the authors other works) because it was just so well done, so thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to the author for all the hard work they put into it! On top of that, it holds really, really close to 2009 timeline (as we know it) and manages to make things work that might not have worked in their AU if they weren’t so smart about it

Maybe, Possibly - @cafephan - Phil’s mother is adamant that he should be settling down, so invites one of his turbulent exes to an annual family get-together the following day. In a moment of panic, he tells her he’s already dating someone. With no other options, he turns to Dan.

aldjflkas I fucking love this fic so freaking much. I’ve read it like ten million times. Everytime it shows up on my dash I open it to read it again. It’s just really funny and sweet in a strange way, and captures an essence of dnp that I really enjoy. I like how easy it is for dnp to pretend to be together in this fic, and how easy it is for them to then transition to ACTUALLY being together. It’s the perfect kind of non-dramatic get together fake relationship AU ever and I really, really do love it. Again, massive thank you to the author!

friends dont treat me like you do - @internetakeover (i think i got your @ right) - Why had Dan agreed to this? Pretending to be Phil’s boyfriend at his ex’s wedding had seemed like a nice idea at first, a way to meet some of Phil’s old university friends while helping him avoid humiliation, but already Dan’s on edge. If Dan allows himself to relax for a day, lets himself watch Phil as much as he wants, touch Phil as much as he wants, carry on their flirtatious banter when normally he’d laugh it off... he’s worried about what Phil might see.

I ended up re-reading this after I stumbled across it again just now hahaha I really love this fic. It’s super cute and a little sappy cause WEDDING FIC but that’s what makes it so worth the read. I love that both Dan and Phil realize how easy their relationship is, and the fact that they’ve technically been dating for a long time and that they love each other. I love that they realize this the way that they do, and it just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, so thank you so much to the author <3

Asexuality

Between Us - @winteredspark who doesnt appear to have a tumblr :( - "I think I'm asexual," Dan breathes against the crook of Phil's neck, blinking back tears.There's a pause, then -"Nice to meet you, asexual. I'm Phil," says Phil.

This is the asexual fic that helped me to realize that I’m asexual and that asexuality is a spectrum that isn’t limited to one version or another. I remember leaving a really long thoughtout comment to the author but I can’t not rec it here as well. It’s just such an amazing asexuality fic and it’s a little bit of a different take not it considering the character exists on a different part of the spectrum than most ace fics portray. I will always be grateful to this author for this fic!

let’s save up for something new - @deletablebird - Phil wakes up shivering the morning of October 19th, 2009. Today is the day he meets Dan. Fluff, 3.5k

I love this author with my whole heart and I’ve read everything they’ve written lol. This is just a really, really cute and lovely take on 2009 with the asexual aspect included and it really made my heart happy, so thank you so so much for this fic!

Theater

Disguises - @ramonaspeaks - Phil auditions for a play at a local theater and meets Dan, who spends most of his time acting whether he’s on stage or off.

Again, another fic from one of my favorite authors of all time. This is like my actual favorite theater au of all time. I am completely in love with the whole thing. It feels so real, and their characters are so well fleshed out, and each scene is just actually fantastic. I solidly recommend this one and I am soooo thankful to the author for bringing it into existence!

just touched down in london town - @phanetixs - "Hamilton is actually really nice and the plot is very interesting and okay, well, there’s this guy."In which, London is not as bad in the summer, a cute guy dies considerably in Act III and Phil has actually lucked out for once.

Look not only do I stalk all of this authors fics, but this is one of my all time favorites of theirs. They managed to take an idea that almost seems ludicrous and make it into something not only super hot, but super realistic and really, really, really fun. I absolutely adore this fic and I give you all the kudos my wonderful author. Thank you for writing such a wonderful au!

Which as they kiss, consume - @irrevocablys which for some reason it wont tag you :( - Dan’s an aspiring actor, and Phil’s so over studying Romeo and Juliet.

This was one of my first theater au’s and I truly adore it. its just like got this super cute undertone to it thats incredibly wonderful? I just love the way the characters interact and the ease and flow of the writing <3 thank you for giving us something so beautful

Supernatural Elements

Ride with the moon in the dead of night - @mooksie01 -Phil seriously needs to buy some allergy medicine or something. Or at least open a window next time he performs a demonic ritual. He wouldn't have thought that one little sneeze could've messed up a spell so bad, but now he has a demon on his hands and only six days to get rid of it before he's stuck with it forever....And maybe the demon is acting like a total cinnamon roll, but Phil is positive that it's all just an elaborate ruse.

ajdlsfkjasdlkjfls omfg I love this fic so much. I actually adore fics with supernatural elements in them and this is one of those fics that always stands out to me. It’s just really hilarious and well written and is just overall a fun take on witch phil. I just, i really love it, and I’m so grateful it exists. Thank you wonderful author <3

Reflections of the Heart - @butterflyphil - “Being told to dress up in a dinosaur onesie and have cereal catapulted at your face is a little odd. Waking up to find that you and your best friend have switched bodies? That’s fucking bizarre.”(Or, the multi-chaptered, slightly smutty bodyswap fic that no one asked for. Featuring whiny/annoying!Dan, sassy/beguiling!Phil, unintentional innuendos, intentional innuendos, unnecessary kitchen supplies, and just a pinch of magic).

UHM, THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVE FICS? Lol. I just really freaking love body swap fic and you did such a good job with this fic. it’s honestly just super fun and a little hot and really cute and beautiful overall. I really just, really cant thank you enough for this fic and rec it really really highly!

Vampires & Werewolfs

High - @icandigelvis - Just the ordinary story of Dan and Phil, except one little detail. Phil isn't human in this one. Expect biting, bickering, playlist live, blood, bad jokes and sex.

ajdslfkjasl listen I love vampire fic and this one is just so good. it’s so true to dnp’s personalities and just like, accurate to who they’d be tbh. And like, the fact that it sticks so close to reality aside from the vampire difference is what makes it even better so thank you so much to the lovely author for writing it. It’s everything I ever needed and more from a vampire fic

Taking Every Chance I’ve Got All - @nagirci - Dan wanted was to get drunk, really. Have a good time, meet a few new people. He didn’t really think about getting involved with someone as dangerous as Phil Lester (someone as cold, as pale and, well, as not alive), and he definitely didn’t think that one trip out to a bar would change his life forever.

This is like a really older fic that’s from one of the first phandom big bangs but it’s one of my first favorite vampire fics of all time as well and it’s just. really good and really well thought and the collaboration work on it is incredibly flawless. I honeslty would tell anyone to read it at any time because it comes together so well

Sharp Teeth - @theshyauthor - AmazingPhil is a Youtuber and a vampire and according to Dan Howell, he is the nicest person to exist. From their first meeting in 2009 all the way to that one incident in the elevator at the BBC, this is their story.

Again this is just such a good take on 2009 and the reality of dnp with added vampirism tossed in. Plus the author is a beautiful wonderful person and I really enjoy their writing so its a total please go read this kind of fic x3 Thank you darling for writing something so wonderful <3

be sure to ring the doorbell - @frostbittencheeks - Dan’s a tired sports reporter, Phil’s a friendly vampire with no real sense of boundaries and a propensity for bad Dracula jokes as well as leaving his unconscious victims in Dan’s kitchen. This isn’t how Dan thought courtship goes, but he’ll take it.

Can you tell I love vampire fics? This one is so well done, I literally re-read it constantly. I love the whole idea behind it, specifically the fact that Phil’s version of courtship is literally ridiculous and he doesn’t even think that they need to talk about it hahahaha I just love how funny and adorable it is and it’s just totally worth a few minutes of your time

a puppy sort of love - @symmetricdnp - Dan's supposedly a werewolf. Phil has doubts.

I honestly want to beg this person to write me more of this fic cause the permise is just that good. There are so few werewolf fics in the phandom, and especially ones that are this cute, thoughout , and well written. I absolutely adore this fic and I totally rec it to all of you. The author is wonderful, thank you so much for writing this fic <3

Blind

It’s the blue of your eyes, and the way you’re scared, love - @glitteraccent Soulmate (Color)! & Blind!Phil au

Okay but like this story always sticks out in my memory and I think on it often. It’s one of my all time favorite soulmate au’s and blind au’s, because it was just structured so well and the characters make your heart fall for them really, really fast. I love this author and tumblr wont tag them, but reblog their fic and give them all the love in the world!

#fic recs #fanfic author appreciation day

50 notes · View notes

danfanciesphil · 6 years

Text

Give Me A Try (New Chapter)

Gay Instagram Model/Bartender Phan AU Part 6

(Part One)

(Part Two)

(Part Three)

(Part Four)

(Part Five)

(Read on Ao3)

The bar is empty, but the lights are swirling across the dancefloor. Britney Spears’ ‘Everytime’ is playing at a low volume, her deep, rough voice sliding chills up Dan’s bare arms. He is naked, and sprawled across the bar counter.

His face is turned towards the dancefloor, marvelling at how clean the floor is, for once. Somewhere at his navel, lips are pressing to his skin, over and over, like sweet butterflies landing on his abdomen. Dan sighs in contentment, eyes slipping closed. He opens them just in time to see Phil move over him, done with kissing his stomach now.

The shock of seeing Phil above him, also naked, their bodies pressed together on the bar, sends Dan into a flurry of panic. How did this happen? He is not prepared, not skilled enough to please such an immensity of a person. His hands ghost, trembling, over Phil’s shoulders, too reverent to actually touch.

“Do you want me?” Phil asks, absurdly.

All Dan can do is nod, vigorously, trying hard to convey how desperately he does without words. Phil sends him a wicked grin in return, sending Dan’s heart into palpitations. He sees Phil’s lips moving towards his, can feel the slide of Phil’s hips against his as their bodies move. He tries to ready himself for the onslaught of Phil’s mouth, but knows it will eviscerate him totally, the moment it happens. There’s no way to prepare.

He shuts his eyes, waiting for the missile of Phil’s kiss to strike him, when a voice permeates the air, grating and cold. “Knew he’d be shit in bed.”

Phil snaps his head to the side, annoyed. Dan turns too, blearily, to see Charlie Hickory standing in the shadows, sipping a Rainforest Cocktail with a nauseated expression, his lips blue from the liquid. He’s watching them with scorn, sneering in distaste. Dan tries to struggle from beneath Phil, to cover himself from Charlie’s stare, but he can barely move. Phil’s whole body covers him, and while it’s incredible, it’s also restrictive.

“Charlie, be nice,” Phil warns, then turns back to Dan. “Sorry about him.”

“What’s he doing here?” Dan hisses, feeling his cheeks heat.

“Oh, he’s just here to chill,” Phil shrugs, like it’s normal. “Ignore him.”

Dan tries to let Phil’s words placate him, but he can feel Charlie’s eyes burrowing into them, scrutinising their every movement. Phil tries to kiss him again, but Dan squirms from it, mortified by the third party watching.

“Can you get him to leave?”

Phil frowns. “Just pretend he’s not there.”

Dan wriggles again, glancing over at Charlie, who waggles his fingers. “Not sure I can do that.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake, I knew he wouldn’t have the balls,” Charlie sighs, tossing the Rainforest over his shoulder so that it smashes behind him. Dan tuts, knowing he’ll be the one that has to clean that up. Charlie stalks over to the bar then, seizing Phil’s face in his hands. “Let me show you how it’s done.”

He smashes his mouth into Phil’s, kissing fiercely, and the bar beneath Dan seems to fall away, he feels punched by the sight happening right above him, wants to drag Charlie off of Phil by his stupid quiff. Charlie pulls off, slightly breathless, and turns to Dan, still pinned to the bar by Phil on top of him.

“Give it up, Dan,” Charlie says, condescendingly. “He’s mine.”

At that second, Dan jerks awake, anguished and filled with fury. Charlie’s smug face lingers, ghostlike, in front of him. It churns his stomach, making him queasy and breathless. A minute or so passes, eyes closed against the sickness roiling within him as Charlie, and the bar, and the rest of the weird fever dream gently ebbs away. It’s around then that Dan realises his nausea is actually a product of what feels like a raging hangover, if his pounding head, raw throat, and bitter tongue are any indication.

He peels open his eyes, rather reluctantly. For a wild, slightly scary moment, he has no idea where he is. Then, the zig-zag blanket draped over his body catches his eye, and the feeling of immense comfort sparks a faint memory in his brain.

He’s been on this couch before.

Dan looks around for his phone, heart already thrumming as he tries to recall what happened last night, what day it is, and whether he needs to apologise to Phil or anyone else for his behaviour. He thinks today is Sunday, which is good, because the bar is closed. He’d never forgive himself for this hangover if he had to work later.

He finds his phone in his shoe beside the sofa, almost dead, but flooded with notifications. Too bleary to read any of them, Dan just checks the time.

It’s 11am.

“Crap,” Dan mutters, running a hand through his hair.

“Morning to you too, sunshine,” Phil says from a nearby armchair, making Dan leap out of his skin.

His eyes flick to the other man, who is slumped in the chair, nursing what looks like a much-needed coffee. His voice is rough and gravelly, his chest bare. He’s wearing pyjama pants with emojis on them, and slippers that look like loaves of bread.

“Morning,” Dan says. His voice comes out like sandpaper. “Um, what… what happened last night?”

Phil flicks his gaze across to Dan, eyebrow quirking. A smile spreads across his mouth. “You don’t remember?”

Remnants of memory snag across Dan’s mind: downing a shot as Tyler urged him on, dancing to ‘London Bridge’ by Fergie on the dancefloor (which, incidentally, Tyler refers to as Dan’s ‘stripper song’), Phil filming him with his phone…

“Bits and pieces,” Dan says unsurely. “Did I get drunk during my shift?”

Phil barks a laugh. “You could say that.”

“Ugh,” Dan grunts, rubbing his sleep-caked eyes. “Such a responsible adult. I’m blaming Tyler for allowing me to do that.”

“Might wanna check Instagram,” Phil says; he sounds suspiciously nonchalant about the suggestion. He pockets his phone, stands up, and heads for the kitchen beyond. “I’ll make you some coffee.”

As soon as Phil leaves, the chill of his words hangs in the air. Dan’s gaze falls, trepidatious, to the phone in his lap. It seems like a primed bomb, suddenly. He reaches for it with caution, not really wanting to know.

The moment he clicks onto Instagram, the notifications pour out in a stream, attacking him in their thousands. He goes to his own profile, and his jaw falls to the floor.

Followers 53,289

Dan stares at the number, uncomprehending. His notifications page is swarming with new followers, liking his photos, commenting beneath them.

He wonders, as he scrolls through them, whether he’s been hacked. Or if he drunkenly purchased a load of those fake follow accounts in a vain attempt to impress Phil. Then, he starts reading what these new followers are writing.

Who is he omg

Think I’ve found a new fave twink account :o

He’s cuuuute!

He might be cuter than Charlie…

The last comment snags his attention, mostly because of the name. Charlie.

“Any news?”

Dan starts, head whipping towards Phil so fast that it makes the room spin on its axis. “I… what’s going on?”

Phil titters, placing a cup of coffee in front of Dan. He reaches for it at once, taking a huge, scalding gulp. Eugh, he really needs to tell Phil at some point that he hates sugar in his coffee.

“I tagged you in my Instagram story last night,” Phil tells him. His tone is hesitant, as if he’s unsure whether this is good or bad news to relay. “People… reacted well to you.”

“I have fifty-three thousand followers as of this morning,” Dan says, blankly. He still can’t wrap his head around it.

“Congrats?” Phil offers, sinking back into his chair.

Dan places his coffee down, swallowing thickly, and types Phil’s name into the Instagram search bar. He goes to AmazingPhil’s account, thumb hovering over his icon, around which a think pink line pulsates, indicating that Phil has, indeed, updated his story.

He presses the icon.

Immediately, he recognises the bar where Phil is filming. It’s the bar Dan has worked at for the past four years of his life, Habanero, and it’s crammed with patrons, as it always is on a Saturday night. Nicki Minaj’s ‘Super Bass’ blares from the background as Phil films the crowds, ending with a close up of his own face, wide-eyed as he sips a cocktail Dan recognises as a ‘Habenero Hallmark’. It has a dash of chilli oil in it, after its namesake, which explains Phil’s subsequent wince and splutter after he takes a sip.

“Wait, what are you- are you watching my story?” Phil - the present-day Phil - asks from his chair, already standing up. Dan nods, barely hearing him. “Scoot over, I wanna watch with you.”

Dan turns to him, surprised, but obediently shuffles further into the sofa cushions in order to let Phil squeeze in next to him. To his mild despair, Phil slips his legs under the blanket as well, pressed against Dan’s. At least Phil has those stupid emoji pyjama pants on, Dan thinks, mercifully. Were he forced to be skin on skin with Phil beneath the blanket, he might self combust.

He turns back to his phone screen with some difficulty. Now, the Phil of last night is at the bar, filming a cocktail being prepared. With a sinking dread, Dan realises he already recognises the hands on-screen, but then the camera pans upwards, and Dan’s damp forehead is on show, his brow furrowed as he concentrates.

From off-camera, Phil shouts, “guys, this is Dan! He’s the best bartender in the world, and he’s making me a new cocktail ‘cause he’s a hero, and I didn’t like the last one.”

Dan watches his own face crinkle into a smile as he hears Phil’s compliment. He vaguely remembers this moment; he hadn’t been drunk at this point, he’s sure. Phil’s sweet words had felt like warm, melted honey drizzling down his chest.

He watches himself stare up at Phil’s face, off-screen, with a gooeyness that seems nauseatingly transparent. Is this why all those people followed him? Because he is obviously, hilariously smitten with someone so far out of his league?

“Phil’s a wimp and can’t handle a teeny bit of chilli,” Dan tells the camera, eyes glinting with mischief. Dan, on the sofa, huffs a laugh at his own cheeky response. Both the Phil beside him, and the Phil behind the camera, laugh as well, making Dan’s chest swell with pride.

“I’d like to see you try it, Dan,” off-screen-Phil shoots back, making the Dan on camera narrow his eyes.

“You’re on, Lester.”

He abandons the cocktail he’s making, wipes his hands on his jeans and grabs six shot glasses from underneath the bar. Ohhh, sofa-Dan realises, the memory washing over him as it unfolds on screen. Suddenly his hangover is starting to make a heck of a lot more sense.

He watches, dismayed, as he pours the Habenero-chilli infused tequila into the six shot glasses, and, as Phil films him, systematically downs each one.

“What the fuck was I thinking?” Dan asks aloud.

Phil points to a person Dan hadn’t noticed, behind Dan on the screen. It’s vaguely recognisable as Tyler, but only vaguely, as he’s moving about too much to be sure. He’s cheering loudly, chanting Dan’s name, and getting the customers around the bar to do the same.

A loud, triumphant cry rises from the crowd as Dan throws the last shot down, his hands shooting into the air. Phil is cheering too, and Dan cringes at the gleeful, smashed look on his own dumb face.

“Holy shit,” Dan breathes, shaking his head. “No wonder it feels like someone shoved a red hot poker down my throat. Those chilli shots are lethal.”

“I can’t believe you did six,” Phil says, beside him, chuckling. “It was seriously impressive.”

The story jumps to further along in the night, and Dan is obviously trashed. He’s on his knees on the bar, hips gyrating as he pours a cocktail into a martini glass, his hair curled at the temples with sweat, his light grey shirt covered in glitter. Phil is still filming him, laughing. There are several captions adorning the video that Phil must have added whilst a little tipsy himself:

Brighton’s Best Bartender XD

❤︎ ❤︎ ❤︎

GO FOLLOW @DANISNOTONFIRE !!!

The hearts, in particular, make Dan flush bright red. “Oh my fucking God.”

He wants to click off the video, and tries to do just that, but Phil stops him, grabbing his phone and laughing. “Nooo, let’s watch the rest!”

“Phil, this is humiliating!”

“Tyler thought it was a great idea. He reckoned me filming you would get the bar loads of new customers.”

“Oh my God, you’ve teamed up with Tyler of all people,” Dan groans, burying his face in Phil’s shoulder. “I’m doomed.”

It occurs to him, belatedly, that Phil’s shoulder is bare, and that it’s probably very inappropriate for him to be doing this, so he jerks away, blushing more. For some reason, this seems to make Phil sling an arm around him, pulling him close, and bringing the phone back in front of his nose.

“Just watch this last bit,” Phil wheedles, squeezing Dan to his chest.

Obviously, Dan is helpless to speak in this position, let alone refuse, so he just nods, frozen as the steady, even beat of Phil’s heart resounds in his ears.

The story jumps to the next bit, which is a photo of he and Phil, their faces pressed against each other, cheek to cheek. Phil has covered the photo with pulsating pink hearts. Dan has a huge smile on his face, and his eyes squeezed shut. He does not remember this photo being taken, and it kills him a little inside. He looks so blissfully happy, smushed against his favourite person in the world.

Phil hums a fond little noise, then clicks to the next image. It’s a boomerang, of Phil and Dan slurping down a single Rainforest cocktail, one stripey straw each.

“Fuck,” Dan breathes, wincing. “No wonder I feel so horrendous. How much did I drink?”

“After you lit those shots on fire, everyone started buying you drinks,” Phil tells him.

“I lit shots on fire?!” Dan exclaims. “That’s against the safety regulations, I could’ve burned the bar down! Why the fuck did Tyler let me-”

Phil laughs, squeezing Dan again. “Dan, don’t freak out. You were brilliant last night. Tyler said you alone made twice the money you usually do on a Saturday night, not including tips.”

Dan is silent, processing that. He decides not to respond.

The story plays on, and now there’s a photo of he and Phil filling the screen again. A selfie, like the last one, but this time Phil’s lips are pressed to Dan’s cheek. The caption reads:

New OTP??? #Phan ;)

It makes Dan suck in a breath, which he tries to disguise as a cough, probably not very well. Phil chuckles again, and screenshots the photo, despite it being Dan’s phone. Dan is, in a way, glad for this, as now he won’t have to screenshot it himself, and risk the embarrassment of Phil seeing.

“So… I’m guessing Charlie wasn’t there last night?” Dan asks after his heart has settled back into a regular rhythm.

Like it’s allergic to the mention of Charlie’s name, Dan’s phone instantly dies. He plucks it from Phil’s hand and sits up straight, letting Phil’s arm slip from his shoulders.

Whilst he’d been enjoying the sensation of having Phil’s arm around him a lot, it had been a bit too much for his hungover state.

“Nah, he had to work.”

“So you just swung by on your own?”

“Thought I’d pop in and see you,” Phil says, smiling broadly. “I was on my way back home.”

“From?”

Phil sighs, draining the last of his coffee. “My agency in London.”

Dan nods, though he can’t begin to picture what that would even look like. “So you came in to grab some Dan-time, and I ended up getting hammered and crashing on your sofa.” Dan rolls his eyes at himself. “Sorry.”

“Hah, I think it was mostly my fault, to be honest,” Phil admits. “I was urging you on. It’s only fair that I let you stay with me instead of sending you off to try and cross town back to your place.”

“Well, you did get me a fuckton of Instagram followers,” Dan says. “So I guess we’re even.”

Phil smiles at him. “Glad you see it that way. But honestly Dan, I think you got yourself those followers.” Phil laughs, poking Dan in the side. “It was those dance moves, I reckon.”

Dan puts his head in his hands, cheeks warm. “Please don’t. I never want to see myself behaving like that again.”

“I wouldn’t mind a second show,” Phil quips. Dan lifts his head in surprise, but Phil is already moving off the sofa, throwing the blanket aside and standing. He stretches his arms above his head once he’s up, the long, tapered line of his back straightening in a smooth curve. “Anyway,” he says, yawning as Dan swallows a wave of longing to reach out and trail his fingers down the cord of his spine. “How about some breakfast, Coyote Ugly?”

Unable to help smiling, Dan shrugs his shoulders. “It’s okay, I’ll get out of your hair. I’ve already been enough of a nuisance, I imagine.”

He wishes he could remember the trip back to Phil’s flat after his shift, but that part of the night is a dark void. He hopes Phil didn’t have to help him walk or anything embarrassing. He’s pretty sure he’d remember if he’d thrown up, which is a mercy, at least. The last thing he recalls before waking up on the sofa, is upending a bottle of cherry bakewell vodka into the mouths of a few guys wearing pink cowboy hats. Then, nothing.

“Let me put it this way,” Phil says, throwing a smile over his shoulder at Dan. “I’m gonna make enough pancakes for two, so if you leave now then you’re responsible for me eating them all.”

Dan laughs, watching Phil walk towards the kitchen, empty coffee mug in hand. Perhaps he could stay for a short while. Maybe until his head has stopped throbbing. Or just until all the pancakes are gone.

He stays for pancakes.

He stays for pancakes on Monday morning too.

Dan spends all of Sunday, and most of Monday on the angelically soft island that is Phil’s purple sofa. They play endless games of Mario Kart, and Fallout 4, and Fortnite, which Phil tells him he’s obsessed with, and now Dan is obsessed with too.

They eat dozens of pancakes, they order pizza twice, they eat all the Pringles, marshmallows and chocolate in Phil’s cupboards, as well as any other junk food they can get their hands on. It’s hangover food, Phil assures Dan at one point. It doesn’t count. Dan’s not sure about this philosophy, but then again, one look at Phil’s abs is enough to make Dan believe anything he says about the matter.

When, somehow, it gets to midnight on Sunday, Dan tries to tell Phil he should head home, but Phil, who is slipping Season One of Buffy the Vampire Slayer into his DVD player, won’t hear of it.

“Just stay for one episode,” he pleads, pouting. Dan instantly relents, of course.

One episode becomes two, which becomes three, and a half… When he wakes up on Monday morning, he’s still on Phil’s sofa, but this time his head rests on Phil’s shoulder.

It’s torturous, to wake up next to Phil Lester - who never did bother to put on a shirt - and not be able to do anything but move swiftly away from him. To avoid the temptation of pressing himself against all those miles of perfection, Dan picks himself up, leaving Phil to sleep on, and jumps in his shower. Then, he goes to make pancakes, telling himself that he’s simply returning the favour.

As he flips each one, he stares, teeth clenched, into the sizzling batter, imagining Phil is the scalding hot surface of the pan, and he is the pancake, slowly cooking himself one side after another, willingly lowering his fragile batter to Phil’s torturous yet irresistible touch.

To be friends with Phil is depraved. It’s self-torture, whichever way Dan looks at it. He’d like to pretend he’s no longer obsessed, now that they’ve spent time together, now that he knows Phil as a person, and not just a distant star. But it’s not true.

‘Never meet your heroes’, Dan’s grandmother used to say from time to time. She would warn him that they’d never live up to the fantasy version Dan would construct in his mind. ‘People are always just people in the end’, she’d once said.

But she was wrong.

Every single thing Dan learns about Phil makes him more fascinating, not the other way around. Once, a year or so ago, Dan had stumbled upon the AmazingPhil account, and spent several hours scrolling through each photo, only to conclude that Phil Lester was the most beautiful person alive.

Then, in the subsequent months, Dan had seen his videos, and heard him talk to his audience about his clumsiness and his fondness for fluffy animals. He’d heard Phil sing off-key anime intros, and sip bright cocktails with a glint in his ice blue eyes.

And now, knowing Phil in person, Dan has only discovered more of the same wild, colourful vivacity in the man. It’s like ‘AmazingPhil’ is only a slice of him, a hint at the layers and layers of crazy, happy, hilarious, sweetness that make him up.

It’s so unfair, Dan can’t help thinking. If meeting Phil IRL had been a disappointment, this would all have been so much easier to handle. He might have been able to stop being so madly obsessed with the guy if he’d turned out to be vapid and ordinary - like Charlie comes across, for example. But Phil’s not like that, and Dan should have known that he wouldn’t be. He should’ve said no the first time Phil asked him round, or left when Phil asked him to stay. Because every moment, every second he spends in Phil’s presence only makes it worse.

He’s fucked, royally. Phil won’t want him back. He won’t consider Dan as anything other than a friend. He’s got Charlie, for a start. Successful, beautiful Charlie.

And even if he didn’t, there’s no way his next choice would be a socially-awkward bartender who humiliates himself publicly after a few tequila shots.

Dan sighs, switching off the stove, and shovels the pancakes onto two plates.

Phil’s smile is rose pink and glittering as Dan brings him a plate of syrup-drenched pancakes. He gazes at them with wonderment, as if he just watched Dan conjure them out of thin air, as if Dan didn’t just break into all of Phil’s food cupboards, use his stove without asking, and make a huge batter-y mess of his pristine kitchen.

“Oh,” Phil says, swallowing his last bite. They’re watching Buffy, kind of, but mostly chatting. “I forgot, I wanted to ask you something.”

Vaguely, Dan remembers Phil telling him this a few days ago, back on the beach. He’d gotten distracted and never found out what it was. Intrigued, Dan turns to him.

“Yeah?”

“So,” Phil begins, eyes dropping to his plate as he sweeps a fingertip through a puddle of syrup. He looks… vaguely embarrassed. Dan is even more intrigued. “I was wondering what you’re doing at the weekend.”

Dan’s heart stops.

He shakes any ridiculous thoughts of potential dates from his mind before they can properly form, irritated by his own stupidity. In what world would Phil Lester ask him on an actual date? He has a boyfriend. And he’s famous. The absurdity is actually laughable.

“Just working, as usual,” Dan says, twirling his fork against his own plate. “But only Saturday evening, obviously.”

Phil nods, sipping the tea Dan made him to go with his pancakes. “Cool.”

Dan waits for Phil to continue, confused. There’s definitely a dusting of pink along his cheekbones. It makes him look even more angelic than usual.

“...Why?”

Phil gnaws his lip, looking at Dan. “You can totally say no,” he says quickly, putting his plate down on the coffee table. “There’s no pressure, I just thought, maybe…”

It’s sweet, really, that Phil thinks there’s anything he could ask of Dan that he’d actually be able to refuse.

“What is it?”

“I’m going to the Maldives for a few days for a shoot,” Phil says, sounding way less happy about this than Dan is sure he would be were the situations reversed. “I leave on Friday. I was just gonna ask if maybe you’d want to… stay here?” The request hangs in the air, a tempting, plump fruit dangling above Dan’s head, ready for plucking. “Like, while I’m away. I wanted to have someone around to water the plants and get the mail and stuff. You don’t have to, obviously, but I just thought as it’s close to the bar, and I trust you, and I don’t really know anyone else here-”

“Phil,” Dan interrupts, realising that Phil is rambling from nerves. He tries not to let the smile he gives splinter with stupid disappointment, born of the idiotic hope he’d tried not to feel. “I’d love to help you out. It’s not like it’s a chore to stay in your enormous, sea-view apartment.”

A relieved grin spreads over Phil’s face, and his shoulders sag of tension. “Really? You’re the best, Dan.”

He reaches over and grabs Dan’s hand, lacing his fingers through it and squeezing them. Dan’s heart squeezes too, as if Phil had wrapped his syrup-sticky fist around that, as well. He looks down at their intertwined fingers, aching; does Phil have any idea that this one, simple action is going to play on a loop in Dan’s head every night for weeks?

“And you don’t have to stay on the sofa while I’m not here,” Phil starts to say, drawing his hand away before Dan can even get used to the feeling. His breath catches in his lungs as the touch of him slips away. “You can just take the bed.”

“Oh, right,” Dan says, his mind not catching up for a moment. Once he realises what Phil just said, he reddens, stammering, “oh, wait, no, I don’t know if- the sofa’s really comfy I don’t need-”

“Seriously!” Phil insists. “It’s totally fine. I won’t be using it, after all. Just… maybe don’t bring anybody back to share it with you.”

Dan snorts at the ludicrousness. “As if.”

“Hey, I’ve seen the way people look at you when you’re working,” Phil says, his tone serious, his face joking. “You could pull anyone in that place if you tried.”

“Says you,” Dan mutters, but he feels a warm, pulsating orb of happiness deep in his chest.

“Anyway, so I’ll give you more details later in the week,” Phil tells him, bright and happy again, all traces of the pink on his cheeks having evaporated. “Stuff like the code to the front door, and the names of my houseplants, and how to work the TV and stuff. But seriously, you’re a lifesaver, Dan.”

Winston, Susan, Katie, and Totoro, Dan thinks privately. Those are the houseplants’ names. If Phil wants, Dan could provide him with the names of all his family members too. Or the breed of dog he’s considering adopting one day.

“It’s really not a big deal,” Dan says before he does anything as stupid as revealing his ‘Phil Trash Number One’ status. He’s already thinking about how wonderful it will be to just walk up the road to Phil’s building after his long Saturday night shift, and fall into a comfortable King Sized bed. “Happy to do it.”

The next thing Dan knows, he’s being wrapped in two, ridiculously thick, big arms, and tackled to the cushions at his back. As he struggles to get free of Phil’s hold, Dan wonders whether his life is, at present, a dream or a nightmare.

Dan just about has enough time after leaving Phil’s to catch a bus to his place, change into some different clothes, then get the bus back to the bar. He’s ten minutes late, technically, but Tyler’s no better, so he gets away with it.

Technically speaking, Tyler is his boss, as he’s the bar manager, but they both know that they’re really a team. Dodie and Lara are the newbie staff, and they don’t see a difference in authority between Dan and Tyler. Most importantly, the jobs get done, and the money is made and counted up at the end of the night. Tyler and Dan have been doing this for years, so it’s rare that anything goes wrong. Sure, they bicker about who has to mop up the vomit, and who has to change the barrels, but most of the time they work well together, and get along.

As Tyler swans in to the bar this afternoon, Dan can tell that something is off with him. “Hey,” he calls out as he dusts the liquor bottles behind the bar.

Tyler doesn’t respond, he just stalks across to the staff room. He doesn’t even bother to go inside, he just opens the door, throws his coat and bag in there, and slams it shut behind him.

“All men are fucking dickshits!”

Dan raises his eyebrows. “Uh, not sure that’s the message we’re striving to convey at Habenero’s.”

“I don’t give a fuck,” Tyler hisses, rolling up his silken shirt sleeves. The action is telling; Ty would never usually crease his designer shirt in such a way. “The gay community is toxic. I hate this bar, I hate Brighton, I hate my life.”

“Who's the poor lad you’re trying to hook your claws into this time?” Dan asks; it’s immediately evident that this is the wrong thing to say.

“Dan, do not project your lame little pining love drama with a D-List celebrity onto me just because you’re too dumb to see what’s actually going on.”

For a moment, Dan is thrown, not sure what to make of Tyler’s jibe. He’d expected Tyler to just tell him to piss off, but this seems oddly specific. He glances across at Dodie, who is watching Tyler with wide eyes, halfway through setting up the DJ booth.

If Dan didn’t know better, he’d think she was trying to send him a warning glance.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Dan asks.

Dodie casts her worried gaze at Dan, then quickly turns away. He watches her suspiciously, then turns to Tyler again. He’s messing around in the cupboard where they keep the stereo controls, hooking up his phone to the dock and skipping through various songs as they burst from the speakers overhead.

Dan steps down from the stool on which he’s standing, throws his cloth to the bar, and stalks over to where Tyler is.

He jabs Tyler in the shoulder. “Ty. What are you trying to say?”

Tyler whirls to face him, cheeks red. “Look, Dan, you have to wake up. You’re being taken advantage of.”

“What?”

Tyler sighs, eyes fluttering closed. “I was hoping you’d figure this out for yourself, honestly. I mean, it’s painfully obvious to everyone except you.”

“Nice to know I’m apparently the gossip of the bar at the moment,” Dan says, feeling his blood start to boil.

“Well what do you expect?” Tyler asks, rolling his eyes. “This is a gay club. All we do is bitch, you know that. And when one of the bartenders of the biggest gay club in Brighton starts hanging out with a fucking gay Instagram icon, we’re hardly going to be discussing the latest episode of RuPaul.”

“Right,” Dan huffs, getting even more annoyed now. “So what is it, then? What am I so apparently blind to?”

Tyler opens his mouth, but seems to catch himself before speaking. His eyes soften, regarding Dan in front of him, and he sighs. His shoulders slacken, and his fists unclench.

“Dan…” his voice has a pitying quality to it that sets Dan’s teeth on edge. “He’s stringing you along.”

“Who, Phil?” Dan asks, bewildered. “What do you mean? It’s not like that-”

“Yeah, it’s not like that,” Tyler interrupts, rolling his eyes like he’s heard it all before. “But he’s in here three times a week to keep you hoping that one day it might be.”

Dan snorts. “I’m not delusional, Ty. Okay yeah, I have a crush on him, but I don’t actually think he’s interested. Besides, weren’t you the one who told me I should be holding out hope?”

“At first I thought you should!” Ty exclaims. “I thought he liked you, that maybe he was playing a hard-to-get game or something. But it just keeps going on and on. Why isn’t he doing anything about it if he fancies you? You’re obviously into him, and he knows that. What’s the point in fucking you around?”

“I’m out of his league,” Dan says, because to him, this is obvious. Charlie had even said as much to him, not long ago. “He’d never go for someone like me.”

“That’s complete bullshit.” Tyler jabs a finger at him. “If you like someone, you like them. It doesn’t matter about their job, or how much money they have, or their age-”

Tyler breaks off, flushing. Dan’s brow furrows - their age? He and Phil are only four years apart in age. That’s honestly never seemed to matter in the slightest, to either one of them. What’s Tyler on about?

“Anyway, the point is,” Tyler presses on, the words falling from his mouth in a tumble. “Even if he does have a bit of a soft spot for you, he’s being a dick about it. He’s flirting non-stop, putting ideas in your mind. He invites you over to sleep on his couch for fuck’s sake. Would you do that to someone you knew had a big fat crush on you?”

The image from Phil’s Instagram Story bullets into his brain, suddenly. Phil’s lips pressed to his cheek. The caption ‘#PHAN’. When Dan had first seen it, it had sent shivers up his spine, it had made him glow with happiness. Now, it seems cruel. What could Phil’s reason have been to post it, especially if one factors Charlie into the equation.

“He’s using you,” Tyler says quietly. “It’s the same thing he does with that brainless pretty-boy dick he comes here with. Posting photos of them together, titillating his fans with an are-they-aren’t-they romance, riling them up to get more likes.”

“We’re friends,” Dan says, though he doesn’t manage to convince even himself.

“Maybe,” Tyler says. “But he knows you like him, and he’s still stringing you along, even though he arguably has a boyfriend. He’s just gonna keep you on edge, primed for the moment he turns round and ‘sees’ you for the first time, ‘She’s All That’-style. But it won’t happen, Dan. You need to see that it won’t happen, and that if you keep hanging out with him like this, staying at his house, letting him kiss you for his profile photos, buying you drinks… you’re just gonna be miserable.”

The words have left Dan’s mouth, indefinitely. His mind swirls with the lights across the floor and walls, dizzying. Tyler’s words reverberate around his mind, crashing into the walls of the secret, tiny shrine of hope he’d built, until they one by one crumble to dust on the floor.

He’s using you.

Crash.

You’re gonna be miserable.

Crash.

He’s stringing you along.

Crash, crash, crash

For some reason, there’s a stinging sensation in Dan’s eyes. He takes a step backwards, away from Tyler. “I… yeah. Cool. I have to go change the barrels.”

“I changed them after we closed on Saturday,” Tyler says, confused. Dan ignores him, heading for the cellar in a slow, dazed movement. “Dan, wait, I’m sorry. I’m pissed off, I shouldn’t have said any of that. You know what I’m like when I’m moody, don’t be upset. Phil’s a nice guy! I like him, I’m just concerned- Dan! Please?”

Vaguely, as he closes the cellar door behind himself, Dan hears Tyler cursing under his breath. In the cold, damp darkness of the cellar, Dan slides down the closed door, not caring that as his bum touches the concrete, the rivulets of beer escaping from the barrels soak into his jeans.

He feels so stupid. Everyone could see how ridiculous he was being, this whole time. Even Phil must have seen how desperately, how pathetically Dan pines for him. Tyler’s right, why else would Phil stick around him? Dan being a superfan is easy to manipulate into something that will get Phil a bigger audience. If Phil plays along, the fans will grab at it, will see Dan as an exciting new contender for Phil’s love interest. Perhaps they’ll turn it into some crazy three-way love triangle between him and Charlie, kind of like in Dan's warped sex dream.

He swallows down a lump in his throat, too angry at himself to cry. He’s a pawn in a professional fame-game he doesn’t know the rules for, unwittingly being used as a plot device in the AmazingPhil reality show. He digs his phone out of his pocket, and checks his Instagram profile.

Followers 123,455

The number glides over his skin, meaningless. “Welcome to the world of fake fame,” Dan mutters to himself, then forces himself to stand. He switches off his phone, grimacing.

No time to deal with any of this now, anyway. Over the next eight hours, Dan has to suspend his own drama-filled life, in favour of the hundreds of other gays, with their own squabbles and heartbreaks and drunk mistaken hookups.

He can deal with this alone, later, back in his bed across the city, far away from the bar, and the roaring sea, and Phil.

(Part 7!)

#phan #phanfic #give me a try #bartender au #phanfiction

163 notes · View notes

natigail · 6 years

Text

My tumblr queue ran out (and if you know me, then that rarely happens and I hate when it does happen) but I haven’t had the time to fill it up just yet, partly because I have been so busy with writing and posting stuff here in August. If you have read any of it, have you enjoyed it so far? I hope so. I have already poured so many hours into this project (last week I legitimately spend 30 hours writing and posting). I’m still a bit worried if I can keep it up, every now and again, but I’m also enjoying the challenge and I’m pretty proud of some of the stuff I have posted.

The schedule is looking somewhat manageable like you’ll be able to see above (green is written, yellow is planned and red not planned). I am also writing an exam thats due on the 17th though, so I have to find time to write that as well.

My personal blog posts can be found here (but I doubt many of you have interest in these). I’ll list the stories here below with a small summary if you have any interest in checking them out.

Let Go Of The Reins - Phan AU - Chaptered - Dan did not want to go home for the summer so he found a job that would keep him busy for three months and give him a place to live. Granted, shovelling horse shit wasn't glamorous and he was afraid of horses, but the Lester Stables had other things going for it. Phil still would not get back on the horse since what happened. He had a complicated relationship with horses to begin with and he had decided he was done riding. When the new stablehand help arrives, Phil finds himself going out to the stables more often despite trying to stay away.

A Different First Meeting WITH DOGS! - Phan AU - One Shot - “I feel like they have fallen in love…” “They have…”

The Overwhelmed Empath - The Flash - Chaptered - She knew what might happen if anybody discovered what she could do. It was one thing that she would experience the emotions felt by the people in her vicinity but she also had the ability to push emotions onto people. It could be dangerous. With Central City Police Department and especially CSI Barry Allen on her trail, she knows it's only a matter of time before they figure out what she can do.

Can DIFFERENCES Be Conquered?? - Sanders Sides Theatre AU - Chaptered - Roman had been dreaming about performing on stage since he had been a little boy but achieving his dreams had not gone as easily as he had hoped. When his old pal Patton told him of an audition for a new original musical at the iconic Old Timber theatre Roman jumped at the chance. Roman could not have imagined the depth of the story he would be telling with his character, the people he would meet along the way or just how much he would learn.

Spell Bound By You (Again) - Malec AU - Follow Up (x) - It had been seven years since Alexander Lightwood and let Magnus Bane go. They had agreed that the time wasn't right for them but they had also promised never to forget each other. Once their roles get flipped around and Alexander is the one in restraints after being captured by the warlocks, the two of them will be forced to face how they feel about each other again.

A Tale of Dreamers and Realists - Sanders Sides Magical AU - Sequel (x) - Chaptered - The dust had finally settled for Virgil, Patton, Logan and Roman but that did not mean that everything would be okay just yet. In the past two weeks, they had already formed unbreakable friendships but insecurities and worries had not just disappeared. And there might be more than friendship brewing between some of them.

II Tour Ficlets - Phan - Ficlet collection - The boys were on tour and travelling the world for the second time around. They couldn't imagine doing it with someone else by their side.

I hope that these small summaries maybe get you to consider reading one or more of them and maybe the titles in the plan will get you excited? I’m just about to go proofread and upload the phan pianist AU, so look out for that one later tonight. Bye! (And sorry if this is clogging up your dash a little, I just want to share my works - and I will get on filling that queue back up).

#pedia #my stories #Let Go Of The Reins #A Different First Meeting WITH DOGS #The Overwhelmed Empath #Can DIFFERENCES Be Conquered??#Spell Bound By You #A Tale of Dreamers and Realists #ii tour ficlets #nina natters

5 notes · View notes

phancystuff · 6 years

Text

Trying to Remember How it Feels (To Have a Heartbeat) 6/7

Pairing: Dan/ Phil (Phan) Summary: Dan moves into a new apartment in London and, though it’s a step up from his old apartment, his landlord gives him strange warnings while he’s touring the place– something about the last renters leaving because of ghost sightings. But, Dan doesn’t believe in the supernatural. He quickly changes his tune when he meets Phil Lester, the ghost haunting his apartment. Well, if haunting means quickly becoming the best friend he’s ever had. (Title from Harry Styles’ song Two Ghosts) Notes: Part 6 of my Spooky Week Special, already?? I plan on finishing this fic tomorrow, which will be a super hard feat since the ending isn’t done. LOL fUcK. Please note that, although this fic has the warning of major character death, it is not in any way graphic. Tags/ Warnings: ghost au, Halloween, major character death (obv. it’s a ghost au lol), depictions of panic attacks, angst, fluff, HAPPY ENDING, mentions of suicide (it happens in a movie they watch)

Read it on AO3 Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five

The first sense that he got back was his hearing. Little, familiar noises filtered through his head slowly. Sirens out on the street. The wind moaning past trees and whistling through the city. The quiet creaking of a building settling around him. Soothing piano music coming from somewhere to his left.

Numbness melted away and a little bit of feeling slowly came back to his fingers and toes. They rubbed against something silky and warm. Sheets maybe? A comforting weight lay on top of his body. However, he also felt bone tired. The overwhelming weight of gravity dragged his muscles down and he couldn’t move a single fiber of his body. He concentrated hard, trying to at least lift his eyelids; they refused to move as if someone had superglued them shut.

It was terrifying to be able to sense some pieces of the world around you, but to not be able to see or interact with it. He wondered where he was. What had happened to him that made him feel like this? Was he… dead?

What were the last things he remembered? It was all a blur of clashing emotions and images. The colors were too bright-- a painful cacophony in his head that brought confusion, but no clarity. He lay still, because he couldn’t do anything else, listening to the soft sounds of piano music still coming from his left, and trying to understand what had happened to him by focusing on the individual images swirling in his mind and piecing them together.

Dan had gotten up that morning-- or one morning; Dan had no idea how long he had been asleep or passed out or dead or whatever had happened to him. He had showered, fixed his hair, got dressed, went out for breakfast. What had he had for breakfast? He tried to remember the taste and found that he couldn’t. He tried to remember what he had spooned into his mouth that morning. Sickly, sweet, soft, girlfriend? How did that make any sense? He hadn’t had a girlfriend in years. And girlfriends had nothing to do with food. He thought hard, trying to picture the restaurant. It had been an American style diner. Sickly, sweet, soft. Suddenly, it came back to him: pancakes!

Then the floodgate opened. Pancakes! Pancakes? Dan didn’t particularly love pancakes. Why had he eaten pancakes? Dan tried to remember, analyzing the images swirling around in his brain. Bookstores, Starbucks, comic book stores, clothes shopping, a movie. Then… then? Had Dan simply passed out after the movie? It felt like there was some little piece of the puzzle missing. Something big that had escaped Dan’s mind-- a key to understanding what the fuck had happened to him and why he still couldn’t move.

“Dan, are you awake?” A soft voice rose up from his left, around where the piano music was playing. Dan froze in fear. There was someone with him. Was he in the hospital? Everything felt and sounded too familiar, though. He was in his own home. So why was there a stranger in his flat? No, not a stranger. The voice was so familiar and Dan concentrated on it, analyzing it because he couldn’t reply to it. The voice was baritone, British, slightly Northern. It sounded loving and deeply concerned. Dan desperately tried to raise his eyelids. Maybe if he could just see the person’s face, he would remember them. The only indication that he was trying to move his lids with all his might, was a slight twitch in his left eye. The person hovering above Dan must have picked up on it though, which was either sweet or slightly terrifying.

“Dan? Dan, can you do that again?” The voice got closer. It was right next to Dan’s ear and Dan might have flinched back if he had the strength to do so. Dan tried to twitch his eye again like the stranger requested, but blacked out once again.

***

Phil had never wished for something so hard as he wished for Dan’s recovery-- not even that one time that he wrote a “book” for his parents that simply said “Can I have a dog?” over and over again in its pages. It hadn’t worked and Phil’s family hadn’t gotten a dog. But, Phil would write a million books begging for Dan’s life if he had to. He would do anything. The problem was, though, he didn’t know if there was a single thing he could do.

Phil sat rigid and unblinking in Dan’s office chair, watching Dan sleep in his bed. A pile of blankets covered his unmoving form. It was every single blanket, sheet, and sweater in their flat. It had been the first thing that Phil had done when he successfully transported Dan from the park to the flat in a exhausting, infinite blink. Phil would never forget that moment in all of his afterlife. It had felt like Phil was trudging up a snow-covered mountain in a ice storm, Dan a slowly dying weight in his arms. Afterwards, Phil had been so completely drained, but he forced himself to place Dan in his bed and cover him with blankets, hoping that they would help his warmth come back to him. Maybe it would restore the life that Phil had selfishly, recklessly stolen away from Dan. Phil didn’t have a single ounce of energy left in him after that. He wanted to cry, but he was just empty. There was nothing left; he felt like a husk of a ghost and that everything had been ripped and milked from him. He had dropped his physical manifestation and observed Dan in his non-corporeal form, like he had when Dan had first moved to the flat.

Phil wished that they could go back to May when Dan had first entered the flat with Paul. If he could just go back, Phil would never reveal himself to Dan. He would have ignored the undeniable tug he felt pulling him to Dan. The attraction to Dan’s dynamic, brown eyes. He would have been contented to observe Dan from afar and simply long to interact with him, like Phil had done for the last seven years with the other renters. If Phil had just done that, he wouldn’t have been able to completely fuck things up. Fuck Dan’s life up.

When Phil had been able to physically manifest himself once again, he put on a pair of thick gloves, maneuvered Dan’s mouth open, and dripped small amounts of water into Dan’s mouth. There wasn’t much left in Phil, except guilt and worry. He didn’t even let himself hope that Dan would be ok. He just took care of the dying man, on ghostly autopilot.

One day turned to two. Phil talked to Dan constantly, wondering if it would pull Dan out of his state of unconsciousness. Phil didn’t apologize or dwell on dark things when talking to Dan, instead he talked about video games, TV shows, YouTubers, whatever inane thing that Phil could ramble about that wouldn’t dissolve into a pained litany of “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, please wake up.”

Phil had the idea of putting on some soothing music for Dan. Phil knew how much Dan loved piano covers, so he found a playlist of them on Dan’s phone and placed it on the nightstand. Phil continued to feel Dan’s forehead, feed him water to stave off dehydration, and fluff the blankets around him. Two days turned to three and Phil knew that if Dan didn’t wake up soon and eat something, that Phil might lose him.

Phil might have already lost him, not knowing if there was any Dan left in his body. Phil trembled, thinking about what he would have to do with a brain dead Dan. Take him to the hospital? Call Dan’s mum? He couldn’t just leave him…

It was late at night on the third day that Phil saw Dan’s eyelid twitch ever so slightly. Phil, hopeful and scared, had called out to him, but to no avail. Phil didn’t want to get too optimistic, because he didn’t want his hopes dashed painfully. However, the next hour, it happened again. Dan’s eye twitched slightly and, when Phil asked if Dan could do it again, Dan had complied.

Despite trying hard to tamp it down, hope had soared in Phil’s chest. “Ok, Dan, if you can hear me, I’m going to give you some water, ok? I’ll just put a little bit in your mouth. I’ve been making sure you don’t get dehydrated, love. I hope you can wake up soon, so I can feed you some soup or something. I don’t want you getting too weak.” Phil rambled while reaching over to get the glass of fresh water that he had refilled not long ago. Phil took Dan’s jaw in one gentle hand and squeezed. This action opened Dan’s mouth and Phil took the opportunity to let a few drops land on Dan’s tongue. Usually, it would take Phil several minutes to get the liquid to slide down Dan’s throat and several more minutes to repeat the process until Dan drank a sufficient amount of water. This time, Phil watched in stunned awe as Dan’s adam’s apple bobbed up and down immediately.

“Dan! You swallowed! Good job. Oh my god. I hope you can hear me; I’m going to try a little more water, ok? Not a lot, I don’t want to drown you.” Phil tipped a little stream of water into Dan’s mouth and pushed on Dan’s chin with a gentle finger. His mouth closed and Dan’s throat moved again. Phil could hear the unmistakably sound of swallowing. Phil wanted to cry, he was so happy. “Dan,” he whispered brokenly. “I’m so proud of you.” They repeated this process, until Dan seemed to get tired and he couldn’t swallow the water in his mouth. Thankfully, it wasn’t a lot and it just flowed back out onto Dan’s chin and down his neck. Phil got a towel and dried Dan’s mouth off lovingly, whispering quiet praises to him the whole time. Maybe Phil would get Dan back. He didn’t deserve it, but maybe this wasn’t over.

***

More than anything, Dan wished he had some way to tell how much time had passed between each time he woke up. He couldn’t even see how much light was coming through the curtains in his room. He had determined that he was in his own bedroom; it smelled familiar and the bed underneath his body was definitely the one that he had spent a small fortune on.

The voice that spoke to him and the cold hands that fed him water were still a mystery to him. Their identity was always right on the edge of Dan’s mind, dancing in and out of him dreams and thoughts. Dan knew that he knew this person and that they were very important to him, which made his predicament all the more frustrating. How could Dan forget someone who clearly meant so much to him?

The voice was blue for some reason. That’s the color that presented itself behind Dan’s closed eyelids every time they spoke. Sometimes the blue shifted to green. Sometimes there was a little golden ring around the blue. Dan didn’t know why he saw what he saw. But the detail comforted him, like Dan was slowly relating small traits to this person that meant the world to him.

Dan still could only manage to cling onto consciousness for small periods at a time. They grew longer, though. His arms and legs were still heavy and it felt like they sunk deeper into the bed each moment that he lay there. Dan feared that even if he did regain his ability to move at some point, he still wouldn’t be able to get up because he had fused to the mattress. He would be called mattress man, with the ability to sleep anywhere at anytime.

Dan laughed and, although it sounded more like a strangled grunt in his closed mouth, excitement coursed through him. He’d laughed!

“Dan?” Immediately, that excited, hopeful, fearful voice was above him. Their cool, but weirdly textured fingers touched Dan’s warm forehead. The hand carded through Dan’s hair and Dan hummed in the back of his throat. “Oh, Dan.” They sounded relieved and sad at the same time. “Can you say something to me?” Dan could only grunt, hoping it sounded enough like a “no.”

“That’s ok, I’m just so happy you made a noise. God, I love you so much, you know that, right?”

There it was, again. They were always telling Dan that they loved him. Dan knew it was true and agreed with the statement, but was still confused by it. How had he forgotten about his love? Dan made a confused noise, but slowly felt himself drift to sleep again. He could only sort of make out the voice that responded: “You do know that, right?”

***

On the fifth day, Dan spoke his first word ever since falling unconscious. “Food.” Dan rasped, when Phil asked him if he wanted more water. Dan’s eyes were still gently closed.

“Dan! Yes! What do you want? Soup? That’s probably all you can handle. Oh thank god, I’ve been worrying that you’d waste away to nothing. I was getting you all fattened up with pancakes, remember? We can’t go the other way.” Dan responded with what Phil hoped was an amused little coo.

Phil rushed off to heat up some canned soup that he knew was sitting untouched in their pantry. Phil stood at the oven, stirring the pot of soup and willed it to heat faster. Of course, it didn’t work. There were some laws of nature that he had to follow. Phil was beginning to wonder what those laws of nature really were. Before their doomed day out in London, Phil thought he had a handle on what the rules were. But, he had broken so many of them. He had extracted himself from Dan outside of the flat, and he had removed himself from his tether. Phil hadn’t dared to test if the tether was back by trying to leave the flat, because he had to stay and help Dan. He couldn’t leave Dan’s side. Even now, being in the kitchen away from the sickly man, was making him nervous.

When the soup was simmering softly, Phil shut off the burner and poured the food into a bowl. He transported into Dan’s room. “I’m back. I come bearing soup! I think I’m going to have to prop you up, though, ok? My hands might be cold, I’m really sorry. I’ve been trying not to touch you.”

“Ok.” Dan forced out and Phil closed his eyes against the onslaught of emotion inside him. There had been so many dark hours were Phil thought he would never hear Dan’s voice again.

“All right. I’m going to slip my arms under your knees and behind your back and sit you up against some pillows.” Phil did just what he had described, trying not to be positively affected by Dan’s warmth against their points of contact. He was never going to take Dan’s warmth again. He would only touch Dan when he had to, and stay far away otherwise. Phil slid Dan up in the bed, noting just how heavy Dan’s limbs hung. His head slumped to the side, his neck unable to hold it up. This wasn’t going to work.

“Hm, I think we’ll have to do something different,” Phil said thoughtfully.

“Ok.”

Phil moved Dan down so he was laying on the bed again. This time, he placed Dan further down the bed, so that there was room for Phil to sit cross-legged at the headboard. He did so, pulling Dan up, so that his head was propped against Phil’s chest. “I hope I’m not too cold. I’m sorry.”

“S’ok.” Dan replied, slurring slightly.

“Ok, no more talking, I want you to have enough energy to eat.

Phil propped his arm up and put Dan’s head in its crook, sort of like a parent about to bottle feed a baby. If Dan had been himself, he would have squawked at the compromising position. Phil reached over to the bowl of soup, wondering where the hell he was supposed to balance it. He put it on the bed, fluffing the blankets around it, and hoping that it wouldn’t tip over. Knowing his clumsiness, he would knock it over within minutes.

“Ready, Dan?”

“Mm.” Dan agreed from the back of his throat, following Phil’s advice and not speaking. He opened his mouth and Phil placed the spoon on his tongue, allowing the broth to spill off slowly. Dan closed his mouth and swallowed and Phil could cry with relief.

In fact, he did shed a few silent tears. They slipped out of the corners of his eyes and down his cheeks. Dan was eating. Dan was speaking! He was alive and not brain dead. Despite everything that Phil had done, he had gotten a second chance. No, Dan had gotten a second chance. Phil continued to feed him. He got through half the bowl of soup before he was unable to open his mouth one more time. Phil silently placed the spoon back into the bowl and put the bowl back on the nightstand. Phil curled both of his arms around Dan, cuddling him close. He carded one hand through Dan’s hair and softly ran the fingers of his other hand down his cheek. Phil cried softly, “I’m so glad to be getting you back, Dan. I love you. I love you.”

***

His name was Phil, Dan realized. Phil was holding Dan close to his chest, rocking back and forth, and whispering to Dan that he loved him. His name was Phil and he was a ghost. The ghost of a wonderful man who had met an untimely, unfair demise. Dan had met Phil and his life had completely changed; they had made each other feel alive in totally different, but also similar ways. His name was Phil, he was a ghost, and Dan loved him with all of his still-beating heart.

“Phil,” Dan whispered, his voice breaking. How could he have forgotten Phil? What was wrong with him? Dan used all his remaining strength to crack open his eyelids. Everything was too bright, despite the fact that a single light was on, somewhere across the room. Things were blurry to start with, but he focused his eyes, like adjusting the aperture on a camera. The first thing that Dan saw clearly was Phil’s crying face staring down at him. Blue-green eyes rimmed in gold were studying Dan’s barely-open eyes. Phil’s features were painted with shock.

“Dan? Oh, Dan.” Phil cupped his cheek and leaned down, almost as if to kiss him. Dan prepared himself for the shock of cold that he knew would spark against his lips, but Phil seemed to catch himself and stop. Phil was always so careful of Dan, like he was fragile. Breakable.

“What?” Dan forced out, trying to ask Phil exactly what had happened to him. Why was he in bed? Why could he barely move a muscle? Why did cracking open his eyelids and saying single words fill him with so much exhaustion that one would think Dan had run a marathon?

“Shhh,” Phil held up a cold, but gloved hand up to Dan’s mouth. “You’ve done a lot; you must be tired. Sleep now.”

Dan’s eyes drifted shut. He did feel incredibly sleepy. Everything was so heavy and the warmth of the soup radiated out from his stomach. Without much convincing, Dan’s eyes were slipping shut. Even the lids of his eyes ached with intense fatigue. “I love you, Dan.” Phil whispered, ghosting his fingers over Dan’s eyelids, caressing them softly. The coolness felt perfect against their delicate surfaces.

“Love you,” Dan mumbled and then quickly fell away to the world.

***

Dan’s recovery was steady, but incremental. Phil still couldn’t quite believe that Dan was back. Dan still didn’t know what had happened to him-- it was like there was a chunk of memory just completely missing and none of the images in his head seemed to fit into the blank space. Another day went by and Dan slowly gained the ability to fully open his eyes for longer periods of time and say complete sentences. Phil still had to help him eat, feeding him cans and cans of soup.

Despite the fact that Dan could speak again, he was afraid to ask Phil what had happened to him right off the bat. Dan guessed that it wasn’t anything good and, telling by the way that Phil looked at him like he would disappear into thin air at any moment, Phil was still very much anxious about it. Dan had simply asked how long he had been out for and if Phil had thought to tweet something so that people didn’t think he was dead. Responsible Phil had, of course. He felt dirty pretending to be Dan after everything that had happened, but he wasn’t about to let the world worry that they had lost their beloved Daniel Howell.

Dan wiggled his fingers and toes, wondering when he would get the full use of his arms, legs, head, torso. The movement rippled the blankets stacked on him and Dan caught a whiff of his own body odor. Phil was by his side, as always, rearranging the items on Dan’s nightstand. It was more something to do with his hands, rather than something that Phil needed to do. “Phil, I stink.” Dan voice was weak, but sounded a lot more powerful than the simple rasps he could only manage the day before.

“That makes sense. It’s almost been a week since… you showered.” Dan could tell that Phil had wanted to say something else, probably about what had happened.

“Right. Phil, what exactly happened to me?” Dan curled his hands into fists just because he found that he could. The new movement excited him and he was about to inform Phil. He released his fingers and they sunk tiredly into the mattress once more. Dan discovered he couldn’t move them again.

“You don’t remember?” Phil sounded devastated and guilty. Dan’s eyes darted up at the ghost.

“Oh, uh, no. Actually, when I first woke up, I couldn’t even remember who you were.” Dan chewed on his lip. “Imagine that. It’s like forgetting myself.”

Phil didn’t respond. Instead, he sat down on the edge of Dan’s bed. “I wish I could help you out with the whole, uh, shower thing. But I can’t exactly give you a bath with gloves on.”

“They’d have to be surgical gloves. But, it sounds a little humiliating. Like a nurse giving an old man a sponge bath.” Dan laughed shortly. He didn’t really have the energy to continue talking. Phil must have noticed.

“You should get some more sleep.”

“Mm. Can you tell me what happened, though?” Dan wasn’t going to let this go, no matter how much Phil wanted to repress it.

Phil sighed and pressed the palms of his hands into his eyes. “Of course; you deserve to know.” Dan hated the tone that Phil’s voice adopted. It sounded like the conversation that they had at the beginning of the month when Phil told Dan how he had died. Dan shivered involuntarily, his skin rippling. It felt weird after a week of numbness.

“I possessed you. We went out for the day, but after we saw a movie, you stopped responding to me.” There was an echo of a memory there. Dan remembered that his vision had gone black and that he refused to tell Phil there was a problem. That had been stupid, he had to admit. “I didn’t even notice how quiet you were being,” Phil said bitterly. “I was a selfish, horrible person and you nearly died because of it.”

“Phil,” Dan admonished, wishing he could reach a hand out and touch the ghost. “You can’t do this. It wasn’t your fault.”

Phil breathed in slowly. “Of course it was my fault, Dan. I was the one possessing you. I was slowly driving your consciousness out of your body and I was having so much fun, I didn’t even notice.”

“Phil--”

“--so I tore myself out of your body the minute I figured out what was happening. I was transported back here but I… I… left.” Dan looked at Phil, confused. He had left? Left the flat? How was that even possible? One of the first things that Phil had ever told Dan was that he was tethered to the flat and couldn’t leave.

“How?”

Phil looked at Dan, a wobbly smile making his chin tremble. “I don’t know. But it worked and I brought you back here. And here we are.”

“Here we are.” Dan agreed, his lips weakly lifting up at the corners. “I’m ok, Phil.”

“Yeah,” all of the tension drained out of Phil’s shoulders. “You’re ok.”

***

And Dan really was ok. It took an additional week of laying in bed, sleeping, eating increasingly solid foods, and trying new movements with his body, before Dan could finally pry himself out of bed. Finally, the day came that Dan could shakily step out of his now disgusting mattress, leaning on Phil the whole way. He steered Dan toward the bath that was already filled to the brim with steaming water and a tower of bubbles. Phil helped Dan undress, finally taking off the clothes that had been on Dan’s body for entirely too long.

“I wish you were undressing me in a different context,” Dan tried to joke as Phil lifted his shirt over his head. He popped through the other side and immediately saw that the comment had made Phil sad, rather than amused. “Sorry. Bad joke.” Dan apologized, his head ducking into his chest.

“I wish I could properly love you. Instead I just near kill you.” Phil said bitterly.

Dan held up a single shaky finger as Phil eased his trousers off. “Hey. You didn’t kill me. And it was my fault for being stupid enough to not tell you that I was getting weaker. If I had just asked you to go back to the flat, then nothing bad would have happened.” Dan stepped out of his trousers one foot at a time, his hands braced on Phil’s shoulder. “Plus, now we just know what my limits are and what to look out for when you are possessing me.”

Phil’s head snapped up and he stared at Dan incredulously. “I am never possessing you again.” He said it with such vehemence, that Dan found himself hunkering down involuntarily.

“That’s silly, Phil. It’s not going to happen again. We are smarter now.”

“Never again. You can’t convince me otherwise.” Phil picked himself off the floor and held Dan by the elbow. His voice grew softer, almost apologetic. “Are you ready for your bath?”

“Oh man, this is some nurse slash patient roleplay if I’ve ever heard it. I’m ready for my bath, Nurse Lester. I’m especially dirty down there, if you know what I mean.”

“Daniel!” Phil admonished, helping to lower Dan down into the tub. Things felt almost like they were back to normal.

Within a few days, Dan’s strength returned fully. Him and Phil were back to watching TV, playing video games, and making a short video for Dan’s channel so his subscribers didn’t revolt. He got tired easily, but he got his full range of motion back. With that, came a ravaging hunger that couldn’t be quelled by the empty contents of his pantry or refrigerator.

“I need to go to Tesco. I am starving and totally sick of soup.” Dan shut the fridge, only to find Phil right behind it, looking worried. Dan jumped. “Jesus fucking hell, you made me jump!”

“Sorry. I’m nervous to let you go out. What if you pass out again?”

“I’m not going to pass out.” Dan rolled his eyes. “Stop babying me. I’m fine.”

Phil nodded. “Of course, I’m sorry. I’ve just been worried. I thought-- I thought I was going to lose you.”

Dan ran a hand soothingly down Phil’s arm. They were always wearing gloves and sweaters now; it was just an automatic. But Phil had been noticeably more distant with the touching and cuddling, even though Dan wanted it now more than ever. Dan knew that Phil was just worried and that he didn’t trust himself. Dan didn’t know if Phil would ever trust himself again. “I’m ok. Well, I will be ok once I get some food in my stomach before it eats itself.”

Dan found a thick coat and stabbed his arms through it. He picked up his wallet, keys, and phone and slipped it into his back pocket. He was actually excited to leave the flat for once. It had been two weeks and, even then, it hadn’t really been him leaving the flat that day. Dan found himself itching to smell the autumn air and step on the crunchy leaves. “Stay safe.” Phil said as Dan reached for the doorknob to their flat.

“I will!” Dan replied brightly, opening the door and stepping outside it. The elevator ride down to the lobby was comfortingly familiar. Dan greeted each of his neighbors brightly and only some looked at him, suspicious of his manic joy. Outside, Dan was pleasantly assailed by a powerful breeze, sweet with the smell of decaying leaves. He was adjusting his coat to cover his neck and about to hail a taxi when he felt a presence at his elbow.

Dan dropped his hand and pressed it to his chest instead. “Whew, you frightened me, mate.” Dan turned and saw none other than Phil, standing at his side and looking sheepish.

“Turns out, I must have formed a new tether,” Phil said shyly.

Dan could only grin.

Part seven

#phanfic #phanfiction #phan #ghost au #spooky week #spooky week special #halloween

3 notes · View notes