Work Text:
Dan and Phil, despite having known each other for several months and spending pretty much every waking moment in each other’s company- whether that be online or the more favorable weekends at each other’s house- had made the decision to be their usual anti-social selves and take shelter in Phil’s room while the rest of Phil’s family celebrated New Year's Eve downstairs with Phil’s brother, Martyn, who had just returned from college a few days previously to celebrate the holiday. Phil loved his brother, of course, but he’d spent the past twenty two New Year's Eves with him and, so far, none with Dan.
The two sat on Phil’s bed under about four blankets, Dan cuddled up next to his boyfriend in Phil’s University of York sweatshirt with a Playstation controller, mumbling occasional curses under his breath whenever he’d die in the game and blame Phil for distracting him.
Phil simply smiled and watched Dan miserably fail at Sonic 4 until he eventually gave up and threw the controller across Phil’s room onto his suitcase, groaning in frustration while Phil gave him a rather fond look.
“What’re you smiling about?” Dan tried to act mad, but a small smile played at his lips as well.
Phil shrugged, eyes on Dan. “You.” He said quietly, and Dan rolled his eyes, acting like he wasn’t completely head-over-heels in love with Phil. “I really hate you, you know that?”
Dan scrunched up his nose and made a quick move to kiss him. “I know that, you…” He paused for a moment, trying to think of exactly what Phil was in that moment. “You.” He said finally.
Phil raised his eyebrows and smiled. “Me?”
“Yeah,” Dan frowned. He glanced over at the television, the dumb Sonic music still playing from it at a low volume. “D’you think we should go downstairs with your family?” He suggested, halfheartedly searching their blanket ocean for his phone to check the time. “It’s gotta be getting close to midnight.”
Phil whined in protest, grabbing at Dan’s sweatshirt as if Dan was trying to leave. “Why can’t we just celebrate New Year's with each other, who needs those party poopers?” He said.
Dan chuckled lightly at the thought of Phil preferring him over his own family, finally finding his phone in the blankets. “I’m pretty sure they’re not the party poopers, Phil.” Dan gave Phil a doubtful look and Phil laughed quietly. “It’s ten ‘till, if you aren’t coming down, I’ll just go without you.” Dan threatened.
“With my family?” Phil laughed, his arm tightening around Dan’s waist under the blankets.
Dan rolled over so that he was sitting on Phil’s waist, facing him on the bed. “They already love me, I may as well.” He smiled. “Also, your brother said he had fireworks and I don’t really want to miss that, Philip.” He said Phil’s name teasingly, earning a scoff from Phil as he moved his hands around Dan’s lower back and narrowed his eyes like he was in deep thought.
“Maaaybe,” Phil drawled, though he already knew that Dan had him- there was no avoiding having to actually be social. Nevertheless, he decided to drag it out as long as possible. “But what’s in it for me?”
Dan laughed softly and pecked Phil’s lips. “Spending New Year’s with your family and your boyfriend, probably.” He hooked a hand around the back of Phil’s neck and Phil made a face like his family was revolting. Dan scoffed. “At least your family actually accepts you, you should be grateful.”
Phil instantly felt a wave of guilt wash over him, suddenly remembering how sensitive Dan was to family issues. He sat up, pulling Dan closer and leaning up to kiss him intently, meaningfully, an apology in itself. “You know I’m grateful, bear.” He said lowly. “I’m grateful for everything life has handed to me, I’m the luckiest person in the entire world-”
Dan furrowed his eyebrows and moved a hand to cover Phil’s mouth, muffling the rest of his sentence. “I didn’t mean it like that.” Dan whispered, taking his hand back and replacing it with his lips, fit between Phil’s perfectly. He kissed him slowly, eyes reluctantly fluttering shut as everything else faded into irrelevance- Dan always managed to find a way to ruin the moment.
All things considered, neither Dan nor Phil intended for the seemingly innocent kiss to become heated. Nevertheless, as they were still both young and horny and it was almost midnight, it did. And Dan found himself in a rather unfortunate position as he had originally aimed for the both of them to head downstairs with Phil’s family, but he wasn’t complaining when Phil decided it would be best to push him against the mattress and pretty much snog his face off.
It was going quite well, actually. That is, until Martyn didn’t bother to knock on Phil’s door and instead barge in, taking a quick look over the scene, shouting a “Christ!” and quickly shutting the door back.
Phil practically catapulted a good three feet off Dan, who made some whine of complaint and sat up on Phil’s bed, pushing all the blankets off him as he’d built enough body heat up already.
A slightly less enthusiastic knock came from the door, and Phil did a quick fringe check before clearing his throat and saying in a rather annoyed, embarrassed tone, “What is it, Martyn?”
The door slowly opened and Martyn peered from around the door, making sure the coast was clear. “Sorry for barging in-”
“I’m sorry, too.” Said Dan.
“We, uh, mum and dad asked me to come get you two, we’re going to set off fireworks in a few minutes.” Martyn said, scratching at the back of his neck and avoiding eye contact with Phil.
“Alright,” Phil nodded. “Cool.”
There was an awkward period of silence where Dan sat on the edge of Phil’s bed, Phil stared wide-eyed at Martyn, and Martyn distracted himself with the doorknob before nodding slowly and coughing. “Great, well, um,” He said slowly. “I’ll be downstairs.”
Silence ensued, Martyn making it quite clear that he wasn't about to give up on the conversation.
“Martyn, what?” Phil finally asked, only because he knew Martyn was waiting for him to ask, mentally preparing the speech he was about to deliver.
Martyn huffed and made eye contact with Phil before quickly dropping it. “It’s just weird to come in and see your little brother snogging someone, I mean, there’s such thing as a lock on this door, Phil-”
(“There’s a thing called knocking, too-” Dan muttered.)
“I dunno, it’s just a little off-setting, sorry.” Martyn said finally, before turning and heading back down the stairs. He quickly shouted back, “Come down, we have like, five minutes!”
Phil glanced to the door, glaring at it for a moment as Martyn had forgotten to shut it on his way out. Phil considered shouting at him to return so he could shut it, but decided against it as Dan stood from Phil’s bed and cleared his throat, rocking back on his heels. “I told you, we should’ve gone downstairs.”
Phil shook his head and smiled up at him, climbing off the bed and stepping towards Dan, wrapping a hand around his lower back and leaning in to kiss him lightly. “You weren’t telling me a minute ago, though.”
Dan giggled and playfully pushed him off, moving past him and to the doorframe. “It won’t take but a few minutes, just get it over with.” He said convincingly, and Phil rolled his eyes before reluctantly following Dan out his door. “We’ll finish later.” Dan added suggestively.
“Will we?” Phil smirked.
As the two headed down the stairs, quiet music from the living room became clearer and Phil’s mom called out something to Martyn, who had just left through the front door with a handful of fireworks and a determined look on his face. She started to repeat her words as Martyn gave her a clueless look, but quickly stopped as she noticed Dan and Phil coming down the stairs.
“Glad you two decided to join us,” Phil’s mother smiled warmly, Dan returning the smile. “Martyn is about to set up fireworks, so put some shoes on and head outside, alright?”
Dan nodded and Phil made some noise of annoyance from behind him, as if doing anything that involved his family was a massive burden. “Why do we have to watch the fireworks from outside? I have a fairly clear view of the front yard from my room.” Phil complained.
“I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t be looking out the window if you two were still up there.” Martyn said as he walked back in with a lighter and a smug look on his face, their father chuckling to himself from across the living room.
“Shut up,” Phil tossed a sock at him and his mom scolded him for it. He mumbled something about Martyn never even having a girlfriend as he slipped on his Vans and waited for Dan to do the same, Dan simply smiling to himself.
“Your whole family is hilarious.” Dan said quietly, moving to Phil’s side. His hand absentmindedly found Phil’s as they followed Phil’s parents out their front door, the cold December air meeting them as soon as they did. Dan took a breath and checked the time on his phone. “Two minutes,” He said lowly, the Lester family forming a circle around Martyn’s array of fireworks as he prepared to light them.
All was silent for a moment, Dan leaning against Phil’s arm as they idly gazed at Martyn, who made conversation with his father about when to light the fireworks. Luckily, for the small group of five, a giant party was going on a few houses down and they could only hear the muffled countdown over the bassline of some rap song, but it happened nevertheless.
“Ten, nine…” The nearby house party chanted.
Dan looked over at Phil, smiling slightly at the ridiculousness of it all.
“Eight, seven…”
Phil smiled back, humming as he nudged Dan’s arm with his elbow.
“Six, five…”
Martyn lit the fireworks and they all backed up a few feet, Dan mentally preparing for the explosions about to occur.
“Four, three…”
“You should kiss me.” Dan said quietly- but not quiet enough, apparently, considering Phil’s mom made an “aw” sound at them and laughed from the other side of the fireworks arrangement.
“Two…”
“Fine.” Phil said stubbornly, and before Dan could even register that the fireworks went off or that it was 2010 and Martyn and Phil’s dad were cheering loudly because of the perfect timing, Phil moved around in front of him and leaned in to kiss Dan, the cold, dry winter air having already chapped both of their lips and causing Dan to laugh slightly into the kiss, leaning into Phil’s embrace and tossing his arms lazily around Phil’s neck. It reminded Phil of their first kiss on the Manchester Eye, the fireworks that went off in his mind parallel to the fireworks exploding a few meters away from them just then, and everything was perfect in that moment. Phil’s head spun and all that coursed through his mind was Dan Dan Dan, and so he broke the kiss, taking a step or two to stable himself as he stared into the eyes of his boyfriend, watching the colors above them reflect in his eyes.
“I love you.” Phil said plainly, but it meant much more than that, and they both knew it. It meant that Dan would always make Phil order his Starbucks while he went on the hunt for the perfect seat, it meant Phil would always sacrifice the circulation in his arm when he let Dan use it as a pillow. The three words were so simple but meant so much more to both of them.
Dan only laughed and pulled Phil into a tight hug, burying his face in Phil’s neck and thinking about the fact that he’d have to go back to his house in a few days time. “I love you, Phil.”