The One Where Phil Teaches Dan to Skate
summary: Dan spends a summer week in 2010 with the Lesters. word count: 2,487 genre: fluff other: 2010!phan, swearing
Dan loves the Lesters, really, he does.
This is probably his fourth or fifth time with them, and each time he feels right at home. Phil’s mum wraps him up in a big hug as soon as he gets out of Phil’s car - right after she hugs Phil, of course - and she kisses his cheek. “It’s so lovely to see you, Dan,” she says. “And in the summer this time! When the weather isn’t so bloody cold, huh?”
Truth be told, Dan could probably be cold anywhere - he’s wearing a sweatshirt right now (it’s Phil’s and it’s just a little too big on him, but most importantly it’s warm and it smells overwhelmingly like Phil), but he doesn’t like to argue with Katherine so he just says, “it’s lovely, Mrs. Lester. Thank you for having me.”
Katherine rolls her eyes fondly. “For the millionth time, love, call me Katherine.”
Phil, who had been getting Dan’s bag from the back of his car like the gentleman he is, checks Dan’s hip as he walks by. “Yeah, love,” he teases, and though his voice is laced with a teasing intonation, Dan still gets a warm feeling in his chest. Being around Phil in person is still so new to him, he wonders if there will ever be a time when Phil’s voice won’t make butterflies flutter in his stomach. He sure as hell hopes not.
Phil and Katherine walk in and Dan follows them. As Phil dumps Dan’s bag by the staircase that lead to the upstairs bedrooms (Phil’s and Martyn’s - Katherine and Mr. Lester’s bedrooms are downstairs) Katherine says, “so you’ll have the guest bedroom, love.”
Phil reacts like Katherine’s just slapped him in the face, and Dan definitely understands where he’s coming from. The whole way here, all they were texting about is being able to be in the same room, alone, free to kiss and touch and just hold each other, fall asleep in each other’s arms, nothing but their combined breaths. “But mum!” Phil whines like a petulant child.
Katherine puts a hand to Phil’s cheek. “Oh, don’t give me that look, child,” she says gently. “I do the same thing with Martyn and Cornelia. It wouldn’t be fair to give you special treatment just because Dan’s a boy.”
She gives Phil a look that says ‘try me’ and Phil, ever the obedient child even though he’s technically an adult, backs down. He raises his hands in surrender. Katherine smiles at him and pats his cheek. “Why don’t you show Dan the guest room, love?”
Phil takes Dan’s bag from the stairs and motions for Dan to follow him. Unfortunately, they don’t go upstairs - they walk past Katherine and down the hallway and finally, Phil enters a room that’s just across from his parents. It has a queen bed and is cute, actually, there are paintings of flowers on the wall and knick-knacks from the Lesters’ Florida adventures but it isn’t Phil’s room and so Dan instantly hates it.
Phil closes the door behind them and leaves Dan’s bag at the foot of the bed. “Sorry about this.” Phil plops down onto the bed and lands on his back. “I didn’t know she was gonna do that, obviously.”
“It’s fine,” Dan answers. He lays on the bed, on his side so that he can face Phil. From up close, Phil is even more beautiful. The light streaming through the windows light up Phil’s eyes - as deep and rich as the sea itself - and the freckles on his skin. Dan wonders offhandedly how many freckles Phil has, and has the strange urge to count them all.
Phil turns so that he’s facing Dan and his face lights up with a mischievous smile. “Hey,” he says. Dan hums in question. “What do you say you sneak up to my room after my mum and dad have fallen asleep? They’re such heavy sleepers that they wouldn’t even realize.”
Dan gasps in mock scandal. “Phil Lester,” he starts, his voice accusatory even though he can’t keep the giant fucking smile off of his face. “I will have you know I am a perfect Christian child.”
“Blah blah blah blah,” Phil mocks, his grin turning wider. Dan lightly punches him on the arm in retaliation. Phil rubs his arm as if it actually hurt (it didn’t). “I hope that isn’t the only bruise I’m getting, bear,” he teases.
Dan laughs. “You are such a fucking flirt,” he accuses, and Phil doesn’t get a chance to answer because Dan is pulling him into a crushing kiss. Phil kisses him back, runs his hands through Dan’s hair, tugs a little bit. Dan whines a little bit in the back of his throat. Phil does insane things to him. He turns Dan inside out and takes him apart and puts him back together. Dan’s sure he’s never loved someone as completely as he loves Phil Lester.
“Boys!” Katherine calls from outside the door. The two boys jump apart and look towards the door. Luckily, Katherine doesn’t enter. “Come help me pick out what we should have for dinner!”
Her footsteps retreat and Phil groans, dropping his head to Dan’s shoulder. He presses his lips to Dan’s collarbone and says, “later, yeah?”
“Yeah,” Dan promises. “We’ll continue this later.”
-
Around 11:00PM, Katherine pops her head into Dan’s room. “Aight, love,” she says, glasses low on her nose. “I’m headed off to bed. Are you comfortable?”
“Very,” Dan answers. He’s got his laptop perched on his knees and he’s scrolling through Tumblr - he’s not going to bed yet. For one, he’s a bit of an insomniac and a night owl. And he’s waiting for a text from Phil telling him it’s safe to escape to his room for a few hours of uninterrupted Phil time. Dan’s heart throbs just thinking of it.
Katherine smiles at that. “Don’t stay up too late, okay? Lots to do tomorrow.”
Dan smiles back at her. Katherine has really become like a second mum to him - the entire Lester family is like a second family. He hopes there will never be a time where he’ll have to be apart from them. “I won’t, Mr-” he catches himself “-Katherine. Have a nice night.”
“You too, love,” Katherine says, and as she leaves she closes the door behind her. Dan can hear the bedroom door across the hall from him - Phil’s parents - open and close as she walks in.
At 11:23PM, Dan hears footsteps down the hallway. His heart sinks, thinking Phil’s mum must still be awake. At 11:27PM, his phone lights up with a text.
PHIL just walked past mum and dad’s
So that explains the footsteps, at least.
DAN verdict?
PHIL dead asleep m8 i have buffy set up
DAN omw
Dan exits his room as quietly as possible, using his phone as a light to guide his way. The door to Phil’s parents’ room is closed and no one comes out as Dan walks past. He thinks he’s in the clear as he walks towards the stairs, until he spots Martyn in the kitchen. Martyn’s wearing only a sleep shirt and a pair of boxers, his hair a mess on top of his head, and he’s dipping a bag of tea into a mug.
“Uh,” Dan starts eloquently. He’s fairly certain he can’t just sneak past Martyn at close to midnight and not say anything, but he’s not entirely sure what the etiquette is for sneaking past someone so you can go make out with their brother without their parents knowing.
Martyn pinches the bridge of his nose. “Just go,” he says. “Keep it down, you lot.”
Dan’s really grateful to Martyn, really, he is. He’s quiet, but from what Dan has seen of him and heard through Phil’s stories, he’s a really good older brother. It occurs to Dan that Martyn would be a good manager, but that’s a conversation for another day.
Dan walks up the stairs and enters Phil’s room, closing the door behind him. Phil’s laying in bed in a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt that hangs off his shoulders. His hair is a mess and is everywhere - he has so much of it - and he has his glasses on. He has his laptop sitting in front of him and Dan can see he’s queued up Buffy.
“Hey there, stranger,” Phil says in lieu of greeting. Dan crosses the room and presses a gentle kiss to Phil’s lips - his pulse speeds up because he can’t believe he gets a chance to do that - before he drops down onto Phil’s bed. Phil wraps an arm around Dan’s shoulders and pulls him in close. Phil smells like his body wash and deodorant and something distinctly Phil that Dan gets a little dizzy.
“You wanna watch Buffy?” Phil asks. He’s so close that Dan can hear the rumble of the words in his chest and it’s still so fucking surreal, getting to be like this with Phil, instead of watching him through a computer screen.
Dan nods instead of answering and Phil starts the first episode. They end up getting through four episodes before the two of them fall asleep tangled up in each other, Dan’s head on Phil’s chest, Phil’s arm draped lazily around Dan’s shoulders.
-
Katherine walks into Dan’s room at 8 in the morning to wake him up. When he’s not there, she walks into the kitchen, where Martyn just nods towards Phil’s room. She walks in and finds Dan and Phil asleep together, curled up together under the duvet.
She closes the door and lets them sleep for a little bit longer.
-
Dan’s the first one to wake up.
During the night, he and Phil have moved, but they’re still close together. Dan’s laying on his back now and Phil’s curled into his side, one of his legs thrown over Dan’s, his face pressed into Dan’s neck. Dan runs his hand through Phil’s hair and thinks he’s very fucking lucky to be able to wake up like this. He wants to wake up every single day in the same bed as Phil.
As if sensing Dan’s cheesy thoughts, Phil groans. “I can hear you thinking,” he says against Dan’s neck, the words slurred with sleep.
Dan just smiles and presses a gentle kiss to his forehead. Phil lifts his eyes to meet Dan and squints up at him. “Can’t see without my glasses,” he complains. He reaches over and grabs them off the nightstand. Once they’re on, he smiles. “There. Wanted to see your hobbit hair.”
“Hey,” Dan laughs. He retaliates by putting the hood of the sweatshirt he fell asleep wearing up. Phil just pouts and pulls Dan into a long kiss. Phil’s got morning breath, but Dan really could care less. That is, of course, until Phil knocks his hood off and pulls back to smile victoriously. “You’re an asshole,” Dan says, but he leans forward to kiss Phil again anyway.
They kiss until they’re broken apart by Phil’s stomach rumbling. They break apart with a laugh and Phil stands. “C’mon,” he says, offering a hand to Dan. “Let’s get breakfast.”
Dan takes Phil’s hand to stand and doesn’t let go. The two of them walk hand in hand down the stairs, where Katherine, Mr. Lester, Martyn and Cornelia are all sitting in the kitchen, eating breakfast. Cornelia has a book open in front of her, Martyn looking over her shoulder. The two of them laugh as she points at something. “Is that Phil? Oh my goodness!”
Dan and Phil sit side by side, and as Katherine stands to get them both a plate of pancakes, Dan asks, “is what Phil?”
Cornelia doesn’t answer; instead, she walks over and drops the book in front of Dan. It’s a photo album, and the page she’s open to shows Phil, probably age eight or nine, smiling goofily at the camera with a skateboard at his feet. “Oh my god,” Dan says, because it’s easily one of the cutest things he’s ever seen and Phil’s never mentioned skating. “You shredded?”
“Not well,” Phil says. “I could, like, move a little, but I wasn’t as good as the boys at the skatepark so I gave it up when I was 15.”
“I still have your skateboard in the garage,” Katherine says as she leans over Phil to pour him a cup of coffee. “You should teach Dan how to skate.”
“Yeah?” Phil asks. Dan really has no desire to skate, but the way Phil’s eyes light up at the suggestion - fuck, Dan would jump in a volcano if it would make Phil smile like that. “You wanna, Dan?”
“Sure,” Dan answers. “I’m down.”
-
That afternoon, Phil has Dan on the sidewalk in front of the Lester’s house, helmet on, standing on a skateboard. He has his arms around Dan’s waist to keep him from falling over, which Dan feels dangerously close to. He’s naturally clumsy already, but the added energy of Phil right on top of him has him a little wobbly.
“So keep your feet spread evenly apart facing opposite to the skateboard,” Phil directs. Dan fixes his feet accordingly and Phil watches. “Good, okay. So you’re gonna turn your front foot,” he taps Dan’s left foot with his own, “forward and push off with your right foot. Just go slowly.”
Dan pushes off and starts moving slowly, Phil’s hands still around his waist, walking with him. Phil gives him a proud smile. “You’ve got it!” he says. “Put your foot down to stop?” Dan puts his foot down and the skateboard stops under him. Phil kisses his cheek. “Brilliant. Wanna try yourself?”
“Yeah,” Dan answers. He feels pretty confident, actually. If young Phil could do this, he can do. Maybe being the Tony Hawk of his fourteen year old self’s dreams isn’t as difficult as he originally thought.
Phil lets go of him and stands behind him. Dan takes a second to compose himself and then pushes off. For a minute, he’s fine, until he pushes himself again and goes faster. He panics a bit, unsure of how to slow, and loses balance. He falls on his arse, the skateboard moving without him until it eventually slows to a stop a few feet away.
Phil rushes over and kneels in front of Dan. “You alright?” he asks. When Dan nods, Phil offers him a hand. Dan stands and feels his heart speed up a little when Phil doesn’t let go of his hand. “Come on,” he says, walking Dan over to the skateboard. “Let’s try again. You got this.”
-
Inside, Cornelia shakes her head from where she’s watching them and washing dishes with Martyn. “They’re engaged before the year is over, I bet.”
Martyn turns to her as he dries off a plate she hands to him. “I’m willing to take that bet.”
Cornelia holds out her hand. “You’re on, Martyn Lester.”
AUTHOR’S NOTES:
hey!
this was written for a prompt that, again, is super duper old! i’ve been trying to get through some of my old prompts and this is one of them. i hope you like this, anon, if you even still follow me.
please reblog if you enjoyed this fic! it really helps the blog to grow and makes me smile. i’m especially proud of my recent work and it would make me very happy if people could see my new work.
if you want to read more of my fics, you can check the list of everything i’ve ever written here. if you want to follow me (thank you!) feel free to do so here.
thank you for your endless support.
- seb
