Title: plus one
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 798 words
Summary: Dan and Phil understand how this works. It's everyone else that ends up confused, unsure of where the boundaries are. But Anthony, Dan thinks - Anthony seems to be catching on nicely..
Notes: Written for @reapingwithjoy, who wanted Dan and Phil and Anthony at the tea ceremony from the 2017 Madrid Creator Summit and a fluffy three-way date, for my thirty minute fics for charityfundraiser to benefit Puerto Rico.
[read on AO3]
There's a special category of people Dan and Phil know, the ones that slip seamlessly in and out of their lives yet hold their attention so well when they are around. They make no promises, they pledge no commitments, but just for a handful of moments at a time they are invested.
Anthony's one of them. Dark curls and tanned skin and a low laugh that Dan and Phil are equally enamored with, equally distracted by.
And that's alright, for them; they understand how this works. It's everyone else that ends up confused, unsure of where the boundaries are. But Anthony, Dan thinks - Anthony seems to be catching on nicely.
*
Anthony's sleepy when he shows up at their hotel room in the morning. "Fuck jetlag," he says, flopping down onto the only one of the double beds that looks like it's been used.
Dan glances over to see him with his eyes closed and his head on the pillow Phil used. He wonders if Anthony smells Phil's shampoo when he breathes in. He wonders what else the bed smells like, if Anthony can tell what they'd been up to the night before.
He catches Phil looking and wonders if Phil's thinking the same thing. Phil clears his throat and tears his eyes away and Dan thinks that's as good of an answer as he'll need.
*
"Oh," Anthony says, looking down at the activity list. "I didn't get one of those. I guess I'll just chill in the room, or catch a nap or something."
Dan immediately wants to sulk, like a kid who has been told he's got to leave the playground early. They've only got so many days with Anthony, and who knows when they'll see him again.
He gives Phil a petulant look, silently requesting that Phil fix this.
"None of that, now," Phil says, reaching past Anthony to pick up one of the hotel pens. Their arms touch and Anthony looks on curiously as Phil hands the pen to Dan. "You'll be coming with us. Just write him in, Dan."
"Oh, am I your plus one?" Anthony says, far from unhappy with it.
"Just for the weekend," Phil answers, while Dan adds Anthony's name.
"So does that plus one come with wining and dining, too?" Anthony asks.
"Maybe," Dan answers. "If you play your cards right."
Anthony grins that California perfect grin. "Noted."
*
The booth is cozy and the whole room smells fresh and earthy, like grass on a newly tended lawn.
"Is this what matcha looks like?" Phil asks, immediately poking and prodding at everything on the table in front of them.
"This is going to be a disaster," Dan informs Anthony. "I hope you didn't like that shirt. With Phil in the middle, we'll both end up covered in tea."
"At least it's not yoga," Phil says.
Dan shudders.
"Hey, yoga isn't bad," Anthony says. "Keeps you flexible."
"We find other ways to keep flexible," Phil says, his perfectly innocent expression at total odds with the words he's saying.
Anthony opens his mouth to respond, then closes it again. "Jesus," he says, under his breath. "That's a mental picture."
"You're welcome," Dan says, winking at him.
*
"I can't foam it," Phil whines.
Dan's hand twitches, about to reach out and help Phil, but he sees Anthony look up and stops. "Here," Anthony says. "Let me try."
"You should just show him," Dan says. "Or he'll never learn."
Anthony does that thing where looks back and forth between them, like he's making sure he has the right read on the scene. Whatever he sees must satisfy him, because he curls his fingers around Phil's and starts to guide him through the stirring.
"You're totally getting it," Anthony says, smiling encouragingly.
Phil isn't, actually, but he still beams at the compliment.
(It doesn't work, of course, and Phil still has to get the instructor to come help him. But Dan will be thinking about the way Phil and Anthony's hands looked entwined for the rest of the night.)
*
"That was fun," Anthony says, a bounce in his step and brightness in his smile. The energy he exudes feels happy, and maybe a little nervous. "So what now, we gonna like, hit the party, or...?"
"We could," Dan says.
"Or we could go back up to the room..." Phil sounds charmingly pleasant and not at all like Dan and Anthony are both holding their breath waiting for him to finish the sentence. "And order a pizza?"
Dan huffs out half a laugh.
"Pizza sounds fucking bomb," Anthony says. "And then we'll just..."
Dan bumps his shoulder against Phil's, brief enough that it'll seem like a graceless accident to anyone overseeing with their eyes or a camera lens. "Then we'll just see where the night takes us."
