Fight or Flight
Written by Anna :-)
Summary: There are a few things to know about Dan Howell. One: he is as straight as a hoola hoop. Two: He is really short. Three: He is a pastel lover. And one more thing: Dan is a nervous flyer; always has been, always will be. However, when a creepy stranger hits on him and a punk swoops in to save the day, Dan’s flight home may be a bit different than he expected.
“Dan had fallen asleep with his head on Phil’s shoulder. Dan’s face burst into hot embarrassed flames while he gasped and sat up straight, almost smacking Phil in the chin with his head.“Oh my God, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to do that. That must have been really annoying and like those weirdos who invade your personal space and I-”“Dan,” Phil cut him off laughing, “I’m not offended or annoyed. I don’t mind having cute boys sleep on my shoulder. It was kinda cute.””
Dan’s hands shook as he grabbed his floral patterned suitcase and approached the loading gate. He was flying back home to Manchester alone. The rest of Dan’s family had decided to stay a few extra weeks in Florida. He would’ve stayed with them if he didn’t have to go back to university and attend classes.
Nervously, Dan started pulling on his pastel blue jumper over his hands and balling the material into a fist. It was a habit he had acquired over the years because of his crippling awkwardness and anxiety. Flying always made him nervous. Who wants to be in a steel box flying over the hard earth with endless possibilities of the plane being knocked out of the sky. He needed to stop thinking about this or else he was going to have an anxiety attack.
He quickly scanned over the crowd of faces he’d be sharing a metal deathbox with. I wonder who will be stuck sitting next to me. Dan thought bitterly. He scanned over the people once more, making brief eye contact with a boy around his age with blonde hair and grey eyes that gave him bad vibes. He quickly diverted his eyes and focused on his white converse. There was some shuffling and he saw some brown shoes accompany his white ones, dragging his eyes upward before looking into the same chilling grey eyes. The boy smiled at him, but the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. Dan tried a pitiful smile in return.
“What’s your name, babe?” The boy asked. Dan shivered at the pet name unpleasantly.
“D-d-an.” The answer was shaky, he wanted no part of this conversation. The boy smiled hungrily at him.
“The name’s Richard.”
“Flight 297 to Manchester, England is now boarding. Flight 297 to Manchester, England is boarding, thank you.” The voice of the air hostess cut off Richard, blaring through the airport. Dan sighed in relief. He can get away now!
“Well this has been fun, but I have to start boarding the plane now. Goodbye!” Dan stated quickly before he shot away from the boy and towards the door leading to what was previously his nightmare. Now, this airplane felt like heaven.
In his rush to get away from the boy he accidentally bumped into a man standing in front of him. The man turned around to look at Dan. The man looked only a few years older than Dan with deep blue eyes mixed with green and yellow too. Black hair swept across his forehead in a fringe parallel to Dan’s. He was dressed head to toe in black with black boots and a leather jacket, completing the look with tattoo sleeves complementing his pale skin and several others randomly placed on his body, with piercings scattered across his face. He was gorgeous.
Dan had to fight back a strangled gasp at the man in front of him. This guy- while looking hella hot- could tear me to shreds! Dan thought panicking slightly. Dan looked up at the man through his fringe noticing the man was about a foot taller than Dan with Dan standing a measly 5’4” while this guy could clearly be 6’4”. Shit this guy could kill me if he wanted to.
The man smiled down at him before moving out of his way and giving Dan space to stand, surprising him. The kindness this punk man was showing him was shocking. I guess he’s a nice punk, you can’t judge a book by its cover, Dan. You should know this better than anyone! Dan thought to himself. Dan smiled back before shuffling into the line for the plane.
--
“Have a nice flight!” The air hostess smiled cheerily at Dan before sending him down the aisle toward his seat. Row 12 seat H. Dan slowly made his way past the rows of seats before finding his row with someone already sat down. Dan gripped his suitcase and got on his tiptoes to shove his bag into the overhead compartment before flopping down into the seat next to the stranger.
The stranger suddenly turns toward Dan and- no fucking way- it was the punk man from the line, except now the leather jacket was folded on the floor in front of him and he was only wearing a black t-shirt. The lack of the leather jacket exposing tattoos all over his body. Dan gaped at the man slightly because there was no way that the universe would put this gorgeous human being next to Dan. The man’s lips- which seemed to be in a permanent slight smirk- lifted slightly into a small smile.
“My name’s Phil,” The punk man- Phil- states, “What’s yours?”
“D-dan,” He cleared his throat, hoping to sound less shaky, “My name’s Dan.”
Phil smirked slightly and settled back into his seat, while Dan looked into the aisle. The boy from earlier had started making his way down the aisle walking closer and closer. Dan’s hands started to shake and he deflated into the uncomfortable seat, praying that he would become invisible. Distractedly, Dan noticed out of the corner of his eye that Phil was looking at him worriedly, but Dan was starting to feel anxiety building in his chest, crawling up his throat and keeping air from reaching his lungs. Richard was two rows ahead of him when he met Dan’s eyes, his cold gaze settling on Dan, slumped over in his seat, gnawing anxiously on the sleeve of his pastel jumper. He raked his eyes over Dan, giving him a malicious smile.
With each step Richard took towards Dan, the faster Dan’s heart was beating. Richard brushed his hand against Dan’s arm as he passed by, the simple act causing Dan to shudder in fear. He continued to walk down the aisle before slithering into a seat a few rows behind Dan. Dan exhaled in relief before glancing towards Phil who was staring worriedly at him.
When Phil noticed Dan looking at him, he cocked his head to the side in a questioning gaze. The light of the setting sun from the small window beside Phil catching his eyebrow piercing, causing it to twinkle. Dan turned away from his twinkling eyebrow to meet Phil’s worried look.
“Flight 297 to Manchester is ready for take off. Please fasten your seat belts,” The voice of the Pilot crackling over the intercom shook Phil from his stupor and Dan relaxed into his seat mentally preparing himself for the 9 hour flight ahead of him. This was going to be a long flight.
--
“Hey, Dan?”
The voice made Dan raise his head from where it was buried in the book he was reading. He had thought all of the other passengers had fallen asleep, all the overhead lights had been turned off, the only light coming from the sea of stars out of the window and Dan’s small reading light. They had been traveling for about 4 hours already, with 5 more to go. Everyone else on the flight was snoozing, but of course Dan was still up, lost in his book, and would probably still be until sun started to peek over the horizon. This was predictable if his sleep schedule was anything to go by. He jumped a little bit, losing his place in his book. He turned toward Phil who was looking at him.
“Yeah?”
“Whatcha reading?” Dan noticed Phil had a bit of a northern drawl and was surprised at how smooth and pretty it was; Phil was. Dan snapped out of his thoughts remembering that Phil had asked him a question.
“Oh! It’s called Read Between the Lines which is funny because on the front cover the are three fingers with the middle finger in the- well- the middle! Which is a play on words and I thought it looked funny…” Dan trailed off blushing as he realized he was rambling. Sometimes when Dan was really into something, he could just talk and rant about it for hours. Especially with books, movies/tv shows, music, anime, and… well most things.
“It looks like a good book. What’s it about?” Phil asked looking genuinely curious and interested in what Dan had to say.
“It’s about a bunch of different kids in high school dealing with different problems in their life. It shows that no matter how someone looks, they have a whole story that you don’t know about. Everybody has something they’re going through and we shouldn’t judge others when we don’t know what’s happening behind closed doors. It’s really good.” Dan smiled sheepishly at Phil after his long rant. Phil was smiling the whole time Dan had been talking. His blue eyes had a spark of amusement and interest at what Dan was saying.
“That sounds awesome.”
“Well, you know it’s awesome when you go to the Library and the old lady behind the till forgets your name and calls you ‘Spaniel’ instead of Daniel.”
Phil starts laughing at Dan’s sarcastic comment. He tries to keep quiet so he doesn’t wake the sleeping passengers, but just ends up sounding like a pug with allergies which made Dan start snickering. Finally they calmed down after a few minutes of concealed laughter, Phil’s tongue poking between his teeth as his lips rested in a smile, his metal lip ring contrasting beautifully with his white teeth.
Dan took this time while Phil was laughing to inspect his various tattoos. Both of Phil’s arms had sleeves of tattoos trailing from his wrists and up under the fabric of his t-shirt sleeve. The tattoos reappeared from the collar of his shirt, crawling up his neck. For some reason, Dan wanted to see if there were any more hiding underneath his black t-shirt, and from the tips of color poking out from beneath his collar made Dan believe there were way more waiting to be discovered. Some tattoos that stuck out to Dan the most included a cartoon lion on his upper arm, an ornate red rose positioned on his collarbone, an x-box controller on his left hand, and a beautiful vine of leaves, flowers and thorns sprouting from somewhere underneath his shirt and swirling down his arm, ending curled around his ring finger. Dan almost laughed when he saw a tomato soup can on his forearm, alluding to the famous painting. There were so many more tattoos placed around Phil’s body and Dan wanted to see all of them.
For a fleeting second Dan fantasized about Phil getting a tattoo in Dan’s honor that Dan could caress lovingly whenever he wanted, but Dan quickly shook that thought away. That would never happen. He was shaken out of his gaze when Phil spoke again.
“So, tell me some things I don’t know about you, Dan.”
“Well, since we are strangers, I guess I have unlimited options, don’t I?” Dan asks with a smirk.
“Why, of course, Daniel.”
“Well then, Philip, I am a huge nerd. I like to wear pastels, obviously,” Dan gestured to his white jeans and pastel blue jumper. “ I love anime, muse, and Kanye West. I am 19 and I’m going to Manchester University. I like Chinese food. And surprisingly this flight isn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.”
“YOU LIKE MUSE TOO?!” Phil practically squealed, “I love them so much!”
“ME TOO! Ok, your turn!”
“I am also a huge nerd. I loooove video games. I like to wear punk-ish clothes, obviously. I love muse, obviously, and anime. I am 23 and actually live near Manchester University. I am a video editor and work part time as a tattoo artist too. I also like to write random things and post them online. I also love chinese food. And this flight isn’t bad either.”
“We’re like the same person in different clothes.” Dan laughed.
“True!” Phil looked thoughtful for a second, “By the way, why did you say the flight wasn’t as bad as you thought it would be.”
Dan’s eyes widened, “Um… I guess because the flight is nine hours long and overnight and I’m alone.” Dan then took a deep breath and quickly spouted, “PlusI’mscaredofplanes.”
“What?”
“I’m scared of planes.” Dan muttered blushing and looking down.
“You don’t need to be embarrassed about that! I mean, I’m afraid of horses.” Phil blushed a little.
“Horses?”
“Long story.” Phil said, waving his hand dismissing the question.
Dan heard some shuffling behind them and they both turned around to see Richard shifting in his sleep. Dan visibly stiffened and the blood drained from his face, remembering another reason he thought the flight would be horrible. Phil noticed Dan’s change in mood, frowning slightly.
“What happened with him earlier?” Phil asked worriedly.
“What do you mean?” Dan hoped that by playing dumb he wouldn’t have to tell Phil. Tell Phil how he was a wimp and this random guy had scared him, which wasn’t hard to do in the first place.
“Well… something must have happened because when you saw him, you literally shrunk into your seat. You looked frightened and even though I’ve only known you a couple hours, I think of you as a really good friend and I’m worried about you. I want to makes sure you’re okay.” Phil gave Dan a warm smile and reached out to give a comforting side-hug to Dan. Dan smiled and accepted the hug even though it was awkward with the armrest in between them, it was still sweet. Honestly, Dan thought of Phil as a good friend now as well. Dan released himself from the hug and looked down beginning to fiddle with the sleeves of his jumper.
“Alright… I-I’ll tell you,” Dan took a deep breathe to calm down his nerves. He recounted how the man, Richard, had approached him, calling him babe and how he eyed him like a piece of meat. Dan told Phil about how he was scared and was running away from the man when he bumped into Phil. Then, Dan told him about how when he was walking down the aisle, Richard had looked Dan up and down like a wolf would look at a crippled deer. Phil’s face changed from a look of concern to one of fury as Dan spoke. He looked like he was ready to charge out of his seat, down the aisle and punch Richard in the nose. Seeing Phil react like this made Dan’s heart warm and a gooey feeling settle in his body.
“So… yeah,” Dan finished intelligently, “The flight is significantly better than I originally thought it would be. I’ve had a lot of fun hanging out with you.” He felt like he needed to reassure Phil in order to keep him from killing Richard. Phil seemed to calm down a bit, his expression not quite as murderous, but was still glaring daggers at Richard’s unaware, sleeping body.
“If that creep ever comes near you again I’ll make sure he won’t be able to put his face back together. He won’t walk and he certainly won’t talk to anyone else, especially you, like that again.” Phil snarled, before switching his gaze to Dan, his face visibly relaxing.
Dan knew how kind Phil was after hanging out for the past couple of hours. Phil was sweet and probably couldn’t hurt a fly, but the way he looked at Richard and by the tone of his voice, Dan could tell that he was serious when promising to protect Dan, even if that did cause physical action. Dan had only known this man for a few hours which felt like years. Damn… Dan had to admit. He was falling for Phil.
Phil wrestled with the armrest and after a couple minutes, was able to push it out of the way and give Dan a real hug. Dan fell into the embrace and could feel himself relaxing, letting the tension in his body flow out as he melted into Phil’s arms. This hug was probably the best hug he had ever had and he loved every second of it. They didn’t let go of each other for a while, neither boy wanted to break this bond that had formed.
After a few minutes, they slid out of each other’s arms and sat in comfortable silence. Dan’s eyes slowly started feeling heavy and he could feel himself losing consciousness.
“Thanks Phil.” Dan yawned his head starting to loll to the side. Phil turned to look at his state of drowsiness and chuckled.
“For what?”
“Well, you’re just a very kind person and you’re cute and you were going to defend my honor which is nice and you spent time talking to me and stuff… Shiba Inu’s are nice too. I think they’re fluffy…”
Phil blushed a little at the ‘cute’ comment before noticing that Dan was spewing random thoughts due to his exhaustion and chuckled again.
“Goodnight Dan.”
“‘Night Phil”
--------
“We have landed in Manchester. Please check the overhead compartment for carry-on items. Thank you for flying with us.”
Dan woke up to the sound of people opening and closing the overhead compartments and bodies walking up and down the aisles. Surprisingly his neck wasn’t hurting like it usually does when he sleeps at odd angles. Suddenly, Dan realized his head was not lolled to the side of the head rest, but was laying on something firm and soft, slowly rising and falling. Dan opened his eyes and looked up to see the blue eyes of Phil smiling down at him. Shit.
Dan had fallen asleep with his head on Phil’s shoulder. Dan’s face burst into hot embarrassed flames while he gasped and sat up straight, almost smacking Phil in the chin with his head.
“Oh my God, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to do that. That must have been really annoying and like those weirdos who invade your personal space and I-”
“Dan,” Phil cut him off laughing, “I’m not offended or annoyed. I don’t mind having cute boys sleep on my shoulder. It was kinda cute.” Phil had a small smirk, looking down at Dan admiringly.
Dan blushed an even worse shade of red and he looked away quickly. How could Phil think he was cute. Yes, he wore pastels and was smaller than most people, but that didn’t make Dan cute. He glanced over to Phil wondering if Phil really meant what he had said. Phil was still smiling at him with a faint blush on his pale cheeks.
“Okay. I’m gonna get my luggage down now.” Dan quickly got out of his seat, stretching his arms and standing on his tiptoes to grab the handle of his bag. A tattooed hand appeared next to Dan’s and dragged the bag down to Dan. He looked over to Phil, who was standing next to him now (still towering over him, but it wasn’t intimidating; actually he looked pretty hot) holding out the floral bag to Dan.
“Here ya go, Shorty.” Phil grinned and passed the bag to Dan. Dan pouted playfully at the nickname making fun of his size before letting a small smirk appear on his face accentuating his dimple.
“Thank you, Mr. giraffe. How’s the weather up there, telephone pole.” Dan laughed and reached up shoving Phil’s shoulder playfully. Phil smiled and ruffled Dan’s hair making him frown and re-fix his fringe.
They both traipsed down the aisle together, talking about random things and walking towards the open space of the airport. Both subtly keeping themselves close to each other, occasionally brushing shoulders and hands. Phil quickly went to pick up his bag from baggage claim, saying he’d be right back.
A few minutes passed while he waited for Phil. Suddenly, a hand gripped his elbow with a steel grasp before spinning him around. The swift motion made him stumble, before looking into the grey eyes of Richard. Richard (like most people) was towering over Dan, but unlike Phil, it was menacing. Richard’s eyes flicked over Dan hungrily. Where is Phil Dan thought worriedly.
“Hey, Babe. I didn’t see you much on the flight. How about we make up for lost time?” Cold anxiety rushed through Dan as Richard started to pull him down the lobby, before a second arm grabbed his other elbow. The new arm was gentle, but just as strong; it was covered in tattoos.
Dan snapped his head up to see Phil looking angry and his jaw set. Dan would be afraid of him if he was on the receiving end of that glare.
“Let. Him. Go.” Phil spat at Richard. The arm that wasn’t holding on to Dan was clenched in a fist at his side.
“Why should I do that? The little slut was practically asking for it.”
Phil took a step forward, towering a good couple inches over Richard who took a step back.
“If you dare say that about Dan again I will make sure that you won’t speak again. Your body will be so disfigured that people won’t be able to determine if you’re human or a radiation experiment gone wrong. I will also personally see to your trial in hell. Step away from Dan now, bastard.”
Dan had never seen Phil so angry and his heart melted a little at the way Phil was protecting him.
“Of course I’ll step away.” He leaned down into Dan’s ear to whisper, “Go on slut, might as well suck his dick in the middle of this airport, bitch.”
Richard roughly flung Dan towards Phil. He grabbed Dan gently, pushing Dan behind himself and stepping towards Richard again. The flower on his neck practically pulsing with his anger.
“What did you say to him?”
“I told that slut that he might as well suck your dick in the middle of this airp-”
Before Richard could finish, Phil’s fist connected with Richard’s nose. A loud crunch came from the impact and he crumpled to the floor grasping at his nose. Phil crouched down next to Richard.
“If you say that to him again, you nose won’t be the only thing that will be broken, dick.”
Phil stood up and walked toward Dan, his face immediately transforming from one of anger to one of relief and worry. He grabbed his hand gently and lead him out of the airport into the crisp Manchester air.
Phil knelt in front of Dan, trying to make their sizes equal, looking into his eyes.
“Are you ok?” Phil’s eyes darted all over Dan, checking for any sign that he was hurt or damaged. He looked down fiddling with the sleeves of his jumper, pulling them over his fists.
“Yeah… I’ll be fine. Thank you by the way, you didn’t have to do that.”
“Are you kidding?!” Phil sounded appalled at Dan’s statement, “Of course I would do that. No one should talk to you that way, and if I have to constantly be your body-guard to keep that from happening, I will.” Phil stood up to his full height and stuck out his chest a little, trying to look buff, before he and Dan fell into a fit of giggles.
Dan suddenly looked up to see Phil gazing down at him. Without any thought or planning, Dan stood on his tiptoes leaning up, while Phil simultaneously bent down and their lips met. The kiss was quick and soft, but full of emotion. Dan pulled away, looking down at his white converse to hide his blush. Phil slipped a finger under Dan’s chin, lifting his face to meet his sparkling blue eyes and giving him a small smile.
“That was nice.” Dan giggle a little, looking up into Phil’s eyes. “Yeah, we should do that again sometime.” Phil smiled at him with a dusting of pink gracing his cheeks. The moment was sweet and soft and everything Dan could hope for, but there was still the problem of going home. “I have to get back to my University…” He didn’t want to ruin this moment they had just shared, but he needed to get back. Phil looked down sadly at him for a second before a smile overtook his face.
“I live right down the street from Manchester Uni, I can come visit you! We could hang out and stuff too somewhere around campus too, but only if you want and if you actually want to hang out with me.” Phil looked hopefully at Dan.
“Of course I want to hang out with you more, you spork!” Dan laughed at the way Phil jumped up and down excitedly. “I have to go catch a cab now, so… I guess this is goodbye.”
Phil’s eyes widened. “Wait! I can drive you home!”
“Why?” Dan asked incredulously.
“Because I think you’re a pretty cool guy and I’ll be jealous of the cab driver that gets to take a cutie like you home. Plus I wanna make sure that you make it home in one piece.”
“Fine, you soppy shit.” Dan laughed as Phil smacked him lightly on the arm. The two walked to the carpark, hands brushing every now and then, blushing cheeks and comfortable conversation filling the space between them. When they reached Phil’s mode of transportation, Dan’s mouth dropped open.
“Nope nopety nope nope nope. There is no way in hell that I am riding on that.”
“What’s wrong with my motorcycle?” Phil asked defensively. If Dan was being honest, there was nothing wrong with Phil’s motorcycle. In fact, Dan probably should’ve guessed that Phil would ride a motorcycle considering his style. It was black with blue and silver trimming, stickers miscellaneously strewn across the metal. The motorcycle definitely screamed Phil; there was even a small gengar plushie tied to one of the handle-bars, swinging back and forth as if it was excited for it to be driven anywhere.
“I can’t ride on that! I’ll fall off and die considering how much of a fail I am. With my luck, we’ll be hit by a bus or I’ll somehow find a way to be the only one to be hit by said bus, leaving you to clean up my pathetic pastel mess on the road!”
“Dan,” Phil interrupted calmly, “I’m not gonna let you fall off. I have an extra helmet and I personally think I’m a great driver. You’re not gonna die. Plus, would you rather ride in a dingy cab with a driver who smells like cheese or with a hot punk on a motorcycle?” Phil ended his statement with a wink and a hand on his hip looking smugly at Dan.
“Whatever. You’re paying for my medical bill if I fall, Phil Lester.” Dan grudgingly took the helmet that he was offered and climbed onto the motorcycle behind Phil, wrapping his arms securely around his leather-clad waist.
“Ready?” Phil asked before kick-starting the engine and gunning out of the carpark. Dan squealed and squeezed his arms even tighter around the punk, causing Phil to laugh. After several minutes of driving, Dan had to admit, this was way better than a cab home.
---------------
The two pulled up outside of Dan’s building and Phil walked him to his dorm room where he fumbled to unlock the door. When the door was unlocked and open, Dan stood in the doorway looking at Phil, both preparing to say goodbye and both not ready to say it yet.
“Thanks for the ride.”
“Wasn’t it fun?” Phil questioned with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.
“Whatever… Fine it was fun, goodbye I hate you.” Dan turned around sassily to walk inside, but was quickly grabbed and spun around to look up at the tall punk. Phil leaned down and looked as if he was about to kiss Dan. They’re faces millimeters apart and breathe washing over each others faces before- “You forgot to give me your number.” Phil stated.
“You’re such a tease, Phil!” Dan laughed, softly socking him in the arm. He dashed inside to grab a pen off the coffee table before sprinting back out and scrawling the string of numbers messily across a bare patch of skin on Phil’s hand where no tattoos could overpower the numbers.
Phil plucked the pen from his hand and wrote his own number on Dan’s arm with a little smiley face next to it. “There, you’re first tattoo.” Phil chuckled at his joke before meeting Dan’s eyes. Neither wanted to leave each other yet, but they had to at some point; they were just prolonging the inevitable.
Dan pressed a quick kiss to Phil’s cheek. “Goodbye, Phil. I’ll see you soon, alright? Call me.”
“I will. Goodbye, Dan.” Phil smiled.
Another kiss was shared by the pastel and the punk before the door was shut and the two were alone.
-----------
1 Year Later…
Dan balled the ends of his soft yellow jumper in his hands, anxiously awaiting the engines of the airplane to roar and the feeling of terrifying weightlessness in his stomach as the metal box of death would be launched into the sky with him locked inside. A tattooed hand suddenly appeared covering his own, prying his fingers off the material and lifting them up to pierced lips.
Dan looked into those calming blue eyes and smiled. Phil squeezed his hand and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before gazing out of the window at the runway. Dan leaned his head onto Phil’s comfy shoulder and smiled. His free-hand started to calmly weave through Dan’s locks of curly brown hair, relaxing Dan and causing the anxiety in his chest wash away. Dan would be alright as long as he had his best friend, his boyfriend, Phil.
And as the plane took off, soaring into the air, Dan didn’t feel any fear. The only thing on his mind was of a punk boy that made flying easier, life happier, and love a fairy tale. The punk that saved him and the man that had a storybook of ink on his body. The punk who had the softest eyes and the kindest heart.
