Why Don't We Imagines

Daniel - Let Me Help You

Request from [jonahssunshine]

"It's crooked."

I rolled my eyes and ignored Daniel, who was sitting on the couch behind me as I tried to hang a picture in our new apartment. He had offered to help, but I had stayed persistent. After all, he'd done most of the heavy lifting when we first moved in, and it was time for me to do my part. I'd finally found a project to work on: we had a wall that just looked empty. That morning I had been feeling crafty and went to the dollar store to pick up a bunch of picture frames, planning to make a wall full of memories Daniel and I had together.

It was actually coming together nicely, no thanks to Dani and his never-ending teasing. He was mostly just annoyed that I'd refused his help, although he was making the most of the situation by watching me put it up.

"It is not crooked!" I protested, stepping away from the frame and setting the hammer down. I realized almost immediately that it was — in fact — crooked,  and I bit my lip in frustration.

Daniel laughed, standing up to wrap his arms around me. "You're so damn cute when you're like this." He smirked against my neck, resting his head on my shoulder just above my collarbone.

I just shrugged him off, straightening the picture. "C'mon Dani, I'm trying to do this. Go find something to do, I'll be done in a bit. Then we can do something together, okay?"

He sighed, disappointed, but left the room anyways, heading to our room. Sure enough, within a minute I heard him on voice chat with someone — probably Zach — and knew he was playing some video game. I smiled, sorting through a stack of photos I had, trying to figure out which one to hang next.

Daniel and I had been dating for almost two years, and while we both wanted to take it slow and not move in together too soon, we'd agreed together that this would be a good step. He worked in the music industry, and most of his bandmates lived in LA, so we moved to an apartment downtown. I was working a job at a coffee shop, admittedly not making much income, but I tried to help out where I could. That might've been part of why I was so insistent about doing this wall by myself — it was something I could do for Dani.

I found a picture of us on the beach, and I grinned, remembering that day. We had been at the beach last summer with Zach and Corbyn, and we'd goofed off way more than we should have. Corbyn had taken the picture while Zach tried to photobomb, and this was one of the only shots without him in it. It was actually a candid shot while we were getting ready to take the picture, but it was beautiful. I was laughing at something Zach had done, and Daniel was looking at me. The way he looked at me... it was like I was his favourite thing in the world. He had a little, gap-toothed grin, and his eyes were wide with wonder.

I put the picture in a frame, still smiling at it. I held it up to the wall, trying to figure out where the nail needed to be. I was holding it with one hand and a pencil in another, ready to mark the spot, when an arm wrapped around my waist. I jumped, falling against Daniel and dropping the picture, the frame shattering around my bare feet.

"Y/N — I'm so sorry — I —" Daniel's arm tightened around my waist as I struggled to escape his hold.

"Dani..." I sighed, not angry, because it wasn't his fault that I scared easily, but I was still annoyed.

"I'm sorry — I didn't think it'd scare you that much — I shouldn't have done that. I'll clean it up, just let me get you away from the broken glass." He was wearing shoes for some reason, and he scooped me up into his arms, carrying me into the kitchen, making sure I wasn't hurt.

"It's fine," I argued once he put me down, going to the closet where we kept the vacuum, "I'll clean it up. Just let me do it. Please."

"Let me help you," He protested, following me, but I turned around, putting my hands on my hips.