A Procrastinator Fears the Future (Dan Howell/danisnotonfire fanfic 3)

Part 10 - The Tea

"I can't wait to get home. I want to sit in my chair, eat my food, and then sleep for three weeks." I dropped my book back onto my face, leaning back into my train seat and trying to settle.

Dan scoffed. "Technically, it'll be my food, my bed, oh, and my chair too."

I lifted up the front cover of the book to scowl at him. "If so, then you can cook your food and make your bed."

"Come on, love, you don't mean that," he said, turning in his seat to face me. "If you're extra nice to me, I might let you share the chair and everything." He flashed me a devilish grin and pinched my arm. I was tempted to hit him with my book, but only stopped myself for the book's safety.

I commented about if Dan paid all of the rent, could I share the house for free too? Seeing as how much money he undoubtedly owed me from dinners or from me buying said bed and chair.

"Or I could buy you a tea and we call it even?"

"No, no, I'll pencil in my time now. Should we talk about how much money you owe me?" I smiled coyly.

"Tea and a cookie?"

I rolled my eyes at him. "You're so easy to manipulate." I was always in the mood for some form of tea. If I could rile Dan up in the right way, in the way I knew best, he'd often get the tea for me. It was the perfect, innocent, scheme.

Dan kissed my cheek lightly. "Nope, I know you like snacking on long journeys. Back in a minute."

I felt my skin flush as he stood up from his train seat. He waited for a small child to hurtle down the aisle before walking off towards the food carriage.

Sometimes, I couldn't help but catch myself being shocked by how well Dan did know me. He knew when I was teasing him, knew my habits, and could accurately guess when I was feeling peckish. Maybe he'd known since I'd stopped reading? Or, had my stomach been rumbling? It was bizarre, how well we coincided with each other and adapted to situations and life events. I was perfectly happy with him and how we were, so surely, that should be all I ever needed.

However, after a week of wedding questions from my relatives and friends in the North, I wasn't sure of it now. Yes, seeing everyone again had been great. Plus, Dad had sent us off with three jars of plumb jam and a small stack of his favourite recipes to make with Hadley.

In a flawlessly embarrassing way, my mother had indiscreetly taken a photo of Dan and I when we'd been about to leave. She'd tried to take a secret photo of us standing side by side next to the car, whilst Dad and Hadley got our suitcase out. But, her phone had a very loud capture button. It sounded like a twig being snapped into smaller and smaller pieces every time she took a photo.

She photographed Dan shaking Paddy's hand, me hugging my siblings, Hadley wiping tears from her eyes, and then a group family photo. For that, Mum held out both her arms in front of her with her phone in hand, then bickering with the rest of us as she demanded we all gather around her to be in her selfie.

I'd known as our departure was photographed that I looked like a mess. I was wearing my loosest pair of leggings and my Ravenclaw jumper, as well as still having my hair in the plaits I'd slept in, my hair haywire. I also knew that the rest of my family, and Dan, would look flawless. Well, apart from the smudge of pink hair chalk that was on the front of Dad's jumper or Hadley's forced smile.

That part, despite being the farewell, had been a fairly pleasant moment in itself. We'd had our week of farm life, with fleeting expeditions to pubs for lunch, visiting tea rooms where I bought gifts for my friends, the beach for fish and chips, kisses from Bubba, or three too many abbeys and castles.