The Boy Upstairs (DanXReader)

Chapter 18: Coat of Arms

It had taken a while but Dan had finally convinced me to leave without changing my outfit. The threat to drag me out of the apartment complex without even letting me lock my door was what had finally gotten me to begrudgingly agree. I had managed to make Dan promise that whatever his special plans for the night were wouldn't include any fancy restaurants though. I didn't want anything expensive in the first place but he was also insisting I would be fine in a t-shirt and jeans. I needed to be assured we wouldn't have a repeat of looking so out of place like on our fancy pancake adventure.

We were now stepping off the bus to continue our journey on foot, Dan grabbing my hand and leading the way. It was a nice night with a mostly clear sky. The only thing that would've made it better is if it had been a bit warmer. I was regretting not having at least gone back into my apartment for a warmer jacket.

"Wh-where exactly a-a-are we g-g-going?" I asked.

"It's a surprise," Dan said, looking back at me with a smile and wink.

Dan stopped for a second, frowning as he noticed that I was shivering. He let go of my hand, quickly pulled off his jacket and held it out for me. "N-no," I said, utterly failing at trying to force myself to stop shivering. "Y-you'll get c-cold... I-I'm f-f-fine! R-really!"

Dan raised an eyebrow and looked at me with an expression that clearly said he wasn't buying it. I glanced away, refusing to take the coat. I didn't want him to get cold because I'd not been smart enough to bundle up other than a hoodie. I was learning a hard lesson in climate differences and having to adapt to them.

"I'll be fine, ____," Dan said, stepping closer and wrapping his jacket around my shoulders. "This jumper is really warm. And I don't want you getting sick again."

"O-okay, th-thank you..." I said with a blush, pulling my arms through sleeves of the massively over sized coat, pulling it closer, and soaking in the residual warmth Dan had left in it.

Dan smiled, looking to be holding back a small laugh as I reached out to grab his hand again, only to realize that my hands didn't even make it to the bottom of the sleeve. "You're so adorable," he teased. "You look like a little kid!"

"Well, what's that make you then?" I shot back, going to cross my arms in a sassy pose but accidentally hitting myself in the face with the excess sleeve length.

I blinked in surprise. Dan looked at me in silence for a moment before laughing hysterically. People were beginning to stare at us, the giant laughing man and the girl in a coat too big for her. "D-don't laugh at me!" I said, doing my best to just focus on Dan and not everyone else walking around us. "It's not my fault you have abnormally long arms!"

Dan quickly stopped laughing and raised an eyebrow at me. "Abnormally long? Ever consider that you may just be short, love?"

My blush deepened at the word love as I tried to come up with a good comeback. "I am not short!" I said. "You're just really tall!"

It wasn't my best work, but to my credit I was doing fairly well at not paying attention to the occasional passerby doing a double take at Dan. "I may be tall, but you're also short. But it's part of what makes you so cute!"" Dan said, smiling sweetly as my face heated up. "That and how easy it is to make you blush."

"Shuddup..." I muttered.

Dan chuckled slightly as he grabbed my arm, pushed up the sleeve, and took hold of my hand again. "C'mon, we still have to go on our special date," he said, beginning to walk again.

Eventually we stopped in front of a building with a sign that read BallieBallerson. I looked up at Dan with confusion as he grinned down at me. "I heard about this place and knew that I had to bring you," Dan explained.

"What is it?" I asked.

"You'll see," Dan said, looking excited.

I followed as Dan excitedly pulled me towards the entry of the building and paid for our entry, choosing the bottomless option and paying for our coats and my purse, despite my initial protests, to be held upstairs. We were soon led into the building, away from the dining area, and downstairs. My eyes widened as I saw what he'd been so excited about.

In front of me was a giant ball pit, a ball pit with a bar no less. "No way..." I whispered, looking up at Dan excitedly.

"Yep, we get an hour in here, an hour of bottomless spaghetti and meatballs, and an hour of drinks at the bar upstairs," Dan grinned.

"Oh my god," I grinned. "This is the best special date ever!"

"Oh, this is only the first stop," Dan smiled.

"What?" I asked. "What else do you have planned?"

"It's a surprise," Dan said. "For now, let's just enjoy ourselves like the dorks we are!"

I laughed and nodded as Dan and I raced into the ball pit. I quickly found that my lack of height in comparison to Dan put me at a great advantage for hiding in the balls and making sneak attacks. "Get wrecked!" I called out as I hit Dan with yet another ball and dove underneath the balls again.

"Ah!" Dan cried out, searching for me. "Curse your sudden yet inevitable betrayal!"

I popped my head up out of the sea of balls, my grin quickly disappearing as I saw that I'd somehow managed to end up right in front of Dan. I quickly dove away as he grabbed for me. Though I soon found myself struggling and laughing as he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me back to the surface of the ball pit. "Nooo!" I cried out as Dan held me and began picking up balls and dropping them on me, one after another. "Release me, you fiend!"

"Never!" Dan laughed, pulling me closer.

"Oh my god, you two are so cute together!"

A/N: DUN DUN DUN! Also, BallieBallerson is a real place I found when researching, "fun restaurants in London." I really to visit London even more now. But alas... I live in America and do not have the funds for such things ;-;