Hold On, I'll See You Again

Oh No

"Dan?" "Oh no." "Dan? What's wrong?" I turned around to look where he was looking, and I saw him staring at a table of three people: a mother, a father, and their son. It would've been completely normal had the son not looked like Dan at 16 years old. I turned back to him. "Do you want to leave?" "...No. Just don't turn around or make eye contact with them. I can't be seen." We ordered our food and drinks shortly afterwards, and I attempted to make small talk with Dan to keep him distracted. "Dan. Are you really ok?" "No, but let's not leave. We've ordered food, so it's too late." I would've disagree, but I didn't want to further upset Dan. We sat there in silence, talking every so often until Dan's dad got up and walked in our direction. Dan kept his eyes locked on me the entire time, and as his dad passed, he shivered a bit. I saw his dad turn and look at us, but he continued walking to where the restrooms were. "Gone." Dan sighed and visibly relaxed as the moment passed. Until of course his dad came back and approached us. "Well well, if it isn't everyone's favorite gay-boy." "Stop it. You're not wanted here Mr. Howell." "And who might you be? Did Danny finally get a boyfriend after all these years?" "Stop it," Dan yelled. At this point, we were attracting some attention from the nearby tables, including the table that Dan's mom and brother sat at. I turned around slightly to see Dan's brother staring at us, frightened. "Don't you yell at me, Dan. You do not yell at your parents." "You aren't my father you homophobic idiot. You haven't been for the past few years!" At this point, Mr. Howell's face was turning a dark shade of red as Dan fired insult after insult at him. The pent up anger from the past few years pouring out of Dan's mouth as we sat in the now silent pub.

After Dan finished his rant, Mr. Howell stood silently glaring at Dan. He slowly walked away, but before we could breathe a collective sigh of relief, he came back and slapped Dan clean across the face, loud enough to where the whole restaurant could hear. Immediately, I jumped up and pulled Mr. Howell, now cursing up a storm at Dan, away from the table as waiters and waitresses swarmed us to help hold him back. They immediately threw him and the rest of Dan's family out of the pub, but I managed to make eye contact with them one last time as they were leaving to give them the middle finger. No, I don't regret it. Immediately, our waiter came up to us saying that our food was on the house since we didn't cause the fight, and that the "others" would be banned from this restaurant for life. We sat back down a little more relaxed, through Dan was still shaken and he now had a red mark on his cheek. Our waiter came back with an ice pack and our food and drinks. Dan asked if he could have a beer, and our waiter said of course, and it would also be on the house. "Make that two, please." I added. Dan smiled at me as our waiter walked away. "Thank you, Phil." "Of course. I can't stand to see anyone hurt you, let alone your parents. As soon as we get back, I am giving you the best cuddles you've had." "Haha. I can't wait Phil." We then ate more comfortably, drank our drinks, thanked our waiter, and left.

I drove us home, seeing that Dan was still shaken after the incident. Once we arrived, we unpacked all of my stuff, locked the car, and hauled it into my room. I then shut the door and pulled Dan onto my bed. I got up to put in my Free! anime season 1 DVD, and I joined him on the bed. I pulled him to my chest as the episode began, and by the time we finished season 1, Dan was fast asleep. I carefully laid Dan down beside me so I could turn off the TV and brush my teeth. I turned off the lights and laid back down in bed, giving Dan some space since I didn't know if he was ok with this. Dan groaned and pulled me towards him so that we were now facing each other and cuddling. He tucked his head under my chin and resumed peacefully sleeping. I tilted my head down and kissed his forehead before I soon drifted off into possibly the best sleep I've ever had.