Tales from the Multiverse

Hey, Moon - Dan Howell

"Hey, moon, please forget to fall down..."

Dan's hand twirls a lock of your hair around his finger absentmindedly. It's late, long past midnight. It's Dan's last night in town before he leaves for America for several weeks. Well, not just America, he's going to America, then Paris, Germany, Italy, Dubai, Ireland, and only then would he return home for a short respite before heading to Australia and New Zealand for another week. You wouldn't get him back for a long while. You'd been talking, but after awhile both voices had slowly faded out to be replaced by drowsy silence.

The soft light of the fairy lights string over your bed play delicately over Dan's face, casting some of his features into light shadows. His fingers run through your hair lazily, his brown eyes glassy in a million-mile stare. You button and unbutton the collar of his shirt, pushing the little plastic circle in and out of its slit. The actions of your hands beat evidence of that mechanical repetition which takes over the body when exhaustion settles in.

"Dubai is a long ways away," you note.

"The amount of distance won't change how it feels to be separate," Dan responds. His voice is deep and husky.

Button, unbutton. "I know."

He sighs lightly. "I'll be back after Paris for a few days, and after Italy and Dubai. I'll probably only be gone a month, tops, with breaks in between." The side of his hand pushes the hair away from your face gently. "You'll hardly notice I'm gone."

"I'll notice," you assure him. Button, unbutton.

"I'll call you every night."

"You don't have to do that." Button, unbutton. "You'll be busy, and tired, and the time difference will drive us both bonkers."

Dan twists a piece of hair around and around his finger. "I'll make time."

"Don't. You'll annoy me," you tell him.

The corner of his mouth twitches up in a tiny smile. "Bullshit."

You lift your eyes from his shirt collar to his face. "You're a prick."

He leans forward, closing the space between your faces and touching his forehead against yours. "I love you, too," he mumbles, his warm breath puffing down the bridge of your nose and rolling across your cheeks. His eyelids droop closed almost drunkenly.

You pull your hands away from his collar and rest them on his chest. The heat of his skin radiates through the fabric of his shirt. The familiar feeling comforts and upsets you at the same time.

Dan pulls the duvet over your bodies without jostling you too much and you both feel the tendrils of sleep lulling you into darkness.

"I'm gonna have to sleep with a space heater while you're gone," you remark, nestling closer to Dan's chest. He chuckles softly, deep in his chest, and you can feel his ribcage buzz with the vibrations.

His arms loop loosely around your waist, one hand relaxed at the small of your back. Finally, you let your eyes close, because surely it will be fine. Surely nothing, not even the morning, could touch the pair of you, hidden under the glow of the fairy lights.

"I'll call. Every night."

You're almost too drowsy to work up a reply to his half-conscious mumble, but you manage, just for him.

"Good."