Phan Oneshots

A Dance With Death

Summary: Dan is the God of Death, who helps people to the Underworld when they pass. One day, he randomly pops up at a masquerade ball for Prince Philip's coming of age ceremony. He doesn't know why he is there, but it's hard to focus on his job when the prince asks him to dance.
Word Count: 7,191
Warnings: character death, blood, graphic depictions of dying (happy ending)
A/N: Many thanks to Haley for this WONDERFUL idea! I just kinda took this idea and ran with it, and now it's far too long. As you can see, this does have character death in it. BUT, it is a happy ending. I mean, Dan's the God of Death, what do you expect? Also thank you to Jillian and Elizajane for helping me develop this fic, and thank you to Hannah for betaing this for me :') love u all

EDIT: Haley has made some wonderful art for this fic, so go check out her blog and like it at haleykinz on tumblr :D

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Dan has a guilty pleasure.

It's a weird one, that's for sure, something that most people like him don't have any desire for. But he can't seem to help it, honestly. He likes the way people move around him, how they laugh and dance and genuinely don't care about anything else in the world. He likes the way girls' dresses flow as they twirl and the way men wear little bow ties around their necks. Hell, sometimes girls wear bowties, and Dan likes that too.

And for a single moment, nobody thinks about death.

Masquerade dances are the perfect excuses for Dan to be himself. Well, kind of.

He's dead. He's been dead for thousands of years, in fact. He is a creature of the underworld, one made of bone and paper-thin flesh that he can mould to his liking. He have s changed his appearance sometimes, just because he could. Once, he had found himself moulding into Shrek and had laughed for a good three weeks before deciding to change it up.

His current appearance was one that he'd taken quite a liking to. He looked human. As human as someone without a soul could look, at least. He had dark brown eyes and curly brown hair to match. His skin was pale, because he was dead of course, and there were two dimples in his cheeks when he smiled. He towered over other humans, but he kind of liked it, and he wore black because he was dead, damn it.

To some, he was known as the devil. To others, he was known as death. But to Dan? He was Dan. Just a guy who accompanied those who passed on their journey to the Underworld. He made sure that they didn't get lost, like the fumbling babies they truly were upon dying, made sure that they didn't get stuck in Purgatory, and for God's sake, don't drink the water, Susan.

That's why Dan liked masquerade balls so much. He liked how nobody knew who he was, how nobody paid attention to death staring them right in the face. He liked the life that flitted around the room, and he definitely liked the punch that made his brain rattle in his skull.

He thought he looked particularly snazzy that night. His hair wasn't as frizzy as normal and actually had some defined curls, which was nice. A black mask covered his face, one decorated with rubies and had roses crawling up the sides. It perched upon his nose like a bird and he liked the protection it gave him. He was wearing an all-black tux as well, including a black undershirt and a black bow tie. He wore a black cloak just because he could, because he was Death, and he was extra, damn it.

He looked like Death himself. Pun intended.

He didn't have to worry about whether or not he was invited, because he could just say a name and have it pop up on the list. Being a person of the Underworld had it's perks, he supposed.

Today was one of the days where Dan popped up at a masquerade dance without expecting it. Normally, whenever somebody was close to death, he would just pop up somewhere and he'd have to wait for a little bit to know who was actually going to pass, and today was one of those times.