Dan & Phil Oneshots

Picture Perfect (Part 4)

"Nnnnnngh. Nooooo." I whined as my alarm blared, a successful attempt at waking me up. I didn't want to get out of bed! It's warm. Safe. And it didn't make me have a crush on it and then say I reminded it of its brother. Ok, yes, that was the only reason why I didn't leap out of bed. Could you blame me? Unfortunately, as much as I would have loved to be a lazy potato all day, I had a job. That gave me money. So I could have a place to put my bed so I could sleep in it. See how life is so cruel!

Well, I decided that if I couldn't be naturally motivated to go to work, I would take a trip to Starbucks and grab a coffee and a bagel before work. A little something to get me through the day. It took a while for me to get dressed and scrub my teeth with a toothbrush, but I eventually made it out the door.

Starbucks was jam packed, but it didn't take too long to get what I wanted. A nice blueberry bagel with cream cheese and a chai latte. I know I said I wanted coffee, but it sounded good once I saw someone drinking it, ok? Anyway, I reluctantly drove to the studio and finished off my food and beverage before going in, thankfully minimizing the risk of more drink-related accidents.

Except, no one was there.

"Umm, hello?" Nothing. Zip. Zero. Nada. Not a single living soul in that building. There was a note, however, right where I stood. I bent over and picked it up, inspecting it and finding that it had an address messily scribbled onto it. Welp, guess it's back to the car I go!

~

Traffic was terrible, but I don't need to tell you all about it. It turned out that the address was one of a pool. A rather nice pool at that. I walked in and, since it was still rather early in the morning, wasn't surprised to see no one but my coworkers there. "Ah, good! You're here!" Lucy called out from where she stood with the wardrobe manager. I'd only met him once or twice, but I liked his work. "Hi, Mr. Schriener! How are you?" I asked once I got closer to them. "Fine, fine. I've got your swimsuit and jacket ensemble on the rack over there, Dan, or should I call you Makoto. They're allowing us to use the locker rooms, so take those in there and get dressed." I nodded and took the clothes, smiling at the fact that I instantly recognized the Iwatobi Swim Club style.

I pushed open the door to the locker rooms and found myself face-to-face with Phil, the last person I wanted to see today. He looked shocked, but smiled oh so cheerfully soon after. "Why, hello, Dan! How are you?" I mumbled that I was good and brushed past him, eager to just change and get today over with. "Dan, what's wrong? You don't seem very cheerful." I shook my head and insisted I was fine, hoping it would be enough to get him to leave me alone. It worked, but I didn't feel great about it.

~

"C'mon, guys! Get closer. No one's going to bite each other, so just work with me here!" We were in the pool now, jackets abandoned and hair soaking wet. I internally cringed as Phil wrapped his arms around me as I propped myself against the edge of the pool. The closeness, his fake, love-struck gaze he had, everything! Why did life taunt me by getting the guy I like to brother-zone me while we're in the middle of doing romantic photo shoots?

"Dan. Please? You're so...distant." I sighed and shook my head before mimicking the gaze he had. "That look isn't real, Dan. The past three days, you were doing that look effortlessly. Now it looks like someone had to pay you $250 to do that." "Way to figure out my daily salary." Phil took a deep breath and closed his eyes and fixing a sharp gaze onto me. "Look. I don't know what happened, but I'm trying to fix it. Why can't you just tell me what happened?"

"YOU SAID I WAS LIKE YOUR BOTHER! THAT'S WHAT FREAKING HAPPENED!" And I pushed him away, pulled myself out of the water, and stomped off into the locker rooms. Sitting down on the nearest bench, I began mashing my teeth together as I fought back the tears threatening to spill. No way was I going to cry again. I cry too often. It's a bad habit of mine ever since I was a little kid. However, they did spill once I heard the door open. "Dan." But it wasn't Phil's voice that spoke, no. 

It was Kade's.

I turned my head and watched as he walked over to me, sitting down about a foot away from me on the same bench. "What happened?" I contemplated lying to him, but I realized no matter how creative my story was, it wouldn't fit what I yelled to Phil. So, I told him.

"Aw, Dan. I'm sorry. But, don't you think you're overthinking this a bit?" I shook my head, insistent on the fact that Phil thought of me only as a brother. "Really? Well, I think you are." I shook my head again. "Geez, you're a tough nut to crack. Ok. What if I told you Phil always comes up to me as soon as he arrives asking if you're here yet?" I shrugged. "Or how about when he always gets this super-excited smile on his face when you enter the room?" I raised and eyebrow and looked pointedly at him.

"Or how about when my heart beats quicker whenever I look at you?"

We both turned around to see Phil, who was leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed. He nodded to Kade and waited while he stood up, patted me on the back, and walked out of the locker room. Then, Phil began to slowly walk over to me. "Or how about how my hands always get clammy right before we take pictures?" He stood in front of me. "Or how I admired how toned you where when I was helping you clean up after landing in the puddle of coffee?" He took my hands and pulled me up to where I was standing very close to him. "Or how much I desperately want to come to work every day just to see your smiling face?"

"But, I'm still confused." "Don't be," he said as he pulled me into a hug and started rocking us back and forth. "I did not intend to hurt you when I said you reminded me of my brother. I swear! I just didn't want to blow my chances with you, and I was nervous. Really nervous. And when I get nervous, I say stupid stuff. Did you know hippo milk is pink?"

I pulled back just enough to raise my eyebrows. "Ok, I'm sorry. Yet another fine example of me being nervous." He moved my head so it was back against his -bare, might I add- chest and continued to rock us. "I'm sorry, Dan. I'm sorry for being so unclear and for hurting you. Is there any way you could forgive me?"

I nodded and whispered "of course" before pulling him even tighter to me. He did just the same, and for the next few minutes, we stood cuddling and rocking in the pool locker rooms. "You ready?" he asked eventually. "Yea, thank you." "Of course."

~

"There you guys are! Dan, I swear, don't run off again, ok!?" I nodded sheepishly at Lucy, who was well near having a fit. Kade was right behind her and shot me a smile and a wink before running off to where the wardrobe manager was. Lucy then practically shoved us back into the water and ordered the camera and lighting crew to set up again and continue the shoot.

We resumed the same position we had originally, except this time, it was way more comfortable. Our smiles were genuine, our closeness was soothing and exciting, and our eyes were only on each other. I moved away from the edge of the pool and wrapped my arms around Phil's neck, cuddling up to him as the cameras flashed around us.

"You're very warm, Phil." He laughed and replied with "Well, my mom always said I'm the equivalent of a portable heater." I pulled back a bit and rested my forehead against his, relishing the cool blue of his eyes as they gazed into mine. "You have green and yellow in your eyes. I never really noticed." He smiled and batted them a few times. "Well, I guess there's still a lot about each other we don't know."

"Yes. Yes there is."

~

The rest of the morning vanished in a blur, which was what I had hoped for when I first woke up. However, now that the tension between Phil and I has been cleared, the morning went by too fast for my liking. I was hoping we could hang out after the shoot, but Phil said he had to drive to his mom's house and dog-sit for her. So, I said my goodbyes to Phil, Kade, and the crew, and went to my car.

I was about to pull out of my parking spot when a rapid tapping on my window stopped me. I rolled it down, allowing Phil to thrust his cell phone at me and hurriedly say "I forgot to ask you to give me your number!" So, at the end of the day, I was no longer brother-zoned, I was chlorine-logged, and I gave my number to Phil. All I can say is that was not how I thought my day was going to go!

A/N: Hey guys! I can see that many of you are reading my work, so if you like it, feel free to comment and vote! I am extremely grateful you guys are reading it, but this way I can give you a shout out and thank you for reading my work.