A Kiss Under the Stagelights || Phan

Giving the People What They Want

*Phil's POV*

"Dan help, I can't see."

"Phil, the lights aren't on."

"Oh yeah! By the way, what is an introvert?"

"Someone who gets energy from being alone, as opposed to a social situation, interacting with people."

The stagelights flashed on, and the crowd erupted with screams, as I felt the familiar heat of the lights beating down on my face, as my eyes adjusted to to my surroundings: the glowing red I's on both sides of stage, the rotating white lasers reflecting throughout the arena, and the main focus: the fans.

There was about 3,000 of them, and my ears were ringing with the enourmous roar emitting from them, almost loud enough to make me take a step back. The blinding lights penetrated through the darkness straight to us, and I could feel the eyes of all of the arena staring. I widened my eyes and flinched, which was only part acting. No matter how many shows Dan and I would perform, this part would never get old.

"Hey guys!" I waved, setting a whole new ripple of screams from the crowd.

"Hello...real life!" I heard Dan's voice next to me, which reminded me that I wasn't alone.

You would think that because we've done this hundreds of times I'd get used to it, but the thrill of the first moments on stage always sets off my nerves, and I could practically hear my heart racing. Maybe, if the crowd wasn't so loud, I could.

"So what're we doing here?" I flickered my eyes around the arena, waiting for Dan to deliver the punchline.

He took a step forward, stretching out his arms to the audience. "GIVING THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT, PHIL!"

If I thought the crowd couldn't get any louder, I was wrong. Right after he said that, they erupted in even more screams and cheers, their shrieks echoing around the building.

Dan and I launched into action: we explained what we would (not) do, read submissions from fans roasting the both of us, played Truth Bombs, and did some Q&A.

After some rather interesting Q&As, Dan stood up and exclaimed, "Since the main theme of the show is 'Giving the People What They Want' we decided to do what you guys-," he pointed to the crowd, "-want us to to do."

I nodded in agreement, and began to get up with him to follow through with the next event until I heard a distinct voice from the crowd shout, "KISS!"

I froze, and looked at Dan, who gave me a knowing "ignore it" look. A huge majority of our fandom ships Phan, so we knew something like this would happen at at least a few of our shows.

I got up, hoping no one would have noticed, but they did. The voice gets bigger.

"KISS! KISS! KISS!" It went from being one person into about a 1/3 of the arena chanting. The panicked feeling in my stomach grows, along with the volume of the chant.

Dan chuckled nervously, and I could see he was trying to find a way to make them stop. For some reason, a small part of me didn't want them to. A large part of me wanted to kiss Dan, but not here. Not in front of all the fans.

"I don't think we're doing that kind of show tonight, Phil," he looked over at me, shrugging his shoulders. It was obvious he was desperately trying to improv his way out of this.

"I don't know, Dan." I took a step closer to him. The chanting had taken over about half of the arena now, and they took our acknowlegement to it as encouragement. I could hear the shouts of the fans intensify every second, along with the beating of my already-racing heart.

"This show is about giving the people what they want," I gestured to them, making the commotion increase immediately, the sound echoing around the room. The lights beating down on my face began to get hotter, and I could feel my face turning pink.

I made my way across the stage to him, feeling the eyes of 3,000 people on me. It was Dan's turn to freeze. He looked at me, a smile frozen onto his face, his eyes screaming, What are you doing?!

What was I doing? I could feel the adrenaline pumping through my veins, and my head was telling me to stop, to turn around right now and continue the show, regardless of what was now the whole arena cheering and chanting for us to kiss. But I knew they wouldn't stop, and I dismissed every logical thought swimming through my mind and decided to go with my heart. Now or never, right?

I was now right next to Dan, dead center on the stage. I turned to him, inches away from his face, which was now staring at me, his eyes wide with wonder, having no idea what I was doing. I had no idea what I was doing.

I stared right back into his warm brown eyes, my stomach doing the familar flips I felt whenever I looked into them. Was I really going to do this?

I pushed every doubting thought out of my head, and placed my hand onto his cheek, brushing his curls away. I titled my head slightly, and then closed my eyes and pressed my lips to his.

Time slowed.

I could hear the crowd's screams skyrocket. It was even louder than at the beginning, with twice as much volume and excitement.

Even as the room's volume got louder, I could barely hear it. Everything around me began to disappear, and I didn't care about anything but him.

His lips were soft, and fit perfectly with mine. The thousands of thoughts I had vanished in a split second. I had no doubt about what I was doing, and the constant yearning I had for him was utterly fulfilled.

I suddenly felt Dan's hand touch my lower back, and he began to finally kiss me back, confirming that he felt the same way.

They aren't lying when they say it feels like you're the only two people in the world.

The roar of the crowd turned into a distant echo. I felt as if I was floating, away from the stage, far away from here. All that I knew was him, and me, kissing under the stagelights.

I had no idea how many seconds had gone by when he finally broke away. I began to regain my consciousness of what was around me, and what I was doing. The anxiety barely had enough time to return as I heard a flicker of a switch.

Everything went black.