When Darkness Falls

Part Two

Phil was awoken by his phone vibrating next to his bed, at about 3am by his guess. It was probably someone that had forgotten about the time zones, trying to check up on him. They could be answered in the morning, Phil decided. 10 minutes or so passed, and Phil found himself unable to get back to sleep. He was going to have to check who had texted him, just to put his mind at rest. Groggily putting on his glasses, Phil lifted his phone and first of all glanced at the time. Just after 3am. Great.

However, the feelings of annoyance quickly passed as he read the text.

'From: Dan Howell

I know you're probably asleep, but if you're not could you maybe come to my room ASAP? If you don't see this until the morning then don't worry about it.'

Phil mentally kicked himself a hundred times over. Of course Dan had been annoyed at the room change! Of course this was a big deal to him! Phil felt like such an idiot thinking about it. How could he have forgotten how much Dan hated sleeping alone? Not to mention how scared he was of the dark!

Still shouting inwardly at himself, Phil rubbed his eyes and forced himself out of bed, the fact that it was the small hours of the morning totally forgotten.

Dan lay in bed for a good 20 minutes after texting Phil, before deciding that his friend must be asleep. Honestly, he didn't blame him at all. He was exhausted, which was understandable after their journey from London to LA. However, Dan was a little annoyed that Phil seemed to have forgotten about Dan's fear of the dark after all these years. His annoyance was forgotten quickly when there was a knock at the door. It wouldn't be Phil all this time later, surely?

Apparently it was. Dan opened the door to see his friend stood in the hallway in his pyjamas, clutching his duvet and laptop in his arms.

"Are you going to stand and stare at me or let me in?" Phil whispered with a laugh in his voice, pulling Dan back down to earth.

"Um, yeah, I was just very surprised to see you. And I'm really tired."

"That's understandable, from what I've pieced together." Phil sighed as he shut the door. "I'm so sorry Dan, I completely forget to check if you had a nightlight and were okay with being alone, I can't believe it didn't cross my mind! I know I was tired but that's no excuse to forget something so important to you. I'm so sorry, I'm a terrible friend and-"

"Phil!" Dan interrupted, a sleepy smile on his face. "You're not a terrible friend, you're the best friend I could ever want! I can't expect you to remember every little thing for every second of the day, no matter how important it may seem. You're here now and that's all that really matters!" In the middle of his short speech, Dan had removed Phil's duvet and laptop from him and placed them on the bed before enveloping his friend with a hug. "Now can we just go to sleep? We've got a busy day tomorrow..." Dan whispered, his head next to Phil's as they stood next to the bed.

"Yes, of course," Pulling out from the embrace, Phil yawned with a smile. "Get yourself settled in then, I'll move my laptop."

It took no more than a minute before Dan and Phil were each curled up in their duvets on the bed, with Phil's laptop placed across the room with the screen on a low brightness to shed some light into the otherwise pitch-black room.

"Phil," Dan murmured into the quiet room. "Can we make sure to go and buy a nightlight from somewhere tomorrow? So that you don't end up doing this every night."

Phil thought about it for a moment, but quickly came up with a different plan. "How about we get a nightlight for you, but as well as that I'll just move all my stuff to your room and stay here permanently? I'll go and sign out of my own room in the morning so that I don't have to pay for it if I'm not going to use it."

"No, Phil, you don't have to do that!"

"I might not have to, but I know I'll sleep better knowing that you're okay, and the best way for me to know is to stay with you."

"But-"

"You're not going to change my mind about this you know."

Dan sighed, admitting defeat, but he did so with a small smile on his face. "Thanks. You're the best, you know that?"

"Yeah, I know!" Dan could almost hear the grin with Phil's words, and he promptly kicked him through the duvets.

"No need to be so modest!"

Phil gave a muffled laugh, prompting Dan to halfheartedly kick him again with protests that they were going to wake everyone in the rooms around them.

"I hate you," Phil laughed quietly, still with the duvet over his mouth as he rolled towards Dan and put an arm around him sleepily.

"I hate you too," Dan replied with a grin, leaving them both in a happy silence filled only with Phil's attempts to slow his breathing and stop laughing.

"Goodnight, Philip!"

"Goodnight, Daniel."

It took everything in Phil not to laugh again, but eventually the two fell asleep, a tangled mess of limbs and duvets, and neither stirred in the slightest until morning.

--------------------------------

Well, that's it!

I hope you enjoyed this pretty short story, and if you spot any typos or mistakes please let me know! Thanks!

Sophie x