Let Me In

Phil had been in the bathroom for over an hour now and Dan was 95% sure he had drowned in the toilet. He decided to go check on him. Walking up the stairs, Dan sighed, preparing for whatever his boyfriend was up to this time. But before he could even reach the bathroom, he heard Phil’s voice call his name.

‘’Dan, help! I’m stuck!’’ The man frowned. Did Phil really fall into the toilet? But that was too stupid, even for clumsy Phil. Loud knocking could be heard from the other side of the bathroom door as Dan stopped in front of it.

‘’You okay there, Phil?’’, he asked hesitantly. He wasn’t entirely sure if he really wanted to know what had happened.

‘’The door won’t open! I’ve been trying to get out of here for the past twenty minutes.’’, Phil said with a slight hint of panic in his voice.

‘’Should I break it down?’’, the younger man asked, receiving an immediate reply from the other side of the door.

‘’No! I don’t want to have to get another bathroom door. I know we have more than enough money but it’s always so much trouble. First, we’ll forget to buy a new door and when we finally do get one, we’ll procrastinate like we usually do. It will take us ages to finally get our lazy butts up and change the door. Also, look how clean it is. And think of all the memories we’ve made with it, too. Like that one time when-‘’

‘’I get it, Phil, I get it. No breaking down doors, I understand.’’, Dan interrupted, sighing in defeat.

‘’So what’s your plan on getting you out of there, then?’’, he asked, slowly sitting down on the floor in front of the bathroom door.

‘’I don’t know, I wouldn’t have needed to call for help if I did.’’, Phil replied, sounding slightly annoyed and less panicked.

He had been hoping that his boyfriend would know how to get him out of there but it seemed like Phil had forgotten how helpless Dan was in situations like this. After ten more minutes of walking around the small room, looking for a way to get out, Phil decided that he would be stuck in there forever, so he sat down with his side pressed against the door. Dan had been trying to cheer him up by distracting him and telling him bad jokes, but it obviously hadn’t worked. Phil hadn’t even listened to what his boyfriend had been saying. And now, all he could think of was that he wanted to hold him in his arms. It was getting incredibly frustrating and Phil could already feel his eyes burning, letting him know that tears would soon follow. He sniffled quietly, lightly banging his head against the door once. The sound of that made Dan look up immediately.

‘’Phil, are you crying?’’, he asked, biting his lip because he couldn’t deal with people crying. He never knew what to do, especially when it was Phil, because it always made Dan cry, too. He’d never been good at dealing with people when they were crying. It was overwhelming him and made him sad.

‘’No, no. Don’t cry, love. It’s late now so I can’t call anyone for help, but I will in the morning. First thing I do, promise. But please don’t cry, I’ll stay here with you all night and talk to you until you can sleep. We can tell each other stories?’’, Dan suggested, hoping his boyfriend would like the idea.

‘’B-but you can’t sleep on the floor. It’s cold and uncomfortable and boring and-‘’

‘’So is the bathroom floor. And don’t worry, I won’t get bored talking to you.’’, the younger man replied.

‘’It will be fun.’’, he promised. There was a moment of silence and a muffled sniffle, then an agreeing hum coming from the other side of the door. Dan smiled a little at how cute his boyfriend was. If only he could hug him and cuddle him now.

‘’Remember Halloween 2009?’’, he started softly. He heard another sniffle, then a small giggle.

‘’Yes, of course I remember.’’ A smile was audible in Phil’s voice as he replied.

‘’We were together the entire time, it was the first time we went out together properly. And you kept grabbing my hand and putting your arm around me.’’, he said, recalling the memories.

‘’And then we sat by the fountain and held hands. We didn’t care about the other people there. It was just the two of us, watching the stars together.’’, Dan added, resting his head against the door. He glanced at the open door of his room, considering getting his duvet. But as Phil was in the uncomfortable bathroom without his own duvet, Dan decided it wouldn’t be fair if he had his. He looked back at the door.

‘’Remember when it was snowing so much and we went into the abandoned hospital?’’, he asked.

‘’I do. And you had your fluffy hat on.’’, Phil remembered, his smile widening.

‘’I’m glad I was wearing that hat, it was really cold. But when we went back outside and you lay next to me in the snow and kissed me, I didn’t care about how cold it was anymore. All I cared about was you and that still hasn’t changed.’’, Dan chuckled softly.

‘’Remember on the big wheel in Manchester when you kissed me? My heart did that flippy over excited thing. It had never done that before I met you. And you still make it happen every time you’re near me.’’, Phil said.

‘’Is it happening right now?’’, Dan wanted to know.

‘’Yes. I can feel the butterflies having a huge party in my stomach. You make them do this.’’, the black haired man said, gently placing a hand on his chest, feeling his fast heartbeat and this warm, tingly feeling that he always felt when he was with Dan. It was calming Phil down and he sighed happily as he let his eyelids drop.

Dan continued talking about memories. Old ones, new ones, funny ones, the ones that made him feel happier than he had ever felt before, until he heard soft snores from the other side of the door. He chuckled quietly.

‘’Goodnight, bear. I love you so much.’’, he whispered and it didn’t take long for him to fall asleep as well. That night, they both had a warm smile on their lips and happy dreams about their favourite memories together. And in the morning, Phil woke up to realize that the door had just been locked the entire time and he had forgotten to unlock it. When his joyful shouting woke Dan up, he told him about how he had gotten out and they both could just laugh and hold each other close, because one night without any hugs and cuddles was really difficult, wasn’t it?

Months later, Dan still teases Phil with what they refer to as the ‘bathroom incident’. But that’s okay because Phil loves Dan and Dan loves his Phil.