Happy Birthday, Dil!

A Star is Born...

It was late March when Phil began to notice there was something different about Dan. He’d been quiet lately, but that was nothing new. Phil was quite used to Dan’s brooding phases that usually ended up with him declaring he’d reached a new epiphany about life’s fleeting nature and the necessity of carpe-ing the diem.

 But this was different. Dan didn’t seem worried, or fearful, or contemplative — this was something softer. He was a little moody, yes, but it seemed as though multiple times a day, Phil would catch him staring out the window with a sort of dreamy smile on his face.

It was early April by the time Phil decided that Dan was definitely hiding something from him. 

They had been to the shops that afternoon, and Dan kept getting distracted by every little thing. He’d point at a display for little girls’ dresses in a window and exclaim about how cute they were. Or he’d see a harried-looking young mother chasing a recalcitrant toddler down the toy aisle and point…and sigh.

When they finally got home early that evening, Dan started off toward the kitchen to make them both a cup of hot cocoa, but Phil stopped him with a hand on his arm.

"What is it, Phil?" Dan asked, turning toward his flatmate with a surprised look.

"I think we need to talk," Phil replied, raising his eyebrows as if to suggest that Dan knew exactly what he was talking about.

To Phil’s astonishment, this made Dan blush, lower his eyes, and smile a small, secretive smile to himself.

"I guess we do," he said, then looked up into Phil’s eyes at last. "Maybe you should sit down."

Phil didn’t ask what he meant by that but instead simply allowed himself to be led up to the lounge and ushered onto the couch, his heartbeat hammering in his ears the entire time.

"Ahem," Dan cleared his throat when his best friend and lover was settled on the couch and regarding him expectantly. He himself was still standing, his fingers fidgeting in his hair and his feet not quite able to stay in one spot. "I, er, I didn’t want to tell you anything until I was sure. It just… well, it didn’t really seem possible that— What I mean is, I thought at first that maybe I was just dreaming all of this, so I wanted to be sure it was real before I got your hopes up—"

"Just spit it out already!" Phil cut him off, thinking that if Dan put this off any longer he was going to explode from anticipation.

Dan bit his lip, gave his boyfriend an apologetic smile, and then, at last, said,

"I’m pregnant."

There was a rushing sound in Phil’s ears, like the whole ocean was pouring through his brain, and truth be told, he rather felt like someone who had been dragged out to sea in a giant wave and was being spun and swirled and rolled about in the open ocean. All he could do for several seconds was just stare at the other man, mouth slightly agape and eyes gone out of focus.

Dan was standing there, his smile half gone, his coffee-colored eyes darting across Phil’s face, looking for signs of his reaction.

Then all of a sudden something clicked in Phil’s brain, and his lips split into a grin so wide it made his cheeks ache.

He was going to be a father.

All at once, he was on his feet, and his arms were going around Dan and pulling him in close against his chest, and they were both sobbing, and laughing, and Phil was pretty sure it was the best moment of his life so far.

*****************************

Things grew more difficult in May and June. Dan’s mood swings had grown so extreme that Phil thought they might give him whiplash. He’d had to give up sushi and coffee — raw fish and caffeine both being deemed dangerous for the baby — and that had done nothing to improve his moods. And on top of it all, they had gotten into a huge fight that was yet to be resolved.