Stay With Me | Danisnotonfire x Reader

Chapter 13

"How's Paris so far?"

You tapped out a quick response to Nathan's text. The weather was dreary and grey, but it felt like it was going to be a good day.

Going through the other apps on your phone, you decided to check up on Twitter. Per usual a few hundred notifications waved at you from people commenting on your book and upcoming meet and greet. You smiled at their excited words, once again feeling appalled at how people would leave their homes to see you.

Then a particular mention caught your eye. It was a tweet with a picture of you and Dan in Starbucks. Particularly Dan's tall frame took up most of the point of view and only a side view of your head was visible. The tweet read "Spotted: @danisnotonfire and @(your Twitter username) celebrating fall in Starbucks". While you chuckled at the description, you also felt apprehensive about its implications. It raised many questions about how much you liked Dan, how much the public would be privy to your relationship with him, and how Phil would feel about the situation.

Speaking of Phil, you looked over at the blanket caterpillar with a flop of black hair on the bed. Your eyebrows furrowed in concern and you got up to check on him. "Phil, are you--"

"Hey, there's nothing to do when you're getting sick." Phil justified himself as continued to browse a Wikipedia article on dogs.

"Not that I don't care about Phil, but I'm getting hungry." Dan commented over his phone scrolling. His pointed hood was up, adding onto the mischief of his comment. "Do you want to get food? We can get take out for your dear sick brother."

"Hey, you make it sound like I'm dying."

You patted Phil on the head. "See you soon, dear brother. Hang in there while we're out." You laughed as he protested then went to grab a coat and purse.

You and Dan continued to the lift and stepped in once it arrived. The interior walls of the lift were made of mirrors, reflecting a Dan that was glued to his phone and you who looked much smaller next to him. Studying Dan's reflection, you noticed that he slouched slightly and had his phone raised as if about to take a picture.

"Say cheese," he announced and barely gave you enough time to pose. He swiped through his phone a few times then leaned close to you.

The scent of his cologne drifted to your nose. A reminder of white wood and mint. Perhaps even a hint of pumpkin spice. You bit your lip to avoid laughing. "What is it?" Your smile came through your question.

He held up his phone to you and revealed a picture of you sleeping. You were curled up on the plane seat with Dan's jacket draped over your small form.

The lift dinged as it reached the ground floor.

Dan chuckled, "Lel bae caught me sleeping."

Before you could smack his arm he trotted out of the lift and left you with playful aghast.

He called out from the lobby, "You coming?"

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"Let's share a crepe," Dan nudged you lightly with his elbow.

Your eyes followed the pouring of the crepe batter onto the stone-like stove top. You licked your lips and looked up at him. "Feed me."

He chuckled at your response and proceeded to order the crepe in French. "Puis-je, s'il vous plait avoir un?" His pronunciations sounded jagged as the teeth of animatronics.

"You speak French?" You continued to watch as the baker gracefully spread the batter in a circle on the stove top.

"Technically I did just now. But otherwise no. I duolingo-ed that."

A slight sizzle sounded as the baker shuffled the circular tan solid around and folded it nearly into a triangle. She tucked the crepe into a sheet of to-go wrapper and handed it to you.

You thanked her then stuck your tongue out at Dan. "Maybe you should paint me like one of your French girls."

It was now your turn to leave Dan confused and amused. Your ankle boots clacked against the cobblestone as you searched for an empty bench. A wooden bench underneath a leafless tree caught your eye. You made a beeline for it with Dan following after he paid for the crepe. Once seated you admired how the steam emitted from the warm crepe. It was like seeing your breath on a cold day.

"You should feed me some of that," Dan commented with his hands stuffed in his hoodie. "My hands are too cold in this weather."

You rolled your eyes. "Very smooth." You held up the crepe to his open mouth. Right before he took a bite you pulled it away and grinned. "Gotta be fast like Sonic."

"Did you educate yourself in memes?" The pitch in his voice went up in astonishment. "I don't recall you originally being so knowledgeable in this field."

You held up the crepe again and allowed him to take a bite. "Well I'm hanging with the meme lord. Or an actual meme. There's many ways of looking at this." You took a bite of the crepe and groaned in satisfaction. "This is so good."

"I'm glad that you're enjoying it." He smiled and leaned in for another bite.

You caught another whiff of his cologne. The slight wind blew the scent away from you. "Hey Dan, you've mentioned that you've been here before? When did you go?"

He swallowed his bite and looked out at the park in front of you. "I went in high school with my girlfriend at the time. I was about maybe sixteen at the time?" He shivered at a slight breeze and scooted closer to you. "Do you mind?"

It clicked from the look he gave that he meant more than just the physical close proximity between you two. You took another bite from the crepe and held it up to him. "No." A pause. "I have to tell you that Nathan is an ex from uni. That happened a long time ago and there's nothing to worry about as well."

Dan chuckled then turned to face you. "Now that we got the awkward exes conversation out of the way, how about dinner tomorrow night?"

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A/N: And here we see a playful Dan! (He was so playful in the latest baking video!!) Apologizes for the late chapter. I made it longer to make up for it. Midterms are now over but my depression has returned and it's making it difficult to write. I still plan for updates to be every other week, but please bear with me.