Supine 'til Aurora • Dan Howell

• Chapter 11 •

"Get up you lazy toad." Oliver leapt on me, elbowing me in the chest, "It's Christmas day. How the hell can you still be asleep at 10:30 on Christmas?" He exclaimed, pushing himself up from the bed and pouting at me.

"Like this." I murmured, slumping down into the bed and mock snoring loudly at him.

"Get up." He yelled this time, clapping his hands fanatically with both syllables, "I want breakfast."

"Alright, alright." I replied, yawning as I pried my body away from the warm covers.

Heading into the kitchen, I made some tea and poured some cereal for myself, watching as Oliver chowed down on some toast.

It wasn't exactly the most Christmas-sy breakfast, but it was what we did every year. At 4 we begin to cook our Christmas dinner, and that takes so long that by the time it's ready we're totally up for eating the burned potatoes and charred parsnips that Oliver persuades me each year he's gotten better at cooking; and each year he hasn't.

After finishing breakfast, we head into the living room, and open the few presents we got for eachother.

Oliver bought me a white fluffy jumper which I loved the moment I saw it, a beautiful silver necklace and some fudge, and he adored the presents I got him.

At around 1, we skyped with Dan and Phil. We set the laptop up so you could see the small Christmas tree in the background, and out the window to see the rampant snowfall outside.

"And then, Phil got me this." Dan held up a hairbrush with a huge llama face printed on it with felt ears that stuck out which earnt a cheeky laugh from Phil.

"It's perfect for you." He defended, taking it from Dan and wiggling the ears around.

"Definitely is perfect." I laughed, watching Phil attempting to brush Dan's hair.

By the time the end of the day had rolled around, we were huddled on the sofa watching Netflix on my laptop and eating salted peanuts out a huge bowl.

"This was a great Christmas day." Oliver hummed, clearly beginning to get tired already.

"I know." Agreeing, I popped another peanut in my mouth.

"And I can't wait to go to England."

I thought about the short skype call earlier, and about how I'd see Dan in person again soon, but mostly about how it had only been just over a month since I'd last seen him, but it had felt like years.

○○○

Before I knew it the few days that Oliver was here for passed, and it was the night before we left for London.

I sat in my room, pulling various piles of clothes into my suitcase, making sure all the toiletries I needed were in the clear bag, and charging everything I needed for the flight.

With it already being 9 o'clock, and us needing to get up at 3 am, I decided I really needed to head to bed. Oliver had already crashed down onto the couch after having finished packing up his stuff, and so with nothing else to do, I pulled the suitcase over to the bedroom door so that it was quick and easy to pick up and go, and then go into bed.

I was asleep within the hour, and awake within 5, hearing clanging noises echoing from the kitchen.
Glancing over at the clock I saw it was 2am.

As my eyes adjusted, I slipped out of bed and into the kitchen, switching the light on next to me to see Oliver making coffee.

"What are you doing up an hour early?" I asked, "Besides making a crap ton of noise?"

"Sorry. I couldn't sleep so I thought I may as well get up."