Dan is standing in the kitchen waiting for you as you walk in. He leans against the worktop and smiles at you, rubbing his hands together.
"What do you want to make, then?" he asks, yawning.
You chuckle. "Was your nap not reviving enough for you? I'm not sure... do you have any ideas?"
"Obviously not," he replies with a short sigh. "Uh... how about spaghetti bolognese? It's one of my favourites, and Phil likes it too."
"Good idea," you confirm.
Dan gets all of the ingredients out of the cupboards, which helps a lot. You may know the layout of the flat (totally not creepy), but you're still having trouble with the location of the kitchen utensils and ingredients.
You open the packet of spaghetti and take out an approximate amount for how much you'll all eat, putting it in a pan that Dan filled up with water for you. He turns on the hob, seeing as you don't really know how their oven works.
"Y/n," he says, getting your attention.
"Yeah?" You look up at him, setting the can opener down.
"There's a party tomorrow night at Zoe's house, which a few YouTubers are invited to - Phil and I included. We both talked about it earlier, and we don't really want to leave you here by yourself. Do you want to come? I'm sure Zoe wouldn't mind," he says, looking hopeful.
"Yeah, of course! Thank you," you reply with a smile. You walk over to the sink and drain the saucepan of spaghetti.
"What for?" Dan asks, puzzled.
"For being so considerate. You're both so kind," you tell him, smiling again at the thought of what Dan and Phil have done for you. You put the saucepan on the hob again and pour in the tomato sauce.
"Oh," Dan says quietly, sounding surprised. "Thank you."
You nod in acknowledgement, stirring the mixture. "You're welcome. Can you fry up some mince, please?"
"Yeah, sure," he replies, putting some mince onto a frying pan and beginning to cook it.
Phil walks into the kitchen and sniffs the air. "Mmmm... something smells good!" He peers over your shoulder, his face lighting up with joy. "Oooh, spaghetti bolognese! Thank you, guys."
"Our pleasure," you say, pleased with his reaction. He gives you a small smile as the mixture starts to bubble. After a short while, Dan puts the mince into the saucepan with the rest of the food.
"Y/n can come to the party, Phil," Dan says, leaning against the cupboards and almost slipping on the floor. He curses. "Ignore that."
"That's great!" Phil exclaims with a friendly grin in your direction. "I was hoping you could come."
"I'm looking forward to it," you say, although there is a little bit of anxiety mingled with the excitement. It's like that for most social events.
"Can you get some bowls and cutlery out, Phil?" Dan asks, to which Phil nods.
You continue stirring the pot until you deem it to be ready, dishing it out into the bowls Phil put on the worktop. He gets out drinks from another cupboard and walks off with them in his hands.
You turn the hob off and look up at Dan with a smile. "Okay... uh, have we got everything?"
"There's parmesan here if anyone wants it," he replies, getting a small container out of the cupboard.
Noticing you trying to balance the three bowls in your hands, he rushes over. "Here, let me help." Dan takes two of the bowls from you and in return hands you the parmesan, which you can easily manage.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome. Now, to the lounge!" And with that dramatic sentence, he walks off down the hallway.
*le time skip*
"This is really nice, Y/n!" Phil says between mouthfuls, smiling at you.
"Thank you," you reply, smiling back proudly and eating another forkful of the spaghetti.
Dan nods, setting his fork down momentarily and giving you a small sincere smile. "Yeah, it's really good!"
Suddenly bashful, you mumble a thank you to him and scrape the last bit of sauce away, setting your fork down on the plate. Once Dan and Phil have finished, you stack up the plates.
"Is it okay if I go and have a shower?" you ask them both. You know it's a bit of a silly question, as they won't say no, but you ask anyway.
"No," Dan says, surprising you. "Washing is forbidden." He smiles at you playfully.
You sigh over dramatically, rolling your eyes. "You know what I meant, Mr Sarcasm."
Dan grins again. "Yeah, just being stupid. Of course you can, do you want me to show you how to work it?"
"Yes, please," you reply, grateful that he offered.
"I'll load the dishwasher," Phil says with a warm smile. He stands up and gathers up the plates which wobble precariously before he adjusts them. "Thank you, Y/n." He walks to the kitchen, leaving just you and Dan in the room.
"Right, follow me," Dan says, walking down the hallway to the bathroom. You follow closely behind, trying to put a little more pressure on your sore ankle so you don't completely lose the ability to walk when it's better.
Dan points at a button on the shower, then a dial. "You press this button to start the water, then twist this dial to adjust the temperature. Oh, and you need to pull this cord to make it work," he adds, pulling on a cord that leads up to the ceiling. "Okay. Do you understand? It's not overly complicated."
You decide to mimic his actions and words to make sure you don't burn yourself alive or anything along those lines.
"So... you turn this dial to change the temperature," you say partly to yourself, pointing at the dial. "Then you press this button to start the water," you continue, pressing on the button a little too hard, it seems, as a cold spray of water is released. You let out a surprised squeak and jump back.
Dan bursts into laughter, looking at your wet hair, face and clothes. "I forgot to mention the button is a little sensitive," he manages to say while still laughing.
You try to be annoyed with him, but seeing his joyful expression makes the corners of your mouth twitch up into a smile. You begin to laugh too, for once enjoying the feeling of sharing your clumsiness with someone.
*le time skip*
Once you've finished washing, you step out of the shower onto the bathmat and dry yourself off with the towel Dan gave you. You squeeze most of the water out of your hair and look around the room for clothes to wear.
There are no clean ones in sight - you forgot to bring them in with you. You curse and hit your head softly in embarrassment.
Your old clothes are still there, but there's a massive tomato sauce stain on your top. To make everything worse, you accidentally got water on them so they're pretty much soaked.
You don't really have any option other than to wear your dirty and wet clothes while you walk to your room. It isn't ideal, but it's the best choice you have.
You pull on your clothes, cringing at the dampness of them. You unlock the door and walk out, sighing at yourself.
Dan walks past you in the hallway, obviously noticing your wet clothes. He chuckles at you and raises an eyebrow. "What happened?"
"I forgot to bring clean clothes in with me," you explain briefly. "I got these ones wet accidentally... I swear this isn't blood," you add, gesturing to the tomato sauce stain.
"You should be more careful when you murder someone," Dan jokes. Suddenly, he holds up a finger in the air. "Hey - wait here a minute." He disappears into his room.
You fiddle with your damp sleeves and shift your weight from each foot while you're waiting. A few minutes later Dan opens the door of his room again, carrying something in his hands. He tosses it at you, and you catch it with your good hand.
"Something to keep you warm," Dan says quietly, a shy smile on his face.
You look down at the pink and purple starry fabric in your hands. You recognise it immediately as his galaxy jumper. "Thank you, that's really kind."
"Don't mention it," he replies, smiling again and walking into the kitchen.
You look down at the jumper in your hand, raising it to your nose to smell it. You stop yourself halfway through because you remember how creepy that would look if anyone saw you. Instead, you suppress your excitement to wear it and walk into your room, closing the door and getting changed.
The fluffy sleeves hang over your hands, which you quite like. You close your eyes and sigh in contentment, enjoying the feeling of the warmth the jumper gives you - and the smell of Dan and the washing powder.
You walk out of your room and go down the hallway on your way the lounge. Dan comes out of the kitchen abruptly, but stops himself just before he bumps into you. He breathes out dramatically and chuckles, the cups of tea he's holding close to spilling.
"That was close," he says, obviously remembering the previous times he almost caused you to fall over. He looks down at the jumper and smiles. "It suits you. Maybe you should keep it, I don't wear it much."
Your mouth opens in shock, and you can't hide your surprise from coming through in your voice. "Really?"
Dan laughs at your enthusiasm, his brown eyes crinkling up. "Yes, really," he says sincerely. "You look good in it."
Your cheeks get hot, and you hold back a grin. "Thanks, Dan." You put your arms around him and give him a tight hug. You can hear his heart beating quickly as he starts to speak.
"Wait - can I set these down?" he asks, and you pull back from the hug. He sets the mugs of tea on the kitchen floor and opens his arms out again, inviting you in. You gladly embrace him, resting your head on his chest.
You both stay there for a few minutes, safe in each other's arms. Finally, you both pull back and smile. Suddenly, you remember something.
"Hey... we should tell Phil about what happened at the police station, just to fill him in," you tell Dan, chewing on your lip as you recall what happened earlier that day.
"Yes, of course. I think he's in the lounge, come on," he replies, carefully picking up the mugs of tea again and walking down the hallway to the lounge, with you following behind.
Dan sets the mug of tea in front of Phil and sits down on his usual spot on the sofa. He looks at you briefly as you pull a chair over from the dining table and sit down.
"Phil, we went to the police station today..."