There was no doubt about it that Dan and Phil had a lot of stuff. They had a lot of useless stuff. There were probably millions of things they didn't want/need. They thought nothing of it. Everyone has stuff in their houses they never get rid of, but Dan and Phil, they had too much. So, they decided on it. Deep Cleaning.
They started in the living area. Then the kitchen. Then the bathroom. Random closets. They went to every room in the house. Now, the thought of deep cleaning sounded absolutely dreadful to Dan, but somehow Phil made it work. He made a game out of it. He made it fun. Different items had point values. You would get extra points if you could make it into the rubbish bin from certain distances.
So, there they were. Surrounded by pile upon pile of trash and clothes and tons of miscellaneous junk. Dan in the hallway, Phil in both of their rooms. Dan immediately burst out laughing at the new item he found.
"Phil, I just got five points," Dan beamed.
"What? What did you find?" Phil shuffled over his piles, trying to see Dan. Dan held it up loud and proud. "What the hell is that?" Phil looked at him in horror. What Dan held up was a stuffed horse. Not just any stuffed horse, a stuffed horse the size of a microwave. The best part about this stuffed creature: instead of a normal horse head, a Shrek face took its place.
"I have absolutely no idea." Dan turned it in his hands. He wondered where it even came from. He knew it probably came from him rather than Phil, but when could he have possibly bought that? And why?
"That is not worth five points, that goes in the bin," Phil thought for a moment. "That's worth -1 because it's trash."
"What?" Dan gave Phil an offended look. "This is not just any old trash. This is high quality trash," Dan explained pridefully.
"That is not high quality trash," Phil argued.
"Oh it definitely is, Philip," Dan smiled.
"Philip? Really?" Phil rolled his eyes.
"Well, I would call you by your last name, but you ruined that opportunity." Dan narrowed his eyes at him.
"I ruined it?" Phil frowned.
"Yes you ruined it. Because if I say Howell-Lester then it wouldn't work because I'd be saying both of our last names," Dan huffed.
"Too bad you said I do instead of I don't," Phil's frown started to turn to a smile.
"Oh, I should've stopped it way before then. I should've said no instead of yes to your proposal," Dan started to smile too.
"And now look. You're stuck with me," Phil's eyes seemed to gleam.
"How tragic," Dan let out a breathy laugh.
"Seriously though, I get the points right?" Dan threw the horse-Shrek hybrid into the bin.
"For making it you can have two," Phil decided.
"I don't get any for the high quality find?" Dan pouted. "I'm giving myself more than two points," Dan argued.
"Fine, you can have two points for the find," Phil finally obliged.
"Why thank you," Dan smiled.
So, that was how their day went. Picking the rooms apart, throwing things away, putting things in storage, and putting things in different places. They were both more than happy to walk into they're perfectly clean flat after three days of hard work. Well, they were almost happy. Why wouldn't they be?
That was all until Dan was getting ready. As he was grabbing things off his dresser, he noticed something was missing. At first, he couldn't figure out what. But like a rocket out of a cannon, realization hit him. He went into a state of panic, he didn't lose it in all of his stuff did he? He looked the dresser up and down and didn't find it. But it was still there, right? It had to be. Somewhere.
"Hey, Phil?" Dan asked as he walked out of their room. He found Phil on the couch, probably editing their most recent video.
"Yeah?" Phil asked, sort of out of it.
"There was this little glass box that used to sit on my dresser, do you happen to know where it is?" Dan asked, Phil's eyes widened.
"Was it black and white with a bunch of different flowers on it?" Phil winced.
"Yeah," Dan wanted to sigh with a relief, until he saw the look on Phil's face. "Why are you making that face?" Dan narrowed his eyes.
"Well.. I was cleaning off the dresser yesterday and I kind of.. knocked it over. I didn't want you to see so I threw it away. I'll get you a new one though, don't worry," Phil explained.
Phil thought this would be fine, and if it was anything else it would've been. But this wasn't anything else. Dan's heart just about stopped right then and there.
"Phil please tell me you're kidding," He begged, his voice was shaky.
"I wish I was," Phil said. Because Phil thought this was no big deal, he barely looked up from his computer. He couldn't even see the way Dan's face went pale.
"Oh my god, Phil. Oh my god! And there's no possible way to get it back?!" Dan brought his hands to his hair, starting to yank on the curly strands. The freaked out nature of his voice made Phil finally look up.
"Woah, what's wrong?" Phil asked.
"Phil do you know what that box was?!" Dan begged, but Phil just looked confused.
"No? Why was it so important?" Phil started to worried now. It was a just a box, what could be so important about a box?
"Phil, that box was my grandmother's jewelry box her mother gave to her!" Dan took his hands out of his hair and clenched them into fists. Phil immediately felt guilty, he knew all about Dan's grandmother. She always helped to take care of Dan when he needed it. She passed away a few years ago.
"Oh, Dan I'm-"
"My whole family fought over that box. We argued for days! The only reason I got it was because it was in her will. In her will! She trusted me with it!" Dan's face was red from how angry he was. "And you broke it," Dan whispered.
"Dan... I didn't know that-" Suddenly, Dan gasped, tears started to stream down his face.
"Please tell me you saw what was inside it," Dan couldn't move, he locked his watery eyes with Phil's. "Please, Phil."
"I... I don't know," Phil sighed. That's what really did it for Dan. He fell to the ground unable to speak, struggling to breath.
"It was my engagement ring, Phil," Dan gasped for air. "And I know that... that it doesn't mean much to you.. but it was my ring Phil. It was the ring that asked me to spend the rest of my life with you. And it's gone," Dan scowled at Phil.
"Dan.." Phil whispered, he started to walk to him. "I'm so-"
"Stop!" Dan couldn't look at him. "Don't come near me. I don't want you to come near me."
"But Dan-"
"Just.. just.. how could you?!" Dan glared at him. "How could you break my grandmothers box.. and not even tell me!"
"I didn't want you to get upset," Phil answered.
"Well look what good that did!" Dan was up on his feet now. He wasn't sad anymore, Dan was angry. Dan was pissed. "And you didn't even notice the ring?! How could you?!"
Each word felt like a splash of acid to Phil's heart. He felt terrible, how could he? He knew he should've told Dan the second he broke it. It was Dan. If he would've said it earlier he could've at least gotten the ring. But it was too late. It was already done. His heart felt as shattered as the box. He couldn't even imagine how Dan felt.
"God, Phil! I can't believe you.." Dan clenched his jaw. He looked up at Phil's sorry eyes one more time, and then stormed off to his bedroom, slamming the door shut behind him. Phil fell to the couch, he finally let out the tears that were threatening to fall.
What did I do? He thought. He never thought there'd be an end to him and Dan. He never thought fighting could get this bad. But here they were. He felt awful. How could I? He felt like he betrayed Dan. He started to become scared. This couldn't end them... right? They were Dan and Phil. They couldn't become... enemies or some bullshit. Could they?
Dan on the other hand wasn't crying. He wasn't sad. He wasn't thinking about how harsh he was being to Phil. He was mad. Dan was just so mad. He trusted Phil more than anyone and now... this? How could Phil not tell him? And why couldn't he just open his damn eyes and see the ring. Suddenly, a tear dropped down Dan's face. The ring wasn't just his, it was their ring. It was a ring that celebrated their love.
Phil couldn't take it anymore. He went for a walk. A long walk. He needed fresh air. He needed to get away from the place that he laid so many mistakes in. What could he possibly do to fix this? Fix their relationship at the moment? Most importantly.. how could he fix Dan?
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Thank you Axellnicorn for the idea of this chapter!