phil.
phil woke up at five in the morning and, after several cups of coffee, he drove to the shelter. he jumped out of his car, his eyes widening when he noticed dan, asleep outside the building. he rushed over and leaned over to shake him.
"dan... dan. wake up. performance day."
dan groaned, frowning with his eyes closed. "it's so early, phil..."
"not early enough, we have so much to do."
dan whined and rolled over away from him. phil rolled his eyes, a smile tugging at his lips.
"i'm not carrying you again, come on."
after another minute of pestering dan sighed and pushed himself into a seated position, blinking.
"why were you out here, anyways?" phil asked, but dan didn't seem to be listening. he was looking around, his expression slowly deteriorating into that of panic. phil frowned. "what's wrong?"
"my guitar," dan managed to choke out, standing up and looking around. phil stared at him.
"what?"
"it was here," dan breathed, his eyes already shiny. "oh fuck."
phil's eyes widened. "what d-do you mean, it was here?"
"i fell asleep practicing, phil. it was right here, and it's gone."
phil froze, his blood going cold. oh, god. this wasn't good. "no."
dan ignored him, rushing inside. phil followed him as he frantically searched, waking up kat while searching their area of the room. she watched him curiously.
"dan, what in the world is wrong?"
"my guitar. someone stole it," dan choked. she was up in seconds.
"w-we don't know someone stole it," phil tried, but dan glared at him.
"of course someone stole it. you don't know what it's like out there, phil. they steal everything."
phil felt a stab of guilt. kat pulled dan close, rubbing his back and trying to calm him down. phil took a deep breath and pulled out his phone to call sunny. he picked up after two rings.
"hey!"
"hi," phil muttered, pacing. "we have a bit of an issue here. someone stole dan's guitar."
"what? how?"
"he slept outside with it. someone took it. look, how fast can you get one? i'll pay you back for it." the event started at one. if dan didn't have a guitar by then, everything was ruined.
"um, i don't k-know... i'll look up music stores and when they open...? i'll pick one up and be there as soon as i can."
"it's no use," dan sobbed. "it won't be right. it won't be mine."
phil bit his lip, feeling terrible for him. he knew how much that guitar had meant to him. it wasn't just about music, or the event, it was about earl. it was about his family. it was about his past. dan wasn't handling it well.
"dan, i mean this in the nicest way possible, but please suck it up for just a little bit. we have to figure this out." it wasn't even about the car, or anything like that. everything was planned, the fucking press was going to be there. it was so much bigger of a deal now.
dan glared at him but nodded, hiding his face in kat's shoulder. phil had already felt jittery, and now he felt like an absolute embodied heart attack.
"okay," he muttered into the phone. "hurry."
kat steered dan to a chair and kneeled in front of him, grabbing his hand and squeezing it tightly. she was speaking in a low voice that phil couldn't understand, but dan was nodding and sniffling occasionally, his breathing shallow.
"we'll get it back," phil told him, and dan looked up at him. "we just have to do this first, dan. it's a really big deal."
dan nodded, sniffing again. phil sighed, running his fingers through his hair.
sunny called back in half an hour saying he was on his way, and arrived ten minutes later with a sleek dark brown guitar in his arms. dan's eyes were still red and he reached out for it, taking it with shaky hands and slowly tuning it while they watched.
it looked much different from his old guitar, and much newer, but dan seemed to be getting used to it quickly even though he looked unhappy. once it was tuned he played a few chords and phil let out a breath. it could be okay. it would be okay.
it had to be.
➹
phil drove dan, sunny, and kat to his apartment to prepare, and because he thought dan might need a room to himself to panic. he and kat immediately disappeared into a guest bedroom and came out almost an hour later, dan's eyes still red, his hair looking fluffier and softer than usual, sitting in perfect curls against his forehead. phil's stomach flipped and he offered dan a smile. dan smiled back weakly.
"phil, can i do your hair?" sunny asked excitedly, and phil scoffed.
"absolutely not."
his smile dropped. "why not? i'm great at that stuff."
phil looked him over. "you're straight." he heard dan snort loudly and he grinned, pleased that he made him laugh, even though his face was red. he was nervous to make those kinds of comments.
"let me do it," dan said softly, and they all looked at him. he smiled. "what? focusing on something will help me calm down."
both kat and sunny turned to phil. he cleared his throat, giving sunny a look. "um... okay. yeah..."
dan walked to him and took his hand, smiling weakly. phil's heart jumped and he bit his lip, letting dan lead him to the bathroom.
dan sorted through the various hair products phil owned after making phil sit down in front of the mirror, frowning confusedly at all of them in a way that was something past cute. phil smiled.
dan finally decided on a gel and a spray, pushing the rest aside. he stuck his tongue out and bit it as he carefully smoothed phil's hair back, and phil found himself watching him in the mirror.
"so is there a plan here?" phil asked, raising an eyebrow. dan smiled.
"yeah. i want you to look just as prestigious as you are. i was thinking about making money stick out of your hair, but i decided against it."
phil laughed, shaking his head. "damn. that would've been a good look for me."
he watched as dan carefully pushed his hair into a slightly sideways quiff with the gel, leaving it shiny looking.
"i'm really sorry about your guitar," he said softly, watching dan's focused look falter for a second. he sighed.
"it's okay. it was old anyways." he struggled to open the top of the hairspray.
"it reminds you of him, doesn't it?"
dan bit his lip, pretending to be hyper-focused on the hairspray. "yeah."
phil sighed and closed his eyes as dan sprayed his hair. it was incredible what he would do to get that guitar back for him.
"okay," dan said finally, stepping back. "s' done."
phil opened his eyes and grinned. his hair looked sleek and a bit messy at the same time, somehow. like he had woken up looking good and had thrown on some gel at the last second. "it looks really good, dan."
dan went pink. "you think so?"
"yeah." phil spun around. "it's perfect. really."
dan beamed at him. "good." he reached up to fix a loose strand, and phil stared at him while he was distracted.
when dan looked back at him, phil hugged him. dan squeaked, hugging him back after the surprise wore off.
"you're gonna be amazing," phil muttered against his neck, and he felt dan shiver. "even without your guitar."
dan let out a shaky breath.
"i really hope so."