Work Text:
Phil liked giving people presents. Every day. Even if the present was just giving some random person a smile or a compliment. He liked seeing people happy. He liked seeing their faces light up and a smile tugging at their lips.
On this specific friday, he had already given away twelve smiles and three compliments. Phil was in a particularly good mood. Probably because he was going to see the new Avengers movie he had invited his boyfriend to. But since Mason had been unusually busy with work lately, Phil decided to finally be an adult and see a movie by himself. He was almost skipping along the pavement, whistling a nameless melody and smiling even at the grumpy looking grandpas. He even enjoyed the hustle and bustle of the city, focussing rather on the ongoing life and general joy than on the grey buildings and traffic noises.
The cinema appeared when he turned around the corner, already advertising the movie he wanted to see with big posters, making Phil even more excited to finally see it. When he entered the building, he was met with the familiar scent of caramel and popcorn. As much as he loved long movie nights at home, cuddled up with Mason and wearing pyjamas, going to the cinema once in a while was definitely worth the money.
Phil queued up behind a teenage couple and let his gaze wander over the people. There were machines at the side of the room but he preferred buying his ticket from the cashier. Maybe he could brighten their work day a bit by being nice and friendly and wishing them a good day before he left. He sure knew that he could’ve used more of those customers back when he used to work at a stationery shop.
When he had bought his ticket and was about to go to the popcorn counter, Phil spotted a familiar figure entering the cinema. He looked closer and yes - it was Mason! He grinned and was about to wave, when he saw the other boy walking just a bit too close to his boyfriend. Phil had assumed that Mason had read his message saying that he went to the cinema and that he now wanted to join him after all, but his boyfriend didn’t even look around before going to one of the machines, the other boy following closely behind him. Phil didn’t want to stare, but he found himself frozen at the spot, watching as Mason bought two tickets, continued to put his hand on the other boy’s back before looking up and seeing Phil. He froze.
“Hi Mason.” Phil said, a small smile on his lips. Maybe this was all just a misunderstanding, maybe the boy was a colleague from work. Or a friend that Phil just didn’t know. But, hadn’t Mason said that he had to work today?
“Hey Phil!” Mason stuttered, his eyes flickering around the room like he was trying to find an escape.
“I thought you had to work today?”
“Oh, yeah, there weren’t many customers today. Lucy said I could go early.”
Phil and the other boy now had an equally confused expression on their faces.
“So, who’s that?” Phil nodded at the boy, not caring that that was kind of rude.
“That’s-” Mason started, but the boy interrupted him.
“My name’s Dan, I’m his boyfriend, nice to meet you. And you are?” the boy said, sending Phil’s brain into a complete space of
what the hell!?
Mason had now let go of Dan’s back and taken a step back as if to avoid what came next.
“My name’s Phil, I’m his boyfriend.” Phil’s mouth managed to say, without him really noticing it.
“Is this-” Dan started.
“Are you-” Phil interrupted him, before closing his mouth again.
“Mason?” they both said, scarily in unison before turning to Mason, who now looked like he would rather sit in space in his pyjamas than be here in this exact place at this exact moment.
Meanwhile, Phil skipped right through the first stage of denial and felt anger burning up inside him. That did not normally happen. He was a very patient and friendly person, even if someone was getting on their nerves. But, now he realized that his boyfriend he had been dating for nine months had been cheating on him for who knows how long, he couldn’t keep his voice down.
“What the fuck, Mason? You’ve been cheating on me?” he said - more like shouted. Upon hearing Phil swear, Mason flinched, but didn’t answer. Phil, however, could care less about making a scene and was just about to grip Mason’s shoulders and shake him until he gave an answer, but before it could come to that, Dan stepped forward.
“Fuck you. It’s over.” he simply said, emphasizing his words by a short but sharp slap across his ex-boyfriend’s face. Mason, still not answering anything, just stood there with his mouth opened, his hand on his cheek.
Dan simply grabbed the two tickets that Mason was still holding, gripped Phil’s wrist and pulled him towards the popcorn counter and away from their ex-boyfriend. He then proceeded to buy two bags of popcorn before looking at Phil again.
“Come on, let’s watch the movie. I really wanted to see it.” he said and smiled. That’s when Phil noticed the overly cute dimple in his cheek and decided to really look at the boy opposite him. He had straight brown hair with a fringe that mirrored his own and brown eyes that lit up when he smiled. Before he followed Dan into the actual movie, he gave his extra ticket to the cashier to give it to the next person for free.
During the movie Dan and Phil barely talked; Marvel had them under its spell. When they left the theatre, Dan spoke up first.
“I’m sorry for what happened. And for pulling you into that cinema afterwards.”
“It’s not your fault. I was going to get a coffee now, do you want to come?” Phil offered before thinking it through. He just really wanted to talk about everything and Dan did seem nice enough, not to mention unbearably cute.
Dan grinned and nodded, silently following Phil to the cafe around the corner. They exchanged another smile when both of them ordered a caramel macchiato but stayed quiet until they sat down.
“How long were you and Mason together?” Dan blurted out before blushing. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound so rude. I just wanted to know and you don’t have to answer.”
“It’s alright, Mason’s a prick. And it was around nine months.”
“Wow, I’m really sorry. He asked me out about four weeks ago. I didn’t know you two were long-term. Actually, I didn’t know you two were together at all.” he chuckled before taking a sip of his coffee.
“Yeah, needless to say, but same. Surprisingly, I’m not even that upset. I’m just really angry, but I’ll probably be feeling down for a while.”
Dan nodded and stretched his neck, causing his shirt to fall and Phil to stop breathing.
“Is that-” he started and reached his hand towards Dan’s collarbone before remembering that that wasn’t exactly socially accepted behaviour.
“Sorry, I just saw your tattoo and I was wondering if you would show it to me?” Was that still too far into the other’s personal space? After all, Dan was a stranger. Although he didn’t really feel like one.
“No, it’s alright.” Dan said and pulled down the neckline of his black shirt, exposing not only razor-sharp collarbones but also a sideways facing Totoro next to a line of japanese symbols.
“Studio Ghibli?” Phil grinned. “I love that!”
They did start at anime, but somehow landed at the new Muse album when Dan’s phone rang and they emerged from the sea that was their conversation.
“Sorry, I have to take that.” Dan said, still smiling about Phil’s not so g-rated comment about the beginning of
Psycho
.
Phil decided to check his phone while Dan was talking, but he didn’t have any messages. What he did notice, was that it now was half past nine - they had been talking for three hours!
“Sorry, I have to go. My flatmate tried to cook something since I wasn’t home, and now the whole flat is full of smoke and he doesn’t know how to turn the fan on. Leave the kids alone for a day and this happens.” Dan added the last part with a sigh, earning a chuckle from Phil. They kept smiling at each other for a few minutes before actually getting up. The darkness and coldness outside was a big difference to the cozy cafe they had spent the last hours in, Phil noticed with a shiver.
“So.” Dan said. Oh, right. The awkward goodbye. Was it too early to ask for a phone number? Or was it too weird, since Dan was literally the guy Mason had cheated on him with? Maybe he could just go for it, It’s not like he didn’t handle more than a rejection today already.
“Can I maybe have-” Phil started but then trailed off as it did feel awkward.
“Your phone number?” the other boy grinned. “Don’t worry, I was gonna do the same. Here.” And with that, Dan took Phil’s phone and typed in his number before smirking at Phil and walking away.
Phil just stood there with a grin in his face as he watched Dan leave, noticing that his belt didn’t really work. He prayed to every god he knew that Dan didn’t think of him as only platonic and when he searched his contact list, it seemed like whoever received it, answered his prayer.
Dan had saved his number as ‘ Dan *sexy wink*’ .