#friends by ed sheeran

Pairing: Phan

Genres and Warnings: fluff, swearing, slight swearing, slight smut

Request: Right so, I’ve had a lot of feels about the song Friends by Ed Sheeran lately and, with that crap ton of feels, I spawned this.

Words: 1,658

Summary: They weren’t friends. Yet, at the same time, they were friends, but, friends didn’t do the things that they did.

~

They weren’t friends. They weren’t friends in the sense that friends were just friends. The dictionary definition of friends was, “a person whom one knows and with whom one has a bond of mutual affection, typically exclusive of sexual or family relations.” In that sense, Dan and Phil were technically friends. Yet, did kissing (It wasn’t really kissing, just accidental or alcohol or lack of sleep induced brushes of the lips) and cuddling and falling asleep in each other’s arms count as sexual relations? If so, then Dan and Phil were not, had never really, been true friends. But, that was the extent of their non-friendship.

Dan sighed as he tried to fall asleep. It was past three in the morning and his laptop had just died on him as he did one of his late night browsing sessions. So, Dan had decided to take that as a hint from God to go the hell to sleep. And that was exactly what Dan was trying to do, but, to no avail. All he kept doing was trying to figure what the hell he and Phil were, besides best friends. But, in the end, his analysis came out to be that they were just too complicated for Dan’s sleep deprived brain to comprehend. So, he tried to fall asleep. And, after a good half hour, he did.

~

Days passed before Dan found himself with these wonderings again. It was around two in the morning and Phil had been sound asleep for a good three hours. Dan was sat on the couch, scrolling through the deepest parts of the internet, while the minutes clicked past to the next hour. He ended up finding himself looking up the scientific name for penguin. He had no idea why. Dan sighed and moved on from the scientific name of the penguin to how many meters the galaxy was wide, no answer.

Dan glanced down to the clock built into his laptop. Two-forty-five in the morning. It was getting late. Just as Dan had decided to look up when the very first episode of Doctor who had aired, his laptop screen went dark and the computers fan shut off, meaning that the computer had died yet again. Dan exhaled heavily and closed his laptop. He pushed himself out of the sofa crease and, laptop in hand, began to make his way to his room.

As he stepped inside, Dan placed his laptop on his desk and climbed into bed to try to attempt to fall asleep. Instead, he found himself thinking about his best friend. Dan turned to his side. What exactly were he and Phil? Friends didn’t exactly contain the feelings and things that the two shared. But what went to the full extent? Dan tossed to lie on his other side. He and Phil had never discussed the topic. All they thought they were, were best friends and nothing else, which was it. But, did best friends fall asleep in the same bed because one was too lazy to move to their own room? Did best friends come home past midnight after a sleep deprived traveling day and share a light kiss? Dan turned to his back. What were he and Phil?

~

A month passed and it was now late December, one of the coldest months in their apartment, and both Dan and Phil had been strutting around the house in jumpers and the warmest pair of pants they could find that was still comfy. They had sat next to each other, closer than normal, on the couch while watching television to keep the warmth. The hours ticked past and Dan had decided to give in and head to bed at 10:00 pm, just to crawl underneath the duvet and envelope himself in warmth. Just as he had gotten comfortable, he heard a soft knock on his door.

“Dan?” Phil’s voice broke the silence that had previously settled over their home.

“Yeah?” Dan replied, sounding slightly muffled as he hid beneath the covers.

“Can I come in?” Phil asked softly.

“Sure.” Dan replied.

Phil opened the door, his arms crossed across his chest to maintain warmth. “Is- is it okay if we sleep together? I mean, to share warmth and stuff and, I think we’d both be warmer if we slept in the same bed than in separate-”

Dan chuckled and lifted up his comforter slightly, moving over to make space. “Sure. Now get in before I let too much warmth out.”

And Phil did. He no less than bashfully made his way over to the bed and slid under the covers to curl up against Dan. Sure, Dan and Phil had slept in the same bed before; they had done so less than a week ago when the house’s temperatures dipped frighteningly low. But Dan understood that it was sort of awkward to ask your best friend to share a bed. They slept facing each other, both deciding that this would maintain more warmth then not, which it did. Their breaths mingled together and, as it got later, they unconsciously scooted closer together.

At around three in the morning, Phil stirred slightly to notice just how close they were. Their lips were brushing against one another and each of them had an arm around the other in some way. Phil’s cheeks acquired a pink tint and he moved back slightly, just so he and Dan weren’t kissing.

~

A few days passed and Dan found himself on the couch, sitting beside Phil as they watched an anime together. They had a duvet wrapped around themselves and they were both curled up against the other. Both of their legs rested on the couch, their knees touching. Their heads were rested against the other’s and they were both shoulder to shoulder. The duvet was wrapped around them, each and every corner tucked beneath them to make sure no outside air got in. By the time they had finished one episode, they were all but laying on the other.

~

It was roughly 11:30 at night and Dan and Phil were just stumbling through the door from a friend’s party, each of them slightly tipsy. They were laughing, giggling even, as they stumbled through the door. Big smiles were on their faces and they were just enjoying each other’s presence. They collectively stumbled into the living room where they continued to talk about anything and everything. They giggled at the slightest jokes and soon found themselves dancing to Dan’s playlist that he had decided to play through his phone, in his room. Somehow they had moved to Dan’s room, with no idea how.

They danced together, Phil taking any chance he was given to spin Dan around. Dan danced with Phil gleefully, basically spinning around every two minutes because Phil couldn’t get enough of spinning his best friend around. Phil loved the laugh Dan let out each time he was spun around, and that was why he kept spinning him, just to hear his laugh. Then, Dan ended up a bit close to Phil after he had just been spun by his best friend. Their lips were a few centimeters apart and they each looked like they wanted what happened next.

Phil took his opportunity and pressed his lips to his best friend’s, Dan meeting him halfway. It was slow at first, but as the playlist played more songs in the background, the two got more heated. Phil’s shirt was the first to go, then Dan’s, and then Dan felt his back hit his bed. Phil’s lips left his to go press kisses along his neck and on his oh-so-pretty collarbones. And then, everything faded into pleasure for the two boys.

~

Dan woke up in Phil’s arms with light shining in his face. As Dan recalled what had happened the night before, his world came crashing down. What the hell had they done? Of course he remembered it, but did Phil? And if so, did he have an explanation for why they had done this? Did Dan? Of course he didn’t, other than the fact that he had had a very strong affection for his best friend for a very long time. What were they now? What they had done last night had definitely reached sexual relations.

Dan inwardly groaned. All he wanted to do right now was enjoy Phil’s warmth and fall back asleep, but he couldn’t.

“Morning.” Phil’s voice said softly as he woke up.

“Morning.” Dan replied, sounding as distant as he felt.

The silence from the younger boy caused Phil to think that he had fallen back asleep, even though he had seemed to be wide awake when he woke up. Phil rested his head on Dan’s, sighing lightly into his curling hair. What were they now? Phil had been fully aware of his growing affection for his best friend, but he didn’t know how to act and if he did, would they be the same? Apparently, the liquor that he had drank last night, no matter how little he had had, gave him that much of confidence to actually go for it. Maybe the same with Dan.

“What are we?” Dan asked softly into Phil’s chest, surprising him as he thought he was asleep.

Phil nuzzled further into Dan’s hair. “What do you want us to be?”

Dan self-consciously scouted closer into Phil’s embrace. “More than friends.”

“I agree.” Phil mumbled, pulling Dan closer.

“Not just friends with benefits…” Dan trailed.

Phil liked where this was going. “Yeah, me too.”

After a few minutes, Dan replied. “How do boyfriends sound?”

Phil smiled into Dan’s hair. “I’d love to call you my boyfriend and take you out on dates.”

Dan’s cheeks gained a pink tint. “Phil…?”

“Yeah?” Phil replied.

“Is… Is it too soon to say I love you?”

“I’m pretty sure it’s been long overdue to say that, Dan.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”