Creeping

A strange sensation of unsettlement crossed Dan in his sleep. It tickled his fingers, barely present but all the same, there. At first, in his deep slumber, Dan ed it off as pins and needles. They, at least, were normal for him.

When the feeling crept up his arm, however, he knew something was wrong.

He shifted slightly in his bed, walking tediously along the tightrope of dreaming and consciousness. The feeling, one that he could now define as discomfort, continued crawling its way to his torso. His arms tingled with awareness, and his sluggish mind then began to do the same.

His legs twitched in anticipation of movement. It was incredible that centuries of existence could manufacture the reactions to danger the way the human body did. It astounded Dan, but at the same time terrified him, that his body needed to react that way in his own bedroom. When consciousness finally erupted within his mind, however, he went against his primitive instincts and focused on keeping his eyes closed. He didn’t question that the feeling of discomfort was warning him, but he didn’t want to move if he could help it.

A loud creak reverberated throughout the room. Dan felt himself still, and prepared himself for any other sound to break through. To his surprise, an unpleasant silence remained. He wanted nothing more in that moment than to turn around so that his back was to the direction the noise had come from, but to do that was to make the treser aware of his cognizance. He wanted to remain as still as possible in his sleeping position.

A light broke through the darkness and tainted Dan’s perception of the room. He no longer knew which direction he was facing, and if whatever caused the light was coming from his window or bedroom door. An overwhelming sense of dread filled him as the possibility of an intruder became a reality, and Dan fought hard to keep his breathing controlled and regular. His arms shivered and a light sweat began perspiring around his collarbone. The silence in the room was so severe that he could hear the breath of another only metres away.

The light danced about the room, further disorientating Dan in his dazed state. There was no doubt about it anymore. He wasn’t alone. There was someone else in his room, and they were making a conscious effort to remain as silent as possible in the foreboding darkness. The light made Dan’s thoughts go immediately to ‘stalker’, and a shudder ran up his back at the thought of a complete stranger recording and taking photos of him in his sleep. It was this thought that drove Dan to finally take action, and he forced himself to prepare for the sight that would greet him when he opened his eyes.

A murderer, perhaps. A stalker, best case scenario. Whoever it was clearly expected him to still be asleep, so he had the upper hand in that aspect at least. The benefits he had in his position ran out at that point, though, as every other scenario depicted the intruder as having the advantage. But he had to do something.

It was at this point that Dan opened his eyes to view the scene before him.

Phil was tip-toeing his way across the room in an almost comical fashion, and had his phone with its torch on in one hand and a packet of half-eaten marshmallows in the other. His glasses were sitting on a slight angle and the puff of his cheeks indicated where the rest of the marshmallows had disappeared to. Dan suppressed the urge to giggle in relief and instead waited for Phil to notice he was awake. He wouldn’t be surprised, though, if it took Phil the remainder of the night to work out that he wasn’t as sneaky as he thought he was.

The phone’s torch cast a light over his face momentarily and Phil’s eyes widened like a deer in headlights. His mouth dropped open despite the fact that he remained on his tip-toes, and the hand holding the marshmallows shook slightly.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

Phil scrunched his eyes up in shame, but a glimmer of a smile shone through the darkness.

“I’m- you k-know… it’s a long story.”

Dan let out a breath. “Well, I have all night now that I know you’re not a crazy stalker.”

“Oh, yeah.” Phil cast his eyes to the floor. “I’m so sorry, I definitely could’ve been a stalker. We’ve had a few of those, so that’s a reasonable assumption.”

“I’m waiting on that long story, you know.”

“Yeah, of course. I’m getting to it. Can I sit down?”

Dan rubbed at his eyes. “Yeah, sure. Come up here.”

“Thanks.” Phil made his way over to the bed and turned up the brightness of his phone so that it lit up a small portion of the room. It wasn’t bright enough to illuminate the entire space, but it was bright enough to make out each other’s faces.

“Okay, so this is the kind of long story that needs an introduction, you know?”

“Fire away, Phil.”

“Yeah, okay. So basically, I was up earlier tonight wondering what to do to the time because I was bored and I thought you were doing your own thing so in my head I was thinking, “I haven’t seen Steven Universe in ages,” so naturally that was what I ended up doing.”

“Does this tie into you being a creep anytime soon or-?”

Phil smirked innocently. “Oh, that comes later. Pretty much, halfway through season two I realised I was kinda hungry, so I went to the kitchen and saw the marshmallows-”

“Which we had agreed to save for tomorrow’s flight.”

“Yeah, so, funny story. I happened to that fact halfway through the packet and then I had this moment where I kind of low-key panicked about your reaction? It sounds ridiculous now that I’m saying it aloud, but in my head, I was like, 'Oh shit.'"

Dan glanced between the leftover marshmallows and Phil’s apprehensive eyes. “So, you thought coming into my room in the middle of the night was the appropriate course of action to take?”

The unease in Phil’s eyes immediately died. “Well, not just that. I, um, was planning on not getting the blame for eating all of the food we had for once, so I, you know…”

“You cheeky little shit!”

“Shut up!”

Dan hung his head in disbelief and pushed Phil’s shoulder jokingly. “You were going to frame me for eating the marshmallows and then take a photo of it for everyone to see!”

The smirk Phil wore was ever present. “Well, to put it simply, yes.”

“You scared the shit out of me! Creeping around like that in my room at night… I should personally sue you for this!”

Phil had to laugh at that. “Okay, you do that, but the money would be coming out of our shared , anyway.”

“Agh, you’re a sneaky bastard, Phil Lester.”

“You’re the only one to think that, though.”

As if they were communicating through undertones and body language, they both instantaneously looked at the marshmallows that were sitting between them. The marshmallows glared back, but they’d already reached an agreement before a word had been spoken.

“What pose do you want me in for the photo?” Dan asked, already leaning back to a more comfortable position.

Phil pondered for a moment before responding. “Personally, I’d find it hilarious if you were like, hugging the bag in your sleep. You know what I mean?”

Dan’s smile was infectious. “Oh, I have the perfect idea. Give me a sec.”

Ten minutes later, a photo appeared on Phil’s Instagram where Dan appeared to be sound asleep with a packet of half-eaten marshmallows tucked against his chest. Dan was holding the packet in such a possessive manner that the food’s significance could have been likened to that of a small child. His mouth was hanging open and a few marshmallows lay scattered around it in a way that seemed almost scandalous. The photo was posted with a caption that read, “Caught in the act!”

Not even two hours later, the post’s top comment was from Dan.

“Does this mean the creepshot war continues, Philly? ;) ”

･*•｡.•* ༚ ✧ ༚ *•｡.•*･

Thanks for reading my entry into the Phanfic Hunger Games! I really appreciate it :two_hearts:

I started writing this out as a bit of a thriller, and then halfway through it I was like, “Let’s actually make this a crack fic,” so that’s what you have today I guess :joy:

Talk to you all later friends!

#pfhg