himb soft like snow

Less Hype, More Rest.

AO3 All My Fics - Turns out Phil needn't have worried about Dan not getting any rest on the flight to Perth.

"Dan found his new video so exciting he fell asleep while editing it! Get hyped guys" (https://twitter.com/AmazingPhil/status/764474322438197248)

Phil sighed and stretched out his arms as the credits of the movie he’d spent the past two hours pretending to be entertained by flashed up on the screen. A quick check of the time revealed they still had about another three hours before landing, the realisation causing him to grimace as he removed his earphones and placed them on the table in front of him. The combination of cups of coffee consumed in the airport lounge, and the snacks he’d managed to eat almost without realising (maybe the film had been more of a distraction than he’d previously thought) put paid to any chance of taking a nap during the flight, (not that he’d ever had much success at that in the past) leaving him with nothing to do to while away the hours before landing.

Suddenly the satisfaction of having finished editing the Pokémon Go video during the first leg of their journey to Perth didn’t seem like such an achievement. He resisted the temptation to give the finished video another look-over. It was done. Finished. Dan-approved, and ready to upload as soon as they got to the hotel. The last thing he needed or wanted to do was to over-edit, or cut something out that… Well. He’d quite happily cut his numerous pokéball-throwing fails and pretend they never happened, but that seemed a bit dishonest somehow. Besides, it was all pointless anyway, as Dan was currently editing his video on Phil’s MacBook, having elected to travel with his smaller laptop that wasn’t really suitable for editing.

Despite sitting next to him, all Phil could see of Dan, illuminated solely by the screen in front of him (even on a plane, he still found it easier to edit in the dark) was his hands resting on the keyboard, and his legs tucked under the table. The privacy granted by flying business class was a double-edged sword. They couldn’t be seen easily, but it did seriously limit Phil’s ability to while away the time by looking around the cabin and observe other passengers. It wasn’t even possible to make eye contact with Dan without leaning around the partition between their seats.

Just after take-off, he’d tried (unsuccessfully) to convince Dan to try and get some sleep during the flight. Despite the fact they’d tried to make the most of their brief stop-off in Hong Kong, seeing as much of the city as possible, instead of holing up in the hotel room, and the fact Dan was obviously still feeling run down from being ill, he’d refused point blank to sleep the flight away, saying he “needed” to edit his video so he could upload it at some point during the next few days. Although they’d had a good time exploring, there was a part of Phil that wished they had made the most of the enforced stop in their journey, saved their energy for the upcoming shows. They’d both thought that six weeks was plenty of time in between legs of the tour when they’d been planning it. They’d been realistic – they’d known they’d have been tired, worn out and desperately needing a break after the non-stop madness that had been the North American portion of TATINOF, but whilst they’d done everything they realistically could to make sure they stayed fit and well, they hadn’t envisioned one of them coming down with something that lingered. As it turned out, pneumonia was a stubborn illness not easily cured, and whilst Dan got irritated with himself, the doctors, the medications that weren’t working fast enough, whilst worrying about the tour, and putting in a less than stellar performance when they were on stage, or doing a meet and greet, Phil was just worried about Dan. Worried about the travelling, the jetlag, performing the show and doing the meetups would affect his health, when he already looked worn out and… well, just sick, before they’d even left home. Although he’d made a joke about the humidity affecting his hair and how he wasn’t even going to attempt to straighten it during their layover, it had really seemed to make him worse. So much so, Dan had freely admitted to feeling relieved to be leaving and heading to Perth.

Phil had hoped he’d have been able to convince Dan to get some much needed rest during the flight, but had quickly realised his best bet was to give up for now, and hope either that Dan finished the video quickly, or that he’d be able to talk him into resting once they arrived at their hotel. However much Dan played up his ability to procrastinate and put off projects until the last possible minute, Phil knew all too well he was in actual fact more likely to be incredibly determined to finish a project once he’d started. So after the briefest attempt to try and get him to relax, Phil had surrendered his laptop, and had settled both for spending at least the first part of the flight keeping his own company, and scouring the in-flight entertainment system for something, anything to entertain him, rather than watching something he’d “totally legally acquired” (he thought, with a wry smile) on his laptop.

Although there was definite advantages to flying business class these days, comfort and legroom easily being the top two on a long-haul flight when you were over 6’ tall, Phil did sort of miss the days when they’d been forced to fly scrunched up together in economy, trying to get comfortable without disturbing the other, or anyone around them, sharing a set of earphones whilst binge-watching a series of whatever TV programme they’d been obsessed with during flights to Playlist or Vidcon. It’d seemed more like an adventure back then, instead of something to be endured.

That was the last straw. He’d done his best to keep his mind occupied, but he needed some company instead of allowing himself to wallow in nostalgia.

Phil leaned forward in his seat, and peered around the partition, and… oh. That was unexpected. Clearly his worrying had been for nothing, as Dan was fast asleep, his head slumped forward, chin resting on his chest, his hands splayed across the keyboard, Final Cut still open on the screen.

Phil shook his head, smiling fondly at the sight, as he reached across and quickly saved Dan’s progress, an idea forming unbidden in his mind. He quickly reached towards the controls next to Dan’s seat, and switched on the overhead spotlight, hoping not to disturb him. Then he quickly took a picture of Dan asleep using his phone before switching the light back off. He figured he’d just add it to the collection of candid snaps they each regularly took of the other, although if he was being fully honest, he’d been trying to come up with a suitable revenge for what had become known as the “Cereal Pics” a week or two previously, even if they’d both laughed over their fans’ reactions to the tweets. He did feel slightly guilty about thinking of posting the picture. Sort of. He thought back to his own reaction when he realised he’d been caught on camera scoffing the cereal straight from the box and… well, that helped. Still though. Dan wasn’t in the most comfortable of positions for sleeping, and would be sure to wake up stiff, sore and unhappy when they landed if he didn’t do something.

Pushing aside any wistful thoughts about how much easier and nicer it would be to be able to just pull Dan against him and lean his head on Phil’s shoulder for the rest of the flight like he would have done if they had adjacent seats, Phil stood and leaned over Dan in his seat. Slowly and gently, he lifted his hands off the laptop, and placed them carefully in Dan’s lap, before closing the lid of the MacBook. He then glanced at the seat controls, before pressing the button he hoped would move the seat into a more comfortable reclined position. (“Score three for business class” he thought – more space around seats means no guilt over encroaching on someone else’s space.) He held his breath as he pushed the button.

CLUNK.

Turned out the seat moved quicker than he had anticipated, and before he could do anything, Dan’s head smacked against the headrest. Immediately, Dan jerked back upright, grabbing at anything in front of him, catching hold of Phil’s arm, whilst his eyes stared wildly around him in fright. “Wha- where- …Phil? What happened?” he finally managed, as his eyes focused on the face in front of his own. “Sshhh, it’s OK” he whispered, inwardly cursing. “You fell asleep sat up, I was just trying to lie you back a bit so you’d be comfortable. Go back to sleep.” “I was editing. I need to finish the vid-“ The end of Dan’s sentence was lost in a huge yawn. “I think you just proved my point for me” Phil replied smiling. “I’ll wake you before we land, we’re still hours away. And you need your sleep more than you need to edit. Now lie back down. I flattened your seat out, look.” Dan smiled sleepily and lay down on the seat, which was indeed completely flat. Eyes closed, he curled up on his side facing towards Phil, who watched him until his breathing evened out again then picked up the laptop and laid it in front of his own seat, settling down for the rest of the flight, half hoping if he put on something familiar, he might well actually manage some sleep himself.