#celestialhowell

Dan hates parties, so he has absolutely no idea why he let his best friend drag him to one.

There must have been over a hundred people at this party, and Dan only knew about one of those people. There was absolutely no one he could talk to because PJ had left him the second they arrived at the party and everyone else was either drunk or making out with each other.

Dan felt completely relieved once he reached the kitchen, where it was a bit quieter. He glances at the clock on the stove and saw it was half past eleven now. He decides that he would leave at midnight. He’s been at this stupid party for three hours now, and he was having no fun.

Dan then looks towards the door that led to the backyard and dashes towards it. He opens the door and walks outside, a smile forming on his face once the cool wind brushes against his face. He looks down, and he sees a black haired boy sitting by himself down on the steps with a can of beer in his hands, but the boy looked up as soon as he heard footsteps behind him.

“Sorry,” Dan quickly apologizes. “I-I didn’t know anyone else was back here.”

“That’s alright,” The boy answers, a smile forms on his face. “You can join me if you’d like.”

Dan blushes and then he fixes the flower crown that rests on his head and then he walks over to the boy and sits down next to him. “What are you doing out here all by yourself?” He asks quietly.

“Getting away from everyone else,” The boy answers with a shrug before taking a sip of his beer.

“Oh, same here,” Dan smiles a little. He looks at the older boy for a moment, and notices the tattoos on his arms. He desperately wants to ask about them, but he doesn’t want to be that one annoying person that asks about everything.

“So, what’s a guy like you doing at a party like this?” The boy asks, breaking the silence after a moment.

“A guy like me?” Dan asks, he blinks a few times.

The boy nods once up towards Dan’s flower crown. “Yeah, you have a flower crown on your head and you’re wearing bright colored clothes. You’re obviously not the party type. My apologies if I’m incorrect.”

“No, you’re absolutely right. I hate parties,” Dan laughs.

“Then why are you here?” The boy asks curiously, he raises his eyebrows slightly.

“Well, my friend PJ dragged me here because he thinks I should stop spending so much time by myself and start trying to make some friends. I’m in year 13, and he’s my only friend,” Dan explains.

“You’re still in school?” The boy asks.

Dan nods. “Yeah, couple months left to go and then I’m free,” he says happily.

The boy smiles. “Got any plans for after school?”

Dan shrugs. “Not really. I don’t know what I want to do. My parents want me to go to law school at university, but that’s just not really my thing. It’s boring. I don’t want to do that as my future career for the rest of my life, but I also don’t want to disappoint them,”

“Your happiness should come first over theirs,” The boy says.

“They just have high expectations for me is all,” Dan sighs quietly.

“That’s not very fair if you ask me,” The boy frowns as he watches Dan.

“I’m sure I’ll figure something out, whether it be becoming a lawyer or one of my many interests,”

“What are your interests, if you don’t mind me asking?” The boy asks curiously as he turns slightly so that he can face Dan a little more clearly. He puts his can down on the porch and looks up at Dan again.

“Well… apart from playing video games and reading books, I love art,” Dan smiles.

“Art?” Dan notices the boy seems a little surprised at his answer. “What kind of art?”

“Drawing mostly. I’m not that great… but I enjoy it,” Dan shrugs.

“Nonsense,” The boy chuckles. “I’m sure you’re great! Maybe you’ll show them to me one day?”

“Really?” Dan asks as he looks over at the boy with a smile on his face. “You’d want to see them?”

“Yeah. I think art is really cool. I wish I could draw, but I suck at it,” The boy laughs.

“It’s really easy once you get the hang of it,” Dan looks over at the boy.

“I don’t ‘art’. It’s not my thing, really, but I still think it’s kind of cool,” The boy says softly.

“I’m glad you’re not one of those people who think it’s completely stupid,” Dan chuckles.

“Me? I would never think such a thing!” The boy says, causing both of the boys to laugh.

Dan doesn’t really know how long he sits there talking to this boy for before the boy says goodbye to him, saying that it’s late and his mother would kill him if she knew that he stayed out this late at a party.

It wasn’t until later when Dan got home and was in his bed, when he realized that the triangle tattoo on his wrist was suddenly glowing which could only mean one thing.

Dan found his soulmate without even realizing that he had, and he was feeling a mixture of emotions.

Dan didn’t know his name, didn’t know where to find him or even know where to begin to look.

Dan was desperate, and he was going to do everything it took to find his soulmate.

All Dan knew, was that he certainly wasn’t getting any sleep tonight.

****

Dan hardly got two hours of sleep once he realized that he’d found his soulmate.

Dan was thankful that it was a sunday so he didn’t have school, so he could at least try looking around. Though, before he does anything, he makes sure to call PJ first thing to see if he knows anything.

“What’s up?” PJ asks when he answers the phone.

“Peej, I met my soulmate last night,” Dan speaks without even saying hello first.

“Hello PJ, how are you?” PJ says sarcastically.

“Peej! I’m serious. I met my soulmate last night,” Dan whines.

“That’s great. What’s his name? Do I know him? Is he cute?” PJ asks.

“I don’t know his name, but he’s definitely cute,” Dan says. “Thank god he’s a boy.”

“Wait a minute, back up. You don’t know his name?” PJ asks, shock in his voice.

“We talked for hours last night but I didn’t get the chance to ask for his name,” Dan groans.

“How did you talk for hours last night and not ask for his name?” PJ asks, laughing a little.

“I was too busy thinking about other things!” Dan huffs.

“Gross, too much information there, Dan,” PJ sighs.

“Ew, I didn’t mean it like that. Get your head out of the gutter,” Dan laughs.

“So, what do you know about him? What does he look like? You have to find him,” PJ says.

“Obviously I have to,” Dan agrees. “He’s definitely older… Probably a few years older. He has black hair, and the prettiest blue eyes I’ve ever seen. He’s definitely a punk kind of kid. Has a tattoo sleeve.”

“He has tattoos? He sounds nothing like you,” PJ says.

“I know but he was really cool, and honestly I wouldn’t mind if he was my soulmate,” Dan smiles.

“Whatever floats your boat. I’ll ask Chris and see if he knows this kid,” PJ tells Dan.

“If anyone’s going to know who he is, it’s gonna be Chris,” Dan rolls his eyes.

“Chris, somehow knows everyone in this town and I don’t know how,” PJ laughs.

“God, what am I going to do if I can’t find him? I have to find him. He’s my soulmate,” Dan sighs quietly.

“Well, I’ll tell you one thing… You’re not going to find him with that attitude,” PJ argues.

“Ugh, it’s too early for your positivity pep talks,” Dan groans again.

PJ laughs loudly. “Just have a little confidence in yourself Dan. Ask around and see if anyone knows him… and you have to actually get out of the house to look for him, you realize that, right?”

“I know that,” Dan rolls his eyes. “There aren’t too many places around here. He’s gotta be easy to find.”

“Especially if he has tattoos,” PJ says. Dan couldn’t see him, but he was sure PJ was rolling his eyes.

“You sound like my mother. There’s nothing wrong with tattoos, and this is coming from the guy who wears flower crowns on his head,” Dan chuckles and shakes his head. “Meet-up later?”

“Sure, where do you want to meet?” PJ asks.

“I don’t know, the park? Meet me there at 10 o’clock. Bring Chris with you if you can,” Dan pleads.

“Chris is gonna hate me,” PJ whines. “You know he doesn’t like getting up early on Saturday’s.”

“Chris will live,” Dan laughs. “Please, for me? This is my soulmate we’re talking about!”

“Fine, fine, fine,” PJ sighs. “You’re lucky I like you enough.”

“Gee, thanks,” Dan rolls his eyes. “See you in a bit.”

Dan hangs up on him, kicking the sheets off of him, and gets out of bed. He grabs a pair of clothes and heads to the bathroom to take a shower. The shower only lasts fifteen minutes before he’s done. He gets dressed, making sure he looks decent enough in case he actually does found his soulmate today.

Before leaving his bedroom, he grabs a flower crown from his dresser. A pink and blue one. He smiles as he puts it on his head and then he grabs his phone before dashing out the room.

“Bye mum! I’m leaving!” Dan calls to his mother.

“Daniel,” Dan groans and stops at the top of the stairs.

“Yes mum?” Dan asks as he turns to see his mother walking out of her bedroom.

“Where are you going in such a hurry?” His mother asks, raising her eyebrows.

“Uh…” Dan debates on telling his mother that he’s going to look for his soulmate, but decides against it, because he doesn’t want to get her hopes up. “I’m going to meet Chris and PJ at the park.”

“This early? Have you even had breakfast yet?” She asks as she crosses her arms against her chest.

“Mum,” Dan whines. “Can I please go? I promise I’ll call you later.”

“Fine,” she rolls her eyes. “You can go. Don’t be out all day. I don’t trust those boys.”

“You don’t trust PJ?” Dan asks, a little surprised.

“No, it’s Chris I don’t trust,” she says. “PJ is a lovely young boy.”

“Okay, understandable. But Peej wouldn’t let me do anything stupid,” Dan says.

“Good point. Alright, go have fun with your friends,” his mother says.

Dan smiles and then he quickly dashes down the stairs and out the door.

Dan makes it to the park at exactly 10 o’clock, though he’s surprised when he sees Chris and PJ are already there and were sitting at the swings, clearly not happy to be up so early.

“Hey,” Dan greets as he walks up to them.

“Would you please explain to me why I’m up so early?” Chris asks as he looks up at Dan.

“Because, we’re on a mission,” Dan begins, his arms crossing against his chest.

“A mission?” Chris raises his eyebrows. “Okay-” He glances over at PJ for a quick second before looking back over at Dan, a little curious of the situation. “What type of mission?”

“A mission to find my soulmate,” Dan continues. “And we don’t have much time.”

“How exactly are we gonna find your soulmate?” Chris asks, swinging a little on his swing.

“I… uh, I actually don’t know the answer to that questions. Which is why I need you two to help me,” Dan says. “I thought maybe we could look at the mall first. It’s the busiest place in London, and malls are always busier during the weekend. There aren’t many places to look.”

“Do you know what this guy… wait, it is a guy, right?” Chris asks.

“Yes,” Dan answers. “Black hair with tattoos on one of his arms that I had seen. Blue eyes. Pretty tall.”

“Sounds like someone I would know,” Chris says. “Okay, I’m in.”

“Great! Can we go now? I want to start looking as soon as possible,” Dan bites his lip.

“Yeah,” PJ says as he stands up, pulling Chris off the swing. “Let’s go.”

Dan smiles and then he turns around, starting to lead the way towards the mall, which was thankfully walking distance from the park. He hoped that they would at least have some luck today.

Dan had to find his soulmate. Sure, he was only sixteen and had a lot of years left to find his soulmate, but he didn’t want to wait. He wanted to find his soulmate early and spend as many years as he could with him. Dan usually wasn’t a romantic type of guy, but it was different when it came to his newfound soulmate.

They had barely gotten a few minutes past the park when Dan spotted a taxi coming from behind him. He turned and glanced towards the taxi and his eyes go wide, and then he stops walking, causing Chris and PJ to run into him.

“Dude, what the fuck?” Chris groans as he looks up at Dan.

“It’s him!” Dan squeals excitedly, never taking his eyes away from the taxi.

Chris turns and barely gets a glance at who’s inside the taxi before he recognizes the face. “That’s him?” Chris asks, his eyes going wide. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure-” Dan rolls his eyes as he looks over at Chris. “Don’t you think I’d know my own soulmate?”

“Well, you didn’t even ask for his name, so…” PJ points out.

Dan pouts. “You guys are mean,” he mumbles. “Hey wait…” He looks back, but the taxi is already gone, and he mentally kicks himself because he was so close to seeing his soulmate again. “I lost him again!”

For a moment, PJ thinks Dan is going to burst into tears, but he doesn’t, and he’s surprised Dan gets himself back together so quickly without as much as a teary eye.

“Relax,” Chris says. “I know that guy. His name is Phil Lester.”

Dan’s eyes go wide. “Seriously?” Dan asks rather loudly, getting a few dirty looks his way, causing him to shrink into his pastel pink sweater. “Seriously?” Dan whispers when the people look away.

Chris nods, raising his eyebrows a little at Dan. “Seriously,” he answers.

“Okay, how do you know everybody in this town?” PJ asks, as he looks over at Chris.

“He’s actually not from here. He’s from Manchester,” Chris corrects.

“And how would you know that?” Dan asks, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Because he has relatives here that I know.” Chris slyly replies.

“Brilliant!” Dan exclaims, causing people to look over at him again. Dan looks away for a moment before looking back at Chris and PJ again, trying to ignore the stares he is getting. “Um, so… Do you know where he works? Where can I find him?” Dan bites his lip nervously as he looks up at Chris.

“Well, I don’t know where he works, but I know he lives in Manchester, which is the most I know. If you talk to his cousin, he can tell you more than I could.” Chris replies.

This time, Dan’s eyes actually do water up, and he flings his arms around Chris to hug him tightly, surprising both Chris and PJ. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“Dan,” Chris warns as he gently pushes him away. “Calm down. We’re in a public area, y’know.”

Dan sniffs and takes a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. “I’m sorry. I… I’m sorry. I’m just… I’m actually going to find my soulmate, all thanks to you!” He looks up at Chris with a smile on his face.

“No worries kid,” Chris chuckles. “Everybody deserves to find their soulmate.”

PJ smiles as he holds onto Chris’s hands, but he remains silent as he watches the two.

“Kid?” Dan scoffs. “You’re only two years older than me!”

Chris just laughs and then he pulls out his phone. “Do you want to find your soulmate or not?”

“Oh, yes! Yes, I do want to find him!” Dan says.

“Well, give me your phone then. I have his cousins number. When you call him, you’ll have to tell him that Chris told you or else he’ll probably freak out,” Chris says.

“Okay,” Dan replies as he also pulls out his phone and hands it to Chris.

Dan watches quietly as Chris puts a number into his contact list, and then he takes his phone back once Chris is finished.

“So, when should I call him? I don’t know anything about this guy,” Dan says. “All I know is that he’s the cousin of my soulmate. What if he kidnaps me or murders me or something?”

Chris rolls his eyes. “You’re so dramatic sometimes,” he says.

“Perfect for the drama club.” PJ mutters under his breath, although Dan doesn’t hear.

Dan pouts. “I’m being serious!” He whines, making sure to be quiet.

“I don’t know… Today should be fine. He works, but I know he doesn’t work on Sundays,” Chris says.

Dan sighs in relief. “Thanks,” he says, not being able to help the smile on his face.

Dan goes home almost immediately, wanting to call his soulmates cousin as soon as possible. The excitement was building up inside him, and he was also a little nervous, even though he had already met his soulmate. They just didn’t know they were soulmates when they met each other. Dan was worried that his soulmate wouldn’t want to be Dan’s soulmate once he found out.

“You’re back early,” Dan’s mum spoke once she saw her son walk into the house.

“Yeah,” Dan says as he pulls his phone out.

“Something happen?” His mum asks, raising her eyebrows at her son.

Yeah, I found my soulmate, Dan thinks. “No, mum. Chris and Peej had to leave after a while.” Dan lies smoothly, smiling at his mum.

“Oh, alright,” His mum says. “Lunch will be ready soon.”

“Thanks. I’ll be in my room if you need anything,” Dan says before going up the stairs and to his room.

Dan shuts the door once he walks into his room and flops onto his bed. He lays there for a moment, staring at the new number in his phone. The number that would hopefully lead him to seeing his soulmate again.

Dan closes his eyes before pressing the call button and putting the phone to his ear.

Dan could feel his heart pounding against his chest from the nervousness as the phone rang.

This was all happening so fast, but still, Dan just wanted everything to turn out perfectly.

“Hello?” The voice is deep, and Dan’s almost a little scared to speak at first.

“Um,” Dan hesitates and debates on hanging up. “Hi.”

“Who’s this?” The voice asks. “How did you get my number?”

“Ch-Chris gave me your number,” Dan says nervously.

“Chris?” The voice asks, and it goes quiet for a second. “Chris Kendall?”

“Yeah, that’s the one,” Dan says. “I-I’m friends with him. I’m Dan.”

“I’m Andrew, can I ask why you’re calling me?”

“Yes, you can ask me why I’m calling you.” Dan says with his usual hint of sarcasm, rolling his eyes.

“Listen, I don’t need my time to be wasted by people like you who’s heads are so far up their own asses that they see Wonderland.” Andrew snaps, obviously annoyed before Dan remembers that Andrew isn’t like Chris or Pj and would laugh off the comment.

“I- Sorry I- damn it.” Dan mutters under his breath. “I’m sorry, I was calling to ask about Phil? Phil Lester?”

The annoyance in Andrews voice is gone in an instant. “Phil? What business do you have with Phil?” Andrew asks curiously, as if forgetting Dan’s comment.

“Well, it’s kind of a long story.” Dan says sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. Before he could continue, Andrew cuts him off.

“Well, if it’s a long story, I want it to be face to face. Phone conversations aren’t really my thing, especially about important things like family members.” Andrew says, and Dan sighs in both relief and annoyance.

“Okay, can we meet up somewhere? To talk about Phil?” Dan asks, and Andrew chuckles.

“Why yes, we can meet up somewhere to talk about Phil.” Andrew replies, mocking Dan, using the same hint of sarcasm that Dan had learned to detect. Dan’s eyes narrow before remembering he did the same thing to Andrew.

“That’s fair. But where do you want to meet up?” Dan asks, and Andrew hums for a moment before replying.

“How about my house? I’ve give you the address and directions to get there.”

“That works with me.”

***

10 minutes later, and Dan was standing at the doorstep of Andrew's’ house. He sighs nervously, willing himself to relax and convince himself it’ll all be fine. After a few moments of breathing exercises, Dan knocks on the door. Only when the doorknob turns is when Dan is suddenly hit with the thought of, What is Andrew is homophobic?

“Hey, it’s finally nice to connect a voice to a face.” The boy says that answers the door, a smirk on his face. Dan studies his face quickly before nodding.

“It’s nice to connect a name to a face, too.” Dan replies quietly, forcing himself to smile.

“I’m Andrew, the guy who said you had your own head so far up your ass you were in Wonderland.” He says, holding his hand out for Dan to shake.

“I’m Dan, the guy who made the sarcastic comment to receive both the comment of having my head shoved so far up my ass in Wonderland and the comeback comment about talking about Phil.” Dan says, shaking Andrew’s hand.

“Come in, why don’t you? My parents are home, but that shouldn’t be much of a problem.” Andrew says, and Dan nods, following him into the house. They walk into the kitchen, where his parents were sitting.

“Mum, dad, this is Dan. Dan, mum and dad, or Linda and Franklin.” Dan shyly waves as Linda and Franklin look up at him, confused looks on their face. Franklin was the first one to jump up and greet Dan.

“Hello Dan! I’m Franklin, Andrew’s father. It’s nice to meet you.” He says, holding his hand out.

“Nice to meet you too, sir.” Dan says awkwardly as he takes Franklin’s hand, shaking it twice.

“No need to call me sir! Franklin is fine with me.” He smiles, and Linda stand up next to him, looping Franklin’s arm with her own.

“Hi honey, I’m Linda. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She says, shaking Dan’s hand too. The only thing Dan can think of is how awkward and nervous he felt, and wanted to get out of the situation as quickly as possible.

“It’s nice to meet you too, ma’am.” Dan says, glancing over at Andrew.

“We’ll, we’re headed up to my room, so I’ll be down later to get some food.” Andrew said, headed towards the staircase. Dan quickly walks next to Andrew, thankful to be away from his parents.

They walk up the stairs to reveal a small hallway with four doorways. Andrew leads him to the farthest one of the right, opening the door up, revealing a very simplistic and tidy room.

“C’mon in, this is my room. The one across the hall is my parents, the one next to mine is the bathroom, and the on next to my parents is the guest bedroom.” Andrew explains and Dan walks into his rather small, but spacey room. He closes the door behind him, walking to his bed and flopping down on it. Dan stands in the middle of the room, looking around nervously. Andrew motions for Dan to sit on his bed, in which he does.

“So what business do you have with Phil? Soulmates? I saw the same triangle on your wrist that Phil had.” Andrew’s voice lowers to a dangerous whisper, his eyes flickering between Dan and the door. His body tenses and he grabs Dan’s wrist, keeping him in place.

“How’d you kn-” Dan starts to ask, but Andrew shushes him.

“Not. So. Loudly.” Andrew whispers warningly, and Dan shuts up, waiting for a sign that Andrew was about to murder him. After a few quiet moments, Andrew seems to relax, but still on edge.

“Listen, I know all about the things between you and Phil. He already told me. You guys met at a party neither of you were interested in. I know because I was there too, I was the one who invited him. He’s already on his flight back to Manchester.” Andrew slowly explains, letting Dan soak everything in.

“So you mean to tell me he’s already gone?” Dan wearily and quietly asks, and Andrew nods. Dan sits there for a moment, feeling numb, before everything crashes into him at once.

“What do you mean he’s already gone? He can’t be gone, not when I almost found him!” Dan exclaims, jerking his hand away from Andrew.

“Dan, hold up-” Andrew starts to say before Dan cuts him off.

“You can’t just tell me he’s gone, right when I was about to find my soulmate!” Dan yells, standing up quickly, and Andrew’s eyes widen before they hear loud knocking on the door. They freeze, their eyes fixed on each others.

“You fucked up.” Andrew whispers before he gets up, walking to the door. The moment that he’s within range of opening it, Franklin bursts it open

“What the fuck did I just hear about, “my soulmate?” Franklin growls, glaring at Dan and Andrew.

“Dad, you have the wrong idea-” Andrew says before his father cuts him off.

“I think I have the damn right idea! No son of mine will ever be soulmates with a boy!” Franklin yells, Linda standing in the doorway with a white clean apron on, looking at them in disgust. Dan’s mouth drops, his eyes wide in fear.

“Dad.” Andrew sternly says, and Franklin glares at him.

“I don’t ever want to see this boy in this house ever again.” Franklin sneers.

“He’s not my soulmate, calm down.” Andrew angrily says, and Franklin goes through a couple different emotions in a moment. Anger to confusion, and confusion to relief.

“Thank the lord almighty, I was afraid I was gonna have to kick you both out.” Franklin sighs, patting Andrew on the back. “But if I ever catch you with a boy, you’re done for, son.” He says warningly, before smiling and walking out of the room, his wife standing there in confusion before walking away.

“I’m so, so sorry you had to see that.” Andrew whispers, and Dan blinks.

“I- I need to go. I can’t b-be here.” Dan stammers, stumbling out of the room, running down the stairs and out of the house and quickly as he could.

Dan walked for less than five minutes before he got a text from Andrew.

Phil works at the mall in Manchester at the record shop. Weekdays from 1-5pm. - Andrew

Dan took a deep breath as he stared at the text. He didn’t know how long he stood there for before he quickly sent a text to Andrew telling him thank you and apologizing for running out of the house.

Great. Now he just had to convince his mum to let him fly to Manchester. No problem.

Dan spend the rest of his Sunday night arguing with his parents about letting him fly to Manchester to meet his soulmate, especially that he wants to go alone. Dan argued he’d already met the boy previously and that he was very sweet, but even that still doesn’t win the argument.

Dan’s parents didn’t agree to let Dan go until he suggested that PJ go with him, someone that they trusted, and Dan hated that he had to have someone go with him. But, it was better than nothing he supposed.

Monday morning was spent packing a small bag to spend a few days at a hotel with PJ in Manchester.

Luckily, it was a somewhat of a quick flight to Manchester from London, despite it being only an hour. It felt like 15 minutes to Dan, lost in his excitement and nervousness. Dan lost track of how many times he thanked PJ for letting him go to the mall alone before he actually left. PJ thankfully understood that this is a big moment for Dan and didn’t want to ruin the moment for him and Phil.

Dan’s mum would kill him if she found out that he walked around alone in Manchester, but oh well.

This was worth it. Finding his soulmate was worth it.

Now, here Dan stood in front of the record shop that Phil worked at in the mall.

Dan had to quickly pinch himself to make sure this wasn’t a dream first before he finally walked into the record shop, and he wasn’t surprised because what he actually knew about Phil, this was totally him.

Dan smiled as he looked around before walking up to the counter, frowning when he didn’t see anyone.

Dan pulled out his phone to check the time. It was 1:30 pm. Phil should be working, as Andrew told him.

“Sorry for making you wait,” a familiar voice spoke before walking out of the back room.

Dan was sure he stopped breathing for a moment when he saw him.

Black hair, blue eyes, tattoo sleeve and all. Exactly how Dan remembered him from Saturday night.

His soulmate.