#cmbysn

“I can’t believe you have to give your room up to some random guy,” Dan heard Sarah chime in from the bed as he was packing all his clothes to move one room over. “I mean, you’re eighteen now, your parents can’t really force you to do anything.”

“I really don’t mind... Well no, scratch that, I do mind I’m just used to it by now.” Dan said with a forced smile. Every summer for six weeks he gives up his room to some bright-eyed intern who’s just overjoyed to be in the big city with a man like David Howell. Hopefully this year’s pick will be more interesting than the last. Ginger was sweet and all, but she wouldn’t stop hitting on his dad, an image Dan could never get out of his head.

“You could always stay with me at night whenever you want.” Sarah said with a smirk. Dan raised his eyebrows. It wasn’t like her to be so upfrontly sexual, but it didn’t particularly bother Dan. Before he had the chance to respond, a car rolled into the driveway of the Howell’s house. 

Bidding a quick farewell to Sarah, Dan ran down the stairs as his Mom called out for him. Even though he had the full intention of acting normal, he stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of the new intern. He was absolutely breathtaking. Not in a beautiful way, because Dan didn’t feel that way about men. No, he was just striking, in every aspect of the word. His raven black hair, almost obviously dyed, was perched up in a quiff on the top of his head. He was pale, almost translucent, and had the bluest eyes Dan had ever seen. For some reason, Dan couldn’t take his eyes off of him.

“Er, hello there mate, you must be Dan,” The intern stretched his hand out to shake Dan’s hand but Dan felt like he couldn’t move. “I’m Phil Lester.” The intern– Phil– spoke with a british accent, but not the classic posh vernacular. The way he spoke was more casual, what Dan supposed was the redneck accent of England. When he realized it had been almost a full minute of Phil standing with his hand outstretched, Dan awoke from his paralysis.

“Yep, that’s me. Come on, I’ll show you where to put your things.” Dan started up the stairs and let Phil follow him through the excessively modern house. When he opened the door to his bedroom, Phil immediately put his stuff down and hopped into the bed with a satisfied moan. “Wow you must have had a long day of travel.” He heard a muffled agreement coming from the pillow. “So this used to be my room, but you’ll use it while you’re here and I’ll be in the next room over. We’ll have to share a bathroom though, sorry about that.” Dan opened the bathroom door. “Say, where are you from?”

When he was greeted with no response, he looked over at Phil and saw that he was already fast asleep. Dan rolled his eyes and walked down the stairs. This could be a long six weeks. When he sat down at the table with his family, his mom gave him a knowing look. “Honey, I know it’s hard to give up your room for a whole summer, especially to someone you’ve never met before.”

“It’s fine mom, nothing I’m not used to.” Dan shrugged off his mother’s comments and fixed his gaze on the meal. “Oh, and Phil won’t be joining us for dinner, he just passed out.” After his parents gave satisfied nods, the conversation turned to Dan’s music, much to Dan’s dismay. 

“So, have you been working on anything new?” His father asked. The question was innocent enough, but there was a harsh edge to it. 

“Uh, yeah. I’m actually working on a trap remix of Mozart’s Lacrimosa. It sounds weird but it’s actually pretty cool so far.” Dan whipped out his laptop and started playing the beginning of the classical piece. However, once the choir came together, a beat dropped, the perfect merge between modern and ancient music. Dan looked up at his father, hoping for a flash of pride, but all he got was a wrinkled nose and a critical sneer.

 “That was incredible.” Dan turned his head to see Phil, standing in the kitchen, looking as if he had just woken up. “Sorry, I’m just grabbing a glass of water. Dan, seriously, that’s amazing. Do you do any original songs?” Dan opened his mouth to respond but his father beat him to the punch.

“Well Phil, as you know, to compose music takes actual talent.” Phil blinked, unaware of what to say. What neither of them knew, however, was that Dan did compose. As much as he loved to compose music, he felt immense pressure from his father to “make it big” but he also wanted to get there on his own merit. He would rather stick to mixing than disappoint his father. 

The conversation turned to politics, and Phil politely excused himself back to bed. As the sun set and the clock passed 8pm, Dan decided it was time to retreat to his room.

Laying in bed, watching the clock tick by, Dan couldn’t keep his mind off of the young man sleeping in the next room over. The walls were so thin that he could hear Phil’s heavy breathing and the occasional shuffle of sheets. Phil was like no one Dan had ever met. He was weird, funny, and extremely good looking. Fuck, Dan was utterly obsessed with this guy he had just met. 

“Step one of getting over a crush is acknowledging it exists,” Dan thought to himself. The fact that this crush was on a boy opened a whole new can of worms that Dan didn’t even want to think about. He wasn’t gay, not in the slightest. He was dating Sarah for christ’s sake, and he definitely got turned on by her. So why was he getting hard imagining the shirtless man in his bed next door?

He unzipped his jeans and started to palm his dick until he realized what exactly he was doing. He promptly put it away and prayed for the blood to start circulating back to his brain. He was not going to jerk off to the thought of another guy, it was just wrong. “This is just a phase,” Dan thought. “I just need to sleep it off and pretend it never happened.” Still, as he tossed and turned, he could stop picturing Phil’s face, tired and slightly droopy, but as enthusiastic as any of Dan’s father’s other interns who were coming from San Francisco.