Sokka tightens the restraint that holds Toph’s ankle to the bed before he moves over her. He brings his lips to her ear and whispers, “You’re not going anywhere for a while,” and causes goosebumps to erupt across her bare skin.

“Sokka, please don’t tease me,” she looks towards where she thought he might be, but she can’t be completely sure. She can’t feel any vibrations on this bed, he made sure of that, so she is completely blind.

His laughter comes from the opposite side of the bed from where she is looking, “You’re so in for it tonight. You’re going to come untouched, do you understand? This is payback from feeling me up the other night at dinner with Zuko and Katara.”

Toph whimpers at his plan but she can feel a flood of arousal flow through her and she grows wet at the thought of what is to come.

It’s New Year’s Eve and Dan and Phil are snuggled into each other. Phil’s got an arm around Dan’s waist as he talks to Louise. Dan’s head lolls against Phil’s shoulder. He’s much less sober than Phil is, but he doesn’t care. He’s content to feel the rumble of Phil’s voice in his chest, feel Phil’s fingers trace over his hipbones.

Louise smiles warmly at the two of them. She’s been absolutely glowing since the news about her second child, and Dan supposes that’s probably what brings the question up. “So,” she says. “When are the beautiful husbands-” she motions to the matching rings on their hands, there since Japan when they had taken each other for life in a sudden, unplanned ceremony, “-going to grace us with a child of their own?”

“Oh-” Phil starts.

He’s probably about to come up with some excuse to talk her out of it. Phil’s really good at doing that. When Dan didn’t want labels as a scared, closeted kid in 2012, he’d come up with excuses like “we’re not rushing into anything” and “we don’t believe in labels.” Again, when Dan was afraid of getting married, “we have too much on our plate,” “we don’t need a piece of paper to prove we love each other.”

The baby thing is the new thing Phil needs to make excuses for. But Dan’s really drunk so he cuts Phil off with a “-tomorrow.”

Louise knows that drunk promise means nothing, but Phil’s eye catches Dan’s for just a moment too long and both of them can suddenly feel the energy that look has.

When midnight strikes, everyone shouts their blessings for a beautiful 2017. Phil pulls Dan into a kiss that’s as beautiful and mind numbing as their kisses usually are. Dan secretly vows to bring the baby thing up when they’re both more sober.

If he remembers, that is.

MAY 15th, 2018

Dan’s leg is shaking as he sits next to Phil in an ER at three in the morning.

It had taken over a year - a crazy, hectic, amazing year - to work everything out, but they had. They found a surrogate and signed the papers and were there for every one of her milestones. And then Phil got a call at three in the morning that their surrogate had gone into labor and neither he nor Dan was even angry at the fact that they were woken up.

They’re having a baby.

They barely get any sleep, and at nine, half asleep, a nurse comes to get them.

Their surrogate looks like she’s just been through hell and back, but she’s holding a baby in her arms and that’s all that Dan can focus on. That’s their daughter. She’s holding their daughter.

She catches Dan’s eye and smiles at him. “Do you want to hold her?” she asks.

Dan wants so badly to hold his daughter, but he’s frozen in fear. Phil steps forward and says, “Can I hold her?” and then takes her when the surrogate nods.

“Dan,” he says, his voice quiet and reverent and on the verge of tears. “Dan, she’s gorgeous.” He bounces their daughter, hums softly under his breath. Dan feels his heart swell with affection for his family - his family.

“Oh, let me,” he says suddenly. Phil just smiles and carefully gives Dan their daughter.

Dan looks down at her, her beautiful little face, her tiny hands, she’s perfect. She’s all theirs. Dan almost can’t believe it.

Phil wraps an arm around Dan’s waist and smiles at his husband.

CHRISTMAS EVE, 2018

It’s around midnight when Phil wanders into their lounge with a baby monitor in his hands. He stands in the doorway and watches Dan, standing on a ladder, decorating a tree that’s somehow taller than the both of them.

Phil clears his throat and Dan jumps. He laughs a little as he climbs off the ladder awkwardly. Phil wraps his arms around his husband’s waist, his head against Dan’s shoulder, looking up at the tree.

“You’re such a try-hard,” Phil says softly.

Dan laughs. He turns so he’s facing Phil. “I just want Emily to have a perfect Christmas.”

For the millionth time since they’ve been a couple, his heart bursts with affection for his husband. Dan’s so fucking perfect in every way, Phil’s can’t help but be hopelessly in love with him.

“C’mere,” Phil says, and he pulls Dan into a gentle kiss. Dan’s arms come to wrap around Phil’s neck, Phil’s trailing under Dan’s shirt as he drops the baby monitor to the floor. They haven’t had a lot of alone time since Emily was born and the contact feels amazing. Phil’s half-convinced he could kiss Dan forever.

Of course, that’s when the baby monitor lights up and Emily starts crying again.

Dan and Phil break apart with a breathless laugh. Phil picks the baby monitor up off the floor and gives Dan a sheepish smile. “I should probably go see if she’s okay.”

“Probably,” Dan answers. He pecks Phil’s lips before he smacks his ass. “Go!” he says. “I have to keep being a try-hard, anyway.”

FEBRUARY 14th, 2019

“It’s fine, Dan,” Louise insists. She’s got Emily in her arms as she smiles at Dan. “I love your daughter.”

Dan groans. “I know, but it’s Valentine’s Day,” he says. He packs another shirt into his bag and sighs. “You should be having fun, not watching Emily.”

“You need a day off,” Louise insists. “I know how hard it is being a first time parent. You and Phil deserve some time to get sexy with each other.”

Dan laughs at that. “God, okay, mum,” he says. He kisses Emily’s forehead. “Me and papa will see you tomorrow, baby girl.”

-

Phil’s the first one into the hotel room, trailed by Dan. “This is nice,” he says.

Dan nods in agreement, “yeah,” he answers. He puts his bags down and goes, “a little dingy, you reckon?”

Phil shrugs. “It’s not like we’re actually staying here.”

Dan presses Phil into a wall and kisses him, Phil’s bag dropping to the floor. Dan gets his hands in Phil’s hair and pulls. Phil whines somewhere high in his throat, presses until he’s flush against Dan.

Dan pulls back enough from the kiss so that he can gets his and Phil’s shirts off and onto the floor. He connects their lips again, gets his hands to Phil’s belt and is in the process of undoing it when his phone rings.

Dan pulls back and Phil latches onto his neck. “No, no, no,” he breathes out, all hot against Dan’s skin. “Don’t answer it.”

Dan whines at the feeling. “I-I have to,” he says. “It could be Louise.”

Phil follows him to his back, kissing down his neck, peppering hot kisses on his skin. Dan picks up his phone and answers. “Lou, hi,” he says, his voice all breathless.

“Dan,” Louise says. Dan can tell she’s been crying and his heart drops.

“Oh my god, Lou, what’s wrong?” he asks. Phil backs up, looks up at Dan through wide eyes. Dan grabs his hand and squeezes as he awaits Louise’ response.

“No,” Louise says through tears. “No, it’s tears of happiness, swear.” She sniffles and then laughs. “I-I was walking with Emily and-and she passed a photo of you lot and she said dada.”

“Oh my God,” Dan says. He sniffles himself.

“What?” Phil asks. He looks terrified.

“Emily said her first word,” Dan tells him. Phil slaps a hand over his own mouth. “She said dada.”

They hang up, but it’s impossible to continue. Dan looks at Phil and he says, “there’s nothing more I want than to be home with my daughter. Is that bad?”

“No,” Phil says. “Because I feel the same way.”

They check out of the hotel room with red eyes and stuffy noses. They know they must look weird, but when they get home to Emily it’s all worth it.

Best Valentine’s Day ever.

APRIL 28th 2019

“Come on, Emily. Come on.”

Dan and Phil are curled into each other on the couch. They watch in amusement as Chris tries to get her to walk. She hasn’t walked yet, and they’re positive she won’t walk towards Chris during a movie.

“Chris, come on,” Dan says. “It’s a worthless cause.”

Chris rolls his eyes. “Go back to your movie,” he says. “I’m going to get her to walk. I know I am.”

They watch the movie for a little while, until they hear Chris go “oh, oh! Look!”

They turn in tandem and watch as Emily takes a few steps towards Chris. She falls into his arms giggling.

Phil gets off the couch immediately and pulls his daughter into a hug. “Good job, Emily!” he says. He presses kisses to the side of her head.

Chris smirks up at Dan. “I’ve got the magic touch, Dan,” he says.

Dan smacks him upside the head with a pillow.

MAY 15th 2018

Their flat is a mess.

There’s confetti, wrappers, streamers, cups, plates everywhere. Dan’s been tasked with cleaning it up while Phil puts Emily to sleep. Once she’s down, he goes back to join Dan.

“I’m never throwing another birthday party for Emily ever again,” Dan says. He’s holding a discarded cupcake in one hand and looks disgusted. “I swear to god.”

Later, Phil finds him cuddling Emily on the couch, a book in between them as Dan reads to their daughter.

He knows Dan’s a liar.

Fin.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

madi is the second place winner of the fanfic giveaway that i literally had in june. i have no excuse other than my mental breakdown - please forgive me and take this fic instead.

madi is super sweet and nice; her blog is gorgeous and everything she reblogs is a+, i would totally recommend hitting her up with a little follow. 

i asked madi what songs she wanted and she gave me some which i made this playlist based off of! this playlist got me through writing this fic so i would recommend listening and immersing yourself. except it’s been so long that it has her old url oops

if you enjoyed this, please please consider liking or reblogging it. the notes really do help spread the word about my blog and it’s because of you guys that i was able to get out of my weird mental funk and write again.

thank you.

- hunter <3

As Dean set to picking up his mess, Sam spoke around his snack. “So, get this,” he began per usual, earning an eye roll from Dean.

“You know you can just start talking,” he teased from his knees, reaching for a pretzel. “We’re the only two here, you don’t need to preface your speeches every time.”

Sam bit down into a grape and shot Dean an annoyed look. “Anyway, I found this old spell book in the archives that has a few really out there cures for insomnia in it. One has to do with-”

He was cut short by Dean’s yelp and a loud thwack. Dean had been under the coffee table collecting a pretzel when he came up too short and smacked his head on the wood. As he tried to correct his movement and slide out, he hit himself again, this time, catching his temple on the edge of the table. His vision went cloudy and he looked up into cartoon stars as they danced around his head.

“Dean!” Sam was hovering over his brother, gently patting his cheek until green eyes fluttered open. “Hey, hey, you OK?”

Dean pulled in a quick breath and blinked wildly up at Sam, everything a little fuzzy except for Sam’s wide, concerned eyes.

“You know that's my favorite color?" Dean said with a slight slur.

Sam smiled. “What is?”

“Yer eyes.”

Relieved that Dean was OK, if not a little stoned, Sam sat back against the foot of the recliner and shook his head. “Shut up.” His cheeks turned bright pink and Dean smiled as he propped up on one elbow.

“That too. I like that pink on ya.”

Sam looked down and away, embarrassed at the sudden attention, and gasped gently as Dean’s left hand felt to his thigh. His thick fingers danced upwards, lightly touching Sam’s firm muscles, just enough to excite him, but light enough to give him a chance to pull away if he wanted.

Sam didn’t want to pull away.

“What’re you doing?” he asked, teeth cutting a groove in his lip.

Dean smirked and sat up, running his hand slowly up Sam’s stomach. “What does it look like?”

“You just passed out, you’re sure you wanna do this?” Sam worried; his eyes fluttering slightly as Dean tickled his ribs.

“Brother, I’m feeling good. Really good.” Dean’s eyes were dark and his lips were close. “Come on, Sammy, kiss me.”

“You’re stoned.”

“So what? Makes it even better.” Dean curled his hand around the back of Sam’s head, shifting through the soft hairs at the nape of his neck.

Sam’s chest was near to bursting, his breath coming out in tiny, lustful huffs against Dean’s mouth. “I kinda always wanted to do it in here,” Sam admitted sheepishly.

Dean laughed and licked into Sam’s mouth. “You never mentioned that the last time we did this."

“Didn’t want to ruin ‘Dean Cave’,” he teased.

“Ruin it?” Dean laughed and pulled Sam’s bottom lip tight between his teeth. “Brother, we’re about to Christen it.”  

They’ve been friends since primary school - so basically as long as Phil can remember. Dan is smart and talented and hilarious, always there to help Phil with his calculus homework (despite being younger than him), sing High School Musical with him (despite the fact that Phil can’t sing) and be player two in Crash Bandicoot. Basically, Dan is the best friend ever.

Except for one thing. Dan’s dog Colin.

Ever since Dan’s family had brought home Colin - Dan had showed Phil over Skype - the dog has had it out for him. Among various transgressions, the dog has literally eaten Phil’s homework (imagine explaining that to your teacher), pissed on his drama script (again, a fun explanation), and has eaten half of Phil’s very expensive sandwich.

And then there’s the fact that Phil cannot get within five feet of the thing without having a sneezing fit. On top of everything Colin has done to him, Phil’s allergic. Which is a blast.

He often has to take Benadryl just to be in Dan’s house. Which is why he’s in Tesco’s after school when he should be at home or at Dan’s - pretending to do his homework while he plays video games instead.

His phone chimes in his back pocket with a text, but he ignores it as he looks over the labels. He’s considering getting extra strength Benadryl in case Colin attacks him when his phone chimes again. And again. And then it rings.

He answers without looking. “Holy shit, what do you want?”

“Phil?” It’s Dan’s voice, but softer, shakier sounding. Phil’s been friends with Dan for long enough to know what he sounds like on the verge of tears, and his heart instantly breaks into a million different pieces.

“Dan,” he says softly. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry. What’s wrong?”

“It’s-” Dan gives a little sob and Phil picks up the Benadryl, walks onto the queue where he’s behind an elderly woman with two full baskets, good lord. “It’s Chris.”

Chris, as in Dan’s boyfriend. Phil knew Chris was no good for him, but he had never interfered before because Dan seemed so happy. Now, he feels miserable. “Oh god,” Phil says. He looks at the old lady in front of him, who seems to be moving so slowly that Phil wonders if he entered the fucking Matrix, and then back down at the box of Benadryl.

He sighs. “I’m coming to you, okay? Stay there.” He hangs up the phone and puts the box down, then books it out of Tesco’s as fast as he can without looking suspicious.

He drives to Dan’s house perhaps a little faster than legal. Luckily, he doesn’t get pulled over before he pulls up to Dan’s house. He gets out of his car and barely even knocks at the front door before Dan answers - drowning in a hoodie, his face red with tears.

Phil pulls him into a hug. “Hey,” he says into Dan’s hair. “Let’s get you inside.”

They somehow manage to stumble inside and Phil closes the door behind them. Dan leads Phil wordlessly to the kitchen and doesn’t sit in a chair - instead slides to the floor with his head in his hands. Phil doesn’t even think about the possibility of Colin coming to attack him, he just sits next to Dan and wraps an arm around him.

“What happened?” Phil asks after a long silence.

Dan sniffles. “H-he said that he could do better than me.” His voice barely shakes on the words but he sounds so defeated - almost like he believes the asshole. Phil has never wanted to go to someone’s house and punch them in the face more. “I’ll never be good enough for anyone.”

That’s enough to get Phil out of his head. “Hey, that’s not true,” he says softly. He wipes the tears from Dan’s eyes with the back of his thumb. “You’re amazing, Dan. Any guy that can’t see that is an asshole.”

In a moment akin to a romcom, Dan looks up at Phil through his tears. Phil pushes a piece of Dan’s hair back so he can look Dan in the eyes. The two of them stare at each other for a second and Phil can’t believe he’s never noticed how beautiful Dan’s eyes are. He gets a hand under Dan’s chin and the two of them lean in.

At that exact moment, Colin decides to jump on Dan and knock him away from Phil. Dan laughs and Phil would be mad at Colin if Dan’s laugh hadn’t made him so happy.

Phil stands up quickly and clears his throat. Dan looks up at him from where he’s sitting on the floor playing with Colin. “I-” Phil clears his throat, suddenly finding it hard to breathe. “I’m going to get Starbucks. Do you want anything?”

“Yeah,” Dan says. “You know what I like.” That sentence leaves a stunning realization in Phil’s chest. How could he have never noticed just how perfect they were for each other before?

“Of course,” he says instead, and quickly makes his way out of Dan’s house.

Dan and Phil have been best friends for as long as Phil can remember. Phil can’t remember ever having romantic feelings for his best friend. Sure, they have a much more physical relationship than male friends usually do, but he had always chalked that up to the two of them being more fluid in their sexuality than typical friends.

Still, all the hugs and cheek kisses, cuddling and late night movie sessions, Phil can’t help but think those would be so much better if he could lean over and pull Dan into a kiss.

Phil comes back with the two cups of coffee and a firm resolution to tell Dan how he feels. However, that plan goes out the window as soon as he walks in. Dan is asleep on the couch, cuddling with Colin. It’s cute, sure, but Phil can’t help but sigh a little in disappointment.

He swears, Colin gives him a smug look.

It seems after that, Colin is out to sabotage his relationship with Dan before it even begins.

Phil stops by a florist after school to buy flowers for Dan. He’s personally never understood the appeal, but they make Dan smile and that’s what he’s going for. He knows that Dan’s commute home is a little longer than his as Dan takes the bus, so Phil sits in Dan’s living room with the flowers and waits.

Unfortunately, he forgets that he’s put the flowers down, and it isn’t until Colin returns with a rose stem that Phil realizes that the flowers have been torn apart.

The next time Phil tries to impress Dan, he writes him a poem in drama. To be fair, he’s not the world’s best writer, but it’s from his heart and Phil hopes that’s all that matters. He’s been sitting in Dan’s room for a while, the both of them listening to music and working separately on different homework assignments, when Phil remembers the poem.

“I’ll be right back, I wanna show you something,” he says, and if Dan notices the way his heart is beating out of his skin, he doesn’t say anything. Phil walks to the corridor where he left his bookbag leaning against Colin. He goes to pick it up and Colin latches onto the handle. When Phil tries to grab it from him, all the papers spill.

Colin then proceeds to stand over the pile and piss.

“Hey, what’s taking so-” Dan stops from where he’s moved to the doorway and gasps. “Oh, bad doggie!” He says. He shoos Colin away and grabs some paper towels. He’s cleaning the mess when he looks up at Phil and says, “I’m so sorry. I hope there was nothing important.”

Phil breaks out of his stunned silence and leans down to help Dan pick up the piss-soaked papers. Gross. “It’s fine,” he lies.

When the mess is done and they both wash their hands, Dan turns to Phil. “So,” he says. “What did you wanna show me?”

Phil sighs. “It’s nothing,” he answers.

At that point, Phil decides to throw all of his plans out the window. They’re stupid anyway. He decides he’s just going to be direct - wait until a moment when Dan’s eye catches his and they’re staring at each other and Phil can get a hand on Dan’s cheek and pull him into a beautiful first kiss.

Dan will fall for him for sure.

The first perfect moment, they’re watching a movie. Phil makes a joke and Dan laughs. He turns to Phil, and his eyes are shining in the gentle moonlight streaming through the window. Phil actually feels his heart catch in his throat and he swears Dan moves in closer. He brings a shaking hand to move Dan’s hair out of his face and gets a hand under his chin. His heart is pounding hard as he moves in and-

Colin jumps in between them. Dan lets out an awkward little laugh and pets Colin’s head. He throws Phil an apologetic look and turns back to the movie as if nothing ever happened.

Phil’s not sure if Dan’s completely clueless or just fucking with him at this point, honestly.

The next perfect moment, they’re eating dinner on the floor like responsible, mature people with a table. Dan tells Phil he’s got an eyelash on his cheek and Phil asks him to get it. With the gentle back of his thumb, Dan gets the eyelash from Phil’s cheek and offers the thumb to Phil. “Blow it away, make a wish,” Dan says under his breath.

Phil takes Dan’s outstretched hand and moves in closer, closes his eyes and wishes for at least a shot with Dan. He blows it away and opens his eyes again, and finds Dan’s eyes transfixed on his lips. He decides that’s as sure of a sign as any from the gods that he should go for it. He moves in close, almost connects their lips.

And Colin jumps on Dan, knocks him out of the way like a sports play. And that’s the exact moment when Phil decides he’s done fucking around with Colin.

Phil waits a few days before he goes over Dan’s again. He takes a deep breath before he walks in - he doesn’t need to knock - and makes a beeline for Dan.

“Dan,” he starts. His best friend looks up, vaguely startled by Phil’s resolute expression. He’s got books spread out in front of him - clearly working on some sort of project for school. “I need to talk to you about something.”

“Okay,” Dan says slowly. He takes his earbud out of his ear and places it on the table. “I’m all yours.”

Phil takes a deep breath. “I-” Then he spots Colin sitting around the corner, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. He looks between Dan and the dog and says, “excuse me.”

With sheer willpower, he manages to get Colin into Dan’s room and he locks the door. Pleased with himself, he returns to the kitchen and sits across from Dan. “Dan, I-”

They’re both startled by the sound of Colin barking. Dan laughs a little bit and stands. “I should let him out,” he reasons.

Phil almost watches him go, really, he does. But then he decides ‘fuck it’, because it’s now or never, and he drags Dan into his lap and kisses him.

Dan doesn’t respond for a second, which scares Phil, but then he’s kissing back with the force of a man who’s been denied something for way too long. He gets a hand into Phil’s hair and sinks into Phil’s lap. Phil wraps an arm around Dan’s waist and pulls him in closer. Dan makes a little noise in the back of his throat that Phil wants a fucking audio recording of - honestly.

Phil picks Dan up - quite a feat considering they’re the same height - and stands. He gets a hand under Dan’s ass to support him but doesn’t break the kiss. Dan’s arms move to around Phil’s neck so at least it’s easier to stay still as they kiss. Phil walks them to Dan’s bedroom slowly and kicks the door open with his foot.

Of course, Colin attacks almost as soon as the door is open. He jumps on them, and Phil is so startled that he falls backwards with Dan on top of him. Dan rolls off in shock, and Colin immediately takes his place, licking Phil’s face and clawing at his chest.

Dan starts laughing - Phil supposes it is funny, in hindsight - as Phil tries to wrestle the dog off of him. “Colin-” Dan wheezes through laughter, his cheeks red and his eyes watering. “Colin, Colin, bad. Leave-” he’s laughing too hard to continue.

Phil immediately manages to get Colin off of him and sits up. And, as he watches his best friend laugh, he finds he doesn’t really care that Colin interrupted them this time.

Even as his allergies kick in.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

so maddi is the first place winner of my fanfic giveaway! it finished at the end of june and i’m just now getting around to writing this fic i know i’m a horrible human being i had school lmao

it really was so fun working with them! they’re so nice and their blog is so beautiful, i definitely recommend checking them out and giving them a little follow!

i asked them for their music taste and they said they wanted feel good pop songs, which i hope i delivered. check out the playlist, it was super fun to put together and i binged it while writing this.

if you liked this please, please consider giving it a reblog. those help the blog to grow and give me motivation to actually write instead of binging netflix lmao.

check out the rest of my writing here. 

thank you i love you

-hunt <3