Never Let Go - Danisnotonfire x Reader

"My Rambling is... Cucumber?"

You set your knife and fork down gently and fold your hands in your lap, resisting the urge to stretch your arms up. That would be impolite.

Dan isn't finished his food yet, and neither is Phil, so you wait for both of them to clear their plates. Shortly, they finish.

"Thank you," you say. "I'll pay you for the takeaway, hold on and I'll get my purse." You get up from the table and go to get your money, but a warm hand clasps your wrist gently, stopping you from walking away.

You turn around as Dan releases your hand, his cheeks slightly pink.

"Sorry," he apologises. "But you don't have to pay for anything. It's our treat, right Phil?"

"Absolutely," Phil agrees. "Don't worry about paying, Y/n."

"Oh, well thank you very much!" you say gratefully, smiling at both of them. "Well, I'm going to clear up the plates, then."

"Oh no you don't!" Dan says threateningly, getting up from his chair and reaching for the plates. However, you get them first, piling them up on top of each other and speed walking away to the kitchen. You don't go too fast (you don't want to drop the plates and break them).

Dan laughs at you and follows you out of the door, trying to grab the plates from you in little snapping motions with his hands, kind of like a dinner plate crab. You pull them in closer to you so he can't get them and laugh. The plates aren't very messy, so you don't really worry about getting sauce on your clothes.

A few moments later, you reach the kitchen, setting the plates down on the worktop above the dishwasher.

Dan comes in behind you, shouting "Boo!" at the top of his voice. It doesn't scare you though, as you heard him.

"Nice try," you say sarcastically, putting on an overly sympathetic expression.

"Go away," he replies, rolling his eyes. "You know your way around our apartment really well, did Phil give you a tour or something earlier?"

You don't want to say yes, because what if Dan asked Phil about it later and he found out you were lying? No thanks. But if you say no, you'll have to think of a good reason. Come on, brain. Think...

"No... I think I have a slight photographic memory," you reply, shrugging your shoulders.

"Really? That's so cool!" Dan says in awe. "I wish I had a photographic memory... like it would be amazing to just see something and then remember it. Is that the right way to put it? I'm not really sure... sorry - I'm rambling again, aren't I?"

"Yeah," you admit. "But it's cu-" You stop the sentence, just about to call his rambling cute. He looks confused at you suddenly cutting off your sentence.

"What were you going to say?"

You panic. "Cucumber!"

You could have chosen ANY other word, Y/n. Cucumber? Really?

"My rambling is... cucumber?" Dan asks, starting to smile.

"Uh, yeah," you reply, smiling awkwardly and turning away from him to load the dishwasher with the plates (and to avoid further awkward eye contact).

Dan starts laughing suddenly. It starts off as breathy chuckles, then gets louder and more frequent as he starts to laugh, bending over slowly.

You don't laugh with him, in the fear that it would come out too forced sounding. Instead, you smile, waiting for him to stop. He does stop eventually, straightening up and wiping the corners of his eyes, a grin still present on his face.