The Best of Me (A danisnotonfire fanfic) ✅

Part 34: Surrender

I had no idea of what brought me out on that stage with a guitar in the first place. Perhaps it was Dan's words from yesterday who lingered in the back of my mind,

"I love you LeeLee, and I don't want you to hurt yourself like you do. I've tried my best to make you better, to fix you, but it's just so incredibly hard to see the one you love in such state, and I'm not sure if I can do it anymore!"

I wanted Dan to hold on, to show me he cared. He had told me he loved me and I hadn't answered. That was why I asked Troye to teach me to play a simple song on the guitar so I could show some affection back to Dan, even though he weren't there when I woke up.

So here I was, embraced by his arms on a stage, kissing in front of a thousand flashing cameras. It was safe to say that I were on the verge of an anxiety attack, but I knew I had to hold myself together for his sake.

I pulled away from Dan's incredibly soft lips. Even though it wasn't our first, it certainly felt like it.

"Come," He whispered into my ear, and pulled me by the wrist backstage. I winced slightly, because the cuts were still burning and betraying me from my recover.

"Lee! I never knew you had it in you," Troye cheered over the crowd as we joined the little group of familiar faces within the mess. "I'm so proud!"

I smiled back and gave him an akward one-armed hug as best as I could with Dan's arms still around my waist and wrist. It was noticeable when all of Dan's YouTuber friends aww-ed, so I with drawled damn fast, no wanting the spotlight to shine on me. I realized how fucking ridiculous that sounds, giving the fact that I just preformed a song in front of thousands of people and their cellphone cameras.

"Hey," Dan whispered to me, cupping my head softly to meet his chocolate glaze. "Thank you, Leah. It was truly amazing." I studied his expression for a second before it hit me what was wrong with the picture: Dan was crying.

"Don't cry..." I whispered to him, uttering my first real words in almost two months. Dan's eyes went wide before a huge smile grew across his adorable face. "...Craft" I finished.

Dan's whole face changed I the span of a millisecond. His jaw dropped enough to fit an elephant inside and you could practically see how the wheels inside his brain were spinning, almost as if they were saying, "She went there!"

"You... Little..." Dan started, trying to act mad. "You don't speak to me for almost two months, and then you quote one of my worst quotes in the histo- Hey don't make me smile when I'm mad at you!" The both of us were full on laughing now, in our own little bubble shielded from the rest of the world.

"I'm sorry Dan. About every little thing I've put you through. I never wanted it," I whispered with my head leaning his chest, as if he wouldn't notice my now saddened expression.

"Leah, it's okay. I'm glad I could be there to help you. And I always will be, if you want me to," He leaned his head to lean on top of mine and embraced me tighter. A part of me wished we could live like this forever.

Who are you kidding? He only did the whole kissing-because-I-care-about-you because he didn't want to get a bad reputation from his fans... You know that right?

At this moment, it felt like my world was shattering, and the only thing that kept my broken pieces from spilling all over the floor was the fact that Dan held me together. Was he doing it for his own sake or because he actually wanted to? After all, he was a good actor and the speech he delivered last night was damn convincing. I tensed a little bit, praying he wouldn't notice, but still let me go.

"You're okay right? I mean, you are going to get quite a lot of attention from now on. I'm sorry I kissed you on that stage, but I couldn't keep myself," Dan asked as I vaguely noticed that the small crowd of his YouTuber friends had dissolved.