Your Love's a F*cking Drag (But I Need it So Bad)

Chapter Two

Phil had been dating Maria six years from this coming Saturday. They'd met one summer on a drowsy afternoon drunk on leisure, and the rest, so to speak, had been history. Until starting college, the two had never lived more than a fifteen minute walk away from each other. Though Phil had known that the commute would prove to be a problem eventually he'd pushed it to the back of his mind, figuring that they'd cross that bridge when they came to it. This decision proved to be one that he regretted, because when the time had come all he'd wanted to do was bury his head in the sand and pretend that he could put off dealing with it.

The current arrangement was that the two alternated visits; Phil having made the twenty one hour eight minute commute to Maria's school previously. She was due to arrive Friday night, and to say Phil was panicking was putting it mildly. She'd had yet to meet Dan, as his roommate had elected to bunk with Cheryl each time Maria came to visit. He'd claimed it was because there were things even he didn't think he could stomach, but either way Phil didn't mind. Technically, the opposite sex was forbidden to be in each other's rooms after curfew, but the dorm mother rarely checked rooms and Phil had broken that rule countless times.

He hadn't seen Maria since the--incident--with Dan, and despite the other boy's constant reassurance that it was nothing more than bros helping bros out he still felt guilty. If the roles were reversed he's not sure how well he would've understood. He'd thought about telling Dan that their arrangement was over countless times, but his willpower crumbled before he even tried. As much as he wanted to stop he didn't, and it was that that was the root of the issue.

In hindsight, his first meeting with Dan should've been warning enough. A cigarette had been held between slender and pale fingers, brown eyes dancing and accenting the smirk flickering at the corner of his lips. Smoke curled into the air and he extended his hand, Phil grabbing it and shaking.

"Dan Howell."

"Phil Lester."

Dan eyed him up and down, the smirk beginning to spread. He dropped the cigarette on the ground, the embers dying the moment they hit the pavement. Feeling slightly uncomfortable, Phil readjusted his hold on his bag and made his way inside.

"That one's mine," Dan said, pointing to the bed on the right. Without waiting for any agreement or otherwise he dropped his bag on top of the mattress, gaze meeting Phil's in a silent challenge.

He shrugged. "Fine." Dan waited another beat, looking at him expectantly as if hoping for a bigger reaction. He'd have to live without further complaint because a.) Phil couldn't be bothered, b.) he didn't think starting things off with a fight was his best option, and c.) he didn't really give a fuck one way or the other.

He ignored Dan's eye roll, the other boy losing interest and grabbing a box of matches and a new cigarette. "Want one?" Phil shook his head, resisting the urge to step back. Dan struck the match, raising the cigarette and preparing to light it.

"Shouldn't you go outside?" Phil asked, brain jumping to all the possible things that could go wrong with his utter lack of coordination and an open flame. Expulsion and definite suspension were two of the most pressing scenarios, not to mention the possibility of dying.

The edge of panic to his question must've been evident because Dan left without complaint; grabbing the matches and remaining cigarettes on his way out and leaving the door open behind him.

Phil should've taken that as the warning that it was, because Dan Howell was going to be the death of him.

He slouched back into his sofa crease, closing his eyes and wondering if he had time for a nap. He doubted it, but was almost desperate enough to give it a go. Maria was due to arrive any moment but he'd been staring at his textbook for so long he was relatively certain his eyes were going to fall out of his skull. (If he could be bothered to find a pencil he could probably calculate the velocity of their fall.)

Formulas danced on the back of his eyelids, burning cold and doing nothing to help his headache. Phil's current class wasn't anything especially difficult considering, yet a lot of the concepts in his 'simple' class were enough to make his head swim and brain pound. He stifled a yawn, kicking off his shoes and stretching out his limbs.

A loud thumping sound echoed from the beds behind him, followed by a long string of swearing from Dan. Despite himself, Phil felt the corners of his lips quirk up into a smile. While he was glad to have finally met someone as accident prone as he was, sometimes he thought between the two of them and Dan's smoking it was a wonder they hadn't burnt the university to the ground.

"Phil!"

Without opening his eyes, Phil tilted his head towards his best approximation of Dan's voice. "What?"

"Where's my jacket?"

"Did you try the back of the door?"

There's another crash before Dan's following shout of triumph. "Found it--how'd you know where it was?"

"Magic," Phil deadpanned.

A sharp, quick knock on the door grounded his attention, and with a groan he rolled off the sofa and into a standing position. He straightened his shirt, running a hand through his hair and fixing his fringe before pulling the door open.

He was immediately pulled into a hug, the familiar scent of Maria's perfume tickling his nose. The smell was flowery and sweet, and he thought it was a safe to say that there was almost nothing nicer. He returned the hug, wrapping an arm around her and gently guiding her past the door frame.

"Hey," Phil said, a smile rising unbidden. "Did everything go okay getting here?"

"Yeah," Maria nodded, stepping back far enough to meet his eyes. "Traffic was hell but besides that it was fine. Dan leave already?"

"No, he--" Phil's answer was cut off by the roommate in question, who inclined his head briefly towards Maria in greeting. Phil swallowed, guilt twisting and knotting his stomach into something ugly. He forced what he hoped was a somewhat natural smile on his features, hand finding Maria's instinctively.

"Stay safe. Use protection," Dan said innocently, shouldering his bag and heading towards the door.

"Nice to meet you too," Maria said sarcastically, offering an accompanying wave that's both short and sardonic.

Phil retrieved his notebook from it's nest on the sofa cushions, leveling it in the boy's direction and throwing. Unsurprisingly, he misses horribly. "Nice miss."

"Fuck you," Phil muttered, shooting him a dark look.

"If only," Dan agreed pleasantly. "Unfortunately I have a prior arrangement so you'll have to wait. Good meeting you." Before Phil could throw anything else at him (and miss) he made his exit, leaving the door open.

"Arsehole," Phil said darkly, scowling at his retreating form. Dan's habit of leaving the door open every time he came and went had been a sore topic of conversation since their first day, and despite Phil's attempted interventions nothing had changed. He contemplated getting up and closing it before deciding against it and slumping back onto the sofa, Maria sitting beside him.

"He's as charming as you make him sound," she said lightly, lacing her fingers more tightly with his. Her thumb traced patterns on the back of his hand, the touch soft and reassuring. "You've managed not to kill him so far, though, so I think that's worth something at least."

Phil shrugged. There was plenty of time left in the year to plot Dan's murder, and he didn't want to waste the few days he had with Maria complaining about his dorm mate.He settled for what he hoped was a neutral "Maybe."

"You know what else I think?" Maria asked, glancing up at him through thick lashes.

"What's that?"

She leaned in and brushed their lips together, arms looping around his neck and body pressing against his. He pulled her onto his lap, closing his eyes and deepening the kiss. There was a comfortable surety with every movement, a warm safety of routine and past motions to be repeated. Phil's hands found the hem of her shirt, and for the first time in weeks Dan was the furthest thing from his mind.

(Almost.)

-

A/N: Alright so we have like 6 chapters written on other websites so the updating schedule is gonna be a bit frequent up until we have all 6 chapters uploaded c: So please bear with me while I upload tf out of you guys xD Hope you enjoy and let us know what you think!