pause // dan howell x reader

Chapter 2 - Unbreakable

Your POV

The taxi comes to a stop and the knot in your stomach grows tighter. F/N steps out the car and holds the door for you.

"I can't do this." You mutter and shake your head. F/N grabs your arm and yanks you forcefully out of the car.

"My god, Y/N, get yourself together." She encourages you.

"Now go to the door, I'll pay the driver." She demands and closes the car door.

"You don't hav-"

"Don't worry about it." F/N replies and leans into the taxi window. You shrug your shoulders and head towards the door.

The pathway is beautifully pebbled with white stones and on the porch hangs a swinging bench, decorated with pillows. That's what you'd always expect from Zoe.

You arrive at the front door and are a bit reluctant to knock but your fate is soon decided by someone opening the door.

"Y/N!" Alfie jumps with an ecstatic expression and he bear hugs you. You quickly move the container of cupcakes to the side, it's not very comfortable.

"I've been violated." You comment sarcastically after the hug, making the situation awkward, just like usual. There's no recovering from this one.

Alfie rubs the back of his neck and he gives you a weak smile. Finally, F/N saves you from the incoming mess.

"Hey Alfie!" She bounces onto the porch. He avoids hugging her, probably to not have the same interaction.

"Hey F/N, you guys can come inside." Alfie guides you and F/N to the room behind him. The house is as gorgeous as you remember. Candles, lights and wicker everywhere.

-

The party has only just started, not many people are here but you keep close to F/N. Over some time, more and more people arrive and you secretly search for Dan.

"You should give that to Zoe or something." F/N diverts your attention from the crowd, pointing to your cupcakes.

"Oh right." You look down at the floor and walk off

"Don't get lost!" She jokes and you shake your head.

You spot Zoe across the room but to the right of you there's a snack table full of food. There isn't enough space to fit in your Troll Face cupcakes so you decide to move a few things and one of them happens to be a jar of hot salsa and a bowl of Doritos. Next to it lays a note written with a sharpie.

"Doritos are a spicy meme right now - Danisnotonfire" You smile as you read it but then your heart skips a beat. He's here.

You slide his snack over and place your cupcakes in the open spot. After taking a deep breath, you turn around and wander back into the crowd.

People flow through each other, like a person knitting. You accidentally bump shoulders with someone, both of you turn heads to say sorry but end up speechless. His brown eyes stare into yours as he keeps walking by and you can't help yourself.

"Pause." You say quietly. The crowd stops moving and the room falls silent. Dan's eyes still hooked on yours, an unbreakable connection.

Then he bumps into a person in front of him. He falls backwards and apologieses to them, but they don't respond because they're frozen still. Dan gets up off the ground and brushes himself off while you silently laugh.

"Of course Dan. Embarrass yourself in front o-"

"Play." You smile and the party becomes alive again.

You could have kept listening but at least Dan doesn't see a bunch of people locked in time. If he saw that, he'd probably have a breakdown.

Dan's POV

I know I just felt something. It wasn't some little glance to make my heart drop for 3 seconds. It was almost as if time just, stopped. At that moment, Y/N was the only thing in the room.

I hope she felt that too but, either way I had to be a doofus. Really? Fall on your ass in front of everyone next time Dan. That totally wasn't embarrassing.

I keep making my way to the food, trying to delete that memory from my mind. I see my Doritos on the table and lean over to grab a chip. As I'm dipping it in salsa I notice a massive pile of cupcakes. The container is labelled with Y/N's name.

I chuckle to myself as I observe her creation. 'Very disturbing attempts of Troll Faces' is the only way I can describe it. Nonetheless, it's perfect to me.

Your POV

"Oh my goodness, F/N." You pant as soon as you get back to where she is.

"I'm having breathing problems." You hold your knees and she looks down at you with panic.

"Are you okay?" She bulges her eyes at you.

"Yeah, yeah. I just- the best thing happened." You huff one last time. She seems to relax.

"What now?" She folds her arms and pops one leg.

"Well, um... Dan walked past me and we stared into each other's eyes for like- uh, I don't know, it was forever." You express and start to hyperventilate again. F/N stood there emotionless for a few seconds.

"What?! When will you learn? When will you learn that your actions have consequences?!" She screams, first at you but then into the crowd. F/N covers her mouth in self-consciousness.

Suddenly, she shakes your arm vigorously in excitement.

"Aaaahhhh!" She breaks down into fangirl mode. You can't believe it either.

"Also, Dan brought spicy memes." You say doing the hand sign from his YouTuber's react video.

"Wait, so we aren't losers?" F/N asks, her eyes light up.

"What do you mean?"

"I thought we, among a few other people, would've been the only ones who brought food." She states.

"Oh no, there's heaps of fo-" F/N rushes past you and struts over to the snack table. You chase up behind her and watch her stuff her face with food. You snag a few dozen things in your hands and begin to eat them silently, still watching F/N.

"Your cupcakes are the bomb by the way." You hear a whisper near your ear. You turn to see Dan walking backwards holding two of your cupcakes. He lifts them up higher in the air and shows a warm smile. He then wanders off, laughing to himself.

OMG, TATINOF WAS INCREDIBLE! Dan and Phil were everything. Phil was adorable and Dan was just Dan. NO SPOILERS THOUGH. I didn't get to meet them which sucks, I want to be able to say I hugged those angels.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter :) I stayed up till 1 am to write this for you.
Thank you guys!