pause // dan howell x reader

Chapter 23 - Chinese and A Video

Your POV

"Here, I'll open it." You take the house keys away from Dan as he's struggling to unlock his front door.

"Thanks." He sighs as he steadies himself back onto his crutches.

"Is Phil going to be here?" You ask, pushing the door open.

"I just got a text from him but I think he should be coming soon." He digs into his pocket and pulls out his phone to then read the screen.

"Oh nevermind, he's going out to dinner tonight." He announces a little surprised.

"With who?" You sing teasingly as you enter the flat.

"He didn't say."

"Philly gettin' some." You joke and Dan looks up at you, laughing. Then he turns off his phone and puts it back in his pocket.

"I want to take you up on that offer." You say grinning and Dan tilts his head unsurely while he closes the door.

"Chinese noodles and film a video?" You add, pacing up the steps.

"Oh right, sure." He laughs and starts following you up the stairs.

"Dan, be careful." You worry as he wobbles up the steps with his crutches hung by his side.

"I'm alright, it's an at home form of therapy." He takes another unbalanced step and sways a little. You hurriedly run down to him and support his back.

"You don't ne-"

"I'm helping you." You quickly argue and lift him up a step.

"Whoa, feisty." He chuckles. You shift your hand on his back to then link around the side of his torso and he wraps an arm on your left shoulder for support.

"Do you want me to order some chinese?" You question, turning your head to Dan.

"Get me up the stairs first." He nags and you flick his hip, making him yelp.

"I meant afterwards, genius." You tease and he laughs in return. As you reach the top of the stairs, you let go of him and he fits his crutches back underneath his arms.

"I'll go set up the video equipment." He nods over to his room and crutches away. You turn around and pull your phone out of your jean pocket.

"What place do you ord-" You start to ask, yelling over your shoulder, except Dan had already slinked into his room. You walk over to the kitchen and being the investigator you are, you find a stack of chinese food boxes with the same logo printed on the outside.

After knitting though the internet for the take-out's phone number, you finally find it and dial up for an order.

-

"Well, that wasn't embarrassing." You complain as you enter Dan's room; him sitting patiently on the bed.

"What happened?" He laughs and pulls at his grey hoodie.

"I called them up but I didn't know anything on the menu. So the guy on the other end had to go through the whole thing and half of it I didn't understand- and- I-" You fall down on the bed with a groan and Dan chuckles at you in pity.

"Our order is on it's way." You say blankly, staring at the roof.

"I guess you could say that's Pad Thai-ring." He points and clicks with a wink.

"That's Thai food, Dan." You facepalm.

"Was I wrong-ton?" He looks down at you with a smirk playing on his lips.

"Okay, ciao-" You haul yourself off the bed and run over to the door. Before you leave, you spin around and hold a hand next to your mouth.

"-mein." You whisper and Dan has a laughing fit. You grin and use your foot to open the door.

"Where are you going?" He stops laughing and plays with some loose strings hanging off his black cast.

"I'm getting away from your puns."

"You're a lame pun." He looks up and smiles at you.

"I hope you die." You smile back and quickly leave before he can stop you again. In the hallway you spot the whiteboard and read the new notices.

'Leg appointment - AGAIN -'

'Sorry Dan :('

'PINOF 8: practice whiskering'

'DAPGO (3rd of November)'

'Dan, remember to put on socks - Y/N'

Smiling to yourself, you grab the whiteboard marker and write something below.

'Stop being a cripple'

Even though it's a bad attempt at a burn, Dan's crying out for you in the other room so you have barely any time to think of anything clever.

"What are you smiling about?" He pesters and fiddles with one of his black earrings. 

"Nothing. What kind of video are we doing?" You avoid his question as you jump on the end of his bed.

"You need to post a video too, you haven't uploaded in ages." Dan states and you nod your head guiltily.

"For my channel, I think we should play Cards Against Humanity." He suggests.

"You already did that with Tyler."

"But not with you." He grins and reaches into his bedside table, pulling out the pack of cards.

"Wait, how did you know that?" He asks and you blush nervously.

"Ty-" The doorbell rings and you let out a sigh of relief.

"I'll get that."

-

"Dan, there's chow-mein everywhere!" You scream as Dan laughs out noodles onto his bed.

"I told you 'trying not to laugh with noodles in our mouths' was a bad idea." You continue, pointing a white card towards him; he just mumbles back an incoherent excuse. Before you could tell him off further, he gets up and limps out the door with noodles dangling from his mouth.

"Apologies for that image that none of you expected to see." You glance into the camera and chuckle a little. After a minute or two, a shriek echoes down the hallway and Dan hobbles into the room.

"Y/N, it burns." He whines childishly, bending onto his knees.

"How the hell did you get soap in your eye?" You exclaim and dip some tissues in the water on Dan's nightstand.

"I think this is where we end the video." He laughs as you lift his chin slightly and dab the wet tissue on his eye.

"I think so too."

Half this chapter was improvised lol sorry