one year later

Phil wakes up to hear shuffling noises and muffled voices coming from the guest bedroom. He groggily opens his eyes and glances at the clock - 3am. "Dan, do you hear that?" He says, turning to the other side of the bed. But it's empty. "Dan?" Phil calls. The noises stop and Phil can hear a muted "Yeah?" come from the other side of the wall. Phil gets up and heads out of their bedroom to the door leading into the spare bedroom.

"What are you doing?" "Oh, um, nothing, just couldn't sleep," Dan says. Something about Dan's voice sounded.. off, somehow. "Are you alright?" Phil asks through the door. "Yeah! Yeah, I'm fine. Just, um, don't come in," Dan states. Phil furrows his brow slightly, but takes his hand off the door handle and respects Dan's wishes. "Ok.. just come back to bed soon, alright?" "Yes, ok, thanks, be out in a minute," Dan agrees, breathing a sigh of relief.

Had Phil walked in at the moment, he would have seen Dan dressed in a blazer and slacks. He would have seen a folded-over poster of him and Dan, so only he was showing, taped on the wall. And he would have seen Dan kneeling on the floor, facing the poster, holding out a velvet box with two matching silver bands nestled inside, practicing what he was about to do the very next day.

"You ready to go, Dan?" Phil calls. "Yeah, just give me a minute," Dan says from the bathroom. "Dan, c'mon, we're going to be late!" Phil exclaims, walking into the bathroom. Dan was combing his hair for the millionth time that evening. "Alright, just hold on!" "You don't need to look perfect, Dan!" They argue. "Yes, I do! This is our one-year anniversary, I have to look nice," Dan says. "You look fine," Phil brushes him off. "Fine?!" Dan says, turning back worriedly to the mirror. Phil takes Dan's hand and pulls him away. "You look absolutely beautiful," Phil says slowly, staring straight into Dan's eyes. Dan's heart flutters and he smiles shyly. "Okay," he says, turning to throw the comb back onto the counter.

Dan and Phil walk down the stairs and into the cab waiting to take them to the restaurant. They sit together in the backseat, careful not to wrinkle their outfits. Dan was wearing the blazer and slacks from the night before, while Phil was in a simple button down shirt and tie with nice pants. They got through some awkward small talk with the cab driver and then talked to each other in low voices for the rest of the drive. Finally they got to the restaurant. It was a somewhat fancy one, with elegant decorations and a formal atmosphere.

Dan and Phil head into the restaurant and walk up to the counter. "Hello! We have a reservation under 'Dan Howell'?" Dan says to the maitre d'. "Ah, yes, right this way, sir," he responds, and leads them into the main dining hall. Dan and Phil are shown to a small booth near the edge of the room. "Thank you," Phil says politely to the maitre d' before slipping into the booth. Dan sits across from him and a waiter approaches the table.

"Good evening, sirs, and welcome," he says in a posh accent. "I am Gabriel and I will be your server tonight." "Good evening! I'm Phillip and this is Daniel," Phil introduces themselves, earning a look from Dan as he uses their full names. "Pleased to meet you. Here are your menus, and I will come back in a moment to take your drink orders," Gabriel stated, and Dan and Phil received the menus as Gabriel handed them to the pair. "What was with you using our full names?" Dan asks Phil as he opens his menu. "Everyone is so formal here I wanted to sound like them," Phil defends himself while grinning a little.

Dan and Phil scan through drink options and place their orders when the waiter comes back. "Wow, everything is so fancy here!" Phil exclaims excitedly as he looks through the rest of the menu. "Thank you, Dan. Really. You didn't have to go to all this trouble," Phil says. "Phil, c'mon. It's our anniversary! I wanted it to be special," Dan states, practicing in his mind the other reason it was going to be special, unconsciously touching the box in his pocket.

Gabriel comes back to take their meal orders, and afterward Dan and Phil wait for their food while talking to each other in easy conversation. "So what do you have planned after dinner?" Phil asks. Dan had planned basically the entire date, wanting to surprise Phil. "Well, we're going to walk through the little park down the road to the beach a couple blocks away. I thought we could walk down the shore and watch the sunset, then catch a taxi back home. I also have a movie picked out we can watch tonight," Dan explains. "That sounds perfect," Phil says.

They finish up their dinner and about an hour later are walking out the door. Phil takes Dan's hand and they wander down the quiet street together. Dan and Phil reach the park and make their way through it on the little path winding down the middle of the park. Along the way, Phil is pointing out different kinds of plants and Dan is admiring all the nature. Later, they keep walking out of the park and down the road towards the beach. Dan and Phil walk down the shore and watch the beautiful sunset over the water, with the stars and moon starting to appear in the sky, while speaking in low voices to not disturb the peaceful atmosphere. The reach a little pier and walk down to the end of it, gazing out over the lake. Dan looks around, and, seeing no one, thinks, It's now or never, and he begins to start what he'd been practicing over and over while Phil slept.

"Say, Phil, do you ever think about what our lives would be like if we'd never met?" Dan asks. "Hm, no, not really," Phil responds. Dan rolls his eyes and smiles a bit. "Well, recently I've been thinking about just how different everything would be. I mean, so many things had to happen for us to get where we are. You found that videocamera and decided to make videos, and I found you online, then got enough courage to reach out to you. So I'll be forever grateful you decided to pay attention to the dorky guy on the internet," Dan says. Phil laughs at that, and Dan continues: "I mean, my life would suck without you. I would probably be a depressed lawyer living alone in a crappy apartment, while you'd be living it up somewhere as a weatherman." "Aw, Dan, I could never be happy without you. We're meant to be together," Phil says. "Okay, Phil, that was very sweet, but I'm trying to do something so just shut up and listen, yeah?" Dan suggests. Phil grins, then nods and allows Dan to continue.

"Like I said, I'm so grateful for everything you've done for me. You helped me build up my career as a youtuber, you let me move in with you, and we've gone on tour basically around the world together. I could've never done any of this without you. And I would never want to. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Phil. You.. you make me happy," Dan says. "Before I met you, I didn't have any real friends and I was at a low point in my life. You helped me figure out what I wanted to do with my existence. And I love my life now. I love you, Phil. Because you are the most amazing person I have ever met, I.. I could go on and on about everything I love about you. Now, I can't promise you a huge house or loads of money, but I can promise to make you happy. Because you make me happy, and I love you," Dan repeats. Phil's eyes start watering as he realizes exactly what Dan was doing. He wants to interrupt Dan, say he doesn't need a huge house or loads of money, that he loves Dan too. But he lets Dan finish.

"So," Dan says, gracefully sinking down on one knee like he's practiced it a million times before. He pulls the box from out of his pocket, opens it to reveal the rings, and says, "Phillip Michael Lester, will you marry me?" Phil's face splits into a huge smile and he says, "Yes, Dan! Of course I will marry you." Dan starts beaming and he stands to kiss Phil, but Phil takes Dan's face in both hands as soon as he stands up, and kisses him before Dan gets the chance. Dan snakes one arm around Phil's waist, but the other is still holding onto the box. Too soon, the kiss ends and they're left staring into each other's eyes. "Can I see the rings?" Phil asks. "Yeah, of course," Dan says, and he passes the box over to Phil. "They're beautiful," Phil muses as he runs a finger over the smooth metal of one of the rings. Dan smiles and explains, "I thought we would keep them in the box for now, and we'll wear them after the wedding. Is that all right?" "Yeah, it's fine. I mean, what do gay couples do with like, rings and stuff?" Phil questions. "I don't really know. Men don't have like, engagement rings, just the wedding bands, so I didn't really know what to do.." Dan trails off. "We'll figure it out," Phil reassures Dan, grinning as he hands the box back over.

"Can I make sure it fits?" Dan asks. "Oh, yeah, probably a good idea," Phil laughs, and he holds out his hand towards Dan. Dan grasps Phil's palm and slides one of the rings onto his finger. "Perfect fit," Phil breathes. "Yay," Dan says shakily, trying the other ring on his own finger. "Same here," Dan says. "Yay," Phil repeats Dan's response. They take off the rings and place them back in the box carefully. "Ready to go?" Dan asks as he slips the box back in his pocket. Phil glances back over the sun setting on the water. He smiles again, deep in thought, then turns back to Dan. "Yeah," he says, clasping Dan's hand in his and walking back down the pier onto the beach, sun warming their backs as they take the first step into their new life together.

A/N: Yay, it's finally done! I hope you guys enjoyed this phanfic, I loved writing it. Thank you to everyone who has read this, especially if you reviewed, followed, or favorited! And, sorry it took me a long time to update again, school has started for me so I've been quite busy. I've also been working on other fics, one is uploaded now if you want to check it out (titled 'The Liveshow', v creative, I know). Hopefully I'll have time to write on weekends or if I find free time to write during the week. Anyway, bye guys! ~L