Chapter Text
By the time they've navigated London traffic, Jane's messy-chic updo has turned more into frazzled English woman, and Finn is pretty sure he's visibly sweating in his suit jacket, but what matters is that they made it to the restaurant almost on time for their reservation and are guided to their table by a lovely waitress.
By the time they've studied their menus and ordered their food - all the while staunchly ignoring the prices of even just starter dishes because this is their ten year anniversary and they both agreed they're allowed to treat themselves tonight - Finn is desperate to freshen up quickly, so he excuses himself form his lovely, lovely wife and heads to the loos.
The walls of the restaurant have some beautiful murals on them, which is why he doesn't watch where he's going, which is why he bumps into someone coming out of the bathroom.
"Shit, sorry -"
"God dammit, I'm sorry -"
In the hustle-and-bustle of apologising, Finn looks up and finds himself staring into what he believes is a familiar face. Could it be -
"I'm sorry, but is there any chance you were in Mrs. Winderson's class in year eleven?"
Potentially-Dan-Howell squints at him for a moment until the penny visibly drops. "Wait. Finn Miller?"
Thank fucking god he didn't just make things unbearably weird for a total stranger. "Hey, Dan!"
Dan grins, slightly loopy as ever but with most of the awkwardness of their teen years gone. They were never exactly friends back in school, but they were both outsiders enough to have an unspoken alliance against all the aggro boys in their grade.
"What's up with you? What are you doing here?"
Finn points back to his table. "The wife and I are celebrating our anniversary with a weekend in town. Got a babysitter for the kids and everything."
Dan's eyebrows shoot up in surprise. "Oh, kids, plural! Congrats!"
Fred laughs, trying to make it sound less hysterical than he feels right now, faced with this reminder of his teen years and how much time - and life - has passed since then. "I know, I know. I can't believe I've got three of them now. We're getting old."
"Gosh, I wasn't gonna say it but hell yeah we are."
Squinting up at him - Dan must've grown half a head taller since their school days because now he practically towers over Finn - he pauses for a moment to really look at Dan, takes in the curls that always used to straighten into an emo fringe that Finn was secretly jealous of, the little hoop on his ear, the expensive-looking, if somewhat-too-edgy-for-Finn's-tastes shirt he's wearing. He looks like Dan Howell from school, but all grown up.
"Well," he asks, trying not to think about what Dan sees when he looks at him, "what about you? Celebrating something, too?"
The question turns Dan almost bashful, has him shifting on his feet, a soft little smile playing on his lips. "Not really, we just live nearby and wanted to go out instead of just ordering in like usual, you know?"
Finn doesn't really because he can count the number of times they've has ordered in since they've had kids on one hand, but he nods anyway. "We, is that you and your wife? Family?"
Dan hesitates for a moment before he replies, "my partner, actually. We bought a house in the area recently - well, a few years ago, but it still feels recent."
Schooling his face into something blankly polite, Finn does his best not to let out an oh, of course. "The area's lovely," he says instead, and asks himself what the fuck Dan and his partner do for work to afford a house in any area in London, and especially one as lovely as this one.
"It sure is," Dan says, but he's clearly distracted by something across the room. "Sorry, I see Phil waiting for me by the door, we were just on our way out -"
"Oh, I'm sorry for keeping you!"
Dan waves his apology away. "Nah, man, it was nice seeing you." To Finn's surprise, he leans down for a brief hug.
"Yeah, it was good seeing you too," Finn replies, but by the time he's finished his sentence, Dan's already halfway through the room. Finn's eyes follow him as he makes his way past the tables and towards the entrance, where another giant of a man with blond hair is waiting for him. He watches as, presumably, Phil holds out Dan's jacket for him and helps him slip into it with practiced ease, saying something that has Dan crack up.
They look good together, Finn thinks as he finally heads into the bathroom, and then focuses back on his darling wife for the rest of the evening.
However, curiosity will kill the cat, he reminds himself later that night when he finds himself opening Safari on his iPhone and googling Dan's name, trying to see if he maybe has a LinkedIn or a profile on some employer's website that would explain where he lives.
Well.
It turns out that Dan has a fucking Wikipedia page, and several million followers on Instagram - amongst many other things, including, apparently, a successful career on YouTube and a Podcast. So, Finn clicks on the first YouTube video that appears, and is immediately confronted with the sight of Dan in a mini skirt and some kind of mesh crop-top situation shouting about banana bread. He tells himself he wants to turn off the video immediately, and ends up watching it in its entirety.
He doesn't think he's ever felt this many conflicting emotions simultaneously in life.