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“Sorry, what?”
Dan looked up from his computer as he tugged his headphones off. Phil was, yet again, in a mood and Dan knew better than to stand in the way during one of those so he’d decided to hide in the gaming room for the day.
“I said we need to wash all the sheets!” Phil usually got in a cleaning frenzy before they went on holiday, or before they had guests in the house, and both of these things would be happening in a span of a week so he was extra hyper today.
“Alright, I’ll help you pull them all out tomorrow and we can wash them then.” Dan was hoping his answer would be satisfactory enough for Phil to let it go for the night.
“No! We have to go to the studio tomorrow and we’ll be working all day, and my parents are getting here tomorrow night! The sheets NEED to be washed before they arrive, so we need to wash them now!”
“Phil, it’s almost 12 am, how are we going to sleep if all our sheets are in the wash?”
“I’ll use the quick cycles, it shouldn’t take too long, plus I still got to do a couple things before we go to bed. Come on, help me out.”
“Course, love.” Dan took a deep breath as Phil left the room. He ruffled his hair and got up after saving the game he’d been playing.
He knew that washing the sheets right now was a bad idea, but he couldn’t say no to Phil right now. Whenever Phil was in one of these “cleaning moods”, he was always a little short fused and would get annoyed with Dan if he didn’t do things his way, so over years Dan had just kind of… Stopped trying to help, which he did feel kind of guilty about but it worked for them.
Dan followed Phil to one of the bedrooms and they started pulling the sheets off the bed in silence. As they worked, Dan took his time watching Phil. His glasses kept slipping from his nose as he rubbed his eyes underneath them, and the little crease that appeared between his eyebrows seemed almost permanent.
Dan furrowed his eyebrows as he kept staring, he could almost feel the annoyance coming off Phil right now but he didn’t understand the reasoning behind it.
After they finished up in all three bedrooms, without speaking a word, Phil took the spare sheets from the cupboards.
“You’re washing the spares too?”
“Yes, Dan. They all need to be cleaned.” The annoyance and the slight frenzy in Phil’s voice was enough to shut Dan up immediately. He took a sharp breath and watched as Phil carried the beddings to the laundry room.
He kept trying to understand the reason behind Phil’s anger with him but his mind was coming up short. He hadn’t even done anything that day, so he decided Phil’s mood was unrelated to him and decided to just let him be.
He waited around for a few more minutes for instructions but after not hearing anything from Phil, he decided to retreat back to the gaming room.
After around 30 minutes of gaming, he heard the chime for the washer go off, indicating it’s completed the cycle. He saved his game and got up to check it.
“Phiil! The washer is done!”
He thought he heard Phil scoff as he walked to the laundry room but he couldn’t be sure.
“Couldn’t you just have moved it to the dryer without calling me?!” Normally, Dan could easily ignore Phil’s snippy comments when he was in a mood, knowing the anger behind wasn’t actually aimed at him but it was late, Dan was tired and knowing he wouldn’t be getting any sleep for at least another hour was really starting to get on his nerves, so he sniped back.
“You know I don’t know how to run that fancy machine you insisted we buy!”
Phil scoffed again and rolled his eyes as he harshly pulled the wet sheets from the washer and put them in the dryer.
“How hard could it be to learn to run a fucking dryer, Dan? Also, you could’ve at least put the wet sheets in the dryer before calling me!”
Dan shifted uncomfortably, eyebrows furrowing even further. He knew Phil had a little bit of a point but his tiredness was getting to him, and also what did it even matter? It's not like moving the sheets from one machine to the other was a hard job.
He stared as Phil started the washer, selecting “quick cycle” and sighed as the machine’s time indicator showed 1 hour. It was already 12.48, which meant it’d be almost 2 am by the time they’d be able to go to sleep at the earliest. For a second he contemplated just sleeping on the couch but decided against it to spare his muscles from the pain he’d feel tomorrow.
He left the room and went back to the gaming room, loading up his game once again. His back was already turned so he missed Phil looking behind him, rubbing his eyes angrily and then going back to cleaning the kitchen.
After the hour was up, Dan heard the chime for the washer go off but decided to not come out this time, figuring Phil would still be in a mood and not wanting his presence to keep being a nuisance, figuring Phil would call him to put the sheets on the beds.
He heard Phil go into the laundry room, and heard the dryer door open, and then… Nothing.
He thought Phil would’ve called him by now, so he slowly made his way into the laundry room. He found Phil in front of the dryer, one hand on the sheets inside, eyes glued shut and small tears making their way down his face. Dan felt his heart break a little at the sight before him, watching Phil take deep breaths, and his anger dissolved into worry and something else he couldn’t quite put his finger on.
“Phil… What’s wrong?”
Phil didn’t answer, so he tried again.
“Phil?..”
“Nothing, Dan. Nothing is wrong.” Phil sniffled. He started pulling out the sheets. Clearly something was wrong but Dan was a little afraid to push it, so he just stood next to Phil and held the pieces of fabric as Phil pulled them out of the machine.
“Phil… These feel a little wet, still…” Dan almost whispered.
“They’re fine, Dan! They’re not wet!” Phil sniped.
“They just feel a bit cold, shouldn’t they be warmer, given they’re just out the dryer?” Dan’s voice was a little louder now. They moved to the bedroom as they went and started putting the supposedly dried sheets on the bed.
“I thought you didn’t know how the dryer worked?! It was a quick cycle, of course they aren’t going to come out all warm and toasty for you!” Phil looked even more annoyed, if possible.
“Listen, I get that you’re in a mood but you don’t have to take it out on me! I didn’t even do anything yet you’re letting all your anger and annoyance or whatever on me right now!”
If Phil had the ability to shoot lasers out his eyes or something Dan was sure he’d be dead on the spot with the look Phil gave him at that second. Yet when he spoke, his voice didn’t carry any anger or annoyance, instead just a distance that was colder than the clearly still wet sheets that were now on their bed.
“Yes, Dan. You didn’t do anything.”
Phil left for the bathroom after saying that, getting ready for bed from what Dan could hear.
Dan got underneath the uncomfortably cold sheets, trying to get comfortable as the fabric of the bedding clung to his body and clothes. He turned to his side, facing away from the middle of the bed. Normally, he'd face sleeping Phil as he liked watching him when he woke up but tonight he was annoyed and he wanted to act that out.
He heard Phil get out of the bathroom, place his glasses on the bedside table and climb into the bed. Dan didn’t move, almost hoping Phil would think he was already asleep but he heard him shuffle uncomfortably and sigh.
Phil never had any trouble falling asleep, so it wasn’t a surprise to hear his little snores a couple minutes later. However, Dan’s already loud brain that liked keeping him awake at night, combined with the uncomfortably cold and wet sheets clinging to him made it near impossible for him to fall asleep quickly.
As the water from the sheets dripped into his pajamas, he thought about the day and the things Phil said. Why was he so short with him today?
Right at that sweet edge between being awake and asleep, where the body didn’t really work and the brain has just hit the power off button, he got it.
Phil was tired from cleaning around all day. His parents would be coming to stay over at their house for the first time since the renovations were almost completed and the house could finally handle guests staying over now. Phil had cleaned every nook and cranny of the house, had prepared the guest room, and even baked cookies.
And Dan. Had done. Nothing.
He felt like such an ass, yet the striking revelation wasn’t enough to keep him from falling asleep.
He woke up a couple hours later and found himself completely sodden. His pajamas felt as if he’d gone sleeping in them, his hair was wet and his fingers were basically pruning up. He turned over to check on Phil and found him trembling, skin cold as ice, yet still soundly asleep. He knew they’d both get sick if they stayed in their current state any longer.
Thankfully, Dan did remember the revelation he had right as he was falling asleep, and he felt the guilt slowly claw at him. He got up and got two pairs of pajama bottoms from the drawer and silently thanked Phil’s ability to sleep through anything as he changed Phil’s clothes and then his. After that, he got two blankets, which would be a bit too thick for the current weather under normal circumstances, and laid one over the wet sheets and draped the other over Phil’s trembling body. He took the wet bed cover to the dryer and started a 3 hour cycle, after finding a youtube tutorial on how to work the fancy dryer.
After that, he finally felt a little rid of the guilt inside him, the emotion he realised he couldn’t name before. He slipped back in the bed, and this time instead of facing away, he snuggled close to Phil’s cold body, his arm over his torso and his face nuzzled into Phil’s neck. He hoped the heat from their bodies and the two blankets would be enough to keep them from getting sick.
With all that movement in the bed and Dan's hair tickling his neck, Phil started to stir.
“Dan..?”
“Ssh, it’s okay, it’s just me. I got us some blankets. I’m sorry I wasn’t more helpful today. I love you.”
Phil didn’t say anything, immediately falling back asleep now that he was starting to warm up but held Dan’s hand and scooted even closer to him.
“Good night, Phil.”