Chapter Text
Late one Tuesday morning, Dan comes into Beans & Grind looking particularly tired and ragged. Phil scans him up and down, taking in the way his sweater hangs a little too loosely, the way his eyes have particularly dark shadows under them.
“You okay?” Phil asks, trying to mask the concern in his voice. Dan doesn’t like it when Phil gets too worried.
Dan shrugs, not quite looking Phil in the eye. “Been better,” he says evasively. His eyes flicker over the menu, more out of habit than anything – he already knows what he’s going to order. “Long night, s’all.”
“Ah,” Phil agrees knowingly. From instagram and twittter, private DMs and text messages, Phil is well aware of how late Dan can stay up sometimes. Over the past few months, Phil’s learned a thing or two about Dan. He’s learned how Dan sometimes gets so tired he can’t sleep. He’s learned that Dan sometimes gets caught up in his music and neglects himself. And, unfortunately, he’s learned that Dan sometimes hyper-focuses on the paparazzi and the way they portray him. He’s learned that sometimes, especially after a particularly candid picture ends up in the media, Dan gets really self conscious.
And sometimes, when Dan is tired or caught up in his music or feeling particularly self conscious, he just… doesn’t eat. Never to an extreme level, never so much that Phil really worries that it might be a lasting problem. But just enough that he doesn’t quite eat dinner every now and again, whether it’s because he was simply tired or caught up and forgot, or because he was self conscious and made a slightly more active choice.
All the same, as Phil looks Dan over, he can tell that last night was probably one of those nights. Most likely the forgot kind, given how exhausted he looks. Regardless, Phil wordlessly goes over to the display counter and pulls out not one, not two, but three different types of muffins, setting them all down in front of Dan.
“Eat,” he says simply. “You look like you need it.”
Dan’s gaze flickers between the muffins and Phil, anxious for a moment but then melting. “Thanks,” he murmurs. “I think I forgot about dinner last night.”