The rest of the drive to Tyler's went beautifully. As Antoine explained more and more about his relationship with his husband, Dan was beginning to come to terms with the fact that he was most likely gay. Antoine had gone on and on about how his sister was transgender and how his brother was a drag queen, and how his mother left her husband for a woman. About how his other sister had a girlfriend and his father was the owner of a gay bar. He had come from an lgbt family, and Dan was slightly jealous. If that was the kind of background that he had come from, he would have come out already. Unfortunately, that was not the case. He still believed in God and what not, and he felt that his belief was more Christian than Catholic anyway. Google says that there is such thing as gay Christians, and it also says that gays don't go to hell. That just comes from a misinterpretation from the bible. Homophobes made that up. Of course thinking about all this made Dan think about his horrible time at that horrible Catholic high school. But this was no time to be upset. He was going to Tyler Oakley's party. Tyler Oakley! He was the one man that you needed to have a good reputation with. Otherwise, you might as well kiss your social life goodbye. This was kind of like high school, now that Dan thought about it.
Antoine and Phil ended up exchanging phone numbers as they pulled up on Tyler's driveway. Tyler's red mustang convertible with the top down sat in the driveway. His house was four stories high with an actual elevator! How did he have that much money?! He was only in college and as far as he knew, Tyler had never had a real job before.
Phil rang the doorbell and checked his watch. It was exactly 7 o clock. Time to get this party started!
The door swung open and Tyler's smiling face stood in the doorway.
"Omigod, Phil! It's so good to see you!" Tyler exclaimed and hugged him tight. "And your plus one! Hold on, I'm really bad with names."
Dan hoped that Tyler knew his name so that he didn't have to tell him. Dan could feel himself getting nervous, though. The last party he had gone to was a birthday party. At Chuck E. Cheese's. In second grade. And this was a college party with drinking and smoking and truth or dare and spin the bottle. Phil was going to have to help him survive this.
"I've got this...wait...no, I know this!" Tyler still struggled to remember Dan's name. "I know it starts with a D...or was it an A...?"
Phil chuckled but Dan just felt awkward. He was about to give up and tell Tyler his name.
"Dan!" Tyler suddenly shouted, making both Dan and Phil jump. "Dan! Yes, that's it! I am so sorry, honey. My memory is going south. Sometimes I feel more like 86 than 26!" Tyler joked and invited the two inside his mansion. There were plenty of people there already, most of which Dan recognized. Connor, Zoe, Shane, Felix, and the list went on and on. Dan was surprised to see Connor and Shane conversing. Their breakup was pretty brutal and they always competed for the same guys. Shane left Connor for Phil but then Connor came into the picture and swept Phil off his feet. After he and Connor were in a pretty serious point in their relationship, Phil had pictures of Connor touching all over another man on Instagram, and Phil wisely ended that. Shane was envious during the whole thing. Why were those two talking? Connor is the jealous type and Shane is the type to hold a grudge. But people change. By now Dan had had enough of thinking about other guys' relationships. He had to focus on the one that mattered most. Him and Phil.
"Hey, Dan!" He heard somebody call his name. He spun around. It was Tyler. What did he want? Was he actually going to talk to him?
Dan went over by the chips and and tacos where Tyler and Felix were standing.
"Hey, man. You wanna play Truth or Daaaare????" Felix asked, slurring his words. How could he be drunk already? The party just started.
Dan had to think wisely. Should he play because this was Tyler Oakley's party and participation would help him gain some more friends instead of being stuck with GloZell's evil crowd? Or should he not play because he's a wimp who doesn't want to do anything too bad?
Phil later approached Tyler and Felix. He was asked the same question. And he was all too happy to join the game. Now Dan was left with no choice.
"Yeah, sure. I'll play." Dan said, trying to hide the fear in his voice, and failing.
"Awesome! I'll go grab everybody else." Tyler replied and ran off with a beer in one hand and a handful of Doritos in the other.
Phil pulled Dan aside and decided to leave poor drunken Felix on his own. He wanted to talk to him.
"Hey! Are you enjoying yourself?" Phil asked and grabbed a Bud Light from the fridge.
"Well the party just started. But for now, yeah I guess I'm having a pretty good time." Dan replied with a small but genuine smile. After some party games he should have much more fun.

 "Alright, guys. Gather round." Tyler said as everybody sat down in a circle in his bedroom (that was as big as his living room, kitchen, and second kitchen combined, only on the third floor of his mansion)."No Oakley party is complete without Truth or Dare. Who wants to go first?"

Not many people volunteered, but nobody was surprised that Felix's hand shot up in the air.

 "Hm....Dan." He said after scanning the group of soon-to-be college students. "Truth or dare?"

Dan could feel his stomach drop. Please, Felix, PLEASE don't make me do anything stupid. There was only one thing to do.

"Truth." Dan said, feeling a little less nervous. He knew he had just dodged a bullet. Or so he thought.

*****

It had been about four hours since the Oakley party-goers had first started playing that epic game of Truth or Dare. Dan was really enjoying himself. Zoe chose dare and ended up having to drink a mix of pickle juice, tacos, cream cheese, hot sauce and chocolate thanks to Shane. She barfed all over Tyler's mattress and he was not all that happy about it. 

Phil had to sit the rest of the game with Tyler's dirty underwear on his head, and Sean had to wash his hair with purple food dye. This game was hilarious. Until it was Felix's turn again.

"Dan...truth or dare?" Felix asked, more drunk than ever. Why must you pick on me?!

"Everybody except him had done a dare at least once. So Dan decided to take the plunge.

"...Dare." 

The room went completely silent.

"Dan. I dare you..." Felix started, thinking of something dastardly. "I DARE YOU TO KISS TYLER!" 

Everyone gasped, and Phil could feel his heart crack slightly. Would Dan do it? He prayed not but he couldn't watch regardless. Dan felt lightheaded and parts of his body were going numb. Tyler, meanwhile, wasn't all that opposed to Felix's idea. He sort of hoped that Dan would do the dare, but even though Tyler seemed like the rebel Party God (or goddess), he didn't like forcing people to do something that they didn't want to do. 

"Well? Do you accept?" Felix asked with a sly smile on his face.

"I...I..."

Dan couldn't see clearly at this point. 

Kiss Tyler? I don't want to kiss anyone except Phil! 

As Dan heard these thoughts go through his head, it was becoming clearer and clearer. Dan had a crush on his best friend. Except this might be a little bit more than a crush.

 "So...? Dan?" He heard Felix's evil voice again.

"FINE! I'll...I'll do it." Dan said, and scooted across the carpet towards Tyler. Phil could feel his heart crack a little more.

And Dan slowly leaned in, closer and closer to Tyler. Closer and closer to his lips. Closer and closer to his first kiss with a man...that wasn't Phil! NO!  He wasn't having this. 

Dan suddenly shot backwards, and Tyler's eyes opened. Phil's gasped but his heart felt a little less broken. 

He couldn't do it! But why? What could this mean? Were the questions that Phil was asking himself. But he was just glad that the man he had loved like nobody else hadn't kissed anybody that wasn't him.

Neither Dan nor Phil could hear anything, see anything, other than each other. They couldn't hear Tyler stomping out of the room in tears, they couldn't hear Felix and the others shouting 'BOO!', and they couldn't hear the small voices in their heads that told them to stop and be rational, to stop staring at one another.

And right as Tyler walked back into the room with glistening red eyes, Phil's lips were on Dan's and their hearts beat as one.