All My Heart

4th October 2011
Weybridge, Surrey

"It's not going to work."

"Yes, it will."

"No, it won't."

"Yes, it will!"

Josh scoffed. "And how are you so fucking certain it's going to work? Please enlighten me."

Aria raised a brow, wagging a finger in his direction. "Watch that fucking mouth of yours, yeah? Bitch."

"How am I the bitch in this?!" Josh exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. "Dan! Your best friend's pissing me off."

"Leave Ari alone, Josh. You're the pussy who doesn't have the guts to just ask Abigail out." Dan's voice was muffled as he slowly approached them from his bedroom, leading a beautiful ginger to the door by the small of her back.

Josh and Aria exchanged looks, shivered and shook their heads before going back to turn their attention to the tele that suddenly got louder and so much more interesting. A soft thud was heard and neither of them wanted to even take a glimpse in that direction - for they knew exactly what was happening.

It was routine with Dan. He'd convinced himself that he didn't do love - he didn't need to love anyone in a way that wasn't friendly. He only did one-night-stands. Though he always made it clear to the woman he slept with the night before, they usually end up making him promise to call. He'd promised, merely to get them to sod off, but he never did. It was rather odd, but the only promises that he always kept were the ones made with his best friend and band mates. Hell, sometimes he even broke some promises he made with his band mates. It was only with Aria that he never broke a promise.

Aria reckoned the girls only agreed to sleep with him 'for the night' because of how good-looking he was. One would have to be completely blind and unable to feel to say that Dan was in no way good-looking. Even a blind person could tell he was good-looking, merely by bringing their hands to his face. His jawline was strong, cheekbones high, features defined. Perfect, really.

"Call me?" The woman's sultry voice cooed, breathless.

"Mmhmm." Dan simply hummed before muttering a goodbye and shutting the door behind her.

"Is it safe to look yet?" Aria asked, her hand over her eyes.

"They're really silent. Do you think they're shagging by the doorway?" Josh mock-whispered over to Aria, hand also over his eyes.

"Assholes." Dan mumbled, rolling his eyes as he sat himself down on the two-seater couch, laying his body horizontally across it. "So what are we talking about?"

"How Joshie boy thinks the idea of serenading Abigail is stupid." Aria rolled her eyes, making a weird squeaking noise when Josh flung a pillow to the side of her head. "Ow." She pouted, rubbing the side of her head.

"Why is it stupid?" Dan laughed, looking over at Josh. "It's a pretty good idea."

Josh huffed. "What song am I even supposed to sing?"

"Hmm... I don't know... How about THE FUCKING SONG SHE TOLD ME SHE ABSOLUTELY ADORES?!" Aria yelled in frustration; earning no visible reaction from either young man. They were used to her sudden outbursts of yelling to make a point. It was nothing new, really.

"Crash?" He asked, blinking his blue eyes as he ran a hand through his dark locks.

"Yeah."

"Why that?"

"Why not that?"

Josh eyed her, nodding slowly. "Good argument."

Aria and Dan scoffed in unison, shaking their heads at their friend.

Two hours later saw themselves at a local show. It was a small one, but it was perfect for Josh's 'romantic and completely sappy' move. Aria was right about the whole serenading thing working in Josh's favour. Abigail was sobbing happy tears before she pounced on Josh, kissing him passionately in front of everyone while saying that it was the sweetest thing that anyone had ever done for her, ever.

"And one remains." Aria mocked in an announcer's voice as Dan approached her with a massive grin on his lips, towel dabbing at his sweaty forehead.

"What do you mean?" He asked, confused.

"Last man standing." She chuckled. "You're the only single one left. The man-whore."

"Oh piss off." Dan laughed, shaking his head. "Besides. I have you, and that's enough for me."

"I'm not too sure if that's a compliment or an insult."

Dan pursed his lips, finger tapping on his chin before he smirked. "Insult. Definitely an insult."

***

11th April 2013
Tulsa, OK

Dan found himself snickering quietly to himself in the van as they drove from the airport to their first venue. Aria was sat next to him, staring out the window. She'd heard him giggling so she turned to face him with an amused smile and furrowed brows.

"What's up?"

"Nothing." He chuckled, shaking his head.

"If it was nothing, you wouldn't be trying to hard to keep from laughing."

Dan laughed softly, leaning his head back against the headrest of the seat he was in. "Just remembering the night that Josh serenaded Abi. He was so nervous, it was hilarious."

"That was the best thing ever." Chris chimed in, laughing as well.

"I thought he was gonna puke on himself." Matt snickered.

"Or on Abi." Max added in, also snickering - which later led to all of them, including Tom, Alan and Sam, into laughter; all at Josh's expense.

"My eyes are closed but I can hear everything you're saying, asshole." Josh muttered from the passenger seat, only making them laugh more. "I really hate you all."

"Sure you do." They mocked; continuing on with their casual banter and joking as Sam - their tour manager - drove.

When they arrived a while later, the other bands had already arrived; prompting them all to be ambushed with over-the-top reunion hugs as soon as they'd exited the van. The other three bands were travelling in buses, so You Me At Six were the only ones in a van. But they were still as pumped as the others were about the tour.

Introductions followed soon after, Dan always hovering close to Aria. He introduced her to the others as his best friend in the whole world, pride laced in his tone, making her flush and others snicker quietly. Most of them had only shook hands with her, but a couple of them just swooped in for the hug - instantly making her tense. Dan would've ripped them off of her, but she would be seen taking a visible breath in, and then slowly hugging them back.

He knew she'd be back to normal soon. She just needed time.

"What are you thinking so hard about?" Chris asked while nudging Dan lightly in the rubs with his bony elbow.

Dan tilted his head over to peer at Chris. "It's the first tour that Aria's joined me -- us -- on. Like, for the whole stretch."

"And?" Chris laughed.

"We should make the first show special or something."

"How so?" Josh butted in, resting his chin on Dan's shoulder from behind; glancing from Chris to Dan.

Dan shrugged, moving Josh's head with the movement of his shoulders. "Dedicate a song to her, or something."

"You never talk on stage, though."

"Because I'm the drummer." Dan pointed out in a matter of fact voice, staring blankly at the frontman of the band he played in.

"True." He relented. "What song's her favourite?"

"She has tons." Dan admitted, pulling off his snapback only to pull it back on. "I think she really likes Underdog, though."

"Why that?" Chris asked curiously.

"She was always the underdog, I guess. She wasn't the smartest kid in class, she wasn't considered the prettiest -- to everyone, that is. But now she's... She's in Uni, she's a model. She's just proven that underdogs can come out on top." Dan shrugged, a half smile on his lips.

"Then that song shall be dedicated to her tonight." Josh finalised, smiling widely.

Show time eventually rolled around, and since You Me At Six were the first band to play, Aria was already stood by the stage right, watching them absolutely kill it on stage. Every time Dan caught her eye, he wiggled his eyebrows ridiculously, making her chuckle, shaking her head before she darted her eyes back to Josh, or Chris, or Max, or Matt.

But her eyes would always drift back to Dan. Always.

"Alright!" Josh exclaimed, smiling even wider as the cheers grew. "This is our last song for the night." A chorus of 'boo's' were heard, making the boys laugh. "Oh come on, you've still got Mayday Parade and All Time Low and Pierce The Veil."

"Or Piss The Veil, as Dan would say." Max chimed in, making them all laugh.

Dan pouted, throwing a drum stick at Max's back, fist-pumping in victory when he rubbed at his back, flipping Dan off before throwing the stick into the crowd.

"Speaking of Dan..." Josh trailed off, bringing his microphone to the aforementioned male.

"Hello." He spoke in the microphone, the cheers extremely loud as he spoke because, well, he never spoke while on stage. "I wanna dedicate this song to my best friend who is standing right over there." He grinned cheekily, pointing right at Aria as her jaw unhinged and she stared at the young men on stage.

"She's on tour with us and this is her first time, so I thought - oh, sorry, we thought we'd make her first show memorable." Dan chuckled.

Josh took the microphone back, walking back to the stage centre. "I would ask her to come out here so I could serenade her or something, but I reckon it's hard to serenade someone with an upbeat song."

"Also because nobody would want to see the nervous wreck that Josh becomes when he serenades someone." Max teased, making the rest of the band burst out into snickers while the front man grumbled out a loud "let it go, for fuck's sake."

"So!" Josh exclaimed, narrowing his eyes over at his best mates before he turned to the crowd. "-this song goes out to Aria; we love you and we hope you love us, too, because you've got to share the van with eight of us filthy blokes."

"On the count of three, I want you all to yell the word that I know you know, as loud as you can. One - two - three!"

"UNDERDOG!"