That certain time on a Sunday evening had arrived yet again. The time where countless young members of society would sit in front of their laptops, computers and radios because their two favourite idols would be on their screens in just a few more minutes. It was the time for two best friends, youtubers and radio presenters, Dan and Phil to go live on air once again. Thousands of voices were about to scream.
"Stop what you are doing; unless you are driving."
Phil turned to look at Dan and gave a tiny smirk, that intro has always humoured him for some reason.
"AmazingPhil and DanIsNotOnFire have escaped from the Internet and climbed into your ears."
More laughter from Phil, before nudging Dan gently with his elbow. Dan was looking worryingly pale, so Phil awkwardly apologised in case he had hurt his friend. Dan shrugged his shoulders, took a deep breath and prepared himself to speak for the whole nation to hear.
"Hello guys, once again I am Dan," Dan drifted off.
"And I'm Phil."
The pair looked at each other, silently asking each other who was going to speak first. Phil opened his mouth first.
"So...we've had a pretty busy haven't we, Dan?"
Dan simply nodded, Phil looked at him concerned now. Obviously something wasn't right. Phil continued.
"We've, well, I've had a kinda busy week. I've been taking trains backwards and forwards to places. Like a headless chicken, or something. It's a really funny story actually, but I will tell you all after this week's first video."
Dan eventually spoke up, "Yes. This isn't just any old radio show, oh no. If you send us your home-made music videos in to us, we could be playing them to the entire universe on the Radio 1 website. Seriously, the whole world is watching. You could be like, the next Beyoncé or something."
Although Dan was speaking, his voice wasn't cheery or lively, Phil was still glancing at him.
"This video is absolutely great, although very, very, very, very, very, very active," Phil goes on.
"I'm jealous."
"Ahaha, so if you want to see that and other videos then go to the Radio 1 website right now. The very first song played this week, is Panic Station by Muse," Phil finished his sentence and the music started to emerge.
They each took their headphones off as Phil finally asked Dan if he was alright. Dan gave no answer. They both stood next to each other, not talking. Phil was scrolling through hundreds of tweets sent to the Radio 1 twitter page, each of them saying that their radio show was easily the highlight of their week.
Dan suddenly turned to face Phil slightly, his eyes filled with tears. Phil looked even more worried as Dan whispered, "I'm sorry" and ran off.
Phil walked around in a daze, he couldn't just follow his friend, they had a radio show to present and fans to entertain. Although the fans watching has just witnessed one half of the duo run away, sobbing his heart out. Their fan base was usually very comforting and they love their idols more than anything, surely they would understand?
The song quickly ended and Phil had put his headphones back on his head.
"Ok, I think Dan's gone to...collect some things for...this week's Dan vs Phil," Phil lied. That part of the show wasn't going to start until ages yet. "Anyway, I think it's time for a treat for you guys. We get bucket loads of longer videos to longer songs and we haven't been able to play them because, just because, okay?"
Phil began scrolling through music videos; he was lying through his teeth. The longest videos were a maximum of 4 minutes, which were not unbearably long at all.
"This video, umm, is basically about a young girl who is lost, and she basically starts...you-you'll understand if you just watch it. Here is Welcome To The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance."
The song started to play and Phil removed his headphones again. He took one look at the tweets coming in, all of them reading something like "where's Dan". Phil gave a chilling, terrified look at the camera unknowingly before sprinting off towards the Green Room.
Phil took one quick look around the room, it was massive but fairly empty. Dan was nowhere to be seen, however. The only person who was there was Scott Mills, and he was clueless about Dan's whereabouts when he was asked.
"Nope, I haven't seen him. I thought he was supposed to be with you anyway. You two have got a radio show to be doing," Scott responded but with a slight cheeky grin.
"I know, I know. Dan ran away and I'm trying to find him. He looked really upset, and he was in tears and I think I ignored him and-"
"Woah, woah, woah, hold it there cowboy. You go find Dan, do you want me to take over the radio show today at least until Dan returns?"
"Oh, thank you so so so so much," Phil gratefully said.
They went their separate ways from each other; Scott making his way to take over the radio show, Phil going on a mission to find Dan.
Phil, who needed to pee quite badly, fled into the nearest male bathroom and pushed the nearest stall open. Dan was sitting on the closed toilet seat, with his head against his knees, his face had gone red and his eyes were extremely puffy. It was obvious to anyone that he had been crying.
Dan looked up but then sadly lowered his head so that he was looking down at his jeans. Phil just stared at Dan before kneeling in front of him. He smiled sympathetically.
"Dan?"
Dan made a noise that consisted of no audible words.
"Dan, I can't hear you when your mouth is covered up, can I?"
"I said," Dan sat up straight. "I don't want to do this anymore."
"What don't you want to do anymore? Radio 1? YouTube?" Phil asked him.
"Live."
Phil's eyes opened wide, so did his ears, not quite believing what he had just heard.
"I don't want to live, Phil. I'm fucking tired of everything."
Phil's stomach had turned upside down and he started to feel sick, but he still wanted to comfort him.
"D-Dan, this happens every so often. You panic about your life and your future and then you just sort of roll around on the floor for 2 hours. But I'm pretty sure everyone gets that feeling of not knowing what to do with their life. I used to get that too."
"This is more than just some existential mother fucking crisis, Phil. That just lasts for like a few hours, I've been feeling like an empty sack of shit for months now."
Phil didn't speak, he only nodded sadly at him.
"I know that I'm doing stuff. I mean, I'm always filming or editing videos or coming up with ideas for Radio 1 shows. It's just, I'm tired of everything, I have been for a while now," Dan carried on.
"You seem, I don't know, I never would have guessed that you've been feeling this way. You're always so, I don't know, happy," Phil said.
"I've been covering it up. I thought that I wasn't doing a good job of that but it must have been working. No one seemed to question anything," Dan was struggling to get his words out.
"Dan, that's not the only thing you're covering up, is it?"
Dan looked up properly at Phil, who was still kneeling. Tears that had been building up inside Dan's eyes were now beginning to fall down his face.
"Pull your sleeves up now," Phil demanded.
Phil hadn't sounded remotely threatening at all, but Dan, with a horrified expression painted on his face, reluctantly removed his jacket. His arms were covered in shocking red marks. Dan's face was startlingly pale as he just stared into his scarred skin. Phil started running his fingers gently across Dan's poor, marked skin.
"D-Dan, I'm not gonna tell anyone or even talk about this with you. All I ask of you is to get some help. Please. If not for yourself, then do it for me," Phil made Dan wrap his little finger around his own and they both left the bathroom together.
The pair walked down the corridor together, heading back to present the remainder of their radio show when Dan had suddenly stopped.
"Phil," Dan breathed out quietly.
"Yes," Phil responded.
Dan practically jumped up at Phil, pulling him close into the biggest hug the duo had ever had, nearly knocking Phil over onto the floor.
"I love you, Phil. I really, really do. Thank you so so so so much for being my friend, because I appreciate it so fucking much," Dan said through his tears.
Phil gripped Dan closer, with his eyes closed so no tears could escape, "I love you too, Dan. You are honestly the most greatest friend I could have ever asked for."
The pair continued hugging for five minutes straight before gradually letting go. They looked into each others eyes, thanking fate that they had met each other and thanking themselves that they made their friendship the best that they possibly could.
Any opinions/reviews? I don't know, I was really proud of this when I first uploaded but now I'm not so sure so I'd love to hear what you thought :)