Author's Note: So, I've had this in my head for a very long time. To me, Phan is BROTP. I'm completely convinced that Dan and Phil are brothers because Dan has a younger brother and Phil has an older brother. (Yes, I am completely aware that Phil is four-ish years older than Dan, but I promise that will be explained.)(And I modified the way they met - because it works better for me!)

'Dan's Disappearance, by the Daily Cornet's Hayley Frost

'No one has ever seen brothers who get along better than Dan and Phil Lester. Until Dan disappeared. The eighteen-year-old older brother vanished out of nowhere one night two weeks ago, on 2 May, when he went out to see a movie with his friends. Said friends told the police that after the movie they saw him get into his car and start to head home, but he never arrived. His fourteen-year-old younger brother Phil said that he was waiting up for Dan so they could play a video game together while their parents were asleep. But the elder Lester never arrived. When he still hadn't shown up by morning, Mr. and Mrs. Lester called the police.

'There has been no news of this mysterious disappearance since then. Dan is quite simply gone. There is a search party currently out looking for him, but so far, the results have yielded no clues.'

Phil sniffed with distaste at the short article before ripping it out of the paper, crumpling it up, and throwing it away. Dan wasn't gone. That wasn't possible. Dan promised he'd be back. And Dan never broke his promises. Especially not when it came to playing video games while their parents were asleep. That was their favorite thing to do.

He walked off up the stairs of the old family house and slid silently into his older brother's bedroom, looking around. He'd spent… countless hours in there, surrounded by the stuffed toys Dan kept for sentimental sakes, playing games, prank calling friends, plotting world-domination, deciding which famous actresses they were going to marry one day, discussing the new Pokémon games that came out, and listening to music whilst lying on the floor staring at the glow-in-the-dark stars taped to the ceiling. He knew the brownish walls better than he knew the bluish walls of his own bedroom. He and his brother actually liked each other and rarely fought—and when they did it was because they both wanted to be the team leader of some video game or other or both wanted to marry Natalie Portman or someone. Much to the amusement of their parents their bickering was over superficial things that didn't matter.

And now all that was gone. It vanished along with Dan. The Lester brothers would never again sit on the floor and shout at each other to move out of the way while playing Mario Kart. Never again fan-boy over the newest generation of Pokémon released or have unnecessarily deep talks about the designs. And they would never again lie on their backs listening to Muse looking at the cheesy stars. To be honest, Phil didn't know what hurt the worst—Dan's loss or the loss of the fun they had. They were about the same in terms of sting. Both felt like a fire-walk. Or stepping on a Lego.

A knock echoed off the doorframe. 'Phil?' his mom asked. 'Do you want to go out with me and get that comic book that just came out?'

Phil shook his head. 'No thanks,' he muttered, sinking into the desk chair and picked up the picture of him and Dan on top of the Empire State Building in New York City, America. They had ruffled, shorter hair and massive, extremely cheesy grins. It was taken four years before when Phil was ten.

'I know this is hard honey. But it'll all be okay. They'll find him. He probably just…' Mom trailed off, not knowing how to finish her sentence.

'Went to Paris for a while?' Phil suggested sarcastically, bitterness quite apparent in his voice.

'Maybe.' Mrs. Lester shrugged.

Phil shook his fringe out of his eyes. Dan wasn't prone to outbursts of recklessness. He was remarkably un-self-destructive. Going to Paris for a couple weeks wasn't something he'd do without telling anyone—especially Phil. Something was wrong but no one else seemed to see it. Phil couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something about Dan going missing wasn't right. He just wished he knew what it was—but it danced just out of reach, taunting him.

Mrs. Lester crossed from the doorway to the desk chair, knelt, and pulled her son into a hug. Phil's skinny, pale arms came up and he felt the tears he hadn't realized were in his eyes slide down his face and splash onto the shoulder of her shirt. And just like that, he lost it. Everyone was allowed a couple breakdowns a year, and this was the first one for him in about two years.

He sobbed for what felt like days, but was probably about twenty minutes. His mom just held him and said nothing, letting him cry.

'You're a strong boy, Phil,' she murmured comfortingly as the flow of tears steadily subsided. 'You'll be okay. And you know what? Dan is a strong boy too. He'll get through whatever happening to him and come home to us. We may not know how long that will take, but it will happen. They'll find him.'

End Note: So, this has been a ride, and there will definitely be more. I have three/four chapters waiting in the wings. It moves fast so that it's not one of those dragging stories, and I hope you like it!

Thank you so much for reading!

~Cass