A/N: I'm sorry for this, I truly am. Inspiration struck, okay? Plus I'm a big fan of the parable that this was based on.
Warning: This is feels-inducing, and not the good kind. It also may cause an existential crisis.
Disclaimer: I don't own Dan and Phil. I didn't even see them at TATINOF!
The 19-year-old man walked down the cereal aisle, in a supermarket in Manchester. His mind was wandering with thoughts of university, and his choice of cereal that day was completely susceptible to change.
Absentmindedly, his hand reached for the Shreddies. He had seen somewhere that they had a promotion going on, something about a black-and-white webcam included in the box. His hand reached out to snag the box off of the shelf.
But Phil Lester never set up a YouTube channel called Snowdude, and he never changed it to AmazingPhil later. He never made his first "video blog", and he never made any of the videos after that.
His videos didn't gain popularity until he was on the Most Popular Videos page on YouTube. And he was not noticed by a young boy named Dan Howell.
Dan had been thinking about making videos for a long time. He was a long-time YouTube fan and he even had his channel name picked out, "danisnotonfire". He planned out his videos, and was excited to start – but also nervous.
And without the support of other YouTube friends, and most importantly, without the support of a best friend, Dan became disheartened and never uploaded his first video, "Hello Internet." He soon gave up the YouTube dream and started working tiredly on his grades, so that he could get into law school, like his parents wanted.
Dan and Phil never Skyped, in 2009. They never called each other. They never met in person, for the first time at a train station. They never made that first collab, the "Phil is not on fire." Cat whiskers were never drawn on their faces. They never made the second one, "How to Befriend Your Favourite Internet Stars."
They never moved in together. Dan never dropped out of law school. Phil never stopped working at the bookstore in York. And "Dan and Phil" never happened.
The Phandom was never started. Millions of people around the world never drew fan art, or wrote fanfiction, or sung original fan songs. The word Phandom meant the tiny group of people who loved Phantom of the Opera, and nobody in it knew each other.
"The Fantastic Foursome" never happened. Without Phil, PJ and Chris never continued with YouTube. They never really became popular.
Dan and Phil never wrote a book. They never went on tour, and millions of fangirls and fanboys had other obsessions.
No, none of this ever happened.
Because as Phil walked down the cereal aisle on that fateful day, a single drop of water chose that moment to fall from the pipes, far above him in the ceiling.
It hit Phil just outside his right eye, causing him to turn his head and look across the aisle.
Oh, Lucky Charms! Phil thought, and reached for a box of those instead.
He then continued on his way, ignorant of the massive event that had just taken place.
The world didn't mourn for what it lost, because the world never knew what it could have had.
Just imagine if the drop had waited one more second.
A/N: I love reviews J