Author's Note: There will be a few chapters like this in the fic, basically transcripts/descriptions of videos uploaded to Dan or Phil's YouTube channels. I hope it's easy enough to follow and that Phil's dialogue is not too OOC. I had some trouble getting his voice right.


Chapter 7
"What I've Learned from Dan Howell"

"Hi guys!" Phil gives his trademark wave and smiles from the computer screen, but the smile doesn't seem as bright as usual. "Seen any good videos lately?" His eyes are wide, his mouth twisted to the side in a wry smirk as he lets the audience think about that for a moment.

"Because I happened to see this interesting video on danisnotonfire's channel yesterday, and I thought it was really brave and inspiring." He tilts his head to the side and pensively rolls his eyes up toward the ceiling for a moment, then looks directly into the camera again when he adds, "Apparently, not everyone felt that way." A montage of many mean tweets piling on top of each other fills the screen for a moment. And then the camera is back on Phil's serious face.

"I try to keep the content of this channel upbeat, and I usually don't talk about things that are bothering me, but when I see people being mean to someone—to anyone, really, but especially to the person who has been my best and closest friend for eight years—well…" A dramatic sound effect booms and Phil puts on his best intimidating face. "That's when you meet AmazingPhil's alter-ego, AmazinglyAngryPhil." He scowls, and the booming sound reverberates again, the camera zooming in and out repeatedly on his exaggerated frown.

"People have been saying a lot of things about Dan for the past couple days, and most of them are absolute rubbish. First of all, that rumor that he eats live babies?" An image of a dozen adorable, crying babies, photoshopped with a derpy picture of Dan roaring in his dinosaur costume, appears on the screen as Phil intones, "Definitely not true. I lived with him for five years, and I can guarantee that I would have noticed any baby eating. I did see him eat some gingerbread men once, but I don't think we can really blame him for that." A close up of Phil's face, lost in thought, eyes glazed with ecstasy as he looks vaguely into the upper right distance and clasps his hands together in front of him. "Mmmmm. Gingerbread…" He licks his lips and makes a smacking sound, then glances back at the camera and clears his throat in mock self-consciousness.

Then his serious face is back. He shakes his head slowly in disapproval as he says, "And those stories about him causing global warming…" A cheesily photoshopped image of the earth in flames accompanies Phil's voice saying, "Well, I'm no scientist, but I'm pretty sure those are fake, too." Back to Phil's wide-eyed, innocent stare. "He's called danisNOTonfire, after all, and the name isn't just a clever ploy. Once again, as his longtime flatmate I can assure you that he has no heat-related powers except a talent for starting a fire in the grate on a cold winter day. In fact, that boy is constantly bundled into jumpers that cover his hands, because he's always cold. And let me tell you, it takes effort to find jumpers with sleeves long enough to cover your hands when you've got arms as long as ours!" An image of Big Foot with Dan's face photoshopped onto it appears on the screen. A bright green jumper has been crudely drawn onto the yeti's body, apparently with MacPaint. The sleeves are long enough to half-cover Big Foot's hands.

"No, danisnotonfire, also known as my friend Dan Howell, is not a baby eater or a global warmer. Dan Howell isn't even a selfish git or a bad friend or any of the other things you've probably been hearing about him lately."

"I'll tell you who Dan Howell is: Dan Howell is the kindest and bravest person I've ever known. He's someone who isn't afraid to take scary risks in order to pursue his dreams, and that's something I think we can all respect and admire."

"When Dan decided to leave university for a career on YouTube," (an image of a young, hobbit-haired Dan wearing a llama hat pops up in the upper left corner of the screen) "everybody thought he was crazy. Uni was the obvious course his family and friends thought he should be on, but Dan figured out that it wasn't right for him. He needed something else, and he had the courage to make that something else happen." A brief, silent clip of Dan and Phil onstage at TATINOF, grinning, with confetti falling all around them fills the screen entirely for a moment before Phil's intent face is back.

"And that's what Dan's doing RIGHT NOW. Sure, it would have been easier to do what everybody else thought was the best thing, the smart thing, the obvious thing, and just keep on the same course—but Dan was brave enough to be honest with himself and with the entire Internet about the fact that he wanted to try something different. And that's something we can all learn from, because I want all of you to know that it's okay to be different! It's okay if you don't want to follow the path everyone else has laid out for you! Find your own dreams and follow them! Don't let haters stop you!"

"That's what Dan Howell has taught me. He's taught me that following the path that is right for you might not always be the most popular choice, but that's what makes it brave."

"I'm not always the bravest person." (An image of a horse enters the left side of the screen and Phil cringes away from it, making a face of horror, then turns to face the camera again, grimacing, as the horse moves back out of frame.) "I tend to go with the flow and not want to make waves—I hate to feel like I've upset or disappointed anybody—but I can't help but wish I could be a little more like Dan Howell, more willing to take big risks to follow my heart."

"Because that's what makes someone a hero. It isn't a cape or an adamantine skeleton." (An image of Dan with Wolverine's claws photoshopped onto his hands appears on screen for a moment.) "It's the willingness to do the right thing even when it's hard. That's what Dan is doing right now, and that's why he's a hero in my book. And that's why we should all give him a break, give him a little credit, and give him a lot of support. Isn't that what you would want if you were trying something new and scary?"

"In short, in my opinion, we should all feel honoured that Dan trusted and respected us enough to tell us the truth and let us in on this new thing he's trying out. And we should support him every way we can."

An image of Dan's face appears on the left side of the screen, while Phil's still-talking face is on the right. "So click on Dan's face to subscribe to his channel." Phil gestures like a gameshow hostess at Dan's photo, both hands moving gracefully. "And I really do recommend that you subscribe to his channel, because he's the best." Phil then frames his own face with both hands in an adorable pose. "Or click on my face to subscribe to my channel and see more of my videos, which usually aren't as serious as this."

Dan's photo disappears and the camera centers on Phil's smiling face for a moment, but his smile is no longer dimmed, now bright as usual again, as he says, "Thanks for listening, everybody. See you next time. Bye!" And he waves his hand in an exaggerated gesture before moving his palm to cover the camera lens as the video ends.