A/N: Oh man; sorry this chapter's so short. I have the worst writer's block, I can't even- I just- UGGGHHHH.
Excuse me whilst I sit in the dark now and watch the new gaming video and be sad that I can't write.

-Whisker

Evan Pancakes was of mixed opinion about his friend's childminders. He didn't really know what to think.

Firstly, there was Dan; he was lovely: he was fun and happy, would do whatever you liked and was always there with a smile if you needed any help. Evan found him very cool and even just yesterday, Dan had looked at scoured the Internet with them, searching for some good memes, and introduced them to his YouTube channel.

Cool, dark, deep-thinking Dan, who dressed in all-black and could trail off into a long essay of an intellectual reply, and who had a large vocabulary of which he used very well. Most of the time. But even under this blasé and somewhat offhand first appearance, he was very warm-hearted, loving and tender, as shown by his interactions with his housemate.

Evan could just about see them coming down the path as he stood at the highest point of the pirate ship: the crow's nest.

He looked to them with his hand shielding his eyes from the glaring sun.

"Here come sharks, Captain!" He called to Dab, who was having a great time at the other end of the boat, turning the great, creaky wheel and pretending to fire the cannons.

"We can fight them off, don't worry, me hearty!" Dab grinned, "Man the cannons!"

So Evan hurried down the steps from the crow's nest and bounded over to the cannons, waiting for Phil and Dan to walk by.

He saw that Phil was wearing a soft smile for once and Evan wondered what Dan had said to make him so happy.

It was odd to see him genuinely happy – he'd usually wear a sort of strained sort of smile that you could see right through, but today it was authentic.

Evan didn't know how to feel about Phil.

On one hand, he seemed OK, even if a bit strict and tired, but on the other hand, Dab really didn't like him, and Evan knew there had to be something behind that, but he hadn't really wanted to ask.

He could guess at what it was, though. Phil was always quite serious, slightly confused, and had a sharp look in his wide eyes.

His gaze would follow you around the room, and even if you weren't facing him, you would always be able to feel his biting, piercing eyes watching with an air that could only be described as a mix of fear and suspicion.

Until you looked at him kindly, that is, then he'd flash that strained smile and wring his hands and kind-of disappear.

The only time he'd relax was at night when everyone else was in bed and everything in the house was perfect, and Evan knew this because he'd peered out of Dab's bedroom door the night before when he couldn't sleep and things had altogether gained a different type of feel.

He didn't know what was wrong, and he didn't know why, but he knew that Dan knew, and that Dab did, and he was just about ready to ask one of them.

"FIRE!"

That was Dab signalling to him to 'fire' the mortars, which really meant wave the huge wooden canon about in the general direction of someone and make some explosive sound effects to go with it.

'Ka-boom' was a good one.

Evan merrily did as 'Captain Dab' had instructed and fired his canon in Dan's direction.

Of course, Dan noticed, put his hands together to a point in front of him and – humming the Jaws theme tune as he went – glided over in his shark impression, popping up in front of Evan and making a sort of loud 'WROAR' sound.

Evan laughed,

"Sharks don't roar, Dan," he snickered.

"Oh, yeah… They don't, do they?" Dan breathed, scratching the back of his neck, "I'd make a bad shark…"

Phil had frozen during this whole exchange, his entire form going rigid, but he seemed to loosen up after this last part and give a smile. Not altogether forced, but still a tad lacklustre.

"Anyway, we gotta' head home soon, guys," Dan continued, a touch regrettably, not really wanting to spoil their fun, "Need to get home for dinner and all that."

"Awwwww, do we have to?" Dab complained.

"Ten minutes," Dan sighed, but grinned as he saw the kids' faces light up, and he headed back over to his friend.

He'd known that the park would be a good idea.

Seeing Dab and Evan happy was fine enough, but seeing his best friend happy for once was the icing on the cake. He'd missed seeing that smile; it was a contagious smile, one that tugged on your heartstrings.

He'd see it a lot at home. Not that much here. Getting a grin out of him was a feat and so Mission Park was now automatically classed as a success.

Whether the rest of the day would be a success, however, would be decided by the test of time, and Dan had a sneaky suspicion that it wouldn't be.