Another thing that Phil Lester had predicted right was the humiliation during and following his and Dan's 'performance'.

A round of strangely enthusiastic applause vibrated from every chair, table and pair of hands in the place and Phil took in a few panting breaths, trying to recover from the fast-paced beat he'd had to keep up with, and willing his lungs to finally stop asking for more oxygen. He weakly lifted his line of sight to Dan and flashed a smile; one with his tongue between his teeth and a glint in his eyes.

There was another thing he'd been right about. Fun. Being ridiculous and making a fool of yourself was… fun.

He'd never really considered singing one of his strong suits. At TATINOF, singing The Internet is Here, was different. Then, it was all in front of people who knew him, even if there be a lot of them, but here nobody knew who he was save from the Howlters and Evan… Yet surprisingly, his and Dan's voices complimented each-other quite well. Even if his heart was pounding and his throat was aching and his lungs were begging for air, he still tried his hardest and kept a smile fixed on his face. It would have been difficult not to, really.

They'd been specifically asked up to sing a duet, and it went a whole lot better than expected. Better than Yasuhati, in any case (though that wasn't saying much) and probably even better than TATINOF.

Wheezing slightly, Dan turned to look out from the stage and saw, sitting a the table right at the back of the room, Liberty and Travis: Summer Holiday's housemates. They only lived across the road so it wasn't surprising that they would turn up… but without Summer? No matter, though; the less people who knew them, the better. Thankfully, Travis and Liberty had only seen them in masquerade costumes and probably didn't recognise them at all.

"Coming?" Dan asked, offering his arm to help his friend step down to the floor.

"Yes, of course," Phil replied, softly, linking arms and getting off the stage as the clapping finally ceased. He felt just about ready to go home now, but there was still dessert to wait for people to eat before they left.

Before they could head back to their table at last and sit down for a rest and a breather, they were stopped by a slight hand tapping on Dan's shoulder.

It was Liberty.

"O- oh! Hello!" Dan smiled, politely, down to her, wondering what she could possibly want. She hadn't recognised them… had she?

"Dan, isn't it?" Liberty asked.

Oh, man... She had…

"Yes…" Dan answered, sounding as if he was unsure of whether that was his name or not. He quickly turned to Phil, who looked just as confused if not more so, not even knowing what he was expecting, before looking back to Liberty.

"And you must be Phil," she continued, turning to Phil.

"Hallo!" Phil swallowed, then immediately regretted not just saying 'yes'.

"Summer got your note," Liberty smiled, "I see what she means about you. You must be very confident to get up there on that stage and sing like that-"
"Well-"

"She likes you a lot, you know? I think she'd like you even more if she had been here tonight. Shame she wasn't, really. I just thought I should say hello, really; can tell her I've spoken to you."

"O- oh, well, say hello to her for me!" Phil grinned, "We won't be in town a whole lot longer, unfortunately, but if we were, it'd be nice to have another get-together like back in February."

"Oh, that was your party, was it?" Liberty hummed. Of course, she hadn't been there that time. She would have gone on but before she could say anything more or Dan could answer, she heard her name being called. It was Travis, evidently.

"Sorry, I've got to dash!" She smiled again, giving a little wave and bidding them goodbye as she walked back to her table. It looked like she and Travis were on a date. Obviously, Summer had taken a break with trying to win him over. Maybe she finally got the point: you can't swindle people into liking you.

"Right, let's go," Dan said, decidedly, tugging at Phil's sleeve, "There's dessert to eat, remember?"

The whether outside was cool but not freezing cold. The street lights dimly illuminated the pathway and the atmosphere was silent and calm.

Along the road strolled six pairs of feet, their footsteps breaking the silence and echoing along the street as they made their way from the white, opulent restaurant.

"That went well," Tabitha mentioned to her husband as they led the way with their child and his friend close in tow, "Don't you think?"

Dil agreed wholeheartedly. Any situation where food was present was good by his standards, but he knew what his wife meant. Their house-guests had finally loosened up and talking about their stage show, experiences and their book had seemed to help them.

Tabitha turned her head to look behind to where their creators should have been following along with them, which they were. They were going along humming a song and having a little bop, making a fool of themselves.

"They'll catch up," Dil said, shaking his head and snickering. He wanted to get home out of the chill as soon as possible and watch some TV. His wife shrugged and they carried on walking, Dab and Evan talking as they strolled behind them.

The Howlters were used to their lodgers getting carried away with novel things like these when they were both in a good mood. Most of these occurrences took place at night.

Dan couldn't wait to get home, either.

Real home.

He was content here, sure, in this idealistic world, but sometimes all you needed was a touch of imperfection. Maybe that was why so many things went wrong: they were unnerved by the faultlessness and begging for some balance.

Though, that didn't excuse anything that they'd done.

"Tired?" Dan asked, kindly, walking backwards to that he could face his friend.

"Tired? It's only nine-thirty," Phil replied, stretching, but then he yawned and it was clear that it didn't matter that it wasn't even 10pm yet.

"Come on," Dan giggled, urging him to carry on walking a bit faster.

The feeling about was one like an urge to sit down on the grass and stay there, content and happy, until the sun rose again. Sometimes, in this world, doing nothing was sometimes the best thing to do.

Potter's Splay was beckoning them to come into the warmth and light and curl up on the sofa in comfy sweatpants and oversized T-shirts, so they wandered along still.

Phil flicked a glance to his companion and smiled as he started humming to the tune of the song that they had sung not too long prior. His mouth tasted of bitter chocolate and 'Soft Shadow Avornalino': the chef's choice of wine that night. He clicked his tongue in thought and wrung his hands until they tingled as the blood rushed back into them.

"We'll go home soon," he whispered. He had constantly repeated this to himself over the past few days and kept repeating it to himself still. Dan assured him of it, too, frequently. It was their one little glimmer of hope that got them through all the encounters and experiences that they had here.

"We will," Dan nodded, confidently, "But right now, Dil's house is our home, and we need to learn to relax there."

"I agree."

"And you're alright?"

Phil gave a chuckle,

"Of course I am," he answered, surely, "I don't think I've been better."

Dan grinned, stopping, turning about and taking his friend's fragile hands, pulling his arms over his shoulders.

"Up," he ordered.

Phil held as securely as he could. He hated piggy-back rides but his legs were aching, so he hopped up and hung on.

"You idiot," he laughed under his breath.

"Don't pretend you hate it," Dan corrected.