Disclaimer: I don't own Dan or Phil. I also don't own any other YouTubers you may see in this story (such as KickThePj [PJ Liguori],crabstickz (Chris Kendall) sparkleofglitter [Louise Pentland], etc.), any real life references you may see, social media (Primarily YouTube, but also Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, etc.), music/song references, as well as artists/bands (such as Muse, MCR, etc.), and whatever you recognize. I am not creative enough to own that stuff :P I do own my OC, Abigail Elizabeth Woods, who I think is creative...?

Happy Lonely Hearts Day, my dear single people. We have each other. And buckets of ice cream.

To Willowleaf: 'Striker' was the surname that Phil gave himself in one of the PINOF episodes (I believe it was second one...?), and then somebody - cruel somebody - made a fanfiction called the Hat Fic. I would tell you what it's about, but I think that would just scar you for life. It's on Wattpad I believe...just...don't read it. For your mental health :P

Chapter 8: I Walk Alone

Abi hates birthdays, and she has had twenty four of them.

She also hates that she has to share her birthday with Cupid, as her birthday was the same day as Valentine's Day. Now while she knew that there were advantages - "Oh, at least people will remember it!" - she didn't like it much; her birthday was filled with romance and kisses, which was everything Abi was against.

But, alas, when you are part of a phanabily - they were still trying to put Striker in there somewhere - birthdays are extremely hard to forget.

...

"Phil, shut up."

Abi enters the lounge with messy hair, that was tied up in a bun. She didn't feel like putting on her contacts, so she decided to wear her black rimmed glasses. While Striker quietly walks around her, licking her legs, Phil double flips a pancake.

"I can't shut up," Phil kisses Abi's cheek, "because it's your twenty fourth birthday!"

Even if Abi hates birthdays - Phil definitely knew that - this birthday was one she was dreading for quite a while. To be exact, she was dreading this since about two weeks ago. Although she couldn't say anything to Phil; she had wanted to talk to Dan first.

"Um, is Dan up?" Abi tries to act discreet, but accent rises another octave, and Phil smirks, sliding the pancake onto a plate that already had a pancake on it, and drenching it in maple syrup. He places a berry on it, and hands it to Abi, who walks into the kitchen without hitting her head.

"Waiting for your lovebird? Am I not good enough?" Phil teases, and Abi punches his arm lightly.

"Phiiiiiiillll..." Abi moans, and Phil just laughs, joining Abi as she heads to the couch. Phil takes a fork and digs it into his own pancake, and eats it. Striker stands up on his back legs, panting, and trying to get his own bite. Abi smiles, and grabs a bag of treats on the table beside her, and throws it, leaving Striker to dash all the way to get it.

"We're probably going to get kicked out," Abi says after a while. "if the landlord finds out that we have a dog trotting around here."

"Don't worry," Phil's eyes flicker in excitement. "Dan said that he has a surprise for us anyway, and he promised that we wouldn't get kicked out. To be honest, I believe him; he said that it's against our tendency agreement to get any pets, especially hamsters."

Phil puts another mouthful of pancakes in his mouth. "And at least I have a dog named Striker."

Abi moans. "I will throw up on you."

They finish watching their anime, and Dan wakes up. Dan and Abi exchange a glance, and Dan just smiles widely.

"Morning, Abi!" Dan hugs her tightly, literally dragging her up. "Happy Birthday!"

Abi will admit that she was pretty confused; they weren't on the best terms, or at least, they weren't on best terms ever since Dan had told her about his 'scarring' incident. But it has seemed as if Dan had let go of all those grudges and turned back into his regular self.

Unless he was hiding something, of course.

"You're quite peppy today, Howell." Abi says, faking a smile. "And thank you."

"There's pancakes on the table!" Phil winks. "But don't eat a lot, Dan; we have a busy day ahead of us."

Abi looks at him incredulously, looking intrigued, but ignores it, figuring it was some surprise that Dan and Phil had planned. Dan smiles, and he throws three tickets onto Abi's lap. Abi looks at it with some sort of childlike wonder, and Dan grins.

"First of all, we are taking you to see Mamma Mia at a drive-in movie tonight!" Abi grins; Mamma Mia had always been her favorite musical of all time, and she still stands by the fact that Meryl Streep was one of the best actresses ever.

"Oh my god, that is awesome!" Abi squeals, hugging Dan again. "Thank you!"

"That's tonight though," Phil reminds Abi, "for now, put Striker on a leash; we are taking you out to your favorite place in the whole entire world!"

Abi grins. "The London Eye?"

Phil grins. "The London Eye."

"Do you remember the time," Abi sings softly. "when you kissed me on the Manchester Eye?"

"Oh be quiet, Abi." Dan says as they show their tickets to the guy. "I can't believe you are singing a Phan song."

"Okay, one," Abi smirks, "I ship Phan as much as the next girl. And two, it is a very catchy song. The singer is very good, and you should be proud you have fans that will write you songs about your supposed Phan moments. Besides, you did kiss him on the Manchester Eye, didn't you? Phil even said it in the Val -"

"We don't speak of the dreaded video, Abi." Dan complains.

Phil nods, holding tightly on Striker's leash. "It was an April Fools joke!"

"More like April Phools with a 'p' and an 'h'." Abi says, and Phil just rolls his eyes.

Before Phil could hand in his ticket, Abi swears she sees Phil smirk as he accidentally drops his ticket.

"Shit!" Dan hisses, trying to grab Phil's ticket.

"Do something!" Abi says at Phil, a tad frustrated. But Phil does nothing as he just watches the ticket fly off into the distance. He looks apologetically at Dan and Abi, and then steps out of the line with a slight frown on his face.

"Sorry, guys." Phil says, biting his lip. "Seems like my ticket has flown off."

"Well, we'll buy you another one." Abi is about to step out of line, but Phil's voice stops her.

"Don't!" Everyone looks at him, and Phil blushes. "I-I'll just wait for you."

"But Phi -"

"Abi," Phil stresses her name out. "it's fine. I'll wait. You guys shouldn't take too long, anyway. And maybe I will just keep Striker company."

Dan is about to protest, but Abi tells him not to; there is no point arguing with Phil Lester.

As the two brunettes walk onto their little booth, Phil grabs Abi's shoulder and whispers in her ear, "Here's your actual birthday present, if you know what I mean. Use it wisely, and do everything you'll probably regret tomorrow."

Abi's eyes widen, but she is just pulled into the booth by Dan, wearing his grey "emo Pikachu" sweater. The last thing Abi sees is Phil's playful smirk, before she is lifted up in the bright, blue sky, whisked away with the one boy she wouldn't want to be with in an enclosed place.

The few seconds were a bit awkward, before Dan spoke up.

"Phil is hilarious, huh?" Dan chuckles, scratching the back of his neck. Abi blushes.

"Yeah, he is." she mumbles, and Dan nods.

Abi fidgets in her seat before she smiles. "Did you and Phil actually kiss on the Manchester Eye -"

"Shut up, Abi!" Dan laughs, "I will push you off the London Eye."

Abi giggles, and Dan just leans back in his seat, slowly putting his arm around Abi - who seemingly doesn't want to blush any more than she is already - and admiring the view from all the way up, swearing he saw the glimpse of a flash coming from a boy with a black fringe. He rolls his eyes.

"Look, Dan, about your scar -"

"Abi, please, I don't want to talk about it." Dan pleads, looking at Abi with wide eyes. "I told you my story, and I would appreciate if you just leave it at that."

"It's just that you sounded so torn up about it," Abi says, "and on Phil's birthday, we seemed to hate each other. I don't hate you, Dan, and I hope you feel the same way about me. I hate being mad at you, because you are a stubborn twat."

The last part was a joke, and Dan grins. "Alright. I'm sorry. It's just today I have something special for you, and I don't want to ruin it with my crappy behaviour that I have been presented throughout the week. I just don't want you to think that just because it's your birthday, that I've decided to let go of all grudges. "

Dan pauses, before adding, "I just...want to fix things."

They reach the peak, and the ferris wheel stops to let people down.

Dan wants to do it now, but he decides to wait; this was Phil's present, after all. Not his.

Abi wants to tell him now and get it over with, but Dan seemed so happy - it wasn't in her place to ruin it.

Phil takes Striker on another walk near the end of Mamma Mia, and Dan isn't ready to give his present. Not yet.

They rent a car for Abi's birthday, and they go see Mamma Mia, as promised. They are at the part where Meryl Streep is singing 'Slipping through my Fingers', and Dan's hand was brushing against Abi's in the almost empty popcorn bucket.

Abi felt anxious. "I-I can get more popcorn. I mean, if you want me to. In that case, I'll stay and wait for Phil. But I can always go. Do you like butter with that popcorn, well, counting that I am still getting it -"

"Relax, Abi." Dan whispers. "More of your anxious rants, and you might explode."

Abi giggles nervously. "Alright. I-I just...I'm just excited for your surprise, I guess."

"That's not it," Dan reads right through her, and Abi hates it. "you have been anxious this whole movie. Is there something you want to tell me?"

"We say it at the same time, Howell?" Abi whispers.

She hopes that Dan's surprise was just as terrible as hers. She hates to do this, but she has no choice - it's been too long, and she has been nothing but a burden they had to take care of. She wanted this to be over as soon as she could. She was actually hoping that they'd hate her for what she was about to say; it would make things more easier.

"A-Alright." Dan mumbles. Abi has never heard Dan stutter; it must be serious.

"1," Abi counts them in. "2...3!"

"I bought us a house." Dan exclaims.

"I'm moving out of the flat." Abi says at the same time, seeming louder than she thinks she is as the tears beginning to run down her cheeks.

They swear they interrupted the movie, but both of them are as shellshocked as the other. Phil stands away from the car, about to drop Striker's leash.

"Well that was a lot in a Meryl Streep movie, was it, Striker?" Phil whispers. Striker just whines.

"Y-You b-bought us a h-house?" Abi couldn't even say the last word without crying. Dan looked as if he was about to tear up as well.

"I-I did." Dan stammers. "I-I already told the landlord. It's here, in London. That's the only reason I decided that a dog was okay. I-It was supposed to be a teaser about w-what your birthday present was, A-Abi. I-I didn't..."

Dan tries to recollect himself. It doesn't work, and Abi is on the verge of bursting to sobs.

"T-That's amazing." Abi says quietly. "N-No pun intended."

"I-It is."

Silence fills the car, before Dan could finally say it.

"B-But there is no point, is there?" He laughs, leaning back in his seat and closing his eyes, wiping the tears before they could fall. "It's almost ironic. I guess you love me, because you know how much I love irony."

"D-Dan -" Dan cuts her off.

"You're moving out!" he says between chuckles. "I am stupid. I'm so fucking stupid."

"Dan, that's not true -"

"But it is!" Dan's faked humour is cut off by a snarl. "This wasn't enough. I was enough for you to stay, and now you are moving."

"Dan, please, don't make this harder for me than it already is -"

Dan pulls her shoulders towards her, and brings her towards him, reeling her into a kiss.

Abi's eyes are wide open - she could see Phil's jaw drop from all the way here - and Dan's lips are soft. She had never kissed a boy for a long while, and she never knew that it would be Dan out of all the boys she could think of.

Dan is the first to pull back, and his eyes are glazed with tears and wider than the sun. Abi is grasping for words.

"D-Dan...I-I...b-but -"

Abi wishes that she could say something, but all the words seemed to have disappeared. Dan looks like a different person to her as he opens the car door and bolts off, dashing past Phil and running faster than he has ever ran in his life.

People around Abi start to clap, but Abi feels as if they were clapping because of the "show" they pulled off. The last five minutes were surreal, and she wants to take them, back more than anything in the whole world.

But Phil is clapping for her. "Jesus Christ, you guys were better than Meryl Streep."

"Phil," Abi wails between sobs, as Striker climbs onto her lap. The credits roll on, and Phil sits beside her. "I'm so fucking screwed"

Reviews are love :)