Time-Space Continuum

Starbucks with Dan:)

04/03/2015
Evening, slightly cloudy, 15°C
Dan Howell

Shit shit shit shit I think there's a pebble in my shoe.

We were walking towards Starbucks with the speed of a snail. To be honest, we weren't rushing anywhere. I wasn't exceedingly hungry and Phil had almost just finished my Lucky Charms, so eventhough cinnamon rolls did sound good, it wasn't like that was our only purpose for this trip.

It never is.

It's kind of a tradition, eating a late snack at Starbucks or sometimes even lunch. We still do it, ever since 2009, ever since we met in person.

Everytime I think about that a huge dimple appears in my face. It's definitely one of the cutest memories I have, and it's about Phil. Of course.

Phil.

He's such a little ray of sunshine, I thought as he bounced against my arm. He was doing a weird skip and was using our intertwined hands as 95% as the support. I tried my best not to give in to the weight. I guess, for a guy whose arm gets tired by holding up his phone for a selfie, supporting the majority of a 28 year old man's weight with one arm is nearly impossible, but one can try. I turned to him sharply as I felt him lose his footing, and both my hands hurried to hold him up. He managed to regain balance with a comical cartoony wave of his arms.

He laughed and his tongue poked out. His blue eyes sparkled as his eyebrows shot up with glee.

"I'm a plane, Dan! Look!"

I smiled.

"I wonder if you have middle seats for couples. Or maybe an Angry Pete or two?"

Phil giggled, pushing into me, our hands finding each other again.

"Does it even matter that they figured it out?" He asked, his laughter decreasing a bit as he looked into my eyes for reassurance.

I don't usually like the topic of outing ourselves to our fans, but I was in a good mood and I didn't think anything could ruin it.

I shrugged.

Phil instantly smiled, relieved that he hadn't crossed any line. I squeezed his hand a little and nodded my head towards the Starbucks in front of us. He stopped on his tracks. I rushed in front of him to open the door, but let him go in first. He smiled at me and took my hand again, dragging me towards the counter.

I ordered my usual coffee and a cinnamon roll while Phil eyed the muffins suspiciously hard.

"Yes, Phil. You can get a muffin."

He smiled at my immediate understanding and thanked me with a quick hug as I asked the cashier to add a chocolate chip muffin to my order.

The cashier smiled slightly mechanically as she told us to come back in a bit when the coffees are ready. Phil dragged me to a table for two near the window and I sat down, sighing happily.

I tapped my fingers against the table. As some old lady glared furiously at me, I stopped, resigning to fixing my hair. I knew exactly what the cause of my fidgeting was, although I didn't want to face it yet. It was unavoidable, however.

"Hey Phil? I'm gonna go to the toilet, okay?"

He nodded. "I'll take care of our order if it comes. You can go."

I shuffled awkwardly out of my seat and to the men's room. Sneering a bit at the gender stereotyped personalised toilet doors like the tumblr person I am, I entered and, well, peed. I zipped back my black skinny jeans and washed my hands. As I exited the bathroom, I bumped into a very familiar someone.

Familiar height, familiar hair, familiar smell. It brought back so many memories, rushing into my brain like a wave, completely brainwashing me for a minute. The person turned around, facing me.

I gasped.

What? No. No no no that's not possible what the actual fuck is happening....
It's... It's Phil.

Except it wasn't my Phil. The one waiting right now at the little table beside the window for our orders. The fox sweater Phil. The sweet little muffin-munching boyfriend Phil. No, it was a completely different Phil.

His checkered shirt had its first three (three!)
buttons undone. He had two days' worth of stubble. His hair was longer and was ruffled into his face, causing his eyes to look slightly crazed.

Oh my god his eyes. They were the most bemusing thing about him, because they were so Phil. I could recognise them anywhere and everywhere, as precisely as an iris pattern scanner. I studied them everyday and got lost in them every time they weren't placed at a safe distance. You could drown in those eyes... and right now I was indeed choking for breath.

This was all so confusing. It seemed as if... as if an older version of Phil had suddenly been transported to this Starbucks. But that wasn't possible. It was just a very similar look-alike. Yeah, that made some sense...

"Hey, have you seen this guy?" The person suddenly said, intrerrupting my thoughts. "Brown hair, brown eyes, tan, about 18? He kinda looks like you except he's younger and his hair is longer. I've been looking for him everywhere, he's supposed to have come here like 20 minutes ago. We're meeting for the first time in person, but he said on Skype he'll be here..."

The story sounded all too familiar, but there was still no way of checking. Unless...

"Are you by any chance looking for a Dan?"

His eyes lit up, the eyebrows raising up with glee. I blinked once or twice, the image of my Phil doing that only some minutes ago coming to mind. The similarity was almost unbearable.

"Yeah, I am! Have you seen him anywhere? Did he come to you? Is he looking for me too?" He shot question after question, his voice rising after each one in the way Phil always...

What am I doing? Already identifying the stranger as Phil? Stop it, I thought to myself as I started thinking about what he said.

Or maybe he is Phil after all.

Until I jumped to conclusions, though, this needed some MAJOR clearing up to do.

I took out my phone, typed in the password in an instant and tapped the Phone icon, quickly pressing on an array of little pink hearts and sparkles and bringing the phone to my ear.

"Phil? Hi! Yeah, it's Dan. Still in the bathroom, yeah. Listen, something happened..."

A/N Hi internet! So this is, officially, the first finished and published chapter out of my first fanfiction, so, congrats me.

Also, whoever you are reading it... you have some really nice teeth. And if you don't have teeth... those gums sure look moist.

Some could say I have a slight addiction to "...". I think that is completely untrue and unfounded...

Okay okay. Okay. Oooookay. What else, what else?

I still love avocados...

Oh, yeah. I dedicate this to my wonderful, amazing internet friend Emma (phiIlester ); because while I was sending her snippets of this she told me it seems really good, so I should "hurry the fuck up". Sure, Jan.

I think that's it?! Okay bye!