A/N: based on the song "Synesthesia" by Andrew McMahon, which im freakin out over rn. i just found it and it's such a sweet song. this is a YouTuber!Phan story lol i promise... dan sees phil in a whole new light... or, really, a whole new rainbow. i recommend you play the video now.....
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"And I see colours, when I hear your voice / Go grab your wings, they're putting gravity on trial / I see colours, I don't hear the noise, because we're only flying for a while"
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Dan was told it was possible he might have synesthesia when he told the doctor he saw colours.
Colours. All around him.
No, he was exaggerating, he told the doctor. It wasn't like a whole other colour spectrum that he could see. It was just that sometimes, everyday things would be different.
Writing cheques, the numbers would turn different colours. 7 is purple, and 4 is blue.
Cooking for both him and Phil felt red.
Music was orange and happy and vibrant, and moved around the room to the beat.
Sometimes even picking up the telephone and ringing his mum, Dan could see mauve.
Except Phil, Phil was a different story.
Phil was a rainbow.
He could see so many colours when he saw Phil. It was like shooting stars of indigo and gold.
Sometimes Dan would sneak a peek at Phil just because he was obsessed with seeing all the colours. He couldn't get enough of seeing pink drip from his nose and navy on his eyelashes and aqua on his lips.
Phil was a work of art, in Dan's eyes.
Dan came home that day from the doctor's appointment and told Phil.
"It's called synesthesia," he explained, "and I see colours when words are said or if there are numbers or letters."
Phil smiled. "That makes you even more unique and creative, Bear."
Dan was up all night, trying to piece together the parts of Phil that were different colours. Even Phil's voice was yellow, and his name was a nice shade of rose.
Finally, at 6 AM, Dan burst into Phil's room to show him what he had created.
"Jesus, Dan, it's so early! I'm tired."
"I'm dragging you out of bed for good reason, Phil, trust me."
Phil's eyes were covered; it was to be a surprise.
Dan lead them into the living room, where there was something on the table.
"Open your eyes now."
There it was, Dan's 3 AM. Dan's point of view. Dan's colours.
Of Phil.
Phil walked over to the paper on the table. "Dan... you made this?"
Bits and pieces of everything and anything: newspaper, plastic, fabric, crayon.
"I'm sorry it's so sloppy, I just wanted to find the things that matched the closest to what I could see."
Phil held the paper up. "Dan, it's absolutely beautiful. I never knew you saw me this way."
"You're speaking in soft rose right now, actually..." Dan told Phil, blushing.
It was a collage in the shape of a heart, detailing which colours Dan saw from Phil. Dan had worked hard to find the right things for it.
Phil chuckled, and set the paper back down so he could hold Dan's hands instead.
"You're incredible. I find it so fascinating you've found me in such a way. I never knew I was practically the rainbow," he told Dan.
Dan shrugged. "I find the things I love the most are more colourful than everything else."
Dan spent the rest of the morning telling Phil which colours matched up with what, and which things were his favourite to see or feel.
"Sometimes the colours overlap," he explained, "like purple is 7, but green could also be 7, and purple is also sometimes a certain shade of 'A'. Sometimes colours have feelings, too. Like chartreuse feels fuzzy and prickly, and tan feels harsh. But yellow, yellow just feels so good."
The colours never stopped showing up in Dan's vision. Sometimes they were vibrant, like if he and Phil ever decided to make love in the middle of the night. But sometimes they were dull, like if his depression got bad. Whatever the case was, Dan never stopped seeing the yellow and gold ribbons pour from Phil's mouth, or see the rose colours whenever he tweeted his best friend.
The colours were everywhere. Phil was everywhere. Happiness was everywhere. Beauty was everywhere.
But love was absolutely everywhere. Love got tangled in Phil's hair and Dan's fingers and twisted around the lampposts and spines of books and wagging tails of dogs.
Everything was everywhere. Dan loved it that way.
