A/N: hello everyone!! update: i'm in the middle of writing part two for Against the Tide!! :0
so i was messaged a request to write a oneshot off of the tweet that someone wrote about dan and phil.. y'know, the highlighter one.
tweet: https://twitter.com/japhantrash/status/629356979593547777
"dan: i'm the pen, you're the highlighter
phil: ....
dan: i drew the world and you made it brighter"
i think it's adorable!! anyways, here we have it, the "Perfect Picture". tw, a subtle mention of suicidal thoughts. credit goes to the wonderful phantheraglama on tumblr for the phanart. :) enjoy!!
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Not everything, but most things about Dan's world were painstakingly dreary.
Dan Howell, he had fallen into a depression. His new years of teen angst would haunt him until he thought he would just pull the switch. Dan had felt miserable since age thirteen. Then again, listening to My Chemical Romance on repeat probably didn't help matters, but what was he to do?
It's just a phase. "I'm just tired." You'll feel better tomorrow. Get over it.
"I'm okay."
Dan was lying to himself, he definitely was not okay. He wanted to talk to his parents about it, but he didn't want to feel like a burden. He wanted someone to notice him, just a little, to see how he wasn't okay. He was falling apart at the seams, and he was so young.
But his friend Phil noticed.
It was a boring Tuesday after school. Dan had made it home in the pouring rain, and he was soaking wet, seeming to have forgotten his umbrella back at the house.
Dan stumbled in through the doorway. He didn't say hello to his mum; things were still tense after he told her he was probably bisexual. He made his way up the stairs, hungry and cold, to take a shower.
Maybe he could just suck himself down the drain...
Slowly, the horrible thoughts protruding Dan's mind left, and he felt a bit better. He got out of the hot bath and wrapped a towel around his waist, then went downstairs for a snack. His mother was gone, leaving Dan with a note on the kitchen counter explaining that she had to go to work. Great. Even if he wanted to apologize in person, now he couldn't.
Dan went back upstairs with a Pringles can in his hand. Nothing felt better to him than junk food and wallowing in self hate.
As soon as Dan's computer started up, a Skype notification showed up. "New message from 'Phil <3'"
Phil had left him a message a couple minutes ago. "hey dan!!!!! xoxo XPP"
Dan couldn't keep his blush on the down-low, and responded quickly. "haiiii I'm here now, back from skool :P SUPER BOOOORING! skype me!!!!!:0"
A few minutes later, Dan heard the familiar ringtone. He accepted the call.
There was his Lester, up on the screen, sadly looking super cute. Why must Dan secretly and slightly like Phil? His heart broke over and over. Phil was probably in a relationship with a cooler guy.
Dan took a sigh, getting the disgusting thoughts out of his head, and pushed his fringe out of his face. "Hello!" he said cheerfully. Phil smiled back. "Hiii!" he replied, beaming. "How was your day?"
Dan gave a small smile. "It was alright..."
There was so much inside him that felt broken... Dan really just wanted to scream... maybe that would finally get it all off his chest.
"Are you sure, Dan? You're okay? You don't seem too sure," Phil asked warily.
Finally, Dan started to cry.
"Oh no! Please don't cry! I hope I didn't upset you..." he heard Phil say.
"No," Dan said hoarsely, "no, I'm... I'm not crying because of what you said... I'm just crying because I haven't been asked that in a while."
A year went by, and Dan and Phil were still at it, rising and falling.
Dan was night, Phil was day.
Waking sun, setting sun, and so it goes.
No matter what, Phil was always there for Dan. And then the occasional nervous breakdown for Phil, as all adults get a couple times in their life, Dan was there for Phil. Neither would part. It was always Dan and Phil.
And that was when Dan was finally happy with their relationship. They balanced each other out.
"Phil," Dan said one day in the lounge. Phil looked up from Mario Kart. "Yes Dan?" he asked, smiling.
"Are you okay with me needing you sometimes? Because I've figured it out... we're kinda like artists... like I draw the picture, and you use a highlighter or marker to make our worlds brighter... or maybe I'm just babbling, but-"
"Dan, it's okay," Phil told me, putting a hand on my knee. "I know exactly what you mean."
