Procrastinators on the Internet (Dan Howell/danisnotonfire fanfic 1)*unedited*

Part 8- The Collision of Internet and Reality

The sound of my converse soles dragging against the chapped pavement consumed me as I walked beside Nic on our way home. The sound raked through my thoughts like a claw, pushing aside my thoughts as if in search of one thought or idea in particular. I was struggling to comprehend everything, hence why I felt like this, felt like I was searching for a deeper thought than my mind would permit me to keep.

Chris. PJ. I’d actually met them. I was finally sensing an aftershock for it all, and it was driving me crazy. Together, they have about 1 million subscribers. PJ’s made a short film. Chris has been in numerous television shows. Their ship is like fire on fangirls’ tongues, it’s the stuff of keen drama and infatuating emotions in fangirls. They’re brilliant.

I’d met them. I’d actually met Chris and PJ. After all this time, I’d been dreaming of meeting even one of the YouTubers I was subscribed to, and then two of them come along at once out of sheer luck? It seemed so impossible!

Nic moved ahead of me, forcing me to look up from my shabby shoes to see where we were. Nic climbed the two steps that led to our front door, the keys in hand as she opened the door for us. I was unsure if she knew just how brilliant this whole day had been. She’d met PJ and he’d left a lasting impression on her (I knew that much) and she knew of Dan and Phil now, but even so…

I raised a hand to support myself on the uneven brickwork wall of the house in the little shelter outside our door, so that I could take off my shoes. There was mud and small grass clusters anchored to the underside of my shoes from walking round on the grass for most of the day. I tried to bash off some of the mud whilst I crouched on the front step, likely looking like a mad-woman.

Nic sighed from behind me in the doorway, before I heard her footsteps disappear down the hall and leaving me out in the dark.

My legs started to cramp up slightly, and so I dropped my weight down onto the step, letting my long legs jut out down the steps, my stripy grey and blue socks twitching with my toes. With all the time I spent indoors, I sometimes just sat outside instead. However much I prefer being inside and away from people, there’s just something about the magic of the night sky and cold air which I thrive off.

That was what tonight was. The sky was a heavy wash of dark tones, tones which were lighter round the stars, around the unnatural light provided by the other homes, and bent away from the crescent moon in an eye shape. The shadows of trees and other houses blotted my vision, looking like monsters which were rising up from the earth. The country air was rich and cold in my nose, waking me up after the long day. The air tickled my skin and toyed with loose strands of my hair which I couldn’t capture in my hair bobble. I liked the cold. I liked living here.

“Mia?” Nic called from inside, her voice barely a whisper in my ear. I hummed at her, acknowledging her whilst I daydreamed and tried to process what had happened today. “Are you okay?” Nic asked me. I felt and heard her move to stand on the doorstep, her hourglass form towering over me. “You seem dazed…”

“Just thinking,” I explained, finally turning my head to look at her. “Should I put dinner on? It’s my turn to cook, right?”

Nic shrugged at me. She’d swapped her coat for a large beige cardigan, which drooped and sagged all over. She did look warm though. “If you’re hungry…”

I smiled up at her, easily reading her. “You’re hungry, aren’t you?” Nic tried to protest as I hauled myself upright, briskly rubbing the dust from my hands and the back of my trousers, and moving inside the house. I let my shoes swing from my fingers by the laces before I let them clatter to the welcome mat just inside the door. “Is spaghetti bolognaise okay?”

I stepped aside to let Nic into the house whilst I undid my jacket and hung it over my arm. Nic edged my shoes away from the door with her foot before she walked me to the kitchen. “I don’t mind. I’m not that hungry…”