bury me in roses || a youtuber story

2. dan and phil

"Phil, where did you put my headphones?" Dan shouted from his bedroom.

"Um, I think they're on the couch somewhere?" Phil didn't seem very sure, but Dan made his way to the couch anyways. After a few minutes of digging in between the couch cushions, he looked to the side and saw them in plain sight on the dining table. They were right next to where Phil was sitting, but the older lad was too busy looking down at his phone.

Dan groaned and said his flatmate's name in a way that made it sound like to syllables instead of one, "Phi-il!"

Phil looked up from the screen in his hands, "Oh, oops."

"What's got you so distracted?" Dan sat in the chair next to Phil, leaning over to see what his companion was up to.

On the screen was a news article with the headline, 'What Happened to These Youtubers?'. Number three on the list were Dan and Phil, the dynamic duo.

"Everything seemed to be going uphill for them; a book, a tour, and they even had their own radio show. Of course, after being deemed problematic due to Phil getting into a verbal fight with another Youtuber, their popularity declined. Once YouTube became a less mainstream tool for entertainment, they disappeared off the face of the Internet. Not only that, but they've gone completely off the grid! Nobody has heard from Dan or Phil in two years. Whether they're still living in the same cozy apartment or leading separate lives is unknown."

It was hard not to think about what caused them to lose their power in the world of social media.

Dan and Phil were on top of the world, everyone loved them, blah blah blah. Then, on one fateful evening, an ex-friend throws a fit in the middle of a bar and attacks Dan on his content and lifestyle (not that his angry rant made it into the video). Phil, being the nice guy he is, defends Dan. However, as you can see on the poor quality video clip, slightly intoxicated Phil begins to shout a few unnecessary remarks at the other guy which later becomes a viral sensation on YouTube.

Phil since apologized, but had already lost quite a bit of his fanbase. This didn't help Dan considering that he included his roommate in almost all of his own videos. Their partnership, which had always been their biggest strength, became the reason for their downfall.

The drama lost them a large amount of fans and their jobs at BBC Radio 1 after their ratings went down. Nobody cared about the Dan and Phil brand anymore, but they would be okay financially seeing as they were never big spenders (unless you count staying up late and online shopping for useless items). They would both be able to live stable lives off of the money from their past careers.

What they would never get back, however, was the fanbase. To say that Dan lost a part of him when his "followers" left him behind would be an understatement. He relied on their constant encouragements and love to get him through the day. While Phil was a big supporter in his life, it never felt as nice as hundreds of people telling him that everything would be okay.

Phil hated not being able to make people happy anymore. He used to have such a strong influence on his audience, constantly getting messages telling him how his videos made their day. Now he could barely keep Dan from going off the deep end. He desperately held onto the younger boy, needing Dan to stay together for his own sake. If he couldn't make the guy he's been around for years stick together then there was no hope.

•

"Phil, do you ever miss it? All of those people telling you how much they love you, even though they don't even know you? It was so weird, I'll admit that, but it was so nice having... I don't know, people who care about you."

Something went off in Phil, "I care about you, Dan. Am I not enough anymore?"

Dan looked down at his hands for a moment before speaking up, "Maybe you're not."

In that moment, Phil felt his heart snap into pieces. He just wasn't enough. There was more to this than just stupid little Philip Lester. If he wanted to make Dan happy again, he'd have to go to drastic measures. Then they could go back to the way things were before they lost everything that mattered to them.