The INCIDENT

Back in 2009

Dan Howell was a young boy, who wanted to make YouTube videos. He had been watching YouTube for years and had watched many different creators. But his favorite creator, was Phil Lester. Phil had been on YouTube for 3 years already and Dan had been watching him since the beginning. So one day, Dan had left a comment on one of Phil's videos. He was asking him questions like,
"So, do you like Muse's new album?" "Do you like that film?"
And so on and so forth. A few days later, Phil replied to him and said,
"We seem to have lots in common, let's talk on Skype!"
So Dan and Phil had talked on Skype for about 17 hours each week. They had really connected and become great friends. Years later, Dan had created his YouTube channel: Danisnotonfire. Dan and Phil had Skyped the evening that Dan put up his first video.

About a few months later, Phil had Skype called Dan and they arranged plans to meet in person. Dan was terrified. Not because he didn't trust Phil or because he wasn't comfortable. He was terrified because he was finally going to meet the YouTube friend that he had been talking to for years. Dan and Phil were meeting at the Manchester train station. It was October 19, 2009. Dan was sat on a bench waiting for Phil to show up. Trains had dropped people off, and then rode away. It had been an hour and no sign of Phil. Dan was freaking out because he thought that Phil wasn't coming. It had been an hour and a half and Dan was giving up. The last train of the day was pulling into the station and Dan thought that there was no way Phil would be on the train. So before the train was even stopped, Dan started to walk away toward the exit. The train had come to a stop and people were being loaded off, Dan turned around for one quick glance to see if Phil was there. And there was no trace of him. Dan was about to walk up the steps at the exit until he heard a voice calling his name.
"Dan! Wait!"
said the voice. Dan turned around and to his surprise he saw a guy with black hair and beautiful blue eyes running towards him. It was Phil. They ran towards each other and hugged for the longest time. They stood there in each other's arms for about 2 minutes. Completely speechless and embracing each other. They finally let go and stared into each other's eyes. After 5 minutes of silence, Dan finally said something.
"It's so great to finally meet you, Phil. I can't believe this is actually happening."
Phil smiled and started blushing.
"I'm so glad we could finally see each other. Especially after all the hour long Skype calls."
Phil responded flustered with happiness. Dan and Phil stood silent for a couple seconds until Phil told Dan to follow him. They went and sat on a bench in the train station and Phil started rummaging through his bag. Phil pulled out his laptop and went on Twitter.
"What're you doing?"
Asked Dan very curiously.
"Hold on, I'm tweeting something." Dan had followed Phil on Twitter, so when Phil was done with his tweet, and had put his laptop back in his bag, he sat silently looking at Dan. Dan's iPhone 3 had vibrated in his pocket, it was the Tweet notification for Phil. Dan had opened the Twitter app and saw Phil's tweet, the tweet had said this,
"Finally met danisnotonfire today. Best day ever! <3"
Dan started smiling and blushing while looking at his phone. Phil was staring at Dan and had the happiest feeling. Dan had looked up at Phil and Phil quickly looked away and started blushing because Dan caught him staring at him. The Manchester Train Station was very empty other than 3 people, a man in an orange shirt, a lady in a purple shirt, and a man in green. Phil had once again gone through his bag and pulled out his laptop, and opened the camera application.
"Let's take a picture, Dan"
Phil said.
"Sure!"
Responded Dan. They both stood up and Phil put the laptop on top of the back of the bench and held it in case it fell. Dan stood behind Phil and did a funny, ironic pose. After the picture was taken, they both sat down again and started to laugh at the picture.
"I have no idea why I did the pose!" Dan declared while laughing. Phil posted the picture on his Twitter.
"Do you want to head to my place?" Asked Phil.
"Sure."
Replied Dan.

Dan and Phil had walked up the steps and out of the train station, they were walking down the street in the crisp, cool October weather. They were walking for about 30 minutes in complete silence, until they finally walked around the corner and to Phil's door.
"Here's the house."
Said Phil. Phil was still living with his parents but he was going to be moving out and getting his own apartment September 2010. Phil was home alone because his parents were on a trip. Phil got out his house keys and opened up the front door. They both took of their shoes, went up to Phil's room, set down their bags and got settled in.
"So, what do you want to do?"
Asked Phil.
"We should try to come up with a video idea!"
Exclaimed Dan very excited. Dan and Phil spent hours trying to think of an idea for a video, but they couldn't think of anything! It was about 9pm and Dan had to return home, but Phil needed to ask him a question before he left.
"Umm, Dan?"
Dan was packing up his bag, but he stopped to answer Phil's question.
"Yes, Phil?" "Do you think you could come over in a few days so we can think of an idea?"
Asked Phil.
"Of course! Will you meet me at the train station again?" "Sure!"
Replied Phil. Dan had finished up packing up his bag, put on his shoes, said goodbye to Phil and walked out the front door and to the train station.

It was a cold morning on October 22, 2009 and Dan was sat on the same bench that him and Phil had met before. After 15 minutes of waiting Phil got off the train and greeted Dan. They were both still so happy to see each other again. The 30 minute walk wasn't as quiet and awkward as it was the first time they went to Phil's house. Dan and Phil were talking and ranting and joking the whole walk to Phil's house. There was never a minute of silence. They got to Phil's front door and went inside, the immediately went up to Phil's room and got out their laptops. They were sat for about 15 minutes in complete silence and in thinking mode. Dan's phone started to vibrate like crazy, it was his email blowing up. "
"Woah. What's going on? You just got like 17 notifications?"
Asked Phil.
"Oh. Whenever people comment on my videos, I get emails about it. I usually ignore them though."
Replied Dan
"Wait! That gives me the best idea! We should film a Q + A together!" Exclaimed Phil.
"Yeah! But we'd need a creative name for it."
Replied Dan. They say think of names to call the video until Phil finally exclaimed,
"PHIL IS NOT ON FIRE!!!"
"Oh my god. That's perfect!"
Dan exclaimed. So then,  Phil had set up the camera and Dan was writing questions down on a piece of paper. (Even though his hand writing was very sloppy, he still wanted to do it.) The boys were working so hard to set everything up until finally they were ready to shoot the video.
"Wait. I think we need something." Phil exclaimed.
"What could we possibly be missing? We have everything set up!" Said Dan. "I know, but I feel like we need something. You know? To be like our signature look or something like that." Phil replied.
Phil sat and started to think until he saw a marker on his desk.
"Aha! I know what to do!" Excited Phil.
"What're you on about, mate?" Asked Dan. Phil did not answer. He jumped up, walked over to his desk, and grabbed the pen.
"Give me your face." Said Phil. Dan was very confused but did what Phil said and guided his face towards Phil. Phil had popped the cap off the marker and proceeded to draw something on Dan's face. When Phil was finished, he told Dan to look in the mirror. Dan looked into the mirror and started to smile.
"I like it! This can be our new thing!" Exclaimed Dan.
"Yeah! I like it! Now it's your turn to draw them on me!" Dan proceeded to do the same thing to Phil that he did to him. Nose and then whiskers, they were finally done and ready to make their first YouTube video together.

It was almost finished and they were about to end their video. But suddenly Phil went to tackle Dan. Dan was on the floor giggling but then Phil did something that neither of them had expected would happen. Phil kissed Dan. They were both laying on the floor, and Phil had kissed him. They both got up in complete and utter shock, completely speechless and quite. "What's you do that for?"
Asked Dan.
"I don't know. I just felt like it. I'm sorry."
Replied Phil
"Don't be sorry! It was actually kinda nice. Don't worry about it."
Dan blushed.
"Are you sure?"
Asked Phil.
"100%."
Replied Dan. They both continued on ending the video until they were finally done. Phil reached to turn off the camera, and Dan went to put the paper with questions on it into his bag.

A few days later, on October 25th, Phil had uploaded the video. He then Skyped Dan and told him that their video was up. They were both so happy that the video they had worked on forever was finally up.

But this was only the beginning.