Phil rifled through the pile of clothing that was oh so conveniently placed directly in the center of his floor. As to how Phil knew it was in the absolute direct center of his bedroom floor, Phil had measured his room and found the exact center. Phil didn't have OCD, you could tell by the shelves in his room. He just did everything he could to make himself as royal as possible. He was King Phil, of course.
Phil was confused, Phil didn't know where he belonged so he had devised a plan to be something. That something was being king Phil Lester, fighter of cheese, defender of memes. He had to have a gimmick, he couldn't just go around as 'that slightly weird kid nobody knows but everyone kind of gets along with'. The truth is, a truth Phil had suppressed is that Phil feared fading into obscurity.
Phil had convinced himself that being completely alone would be fine, but in reality he would do anything and everything to stay relevant. Even if that meant creating a stupid alter ego to make everyone know him. Phil had set the posters up around the school, he knew people would be there, in the crowd. Why would people be there? Because Phil promised that he would give free hamsters to everyone in the crowd. Seriously, he was like the white, British, Oprah Winfrey.
Phil found an awful pink shirt with, bright green, comic sans lettering saying: 'You Are The Gratest!' An then a cheese grater badly photoshopped from some stupid stock photo. It was the only shirt Phil could find that didn't reek of absolute shit. It would have to do for now.
-
Another day of school, which was prison for Dan Howell. People crowded into small groups pressed up against the gross tiled walls of the school building, conversing about the most meaningless and unimportant topics imaginable. People seemed to fit in to certain categories, they all belonged in an arbitrary section of society, each group restated and reinforced by awful teen movie tropes.
Dan was identified by his piers as an outcast, a stray from society. Dan didn't feel that was true, he had conformed to basic societal functions, such as basic hygiene, wearing clothing, and conversing with other human life forms similar to himself. Dan just kind of did his own thing, he didn't have friends because no one wanted to be his friend, Dan was fine with that. Dan was a whiny, edgy, depressed teenager who had everything in the world but a few friends. He embraced that, a bit too much.
Dan walked around draped in black clothing and a frown almost ingrained into his soft skin. Black earbuds plugged into his phone and playing the hardest shit he could find on his ex girlfriend's old phone (that he may or may not have stolen). The hardest shit he could find being some One Direction song about a girl being beautiful. She also downloaded like fifty Black Veil Brides songs but Dan didn't want to put himself through that. He rather have his ears burnt off by listening to One Direction, than his face being slowly ground by a cheese grater by listening to Black Veil Brides.
Dan looked around the hallway, he felt a disturbance, a change in the school structure. Soon everyone was crowding around a bench placed in the corner of the busy hallway. Dan was confused, but like a magnet to a pile of metal, he was automatically drawn to his piers. Dan was confused, judging by the fact that nothing worthy of this much attention was going on. All Dan could see was dust wandering through air.
Soon, a boy about his age drifted towards the center of the crowd, then to the front. Everyone stared directly at him. "Hello, my name is King Phil!" Phil proclaimed, jumping up on the bench awkwardly, almost falling over as he did so. "I rule you all and I would love for you to worship me, as I am your lord and savior Phillip Lester." The crowed clapped so loudly that it stung his ears. Who is this guy?
-
They were clapping for Phil and Phil soaked in every ounce of their attention. The one person who wasn't clapping was a boy with gages and brown fringe that Phil found himself fascinated by. The boy wasn't clapping, he wasn't cheering, he didn't even seem slightly phased by Phil's presence. Phil was distracted by his lack of enthusiasm and his abundance of angst.
Phil recognized him, surely he did. Dan just usually sat apart from the sea of people, it was strange to see him in a group. It wasn't like Phil hated the kid, he was just off putting. His presence was like a dark, empty room. Confusing and mysterious. Phil had to capture his attention and his attention specifically.
"I must appoint a partner to rule alongside me." The group of kids rolled their eyes, but one guy with a fedora and big glasses clapped really loudly and it kind of was obnoxious. So Phil 'banished' him and he was guided away by some emo guy that looked like he was taken right out of 2005.
To continue his partner appointing session, Phil pointed to Dan. Dan continued to look down at his phone, so Phil, being the most rational person on planet earth, decided to shove himself through the shockingly large group of people to get to Dan.
"What is your name, young sir?" Phil said, posturing for the boy, as he is king and he is a royal gentleman.
Dan continued to be distracted by whatever tweet he was reading, causing Phil to be irrationally frustrated, angry, and particularly edgy and angsty. Some traits that have always been very out of character for Phil.
-
Dan snapped his head up when he finally realized what was happening. "Ehm, hi!" Dan said awkwardly waving and forming his face into an expression of well, awkwardness.
"What. Is. Your. Name?" Phil questioned and at that moment, Dan could tell that Phil was rather irritated, an emotion Dan could relate to because, well he is an angsty, edgy, teen. Despite the fact that Dan could relate heavily to his negative emotions, he was way too cool for friends, or whatever this guy was asking him to be. But he still was going to answer Phil's question because Dan wasn't that impolite.
Dan smiled, an obvious fake smile, a smile that could only convince small children and the elderly that he could possibly be happy. "Dan. Dan Howell." Dan said, awkwardly smiling another fake smile because, Dan can't smile.