Worse » daniel howell AU

9

[It's been almost year, so obviously, Dan must've posted that picture (^) to help me because if that is not 'Mister Popular' Dan, then I have no clue what is.]

I walked up to the door, bringing my hand up and knocking on it. Not even a minute later, the door was opened to reveal Dan who still had the curly hair going on, but the glasses were gone. He was wearing joggers and a doge t-shirt.

"Hi, I'm here for the proof?" I said, putting air quotes around 'proof.' "Yes, well, right this way," he replied back as he moved to the side to let me in. My eyes drifted around the room as I walked into the house. It looked almost exactly as it had when I had been here as a kid. He saw me looking around as he shut the door and spoke up, "Yeah, not much has changed."

He led me through the living room toward the hallway where the stairs to his room were held. The stairs went downward to the basement level of the house where it was fashioned into a loft type area and walls were built to make two bedrooms, his and his brother's. I had been here before, of course, but it was pretty different considering both Dan and his brother had aged a lot since then, as had I. At the time, Dan's brother was young and barely used the bedroom designated for him, so mostly the basement was just for Dan.

Now, around 4 to 5 years later, here we were, with Dan being 17 and his younger brother not being a little toddler anymore. I spotted the stacks of video games and movies/tv box sets in the shelves along each side of the television, seeing that the collection had grown massively.

"Now, this looks different. Totally shows the grown up version of 11 year old Dan," I said as I looked around. "See, still the same, just slightly, slightly more mature," he said with a laugh. "Yeah, slightly," I mumbled back before looking at him.

He went over to his bedroom, opening the door and leading me in. I looked around at the room that was practically the same as it had been when we were younger. It was still decorated with many posters and small items that showed just how nerdy he was, or I suppose still is. There were a stack of CDs on his desk and beside the desk was a bookshelf containing many books and even more trinkets that were references to video games, tv shows, and movies.

"Wow, I didn't expect Mister Popular to be such a nerd," I said to him. He shrugged a bit, "like I've been saying, I haven't actually changed much." My eyes went to a picture frame on his dresser. There were a few of these frames throughout the room, but this one stuck out. It was a picture of Dan and I, both of us probably around the age of 10.

I remembered the exact moment this picture was taken. The picture was taken by Dan's mom when I went on holiday with them one year. His mom had told us to pose for a picture, and right before she took the picture, Dan had said something to make both of us laugh, so the picture looked more candid than intentional.

"I haven't seen that picture in years.." I mumbled as I walked over and picked it up, looking at it closer. "That is my favorite picture of us. Shows how happy we were then," he said from behind me. I glanced back at him before putting the picture back down.

"You know I miss that. That's why I'm trying so hard here. I just want that back," He admitted. My eyes were set on the picture, refusing to look at him again. Silence filled the space uncomfortably, both of us waiting for the other to say something else.

"Aliah..." He finally broke. I bit my lip as I silently wished I wasn't in this situation. I finally turned to face him as I found the words I wanted to say, but they were instantly lost from my mind when I noticed how close we had been.

"How... How do I know that this isn't just a trick to pull me in?" I sputtered out through my uneven breaths. The words were harsh as they left my mouth. "Aliah," he tried as his face softened, only for me to cut back in just afterward. "I'm not going to let you do this to me. You already hurt me once before, and I'm not going to let it happen again," I hissed out dryly.

Dan moved to touch my arm, but I jerked out of his reach, glaring slightly. I turned, walking out of the bedroom and to the stairs. I hurried up them, rushing to get out of the house and away from all the memories.

Once outside with the door closed behind me, I let out a heavy sigh, broken by the choked beginning of sobs that involuntarily erupted. I hadn't noticed the tears welling up in my eyes during my rush. I quickly wiped my eyes, walking away from the house and in the direction of my own home.

A/N:

I am actually so sorry about the time it has taken for me to update this. I am so bad at updating. This is literally my favorite story of mine though, so I'm really, truly trying to get some chapters out. I reread this entire story, and I was literally sitting there asking myself why there wasn't more.

I also already have a sequel idea for this in my head even though I have no clue how this story is going to end yet. That's just more motivation for me to update this more often.

Also, shameless self-promo: I have a new collab story out! It's called Somewhere Only We Know and it's written with -Melanielovesyou-! We would love for you to go check it out. It's on our collab account MeganieIsNotCool

Thank you all for reading! Please leave your feedback in the comments! Give me some of your theories for what's going to happen in this story later on. I would love to see what you guys think about it.

xx Megan