Silver Linings (Dan Howell×Reader)

A Day at the Park

Dan's POV

I didn't mean to be shy yesterday. Y/N is super sweet, and I couldn't help but feel self-conscious around her. Phil asked me what was wrong, but I didn't say anything.

I mean, she really was pretty. That said, only children believe in love at first sight. It'll pass over in a few days.

Hopefully.

Your POV

Light poured into the window beside my bed. Finally, one not-so-cloudy day in London! The city looked gorgeous. I could see one of its many parks next to our building.

But as I gazed out at the pigeon-filled view, my belly rumbled and a knock sounded at my bedroom door.

"Hey, Phil has to do something this morning, but Dan said he'd take us for breakfast at Barkle's."

Dan chose well. As we walked down the street to the little breakfast place, the smell of bacon and pancakes wafted through the air. The small restaurant was crowded with hungry business people and families traveling through the city.

A waiter sat us in a booth. Kate sat across from Dan and I. I yawned. "Unusually sunny today, isn't it?"

Dan smiled. "Definitely."

It was a short answer, but I'll take it. Anything is better than silence.

"So, wanna go to the park after breakfast? Since we don't have to deal with rain?" Kate looked excited at this idea, but Dan's frown told me he didn't agree.

"Sorry, but I have something to do later."

"Oh.. then, maybe next time?"

He looked away. "Maybe."

Our food came. The cooks definitely knew how to make you feel at home. My pancakes had powdered sugar and strawberries all over them.

(English pancakes are like crepes, btw)

When we got back to our building, Dan disappeared into his flat, mumbling something about Sims 4. Must have been craving video games, I guess.

He just didn't really strike me as a gamer type, though. Kate turned to me in the small space between our door and the other door.

"I wonder why he invited us to breakfast and then rushed us back? Wouldn't he just say 'maybe next time'?"

I shrugged. "We don't know him well enough. Maybe he's just forgetful and didn't want to go back before we ate?" I thought for a second, "like maybe he forgot he had stuff to do?"

Kate shook her head and opened our front door. She sat down on the gray sofa in the lounge while I went to my room. I scrolled through my Twitter for a bit before I noticed that someone I followed retweeted a tweet from a verified user named..

Dan Howell?

But.. that can't be right. It must be a different Dan. I checked the profile picture. Sure enough, it was Quiet Daniel from across the hall. How'd he get verified, though? His tweets were pretty amusing, not like the shy noodle I knew in real life. I tapped a link that said 'YouTube' in it.

Holy hell!!

"Dan has 6 Million subscribers Kate!!" My yell echoed. Footsteps pounded to my room.

"What?"

I shoved the phone in her face. "LOOKIT!"

She fell onto my bed and grabbed my laptop. We spent the morning watching his and Phil's videos. At about 12, a notification dinged and we looked at their gaming channel's recent uploads.

A Sims 4 video. It all made sense. "So, he was hurrying to record a video?"

Kate's eyes were glued to the screen. I was about to catch her attention when a knock sounded at the front door. We both looked up. I opened the door and Dan and Phil walked in, giving quiet greetings and smiling.

A Dan Scream echoed from my room. I facepalmed. Dan's eyes widened and his smile faded. Phil just gave me a quizzical glance. "Is that.. us?"

I sighed. "You guys could have told us that you were Internet-famous."

Dan shook his head. "We didn't want new people to only want to be around us for the fame."

I nodded. "I get it. You're just gonna have to deal with Kate. She's obsessed with the videos." A frantic squeak of protest from my bedroom door sounded. "Speaking of.." I turned around to Kate scrambling up to us with the laptop.

"Your videos are amazing!!" Kate's green eyes were sparkling and a wide smile was planted across her tanned face. Phil laughed while Dan tried to hide behind him.

Phil managed to get him off before he gave me a happy glance. "Since our video is done, Dan decided to finally take you up on that offer for a park visit." I quickly shoved them towards the door.

"What are we waiting for?! If you stand around much longer, the sky's going to give up on us and rain again!"

A smile was plastered across Dan's face when we got to the park. The leaves on the trees were turning red and orange. A light breeze sent a few of them to the ground.

Kate laughed at a pigeon eating a bagel and I took a picture of the scenery to sketch later for additional practice.

Dan smiled. "You were right, Y/N. A relaxing park adventure is just what we needed." I gave him a smile. I sat down on a bench while they went to stalk some squirrels.

As I was sitting there, a man jogging came by. He stopped when he saw me. "Hey. Can I sit here?" He gestured to the space beside me.

I shrugged. "Sure."

He relaxed and took a sip of his water. "Beautiful day, eh?"

I nodded. "Better than it has been."

We sat there in silence for a minute. He yawned and tried to put his arm around me. I ducked under it. "Sorry. I'm not interested."

He cast a disappointed look on me. "Come on. Ladies love me."

I shook my head. "I don't. Please, don't ask again.'

He frowned and tried to lean closer to me. A voice sounded from right behind us. "She's not interested. Leave."

I glanced up. Dan stood behind me. He placed a hand on my shoulder, glaring at the stranger. The man was much shorter than Dan, and he left rather quickly. Leaving his plastic water bottle on the bench. I picked it up and threw it away in a bin. Dan gave me an apologetic look. "Sorry about him. Some Londoners can't take a hint."

I shook my head. "It's not your fault. There's people like that everywhere."

Phil and Kate walked up, Kate laughing at something Phil said. "We heard your voices. What happened?"

I gave Dan a glance. "Nothing important."

Dan glanced at the sky. Dark storm clouds loomed over the buildings around the park. "Looks like the weather's turning back to the usual gloom. Let's go before we get rained on."

We raced back to our building and watched a movie in Dan and Phil' flat.

Alriight. Finally remembered this app existed, so I decided to post an update. 1157 words for the actual story. Hope everyone has a wonderful day or night!

-Dark