[completed] philly: who's this? danhowell: your future husband ; copyright © 2016 //highest ranking: #4

What if you could hear them? The thoughts they deigned not reasonable enough to say out loud, the things not suitable for even a giggly teenage gossip conversation. Would it be a blessing or a curse? Troye, the unlucky teenager bestowed with this 'gift', thinks of it as a curse, with good reason. Do you know how hard it is to keep a relationship with someone when you know exactly what they think of you? Impossible. It's impossible. Or at least that's what Troye thinks, considering he's given up on even trying to make it work. He's different, people shun different. People hate different. And it's better to go under the radar, to be nothing, than to be hated. Right? Tyler, on the other hand, has taken a different approach to a similar problem. No, he can't 'read minds', but he does have a part of himself he doesn't want a soul to know about. He's quarterback, every girl's dream guy, an academic mastermind, and he's also gay. He's seen how different kids get treated, hell, he's been the one to treat them that way before. Why on Earth would he ever wish that on himself? No, it's easier to hide, to be someone you're not, than to be hated. Right?

Phil had never been one to dwell on the bigger picture, he was the type content to saturate in the moment. He'd never really understood the way his best friend would get so hung up on finding purpose, not when he'd come to terms with the idea that life was what you made of it so early on. He considered himself a firm believer in the idea of karma, that putting good out into the world would bring you nothing but the same back. That's why he was always so careful to keep positive, to keep a smile on his face through it all. That's also why it shattered him so when the world handed him back a nightmare in exchange for his dreams. You would think, with how long they've known each other, by now Pj would have grown accustomed to loss and the crippling grief that comes along with it. He has trouble accepting it, that it's a permanent thing and no amount of reminiscing will give him the opportunity to make new memories again. That's why he reasoned with himself that becoming a medical student was a good idea, that someday he would be there for someone in a way that no one else had been there for him. He wanted to save people. And, unbeknownst to Pj, there was someone out there equally as determined to save him. Felix had always envied the simplicity that came with gaming. The guided path from start to finish, the reassurance along the way that you were doing the right thing, and if all else failed he'd always had manuals to fall back on. Real life wasn't like that, it wasn't as simple as keeping your team alive until you crossed over into the credits. Choosing between what he's always known and what his heart tells him to do won't be easy, but thankfully he's not in it alone. With zombies on their tail and feelings they don't yet want to face ahead of them, this gang of unlikely heroes are about to realize that things aren't always what they seem.

The year is 2096. The earth has seen two more world wars since 2016. The last war that destroyed a quarter of Canada and half of Japan, was enough to make the government enforce strict actions. Countries are now split, no communication at all between them. Humans now live in conglomerations of small pods stacked upon each other. Each person has their own space, but they're all confined to being underground. Half of the people living inside the pods have never seen natural sunlight. Birth rates are violently controlled due to the lack of space and pods constantly having to be built. Couples are allowed, but physical contact reaching past anything more than a hug is forbidden. Sex is strictly banned unless it is agreed by contract or an operation is done to assure a baby cannot be created. It's a tough life. It's a boring life. And it's a lonely one too. A life underground simply isn't good enough for some and sooner or later, you have to leave the shadows.

Dan Howell was the typical spoiled, rich boy with butlers driving him to operas and maids making him nachos for breakfast. Phil Lester, however, was the opposite. Barely any money and deadbeat parents, he lives in a bad neighborhood in a gross apartment with cat hair covering the carpet and an odd roommate. And then Dan's parents decide he needs to love someone rather than himself, and when Phil shows up at his mansion steps, Dan's parents grow fond of him- so much that the two are exchanging rings and Phil is moving in with his new spouse. They tell Dan he should give it a few months, to be patient, and if he still doesn't like him then they'll sign the divorce papers and call it quits. Marriage isn't perfect, right? Well this one is the exact example. But they could always pretend.

Troye's been hiding a secret, and it's finally time for him to confess. But how do you confess something when the person the secret pertains to no longer walks among the living? *Trigger warnings* - Depression - Death