I want to state the obvious in that my writing gets better as it goes along, so if you think my writing style is really shit and the plot is too unrealistic in the first chapter, then I suggest you skip to my later ones, as I'm quite proud of those.

Also I would just like to make it clear that you are totally welcome and encouraged to point out flaws in these one-shots aka repetitive words, continuity errors, spelling mistakes, grammar stupidity, ESPECIALLY MISPLACED COMMAS AND WRONG USES OF THEIR, THERE, THEY'RE, TOO, TWO, TO, YOU'RE, AND YOUR, thanks lmao

~Brownie Lover (a name I created a year ago that I now regret but is on all my fics maybe I'll change it to "big ol' meme")

Zero. That was the amount of times Dan was going to go out in public again. The whole world seemed to be made of nothing but happy bouncy children for long legs to stumble on, or teenagers that would bump in to him and make him drop his phone without a single apology to fix the inevitable cracks. Dan thought all of these things as he shoved his key unceremoniously in to the lock of his flat, sighing with utter relief as it swung open. A few flights of stairs and he would be free of such horrors as movement and human interaction. He dragged his feet oafishly up, each conquered step a major achievement for his tired legs. When finally he was at the door to his disgracefully untidy room, he was nearly ready to pass out from exhaustion.

He flung himself on to his bed, fully clothed and draped over the bed in an undoubtedly uncomfortable position. He sighed and let the freshly-laundered smell of his duvet lull him in to unconciousness.

For about three seconds.

For just as Dan's eyelashes fluttered to a soft rest against his cheeks, his flat mate and best friend Phil decided to enter the room.

"Dan?" he called, pushing the door open tentatively in case his flat mate was changing or something. Not that Phil would've minded in the least. "Dan, I thought we could-oh," Phil tilted his head to the left, slightly disturbed by Dan's sea star-like sleeping position. Phil thought for a moment before deciding to close the door silently so as not to deal with an overly grumpy Dan Howell. Grumpy Dan Howells were not good Dan Howells. Phil was just about to quietly click the door shut when he heard a mumbled "come in" that seemed to grumble its way out of the mattress itself.

Phil opened the door again and sat down on Dan's bed, waiting for him to acknowledge his existence.

"What, Phil" was all the boy needed to launch in to his proposal for the following day's plans.

"So, I was looking online," Phil began, searching Dan's face for any sign that he didn't want him there, "for good things to do during summer and the first result that didn't involve going outside was 'see a movie with a friend to escape the heat' so I looked for good movies to watch and you know how you read The Fault in Our Stars a few months back? Well I thought we could see the movie together."

"Dad'd bu nife." Phil heard the bed sheets mumble once again.

"Great!" Phil replied after somehow interpreting Dan's mumblings.

Dan muttered a half-hearted "yeah" before Phil pranced out of the room, trailing his peppiness with him. "Yeah." Dan repeated before spiraling back downwards in to a state of deep and dreamless sleep.

Dan woke up to the relentless paws of a bear batting him around. He opened his eyes to barrage the creature with thoroughly unintimidating and probably powerless punches when he realized it was only Phil and his turquoise shirt trying to shake him awake.

Was Phil saying something? Dan rubbed his eyes groggily and stared at Phil's mouth, trying to make out the words.

"Dan? Dan!" He heard Phil's words pierce his sleepy veil [A/N heheh. Pierce the veil.] of webbed dreams and he shook his head to clear his ears. "Dan, you need to get up, we have to get to the movie by nine!"

"What movie?" Dan asked, utterly bewildered by Phil's actions.

Phil looked at Dan like he was crazy. "Dan, were you drunk on exhaustion again?"

"I prefer the term 'human interaction hangover' thanks," he mumbled, hoisting himself reluctantly out of his cool and comfortable bed and in to the sticky heat of his room. Phil laughed and promised Dan "homemade" (which they both knew meant Ego) waffles as he wandered out of Dan's room and into the kitchen.

Dan threw on a black button-up shirt and his normal pair of black jeans and trudged in to the kitchen, throwing Phil a pout on his way in. Dan didn't know what it was about Phil that gave him the uncanny ability to wake Dan up without Dan wanting to throw him at a wall, but he supposed it was that Phil always woke him with a smile. Dan contemplated this as a plate of waffles was set in front of him, soggy in the middle, but otherwise almost edible.

"Thanks." Dan managed as he shoveled his syrup-drenched waffles into his mouth. They sat in comfortable silence for a while, both of them slowly chewing their soggy waffles and debating internally whether or not seeing The Fault in Our Stars was such a good idea. Dan supposed that Phil would be the least likely to stop being his friend once he inevitably stained Phil's shirt with tears, so he decided that it was good that they were going together. Dan was pulled away from his thoughts when he heard Phil speak.

"Dan?" Phil asked, concern and amusement both clearly prominent on his face, "your waffles are spilling out of your mouth."

Dan quickly shut his trap, thus making Phil guffaw and nearly fall out of his seat.

"Can we just go?" Dan asked awkwardly, his cheeks heating up with embarrassment.

"But we still have fifteen minutes and the cinema's just across the stree-"

"Now." Dan interrupted, grabbing some cash before pulling Phil up from his chair.

"Okay, just let me clean up the dishes so that they don't get gross." Phil sighed, surrendering to Dan's impatience. Dan tapped his foot and whistled a tune to try to flush the red from his cheeks and the awkwardness from the situation, waiting until Phil had soaked the dishes to quickly grab a few tissues and scuttle out the door.

As they were walking along the cracked pavement, they talked about random things such as why ladybirds were called ladybirds when some of them were male and none of them were actually birds. Soon enough, they had arrived at their destination, too excited about the movie to be bothered when a few fans timidly asked them for pictures. They smiled at cameras and chatted with people for a little while before sitting in the plush leather seats.

By the end of the commercials, they had established quite a number of things. Firstly Augustus Waters was an alien. Secondly, a conspiracy theory that Isaac in the movie was secretly Isaac Newton. Thirdly, neither of them should be allowed out in public.

As the title for the movie appeared on screen, Dan got an idea and took his phone out to tweet about the movie, stating that he was "prepared." He would later find out that he definitely was not.

"It can't be that bad;" Dan started in hushed tones to Phil, "I've already read it." Dan calculated how many tissues he'd need and decided that the two or three he had were going to be enough.

Dan and Phil watched the movie in silence, inwardly fanboying over how cute Augustus was being to Hazel (though they both denied doing so later).

"I lit up like a Christmas tree," came Augustus's voice from the screen, nearly drowned out by the overblown crying coming from all different directions in the theatre. At this point Dan began to worry. Was he not going to cry? How could he ever face another human living with the disgrace of not crying at The Fault in Our Stars? Dan opened his eyes wide for a few seconds without blinking, and then began blinking really fast, but still no tears would come. Was he Satan? What was this?

Dan's worries of not crying were soon forgotten by the time Isaac's eulogy rolled around. At "I wouldn't want to see a world without Augustus Waters" Dan was blinking back a seemingly tsunamic wave of tears. Both Dan and Phil heard quiet sobbing from the back of the theatre. By "let's talk about math" Dan had gone through his only few tissues and was very confused about what he would do next.

"I want more numbers than I am likely to get, and God, I want more numbers for Augustus Waters than he got." The screen said, and Dan felt as if Hazel was talking directly to him. He grabbed Phil's shoulder as if bracing for impact, tears streaming down his face as he shook his head, knowing what was coming next.

"But Gus, my love, I cannot tell you how grateful I am for our little infinity." The whole theatre took a deep breath in, "I wouldn't trade it for the world" Dan tried to put metaphorical bars around his heart to escape the torrent of emotions that he knew would soon overcome him.

The theatre waited with Hazel Grace, everyone playing the line that he or she knew would be next in the back of his or her mind.

"You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and I'm grateful." Said hazel, her face much less wet than anyone in the theatre. Dan broke down crying, and with no pillow nor tissue to hug nor wipe his face with, he chose the next best option. Dan dug his head down on to Phil's shoulder, his arms wrapping around Phil's shaking body. Phil leaned his head against Dan's, his tears soaking in to his friend's brown hair.

Dan curled up in his seat, too sad to really pay attention to the next scene. "Dammit, Phil," he whispered, tears turning Phil's turquoise shirt in to one of dark teal. "dammit dammit dammit."

They walked out of the theatre with their heads bowed, which probably wasn't helping them be any less conspicuous as they were both over six feet tall. Nevertheless, the fans knew enough not to ask them for anymore pictures.

"John Green is a sadist." Dan mumbled as he and Phil walked out of the theatre, very glad that their flat was so close and they wouldn't have to walk across London with red, puffy eyes.

"Definitely." Phil agreed, nodding his head. "and did you see that guy next to us? He didn't cry at all."

"He's a sadist too," Concluded Dan.

They had eaten so much popcorn, and it was so hot, that by the time they got back to their flat, they were sweating buckets. Dan pondered this for a moment as he wondered how there was even any liquid left in his body. He thought he had ejected it all out of his eyes (and on to Phil's shirt).

Phil flopped himself on to the couch, letting out a long, exasperated sigh. "There's no reason to live anymore." He reasoned, pulling his phone out to tweet about his experience.

"Very true." Dan agreed, also pulling his phone out and pulling up twitter.

"I don't know what to do with my life." Phil fumed, letting his inner drama queen reign free.

They didn't do anything with their lives for the rest of the day.

The next morning, when Phil was in the kitchen, Dan walked out of his bed room, having obviously been too lazy to actually get dressed as he was clad with only boxer shorts and a blanket.

Phil thought that the Fall Out Boy lyric "undressed to impress" fit the situation quite well, and he smirked, happy with his quick quotation.

Dan galumphed in to the kitchen, bringing with him he smell of lemons and the cologne he always wore.

Phil chuckled, "Good morning, sunshine!" He took Dan's glare as a sign that he was not to be messed with.

Dan brushed past an amused Phil, grabbing the Lion cereal from next to the stove before plunking himself down at the table. Dan took a disbelieving look around what he had, before smacking himself in the head.

"How could I forget the milk?" he grumbled to himself, bracing his hands against the table to push himself up.

"I'll get it, Loser." Phil sighed, opening the fridge to search for the small carton. "You might want a bowl as well." Phil opened the cabinet, got the dish, and set it down next to Dan. "Do you have a spoon?" He asked, obviously pleased with himself. Dan just glared.

Phil got himself a bowl and spoon and plunked down next to Dan, nudging the clearly grumpy boy in the shoulder. Dan pouted for a second before nudging Phil back, unable to keep the small smile from his face.

"I hate you." Dan proclaimed, Pouring the milk and cereal in to his bowl.

"Ah, but what would you do without me?" Phil joked, digging in to his cereal as well.

"Not much." Complied a tired Dan.

"Exactly."

"Exactly what?"

"You couldn't live without me."

"True."

"Very."

"So maybe I shouldn't." Dan finished, dropping his spoon in to his bowl with a splash and turning to look at Phil.

"What?"

Dan looked shyly in to Phil's eyes before responding, "I... I love you

The heck was with this sudden mood change? This wasn't normal; something was going on.

"Maybe that's what love does." Dan whispered, "makes you courageous." and with that he leaned in, looking up through his lashes to try to read Phil's expression.

Phil, by now, was definitely confused and very skeptical. It wasn't like Dan to change moods like this and there had to be a reason behind it. Plus, who the hell would love Phil?

He quickly decided that he didn't care. Dan was confessing love and who was he to get in the way of that? By all means, he wanted it to continue.

When Dan he kissed him, Phil was too shocked to respond for a moment, so he just sat there relishing the feel of Dan's chapped lips against his own. Dan though, seemed to take Phil's lack of response as a bad sign, so he began to pull away, a blush already creeping up his cheeks.

Just when Dan was about to completely pull apart and run away flailing with embarrassment to his room, Phil rested a tentative hand on the back of Dan's head and kissed him for a moment, before breathing out a hushed "I love you too."

Dan giggled a little too girlishly for the situation and replied with a quick peck to Phil's lips. "I love you." He weighted the words on his tongue, deciding if he liked them being there. He concluded that he did.

Phil snuck a peck on to Dan's lips before whispering "I love you."

Dan was struck with a sudden need to make a reference. "Maybe 'I love you' will be our always."

Phil smiled. "Maybe it will."

"I hope so, Phil. Phil? PHIL!"

Phil was awakened to Dan roughly shaking his shoulder.