Chapter Text
Dan Howell was a 34 year old man who had moved to London after having quit his law degree at around 20 due to extreme burnout! How fun. Despite the constant doubt and ridicule he faced from his family he felt it was the right thing to do.
University drove him mad, the few times he had gone to any lectures he spent distracted by the spirits of dead students and teachers that people made rumours about, not knowing that those ghosts were actually in the room with them.
That had been years ago now, though, since he quit when he was around 20.
He just got home from an immensely boring job interview at... Asda and instantly got changed, just taking off his black shirt and putting on the first top he found on his bedroom floor, a black football t-shirt with a purple and white star on the front, a number 10 on each shoulder and some random white patterns on the sides. He didn’t really bother with the trousers he wore at the interview, and just wore a black pair of ripped jeans with pink and white embroidered patterns.
After changing his top, he walked to the kitchen, grabbing a pizza from the freezer, opening it and practically throwing it in the oven. This had become a common ritual in Dan’s life, he spent a lot of money on frozen pizza and Starbucks throughout his time in London.
It wasn’t too much of a problem for him though, he preferred buying a nice coffee and having pizza then actually having to try and cook for himself.
The amount of effort that cooking took from him was far too high for him to bother actually making food properly.
Sitting on the sofa of his living room, Dan leant back on the cushions with his laptop perched on his knees. There was an abundance of tabs open on it, majority of them were videos of people going on rollercoasters and talking about things
An hour or so had passed since he'd finished his pizza and he’d just been staring into the abyss, sat with his legs crossed.
His apartment was a safe place, as he’d been very clear about the fact that he doesn’t want to live in a place where anybody had died. He hated his family house where his room was the only place where no spirits haunted his mind.
Yet, the emptiness still ruined him.
The emptiness still pained him every time he thought of it, every time he paid attention to the silence in the air, every time remembered nobody was there.
Nobody was ever there.
He still believed he didn’t deserve anybody to be there in the first place.
Why should he?
With a deep breath, Dan decided he needed to go for a walk. His head was full of shitty thoughts, and lately he had the energy actually bother going for a walk.
Slowly, he rose from his seat – so he didn’t become dizzy – and shoved on a black and white fleece since it was a pretty frosty day, and a pair of black vans.
Dan was wandering along the border of the forest near his apartment, not paying attention to the rustling of birds and squirrels in the trees and bushes, over time he had gotten over the worry that someone might be following him.
Now, on these walks, he was filled with more positive feelings.
Being outside helped clear his mind when it was busy, the peaceful, yet still dark aesthetic of the evening was calming. It also helped fill his mind when it was empty, or rather the spirits could tell he was aware of them, and as he walked, their voices called out to him, it wasn’t new to him, though. He even knew some of their names, how they died and facts about their lives.
But today, he ignored them and just shoved his wired earphones in his ears, blasting Origin of Symmetry by Muse, before digging his hands deep into the pockets of his jeans. Dan lightly shut his eyes, he knew where he was going, this path was one he always took after a long day.
He thought it was great, nobody ever bothered him there, in fact, nobody even went there. It was much better than sitting in his room all day long.
“You make me sick,” he quietly sung Space Dementia under his breath, “Because I adore you so...”
It was peaceful.
He took a deep breath, which suddenly got caught in his throat when he went to exhale.
A sudden chill washed over his bones, followed by a shiver. It was like he had dived into icy water. A spirit had simply passed through him.
“F-fuck...” he mumbled and stumbled over his feet slightly, causing his earphones to fall out, so he just stuffed them into his pocket after steading himself.
A familiar feeling, but still an uncomfortable one. Spirits didn’t do it, he knew that they avoided it. They hated how it feels, and he hated it too. Being hit by a figurative icicle was never the best...
After a few seconds of recovery, he slowly opened his eyes, peering around the space where he had been, well, violated and saw a few things that caught his attention.
A squirrel with no ears and a bloodied face had been slowly fading in and out of visibility, eventually becoming invisible when he looked away from it a minute later. Beside the squirrel, stood an old man that Dan assumed had been on a walk and fallen, causing him to die, or even had a heart attack, he also just assumed the old spirit was the one who had passed through him.
His eyes drifted from the grey-haired man, if he looked any longer, it was likely he would be pulled into conversation.
The rustling within the leaves filled his ears and filled his head with a slight fear that he would be passed through again. He was aware that the likeliness of that was small, but that didn't change it for him.
As Dan made his journey back to his apartment, he felt a light tap on his shoulder, and turned to behind him, where he guessed it had come from, and he was correct.
A pale, platinum blonde man stood before him, and his eyes seemed alive, so did the energy that radiated off him. He wore a pair of blue, glittery jeans and a blue, green and black striped jumper. He seemed quite interesting, so Dan didn’t walk away.
“Are you... okay?” asked the man, with a single eyebrow raised. He had a slightly northern accent, and each word seemed to flow softly from his mouth.
Dan nodded in reply, before actually speaking, “I’m good. Thank you.”
A tiny awkward smile faded onto his face, showing his dimples. The man smiled back.
“That’s nice to hear,” he paused, and then his eyes widened, like he had just remembered something pretty important, and his small smile quickly became a grin. “My names Phil, by the way!”
"Cool name. I’m Dan.” as he spoke, he slowly started to continue walking along the path, and Phil followed beside him.
The two men continued their stroll, their banter going back and forth, and around an hour had passed. Dan normally hated getting to know people, but Phil seemed to have such a positive, warming energy and it was contagious.
“So then, Dan,” Phil also put his hands in his own pockets, mirroring Dan, “What brings you to this part of the woods?”
The blonde man quietly chuckled because of his own words, his tongue sitting between his teeth. It was unusual, but he still found it rather interesting, and made a mental note to write down the things he found interesting about this man.
“I’m simply on a walk,” Dan shook his head, “Is that not allowed?”
They had been surrounded by spirits, Phil didn't look like he had noticed, and had slowly started to meander closer to into the actual forest as they talked, their laughter echoing off the trees.
Phil's bright blue eyes reflected light from the moon, Dan realised how late it had become. He didn't mean to stay out this long, but here we are.
"Linguistics? What even is that?" Dan broke out into laughter as he spoke.
The blonde gasped in response, but also broke into cackles along with the other, "It's about speech and stuff, but I'll tell you when you're older, Dan."
"I don't even know you that well, but you are extremely irritating." Dan replied to Phil's sassy remark and rolled his eyes.
And they just continued on their way. Neither of the two realised how fast time was passing, and when they had finally said their goodbyes, Dan eventually put his earphones back in and strolled back to his apartment, with slight disappointment in the knowledge that it wasn't likely he would see Phil again.