#dan and phil third world tour

[trashcanfromgallifrey]

[tarotphil]

dnp are not ready for @that-azurii-loser and I

[phlonde-era]

Bitches better give me a tour fast, I need it

would do anything for a dnp tour | @danielhowell @amazingphil

[myversacepyjamas]

I was talking to gina (@litsy-kalyptica) about the dan and phil dynamic and why i personally vibe with their content so much and it boils down to one thing:

They are not a couple that makes youtube videos, they are a comedy duo who love each other.

There are lots of content creator couples out there and most of them are very thoroughly not my vibe. Couple vloggers (a subset of family vlogger) are all over these days and always make me feel like a third wheel or unfortunate stranger stuck in the same row on the plane as the worst people imaginable while they alternate between filming and completely ignoring each other.

Dan and Phil have this wild and incredible life that is very enmeshed and intertwined and it still barely touches their creative output compared to what your average van life couple or ttc couple or femme for femme lesbian couple who talk about eyeliner or blond christian cishets who got married at 17 show. These guys are out there on tour because entertainers go on tour. They write and produce their shows, they approach even a shared gaming channel as a creative endeavor, they lead with ideas, and when they do share their lives with the audience, it is because they've deemed that information either imperative, funny, or both. We know "open can" because it's funny, not because they are trying to sell us a smart bin by positioning themselves as lifestyle influencers or couple goals. They're accomplished comedians, video producers, performers, voice actors, radio presenters, entertainment correspondants, bestselling authors, they've gone on multiple world tours, won awards, been on red carpets, and they love the fuck out of each other. I know some people recently have been saying we should know less because they make more blatant homosexual and self-referential jokes but man, we dont actually know *shit* compared to the chronic oversharing of people like shane and ryland.

And you know what? I love that. Hats off to Dan and Phil, can't wait to see another corner of an unidentifiable room in your house sometime. Congrats on 15 years of collaboration and being in a polycule with nord vpn and dragon city.

[phil-trash-no2]

I wanna talk about this man...

I spent most of my time talking about Phil so it's time I spoke about Dan.

I have known about this man's existence since the middle of 2009. Granted back then he wasn't the Dan we know now, he was just another Phil fan on twitter, I remember seeing him tweeting when I think back. At the time he was just another person tweeting Phil but I remember it.

Then he became danisnotonfire on YouTube, I saw him making content, and Phil helping him out, I saw what they had, develop and flourish, Dan's confidence grow in his content.

I saw his abilities develop, I saw him through his time at uni and then his dropping out. I saw him move with Phil to London and do the radio show and all the opportunities that came with it. I saw him become such an incredible person, I saw him struggle and the dark times in the phandom. I saw him push us away and fight for his privacy.

I saw him start to let us back in a little more again and gain a little trust back, going on his first world tour with Phil and releasing his first book.

I saw him talking about his depression and open up to us about the struggles he had faced with mental health. I saw him doing tons for mental health support and advocating for mental health.

I saw him go on his second world tour with Phil. Then I saw the hiatus. I saw him leave the internet, and I was genuinely devastated. This guy was someone I'd been supporting for years, I'd seen him grow for 9 years at this point, but he needed to do what he needed to do.

Then I saw him through bits and pieces from Phil. We all missed him, but we knew he was doing what was best for him.

Then I saw him open up and come out as gay. Show his full vulnerability opening up to us all. He went to pride and I cried with pride seeing him do this and be his true self.

Then he came back with a book, he was coming back right!? Then he went on his own world tour.

It was incredible! I was beyond proud of him.

Then in 2023, I saw him come back with Phil for the gaming channel. I then saw him happy. He wasn't closed up anymore, he was just being him. He wasn't pushing us all away like he'd done in the past, he (mostly) trusted us and had started telling us he loved us again, he wasn't hiding away. Then I saw him go on the third world tour with Phil (his fourth tour) and seeing who has become is something I could never explain.

I know a lot of people agree when I say, I am so proud of Daniel Howell and who he has become. He has gone through so much that he never deserved but he's come out kicking ass every time. I don't know if he will ever see this but if you do, I need you to know I am ridiculously proud of you bb, you should be proud of everything you've got through and everything you've achieved.

@danielhowell

Tldr; I'm proud of Dan.

[manchestereyes]

so i've been watching old dnp content tonight and in phil's my american accent video i realized dan says "i think the most impressive accent so far has been my english narrator voice. hire me, i'd be really good 🥺" and it just HIT ME.

dan always wanted to be an actor, more than anything. but he forced himself to squash that dream when it was time to apply for uni, and he tried to do something practical instead. of course, he found out that law really really wasn't for him. so he dropped out. but maybe at some point when he realized he couldn't do law, it hit him that this youtube thing could be his second chance with acting. or phil helped him realize that. and he actually did it.

he's just returned home from his third world tour with his soulmate, who maybe didn't have the same acting dreams as dan but who has absolutely adored watching him shine anyway. dan belongs on the stage just as much as he belongs with phil. and i am so glad he's found his home.

[phanfictioncatalogue]

Mutual Pining (3) Masterlist

part one, part two

As He Goes, So I Go (ao3) - cloej88

Summary: It’s November of 2015, and Dan and Phil have just finished their UK leg of The Amazing Tour Is Not on Fire. They’ve sworn off the romantic side of their relationship in order to protect the rest of this life they’ve built. However, with all of the close proximity of touring, their connection feels headier and more charged than ever. As soon as the UK tour ends, they fly to the US for a quick book-signing trip, but they become snowed in by a blizzard in Chicago. In the solitude of their shared hotel room, can they fumble their way back to one another?

Featuring: Pining, lots of fluff, the TATINOF UK afterparty in all its glory, an arcade bar in snowy Chicago, a NYTimes How to Fall in Love quiz, lots of introspective musing about how much these idiots adore one another, and some well-earned smut.

blanket of stars (ao3) - silentdescant

Summary: “That’s all for now, thank you.”

“I’ll be back to check on you in a bit.”

The whole script is so routine, Phil thinks his brain would short-circuit if either of them deviated from it. Dan walks away and Phil sinks lower in his seat, sighing into his blue drink.

“When are you gonna ask him out, man?” Martyn asks.

Broken Like You (ao3) - TearDrop1234

Summary: Dan and Phil meet at a theater in a nowhere town. Their friendship is instant, but the rest not so much.

By the way, I adore you. (ao3) - lxzyfangirl

Summary: Dan is very sick, and the future is not looking too bright for him, thankfully, he has Phil, his best friend, to accompany him through it all. But is Dan satisfied with being just friends?

Dandelions (ao3) - throughtheirsnoses (det395)

Summary: Phil returns to his small town after studying how to improve his power that lets him grow plants with his mind. Phil is anxious and struggling with the expectations put on him to grow new plant-based medicine and on top of it all, his childhood best friend, Dan, gets his heart broken and turns to Phil as a rebound. Phil panics.

Don't need to know your name. (ao3) - Septic84

Summary: A Thursday tradition changes much to Phil's surprise and it leads to wonderful things down the road.

i fall for the same face every time (ao3) - zsunsetz

Summary: In every universe, in every lifetime, in every world, he promises that he will love him.

I should be over all the butterflies (But I'm into you) (ao3) - blankbluestare

Summary: In which Dan is stupid and scared, but so is Phil, so it has gotten them more than a few years to get together.

And how easy it all is despite the time, because it’s them.

Or

A canon-verse AU in which everything’s the same, except Dan and Phil put an end to their romantic relationship very early on, so they've remained platonic best friends who’ve been pining for each other for years. And how they finally get back together.

Lace and Longing (ao3) - httphowell

Summary: Dan, alone in his hotel room after a long show, snaps a mirror selfie for Phil—just a hint of lace peeking out from beneath his oversized hoodie.

Project Poliwag (ao3) - natigail

Summary: Phil hadn't intended for his garden to become a haven for rescued Pokémon, but it had happened accidentally. This particular rescue wasn't that different, even though he had never rescued 117 Pokémon at once before. But he couldn't leave the Pokémon eggs to be destroyed, and he was willing to raise a whole army of Poliwag on his own if he must.

What Phil hadn't counted on was a stranger with a lost look in his eye turning up on his doorstep and offering to help with the project.

RIFT (ao3) - A_Million_Regrets

Summary: Phil is just a mere eight-year-old naive child when his mom keenly introduces him to his new stepbrother, Dan. They become friends and start living together fairly quickly. As years slip by, Phil slowly realises three things: First, Dan looks at him with pain in his gaze. Second, an inexplicable rift is separating them. Third, what he feels for Dan is more than just brotherly love.

scratch bark bite (oh, love me, i lied) (ao3) - Tarredion

Summary: Music & Drama teacher Dan Howell has a well-known rivalry with his coworker, English teacher Phil Lester.

An unforeseen event flips everything Dan thought he knew about Phil and himself on its head. Slowly but surely, the grudge withers, and the two of them cross the line between enemy and friend. But what will happen when their true intents and feelings get revealed? And was what they had ever really a rivalry? Was it even mutual?

seasons change (ao3) - sadlybunny

Summary: The boy is irresistible. He’s got that “couldn’t be bothered” attitude that has always intrigued Phil, always made him want to know Danny a little bit better. Phil knows falling in love with his best friend’s younger brother is wrong. But he just can’t seem to do the right thing.

sense of direction (ao3) - sunflowerwitches (orphan_account)

Summary: when dan said soulmates he meant every word, but maybe not in the way their audience assumed. he meant it. he means it still to this day. phil is his soulmate. phil is the love of his life, but the only thing is, phil definitely doesn’t feel the exact same way that dan does.

The Scent of Pining (ao3) - americanphancakes

Summary: Dan and Phil grew up together, but were separated by university and the mundanities of life. After years of missing each other, keeping track of each other's careers, and asking their families about each other, they finally reunite at a Christmas party back home. Surrounded by fragrances that cast their memories back to their childhood together, they each work up the nerve to finally do something about how they've been feeling for a decade.

[demonqueenart]

During WAD, dan made an offhanded joke about how brazil and Mexico were the 'third world country' that won't get to experience the tour. They have not apologised for that, even when people pointed out how problematic it was to say that.

Then the tit tour, where Dan and Phil refuse to go to other continent for 32 shows in US. We would have understood if they bothered trying to explain why they couldn't go. Instead they're flourishing with their white audience, retweeting and replying funny things about the tour, completely ignoring us when we express how hurt we were by having them not saying anything about it. Can you see the connection here?

It's one thing to make a mistake, apologise and learn from it. It's the other when you keep denying you've ever done something wrong and keep repeating this mistake. Oh sure, they said they didn't really agree to what was being said in the past anymore. But is that really taking accountability? No, instead they blame their past self because it's easier. And yet, here we are again, addressing the same mistake they've made over and over again.

They never apologise and learn from their actions. And the fact that it's been fifteen years of this probably indicates they'll never change.

[danandphilgay]

i was so caught up in the euphoria of the third dan and phil tour that for like a minute i lived in a world where i would be able to go there

[meraki-yao]

Who are Dan and Phil? I know I can just Google search them but I would love to hear from a fan of possible please, cause I really do not understand. Thank you in advance

Oh damn! Hi! Wow I don't really get DnP asks but I'm happy to explain!

Dan and Phil are Daniel "Dan" Howell, previously known as danisnotonfire and Philip "Phil" Lester, known online as Amazingphil. They are a British YouTuber Duo, and each have two of their own channels ("Daniel Howell", "danisnotinteresting", "Amazingphil", "LessAmazingphil" ) and share a gaming channel "DanandPhilGames" and a... to put it generously, prank channel for April Fools "DanandPhilCrafts". The two met in 2007 and started living together soon after. In 2019 both came out as gay, but stated while they are "actual soulmates", they want to keep the details of their relationship private. They now live in a house in London that they bought. They're currently preparing for their third world tour.

Now that basic info is out of the way, here are some personal opinions of mine on the two

Both started out as storytime YouTubers, but Dan started posting less and less videos in favour of bigger projects and a longer format, partly due to burnout. Phil never stopped but instead of storytime every video has a theme. He does a very specific something. It is very random, very miscellaneous, but very very entertaining.

Both are excellent storytellers and are willing to share their personal stories with the public in hopes of helping people. Dan was the one who helped me learn about depression and understand my own mental health. And Phil never stopped putting a smile on my face.

Now WHEN YOU PUT THEM TOGETHER, oh boy

Here's the thing, their chemistry is unbelievable, they know each other so well, conversations keep flowing between them and it's never awkward. If someone outside attacks them they will defend each other regardless of their social anxiety ("can phil express an opinion") but between the two of them they bicker curse and swear like an old married couple.

They are peak comfort content to me so if you want to see two British lads banter into chaos go check out their channels!

[pokelolinha]

i will admit that even though im so happy and proud of them, part of me is pretty salty hearing dan and phil talk about how this tour is something "you cant miss out!!" and "its gonna give you amazing memories for the rest of your life!!" while not having shows for their entire third world audience

[freckliedan]

jam do you think we're getting BIG 2 (Basically I'm Gender)?

hi teo this is a: really good question. here's the thing. i can have an answer for you but first i have to explain that it's not a prediction up to my usual standards and why?

because. my usual standards are very high. in 2017/18 it was easy? there was no break in data for us to pattern recognize them based off of. and i took them for their word on things + was able to refine my thoughts in conversations with @freckliephil to the point it was somewhat uncanny what we were right about.

we fully called that dan and phil would come out in separate videos with something longer & more serious from dan + shorter and less intense from phil a year to a year and a half before they came out. we'd discussed that the bullying dan experienced included a physical aspect and that that was the reason having his neck touched by people was triggering before ii toured. the list of detailed things we were right about goes on for a stupid length of time.

and it's just not possible to predict what they're doing next in the same way in this era! in 2018/19 they had been in the public eye for their entire adult lives and we have an excess of information from those 10 years! but now it's been five years—a third of their relationship—without that kind of data.

they didn't vanish completely but dan spent that time as out of the public eye as possible, phil has always been better with keeping his walls up, and we had absolute minimal joint content.

they were able to change massively AND AUTHENTICALLY when free from public scrutiny. especially dan! and we just don't have the fucking data to use for accurate pattern recognition in making predictions anymore.

there's still aspects of who dan and phil are as people that haven't changed and never will, and we have the era of complete data on them to compare the present to. so like. it's not fully impossible to predict things. there's definitely areas in which it's possible to make accurate predictions. but in no world will i claim my thoughts on dan addressing gender is one of them!

that said. even if i cannot confidently predict the details of what's coming with dan gender, it's as clear to me that dan has gender going on as it is that he is gay. that's a fact to me because i am in the practice of taking dan for her word.

when it comes to predictions here's where i'm at. i'm completely confident gender mentions will continue to escalate. i also think that at some point dan's going to comment directly on their gender. but i go back and forth on whether a dan gender video essay will ever exist? and so do @freckliephil and @phulge when we discuss this.

i think dan always puts a lot of thought into things, enough so to make a video essay on gender viable for him. if she waits like a year i could see that being what happens?

but on the other hand. i do not think that gender exploration is as charged and significant in dan's life as their gayness. he experienced so much trauma around how people percieved his sexuality from childhood onwards!

gender is difficult to navigate in a cisnormative society and almost always impossible to separate from sexuality but i don't think it's something that she would be inclined to make into as big of a moment & conversation as basically i'm gay.

it could be something as simple as pronouns in bio i suppose? but if so i think it would be commented on at the start of the next gaming channel video too. the biggest thing i can picture is phil starting to quite clearly use different pronouns for dan in different gaming channel videos in a way that's just. very normal about it. a "this is an everyday occurence" way. + this being consistant with the way dan genders themself too.

i do see this happening sooner than a year from now, but i don't know for sure when? pride is a convenient time for it. i think there's a 100% chance they're doing something insane this month, in part because they fucking LOVE dramatic timing and big gestures.

i don't think dan gender will be the main focus of what happens this month, but i'm open to being pleasantly surprised.

i think they're hard launching this year, this month or in october. i think wedding photos being shared is one of the more likely hard launch options. and i think if they're wedding launching that dan would say something about gender beforehand or in conjunction with it?

if in conjunction, it could be as simple as the title spouse being used for dan in an instagram caption? but the reason i think it's possible as something that happens beforehand is because marriage is such a major (and gendered) experience that it makes sense to want to be known and seen accurately as your whole self when it happens in your life.

again. the only thing i'm completely certain on here is that dan has some kind of gender going on and that it feels LIKELY that it'll be addressed some time in the next year. the rest is just probabilities. thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[bitchslapblastoids]

Can I ask how much you talk to your partner about Dan and Phil and how do you talk about them? As someone who is not/has not been in a serious relationship, I find it hard to imagine how I would talk to someone about this, given my level of obsession. I don’t even really talk to friends about it. Like, do you talk about fic? Do you show your partner their videos? How did/will you bring up Iceland?

You don’t have to answer this if it’s too personal- totally get it! I’m honestly just so curious when I see phannies talk about their partners who aren’t also phannies.

Hi I actually really love this question bc it’s def something I think about fairly often, bc the tension is real. I am openly thirsting over these men, I have a real life partner, I share a life with him, but I also spend like a third of my life online thinking about the lives of these two dudes….it’s a thing. Just a heads up, my answer got really long.

My partner pretty fundamentally doesn’t get Dan and Phil’s whole thing, so I don’t show him vids or talk much about specific goings-on in the d&p landscape, bc it’s just a bummer to try and articulate or share something knowing it ain’t gonna land, lol. Even trying to explain the tour each time I came home from it all giddy made me feel like language was a hindrance and an impossible barrier to surmount. It’s just so hard to explain d&p’s brilliance when you don’t have some basis of common knowledge to draw on. It’s also hard to make someone else get the inherent appeal of two people’s chemistry and connection if they aren’t inclined to gaf about that kind of thing.

But he does know pretty much the full extent of my whole thing going on here lol. He’s seen my blog, sometimes I show him a post if I’m particularly proud of it/think it’s especially funny, I’ll talk to him about mutuals I’m chatting with sometimes or things happening on here that are specific to and exciting for me…basically I’m deeply uncool about it all. And yeah he knows about my fic (he hasn’t read any and I hope to god he never will, but i talk to him about broad strokes of plot in my longer fics, and he knows i write smut as well). I’m around him all the time when im writing so it’d be a pretty massive thing to hide, plus the process of writing/publishing Bowl of Oranges and its reception was sooooooo meaningful and giddying for me, so it was kind of all I could talk about for a bit there. He was/is wonderfully supportive and is happy that I’m writing and putting stuff out there.

i talked to him about Iceland the other week when i was close to impulse buying a ticket after the tysons shows, and he was down! If i follow through with booking a flight and hotel, he would come (not to TIT just to Iceland) and we’d just make a mini trip out of it. He’s used to me spending dumb amounts on concerts and we’re still fairly independent with our finances, so the money stuff isn’t an issue.

We’ve known each other for so so so long so he really understands my obsessive personality. We’re both quite strange and atypical in our own ways and I think have learned how to grow around eachother’s oddities and be patient and curious with one another rather than judgmental.

There are times I worry about my screen time and that I’m becoming too entrenched in fandom world at the expense of physical world, and i think at times I can neglect nurturing my relationship with him/all kinds of other components of life, bc the dopamine of phannie tumblr is a powerful fucking drug. So i try and be mindful of that. Definitely something im still working on.

To be completely honest about another tricky thing - I have definitely gotten stuck in a comparison trap before, of wishing that my connection and communication with my partner was as inherently easy and joyful and silly and immediate and Dan and Phil’s seems to be. My partner and I have many different interests, so while there are tons of things we connect over, there are also tons of things we can’t really share in the joy of experiencing with one another, and sometimes I’ve held Dan and Phil up as this paragon of love in comparison, feeling salty that I didn’t have what they have. I’ve gotten over that though, bc it’s definitely on the harmful side of parasocial; we only see some of their time and lives and they obviously have differences and disagreements too, and differences are good. And to be frank, will I ever have what they have (someone you grow up with and share 99% of your interests with and can share every dimension of your life with and not burn out on their company)? Of course not. I do think it’s pretty remarkable and special and I think most people in life won’t. And that’s ok because I also feel deeply fortunate to be with the person I’m with and I choose him year after year.

To touch on an elephant in the room - telling him I write smut fic was the thing I put off the longest bc I was scared/embarassed/felt kind of guilty about it all. And then I did and it was literally so fine. Idk, he’s great and I’m very lucky. I do have to be rly mindful of how the fantasy of it can impact my sexual desire. I spend a fair amount of time thinking about Dan and Phil’s life and relationship and, let’s be honest, sex life, and so shaking myself out of that and remembering to be embodied in myself and my relationship and my sexual partner can be a challenge. This feels weird and pretty vulnerable to talk about on here bc it kind of lays bare how you really can’t just compartmentalize this shit to one tidy section of your time and brain. but I can’t imagine other people don’t also find themselves in a similar position.

In sum, I do have a hard time with balance in life, and this is all something i think I’ll always be working on finding better balance with. But it’s not hurting anyone, it’s not rly hurting me, and it’s brought a lot of joy and creativity and connection to my life, so I try not to be hard on myself about it! I’m also deeply fortunate to have a partner who gets me and accepts me and is wholly nonjudgmental.

I’d rather die than anyone else in my life see this blog though. I have a couple friends who know I write fic and have a tumblr, but only the ones who I know are also into fandoms of their own and therefore get it. I’d reeeeeeally rather die than anyone I know irl see my ao3 that’d truly be the end. 🙃🙃🙃

Ok thank you for the question clearly I have a lot to say!!!!!

[secretlywritingstories]

IDGAF because it saved me | phan one shot

Summary: It was not a question if there was going to be a song. A Dan and Phil tour would always have a song.

But Phil couldn't help but appreciate that they had gotten to the point where they'd go on a third tour together and he'd yet again get to sing a silly tune with Dan on stage.

Tags: 2024/2025!phan, domestic fluff, Terrible Influnce tour, lyrics from Terrible (TIT song)

No warnings

Word count: 3.8k

Read below or on AO3

There was always going to be a song. That was never the question. If there was a tour, there was going to be a song. 

Phil still felt a little elated when he thought about how far they had come with all of this. The Amazing Tour Is Not On Fire was meant to be the Dan and Phil tour. The only one of its kind, but then it had been so fun to be up on stage in front of their audience. Interactive Introverts was the successor but it was meant to be a goodbye to the world of ’Dan and Phil’. Just thinking about it still made Phil’s heart ache but he still knew that it had been the right call for them to take the hiatus. They wouldn’t have made it to this point in time, if it wasn’t for that break. 

They wouldn’t be uploading Terrible on music platforms with a music video to follow soon on their channel. Terrible Influence Tour had been like a gift and Phil would still be pinching himself when he thought of how it had almost never come to be. 

He had let Dan recuperate and untangle his brain when he’d needed to step back for a while. No matter if it left Phil feeling more than a little aimless, it was healthy for them to do things that weren't just Dan and Phil™️ but he couldn’t help that he loved creating content with Dan the most. He got to hang out with Dan and he was his favourite person. Of course, he loved it. No one could blame him for that. 

Still, he’d chosen his words carefully when he’d nudged Dan back into the idea of resurrecting the gaming channel. Just a few casual games in the autumn. It would be a fun little thing. But as things often went when Dan’s brain got going, they were suddenly filming a whole skit with their Sims’ funeral and Phil knew already then that it was a train that wasn’t going to stop at just a few gaming videos. He hadn’t told that to Dan. It would have overwhelmed him, but Phil had seen the tracks that they’d been putting down. 

And he was right. The audience had come running back and it was a feeling of elation. So much that it only took them a couple months of being back until they wanted to do something with this huge resurgence. A renaissance of sorts. And so the tour planning started. Dan had been softened up a lot by his solo doomed tour, and Phil was so happy for him but he missed that rush too. Back up on the stage next to Dan and seeing and meeting the people who had gotten them here.  

Dan started working on the song pretty early in the process. They had learned already with TATINOF that they couldn’t trust any songwriter to write a tour song for them, no matter how talented that they might be. The song would just have to be a bit more low production and silly, but it was going to be them singing it in the end anyway, so it all worked out. And their history was so vast and full of inside jokes and only them or their audience could make the needed references for a song to hit the way that it needed. 

Everything they did, from tours to videos, was a labour of love. Phil knew how to measure it quite well, if he said so himself, but Dan had a habit of continuing to pour even when he was starting to get empty.

A lot of lines in the song had changed from that first draft, but not all. 

“Am I dedicated or fucking crazy?” Phil asked Dan when he showed him the first bare bones of the song. “Who are we talking about? Them or us?”

“Them. Us. Both,” Dan answered with a shrug, and looked back at the words on the screen. “It’s… all like that. I think you can choose to see it from either side. We’re too intertwined to pry apart.”

Phil hummed, and resisted the urge to cling to Dan and pull him into a hug as he felt the need to do something with the emotions swelling in his chest. But Dan had his concentration face on and he’d not appreciate being pulled away from his laptop at that moment. Phil would just have to make up for it with snuggles later. 

The first draft of the song was happening just as the show itself was coming together and they were trying to figure out how far they wanted to go with it all. How much that they wanted to lay bare before this fresh start. A clean slate to move forward. Back then, they didn’t know how much they would be anticipating the future.

It had felt daunting to be working on a tour together again, and Phil couldn’t quite shake the echoes of II when every moment had felt like it might be the last one like it. They had given it their all but there was a hidden mourning happening, even while they performed. For the new tour, when they came up with the bit with Phil running to the special microphone to ominously whisper hiatus, he felt it shiver through his bones the first few times. 

Which was why it was important that he had a little sit-down moment during the tour, even among the fun segments and the high energy. They wanted to be honest with their audience and much like the song, everything had gotten really intertwined. Feelings wrapped up on either side, and Phil wanted them to know that he had really been lost when Dan had wanted to pump the brakes for a while. He’d tried to hide it as not to worry anyone but it felt good to explain it now.

When Dan had read that first draft of Phil’s monologue, he had gone quiet in that eerie way that he would do when he was processing something that he didn’t really want to acknowledge. It was a look that always put Phil on high alert because it could signal that he wasn’t that far from a breakdown. 

They had talked about this before they put the gaming channel on hiatus. Dan knew that Phil had wanted to continue the videos. He was all in on their duo act, but he would never want to pressure Dan into it. However, he hadn’t wanted Dan to know the full extent of how aimless it had left him to have their audience with only AmazingPhil while Dan was working behind the scenes on other projects. If Dan had known it, he wouldn’t have dared to take the step back that he had needed.

Phil realised that hadn’t really processed it fully either before having to sit down and write it out. It felt good. The tour was feeling really good to create.

“You…” 

Dan hadn’t been able to find his words.

“You don’t like it?” Phil asked, pitching his voice up a little and nudging Dan’s arm. 

Playful. Calm. Easy. Still them. Sure, he might have been lost but he’d never been unsure. He knew exactly where he belonged and it was more important that it was with Dan than it was with YouTube.

“No, it’s good,” Dan said but his voice sounded so hollow as he tried to force a laugh. “Just… you love me so much, don’t you?”

It was not what Phil had expected him to say but it wasn’t like he was going to deny that. But he was missing the point.

“Well, duh. But Dan, it’s not about that. I would never want to do this, if you didn’t also want to. It’s us against the world, right?” he let the melody from the song fill his words as he cited the lyrics.

Dan laughed at that. The hollowness from before filling out with warmth. 

“Together, we’ll survive?”

“We’ll survive,” Phil echoed, pitching his voice high, and he couldn’t keep the smile off his face that he could quoted their song. It had come a long way by then, even if Dan was still fiddling with some details after they had worked to get it complete together. He wouldn’t be letting it go until that first show. Phil knew him. 

And it was insane to step up on the stage again for that first show in Antwerp. The audience had no idea what was about to hit them, and if Phil hadn’t had to focus so much on saying the right bits in the right places, he would have loved to just stare onto the audience to absorb their reactions. So many people had screamed themselves hoarse and they were both recharged by the boisterous energy. 

They had decided that dancing went along well with the song, and Phil felt like he was paying for that. It was hard enough to control what his limbs were supposed to do and then on top having to remember the lyrics. He didn’t even want to know what his face was doing, even if their dance instructor had tried to tell him to beware of his expressions as it added a lot to the dance. 

The rave part at the end of the song might be his favourite, not only because rave time was a time-honoured tradition between them, but because it also allowed them to run around and just be a little insane on stage. It was a great vibe. 

The half year of touring went fast, even as they tried to keep on top of it with easy gaming videos, and even spooky week, while they were on the road. Having editors had changed the game for them and Phil was happy with the decision, even though it had been giving up a bit of their creative freedom. They were protecting themselves from burning out again.

And the train didn’t stop. It kept going past the tour itself. It was still running at full speed towards getting the London recordings made into a full feature length video that could be shared in a livestream and later on their channels. Phil was once again a little proud that their audience came out in troves to attend the shows and join the livestream, even if a lot of them had also come to see the show in real life. It was because of that dedication that they were able to make deals with the platform that allowed them to share the show for free for all afterwards. They always wanted to strive to do that.

Going through the edit of the segment with the song had surprised Phil by making him a little emotional. They walked through several of the audience shots for that part and people were going rightfully insane, and so many were singing the words back to them. 

It did also mean that the song got stuck in Phil’s head. Again. It felt like that had been the case on and off for a year at this point. He could get a little tired of it, but he still couldn’t begrudge it that much. It was their story after all.

“Content, consume, you say it’s crazy,” he’d be singing under his breath while he and Dan got their (late) breakfast sorted and their current show lined up on the TV. 

“Not tired of it yet?” Dan asked, eyebrows raised so high that they disappeared under his mop of morning hair with curls sticking out in every direction. He was due a haircut again, but Phil rather liked the wild look on him. Maybe he should be growing out more than just the mullet. 

“If it weren’t for you, I would be dead,” Phil sang back to him, jumping in the lyrics, and tried to dramatically throw himself into Dan’s arms. He almost sent them both toppling over right in their fancy kitchen, but Dan managed to steady them both at the last minute. 

“Watch out, or you’re going to kill us both,” Dan joked, hands warm on Phil’s body. Lingering, as they often did, when it was just the two of them with no camera in sight.

“That wasn’t a line in the song but it could have been,” he replied and took the opportunity to snuggle up against Dan, now that he was in his arms. 

“But Phil, they didn’t kill us, they saved us. Or we saved them. That’s the whole morale.”

“Does it need morale? It’s just a bouncy stage show song that’s meant to hype them all up right at the end,” Phil said and shot Dan a look of innocence that he knew would make Dan open his mouth to argue. 

He was right. As expected, Phil knew exactly what buttons to press and he was delighted that Dan still rose as if called every single time. It never got old.  

“Oh, so my deep meaningful lyrics mean nothing to you?” he asked, and moved the gentle cradle of his hands to pinch fingers into Phil’s side. But Phil had been anticipating it and he was darting away before Dan could get a good grip. 

“This shit can’t phase me!” he sang as he ran.

“Oh, I bet it can,” Dan said and actually started making chase through their house. 

It was dumb and silly but hell if Phil hadn’t gotten a taste for this with all of the running and chasing that they’d done in the boxing scene. It was always a little overwhelming to actually run into the crowd, into their audience, so very close, but he’d never felt worried about it. Dan had even taken to stealing popcorn as he moved through and that had gone over very well. 

But there were only so many places to actually flee within their home without risking life and limb. 

“Truce, truce!” Phil called as Dan managed to corner him in the living room. 

“What? Scared of what I’ll do when I catch you?” Dan asked, and mirth was dancing in his eyes. 

“No, because I’m the always-winner,” Phil said and stuck his best boxing pose. He wasn’t sure he made that much of an intimidating sight without his silicone abs.

“Well, we couldn’t have any more injured ribs, could we?” Dan asked, but he had clearly already given up the chase. And without any more ceremony, he dropped himself onto their sofa, melting into it instantly. “It’s really out, huh?”

It was only yesterday that they’d uploaded the tour video on YouTube. It had been late because there had been some issues with the merch site that needed to go live at the same time, and they’d tried to make sure that there weren't any more hiccups with the tour merch. 

Today, they’d post a promo video of the photo cards, which was clearly not necessary as those items in particular had been ripped off the digital shelves. Phil would never have imagined that he’d find himself on some photo card like a kpop idol but he still found the whole thing rather hilarious. And of course, the golden pig having a special rare status had been an easy sell, as much as Dan had put up a pretend fight. 

“I’m going to miss this era,” Phil said, and plopped himself down next to Dan. “But I’m excited for the future too.”

And they had such great plans in the works. Dan was fighting the urge to go full turtle, retracting into his shell, as they were having to sort it all out, but Phil took it as a serious job to keep Dan to the fire so to speak. It was good for them to still be posting videos, and they really needed to embrace that not everything needed to be a big, perfect production. They knew that their audience also loved the lowkey Dan and Phil videos, and they missed them if things went quiet for too long. 

Phil liked peeking in now and again and checking the general temperature. He could do it without spiralling or getting too affected. But overall, it did seem like TIT had done great work in healing past wounds and moving them all forward. Into something new. But they’d still be Dan and Phil. 

“I’m a little scared of the future,” Dan said in a quiet voice. “Of how it’ll all go.”

“Well, yeah,” Phil said and sat closer until their shoulders were touching. “But weren’t you scared about coming back to the gaming channel too? And see how well that went!”

“I’m not sure if that’s a valid argument,” Dan countered, but there was an underlying softness as he spoke. “Besides, that’s only because you metaphorically held my hand through the whole process until I got used to it again.”

“I’ll always be there to hold your hand,” Phil said, grabbing Dan’s hand and squeezing as hard as he could manage. Just hard enough that he was straining his own hand and feeling slightly like Dan’s hand was getting squished in his grip.  

It was enough that Dan’s anticipated eye roll at the overly sentimental words instead became a scrunched-up face of discomfort, as he tried to pry his hand free.

“Bro,” he said, exasperated but oh so fond. 

“Dude,” Phil shot back with the same dudebro voice. 

And so, they laughed. And Phil couldn’t imagine anyone else he’d rather be doing all of this with. 

They had more experience dropping music because of DanAndPhilBEATS and the teamwork with lowave records but it was still an insane thing to actually be releasing music with their voices again. It was not something that Phil could ever have foreseen that he’d be doing when he started uploading video but it made sense for them. 

The Internet Is Here had done its job as a charity single back in the day and now Terrible was going to be their follow-up. It appeared for the Australians audience first before they could even announce the arrival of the song, but Phil was pretty sure that people had anticipated that it would be a June release anyway. 

It was pride month after all. And there was nothing gayer than the song from their little gay stage show. If anything, Phil would argue that it was the gayest of their shows, considering that they had an actual segment where everything was bathed in rainbows with gay flashing across their many screens. 

Last bit of the TIT era would be releasing the music video. And then the rebranding would soon follow. 

As always, when something was coming to a close, it put Dan in a bit of a contemplative mode. He could go so introspective that he spiralled.

“I think about where we might be if we hadn’t done this whole thing again. ‘Dan and Phil’,” Dan said and he said their names with that particular tone that suggested that it was the brand of them. The official duo. How they had glued themselves to each other in a professional setting. 

But it had always been Dan’s worry about what it would mean to become too close, too entangled. Phil hadn’t ever cared about that. He’d brought Dan along to BBC Radio 1. He’d even called Dan up on stage when he’d won a solo award at the BONCAs. Because people didn’t get that this was theirs. It wasn’t just his. He didn’t want it to just be his. Joy was so much better when it was shared.

He was pretty sure that he wouldn’t be doing this whole thing anymore if he’d never met Dan. Everyone always said that he was the reason Dan had started making videos, but he wasn’t sure if their audience realised that Dan was the reason that Phil had kept making videos. They built something together that was sustainable beyond their wildest dreams. They had built a life together too, but they wouldn’t have this version of their life without the audience that had stuck with them. 

He trusted that they would still be together, but he also knew that they wouldn’t know how much they could weather without everything this whole experience had put them through. The ups and the downs had made them even closer and stronger.

 They were eating dinner after Phil had announced on social media that the song would be out and that the music video was imminent. Dan insisted on putting on Terrible as they set up the table and he was headbanging next to the dining table as it got to the rave part. 

“T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E,” Dan sang and it was pure instinct for Phil to join in. He was pretty sure that he might start doing the moves on autopilot after having practiced and performed the song so much.

It was so dumb and silly and wonderful. Even more so when they were both singing at the top of their lungs and jumping up and down. Because they didn’t have to worry about neighbours anymore. They could be loud in the house that they built together as they wanted.

“But I-D-G-A-F because it saved me,” they sang in chorus as the song was petering out, and Phil felt that there really was no more profound way to say it. 

Whether they said the song was from one perspective or the other or even both, it felt like it fit. They were all in on it. They were all together. And Phil knew from all of the meet and greets that their content had indeed helped save so many people, which was utterly incredible and a little insane. 

And as much as the whole ride up until now had made Dan falter a little now and again, it had also saved him in the end. The boy had been so deep in the closet when they had met that Phil was unsure if anything could have dragged him fully out. Phil hadn’t cared about it. He just wanted Dan more than anything else. 

But he saw now how much good it had done them both to be out and proud. All the queer people they’d collected from within the closet had showed them both that there was a space to share that part of themselves as well.

Phil quite liked that they’d gotten a whole community that wanted to come out and celebrate their journey so far, but more importantly, they were going to be moving into this new era with them. The air was cleared and the future was pretty queer.

[themarkofoxin]

still time to delete your post. you were uninformed, that’s fine, but now you know that there is a pattern of racist behavior on dan’s end and we are right to be upset. him outright saying that he won’t tour in ‘third world countries’ like mx and brasil during a WAD show is racist. calling my home a third world country is racist. this is not in the past, you can say logistics all you want but dan outright said that he will not tour in our ‘third world countries’. it is not logistics. it is racism.

if i'm remembering correctly, dan did not "outright" say he just wouldn't tour in mexico & brasil. he made a tasteless, dismissive joke, sure, with the fans as the butt of the joke in the same way fans were the butt of the joke in many wad segments; it was insensitive and dismissive because the fans he was poking fun at weren't actually there and, obviously, have real frustrations with his behavior. but the meaning and implication of the joke was never that he actively avoided those places and would never go there--hell, they have been to brasil, to show a recorded version of ii and do a q&a. they had a mexico date for ii but it fell through, right? claiming he "outright [said] that he won't tour in 'third world countries'" is a mischaracterization as much as it would be to say "he outright said he hates phil" because he's said it in competitive gaming videos before. the key difference is he has failed to build a rapport with latam fans so it was insensitive and hurtful.

also, it is very much influenced by logistics. as much as it sucks, we absolutely cannot dismiss that. i was too sarcastic and dismissive in my additions to the post, and i've deleted those, but i stand by the original paragraph. regardless their (but especially dan's) racist comments, booking venues in countries where

1) english is not the predominant language,

2) they are not widely known,

3) once the venue learns about them they figure out they may be well past their peak in popularity and,

4) in some cases, it is relevant that they're gay and much more open about it than ii,

DOES actually make it significantly more difficult to convince a venue that it will be profitable for the venue to put on your show. most of the time, that is all venues are worried about. will people actually show up, or will these two faggots who peaked ten years ago draw in an audience of like, 20 people, and the venue will lose money when they could have booked a more profitable show? if the venue manager had to google them, are they really that popular anyways? the venue managers don't care unless they are certain they will not only break even but profit from dnp more than they would profit from literally anyone else they could book that night. why do you think they were able to do locations in asia for ii, but don't have them now (yet)? in 2018, they could reasonably argue their profitability, and even that wasn't enough in manila.

i am hoping, genuinely and from the bottom of my soul, that they will use the speed at which most of their shows sold out when the tickets went up to prove to venue managers in places other than the US and europe and commonwealth oceania that it is worth it. i hope they try very hard, and that they're able to add more dates. it certainly seems like they want to. i think it's also likely--whether it's right of them or not--that their experiences in MX & manila have led them to believe it's better to stay entirely quiet before they're absolutely sure they can announce a date and it will work, which makes it look like they're not communicating at all, but they may see it as them saving people from getting their hopes up if it doesn't work out. idk which is better, honestly. it at least seems to me like they're telegraphing that they're trying to book in other regions

[phanfictioncatalogue]

Fics That Start With M (4) Masterlist

part one, part two, part three

magic in the hamptons (ao3) - t_hens

Summary: Phil is bored with going to parties every weekend with people he doesn’t like. Bored of going to school for a degree he hates just to please his parents. Bored of pretty much everything in his life, until he meets Dan, an inscrutable college student, who shows him that maybe he can have the things he wants in life - he just has to be brave enough to pursue them.

Magic Shop (ao3) - your_starless_eyes

Summary: It made sense that Dan would need time to recover from the tour, just the same as Phil. It was logical reasoning.

How was he supposed to know? How was Phil supposed to know that it was, in fact, a bigger issue than he could imagine?

Magie De La Luxure (ao3) - Junebug1312

Summary: Lesson learnt, don't drink from mysterious hotel mini bars. Its a bad idea.

make a wish when your childhood dies (ao3) - tinydragon (tiny_dragon)

Summary: Things could be going better for librarian Phil Lester. He’s discontent with his life and his job when an episode of accidental magic lands him in a seemingly different world, which nobody else seems aware of other than the neighbour he never knew he had, Dan Howell. Together, they must find a way to return home to their ordinary cities and lives, but there’s something about Dan that’s strange, in that he seems eerily similar to Phil’s favourite childhood storybook character.

make it out when the sun is ruined (ao3) - waveydnp

Summary: phil fainted. he's fine, but dan might not be

make it work (ao3) - orphan_account

Summary: dan is on vacation at the bahamas, where he meets phil - someone who's in the same rut as him. they connect and swoon over how compatible they both are but realise they only have a limited amount of time to spare together.

Make It Work (ao3) - phiclets

Summary: Dan has been touring with his show We're All Doomed for months - the longest he's ever been away from Phil. All he wants now is to be back for Phil's birthday.

make me feel (ao3) - blossomsphan

Summary: dan discovers a new use for his walk-in closet

[title from make me feel - janelle monáe]

make me feel again (ao3) - t_hens

Summary: Dan takes a walk after an argument with Phil

Make My Wish Come True (ao3) - sleepyslag (galacticneighbor)

Summary: Two years after the first heat they shared, Dan and Phil decide it's time to grow their family.

making sense of it (ao3) - graydar

Summary: He convinces himself that he’s not made to love. There’s a malfunction he can’t reach and there’s no fixing it.

Marigold (ao3) - Mysticallykai

Summary: When a haunting tune plagues Phil nightly, he turns to his family for help. But it seems like only he can hear it. Is he going crazy? Or is there more to the song than there seems?

maybe we were made for each other (ao3) - ShiwiSins (IetjeSiobhan)

Summary: One more station until he’s there, and Dan is sweaty and nervous with how much he wants to see Phil again, with how much he’s missed him, with how scared he is of the feelings being one-sided, despite everything Phil has said over Skype.

Or: the third time they meet.

Meant to be, we might be alright now (ao3) - lesbosz

Summary: Dan thinks about the cramped tour bus bunks and traveling the world again with his soulmate of 15 years.

medieval princess (ao3) - ShiwiSins (IetjeSiobhan)

Summary: “I’m going to fuck a baby into you,” he tells Phil, feeling absolutely wild with the image of Phil, pregnant.

Mine (ao3) - CloudyPhan

Summary: dan reminisces on his life so far in a quiet moment on the tour bus (mine by the 1975)

Mini Christmas (ao3) - cosmic_angel_writes

Summary: Dan and Phil’s mini Christmas

2024

misplaced (ao3) - possumdnp

Summary: Phil misplaces his favourite hat while on tour.

moments of envy (ao3) - starlightphil (adreaminthedark)

Summary: Dan’s never wanted anything as badly as he’s wanted Phil, so of course he’s had his moments of envy over the years. A ficlet written for anonymous on Tumblr who asked: "Dan trying to deliberately make Phil jealous (for whatever reason) and then immediately regretting it?"

move your body when the sunlight dies (ao3) - phegetarian

Summary: dan is cursed, phil is a witch.

and i can't do summaries.

my hands no longer an afterthought (ao3) - ShiwiSins (IetjeSiobhan)

Summary: “Phil,” Dan says, but then gets tongue-tied and leaves the sentence there, feeling ridiculous and like he’s eighteen and desperate to seem cooler than he actually is all over again, turning his gaze away from Phil because he can’t look him in the eye without giving something away.

Or: It turns Dan on when Phil buys things for him. It only takes him fourteen years to do something about that.

My Sanctuary, You're Holy to Me (ao3) - skygremlin

Summary: Sister Daniel isn't very good at being a nun, but she's stuck living in a convent because she's got no other plans. The church needs a new priest for Sunday mass, and the responsibility falls on her to meet him for the first time. Will he see through her false devotion?

Sister Daniel/Father Philip convent au (Sister Daniel's origin story)

My Secrets, My Needs (ao3) - scaryfangirl2001

Summary: Phil gives Dan a massage

mystery tour (ao3) - possumdnp

Summary: Phil wasn’t expecting to find a cute guy named Dan when he booked a Dodo Airlines trip to a nearby island.

[An Animal Crossing AU, where Phil lives on Pickle Island and Dan lives on Danando Island.]