Running Bear

Dan and Phil were getting packed for Vidcon.

"Hey, where's my straightener?" Dan called.

"I think I've packed it in my suitcase!" Phil yelled back.

"You think?" Dan clarified, finding the straightener in his bathroom and chuckling slightly.

"Uh- let me check!" Phil yelled.

"No- Phil-" Dan broke down, laughing like a hyena, "I found it!"

"Dan," Phil whined, "I just unpacked everything!" Dan sighed. Sometimes living with Phil was amazing- no pun intended- and fun, and sometimes Phil made Dan want to smack his face into the wall.

"I'll help in a bit," Luckily, the straightener was the last thing Dan needed to pack. He threw the straightener in next to his pants and zipped his suitcase shut. He made his way down the hall to Phil, finding his roommate bent over his own suitcase and shoving everything in without regard to folding or placement.

"Hang on," Dan said, letting his OCD take the driver's seat. He folded all of Phil's clothes for him and organized everything. Phil just sat there, glaring at him for getting him into this mess in the first place.

"Thanks," Phil grumbled, "Let's go." Dan grinned cheekily and rolled his and Phil's suitcase out the room.

The taxi ride was okay, and their driver wonderfully polite and professional. The airport itself was wonderful and the people were lovely and professional and all the things that you would expect people at an airport to be (they even met a few fans, who were lovely and not at all professional). It was on the plane where they had issues.

First of all, their airplane's seating was very... odd. Four seats sat around a table in the left row, and six in the middle and right rows.

Needless to say, the other two people sat next to Dan and Phil were pretty insane. Dan blamed Phil and still does to this day. And, of course, they were homophobic and thought Dan and Phil were a couple. Because, annoyingly enough, everyone seems to think that about them.

"Well, who are you boys?" The lady asked, proudly displaying her southern American accent.

"I'm Dan, and this is Phil." Dan said, "We're YouTubers."

"What's that?" The lady asked.

"Isn't YouTube-" The male who sat next to the lady pronounced it 'YouTub', "The place where you get all those neat knitting ideas?"

"Urm," Dan said. Trying to explain vlogging and comedy sketches to people who didn't know what they are is hard.

"We make mini-movies," Phil supplied, "And sometimes we let people in on our lives by videoing it."

"Oh," The woman said, "So... what's your relationship?"

"We're flatmates," Phil grinned.

"Oh, now," The man said in a warning tone, "You two know what happens to... people like you... y'know... gays." He hissed the last bit under his breath, as if saying the word itself could get you sent to Hell.

"We're not together," Dan said, narrowing his eyes, "But, I do know someone who would probably like to have a word with you." Even though he wasn't in a relationship with his best friend- unless you count the fact that they were best friends- Dan really didn't like homophobia. It was one of those things that dug under his skin and made him pissed (like when Phil eats his cereal). And he really had thought of someone who'd like to have a word with this elderly couple- namely, Tyler Oakley, Troye Sivan, Joey Graceffa, and every single other YouTuber ever. Except maybe one or two, but we don't like them.

"Oh!" The woman spoke, "We didn't mean to assume. Do you have girlfriends, then?"

"Uh-" Dan and Phil both blushed, realizing that they didn't go outside nearly enough to actually get a girlfriend.

"Do we need to talk about lying as well, young man?" The male raised an eyebrow at them. Now Dan was really pissed. First of all, they made assumptions about his relationship status and sexual orientation. Second, they think they have the right to lecture him about lying, something Phil almost never did (except when he was eating Dan's cereal). Dan thought of something that would certainly cause the couple to move away.

"You know what?" Dan sighed, "We are a couple." He grabbed Phil's face and kissed him on the lips, which felt so much better than it should have. The elderly couple switched seats with a brief 'We'll be praying for you,' and a small rant about how homosexuality was a disease.

"That was a nightmare," Phil said, flipping through a magazine. He had, with that creepy sense of almost always knowing what Dan was thinking, known that he just really wanted the elderly couple to leave them alone. Also, that kiss wasn't half-bad, if a little forced and rough.

"Tell me about it," Dan rolled his eyes scrolling through his phone's Spotify playlist and playing New Born, by Muse, because he really liked the song. The air hostess came by and asked if they wanted anything to drink, and Phil gratefully accepted the water, Dan turning down the offer. The hours to America passed uneventfully- other than the homophobic old people- and was generally spent in silence between the two.

"Hello, it's your Captain speaking," The Captain said, "I would like to inform you that we are landing shortly, and I would like to remind you to turn off all electronics and put up your trays."

"No more Muse?" Dan groaned dramatically, stretching. He may or may not have fallen asleep. Phil sighed, to which Dan did what the Captain directed him to, putting up his phone and his tray.

"Vidcon is going to be interesting this year," Phil looked at the invitation, with a list of some of the bigger YouTubers that would be attending.

"How so?" Dan asked.

"Well, a lot of the people we know will be there," Phil said, "Tyler, Caspar, Joe, Alfie and Zoe, and a whole bunch of others, look!" He gave the pamphlet to Dan, who noted that, yes, a lot of their friends would be there.

The actual list was composed of quite a few individuals; Troye Sivan, Tyler Oakley, Joe Sugg, Alfie Deyes, Zoe Sugg, Caspar Lee, Mark Fischbach, Shane Dawson, Joey Graceffa, Chris, and Pj, to name a few.

"You think someone's going to throw a party this year?" Dan asked.

"Tyler's probably going to," Phil commented, "It's his birthday during Vidcon, remember?"

"Right," Dan nodded. The plane jolted a little as it landed, and Dan's ears popped.

"Now for the tedious bit," Dan sighed wearily. It had been a long flight.

.o0o.

After getting their bags, they checked in at the hotel.

"You'll be staying in Room 2112," The woman who sat behind the desk said, "If you want, we could upgrade you to a single king-sized bed-"

"No, no," Dan assured her, "We'll be fine. We're not a couple."

"Oh!" She apologized, "I'm sorry for assuming. Here," She handed them the key card to their room, "Have a nice stay!" Dan and Phil left for their room and dropped everything off before heading to the convention.

.o0o.

Getting sidetracked was way too easy for them. They pretty much inadvertently gave up on the first day of the convention and went sight-seeing. It had been a rather random decision to hold Vidcon in St. Louis this year, although it probably had something to do with the droughts in California.

"Well, we've got..." Phil looked at the rack of pamphlets, "Ooh! Six Flags!"

"Sounds fun," Dan smiled. The two grabbed sunglasses and sunscreen (what? It was hot and they were easily sunburnt- and we don't want a replica of the Skin Fic here.) and headed to the theme park.

So much funnel cake and three pictures with Buggs Bunny later, Dan and Phil were exhausted.

"Tyler's invited us to his party tonight," Phil remarked, yawning.

"Screw it," Dan murmured sleepily, "We can enjoy the party. It's just for a few hours, right?"

"I guess," Phil said, the Uber pulling into the hotel.

"Thanks," Phil said to the Uber driver, paying the money and hopping out next to Dan.

"You're not usually the one to go to parties," Phil commented while they were getting changed (not in the same room, Dan took the bathroom and Phil the bedroom).

"I know," Dan sighed, "But Tyler's our friend. So, according to social convention, we have to go to the fucking party and have a good fucking time, because it's his birthday."

"You don't sound too excited," Phil pointed out.

"I'm tired," Dan replied, "I don't think I've got much more 'people skills' left for today."

"We'll only stay a little bit," Phil promised.

.o0o.

We'll only stay a little bit, Phil said, Dan thought bitterly, It'll be fun, Phil said.

They had been there for over three hours. Dan, as per usual, had not touched any alcohol. He really didn't like getting drunk too often, maybe a glass of wine (or ten, if he was doing an Internet Support Group video) or a bottle of beer while playing Mario Kart with Phil.

"C'mon, Dan!" Louise said playfully, "Drink a little!"

Damn peer pressure.

Dan took a swig of the beer, the taste surprisingly light.

"This is good," Dan nodded.

"See?" Louise said, rolling her eyes, "I told you!"

This would spiral downhill very quickly.

See, the thing about alcohol is, once you drink one beer, it seems like even more of a good idea to drink another. And after that, it seems like even more of a good idea to drink just one more. Of course, as with anything, 'one more' tends to be about three or five.

In another thirty minutes, Dan thought it would be a peachy idea to do a shot race with Phil.

Well, if it was any consolation, Dan won the shot race.

Tyler didn't make too good of a decision either when completely hammered. So, it only seemed natural to give the nineteen year old a beer even though he was below the drinking age in the US.

The rest of the night went by in a blur. There was definitely dancing. And Jon Cozart and Troye sang a duet. Dan remembered bits and pieces. Connor Franta had been dared to do a strip tease- on behalf of Smosh, who thought it was hilarious. Markiplier sat there after about... well, a lot of booze, crying "I coulda been an engineer!"

So, that answered what kind of drunk Mark was.

So many people took their shirts off it was ridiculous- Dan even thought he saw Hannah strip before leading Ingrid into the closet. Dan remembered a lot of lights, too many to be good for you, but nobody seemed to care, they were having too much fun.

"Hey, Dan," Phil groaned, face looking a bit green, "I don't feel so good."

"Bet you're regretting those shots now, huh?" Dan slurred, feeling the room spin a bit and his stomach gurgle too.

There was a certain point when everybody passed out. Frist went Troye, the lightweight. Then there was a blur of bad decisions and more alcohol, and Dan and Phil pretty much called it quits on the kitchen floor, Dan drooling a bit.

Dan had never slept better.

Unfortunately, when you sleep, you have to wake up.