"Fight me."

"Hailey, leave me alone I'm trying to drive."

Dan had been through a lot this morning to say the least. They flew in only five hours ago, got three hours of sleep, and to top it all off they were gonna be late for their first meeting at the their new job in London. It's been awhile since Dan's been back in the United Kingdom. Nearly four years actually.

"You used to live in Manchester, right?"

"Yeah, before I left."

Around the time college was rolling around, Dan got an offer to go to an art school in America. It would cost less to go there, and the campus was a hundred percent better then the ones in the UK, so he left.

Dan hasn't been back since he was twenty-two and broke things off with Phil. He made a life for himself in America and couldn't travel back and forth like he used to. Plus, he already felt like their relationship was hanging on by a thread. No use to try to patch things up, and Dan swore he never wanted to come back.

He groaned and hit his head on the steering wheel.

"Oh stop all that, Danny," Hailey hit his arm. "You should have slept on the plane."

"Kinda hard to sleep with your head digging into my shoulder."

She smiled softly and leaned forward to kiss his cheek.

He sighed, and tried to shrug off a smiled.

He met Hailey five years ago, just as she was entering college. He helped her and their other friend, Riley, who they sadly left in America, settle into the campus. Soon enough they all became friends.

He never looked at any of them in a romantic light though, he was still with Phil at the time and Hailey was hopelessly in love Riley, she still is. Not that he hasn't thought about it, Hailey is rather pretty. Her choppy red locks, dark green eyes, and long legs, would make anyone go wild. He kept his wandering eyes away from Riley though, they were just to pure for any of that.

"Alright, we're almost there, let's look into our colleagues, I've got a list."

Dan nodded trying to focus on the road. "The other two aren't that important, who are our partners gonna be?"

Hailey looked down the list and began to read.

"Okay, mine is a guy name Santiago Ramirez, eighteen, and he had collectively no experience, never been to college, I'm doomed."

Dan laughed. "Mine probably better."

"Yup, he went to college, he's twenty-five, so I'm sure he won't be saying 'lit' to half the stuff you say, his name is..." She trailed off just as they parked.

"Come on, spit it out, have they got a weird name?"

She shook her head.

Dan rolled his eyes and was about to get out of the car but she held onto his arm.

"Listen, if you don't want the job we can always go back to working at that trashy magazine company." She squeaked.

"Okay, hand over the paper."

She gave it to him with out hesitation. He looked down the list at the last man's information and credentials.

Seeing the name Philip Lester was like a punch in the face.

After a while he sigh and out the paper down.

"You okay, Danny?"

Dan nodded. "I'm not sixteen anymore, we're both adults, just play it straight."

Hailey snorted and hopped out the car. "That'll be hard for us."

                                 ____

A tall, fairly built man with blonde hair came down to get them, he recognized the voice to be Marty, the team leader from their phone calls.

"Hailey," He shook her hand gently. "Pleasure to meet you."

She did a little curtsy. "Likewise."

He did the same to Dan. "Daniel, I assume."

Dan nodded and shook his hand. "Just Dan, actually."

Marty nodded and gave a deep chuckle.

"I understand, I never really like the name Martin either."

As they walked up a flight of stairs, Dan's nerves was getting the best of him. He and Phil left on relatively good terms, but he couldn't shake off his feelings.

Hailey intertwined their pinkies for comfort, it was a thing them three used to do during college.

As they entered the room Dan and Hailey rushed to their seats without a second though. He was sitting directly across from Phil. Who was transfix on the table. Marty introduced Hailey, which seemingly snapped Phil out of his delirious state.

He looked to Dan's left at Hailey then quickly looked up again as if to make sure his eyes weren't failing him.

There he was. Same little boy blue eyes, same lips, same little dotted freckles on his face. He wore glasses now and he put his hair up in a quiff. He was still perfect.

"Okay, next is Dan Howell, Phil this'll be your partner, for hopefully months to come."

They both stared into each other's eyes for a bit, til a dark skinned girl with long, puffy, curly hair spoke up.

"So," She leaned forward with her small frame, seemingly trying to seduce Marty. "What's the plan today, Boss?"

Marty cleared his throat. "You four can take the artists room, right down the hall, me and Raine will work in the writers room, since we already have a system working together."

Everyone agreed. Dan tried to not to look at Phil and squeezed Hailey's pinky like a lemon.

"I do expect you two to walk them through the storyline, try out some sketches, but don't worry to much about getting stuff done today, this first week is just a test run for what's to come."

He smiled widely at the group then clapped his hands. "Okay, class dismissed."

Dan followed the Phil and the other boy, Santiago, to the artists room. Trying not to have a panic attack.

He bumped into someone. Someone who smelled strongly of coffee. Oh dear.

He backed away as Phil turned around. He let out a sorry, before Phil spoke.

"So, um, how are you?"

"Fine."

You could cut the tension with a knife.

"So," Hailey said. "I was told there would be donuts."

The boy, Santiago, nodded. "Yes, of course let me show you to the donuts."

They ran out the room quickly and down the stairs.

Phil laughed. "So, that was the amazing Hailey, huh?"

Dan snorted. "Yeah, did she make a good first impression."

They both sat down at one of the three desks, Dan pulled a chair over and sat next to Phil.

"Look, I'm really sorry."

Dan looked up bewildered. "Why are you sorry, I'm the one that cut off, I was an asshole Phil."

Phil shook his head. "No, you had every reason to, I was the one that quit long before we broke up."

Dan nodded. "But I don't blame you."

"But I don't blame you either."

They both laughed and reached over to hug each other.

"It's good seeing you Dan."

"You too Phil."

They were interrupted by a voice by the doorway.

Hailey stood with Santiago in a sailor moon type pose.

"We come baring donuts."

Phil gave her a thumbs up. "That's good, cause we're about to do some major storytelling, right Santi?"

The boy with fluffy dark hair nodded. "That's right Flip."

                                ____

They all packed up at the end of the day. Overall they had a good time and Dan was able to talk to Phil without  any awkwardness. They just blended together that well, as friends or not.

Phil waved by to Santi, who Dan actually came to like. He reminded him of his younger brother. He was sweet, considerate and only occasionally obnoxious.

"I would ask you two to hangout," Phil told the pair. "But I have to go over to Louise's for dinner."

Dan looked up. "Really, she invited me and Hailey to dinner as well."

Phil look slightly offended. "She knew you were coming and she didn't tell me?"

Dan shrugged. "You know Louise, she has her hands full these days, Darcy's growing by the minute, she forgets these things."

"Or," Phil suggested. "I found out what my big surprise is."

Dan nodded. "That's makes sense, she said she had a big surprise for me as well."

"Well she's the one getting big surprise when we all show up together." Hailey said.

She looked out at the lot and sighed.

"Once we find the car."