A/N; reason #7458937 why i love dan howell

"Are you ready?" Dan's voice shook due to his nerves taking over, adjusting the camera before sitting down beside you in his usual set up.

"Of course not, but we've got to get it over with someday." You smiled reassuringly, resting your hand on his knee.

Dan rolled his eyes and mimicked your smile before getting up once more to start the video, letting out the deep breath he'd been holding in.

After a few days of discussing, you and Dan have finally decided to set all of the rumors aside and come out as a couple to society. The thoughts of what could go wrong were nerve wracking to you, but dodging all of the assumptions was no longer an option. Your fans were family to you and Dan was obviously a big part of your life now,  so it was only fair for everyone to know. You didn't even remember how the topic came up, but after scrolling through multiple tweets and YouTube comments, you've realized all of them circled around you and Dan.

"Hi everyone this video might be a bit out of context, but we thought it was finally time to address the nation, come clean, let the cat out of the bag, lay the cards down on the tabl-"

"Dan you're assaulting me and millions of innocent people right now." You wore an impassive look on your face as you interrupted him for the sake of the video, knowing he could go on for ages.

Dan laughed his famous laugh, briefly fidgeting with his hair before speaking once more.

"Alright, introduce yourself even though you were in my last video." Dan muttered the last part under his breath, forcing a smile up at the camera.

"Hi, so my name is [Y/N], nice to meet you." You held a straight face, waiting for Dan to snap on you any second.

"Looks like that's it for today guys give the video a thumbs up if you enjoyed watching me be cruelly attacked."  Dan attempted to shove you off the bed once your laughter filled the atmosphere, tears surfacing.

"Alright I'm sorry, let's just get on with it." You giggled, wiping your sleeve under your eye to prevent any tears from falling.

"So to clear up any speculations yes, this little shit is my girlfriend." Dan grinned widely, chuckling at the facial expression you gave him.

"Don't you think you should rephrase that?" You pouted as his face softening slightly, a small 'aw' coming from his lips.

"Sorry, not girlfriend I meant groupie."  Your mouth hung open for a second before the two of you laughed in unison, swatting him upside the head.

"Don't worry guys, we've learned to tolerate each other's dry sense of humor." Dan insisted with his hands raised. The two of you continued to banter and play a game Phil created where you write down small things about each other that the other is oblivious to, and if the person denies to doing the thing and does it unintentionally throughout the video, there would be a consequence.

The video was fun to film overall, as you thought it was a great way for the people who weren't familiar with you got to know you better and hopefully accept you. The last time you and Dan nearly got outed by Jim Chapman in one of his vlogs and the phans immediately suspected something. Their reactions were overwhelming from just that, but you still crossed your fingers that they would act more calm for this.

You, Dan, and Phil were sitting in the living room anxiously waiting for the video to load, Dan typing out a tweet in the process to post once the video was live.

@danisnotonfire: so this happened, if you think @Y/T/N is a nerd now just wait until you see her with me its like an ultimate version of her nerdiness unleashes and cant be tamed *link to video* 

"I'm not that big of a nerd when I'm around you, am I?" You broke your gaze from the TV, folding your arms over your chest.

"Yes." The two chimed, high-fiving afterwards.

"Guys-Guys the video is up! Oh g-god I think I'm going to be sick." Dan stood up urgently as he grabbed a fistful of hair, the look on his face matching his current state. Phil got up and spoke to him calmly, trying to soothe him.

A lump formed in your throat as you slowly reached for your phone, hesitantly looking through the comments that were flooding on the video. Your eyes briskly scanned through a few comments, a half smile on your face, surprised at how well they were taking things so far.

"Dan, come look." You ushered him over, the smile growing on your face. There were only about 400 comments so far and you knew there was going to be a lot of controversy, but you decided to enjoy the support while it lasted.

Dan sat down beside you, squeezing your thigh as he leaned over to read over some comments.

"Oh thank god." Dan groaned, throwing his head back in relief.

"See, maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all!" Phil continued to act buoyant, a cheerful grin spreading on his face.

Dan just smiled over at you lovingly and nodded his head in agreement.

As the night slowly came amongst you, Dan and Phil commanded you to keep off of your phone and invited Louise over since you haven't seen her in a few days, along with Zoe and Alfie to celebrate.

The six of you were currently playing twister, but you sat out due to nearly twisting your ankle immediately after the first round. It was irking you that you couldn't check Twitter to see what people were saying, but you managed to stay sane even though the curiosity was eating you alive. You broke from your thoughts as you heard a loud thud, Louise toppling over Dan and Alfie, filling with laughter.

"My limbs are not long enough for this game." Louise complained, the mascara on her face smudging due to laughter.

"That's a pro for us." Phil smiled triumphantly as he sat criss-cross on the mat.

"But Phil, when do we ever play twister?" Dan opposed, playing with your fingers mindlessly as Phil let out a sigh of defeat, waving him off.

"So when is your video going to come out?" You brought your attention towards Phil and Louise and winked, the two of them blushing deeply.

You wondered if Louise even told Darcy about them yet. Probably not, she would have at least texted you.

"Let a ship sail one day at a time." Alfie chortled, Louise raising her glass of wine to his statement.

"You guys seem to be getting a mixture of responses." Zoe's eyes flickered down to her phone, a small frown covering her face.

"I thought you said everyone was acting positively?" You turned to Louise in confusion who tore Zoe's phone out of her hand with gritted teeth, turning to you with a worried expression.

"Y-Yeah of course they are lovey, isn't that right?" Lou pinched her arm as she squeaked, trying to cover up the sudden discomfort.

"Yeah no worries, just a practical prank I was pulling there." Zoe laughed nervously, pinching Louise back. This resulted in the two of them pinching each other, bickering under their breaths.

"Alright." You spoke slowly, growing more suspicious by the second.

The night came to a close as you were all curled up watching a comedy Alfie picked out on Netflix, but no one was paying attention as they were all wrapped up in their own conversations.

"Do you think they're going to hate me?" You spoke weakly to Dan, wanting to be as quiet as possible so you wouldn't draw attention to yourself. That was the only thing running through your mind ever since Zoe mentioned what she was reading.

"I don't think anyone could have the audacity to hate you." He extended his arms to pull you into his chest, placing a kiss on the top of your head. Your stomach fluttered at the simple gesture, still not able to get over the fact that you were actually in a relationship with someone you never thought you'd have a chance with.

"You'd be surprised." You spoke shyly, Dan tilting your chin up a second later so your eyes were boring into his.

"Quit talking like that, if they don't accept you then they obviously don't have any decency or respect for my personal life, or yours. If they're actual fans they'll appreciate you just as much as I do, and I sure as hell can guarantee that." Dan's face held a look of determination as the words left his mouth.

"I hope you're right."

"I will be, I always am." He boasted as you snorted loudly, Zoe and Louise breaking from conversation and turning their heads to you in laughter.

Louise soon informed the group that you two had a busy day planned for tomorrow and that you should head out. You didn't want to disturb the sleepy Dan that was already snuggled beside you, his eyelids growing heavy and mumbling jibberish to you which you found irresistible along with everything else he did.

You stirred slightly, kissing him in attempt to wake him up. "I'm up!" Dan perked up instantly, a sly smirk on his face.

As you two said goodbye to everyone and made your way out the door, you overheard a few merely audible words exchanged between Alfie and Dan.

"Are you really planning on keeping all of this from her? She's going to find out eventually."

"I'll do whatever I can to prevent any more chaos from happening, she doesn't deserve it."

"You're really whipped mate, aren't you?"

"Like cream."