He hadn't anticipated the rain, but appreciated it nonetheless, less so what it did to his hair, but summer was getting too hot and too dry, and rain drops upon leaves made for incredibly cool photographs and Dan was all about the art hoe aesthetic.

Of course, as luck would have it, he didn't have his camera with him that very moment, but still, he could appreciate the fact that at least when the rain was here fucking up his hair and turning into a curly mess that he wasn't quite so fond of, no one was around to see it.

Of course, that was what he thought, after all, no one really frequented the path coming down from the back of his road hidden between far too many trees - it was the kind of place you couldn't really happen upon accidentally or commuted down, seeing as it didn't really go anywhere, and truth be told, Dan only went down it to take aesthetically pleasing photographs, and a strong ninety eight percent of the time he'd spent there he'd spent alone.

But that changed as soon as he heard some sort of ungodly shriek, leaving his first thought to be 'oh god, someone's dying', and then in turn, 'oh god, I'm going to die'. Because truth be told, sixteen year old Dan Howell was just a little neurotic at times, and by times, well, most of the time... ninety nine percent of the time, or if not that, a strong ninety eight point five percent.

However, before Dan could quite process just what the fuck was going on, and in turn, just what the fuck he was supposed to do, another, louder shriek sounded followed by footsteps coming from behind him, and before he really knew what was happening, he hit the dirt path with a thump an a rather eloquently putting, "fucking tit balls," from his lips.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to run into you, I just- are you okay, I can-"

Dan rubbed his eyes, looking up to see a rather concerned looking boy, around his age with black hair and blue eyes, "yeah, I'm fine, don't worry, I'm just clumsy, I guess, sorry I-" It was only as Dan sat up that he finally pieced together just what had caused this rather unlikely chain of events, and in particular that one horrific screech. "Is that a ferret?" The boy laughed a little, looking down at the small white creature on the end of the leash in his hand. "It's either a ferret or a fucking severely deformed dog with a fucking screeching baby trapped inside it's mouth, I fucking swear to God that gave me a heart attack."

The boy met Dan's gaze, giggling a little, because truth be told, Dan did sound more than a little ridiculous, but it was cute, was as cute as someone in ferret related distress could be. "No, she'd be a really weird dog if she was one, but this is Susan, she's a striped white ferret, she's thirteen and a half months old, and I'm sorry she attacked you like that, she just gets very excited, I think she might not like the rain, you know? I don't know, you know ferret care would be so much easier if ferrets could talk, like wouldn't that be cool, like if all animals could talk, but like then I'm absolutely six hundred percent sure that all my friends would be animals and I'd have no social life."

"Uhh..." Dan trailed off, unsure as to just how seriously this boy could possibly take his ferret, before going fuck it and continuing regardless, "one question," the boy smiled at him, nodding a little, "why the fuck are you walking a ferret? It's not a dog-"

"Well, actually," he leaned down to stroke the ferret- Susan, and decided just to sit down, facing Dan, who hadn't quite gathered the emotional capacity to get back up again, "ferrets can be leash trained, and some like being able to explore the outdoors, you mean, you wouldn't like it if you were kept in a cage all your life, would you?"

"But I'm not a ferret," Dan continued, laughing a little, still not sure whether this boy was just taking the piss here or not, because seriously, who the fuck was this enthusiastic about ferrets?

"Ferrets are people too!" He protested, looking up at Dan with a pair of insanely beautiful blue eyes: something Dan had been far too distracted by Susan to notice.

"Are they now?" Dan laughed a little more, leaning forward and glancing between Phil and Susan, "Jesus, you're for real, aren't you?"

"Of course I am..." He trailed off, looking a little offended, "if someone bumped into you with a dog would you be questioning their entire existence, no? No, you wouldn't, so why is a ferret any different?"

Dan paused for a moment, shrugging, "guess I've just never seen anyone hold a ferret before, never actually seen a ferret before, actually."

The boy's eyes lit up at that, widening as they met Dan's, "would you like to hold her? Now I promise she doesn't bite-"

"You're asking me if I want to hold you ferret?" Dan exclaimed, still not entirely able to believe the situation.

"Yes." He nodded, as if it was the most normal thing in the world, and perhaps to him it was. Dan considered that for a moment.

"I don't even know your name." He continued, blushing a little, "I mean... I can't hold your ferret without knowing your name, that'd be impolite of me." He paused, taking in the boy's appearance once more, because weird ferret obsession or not, he was cute, and that was that. "I'm Dan."

"Phil," he smiled, picking Susan up and placing her in Dan's lap with very little warning.

"Fuck!" Dan exclaimed, struggling to hold the suddenly very confused ferret without somehow killing her or himself in the process. "If Susan somehow dies in my arms, I am not held responsible, I tell you now-"

Phil reached forward, moving Dan's hands slightly so Susan wasn't suffocating, leaving Dan with this horrible gay tingling feeling as Phil's hands brushed over his - a feeling he tried to ignore, but a feeling he of course failed in doing so. "Don't worry, ferrets can live up to ten years, although the average is eight, and the oldest ferret I've heard of was thirteen, and Susan's only thirteen months, so she's got a while to go, don't worry."

"I was talking about me accidentally killing her or something," Dan laughed a little, looking down at the ferret that he'd somehow found himself with in his arms, "but thanks for the ferret facts." He paused, stroking Susan gently, and finding that petting a ferret was a much less weird experience than he had anticipated, not that he'd really spent a great deal of his life anticipating the sensation of stroking a ferret. "How old are you, by the way? I mean, you told me how old Susan is, but, you?"

"I'm seventeen." Phil replied, "my mum said I couldn't get a ferret at sixteen, like she said they were pets for twelve year olds, but I saw this really cool video online of this ferret like doing a mini olympics, and it was so cool- they can run so fast, but I guess you know that now, since Susan kind of ran into you." Phil paused, realising that perhaps he maybe needed to calm the fuck down about ferrets, "how old are you?"

"I'm sixteen," Dan responded, nodding a little as he found himself petting Susan on the head.

"Not too old to get a ferret, you know?" Phil added, a genuine smile on his face.

"That's... that's good to know." Dan couldn't help himself laughing a little, "not sure I'm as much of a ferret person as you are, I mean, you obviously seem like a natural ferret handler, and I-"

"Oh no, she likes you, I can tell." Phil nodded enthusiastically, pointing to Susan and the way she was held rather pliantly in Dan's lap.

"Oh?" Dan raised his eyebrows, not at all sure what to make of this kind of conversation.

"She would have bitten you by now if she didn't like you-"

"What the fuck!" Dan exclaimed, his eyes widening considerably, "you told me she didn't bite- are you fucking kidding me, take your fucking ferret back, I would like to keep my fingers!" Dan exclaimed, thrusting Susan back towards Phil, who was vaguely amused by the entire situation.

"She only has a little mouth, she won't bite your fingers off, I promise you that." Phil looked down at Susan, stroking her a little, "see, that look in her eyes, she misses you-"

"Does she now?" Dan couldn't quite keep himself from laughing.

"Yeah, Susan has to finish her walk, but I think she- actually, I think we'd like for you to come with us." Phil looked at the sixteen year old: Dan's face in little more than disbelief as he attempted to process what had just been asked of him.

"I've never been invited on a ferret walk before." He admitted, truthfully too, watching as Phil got to his feet and doing the same.

"Well, you know what they say? There's a first time for everything." Phil continued, making sure Susan was held securely in the ferret harness attached to the leash.

Dan just stood there astounded for a few seconds, his cheeks a wonderful shade of pink as he found himself reassessing the absolute fuck out of his life, before realising that he did indeed have absolutely nothing better to do than help a cute guy walk his ferret, as weird and vaguely euphemistic that sounded.

"Well?" Phil asked, looking up at him: all wide eyes and an almost embarrassingly big smile.

"Well, I guess you're right." Dan ran a hand through his hair, "there is a first time for everything. Ferret walking included."

"That's what I thought," Phil said, face complete with a smile as the two began to make their way down the path, with Susan running along in front of them, but try as he might, Dan couldn't quite ever get used to the fact that the thing on the end of that leash was indeed a motherfucking ferret.

"So, do you come here often?" Phil asked, breaking the silence and chancing a glance across in the curly haired boy's direction.

"Not everyday, but pretty often." Dan explained, suddenly feeling at least a thousand times more self-conscious with those unbelievably blue eyes on him, "it's sort of calm and peaceful, if you know what I mean. I come out here to think sometimes, and sometimes to take photos, but I left my camera at home today, which sucks because I really like taking photos in the rain."

"You're a photographer?" Phil's eyes widened with a sudden, perhaps excess of interest. "That's amazing, I'd love to see your stuff- only if you want me to of course, some people are kind of self-conscious about their work, and that's okay, but I'd really love to. I also love the rain too - it's really quite calming, don't you think? Susan doesn't seem to think so though," he glanced down at his ferret with a somewhat disappointed look.

Dan found himself blushing, and turning his head slightly in order to avoid the rather direct nature of Phil's gaze, "I'm not really a photographer, I just like taking photos, and then drawing them too. I really like art, I mean, I'm not excessively brilliant at it, but I'm quite a creative person, I guess. I could show you something, if you want, don't get too excited though, it's nothing extraordinary-"

"Don't put yourself down!" Phil exclaimed, his tone suddenly growing rather serious, "you really shouldn't say that, I'm sure you're amazing."

"How can you be sure about it if you've never seen any of my artwork or photographs?" Dan asked, raising his eyebrows a little.

"I'm probably psychic." Phil added, causing Dan to glance across at him with a slightly widened gaze: unable to quite determine whether he was being serious or not. "What?" He asked, noticing the slight sense of amusement to Dan's expression, "one time when I was seven I had a dream that my cousin's goldfish died, and guess what? He did. Rest in peace, Dorothy-"

"Dorothy? Are you fucking serious?" Dan exclaimed, finding himself laughing again, "a goldfish, called Dorothy."

"Yes." Phil nodded, holding Dan's gaze, "don't disrespect the dead. Goldfish have feelings too. Also, you look like someone who would like the rain, and you do-"

"Actually," Dan raised his eyebrows a little, the corners of his lips twitching up into an awkward half grin: controlled solely by the voice at the back of his head telling him just how stupid it made him look. "I really don't like the rain. I just like taking photos in it. I, personally, am not a fan, sorry rain."

Phil pouted, appearing almost genuinely disappointed, which Dan couldn't help but feel a little guilty about, forgetting momentarily that the boy beside him was in fact, seventeen, and not seven. "I guess I'm not psychic then. But how you could possibly not like the rain? It's just water. I didn't expect you to side with Susan on this, it's two against one, it isn't fair."

"I reckon it's more one and a sixth against one, because I'm not exactly sure that a ferret counts as a whole person, but..." Dan trailed off, shrugging a little, "I mean, mainly it just fucks up my hair," Dan blushed as he suddenly felt Phil's eyes on the curled mess of hair upon his head.

"Your hair looks fine. I don't know what you're talking about." Phil looked a little perplexed by Dan's words; it was both odd, and cute... oddly cute, although Dan was trying his best not to focus on the latter of those two notions.

"I prefer it straight. This is how it is naturally, this big curly mess, but I like to straighten it, it just looks better, believe me, if you saw me with straight hair then you'd understand." Dan insisted, growing just a little less self-conscious of his appearance with time, because although Phil's gaze with consistently focused upon him, it made a point of not being intimidating in nature.

"I like it like that." Phil added, his tone genuine enough to leave Dan surprised in regards to the content of his words, "it looks cute. You should leave it like that."

"You think?" Dan raised his eyebrows to the extent that Phil suddenly found himself rather concerned for the younger boy's forehead. "Like seriously, you're not kidding me right now?"

"Of course I'm not." Phil furrowed his brow, almost as if the notion of him doing the aforementioned was little more than preposterous, which, in his mind, it was.

"Oh..." Dan trailed off, his cheeks burning up, finding himself entirely unsure as to what to think, do, or say in regards to that. "Thank you?"

"You're welcome." Phil smiled, turning away from Dan in order to glance at Susan, who was doing just great, trotting along down the path just a few metres in front of them. "I think I might walk Susan here more often," he added, his words spoken as if they were little more than a verbalised thought from the back of his mind.

"Hmm?" Dan's eyes widening, glancing across at Phil, finding himself perhaps too excited in regards to the notion of seeing Phil, and of course, Susan, again.

"Yeah, I mean, it's quite quiet so Susan doesn't get startled, that's why she was running so fast - she didn't like the cars out on the road, I think they really freaked her out, and that's understandable, because a ferret is tiny compared to a car, and it must be really scary for her, especially since she doesn't know what a car is, don't you think?"

Dan found himself nodding, "yeah, I mean, I go here because it's quiet too."

"Also, it's pretty." Phil continued, gesturing vaguely at the trees around them. "And if we see you again, I'll make sure we don't crash into you. Promise."

Dan smiled, nodding, "yeah, I mean, I might have to make an effort to come out here more often now, I mean, you don't get to see a leash trained ferret everyday, do you?- Well, you do, but... you know what I mean..."

"You might even have to bring your camera next time, I mean, it's not everyday you have a ferret to take photos of." Phil added, his face overtaken by a grin.

"Are you suggesting that I take photos of Susan?" Dan asked, a little taken aback by the idea, but coming from the guy with a ferret on a leash, it did actually seem relatively normal.

"I think, secretly, she's always wanted to be a model." Phil continued, nodding to himself, and glancing down at Susan as if she somehow might have some form of facial response to his words.

"Right..." Dan's eyes widened, laughing a little.

"Don't crush her dreams, Dan, I can tell you for certain she wouldn't laugh at whatever you wanted to do." And Dan didn't even doubt that for a second, because if anyone knew everything about Susan, it was Phil.

"I think that might have something to do with the fact that she's a ferret and she can't speak English." Dan added, raising his eyebrows a little.

"How do you know that, though? If you were a magic English speaking ferret wouldn't you keep it a secret? Because if you didn't you get experimented on and taken away by the government and the F.B.I. and stuff and that doesn't sound very fun." Phil looked down at Susan with an odd degree of concern.

"But would Susan not know how trustworthy you are, because I mean, I have meant well any ferret owners before, but I can't imagine anyone as dedicated as you are."

"Thank you, but no," Phil shook his head at Susan, "she's quite cheeky, she wouldn't let me know, I think she'd just listen in on all my stupid conversations unknowingly, like right now, right now she probably thinks we're idiots."

"And of course, your main concern in life is what your ferret may or may not think of you?" Dan asked, his eyes widened a little.

"Of course." Phil nodded, speaking as if it was blindingly obvious.

"I don't think Susan would be mean about you, though," Dan continued, somehow finding himself talking about Susan in much the same way Phil did.

"Why not?"

"You're just so nice. I don't think anyone could be mean to you."

"Unfortunately, it doesn't quite work like that." Phil let out a sigh, glancing up at Dan, before forcing his expression into a smile, "it's okay, though, because I have Susan and I have you."

Dan's eyes widened at that, before finding himself nodding, perhaps even subconsciously.

"We have to go, but I hope to see you here some time soon," and with that, Phil and Susan made their way down the path that turned out of the streets and back onto the streets, leaving Dan stood there in silence for a good few minutes, struggling to process what had just happened and as to whether Phil was even real.

But he knew he couldn't be making this shit up, and somehow that was the best kind of realisation he'd known.

-

i don't know why i decided to draw the cover it will not happen again i thought it was a quality idea i ended up spending six hours on it and only about two hours on this chapter but its some quality art work so it was probably worth it as long as i don't abandon this fic tbh the cover is my main motivation also i am phan trash but aren't we all, also tbh i just couldn't find a photo of dan with curly hair that fit the aesthetic and i care more for aesthetic than common sense I'm sorry but curly hair dan is very important to me

vote and comment if u agree that i am trash and that this was bad idea because i don't think i even have time for this but u know me always ready 2 ruin my life at every available opportunity so vote and comment if u think it was a gr8 idea too because me rn

no but seriously the cover art is better than my life I'm not sure how i managed that

i lov u guys !!!! fuck knows when this will be updated next !!!!! :) :) :) soon i hope though :)