***
As Dan sits opposite his mother in the living room, he feels his phone vibrate in his pocket.
Mum: how was your day?
Dan: it was good. I made some friends
This is a regular routine for Dan and his family, as he can't speak, texting is the next best thing, because Dan doesn't have to write it out and waste tonnes of paper, and it's quick, almost like talking, but not quite.
Mum: that's good! When can I meet them?
Dan: I only met them today mum. :/
Mum: sorry Daniel, there's some food in the fridge if you need it, glad you had a good day. :)
Dan: thanks mum, and me too.
Dan hauls himself off the sofa before walking to the fridge where his brother has obviously ransacked it, damn him. Why'd that kid eat so much? And of course, he only ate all the decent tasting food in the house, leaving Dan with only his mother's healthy shit.
Dan sighs and manages to find a muesli bar hidden in the back of the cupboard along with a packet of chips. Dan takes them to his room, tearing open the chips while he sits on his bed, opening his laptop and opening all his favourite websites.
This is Dan's favourite part of the day, where he doesn't have to feel bad about not being able to talk. Dan has quite a few semi popular accounts on tumblr, Twitter and Instagram, and spends too much of his time watching YouTube, something he'd like to try if it wasn't for his inability to speak.
Dan loves the online world because he has so many friends there, people who don't judge him. Online, Dan has as much of a voice as everyone else.
Later that night, Dan's phone lights up with a text from his only other friend apart from the potential ones he met today.
Connor: hey Daniel what's up.
Connor: I just realised something!
Connor: YOU HAVE THE SAME MIDDLE NAME AS HARRY POTTER!!
Dan: are you high?
Connor: hey, I know you're a giant but there's no need to offend my height.
Connor: you know I'm short, which means no, I'm not high.
Dan: sometimes, I question your sanity.
Connor: sometimes, I question you ability to recognise brilliant humour.
Dan: touché.
Connor: we are not fencing dan. -_-
Dan: wow, please excuse me whilst I bang my head against a wall for a few minutes.
Connor: my jokes aren't that bad.
Dan: ...
Connor: eh, I just had coffee so...
Dan: it's like, 8pm dude...
Connor: I know but I wanted some cause while I was scrolling through Instagram, it felt like something was missing beside me.
Dan: I'll have to find you a coffee support group.
Dan: and you were high on caffeine. Boom.
Connor: shut up.
Dan: I started at a new school today
Connor: coooooool. Was there any dickheads I have to fly over and intimidate with my massive biceps?
Dan: what biceps? And no, this school was different. So many people were really nice.
Connor: I work out all the time. And that's great!
Dan: I know. How's your school going? eating plenty of McDonald's?
Connor: great and just bc I'm American does not mean I love McDonalds.
Dan: have you had McDonald's recently?
Connor: ... Shut up and drink your tea and eat your fish and chips.
Dan: gladly. When you see Ronald McDonald at your next family reunion, tell him I say hi :D
Connor: -_-
Connor: you're such a great friend.
Connor: sorry I have to go dan, Tyler is here and we're gonna go shopping, there's heaps of sales on tonight!
Dan: ok bye, watch out for any clowns by the name of Ronald.
Connor: why are you my friend?
Dan: because I'm hilarious.
Connor: whatever. Bye nerd :)
Dan smiles as he puts his phone on charge on his desk across the room, setting an alarm for school the next day for, ugh, 6:34 a.m. Dan always sets his alarms for weird times, so he can get a few extra minutes in bed, or have a few extra minutes to wake himself up.
Dan wriggles under his covers, opening his laptop again and plugging in earphones, playing music as he scrolls through the murky depths of tumblr. He knows he'll regret this tomorrow, but he's gotten too far into the habit of staying up late. At 12:04, Dan finally shuts his laptop and rolls over, sighing happily as he closes his eyes, not entirely dreading school the next day.
***
BURMMMMP, BHUUERTEM, MEEERRRP.
Dan's alarm was going off. Even though alarms were supposed to beep, Dan's alarm just seemed to make annoying, indecipherable sounds. Dan groans, rolling out of bed and switching off his alarm. He sits back on the edge of his bed and groans, rubbing his sleepy eyes, his hair tangled and in need of straightening.
Dan flicks a quick text to Connor, saying good morning before he pulls on a jumper and starts down the stairs.
After eating a bowl of cereal and showering, Dan runs his mum's straightener through his fringe and then opens his messy closet. Majority of his clothes were black, but he owned a couple of other coloured shirts. After pulling on a pair of well worn, black skinny jeans, a black t shirt and a grey jumper which has a hood with ears.
He runs downstairs, where his mum and brother are waiting in the car as Dan runs out, locking the front door behind him. My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I roll my eyes when I see the text.
Connor: it is not a good morning when you get woken up from your heavenly sleep by your phone.
Dan: not my fault time zones exist.
After dropping Dan's brother at the junior school, Dan gets out of the car, waving to his mum before walking back into the school gates, not knowing what to expect or do.
"Daniel James Howell!" A familiar voice cries, and Dan turns to come face to face with Phil, his eyes shining under his black fringe.
Dan smiles at Phil with a mixture of relief and confusion, feeling slightly creeped out about how Phil knows his full name when he never told him it. Phil seems to catch on to this, grinning easily back at Dan as he tugs him towards a table.
"Oh, Alfie told us your full name, from that writing thing you did with him. We all wanted to do that with you at break, if that's okay with you, but it's okay if it isn't." Phil rambles, smiling at him.
Dan smiles awkwardly at Phil, nodding saying that it's okay to do that.
"Dan, I know you can't talk, and also, I've been told you had a rough past, sorry, I know it's not my business to know that, but I have a friend who used to go to one of your past schools and he told me about you, and I'm sorry that happened to you, but I promise in your last few years of school, we will all do our best to make sure you enjoy it." Phil says, smiling widely at him, "we're friends right? Well, you can't really tell me otherwise anyway, so that's probably why we're friends. But I just want to say, you're stuck with me, and I don't care that you can't talk, because you haven't taped my mouth shut yet and that's a good start."
Dan smiled gratefully at Phil, slightly weirded out that he asked about him, but also happy because Phil had cared enough to ask. As much as Phil seemed to annoy him by talking constantly, Dan found it relieving too, because there was no silences which he was incapable of filling.
Dan smiled as he just sat there, Phil and his friends surrounding him, laughing, joking, but never forgetting Dan was there, even without his voice, they always included Dan. Dan had always felt like he was too tall, so he always stooped a lot, but Phil was almost as tall as him, and Joe wished he was tall. The people here see,ed to see the positive sign of Dan, teaching him to embrace his flaws instead of despising them.
For once in his life, everything was going right for Dan, he just hoped he wouldn't screw it up like he screws everything else up.
*********
AN: thanks so much for reading so far! I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please check out my new book as well, it's a Dan fic :) I'll try to update soon. Please vote and comment if you enjoyed it!! :D