My Neighbors the YouTubers (A danisnotonfire and AmazingPhil fanfiction)

Chapter 35: The Visit

*Rachel POV*

"Yeah." "Mhm." "Mhm means yes." I rolled my eyes. "No, I'm sorry." "Okay." "Well, I'm glad you'll be coming." "No, I'm not worried." "I really sound worried?" "I'm not, I promise." "See you in a few days." "...love you too." "Bye."

"Who was that?" Dan asked. He looked up at me, from where I was previously sitting.

I stared into his eyes for a while, trying to come up with a good answer to what I had to say. There was a long pause.

"Rachel?"

"It was my mom."

"Oh, it's been a while, hasn't it?" Dan smiled and took my hand that wasn't holding a phone.

"...Yeah." What I was about to tell him wasn't good.

"What's wrong?" He gently moved around my fingers in his palm.

I felt my hand let go of his, feeling numb and cold. "She's coming here for Christmas."

"And why's that bad?"

"My mom's kinda..." I swallowed, collecting words together in my head, "Particular about what she wants for my life."

"Does she know about me?"

"...No."

I looked over at him, his face suddenly dropping with sadness, his eyes moving to the floor.

"I'm sorry. You're a lovely person. I'm not embarrassed about you one bit. Why would I be? Being your fangirl for so long? It's just... She doesn't approve of the whole 'YouTube as a job thing'. She's always wanted me to have a good 'real job' and be with someone with one too. I don't think she'll approve of you."

"No, I'm sorry, okay? I'm stupid. My mum's always supportive of me. My whole family actually. And I wish you had the same." He took my hand again and squeezed it gently.

"Thanks. I just... Didn't wish it was this way."

"Well, we can't change things, but I'm going to be good enough for you. I'll make her see that. I'll be the exception."

I held back tears in my eyes, refusing to let them go. "Thank you, Dan."

He smiled warmly at me.

...

He let my hand slip out of his. "And you're sure you don't want me to go with you?"

"I'm sure," I swallowed and looked into his eyes, seeing his concerned expression. "If I didn't go alone, she'd say I was too dependent on others. Which might be true, but... I'm fine. I've got this. I'll see you for dinner." Afterwards, I noticed how upset I sounded just after I said it. I wanted to sound confident, but it didn't work out that way.

"Dan?"

"Yeah," he paid attention closely to what I was saying, looking at my whole face.

I paused for a minute, taking in how close he felt right at the moment. I tried to breathe. His closeness made me nervous, but I didn't want it to.

"And Dan.. I know she might not approve of you. There's little chance she will approve you. But Dan, please don't stop being you. Don't try and impress her, okay? Leave her to me."

He squeezed my hand gently, "Alright."

"Thank you, Dan," I slid my hand out of his.

As I walked away, I turned and saw him sitting on my sofa, looking at the wall as if waiting for something to happen. He caught my look and followed after me. I shut the door behind us. I looked at him one more time, and then he disappeared into his flat.