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phanwithextrafluffontop-blog · 7 years

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Payback

Summary: After playing Dan’s Hello Internet video, Phil has to make sure Dan isn’t upset with him before proposing.

Genre: Fluff, Proposal, Pouty!Dan A bit of angst (wow look I actually branched out for once)

Warnings: Swearing

Word Count: 2, 237

“Hi,”

“My name is… Dan.”

Phil heard about five loud stomps until his boyfriend was standing in the doorway. Phil’s legs tensed up.

“Why in the hell are you playing that?” Dan’s face was completely deadpan. He loathed that video, and he would do anything to stop it from playing. He really wanted to just make it private. Every new view on that video was a new tear in Dan’s heart. At one point, Dan had come so close to taking the video down that he was just a click away from ending his humiliation. In the end, it was Phil who convinced him otherwise.

Usually, in situations like this, Phil would just say he was playing around and turn the video off. But this time, he couldn’t turn it off. He needed it. Why? Because he was planning for his proposal.

Phil knew he had wanted to propose to Dan for at least six months. The problem wasn’t that he was shy, it was that he didn’t know how to do it. He wasn’t exactly the best with words, especially in tense situations, so that made it even harder for him to plan something for his boyfriend.

Finally, after months of brainstorming, Phil had come to a decision. He made videos for a living, so why not use one to propose? He could edit together a few videos of theirs and, viola! A proposal in the making! And Phil knew exactly what video to start with- Hello Internet.

Phil knew he should’ve worn headphones while watching it, but he figured his volume was low enough that Dan wouldn’t hear it playing all the way from the lounge. He was wrong.

“Phil, why?” Dan shortened his original question, hoping it would make it easier for Phil to respond. Phil felt a soft shiver of fear run through his spine. Dan didn’t usually get this mad.

“I was… uh… doing it for a video.” Phil tried to piece together some form of an answer, but he knew the lie wouldn’t work. “Phil, don’t fucking lie to me,” Dan warned while leaning an arm on the back of Phil’s chair. He was furious at this point. Phil knew this video wound Dan up, but he honestly thought he was overreacting. Letting go of his nervousness, Phil calmly got up from his chair, making his eyes level with the other boy’s coffee brown eyes.

“Dan, listen to me,” Phil whispered, lightly placing a hand on Dan’s shoulder. Pulling Dan’s head closer to his, Phil spoke again. “I’m sorry, al-”

“No! Get the fuck off me!” Dan spat, pushing his boyfriend off of him and briskly making his way out of the room. “Dan, wait!” Phil tried to chase after Dan, but he immediately stopped when his boyfriend’s plain white door to his bedroom slammed on his face, quite literally almost hitting his nose. Dan trapped himself in his room. And he stayed there all day.

Phil knew better than to bother Dan. In times like these, it was best to leave him alone for at least the rest of the day. Dan needed some time to cool down, and Phil respected that. However, things heated up once again when it was time for bed.

Dan had secretly grabbed a bowl of cereal for his dinner, and he barely ended up eating it. After placing it back down on his nightstand, he fell asleep without a second thought.

Wearing his cookie monster pajama bottoms, Phil inched Dan’s door open. Noticing Dan was already asleep, he figured he would just slip into Dan’s bed for tonight. They usually slept in Phil’s bed, but Phil could make an exception. Moments after he was settled in, Dan pushed the bare back of his boyfriend so hard that he launched out of his bed onto the dark-carpeted floor. “Dan!” Phil croaked, coughing afterwards. “Get out,” Dan mumbled, turning his back to Phil in bed. Phil turned to leave, until he realized something. He could fight back. “No,” Phil uttered, keeping his back turned to Dan. “I won’t leave.”

Phil winced at the long moment of silence that lingered after he snapped back at Dan. After what seemed like (and was) three minutes, Phil turned around and squinted at the younger boy. The room was completely dark, so seeing was a challenge. But Phil had no difficulty realizing that Dan had fallen asleep.

After debating over what to do for a quick moment, Phil climbed back into Dan’s bed, reaching a hand onto Dan’s bare chest, and taking the sleeping boy’s hand with the other. “My little sleeping angel,” Phil whispered as softly as possible. Moments later, he opened his eyes abruptly at a gentle voice.

“Phiw?” Dan uttered. He was obviously half asleep. “Yeah, bear?” Phil was so pleased he could speak to Dan again. His Dan.

“Why… why would you… play that? The… video?” Dan stuttered, struggling to find any words in such a dreamy state. He sleepily rubbed his face like a young child would. Phil let out a gentle giggle and sighed. “All in good time, my little bear,” He patted Dan’s head. “All in good time.”

Finally waking from his groggy state, Phil sat up from his boyfriend’s plain bed and slowly reached for his glasses. Phil trudged through the hallway and peeked around the door of their kitchen to check if Dan was there. Nope. Expecting to see him in his usual browsing position on his laptop, Phil was surprised when he saw Dan sitting on their couch with the TV on. He was slumped over- obviously not actually watching the nature documentary currently playing.

“Dan?” Phil reluctantly spoke, hoping that Dan would no longer be angry from their fight the previous day. It seemed that Dan was nearly asleep because of his sudden jolt at the call of his name. “Wha- Oh.” He sounded almost disappointed. Dan maintained a completely blank face while staring at Phil. No words. Not yet. Phil felt his leg twitching. If he’s still upset, I… Phil’s mind raced in a million different directions. What if Dan was still mad? Would he not even talk to him? Would he move out? What then? What would happen to his career and his-

“Phil,” Dan stopped Phil’s pounding heart by saying his name. Suddenly, a wide smile grew across his face. Phil had no idea what was going on. Was this whole thing a joke? “Phil, come here!” Dan had to grab Phil’s attention yet again, and this time, instead of debating over what was going to happen next, Phil jumped onto the couch with his boyfriend. Nestling into a warm pillow fort with Dan by his side, Phil could finally relax.

“I’m sorry. I just don’t know what happened to me. I was having a bad day, and the last thing I wanted to do was joke around.” Dan explained his fit to Phil. Nodding his head, Phil spoke in a half-whisper. “You were really salty.” Giggling, he turned to Dan, who was curled up on his left side. Dan rolled his eyes and started to draw his head in closer to Phil’s. Phil got the hint, and they exchanged a few minutes of warm kisses on their cheeks. Phil had gotten past the first hurdle. Now, only a big boulder stood in his way of complete happiness. That boulder, was the proposal.

Watching the video for the probably hundredth time, Phil closed his laptop. His phone buzzed with a text from Dan, or “Danny Boi”, as his contact read. “Be back in a few ❤” Phil sprang from his seat at the desk and hopped down the stairs to their lounge. He couldn’t stop bouncing while turning the television on to show the video he had so very carefully crafted. Was this it? Was it finally time to propose?

Click. A few minutes later, Phil heard the familiar sound of their door closing. He had a final jitter of excitement before he hurried into their kitchen to hide. “They didn’t have the taco kit we usually-” Dan’s groan was quickly cut off by the television blaring a video. “Wha-” Instead of turning into the kitchen, Dan entered the lounge, amused by the programming on TV. What video was playing? The one that started it all- Phil’s Video Blog – 27th March 2006.

Dan let out a loud laugh hearing the beginning of his boyfriend’s first video. He continued laughing until the screen flashed to an image of his old bedroom. Hello Internet started playing. “Phil, I thought we were done with this!” an angry Dan screamed. Phil kept in his chuckle, hoping he wouldn’t reveal his location. Like Phil’s first video, Hello Internet was cut off after Dan said his name. The next video: PINOF 1.

After a few of the best moments of that video of pure phanservice, it cut to the next PINOF. And the next one. Until they reached number eight. At this point, Dan obviously had known something was up, but what came next completely took him by surprise.

The video had cut to one of their many baking videos, but only for a clip of Phil saying I. Next came an AmazingPhil video. Love. The Extinction Race video. You. The screen jumped to many more different videos, each of them saying just a word.

Have

For

A long time

So…

Phil tensed up in the other room. This was the moment. It was finally here. Phil couldn’t explain the intense mix of happiness and nervousness building up inside him. Fighting the strong feeling of panic, he reached his hand into his pocket and grasped his fingers around a small, navy blue box. Nodding his head, he stepped out into the hallway.

Daniel

James

Howell

Will

You

The video cut to black. Phil was kneeling behind Dan. It was all in place. Phil took a deep breath.

“Marry me?” Phil uncertainly asked, nearly dropping the ring box from his shaky hands. Dan turned around, revealing a face full of tears. He could barely speak, let alone answer the most important question of his life. He squealed a soft, “Yes!” while wrapping his arms around Phil. The box flew out of Phil’s now weak hands, but he didn’t care. Squeezing his fiancé with all his might, he couldn’t hold in the tears. He had done it. He had caught the elusive Dan Howell. And he was never letting go.

“Wait, hand me your phone, I think I found it,” Phil uttered as he carefully balanced his tall body over the TV stand. Dan turned on the flashlight and handed his phone over, still uneasy from the events earlier. “No, that’s just the box.” Phil inspected the suede container. No ring. “Did you seriously lose the ring, you spork?” Phil sighed, thinking Dan was upset with him. Until, of course, he looked up and saw the stupid grin on his fiancé’s face. He couldn’t even speak. He just playfully jabbed Dan in the face and continued looking for the ring.

“Phil, just sit down. It’s okay, I don’t mind,” Dan reassured while taking a seat on their grey sofa. “But I-” “Phil.” He knew Dan didn’t really care about him finding the ring, but he still felt like someone was breathing down his neck, pressuring him to locate the gold band.

Phil let out a dramatic sigh while slumping down next to Dan. He was obviously disappointed in himself. The one night he wasn’t supposed to screw up and he did.

Dan leaned his head on Phil’s shoulder and let his heart eyes loose. Phil’s blushing cheeks told it all. He was already feeling better, and he leaned into the cuddle. Reaching his neck over to Dan, he gave him a gentle kiss on the forehead. With that, Dan smiled and closed his eyes. “Ring or no ring, we’re still engaged.” Dan tried to brighten Phil’s thoughts, and Phil appreciated that. He just couldn’t get it out of his head.

“I know, I just-” Phil was cut off by a strong shimmer coming from in between the couch cushions. Like an animal attacking its prey he dove his arm inside the couch. Dan jumped up and watched the boy tear their couch apart. Instead of speaking, Dan just stood there. He knew what had happened.

Phil surrounded the ring by his hand and brought it up from the dark hole it was in. They exchanged a smile and a laugh until Phil got up and stood next to Dan. “Now,” Phil started. “Will you marry me?” yet again, tears formed in Dan’s eyes as he croaked out another joyous, “Yes!”. Phil took Dan’s hand and slid the shining ring on. They were both speechless. Phil was finally happy.

“What next?” Phil asked as he stopped Netflix from playing the next episode of AHS from playing. “Well, I was thinking something on YouTube,” Dan suggested, grabbing the remote from Phil. “Really?” Phil had no idea as to what Dan could possibly want to watch on YouTube, but he went with it anyway. “Yeah, but it’s a surprise, so close ‘em.” Phil sighed and waited with his eyes closed. “What is it?” He asked excitedly. After about a minute, he heard a familiar voice coming from the TV.

“Hello, this is Phil and welcome to my video blog.”

“Payback.”

A/N: Thanks for reading! Sorry it’s been so long since my last update. Things were crazy with Easter (by the way I hope you had a good Easter or whatever you do this time of year) and I wanted to write a longer fic (longer than what I usually write this is really short compared to some). I hope you enjoyed it as I had a good time writing it!

#phan #phanfic #phanfiction #phan fluff #fluff #fanfic #fanfiction #angst #pouty dan #dnp #dan and phil #phan angst #wow my life #what have i done #aaaaahhhhhh

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thedrakontomes · 7 years

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Quizilla

Quizilla was an online community featuring user-generated content from teen authors. Much of its content was quiz fic and reader inserts.

logo from website: "Penny the Pencil Monster"

"Quizilla was first released into the wild on August 4th, 2002." [2]

When fans began to post their fanfic at Quizilla in the form of chapters, the site added a section for fiction.

In September 2014, Quizilla announced it was shutting down on October 1.

A similar site is Quotev.

What Was Quizilla?

From its website in 2005:

Quizilla is a place to imagine, create and share great content. It started out, as the name suggests, as a place to make, take and share the results of quizzes. In its over 3 year life, it has grown beyond just quizzes. It now is a leading home on the Web for stories, poems and other user generated content. Whether you want to create, take and share quizzes, a personal journal, write poems, stories, create and share games and more. Quizilla has it all. It represents and embodies the heartbeat of today's teen spirit. [3]

The Beginning: An Announcement

Its creator announced his site on August 4, 2002:

What a concept.

A September 2, 2002 post:

Few things are more gratifying than watching HTTP_REFERER logs run past with tail(1). It's quit a cool thought to be sitting here and having people use something I made. And they keep using it, so they must actually *like* it. Wow.

From the FAQ page in 2005:

Where did you get the idea for Quizilla? The ides for Quizilla came to me when I was looking at ideas for expressing complex data structures in XML. I was mulling around the idea of a standardized format for quizzes and other things and I decided to make some CGI code to automate the idea for me. Then I decided to build more complex display layers around that core, and then I added user accounts, messages and everything else you see now. [6]

Some Stats

2003: A year after its launch, Quizilla had over 330,000 users with above 9 Million pageloads a day and more than 50 Million images used on the site. [7]

September 2005: It has 40 servers. [8]

2005: "On an average weekday Quizilla serves nearly 3.0 million pages, most of these involving CGI code and database access. This figure does not include images, which can often surpass 10 million daily... If you go to the homepage of Quizilla.com, you will see some basic stats in the center blue bar at the top of the page. On most days over 1,000,000 quizzes are taken, 5,000 new quizzes are created and up to 2,000 people join the site as new members." [9]

2007: Some forum stats from an unknown month in 2007: threads: 47,098, posts: 4,888,270, members: 184,705,active Members: 1,381, most users ever online was 673 on November 11, 2006

Follow the Money

Regarding costs and advertising:

All Internet advertising is evil, and you're just doing this to make money off the work of others! Some people think that, and maybe they would even be right to think that from a cursory perspective. People think that because they got 10 MB of free web space with their dial-up accounts that every Web site in the world should be free because theirs is. However, the unpleasant truth is that a site of any large size costs money to run, money to maintain, and money to expand.

Also see this 2007 post and comments: A look at some fandom based money numbers; archive link, partly bouncy, June 25, 2007

Bought Out and Changed

On October 16, 2006, Viacom's MTV Networks (Teen Nick) announced it had bought Quizilla for an undisclosed sum of money. [11]

After selling to TeenNick the site went from a free writing site to a PG rated site. Due to the sudden changes, a lot of the users' work was deleted, which caused a large number of people to abandon the site.

In 2014, Nielsen wrote about this:

I found out about this about a month ago via Twitter and I’ve been meaning to write something about it but could never find the right words. I hadn’t been involved with the day-to-day operation since middle/late 2009; when the economy tanked, Viacom laid off or reassigned all staff Quizilla developers. They didn’t lay me off since I was a contract employee with no guaranteed hours, but they basically said they weren’t going to give me any more work to do. As the site went to hell I tried to keep up with the dwindling number of people I still knew inside Viacom/MTV Networks. At first they had one sysadmin and a couple of "community managers” still maintaining the site. Then they dropped the sysadmin and went to one community manager with some interns. The last time I reached my fingers in, Q2 2014, I was told all that was left was someone’s AA answering the support email part-time. I didn’t expect them to axe it, actually. It was still bringing in enough page-views to turn a profit (I assume), especially since they basically had no staff. But there may have other been factors at play we don't know about, like potential liability. I haven’t heard from anyone as to why it was killed specifically. I’m sad it’s gone, but it in a big way it had died years ago but just hadn’t stopped moving. I've tried to restart/reimagine the site at least 5 times since 2009, but my own faults have smothered all my attempts all in the cradle.

Regarding the Citrus Content

A fan in 2014 asked a Reddit forum:

I wonder if teenage girls new to fan fiction know that term, or if it's specific to people who discovered fan fiction on sites like Quizilla and fanfiction.net that technically forbid pornographic scenes so teens came up with terms like lemons to get around the filters but let others know what was going down in their fanfic. [14]

xunker/Nielsen replied:

No bones about it, Quizilla had a problem with that kind of content. I dutifully removed it when it was reported or automatically flagged, but if nobody reported it or they used words I didn't know about, well.. let's just say that I, 24 years old at the time, was regularly being outsmarted by 14-year-olds. I think I learned what it meant when someone sent me a message asking me to "please get rid of all these lemon stories!" Thankfully, when I naively asked them what they didn't like about that particular citrus fruit they explained it all to me. Thus, an arms race started: when I started automatically flagging quizzes if the title contained "lemon", they switched to "L3m0n". Then to "nomel", "lemonade", "limon", "lémón" and a dozen others I can't remember anymore.

Why Was This Format Popular for Fanworks?

In 2014, a fan at

asked:

To this day I still don't understand why people would write fanfiction on a site whose specific purpose is quizzes when there are fanfiction-specific sites around! Why would you want your fanfiction cluttered up with question numbers and checkboxes and submit buttons? When it wasn't even a choose your own adventure story? [16]

xunker, the site's creator, replied:

However, that being said, they're one of the biggest reasons Quizilla stayed around for as long as it did. Quizzes were fun, and people would spend hours taking them but not many people wanted to spend the time to make a really good quiz. But stories... people would gladly spend weeks writing stories and building their little worlds. Part of me thinks that the users didn't really understand the quiz mechanism and so they thought it was a choose-your-own-adventure-type thing but it really wasn't. Or maybe they did, but just in a different way that I don't realize. A big reason, in the beginning, was the laissez-faire attitude toward customization. Early on, the users figured out how to put CSS and JS in to quizzes and the system fully accepted it, unlike many other user-generated-content sites at the time.

Penny the Pencil Monster!

Comments by Nielsen:

From the site's FAQ, around 2003 and again, in 2005: "That logo, the No. 2 with green arms and legs, is "Penny" the Quizilla pencil monster. When the site first launched I needed a logo to identify the site quickly, but I have no artistic skill when it comes to drawing. Instead, I loaded up a graphics program and clicked out a peculiar little image dot by dot in super zoom mode. It's not very good, but I've grown attached to it." [18]

From Nielsen's online journal, January 2, 2008: "Big things are happening at the old Quizilla site, most of which are really due and I'm excited for, though with this new message posted there are more than a few complaints. My favourites? Look for all the people complaining about the loss of the Pencil Monster.. the logo I did in 20 minutes with the Gimp oh so long ago." -- The Pencil is mightier.. - xunker, Archived version </ref>

Comments by fans:

"Whoever created Penny the pencil monster was a genius." [19]

"I pretty much blame the way I grew up on this little monster..." [20]

a fan commemorates "Penny the Pencil Monster" -- "If you remember the old days on quizilla then this is a familiar mascot that they should not have gotten rid of which is by far one of the best mascots ever." [21]

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