i can totally see your point, and that does make sense, when you don't fully consider the nature of their audience. when you see how people act now, about every single moment and touch and move they make, i can't imagine how far people would go if it were confirmed. all anyone (as an estimated whole, not literally) would care about anymore would be the relationship, not simply dan and phil.sans wrote:I'm super new to the phandom so excuse me if this seems crazy but would it be the end of the world if they--just-- said the truth? IF they are together, all this charade and covering up and vagueness just seems like a burden for them. I feel like since they've already done the whole 'no homo' 2012 thing they are in too deep to just come out and say that they are together, and it would imply that they gasp lied to their audience but wouldn't their life be so much simpler? Then they could push the whole phan thing to the side and concentrate on being creative and making content.
That's ofc making a bunch of assumptions about them, and I do think they are 100% entitled to their privacy and might have other reasons to keep the nature of their relationship as vague as possible but sometimes I can't help but feel that hey must be paranoid all the time
Anyhow, I just want them to be relaxed and feel safe in their own home, so if this whatever it is they are doing, staged bedrooms or not is how they achieve that, I'm on board
I'm rambling again, excuse me
instead of just yelling about a hand touch, they'd be constantly asking for more "phan moments" little lovey dovey words, touches, kisses, etc. "boyfriend tag! real backstory!" instead of theorizing when they touched, there'd be theories about when they didn't-- was there a falling out? are they going to break up? dan's also touched on how awkward it is when youtube couples break up in the past, and i can't help but keep that in the back of my head. if (god forbid) something ever did happen, it would be a lot harder to soften the blow of "we're breaking up" after they finally told us everything, rather than pretending it's just a natural distancing of friends as people do. (leaving the assumption to be either "they broke up" for super phans or simply "they never were" for non-believers. both being rough guesses without any real clarity, and heartbreaking all the same because of their bond)
i think, after they saw how people acted when it was lowkey but not necessarily hidden, in the beginning, they got a lot more cautious to make sure they were still seen as separate people and not only watched because of a relationship. they know that we would be accepting, but they've already witnessed that we can be too accepting, ala 2012 dan answering asks about how their "relationship" is okay whether they're together or not. we are a nosy and intrusive fandom, and they are very aware of this.
the short answer is, they don't want it to define them. whether they're together or not, is still currently a hypothetical, and i think that's probably safer for them in the end.
EDIT: and my giant rambling rant is at the top of a page (help me jesus)