Completed Chaptered (8) Masterlist
part one, part two, part three, part four, part five, part six, part seven
A month of almosts (ao3) - NiniMeggie
Summary: Phil Lester bumps into (literally) Dan Howell, a smaller YouTuber that he recognizes, on the rainy streets of London on the first of December. As the month progresses Phil finds himself spending more and more time with Dan, and wonders if that nervous feeling in his stomach is what he thinks it is. Will he be ringing in the New Year single yet again, or will this maybe actually turn into... something worth keeping.
All or Nothing (ao3) - phansauce97
Summary: On the surface, it looked like Dan and Phil had everything they could ever want. Sure, some things had changed, but everything still appeared to be pretty perfect - to the Internet, at least. Dan and Phil had incredible YouTube careers and had toured around the world, Dan had successfully raised his daughter despite having her so young, was still best friends with his daughter's mother even though they were no longer in a relationship, Phil also had wonderful relationships with them both, and now...Dan was engaged. To a woman named Heather. Beautiful, charming, good with Dan's daughter, but something just...wasn't right. Or maybe that was just Phil's jealousy talking. The day of the wedding though, Phil is approached by Dan's daughter with a secret about Dan, and as a result, there's a pretty good chance that everything is going to start falling apart. Luckily...Phil is a pretty good confidant.
and if i don't see ya... (ao3) - crepebyradiohead
Summary: philâs life is a tv show, and heâs the only one who doesnât know. danâactor, fan, hot for a badly dressed bottle blondâauditions for a leading role. this goes about as well as dan howell + reality tv stardom could possibly go.
being alive (ao3) - 1j9w8n8
Summary: Dan and Phil acted together in one school production, where Dan developed a one-sided crush. Years later, they come back together to plan a farewell concert for their mentor as she retires.
Between Ballads and Bouquets (ao3) - proudsnackeezowner
Summary: They work for weddings, Dan as a pianist and Phil as a florist.
By Definition (ao3) - obscuringmirror
Summary: By definition, Dan Howell is not mentally well. Heâs slowly losing hope and realizing that heâs not capable of having a ânormalâ life with the list of mental disorders that suffocate his will to live.
Honestly, Dan isnât sure if itâs really worth it to try and survive.
Until Phil Lester involuntarily steps into Danâs life and by Philâs definition, Danâs more than worth it.
Case File: Us vs. Them (ao3) - vividaway
Summary: Dan Howell built his career on winning. So when heâs assigned to a lawsuit against Phil Lester, a creator accused of breaking contracts, it should be easy.
Companions Through Life (ao3) - phriendlyghost
Summary: What happens when you realise you need to come out but your feelings for your best friend and roommate of ten years get in the way.
Or, the process between writing "Basically I'm Gay" and releasing the video (plus some more).
Do heroes die in their sleep? A ballada disidenta (ao3) - queerbonafide
Summary: Dan and Phil study together at the University of PoznaĹ. The atmosphere of global crisis means that they have to deal with many issues. Dan begins to discover himself and at all costs he wants to protect Phil from catastrophic times they have to live in.
downtown lights (ao3) - teethmotif
Summary: a story about the healing power of gay love and a great cup of coffee
Even in Dreams, It Was You (ao3) - Lovetoinfinity
Summary: At the academy, Dan Howell is famously impossible to date. He turns down every advance with the same answer: he just isnât interested.
The truth is harder to explain. For years, Dan has lived another life in his dreams. One where heâs already fallen in love with someone he canât remember when he wakes up. Then Phil Lester transfers into his course. And suddenly things start to feel⌠familiar.
(Or: the strangers-to-lovers / dream soulmate AU that no one asked for, but I wrote anyway because I wanted it.)
First Impressions (ao3) - rianawr
Summary: A young, wealthy artist moves down the street. Phil canât get his rude, arrogant friend out of his mind.
A Pride and Prejudice modern retelling, but itâs Phan. Phride and Phrejudice, if you will.
I Don't Need Your Pity. (ao3) - M3ll0n1_v0n_Harm0ny
Summary: Phil Lester is a radio host at BBC Radio 1. One day he walks a different route and stumbles over Dan - a homeless busker. The next day, however, Phil gets assaulted by a couple of junkies and is saved by Dan.
I knew you'd come back to me (ao3) - solarpower21
Summary: Dan almost dies and wakes up in a universe where he and Phil broke up in 2012.
I Was ALWAYS Him (ao3) - vividaway
Summary: Dani Howell has spent twenty four years almost fitting. She is close enough to be seen,
but never close enough to be real. There is a version of her the internet loves, and there is a version of herself that can't stand her own reflection. His own reflection.
It started quietly, and now, it's a life that begins to feel stolen.
i won't break your heart if you can break my spell (ao3) - red-string-of-phate (milo_greyby)
Summary: October, 2009: Dan is meeting Phil for the first time tomorrow. He just has to get through this night.
i'm like a lawyer (me & you) (ao3) - golbrocklovely
Summary: Dan is 32, working as a paralegal while still in school to become a lawyer, and closeted. On a trip to Vegas, he gets incredibly drunk and blacks out, not remembering much other than a blond man and Elvis. A month goes by, and in the mail arrives the surprise of his life.
A marriage certificate. Signed by Dan.
His ex boyfriend from over a decade ago.
If You Ain't Mine Baby, Then Whose? (ao3) - homegrownlesbian
Summary: Phil works at a dyke bar in London. Dan is a divorced transbian who likes to visit dyke bars in London. Phil likes her quiet, modest life, and she's not really dating right now - especially not customers! Especially not rich ones. Dan is guarded, moneyed, and lonely. She's not looking for a relationship - they're nothing but trouble.
Of course, nothing ever goes according to plan.
keeping score (ao3) - phouseinnebraska
Summary: Phil has loved film for his whole life. He loves the idea of making anything beautiful in the right light, from the right angle. He is finally getting ready for his first major movie, when just before filming begins, his film scorer drops out of the project. Scrambling to find a new musician who will be willing to work for such little pay on his low budget film, Phil finds Dan Howell, a talented aspiring musician in need of work with a complicated past and beautiful brown eyes.
Let's Think of Something Better (ao3) - EverythingIsAsItWas
Summary: Dan Howell has no direction in life. No real friends, a job he hates, and suppressing a huge part of his identity, the end of summer 2009 is looming.
Then, he begins to see a boy in reflections, a boy with black hair and blue eyes he swears he could swim in. And then his entire world falls apart at the seams.
Like a Bowl of Oranges (ao3) - cloej88
Summary: Dan has built a solid career for himself as a ghostwriter. He safely hides behind other peopleâs words, crafting their tales and pocketing the cash without any threat of notoriety. But lately he has been working on a book of his own, itching for a change.
Phil is an indie filmmaker who happened into some huge breaks over the last few years. He wants to use his influence to uplift queer stories for the screen, so he puts out an open call for story submissions. At his agentâs behest, Dan submits his story.
The writer!Dan and director!Phil friends/co-workers to lovers AU that we never knew we needed.
Maybe you are heaven (ao3) - Loo987
Summary: A seminarian has his quiet life turned upside down by the arrival of a new, chaotic novice, but this is the most fun he ever had.
Merry and Bright (ao3) - Celeste (artificialmac), peachlessroomba
Summary: Dan Howell, a semi-successful contributor and one-time model for Attitude magazine is, by all accounts, struggling. So when one of his oldest friends calls with the promise of familiarity and warmth in exchange for help running their hometown community theaterâs production of Itâs a Wonderful Life, Dan agrees without a second thought. But the past has a way of resurfacing, and it seems like everywhere Dan turns, there is Phil Lesterâhis old almost-lover, now the local weatherman.
My Sanctuary, You're Holy to Me (ao3) - skygremlin
Summary: Sister Daniel isn't very good at being a nun, but she's stuck living in a convent because she's got no other plans. The church needs a new priest for Sunday mass, and the responsibility falls on her to meet him for the first time. Will he see through her false devotion?
Sister Daniel/Father Philip convent au (Sister Daniel's origin story)
Nothing like Notting Hill (ao3) - Strawggle
Summary: Phil lives a simple life in his familyâs bookstore. He doesnât have big dreams, his friends and his little bit of stability are enough for him. Until one day, Hollywood star Daniel Howell happens to walk into his bookstore by chance. And from that moment on, nothing is ever the same again.
our lips must always be sealed (the night has reached its end) (ao3) - postapologetic
Summary: Two years ago, Dan fled across the Atlantic to leave his home and trauma behind. When he decides to return home over Christmas, he finds himself stuck in Chicago during a snowstorm, where he meets a disarmingly charming stranger. But how much can one person change your life in thirty-six hours?
Panoramic View (ao3) - Maiwe44
Summary: Dan has a very uneventful life, by choice. He works his dream job as the host of a music show at a local radio station. That is, until one day, Dan receives a cryptic message threatening him with a curse of bad luck, which he completely ignores, being the sceptic that he is. Thatâs when the TikTok tarot influencer and âmysticâ AmazingPhil crashes into his life, reading his cards (much to Danâs disbelief) and offering his (unwanted) help.
But once the effects of the curse start to become too dangerous, Dan has no choice but to accept Philâs help and welcome him into his life, along with his cards, crystals and magic spells, and they need to work together to uncover the truth about Danâs curse and Philâs birth prophecy.
Play A Song For Me (ao3) - caitthecrate
Summary: Dan Howellâs summer is no different from any other, except for the fact that heâs due to start university at the end of it. With only two weeks left, heâs found himself on the precipice of a depressive episode. Heâs following his passion in music, something heâs ached to do since forever, and yet there is still so much missing from his life.
Phil Lester just so happens to suck at one particular boss of a video game, and needs whatever help he can get. So, he does what heâs never done before: he sends an unsolicited message to a complete stranger online in the hopes of receiving the advice heâs looking for.
Precious Little Things (ao3) - Strawggle
Summary: Phil is an optimist who believes that everything will eventually work out; Dan believes in nothing and is in constant self-punishing despair
Drawn together despite their differences, they must face an impossible question: can love survive when two people are moving in opposite directions?
punctuation in the rain (ao3) - orphan_account
Summary: Dan never meant to meet anyone at Louiseâs party.
All rain-damp hair and easy smiles, and suddenly the night felt different. What begins as awkward small talk turns into something that lingers, even after the rain stops.
Pushing It Down And Praying (ao3) - christianpuppetshow
Summary: Dan is tired of fucking strangers. He realises he had it all with Phil. They meet again ten years later, but is it too late?
Quiet Desperation (ao3) - drvcos
Summary: The past has a way of catching up to Phil.
Safe Spaces (ao3) - TazzySnow
Summary: In a fucked up alternate universe where Dan never stalked Phil on Twitter, he never found his safe space. Filled with self-hatred and internalized homophobia, he's spent the last fifteen years hiding in dangerous places. Until his safe space finds him.
starlight (i will be chasing) (ao3) - DollMew
Summary: Phil moves in a few blocks away from Dan, and suddenly his world is turned upside down by a pair of bright blue eyes and one really honest heart.
Steel Wool (ao3) - Poodle_spit
Summary: Two princes uniting two kingdoms through marriage sounds good on paper.
When Phil is sent to the country of Berkshire to marry Prince Daniel, He honestly rather get mauled by a bear. Dan never asked for this, he never asked for any of this.
Phil is subsequently thrown into a world very different from his own. With his friend PJ along for the ride, they are trying not to let this hell pit break their spirits.
Dan is a good example of what that looks like.
Everything is terrible, but what can he say? There were far worse people to endure this with.
Still, It's Always You (ao3) - Celineooks
Summary: Ghost AU and the inevitability of "In every universe"
stop the world (ao3) - purpurussy
Summary: An AU where they never met in 2009, and Dan became a 33-year-old depressed lawyer living a secret double life as his marriage and career fall apart.
That is, until Phil shows up...
The Death of Our Star (ao3) - queerbonafide
Summary: Dan Howell has always wanted to be an astronaut. As soon as he graduated, the strange message from the deep space has arrived. As one of the most talented pilots of his generations, he's been chosen to this two-people mission with the purpose of finding out who exactly tried to communicate with them. The second person was Phil Lester, an incredible scientist with PhD in theoretical physics and amazing specialist in black holes.
The Knight of Wands (ao3) - ddphan
Summary: Phil's POV of the events in heartbeat in my floor, in which his stalker is a really hot emo guy and Phil just wants to wind him up and watch him go.
The Philver Scream (ao3) - UnorthodoxSavvy
Summary: While Dan's career in the FBI is taking off, Phil is left behind to pick up the pieces of his life after his brother's death. However, he finds himself plagued by strange nightmares that he can't explain. Soon, people around him start dying. Can Dan and Phil's partnership survive the mounting body count?
The town lost in time (ao3) - Asoftdaniel
Summary: the small town love story, healing old scars and helping each other through grief, but with an added twist.
wait, is this fucking book about us? (ao3) - noxhsw
Summary: Dan is a depressed lawyer, Phil is a sad romance author. They meet when they're stranded at an airport, thinking they'll never see each other again. But when Phil writes a book about their encounter, Dan wants to meet him once more.
What a huge mistake (we should have done it earlier) (ao3) - Strawggle
Summary: Dan has just arrived in Manchester to study law, he's lost, lonely, and unsure where he belongs.
Then he meets Phil. Something sparks between them⌠and then nothing.
They become inseparable, but strictly platonic: soulmates who never cross the line.
At least, not until one moment changes everything.
you've got stars (i've got scars) (ao3) - AllTheNightSky
Summary: Dan is a struggling university dropout with no money, no plans, and no future. He desperately needs a way to keep from losing his flat and his T, but he doesn't have the time or resources to find a better job. Not a real job, anyway.
In a world where vampires can pay humans to serve as blood banks, Dan makes a choice. Maybe it'll kill him. Or maybe... no, it'll definitely kill him.
