#gettingtogther

Phil looks over when he hears footsteps, and sees one of his usual customers walk into the library, drenched in rain. It’s been storming all evening, with lightning and thunder going off every once in a while. It causes a slow day, not that Phil is complaining. That’s why Phil became a librarian, because it’s quiet, and gives him a chance to spend time with his books. He doesn’t deal with nearly as many people.

But, the curly brown haired boy who comes in every day is one person Phil doesn’t mind seeing.

“Not even the rain could keep you away, huh?”

Dan startles at the sudden voice, and he looks over at Phil, before his cheeks turn bright pink, suddenly feeling embarrassed. “I, uh, I just got bored at home… you know? I-”

“It’s okay,” Phil chuckles softly. “You don’t owe me any explanation. Besides, not saying it’s a bad thing.”

Dan grins. “Yeah, from the looks of it, it kind of seems like you could use some company,” he says, taking his bag off his shoulder. He walks over and sets his bag on one of the tables.

“Yeah, it’s been slow today. I mean, not that that’s a bad thing for me,” Phil confirms with a nod. “But also, any sane person would stay home during a thunderstorm.”

“I’m not what you would call sane,” Dan retorts, trying to make a joke.

“Clearly,” Phil replies, a small smirk playing on his lips.

Dan scowls at that, and decides to ignore Phil’s comment then. He pulls two books out of his bag and he walks up to the counter. “I’d like to return these books,” he says.

“You finished these already? You just checked them out two days ago,” Phil says as he takes the books.

“Well, I mean, you can’t really be surprised I finished them already with the amount of time I’m in this damn library,” Dan replies, shrugging his shoulders. “I actually read my books, unlike most other people who probably just check them out and then forget them.”

“Fair point,” Phil agrees, nodding. “Did you enjoy the books at least?”

“I enjoyed them,” Dan confirms, smiling. “Now I just need to find some other books to read.”

“Well, if you need any help… you know where to find me,” Phil says, grinning up at Dan.

“Thanks,” Dan says, before walking back over to his claimed table. He sits down and pulls out his airpods as well as his phone, turning on his playlist made specifically for when he’s at the library. Quiet and calm, peaceful music that he can listen to when he’s either studying, doing homework or just simply reading.

Dan spends a bit of time doing his homework that’s due tomorrow for his English class. He’d completely forgotten about it and now he’s stuck doing it at the last minute.

The storm is getting heavier outside, causing the lights to flicker on and off.

Dan debates on whether or not he should start heading home, but it’s pouring rain outside and Dan doesn’t feel like getting drenched again. But, he has no clue when it’s supposed to stop raining.

Dan sighs quietly as he stares out the window, watching the rain, anxiety slowly coming through.

“I’m worried the power will go out before the library closes,”

Dan startles, and he looks over to see the librarian standing beside him. “The power?”

“Yeah,” Phil nods. “The lights were flickering on and off earlier. If the power goes out, we’ll be stuck.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that earlier?” Dan groans. “I can’t walk in this rain!”

“You walked here? Are you mad?” Phil exclaims, before shaking his head. “You can ride with me-”

“No, no way, I can’t ask you to do that-”

“Mate, it’s no problem at all. I’m not going to let you walk home alone in the rain,” Phil says. “Oh, I’m Phil, by the way. I thought maybe it would make you feel better if you knew my name.”

“I’m Dan,” Dan says, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink. “Thanks. Uh, for offering.” He yelps when suddenly the lights go off. He groans, throwing his head back. “Well, that’s just great.”

“As long as the door didn’t automatically lock up, then we should be fine,”

Dan frowns as he watches Phil head towards the library doors. “I have a feeling you just jinxed us,”

“I didn’t jinx us,” Phil says, rolling his eyes. He goes to try and open the doors, but they don’t budge. “Okay, that’s fine. I have keys.” He walks over to his desk and opens his drawer. He instantly freezes when he sees that his keys are not where they’re supposed to be. “Well, that’s not good.”

“What do you mean that’s not good?” Dan asks, walking over to the desk. “You have the keys, right?”

“Uhm, not exactly,” Phil says, looking up at Dan. “But, it’s fine-”

“It doesn’t sound fine!” Dan exclaims, his eyes widening. “You’re telling me that we’re trapped here?”

“Look, we would have been trapped here anyways,” Phil argues. “In case you haven’t noticed, it’s still storming outside, and it’s not exactly safe to drive or walk in this kind of condition. Dan, don’t panic, okay? I’m just going to call Macy and she’ll come and unlock the doors.”

“Macy?” Dan asks, blinking. “Who the hell is Macy?”

“She’s the principal of the school. You know her better as Mrs. Conewell,” Phil explains.

“Well, okay. As long as you can promise that we’ll get out of here. I love the library, but I don’t exactly wanna be stuck here forever,” Dan mumbles.

“Don’t worry,” Phil tells him. He pulls out his phone, and is relieved that he still has service, so he quickly sends a message to Macy, asking for help. Phil sets his phone down and searches through his desk until he finds his flashlight. “It’s not much, but it’ll do until the power comes back on.”

“This isn’t exactly how I thought my Friday night would go,” Dan mumbles.

“Did you expect anything less when it’s storming outside?” Phil asks, raising his eyebrows at Dan.

“Well, I certainly didn’t expect this,” Dan retorts, huffing. “I can’t even do my homework.”

“You can, it’ll just be very difficult for you to do,” Phil replies with a grin.

Dan glares at him, but he can’t even stay mad at Phil when he’s got the goofy grin on his face. “Whatever. Do you have an extra flashlight? At least I can look through the books and try to find new ones to take,”

“No, but I can walk around with you,” Phil says, walking over to Dan. “If you don’t mind, of course.”

Dan shrugs his shoulders. “Doesn’t bother me. I like company,” he says.

“Most people who spend their time at libraries are quite the opposite,” Phil says as he starts following Dan towards the books. “You know, enjoying the quiet. Being away from people. I know I do sometimes.”

“Oh, definitely. But, I also don’t mind the company. I live alone and don’t have many friends,” Dan says.

“You live alone? How old are you?” Phil asks curiously.

Dan chuckles. “I’m eighteen. Moved out of my parents house as soon as I turned eighteen. I’ve had a job since I was sixteen so I’ve been saving up the money,” he says.

“Wow. I was not expecting to hear that about you, but… that’s good, that you want to be independent,” Phil says. “Which way are we going? I want to make sure I’m shining the light correctly.”

“Just point it in front of me. I don’t have a direction yet,” Dan tells him.

It’s quiet as Dan walks throughout the library, trying to find some new books to read, though it’s quite difficult for someone who is constantly checking out books from this library. Though Dan feels comfortable and safe knowing that Phil is with him, even if they aren’t exactly conversing with each other.

Eventually, Dan ends up going with two classics that he’s certainly already read multiple times but he’s been wanting to re-read the series again, so he picks up Twilight and The Hunger Games.

It’s like a miracle when the power comes back on, just as Dan had picked up his books.

Phil sighs in relief. “Let there be light,”

Dan giggles. “There’s light. But, are we able to leave?”

“What? Have you gotten sick of my wonderful company already?” Phil asks, smirking at Dan. He walks over to the door and opens it without a problem. He looks over at Dan, who sighs in relief. Phil chuckles, and makes sure to keep the door open with the doorstand. Just in case. “We’re free.”

“Oh! It looks like it’s finally stopped raining too,” Dan says when he catches a glimpse out the window.

Phil makes his way back over to Dan. “You know, I can still take you home, if you’d like,”

Dan hesitates, as he looks over at Phil. “I- I wouldn’t want to impose-”

“You’re not imposing,” Phil says, shaking his head. “I’m offering to take you home, because I care. It was just storming outside, and there’s a chance that you could still get sick from the weather. I can’t have one of my best customers out sick, can I?” He smiles sweetly.

“Well, okay. If you’re really sure. I can pay you back next time I get paid,” Dan assures him.

Phil shakes his head. “You don’t need to pay me back Dan,” he says. “Or-” He leans against his desk, trying to be smooth because he really wants to impress Dan. “You could let me take you out on a date.” He yelps when his hand slips, causing him to tumble over.

Dan instantly bursts into a fit of giggles. “You know what? Just for that, I’ll take you up on that offer,”

Phil perks up, and he looks at Dan. “Wait, really? I just made myself look like a-”

“So, I think you’re cute, Phil. You’re also really nice to me every time I come in here,” Dan says. “So, yes. I’ll go on a date with you. I’ll give you my number and you can text me the details?”

“This sucks.”

“Are you complaining again?”

Dan pops his head up, and sees his co-worker, PJ, raising his eyebrows at him. “What? I’m bored, and don’t tell me you’re not bored either. We’ve been standing around for like ten minutes now.”

“Would you rather we be slammed?” PJ asks. “At this time of night?”

“Well, I’d rather not be bored. I still have two hours left. This feels like the longest eight hour shift ever,” Dan complains. He pulls his phone out of his apron for the millionth time in just one hour, and sighs when he sees that only a few minutes have passed since the last time he checked the time. “Fuck me.”

“Language.”

Dan looks over and sees their supervisor, Phil, walking past the registers. “There’s no one here!”

Phil raises his eyebrows at him. “Your point?”

“You’re not seriously going to write me up for swearing, are you?” Dan asks.

Phil snorts. “No, of course not. I honestly don’t care if you swear as long as there’s no customers around.”

“Thank God,” Dan says. “Look, is there anything else I can do? Do we really need three registers open? Chris looks like he’s about to fall asleep over there.”

Chris looks up when his name is mentioned. “I’m perfectly wide awake, thank you!”

Phil chuckles, and shakes his head at his employee. “Yeah. That’s very believable, Chris,” he says, and then he looks back over at Dan. “Well, I don’t want you to have to go out and push carts with baggers. So, the only other thing I have that you can do is put away the go-backs.”

“Come on,” Dan groans. “You know I hate doing fucking go-backs.”

“I’ll do the go-backs!” PJ exclaims as he raises his hand.

“No, sorry, Peej. Dan’s doing the go-backs since he’s so bored right now,” Phil says, and smirks when Dan groans even more. “What? You asked for this.”

“You are my least favorite manager,” Dan grumbles as he bends down to shut the light off on his register.

Phil barks out a laugh. “Yeah, right. You and I both know that isn’t true,”

Dan grabs his water bottle and walks over to Phil. “You’re right. Sarah is a bitch and I still hate her,”

“Pipe down. You’ve only been here for three months. Try working with her for three years,” Phil says as they start walking towards the service desk. “Just be glad you don’t have to work with her directly.”

“I still have to see her face when I come into work, and that’s way more than I’d like,” Dan complains.

Phil chuckles, and he walks over to the go-backs area with Dan. he watches as Dan grabs an empty cart to start putting the unwanted groceries in to put away. “Hey, are you doing anything this weekend?”

Dan stops, and looks up at Phil. “Uhm, no? You know I don’t work on the weekends,”

“Right, of course I know that, yeah. I’m the one who makes the schedules,” Phil says, chuckling. “Well, look, it’s just… I’ve been meaning to ask you to hang out, but we’re always working together.”

“We’re working now?” Dan points out.

“No, I know. I just wanted to ask,” Phil says.

“And what exactly are you asking? Is this like a date? Phil Lester, are you asking me on a date? Isn’t that against some policy rule here or something?” Dan asks, raising his eyebrows. “You are my manager.”

Phil shrugs his shoulders. “Not that I know of. Employees date each other all the time.”

Dan sighs softly as he stares at Phil, because he’d be lying if he said he didn’t think Phil was hot, because he is, and Dan’s always been interested in him ever since he started working at the grocery store. “Okay,” he says. “But, if we get in trouble, then it’s your fault.”

Phil can’t help but laugh. “No, why is it my fault?”

Dan shrugs his shoulders. “Because I said so, that’s why,” he says, and grins. “Now, excuse me sir. You’re bothering me. I have these unwanted groceries to put away. Fucking hate go-backs.”

Phil’s eyes widen when a customer walks by just as Dan swore out loud. “Dan!”

“What?” Dan asks, looking up at Phil innocently.

“Watch you’re swearing around customers,” Phil warns. “Please don’t make me have to write you up.”

Dan glances over at the customer, who’s now waiting in the self-checkout lane, not paying any attention to him or Phil. “Oh please. She didn’t hear me, and she probably doesn’t even care that I swore,”

“Dan, honestly, what am I going to do with you?” Phil mumbles, and looks over when an employee at the service desk is calling for him. “We’ll talk more later about this weekend, yeah?”

“Yeah, okay,” Dan says, and watches as Phil walks away.

Shit.

Dan’s in so much trouble. He already knows that he is. He knows he shouldn’t go out with his manager. That’s got to be a policy rule. But, he just can’t help himself. He wants to go out with Phil.

Dan and PJ are both off at eight o’clock, Chris being the closing cashier at eleven.

“So, I’m pretty sure Phil asked me out on a date this weekend,” Dan says as they walk to PJ’s car.

PJ instantly stops dead in his tracks, causing Dan to stop too. He looks over at PJ. “Phil?” He asks, and Dan nods. “Phil, as in our supervisor Phil?” Dan nods again. “What the hell, Dan?”

“What?” Dan asks, shrugging his shoulders as he starts walking again.

“You never told me you were interested in Phil,” PJ continues.

“Yeah, I’ve been interested in Phil since I started working here. Like, I’ve had the biggest crush on him since the first day I saw him which makes me sound like a little school girl with a crush, but I can’t help it,” Dan says. “I was just too afraid that I’d get fired for dating my supervisor. I mean, don’t you think that’s a rule or something? It has to be a rule.”

PJ shrugs. “Highly doubt it. Employees date each other all the time at this store. Some even get married.”

“That’s what Phil said. I mean, the dating part. Didn’t know about the married part,” Dan mumbles.

“Yeah.” PJ nods. “I’m sure you’ll be fine as long as you keep it on the down-low at work, right?”

“I guess so,” Dan says. “This is so… silly. Like, we haven’t even gone out on our first date and I’m already panicking about fucking policy rules about dating your manager.”

“I don’t blame you, Dan. But, I honestly don’t think you have anything to worry about,” PJ assures him, and they start walking to their cars again.

“Hey, can you not say anything to Chris about this? I know you guys tell each other everything and all that but, I… I wanna see where this goes first. I wanna make sure we actually have a chance,” Dan says.

“It’ll be hard, but I promise not to say anything to Chris,” PJ says.

“Thanks, appreciate it!” Dan grins as walks over to his car, pulling out his key. He looks over at PJ. “Well, see you tomorrow?”

“Same time as always,” PJ says, before getting into his car.

Dan also gets into his car. He gets himself comfortable and turns on the radio, MCR playing quietly. He pulls out his phone and sees that he has a text message from Phil. He smiles, and opens it.

phil lester, 10:04pm saturday night at 6pm? i’ll pick u up

Dan chuckles to himself as he reads the text.

you, 10:04pm sounds perfect, is this a casual date?

phil lester, 10:06pm ofc

you, 10:06pm i can’t wait :) stop texting me before you get in trouble

phil lester, 10:06pm there’s literally no one here shut up

Dan snorts at the text, and shakes his head fondly, a burst of excitement rushing through his body as he thinks about going on a date with Phil. He has no doubt in his mind that Phil will go out to make it special.

The rest of the week goes incredibly slow for Dan, and he hates it, because he’s excited for his date on Saturday with Phil. He just wants to be able to spend some quality time with Phil outside of work. He only knows Phil the supervisor, so it will be nice for Dan to know who he really is when he’s not taking charge and bossing his employees around.

“Peej, I’m freaking out. What the fuck do I wear for a casual date with Phil Lester?” Dan asks PJ on the phone as he looks around his messy bedroom, clothes scattered all on the bed.

PJ chuckles. “Dude, are you really freaking out over a date with Phil?”

“Yes!” Dan whines. “Peej, seriously don’t laugh at me right now. I’m having a meltdown and you laughing is not helping me right now. What the fuck do I wear?”

“Well, did he tell you what type of date it’s going to be?” PJ asks, calming down after laughing.

“No, he told me it was casual,” Dan says.

“Then just wear something you would normally wear,” PJ says. “I know that’s not what you want to hear but if it’s casual, then that’s all you can do. Or, wear something you think is nice that would still fit under the casual category. I’m sure Phil will think you look nice no matter what you wear.”

“I don’t want to look just nice though,” Dan whines. “Can you come over and help me pick an outfit?”

PJ laughs softly. “Dan, I’m literally at work right now. You’re lucky I was on break when you called me. But, I’ll send Chris over and maybe he can help you pick an outfit. Is that good enough?”

Dan huffs. “Fine, send him over fast. My date is in two hours.”

“We need to work on your timing, Howell,” PJ says before hanging up on him.

Dan huffs as he stares at his phone. “My timing is perfectly fine, thank you very much,” he grumbles, stuffing his phone in his pocket. He bites his lip as he glances at the clothes on his bed, still panicking.

Luckily, Chris arrives at Dan’s apartment in fifteen minutes.

“Finally!” Dan exclaims as he lets Chris into his apartment. “Fuck, I’ve been pacing around the place for the past fifteen minutes waiting for you to get here, man.”

“Shit, man. I got here as fast as I could. PJ sent me an sos text, saying that I need to get to your place immediately. He said that you were freaking out over a date. You have a date tonight? With who?”

Dan freezes. He knows he can trust Chris with any secret, but the less people who know about him and Phil dating, the better. Dan can’t risk rumors getting out. He doesn’t want to get fired, and he doesn’t want Phil to get fired either. “Uhm, that’s classified.”

“Classified?” Chris repeats, snorting. “What are we? The Avengers?”

“Look, I’ll tell you eventually. I’m just trying to keep this date hush hush,” Dan says.

Chris rolls his eyes. “I can’t believe I’m helping you get ready for a date and you won’t even tell me who you’re going out with. I mean, Jesus, I bet PJ knows  who it is,” he mumbles, and his eyes widen when Dan doesn’t say anything. “Oh my god. You told PJ but you didn’t tell me?”

“Chris!” Dan groans. “My date is in two hours. Can you please just help me pick out an outfit?”

“You fucking owe me for this, Howell,” Chris grumbles as he stomps over to Dan’s closet.

Dan rolls his eyes. “You’re so dramatic. Has anyone ever told you that?”

“PJ tells me that on a daily basis,” Chris replies with a grin.

“Well, it’s a good thing, because-” Dan laughs when suddenly a pair of jeans is thrown at his head. “Chris, what the fuck, dude? These are ugly. Why do I have these jeans?”

“Why do you think I threw them at your head?” Chris shouts from the closet.

Dan rolls his eyes, and shakes his head fondly, before tossing the jeans onto the bed.

The next thing Dan knows, his bedroom is a mess. But, eventually, a half an hour before he’s due to leave for his date with Phil, Chris has finally found Dan an outfit.

“I really don’t know how this turned into me getting rid of half my clothes, but I’m not complaining about it,” Dan says after he puts on his outfit for his date. He’s gone for black skinny jeans with holes on the knees, a simple black old Muse shirt with a red flannel to go with it. He’s pretty pleased with this look.

“You have so many clothes, Dan. It’s a bit ridiculous,” Chris says, sighing as he sits on his bed.

“What? I like fashion. I can’t help it,” Dan pouts. “Thanks for your help, Chris, but you should get going, because I have to finish getting ready for my date with Phil.”

Chris instantly snaps his head up at Dan. “Phil?”

“Shit,” Dan groans and slaps his forehead. “I didn’t mean to say that.”

“Surely you’re not talking about our supervisor, Phil Lester?” Chris asks, standing up.

Dan looks up at him, slowly nodding. “That’s the very one.”

“Jesus Christ,” Chris mumbles, and shakes his head. “This is going to be messy. You have to know that.”

Dan lets out a sigh. “Probably, but I just want to give it a shot. I- I really like Phil, and he seems to be interested in me too. So, we’re going on a date, and we’ll see what happens from there.”

“Well-” Chris sighs. “If you’re sure. I hope it all works out for you. He seems like a nice guy.”

“Yeah,” Dan mumbles, nodding. “I- I should probably get going. You wanna walk out with me?”

“Sure,” Chris says, and makes his way out of Dan’s bedroom with Dan.

Finally, Dan makes it to the restaurant where he’s supposed to be meeting Phil. Surprisingly, he’s on time, and Phil’s already there, waiting for him at the door.

Phil smiles, and waves as Dan walks up to him. “Dan, hey. Right on time,” he says, pulling Dan into a warm hug, and Dan instantly feels safe in Phil’s arms.

“What? You didn’t have any faith in me?” Dan asks, grinning as he looks up at Phil.

Phil laughs softly. “I had faith, I just worry. I’m really glad you made it,” he says. “But, I’m starving, so… should we go in and get a table?” He asks, gesturing towards the door with his thumb.

Dan bites his lip as he looks up at Phil. “Phil, I have to make sure… Do you really want to do this?”

“What do you mean?” Phil asks, blinking.

“I mean, this. Us. I mean, our job… people are going to talk if they find out, and they are going to find out, because I may have accidentally let it slip to Chris earlier that I was going on a date with you and Chris has the biggest mouth on the planet. He can’t keep a secret to save his life,” Dan says.

“Dan, I don’t care if people find out. They already know I’m gay. It wouldn’t be that surprising, and employees date all the damn time. Besides, work is kind of like high school. People are always going to talk no matter what. I mean, as long as you’re okay with that, of course. We can keep it hush hush if you’re uncomfortable. I totally understand,” Phil says.

“No, I don’t care either. I just… it’s kind of a big deal. I wanted to make sure you’re okay with that before we went any further on this date. I- I really like you. I want to try this,” Dan admits, his cheeks turning pink.

Phil smiles, and he reaches over to grab Dan’s hand. “I like you too. A lot,” he says.

Dan takes a deep breath, and nods. “Okay. I’m glad we got that out of the way then.”

Phil laughs. “Me too, Dan. But, I really am hungry. Can we go eat?”

“Come on Dan, be a little more excited about this project,” Phil says as he sits with Dan at the library. There’s quite a few books surrounding them on the table, but Dan hardly cares about any of these books.

“It’s English class. What’s so exciting about reading books?” Dan asks, scoffing.

“What?” Phil asks as he looks over at Dan with wide eyes. “Are you kidding? Reading books is so fun. There’s literally millions of books to read out there. Have you ever even read a book in your life?”

Dan instantly shoots a glare at Phil. “I’ve read a book,” he quickly defends himself.

“Sports magazines don’t count as books,” Phil adds. “I mean, like… a full length novel.”

“Did you not hear me, Lester? I’ve read a book,” Dan argues. “I’ve read the whole Harry Potter series.”

Phil raises his eyebrows. “Okay. I’m impressed, Dan, considering how long those books are,” he admits. “Well, maybe we could use the Harry Potter series for our project then. Although, I personally think that we should try a book that you haven’t read yet.”

Dan groans loudly. “Come on, dude. Why can’t we just pick a book that you’ve already read?”

“What? So I can do all the work? That’s not gonna happen,” Phil chuckles and shakes his head.

“The project is due in less than two weeks. How am I supposed to finish a book by then? Especially when I’ve got baseball practice all week. I’ve got a game coming up!” Dan argues. “I don’t have time to read.”

“Yes you do. You’re just making up excuses so you don’t have to read,” Phil argues back. “I’m not gonna do all of this project by myself. We’ve got hundreds of books to choose from. So, let’s pick one, okay?”

Dan sighs and he slumps down in his chair, knowing that there’s nothing he can say or do to get out of this project. Of course he gets partnered up with the biggest bookworms in the school. But to be fair, despite being total opposites, Dan actually doesn’t really mind Phil Lester. They have a few classes with each other, and most students don’t like him because he’s smarter and a “nerd”. Dan couldn’t care less. Phil’s nice, and they seem to be getting along with each other so far, which is all that matters to Dan.

“Have you ever read The Hunger Games series?” Phil asks as he looks over at Dan. It’s been about fifteen minutes, and they’re still trying to decide on what book they would use for their project.

“You know, I wasn’t kidding when I said Harry Potter is the only book series I’ve read,” Dan tells him.

“Well, if you liked Harry Potter, then you’ll love The Hunger Games. It’s got three books, but of course, we only have to read the first book for our project. I can read a bit of the first book if you want.”

“No, you don’t-” Dan looks over and sighs when he sees Phil picking up the book. “Phil, seriously…?”

Phil clears his throat before he starts to read the first couple sentences from the book.

Dan tries his best to drown Phil’s voice out so that he doesn’t have to listen to him reading this book. But, nothing seems to work. He looks up at Phil and glares at him, but then his face softens as he actually starts to listen to Phil reading. Phil’s voice is soft and calming, something Dan hasn’t noticed before now. As Phil continues reading, Dan can tell Phil is passionate about reading. Just like he is with baseball.

Phil looks up at Dan once he finishes reading, and smiles. “So, what do you think?”

Dan blinks a few times. “Um,” he clears his throat and can’t help but blush. “Yeah. We can use that.”

“Perfect! I’ve already read this book-” Phil begins.

“That’s not surprising at all,” Dan mumbles, and smirks when Phil glares at him.

“As I was saying,” Phil continues. “I’ve already read the book. It’s been awhile, so I get to read it again. So, you can have this copy since I already have the series at home. You better read this book too, Dan. Seriously. No cheating by watching the movie.”

“Wait, there’s a movie?” Dan asks as his head perks up.

“Crap. I thought you already knew that. That doesn’t matter. I’ll be quizzing you about book stuff once you’ve finished reading. There may be a movie but they always leave out important stuff,” Phil scoffs. “Drives me absolutely mental when they do that. You know?” Phil looks up at Dan.

Dan raises his eyebrows as he stares at Dan. “No, I don’t know,” he says.

“Of course not,” Phil rolls his eyes. “We should put the rest of these books away then.”

“Seriously?” Dan whines. “You’re the one who pulled all these books out in the first place!”

“Because we needed all of them,” Phil argues as he stands up from his seat. “Now come on, Howell. Start grabbing these books.” He grins once Dan does as he’s told without arguing any further. Phil grabs a handful of books as well, and heads back over to the shelves, already knowing where each book goes.

Phil finishes putting books away before Dan.

“How did you do that so fast?” Dan asks when Phil walks up to him.

“I’ve read every book in this library,” Phil says like it’s nothing. “I already knew where they went.”

Dan rolls his eyes. “Ugh. You’re so annoying,” he says, though there’s a joking tone in his voice. “Here. Take this.” He hands Phil another book. “Be a dear and put that away, will you?”

“Fine. So demanding,” Phil mumbles as he goes to put the book Dan handed him away.

Dan can’t help the smile that forms on his face as he watches Phil walk away.

Maybe these next two weeks won’t be as bad as Dan thinks.

Over the next few days, Dan continues to focus on his baseball practice rather than his project with Phil. It’s not like he’s purposely trying to forget about the project. He just would rather focus on baseball.

“Don’t forget about that project, Daniel!”

Dan cringes as soon as he hears his mother’s voice from the kitchen, and he instantly regrets telling her about the project he has with Phil. Not only does he have Phil reminding him every day, but now his mum will surely make sure to bug him about it as well. “I know, mum!” Dan shouts before running up the stairs and heading straight to his bedroom. He shuts the door and flops down onto his bed.

Dan grabs his book bag and starts pulling stuff out. He stops when he pulls out The Hunger Games book. He sighs as he stares at the book, knowing he’ll have to start reading it eventually. This project is a big part of their grade, and he knows Phil will be pissed at him if he’s the reason why they failed.

Dan bites his lip and glances at The Hunger Games DVD resting on his dresser. Of course he went out and bought the DVD as soon as Phil told him that there was a movie. It’ll take him ages to read the book, especially with how busy he is with all of his baseball practices. They’ve got a home game coming up.

Dan sighs, remembering what Phil told him about quizzing him about the book, and then he remembers Phil’s soft voice reading the first couple of pages from the book.

“Fuck it,” Dan mumbles, leaning back against his pillows and opening the book to the first page.

When Phil gets to school the next morning, he’s surprised when he finds Dan at his locker, hardly paying any attention except for the book in his hands. This is the last thing Phil expected. He never thought that Dan would actually read the book. He thought for sure that he would somehow cheat.

Phil smiles, and heads over to Dan’s locker. “How’s the book?” He asks calmly.

Dan doesn’t even startle. “You know, it’s actually not that bad…” He looks up at Phil. “I’ve been reading it all night, and I’ve only got three chapters left. I didn’t think I would enjoy it, but… I have been.”

“You’ve been reading it all night?” Phil asks, raising his eyebrows.

“Mm-hmm,” Dan nods. “I have to read the next two books. “Do they have them at the library?”

“Of course,” Phil says, blinking a few times. “You know, I’m really impressed Dan.”

“What? I had nothing else better to do with my time. I figured… I might as well just read the damn book,” Dan shrugs and looks over at Phil with raised eyebrows. “It’s really not a big deal.”

“I know. I just thought for sure that you would somehow cheat your way out of reading,” Phil admits.

Dan chuckles and shakes his head. “I know how to read. I just don’t like reading is all,” he says. “But, maybe you’ve changed my mind, Lester. Not many people can do that, you know?”

Phil grins at Dan, and he goes to open his mouth to reply, but stops when a couple of guys from the baseball team walk up to Dan. Phil hates the boys on the baseball team. They’re all jerks who think they’re better than everyone else. Excluding Dan. He can be an asshole, but at least he’s nice.

“Howell, what are you doing hanging out with nerdy Lester?”

Dan rolls his eyes and closes his book, glaring at the three boys. “Shove off, Mikey,”

“And what the hell are you doing with this?” One of the other boys asks, going to take Dan’s book, but Dan quickly pulls the book back before he can, and he ignores the glare he gets from the boy. 

“It’s called a book, Alex,” Dan replies sassily. “I’m reading it for my project in class. What do you want?”

“Well, Howell, some of us wanted to have our own little practice before the home game this weekend, and we thought we’d come ask if you wanted to join us?” Mikey asks.

“Sure, that sounds-” Dan glances over at Phil and bites his lip slightly when he sees the look on his face. “Uh, actually. I just remembered that I promised Phil we could work on our book project this week. But, maybe I can join if there’s some time on Friday? A little extra practice can’t hurt anybody.”

“Really? You’re blowing us off to do school work with nerdy Lester?” Mikey asks angrily.

“Seriously, it’s like I don’t even know you anymore Howell,” Alex adds. “Forget it. We don’t need you.”

“Coach would disagree with that,” Dan replies with a smirk.

“You shut the fuck up,” Mikey snaps. “Come on boys. We need to go practice.” He grabs the other two and the three boys walk away without saying another word.

“Wow. I- I can’t believe you just did that, Dan...” Phil says with shock. “They already hate me enough, but you don’t want your own teammates hating you. And, isn’t the home game pretty important?”

Dan laughs, and looks at Phil. “What? We’ve been practicing all last week. I don’t need more practice, and besides… we need to work on the project. We only have a week left and we haven’t even started. Look, I’ll have the book finished by the end of the day, and we can start working on the presentation.”

“Okay then, if you’re sure. Shall we work on the project at my house or your house?” Phil asks.

“Mine,” Dan replies. “What’s your number? I’ll text your my address, and you can come over tonight.”

“Okay,” Phil grins, and pulls out his phone so that he and Dan can exchange numbers.

“I’ll text you my address when I get to class,” Dan says.

Phil gasps. “Oh no. I’ve got to get to my locker. I’m going to be late. See you later, Dan!”

Dan raises his eyebrows as he watches Phil take off towards his locker, and he can’t help but laugh.

****

Dan and Phil work on the project for two days at Phil’s house during the week, working on putting together a poster filled with facts and pictures, and an essay attached along with it as well.

Dan comes to the realization that Phil isn’t as bad as people have made him out to be all these years.

Despite being a nerd, they actually have quite a few things in common with each other. The two boys love the same type of music and watch the same movies. They’ve bonded over how much they love Muse. Dan’s never gotten along with someone like Phil, mostly because he's too worried about his reputation. But now, he doesn’t really care about what other people think. It’s his decision to hang out with Phil.

Dan even invites Phil to come to the home game the baseball team are playing. Of course Phil agrees, even though he’s not really into sports. He still wants to support Dan. Dan would do the same for him.

“You came,” Dan grins when he spots Phil at the game. The game is just about to start any minute now.

“Of course. I said I would come, didn’t I?” Phil grins at Dan.

“You did, yeah. But, I also know that sports aren’t really your thing,” Dan points out.

“That is true. But, how bad can baseball be? Maybe I’ll end up liking it,” Phil shrugs lightly. “Like how you ended up liking the book we read for our project. Can you believe we finished the project in two days?”

“Even when we kept getting distracted by Muse,” Dan laughs. “We did a pretty damn good job though.”

Phil nods. “Yeah. We should celebrate. Maybe we can hang out tomorrow if you’re not too busy?”

“Actually, there’s a party after the game tonight if you wanna come? I’ll be there,” Dan says.

“A party?” Phil asks, biting his lip nervously. “I- I don’t know. I’m not really a party kind of guy, you know?”

“Well, um, just... let me know if you want to come by the end of the game. We can ride there together,” Dan sighs. “I really have to go now. The game’s about to start, and coach will kill me if I’m not over there in time.” He laughs, and smiles one last time at Phil before turning around and heading towards his team.

Phil takes a deep breath as he watches Dan, and then turns around to go find a seat.

In the end, their team ends up winning. They absolutely destroyed the other team. Even though Phil doesn’t know a thing about baseball, he understood the basics and actually enjoyed the game.

“Dan! That was awesome!” Phil exclaims when he and Dan meet up after the game. “You killed it!”

Dan laughs as Phil pulls him into a hug. “Thanks. I can’t believe it,” he pulls away from the hug and kisses Phil without thinking. His eyes widen as soon as he realizes what he’s done, and he quickly pulls away.

“Um, I-” Phil mumbles as his cheeks turn bright red. “Dan?”

“I’m so sorry,” Dan quickly apologizes, his cheeks equally as red. “I- I have no idea why I just did that.”

“It’s okay,” Phil tries to reassure him. “It’s not like I’m complaining about it.”

“What?” Dan asks, blinking a few times as he looks up at Phil. “You’re saying you liked it?”

“The kiss? Um, y- yeah,” Phil mumbles as he looks down at his feet. “So-” He coughs awkwardly. “Um… about that party?” He looks up at Dan again. “I think I want to go. I’ve already texted my mum.”

Dan smiles, and nods. “C- Cool. Yeah. The party… We should, um… go to that. Fuck,”

Phil giggles, and Dan almost melts at how adorable Phil is.

“We should talk about the kiss though, shouldn’t we?” Dan asks as they start walking together.

“Yeah… maybe. But, let’s enjoy the party tonight, yeah? You’ve won the game. We should celebrate you,” he says, and throws his arms around Dan, and smiles even wider when Dan leans against his touch.

“Crazy, huh? Who would have thought people like us would end up becoming friends?” Phil asks, grinning as he looks over at Dan.

“So, you’re saying we’re friends now?” Dan asks.

“If that’s okay with you?” Phil bites his lip nervously. “I understand...”

“Relax,” Dan lets out a laugh. “Of course it’s okay with me, you big doofus.”

Phil groans as the sound of his alarm clock goes off, meaning that he has to get up for school. He hates Mondays more than anything. He hates having to go to school after a relaxing weekend doing nothing. Most teenagers spend the weekend hanging out with friends, and partying, but not Phil. Partying doesn’t interest Phil. He prefers to stay inside and doodle in his notebook, or watch his favorite animes. Or, both.

Now, he has to go back to doing boring school work and tests.

Although, if there is one thing that Phil loves about going to school, it’s the fact that he gets to spend time reading and painting. He’s been taking art classes throughout high school, and absolutely loves painting. He’s a bit of an art nerd and often gets called ‘Nerd’ at school by kids who are more popular than him. Luckily, little things like that didn’t really bother Phil. There’s much worse insults they could use anyway.

Phil laid in bed for a few moments, allowing himself to wake up, before finally getting himself out of bed.

Phil walked over to his dresser, then pulls out a new outfit. He decides to go with an anime shirt as he’s obsessed with all things anime and constantly watching anime has pretty much ruined his social life. Phil then places his phone on his dresser and he goes straight to his favorite youtube channel, ‘howell music’. Phil absolutely loves listening to classical music while he gets ready for school in the morning, especially Daniel Howell, his favorite musician.

Phil likes a lot of musicians, but Daniel Howell is different. Phil fell in love with him the second he heard him playing the piano and singing. He even feels like he and Daniel would get along great if they met. They have the same music taste, and they seem to like a lot of same TV shows as well. Phil knows that Daniel loves anime, which is always a bonus in his books. Or maybe that was his inner fanboy speaking.

Phil chooses one of Daniel’s Ghibli piano covers and starts smiling as soon as the song plays. He loves Studio Ghibli, and it just so happens that the music playing is matching his shirt.

Phil relaxes instantly and continues getting ready for school

Ten minutes later, Phil is dressed and ready to go. Before he leaves his room, he turns off the music on his phone and places his phone in his pocket. He then grabs a Granola bar from the kitchen and quickly says a goodbye to his mom before heading out of the house. Luckily, the school is only about five minutes away from his house, allowing him to walk to school instead of riding the bus. Phil finds that riding the bus is awful because it’s smelly and overcrowded, and the other kids are overall horrible to sit with.

After getting to school on time, Phil heads to his locker and grabs books he needs for his first couple of morning classes. before shutting his locker and heading towards his first class, English.

“Good morning,Mrs. White,” Phil greets when he makes it to the classroom.

“Oh, good morning Phil,” the teacher replies with a tired smile on her face.

Phil kindly returns the smile and then he quietly makes his way over to his desk, placing his books down on the desk. Of course, Phil is usually always the first student to be in the classroom. He likes to be the first student in the classroom simple because he doesn’t have to deal with the chaos in the hallway.

Phil sits down and pulls out his notebook to doodle in until class starts.

“Um, excuse me?”

Phil looks up when he hears the quiet yet strangely familiar voice, and he instantly drops his pencil down on his desk as soon as he sees who it is. Daniel Howell, but more famously known as howell music on YouTube. It almost doesn’t seem real to Phil, that the boy that he’s idolized for years is now standing right in front of him. It’s taking everything in Phil not to jump up from his seat and fanboy.

“Ah, hello. You must be the new student. Lovely to meet you. I’m Mrs. White,” the teacher greets, reaching over to shake his hand in a friendly manner, sensing Daniel’s nervousness

“H-Hi,” Daniel replies shyly, looking down as his cheeks turn bright pink.

Oh my God, he’s so cute, Phil thinks to himself as his heart flutters. He can’t believe his idol is going to his school now. He knew Daniel has been tweeting about moving on his twitter the past few days, but Phil didn’t think that he was actually moving to his town in California. Daniel moved from London. It’s quite far away, so Phil wonders why on Earth Daniel’s family decided to move here so suddenly.

There were so many questions swirling around in Phil’s head right now.

Mrs. White reaches down and pulls a book out of her desk drawer. “Here is the book you’ll be needing. I’m sure you’ll be caught up in no time,” Mrs. White says.

“O-Okay,” Dan mumbles, taking the book from her. “Um, wh-where do I sit?”

“Hm,” Mrs. White pulls out the seating chart quickly and glances up for a second before smiling. “Ah, yes. You can have a seat next to Phil there. If you have anymore questions, don’t hesitate to ask, okay?”

Dan slowly nods, then he turns around and starts walking towards Phil.

Phil’s breathing starts picking up again as he stares at Daniel. He doesn’t want to come off as a creep, but, it’s not his fault. He’s been listening to Daniel’s music for years now, and watching all of his videos. He never thought that he would meet him as they lived in different countries, but now they go to the same school together. There’s a chance that they could even be friends with each other. That’s what Phil hopes, at least. Well, as long as the other students in school don’t get to Dan first.

Dan walks over to the chair beside him and he sits down, setting his book down on the desk.

Phil nervously pushes himself up in his chair, and looks over at Daniel, quickly fixing his fringe first, wanting to impress Daniel in whatever way he can. “Hi. Um, you’re… you’re Daniel Howell?” Phil’s really not normally one to talk to someone that he doesn’t know, but this is Daniel Howell. This could be the only chance he gets to talk to Daniel, so of course, Phil’s going to at least try to talk to him.

Even if Daniel rejects him and never speaks to him, at least Phil can say he tried.

Daniel blinks a few times as he looks over at Phil, surprised that someone knows him. “How did you…?”

“I know you from your YouTube channel,” Phil replies quickly. “Like, I was literally listening to your music this morning when I was getting ready for school. Actually, I listen to your music every morning, and... every day. You’re really good. I’m sorry. I can’t believe you’re actually here.” He chuckles nervously.

Daniel stares at Phil with wide eyes as he silently listens to him. “Oh, u-um, thank you,” he mumbles, nervously fiddling with the end of his sleeve. He didn’t think one of his subscribers would go to this school. Daniel has been hoping that he could get a fresh start at this new school, and be a normal kid for once.

“Sorry for talking so much. I ramble when I get nervous,” Phil apologizes quickly. Making a fool of himself in front of Daniel Howell is the last thing that he wants to do, honestly. However, he knows that it’s probably going to happen anyways, with how awkward he is around other people.

“Th-That’s okay. Sorry if I seem rude. I’m just… shy. I appreciate that you like my music, really… it means a lot to me that you enjoy my music,” Dan says quietly, his cheeks turning an even darker shade of pink..

“You? Daniel Howell? Shy? That’s-That’s actually pretty surprising to hear,” Phil watches Daniel’s YouTube videos all the time. Daniel seems like such a talkative person, always interacting with his viewers. He never would have thought of Daniel being shy outside of YouTube.

“Actually, I’m going by Dan now. At least, while I’m at school. I want to be a normal kid,” ‘Dan says.

“Oh,” Phil blinks a few times. “Oh, okay. I’ll try to remember that next time.” He shoots Dan a smile, though their conversation is cut short when more students start piling into the classroom..

Phil sees Dan throughout the rest of the school day after their first encounter in English class. He so desperately wants to talk to him again and try to befriend him, but he doesn’t want to bother or annoy Daniel - or Dan, as he’s now going by. Besides, Dan seems shyer than what Phil has seen him as.

Phil supposes being the new student in the middle of a school year is a bit nerve wracking.

During lunch, Phil notices Dan sitting by himself at a table. No one else seems to be recognizing him from his fairly popular YouTube channel. It confuses him, but, it might be because Dan is a British Youtuber, so Dan maybe isn’t as popular in America. Not that he’s complaining about it or anything. He always hates being recognized in school. It makes things so much more awkward and weird for him.

Phil takes a deep breath before nervously heading over towards Dan.

“Hi,” Phil greets, trying to sound less nervous but failing to do so. “I’m Phil. We have English together…”

Dan blinks a few times as he looks up, and then he sits up when he recognizes Phil. “Oh, hey…”

“Do you mind if I sit with you?” Phil asks, a hint of hope in his voice,.

“Not at all,” Dan replies, moving his chair over so Phil can sit next to him.

“Thanks,” Phil smiles and places his books on the table, and then sits down in the chair beside Dan. “So, how are you liking the school so far?” He looks over at Dan.

Dan shrugs his shoulders. “It’s been alright. Way different from what I’m used to back in England though,”

“I can imagine,” Phil smiles. “California is nice, you’ll like it once you get used to it. I’ve never been to England before but I’d bet it’s much more different than California.”

Dan smiles as he looks up at Phil, nodding. “Yeah. It is different, from what I’ve seen so far at least,”

The rest of lunch, Dan sits and listens to Phil as he talks and tells him all about California and the school. Phil doesn’t seem to mind Dan isn’t talking much, which is good because he’s quite shy around new people. But, Phil seems easy to talk to. Mostly because he’s a fan of his cover music.

Dan is pretty happy with how his first day of school goes. It was exciting as any first day of school could go, as he mostly just spent his day getting supplies from his teachers and catching up on everything that he’s missed. It’s weird for him, moving from a British school to an American school. They’re teaching different things, but he’s willing to try and learn new things. He talked to someone, so his mom will be happy about that. She wants him to really focus on meeting new people and trying to socialize more.

“I’m home!” Dan shouts as he walks through the door, sighing as he drops his book bag on the floor.

“Hi sweetie.”

Dan looks up and smiles when he sees his mom walking out of the kitchen. “Dad not home?”

“He’s still at work. It’ll be a late night for him,” his mom replies. “How was your first day of school?”

Dan shrugs. “It was alright,” he mumbles. “Went as well as it could. Nothing too exciting happened.”

“Nobody gave you a hard time? Did anyone recognize you?” His mom asks, concerned.

“Only one person did, he was actually a viewer. He’s really nice. I think he could even possibly be a potential friend. But, I’m not getting my hopes up yet. It’s still only the first day.” Dan tells her.

“Well, alright. As long as everything went okay. Dinner will be ready soon,”

“Okay. Thanks, mum,” Dan says quietly before heading up the stairs to his bedroom. Once finally there, he flops down on his bed. He sighs softly as he stares at the ceiling.

It seems rather odd to Dan, that he just met that boy Phil, and he already can’t stop thinking about him. Phil seems a bit awkward, but also confident in who he is. He seems different from the other students, which Dan likes. Phil’s not trying to fit in with the popular crowd.

Dan isn’t surprised that he’s greeted by Phil the next morning when he makes it to English class. Apparently Phil is always the first one in the classroom before anyone else.

“Hi,” Dan greets shyly before walking over to his seat. He looks over towards Phil and notices Phil has a notebook out and is doodling in it. It looks like he’s doodling a character from an anime, he can’t tell. Dan hasn’t met anyone who’s obsessed with anime like him so it would be a bonus if Phil loves anime too.

“Do you like it?” Phil asks, holding up his drawing when he sees Dan looking at it.

Dan blinks a few times as he looks up at Phil. “Y-Yeah. It’s really good. Is that…?”

“Yuri On Ice,” Phil confirms with a nod. “It’s one of my favorite animes. Do you like anime too?”

Dan slowly nods in response. “Yeah. I-I do like anime.” He can’t help the smile forming on his face, because he’s finally found someone who likes anime as much as him.

“Cool! Glad to see there’s another anime nerd at this school other than me,” Phil says. “But, of course, you like anime too. How could I forget? Your Ghibli covers are amazing.”

Dan blushes at Phil’s compliment. “Thanks,” he mumbles, looking down at his hands.

Dan could definitely see himself hanging out with Phil more in the future. Phil is pretty easy to talk to, and they already have a lot in common with each other, as far as Dan could tell.

The next few weeks pretty much went the same. Dan and Phil would say hi to each other in English class, then they eat lunch together. They constantly talk about their favorite bands and anime. They both seem to share a love for the band Muse and other bands like Fall Out boy and My Chemical Romance. They also love fanboying about animes like Studio Ghibli and Yuri On Ice.

Dan doesn’t want to admit it, but he’s slowly falling for Phil Lester, and it’s only been a few weeks.

Dan always knew that he was gay ever since he was a little boy. His parents knew this as well, and were supportive of him, although his dad is still a bit iffy on the subject whenever it’s brought up. Dan had his first crush when he was just a little boy but nothing ever came of it, unfortunately for Dan. Dan’s never actually gone on a date with a boy before, he’s never been kissed by a boy either.

What if Phil doesn’t like him back? Dan doesn’t want to lose the friendship they’ve started.

Little does Dan know, Phil does like him back. Of course he does. Phil’s had the biggest crush on him ever since he found him on YouTube. He always thought Dan was so cute and adorable. Phil never thought that he would actually meet Dan, and now they’re best friends with each other.

“So, I go up… and just… ask him?” Phil asks with a slight frown, looking up at Louise. Phil isn’t the most popular boy in school, but he does have a few friends that he hangs out with every once in awhile. Louise is probably the closest friend he has, besides Dan of course. She always knows what to say to him and gives him advice whenever he’s having trouble, whether it be boys or school in general.

“Well, how else would you do it?” Louise asks quietly, raising her eyebrows at Phil. They’re currently sitting in the library, working on their English project. Dan is sitting at one of the computers so Phil’s sitting with Louise at a table. “Ask him if he wants to hang out with you.”

“That seems so forward though. I don’t want to scare him away, you know?” Phil sighs softly.

“You won’t,” Louise assures him. “I can tell Dan really likes you. He’s just super shy.”

“You think Dan likes me?” Phil asks, a blush creeping upon his cheeks. “I don’t… no way he does.”

“Phil, trust me. Dan definitely likes you. He blushes every time you smile at him. It’s super cute actually. And, he gets these heart eyes whenever he’s staring at you. I watch him, believe me.”

“I can’t believe I never noticed that,”

“Lester! Pentland! Shh,”

Phil looks over at the librarian and gives her an apologetic look, then he glances over and blushes when he sees Dan looking at him. Phil looks over at Louise, who’s only smirking at him.

“See? Total fondness,” she tells him quietly. “He’s got heart eyes for days.”

Phil rolls his eyes. “Okay, okay, okay. I’ll talk to him at lunch.”

When lunch rolls around, Phil finds himself getting more nervous about asking Dan to hang out with him. It’s technically a date, but Phil worries if he uses the word ‘date’ then he’ll scare Dan away from him, and that’s something he definitely doesn’t want to do, because he values his friendship with Dan too much.

“Hey, Dan,” Phil greets as he walks up to him at lunch, sitting at their usual table.

Dan looks up at Phil and smiles. “Hey,” he replies. “So, what were you and Louise talking about earlier?”

“What do you mean?” Phil asks as he sits down in a chair, placing his books aside.

“When the librarian yelled at you.” Dan raises his eyebrows. “Were you guys gossiping about something?”

Phil chuckles and shakes his head. “No, silly. We weren’t gossiping,” he says. “I mean, kind of… in a way. We were actually talking about you.” He looks over at Dan, and feels his nerves coming back to him.

“Me? Oh no, your disowning me as a friend, aren’t you? I knew this day was coming...”

Phil laughs and shakes his head. “No! I’m not disowning you as a friend. Quite the opposite,” he says. “I...I was wondering if you wanted to hang out with me later today. Like, you know, after school…?”

“Uhm, you mean… like, a-a date?” Dan asks nervously.

Phil blushes. “I mean, it doesn’t have to be. It can be if you want it to be a date.”

Dan’s silent for a moment before a smile forms on his face. “Yeah. Yeah, I would like to hang out with you. Where would we go to? Did you already have any ideas” He looks up at Phil curiously.

“Well, um, I was thinkin’... maybe we could go to the arcade for a little bit before going to see a movie?” Phil suggests. “Unless you have something else in mind, then that’s totally fine with me.”

Dan shakes his head. “That sounds great, actually. I’ve been wanting to see that Love, Simon movie… so, this would be a perfect time to see it. Mum’s been too busy with the move to take me to see it.”

“Wait, me too! I heard that it’s been getting really great reviews.”

“Well, duh. It’s a movie about a gay teen. Of course people are going to be raving about it,” Dan says. “So, will you pick me up at my house after school? I’ll have to make sure it’s okay with my mum.”

“Okay. Text me and let me know what she says.”

“I will,” Dan replies with a nod and smile, then begins eating his lunch.

All Dan can think about for the rest of the day is how he’s going to be hanging out with Phil tonight, possibly as a date. They haven’t really hung out outside of school yet. This is still pretty new, and Dan’s still pretty shy even around Phil. But, he wants to try to start being more social with others.

Dan used to get bullied at his old school back in England. People teased him for being gay and “too posh” and other silly things like that. Dan is an easy target for the school bullies, causing him to be shy and scared of talking with other people. Getting bullied was the main reason why his parents decided to move. Dan’s dad had also been offered a job in America, so it was an easy decision to move.

Of course, Dan’s mom was ecstatic when she heard that Phil asked Dan to hang out with him.

“Don’t forget about your curfew, Daniel. You’ll be grounded if you come home past 11,” his mom warns.

Dan rolls his eyes. “I know, mum. I’ll be home on time. I have to go. Phil’s waiting for me,” he says, before opening the door and walking out of the house. He looks up and smiles when he sees Phil waiting for him in the driveway. “Hear that? I have to be home before 11 or else I’m grounded.”

Phil chuckles and nods. “I’ll try to remember that. You ready to go, then?”

“Mhm. Mum gave me money for the movies,” Dan says as he and Phil both get into the car.

“And my dad gave me money for the arcade, so we should be set.” Phil smiles as he looks over at Dan.

Phil drives them to the arcade, as he’s the only one of the two who can drive. They get their coins, and after looking around at all the games, they decide to play air hockey.

“You’re going down, Howell.” He places the puck on the table, looking up at Dan with a smirk on his face. “I’m a pro at Air Hockey. Never lost a game to anyone.”

“Pfft. Whatever, mate. You’re the one who’s going to go down, Lester,” Dan replies.

“Have you even played Air Hockey before?”

“No, it’s not really something us Brits are into across seas. At least, my family never played it much. But, it’s not that hard. All you gotta do is hit that puck into the opponents hole, right?”

Phil can’t help but laugh. “Right. That’s pretty much the game,” he says. “Still, you’re going down.”

Dan grins at Phil, and then shakes his head. He reaches over and grabs his mallet. “Ready?”

“More than,” Phil replies with a small smirk playing on his lips. “Bring it on, Howell.”

Dan doesn’t hesitate, he reaches over and smacks the puck straight into Phil’s hole. He grins proudly, and giggles when he sees the look on Phil’s face. “How was that?”

“What the hell, Dan?” Phil asks with shock, before reaching in and then grabbing the puck out of the hole. “I thought you said you never played this game before. Sure doesn’t seem like you haven’t.”

“I haven’t. I’m just really competitive is all,” Dan replies honestly. “Should I go easier on you?”

Phil glares at Dan playfully. “Shut up. I’m not giving up that easily,”

Dan giggles. “Let’s make this more interesting, then. Loser pays for the movie tickets?” He suggests.

“Sounds fair to me,” Phil agrees with a nod. “The only loser around here is going to be you though.”

Dan rolls his eyes, though he can’t help the smile on his face.

In the end, Phil beats Dan at Air Hockey meaning that Dan has to pay their movie tickets, but he honestly doesn’t mind. The tickets were quite cheap anyways.

“Do you think the movie will be any good?” Phil asks, as they wait for the movie to start.

“Absolutely. I’ve been waiting for a movie like this to come out for… ages. Literally. Things are changing. Things are going to be better for people like us, you know?” Dan looks over at Phil.

Phil smiles and he nods. “I feel the exact same way,” he says, before leaning back in his chair and relaxing. He glances down and he sees that his and Dan’s fingers are almost touching each other, and it’s taking everything in Phil not to reach over and grab Dan’s hand, but it’s still too early and he doesn’t want to scare Dan away. He’s willing to take things slow as long as it means he doesn’t lose Dan.

“I had a lot of fun,” Phil says as he and Dan walk to Phil’s car, the movie has just finished. The arcade was probably Phil’s most favorite part of the day. They managed to play a lot of games, and even made a friendly competition out of Air Hockey. The movie was great as well.

“Me too. I haven’t had that much fun in a long time.” He looks up at Phil with a smile.

“Me too. Maybe we should do that again sometime soon?” Phil suggests, leaning against his car. “I mean, if you want to. You don’t have to if you don’t want to. I totally understand. I-” Phil’s cut off by Dan’s lips being pressed against Phil’s own. Phil’s eyes widen with shock at the action, and before he can even think about kissing Dan back, Dan pulls away from the kiss.

“You talk too much,” Dan whispers, a smile forming on his face. “Of course I want to do this again.”

“Daniel Howell just kissed me,” Phil whispers, his eyes still wide from the shock.

Dan giggles. “I told you, I’m going by Dan now. We’ve been hanging out for weeks. How are you still…?”

“Wait.” Phil shakes his head. “You don’t understand, Dan. You used to be my idol before we started hanging out. I mean, you still are. That hasn’t changed. But, your music has helped me through so much. It’s… still hard to believe that someone as cool as you is hanging out with someone lame like me.”

“Shut up. You’re too hard on yourself. You’re not lame,” Dan says. “You’re just… different than the others. Different is good. I’m different too. We can be different together.”

Phil can’t help but smile. “Yeah, you’re right, Dan. Let’s be different together,” he says, reaching over and grabbing Dan’s hand. “Wait… you still kissed me. Does that mean…?”

“Phil, I think you know exactly what that means.” Dan grins.

“So, technically, this was our first date, and now we’re… together?” Phil asks, raising his eyebrows.

“Mhm,” Dan nods. “If that’s what you want, I mean. I don’t want to like…”

“Shut up,” Phil laughs, gently pulling Dan in for another kiss. “And you tell me I talk too much.”

Dan pouts. “You can’t use my own words against me!”

“I just did,” Phil sticks his tongue out at Dan. “I should be getting you home, though. It’s getting late, and we don’t want you to be getting home past your curfew, do we? Plus, I don’t think that it would be a great first impression on your parents if I brought you home late on our first time hanging out outside of school.”

“Ugh, God no. Being grounded is the worst. Like, you can’t do anything or talk to anyone,”

Phil chuckles and watches as Dan gets in the car, before shutting the door. He walks around the car and gets in. He leans back and can’t help but smile. “Louise is gonna freak out when I tell her all about this.”

Dan blushes and looks down at his hands. “She’s the reason we went out tonight, isn’t she?”

“Yeah, she is. I should probably thank her next time I see her,” Phil sighs softly.

The next day at school, Phil meets up with Dan at his locker so the can go to first period class together.

“Don’t you like to be the first one in class?” Dan asks, raising his eyebrows as he looks up at Phil.

“Normally, but I have a reason not to be the first one now,” Phil grins. “And, I was thinking… while I was listening to your music while getting ready for school. It’s been three months since your last cover…”

Dan groans. “Not you too. I can’t post anything online without someone reminding me!”

“Tell you what, you post a new cover within a week and I’ll be the one who pays for the next date. Literally,. I’ll pay for everything. Doesn’t matter where we go. I just need a new cover from you...”

“Oh, I see. You think you can bribe me now that we’re dating, huh?” Dan teases.

“Can’t blame a guy for trying, right? So, what do you say?” Phil asks hopefully, bouncing on his feet lightly.

Dan chuckles. “I can’t make any promises, but I will try my best. Any requests?”

“Another Ghibli cover,” Phil replies. “You know how much I love anime. I can’t get enough of it!”

Dan laughs and he rolls his eyes playfully at Phil, before reaching over and shutting the locker door. “Okay, fine then,” he says. “You’ll get your Ghibli cover by the end of the week.”

Phil squeals excitedly. “You’re the best!” He leans over and kisses Dan’s cheek.

Dan quickly glances around, making sure no one is watching them. Luckily, no one seems to care.

“Ah, so I take it the date went well, last night?”

Dan looks over and blushes as soon as he sees Louise walking up to them. He’s still extremely shy around other people, even though Phil has told him how nice and kind Louise is

“Louise, I told you I was going to talk about it later,” Phil whispers, his cheeks turning just as pink as Dan’s. “But, if you must know. Yes, it did go well. Dan and I are together now.”

Louise smiles. “I knew it! You two have been crushing on each other since Dan got her,” she says. “I knew it wouldn’t be long before you two got together. This is exciting, Phil. Your first boyfriend!”

“Lou!” Phil rolls his eyes playfully, and he already knows that Louise will be teasing him all day about having a boyfriend now. Phil reaches over and gently grabs Dan’s hand. “Come on, we gotta get to class.”

Dan smiles as he starts walking with Phil to class. “Am I really your first boyfriend?” He asks softly.

“Well, yeah,” Phil replies. “There aren’t exactly a lot of other gay guys in this school, and I don’t have many friends either.” He looks over at Dan. “What about you? Have you had a boyfriend before?”

“Not really. I mean, I have kissed a boy before. A long time ago, but… it didn’t work out, thank God, though. He was a total jerk,” Dan scoffs at the memory of his first kiss with a boy back in London.

“Well, I hope I can be better than that guy who was horrible,” Phil says as they walk into the classroom.

“So far, I’d say you’re much better than that other guy,” Dan chuckles.

“Good morning, Mrs. White!” Phil greets when he sees the teacher sitting at her desk.

“Oh, good morning, Phil. You’re not as early as you usually are,” Mrs. White says as she looks up at Phil.

“Yeah, I might be getting to class later than usual now. I told Dan I’d meet him at his locker this morning,” Phil says, he and Dan sitting down at their assigned desks.

“As long as you’re not late to class, I don’t care what you do,” Mrs. White tells him.

Phil looks over at Dan and grins at him.

Phil’s never been one to particularly enjoy school all that much. He doesn’t hate it, but he mostly just likes being able to do art at school. But now, he has more than one reason to be able to enjoy school.

The next week is pretty boring, apart from being able to hang out with Dan.

Phil sighs as he stands in front of the mirror, trying to get his hair to stay in place. Today’s Friday, and he’s looking forward to the weekend, because he and Dan have plans to hang out with Louise.

Phil looks down when he hears his phone go off suddenly, letting him know that he has a new notification. He leans forward to read the notification and he sees the notification that makes him smile so wide. He didn’t think Dan would actually upload a new cover this week, but he’s happy to see that he did.

‘howell music just posted a new video - Studio Ghibli Medley’

Phil scrolls down, and can’t help but laugh after reading the description of the video.

‘here u go phil, here’s your bloody studio ghibli cover, enjoy

ps, couldn’t decide on what song to cover so I did them all in one’

Phil reaches over and grabs his phone, sending a text to Dan.

To Dan: guess this means I owe you a date? :P

To Phil: how’s today after school sound, before Louise’s? Meet me at my locker x