Archive of Our Own ^beta

It’s a mundane afternoon, and Dan is working on homework in their lounge while their friend Natalie is blabbering about something since neither of them have classes. She’s supposed to be doing her homework too, but Dan isn’t going to force her to do it.

They don’t blame her, homework isn’t a great way to spend your time.

“You should join me sometime.”

Dan looks up and sees Natalie smiling brightly. They weren’t really paying attention to what she was saying since they were more focused on their chemistry homework.

They pull an earbud out. “Sorry?”

“GSA. You should join me sometime. I think it would be a great way for you to get to know people,” she says.

Natalie joined the Gay-Straight Alliance at their college the minute she found out about it and has been trying to get Dan to join it since.

Come to think of it, Natalie’s always trying to get Dan to talk to people. Dan’s just too much of an introvert.

They shrug. “I know you.”

“I meant other people.” She rolls her eyes and scoots to sit next to them. “You were homeschooled for the past six years and college is supposed to be some - ”

“I like being alone most of the time,” Dan interjects. “The only reason we’re friends is that our parents were friends and then I couldn’t shake you off.”

Natalie scoffs. “You wound me, Dan.”

Dan sighs and pulls the other earbud out. “Why do you want me to join GSA with you?”

“We’re recruiting, you’re gay, and your schedule lines up with it since you only have one on-campus class,” Natalie lists. “I mean, you don’t have to go any other meetings after that, but it would be nice to just see how it goes, y’know?”

“If it’ll make you happy, I’ll show up to the next meeting,” Dan compromises. “When is it?”

“Tuesday at two!” Natalie beams. “Perfect!”

She quickly goes back to talking about anything and everything she could possibly talk about, which is Dan’s cue to get back to work.

Dan wonders what they’ve gotten themself into.

Sure, they’ve been on tumblr, so they know what a GSA is and how it can be helpful and supportive for those that are like them, but Dan doesn’t really understand why they should talk to people face-to-face when the internet is a useful communication tool. If Dan really needed to talk to someone face-to-face, they would just knock on Natalie’s room or call her attention since they live together.

When they discovered that they were queer in their freshman year of high school, they didn’t exactly have a way to meet people in real life, which meant tumblr was their main source of interaction. Again, Dan likes the familiarity of it, they don’t see why they should talk to new people.

But they know that it would mean a lot if they attended at least one meeting, so they figure that they should go. Natalie did say that they didn’t have to go to any more meetings if they didn’t like it.

Dan thinks they shouldn’t dwell on it too much. GSA is supposed to be a fun thing. They tell themself that everything will be fine and that they’re just being dramatic.

-

“Do you need me to hold your hand?” Natalie says teasingly as the two of them stand in front of the classroom where GSA meets. Through the window in the door, Dan can see that a few other people are already in the room.

Dan turns to glare at her. “Of course not, I’m not that fragile.”

“Just go inside already,” Natalie says, shoving them inside.

Natalie’s forceful shove leads Dan to bump into someone, causing them to fall to the ground and a folder full of papers in the person’s hands to fall to the ground.

“Ah! I’m sorry!” Dan yelps, crouching down to help them pick up the papers. When they make eye contact with them, they feel like their heart is going to stop.

There’s no way it’s legal for someone to be this cute and this hot at the same time , Dan thinks.

“No, you’re fine!” They reassure them, snapping Dan out of their thoughts. Once all of the papers are back in their hand, they formally introduce themself.

“Hi! I’m Phil!” They say enthusiastically. “Are you here with Natalie?” 

Dan nods.

“I’m Phil, the GSA president. He/they pronouns.” He holds his hand out for Dan to shake, and Dan reluctantly shakes it.

“Dan. They/them. Natalie,” Dan points to her, “is my roommate, and a long-time friend.”

Phil beams. “We’re always happy to have new members! Make yourself at home while we wait for more people to show up.”

Dan takes a seat next to Natalie.

“What do you think?” she asks.

Dan blinks. “We’ve been in the room for two minutes and you’re asking me how I feel about it?”

Natalie shrugs. ”I mean, yeah.”

Dan doesn’t really have an opinion right now, but they like Phil’s friendly demeanour. Not too overwhelming, unlike some club leaders.

“Phil’s nice,” Dan mumbles, turning away from her.

Natalie laughs. “Do you like him?”

Dan feels flustered. “I can’t decide that already!”

Great job, Dan. You’ve known Phil for 5 minutes and you’re already fawning for him as if you’re in middle school, Dan thinks to themself.

Natalie just laughs more. “I’m joking, I’m joking. He is single though. Last I checked, he’s not looking for anyone but he wouldn’t be opposed to others asking him out.”

Dan doesn’t understand the strange feeling in their stomach that emerged when Natalie said that. They brush it off, thinking that it’s probably just the crap cooking that they did that morning before class.

Natalie can attest that Dan is the worst at cooking for themself. They can’t even cook pasta the right way, and the instructions are listed on the box. Dan doesn’t really bother most of the time and just orders take-out instead.

GSA goes well though. Dan likes the discussion that was presented, and they liked how it was formal and casual at the same time. The people in the club were also friendly and nice. They didn’t want to admit that Natalie was right, but they definitely had fun and would come back next week.

-

Dan runs into Phil a few days later at the coffee shop a few blocks away from campus. They could see him through the window, and they notice that Phil is wearing glasses this time. Dan thinks that Phil Lester is an actual god with how good he looks with those glasses.

“Dan! Hi!”

Dan turns around from their place in line to see Phil waving to them. They wave back, and after they’ve gotten their coffee, they come up to him.

“Do you mind if I sit here?” they ask nervously.

Phil shakes his head. “Not at all!”

He moves his backpack so that Dan could sit there.

“How did you like GSA?” he asks. “I didn’t get to see you before you and Natalie left, so I thought I’d ask you now.”

“Oh, uh, it was good! I’m coming back again next week,” Dan says.

“I’m glad,” Phil laughs. “How are you doing so far with the new term?”

“It doesn’t seem too bad right now,” Dan admits. “I’m sure I’ll be proven wrong by midterm season.”

“You got this!” Phil flashes him two thumbs up. “I’ve been told I’m a good motivator, so just shoot me a text whenever and I’ll cheer you up.”

God, Phil is so sweet , Dan thinks. Where has he been for the past eighteen years?

They don’t spend much more time together after that, as Phil had to go to work, but Dan does manage to get Phil’s phone number before he left.

Natalie squeals into the phone when Dan tells her this, but they say that it’s just a phone number. They’re too much of a chicken to actually text Phil, even though they’re friends. Natalie coaxes them into texting him a simple hello, and when they do, Phil sends a cat gif back.

-

Natalie needs to finish her homework because she’s even worse than Dan when it comes to procrastination, so Dan has to go by themself to the GSA on Tuesday.

Dan’s offered to help her several times, since they’ve gotten better at turning their work in before the due dates, but Natalie always says that she’ll figure it out.

She has not figured it out.

Nonetheless, Dan makes it to GSA and nervously enters the room. Phil looks up from his computer and waves at Dan, so they go to sit by him. They make small talk with Phil before the club meeting starts, and that’s when Dan discovers that they both like anime and Muse. 

If they weren’t in love with Phil already, now they are. One fear.

The meeting goes well, and Dan definitely wishes that they had joined earlier, but they’re happy to be there now. 

As Dan’s about to leave, they hear Phil calling after them.

“Hey! It was nice seeing you today!” Phil says.

Dan raises an eyebrow. “Didn’t I tell you that I was going to come today? At the coffee shop?”

Phil blinks and shakes his head. “Today’s been a long day. I had a 9 am literature class, and then I had to work on my anthropology assignments since it’s an online class, and in…” Phil looks at the clock. 5:05. “forty minutes I have a chemistry lab.”

“That sounds like hell,” Dan says, as their eyes go wide. They never wake up before 10, and they live about ten minutes away from campus, so they can get away with waking up just right before class.

Phil shrugs. “It is, but I’m committed to making the most out of my days. If I don’t have a late class I end up falling asleep at home.”

Dan can very much relate to that. Since they only have one on-campus class, they’re almost always asleep in the evenings.

“Oh, I felt that,” Dan says, laughing softly.

“Do you want to get dinner with me quickly before my class?" Phil asks. "It's just the campus cafeteria, but I don't really like eating alone."

Dan is silent for a minute. They don't know what to say.

Say yes, dumbass , Dan thinks.

"I feel weird asking you about this, sorry," Phil hastily apologises. "I'm sure you've already got dinner plans."

"No!" Dan blurts out. "I'd love to eat dinner with you. Like, I never eat dinner until like 9, so I'm sure my body will appreciate me if I eat earlier. Thank you for inviting me."

Phil beams. "Of course. We're friends."

-

They rush over to the cafeteria to get food, and they sit across from each other while eating. Phil manages to eat while doing his homework at the same time.

"What homework are you working on?" Dan asks, curiously.

Phil shrugs and slurps on his noodles. "Literature. I'm just reading the stuff we're covering in the next class. It's good but it's boring."

He clears his throat and eats more noodles.

"As much as I love reading, it hurts my eyes and sometimes I feel like the reading is too repetitive for me," Phil explains. "I kind of regret signing up for it, but there's nothing I can do about it now."

"I also felt that. That's how I feel about chemistry. I only took it because I did well in regular chem in high school like... two years ago," Dan laughs.

Phil laughs as well. "Is this your first year?"

Dan nods. "Yep. Fresh out of high school."

"Nice. It's my second year. I took a few years off before going to college because I didn't really know what to study and I didn't want to waste money."

"Did you figure out what you wanted to study?" Dan asks.

Phil shrugs. "Film and Media. I enjoyed being in the film club in high school, so I might as well put my skills to good use. I like the classes I’ve taken so far.”

“That sounds like a great plan,” Dan says. Phil looks up and smiles at them, and Dan definitely feels like they want to get to know him even more.

-

When Dan gets home from dinner, they immediately collapse on the couch.

Natalie just laughs at them. "What's wrong?"

"I think I'm in love with Phil," they whine.

"Darling, we already knew that," Natalie says. "Ask him out."

"No!" Dan shrieks.

"Why not?" Natalie asks. "You guys are absolutely made for each other."

"How about...no. That requires effort."

Natalie sighs. "Please?"

"Saying please so that I'll do it only works on my little cousin, you know that," Dan sighs.

"It was worth a try."

"Was it?" Dan asks. "I'm gonna go shower now."

Natalie winks at him. "Oh sure, you'll 'shower,' huh? Have fun."

Dan makes a face. "No, not that. I hate you. Why would you think about that?"

Dan doesn’t bother sticking around to hear Natalie’s response and instead heads off to the shower.

-

They’re in the middle of watching an episode of Food Wars because Dan doesn’t want to do their math homework right now, when Phil suddenly texts them. Dan figures that he’s probably out of class by this time, so they text back.

After a few minutes of texting back and forth, Phil asks if he could call them, and Dan squeals before regaining composure and pressing the ‘call’ button on his phone.

Phil picks up immediately. “Hey!”

“Hey, what’s up?” Dan asks.

“Nothing much. I just wanted to talk to you,” Phil says.

They feel like their heart is going faster.

“How was class?”

Dan can hear Phil sighing. “It was alright. Not the best class, but it was okay. I need those dumb natural science credits and the only one I was interested in was chemistry.”

“Oh, good luck. I’m not into science either, so I felt that. Chemistry is interesting but also a pain in the ass. I can help you out if you need it?”

“I forgot you were also taking it this term,” Phil says. “I’m too tired to function but I still have to do things.”

“You chose to have late days,” Dan points out.

“I know,” Phil sighs. “I just didn’t realise how long they actually were.”

“We could study together right now? I don’t mind driving, and it might actually force me to do stuff instead of watching Food Wars,” Dan offers.

Phil laughs. “Sure, I’ll send you the address.”

As Dan pulls the address up on their phone, they realise that Phil lives eerily close to them. Dan found it weird since they remember driving Natalie to the next town over whenever she had to meet with Phil for GSA things.

"Where the fuck do you live?" Dan asks.

"Creek Apartments. I just moved in before the term," Phil explains. "Why?"

"No, just curious. We live in the same complex now."

"Really?!" Phil says excitedly. "That means we'll get to see each other more often."

Dan laughs."Yeah, definitely!"

They hang up the phone and head out into the living room where Natalie is sitting on the couch watching TV.

"Where are you going?" she asks.

"I'm about to meet up with Phil," Dan says nonchalantly.

Natalie gives them a confused look. "Doesn't he live in the next town over?"

"He moved here," Dan says. "Alright, bye!"

"Wait!"

Dan doesn't turn around, since Natalie's just bound to ask them more questions.

They meet up in the lobby, and Phil takes Dan by the hand to take them up to his apartment.

"Ta-da! Welcome to my crib!" Phil beams when he opens the door.

Dan laughs at him. "Crib? Who even says crib anymore?"

"Me, now shut the fuck up," Phil laughs.

The two of them sit on the couch together and open up their textbooks. They end up studying until late in the night, and Dan starts panicking once they realise exactly how late it was.

“Ah! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to overstay my welcome!” Dan blurts out, rapidly closing their study materials. 

Phil pulls them by the collar and kisses them passionately. Dan ends up kissing back.

“What was that for?” Dan asks when they pull apart from each other. 

Phil smirks. “You’re cute and I wanted you to shut up.”

Dan turns bright red. “I...uh...hey!”

Phil laughs at them. “You’re not exactly subtle, y’know?”

Dan just pouts.

“Do you want to stay over? I know how Natalie is with her sleep even if she doesn’t sleep until the middle of the night,” Phil offers. 

Dan reluctantly accepts, and needless to say, they share the bed and end up cuddling in their sleep.