A/N: Thank you to AccioPhandom, Harry1675, and the two guests who reviewed this story. Thank you for inspiring me to continue on with this story.
"The bad boy; always more fun." -Ian McShane
"Um hey?" Dan called out.
Phil looked up and stuffed his book into his bag.
"Dan Howell. I'm glad you could make it." Phil greeted.
Phil's nonchalant attitude and indifference torwords Dan's appearance was new. It was unlike the looks he was given at any other time of the day.
Although Dan was slightly intimidated, he couldn't allow this to show. It would ruin his bad boy rep before it'd even begun.
"Sup Lester? You had a question?" Dan said.
He sounded like a rapper wannabe. It was annoying but fine for the moment.
"Yes. Dan is this all an act for attention? A keen ploy to gain popularity? Or is this the real you?" Phil posed the question in such a way he almost sounded angered by Dan's very presence.
"No. I'm not in it for the popularity. I could go without it to be quite honest with you." Dan answered, more focused on the clouds than the conversation.
"I figured, so what about the girls? Are you doing this for them?"
"No! Why do you even care, Lester? Worried that you'll never get a girlfriend because they're into the dangerous boy their daddys don't approve of rather than the total nerd good boy you are?" Dan smirked at Phil.
"I don't know how Dan, or why, but something is going on. This isn't you. You're the invisible nobody kid and you can't just destroy the balance. The good stay in the good and the bad stay in the bad."
"Well I guess that just makes me even more of a rebell. Why don't you just go back to making smoothies with your mommy, kay?" Dan retaliated.
Dan walked away from the big tree leaving Phil with nothing to say.
It wouldn't take a rocket scientist or whoever specialized in this kind of stuff to understand that eventually Phil would figure out that he was right and that this 'bad boy' act was in fact an act and nothing more. The only reasonable action to take next would be to find something to keep Phil from spilling the beans. Besides, a guy that clean just had to be dirty.
Upon Dan's arrival home, he greeted his dad then headed up to his room, locking the door behind him. With one swift stride, Dan grabbed his laptop and plopped down on his bed. He opened up the laptop and searched up on his new friend.
Surprisingly, based on internet research, there was nothing that could possibly go against Phil, Phil's family, or his business. His whole record was squeaky clean.
The next day was more of a secret spy mission than a continuations of the experiment. People still looked at Dan and girls still followed him and talked to him as if he was some god. The only difference today was that everywhere Dan went and every move he made, was a search for Phil. Throughout the whole morning, Dan was late to classes. That part only contributed to Dan's 'bad boy' image, but the reason did not. Dan was too busy locating Phil and secretly following him around.
Phil didn't really do anything out of the ordinary. He got a lot of text messages, but that was all. It wouldn't hurt to find out what they were.
At lunch, Phil left his bag unattended with his phone inside while he went up to get his lunch. This gave Dan an open opportunity.
He rushed to the bag, took the phone out, glanced at the messages, and left.
From what he could tell, it was an argument between him and his girlfriend about something.
Dan went up to one of the girls eager to sit next to him during lunch.
"Yo, you know who Lester's chick is?" Dan asked in a more demanding than asking tone.
"Uh.." She giggled a bit. "Yeah its Jessi Saccarilla. She's um.. Over there I think?"
The girl pointed toward the North doors.
Dan made his way through the doors pushing anyone who was in his way to the side.
Dan knew who Jessi Saccarilla was. They'd known each other for years. You could say that they were childhood friends who grew apart with time. It was more like their parents wanted them to grow up and get married so they made Jessi and Dan spend all the time in the world together. It goes without saying that that didn't work as well as originally planned.
"Jessi?" Dan asked even though he was sure it was her.
Jessi looked like she'd just gotten over crying after a week.
"What's wrong?"
That sounded too sentimental. He'd need to stop before Jessi suspected it was all an act as well.
"It's my baby! I mean my boyfriend... Well ex boyfriend. Phil Lester. You know what he did Danny? He-"
Dan cut Jessi off.
"It's Dan. Danny isn't even a nickname for me anymore. Continue."
Jessi blinked a few times then decided it was okay to continue.
"He's... Ugh! He totally led me on. I was used as a cover up! Dan he's about as straight as a hula hoop. He's completely gay! He just was so... Ugh!" Jessi burst out in angry tears.
'Same.' Dan thought.
Dan really wasn't completely sure of his sexuality. Sometimes girls were nice to talk to and stuff, but then a guy would walk by and it would all be over. He liked to think he was heteroflexible but deep down he knew that wasn't the truth.
"How do you know?"
"I.. I caught him with a secret stash of.." She began whispering "..gay porn magazines in his room."
This was the perfect kind of thing for Dan to blackmail Phil with.
"Sorry 'bout that Jess. I've got to go. Interesting people await me." Dan exited the scene, giving Jessi a pat on the back as he went.
Throughout the day, Dan continued his stalking of Phil. Phil stopped receiving text messages. When Phil got to his locker at the end of the day, Dan walked by and handed Phil a note saying to meet him, same place same time. The same way Phil had the previous day. Only Dan's note didn't say that he had a question. It only had the words "Guess what?" printed neatly on it.
Four o'clock came and Dan was standing by the big tree awaiting his guest. Phil walked up and Dan had a devilish smirk plastered on his face. Maybe this bad boy experiment thing was getting to him.
"I know your secret Phil."
"What? What secret?" Phil sounded more than confused.
"Look, you got me. I'm faking the whole bad boy thing. I'm not really going through some weird mood swing thing; However, now that you have this knowledge, you are going to keep this to yourself." Dan stated slyly, paying as much attention to the conversation as he did the last time they were together.
"What if I don't Howell?"
"I thought you'd say that so I got myself some insurance. A little birdy told me your secret. The one where you're not exactly into the whole.. um... female population. That you sexually prefer guys to girls. Now I'll share this with no one, you have my word. The catch is, you have to shut up about this whole 'I think he's faking it' bullshit."
Phil was no longer trying to make eye contact with Dan.
"Deal." Phil sighed then spoke under his breath. "Is it even an act anymore?"
Phil turned to walk away.
"What'd you just say Lester?" Dan yelled.
He grabbed the pale faced boy by the shoulder and spun Phil around to face him.
"Say it again. I fucking dare you. Say it to my fucking face Lester." Dan shouted.
Phil was grabbing up and trying to get Dan to release him. Dan grabbed Phil's arm and twisted his wrist. Phil screamed in pain. Dan pushed Phil to the ground and punched him, hurting Dan's own fist as well as Phil's face. Dan stood up and looked down at Phil.
"This isn't just an experiment anymore. Keep my secret and I'll keep yours."
Dan awoke the next morning before his alarm, to his phone buzzing.
There has been a problem -Phil
The first question Dan should've asked was, 'how'd you get my number?', but it was early.
Dan: What's the problem?
Phil: Someone just asked if I was gay? Did you compromise our deal?
Dan: No. I'll figure it out.
Of course, the first half of the school day was the same as always. Dressing in nothing but black and white, being a horrible person, having girls practically throw their panties at him, an average November day.
Somehow, it'd gotten around the school pretty quickly that Dan had beaten up Phil. The reason they'd come up with though was that Phil got an answer wrong on some sheet of homework he did for Dan. Somehow this only made Dan more desirable.
At lunch, Dan didn't even set his things down.
"Hello Jessi. Was it you who told some of your buddies that Phil Lester was gay?" Dan seethed.
"Yes, and I deserve to. Hey thanks for beating him up for-"
"Shut up Jessi. You're going to tell everyone that you were just angry at him for breaking up with you. Comprende? As far as you know, he's been banging some supermodel chick behind your back." Dan said in a hushed but stern tone.
"Why?"
"Ugh. You're just like him. I'll tell you why. If you don't, I can have you socially dead by tomorrow. You think I'm lying? Try me bitch."
Poor Jessi was shaking from having Dan speak so darkly.
He left her as quickly as he joined her. The seating areas were filling up and his group of girls were standing beside a table waiting for him.
Dan, seeking a change, located Phil and dumped his lunch out in the seat next to him.
"Sorry about.. attacking you Phil." Dan apologized.
Phil simply nodded and continued staring the table while eating his sandwich.
Dan just watched Phil eat the whole lunch period. He knew that Phil could see him staring, but didn't care. Dan couldn't help it. It was actually a blessing that Phil was gay too. Everything about him was so gentle. It made Dan's heart beat a little faster as the attraction grew over the 30 minutes.
By the time that Dan had to go to his next class, the guilt from punching Phil was taking control. Weighing him down.
The final bell rang and Dan scribbled down a note for Phil. As he had the previous day, Dan tapped Phil, handed over the note, and left.
It's not an act anymore but meet me at the big tree, I have a secret you can keep to be sure I'll keep yours. Thank you. -Dan
