A/N: I'M SO SORRY FOR NOT UPLOADING ON TIME FRUONQOKQOQDJIO

summary: Dan Howell had just started college, and he's roommates with someone named Phil Lester, who at first ignores him. They soon realize that they like the same things, listen to the same music, and they even have matching fringes. They're also basically polar opposites, but that's what makes them attracted to each other, even if they don't know it themselves yet. Phan College AU.

enjoy!


VII.

that is the question

.

.

.

The next few days after that were probably the best days of Dan's life, in all honesty.

There were many reasons why they'd been the best; Phil was mostly all of them. Whenever Dan would get back from a boring day of classes, he was always grateful to have Phil waiting for him in their room (if he wasn't working), for the two of them to exchange short kisses and warm cuddles on one of their mattresses. It was really nice, Dan found himself wanting more and more every time. He couldn't get enough of the other boy. He was also considerably very caring and kind towards Dan, a side that he's never really seen Phil have before. It is really adorable, he admits.

I mean, who couldn't? Everything about Phil was absolutely stunning. His eyes were like a kaleidoscope, Dan lost count of how many colors were in them. It was so cheesy, but also very true. Phil's smile was gorgeous, and the way that he stuck his tongue out when he grinned never failed to make Dan's heart skip a beat. There's so many things about Phil that Dan adores, and he simply can't list all of them. If he tried to, the list would be never ending.

Chris and PJ haven't stopped bugging Dan about him and Phil, though, despite the two of them seeming inseparable. Chris had always snuck an eyebrow wiggle at Dan while Phil was playfully placing his head on Dan's shoulder one day, and PJ almost choked on his coffee as he witnessed the scene, unable to hold in his laughter. It was pretty hilarious, actually, even after Chris kept nagging Dan about the fact that he was right about the two of them after all.

"I only wish I placed a bet with you," Chris sighed, as he watched Dan stab his spaghetti with a fork. Dan raised an eyebrow as he did so, but smiled as he shook his head. Phil was out working, so it was just the three of them at the moment. The brown haired male didn't really mind it, he had always visited Phil time to time while on his work shift anyway. "if I bet you a thousand pounds, I would've got that. A thousand pounds, Dan."

Dan grins at his food. "Well, that makes me glad that we didn't make a bet about it."

"That makes me regret all the bets with Chris I've made in the past," PJ complains. He huffs as he places a hand on his chin, rolling his eyes as he does so. Next to him, Chris snickers and places his arms on the lunch table. "I've only won five times out of thirty."

Dan smiles, looking up at the two of them. "You've known each other for quite a while, haven't you?"

"Yep," Chris grins, sending Dan a sly wink as he does so. "PJ, Phil, and I — we've known each other since secondary school. It's been a pretty rough time there though, especially for Phil. I don't think he — ?" He trailed off, seeing Dan's confused expression. At that, he awkwardly cleared his throat before continuing. "I mean, our school was pretty fine, but there was a lot of drama. It was really, ah, bullshit. Most of it was, anyway."

The brown haired male places his fork down and puts his head in between his hands. "Ah, that's interesting. My secondary school was a bit boring. Nothing much really happened there, it's not as exciting as I remember anyway. I had friends, yeah, but none of them were going here. I guess that's good though, cause I ended up meeting you idiots." He smirks, as Chris and PJ both nodded in agreement.

"Were you in past relationships at the time?" PJ asks politely, his light green eyes questioning. "I've had a girlfriend, but we had to break it off cause of the distance. To be fair, I didn't really mind, I'm still friends with her in fact. She's dating some other guy now, I think he's into wrestling and stuff like that. He's pretty buff, so I do my best and try to avoid him if I ever cross him."

Dan half-shrugs, and scrunches his nose. "Eh, I had a girlfriend a long time ago. We broke up because she didn't really like my attitude. I told her that she'd have to get used to it dating me, and she exploded. Not literally, but she yelled at me for about an hour in a half before stepping fiercely on my shoe and walking off." He looked at Chris and PJ's expressions, amusement was clear on both of their faces. "What about you, Chris?"

"Sit your ass down, it's time for a story." Chris says, clapping his two hands together.

"I am sitting, actually."

"Anyway, I kind of regret bringing this memory back." He explains, slightly frowning. "I had a girlfriend also, she was really pretty, smart, kind, you name it. We've dated for two years actually, but of course it didn't last." Chris shrugged. "I made her a poster asking her to some dance, and instead of a 'yes', she started crying, pushed me aside, and ripped the poster in half, including my heart. It was devastating, I spent the whole night the day before working on that. Later I found out that apparently her grandpa died the day before. She was in a bad mood for three weeks, and once she cleared up, she approached me, told me that she found someone better, and broke up with me. She apologized for her actions, but it still hurt me a lot."

"He wasn't himself for about two weeks." PJ adds, brushing a stray curl away from his eyes. "Phil and I tried everything to lift his spirits, but he literally lay on the floor one day when we had PE and refused to do anything. We couldn't really do anything about it, though. Our teacher at the time understood, and he allowed the three of us to sit out. It was nice of him. Being broken-hearted sucks."

Dan didn't say anything for a while, and bit his lip. "Oh, shit. I'm so sorry."

"It's fine." Chris sighs, running a hand through his hair. "Not everyone's destined to be together, you know? Plus, I'm more happy with PJ anyway." He grinned, as he snuggled his head on PJ's shoulder. The latter gave him a small smile, and shook his head. Dan found himself hiding his laugh, looking down and taking another bite of his spaghetti. It turns out that he didn't know everything about his friends yet, but telling stories like this was pretty interesting.

"So, Dan..." Chris then remarks, removing his head from PJ's shoulder. "Are you and Phil actually dating now?"

It's not the first time Chris has asked that, but Dan couldn't blame him because he wasn't too sure himself. The brown haired male frowns at that question, not really sure on how to answer it. Yeah, he and Phil have been acting super couple-y, and they have shared quite a few heated kisses with each other. The thing was, they haven't really properly asked each other out yet, despite all of the things they've been doing. Dan's not really sure, though. He thinks they are, they sure act like it. "I think so."

PJ looks genuinely bewildered. "You're not sure?"

"It's not that, it's just — " Dan says, as he fixes his fringe. " — we haven't properly asked each other out yet."

Chris snorts. "Just ask him out then. It shouldn't be that hard."

"I'll do it eventually." The brown haired male sighs, as he stands up from the table. He throws the small remainder of spaghetti in the trash can, leaving the plate and tray on top of it. "I'll see you guys in a bit, then. Later." He says, as he pulls his student ID out of his pocket, placing it around his neck. He gives Chris and PJ a two finger salute before making his way out of the cafeteria, and soon out of the school.

As Dan leaves, Chris giggles.

"What did I tell you, PJ? A match made in heaven." He says, as PJ smirks back in response.


Dan makes it to the coffee shop about twenty minutes later.

He's greeted by a light chime as he enters through the doors, exhaling once he's entered the warm building. It's complete contrast to how cold it is outside, after all, it's only a few weeks until Christmas finally arrives here. Students are scattered around, some are alone, and there's a group of four girls quietly chatting in the other side of the shop. At the corner of his eye, he notices that they seem to be staring at him, as well as the person at the counter. At this, he smiles as a familiar voice greets him, and as he looks up — he sees Phil giving him a crooked smile. He's wearing his glasses, through them, his multicolored eyes sharp and welcoming at the same time. His arms are crossed when Dan walks up to him, but his smile stays.

"Hey." Dan says, as he places his hands on the counter. He could only imagine the girls' reactions to this.

Phil places his own hands on top of Dan's, and the brown haired teen smiles at his touch. His pale skin goes well with Dan's slightly tanned ones, and he takes this moment to lace their fingers together. Phil's hands are very warm, Dan grins as he looks back up at him. "Are you going to order something, or what?" Phil jokes, smiling widely as he does so. "I like that you're here, but I have a job to do."

"You're no fun." Dan says, sticking his tongue out at him. "I'd like a regular — "

" — caramel macchiato?" Phil finishes, raising an eyebrow. Dan rolls his eyes as he nods, and as Phil removes his hands from his to punch in the order. "My shift's done in fifteen minutes, so I have time to chat afterwards. Don't worry." He informs Dan, as the other places five pounds into Phil's palm. After the black haired teen hands him a receipt, Dan takes a seat near the windows, tapping his fingers lightly on the table.

He finds himself thinking about what Chris said earlier, something about secondary school being a rough time. Dan feels bad for Chris, having to deal with that unfortunate problem. What are the odds? It really does suck, being broken-hearted. He finds himself feeling bad for everyone who's been like this in general, but he's pulled out of his thoughts as he hears his name being called from the counter.

Phil hands him his drink then, and Dan takes it gratefully, his fingers touching the other's. Dan gives Phil another smile before sitting back down and taking a sip from his drink. He plays this little staring game with him — the two of them glance at each other, and as the brown haired teen giggles (almost spilling his drink all over him as he does so), he sees Phil shaking his head, smiling as he does so.

He's brought back to his attention as the door opens, and in comes another female. She looks around Dan's age, and she's looking around cautiously before slowly walking up to the counter. Dan watches as she taps her fingers quite impatiently on her coat, her gray eyes are narrowed slightly as she brushes a strand of brown hair away from her face. Dan looks over to Phil, slightly surprised to see his expression quite stony. Although Phil's quite rude in general, Dan's never seen him like this to anyone he's served.

Dan drinks his macchiato as he watches the two of them, seeing that Phil takes her order quite quickly. It seems like he doesn't want her there in the first place. The brown haired teen tilts his head slightly as she takes a seat on one of the chairs, her gray eyes not leaving the counter. As soon as her name was called, she took her drink slowly, walking back to her spot, her eyes still fixated on the black haired teen.

The brown haired teen frowns as he watches Phil walk into the 'Employees Only' door, coming out ten minutes later with a frown on his face and an owl sweater in replace of his apron. Dan watches as another male takes the spot at the countertop, looking quite bored — signaling that Phil's shift has ended. He sighs as he takes a seat with Dan, burying his face in his hands. Dan raises an eyebrow, slightly confused. Phil seemed to be quite frustrated about something, although he didn't know what. "Phil?" Dan asks softly, nudging his elbow lightly. "Phil, what's wrong?"

"Dan, I'm sorry if this doesn't explain much — but I think we need to leave. Now." Phil mutters, not answering his question. As he looks back up at Dan, his expression is quite serious. His eyes are showing signs of slight frustration, and annoyance. Dan blinks, but as he opens his mouth to speak, Phil shakes his head. "I'll explain to you when we get back. It's about her, by the way..." He says, jerking his head towards the girl's direction.

"Okay." Dan says, as the two of them stand up simultaneously.

As they start to leave, Phil nudges Dan's arm. Immediately Phil's right hand trails to Dan's left one, gripping it tightly. Dan welcomes his familiar touch, but as he looks to the side — he sees the same girl staring at him quite intensely. It's like her gray eyes are reading him, and it's kind of unsettling. He cuts the stare off though, as both he and Phil make their way out of the coffee shop, back to their dorm room.

Dan wasn't necessarily quite sure what was going on, but he sensed that it wasn't going to be anything good.


Phil locks the door behind him as soon as they get in.

Dan crashes on Phil's mattress, as the black haired male pulls off his sweatshirt — revealing a plain black t-shirt under it, which was actually one of Dan's clothing. The two of them often exchanged shirts; they were comfortable with each other, after all. It made the brown haired teen feel very satisfied as Phil sat down on his bed as well, their arms touching. Pretty soon, Phil wrapped his own arm around Dan's, intwining his fingers with the other male's and squeezing it lightly.

"So, what's up?" Dan asks, turning his head so he could face Phil.

Phil doesn't really look back at him right away, until a moment later. His eyes look tired behind his glasses, and it makes Dan unbelievably concerned. "Well... you know the girl that I pointed out to you earlier?" He says softly, staring at their entwined hands. As Dan nods, Phil lets out a long sigh. His other hand is tapping his thigh repeatedly, and it seems like he doesn't want to tell whatever it was. Then, he said it. "Her name's Sarah, and she's my ex-girlfriend."

Oh. That wasn't a good sign.

"I don't know how she found out where I was working." Phil continues, his tone unsteady. "I didn't want anything to do with her, after she decided that our relationship needed to end. I really didn't give a crap when we broke up, I've never really liked her anyways. But why is she back, Dan? I don't love her like I used to. It felt like I was being used the whole time, she was the one that cheated on me after all."

Dan bites his lower lip. "When did you guys date?"

"Secondary school." Phil mutters, sounding a bit disappointed in himself. "I really regret it, you know. That was six months of my life that I couldn't get back. Six months that I wasted on her." He said, disgusted. "I can't believe that I was that stupid to actually be in a relationship with her. You could ask Chris and PJ about that too, I'm sure they'd tell you about it eventually."

That was probably the thing that Chris was saying earlier. It was silent for a while, but then Dan decided to break it.

"Phil, are we dating?" He then mumbles softly, placing his head on Phil's shoulder. "That's the real question, isn't it?"

Phil relaxes against his touch, placing his own head on Dan's as he does so. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure. We've kissed. We've made out, shared clothes, done a lot of couple-y stuff, haven't we? It's the kind of things that I've done with all of my relationships in my past, so yes, I think we're dating. Why?" He says, sounding a bit confused on why he'd asked that. Although Phil can't really see his face, Dan smiles softly, continuing to snuggle on his shoulder.

"Go out with me, then, so we could say that we are." The brown haired male mumbles.

He's satisfied to hear Phil's soft laughter, and he's still laughing when Dan decides to push the two of them down on the mattress. He's looking into Phil's eyes now, most of the previous frustration and worry from his eyes have disappeared — replaced with happiness and slight bewilderment. His glasses are slightly crooked, but Dan doesn't care, because he still looks really gorgeous. Phil's hair is slightly tousled, and although his expression is tired — it makes Dan smile.

Their noses are lightly touching, as Dan laughs back. "I said, go out with me."

"Is my answer not obvious already?" Phil jokes, as the other male scoffs. "I'll go out with you, Daniel Howell."

That was all he needed. Dan grins as he cups Phil's cheek with his right hand, looking straight into his eyes. He shuts his eyes quickly as he gives Phil a kiss on the lips, their noses bumping awkwardly against each other as he does so. "Good." Dan whispers, as he smiles once more at him. Phil smiles back, his eyes are glancing at Dan, they look like shining stars. "Listen to me, Phil. You're with me. Forget all about Sarah, because all of that was in the past. You don't have to stay regretting dating her. Just consider it a lesson, and a mistake. It's done now, and she can't force you back into a relationship since I'm with you."

Phil smiles, and shakes his head. "What did I do to deserve you?"

"Dan and Phil sounds way better than Sarah and Phil does, anyway." Dan snickers, as Phil hits him lightly. They lay like that for a while, legs dangling from Phil's bed, not saying that much things and exchanging soft kisses with each other. Phil turns his head to the other male after a while, frowning lightly. "You know, Dan... I'm still kind of worried. I don't think this issue is going to go away anytime soon."

Dan blinks. "We'll just have to hope that it does. I'm guessing we both don't know what she's up to."

"Whatever the reason, I don't think we should stress over it right now." Phil says softly. "It might've just been a coincidence. Also, there's other things to worry about that's more important than her. Christmas is coming up, and I kind of need to tell you something by then. I can't do it now, since the timing's not right." He trails off, seeing Dan's expression.

"Aw, come on, Phil — telling me this early isn't going to hurt anything."

"It has to be by Christmas." Phil sang, tapping Dan's nose lightly. "You'll just have to wait and see."

Dan huffs as Phil sits up, reaching for his backpack. "I hate you."

"No you don't." the black haired male smiles, as he pulls out his math notebook. "Dan, I know we're dating and all, but I need to do my homework. Can you please refrain from distracting me, for now? I promise we could kiss and stuff later." He says, as he flicks Dan's forehead. The brown haired teen smirks as he crashes on his own mattress, and as Phil looks at him seriously.

"Alright." He finally says, pulling his own Literature textbook out of his backpack.

It's silent as the two of them glance at each other for a while.

"Weirdo." Phil smiles, looking at his notebook.

"You love it though."


A/N: okay! i am done,, i hope you all enjoyed it bc i sure did enjoy writing this chapter

okay but the sarah character IS made up and although she doesn't really play a part now, she will in the future okkk

i hope you liked the phan fluff in this chapter bc I DID ha (i apologize for mistakes.. i am v distracted right now)

see you soon! new chapter should be up in a week or so.

-choco xx