The coffee shop was packed when Dan walked in, but then this wasn't surprising given the fact that the streets outside looked closer to rivers than pavements. The sound of the rain was muffled inside, but he could still hear the raindrops pattering against the window, racing each other down the glass in tiny rivulets. The sharp tang of coffee and the hint of hot chocolate in the air was inviting, but the large queue to get said drinks wasn't and Dan decided against joining the end of it.

Weaving his way to the back of the shop, he spotted one free table in the corner. The paneling of the walls meant it was significantly darker at this table than one closer to the front, but there was no room anywhere else and Dan wasn't about to sit down with a bunch of strangers. Besides, his phone screen was bright enough to see anywhere. He dropped his bag under the table and slid into the chair, slipping his phone out of his pocket and checking his Twitter. It was a bit of a wasteland, but then it was a Tuesday – no one ever did anything in the middle of the week. Plus, Dan didn't have that many friends to get updates from anyway.

The rain pounded harder against the window and, judging by the way the litter was rolling past the wind had picked up as well. More people entered the shop to escape the weather and Dan slunk further down into his seat, praying no one would try to sit with him. All he wanted was 15 minutes of peace and quiet before he had to brave the elements once again to get to his lecture. Tuesdays were generally good days for Dan – he only had one lecture and it was in the afternoon so he didn't have to get up ridiculously early. Dan firmly believed all lectures should be held after midday because after all, who is awake enough to take in any information at a 0900 lecture? No one. Well, no sane person anyway.

Looking up, he noticed that the queue had diminished slightly but there wouldn't be enough time to drink anything now. Dan sighed. He'd just have to survive the 2 hour talk without any caffeine. He leant back in his chair again and started to play a game on his phone, but was only allowed two minutes before he was interrupted by a tap on his shoulder. Dan looked up.

"I'm really sorry, but there's nowhere else to sit," said the stranger, gesturing to the chair opposite Dan. His dark hair was soaked and plastered across his pale forehead and the fringe half covered his startlingly blue eyes. His yellow hoodie was also dripping wet. A backpack hung off one shoulder and one of the zips on the side was broken so Dan could see the familiar bright blue Oyster card sticking out of the pocket. He looked at Dan expectantly.

"Oh, uh, yeah – sure. Go ahead," Usually Dan would be making his excuses and leaving as fast as he could in this kind of situation, but there was something about the man that stopped him. Maybe it was the fact that he looked just as uncomfortable as Dan felt, maybe it was his voice, maybe it was the way he looked at him as he sat down, but whatever the reason, Dan didn't leave straight away.

"Nice weather we're having," the tall man said as he took off his coat and hung it on the back of the chair.

Dan laughed a bit awkwardly. "Yeah," he muttered.

"I'm Phil, by the way," said the stranger.

"I'm Dan. Nice to meet you, I guess?"

Phil laughed.

"You too," he said. Dan was about to go back to playing on his phone when he noticed Phil was still staring at him from across the table. His gaze was mildly unsettling.

"Can I help you?" said Dan, a little uncomfortably.

"What?" Phil seemed startled.

"You were staring at me," Dan said.

"Oh. Was I?"

"Yes, "Dan said slowly, nodding. He was slightly concerned a madman had sat down opposite him.

"Sorry. I do that sometimes. I was daydreaming,"

"About what?" Dan was curious, despite himself.

"Oh, nothing," Phil tailed off. There was a brief pause, which wasn't exactly awkward but it still felt there should be something to fill the gap in conversation. "Actually I was thinking about giraffes," said Phil suddenly.

Dan looked confused. "Giraffes?" he repeated, his voice inviting an explanation.

"Like, what if giraffes just had normal size necks? They'd look ridiculous! I kind of want to draw that actually,"

Dan laughed, properly this time. "Do you always start off conversations with strangers by talking about different possibilities for giraffe anatomy?"

"Only the interesting looking ones," replied Phil, smiling. Dan felt himself blushing and ducked his head slightly, mentally kicking himself. He was not going to embarrass himself in front of a complete stranger, however funny (and kind of cute) they were. There was another pause, more companionable this time, then Phil reached into his bag, pulled out a notebook and pen and started sketching lightly. Dan watched him for a bit, then returned to looking at his phone before realising what the time was. He swore under his breath and Phil looked up at him.

"I have to go," Dan said, stuffing his phone into his pocket and standing up hurriedly. He slung his bag over his shoulder and groaned when he saw it was still pouring outside. Just as he was about to go, he heard Phil's voice behind him.

"Here, have this," he said, ripping out the page from his notebook he'd just been drawing on, folding it up and offering it to Dan. Dan slipped it into his pocket, his brows furrowing in confusion. "I hope you meet a short-necked giraffe on your travels!" said Phil with a grin.

"I hope so too," said Dan, grinning back. Then he pushed his way through the crowds and out into the rain, leaving Phil to remain at the small corner table alone.

It wasn't until later on, after Dan had arrived at his lecture drenched, still annoyed at the crowds on the tube and muttering apologies for his lateness that he got the chance to unfold the small piece of paper. It was a surprisingly good yet comical drawing of a stump-necked giraffe, trying but failing to reach some leaves on a tree. Dan tried to stifle a laugh but failed, earning an irritated glance from his lecturer and the people around him. He looked back at the picture and noticed some scrawled numbers in the corner, accompanied by the words "Don't be a stranger! - Phil" Dan smiled and put the note back in his pocket. Obviously he hadn't made quite such a fool of himself as he had first thought.

If you had asked Dan what had been said in the rest of that lecture he would not have been able to tell you, primarily because he'd spent the entire 2 hours planning what he would say to Phil on the phone. On his way back home, however, he started having second thoughts. They'd only met a few hours ago after all. Would he seem too desperate if he rang that very evening? Maybe it would be better to wait for a while. Or maybe Phil was just as lonely as Dan and wouldn't care how quickly he rang back? He just didn't know.

When he got back to his flat, his roommate was out, which was good as Dan probably wouldn't be able to talk sensibly with them. After grabbing a can of drink from the fridge, he sat on his bed and stared at the drawing Phil had given him. What should he do? Dan got as far as typing the numbers into his phone with shaky hands, but he couldn't bring himself to press the call button, instead saving the number into his contacts. He tried to tell himself it was because he was playing it cool, but he knew deep down it was because he was just too nervous.

"I'll wait till tomorrow," he said, out loud for some reason. Nodding his head, as if confirming his decision, he put the phone away and walked to the sitting room to greet his roommate. Now he'd made a choice, Dan could almost put Phil to the back of his mind whilst he ate dinner – takeaway Chinese again, both Dan and his roommate Chris were too lazy to ever cook anything themselves. But only almost.

Later though, Dan couldn't get his mind off the phone call he was going to make tomorrow and therefore couldn't get interested in the programme they were watching. He didn't know why – he'd only met this Phil guy for 10 minutes – but there was something about him that was just…different. Or maybe it was just because Dan didn't really have any friends except Chris. In fact, that was almost certainly it, Dan told himself. It definitely wasn't because he might be falling for Phil. Dan refused to consider that particular possibility. Nevertheless, all these swirling thoughts meant Dan just wanted to go to sleep, so it was only ten thirty or so when he said he was going to bed. Chris looked surprised.

"But I swear you never go to bed before, like, 3 in the morning," he joked. Dan rolled his eyes.

"Ha ha," he said drily.

"Seriously though, you feeling alright?"

"Oh yeah," Dan said. "I stayed up most of last night finishing off a paper though, so I'm really tired,"

"Oh, ok. Night then,"

"Goodnight," said Dan, walking to his bedroom. He nearly tripped over a pair of his trainers as he walked in and remembered he had meant to clear the room up last weekend. You could barely see the floor beneath all the discarded clothes, books and the couple of posters that had fallen off the wall that he couldn't be bothered to stick back up again. Maybe next weekend he'd finally get around to cleaning it up.

Dan got changed quickly, scrolled through Tumblr for a while, then put his phone and the note on his bedside table, got into bed and turned out the light. The darkness made it easier for him to switch off, despite the almost constant siren sounds outside, and it wasn't long before he fell asleep.

In the morning, Dan had a vague sense of waking up from an incredibly vivid dream, but the only image he could remember was of a blue-eyed stranger handing him a phone. He also couldn't shake the feeling that there was something urgent that he had to do, but he couldn't for the life of him think what it was. Dismissing the feeling, Dan sat up and felt for his phone but his fingers instead brushed lightly against a piece of paper.

"What…?" he muttered under his breath. He looked at the piece of paper and became even more confused.

"Who the hell is Phil?"

A/N Hello and thank you for reading! This is my first fanfic so I apologise for any mistakes I've made :/ Reviews are much appreciated for I am a nervous person and I want to check I'm not publishing utter trash - so thank you in advance if you left one!

Have a nice day!