A.N/ hey guys!! wow, okay, i log on and see people have cOMMENTED WTF THANK YOU??? i've never had any of my works get complimentary comments so i mean... thanks!! anyways, onto the story: i chose to write in third person point of view and the AU is of school... so cliche i know but whatever, it's just what my brain was feeling in study hall. here we go! enjoy xx <333
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AU: High school, jocks and nerds
Nothing had been going as planned. Dan's mum had slept in a bit late, and woke up moody and just in time to shout at him, as she and her hangover chased the poor boy out of the house. Then, to make matters worse, at lunch, when he was making his way over to an empty seat at the lunch table to finally eat, someone ran into him, and spaghetti stained his white uniform. Even better: tests were handed back in history, and Dan got a C. Was the universe out to get him? He knew he didn't deserve any of it.
So now, finally, during study hall period in the library, Dan was furiously smashing the keyboard in hopes that the computer would load. "Work, you dumb thing, work!" he hissed, nearly breaking the enter key. Nothing but a blank screen. Dan leaned back in his chair with a sigh of defeat, but leaned a little too far, and fell with a painful thud.
Finally, through the murky depths of his misfortune, a hand stretched out to help him up. Dan squeezed hot tears away and grabbed onto the hand, getting up off the floor. "Thanks," Dan said, brushing off his uniform. The good samaritan just smiled. "No problem! The librarian had already sent me over anyways to tell you to keep it quiet, but I thought I would stick around to help you."
Dan didn't argue, and instead, reluctantly scooted over a seat for the stranger to sit down.
"My name's Phil," the boy introduced, taking a seat. Dan gave a meek smile. "I'm-" "You're Dan. I'm not a stalker, I promise!... I just see you in the hall sometimes," Phil explained. Strange, Dan thought to himself, but shrugged anyways, and went back to damning the defunct computer to hell.
"Hey, now," Phil purred, placing a hand softly on Dan's arm, "no need to get mad with the computer." Dan sighed and took his hands off the keyboard. Phil gave Dan's hand a squeeze before picking up the keyboard and pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL. A few more clicks of the mouse, and the computer was back in business. "There you go," Phil said, standing up to leave. He gave Dan a smile and turned to go, but Dan grabbed his wrist. "Wait!" he cried, quite loudly. He smacked a hand over his mouth, and then whispered "Wait." Phil turned back around. "Yeah?" "Oh, nothing, I j-just, um... I just thought maybe you'd like to, um... maybe you want to stay with me?" Dan stuttered. Oh God, it sounded even worse out loud.
Phil chuckled casually and sat back down, scooting his chair closer to Dan. Dan's heart started to beat a bit faster, but he took a deep breath and gathered some confidence to talk to the older boy next to him. "So, what else do you know about me just from seeing me in the halls?" Dan asked Phil. Phil chuckled. "Well, don't worry, I'm not a stalker, but I see you sometimes, going from class to class. You seem nice and a bit.. mysterious. Such a dumb way to put it, but you don't seem to be the loud and obnoxious kind, more like letting people come to you instead of you to people. You're a good book, the one with the great plot twist at the end... the kind I want to read..." Phil said, before blushing furiously and giving a flustered "Sorry if I sound strange."
Dan couldn't believe it. He was someone another person took interest in! That was a bit foreign to him. "You're right about 99% of that. I'm not one to put myself out there, but I'll definitely vent to my friends for ages about missing a new Buffy episode," he told Phil. Phil's eyes bugged. "You like Buffy too?! That's crazy!" he exclaimed. The two boys laughed loudly, causing some people from the shelves nearby to shh! them. That just made them erupt into giggles.
Finally, to Dan and Phil's disappointment, the bell rang, signalling the next class. "Ugh, the bell... got to go to maths now," Dan said, picking up his things and pushing in his chair. The library was nearly deserted now. "Hold on, let me find a piece of paper..." Phil said, hunting through his messy binder. Dan waited patiently, though the amount of books began to grow heavy in his arms. "There we go!" Phil said happy, dropping a bit of paper in Dan's arms. "What's this?" Dan asked, shifting the weight of the books to one hand so he could look at the loose leaf. "That's, erm... that's my number. I just though, y'know, maybe we could hang out after school to talk... watch some Buffy, even! I dunno," Phil said, fixing his fringe nervously. Dan beamed and a hot blush filled his cheeks. "Thank you, Phil! This is great, really," said Dan, genuinely. Phil smiled, and started to walk out of the library. Dan followed suit. "Well, this is where our paths part," Phil said to Dan, the two of them standing in front of the library doors. Dan nodded, a bit sad to leave his new friend. Phil quickly gave him a short hug before jogging away down the hallway. "Maybe I'll see you in halls again soon!" he shouted to Dan, before he made a turn. Dan waved and gave a tiny smile. "Yeah," he said softly to himself, "maybe soon."
There had finally been some good luck in his day.
