just a school project || a hs phan au

Chapter 25

a/n: guess who's back from the dead. school just ended so here i am. sorry for not updating forever. also sorry thi s is gross f l uff. but this story is prolly endin gsoon anyawys.

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Dan feels like it's not the same person when he's on this date in some coffee shop with Phil. Maybe the same Phil Dan has known for a bit, but not the same one everyone else seems to see. And finally, Dan finds himself trusting that this isn't just his mind making this up.

Phil doesn't make any unsolicited sexual remarks, but he makes Dan laugh.

"Are you okay? You're really quiet," Phil asks.

"Oh, yeah, of course," Dan says. He smiles. "I'm really okay."

"Okay, well, now you're just blushing."

"Shut up," Dan rolls his eyes.

"Make me, Daniel," Phil winks. Dan decides he likes Phil's flirting better when it's like this.

So Dan does kiss him, even if it's just one quick peck on the lips.

"See, that never would have worked on you a month ago," Phil grins. His hand is still wrapped around Dan's waist. People are glaring at them strangely enough, but neither of them care enough to bother stop it.

"Months ago you were kind of a dick."

"I still am," Phil says coolly. He drops his hand from Dan's waist to take a sip of his iced coffee, but looks back up at Dan.

"I know you are," Dan replies. "I just trust you more now."

"You do?"

"I'm not, like, about to put my life on the line because I know you'd save me. But yeah, more than before. I don't hate you or anything."

"You never really hated me."

"I totally did, forever. You have no idea."

"You loved me."

"Oh, shut up."

"Do you want me to say it again?"

"Be quiet, Phil," Dan laughs. He sits back down in his seat. Phil doesn't seem to worry about their surroundings, even though he's pretty sure two of the girls sitting on the other side of the shop are in his grade. He doesn't want to say it out loud, but he likes that. Phil isn't pretending to have him as just a sex toy anymore. Maybe happy endings don't always happen, and things don't turn out how people want them to, but at least he'd been right about Phil Lester.

Phil Lester isn't some bad boy who uses people for bets. He's a dork.

Or, at least, around Dan he is. Hopefully he's not going to be doing any more bets of that sort, especially not if he's already dating Dan.

Dan has trouble even forming the question he has to ask. "Phil?"

"Hm?"

"What- What are we? Like, you know. Friends, friends with, uh, benefits."

"Boyfriends." It surprises Dan how that word comes from Phil with almost no hesitation at all.

"Like, actually?"

"I'm not forcing you to be my boyfriend. You still have the choice in this. But, you know, even if I'm going to fuck up a thousand times because I'm awful at relationships, I still kind of want to do it. I mean, have a relationship. No, wait. I mean have a relationship with you." Phil pauses, and his cheeks are definitely tinted a few shades pinker than they were at the beginning of this conversation. "Do I sound really stupid? Stop me if I sound really stupid. I don't need to embarrass myself more than I already hav-"