Dan and Phil are both Grade 12 students in high school with similar, yet not so similar problems. They can be there for each other when no one else can, but that could lead to their self destruction. Or their self rebuilding. *there's gonna be some foul language in this fic, and some smut later on, but for the most part this fic is fluff* ENJOY

Dan Howell takes up a opportunity to travel halfway across the world to be an exchange student. Phil Lester is appalled when his parents decide to tackle the challenge of housing an exchange student to 'straighten him out' from his aggressive teenager ways.

Dan is different. He's learned to accept that. Well, as best he can anyway, considering he's never really had much of a choice. It's been this way for as long as he can remember, the constant runaround process of trying to feel normal. His life is built around it, trying to trick both himself and everyone he interacts with into seeing him as your average person. The isolation as he desperately tries to keep others from finding out, the bitterness that wells up inside of him each and every time he's reminded that he'll never be like everyone else, the fear that nothing will ever change. He's fated to be this way forever; a misfit from society. Isolation can only go so far though, so when he's struggling to make ends meet and he's faced with the option of looking into a serious job or taking on a roommate, he opts for what seems like the easier option at the time. It doesn't seem so easy ten failed roommates into the process, or when he sits down at a table to meet with prospect number eleven and ends up with a coffee spilled all over his lap. Potential roommate number eleven, Phil, turns out to be an insufferable optimistic ball of sunshine that Dan wants nothing to do with. His options are running out though, as are the savings he's been using to pay his rent, so he finds himself begrudgingly agreeing to let the other man move in. Neither of them have any way of knowing just what they've gotten themselves into as they shake on the matter, but time will tell.

i was sinking, and i couldn't swim. {phan au} highest ranking - #10 in danandphil

Part 1 of the infamous series. Feelings appear. Sparks fly. Love rises. Problems occur. Please note: This story is now very old (7 years old in 2020) and I'd like to think my writing has improved since then! There are a bunch of cringey parts and bad writing in here, but enjoy and thanks for reading! :)

Everything was like a puzzle that had yet to be put together. It was like all the pieces were there, but you didn't know where to connect them and how they fit in. Dan was the puzzle, and I wanted to know how to solve it.