ATEGORY: Fluff, School AU
FEATURING: nerd!Phil and quiet!Dan
TRIGGER WARNINGS: None
PROMPT: Phil can't help noticing all the cute little things about his classmate Dan.
WORD COUNT: Approximately 1,790

There were a few things that Phil Lester found slightly odd about Dan Howell.

The first being that he rarely spoke, not in class nor anywhere else. At least, not that Phil had noticed.

Phil thought that he would have noticed. He noticed a lot of things about Dan--the way he straightened his hair, even though it seemed determined to be curly; how he doodled on his hands with a blue pen during class; how a Totoro keychain hung from his otherwise plain black backpack.

Phil noticed these things about Dan because, admittedly, he had a crush on him. That was very Year Five of him, to have a crush on someone. Phil was seventeen now. He should have been going out with people left and right, hooking up every night, if you believe the stereotypes of the reckless male teen.

But Phil wasn't like that. He was kind of a nerd, actually. He wore contacts instead of glasses, but he did well in all of his classes, and he was a logophile, a term meaning 'lover of words'. Phil loved words, all words. He had a reasonably-sized notebook with page after page of words, all favorites that Phil had collected over the years.

If you took Phil's nerdy tendencies out of the equation, however, he was your average teenager. Maybe that was why he had a particular fondness for Dan, the somewhat extraordinary boy in his English class. He'd noticed him on the first day of the new school year, when the teacher, Mr. Iero, had introduced him.

"Class, this is our new student, Daniel Howell," Mr. Iero had said, lightly nudging forward the quiet boy, who had been hanging back.

"It's Dan, actually," Dan had said, in the softest voice that Phil had ever heard in a boy. That had really caught his attention, made him look from Mr. Iero, who was his favorite teacher, to the new student.

Dan was a little small for his age, appearing to be a few inches shorter than the other boys, and a bit on the skinny side. He had straightened chocolate-brown hair, and the eyes to match. On that first day, Dan wore a gray jumper with thin black stripes, which was just a little too big for him, a pair of denim skinny jeans, and black combat boots.

Mr. Iero directed Dan to sit at the desk directly in front of Phil's, which was unoccupied since Anthony Padilla moved away. Dan looked kind of like Anthony, actually.

But something about Dan captured Phil's attention in a way Anthony hadn't.

--- --- --- --- ---

The second thing that Phil found slightly odd about Dan was his apparent obsession with The Fault In Our Stars.

Every time Phil was in the school library (which he often was), he'd see Dan sitting at a chair in the corner, reading the famed John Green novel. AT first, Phil had wondered if it was taking Dan a very long time to read it. But one day, he would see Dan reading towards the end of the book and the next, he'd be back at the beginning. So Dan was likely just rereading it that many times.

Despite this, Phil had never seen Dan with a The Fault In Our Stars shirt on, or any other form of fan merchandise. Just the book.

Phil had even noticed Dan reading it under his desk a few times during English. If Mr. Iero knew about it, he didn't say anything. Maybe he had a soft spot for Dan. He certainly praised his essays enough.

Phil definitely had a soft spot for Dan himself, though in a different way than Mr. Iero. He noticed the little things. Phil had a crush on Dan, that was evident. All of the details about Dan, whether big or small, made him perfectly adorable in Phil's eyes.

This was a bit of a problem, actually. As much as he tried, Phil just couldn't focus in English class. Not with Dan sitting at the desk right in front of his, absentmindedly doodling on his hands or reading TFIOS under the desk.

Before long, Phil's English grade began to slip. This was dire for Phil; he didn't care about perfect grades, mostly, but he loved English. He wanted to pay attention, he really did, but he just couldn't.

One afternoon, as the bell rang to dismiss the students for lunch, Mr. Iero held Phil back from leaving with the others. "Mr. Lester, I want to talk to you."

Feeling tense, Phil approached Mr. Iero's desk. The teacher put aside the paper he was grading to give Phil his full attention.

"I've noticed your grades have been slipping in this class," he said. "Not enough to fail, of course, but you haven't been turning in your usual excellent work, especially work completed in-class."

"I'm sorry, sir." Phil lightly tugged on the strap of his backpack; he always did this when he was nervous. "I've been distracted."

"By what, exactly, if you don't mind me asking?" Mr. Iero folded his hands on his desk, and looked to Phil expectantly.

"The student in front of me," Phil admitted.

Mr. Iero gave his seating chart a brief glance. "Dan Howell?"

Phil felt a familiar flutter in his chest at the sound of his crush's name. "Yes, sir."

"What about him is distracting you?"

The fluttering feeling disappeared, replaced by tension. He hoped Mr. Iero wasn't homophobic. "I fancy him."

Mr. Iero chuckled at the almost fearful look on Phil's face. "Don't look so terrified. I have a husband, myself." He paused to give Phil a moment, then went on. "Have you talked to him?"

Phil shook his head.

"Well, I would suggest doing that. I could also help you move seats, or even switch to an English class if you'd rather."

"No, sir, thank you. I'll talk to him."

--- --- --- --- ---

The third thing Phil found slightly odd about Dan was his lunch habits.

When it came time for lunch, Dan would always go to the cafeteria like the other students, but he would sit alone, and hurry through his meal before heading to the library. To reread The Fault In Our Stars, Phil assumed.

A few days passed after his talk with Mr. Iero, and Phil still hadn't talked to Dan. He wanted to, of course, but didn't want to put Dan off or make him think he was weird. Dan probably wasn't into guys, anyway. Additionally, Phil didn't know how to start the conversation. What would he do, walk up to Dan and say 'Hi, I have a crush on you and want to go out with you, please say yes so I can focus better in English'? 

And so, Phil had decided to wait for the right moment to show itself.

And eventually, it did.

The bell for English class had finally rang, and Phil lingered by his desk, putting his things in his backpack. He was about to leave the class, when he suddenly noticed something on the floor under Dan's desk, which was empty--Dan's copy of The Fault In Our Stars. He must have dropped it.

Slowly, Phil leaned over and picked up the book. It had a well-worn cover, taped together in places. Flipping loosely through the book, Phil saw hundreds of notes, written in tiny, careful handwriting that must have belonged to Dan. Lines were underlined, highlighted in various colors, circled. It was almost a work of art.

Dan, being a boy of quick lunches, was long gone. Not knowing what else to do, Phil put the book in his backpack and went to lunch.

--- --- --- --- ---

The fourth thing Phil found slightly odd about Dan was his repeated choice to sit in the chair in the very corner of the library.

Phil didn't know why Dan did this. Maybe he felt more comfortable there, or maybe he felt like it was a lucky chair or something. 

The chair in the corner was where Phil fond Dan. Phil himself had just finished his lunch early, in order to see Dan before classes resumed. As expected, Dan was in his usual spot in the library. He didn't have his book with him, however; how could he, since it was in Phil's backpack? Instead, Dan appeared to be studying. He was tracing his fingers over the words as he read them, and Phil noticed that his hand was shaking a little.

Phil carefully removed the worn book from his backpack, took a deep breath, and approached Dan.

Dan looked up as Phil came near, and eyed him carefully. Today, Dan was wearing a black Muse jumper (he always seemed to be wearing jumpers), skinny jeans with tiny holes in the knees, and his usual combat boots.

"Hey," Phil said. It seemed like a fairly neutral introduction.

Dan lowered his eyes down to his textbook again, then flicked them back up to Phil. "Hi."

"I found your book in class, under your desk." Suddenly feeling shy, Phil held the book out towards his fellow student.

Dan's face suddenly lit up at the sight of the book, and it made Phil's heart melt. He'd never seen him smile before. "Oh, thank you so much!" Dan exclaimed as he took the book from Phil, holding it close to his chest. "I realized it was missing when I got to the library, and I went back to look for it, but it wasn't there. I was scared I lost it for good." 

"I've noticed you read it a lot," Phil blurted out. Then he blushed. "I mean, I come in the library during study hall, and you're always reading The Fault In Our Stars in the corner."

If Dan thought Phil was a stalker, he either didn't show it or didn't care. "It's my favorite book of all time." He carefully leafed through the marked pages. "I'm writing a play version of it, and I'm hoping that once it's done, I can convince the drama teacher to let the class perform it. If it's good enough."

"Oh, that's really cool! If you put on the play, I'll definitely go see it."

Dan gave Phil a tiny smile. "Thanks."

Phil stood there a bit awkwardly as Dan sat in front of him, lightly paging through his book. 

"Would it be okay if we sat together at lunch tomorrow?" Phil swallowed. "We could talk about your play."

Dan lifted his eyes from his book to look at Phil, and he smiled again. "I would like that."