1959 words
Au where dan and phil are next door neighbours who both have a crush on each other and finally speak for the first time
I dont think there are any trigger warnings? Please tell me if there are any I need to put:)

He was the neighbourhood tear away, the boy with stars in his eyes and wind in his hair, pale cheeked and grinning, a Male snow white.

He was the serious, studious model student, the boy who kept to himself and hid behind chocolate curls and oversized jumpers.

They were opposites, destined to meet and tell a fairytale beyond belief.

His fringe hung low in his eyes, the curls tickling his forehead as he squinted at the text he was endevearing to read. His eyes ached and the soft light of his reading lamp seemed to be fading as his eyelids fluttered. The desk he was sat at was a dark mahogany and neatly organised with stationary and various papers covered with small, precise calligraphy; the only slightly messy aspect were the miscellaneous assortment of books stacked along the back. The boy straightened up and stretched, his back clicking as he did so. Glancing down at his watch, his tired eyes registered that it was 10 minutes to 2 in the morning. He sighed.

He rubbed his red eyes and ran his hand through tousled brown locks. Redirecting his eyes to the large window perfectly positioned above his desk, he noticed the boy next door stretched out on his conservatory roof, surrounded by a nest of cushions and blankets, staring at the stars. Dan wished he was out there, rather than here studying for this lousy chemistry test on Monday. Not that he didn't like chemistry, it was just that there are so many more interesting things to do right now, for example, sleeping, reading something interesting such as the sign of the four or the lion the witch and the wardrobe and, most interesting of all whatever his next door neighbour was doing right now, it looked incredibly relaxing.

The next door neighbour in question was called phil. Philip Michael Lester if your feeling formal. He was known in the neighbourhood as the wild card, the one who didn't care about anything. This is wrong, he does care about lots of things, just not peoples opinions of him. No one really knew much about him, only that he smiled a lot and enjoyed walks in the woods and star/ cloud gazing. The same was true of dan, he was just referred to as the nerd or "why cant you be more like him?". Dan studied a lot but not because he enjoyed it but because he felt a sort of obligation. He wasnt good at sports, or art, or acting, or even having friends but he wasnt completly awful at school stuff and so he decided that he must be good at something and that was as good anything.

And so he gave up his failing attempts at football and art class and playing sheep in nativitys and even trying to make friends and instead focused on doing well academically. And so he did, ever since.

Phil had never tried any of these things in the first place. Ever since he moved here in year 8, he had never tried to be anything but himself, for better or for worse. This did mean that he, like dan, didnt quite fit in. Dan and phil, the classic examples of loners, outcasts, and yet, they had never even spoken to each other. Despite the fact they lived next door to each other. This was partially because they were both incredibly awkward but mostly because each had a small, teeny tweeny, incredibly insignificant crush on the other.

This crush was also quite possibly why dan was staring out his window at phil at two am.

Phil, despite his carefree exterior, did actually feel lonely, as did dan with his stony presentation. And this is why phil was lying under the stars at 2 in the morning. He was dreaming, lost in thought, wishing for things he could never have. Tonight he was wishing he could be a star, so far away from everything and so very free. Wouldn't it be nice? No pressures and no judgement. He could be whoever he wanted, go wherever he wanted, and, most importantly, be with whoever he wanted. Surrounded by millions and millions of like minded beings, millions of friends.

And so, dan looked out his window at phil and wished he was with him, lying under the stars, so care free and so close to phil that he could hear his heart beat and phil looked at the stars and wished he was one of them, and, hopefully, that dan was one too and they could be near each other, completely free.

They stayed like this for some time until phil felt Dan's gaze and looked through his window at him. When Phil's steely blue eyes pierced his own, dan felt his cheeks blush pink and he averted his eyes away in embarrassment. Phil had noticed him looking! Phil didnt seem to mind though as he just smiled, pleased to be noticed by dan. Hesitantly, dan smiled back, the first time he had in quite a while. Then, to his surprise, phil beckoned him over. Dan laughed at this and shook his head.
Come on phil mouthed.
Again, dan smiled but shook his head mouthing back I cant
Why? Came the silent response
I just cant
What do you have to loose?
Dan couldnt think of a response to this and so he slowly stood up and walked to the large window leading onto his own roof. Upon reaching it, he pushed it up and leaned out into the cool night.
"Hi" he began.
"Hi" Phil's voice was soft and quiet, complimenting the silence rather than breaking it.
"I'm dan,"
"I know," a pause, "I'm phil."
"I know," awkward silence that didnt feel uncomfortable, in fact it was quite peaceful.
"You coming out?" The question came after a few moments of this quiet. Dan, who had sunk into this peace, responded with a vacant "huh?"
"You know, you err, want to come over?" This time it was more hesitant. Silence from dan, who was trying to process this niceness, perhaps his fantasies could be reality?
"Sorry, I just thought you...." phil trailed off, anxiety beginning to set in, he wasnt used to being social but, for some unknown reason, had decided that talking to dan didnt seem so bad, probably because he wanted a friend and also because of the soft butterflies that appeared in his stomach every time he saw dan and the desire to be near to him. Talking to him seemed like the best way to accomplish that although he was starting to second guess that decision now, met with Dan's unresponsiveness.
Dan, who had finally managed to process that phil wasnt joking and there was no sarcasm in his voice, suddenly became aware that Phil seemed uncomfortable. He then realised why.
"Oh, sorry, I'm not used to people inviting me to things."
"That's okay, I'm not used to asking people." They both smiled again.
"Alright, give me a second." Dan tried to remain casual despite his silent freaking out.
"I'll be here," phil said, before turning to once again look at the stars.

Dan closed his window and returned to his desk to close his still open chemistry text book and put the story he had been writing when his mind wandered into the bottom draw with all his other secret writings. He then went to his bed and tucked his pillow under his arm and his duvet over his shoulder. For some reason, he also picked up honey, his sandy coloured childhood bear who he couldn't sleep without but had also never told anyone about, not even his parents, keeping her tucked under his duvet during the day.

Although he had only just met him, he felt he could trust this mysterious phil lester who watches the stars at 2AM. As he passed it, he glanced in the mirror and sighed at the red eyed, dark bagged, tousled hair, exhausted mess of a face that stared back at him, so much for good first impressions. Oh well, there was nothing he could do, besides he was never one to care about his appearance before. Although it would have been nice to look nice, phil certainly did. Mind you, phil always looks gorgeous dan thought. Okay, so dan may be guilty of occasionally staring at phil in the corridors at school but come on, who wouldn't? What dan didn't know was that phil may also be, occasionally, guilty of staring at dan too.

Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself, back to the main story line: and so, with one final sigh at his mirror self, dan headed over to the window and once again pushed it open.
"Hello again, neighbour." Phil looked over and smiled.
"Umm, hi" dan was still feeling awkward and he could feel his blush beginning to creep back.
"You need some help?" Phil laughed and nodded at Dan's bedding that he was trying to manoeuvre through the window with.
"That might be good," the muffled reply came though a face full of duvet.
Phil laughed and, untangling himself from various blankets, moved over to the edge of his roof and leant across the gap to Dan's. At this point, dan shuffled back into his room to unstick the front half of himself that had thus far made it's way through the window surrounded my the bulbous duvet. He then passed over his duvet and pillow to phil and clambered out, grasping honey tightly as he went, until he too was stood on the roof. He then looked tentatively at the gap between him and phil.

"Umm," his voice was full of uncertainty.
"Not a fan of heights?" Phil's voice was full of sympathy.
"Its not that, more that I'm not a fan of danger in general."
"That's fair, but who is?" Laughed phil.
"You? Don't you climb trees and swim across rivers and run across fields of bulls?" Dan was joking but at the same time he was curious to know if the rumours were true.
"Is that what they say about me?" Phil's voice was suddenly serious.
Dan's blush was instantly back, "umm, yes?" He was now nervous that he had overstepped.
"Dont worry, I dont mind, after all, it's true," dan let out a breath he didnt realise he was holding and phil laughed, dan joining in after a few seconds.
"Anyway, let's get you over here,"
"Yeah, that's probably a good idea, it's cold out here and all the blankets are on your side!" They both laughed again at this.
"Would you mind terribly if I took your bear so you have both hands, it's ok if you dont want to give them to me, I know how protective I am of my lion."
As soon as phil said this, dan felt instantly at ease and let go of all anxiety of the vulnerability that comes with showing a hidden part of yourself to another such as honey was for him. Smiling shyly, he passed her over and phil gently set her down on top of Dan's duvet before reaching to help dan.
Dan blushed as he took his hands and helped him over but didn't say anything.

Once safely over, phil still didn't let go of his left hand and dan didn't pull away. Phil's hand was warm and comforting in his own as he led him over to his nest he had made on the roof where he had already placed Dan's bedding and honey when dan had handed them to him and they both settled down into the soft warmth, hands still intertwined. Without saying anything, they both turned their eyes towards the sky and slipped back into a comfortable silence.

A.n, I'm gonna write a part 2 for this I think, probably tonight, although it is actually 10 to 2 am currently🤣but that'll probs take a while and I wanted to publish this bit:) it's kind of inspired of mindy gledhills song wild card but very loosely, it's a good song though so definitely listen to it. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this, I never usually like Aus but I suddenly wanted to write this so there you go. I hope you've all had a nice christmas/ winter holidays:) hopefully see you soon (metaphorically as in post again🤣) ❤💛🧡💚💙💜🐹🐹