#dansPHlevels

[phanfictioncatalogue]

The Ultimate Soulmates AU Binge Masterlist

below the cut is 50 soulmate aus for your bingeing pleasure

6:30 Special - dansphlevels

Summary: In a world where you and your soulmate both have constellations of dark blue freckles that glow when you’re together, Dan has been waiting for his whole life for it to finally glow. And when it does, he is stood face to face with a man Phil, who looks back in confusion, his own constellation unlit.

4A - imnotinclinedtomaturity

Summary: Most people’s soulmate tattoos are fairly short – “excuse me” or “nice to meet you” were common phrases. Most people just don’t say that much in one breath to a complete stranger. Most people, however, are not Phil’s soulmate. Thus, while everyone else has pretty, dainty phrases on their forearms, Phil has an entire paragraph crammed between his elbow and his hand in teeny tiny print.

A Match a Day Since 1965 - nebulous-frog

Summary: Phil works at a diner with a sign that says “Matching soulmates daily since 1965” and he never really understood it until one day, he did.

Everyone has a soulmate and you know you’ve met them when you injure yourself in front of them. Marks show where and how badly you will be injured.

An Arrowhead in the Right Place - chocolatesaucelester

Summary:  At birth everyone is given a half to a special necklace that your soulmate has the other half to. As you get closer to your soulmate the necklace gets warmer. Phil has yet to find his soulmate and is afraid he’s going to miss his chance, just like the first time the necklace got warm.

And So They Did - phanfluffs

Summary: soulmate au where the first thing your soulmate says is tattooed on your arm, however, both Dan and Phil’s tattoos are in a foreign language that they don’t understand (as in they don’t speak the same language).

Bacon McDouble with a Pepsi - pinky-dan

Summary: In a world in which the first words your soulmate says to you are inscribed upon your wrist, Dan finds a mcdonald’s order on his arm.

Blue - melancholymango

Summary: au where everything is black and white until you kiss your soulmate.

Bringing You Home - rephil

Summary: Soulmate AU where you can summon your soulmate once.

But It Takes Someone To Come Around To Show You How (ao3) - Cutaehyung

Summary: Dan is born mute into a world where once in everyone’s life your soulmate will say the specific words that are tattooed onto your body, and bring you together. These words will save your life in more ways than imaginable. Whilst Dan resigns himself to the fact he will never have a soulmate, fate has different ideas…

Daniella Jane - philingdan

Summary: Phil almost finds his soulmate and then he does.

Déjà Vu (ao3) - xawesometrio

Summary: Daniel Howell was born with the curse of immortality and the only way to break that curse is to meet his soulmate twice and fall in love twice. He has already met Philip once and now he must wait for the chance to find him again.

Dumbledore’s Fault - fiction-phan

Summary: The very first words your soulmate ever says to you are tattooed somewhere on your body since the day you are born and no one could really understand why Dan got stuck with ‘Man I can’t believe Dumbledore died’. For years he worried about the fate of whoever Dumbledore is, until he actually started reading the Harry Potter books. After that, all he wanted was to actually meet his soulmate so he could give him a piece of his mind over having ruined his favourite franchise.

Embodiment - intricately-woven

Summary: AU where everyone has the same birthday as their soulmate and at midnight on their twenty first birthday they swap bodies with their soulmate and everybody runs around trying to find each other.

Emergency Rooms and Bruises - auroraphilealis

Summary: Shared bruises AU. Phil wakes up with the realization that his soul mate is being abused, but doesn’t know how to help him. (TW: Abuse)

Fated Flowers - huphilpuffs

Summary: Soulmate AU where, every time your soulmate realizes new feelings for you, you get a rose. One random day in 2014, Dan wakes up with a red rose on his bedside table.

First Words - phan-dil-lions

Summary: Everyone is born with the first words their soulmates are ever going to say to them etched across their skin; Phil hates his. But when he meets his soulmate everything turns out a little different than he expected.

Follow Your Arrow Where Ever It Points (ao3) - meggie_megs

Summary: Soulmate AU where an arrow on your wrist points to your soulmate.

For the Love of Elsa - nebulous-frog

Summary: Soulmates AU where the first words your soulmate says to you are on your arm. Phil works in a toy store and Dan comes in four days before Christmas when they bump into each other.

If You Love Me, Never Let Me Go (ao3) - implicit_despair, TheBruhTheGenieAndTheYam, universal_colors

Summary: Your soulmate’s name appears on your arm when you hear their voice, what happens if that voice is coming through your stereo?

In Dreams (You Will Lose Your Heartache) (ao3) - surfeitquill

Summary: Prompt: Soulmate AU where soulmates can appear in your dreams, but Dan’s too shy to say hello until Phil has a nightmare. (Or several nightmares, and after a few Dan finally builds up the courage to help out.)

Isn’t He Pretty? Isn’t He Insane? - daeguk

Summary: in a world where a person’s soulmate has an identical birthmark, police intern phil lester is completely alone; that is, until he starts receiving cruel gifts from a psychotic serial killer. seeking out the comfort of a boy on the phone, dan howell, while desperately trying to figure out the killer’s messages, time is running out by each fractured second.

Just Dropping In - nebulous-frog

Summary: Soulmate AU where the first thing your soulmate says to you is tattooed on you from when you were born. Dan’s could say some kind of scream/growl and Phil’s something along the lines of “jesus on a fucking bicycle” (spooky week) because they first meet in a haunted house that phil is a character/working in.

Let Loose Your Glow (ao3) - awrfhi

Summary: in a world where your eye colour matches your soulmate’s hair colour, phil decides to dye his hair black.

Let Me Feel Your Heartbeat - velarisstars

Summary: (Soulmate AU) A year after the death of his parents, Dan finds that the only reason he’s able to get up in the mornings is because of the ring on his finger - the one that beats to the rhythm of his soulmate’s heart. Soon enough, Dan finds another reason to wake up in the mornings. And he supposes that’s due to a kind stranger who keeps invading his thoughts.

Let the Plants Bloom and the Stars Shine (ao3) - Star4545

Summary: Dan is innocent. Sure he knows the facts but never kissed or felt anything with anyone. Phil is not so innocent. He will go up to people, talk to them, and kiss them, trying to find the spark he will feel when he finds the one.

Make Me Happy - velarisstars

Summary: Your soulmate is your opposite. For every happy, there is a sad. Phil can’t wait to meet his counterpart. He wants to make them the happiest person on the planet. But his soulmate is having a bit of trouble coming to terms with that.

meant for me (ao3) - graydar

Summary: Dan doesn’t believe in soulmates. Phil believes in everything. Dan is scared of everything. Phil is scared of Dan.

Of Souls and Art - crystaiskiess

Summary: Soulmates are connected through what they write on their hands, and Phil’s soulmate does more than just write; they draw the most beautiful things Phil’s ever seen. He is the only person with a soulmate that he knows, so how will he find his one and only?

One Second Closer - goldenrose95

Summary: Soulmate AU where you’re born with a timer on your wrist that counts down to the moment you meet your soulmate. Except there’s one other case when the numbers reach zero, and Phil doesn’t find out until he’s too late. Almost.

Phil Lester And The Boy Who Spoiled (ao3) - LauraLittleMiss

Summary: “Man, I can’t believe Dumbledore dies.” Soulmates au where the first words that your soulmate says to you are written on your wrist.

Quixotic (ao3) - thewayulook2night (orphan_account)

Summary: Phil was always told his soulmate would be a beautiful girl with shiny hair and a good sense of humour. It’s not, his soulmate is Dan Howell, who’s got too many walls that Phil’s determined to break down, falling in love with him just happens in the process.

Share A Coke - nebulous-frog

Summary: Dan and Phil wouldn’t necessarily go so far as to say that Coca-Cola brought them together, but they couldn’t deny the significant part it played in their first meeting…

Singing Songs That Nobody Wrote (ao3) - Star4545

Summary: If you have a soulmate, their favorite lyric gets tattooed on your body. Phil is a singer, and his favorite lyrics are his own. Dan loves the lyrics.

slutty, slutty soulmates (ao3) - sierraadeux

Summary: Easy, not stupid. And maybe Dan does have some standards. Not like he’s thinking about settling for anything while he looks the guy up and down, so many of his boxes ticked it’s honestly a little overwhelming. or soulmates and where not to find them

Snokoplasm (ao3) - orphan_account

Summary:  Soulmates AU where the first words you hear from your soulmate are somewhere on your body.

Somebody’s Watching Me (ao3) - Nefertiti1052 (Succubusphan)

Summary: Dan is non too happy about waking up in heaven. Being informed that he will have to wait for his soulmate for decades because he managed to die before it was time, he decides to pay his man a visit. Shenanigans ensue.

Someday - philsdrill

Summary: “Everyone had a link with their soulmates, some could hear some of their partners thoughts, some had a tattoo that would appear with their partners name; for me, I knew when they got sick.” For a while Phil has thought that his soulmate might have an eating disorder and doesn’t expect to meet him in the restaurant where he works.

Someone in the Crowd (ao3) - Cloechecksmyflow

Summary: When Phil went out with his family for his mother’s birthday, the last thing he expected was to receive a surprise himself.

Soulfinders (ao3) - JulienneJc

Summary: In an Alternate Universe when we where born, we have a clock implanted on our wrist, counting down to the day we meet our soulmate.

Swapped - doomedhowell

Summary: Soulmates AU where you switch places with your soulmate on your eighteenth birthday and you switch back once you meet each other.

Tangled Up In Blue (Hair) - sleepyverstappens

Summary: If you dye your hair, your soulmate’s hair color changes as well and you swear the moment you see your soulmate you will choke them because you just woke up with your hair colored like a rainbow and it’s your first job interview at a prestigious company what the fuck.

(Didn’t do rainbow hair though, just blue.)

The Way it’s Supposed to Be - crescendohowell

Summary: Soulmate AU where the name of your soulmate is written on your wrist from birth.  Phil’s has always said Danielle Howell, but one day that changes.

Three Strikes, You’re Out (ao3) - DarkEyedDreamer

Summary: Dan doesn’t believe in love. Never did. Love was a gamble and he didn’t want to be left with nothing but a scar. When he met his college roommate, Phil Lester, things change. Phil Lester, the boy with two marks against him. The one who falls fast and hard. The one who Dan is sure this new tally mark is for… (AU where whenever you fall in love you get a tally mark on your wrist)

Together, We Will Rule - doomedhowell

Summary: Phil is the prince and soon to be future king, and hasn’t found his soulmate yet. Everybody in the kingdom is on edge waiting to know who will be the future princess. But, plot twist, his soulmate happens to be Dan (aka a boy, and not a princess), and everybody is shocked because being gay isn’t accepted with most people in the kingdom. But, it’s not Phil’s fault his soulmate turned out to be a boy, so things have to change whether the kingdom likes it or not. He and everyone else in the kingdom have to get used to this new idea of there being two kings rather than a king and a queen.

When the Clock Strikes Twelve (ao3) - Willow_Angel

Summary: Phan AU. Dan is embarrassed by the time on his tattoo until he meets a handsome stranger at a party for the prince.

When The Day Met The Night - darling-phil

Summary: Soulmate!AU where people only ever experience either the daytime or the night until they meet their soulmate and experience the entire cycle for the first time. Dan feels trapped by the perpetual darkness of the night sky until he meets a boy sitting under a tree.

When We First Met - botanistlester

Summary: Soulmate au where if you draw on yourself, it shows up on your soulmate’s skin.

Where - cactuslester

Summary: Everyone is born with a tattoo of where they will meet their soulmate. Phil Lester was born with “library” inscribed on his right shoulder blade.

You’re My Sole Rival - jilliancares

Summary: In which you wear your soulmate’s name on one wrist and your enemy’s on the other, but Dan has the same name on both.

Zero - phanlight

Summary: Digits counting down to meet your soulmate.

[dansphlevels]

The Odyssey

Day 11 of 12 Days of Prompts

TW: bullying, homophobic slurs, language, drinking

Summary: High school au where Phil is bullied for being gay and Dan thinks he should have just stayed in the closet. But it just so happens Phil has a big family and can't get any studying done, and Dan’s house is the perfect place to study.

Length: 12k

Themes: highschool au, enemies to friends to lovers, bullying, boxer!dan, studious!phan, Homophobia, family/sibling drama

 "Stupid baby," Phil muttered under his breath. "Why can't they just move back again? I finished studying at one last night, and she didn't stop screaming until at least three." 

 "Stop whining," Greyson suggested, speed walking over to the fridge. "Naomi can stay as long as she wants, she's family. OJ?"  "Toss it." He did, and Phil caught it easily, his clumsiness forgotten when it came to food. "Family's overrated."  "Feel lucky. I tried for kids with Myrel for six years with no luck. Marrying your mother was the best thing I ever did. Five kids, just like that, and I didn't have to do anything!"  Phil grunted into his cereal. "Six, if you include the rodent."  "She's not a rodent, she's a baby. She's going to cry, you'd better get used to it."  "Who's going to cry?" Asked Tucker, hurrying into the kitchen and grabbing the cereal from the counter. "Amanda?"  "The rat," Phil explained.  "Amanda cries a lot too. I think her baby makes her sad."  "She's just tired," Greyson explained. "Hey, didn't you need a permission slip signed? Something for school?"  "Rocket museum field trip. I already turned it in."  Greyson leaned against the counter. "Really? Who signed it?"  "Mum did."  "That means he did," Phil explained to his bowl of cereal. He stared into it like it was trying to communicate with him, tell him the answers to his Calculus test or his problem with the baby. "He's getting good at faking signatures. You should see him do mine."  "Snitch. Greyson, would you like some eggs sir?"  "Yes please. But you're still grounded."  Tucker came up behind Phil and gave him a light smack on the back of the head.  "I need formula," Amanda declared, stepping into the already crowded kitchen. "Janie's crying again."  They all strained their ears to hear. Sure enough, the baby's wail sounded through the house from the upstairs, loud enough to hear but not loud enough to be bothersome. None of them had noticed yet; it had become a familiar background noise.  Greyson frowned in worry. "I thought you were still breastfeeding?"  "If I breastfed her every time she was hungry I wouldn't have time to do anything else. She's a hungry little baby. Lots of growing to do."  "She's fat," Phil corrected.  "Your mum."  "She's your mum too."  "Is mum up yet?" Sandy asked, coming into the kitchen and grabbing a bowl from the cupboard. Her old purple bathrobe that was two sizes too big dragged on the floor, her tangled brown hair falling in messy waves down her back. She sidestepped Tucker with ease, sliding in between the crowd of people trying to navigate the too small kitchen all at once.  A few of them shook their head. Phil continued to stare into his cereal bowl, not even eating anymore.  "She's sleeping," Greyson explained. "She had the graveyard shift."  "She did animal surgery at a graveyard?" Sandy asked, eyes wide.  "It's an expression. It means the late shift."  "And it wasn't animal surgery," Greyson explained patiently. "The clinic your mom works at has someone on site 24 hours a day, in case anyone's pet gets sick and needs help right away."  Phil's phone beeped, and he got up quickly, grabbing his backpack that was slung over the other chair.  "Have fun at school!" Greyson called out.  "Have fun selling used cars," Phil called back unenthusiastically. He walked right out the door without looking back, letting it slam shut behind him.  "He's a great kid," Greyson muttered. "Works hard. We shouldn't be too hard on him."  "School makes him boring," Tucker half agreed. "I like him better in the summer." --------  He wasn't wrong.  Phil rode the bus in silence, putting his backpack on the seat next to him so no one would sit with him. Headphones in, he pulled out his homework and started to review for his A-levels physics class.  Getting to school, he went throughout the day in silence. He talked to a few friends along the way, but all in all it was uneventful. He took a test and got another test back. B+. He'd have to do corrections.   When he got home, he went up to his room and started studying. He only had an hour until Tucker got back, and then the house would get progressively noisier and noisier until ten that night when it would simmer down, and he'd be able to study in silence again. Tucker had the top bunk, so he didn't mind Phil keeping his lamp on for most of the night, as long as the overhead light was turned off. However, sometimes his snoring distracted Phil.  After half an hour of reviewing, the rat started crying again and Phil was ready to stab someone. He changed out of his school uniform and into grass-stained jeans and a t-shirt and started going around the neighborhood, going through his checklist. Mrs.Henderson needed the hedges outside her house pruned every Thursday, and it was also the day he mowed the Howell's lawn.  An hour and a whole lot of sweat later- it was far too hot for November- Phil was knocking on the Howell's door.  It swung open after a full minute, revealing not Mr.Howell, but his son, Dan. "Hey Phil."  "Hey Dan. Is your dad here, I finished-"  The boy turned around, calling into the house, "Dad! Phil's here!"  They waited a few beats. Dan turned back to him. "How much do we owe you?"  "25 pounds."  "Jesus, you're ripping us off."  "Better your dad pays me to mow the lawn than make you."  Dan shrugged. "Probably."  His dad came running down the stairs, panting a little. "Phil! Good to see you!" He was a mess, almond brown hair sticking up almost at random. He stepped forwards and almost stepped on his son's foot if Dan hadn't stepped back.

 He scanned the front yard quickly then the boy in front of him. "How much is it again?"  "30 quid," Dan answered for Phil.  They both watched as his father emptied out his pockets, turning each one inside out hurriedly before finding the one with his wallet in it. "Ah ha! Here we go!" He pulled out a fat stack of cash, pulled off a few bills, and handed them over. "There you go. Payment for the week. Have any more leaves fallen?"  "No. That tree's been bare since the beginning of October."  He nodded quickly, stuffing his wallet into a different pocket than he'd pulled it out from. "That's great. And the lawn looks great, thanks for doing such a great job. I have to keep working now, but um, have a nice Thanksgiving!" He turned and hurried back up the stairs, skipping a few steps.  Dan and Phil watched him go. "It's two more weeks until Thanksgiving," Phil observed. "I'll see him at least two more times until then."  Dan snorted, still looking at the stairs where his father had sprinted up. "Yeah, he's a clutter-brain. Everyone tells me he's a genius, but... well, I have my doubts." He looked back at Phil. "He works in his office upstairs. All day. Sometimes doesn't even come down for meals."  Phil nodded, not really relating but at least understanding. "He's loud at night?"

 "Nah." He looked up, not really looking at anything in particular. "He hardly makes any noise in there. Sometimes I hear a crash, but that's just his clumsiness. He knocks down stuff every once in a while, but besides that, our house is usually dead."  "Must be nice. My house is always too loud to study in. You taking any A levels?"

 "Yeah, I'm in a few of your classes. Calc, and Lit. And forensic science, but that's not A levels."  Phil nodded, his cheeks a little warmer. "Sorry. I don't really talk much in class."  "I don't either. But I still look up every once in a while." He sighed. "I'm just procrastinating by talking to you. Have to write an essay. I'd rather throw myself into oncoming traffic."  "While I'll let you get to it then."  "Which one, studying or throwing myself into oncoming traffic?"  He shrugged. "Either or. But if you do decide to end it all, let me know so I can have your room. I'd be able to get stuff done so much quicker if I had some quiet."  Dan smiled. "Okay. I'll give you a heads up, put your name in my will maybe?"  "Definitely. See you around, Howell."  "See ya Lester."  As Phil walked home, he counted the money Mr.Howell had given him. Thirty pounds. Phil had been working for the Howells for at least a year now, and every single time he got paid he was asked how much it cost. Mr.Howell was clearly a cluster-head, and that was a nice term for it. ---  Phil knew he'd made a mistake the second the words came out his mouth.  The teacher was out for the period in general health and nutrition class, and no sub had shown up, so they got their desks all in a circle and decided to play a game of never have I ever. Phil didn't have any friends in this class, and he hadn't really talked to anyone in it recently, besides Dan, but that one time a week ago on his porch had hardly counted. Apparently, Dan and him had four classes together total. Phil had looked up in each class long enough to check.  The game was going fine for a few minutes. Phil, who never went out or did anything especially stupid, had most of his fingers up still. And then it got to the next person.  A girl, who smiled and proudly declared "Never have I ever kissed a girl."  Laughing, some people making noises and their friends put fingers down until someone noticed Phil didn't put any down. "Phil, did you put a finger down?"  He could feel his heart jump a little. "No."  All eyes were on him. "You've never kissed a girl?"  "I'm gay."  The reaction was immediate. Wide-eyes-open-mouths-chairs-scooted-back-worst-case-scenario "I didn't know there were any fags at our school!"  A few football players looked mortified. "We had gym together! Were you checking us out?"  "What? No!"  "Oh my God, he's kissed a dude!"  "That's disgusting!"  "I can't believe-"  "I'm sorry I'm late, class," the nutrition teacher stated, hurrying in through the front door of the classroom, coat and bag in hand. "My car had a problem and had to be towed, and my phone ran out of battery so I couldn't call anyone. Please arrange your desks back in their proper order, and we'll get started."  Everyone hurried to do as she said, doing their best not to touch Phil. They acted as if he had the plague, like his gay was contagious.  After a few minutes, they were all in their seats. Phil looked around and realized that there was a ring of empty desks around his seat. ---  Word traveled like wildfire.  After that class, he was afraid no one in the hallway would want to touch him. But to his surprise, only a few people seemed to know what had happened.  He practically ran to his next class. He sat down and put his head in his arms, mouthing the words it's going to be alright, it's going to blow over, no one will care, no one will care...  And no one in that class did care. Or so it seemed. Phil did his best not to look up.  He ate lunch in that class. Hopefully, already everyone in that God forsaken class had forgotten.  But by the time it was passing period again, it seemed like everyone knew. During lunch, everyone had been able to go on their phones and talk to their friends, and people stared at him in the hallway like he'd grown a tail.  "Gay."  "Homo."  "Lester, yeah, the boy with the black hair and the pasty skin-"  Phil put his headphones in at that point, drowning them out in music. He'd fucked up. ---  Dan answered the door that afternoon. As soon as he saw Phil, he scowled. "Dad! He's back!"  Phil leant up against the doorway, his breath shaky. Dan's expression made him want to curl in a ball on the floor. "Do you hate me too?"  "I'd be stupid not to."  "Because I'm a fag," Phil clarified.  Dan looked back, making sure his father hadn't appeared yet. "Because you can't keep your big mouth shut. Didn't you know that it'd ruin everything?"  Everything? "Everything?"  "I'm here!" Dan's dad appeared on the stairs, running down so fast it was a miracle he didn't trip. "How much?"  "25," Phil said quickly, daring Dan to correct him. He didn't need his help.  "25," Dan's dad agreed, quickly pulling out the bills. "Such a great thing you're doing, I'm sure everyone in the neighborhood appreciates it. I've always hated mowing the lawn."  "I've never minded it," said Phil, trying for an upbeat tone. "Good exercise."  "You kids need lots of exercise," the man agreed. "Daniel here does boxing. Great full body workout, keeps you healthy. Sorry, I've got to-"  "-get back to work," Dan agreed, glaring daggers his way. His dad didn't notice, just turned and left, back up to his office.  Phil turned to Dan. "I didn't know you boxed."  "I didn't know you were a fag," he sneered, turning and slamming the door in Phil's face.  He blinked. "Um, okay. Well... I guess I'll see you later too then." ---  "Anything interesting happen at school?" Phil's mum asked.  They went around, all of Phil's younger siblings sharing. Tucker got an A on his blah blah blah, Sandy got asked out by blah blah blah, and Phil's youngest sister, Anna, got made fun of for wearing her hair in a side braid when all the other kids wore theirs in a french braid.  "Kids can be cruel," Greyson advised, his paternal wisdom straight from a parenting book. "You can't let them get to you. The only people who are bullied are people who let themselves get bullied. You have to stand up for yourself..."  Blah blah blah. Blah blah. Blah. Phil was amazing at toning his family out at the dinner table. Now if only he could tone them out as efficiently when studying...  "And Philip? How was your day?" His mum asked brightly.  "Fine."  "Anything interesting happen?"  "No."  "How'd you do on that Lit exam?" Greyson offered with a smile.  "Fine."  ---  It was ten at night. Amanda was on her phone in the next room, the paper thin walls barely muffling her voice. On the top bunk, Tucker snored obnoxiously.  Phil closed his eyes and tried to think about Moby Dick. He had to study. He could not fail A-levels Literacy.  He was smart enough for this.  Would he have any friends when he went to school tomorrow? -------  Cereal. Backpack. Bus. School.  Yes, he still had friends. Yes, they accepted that he was gay. No, they didn't want to talk in the hallway. Yes, they were still his friends. You're right, you should have kept it to yourself, they said. You just royally screwed yourself over.  Class. Class class. Bus. Home. Study. Change. A note was stuck in the back pocket of his navy, school-issued trousers.  Faggot.  He threw it away, then thought better of it and tore it up, then threw it away.  By then Tucker was home, and soon Sandy and Anna were too. The house got louder and louder, and Phil's focus became less and less.  Finally, he gave up, tossing his folders and notebooks into his backpack, and heading out the door. ---  The bagel shop also sold coffee. However, it tasted horrible. Phil bought a small cup.  He chose a corner table and dropped his backpack, digging through it to find his materials, and sat down, immediately starting to write. He had to write a five-page report on the first half of Moby Dick, and he wrote without thinking.  Phil felt the presence next to him before he saw it. "Moby Dick? Interesting. You liking it?"  Phil looked up. "Hardly. What are you doing here Dan?"  He waved his bagel, making a duh expression. "I'm actually just leaving now. Enjoy the Dick book. But knowing you, I'm sure you will." He bit down on his bagel, reached out and knocking Phil's half empty coffee over, spilling all over the paper and his lap. "Oops."  He left, and Phil was left staring at the mess. Only half aware, he pushed his backpack and the book aside before the coffee could stain them. The pages he'd written so far were already ruined. He looked over them, trying to read what was written.  It didn't matter. Nothing he'd written had any sort of meaning or rhythm, and he'd used the same example at least three times. He balled the papers up and threw them away. ---   People pinched him in the hallway. He didn't know who it was but knew from the snickers it was the same people. He didn't react.  "Ooh, I think he likes it," a voice giggled. "Maybe he wants you to do it again."  "I bet he'd like it more if there weren't so many people here," another voice remarked quietly. "He'd be on his knees before you could snap your fingers, so desperate to get-"  Phil stuffed the headphones in his ears, turning his music on quickly. The louder the better. He tried to walk faster, ignore the looks. He really tried. ---  "Phil, anything new and excited happen at school today?"  "No."  "You've been giving the same answer all week! Surely something must have happened."  "No, nothing has. I presented that Health and Nutrition thing."  "Oh! That's nice, how'd it go?"  "Fine," he lied. "Can I be excused? I'm meeting with a friend."  He was exused, and as quickly as possible got his backpack and got over to the bagel shop. A cup of coffee in hand, he made his way to a table more out of the way than the first one, plugging in his music.  Peace and quiet, he thought, because music doesn't count as noise. My closest friend. ---  He couldn't afford to go to the bagel place every day. He was saving his money for uni, and mowing lawns didn't make that much.  The next Thursday, when he went to the Howell's house to collect his money for that week, Mr.Howell answered the door for once. "How much?"  "25 pounds. Is Dan at boxing?"  "Hmm? No, he's upstairs studying."  It took longer than normal for Mr.Howell to find and count the money. Phil shifted uncomfortably on the porch. "Dan's pretty lucky. I have to study at the Bagel shop by Main, my families so loud."  "Oh, you could always study here," Dan's dad said easily, counting out the pound notes. "Downstairs on the dining room table. Plenty of room, my wife works until nine most nights, and Dan studies upstairs, so there's plenty of room."  Phil blinked. "Are you serious?"  "Of course! You seem like a nice boy, I trust you. And you wouldn't be bothering either of us. Come over tomorrow with your study stuff, and you can just go at it. You seem like a nice boy."  On one hand, Dan hated his guts. On the other...  "Okay. Yeah, thanks Mr.Howell, I really appreciate it." ---  It took three days for Dan to notice him.  Phil let himself in after the first day, when Mr.Howell said it was easier for everyone. Then he studied at the dining room table, the house so quiet he questioned whether anyone was home at all.  He came back the next day, and the same happened. And the next day was shaping up to be the same, when Dan came downstairs to get a snack and stopped in his tracks. "What are you doing in my house?"  "Reconsidering my life choices," Phil answered immediately. "I should've taken easier classes. School is whooping my ass."  Dan walked over, surveying the mess of school supplied splayed across the table. "I bet you like that though."  Phil attempted a smile. It didn't work. "Just because I'm gay doesn't mean I'm kinky."  "You didn't deny it," Dan noted. Before Phil could defend himself, he was talking again, saying "But actually, what are you doing in my house?"  Phil rubbed his temples painfually. "Your dad said I could. I needed a quiet place to study."  "And you can't study at your house because...?"  Phil looked at him like he was an idiot. "Because I need a quiet place to study," he repeated, slower, as if to help Dan process it. "I have four siblings, not to mention the rodent."  "The rodent?"  "My sister had a baby. She never shuts up."  "The sister or the baby?"  "Both." Phil tilted his head to the side, considering. "Mostly the baby though."  "Cool," Dan deadpanned. "I'm going upstairs."  "Have fun."  He didn't respond. ----  Across Phil's locker, the word 'Twink' was spray painted, bright green. He tried to wipe it off with a wet paper towel, but it did nothing. ----  Beep. "The number you are calling is not available. Please leave a message, after the tone." Beep.   "Hey Peej, it's Phil, I was just wondering if you wanted to go the new movie theater sometime, check it out. I don't care what we see, um, you can choose. So... yeah. Call me back." Beep.  Beep. "The number you are calling is not available. Please leave a message, after the tone." Beep.   Beep. "Hey Mark, it's Phil! Do you wanna hang out sometime? It feels like it's been forever. So, uh, yeah, call me back!" Beep.  Beep. "The number you are calling is not available. Please leave a message, after the tone." Beep.   Beep. "It's Phil, I heard you and Julie broke up? Just wondering if you wanted to rant or talk about it or whatever. We could grab lunch or something. Um... yeah. Call me back." Beep.  Beep. "The number you are calling has been disconnected and is no longer available." Beep.   Beep.  ----  "I'm going to die," Tucker was saying, laying on his bed with his head hanging off the end. "I'm actually going to die."  "It's only report cards," Phil reassured. "You're smart. You'll be fine."  "I did horrible in Science this quarter. I didn't even turn in my notebook, I forgot. Mum's going to kill me!" He rolled over, staring at his older brother miserably. "I wish I was like you and actually liked school."  "I don't like school."  "That's all you ever do though. You go to school, then you get home and study. How could you not like school?"  Phil shrugged. "Guess I don't really like the people there. We don't really see eye to eye." ----  "Dunk! Dunk! Dunk! Dunk!"  "Better close your eyes, bum-chum!" Phil's head was dunked under, water pouring onto his face as they flushed the toilet. He sputtered for breath, the chanting and cheering being literally drowned out by water.  They let him go and he threw himself forwards on the disgusting bathroom tile, coughing and spitting, desperate for air.  "Funny. I always thought that you'd swallow."  More laughter. Phil wanted to cry, or die, or kill them or all three.  The bell rang, and everyone dispersed, leaving him in a wet pile of tears and toilet water. ---  Dan was staring at him.  Phil had done his best to dry off, but he could only do so much. He refused to let the bullies make him miss class though, especially Calculus. He already hardly understood the class, he couldn't afford to miss a full day of instructions.  Phil tried to ignore the other boy's gaze on him, instead listening to the teacher. "...I'm sorry, but I don't let anyone take home the textbooks. We have a class set of 30, and that's all the district will provide for us for the next 20 years, basically. However, if you'd like you can stay after school..."  Dan was still staring at him. What happened? He mouthed from across the class.  I'm gay Phil mouthed back. He didn't know if Dan understood or not, but the boy's eyes widened, and Phil could tell that he'd made sense on at least some level.  After school that day, Phil was studying where he always did when Dan sat next to him. "Finish Moby Dick yet?"  "Last night. It was amazing, a fine piece of literature, blah blah blah."  Dan nodded. "I hated it. I still have twelve pages left to go."  "The last bit isn't so bad. It's better with the end in sight."  Dan nodded thoughtfully. "Makes sense. On a scale of one to ten, how gay exactly are you?"  Phil almost got whiplash from how fast Dan had turned the conversation around. "Um... I don't know. I'm not that gay."  "You're lying," Dan observed. "I'm not going to hit you or anything. Or make you go swimming like your friends from earlier did."  "They weren't my friends."  "I didn't think so. Now come on, scale of one to ten, one being straight and ten being so gay that you-"  "Ten." Phil cut him off, not sure if he wanted to hear the rest.  Dan's eyes widened. "Seriously? So you'd-"  "I'm very gay," Phil agreed. "So gay that I've never kissed a girl and never want to. So gay that I can't even imagine dating a girl, or marrying one, ever."  Dan leaned forward, interested. "So you'd like, suck dick?"  Phil winced. "In theory."  "And you would like, take it up the ass, and-"  "God Dan, please shut up. Maybe. I don't know, are you offering?"  Dan's eyes got wide.  "It's... it's a figure of speech," Phil explained, backing up. "Not a real question. Now, can I get back to studying, or-"  "Yeah, yeah!" Dan stood up so quickly he almost knocked the chair over. "Yeah, I was just curious. You can go back to studying, you're just like... the only gay person I know."  "There's more of us," Phil said, trying to hide the annoyance in his voice. "Other gay people at our school, in fact. There have to be, the stats don't lie."  "Not that any of us would know it. After everything happening with you, you'd have to be stupid to come out at our school."  Phil scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah. I guess you're right."  "Yeah!" Dan took a step back, then shuffled forwards, bumping against the chair unceremoniously. "I'm going to go... study!"  "Okay," Phil responded with slight amusement. "Have fun."  "I- I will!" He turned around and almost ran straight into a wall. He quickly sidestepped, then was up the stairs, turning into what was assumably his room.  Phil shook his head, smiling only a little bit. ---  "The game's coming out in the New Year, but I want to preorder it now. Then I can get it as soon as possible. It has these super amazing graphics, honestly, I want to a design class or a graphic art class or something like that so I can learn how to do that sort of animation, because have you seen it? It's so cool! It's too expensive, but I'll get it anyways, I have some money saved up..." Phil trailed off, looking around. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"  Greyson was the first to clear his throat. "Um, it's just you've been so quiet lately. Is there anything new, or anything? You've been spending a lot of time away from home. New friends?"  Phil shrugged. "Not really. Just... the game I guess." His shoulders slumped forwards slightly.  "Tell us more about it!" His mum prompted quickly. It was the first time in a long time that she'd seen her son so vibrant, and she wasn't about to let him go back to sulking so fast.  Phil perked up. "Yeah, it's got these controllers..." ---  "No you spoon, it all goes back to the limit definition of the derivative. You have to define the variables, see, here..." Dan underlined a few numbers, gesturing with his pencil. "And then.... multiply here...." He was completely entranced in the work, marking and drawing lines connecting the dots, getting wrapped up in the math of it.  Phil didn't really remember how they got in this position, with Dan sitting at the table with him, showing him how to do the homework. Phil had had no idea, and he still didn't fully understand it, but it was becoming easier.  "Like this," Phil muttered, taking out another pencil and adding onto the equation Dan was writing. "You square it." 

 Dan stared at it for a long moment, blinking. "Um, no. You don't square anything. If you wanted, you could root it... actually, you probably wouldn't want to do that. Here, look." ---  It made more sense for them to work on their homework together. Phil didn't remember when it was decided, but one day Dan started bringing his work downstairs and working at the table with Phil, going over problems together and complaining back and forth. Dan was good at calc. Phil was better at Lit. Neither of them liked forensics. And both of them thought that generally, government class was stupid and signing up was a mistake.  They were talking one day when one of their phones went off in the pile of papers and notebooks scattered across the desk. "Get it," Dan suggested, nodding to the pile.  "Well it's not my phone."  "That's not my ringtone. You probably just usually have it on mute."  "Who would be calling me?"  Dan shrugged. "Well answer it!"  Phil jumped up, digging through the pile and flipping over his near-empty backpack, grabbing the phone and answering at the last second. "Mushi Mushi?"  There was some crackling at the end of the line.  Phil caught his breath. "Hello?"  Silence. Then, after a beat, a low deep voice growled "you have seven days to live."  "Dan, it's for you." Phil handed the phone over to the very confused Dan.  "Hullo." He paused, listening to the voice. Phil could barely hear it.  "Seven days..." it whispered guterally.  "Thank God," Dan mumbled in reply. "But can we speed up the process a bit? I have a test before that. Could you just kill me now?"  The voice seemed to consider this. "Not now. Tonight."  Dan clicked flirtily. "I'll light some candles. See you at 7." He closed the phone, hanging up with a grin. "Friend of yours?"  Phil shook his head, smiling lightly. "Nah, little brother. He got his own phone last week and has been prank calling people ever since. I'm actually kind surprised it's taken him this long to try it with me."  Dan laughed. "Amazing. I always wanted to have a little brother."  "I don't know. Tucker's all right, but I'd prefer to have my own room. Then I wouldn't have to come over and invade your space every day."  "You're not invading my space." The air seemed to crackle with electricity, or maybe something a little more dangerous. Then it disappeared. "Have you seen my room yet?"  "No. Wanna give me the grand tour?" ---  Phil had never had his own room. Dan practically had his own floor.  "There's Dad's office, which he spends about 23 out of 24 hours in, so it doesn't really count. But they technically sleep in their room downstairs, so I have loads of space."  Dan's room was at least twice the size of Phil's, and it looked even bigger with a double bed instead of the bunk beds that took up most of Phil's space. The bed had hidden storage under it for Dan's clothes, and next to it sat a nightstand crowded with figurines from animes, little mementos, and a few condoms.  "Nice," Phil said dryly, staring at the latter, which was out in plain sight.  "Um, ignore that!" Dan opened the drawer and swept the condoms and a bottle into it, closing it quickly. "No one ever comes in here, so it's not like I need to hide them."  "No one ever comes in here," Phil repeated, picking up an empty wrapper from the floor. "Yeah, I believe you."  Dan snatched the wrapper out of his hand, stuffing it in the drawer with the others. "Shut up." His cheeks had turned a bright pink.  "Why do you have two desks?" Upon further inspection of the room, Phil realized there were two desks inside of one, one in each corner opposite the bed. Only one had a chair by it, and that was the only one with papers on it. The other had a stack of discarded clothing on it, like it had been downgraded to a laundry hamper.  Dan looked where he was staring. "Oh, that's dad's old one. He gave it to me, like I'd have use for two."  Phil shrugged, glancing around. Nothing else was of much interest to him, unless he was willing to ask Dan more about the condom wrappers, which he wasn't.  "Wanna get a snack? I'm hungry." ----  The coffee tasted much better at the Bagel shop when he was sat at a table for two. It turned out, Dan was actually quite funny, though most of his jokes were horrible and caused Phil to snort so hard he almost directly inhaled his coffee.  Other new information learned: the bagels at the bagel shop taste about as bad as the coffee. Dan got one, and it was so stale he could tap it against the table and make a noise like horses galloping on pavement. Dan ate it anyways.  The whole building was so warm. Phil felt like he was wearing a woolen jumper. How long had it been since he'd felt so warm? Too long.  Dan smiled wide and laughed loud. And Phil did too. His cheek muscles ached from so much exercise after so much disuse. ---  Phil was just setting his stuff down on the Howell's dining room table when Dan called him upstairs. When Phil got to the top of the steps and peeked in his room, Dan was sitting in his rolling chair, the end of a pencil between his teeth. "Do you want to bring a chair up here? I don't get the Lit assignment." ---  There were few things that felt better than leaving school for holiday break. Actually, two, to be exact: leaving school for Summer Vacation and leaving school for good.  Dan whooped, tilting his face up to the starry sky and leaning back, stumbling only slightly. The brown paper bag he clutched in one hand sloshed around with his movement, the drink inside it still half full.  Phil's drink was half full too. It was strange- earlier that school year, he would've called it half empty. But lately, a lot of things were looking half full.  "I'm gonna to be an astronaut when I grow up," Dan slurred, stalking forwards, eyes trained on the stars. "'m gonna see the stars up close, and personal. Get all up in their space." He squinted, daring the stars to disagree.  "Is that what you're studying at uni-"  "Don't say that word!" Dan commanded quickly, cutting him off. "Evil. I'm in a good mood, satyr, don't ruin it with your talk of the future."  Dan's insults had been getting more and more interesting ever since they did the unit on The Odyssey in A-levels Lit. Dan had done an essay on the various ways mythology was ingrained in the culture of the time, and needless to say, he'd gotten a bit into it.  Phil took a big swig from his bottle, letting the liquor pour down his throat like molten lava, stinging and burning his tongue. They walked in curved lines, words slurred but brains still mostly aware. The empty space in their bottles wasn't enough to get someone drunk, but luckily for them, it wasn't all they'd been drinking that night.  "I hate parties," Dan mumbled. Most of his filters had been strewn on the floor, sloshed around and discarded like bad mouthwash. "Too many stupid people."  "It was your idea to go," Phil reminded him.  "Stupid," he repeated. "I don't even like dancing."  Phil raised the bottle to his lips and gulped, doing his best to wash the memory away. Dan had danced with a girl, some stupid brunette who was significantly smaller than him. They'd danced, and then made out, before Dan pulled away and spat on the floor. No one cared. It was too late and the air smelled too much like vomit and beer for anyone to care.  Phil wished he didn't care. "You like her?"  Dan didn't need to ask who he was talking about. "Not really. Just someone to dance with, someone to kiss." He sipped from his bottle, stopping to giggle lightly. "Not that you'd know anything about that."  "In my defense, I can't kiss people. Nobody around who'd want to."  "Oblivious potato you are." He cackled up to the sky, eyes gazing around as if waiting for Zeus to appear and pluck him from the ground. "'My name is nobody'," he quoted, smiling vaguely.  Phil shook his head, trying not to think about The Odyssey any more. Dan was referring to the passage where the brave Odysseus was face to face with the monstrous cyclops, Polyphemus. When asked his name, Odysseus replies 'My name is nobody'. Later, he stabs the cyclops in his one eye and escapes with his men, and Polyphemus chases him blindly out to the shore screaming bloody murder. When the other cyclopes on the island hear him and ask what's wrong, he screams 'Nobody stabbed me! Nobody stabbed me!' and Odysseus is able to escape.  He stared at the boy next to him, face illuminated solely by the thin scrap of moon that was visible. Phil wondered if he was thinking about the Odyssey too.  "She was a horrible kisser," Dan mumbled. "Tasted like cigarettes." He turned and looked at Phil sincerely, voice scratching out, "Don't smoke. I don't want any campfire kisses."   Then he stumbled forwards, continuing to walk, quoting: "'Of all creatures that breathe and move upon the earth, nothing is bred that is weaker than a man.'"  Phil giggled. "You should probably head home now. Sleep it off."  Dan nodded tiredly. His shoulders were weighed down visibly, as if he still carried his backpack jammed full of expectations and textbooks. "'There is a time for many words,'" hiccup "'...and there is also a time for sleep.'" ---  Phil awoke with a pounding headache and a light blush across his cheeks. ---  "Your friends can't come over on Christmas," their mum insisted. "Christmas day is for family only."  "Sweetie, let's not be unreasonable. They just want to have fun! What about Christmas Eve?" Greyson suggested, ever the mediator. Sandy stared at them from across the dinner table, her puppy dog face on maximum level.  She frowned, thinking it over. "Fine. But Sandy, only bring one or two friends over, we hardly have enough room for everyone in the house as it is. Phil, could you go to the store sometime this week and get hot coco and eggnog?"  "And whipped cream!" Sandy added excitedly.  "Probably need two cans," Greyson agreed.  Phil nodded, making a mental note. "And, um, if Sandy is having friends over, do you think I could invite someone too?" ---  Phil sat on the carpeted floor, leaning against the maroon couch. His hands were wrapped around the warm mug of eggnog, and he sipped it slowly, trying to savor it. He was only allowed one glass, as Greyson insisted that it was important not to start drinking too young. Needless to say, Phil wasn't about to tell him about his and Dan's activities the week prior.  Dan sat closely nestled next to Phil, also with a single mug of eggnog and an overly festive jumper. The main difference was, Dan's was black with a reindeer on it, while Phil's was covered in reds, greens and whites. When Dan first saw it he claimed Phil looked like an 'obnoxious candy cane', to which Phil replied with something that wasn't supposed to be sexual, but of course Dan ended up taking it that way.  Dan was very warm, and their arms pressed against each other, though Phil reminded himself that it was because there was so little space. Sandy and Anna had friends over, meaning that there were currently around a dozen people in the sitting area and kitchen, which were made even smaller by the almost invasive presence of the plastic Christmas tree. "We should get a real one this year!" Phil had suggested upon seeing Greyson carrying the box down from the attic.  "No can do," he'd replied easily. "Real Christmas trees are a potential fire hazard. Do you know how many people get electrocuted watering Christmas trees naked, a year?"  No, Phil had not know, and no, he did not enjoy that mental image.  Dan was quieter than normal, sipping his eggnog and observing the goings on of the family and extras.  Finally, Phil spoke up. "I'm glad you could come. Are your parents celebrating with friends?"  Dan shook his head. "Mum might be. But Dad's spending the night in his office. Hopefully he'll get up and go to bed before it's time to open presents."  Dan's father was an extremely intelligent man, with a spattering of fancy degrees and an extremely prestigious job. But Dan talked about him like he was a deadbeat.  "It's weird being here," Dan admitted. "I've never had siblings."  "I've never not had siblings. I used to hate it, middle child syndrome and all that. Now... I don't mind it as much."  "I bet not. Especially since you don't have to study at home anymore."  Across the room, Phil's younger sisters and their friends laughed loudly, talking in quiet, fast voices among themselves. In the background, the song 'Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree' played, and Amanda and Tucker danced to it on the small stretch of floor in between the kitchen and living room. Amanda looked happier than normal, probably since Janie finally managed to go to sleep and hadn't woken up since the party started. Tucker smiled too, though he looked a little embarressed to be seen dancing with his big sister.  "Come on," Phil urged, feeling a sudden impulse. "Let's dance."  He got up and pulled Dan to his feet, ignoring his complaints. "But I have two left feet!"  "I have four!" Phil retaliated, yanking Dan over to the tile floor and grabbing his other hand, spinning him.  "How is that even possible?" Dan complained, spinning and catching himself on Phil's hand. "Now I know why you're failing Calculus. You can't count!"  They swayed, doing something that almost resembled dancing.  "Everyone dancing merrily, in a new old-fashioned way,” The music played.  More people moved over, starting to dance along. Phil tried not to cringe as he saw his mum being tugged over to the floor, Greyson pulling her over to dance.  "I'm not failing Calc," Phil defended, intertwining his hands with Dan's more comfortably. "I have a B minus!"  "Potato po-tat-o." Dan spun him, and Phil only stumbled slightly. "You're right, you have no coordination."  "What's that quote?" Phil recalled. "'The gods don't give out all gifts at once..."'  "'Not build and brains and flowing speech to all. One man may fail to impress us with his looks but a god can crown his words with beauty, charm, and men look on with delight when he speaks out.'" Dan looked like he was somewhere else, reciting the quote easily. "'Never faltering, filled with winning self-control, he shines forth at assembly grounds and people gaze at him like a god when he… when he walks through the streets. Another man may look like a deathless one on high but there's not a bit of grace to crown his words. Just like you, my fine, handsome friend.'"  "Wow."  ‘Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree’ ended. Dan didn't seem to notice that there was no more music. He seemed to be staring at Phil's lips, his own lips parted slightly.  "Wow," Phil repeated again. "I'm genuinely impressed. I can't remember quotes for the life of me."  "They spoke to me," Dan replied with a shrug, trying to start swaying again to the beat of the new song playing, Let It Snow.  The weather outside is frightful. But the fire is so delightful. And since there's no place to go. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. ---  Christmas day was exciting, but not like it usually was. They each got a few small presents from their Mum and Greyson, and Amanda, Phil, and Tucker each had a present for each family member. Sandy and Anna couldn't be bothered to buy presents, but they were young enough that it was excusable.  After all the presents had been opened, the adults went into the kitchen and started preparing lunch, and Phil and Tucker wrestled around a bit. Phil may be 18, but he would never be an adult to his parents, just as Amanda had a job and a kid, but she still sat at the kids' table at family gatherings.  Tucker was small for someone his age, still in early high school, but he was a decent wrestler. Phil had the size advantage, but it was a pretty even match.  "I wanna do karate," Tucker said later, after they were done. "Or boxing. Or wrestling, I guess. Something like that."  A memory tugged at the back of Phil's mind. "Dan does boxing, I think."  "You think?"  "His dad mentioned it once," Phil explained. "I don't know if he still does, actually. He never talks about it."  "That's a weird thing not to talk about," Tucker observed. "If I did boxing, I'd probably never shut up about it." ---   "It's never come up in conversation, I guess," Dan explained, kicking off his snow boots. It was still Christmas Day, just a little later, and Dan had walked over to Phil's house to collect him. 'My house is quiet and I'm bored,' he'd explained, shivering in the cold. 'Come over?'  Phil had taken his first opportunity to ask about Dan's boxing, and sure enough, he boxed. "I go to practice three times a week, compete most Sundays, and train most nights before bed."  "And you've never thought to mention it?"  He shrugged. "It's not something I talk about. It's... weird, you know? I have like... a personality, that everyone knows, you know? And boxing just doesn't fit into it."  The two boys walked upstairs to Dan's room automatically. Phil sat on his bed. "Why not? Boxing is cool."  "And obviously I'm so cool," Dan muttered sarcastically. "I have like, negative two friends."  "You have me."  "Yes, there is that. But as you are the only openly gay student in our school, that doesn't score me much points." He winced. "Sorry."  Phil tried not to be offended. "Well, you're not wrong."  "If you wanted, you could use my locker at school," Dan offered quickly, desperately. "I don't use it. And then, you wouldn't have to see... you know..."  He was referring of course, to Phil's locker, which still had the word 'twink' spray painted across it. Phil had tried to scrub it away, but nothing worked. He'd reported it to the office, but to his knowledge, they hadn't even bothered to try to get rid of it.  Phil exhaled shakily. He hadn't thought about the bullies ever since the break started. He shook his head, changing the topic of conversation back to boxing. "You said you trained? Where?" ---  Phil had never realized that Dan's mom never parked her car in their garage. He also never realized that Dan's dad didn't even have a car.  "He's too much of a social recluse to have a car," Dan explained, leaning against the wall of the garage. Instead of being a space for parking cars, it had been converted into a gym of sorts, with a tattered old punching bag in the middle of the room. Pushed against the walls were boxes, some filing cabinets, and a new looking bench press covered in clothes and gloves.  "I don't use that," Dan explained, seeing Phil's eyes train on the press. "It's too boring."  Phil walked around the punching bag, observing where the material was faded or torn. A few spots were patched up with duct tape, and a few spots looked like it was about time they be patched up.  Phil noticed something out of the corner of his eye and walked over to where an open cardboard box sat again the wall. Dan realized what he was doing too late, and by the time he shouted "Wait!" Phil was already leaning down.  "Trophies?"  "I'm not any good," Dan promised. "Most of them are just participation!"  Phil pulled one of the medium-sized ones out. It was covered in a layer of dust, which he brushed aside. "Second place?"  "It was a small event!" Phil looked up, and for the first time noticed how panicked Dan looked. "Could you please put it back? Hey, I got the new Zelda game, do you want to try it out?"  Phil wanted to ask more about boxing. Obviously Dan was being modest; the box was stuffed full of trophies, and there were other boxes in the room. Did they contain the same things?  But when he saw Dan's expression, he knew there was no way he could push him any further. For whatever reason, Dan was ashamed of boxing, or something like that. Phil wanted to know why.  But now was not the time to ask. "Yeah, cool. Show me the game?" ----  Phil didn't not welcome school back with open arms.    Something had happened over the break. What, he didn't know, but everyone was glaring at him which such malice he wondered if he'd killed someone without realizing.  He pulled his headphones out, allowing himself to hear the chatter. His next class was on the other side of the school, and after he'd been walking a few minutes, he'd heard a shred of conversation that made him keep listening.  "....grounded. Chuck was caught sleeping with him-"  "With Lester?"  "Yeah! I mean, who else would he sleep with? It was a dude, and his dad got so pissed he beat him."  "Dude. How'd the fucking fag get Chuck to sleep with him in the first place?"  "I dunno, but now he won't be able to play in the game on Friday. We really need a win if we want to make it to regionals..."  Phil put his headphones back in his ears. Apparently, there were at least two other gays going to his school: Chuck, and another boy who'd been caught sucking him off. -----  "What happened?"  "Got in a fight."  "With who?"  "This guy at school." Correction: these guys at school. "We had a difference in opinion." ----  Dan prepared him an ice pack. "I heard the news. About, you know, you and Chuck."  "I didn't do anything with Chuck. I don't even know him that well."  "I know you didn't." Dan zipped up the bag of ice, handing it over with a towel. "Hold this over your eye, it should help the swelling."  "Doctor Daniel," Phil teased, taking the ice thankfully. His eye was beginning to swell shut, and his chest ached. At least he could hide bruised ribs. It wasn't so easy with the eye.  "You caught me at a bad time," Dan admitted. "I was going to practice now."  "Sorry. You want me to go, or... can I watch?"  Dan almost considered it. Phil could see the gears turning, but the awkward smile made his answer clear. "Sorry, I think you'd better go. I think it'll be a rougher workout today, I've got some... stuff to get out."  "Stuff to get out," Phil repeated. "Yeah, I can go. See you tomorrow?"  "Yeah, sure. And stop getting in fights, bruising doesn't suit you."  "That, we can agree on." ----  The rumors kept swirling. Chuck was not gay, it seemed, he'd just been put in an awkward situation and took advantage of it. "A mouth is a mouth," he laughed with his friends. "Trust me, I didn't want the fag to touch me but he wanted it so bad, you should've seen him. So wrecked." When his friends asked more about it, he replied quickly "No, I didn't like it! If he was a girl it would have been so hot though. He was so sweaty his hair got really curly- yeah, like that. Don't worry though, he'll pay for it. Trust me on that." ----  Dan was so sweaty his hair got even curlier than normal.  "Woah," Phil said as soon as he saw him. "Boxing practice?"  "Yeah. I'm getting ready for a big meet, have to be prepared." He took the strap of one of the gloves in his teeth, ripping it off easily. Phil tried not to stare too much. "Anyone else give you crap today?"  "Anyone not give me crap? It's fine, school's over. I don't have to see any of them again until tomorrow." He willed his voice not to crack, his hand not to shake. His head hurt from being slammed against the lockers.  Dan nodded, not making eye contact as he took the other glove off. "How's Calc going? I wish that he just let us take the book home, it'd be so much easier."  "It would." Phil didn't really know what else to say.  "I'm going to... erm, I'm going to do my homework in my room again. Come with?"  Phil's head throbbed. "Yeah. Sure." ----  Phil didn't know when he snapped. But if I had to say a moment in the altogether miserable week, it'd probably be when he was laying on the floor of the boys' bathroom, sopping wet from the swirly. After they'd dunked him in the toilet, they'd used him as a mop, swinging him around by his legs and splashing water on the ground for the back of his favorite hoodie to clean up.  Then they left him, far more interested in getting out of the school than they were in beating up the fag.  Phil laid there, not bothering to get up. His favorite hoodie was filthy, with dirt and toilet water and he didn't even want to know what else. And he was all alone on the bathroom floor, his bus having already left.  And something snapped.  Phil stood. He tore off his jacket and stuffed it in the trash can, hefted his backpack, and only made one stop before marching out of the school and walking all the way home. ---  Phil went home and changed out of his stupid school uniform into comfortable work clothes and went around, doing his yard work for the day. Then he went home, got his backpack, and marched to Dan's house, going straight up to Dan's room without knocking.  Dan wasn't wearing pants. "Phil! I didn't-"  "I stole something."  Dan blinked. "Um, what?"  Phil opened his backpack on Dan's bed, dumping half of it out and pulling out a Calculus textbook. "I was angry- I'm still kinda angry- and I'm failing the class." He paused. "And I'm not giving it back."  Dan blinked. It took him a little too long to process. "I'm not wearing pants." He repeated.  "You mentioned that already. I just stole a textbook."  "Yeah, you said that too."  They both were frozen.  Phil cleared his throat. "You can put on pants now. If you want."  "If I want," Dan repeated.  "I mean, I don't care."  "No, you'd probably actually prefer I don't put my pants on."  Phil scowled, messing with his backpack. "Don't put words in my mouth."  They were quiet for a few more moments.  "I'm going to put pants on."  "Okay." ----  Studying was a lot easier with the calc textbook. ----  "We could just sit on the floor," Phil suggested, eying the small couch wearily.  "Nah, this is better. Come on, hop up." Dan sat down, bowl of popcorn in hand, and patted the small space next to him.  Phil sat, the couch so small there was no way for them to sit without touching. "It's a good movie," Dan said, "so don't you dare fall asleep."  "I promise I won't," Phil laughed, snuggling up to his friend, albeit still cautiously.  Dan started the movie and leaned against Phil, his head on his shoulder. ----  Phil fell asleep during the movie.  But it was okay.  Because so did Dan. ----  "Oh, hello boys."  Phil had been half awake for a few minutes, not wanting to move. He was too warm, too tired, and besides, Dan was still asleep. "Hi Mr.Howell. We watched a movie last night, and fell asleep."  Dan snored, snuggling closer to Phil.  "I promise it's not as bad as it looks-" Phil started, but Mr.Howell cut him off quickly.  "Oh no, don't worry about it. I know about you two, Dan has boys over all the time. He didn't tell me specifically, but I notice things."  Phil blinked, still only half awake. "He has boys over all the time? What do you mean?"  "Well, not since you've been dating I'm sure. We've never talked about it, but I know he's homosexual, or bisexual, or whatever the kids call it these days. I'm not as oblivious as all that."  Phil blinked again. Apparently, Dan's dad wasn't that oblivious, but Phil certainly was. ----  Dan woke up a few minutes later.  "Crap, I fell asleep," he said as if that weren't already obvious. "Wait... don't tell it's morning already?"  "We both fell asleep," Phil admitted. He observed Dan as he stretched, pulling himself up. The words you're gay? got clogged in his throat, refusing to come out.  Just like Dan. Funny how that works. ————

They were in Dan’s bed. It was late, and they were both just a little drunk on exhaustion and booze. Not drunk enough for their thoughts to be incoherent or their voices to slur, just drunk enough for Dan to quote "The Odyssey" every other minute.  "You know you’re my best friend, right?" Dan said quietly. He was staring at Phil, his eyes slightly lowered. Phil sighed contentedly, his eyes trained on his 'best friend's lips.  "Yeah, I know. You’re my best friend too." Phil shuffled slightly, wondering if it’d be too gay to cuddle up closer to Dan. Then again, it sounded like Dan was also gay, at least partially. Maybe it’d be okay.  He was stuck. He was stuck, right in between wanting to kiss Dan and not wanting to lose him, because he knew that out of the two options, he could likely only choose one. And he couldn’t loose Dan.  Shoveling the sidewalks as quickly as he could just so he could be paid by the neighbors and get to Dan's house as fast as possible, just to study. Going to the bagel shop for a special treat and eating the almost indigestible bagels and coffee, because it was convenient and it was quiet and he’d go anywhere with Dan, really. He like being around him a bit too much, and eventually it’d probably screw him over, but for now, it was worth it.  They liked going drinking Friday nights. Always some party, and if there wasn't, there was always booze for sale. They didn’t drink every week, but they did when they could. When Dan was tipsy he often lost track of personal space, and he’d bump into Phil or stand so close that Phil would wonder if he was going to kiss him. But then he’d pull away, saying something about why the government had set them up for failure, or ramble on about textual themes. He loved quoting the Odyssey. They walked through an empty field to get home most times, and it was just out of the way enough that they could see the stars, and Dan would say something about how "It is the wine that leads me on, the wild wine, that sets the wisest man to sing, at the top of his lungs, laugh like a fool – it drives the man to dancing... it even tempts him to blurt out stories better never told." And Phil just listens and smiles and wonders if Dan somehow managed to memorize the entire Odyssey, or if perhaps, he recites it in the shower.  He loved Dan. That much was clear. He loved him like a best friend. He loved him a little more than that maybe, loved him like he was angry, loved him in spite and loved him in secret. And it seemed as though Dan loved him as a best friend too. And there was that love, that love that Phil had no idea what to do with, so they could drown it out with booze and homework and chit chat and stale bagels and complaining about their families/classes/experiences/lives, but you can never truly drown love, love can swim.  Phil wonders if there’s a quote about that somewhere in The Odyssey. The entire story is about a man, Odysseus, trying to get back home to his wife Penelope. The journey is painful and long, but when he comes home, it was almost as if he’d never left. Phil supposed that the love between Odysseus and Penelope was buoyant too.

———— "Because of you, Chuck wasn’t there for the game. Because of you, we lost."  Phil backed up, the three boys stalking towards him until he was flush against the lockers, banging against them with a little clanging noise from the cheap metal. He knew where this was going. Chuck stood to the side, cracking his knuckles. In front of him, Trevor was the one leading the assault, his dirty brown hair falling in front of his eyes. Caleb stood to the other side of him, dumping his backpack on the ground as if he didn’t want it holding him back.  "It wasn’t me," Phil insisted again like maybe this time they’d listen. They didn’t, just continued pressing forwards until Phil had pressed himself so closely against the locker he could feel its hinges digging into his back. Phil’s gaze fluttered from one boy to the next, looking for any signs of hesitation, some sort of human emotion. He found nothing.  He swallowed. "I have standards. I wouldn’t get anywhere near his dick."  The first punch came before he’d finished his sentence, a sharp pain across his face that made him slam back against the lockers. The rest came in rapid succession, his ribs, his face, his stomach. He doubled over, gripping his stomach and desperately trying to protect his head as fingers dug into his head and shoved him to ground.  "This is for being a fag!" Phil’s breathe was torn from his throat, forcefully expelled by a harsh kick to the lungs.  "And this is for costing us regionals!" Chuck's voice, and a swift kick to the head. Phil wondered if he knew that it wasn’t him who he slept with, and was caught by his father. Phil wondered if he cared.  Phil tasted blood. His body twitched away from every blow until he was curled up in the fetal position on the dirty school floor, and as he was being attacked on every side all he could think about was how stupid it was for him not to book it out of school as soon as he’d had the chance.  A filthy shoe made contact with his face, and he tasted blood. Phil covered his head with his hands, just wishing them to go away.  "What the fuck are you doing? Hey, get off of him!"  The kicking stopped temporarily, but Phil didn’t dare try to get up. There was a scuffle, and then a body was slammed against the locker.  Phil looked around quickly then scrambled to his feet, his assailants more busy with someone else. A new person had appeared, his body shoved up against the locker as he yelled back and forth at the bullies.  A balding teacher left his classroom, coffee mug in hand. He watched the fight for a moment, then retreated back into his room, locking the door behind him.  Phil was frozen in shock as Trevor was kicked backward, stumbling a meter then falling on his ass. The person was still shoving the other two away but somehow managed to rear his arm back and punch Caleb so hard he crumpled against the lockers.  Dan grabbed Chuck by his greasy blonde hair and yanked his head down, making contact with his knee. Phil flinched, taking a step back so he was leant against the wall, still catching his breath but in too much shock to move. Dan spun Chuck around and slammed him into the lockers with so much force Phil’s back ached in sympathy.  Dan was bleeding, a long scratch right under his eye from a nail or something. He had a split lip. But he didn’t look any weaker from it, hardly even seemed fazed.  He held Chuck against the locker, holding an elbow directly under his chin, but then adjusted his hands so he was holding Chuck still by his neck. Dan panted and wiped some of the blood on his face away. Chuck's hand came up to cup his own bleeding nose, but Dan slapped it away, pulling Chuck back and slamming his head against the locker easily.  "I hear you’ve been spreading rumors," Dan muttered. His voice was deep and gravelly, but he stared at Chuck easily, not intimidated in the least. "People seem to think that Phil was the one you were caught with."  To his side, Travis started getting up, but before he could Dan kicked him in the stomach so hard he fell back down. "Shh, listen." Dan brought his attention back to Chuck, who wouldn’t look at him. "Who was it?"  "It was you," he admitted. "You were the fag. You think you’re so special Howell, thought you could keep it a secret-"  Dan slammed him against the locker again, and Chuck shut up, his hands flying up to Dan’s hands still wrapped around his neck, trying to get him to loosen his grip.  Dan licked his lips. "Listen up, all three of you. Stop screwing with my boyfriend. Or they’ll be hell to pay."  He let go of Chuck, shoving him down onto his knees as he stepped back. "Feels familiar, doesn’t it? You on your knees. All we need now is a broken lock on your door and your raging father, isn’t that right?"  He took another step back, glancing over his shoulder and grabbing Phil’s collar, pulling him into a kiss. It was sloppy and tasted like blood, and Phil could still hardly catch his breath, and nothing was processing, because was Dan really kissing him?  Dan pulled away, but still held onto his collar. They stayed there a moment, eyes interlocked, when the next impact came.  Dan was thrust against the wall, stumbling to get up. Travis stood over him. "Cocksucker," he snarled, raising his foot to stomp Dans lights out. But Dan was too fast, grabbing his leg and yanking him down. They wrestled on the floor for a moment until Dan came up on top, muttering something about Travis being 'surrounded by cocksuckers' before landing another punch.  They started brawling for real, hitting and punching and clawing and before Phil knew it, he and Chuck were locking eyes and running over to pull them apart before they could kill each other.  Finally, a few teachers ran down the hallways, shouting something about stopping, and all five boys had just enough time to stand, regard each other harshly, and glance down one last time. "Fuck you," Phil spat, before balling his fist and punching Chuck square in the jaw before turning and sprinting away, Dan right on his heels.  He hit the door with so much force that it actually hurt, but everything hurt at this point and Phil was bleeding and so was Dan and they had to get away before anyone spotted them. They sprinted around the side of school, panting turned into exhausted laughter as they turned the corner and collapsed against the brick wall. It was that type of pained laughter that physically hurt, because Phil’s ribs were definitely bruised and maybe worse, and his hands were stained with blood, and he was definitely imagining things because Dan was there too, the area right under his right eye splotchy and red.  "I can’t believe-" Phil started, but they didn’t have all day for him to say everything he didn’t believe had happened, but somehow, through the pain in his knuckles in the ache of every breath, he knew it was real, it was very real. "You kissed me," he said finally, looking up at Dan with a look of respect. "You actually kissed me."  "After all that just happened, that’s what you’re thinking about?" Dan’s entire face was contorted by the smile, and he looked like such a wreck but Phil couldn’t care because there was no way he looked any better. "Sorry about that, by the way," Dan added, wiping some of the blood on his lips away. "I thought it’d be dramatic. Scare them off. Didn’t work that great."  "Yeah, no shit." Phil tugged on Dan's collar, pulling him close but stopping him before they actually collided. "Thanks. I appreciate it." He eyed Dan, the cut on his cheek, the split lip. "You look like a mess."  "You do too," Dan agreed. "I want to kiss you again."  Phil yanked him into another kiss, tasting of blood and exertion and sweat and a little bit like hot chocolate. "I’m not going to be able to stop," he admitted, halfway through the kiss.  "Its fine," Dan mumbled against his lips, not even bothering to pull apart. "I won't either."  They kissed for what could have been hours before Phil mumbled "My hand hurts," and they finally pulled away. ————-  "You’re doing so good!" Phil handed Dan his water bottle as he took his mouth guard out, wiping his sweat away from his forehead.  "Only a few more matches." Dan’s eyes had this far away look to them. He never had so much pride in anything but his competitions. It was one of the reasons why Phil insisted on coming every week.  Dan drank from the water bottle as someone jogged over, patting him on the back roughly. "Hey champ, nice match! Who’s this?"  Dan’s eyes sparkled as he looked at Phil. His lip had heeled, and the cut under his eye had faded, but he looked the same as he did the day they first kissed. Sweaty, with his hair plastered back away from his forehead, but so proud and happy Phil couldn’t help but smile.  "This is Phil. My boyfriend."  Phil’s heart literally fluttered in his chest.  "Oh yeah? Phil, do you box too? Bet I could find you a decent instructor, huh?" He nudged Dan’s side playfully.  Dan laughed. "Nah, Phil doesn’t box. The last time he punched someone, he broke his thumb. It’s a pretty good story though."  Dan’s friend's eyes widened with interest. He looked to Phil. "Oh yeah? Tell me."  "I don’t know, it’s a little crude. I doubt you can handle it," Phil teased.  "Oh come on, try me!"  "Well..." Phil tugged his bottom lip in between his teeth, looking at Dan as he tried to decide how mean he wanted to be. "It all started when Dan got sucked off by the most popular boy in school..."

12 Days Of Prompts Masterlist / Fic Masterlist / Request A Fic

[dansphlevels]

It would be so great if I could get 'Libertadores (Liberators; i.e., the Venezuela Fic)' the Best Longer Fic award! Please vote!

PHANFIC AWARDS 2017 - NOMINATIONS

Welcome to the Phanfic Award Nominations! This year, we’re mainly going to follow the same format as last year, give or take a few categories. 

You can view how things are split up below, as well as access the links to the google forms for each category of awards.

As the Awards are on google forms again this year, we’ve limited Nominations (as well as voting) to one nomination per award per person. You will need a google account in order to place nominations, however this will also allow you to edit your nomination forms as often as you like until nominations close on New Years Day. Please note, however, that though we will not be checking in on nominations until the forms are closed, any person who leaves more than one fic as an answer to the award question will have their nominations form discarded immediately. The lack of character limit is only to allow ample room to fit the full fic title, author name, and website, not to allow more than one answer to be given.

Remember, each person only has one nomination per Award, so make them count! Be sure to pick the fic that you personally think deserves to be nominated the most, even if it is a hard choice. Take your time and make sure you’ve nominated the fic you want to nominate most by the December 31st deadline!

Below are listed Categories and the Awards under their form with added explanations to help you understand what each Award is for

Fun Awards

Fave Phan Blogger - for your favorite phan tumblr blog!

Fave Phanfic Trope of 2017 - favorite phanfic trope of the year (pastel/punk)

Fave 2017 Daniel Howell Video - favorite video Dan did alone

Fave 2017 AmazingPhil Video - favorite video Phil did alone

Fave 2017 Gaming Channel Video - favorite video on their gaming channel

Fave 2017 Dan and Phil Collab Video - favorite video Dan and Phil did together NOT on their gaming channel

Fave Phan Moment of 2017 - favorite Dan and Phil moment that happened in 2016

Fave 2017 Dan Tweet - favorite Dan tweet of the year

Fave 2017 Phil Tweet  - favorite Phil tweet of the year

Best Overall Fic Awards

Best of the Best Fic - best overall fic of the year

Best Tumblr Fic - best fic that was only posted on tumblr

Best AO3 Fic - best fic that was only posted on AO3

Best Author - best overall phanfic author in 2017

Best Collab - best fic written with more than one author

Best Genre Awards

Best Angst - best angst fic of 2017

Best Fluff - best fluff fic of 2017

Best Smut - best smut fic of 2017

Best Combination - best fic including elements of angst, fluff, and smut in 2017

Best Songfic - best fic based on a song in 2017

Best Storyline - fic with the best storyline in 2017

Best Slow Burn - best fic that made you feel the burn of their slow going romance

Best Platonic - best fic where Dan and Phil are platonic friends

Best Drabble - best fic written in less than 1k words

Best Oneshot - best fic posted in one chunk

Best Chaptered - best fic posted in chapters

Best Longer Fic - best fic with 20k+ words

Best Universe Awards

Best AU - best overall alternative universe fic

Best Fantasy - best fic written in a fantasy-esque setting: Hogwarts, Supernatural, Alien

Best Trope - best trope based fic: Pastel/Punk, Pastel/Pastel/, Punk/Punk, Soulmates, Omegaverse

Best LGBTQ+ - best fic dealing with LGBTQ+ issues

Best Reality - best fic based on Dan and Phil’s real world + history

Best Universe Augmentation - best fic based on reality with one fact changed to change the world (i.e. Dan and Phil as they are, but they didn’t meet until later)

Best Other Awards

Alternative Work Award - best fic written in an alternative style (i.e. poem, texting)

Characterization Award - fic with the best written characterization of Dan, Phil, or both

Comedy Award - best written fic meant to make you laugh

Cutely Cliche Award - best written cliche-based fic (i.e. meet-cute’s in a coffee shop etc…)

Edge of Seat Award - the fic that made you feel like you were constantly on the edge of your seat

Emotional Wreck Award - the fic that made you an emotional wreck 

Hardcore Smut Award - best hardcore smut fic

Memorable Award - the fic that you’ll never be able to forget

Originality Award - the fic with the most original idea in 2017

Pure Fluff Award - the best, most fluffiest fic of 2017

Undiscovered Gem Award - the best fic with less than 50 notes that deserves more

[unbridled-clownery]

What are some of your favorite fanfics??

Some of my favorites?

God’s Righteous Man by DumpsterDiving101 (@dansphlevels)

A story in which the serum doesn't affect Steve's size, the shield goes to Bucky, and they reunite years before the Battle of New York. Also, Steve is a punk, but that's canon.

A timeline starting with the Howling Commandos and going all the way to Pre-Infinity War.

(I cant properly express my love for this fic. The characterizations of Steve and bucky are just *chefs kiss*) 

Can’t Take The Kid From The Fight by chchchchcherrybomb, vinegarandglitter

It's 2006. Connor Murphy's back in California high society after getting kicked out of boarding school. Evan Hansen just got arrested for stealing a car. It's a little easier to be an outsider when you're not alone.

An AU inspired by The O.C.

(It took me 3 all-nighters to finish it, but worth every single second. I reread it sometimes during my angst episodes)

All The Young Dudes by MsKingBean89

LONG fic charting the marauders' time at Hogwarts (and beyond) from Remus' PoV - diversion from canon in that Remus's father died and he was raised in a children's home, and is a bit rough around the edges. Otherwise canon-compliant. 1971 - 1995

(3 days? or 4? I cant remember but H O LY S H I T this is a must-read)

HAMILTON, An American FanFiction (Lams) by PurgatoryFairy

In a world where reincarnates are looked down upon in society, there are the ones who try to change it for the better. Lin-Manuel Miranda is 5 years into writing his soon to be, hit musical 'Hamilton', and when an unexpected meeting with the very people he was writing about happens, where will their stories lead?

Basically a story when Lin befriends the Hamilton crew and they all finish writing the musical, they preform it, and they fight for reincarnate and LGBT+ rights.

(Another one I like to reread. Its literal perfection.)

The Brightest Black by Enigmaticrose4 (@enigmaticrose4)

On that fateful Halloween night Bellatrix Lestrange decided to sate her bloodlust on an innocent muggleborn family. Life is never again the same for the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black. - Dramione AU

(The first time I read this was on ffnet and I got halfway through before losing my progress. I remembered it a year later on ao3 and finished it.)

Those are all the ones I can think of off the top of my head

I’ll probably rb with more if I find them

[fanficrecs-from-a-smol-gremlin]

Favorites (Ao3)

Marvel:

God’s Righteous Man by DumpsterDiving101 (@dansphlevels)

A story in which the serum doesn't affect Steve's size, the shield goes to Bucky, and they reunite years before the Battle of New York. Also, Steve is a punk, but that's canon.

A timeline starting with the Howling Commandos and going all the way to Pre-Infinity War.

The PR department deserves better  by  Mrs_Understood 

Peter and MJ both have to move into the Avengers tower and find themselves in... some interesting situations.

*domestic sit-com style fic, not at all to be treated seriously*

Dear Evan Hansen:

Can’t Take The Kid From The Fight by chchchchcherrybomb, vinegarandglitter

It's 2006. Connor Murphy's back in California high society after getting kicked out of boarding school. Evan Hansen just got arrested for stealing a car. It's a little easier to be an outsider when you're not alone.

An AU inspired by The O.C.

Harry Potter:

All The Young Dudes by MsKingBean89

LONG fic charting the marauders' time at Hogwarts (and beyond) from Remus' PoV - diversion from canon in that Remus's father died and he was raised in a children's home, and is a bit rough around the edges. Otherwise canon-compliant. 1971 - 1995

The Brightest Black by Enigmaticrose4 (@enigmaticrose4)

On that fateful Halloween night Bellatrix Lestrange decided to sate her bloodlust on an innocent muggleborn family. Life is never again the same for the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black. - Dramione AU

Hamilton:

HAMILTON, An American FanFiction (Lams) by PurgatoryFairy

In a world where reincarnates are looked down upon in society, there are the ones who try to change it for the better. Lin-Manuel Miranda is 5 years into writing his soon to be, hit musical 'Hamilton', and when an unexpected meeting with the very people he was writing about happens, where will their stories lead?

Basically a story when Lin befriends the Hamilton crew and they all finish writing the musical, they preform it, and they fight for reincarnate and LGBT+ rights.

[andthenshesaid-write]

Summary: Phil's mother has always said that there are creatures in the forest and Phil has always thought they were just stories. Then one day he runs into the forest looking for somewhere to hide and meets Dan, a man with antlers and the ability to talk to trees. Phil's world opens up but there are dangers in the forest that he can't even begin to imagine.

Rating: T

Warnings: homophobia, non-graphic violence

Author's note: This work was written for the @phandomreversebang and was inspired by the fantastic art by @dansphlevels. Thank you for giving me free rein to run with this idea and tell the story that I wanted to tell. I'll link to the art when it becomes available.

Thank you to @mukbangphillie for betaing. All remaining errors are my own.

Thanks also to my friend @quicksilvermaid - this isn't even your fandom but you offered a second opinion and let me bounce ideas off you, and cheered me on from start to finish.

Read it on AO3.

[americanphancakes]

New Chapter: The Last of the Anthousai

Act 2: The Truth

M, 29.3k (so far)

Phil is different from everyone else in his village. For one thing, his mother is dead. For another, she wasn’t human, so neither is he. To learn how to harness the powers he inherited from her, Philip enlists the aid of a Druid living at the edge of a mysterious forest. To make matters more complex, the forest’s waters are drying up and a beautiful flower nymph is telling Philip that he’s some sort of chosen one sent to the forest in order to protect it. How is Phil supposed to handle all of this? And who or what is causing the forest to slowly die?

Act 2 Summary: Dan and Phil make their way towards the castle, but the course of their immediate futures becomes far more complicated as they progress.  

Act 2 Rating: M (near-death experiences, past death, sexual situations)

Act 2 Word Count: ~16k

Act 2 content warnings: Past minor character deaths, suspense, near-death by poison, near-death by suffocation, mentions of past war & genocide, nudity, non-graphic sexytimes.

(Act 3 coming soon!)

My fic for the 2019 Phandom Reverse Bang based on art by @dansphlevels which you can see here.

Thank you once again to my beta @elleberquist6 for being amazing - this fic would not be nearly as good without your input!

Read Act 1 on AO3 Read Act 2 on AO3

[maybeformepersonally]

Fic: the poetry of resistance, chapter 1

Title: the poetry of resistance Author: maybeformepersonally Rating: T / Teen Summary: Dark times are brewing, fear and prejudice have been sinking their vicious claws into Dan's world, twisting and poisoning his once quiet, peaceful way of life. He feels like his life is falling apart, and he's scrambling to do something, anything, to keep enough of the pieces together. But even in the darkest of times, even in the midst of the worst atrocities committed, kindness can blossom, and new hope can be born.  Word Count: 4.9k this chapter (the whole fic will be 20k+)  Author’s Note: This fic is my fill for the @phandomreversebang! I need to thank the lovely admins of the PRB for organising this, and the wonderful @dansphlevels for making the art that inspired this story (see it here!). And a very special, very heartfelt thank you to the fabulous @itsmyusualphannie, who was kind enough to fill the position of my beta reader when I found myself without one, and doing an excellent job of it to boot. Any mistakes that remain are solely mine.

[Read on ao3]

Old Conrad Huckabee got up early as usual to start the day, as was expected of bakers, before the sun would rise. After the habitual short routine of morning ablutions that had remained unchanged for years now, he headed downstairs into his bakery accompanied by his dearest wife. She had been as faithful and true to him as a man could hope for, a true companion in life and business, and he likely would have floundered without her support and no-nonsense attitude throughout the years. He thanked the gods every day that he had been so lucky as to find one as her to stand beside him.

They moved as one into their respective positions, a dance they had long perfected for a routine as familiar as breathing and as beloved as the life they’d built together, Conrad at the ovens and his dear Adelaide with her books and supplies, making sure everything was in order for Conrad to get lost in his craft. A mere half-hour before opening time, the Howell boy arrived, perfectly on time. Adelaide quite liked that about him. Responsible lad.

Conrad opened the door for him and ushered him to the back, to where his wife was sorting that week’s stock and making sure everything was running smoothly. Adelaide had truly been a godsend. He’d married for love, but no one would suspect it from the way his father’s little bakery had flourished under their joint care once Conrad had inherited it not long after their nuptials. He knew, everyone knew really, that the success had been in great part due to his young wife’s sharpness of mind and her skill in trade. Oh, she would never stiff or cheat a merchant, such behaviours would only lead to mistrust and ruin, if not imprisonment. No, she was fair to a fault, just, well, brilliant.

He spared a glance to the young merchant greeting his wife with a warm smile and a respectful tilt of the head. It had been over a decade now since the boy had started trading with them directly, first as proxy for his parents and later as a trader in his own right, but despite his young age, he had never treated Adelaide with anything but the respect she rightfully deserved, which was saying something when half the village still persisted in viewing women as somehow… inferior. Conrad huffed at the thought. Old fools, he thought, and nevermind that he was old enough now to fit that description himself. Oh, but he was no fool. They were so set in their ways that they would stare reality in the face and refuse its length and shape, and for what? Everyone knew women were especially good at trade, this he had learnt as a little tyke at his grandfather’s knee back before he was even tall enough to reach the baker’s ovens. Women were better at maths, and accounting, they excelled at keeping books, could run where the men would limp and stumble.

This particular trader, young enough to be their own son, seemed to have learnt this as well, for he had never disrespected his dear Adelaide, and had never tried to dupe her with bad quality wares or too steep prices. A fair and honest trader was hard to come by, sadly, which he supposed was why those two had always liked each other, he mused as a chuckle reached his ears. His wife was in good spirits today, he thought with a little smile of his own, and whispered a quick prayer to her favoured gods in thanks. He was ever grateful, after so many years, that the gods had so blessed him in both business and love.

As he continued arranging the day’s work in preparation for opening time, he reflected that it was a pity the young Howell boy had not found a wife of his own to share his efforts and secure the line of his house. But then again, that was hardly surprising.

Some small eccentricities would hardly matter to any smart young woman or discerning head of house, not with a profitable line of trade and a face as fair as that, but to live past the borders of the forest… oh, yes. That would give any young woman or her parents pause. Even with the efforts of the special guard, one could never be perfectly sure that no creatures lurked, not outside the heart of the village, not when nothing but earth and trees and wild animals surrounded you and the terrain may allow those awful, wicked creatures passage into your very home.

The boy, well, man now, had some small grasp on the magicks that kept such dangers at bay; he must, or he would have perished by now. And Conrad did not doubt that he was dutiful, and ever careful not to shirk his duties. His very survival attested to that. But he had been born in the forest, had grown up there, with his parents moving there as soon as they were married. They had inherited the land, and it was a good business decision to farm it, but still, most of the village had half expected them to perish out there, cut off from the comforts of immediate trade and the community. It took days to get to the village from their land on foot, and the lad had built his own house a whole day’s walk deeper into the forest than even his parents’ lodgings, or so the tales said. Tales that he was rather disposed to believe, as it wasn’t just the young fools who had nothing better to do than tell tales to pass the time that were saying so. Old Burnaby himself swore to it, and Conrad had lost count of the respectable storekeepers who had hinted or even outright said as much.

Still, the young Howell couple must have been better prepared than the village had given them credit for, and more favoured by the gods, to be blessed with the tools to survive alone all the way out there. And young Daniel only knew that life, and the ever-present vigilance and jealous warding of his lands must be second nature to him.

A pity, but understandable, that he hadn’t found a partner willing to follow him into the dark heart of the forest. Oh well, plenty of travellers and foreigners were used to such conditions. Perhaps that was all it would take; a traveller that crossed their village, or a merchant looking for trade. He hoped so, for the kind young man’s sake.

He heard him say his goodbyes to Adelaide, muffled by the partition that led behind his shop, and watched him appear from behind it a few seconds later. He seemed pleased enough with their trade, and Conrad was once again reminded of the confession he’d got out of the young man years ago about how their family was one of his favourites to deal with in the whole village, as they were more welcoming than most, and less driven to endless haggling. His dear Adelaide knew the worth of the young lad’s wares and she was willing enough to pay a fair price for them, which put them several steps above most of the village.

“Good exchange?” he prompted; they had enough time before he had to open the shop to indulge in a little small talk.

“Quite good, for both our houses,” Daniel answered with a pleasant smile. His eyes caught on the display to their left, however, and Conrad stifled an amused chuckle at the young man’s predictability. “Are those qurabiya?” Daniel asked, not even trying to hide his childlike delight.

“Indeed, they are! Straight from the oven. I could be persuaded to sell you some before the first customers may get their hands on the bargain, if you make a good enough offer for me to consider it...” he was teasing, of course. He was always happy to sell his products to Daniel when he was around, even if the bakery hadn’t technically opened its doors yet when he came round for business. Daniel knew it, too. He was giving him a wide dimpled grin, and the old baker found himself thinking again about how unfortunate it was that such a kind and striking young man should be single still.

Daniel asked for four qurabiya to go, two for his parents and two for himself, as usual, and as Conrad wrapped them up for him, he broached the subject once again, much to the well-taken exasperation of the young man before him, who’d been subject to this particular talk at the hands of the well-meaning baker many, many times before (and more often as of late, as he grew older).

 “No news to speak of on my love life, no,” he said with a badly hidden roll of his eyes. “I can’t imagine why the topic matters so much to you, I swear. More nosy than most of the matchmakers in the village put together, you are. You needn’t concern yourself with my love life, Conrad. I promise I can handle the trade for myself, with the occasional help from my parents, if need be. Your supply line shall not suffer from my regrettable lack of a wife.”

“Of course, of course,” he said placatingly. “But trade is only part of the reason to seek a marriage. You can’t be content to spend all that time alone out there in the woods. A companion would surely make the days shorter and sweeter, and a young man as yourself should be thinking about children soon…”

Daniel shook his head to himself, amused at the baker’s persistence. “I appreciate your concern, but as you know, my way of life wouldn’t suit most villagers, much less the young women who grew up in a village as big and bustling with activity as this one. Regardless, I am quite content as is, much as I know it perplexes you.” He smiled then. As annoying as it could be to be grilled about his love life and to be offered pointed advice about the young unmarried women in town, Dan knew it came from a good place. “Most of us aren’t so lucky as to find our perfect match, much less to find her so early in life, you know.” The man was a hopeless romantic, and as such had become something like the unofficial matchmaker of the town. It was sweet.

“Ah, that is very true. But that doesn’t mean you should give up, young lad! I hear a caravan of travellers has announced their intention to stop here soon. They must be on the lookout for new trade, or perhaps even a place to settle on. I hear there is a pair of hunters coming in to aid the special guard, but perhaps there are a few ladies as well? Perhaps a young lady accustomed to the life of a traveller might be more open to a life on the outskirts of town…?”

Dan swallowed any outward indication of his skin crawling at the mention of ‘hunters’ coming in to ‘aid the special guard’. The casual mention had activated his fight or flight response, but he couldn’t let his expression slip, even with well-meaning old villagers like Conrad.

Thankfully, Dan had years of practice in the concealing of emotions, and so he chuckled at the man’s insistence, determined to grill the more forthcoming storekeepers who might actually have the kind of information he needed about the hunters coming his way. He knew the old baker well enough by now to know that any details he might pry out of him would be geared more towards getting him wed rather than anything useful to him.

“We might see,” he told Conrad with a carefree glint of mischief. “Don’t get your hopes up, old friend, you know I will not settle for usefulness.”

“As you shan’t! I quite agree!” He had perked up at Dan’s seeming acquiescence. “Why settle for an advantageous union when one can strive for a lasting, true love?” He was nodding along as he presented the package of sweets to him, carefully sealed to withstand Dan’s travels. Dan paid for the pastries and bade him farewell, reminding him once more not to try to pair him up with any young lady he thought might make a good match, even though he knew Conrad would endeavour to tell any unmarried woman arriving in that caravan that looked the slightest bit interested all about Dan’s virtues.

Can’t ask the deer to change its hooves, Dan thought ruefully. He hoped the man didn’t get any poor woman’s hopes up with his efforts. The last thing Dan needed was to contend with the complications that would come from taking a human wife.

*

Dan took the long way back to his home deep into the forest, taking a few detours to reassure himself that everything was okay, that no disaster or evil had befallen his beautiful land in his brief absence, that no tree or animal or creature had been disturbed.

You couldn’t be too careful these days.

The leisurely trek soothed ruffled nerves, but he couldn’t stop turning the latest news in his mind as he walked deftly over uneven terrain and smooth plains alike. The air sprites surfaced from the heights of the tallest trees to signal the lack of new developments as he gave them their prearranged call; the family of ungulate kelpies living in the depths of his forest looked up at him when he approached and gave him a distinct nod to indicate no problems had met them either; and so on.

He didn’t take the small detour behind the old oak tree he used to play in as a child to check the mounds that the aes sídhe used to claim as their home. And he didn’t take a left there down the path that led to the natural pond that had formed several centuries ago, where the will-o'-the-wisps used to dance ethereally over the calm water, dipping occasionally to play hide-and-seek in the reeds and water lilies.

There was no point. There was no one there anymore.

The sun was high in the sky by the time his circuit led him to the last stop before home. There couldn’t be more than an hour or so of sunlight left.

Dan finally slowed down as he approached the jagged rock formation that led to the cenote that was his final check-in of the day. He left his pack resting on one of the concave shapes eroded into the stone, secured against any strong winds by one of the stray rocks lying around, before heading for the mouth of the cave. It really did look like a mouth, rough spikes growing up out of the base of the opening and coiling all around it like monstrously deformed, too-sharp teeth. It wasn’t the easiest squeeze, especially for someone his size, but he could manoeuvre it without too much trouble, his hands and feet familiar with the grooves and sharp edges. It was for the best anyway, he thought. Wouldn’t do to have an unwary traveller enter the sacred caves by mistake.

He didn’t come here often. But the day’s news was worrying enough to warrant it, he’d decided after ruminating on it all day. He’d worried about it in the back of his head for the entirety of his trip.

He navigated the sharp mouth of the cave and crossed into the cooler air inside, careful to stay his grip into the stone wall before steadily climbing down. There was a stretch of open sky that illuminated a patch of the deep blue waters which covered most of the vast interconnected caves, but jumping directly into the waters would be nothing short of suicidal, even for a not-unwelcome-guest such as himself. He’d never trespass on another’s domain like that, nor would he want to abuse his welcome. He knew how rare the courtesy extended to him was, and how precious for it.

The rays of sunlight reaching into the deceptively calm water made it sparkle attractively, and Dan took the time to appreciate the beautiful play of flecks of light and shadows that adorned the cave walls as clouds shifted all the way up in the sky. He’d always enjoyed the view, from the first time he was allowed entry here as a child, and he’d always marvelled that he would be given such an unlikely gift. The habitants of the cenotes were infamous for distrusting outsiders.

To those who even knew there was such a thing, anyway.

As he was reaching the ground - he’d headed for the small patch of limestone filled with tiny rocks to the left of the cave entrance as was the custom - he lowered his bare feet into the narrow riverbank and announced his presence with a distinct whistle. They would have already noticed him, of course, but the rituals must be observed. He waited a full minute, counting in his head and watching the little shadows of movement in the water, taking in the seldom-seen beauty of the caves, then, once the minute was over, he moved ahead, carefully, deliberately, to the edge of the river. He could only advance three wide steps before the stream bed plunged to unknown depths, and so he stopped at the third step, the soles of his feet firmly rooted into the rock, and he waited.

He wasn’t made to wait long. He saw the figures approach, thin and sinewy and too fast to be any kind of human, too fast in the water to be anything but what they were, and he let his feet and calves harden and expand lightly, gripping into the rock he was standing on more securely and providing a more reliable proof of his own identity than anything else he could have done or presented them with. He was in their domain, anyway. One, alone, where hundreds of them swam leisurely around, and where hundreds more could be called if a threat dared show up. If they wanted him dead he didn’t stand a chance. Just as they liked it.

He couldn’t really blame them.

They surfaced a few meters away, and he was relieved to recognise their leader. She hadn’t always been available for his impromptu visits, and the others were much more distrustful of him. Klavdiya was there the first time Dan had visited as a kid, however. She remembered his Papa too, and that also helped.

“Lady Klavdiya,” Dan addressed her, twining his arms close to his chest, and inclined his torso slightly while keeping eye contact with her. She bared her too-long, too-sharp teeth in a grimace Dan had learnt was a gesture not unlike a smile for humans. The two rusalki flanking her sides allowed themselves to stoop lower into the water, vigilant as ever but mollified by the show of respect. Dan only recognised one of them from his previous visits, though she’d never offered a name.

“Daniel, forest child. You come unannounced.”

“I do. I’ve received news that you deserve to hear.” The rusalki appreciated candour as much as Dan did, so he didn’t waste their time with small talk. It would be an insult to them both.

“Speak,” Klavdiya prompted, not unkindly.

“There is a party coming to the village. No more than a dozen humans, but among them, there is a pair of hunters. Rumours are they’re quite skilled in certain magicks, and they’ve sent word that they’re canvassing the kingdom, catching and disposing of any non-humans they can and making note of others they may not have the resources to slay. I don’t know how accurate the assessment of their skills is, but I’ve ascertained that there is a pair of hunters travelling this way, and they’ve apparently caused quite the stir in the neighbouring lands, so I doubt they’ll be easy pickings.”

Klavdiya swirled her tail close to the surface in a dangerous motion that Dan knew could drain the life of a human in a single blow.

She was worried.

Dan hated it.

“Canvassing…” she sounded the word out, picking at it as she asked for more information.

“I doubt they’ll venture this deep into the forest. If they do, I may well have to take them out myself before they ever reach the caves.”

Klavdiya’s fins flickered in sympathy. She knew he wouldn’t enjoy it if it came to that.

Dan understood the significance of the gesture, a notable display of insight and compassion from a creature who would delight in slaying her enemies, as brutally and mercilessly as she felt they deserved. He saw the respect in her eyes, in her posture, in every word she said to him. She knew he would do it if necessary.

“You may need help,” she declared.

“I hope not,” he hedged.

“You may need help,” she repeated, softly but with a core of strength intrinsic to her people and her character.

“I do not wish to involve you. I have come to warn you because I may not be able to come once they’re in the vicinity. I would not want to lead them here. And I don’t know how long they’ll stay.”

“You may need help,” she repeated herself a third time, and much as he didn’t want to acknowledge the implicit offer, it would border on a snub to dismiss it a third time. Dan gave her a pleading look. She didn’t flinch.

“...I may. But if it comes to that, it may be too late for me anyway.”

“If you lead them to the opening at the top, you need only push them in. If they fall into the water, my brethren will make short work of them, magick or no magick.”

The hunters’ magic could cost her brethren several lives, maybe dozens if they were as powerful as advertised. He didn’t say this. She knew. A threat to his forest implied a threat to her caves, to her river, to the sea her river flowed into. A canvassing entourage might even be planning that far ahead. Dan rather hoped not.

He let out a heavy breath, reluctant acquiescence. “I promise I shall only consider it as the very last resort,” he vowed.

Klavdiya inclined into an awkward bow, respect shown for respect due. “You need not vow so, our offer was freely made. But it is appreciated.” She would not have offered so to someone else. She would not have offered if she didn’t know he’d never ask it of them. That is why she offered. That, and her people. Their domain. Their home. They would rather all die defending it than surrender one lone inch of it. They’d already lost so many. Humans had always been particularly brutal to her kind, and it had only got so much worse in the last decade...

“My respects to you and yours. May our alliance endure the hurdles to come, and may no threat disturb the peace and quiet of our lands and rivers.” The formal words closed the formal encounter, and he waited to see what Klavdiya would do next.

“Our respects, forest child. Should you need our power, we shall be here.”

Dan did another ‘rusalka bow’, as he’d come to call them when he’d first learnt them as a child, arms entwined and pressed to his chest, a show of respect and trust to the people whose domain he had been allowed to step into. He remembered his Papa explaining the significance of the tangled arms - a deliberate blunting of one of their best weapons; the position of their feet - as deep as they could go into the water without endangering or maiming themselves - and the revealing of their nature by calling forth the forest to reshape their lower limbs into their inhuman form - proof of identity, of membership, of allegiance. He had tried to copy the delicate movements that flowed so effortlessly from his Papa, but he’d only managed a clumsy imitation that first time. They’d practised later, back at home, at little Dan’s insistence. He’d been five then.

Now, the movements were well-practised, his limbs folding gracefully and his stance never wavering. Klavdiya rose from her own bow and made a swirly movement with her arms to dismiss her companions. They’d stay close, keep an eye on them, he knew, but they didn’t argue; just submerged themselves into the water and disappeared from view.

Klavdiya swam close, movements careful so as to display her goodwill. A rusalka swimming at natural speeds would read to any creature as a threat on an instinctual level, no matter how firm an ally they knew them to be. Dan flexed his feet, one after the other, smoothing rough bark back into soft pale flesh, and took three steps back so that he could sit on the edge of the water, letting his human-looking feet rest comfortably in the shallows.

“Did you find anything else?” Klavdiya asked once she was within reach. Not that they’d reach out to touch each other. Neither one particularly cared to, and if they did there’d be angry and protective rusalki to answer to.

Dan shook his head, allowing his expression to display his worry fully. He’d only heard rumours, some snippets of conversations overheard and some freely offered. But he’d heard tales of less fortunate lands, heard enough - too much, really - of the horrors perpetrated by more zealous bands of humans in the plains to the east, the scope of the bloodshed in the mountain villages of the south, the atrocities committed in the name of ‘humanity’. He’d never been an optimist, but the current political climate was beyond anything he could have feared. It made surviving a burden, sometimes.

He missed his Papa like a cracked rib, the pain sharp and present with every breath he took, and he sometimes thought that if it wasn’t for the chance to help others, to help even a few of the poor lost souls that were being mercilessly hunted as far and wide as he managed to get news from, then he might have given up long ago. The future felt so bleak. And he was so tired.

But he was the last bastion between the misguided and cruel and the haven that was his forest, strategically tucked away into its roots, emboldened and favoured by Her, her child, and he couldn’t abandon Her any more than he could abandon those in need that were desperate enough to venture inside into her welcoming folds, and there had been quite a few of those in recent years. These were desperate times, after all.

Some, however, like the rusalki, hadn’t ventured in looking for an escape, but rather they were a part of it from times immemorial.

Well, the rusalki were neighbours to it, technically. They had their own domain in the pools of the caves entrenched within the forest, and in the river that flowed through them, connecting them to the deeper, wider sea. But they belonged there, they had been there for millennia, and for all their danger they felt to Dan like a respite, a comfort, a steady bulwark that refused to be moved, refused to be challenged, refused to be cowed.

So many peoples had folded, some in fear, some in indifference, a few in a strategic bid that meant to win them the realm in the long run. But not the rusalki, steadfast and unyielding as ever, and not Dan either. Unlike them, he lacked the strength of numbers, however. He only had the forest. The forest and his human parents, who had no command of magick, his human parents who couldn’t fight, and who still now carried the bleeding wound of the forced separation with their hearts’ partner, patched up but still raw, still tearing at them, still ravaging their will and their courage. Dan sometimes thought that they suffered his Papa’s absence even more keenly than him.

His talk with Klavdiya was short, as their chats usually were, but he was pleased to see her bare her teeth once again when he showed her the token he’d brought for her. He knew to be careful with gifts, but rocks from his forest, imbued with the moon’s energy and the earth’s vitality, were quite straightforward as presents from one ally to another, and useful enough not to raise any hackles from the more suspicious of her brethren.

The sun was getting low, however, and soon they had no more information to exchange, not even of the personal leisurely sort, so he bid his goodbyes and left with the promise to visit again once the danger was past them. He’d keep to his next scheduled visit if the hunters were gone by then, and only make another surprise visit if he felt like he must, if circumstances changed.

Hopefully, that wouldn’t be necessary.

By the time he’d climbed back to the surface and out through the tricky mouth of the cave, the sky was a deep orange. He could walk through the forest deaf and blind if he had to, of course, so navigating it by night under the watchful light of the stars would be no hardship for him.

But he was getting hungry and he hadn’t forgotten the qurabiya nestled carefully inside his pack. He’d make a simple dinner and enjoy one for dessert. It shouldn’t take long for him to get to his cottage.

He’d make in an early night. He had plans early the next day.

[captlune]

So my @stuckyaubang fic is finally finished at 5 chapters! Hurray! Go check it out!

Title: Come Fly With Me

Beta: Megs-bee on ao3

Art by @dansphlevels aka DumpsterDiving101 on ao3

Warnings: Character with asthma, Steve has issues

Rating: Teen

Relationship tags: Steve Rogers/James “Bucky Barnes, past Steve Rogers/Peggy Carter

Summary: Still bitter over his breakup with Peggy, Steve has been missing out on life. After getting a not so gentle nudge from his friends, he ends up being signed up for a stationary trapeze class with the hot and charming instructor named Bucky Barnes. Now Steve has to navigate his way through the rocky terrain of a new potential relationship. Will he be able to let go of the past and take hold of his future or will his head forever remain stuck up his ass.

[phanfictioncatalogue]

One Word Fic Titles (6) Masterlist

part one, part two, part three, part four, part five

Appreciation - placingglaciers

Summary: In which Dan is the town’s successful, wealthy, irritable, but lonely, mortician and Phil is his gardener who has to deal with his bad day from work the best way he can.

Bear (ao3) - Mysticallykai

Summary: As a child, Dan was easily frightened and needed comfort; that was when his Nana first gave him his Pooh Bear plush, as something that could keep him safe. Over the years, the plush became his absolute comfort, even into adulthood. When Phil comes into the picture, he makes Dan even more comfortable; through the good times and bad.

Coffee - brerediddy

Summary: Dan Howell is a liar and a sneak, but that could all change when he meets someone different at a coffee shop in the early hours of the morning.

Crutches (ao3) - KittyCatriona (War_Worn_Lipstick)

Summary: It’s his favorite cereal; Phil bought Dan’s favorite cereal. Dan’s heart aches, but in that way where it sort of hurts so bad it extends through his sternum, collar bone, and somehow up into his shoulders, and suddenly, wow, everything aches, and he realizes that maybe it’s not the cereal or Phil that’s doing this to him, but it could be the cereal or Phil that makes it stop. Phil is out of the question, though, so cereal it is.

Danisnotadom (ao3) - Sinninghowlter

Summary: Dan’s not a dom. Everyone swears up and down that he is, insists he is domming his boyfriend and is too good to take it in the ass.

Phil’s not a sub. Everyone thinks he is, everyone thinks his baby is in charge. What they don’t know is his hardcore boyfriend is actually a princess.

Delivery (ao3) - drxpdead

Summary: In which Phil is maybe kind of obsessed with the leather jacket wearing pizza delivery boy, because he just had to ask for the cutest one.

distraction (ao3) - possumdnp

Summary: In a few days, Dan's coming out video is going to be posted, and he needs a distraction from the anxiety.

Enough - youreyesholdgalaxies

Summary: Phil has been being distant and Dan feels like their friendship is over, while Phil is trying to block out some thoughts that he doesn’t want to think about, the thoughts of Dan needing more.

Fluidity (ao3) - dizzy, waveydnp

Summary: Sometimes they want to stay in.

Gentle (ao3) - Lesbianphan

Summary: Phil doesn't really look at photos of their faces that much. Truthfully, there's only so many gifs and videos of people pointing out how utterly hopelessly in love you and your partner look at each other that you can actually absorb into your brain. Phil's brain feels like mush sometimes, with the amount of feeling right there, displayed for the world to see. This livestream was special though - in so many ways, - and he found himself transfixed by the animated images of Dan's gentle touching of his face, feeling some kind of cosmic shift happening on screen, the realization on the tip of his tongue. Just a fluffy thinkpiece on their current content, and all the little moments they decided to share with their audience these past few months.

High (ao3) - strommae (dibbit)

Summary: 2009 is coming to an end and Phil invites Dan to a party with his friends to celebrate the New Year. The two have been dating for a few months and Dan knows quite a lot about Phil, but he has yet to hear about Phil’s apparent experience with party drugs. When Phil suggests they try cocaine at the upcoming party, almost every fiber of Dan’s being is telling him to say no.

But of course, wanting to impress his cool older boyfriend, Dan says yes.

Honeybee (ao3) - Scuddleduck

Summary: Dan sings a sweet silly song to Phil in the kitchen.

Hungry - dansphlevels

Summary: You can still suffer from eating disorders even if you’re a boy, even if you’re an adult, even if you’re married and in love and even if you have a daughter.

Lucky (ao3) - iihappydaysii

Summary: After The Last Jedi premiere, Dan and Phil have trouble keeping their hands off each other.

Monster - helloanonymouswriter

Summary: Dan controls fire and Phil controls ice and they hate each other from previous events they do not speak off. However, when Dan gets hurt in battle Phil finds his hatred dissipating and replaced with worry.

Normality - ravehowell

Summary: Phil proposes when the tour ends. (It’s an ‘oh’, a beat and then nothing.)

Perfect - phillestatos

Summary: Dan’s family owns one of the most succesful video game stores in London. The problem is, Phil’s family is also one of the most succesful stores, leading them to have a rivalry going on. The thing is, Dan and Phil have problems keeping up their “rivalry.” They’re supposed to hate each other, but they don’t.

Perspective (ao3) - intoapuddle

Summary: Dan has a few tricks that make him look at life from a different perspective, but only a few of them work. Playing around with Phil is one trick that never fails.

Ripple (ao3) - cafephan

Summary: Phil has a cheating boyfriend. Dan is a poet, facing an ultimatum.

routine (ao3) - Anonymous

Summary: The scene is as follows: The dining room is empty except for Dan, who sits in front of his computer about to upload We’re All Doomed. There is the lingering smell of fries and dips. Dan is in his pajamas, the Minecraft ones Phil always manages to hog. By the side of his desk, a full cup of cocoa has since lost its steam. It’s also from Phil. “To relax you,” he said.

Dan knows he just made two by accident.

security! (ao3) - natigail

Summary: Dan comes home to Phil after tour rehearsals. They cook, kiss and banter. And Dan reflects on the word "security".

Snapshots (ao3) - waveydnp

Summary: Little moments from a big tour.

Squish - adorkablephil

Summary: Dan gains some weight, but it doesn’t change how Phil sees him.

Starstruck - paradisobound

Summary: Phil attends all of Dan Howell’s concerts. In fact, he makes it a rule to even record every one he goes to. You could say he was in love with Dan Howell and in fact, that wouldn’t be a lie because he’s actually Dan’s fiancé. Too bad Dan’s fans see him as the creepy guy at Dan’s concerts.

Stay (ao3) - Nefertiti1052 (Succubusphan)

Summary: Dan was mesmerized by the cute guy with the flowers he saw on the tube. Was it a bit much to search for him time and time again after that? maybe, but sometimes working hard for something works out in the end.

Tangled - fiction-phan

Summary: Dan had been locked in his tower for eighteen years. He understood why his mother insisted he stayed there but he was desperate to see the lights released in the kingdom every year on his birthday. Just as he was giving up on ever getting to get out, a stranger literally stumbles into his life and he might just change everything…

tempe (ao3) - dizzy

Summary: Dan and Phil go on a case to Tempe.

Touch (ao3) - winstonlives

Summary: Dan is home alone, and decides to go au naturale. It would be all fine and dandy, but then he gets a little drunk. A couple pictures, a few texts, and a surprising phone call changes everything.

[sodalester]

kamikaze - 1

summary: For most pirates, the Isle of Riches would sound very appealing. Not for Dan, who got too close to it and witnessed its secrets. Months later, he gets himself taken prisoner aboard Phil’s ship. He’s obnoxious, flirty, and generally a pain in the ass to all on board. But when he gets injured and is forced to let his guard down, Phil finds that Dan isn’t all that he makes himself out to be.

word count: 7477/?

tw: vomiting, minor violence and injuries

made for @phandomreversebang! a big shoutout to @phanandpenguins for editing this so last minute, you’re a true hero. also @dansphlevels gave emotional support while also making the art for this. ily :00 the second part for this will be posted next week

LINK TO ART

AO3 LINK

PART 2 LINK

1: abandon all your logic and put your money on it

Dan was rudely awoken by the feeling of someone dumping cold water on him. He was up in an instant, smacking his head against the top of the table he had been sleeping under. He groaned, clutching his head with his hands.

“Get lost, drunkard!”

Dan scrambled to his feet, keeping a hand on his head. He caught the face of a fat, bald man holding a bucket and looking absolutely livid before he ran off, avoiding anymore confrontation with the man. He was vaguely aware of something being thrown after him, but Dan didn’t care.

This wasn’t the first time this had happened. Most people didn’t take too kindly to Dan sleeping underneath their stands, some even yelling for the guards to arrest him.

Contrary to what they thought, Dan hadn’t been drinking at all. He couldn’t afford it; any funds he managed to find went into buying food. And judging by his growling stomach, he barely received any funds for even that.

Eventually, Dan slowed down into a walk, letting his hand fall from his head. It wasn’t even past sunrise and the port was empty, aside from those setting up their stands and shops and the occasional passer byer. Dan would have to wait until later that day to try to steal any food.

He sighed, ambling along the cobblestone path with no real purpose. His soggy curls, which had grown far too long for comfort, fell over his eyes and added to his melancholy mood.

He remembered the days when he didn’t have to worry about eating or dodging the guards. The days when he sailed from port to port, pillaging them for riches or fun, or tormenting any royal ships they came across. The smell of the sea was like home for him; it was the only reason he bothered staying in the port.

Yet even those memories had been tainted by the claws of time. The captain had wanted something too ambitious and was willing to sacrifice his crew to get to it. In the end, Dan was the only one to survive. He heard the rumors and abandoned ship right before it was led to its doom, never to be seen again.

As he walked, the cobblestone under his feet turned to wooden planks. Dan lifted his head, his eyes immediately drawn to the shore line. He could hear the sounds of the waves, crashing into the land. Something in his chest tugged, but he ignored it. He had to ignore it, for the sake of his sanity.

He stood there, watching as the sun slowly crept up from behind the ocean. His curls slowly dried, returning to their normal greasy, dirty state. More and more people were slowly coming into the port. Returning fishermen glared at Dan, assuming he was drunk. A few of them recognized him and gave him small smiles, pitying his state. Those were worse than the glares.

Dan only left after one of the fishermen tried to approach him. He ducked away from the man, mumbling some excuse about needing to get home. Of course, they both knew that there was no home for him to return to.

Dan wandered aimlessly through the port, scouting out a place for him to rest. Where there weren’t stands, however, there were shops and people inside of them, ready to yell at Dan for loitering.

He managed to find an alleyway to rest in, staying away from the doors that led up to apartments. He sat down and leaned against the wall, letting his eyes fall shut. Before he could stop himself, he had fallen asleep.

-

Dan blinked slowly, the last traces of sleep slipping away. The sun was now well up and Dan could hear the loud chatter of those out in the marketplace.

He yawned, stretching his arms before letting them fall to his sides. Nobody appeared to be going through the alleyway and no one had yelled at him for sleeping there. He stood up, mentally keeping note of the alleyway to sleep in later.

Dan stumbled out of the alleyway and into the crowd, letting himself disappear into it. He loved the crowd, loved how no one glared or took a second glance at him. He felt more at ease within the crowd.

The crowd also meant that Dan could attempt to steal some food from the stands. The bigger the crowd, the less likely Dan was to be noticed.

The smells of food greeted Dan and made his stomach grumble, demanding food. He began eyeing up the stands, looking for one that was busy and easy to grab something from. Most carried fresh fish or some kind of tropical fruit. A few were attempting to sell clothing items or more peculiar food. They didn’t attract as much crowd, so Dan never paid attention to them.

He made his way through the stands, steadily coming closer to the docks once more. He’d attempted to grab a few fruits, but it seemed the vendors seemed more on edge that day. Everytime he was close to getting away, the vendor would speak up or yell at him.

Running away would only make a scene, so he had been forced to return the food, no matter how much his hungry belly protested for it.

He ended up back at the dock, the smell of sea air and the crowd overwhelming, even for Dan. He sighed quietly; he’d have to make rounds again until the stands closed or he got in trouble. Already he was worn out from it all.

He was turning around to return to the stands when he saw it. While it wasn’t uncommon for foreign ships or royal boats to visit, Dan had yet to see a ship like the one he saw now. With a torn flag waving proudly in the sea wind, it was unmistakable as to what it was.

A pirate ship.

Dan felt himself grinning, his body automatically making its way over to the ship. Memories of days gone by spent sailing the ocean in search of impossible treasure flooded to the surface. The urge to leave the land behind, to once again go searching for adventure all while battling against mother nature herself, was unbearable.

Without much thought or rationalization, Dan walked determinedly up to the ship. He only stopped when he was almost boarding it.

There were no pirates on board, at least none that he could see. He could always play the drunk man if one came across him anyways.

And so, with newfound courage, Dan boarded the ship. The wood creaked under his shoes, the sound like an old friend who he was reuniting with months later. It was a smaller pirate ship, most likely with a smaller crew, Dan noted. The sails were a bit weathered, yet appeared to be in good shape.

It reminded Dan of his old ship, in a way. Worn down, but still standing.

Well, it wasn’t exactly standing anymore. But that thought made his chest ache, so he pushed it out of his mind.

Now that he was on ship, he wasn’t exactly sure what he was to do. It’d look a bit suspicious if some guy in practically rags was standing aimlessly on a pirate ship. Or maybe not, considering most thought that pirates were nothing more than heartless scavengers. The ache in his chest whenever he thought about his old crew proved otherwise.

A ship meant that there had be food somewhere, Dan concluded. It’d be an easy way to get a decent meal, so long as he didn’t run into any crew members. With the thought of food echoing in his mind, Dan set off below the decks to find where they kept the food at.

It was significantly darker below decks, something Dan wasn’t a big fan of. Light from the sun was sliced by wooden blank, creating small slits of beams that provided the smallest amount of light. Specks of dust danced in these beams, giving the spacing an uneasy vibe.

He had come too far, however, to turn back. Well, not really, but the thought of free food was really appealing. He’d honestly eat stale bread at this point and call it a five star course.

The food was relatively easy to find, with Dan making a minimum of two trips over loose ropes. Surprisingly, they had a rather wide range of food for pirates. Fruit that wasn’t spoiled, bread that didn’t have suspicious looking gray spots, and more.

He had to admire their dedication to keeping fresh food; it was hard not to end up with moldy food after only a week of sailing. The food were kept in separate containers all filled with ice; Dan took note of that for later (though he wasn’t quite sure what later meant).

Without any hesitation, Dan began grabbing handfuls of different foods. Once he had deemed he had grabbed enough, he sat down in front of one of the barrels and began devouring the food. It even tasted fresh and cold, much to Dan’s pleasure.

Before he knew it, he had eaten everything. He felt full for the first time in what had to have been months, having to steal the bare minimum in the past and never receiving a proper meal.

He began licking his fingers, wanting to enjoy every last bit of the food. He wasn’t quite sure when his next meal would be; it had something he had grown accustomed to. He had been so distracted by the food, however, that he never heard the sounds of footsteps echoing below deck as the crew returned to the ship.

He only took notice that he was no longer safe when he heard the stairs creak, signalling the approach of somebody. Dan stiffened, suddenly aware of just how full he was; he was definitely in no state to fight, that was for certain.

If there was one thing he had learned while being a pirate was how to talk. It was something all pirates had to master and it was the real root of what made them pirates; they were tricksters ready to use their brain and words to get out of any situation.

He heard the exact moment that the people who had come down spotted him. Their conversations died, and suddenly they were storming over. Dan continued to lick his fingers, looking unfazed by the pirates approaching him.

One of them grabbed his arms, forcing him to pay attention to them. There were about three of them, two of them bulky while the third amusingly scrawny compared to the other two.

The scrawny one stepped forward. Dan couldn’t see him very well in the dim lighting and ended up squinting at him, trying to get some idea of what he looked like.

“Who are you?” the scrawny one yelled, irritated at finding a dirty man from the streets on board their ship and stealing their food.

Dan shrugged. “Who’s asking?”

“The captain of the ship, that’s who.”

Dan raised his eyebrows, a bit caught off guard, then smirked. “Well, captain, I’m Dan. Pleasure making your acquaintance.”

The captain was not amused. “What are you doing on my ship? Surely you knew it was a pirate ship? Unless you’re too dumb to know what that actually is.”

“Thought I’d stop by for a little meal. And now that I’m finished, I’ll just be on my way-”

He tried to squirm away from the man holding him, but his grip only tightened. He felt fear creeping in his mind, but he pushed it out, replacing it with faux confidence.

“We don’t deal with trespassers so kindly, especially those that eat our food.” The captain turned towards the other two. “Tie him up.”

“Kinky.”

He could feel the icyness of the captain’s glare despite not being able to see it clearly.

Dan chuckled. “Relax, I like to get to know people a bit better before I sleep with them.”

“Put a gag in his mouth as well,” the captain ordered, still glaring at Dan. “Then bring him up deck. We’ll decide his fate up there.”

The two men nodded, walking off to get the rope and gag. The captain left without another word, leaving Dan to be wrangled by the other pirates.

With hands tied and gag in place, Dan was lead up to the deck. At first, he resisted, however he quickly stopped once one of the pirates pulled out his sword and used it to threaten him. He at least knew better than to piss off a pirate with a sword.

Dan emerged from below and was greeted by a small crowd of pirates, all watching in amusement as Dan stumbled forward. Dan glanced around, eyes stopping when he saw the captain.

He was scrawny alright, but it was his eyes that captured Dan’s attention. They were a sea-like blue, stormy with rage and staring at Dan. For the first time since being discovered, Dan actually felt intimidated. There was something about his eyes that pulled at Dan’s guts and made his heart jolt in a funny way.

They were still at the dock, Dan observed, as he heard the buzz of the morning carry over to the ship. He made note of that fact, in case he needed a quick escape. He was more accustomed to land rather than the boat, something he hadn’t experienced before. Usually, it was the other way around.

The captain unsheathed his sword, pointing it in Dan’s direction. Like any normal being who enjoys life, Dan was not too thrilled to have a sword pointing at his face, the hilt in the hands of someone whom he had pissed off.

“This man was caught below deck, eating our food supplies.” The captain spoke loudly and clearly, his voice echoing across the deck. “He has been brought up to decide what we shall do with this thief.”

Dan, in all his smartness while staring down a blade, decided to add a comment. “Technically, you’re thieves as well. You are pirates, after all.”

The captain stepped closer, the blade mere inches from Dan’s face. He swallowed nervously.

“No additional comments will be necessary. Now,” he turned to address the crew, “any ideas? Suggestions?”

Dan was expecting something like beheading or walking the plank in typical pirate style. Food supplies were considered almost as sacred as the treasure they searched for. Dan would find a way to escape his death, as he’d done so many times in the past. He’d stopped his thrill seeking after his last escape that left his heart in shatters, guilt weighing down his brain and forcing him onto dry land.

What he got instead was a much less severe punishment ideas. Not that he was complaining.

“Make him mop the deck!”

“Make him buy all our food?”

“Organize the maps that you’ve been putting off for two months.”

“Turn him over to the officials like the gentlemen we are.” (Dan wasn’t too fond of that idea).

The captain smiled, nodding along with each idea. Eventually, he even sheathed his sword once again, making Dan a bit confused yet grateful nonetheless.

“I think those are all brilliant ideas. In fact, why not just make him our prisoner and have him do all the dirty work?”

Cheers of agreement rose from the crew. No one liked chores. Fuck chores.

“Then it’s settled.” The captain turned back to Dan, his smile still on his face. Dan couldn’t help but feel caught off guard by it. “You’ll be our prisoner of chores.”

Dan shrugged. When he was a teen and just becoming a pirate, he had been the one doing all the chores on the ship. He could handle a little dirty work. And since they didn’t seem too keen on killing him, he could test his luck a little.

“Shouldn’t be too bad. I’ll get to see you everyday, Captain.” Dan smirked.

The captain’s smile fell, a hard glare replacing it. “That’s Captain Lester to you. There’ll be no funny business, understand that?”

There was something about his tone, the bitterness and disgust, that made Dan lose his smirk and look down. “Yes, Captain Lester,” he said quietly.

Satisfied with a problem taken care of, the captain turned his back to Dan. “We shall sail once again tomorrow. In the meantime, you know your duties. Try not to make too much of a ruckus in town.” The captain pointed to a girl. “Help get our little friend here situated.”

The girl walked forward, eyeing up Dan with a tactful eye. She smirked. “Shall I put him in the cell?”

“If you will, Sandra.”

Sandra nodded. “Not a problem, Phil.” She walked over to Dan and pulled him up by his shirt.

“We’ll discuss exactly what you’ll be doing tomorrow.” With that, Phil stalked off, heading in the direction of a few of his crew members.

“Alrighty, down to the cell we go.” Sandra gave him a little push, directing him to where the cell was.

It was a small, cramped space with rusting metal bars and a rickety stool sitting pitifully in the corner. Dan felt coldness settle in his belly as he realised that this would be the place he’d be staying most of the days.

“In ya go,” Sandra said, opening the cell door and shoving him in. He ended up stumbling over his feet and landing flat on his face, grunting in pain.

“Will you at least untie me?” he snapped. He was becoming more aware of the rope burning his wrists with each passing second.

Sandra clicked her tongue. “Not with that attitude.”

Dan sighed. “Will you please untie me?”

Sandra beamed. “Since you asked so nicely, of course!” She took her sweet time untying him, pissing him off to no end. He wanted to be alone to brood now; being locked in a cell meant no escape.

Once he was untied, Sandra quickly slammed the cell door shut and locked it, confirming his imprisonment.

“Enjoy your stay!” Sandra laughed.

Dan pulled himself up, rubbing his wrists. He glared at her as he watched her disappear back up above, bitterness engulfing him.

He was trapped.

-

The sun was unbearably hot.

Dan swore that he was being cooked alive, his skin slowly turning a pinkish color. He had already gotten sunburned multiple times on his face, his cheeks in a permanent stage of pink.

“That doesn’t look like mopping, Dan.” Sandra yelled at him from her lovely patch of shade.

Dan rolled his eyes, relunctantly returning to ‘swabbing the deck’ as Sandra called it. It was one of his daily tasks and probably the one he hated the most; it was long and tedious and his efforts to make the deck clean would be ruined in an instant as the crew moved around on deck.

He had voiced this to Sandra before, which ended up with him having to clean the deck twice for complaining.

They had been out on sea for about a week and while Dan loved being reunited with the feeling of a rocking ship and the smell of salt, he wasn’t quite loving his current circumstances. His routine was the same everyday: wake up at god forsaken hours, do chores assigned by different crew members, eat a small bit of food and call it lunch, do more chores, eat dinner, then sleep.

It was boring and tiring and Dan could feel himself slowly losing his mind over it.

Today was his lucky day, however, as he when he looked up from where he was mopping, he found that Sandra had fallen asleep.

Dan stared at her, a bit shocked. She wasn’t watching him. He glanced around; the rest of the pirates were occupied with their own tasks, none of them paying any attention to Dan. This was his chance to finally snoop around the ship or do something a bit more exciting than mopping the deck.

What better place to snoop around in than the captain’s cabin?

Abandoning the mop next to Sandra, Dan casually strolled across the ship towards the cabin. No one paid much attention to him, too busy caught up in the own tasks. He smiled to himself, easily slipping into the cabin unnoticed.

Thankfully, the cabin was empty (not that he would have minded running into Phil). It was quite small from what Dan was used to, however it was filled with all sorts of knick knacks and books lining up every wall. Despite being slightly cluttered, the cabin was almost cozy, in a certain way. Light streamed through the window onto the table where maps of all sorts were laid out in what appeared to be a unorganized mess. The bed and the captain’s personal belongings were tucked in a corner, surprisingly surrounded by plants.

There was so much information that Dan found himself clueless as to where to start.

He began at the table, looking over the maps. Most of them were simply shortcuts across the ocean from one port to another, while some lead to supposed treasure. These ones were always the more fascinating ones because they promised things like treasure and mystical wishes. And Dan, being the pirate he was, got a bit of a rush at the idea of it all.

He shuffled through the maps, pushing aside the more boring ones in favor of discovering ones that held a bit more excitement to it. Though it is maps, you can’t get much excitement from them.

He found one particular that caught his eye. The golden script was itchingly familiar and he found himself rushing to grab it before he lost it in the mess of maps. He yanked it free of the pile, holding it out in front of him to read it.

He felt his heart drop suddenly. He knew what this map was.

The sound of a door creaking open startled Dan, causing him to jump and accidentally run into a chair. He ducked under the table, knowing just how pathetic his hiding place was. Everything seemed to freeze around Dan who was still holding the map.

“Who’s in here?” the sound of Phil’s voice rang out.

Dan didn’t say a word, instead opting to wait for Phil to find him.

“Zach, if this is your way of a prank, it’s going horribly. Like it always does,” Phil sighed, walking into the room. Dan watched as Phil slowly moved across the room, heading right towards where Dan was.

Oh shit.

Dan held his breath as Phil slowly walked over and inevitably looked under the table. He seemed to expecting someone else because when he saw Dan, he screamed.

So naturally, Dan screamed back.

“What are you doing in here?” Phil screamed.

Dan scramble out from underneath the table, ready to make a run for it. “Nothing important. I’ll just be on my way-”

Phil grabbed his arm, glaring at Dan. “Not so fast. First, you’ve snuck into my cabin and have gone through my stuff. Second, you’re holding a map that is worth more than both of our lives.”

Dan nervously smiled, then in the least graceful way possible, tossed the map back behind him. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Phil rolled his eyes. He grabbed the collar of Dan’s shirt, bringing him close. “You are our prisoner, not one of the crew members, and even they aren’t allowed back here without my permission. Do you understand that?”

Dan gulped, caught in a bit of a trance. You see, Phil’s eyes were very close to him and they were also very, very blue. It was almost like the ocean itself resided in his irises and it was quite distracting. He could feel his brain short circuiting, completely hypnotized by Phil’s eyes.

“I said, do you understand that?”

And Dan, with his brain only thinking about the blueness of Phil’s eyes, answered in the most appropriate way possible. “Can you call a lifeguard? Because I’m drowning in your eyes.”

Well, Dan thought, watching as Phil’s eyes widened in surprise then became even more angry, that was a bit gay.

Phil didn’t say anything, instead dragging Dan out of the cabin and back onto the deck. He brought Dan over to Sandra, who was still sleeping.

“Sandra!”

Sandra startled awake, looking up at Phil fearfully as she noticed him holding Dan.

“C-Captain, what are you doing with Dan?”

Phil glared at her. “I found him in the captain’s cabin, trying to steal one of the maps.”

“Hey, I was not trying to steal a map-”

Phil rolled his eyes, then yanked Dan forward, causing him to run into Sandra. Sandra in response shoved him off with disgust. He landed on his ass and decided that maybe it would be best if he kept his mouth shut.

“I’m sorry Captain, I must have dozed off.” Sandra looked positively terrified, something Dan had never seen from any of the crew until now.

Phil must have seen the fear in her eyes, as his glare softened and he sighed. “You know that we can’t trust him on board.”

Sandra nodded quickly. “I know, and I promise it was a mistake. I’ve just been so tired lately having to watch over Dan and do the night shift. I know I said that I could do it and that it wouldn’t be a problem, but…” She trailed off, looking down in shame.

Phil walked forward, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. “You know it’s okay to ask for help. You work so hard and push yourself too much at times.”

Sandra shrugged. “I know, I know.”

Phil sighed. “I’m sorry for yelling at you.”

Sandra shook her head. “It’s my own fault, I was in charge of him.”

“You were exhausted and accidentally fell asleep. I can hardly blame you for that.”

Dan coughed awkwardly, feeling like he was intruding on something personal (he probably was). He regretted it, seeing the anger return to Phil’s eyes. He laughed nervously.

“So, uh, all good?”

Phil glanced back at Sandra, then to Dan. “Sandra, you can have the rest of the day off. I’ll have Dan stay up in the crow’s nest as punishment.”

Dan felt his stomach plummet. If there was one thing every pirate he ever knew had collectively dreaded, it was the crow’s nest. The strongest of stomachs were turned to jello up there.

“There’s no need for that, I was simply looking around-”

Both Phil and Sandra were unamused.

Dan relented. “Nevermind.”

And so, much to his suffering, Dan found himself being escorted over to the crow’s nest. He climbed up the rusting ladder (very reassuring) and made it up into the crow’s nest. While it wasn’t too bad at first, hours later it felt the complete opposite of “not too bad”.

The crow’s nest, Dan decided as he hung over the ledge, was like taking a ride on the gates of hell and being violently rocked back and forth before your stomach contents decided to make a reappearance.

Forget trying to watch for enemy ships, he’d be lucky if he made it through the night without his dinner making an unpleasant reappearance. Nobody wants that.

The ship gave another lurch and Dan groaned, mentally cursing and praying to any gods out there to spare him.

“You shouldn’t have gone in the captain’s cabin, dickhead,” Dan muttered to himself.

The only good part about the crow’s nest was that he could quite literally hear every conversation going on down below. He learned that Trinity was flirting with Devon while dating Peter on the side. Peter had somehow remained oblivious to Trinity’s moves while the rest of the crew was absolutely livid with her because how dare she treat Peter like that, what did he ever do to her, etc etc.

Typical pirate ship drama.

Besides the unrelenting nausea, the crow’s nest was rather boring. He didn’t see anything but sea for miles and while he loved the sea, it was so motherfucking boring to stare out at it.

Things took an interesting turn, however, when he heard his name being mentioned.

“Why’s Dan up there?”

Dan instantly perked up. Well, perked up as much as his stomach could handle, which really wasn’t a lot.

“I found him in my cabin trying to steal a map,” Dan heard Phil say. “Not just any map; the one that leads to the Isle of the Riches.”

Dan stiffened at the name, memories echoing in the back of his mind. And if they had the map, they were travelling to the same death that Dan knew waited at the end of the map.

“You mean the half that we have.”

Only half?

“Yes, yes, I know. Nevertheless, it is important. We’ve been chasing after the other half for two months now; imagine if we had to chase after.” Phil laughed, the sound breezy and light.

For some reason, Dan found himself wanting to hear it some more. He didn’t ponder that for too long.

“What’s the latest word on it?”

Phil sighed. “All of it’s rumors; some say it’s up North, others say it’s at the bottom of the sea.”

The bottom of the sea is where it belonged in Dan’s opinion.

“Once we get it, however, all efforts will be directed to finding that island.”

Dan frowned. Phil sounded determined to get this map and find the island. If only he knew what awaited there; Dan wished he did.

He sighed, looking out of the horizon. It was only a year ago, yet it felt like an entire lifetime had passed. He once had dreamed of finding the isle and growing old surrounded by riches and paradise. For months, his drive was to follow his captain to the island. And they had almost achieved it.

Then it all went to hell, leaving Dan traumatized and far away from his crew. They had been his family.

Dan was dragged out of his thoughts when he noticed a blimp on the horizon. He shot up, ignoring the protests of his sensitive stomach, squinting to get a better look.

It was another ship.

“Ship ahead!” Dan began yelling, scrambling to get down from the nest. The last thing he wanted to do was be up there for the whole world to see if an aggressive ship was approaching.

His words had thrown the whole ship into chaos. By the time he made it to the deck, crew members were running around, grabbing swords and preparing for the encounter. They had, once again, forgotten about Dan, though this time he decided to keep to his own business. He’d rather avoid the crow’s nest, thank you very much.

Dan ended up going up onto the quarter’s deck and hiding amongst some barrels, able to see what all was going while still staying out of the way.

As the ship drew closer, it became clear that this wasn’t going to be a casual “hey how’s sailing is it going good good that’s good have a good day” meetup. It was another pirate ship, and a pretty violent one, based on the destruction already done to the ship.

This wasn’t going to end well.

It wasn’t too long before a fight had broken out on board, the other crew having boarded their ship. Dan could hear the clash of swords and people grunting with pain and exertion. His heart raced in his chest and he could feel adrenaline rush through him, preparing his own self in case he was discovered.

The sound of two fighters grew closer, and Dan adjusted himself so he could peek out from between the barrels. He recognized one of them to be Phil and the other an enemy.

Dan watched in awe as Phil moved quickly and swiftly, always a step ahead of the enemy. The enemy was smaller than Phil, however lacked his agility and ended up stumbling on his feet. Phil had the obvious upper hand, and it seemed like the fight was going his way.

That is, until the enemy lashed forward, making Phil stumble to the ground.

Dan tensed, watching as the enemy stepped on Phil’s sword. Phil didn’t have the strength to pull it out from underneath. The enemy smirked, knowing he had disarmed his opponent.

Dan was having none of it.

Dan jumped up, knocking over a barrel in the process and catching the enemy’s attention. He whipped around to see Dan running at him and before he could even left his sword, Dan had knocked him off his feet, going down with him.

Phil scrambled onto his feet and swiftly moved to disarm the enemy. Seeing that the odds were no longer in his favor, the enemy ran off, away to get caught up in another fight. Dan stood up, a bit sore from the fall.

“You’re welcome.” Dan winked, earning a glare.

“I recognize these pirates. They shouldn’t be too much. At much they’re nuisances,” Phil commented. He pushed his hair back, sweaty from the physical exertion. His hair ended up in a quiff, the rest of it a mess.

It left Dan practically drooling. And when Phil bent over to pick up the enemy’s sword, his back to Dan, it was safe to say Dan’s mind wasn’t exactly on the battle anymore.

“Dan? Dan, watch out!”

Dan was pulled back into reality when Phil ran past him. He turned around to see Phil clashing swords with another stranger from the other ship. The guy had obviously been aiming to strike Dan.

In the most cliche way possible, Phil had saved Dan.

Phil easily overpowered this enemy, knocking him on the head and causing him to pass out.

Phil looked back at Dan, who had turned pink.

“You’re welcome.”

Dan coughed, not saying anything.

Phil glanced down at the deck, frowning at the chaos taking place. “Try to stay out of trouble, okay?” With that he was off to help the rest of the crew, leaving Dan alone with the passed out enemy.

Dan frowned down at the stranger. He was much grimier than Phil’s crew and had all sorts of things attached to his belt.

He considered ransacking it.

“Might as well,” he muttered, going down on one knee to start pulling off items. Knife, money, suspicious looking liquid, map-

Wait a second.

Dan grabbed the map and opened it, looking over to try to identify it. His eyes widened as he realized what it was.

It was the other half of the map for the Isle of the Riches. It was quite possibly the most coincidental thing Dan had ever experienced, something straight from a fanfiction.

Dan bit his lip, debating internally over whether or not to keep it. If he kept it, he could use it to get an upgrade from his current living conditions. If he threw it out, he’d be saving the entire crew from the trap that laid in wait for its next ship.

Something tugged inside of him. He couldn’t throw it out. There was something inside of him that wanted to go back, to get closure.

To find his own ship again. To find his old crew, if they were even alive.

And so, Dan kept the map.

-

The battle was over as soon as it started. The other ship left, both ships carrying injuries but thankfully no deaths. Dan kept the map hidden in his boat, letting it burn a hole in his mind.

Days passed, and Dan was back to the same old routine. He was waiting for the right moment to present the map and his proposal.

That time came right after they had stopped for supplies at a small port. They had left the dock a few hours ago, all freshly dressed and food supply restocked. The crew was gathered on the deck, Phil having called an informal meeting.

The major question was where to next? They had been sailing aimlessly for two months now, with only the sliver of hope on finding the other half of the map. They were getting restless; it was time for a change.

“I think we should abandoned the whole thing,” one pirate suggested.

“We should at least keep it as a side mission. We do have half the map, it’d be pointless to carry it around. Plus, if word got out that we had it, we’d be chased down by all sorts of pirates.”

“We could sell the map. We’d certainly earn a fortune that way.”

The crew shared ideas, while Dan remained sat on his barrel, bored to death. Why had he been invited anyway? He could have had much more fun counting wood planks down in his cell.

He could, of course, bring up the map that he had acquired. Maybe he wouldn’t have to sleep in the cell anymore; he’d honestly take anything besides the cold of the cell. He couldn’t remember the last time he had gotten a full night’s sleep and at this point he was too scared to try to remember.

So he cleared his throat. No one noticed. He tried again. He sucked at clearing his throat, apparently.

Instead, he knocked over a barrel. That got everyone’s attention.

“I have something that might interest you.”

He reached into his boat and, dramatically slow, pulled out the map.

“Wow, a scroll of paper,” someone said.

Dan rolled his eyes. “It’s not a scroll of paper. It’s something much better.” He unrolled it and showed it to the crew, who immediately reacted in shock.

“Oh my god. Oh my fucking god-”

“Has this motherfucker had the map all along? Why didn’t we think to check him?”

“I swear I’m gonna commit a homicide, this dickhead-”

Dan smirked, amused by the absolute chaos the crew had fallen into.

Phil stepped forward, his face passive. He was the only one who didn’t appear to be having a mental breakdown over the map.

“Where and when did you get that, Dan?”

His voice commanded silence, all the attention waiting for Dan to answer.

“Back when the other pirate ship attacked, one of the crewmembers had it with him. He was knocked out so I took it from him, no problem. Been carrying it around in my shoe ever since.” Dan rolled up the map, preparing for the next stage. The part where they asked him for it.

Phil sighed, also knowing what was to come next. “What do you want in exchange for the map?”

Dan stood up, walking over until he was inches away from Phil. Then, quietly so no one else could hear, Dan whispered,

“You.”

Something flashed across Phil’s face, then it turned to annoyance. But before he could speak or yell at Dan, Dan spoke again.

“Relax! I’m joking.” He stepped back and turned to the rest of the crew. “All I want is freedom. And a hammock to sleep in, rather than the prison cell.”

The crew began talking again. There was no real reason to say no; it was a simple demand and they did have a few extra hammocks.

“That’s not too bad, we can arrange that,” Phil agreed. He’d honestly expected worse, like what Dan had whispered as a “joke”. “You will still have to help out on board.”

Dan shrugged. “Of course, of course. Do we have a deal?”

Phil looked over at the crew. They all were nodding in agreement. They needed this map.

“Alright. We have a deal. You can sleep in one of the hammocks and will no longer be considered our prisoner. That doesn’t make you a crew member, however.”

Dan beamed and eagerly handed over the map. Finally, he had a decent bed to sleep in, even if it was simply a hammock.

(Phil was absolutely disgusted when he found out the map now reeked of sweaty feet). Now they had the entire map and it was obvious what their next journey would be to. Not too long after, Phil dismissed the meeting and headed back into his cabin to further review the map.

Later that night, however, as Dan laid in his new hammock, he couldn’t help but feel something akin to guilt. He knew where that map lead and what they would find, and yet he had given them the other half.

Dan sighed, rolling over and hiding his face in the fabric of the hammock. He’d deal with it later, he told himself. He’d make sure they wouldn’t suffer the same fate he or the rest of his old crew did.

-

As the weeks went on, Dan slowly began to take more and more advantage of his freedom. He began to slack off on chores, choosing instead to gossip with whoever was willing to listen. He had learned quite a bit about the crew from all the gossiping.

What Dan enjoyed most about this new freedom, however, is that he got to speak to Phil more. Though, Dan wasn’t so sure if Phil was enjoying it.

“Can I see your tan lines?”

“I must be lost cause I see paradise.”

“I’m a love pirate, here for your booty.” (Phil had punched him for that one)

“If everyone was a beach, I’d pick you to lie on.”

“Is it hot out here, or is it just you?”

Finally, Phil cracked. “Why do you keep using pick up lines on me? Shitty pick up lines, by the way.”

Dan shrugged, leaning against the railing of the ship. “You tell me, hot stuff.”

Phil sighed. He stared at Dan, blue eyes analyzing him. Dan felt his insides twist as Phil stared at him, nervousness creeping up his back.

He didn’t do nervous, however.

“You’re hiding something.” Phil’s voice was soft, making Dan even more nervous. Phil was chipping at his wall and he didn’t like it.

“Yeah, I’m a secret serial killer.” Dan laughed. “Now, if you’ll excuse me…”

Dan walked off quickly, ignoring the look Phil was giving him. Phil was too good for him, he’d seen it from merely being on the ship and seeing how he treated the others.

Phil loved his crew and cared for each of them individually. He was always checking on them, sharing inside jokes and whispering secrets. They were a giant family, and Dan was a mere outsider invading in their home.

Dan ignored how that thought made his insides twist in a buried sorrow.

More days passed and it became obvious that cheesy pick up lines weren’t catching Phil’s attention anymore. Even the most crude ones only left Phil shrugging his shoulders or ignoring him completely.

So Dan began to mess around more, creating a ruckus and generally pissing off the rest of the crew. Karma was a bitch, however, and one day he pushed his luck a bit too far.

He was standing on top of the railing, laughing as he stumbled to keep balance. He could practically feel the anxiety radiating off of Phil. He even dared to walk a few steps, enjoying the panicked yelling from Phil that he was going to fall.

It was fun and Dan was finally getting attention. Then all went to hell, and Dan stumbled.

He at least managed to fall onto the ship rather than the water.

His body hit the deck ungracefully, but the most damage was done to his head. The moment is slammed into the deck, Dan blacked out for a moment before slowly regaining conscious.

Shit.

He could distantly hear Phil speaking, but his head was spinning too much to understand what had happened. Where was he again? Why was he lying on the decking? Confused, he stumbled onto his feet, swaying a bit as he stood up.

He felt queasy and his head felt like someone had taken it for a ride on a rollercoaster.

“I told you not to stand up there! You could have died. Dan, I swear, are you even listening?”

Dan turned to Phil and regretted everything. He had never seen Phil so mad that he began to fear for his own life. What had he done? It hurt to remember. It hurt to even think.

“‘M fine, I’m good,” Dan mumbled, stumbling forward a bit.

Phil bristled. Dan didn’t look fine. “This is what you get for standing up there. You’re so selfish and reckless, I can’t stand you.”

Dan swallowed, frozen in place. Everything hurt, everything was wrong. He had fucked it up, because Phil was right. He was selfish, so selfish that he abandoned his crew as they sailed to their deaths.

Dan lurched forward, the queasiness suddenly too much. He vomited on the deck, the rest of the world falling apart around him.

The last thing he saw before he passed out was Phil’s eyes, so blue, drowning him once again.

[kermit-the-femme]

Title: (Letting You) Sink In

Rating: T

Word Count: 13.5K

A/N: This was written for the @phandomreversebang to accompany art by the super talented @dansphlevels. Thank you so much to @megiaolf for being an awesome beta. This was the most fun I’ve ever had working on a fic and a large part of that was due to having such a supportive and wonderful team, so thank you both <3

Summary: When Dan finds himself hostage on a rival pirate ship, it seems like the perfect opportunity to move up the ranks and become captain. What he doesn't expect, however, is the bond he forms with the crew's current captain, Phil. (Very loosely based on the tv show Black Sails)

[Link to Art]

Excerpt: 

“Can you… Stay? Here, I mean. Until the storm ends. It helps when there’s someone else here,” Phil answered, looking everywhere but at him.

“Sure,” Dan answered without thinking, but the realization dawned on him pretty quickly. “There’s only one cot in here.”

“I don’t bite, Dan,” was all Phil said in reply, and Dan nodded slowly. They’d have to share then. Just the two of them, spending the night on this tiny cot… What had he gotten himself into?

[Read on Ao3]

[Read on tumblr]

[andthenshesaid-write]

Phandom Reverse Bang 2019

Oh, look, it’s me again, trying to do that thing where I track my progress through a writing challenge. I’ve tried doing this for the last two years and I’ve failed both times, but hey! Third time’s the charm, amirite?

Yes, I’m participating in the Phandom Reverse Bang this year. It’s something I’ve thought about doing for the last couple of years and just never did because I was worried I’d see the art and not be able to think of anything to write about. But this year I thought I’d just bite the bullet and give it a go. What’s the worst that could happen?

And OMG, am I glad I signed up. I’m writing a fic inspired by the amazing art of @dansphlevels (with @mukbangphillie on board as beta) and I’m loving it. Today was my fifth consecutive day of writing and I’m having so much fun. I think about writing all day — it’s even become a reward for myself. I work all day thinking, ‘If I can just get this done, I can write more.’

I’m about 3700 words in, which feels like good progress, except that I don’t know how long the fic will end up being. I feel like it might be between 20 and 30,000 but that’s what I said about Stirring in Love and that ended up being 50,000 longer than that so clearly I know nothing.

This fic is quite different from Stirring in Love. In fact, it’s pretty much the exact opposite, and I know a lot of you enjoyed SIL but I hope you’ll give this new story a chance too, when it arrives. I’m so excited about it and it feels great. Writing it feels effortless, like the story is already there and I just have to tell it —  it’s a great feeling, especially because I haven’t written anything substantial in so long.

Now I just have to stick it out and hope that I can maintain this feeling. I know it’s early days and I’m still feeling that new story excitement, so I just have to try and remember what this feels like when I’m down in the trenches and it’s getting hard, because I really think this story will be worth it.

[americanphancakes]

New Fic: The Last of the Anthousai

The Last of the Anthousai, Act 1: The Forest

M (for violence which will get progressively worse), 12.3k (so far)

Phil is different from everyone else in his village. For one thing, his mother is dead. For another, she wasn't human, so neither is he. To learn how to harness the powers he inherited from her, Philip enlists the aid of a Druid living at the edge of a mysterious forest. To make matters more complex, the forest’s waters are drying up and a beautiful flower nymph is telling Philip that he's some sort of chosen one sent to the forest in order to protect it. How is Phil supposed to handle all of this? And who or what is causing the forest to slowly die? 

Act 1 Rating: T (violence, some angst - it’s not THAT bad yet) 

Act 1 Word Count: 12.3k

Act 1 content warnings: Past minor character death, suspense, food, fire, someone being tied up at the wrists & ankles, mentions of drowning, lots of dead trees.

(Acts 2 and 3 coming soon!)

My fic for the 2019 @phandomreversebang, based on art by @dansphlevels which you can see here.

Thank you to my beta @elleberquist6 for always being so thorough and supportive!

Read Act 1 on AO3

[cheeseandmoths]

16

16-Favorite phanfic:Caudal by dansphlevels (https://dansphlevels.tumblr.com/post/168614421728/mermaids-please-i-love-mermaids)

Or Piece by Piece by softgolftechniques (http://archiveofourown.org/works/11996952/chapters/27142314)

[foxyatlas]

@dansphlevels #spon