Links last checked: May 1st, 2025
part one, part two, part three
A Perfect Pair (ao3) - husbants
Summary: Dan, a struggling actor who works retail by day, and Phil, an ex-YouTuber-turned-porn-star, end up matched together on the new reality show, Perfect Pair.
all the world's a stage (ao3) - croissantbleu
Summary: As an openly queer actor and a vocal activist for the community, Dan Howell wasn't exactly surprised when a news outlet contacted him to offer him an interview and his picture on the cover of their Pride edition, but he wasn't quite expecting what this interview, and this reporter, would lead to.
and we're out here in plain sight (ao3) - orphan_account
Summary: Phil's an optimistic author whose science fiction novel is well on its way to becoming a film. Dan's an actor whose cynism toward love is nothing short of infuriating. It takes a while, but they find something to agree on.
Bad Choices and Even Worse Boyfriends (ao3) - orphan_account
Summary: Dan Howell, most sought after English actor in the world, has had his relationship outed at a bar. He keeps faith that his boyfriend will come back eventually, though.
One day, he comes home to find a package that's not addressed to him at his front door. It's a manuscript for a book, and against his better judgement, he reads it. That's when he meets author Phil Lester, strikes up a fantastic friendship and starts getting over his ruined relationship. Unfortunately, it's only a matter of time before his ex finds him again, and despite Phil's mistrust of this man, Dan can't help but want him.
Blue Tweets (ao3) - orphan_account
Summary: At Dan and Phil’s high school, Dan is a talkative, popular teen actor, and Phil is a quiet daydreamer. Dan thinks Phil’s cute and constantly talks about him on his Twitter, danisnotonfire (no duh). What he doesn’t know is that Phil follows him, and starts to connect the dots.
can't breathe when you touch my sleeve (ao3) - dvp_95
Summary: Dan keeps making a fool of himself in interviews, to the point where it's basically a meme. Now he's got to sit down for the better part of an hour and sell his show to the YouTuber he'd had a massive crush on when he was a teenager.
can't help it (oh no) (ao3) - dvp_95
Summary: "Do you think Thor needs a friend?"
Christmas Constellations (ao3) - brookwrites
Summary: Phil works putting up signs at a department store, and the signs never stop getting bigger and better. All the department store chains never cease to attempt to one-up each other, and this holiday season Phil’s has decided to try to beat out the competition with inclusiveness and feature a gay couple in their ads. As annoying as putting up a whole line of ads is, Phil can’t help but find himself infatuated with one of the men in the picture. After staring at him for too many shifts in a row, Phil ends up obsessively wondering if he’s single and if he’s even gay. Eventually he decides that there’s only one way to find out.
class a klutz (ao3) - orphan_account
Summary: Dan's an asshole who stars in high quality films and Phil's just a clumsy idiot who has bad timing.
Don't Ask Me How I've Been (Fake Happy) (ao3) - phantasticworks
Summary: Dan Howell is an up and coming actor in a closeted relationship with a man who isn't ready to admit his sexuality. Phil is their Uber driver for a very important awards show. Things don't go exactly to plan, but maybe that's a good thing?
Based on the short film "Papercut" by Omad Productions (Somewhat, I got carried away)
Finding the Right Words (ao3) - rosepose
Summary: Dan Howell is an author. A critically acclaimed one. He never thought that at the age of twenty-five he'd see his name featured on bookstore signs . He never thought that anything he wrote would get any recognition. Then it did. And at the peak of his success, all eyes are on him. What could he possibly write next?
Phil Lester is an aspiring actor. Underline the word aspiring. Though Phil has struggled and fought for roles in multiple plays, he still isn't in the position he was dreaming to be in. However, Phil being a bookworm fits perfectly with the position he is in now: a bookstore employee.
Could they both be what each other was looking for?
friday night placebo (ao3) - kishere
Summary: Phil Lester never thought that he was going to be here in his life: successful, healthy, a little lonely, and helping produce his own Netflix show. Dan Howell, YouTube fanboy and food aficionado, just wants to get a job in television acting. One audition could help both of their problems.
Summary: Phil wrote a movie screenplay
i jump for my phone every moment it lights up (ao3) - natigail
Summary: Dan left YouTube behind to become an actor, but years later when coronavirus hits and forces him into self-imposed quarantine he rediscovers an old passion of his - AmazingPhil. He hadn't counted on becoming internet friends with him, or falling in love for that matter.
I Want It, I Got It (ao3) - Yiffandquiff (paradisobound)
Summary: Phil Lester was a worker for the BBC in London. Working in the advertising department, he was content being alongside his friend and fellow coworker PJ during every shift. However, the BBC is temporarily being used as a film set for a new movie starring Hollywood ‘It’ star, Daniel Howell. Being stuck as an extra on the set, Phil finds it’s hard to ignore the famous star. And maybe, just maybe, Dan finds it hard to ignore Phil as well.
In The Act (ao3) - analester
Summary: Dans’ an actor and Phil’s a cameraman and Dan has a scene where he needs to pretend to wank/orgasm and when he’s acting it out he can see Phil palming himself and he’s got a huge exhibitionist kink.
Lights, Camera, Satisfaction (ao3) - americanphancakes
Summary: Dan's landed a dream acting role, working with a director he's always admired but is now crushing on badly. And today, he has to shoot a love scene. What could go wrong?
The Director!Phil AU that actually several people asked for.
Love Me Further (ao3) - MySecretsX
Summary: With achieving dreams comes sacrifice; and working out if those debts were ever worth it. While in Auburn Independent School for Boys, Dan and Phil signed their decision away and believed that was the last. However, sometimes paths cross again and you have to remember to notice them when they do.
Moral of the Story (ao3) - Yiffandquiff (paradisobound)
Summary: Dan Howell and Phil Lester are big names in Hollywood, but their relationship is not what it seems. After a break up, Dan takes the time to reminisce about the start of him and Phil, only to come to his own moral of the story.
(more than just a) summer fling (ao3) - zsunsetz
Summary: dan howell absolutely despises the beach. but maybe a model called phil lester can help him out with that.
My Heart’s On Fire (how about yours?) - chuuseokies-blog
Summary: The entire team that works on “Romeo and James”, a retold version of Shakespeare’s masterpiece “Romeo and Juliet” is full of lovely, funny and kind people that Dan actually enjoys spending time with.But evil takes human form in Philip Michael Lester, the only person on planet earth that Dan would very gladly gift a one-way ticket to Mars, so that he shall never return. (Phil, and Donald Trump perhaps.)
Or: The one where usually, people don’t fall in love with the person that caused their life to fall apart, unless they’re in a cheesy rom-com. Then again, usually people aren’t Dan Howell.
My Juliet (ao3) - RyRyCaptain
Summary: Phil is a world-famous playwright, and he's directing his newest play, Romeo and Juliet. Dan is an actor who luckily receives the part of Juliet.
Summary: “Ever since acting school, Dan had mastered the ability of giving people what they wanted, but never leaving them satisfied.”
Someone In The Crowd (ao3) - doinganap
Summary: Phil's an aspiring actor with more than a few years of living in LA with no avail. Dan's a jazz pianist stuck in daydreams and a pile of bills. They see right through each other from the beginning but can they make their dreams come true together? aka the La La Land fic no one asked for
The Enigma Of The Artist (ao3) - madd09
Summary: Dan just wants to find somewhere quiet to study with no distractions. Phil just live the atmosphere of the cafe to draw. Little did they know they were both going to be getting very distracted in the coming weeks.
The Human Requirement to Breathe (ao3) - philsdrill
Summary: It’s a difficult life for Dan. Being famous and recognisable isn’t easy when you’re walking through a crowd of people… especially when you’re claustrophobic. Phil runs a coffee shop and an unusual customer ends up meaning more to him than he ever expected.
the last act of the show (ao3) - vvelna
Summary: Phil has made a living from faking relationships for nearly a decade. His new client is an actor named Dan Howell.
The Wedding Date (ao3) - AnotherPhanficWriter
Summary: With the wedding of his older brother, Martyn, fast approaching, a lonely Phil faces the undesirable prospect of traveling alone to sunny Florida for the ceremony and staying there for two whole weeks surrounded by happy couples. While this is bad enough, everyone is convinced Phil is going to die lonely, and he has been forced to lie his way through this by telling them he had a boyfriend. Which landed him an extra invite for a plus one, one he could not shake off or he'd look like the lonely man he actually is. Determined to show everyone - most of all Stupid Martyn - that his life is not boring and dead end, Phil hires a failing actor, Daniel Howell, to play his committed boyfriend. Well, it was only for a few days, right? What could go wrong?
Visions, Voice, Person: The Soulmate Process (ao3) - Star4545
Summary: Visions, Voice, Dreams lead up to meeting your soulmate. Dan is a West End actor and Phil is teacher leaving them to busy schedules, but they work it out. They are soulmates after all.
What He Wants (ao3) - bestelitecouple
Summary: Dan Howell always gets what he wants.
From the car he was given on his sixteenth birthday, to the job as president of the Drama Society in Year Ten, Dan has everyone wrapped around his finger. He likes to do things a very specific way, his way, and he’ll do anything to keep it that way. Even if it means fucking Phil Lester until his ass falls off in order to keep the auditorium for the Drama Society. At least, that’s what he keeps telling himself. (Or in which Dan and Phil are both presidents of different honors societies that have to share the school’s auditorium and work together for the production of the spring musical. Dan, being a brat, comes up with a dumb plan to get it back, which works fine, until his feelings come into the mix.)
