Who Would’ve Thought?
Summary: Phil is really into literature/English in school, and Dan’s a “jock”. They’re total opposites, but find themselves being paired up together for a project in English class, and Dan eventually finds that Phil isn’t as bad as the entire school makes him out to be.
Genre: AU, Fluff
Word Count, 2,796
Trigger Warnings: swearing
[READ ON AO3]
A/N: This is my fic for the @phandomreversebang! I’m really happy with how this fic turned out. Thank you so much to @th-at-one-crazy-gi-rl for being my beta, and the wonderful art for this fic is done by @drawingdawnart [here]!!! Also, apologies if the ending seemed a little rushed. Hopefully, you still enjoy the fic though :)
“Come on Dan, be a little more excited about this project,” Phil says as he sits with Dan at the library. There’s quite a few books surrounding them on the table, but Dan hardly cares about any of these books.
“It’s English class. What’s so exciting about reading books?” Dan asks, scoffing.
“What?” Phil asks as he looks over at Dan with wide eyes. “Are you kidding? Reading books is so fun. There’s literally millions of books to read out there. Have you ever even read a book in your life?”
Dan instantly shoots a glare at Phil. “I’ve read a book,” he quickly defends himself.
“Sports magazines don’t count as books,” Phil adds. “I mean, like… a full length novel.”
“Did you not hear me, Lester? I’ve read a book,” Dan argues. “I’ve read the whole Harry Potter series.”
Phil raises his eyebrows. “Okay. I’m impressed, Dan, considering how long those books are,” he admits. “Well, maybe we could use the Harry Potter series for our project then. Although, I personally think that we should try a book that you haven’t read yet.”
Dan groans loudly. “Come on, dude. Why can’t we just pick a book that you’ve already read?”
“What? So I can do all the work? That’s not gonna happen,” Phil chuckles and shakes his head.
“The project is due in less than two weeks. How am I supposed to finish a book by then? Especially when I’ve got baseball practice all week. I’ve got a game coming up!” Dan argues. “I don’t have time to read.”
“Yes you do. You’re just making up excuses so you don’t have to read,” Phil argues back. “I’m not gonna do all of this project by myself. We’ve got hundreds of books to choose from. So, let’s pick one, okay?”
Dan sighs and he slumps down in his chair, knowing that there’s nothing he can say or do to get out of this project. Of course he gets partnered up with the biggest bookworms in the school. But to be fair, despite being total opposites, Dan actually doesn’t really mind Phil Lester. They have a few classes with each other, and most students don’t like him because he’s smarter and a “nerd”. Dan couldn’t care less. Phil’s nice, and they seem to be getting along with each other so far, which is all that matters to Dan.
“Have you ever read The Hunger Games series?” Phil asks as he looks over at Dan. It’s been about fifteen minutes, and they’re still trying to decide on what book they would use for their project.
“You know, I wasn’t kidding when I said Harry Potter is the only book series I’ve read,” Dan tells him.
“Well, if you liked Harry Potter, then you’ll love The Hunger Games. It’s got three books, but of course, we only have to read the first book for our project. I can read a bit of the first book if you want.”
“No, you don’t-” Dan looks over and sighs when he sees Phil picking up the book. “Phil, seriously…?”
Phil clears his throat before he starts to read the first couple sentences from the book.
Dan tries his best to drown Phil’s voice out so that he doesn’t have to listen to him reading this book. But, nothing seems to work. He looks up at Phil and glares at him, but then his face softens as he actually starts to listen to Phil reading. Phil’s voice is soft and calming, something Dan hasn’t noticed before now. As Phil continues reading, Dan can tell Phil is passionate about reading. Just like he is with baseball.
Phil looks up at Dan once he finishes reading, and smiles. “So, what do you think?”
Dan blinks a few times. “Um,” he clears his throat and can’t help but blush. “Yeah. We can use that.”
“Perfect! I’ve already read this book-” Phil begins.
“That’s not surprising at all,” Dan mumbles, and smirks when Phil glares at him.
“As I was saying,” Phil continues. “I’ve already read the book. It’s been awhile, so I get to read it again. So, you can have this copy since I already have the series at home. You better read this book too, Dan. Seriously. No cheating by watching the movie.”
“Wait, there’s a movie?” Dan asks as his head perks up.
“Crap. I thought you already knew that. That doesn’t matter. I’ll be quizzing you about book stuff once you’ve finished reading. There may be a movie but they always leave out important stuff,” Phil scoffs. “Drives me absolutely mental when they do that. You know?” Phil looks up at Dan.
Dan raises his eyebrows as he stares at Dan. “No, I don’t know,” he says.
“Of course not,” Phil rolls his eyes. “We should put the rest of these books away then.”
“Seriously?” Dan whines. “You’re the one who pulled all these books out in the first place!”
“Because we needed all of them,” Phil argues as he stands up from his seat. “Now come on, Howell. Start grabbing these books.” He grins once Dan does as he’s told without arguing any further. Phil grabs a handful of books as well, and heads back over to the shelves, already knowing where each book goes.
Phil finishes putting books away before Dan.
“How did you do that so fast?” Dan asks when Phil walks up to him.
“I’ve read every book in this library,” Phil says like it’s nothing. “I already knew where they went.”
Dan rolls his eyes. “Ugh. You’re so annoying,” he says, though there’s a joking tone in his voice. “Here. Take this.” He hands Phil another book. “Be a dear and put that away, will you?”
“Fine. So demanding,” Phil mumbles as he goes to put the book Dan handed him away.
Dan can’t help the smile that forms on his face as he watches Phil walk away.
Maybe these next two weeks won’t be as bad as Dan thinks.
Over the next few days, Dan continues to focus on his baseball practice rather than his project with Phil. It’s not like he’s purposely trying to forget about the project. He just would rather focus on baseball.
“Don’t forget about that project, Daniel!”
Dan cringes as soon as he hears his mother’s voice from the kitchen, and he instantly regrets telling her about the project he has with Phil. Not only does he have Phil reminding him every day, but now his mum will surely make sure to bug him about it as well. “I know, mum!” Dan shouts before running up the stairs and heading straight to his bedroom. He shuts the door and flops down onto his bed.
Dan grabs his book bag and starts pulling stuff out. He stops when he pulls out The Hunger Games book. He sighs as he stares at the book, knowing he’ll have to start reading it eventually. This project is a big part of their grade, and he knows Phil will be pissed at him if he’s the reason why they failed.
Dan bites his lip and glances at The Hunger Games DVD resting on his dresser. Of course he went out and bought the DVD as soon as Phil told him that there was a movie. It’ll take him ages to read the book, especially with how busy he is with all of his baseball practices. They’ve got a home game coming up.
Dan sighs, remembering what Phil told him about quizzing him about the book, and then he remembers Phil’s soft voice reading the first couple of pages from the book.
“Fuck it,” Dan mumbles, leaning back against his pillows and opening the book to the first page.
When Phil gets to school the next morning, he’s surprised when he finds Dan at his locker, hardly paying any attention except for the book in his hands. This is the last thing Phil expected. He never thought that Dan would actually read the book. He thought for sure that he would somehow cheat.
Phil smiles, and heads over to Dan’s locker. “How’s the book?” He asks calmly.
Dan doesn’t even startle. “You know, it’s actually not that bad…” He looks up at Phil. “I’ve been reading it all night, and I’ve only got three chapters left. I didn’t think I would enjoy it, but… I have been.”
“You’ve been reading it all night?” Phil asks, raising his eyebrows.
“Mm-hmm,” Dan nods. “I have to read the next two books. “Do they have them at the library?”
“Of course,” Phil says, blinking a few times. “You know, I’m really impressed Dan.”
“What? I had nothing else better to do with my time. I figured… I might as well just read the damn book,” Dan shrugs and looks over at Phil with raised eyebrows. “It’s really not a big deal.”
“I know. I just thought for sure that you would somehow cheat your way out of reading,” Phil admits.
Dan chuckles and shakes his head. “I know how to read. I just don’t like reading is all,” he says. “But, maybe you’ve changed my mind, Lester. Not many people can do that, you know?”
Phil grins at Dan, and he goes to open his mouth to reply, but stops when a couple of guys from the baseball team walk up to Dan. Phil hates the boys on the baseball team. They’re all jerks who think they’re better than everyone else. Excluding Dan. He can be an asshole, but at least he’s nice.
“Howell, what are you doing hanging out with nerdy Lester?”
Dan rolls his eyes and closes his book, glaring at the three boys. “Shove off, Mikey,”
“And what the hell are you doing with this?” One of the other boys asks, going to take Dan’s book, but Dan quickly pulls the book back before he can, and he ignores the glare he gets from the boy.
“It’s called a book, Alex,” Dan replies sassily. “I’m reading it for my project in class. What do you want?”
“Well, Howell, some of us wanted to have our own little practice before the home game this weekend, and we thought we’d come ask if you wanted to join us?” Mikey asks.
“Sure, that sounds-” Dan glances over at Phil and bites his lip slightly when he sees the look on his face. “Uh, actually. I just remembered that I promised Phil we could work on our book project this week. But, maybe I can join if there’s some time on Friday? A little extra practice can’t hurt anybody.”
“Really? You’re blowing us off to do school work with nerdy Lester?” Mikey asks angrily.
“Seriously, it’s like I don’t even know you anymore Howell,” Alex adds. “Forget it. We don’t need you.”
“Coach would disagree with that,” Dan replies with a smirk.
“You shut the fuck up,” Mikey snaps. “Come on boys. We need to go practice.” He grabs the other two and the three boys walk away without saying another word.
“Wow. I- I can’t believe you just did that, Dan...” Phil says with shock. “They already hate me enough, but you don’t want your own teammates hating you. And, isn’t the home game pretty important?”
Dan laughs, and looks at Phil. “What? We’ve been practicing all last week. I don’t need more practice, and besides… we need to work on the project. We only have a week left and we haven’t even started. Look, I’ll have the book finished by the end of the day, and we can start working on the presentation.”
“Okay then, if you’re sure. Shall we work on the project at my house or your house?” Phil asks.
“Mine,” Dan replies. “What’s your number? I’ll text your my address, and you can come over tonight.”
“Okay,” Phil grins, and pulls out his phone so that he and Dan can exchange numbers.
“I’ll text you my address when I get to class,” Dan says.
Phil gasps. “Oh no. I’ve got to get to my locker. I’m going to be late. See you later, Dan!”
Dan raises his eyebrows as he watches Phil take off towards his locker, and he can’t help but laugh.
****
Dan and Phil work on the project for two days at Phil’s house during the week, working on putting together a poster filled with facts and pictures, and an essay attached along with it as well.
Dan comes to the realization that Phil isn’t as bad as people have made him out to be all these years.
Despite being a nerd, they actually have quite a few things in common with each other. The two boys love the same type of music and watch the same movies. They’ve bonded over how much they love Muse. Dan’s never gotten along with someone like Phil, mostly because he's too worried about his reputation. But now, he doesn’t really care about what other people think. It’s his decision to hang out with Phil.
Dan even invites Phil to come to the home game the baseball team are playing. Of course Phil agrees, even though he’s not really into sports. He still wants to support Dan. Dan would do the same for him.
“You came,” Dan grins when he spots Phil at the game. The game is just about to start any minute now.
“Of course. I said I would come, didn’t I?” Phil grins at Dan.
“You did, yeah. But, I also know that sports aren’t really your thing,” Dan points out.
“That is true. But, how bad can baseball be? Maybe I’ll end up liking it,” Phil shrugs lightly. “Like how you ended up liking the book we read for our project. Can you believe we finished the project in two days?”
“Even when we kept getting distracted by Muse,” Dan laughs. “We did a pretty damn good job though.”
Phil nods. “Yeah. We should celebrate. Maybe we can hang out tomorrow if you’re not too busy?”
“Actually, there’s a party after the game tonight if you wanna come? I’ll be there,” Dan says.
“A party?” Phil asks, biting his lip nervously. “I- I don’t know. I’m not really a party kind of guy, you know?”
“Well, um, just... let me know if you want to come by the end of the game. We can ride there together,” Dan sighs. “I really have to go now. The game’s about to start, and coach will kill me if I’m not over there in time.” He laughs, and smiles one last time at Phil before turning around and heading towards his team.
Phil takes a deep breath as he watches Dan, and then turns around to go find a seat.
In the end, their team ends up winning. They absolutely destroyed the other team. Even though Phil doesn’t know a thing about baseball, he understood the basics and actually enjoyed the game.
“Dan! That was awesome!” Phil exclaims when he and Dan meet up after the game. “You killed it!”
Dan laughs as Phil pulls him into a hug. “Thanks. I can’t believe it,” he pulls away from the hug and kisses Phil without thinking. His eyes widen as soon as he realizes what he’s done, and he quickly pulls away.
“Um, I-” Phil mumbles as his cheeks turn bright red. “Dan?”
“I’m so sorry,” Dan quickly apologizes, his cheeks equally as red. “I- I have no idea why I just did that.”
“It’s okay,” Phil tries to reassure him. “It’s not like I’m complaining about it.”
“What?” Dan asks, blinking a few times as he looks up at Phil. “You’re saying you liked it?”
“The kiss? Um, y- yeah,” Phil mumbles as he looks down at his feet. “So-” He coughs awkwardly. “Um… about that party?” He looks up at Dan again. “I think I want to go. I’ve already texted my mum.”
Dan smiles, and nods. “C- Cool. Yeah. The party… We should, um… go to that. Fuck,”
Phil giggles, and Dan almost melts at how adorable Phil is.
“We should talk about the kiss though, shouldn’t we?” Dan asks as they start walking together.
“Yeah… maybe. But, let’s enjoy the party tonight, yeah? You’ve won the game. We should celebrate you,” he says, and throws his arms around Dan, and smiles even wider when Dan leans against his touch.
“Crazy, huh? Who would have thought people like us would end up becoming friends?” Phil asks, grinning as he looks over at Dan.
“So, you’re saying we’re friends now?” Dan asks.
“If that’s okay with you?” Phil bites his lip nervously. “I understand...”
“Relax,” Dan lets out a laugh. “Of course it’s okay with me, you big doofus.”
This is so not how Phil thought his night would turn out, but he’s certainly not complaining.
