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“Don’t tell me you’re texting him again,”
Phil looks up, and blinks when he sees his co-worker, Lucy, standing by him with her arms crossed against her chest and her eyebrows raised in amusement. “What?”
“Dan. You’re texting him again, aren’t you? I swear, you’re like glued to your phone and always texting that boy. I mean, why don’t you just ask him out already?” Lucy asks, placing her bag on the desk.
Phil scoffs. “I can’t do that. Are you insane?”
“Yes, of course. But, that has nothing to do with this situation,” Lucy retorts, and turns to look at Phil. “Come on, you and I both know that you are in love with that boy. Ask him out.”
“Luc, he’s my best friend. I can’t just waltz up to him and ask him out on a date. That’s insane,” Phil argues, before standing up and pocketing his phone. “Besides, Dan doesn’t really date.”
“Oh, is he asexual or something?” Lucy asks, genuinely curious.
“No, he’s not asexual. Not that I know of. He’s full of surprises that one. He’s just a nerd,” Phil says, which makes Lucy laugh. Phil scowls at her. “Don’t laugh at his nerdiness. It’s part of his charm.”
“I’m not laughing at his nerdiness, although it is kind of funny,” Lucy says. “Just think about it, yeah?”
“It’s not going to happen,” Phil says. “Now if you excuse me. Dan and I are going to see a movie-”
Lucy groans, which makes Phil frown. “You both are such oblivious idiots,”
“Hey!” Phil complains, pouting. “We are not. I’m just being careful. Dan is my best friend.”
Lucy rolls her eyes. “You’re still oblivious idiots. Anyways, I have to get going. I have a date tonight with my boyfriend. Something you could be doing if you stopped being such an idiot.”
Phil scowls. “Don’t you have a date to be getting ready for?”
Lucy chuckles. “You know I love you, Philip Lester. I’ll see you tomorrow,” she says, and salutes him with her finger, before grabbing her bag and heading out the door.
Phil sighs, and he leans back in his chair, staring at nothing as his thoughts overtake him. He knows that Lucy is right, obviously, because she’s always right. But, Dan is his best friend, and Phil doesn’t know if Dan even feels the same way that he does. Phil just doesn’t want to risk ruining his friendship with Dan. He’s barely got any friends as it is, and he’s not willing to lose one of his best friends.
It takes less than an hour for Dan to actually show up at the library, his backpack attached and a book in his hands, which means that he was reading on his way to the library.
Phil has spent the whole hour contemplating asking Dan out on a date.
“Morning, Phil!” Dan greets cheerfully, looking up at Phil with a grin. He’s wearing his glasses again, and he looks absolutely adorable. Phil’s glad that Dan’s gotten more confident to wear his glasses in public. Phil hates thinking about how Dan felt about wearing his glasses in public before.
“Oh, hey Dan-”
“I finally finished that book you recommended to me the other day. I thought it was really good,” Dan says as he walks up to the desk, handing Phil the book back with a smile on his face. Phil had recommended Dan to read The Hunger Games . He had been shocked when the younger boy said he’d never read it before, when it’s so popular with Dan’s age demographic. “I think I’m going to read the rest of the series.”
“That’s awesome. Then we’ll be able to watch the movies together,” Phil says.
“You okay?” Dan asks, instantly noticing Phil’s tone is off. “You seem…”
“Do you wanna go on a date?” Phil spits out, and he looks up with wide eyes. “Shit, I’m sorry…”
“A date?” Dan asks, blinking a few times. He doesn’t seem put off by the idea entirely, but he’s not jumping and screaming either. “I’ve never been on a date before. You wanna go on a date?”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. Lucy got into my head and I… I haven’t stopped thinking about it,” Phil says. “You can say no. I’m not gonna force you to say yes.”
“Where would we go for this date ?” Dan asks, crossing his arms against his chest.
“Where do you want to go?” Phil retorts, raising his eyebrows at Dan.
Dan thinks for a moment, before smiling. “Surprise me,”
“Wait-” Phil begins, and he sits up. “You actually want to go on a date? Dan, you don’t…”
“I know, I don’t have to and all that. Blah, blah, blah. But, I want to. You’re my best friend, and if there’s someone I want to go on a first date with, then it’s you,” Dan says, his cheeks turning a slight red.
“You’ve never been on a date before? For real?” Phil asks, frowning at his best friend.
“Phil, I’m a nerd. Do you think anyone wants to go on a date with a nerd like me?” Dan asks, scoffing.
Phil huffs, because Dan is his best friend, and he hates that people are so mean to him simply because he’s a little bit smarter than everyone else. If only they got to know the real him. “That’s so stupid, and yes. I want to go on a date with you. I’ll pick you up at seven tonight?”
“Okay, that’s- Wait… what am I supposed to wear?” Dan asks, suddenly feeling nervously.
“Wear whatever you want to wear. I work at a librarian Dan, we’re not going anywhere fancy,” Phil says, and chuckles. “Although I’d love nothing more than to spoil you on our first date.”
Dan blushes even more. “Okay,” he whispers. “Seven, then. I’ll be ready.”
Dan grabs the next book in The Hunger Games series, he leaves the library almost instantly after that, which is rare for Dan, because he’ll usually spend the whole day at the library. But now, he’s going on his first date with his best friend, and he wants everything to be perfect. It’s what Phil deserves.
There’s not really anyone else Dan can call for advice on his first date, because Phil’s his only friend, so he decides to wear a simple pair of blue jeans, a black graphic tee and a flannel jacket since it’s a little chilly tonight. This is what he usually wears around Phil so he hopes Phil will like what he chose to wear.
Phil knocks on his door just a few minutes before seven. He’s early, so that means he’s a gentleman.
Dan double checks his hair, making sure it looks okay, before grabbing his phone and wallet, and hurrying to the front door to open it. He looks up, and grins when he sees Phil standing there. “Philip,”
Phil laughs. “Oh, we’re using our full names now? Okay Daniel ,”
Dan cringes. “I take it back. You know how much I hate being called Daniel,”
Phil smiles fondly at Dan, before taking in his outfit. “You look great,” he says.
Dan instantly looks down at his outfit. “You don’t think it’s too much?” He asks, before looking back at Phil. “You said casual, and this is the most casual thing I have in my closet.”
Phil laughs once more. “Dan, it’s perfect. You want to head out?”
“Yeah, absolutely,” Dan says, and he steps out of his apartment. He turns to lock the door, before turning to look at Phil again. “Where are we going anyways? Or, are we still keeping it a surprise?”
“Well,” Phil begins, and he holds his hand out for Dan to take as they walk towards his car. “I figured that we could start the evening with some crazy golf. You know how much I love crazy golf.”
Dan whines. “But you know that I’m terrible at crazy golf!”
“Exactly. When you’re doing so terrible-” Phil begins, and grins when Dan scowls at him. “I figured it would be the perfect opportunity for me to guide you, and wrap my arms around you like this-” He says, and he wraps his arms around Dan, demonstrating him helping Dan in crazy golf.
“Oh,” Dan begins, his cheeks turning bright red. “Yeah, that- that would be…” He stops, not even knowing how to finish his sentence without embarrassing himself.
Phil laughs, and he lets go of Dan, and grabs his hand again. “Then, we’re going to go for dinner,”
“Where are we going for dinner?” Dan asks, looking over at Phil curiously.
Phil raises his eyebrows, and he stops. “You ask a lot of questions, you know that?”
“It’s my first date, and I have no idea what’s going to happen. Sue me,” Dan defends himself.
“Yeah, but you trust me, don’t you?” Phil asks.
“Obviously I trust you. You’re my best friend. What kind of silly question is that?” Dan asks, huffing.
“Exactly. So, you should trust that I’m going to make sure your first date is perfect,” Phil says, before reaching over and opening the car door for Dan, smiling when the younger boy climbs into the car.
Phil absolutely destroys Dan in crazy golf, but he does get to wrap his arms around Dan to guide him, which was probably his favorite part of the whole date, because it made Dan all flustered, and Phil absolutely loves that he’s able to make Dan flustered like that. They’re best friends, and Phil never got to act like this around Dan before, because he always had to keep how he felt about Dan to himself. Now, he doesn’t have to. Now, he’s able to do all the coupley things with Dan.
“You didn’t have to walk me up to my door, Phil,” Dan says, when it’s the end of the night, and Phil’s just brought Dan back to his apartment. It’s nearing midnight now. They played crazy golf, and then had a lovely meal at a somewhat fancy restaurant, and then Dan requested that they take a walk in the park because it was a beautiful night, and Phil just simply couldn’t say no to him.
“Of course I did. That’s the gentleman's thing to do after a successful date,” Phil says, smiling at Dan.
“It was a successful date,” Dan agrees, nodding. He turns to look at Phil as a smile forms on his face. “And it was perfect. Thank you, Phil. For the perfect first date.”
“Well, I said I’d make it perfect, didn’t I?” Phil asks.
“Is this the part where you kiss me before I go inside?” Dan asks.
Phil is quite surprised to hear Dan bring up kissing, because he didn’t think Dan would want to kiss on the first date, and Phil certainly wasn’t going to pressure him. “Do you want me to kiss you?”
“It would certainly be the perfect way to end the night. Don’t you think so?” Dan asks.
“Yes, it would, wouldn’t it?” Phil asks. He takes a deep breath, before stepping closer, and then he’s leaning closer, and then his lips are on Dan, and he’s kissing his best friend. The kiss is soft, and they’re both clearly nervous about their first kiss together. Phil pulls away after a moment, and he grins at Dan. “We should do this again. If you want to.”
“Yeah,” Dan breathes, and he nods eagerly. “I’d love to do this again. Especially the last part.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll definitely be doing more of that ,” Phil says, and he can’t help but laugh. “I’d hate to leave, but it’s almost midnight, and I also have to work tomorrow and I need my beauty sleep.”
“And I have to finish my homework that I skipped today,” Dan adds.
Phil rolls his eyes. “Yeah, alright. Go finish your homework, but try to get some sleep tonight, okay?”
“I can’t make any promises, but I’ll certainly try. Goodnight Phil. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Dan says.
Phil leans over and kisses Dan cheek. “Goodnight Dan,” he says, before turning around, and heading back to his car. He looks back at Dan one last time before finally getting into his car.