Dan's upset. It had been a crap week to begin with, but at least he had a trip to London to visit his childhood best friend over the long weekend to look forward to.

Or at least he did, before the sky turned a menacing shade of gray and began to vomit out snow. He knew, with a sinking feeling in his stomach before he even checked, that his train would be cancelled.

So now he was sat on his dorm room floor staring at his packed rucksack and feeling rather sorry for himself.

Dan had surprised himself recently by making a few friends, but that still didn't mean he was enjoying university. He was too awkward, always making a fool of himself in social situations. He hated his law coursework, and he had no idea what he was doing with his life.

Wasting it laying in bed on the internet mostly, he thought.

Thankfully, the morose turn of his thoughts was interrupted by a sharp knock. Dan was a bit startled as he didn't have many visitors. After a few startled encounters walking in on him flailing around talking to a camera, the kids on his floor had quickly begun to avoid Dan's room.

Curious, he pulled himself up off the floor to answer the door.

"Hey Dan! I heard your trip got cancelled, so I'm here to cheer you up."

It was Phil, of course. He hardly knew anybody else well enough to have them show up at his room, yet Dan never failed to be surprised that Phil actually wanted to hang out with him.

It wasn't that Dan thought he was such an unlikeable person, exactly. It was just that Phil was so cool. Not the vapid, clichéd cool of the head cheerleader or the football captain, but somebody interesting and witty and self-assured.

He seemed to run with an entirely different crowd to Dan. He was outgoing, friendly and immensely charismatic, with a bit of a wild side. Dan often felt like he was in out of his depth with Phil, but for whatever reason, Phil seemed to like him.

"Hi," offered Dan, moving aside to let his energetic, grinning friend through.

Phil shook the lingering snow out of his longish dark black fringe and quickly slipped out of his wet boots.

"The snow's so pretty, but damn it's cold out there. Good that I have just the thing to warm us up," he continued, unzipping the top of his messenger bag.

"Vodka," he announced, pulling the bottle from its depths. "What have you got for mixers?"

Dan hung back for a second, taking in the sudden flurry of activity, but he couldn't help but return Phil's mischievous grin.

"I think there's some orange juice in the fridge, maybe be some cranberry I nicked from the canteen."

"Excellent," Phil responded, already pulling the bottles from the mini-fridge in the corner. "Cups...? Ah, I've got them. Two madras cocktails coming right up."

"That sucks that your trip got cancelled," Phil chatted as he poured. "I heard it's worse in town, although London pretty much comes to a screeching halt anytime there's a few flurries. The campus is well deserted though, so other people must have been able to get away. Would have been on my own if you hadn't gotten stuck, so I've got to say I'm a little happy you did."

Dan perked up a bit at Phil's confession as he reached out to accept the drink he offered at the same time. He was beginning to be rather glad to still be there himself, if it meant a whole evening with Phil.

"Yeah, I was kind of disappointed, but it's not so bad, I suppose. Jesus, how much vodka is in this?" Dan blurted out after his first sip.

Phil just chucked. "What else have we got to do tonight?"

A while later and onto their second round, the two boys were lounging on opposite sides of Dan's bed. Dan had begun to relax a bit more, not trying as hard to be entertaining enough to keep Phil's interest but rather just enjoying the natural flow of their conversation.

Despite their vastly different temperaments and lifestyles, they did have a some things in common. A mutual adoration for Muse, namely, but also a wickedly sarcastic sense of humor and a talent for innuendo.

They had met a while back at a party Dan had been dragged to the first week of term. Dan was the first to notice Phil, spying him across the room laughing and joking, clearly enjoying being the center of the attention of his little group. Basically the complete opposite of Dan, who was tucked into a darkened corner, clutching at his drink and attempting unsuccessfully to look more mysterious than uncomfortable.

He'd attracted Dan's attention not only because of his envious social ease, but, to be perfectly honest, because he was fit. The contrast of his dark hair with his almost luminously pale skin cut a striking image, but it was his intensely blue eyes, visible even from a distance, that made Dan feel a twinge in his stomach.

Dan had only recently begun to admit to himself that he was into guys as well as girls, but in moments like this, the sudden intensity of his attraction to this raven-haired stranger made it difficult to deny.

He allowed himself a moment to wonder what it might feel like to have those pale pink lips on his, to feel his broad shoulders under his hands. Whatever nascent fantasies Dan entertained, however, were quickly dashed as he watched the other boy slip aside with a prettyish blonde, making out with drunken ardor, hands roaming everywhere.

And that would have been the end of it, except towards the end of the party, the hallmate who had convinced Dan not to ditch early introduced him to some people he'd met. Along with meeting a bunch of people he didn't particularly care about, he learned that the attractive, most-probably-definitely straight, stranger was named Phil.

Miraculously, in Dan's eyes at least, the interest seemed to be at least somewhat mutual. Phil had tagged along with the group back to Dan's building and sat up talking with them in the lounge. The two had crossed paths several times since, mostly on the occasional evening when Dan could be cajoled into attending some party or another.

They got on well. With Phil's seemingly naturally affectionate personality and Dan's tendency toward rude jokes, it was not terribly surprising that they fell into decidedly flirty banter. It was all in jest of course, causing Dan the occasional prick of disappointment, but he was happy to take what he could get.

He wouldn't go so far as to call him a slut, but Phil was certainly rather free with his affections. Dan frequently witnessed the scene from their first encounter repeating itself, but despite the mixed signals that he sometimes thought he picked up on, he'd yet to see any other than a female in Phil's string of hook-ups.

And so it didn't surprise Dan at this point to feel Phil's hand on his arm or his knee as he made a particular point or even to occasionally find himself tacked to the ground in a play fight. That was just their dynamic, and he tried hard not to let his imagination read anything into it.

During a pause in the conversation, Phil fished his phone from the pocket of his skinny jeans. "Hey, I think a few of my friends are downstairs. Would it be alright to invite them up?"

Dan was momentarily saddened by the prospect of losing Phil's full attention, but of course he agreed. "Oh yeah, sure."

"It's just a couple people from my hall. I think you've met Matt and Hannah before."

Two blurry images rose in Dan's mind that he assumed were the people Phil was talking about. He was sure he'd met them out somewhere, probably had a conversation, but to honest when Phil was around everybody else just sort of melted into the background.

The newcomers arrived and fresh drinks were doled out. Not that it was the first for any of them.

Dan was feeling pleasantly warm and tingly, not even the jabbering of one of the drunker girls getting on his nerves as it usually might.

A while later, the gentle buzz had given morphed into decidedly drunk, but Dan didn't mind. This is what being a student is all about right? Being social, getting drunk, laughing and acting silly with a bunch of friends.

Besides, he wanted to try to keep up with Phil. Partly to see if he could and partly because he wasn't ready for the evening to end.

At some point they all ended up sat in a circle on the floor, cross-legged like they were in primary school. There was even a sing along at one point, even if it was Van Morrison rather than "Kumbaya." Dan brightened a bit as he thought back to it, remembering how Phil's gaze had seemed to linger especially long on him during "Brown-eyed Girl."

Dan was aware of Phil's leg pressed up against his in the confined space, the heat of it probably more than could be attributed to the temperature of his skin. Then Phil snaked an arm around him to rest casually on his shoulders. "So how are you feeling?" he asked, eyes just a little bit glassy as they met his own.

"I'm feeling pretty good, what about you?" Dan intoned with a quirk of his eyebrow.

"Excellent!" he chirped. "You know, I really am glad you're not away this weekend," Phil added in a lower tone.

"Eh, I guess it turned out alright."

Phil reacted by nudging his torso sharply into Dan's. "Hey!"

"Oh," he continued, "So I heard about this party down on the quad. You fancy heading over there? I feel like it might be time to move on."

Dan was distracted from the inquiry however, as Phil had simultaneously slid his arm down from Dan's shoulders to curve around his waist, his thumb playing over the shirt covered skin he found there.

Braving the cold to end up at some packed house party didn't sound like the best idea ever to Dan, but realistically he'd probably follow Phil just about anywhere.

"I'm down for whatever."

"Good," Phil smiled before turning his attention back to the larger group. His arm remained wrapped around Dan, however, fingers starting to fiddle with the hem of his tee. Feeling rather fearless at this point, Dan moved own his arm behind Phil to brace himself as he leaned back, resting closer to Phil's side, before he tried to pick back up on the main conversation.

One of the guys, Nate, Dan was pretty sure was in the middle of telling the story of some prank that he'd been in on a few weeks back.

"So we had all these cups in our room for like three days, right, so we couldn't let anybody in or else they'd want to know what we were up to. We had a hell of a time distracting our sub-warden. But we made it to Saturday night and set our alarms for 5a.m. after everybody would be back from parties. It took us way longer than we thought to fill them all up with water though. We totally thought we were going to get caught..."

Nate continued to talk excitedly, but Dan was far more interested Phil's hand, which had found it's way into Dan back jeans pocket. Ok, so he knew that this was their shtick, but this was crossing some kind of line surely. Still, he wasn't about to say no.

Eventually, Phil raised the idea of the house party and everybody else quickly agreed. They were all drunk, the girls wanting to dance and the boys wanting to try their luck at getting someone in their beds for the night.

Phil scrambled to his feet first, holding out a hand for Dan to follow. He swayed a bit as he stood up for the first time in a while. Might have been a bad idea to let Phil mix the drinks.

Coats and scarves were bundled into and a final round of shots was passed out "for the road." Caution long since having been thrown to the wind, Dan accepted his and downed it in one, wrinkling his nose at the taste and feeling it burn on its way down his throat. At least he probably wouldn't feel the cold.

Once outside the building, Phil slipped his hand around Dan's pulling him into a jog down the hill. Dan allowed himself to be dragged along, feeling young and free and alive under the clear night sky. He glanced over at Phil to catch his tongue poking adorably out of the side of his mouth has his face lit up with laughter.

They traipsed out of the building and down the path in a merry band, stumbling a bit and laughing a little too loudly. Phil and Dan stayed in constant contact with half hugs and held hands. Drunk and happy, Dan had long since ceased to question the older boy's extra-affectionate behavior and allowed himself to embrace it - whatever 'it' might turn out to be.

They arrived at a large, red-brick house. Presumably, it had once been an impressive structure, but time and the neglect of years of student renters had rendered it a bit shabby. There was clearly a pretty serious rager going on, music blaring and a few party-goers who had spilled out onto the porch for a moment of fresh air beer bottles still in hand.

A few of the approaching group called out greetings to the faces that they recognized, and they began to file through the open front door. Phil and Dan had hung towards the back of the pack, and as they ascended the concrete steps, Phil tugged his companion off to one side, motioning for his friends not to wait up.

Dan looked up questioningly as Phil gently backed him up against one of the wide doric columns of the porch. Even with his limited experiences in these matters, Dan recognized the look in his face as one of lust, his cornflower blue eyes flicking briefly to Dan's lips. Phil just smirked as he quirked an eyebrow in silent request for permission.

He must have seen what he was looking for in Dan's expression, as before the younger boy quite knew what was happening, he felt warm lips pressing firmly against his own. He quickly moved to return the kiss, lust and gratitude and alcohol mixing to fuel his desire to an overwhelming level.

Lips were parted, allowing tongues to explore hungrily, almost sloppily, as they snaked their arms around one another in a tight embrace. As they transitioned into full-on make out mode, Dan could feel his awareness of the world around him shrink down until all that mattered was the two of them.

Hands wandered freely, stroking backs, running over the planes of their chests, cupping a jawline or slipping into a back pocket.

Dan surfaced long enough to register that that there were people staring at them, making comments, but he couldn't bring himself to care, if caring meant that he'd have to stop kissing Phil.

At some point, the two broke apart enough to actually go inside, perhaps no longer kissing but still clinging to one another, wrapped up in their own little world.

Time passed in a blur for Dan as he slipped in and out of full awareness. Later, he'd be able to recall only flashes - shouts of recognition as they rejoin some of their friends, dancing in a crowded basement, grinding against Phil who has his hands firmly placed on Dan's hips, keeping him close, kissing Phil feverishly as he pressed him up against a wall.

Their exit from the party and the trip back to halls, however, were almost completely absent from Dan's recollection.

A/N: This is a probably wildly OC but hugely cathartic story that I've been feeling possessed to write lately. Make of it what you will. No hard feelings if phan isn't your thing - I promise to update Chance Encounters soon! I haven't given up on it! Review/criticism appreciate. Take care, xx.