#however i am not the sick freak of a professor who assigned an exam and a final within 5 days of one another

[astrobei]

falling sick again right before finals week why can’t i have any nice things ever

[nebulous-frog]

Can You Feel the Love Tonight

Summary: Phil sings with the door open while he’s folding laundry and Dan overhears. Phil’s completely tone deaf and doesn’t know any of the lyrics, but that won’t stop him, dammit, no matter how many times people ask him to seriously just stop. Dan thinks it’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever heard.

Rating: G

Warnings: Dan swears

Word Count: 3391

Challenge: Disney Challenge

Pairing: Phan

Genre: University AU, Fluff, Getting Together, Strangers to Lovers

Author’s Note: Thanks so much to @imnotinclinedtomaturity​ for betaing and generally being fantastic! This was written for @phanfichallenge’s Disney Challenge

Link to AO3 Fics Masterlist

“Pregnant women, sick of swimmin’, ready to staaaaaaaaaand!” Phil sang as he folded his laundry in the living room. “And ready to go where the people flow! Ask him high questions and get them answered!”

“Phil, stop!” whined his friend, Nate. “Those literally aren’t the words at all!”

Phil turned to grin at his friend. “So? Mine are better.” He turned back and continued folding his laundry, humming to himself.

“They make no sense, though! Besides, you’re completely tone deaf and I think you’ve killed the cat that lives in the place across the street. Look at it! A few minutes ago it was standing but now it’s lying on its back with its feet in the air! Poor thing. Ruined by Phil’s atrocious singing.”

Phil scoffed. “That cat is alive and you know it. It’s just having a comfortable lie-down.”

Nate rolled his eyes. “Whatever, mate, just knock it off. I’m trying to write an essay. You know, that thing you invited me over to do?”

Sighing dramatically, Phil continued folding his trousers in silence. He was always more willing to do laundry when someone else was in the room because it felt like time flew by faster and he didn’t have to think so much about the work.

Unfortunately for him, nobody would agree to hang out just to watch him fold laundry, so he’d tried to come up with lies like “Hey, let’s do homework together in my room!” to get his friends to keep him company. Nate was the very first person he tried this lie on, but the result wasn’t exactly what Phil wanted, as Nate was clearly irritated by Phil’s singing and would have much rathered to actually do homework in peace and quiet. Phil decided to try again with someone else next time to see who might be the most willing to put up with him.

As it turned out, nobody was willing to put up with him singing badly while folding laundry when they were meant to do homework. The next several weeks consisted of Phil trying and failing to trick his friends into hanging out while he folded laundry until he finally gave up. He would just have to deal with the boredom of laundry by himself.

To make up for the lack of company, Phil took to singing constantly and loudly throughout the folding process. It wasn’t as good as having somebody in the room with him, but it worked alright. He’d generally leave his door open, as well, letting anyone walking down the hallway hear his magnificent renditions of classic Disney.

Unbeknownst to Phil, this practice gained him a secret admirer…

~~~~~~~~~~

It had been a long day. Dan had gotten an essay back from a professor with a series of disappointing comments and a note to visit office hours, took an exam he felt woefully underprepared for, and skipped lunch to complete an assignment he had totally forgotten about. It was late, he was tired and as he trudged down the hall feeling sorry for himself, all he wanted to do was eat some shitty uni food and just go to bed.

As he walked, however, he approached an open door and heard something incredibly enticing.

Am I going insane now or did I just hear singing? Like, surprisingly angelic singing? Dan thought. He slowed to a stop outside the open door and listened for a moment.

Someone was singing “Circle of Life” from The Lion King but with the wrong lyrics.

“It’s a llama, penguin and a llama. It’s a llama penguin and a llama. It’s a llama penguin and a llama.”

Dan giggled. Hearing such incorrect lyrics sung unashamedly was extremely endearing. He peeked into the room and saw a young man with black hair and pale skin folding a pair of trousers and singing. He was completely off-key and actually pretty bad at singing, but Dan thought his voice was the most beautiful thing he’d ever heard. This mysterious man’s voice and confidence was utterly entrancing and uplifting after the day Dan had had.

The man started to turn around and Dan panicked. He didn’t want the man to know he’d been there watching him, so Dan quickly jogged down the hall before he could be noticed.

As he fled, Dan wondered if he would hear the man sing again someday.

A week later, he did. This time, the man was botching the lyrics to “When Will My Life Begin” from Tangled.

“And so I’ll read a Nook or maybe two or three, add a few new pizzas to my kitchen sink, I’ll play guitar hero and eat and a plus b just wonder when will my life begin!”

Dan held back a snort at the lyrics, unsure if the man just didn’t know the lyrics at all or made up ones he liked better. Either way, the man was folding laundry with his door open and singing again and Dan was in love. He watched the man as he folded his clothes and sang for a few minutes, then decided to sit outside the room and down the hall a little bit, just far enough away to still hear but not be obviously listening in.

Pulling out his laptop to work on homework, Dan grinned. He’d found the perfect study spot with an attractive man singing wonderfully right nearby. What more could he want?

Every week, the man would do his laundry and leave his door open while he folded it and sang. By the fifth week, Dan had figured out the man’s schedule enough to know the exact time the singing would start and he would sit in the hallway, just to listen. It became a habit and a relaxing evening activity for Dan. The singing man was something he could depend on.

He would always fold laundry with his door open on Wednesday nights at 7pm, belting completely incorrect lyrics at the top of his lungs. Dan began pining after this adorable man purely based on his habit while folding laundry.

Dan told his friend Melody all about it over coffee in a cafe near the dorms.

“So, you’re telling me that for the last month you’ve creepily sat outside some guy’s room listening to him sing badly and with the wrong lyrics? And you still haven’t talked to him?”

Dan opened his mouth to reply, then paused, wrapping his hands tighter around his coffee mug. “Well, when you put it like that it does sound kinda weird, I guess…”

Melody scoffed. “Yeah, definitely weird. Are you gonna talk to him sometime soon?”

Dan’s eyes snapped up to Melody’s before darting around nervously. “What? Of course not! Why would I do that?” he said in a rush. He took a quick gulp of coffee then cautiously looked back up at Melody.

Melody stared blankly at him for a second, then shook her head, as if to herself. She took what seemed to be a steadying sip of her coffee, then looked Dan directly in the eye. “Daniel Howell, you’re unbelievable.”

Dan rolled his eyes. “And you’re just now learning that?”

She continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “You’re so oblivious it hurts. You clearly like this guy, so you should talk to him.”

“Ha ha, very funny. I don’t like him, I just like his voice and how he gets all the lyrics wrong. He’s interesting.” Dan took another sip of his coffee, avoiding eye contact with Melody.

“You just said he sings way off-key. What do you mean you like his voice but don’t like him? Also, any time I accidentally sing the wrong lyrics to a song you freak out and correct me. You definitely like him and you definitely need to talk to him.”

As Melody spoke, Dan shrunk down further and further in his seat and found his mug more and more interesting.

“Okay, fine. Say I do like this guy, which I don’t-” Dan ignored Melody’s eye roll and glare, “- What do you suggest I do about it? You know how bad I get when trying to talk to guys I like for the first time.”

Melody nodded and snorted a laugh. “Remember that time you tried talking to that barista and accidentally spilled three separate coffees on him and-”

“Thanks, Melody, I did not need a reminder! That was not an invitation for you to shame me!”

Stifling her laughter, Melody took another sip of coffee. “Okay, okay, I’m done! Promise.” She giggled again. “Anyway, you need a plan to talk to this badly-singing, laundry-folding cutie. Well, if you don’t want to immediately launch into conversation you could always leave flowers and a note or something and eventually reveal yourself. Cliche and cheesy, but effective.”

Dan nodded thoughtfully. “I could leave notes. Yeah, that might work.”

“Glad to be of assistance. If you need help writing them, let me know!” Melody smiled brightly and drank more of her coffee.

“Thanks, but I think I have some ideas already. I guess I have to go write one down now if I want to leave one for him while he does his laundry this week. I’ll see you later, okay?” Dan said. He finished off the last of his coffee then stood, quickly leaving the cafe for his dorm.

About an hour and several crumpled-up sheets of paper later, Dan finally had a note to give to the man. It was written on a bright green sticky note, since that was all he had. He was inspired by the man’s generally incorrect lyrics, so the note featured a slight parody of “Once Upon a Dream” from Sleeping Beauty:

“I know you, I’ve listened here once upon a dream, I know you, with such a familiar melody, And I know it’s true, you’re just so alluring when you sing, But if I know you, I’ll love you so true! And you’ll love me at once, the way you did once upon a dream!”

Reading it over a few more times, Dan decided it was good enough. Maybe a little bit cheesy, but he couldn’t help it when the man of his affections always sang Disney songs.

Dan picked up his bag with his laptop and the note, then headed over to the hallway with the man’s room.

He could hear singing before he even turned the corner, and he grinned. He was ready to do this.

Settling in about two meters away from the open door, Dan pulled out his laptop and began working on homework, as normal. He had decided not to give the note to the man until just before Dan left again so he could maximize his time listening to the man sing before he had to run away to maintain his anonymity.

Today, the man sang a few more songs from The Lion King and The Little Mermaid, still with the incorrect lyrics and off-key. As time passed, Dan grew more relaxed and content, just as he had every week so far.

About five minutes before Dan would normally leave, he packed up his stuff and put it all in his backpack. Note in hand, he approached the man’s room carefully and peeked in.

Luckily, the man was busy putting his folded clothes away in his chest of drawers with his back to the door. After ogling the man’s ass for a few seconds, Dan snapped out of his trance and put the note on the floor as far into the room as he could reach and quickly fled the scene. He speed-walked down the hallway as fast as he could without looking too suspicious (hopefully) and turned the first corner he could.

Dan checked the time and saw that he still had three minutes or so before he would usually leave the hallway, so he decided to run back to his room and drop his stuff off. He would then come back and casually walk past the man’s room again to see if he had noticed the note yet.

When Dan got back to the man’s hallway, he could tell that the man had definitely already seen the note, as he could hear the man singing with Dan’s lyrics.

“And I know it’s true, you’re just so alluring when you sing. But if I know you, I’ll love you so true! And you’ll love me at once, the way you did once upon a dream!”

Dan stopped in the hallway as soon as he could hear it and bit his lip, trying (and failing) not to grin too widely. Apparently the man liked the note, which had Dan absolutely ecstatic. He wasn’t sure where to go from here, but figured another note might not be a bad idea.

Over the course of the next few weeks, Dan wrote more and more notes with short parodies of Disney songs that the man adopted as the lyrics he would sing for those songs. Eventually, Dan included little compliments outside of the lyrics and he stuck around a little closer to the room to wait for the man to find the note. It was risky, as the man almost always ran out of his room to look both ways down the hallway for his secret admirer, but it was perpetually worth it to hear the cute little giggle before the man would burst into song again, this time with Dan’s lyrics.

About a month after the first note, Dan fucked up.

He was bent over to place the note carefully on the floor and run off when the man started singing “Hawaiian Rollercoaster Ride” from Lilo & Stitch, a song he hadn’t sung before while Dan was around.

“Take off your shirt, boy, I wanna see! Fingering me, the ocean blue. Daddy, if I had one wish, he’d come true.”

After a moment to process what he’d just heard, Dan absolutely lost it. It started out as a snort of laughter, but quickly exploded into a full-on hyena laugh that had Dan desperately grasping the doorframe to keep himself standing.

The man whipped his head around, eyes wide in surprise, to see Dan doubled over with laughter, tears beginning to fall from his eyes. The man’s pale skin darkened to a deep pink blush.

“Um, can I- can I help you?”

Dan hadn’t noticed the man turn around, so the voice startled him out of his laughing fit for a moment. That is, until he saw the man’s flushed face and sheepish expression, at which he began laughing hysterically once more.

“Uh…” the man said awkwardly. “Why are you laughing?”

That just added fuel to the fire. Clearly, the man felt uncomfortable and confused, probably even embarrassed, but all Dan could do was laugh.

“Do- do you really- hahahahaha- do you really think those- hahahaha- are the actual- hahahahahahaha- the actual lyrics?” Dan managed to get out.

“I’m- I’m sorry? I don’t really… I don’t really know what I said?” the poor, confused man said.

“Oh my god- hahahahahaha- okay, okay, hold on,” Dan said. He took in a few deep breaths that were interrupted by a few giggles, but eventually his breathing steadied enough to actually try responding. “You said- hehe, hooooo- you said, ‘Take off your shirt, boy, I wanna see!’ Ahahahahahaha!”

The man’s face now was all just a single shade of deep red. “Oh.”

“No, no no no that’s not all! Hahaha! You also said, ‘Fingering me, the ocean blue. Daddy-’ hahahahahaha,” Dan spat out through laughter. “‘Daddy, if I had one wish-’ hahahaha- ‘he’d come true!’ Ahahahahahaha!” By now, Dan had doubled over again and was hitting the doorframe.

The man awkwardly watched Dan falling apart. He seemed to have no idea how to proceed with this bizarre stranger laughing at him in his own doorway, so he just stood there with an increasingly embarrassed expression.

A few minutes later, Dan had sobered up enough to realize a few things. First and foremost, he had been discovered. For the last two months, he had effectively kept himself a secret from this man, but now he had most definitely been spotted. It was also entirely possible that the man had noticed the note Dan was still holding in his hand - a note that was written on the same bright green sticky note all the other notes had been written on. Dan not only might have been discovered as the secret admirer, but also as just some weirdo that happened to be passing by and stopped to laugh at this poor man’s misheard lyrics.

Second, Dan was laughing at the man he had been crushing on for two months. The man who now looked horrifically embarrassed and uncomfortable. Shit, Dan thought. Shit, shit, shit, you’ve ruined everything. He knows it’s you and he definitely thinks you’re mocking him. Pull yourself together, Howell!

“Um, I- I am so, so sorry for laughing at you like that. Oh my god,” Dan began. The apology was made a little less effective by the occasional giggle, but he was trying, dammit, and that had to count for something. Right? “That was totally out of line and you look really uncomfortable and embarrassed, so I’m really sorry.”

The man nodded. “I mean, I’m sure I’ll find this hilarious in a day or two. I can’t believe that’s what I was saying! There’s no way those are the actual lyrics.”

Dan giggled. “No, they’re not the actual lyrics. Not even close, really.”

Sighing, the man continued. “I usually say the wrong words to these songs, but that was a really bad one.”

“Yeah, kinda.” Dan swallowed another giggle, then remembered he was still holding the note.

Well, I guess now’s as good a time as any to tell him. I’m already talking to him. I’m relatively relaxed. This’ll never happen again. Seize the moment, Howell, he thought.

“Um, so. I wasn’t really planning on saying this right now, but here we are.” Dan fumbled for the right words, then decided actions might be easier. He raised the note in his hand so the man noticed it, then smiled as his eyes widened in surprise. “I’m the one who’s been giving you these things the last few weeks. I know it might seem like I’m making fun of you now, since I just laughed at you for, like, ten minutes, but I promise I’m not. Everything I’ve said in those notes has been true. I find everything about you incredibly endearing, especially your singing and your interpretation of the lyrics.”

The man just stared at Dan for a few seconds, mouth slightly open. “I- you- what?”

Dan giggled again, this time more from nerves than actual amusement. “Here’s your note for the week.” He handed it over to the man, who took it and looked down at it.

“This is- this is incredibly sweet. Thank you,” the man began, shifting his weight from foot to foot. “I’ve been wondering who it could be, and I saw you around a bit so I thought, you know, maybe it was you. But I wasn’t sure. I- uh- I had hoped it was you, though.” The man stared at the floor.

Now, it was Dan’s cheeks that were heating up. “You did?”

The man nodded.

Dan grinned. He stuck out his hand. “I’m Dan. It’s nice to actually meet you.”

“I’m Phil, and it’s nice to meet you, too,” Phil said. He shook Dan’s hand.

“Well, Phil, what would you say to getting a coffee with me sometime?” Dan said with a lot more confidence now than he probably would have been able to any other time in his life.

Phil grinned back. “I would love to, Dan.”

“Fantastic.”

They exchanged numbers and Dan promised to text, then turned to walk back to his own room.

“Oh, and Dan?”

Dan turned back to see Phil in the doorway to his room.

“Next time, come on in to do work instead of sitting on that old carpet, okay?”

Dan mock-gasped. “Phil, are you offering me front row tickets to the concert that is your weekly laundry performance?”

“I am indeed. I expect you there at 7pm on the dot.”

Dan smiled and nodded. “You can count on me.”

With that, he turned around and walked back to his room, giddy with anticipation for his upcoming date with Phil.