Chapter Text
Lucy
Simon Snow’s apartment feels nothing like the Chosen One’s apartment should be.
Back when I was in America, no one cared about the Chosen One.
The thing is, American Mages, we don’t care about prophecies. Not like the British do. It’s not that we don’t believe in it, rather than… we have more important stuff to care about. Legends, prophecies, and all that stuff, they’ve become something only the older Mages remember anymore.
It’s no secret the British Mages think they’re better than us, because we mingle with Talkers, with Normals and they don’t; too scared their magic will disappear if they do.
I think it keeps us grounded. Reminds us we’re not better than them, and that we need them. We need them to stay there, to keep the languages changing, alive, so that we can use our magic.
What magic could we do if there was no one who used our main instrument anymore?
What I mean is – no one cared about the Chosen One back there. The only reason I kept up with his adventures was my grandmother. We’d videochat every Saturday, and she’d tell me all she had heard about him at the Club.
And after he killed The Mage? For a while, I thought she was going to give her inheritance to him. (I guess we’ll share it now. I called dibs in the house a long time ago, so he better watch out. I’m not scared of throwing a few punches).
Every story about Simon Snow was so epic, so incredible, it’s almost hard to think he lives in a one bedroom apartment in Hackney Wick.
(Maybe the edge is that he does so with his vampire boyfriend).
It’s barely furnished, too. There’s a sofa in the living room, a table with two chairs in the kitchen. A small bookcase in the living room, too, pressed against a column.
I hum.
“I was expecting a palace for the Prince of Mages.” I say. Simon snorts.
“I’m not the Prince of anything.”
“Hey.” I smile at him. “You did raise Excalibur. I bet you could trick that Queen of yours to leave you the Commonwealth when she dies.”
“That’s blasphemy.” Baz says, sitting on the arm of the sofa. “You can’t speak like that about the Royal Family.”
I roll my eyes, and sit besides him.
“Who’s coming?” I ask. “Your friends, who are they?”
“My best friend, Penny. She’s the best magician in the world.” Baz clears his throat. Simon looks at him, and shrugs. “Call me when you win a trial against a demon.”
Baz sighs, leaning back. Simon sits on my other side.
“Then there’s Shepard. He’s from Nebraska. And Penny’s boyfriend.”
“Oh. Another American Mage?”
“No, he’s a Normal.”
I raise my eyebrows. He nods.
“We picked him up from the desert.” Baz comments. “Gave him a better life.”
“He’s not a dog, Baz.” Simon protests. His boyfriend sneers, and he shakes his head, then looks at me. “They got home from America a few days ago, and we’ve been trying to figure out…” He says, moving his hand around my space. “You know.”
I clear my throat.
“Oh. That’s cool.”
“Yeah. Professor Bunce, Penny’s dad – both her parents are Professors, her mother is Watford’s headmistress actually; he was the leader of the investigation about the Humdrum, so he’s checking that your going off doesn’t have anything to do with that. Because… Because, uh, mine was what created the holes, so.” He lets out an awkward laugh. It’s clear he doesn’t like to talk about this. “So yeah.”
“That’s cool.” I repeat. He clears his throat, looking at Baz. The taller one shrugs. “Is it okay if I go to the bathroom?”
“Of course! It’s in our bedroom. Go for it!” Simon says. I give him a small smile and leave.
Simon
“This is so weird.” I sigh, when Lucy closes the bathroom door behind her. “I think I miss being an orphan.”
Baz laughs, sliding down the arm of the sofa to sit besides me, and presses a kiss to my cheek.
“It’ll be all right, darling. You just need to get used to it.”
“We just need to fix whatever is wrong with her. I’m worried, Baz. You don’t know how it feels. It’s… it’s like exploding, from the inside out. It’s worrying if you’ll end up hurting everyone who is around you. It’s terrible.”
“I know, Snow. I know how much you hated it every time. We’ll fix it, okay? She’ll be alright in no time. She has the Bunces working for her. She couldn’t ask for anything better.”
I sigh, nodding and placing my arms around him.
“Okay.” I say. His lips press on mine, and everything feels just a little bit better. “Thanks.”
“You don’t need to thank me.”
Penny and Shepard arrive while Lucy is still in the bathroom. Penny, as per usual, starts spelling everything her eyes catches on. The dirty dishes on my sink, the pile of books Baz has growing beside the sofa because the bookcase apparently is too tiny, the succulent Baz insisted on buying and never watered once.
Shepard, on the other hand, sits on the sofa with us while Penny rambles on and on about her parents.
When Lucy comes back to the living room, she stops right under the doorframe, a timid smile on her lips.
“Hey.” I say. “Come meet my friends.”
Lucy steps closer, slowly. She’s wearing short black jeans and a long pink shirt with a Sailor Moon picture, along with fishnets and her beloved black Doctor Martens. Her hair falls down her back and she’s put on thick black eyeliner.
“Hi.” She says. “I’m Lucy.” She introduces herself. Penny walks up to her, shaking her head.
“I’m Penelope Bunce. Call me Penny. You’re Simon’s cousin with the weird power, aren’t you?”
“I wouldn’t call myself that.” She starts. “But yeah, I guess that’s how you know me.”
Penny hums. Behind her, Shepard is hovering.
“Hi. I’m Shepard Love. Penny’s boyfriend. Or like she likes to call me–”
“The Normal.” We all say at once.
Lucy smiles. “It’s nice to meet you.”
She looks so shy. More so than when we meet her, definitely. I think she was all right, and then I told her Penny was investigating her situation, and that probably makes her feel like she’s a lab rat, instead of a friend. I probably shouldn’t have said anything.
Baz must feel me over thinking, because he places his hand on the back of my neck and squeezes.
Penny has materialized a notebook and pen.
“We need some information.” She says. Lucy nods.
“Penny,” I interrupt. “You just got here.”
“So?”
I sigh. “Let’s just not. Lucy is new in the city. We promised her friends, not scientists.”
“It’s not science, Simon, it’s–”
“Magic, yeah.” I turn to Lucy. “Do you drink beer?”
“If I’m offered one.”
I nod, and wink at her. “You got it.”
Baz
It’s incredible; the way Simon gets to tame Penny when she’s in mission mode. She came into the room ready to split Lucy open and dissect each and every one of her organs until she found out why she has sucked in all that magic that doesn’t belong to her.
And now she’s sitting on Shepard’s lap on the sofa, beer in hand, telling us about her adventures in America.
Simon and I are sitting on the floor. I’m lying against the sofa, and Simon is between my legs, leaning on my chest.
Lucy sits, cross legged, in one of the chairs of the kitchens in front of us. (I don’t know how she’s got so much balance. I could never do it, and I’m a vampire).
Penny has spelled the floor so that it raises in the shape of a table, so we can place our beverages and the leftover cake we brought from Lady Salisbury’s on it.
“And so I said ‘Look, Ken, I don’t care what Shepard promised you. I’m not going through that procedure just so you can eat my baby. And I’m sure as hell not coming all the way from London for it.’” Penny says, and takes a sip from the beer bottle. “And then I showed him my stone, raised an eyebrow at him, and he gave up.”
“You got it out of your bra?” Simon asks.
“Of course I got it out of my bra!”
Both Simon and her giggle.
“Can I see it?” Lucy asks. She was shy at first – nothing like what we saw when we first met her. Maybe because we were the ones dumbstruck when we met her, and here, she was this close to being pushed into a lab table.
Penny nods, and gets her purple stone out of her bra, giving it to her. Lucy examines it closely.
She’s drunk three beers, and there’s a light blush in her nose and cheeks. I remember, in America, the legal drinking age isn’t until they’re 21. She probably isn’t used to drinking, then.
We’ll have to train her (hopefully not Simon. He’s had enough beer for a lifetime). (I think he knows that. He’s barely finished his first one, and hasn’t tried to grab another one).
“It’s really cool. But it feels uncomfortable.” She says, twisting it in her fingers. “I made handmade jewelry, back in LA. I could put it into a bracelet, if you let me. It wouldn’t take long; maybe a few hours.”
“I used to have it in a ring. Could you do that?” Penny asks, excited. Lucy sucks in her lip.
“It might be tricky. I don’t know how I could make one sturdy enough that it’d hold it. But I can try.”
“You can spell it bigger.”
“That takes away the ‘handmade’ part, doesn’t it?” Lucy says, scrunching her nose. “It’s cool. I’ll figure it out.”
“Oh. Cool. Thanks.” Penny answers, grabbing her stone back.
Lucy leans back, still balancing herself in that tiny chair. I can barely keep my whole arse there when having breakfast, how can she keep all her lower train?
She’s taken her boots off, and is playing with the tip of her socks (she’s wearing fishnets and socks. Neon green socks), mostly observing us.
“Lucy.” Simon says, nudging her leg with his foot. She frowns, and slaps at it.
“Don’t touch me with your feet. It’s nasty.” She complains. Simon chuckles.
“Okay. Lucy.”
“What.” She answers.
“What was your life like in America?”
“It was… It was normal. Not Normal. Just normal. I mostly just did what every other teenager did. Except I had a Magic teacher who taught me classes every afternoon. My mom insisted. I think she was scared I’d end up like Dad. Or she had some kind of complex because of my grandfather. Grandma and Dad used to come every Christmas and she’d do all these tricks my mother never even thought of using and it’d embarrass her. It is true you guys learn a lot at Watford that we never ever begin to imagine. Not just how to properly pronounce words and all that shit, but, you know. Spells we barely know, and stuff like that. Most of the spells I use are modern – based on memes, catchy songs. I use an embarrassing amount of Vine spells.” She laughs. “My mother hired this guy from Lancashire who offered watered-down, Watford-like classes.”
I hum.
“I never knew there were people who did that.” I say.
It seems useful. If there were teachers like that when my mother was around, maybe the kids who didn’t get into Watford… Well, they wouldn’t have ended up like Jamie did.
“Yeah, well.” She shrugs. “That’s pretty much what my life was like. I don’t know.”
“That can’t be.” Simon insists. “Come on, tell us about your family, your friends. Did you ever have a boyfriend? A girlfriend?”
“No partners, ever.” She shakes her head. “That’s not my speed. But yeah, I have close friends. Delilah was my best friend since we were babies. We lived in front of each other and went to the same class every year. She’s in Stanford now.”
“Is she a Mage?” Penny asks. She nods.
“Much more powerful than I, too.”
“Do you miss her?”
She shrugs. “I guess. I don’t know, we already knew this would happen. She got into Stanford early and I always knew I’d come here for uni. We were ready for it.”
“That doesn’t mean you can’t miss her.” I say. “Feelings and rationale don’t always go together.”
“Yeah, ask him . He was in love with his bound enemy. And wanked in the bathroom they shared every day.” Simon laughs. I punch him in the arm.
“You absolute nightmare. I didn’t do that .”
“Baz, come on. We all know you’re a vampire, we all know you were always in love with me, and we all know you got turned on by me all the time. It’s fine.”
I sigh, leaning my head back. Simon, Lucy and Shepard are laughing, and Penny is hiding her face in Shepard’s chest, clearly trying to exit this conversation.
Simon
After Penny and Shepard leave, I stand up from the floor and walk into our bedroom, coming out with the extra set of sheets (the apples one. I don’t know why Baz hates it, I think it’s hilarious), and put it on the sofa. Baz spells one of the cushions to turn it into a pillow.
“I’ll sleep here.” He says. “You two take the bed.”
“Don’t be stupid.” Lucy says, snatching the pillow from his hands. “You barely fit. I’m tiny, I’ll fit just fine.” She plops down on the sofa, her legs crossed.
She’s wearing one of Baz's old shirts – that is perfectly fine, he just gets bored of his clothes. It’s purple, and it’s long to the middle of her thighs. The sleeves are a bit longer than her arms, but the shirt is thin and breathable, and she seems comfortable.
(She’s not wearing anything else under – just her underwear. She asked if we were alright with her walking around in pants, and Baz just said ‘Seriously, what does people not understand about ‘being gay’?)
I’m not gay, but she’s my cousin, so it’s basically the same thing.
Thank Merlin she’s not from Alabama.
“All right.” Baz sighs. “Stay here, then.” He turns to look at me. “I gotta go hunt.” He announces.
“I’ll stay with her.” Baz nods, and presses a soft kiss to my lips before he leaves.
I sit on the sofa with Lucy.
“How long have you been together?” She asks. She’s sitting crossed leg with the pillow on top of her lap. She stretches one hand and brushes the falling curls out of my eyes. I turn to look at her.
“Two years on Christmas Day.”
“Huh. That’s cute. You’re cute.”
“Thanks. So you really have never had a partner?” She shakes her head.
“No one’s ever been interested, and I’ve never been interested. I don’t think I ever will.”
“Why not?” She shrugs.
“It’s just… When I think about my future, I don’t know what I see. But I do know I don’t see a relationship in it. It’s just… It’s not what I want, that’s all. I don’t know if that makes sense.”
I nod, humming.
“It does. I used to think… I had a girlfriend, before Baz. Her name was Agatha. We’re still friends, I think. Amicable, at the very least. I thought she was my endgame. That we were going to be together forever, if I survived all the shit I went through. That we’d marry and have a bunch of kids or… whatever people do.”
“And then you met Baz?” I shake my head.
“Baz and I were roommates all through Watford. We lived together for almost eight years. I think I was… Maybe not in love, but interested in him, the whole time. I’m pretty sure I liked him from day one. But we were told we were supposed to end each other, because of who he was and because of who I was. And that got in my head, that I had to hate him, that he was out to kill me… And then, in our last year, a lot of shit happened. His mother Visited him, but he was kidnapped, so she got to me instead, and…” I sigh. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“That’s okay, Si.” I nod.
“A lot of shit happened, and I realized before I noticed I had realized. I ended up kissing him because we were both freaking out and I didn’t know what to do to stop what was happening.”
“Did it work?”
“Yeah. Yeah, it worked. But… our relationship has been through a lot of shit. We’ve both gone through a lot of bad stuff. We’re both broken, me more than him. We’re still figuring out a lot of things. But we’re better.”
“You seem good to me.” She says.
“I think we are. Good. Now… We’re better. We’re working on it.” She hums. “Sorry, I just…” I clear my throat, shaking my head. “I just dumped a lot of stuff on you. Sorry.”
“It’s fine. I asked.” We both stay there, in silence. And then she speaks again. “You know? There’s this saying that everyone has a gay cousin. I’m glad I finally found mine. All my cousins from my mother’s side are excruciatingly straight.”
I laugh, leaning my head back on the back of the couch.
“I’m not gay, though. I just told you I used to have a girlfriend.” She rolls her eyes.
“Umbrella term.” She states. “So? What are you? If you don’t mind me asking, of course.”
“I don’t know. I… I liked Agatha. I like Baz. I felt attracted to both of them, but what I feel for Baz has nothing to do with what I felt for her. I mean. I… I liked her a lot, she is one of the most beautiful girls I’ve seen in my life. And I loved her. I still do, I think she’s one of my dearest friends even though I don’t know how she feels about me. But I never loved her like I love Baz.”
“Because you’re in love with Baz?” He nods.
“Madly.”
“Have you liked someone else? Someone from school, or the care homes, or something?” I shake my head. “Okay, and… Have you ever seen someone at a club, or a pub, and thought to yourself ‘Well, if I wasn’t with Baz right now, I’d like to be with that person’. Maybe not romantically, but just in a sexual way.”
“No. I don’t think I’ve… No. It’s only ever been Agatha and Baz.”
She hums.
“It’s probably not in the top five of your current concerns. I mean, I don’t see you and Baz ever letting go of each other. But maybe, if you ever want to figure that out… I’ll gladly help. I can get you a few webs and books you could check out to see if they throw any light into how you feel. If you’d like that.”
I turn to look at her, nodding.
“Yeah. Yeah, that’d be cool. I think. Thanks, Lucy.”
She leans closer, putting her arms around me. She plants a kiss on my temple.
“Don’t thank me. That’s what family’s for.”
Baz
When I come back from hunting, Lucy and Simon are asleep on the sofa, him on top of her, hugging each other, the pillow I enlarged for her on the floor.
She’s wearing a purple shirt I don’t wear anymore, and he’s wearing my football shirt – also purple.
They look so alike, especially asleep. Especially wearing the same color.
My heart is filled with happiness and love for Simon and his family. For Simon having a family. For Simon having Lucy by his side.
I step closer to them, kissing Simon’s forehead. He stirs, but doesn’t wake up. I put the sheet on top of them and close the living room window, turn off the light and go to our bedroom. I flop on the bed.
It still smells like him.