Chapter Text
PENNY
Simon and Baz are arguing again. They’re standing outside the dining hall, yelling at each other about last year when the merwolves attacked Simon. Baz has his wand out, and Simon is holding his sword, pointing it at his nemesis.
“You hate them, you hate me, so why not pit us against each other?” shouts Simon, waving his sword. Baz glares at him and takes a step back.
“You’re an idiot, Snow! I would never voluntarily get anywhere near those things, certainly not close enough to spell them after you,” Baz tells Simon. “If I were to make them go anywhere, it would be away from Watford. Need I remind you that they attacked right outside the room we share? I don’t want all of my belongings ruined by those bastards!”
I don’t think that Baz sent the merwolves, I think it was the Humdrum. Because it’s always the fucking Humdrum. The only creature Baz ever really sent after Simon was the chimera, and he ended up getting attacked as well, so he hasn't done anything of the sort since. But ever since third year, every time we get attacked by anything, Simon always suspects Baz, always insists it could be part of his plotting.
But recently, Simon has been acting strange around Baz. One day he’ll be completely ignoring him, not even complaining about him to me, the next something like this happens. Last week when I saw them together, walking down the quiet hall of Mummers House and talking as if there wasn’t a drop of bad blood between them.
Now Simon looks really angry, his face going red and his eyebrows scrunching up. This is what he looks like when his magic is about to go off. But his edges aren't blurring, I can’t feel the harshness of his magic in the air. Not even a little bit.
And yet there he goes, stomping up to Baz and pulling out his wand, as if he has any clue of what spell would be useful right now. But Baz mutters something under his breath and Simon stops, sways for a second, before his knees give out and he falls to the floor. Baz turns and walks away.
“This argument is pointless, I’m leaving,” says Baz, before disappearing around a corner.
I rush over to Simon, who is currently struggling to stand. Every time he gets to his feet, his knees tremble for a bit before he falls again. Eventually, I get him up and we walk to our next class, with me supporting his weight each time he stumbles. We get there early, and sit on one of the wooden benches by the door.
“So, what’s up with you and Baz?” I ask.
Simon’s head snaps toward me, and he gets defensive.
“What do you mean? There’s nothing up with me and Baz. Well, there’s always something up with Baz , he’s plotting, and generally being evil, but that’s just how he is,” Simon huffs.
“Okay, yeah, but lately it seems like half the time you don’t mind him, and the other half is completely ridiculous, all this fighting? It’s been like that ever since you broke up with Agatha.”
Oh.
Ever since he broke up with Agatha.
SIMON
Oh, god, Penny knows.
She knows that Baz and I have been… Not doing what we normally do. What we normally do is avoid each other and hate each other and fight. But then two weeks ago, I found him in the Wavering Wood in the middle of the night.
I had just wanted to clear my head, so I meandered through the trees, clutching my jacket around me against the freezing night air. When I spotted Baz, he was crying and drunk, I guess he got a Visiting or something (he still hasn’t really explained that). He just screamed at me and threatened to burn down the entire forest.
I was so scared. I was scared for myself, yeah, but I was more scared for him. Because he’s a vampire, he’s flammable, and I really don’t want him to die.
This was news to me, actually. I always thought that I wouldn’t really mind if Baz got killed off somehow. Which sounds horrible, I know, but I didn’t want to kill him. I always thought I would have to one day, so if he was gone, things would just be easier, I guess.
But all of a sudden I really cared, and he kept shouting at me. He told me that it would be better for both of us if he didn’t feel this way. He said he would spell me away and then it would all be over for him.
And then I knew.
Baz was reaching for his wand with one hand, and lighting a fireball in the other. And I just ran towards him, praying that I wouldn’t be to late. I threw myself at him, and my lips smashed into his in a frantic hope that it would be enough. And it was.
His fireball went out, his wand dropped to the ground, and we went crashing down too, sprawling clumsily into a bush and holding on to each other like this was our only hope. I hadn’t planned it at all, hadn’t known that I wanted to kiss Baz until I was holding his cold face between my hands; savouring the feeling of his supple lips moving against mine. We stayed there on the forest floor, tangled up in each others’ arms, until he started crying again. I tried my best to comfort him, but he wouldn’t tell me what was wrong. I wrapped him in my jumper and led him back to our room.
He didn’t want to tell me why he had been in the woods in the first place, and I was still afraid he might change his mind and set everything on fire, so I didn’t push it. Even now I’m not sure what exactly happened.
That night, and every night since, we shared a bed. I’ll curl around him, my arms pulling him towards me as we sleep.
So no, me and Baz aren’t doing what we normally do. Now we kiss and cuddle and just talk, and try to be normal boys. Now we pretend to hate each other for the world, because Baz says that we can’t just be normal boys, because of all our history. He says his family still thinks he hates me even though they know he’s gay. (I didn’t know he was gay. Though I suppose I should have guessed, considering…)
I know that the Mage wouldn’t want him to be my boyfriend. He always believed me when I told him Baz was evil. Agatha wouldn’t want Baz to be my boyfriend, because she was supposed to be my girlfriend. Or she wants to be with him. I’m not sure, because our ongoing love triangle has become infinitely more complicated, but in any case, she wouldn’t want me and Baz together. I broke up with her after I slept with him in my arms.
I’m pretty sure Penny doesn’t want Baz to be my boyfriend either. She was never convinced that he was completely evil, or the he was plotting, but that doesn’t mean she likes him. She still thinks he has bad intentions.
But now I’m afraid that she knows what’s happening. I guess we haven’t been as inconspicuous as I thought we were. Baz did say that people were getting suspicious, which is why we staged that big fight today. I thought he was just being paranoid, but Penny’s asking too many questions. So I get up in the middle of her sentence and claim that I forgot something in my room.
“Simon, wait, I’ll come with you!” she calls, grabbing her bag and starting to come after me.
“No, no. Baz is probably in there. You can’t just walk in there like you own the place. You shouldn’t be able to get in at all!” I tell her.
“Fine,” she says. “But don’t take too long, okay?”
I assure her that I’ll hurry, and set off across campus. I rush into my and Baz’s room and find him waiting there for me.
BAZ
Snow bursts into our room, red-faced and panting, like he ran all the way across campus. Which he probably did.
“Oh, Crowley, what did you do this time?” I ask, raising my brow with an amused smirk on my face. He looks ridiculous.
He stares at me, taking a second to catch his breath. “I think Penny knows about us.”
“What the fuck?” No. This can’t happen.
He sits down beside me on my bed and tells me everything. He seems so scared.
“I’m so sorry, Baz,” he says, not meeting my eyes. He stares down at his fidgeting hands. “I thought that you were overreacting, but you were right, and now Pen might say something to someone else… It’s my fault. I could have tried harder to make it seem normal between us. I’m sorry.”
I am kind of freaking out, because what if Bunce really does tell somebody? But before I can deal with that, I have to calm Snow down. I don’t want him to go off, and I’m starting to feel his magic in the air. So I just turn him towards me and place my hands on his shoulders.
“Simon, look at me,” I say. He does, those lovely blue eyes meeting mine. A small smile plays his lips.
“You called me Simon.”
“Yeah, I guess I did,” I admit. I didn’t even realize. “We can deal with this, yeah? Deep breath in, deep breath out.” He does as I say, and I can tell he’s relaxing already. “Now listen. Bunce may not even actually know. And if she does, it’s not like she has many people to tell, right?”
Snow nods. I lean forwards and kiss him lightly. He kisses me back, pressing into me until I fall back onto my soft mattress. Now I have to push myself up to reach him, so I flip us and smile back when I see him grinning up at me. I smile at the twinkle in his eyes as I kiss each of the moles on his cheek and neck, before bringing my lips back to his.
We haven’t gone any further than this, since Snow is kind of having an identity crisis about his sexuality. But I haven’t asked either. I guess I feel that he should be the one to make a move, because he’s the one who seems more unsure.
All of my thoughts disappear as he puts his gentle hands on my face and pulls me into a long, deep kiss.
PENNY
Simon doesn’t come to class. I’m afraid he got into another fight with Baz, but I’m behind on homework so I can’t leave. My guess is that he left because he didn’t want to talk about his break up with Agatha. He always avoids the question whenever I ask why they broke up, and I haven’t been able to figure it out. But now I get it.
It’s because of Baz. Simon told me he broke up with Agatha, but now I’m thinking it was the other way around. I haven’t talked to her since, (Simon asked me not to) so it’s possible that she dumped him. He’s always suspected that Baz was trying to steal her away from him. Maybe he really did. But that doesn’t explain why Simon won’t talk about it. He usually tells me about anything that has to do with Baz, and if he was the reason Simon was now single, I would expect to never hear the end of it.
Maybe this really hurt him, then. If Baz did something that bad… Oh, I’m going to make bhim miserable.
But first I have to confront Simon. I’m sad that he felt he couldn’t tell me, and he probably really needs someone to talk to right now.
Once class ends, I gather my things and head over to Mummers House. When I knock on Simon’s door, I hear a loud thump followed by an “OW!”
Then he calls out, “Just a second!”
After a minute, the ancient door creaks open, revealing a dishevelled-looking Simon. I peek over his shoulder to see what the noise I heard earlier was, but the room seems normal and tidy, but for a blanket on the floor. I look back at Simon, raising my eyebrows.
“Did you fall out of bed?” I ask with disbelief.
“I was taking a nap while Baz was in the shower,” he says, eyes wide.
“Okaaay. I just wanted to come see if you were alright, since you didn’t come to class,” I tell him.
“Yeah I’m fine,” he mumbles. “I’m just-”
“I understand,” I interrupt. “About Baz, I mean.”
Simon looks taken aback. He glances momentarily to the bathroom door. “Penny, whatever you’re thinking, it’s really not…” He trails off.
SIMON
I have no clue what to say. I was really worried about this earlier, and Baz calmed me down. After that, I got a little distracted. Until Penny arrived. I had forgotten that she might be suspicious if I didn’t come to class, and was so surprised to hear her knocking that I fell out of Baz’s bed, nearly taking him with me.
After a minute of frantically rushing around, I shoved Baz into the bathroom and went to the door to confront Penelope.
Which is how we got here. She knows. Penny is good at keeping secrets, but I wouldn’t put it past her to tell Professor Bunce. I just stare at her, praying that I’m wrong.
“You’re upset with him because of Agatha,” she says. “She was supposed to be your happy ending, and she left you for him. You really could have just told me the truth. It makes so much more sense now that I know, because all of this stuff with Baz was getting ridiculous, and I could not figure out what was happening.”
What the hell? Penny has no clue what’s happening. Relief floods through me, washing away the fear of being exposed. If she thinks that I’ve been acting weird about Baz because of Agatha, then it will be so much easier to convince everyone, including her.
Now I just have to figure out how to play along with story.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, I was just, um.” I fumble awkwardly on my words, trying to quickly come up with something believable. “I was really embarrassed that she broke up with me.”
Penny frowns and gives me a hug. We sit down and talk for a while, with me bullshitting the answer to every question that she asks. Eventually Baz comes out of the bathroom, glaring at me. I tell Penny to go down to the dining hall, that I’ll meet her there for lunch. When me and Baz are alone, I pull him into a tight embrace.
“She’s completely clueless,” I say softly into his ear, still not letting go. But Baz pulls back, looking me in the eye and smiling.
“Really? Because I heard the first part of the conversation, and it really sounded like she was onto us,” he replies.
“No, she thinks it’s because of Agatha,” I explain. I then tell him about how she thinks the breakup affected me, and that that’s the reason my feelings towards him have seemed so inconsistent to her, and maybe everyone else, too. I make sure Baz knows that we’re really in the clear.
I try to give him a quick kiss before I leave and go meet Penny, but he puts his arms around my neck and pulls me into a deeper one. I blissfully sink into it for a while before laughing and pulling away.
“Hey, I can’t keep Penny waiting!” I say, playfully pushing him off. “She might get suspicious again.”
Baz cocks his head and smirks at me before saying, “Okay, fine. I’ll see you later.” He gives me a soft peck on the cheek before heading out the door.
I wait minute before following, wondering what I did to deserve him.