Work Text:
I Need a Hero
Penny and Simon walk into the dining hall, and music starts playing. Neither of them is sure where it’s coming from, and it starts out so quiet that Simon is sure that he is imagining it. Then, as they walk to their usual table, Simon notices that everyone else is looking around, too, trying to locate the source of it.
The first line of the song starts as Simon sits down beside Penny.
Where have all the good men gone…
Simon chooses to ignore it after a minute. It doesn’t seem to have anything to do with him, and a little bit of music during breakfast isn’t going to harm anyone.
Penny, on the other hand, is not willing to dismiss it so easily. She glances around at the other students, and then, her eyes fall on Baz. He isn’t the only person laughing, but he is the only one who is watching Simon so intently.
It was not a coincidence that the song began playing right when she and Simon entered the dining hall. Whatever is going on, Penny thinks, Baz is behind it.
***
At lunchtime, Simon walks into the dining hall, and the same song from this morning begins playing again. He barely notices it this time, and Baz is disappointed at how little of a reaction he has compared to the other people around him. This was supposed to be funny, but it is starting to feel lame now.
Penny watches Baz when Simon walks in, but he doesn’t do anything except look up at the door when the music starts playing. She doesn’t know how Baz is playing the music, but she is certain that he is behind.
She isn’t sure whether anyone else has made the connection between Simon’s entrance and the song playing. A lot of people seem to be ignoring it. A few people look up and roll their eyes before going back to their food. Penny is pretty sure that one or two people are singing along to it, though.
Simon just ignores it, and Penny is surprised. She wonders whether she should tell him that she thinks Baz might be the cause of it, but she doesn’t want to get him started on Baz. He will think that he is plotting something, and she will never hear the end of it. She decides not to tell him. The song will be over soon anyway, and she won’t have to worry about it.
***
Simon slumps down on the table as soon as he enters the dining hall for tea that afternoon after classes.
“Are you alright?” Penny asks him.
“Make the music stop,” Simon groans.
“It will be over in a couple of minutes,” Penny tells him, thinking that he is referring to the fact that the song started playing again when he walked in.
“No, it won’t,” he says, lifting his head. “It hasn’t stopped all day.”
“What do you mean?”
“Everywhere I go, someone is singing or humming this stupid song. It is stuck in everyone’s head, and I can’t escape it.”
The chorus begins to play,
I need a hero. I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night…
and the music seems to grow louder. It’s a different version from the one that played the last two times.
Simon groans, laying his head back down on the table and waits for the song to end.
Penny looks over at Baz and finds that he is taking delight in Simon’s misery. She glares at him before turning back to Simon.
“This was all Baz’ doing,” Penny says confidently when the song finally comes to an end.
“What are you talking about?” Simon asks, lifting his head slowly.
“I am pretty sure that Baz spelled it so that that song plays every time you enter the dining hall.” She is completely sure actually because she heard him talking to Dev and Niall about it earlier.
Simon turns toward Baz and growls quietly.
“I’ll get him back for this,” he says.
“Wait. You aren’t going to attack him, are you? It was just a stupid prank. Let’s not get violent.”
“I’m not going to hurt him. I’m just going to prank him back.”
“And how do you plan to do that?”
“You will just have to wait and see.”
New Hairstyle
Simon
There is a shout from the bathroom, and I smirk as I lace my shoes. The shout is followed by a lot of noise as Baz probably searches through his various bottles of hair-care products, looking for the source of his problem. I quickly grab my stuff and leave our room to head down to breakfast.
“What are you smiling about?” Penny asks when I sit down across from her. Luckily, that annoying song no longer plays when I enter the dining hall. It stopped after that day, and I was relieved.
“You’ll see,” I say, picking up my fork.
“What happened to Baz’ hair?” Penny asks a few minutes later.
“Isn’t it great?” I ask without turning to look.
“Well, I can’t actually see it, so I don’t know.”
I turn around confused. I scan the dining hall until my eyes land on Baz where he sits with Dev and Niall. Penny is right. I can’t see Baz’ hair because it is covered up with a beanie.
Baz
“What’s up with the new accessory?” Dev asks as I sit down across from him and Niall.
“Yeah. Are you having a bad hair day?” Niall asks in a teasing tone.
“Shut up,” I sneer.
“Are you really having a bad hair day?” Niall asks, sounding both surprised and amused. “I don’t believe it. Your hair is usually perfect.”
“It’s always perfect,” I sneer.
“Then, why are you hiding it?” Dev asks.
“Because it’s blue.”
“Blue? Why is it blue?”
“I don’t know. I got out of the shower, looked in the mirror, and my hair was dark blue. It looks awful.”
“I’m sure it isn’t that bad,” Dev says. “Show it to us.”
“No,” I say firmly.
“Come on. You can’t wear that all day.”
I sigh and slowly pull of the beanie. Dev gasps, and Niall’s eyes widen.
“I told you it looks terrible,” I say, running my fingers through my hair, trying to push it out of my face since I didn’t slick it back.
“No. It looks good.” Dev says.
“Whatever,” I mumble, rolling my eyes.
“He’s right. It looks amazing,” Niall agrees. Then, he nudges Dev with his elbow and says, “hey, you should dye your hair like that. I bet you’d look really good.”
Dev’s cheeks turn a light shade of pink as he fights back a smile. I sigh, shoving the beanie into my bag. Those two have been flirting with each other constantly, but neither of them will make a move. They are so oblivious.
Simon
“So, that is what you have been planning for almost a week?” Penny asks. “To spell his shampoo so that his hair turns blue?”
“I though that it would be funnier.” I didn’t realize that he would so good. I don’t tell her that. She would just give me another one of her looks that I don’t understand.
“I think your prank failed,” she says.
“It didn’t fail completely. It did what I wanted, and he was upset when he first saw it.”
I keep glancing at him when Penny isn’t looking. Of course, he manages to make the blue hair look amazing. Typical Baz, always looking perfect. Can’t he just have one bad hair day? I may not have gotten the reaction that I wanted from him, but at least the spell actually worked.
Baz
By the end of the day, I decide that I like the color of my hair. If only because it seems to annoy Simon that I do. He keeps watching me, waiting for a reaction, but I won’t give him one. Not the one that he wants anyway.
I think I might even keep using the shampoo instead of throwing it out. Then, I can turn his prank around in my favor.
Roast Beef
Simon
“Does your food taste weird?” I ask Penny.
“Weird how?” She asks.
I take another bite, trying to figure out what that is. “Like roast beef?”
“No, but we aren’t eating roast beef, so why would it?”
I shrug and continue eating my breakfast, but every bite tastes exactly the same. This must be Baz’ doing. Jokes on him, I love the taste of roast beef. This isn’t going to be a problem for me.
At least, that’s what I think all through breakfast and lunch. When we have tea, it is an entirely different story.
As soon as I take a bite of a cherry scone, I almost spit it out. It no longer tastes like the delicious food that I have always loved. It tastes like roast beef. I throw it back down on my plate with a grimace and stare sadly at the rest of them.
“What’s wrong?” Penny asks, noticing that I’m not eating.
“They taste like roast beef,” I say with a sigh. She doesn’t believe me. She thinks that it is all in my head. She said as much when I brought it up again at lunch. “I’m going to get Baz for this. I can’t believe that he would mess with something that I love like that.”
“You think Baz actually did this?” She asks.
“Yes.”
“How’s your food, Snow?” A familiar voice asks.
I look up, and Baz is standing there by our table, wearing a smirk. I growl at him but don’t say anything.
He laughs. “Good then, I see.”
“You really did do something,” Penny says. Now she believes me.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Baz says, faking innocence. Then, he just walks away, heading to his own table.
“Do you believe me now?” I ask Penny.
“Yes, I’m sorry.”
I stare at my plate of food sadly again. I pick up one, about to take a bite anyway, but I decide that it isn’t worth it. It isn’t the same.
Call Me Maybe
Baz
After classes and before dinner, I practice playing my violin in mine and Simon’s room, which is usually empty at this time. I put the bow to the stings and start playing a warm-up tune. The sound that comes out is not the one that I am playing though.
I stop moving the bow, and the song stops. I start again, and the same song plays. I don’t know what is going on. I try it one more time. The tune that plays is familiar, but it isn’t one that I have ever played before.
Simon walks into the room while I am playing it, and I see him laughing out of the corner of my eye. I stop playing and drop my violin to my side.
“What did you do?” I sneer.
“It’s annoying isn’t it?”
So, that’s what he wants, for me to be annoyed.
“No,” I say slowly. “I actually love this song. I think I’ll keep playing it.”
His eyes widen slightly, and I think I know how I can make it so that he is more annoyed than I am.
I place the bow to the strings again and start playing. As the song plays for a little while, I realize what song it is. It’s Carly Rae Jepsen’s Call Me Maybe.
He glares at me before turning and walking back out of our room. Unfortunately for him, I follow him, continuing to play my violin.
Simon
Baz follows me all the way to the dining hall, still playing that song. I definitely made a mistake with this prank. I thought he would get annoyed and not play his violin in the room anymore, but that’s not happening at all.
Luckily, he stops playing when we actually enter the dining hall, and he goes and sits with Dev and Niall. I eat quickly, even faster than usual, so that I can hopefully leave before him. That way he won’t be able to follow me again.
“Baz is walking over here,” Penny says suddenly.
“What? Why?” I ask. I look around, and he sure is. Violin in hand.
I groan and let my head fall in my hands.
“What’s going on?” Penny asks.
“I tried to prank him again,” I mumble.
Baz
Bunce glares at me as I move closer to their table, but I ignore her. I lift my violin and start playing. I barely have to move my bow, and the song plays.
Simon rests his head on the table and doesn’t say anything while I play the entire song. I am aware of a lot of people’s eyes on me, wondering why I am playing a song to Simon. I probably should have thought about that before I decided to walk over here. I try to ignore them while the final few notes play.
As soon as I’m done, Simon gets up and leaves. Other people clap, and I start to follow after Simon. Not to play the song again, but to get out of here, away from everyone else.
Bunce stops me though. “Is there something you want to say, Baz?” She asks with raised eyebrows.
“What are you talking about?”
“I mean, you just played a love song to Simon in front of the rest of the school.”
“I didn’t pick the song,” I sneer. I hope no one else is thinking about it the way that she is. That would be a disaster.
I turn and walk away before she can say anything else. I ignore everyone else as I leave the dining hall. The good thing is that Simon probably didn’t see it as me playing a love song. And hopefully, everyone else will forget it by tomorrow. I just need to think of a prank that will get the attention off of me and onto Simon.
Tight-Clothed
Baz
I think I made a mistake with the prank that I pulled today. It definitely got the attention off of me, but Simon isn’t reacting the way that I thought would.
I don’t exactly know what I thought Simon would do, but I didn’t think that he would actually wear the clothes after I spelled them to be too small for him. I should have known that he would wear them anyway. He doesn’t care how he looks. If he did, he would do something about his unruly hair.
I stayed up late last night, waited until he had fallen asleep, then spelled all of his clothes so that they would be too small for him to wear. I thought it would be funny to see him attempt to fix them or find something else to wear. He even could have worn the pajamas that he had worn to bed.
But no. He decided to wear the too small clothes. The shirt he’s wearing looks almost like a crop top, and so much of his skin still visible. His pants are so tight that I can see every line of his body. I’m not sure how he even managed to get them on. He probably won’t be able to get them off later. I try not to stare at him, and Dev keeps laughing because my prank didn’t go anywhere near as planned.
I sneer at him to shut up, then spend the rest of the day trying to avoid Simon. I spell his clothes back to normal that night while he is in the shower.
Simon
“I can fix your clothes for you,” Penny offers after she see what happened
“It’s fine,” I say with a shrug.
If Baz was able to embrace his blue hair, then I can embrace my tight wardrobe. It’s very airy, and it’s nice for my always too warm skin. And it seems to be bothering Baz that I’m wearing them anyway, so that’s a bonus. I think that I’ve won this one, but I need to think of something big for my next prank.
The Truth
Simon
This was supposed to be the greatest prank that I have pulled so far, but nothing is going as planned. I only meant to lock him in here in our room so that he would be forced to sit down and tell me the truth, but now both the door and window have disappeared. I cast a spell to try to fix it, but nothing happens.
We are stuck in here, and there is no way out.
I start to panic, trying to find a way to get out. I feel trapped. The room feels smaller and like there isn’t enough air to breathe. I pound on the wall where the door used to be. I need to get out of here.
I don’t think Baz will hurt me. The Anathema would prevent it anyway, but I don’t like feeling like I have nowhere to go. I’ve felt that way enough during my life, like I don’t have a choice of where to go or what to do. I’m the Chosen One, and I’ve been left without any choices my entire life.
I kick the wall angrily, but nothing happens. Not that I expected it to.
“Snow,” Baz says quietly from behind me. He places a gentle hand on my shoulder, but I ignore him, kicking the wall again. “Simon.”
That makes me stop. He never uses my first name.
“Take a deep breath, okay? We’ll find a way out of here, but we can’t do that unless you calm down.”
Why is he helping me? I take a slow, shaky breath. He probably isn’t actually trying to help me. He just wants out of here, and he can’t do that with me about to go off. I can feel my magick tingling on my skin, close to the surface.
I wonder if going off would get us out of here. Would it blast a hole in the wall? Would we be sent out of here? Would I hurt him?
I take another breath, and I feel my magick begin to recede as I start to catch my breath. I don’t want to go off, and I don’t really want to hurt Baz.
“This isn’t what I wanted,” I admit quietly, turning away from the wall.
“What do you want then?” He asks clamly. His hand is still on my shoulder.
“I just want the truth!” I say, pushing him away from me.
He stares at me wide-eyed for a moment as he feels my magick wash over him.
“No,” I say quickly. “I didn’t mean it.”
“What do you want to know?” He asks. He says it calmly, but I know he must be angry.
“Wait, let me fix this.”
“Just ask me,” he says just as calmly as before. I don’t get it why isn’t he angry? “What do you want to know?”
“I want to know why I like you when I’m supposed to hate you.” I gasp at the words that come out of my mouth. That wasn’t what I meant to say, but the words felt like they were being pulled out of me without giving me a choice.
No. My magick must have backfired. Or maybe it worked too well. Now, I have to tell the truth, too. I guess it is only fair that way. I hadn’t even known that that was truly how I felt. I mean, I knew I didn’t hate him as much as I was expected to, but I didn’t think that I liked him.
I try to take it back, to tell him that it wasn’t the truth, but my voice won’t work. I am incapable of lying right now, and so is he.
Baz
There is no way that Simon means that he likes me in the way my heart seems to think he does. He can’t. I know he can’t, but still my heart continues to race as if he just told me he was in love with me. I need to say something to him, but how do I respond? I can’t lie.
“Ask me something,” I tell him. Whatever it is that he wants to know, I’ll tell him. Then, we can go back to trying to get out of here. What was he thinking anyway?
“Why do you hate me?”
“I don’t,” I say simply.
“I don’t believe you.”
“I can’t lie, remember?”
“Right,” he says slowly. “Why don’t you hate me then?”
No. I try to fight it. I press my lips tight together, trying to keep the words inside, but they bubble out anyway. “Because I’m in love with you.”
I turn away from him so that I don’t have to see the look on his face, and I try to leave the room as fast as I can. Except the door is still gone. It only takes a moment before I realize that I can shut myself inside the bathroom instead. Only, that means walking right past Simon. I don’t have a choice. I need to get away from him.
I try to walk quickly past him, but he reaches out and grabs my arm, stopping me.
“Let go, Snow,” I grit out.
“No.”
“Why not?” I sneer.
“Because I want to talk to you.”
“What is there to talk about? You don’t feel the same way.”
“That isn’t true.” He drops his hand from my arm like he’s been burned, and I know that he didn’t want to admit that any more than I did.
“What?” I ask, and it comes out in a hoarse whisper.
Simon
I didn’t know it wasn’t true until I said it and felt the truth wash over me. I guess it makes sense. It explains the way I feel about him and why I think he looks so good with that blue hair. It explains so much, but why did it take so long to figure it out? And what am I supposed to do?
“I’m in love with you, too,” I whisper.
I want to reach out and touch him again, but he just stares at me, so I don’t. He isn’t moving, and I’m not sure he is even breathing.
“I’m sorry,” I tell him.
“For what?”
“For making you tell me. None of this is going how I wanted it to. I messed everything up. I’m sorry,” I say again.
Baz
Simon doesn’t have to apologize. I mean, I’m not happy that I was forced to tell him how I feel. But I’m too surprised by the fact that he feels the same to be angry right now. A voice in my head tries to tell me that he is lying, but it isn’t possible. He can’t lie right now.
“I forgive you, Snow,” I tell him, stepping closer. Then, I push him up against the wall, place my hands on either side of his face, and kiss him.
“You called me Simon before,” he says breathlessly when I pull away.
“No, I didn’t.”
“Yes, you did,” he insists with his dorky smile.
I start to lean forward to kiss him again and shut him up when the door flies open next to us.
“What the—?” I begin.
“Oh.” It’s Penny who has just walked in and caught us kissing.
Simon’s face turns bright red, but he doesn’t push me away. I’m relieved by this.
Simon
“How did you do that?” I ask Penny as Baz removes his hands from my face and takes a step back so that we aren’t so close anymore.
“Do what?” She asks.
“Open the door. It wasn’t even there a moment ago.”
“I know. There was some kind of spell on it. I fixed it, though.”
“Could you fix the window, too?” I ask quietly.
She glances over at the wall, then back at us. “What were you two doing in here?”
“Nothing,” I try to say, but I still can’t lie.
She shakes her head before walking over and casting some kind of spell. “You know what, I don’t think I want to know.”
“It wasn’t like that,” I protest.
I look to Baz, but he has his lips pressed into a thin line. He obviously isn’t going to help me dig myself out of this hole.
“Then, what was it like?” She asks, placing her hands on her hips.
“I–. It–. We–.” I try to explain, but I don’t know how.
“I kissed him,” Baz says finally. “That’s all we could do before you walked in and interrupted.”
“I’ll let you get back to it then,” she says, with a smirk.
“What? No.” What is Baz doing? “It really wasn’t like that.”
“It’s okay, Simon,” Baz says, looking amused. “I was just kidding.”
“So, are you two dating now?” Penny asks.
“Uhh,” I say, unsure. We haven’t gotten the chance to figure that out yet.
I look at Baz, but he looks as lost for words as I am.
“Do you want to be?” I ask him.
Baz
I can’t believe that he actually asked me if I want to date him. Of course, I do. I wish that we weren’t having this conversation in front of Bunce, but I do want to be with him.
“Yes,” I tell him quietly.
A wide grin spreads across his face, and I smile back at him. “Then, I guess we are,” he tells Bunce.
She just nods, but I can tell that she is surprised by it. No matter how joking she is acting, she probably never expected her best friend to start dating his rival. I never expected it to happen either.
“Well, I’m going to go now,” she says.
Simon doesn’t try to stop her this time. We stand there in silence for a moment. I don’t know where we go from here. I’ve never dated anyone before, and I don’t know the whole relationship thing works.
He whispers something, and I feel his magick wash over me once again.
“What was that?” I ask warily.
“I fixed it so that we don’t have to tell the truth anymore.”
“Oh. Good.”
He nods, and we just stand there some more. Why is this so uncomfortable? I just want to kiss him.
“I want to kiss you,” he says quietly, echoing my thoughts and his facing turning a bright red color again.
“Then, do it,” I say more confidently than I feel. He does.
Simon
My prank didn’t go as planned, but this is better than anything that I ever could have planned.