Chapter Text
Simon
An entire month trapped in the dorms. It honestly wouldn’t be all that bad, except that it’s an entire month trapped in the dorms with Baz. I’m pretty much banking on getting sick since then I wouldn’t have to live with him.
He’ll probably murder me before the end of the month. I’ll do something to piss him off, like breathing too loud, and then he’ll shove me in the closet and choke me to death. He’d probably look bored and posh while doing it, too.
He looks rather bored and posh right now. He’s sitting on his bed, a book propped up on his long legs. He has his glasses on that probably cost more than anything I own. They make him look like some kind of genius secret agent. I always want to ask him if I can try them on but I think that would lead to him locking me out of the room for the rest of the month.
The school has been on near total lockdown since the county issued a shelter in place order. Some kids went home to their parents, but my foster mom, Ebb, is a freshman Bio teacher and lives on campus, so I don’t exactly have anywhere else to go. I guess I could have stayed with her, but for some reason it seemed better to stay in my dorm. Baz never said why he didn’t go to his family home. Their mansion’s probably big enough that you could go for the whole month and not see the rest of the family. But instead I’m stuck here with him in this room. At least they kept the kitchens open for our dorm and we can still go outside to walk around campus, so I’m not completely isolated.
The worst thing is that Penny went home to her family. I tried to talk her into letting me go with them, but she said her mom didn’t want to have to deal with that many people in the house. I get it, she has a lot of siblings, but that didn’t mean I was pleased. My second strategy was to talk her into staying at school, but she shot that down and assured me that I would survive without her. I’m still not so sure I will.
Baz sighs dramatically and bookmarks his book with a flourish. He’s such and ass, always doing everything with an air of I’m better than you and you know it.
“Is there nothing productive for you to be doing, Snow, or is staring blankly at the floor the extent of your mental capabilities?”
I give him my best glare as he gets up and walks over to where he keeps his snacks. He snags a bag of salt and vinegar chips and returns to his book. I hate how refined he looks even when eating a bag of chips. Such an ass.
I let out a huff and fall back on my bed. This is going to be a very long month if we insult and annoy each other at every turn. We’ve fought ever since the beginning of freshman year when we were assigned as roomies, but I can’t remember what started it. He probably thought I looked too poor and stupid for someone like him to even talk to. The thing is, I don’t think I actually hate him. I think we would get along pretty well if we met in different contexts. He has a good sense of humor, even if he hides it under layers of snark and sarcastic remarks, and I can’t be that bad. Everyone else seems to like me, even if Baz can’t stand me. Penny says that we need couples counselling. I say that she isn’t taking my struggles seriously.
I pull out my computer and open up my AP Physics syllabus. We were supposed to have a lab this week but that’s not going to happen anymore. I was actually looking forward to it. Now we’ll have some online simulation to write a report on. Physics is the one class where things actually make sense to me. In English, the words all get jumbled in my head and I can never write things the way I want to. History isn’t much better. The things we learn are interesting, but all of the discussions in class always give me a headache.
Baz is in my history class, which doesn’t exactly help my enjoyment of it. He always carries the class in discussions and the teacher absolutely adores him. I hate it, the way he so effortlessly logics his way through things and makes everyone else feel stupid for even trying. And now I’ll be stuck with him for a month. I will truly be amazed if we both survive this unharmed.
I turn my head to the side to look at him. He’s absolutely engrossed in his book, his long dark hair falling into his face. His hair is like a girl’s, all shiny and nice. I wonder how he does that. I bet girls love his hair. They probably ask him if they can braid it. Girls love him. He’s the star soccer player, one of the best students, and even I can admit that he is rather good looking. He hasn’t had a girlfriend, though, as far as I’ve seen. We aren’t exactly close, far from it, but I think I would have noticed if he were going out with someone. I only ever see him with his soccer teammates.
“Take a picture, it’ll last longer,” he says, his eyes never leaving the page in front of him. I feel my face flush and I quickly look away.
“Why are you even here?” I say to the ceiling. I can hear him put his book down.
“I didn’t feel like going home.” That answered absolutely nothing.
“I would think you’d rather spend the month in your castle than be holed up in a shitty dorm with me.” I can hear him shift when I say that and I wonder what part of that made him uncomfortable.
“Well, you wouldn’t understand the difficulties of navigating family dynamics, so I can’t expect you to understand my reasons.” His tone is even, but I can tell he knows exactly what he is doing by saying that.
I bolt up in my bed.
“Shut the fuck up!” I growl, leaping off my bed and pushing him down. He somehow maintains a smirk on his face even as his eyes widen in surprise. “Why do you always have to go for the lowest blow?”
“I’m merely stating the facts, Snow.” He doesn’t even give me the satisfaction of pushing back. He simply lays there as I push into his shoulders. Somehow that only makes me even angrier.
“Fight back!” I shout at him, but he just sits there. I give him one final shove before rolling off of him with a grunt.
I feel exhausted. I always do after I get mad at him, even if our fight doesn’t last very long. He’s exhausting. He is still laying on his back, the book strewn on the floor. It feels strange when he doesn’t retaliate. It makes the fighting feel empty, like we’re going through the motions only for tradition’s sake. I wonder if that’s all it is at this point. Do we argue just because it’s what we do? I plop myself back on my bed and turn towards him.
“Why do we have to fight?” I mutter, half hoping he isn’t listening. He glances at me and I see one eyebrow quirk up.
“Whatever do you mean?”
“We keep fighting with each other over the stupidest things and I don’t know why we can’t just tolerate each other like normal roommates.” He looks over at me but doesn’t make any comment. “If we are going to survive this month we need to be able to live here without ripping at each other’s throats.”
“And what magical mend are you proposing, Snow?” He finally rolls over to fully look at me. Talking to him while he is stretched out on his bed, staring into my eyes, is somehow so much stranger than when we are shouting at each other.
“A truce.” I offer. “I’ll stay out of your way, and you won’t be an asshole to me. Just be a reasonable fucking human being, it’s all I ask of you.” He gives me a bored look.
“Why?”
“What do you mean why? I’m tired of fighting, is why. It’s pointless and it doesn’t help anyone that we can’t get along. I’m not asking to be your best friend, I’m just suggesting that we try not to piss the other person off constantly!” How can this be so difficult for him to understand?
“Okay,” he mutters finally, before picking up his book and going back to reading.
Well, I don’t know what I expected from this agreement, if I thought we would all of a sudden start having a bonding moment, but at least this gives me hope of a slightly more peaceful month ahead of me. I can't stop the smile that washes over my face.