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It seemed simple, hadn't it? Until it wasn't. This sort of thing appeared to be happening to Simon a lot more recently, he figured he might as well get used to it. They had finally decided to get a place together. Nothing special, just a flat that Simon, Baz, and Penelope would share. Simon and Penelope had talked about it since they became friends. He never thought he would actually y'know, live long enough to see it actually become a reality, though.
Penelope had already helped him move most of their things into the flat, and Baz had said he would help with the rest, 'help' having a very loose definition, of course. Simon learned that fairly quickly.
"Tyrannus Basilton Grimm-Pitch! Get over here and help me! You said you'd help and you're just sitting there. This ones really heavy, and it's yours!" Baz merely laughed quietly, smirking.
"Oh, but it's much more fun to watch from here!" Of course he'd help his boyfriend move the boxes, just not yet. It was too much fun watching him struggle with that particularly heavy box to pass up. It was probably books. He sighed as he stood up.
Their flat was on one of the highest floors of the building, and the stairs were lightly carpeted. Their elevator was, unfortunately, temporarily out of order. Baz knew that Snow could handle them, and that he liked to be able to show that he could do things himself, now that he had sacrificed his magic.
Baz was quickly pulled out of his reverie, however, by Snow's clearly distressed voice.
"B-baz, could you just-" Simon was quickly cut off with a crash of boxes and books and, more importantly, boy. Baz peeked out the door, winced, and cursed under his breath.
The box had busted open, and there were leather bound books strewn about the landing including, upon closer inspection, on top of his now barely conscious boyfriend.
Baz jumped down to the landing, foregoing the stairs completely. The floor space of the landing wasn't particularly large, and some books were falling down the stairs, but Baz's vision tunneled. All he could see was Simon, his Simon, slumped against the wall, a nasty bruise already forming over his right eye, a trickle of blood making its way down Simon's face. Baz kneeled next to him as his eyes fluttered shut.
"No, no, no..Snow, you have to wake up," he whispered, kissing Simon's face, "please. Simon." After a few more moments, Simon's eyes snapped open, but Baz's relief was short lived as Simon immediately backed into the corner like a scared animal.
"Wh-where am I? Why are you here? Why was I asleep? When did you get back to Watford?" Baz's stomach dropped. How much did Simon remember? He tried to remember what Agatha had told him about her father dealing with a concussion in a particularly feisty nymph. He knew there was confusion, but was full blown amnesia a symptom? Baz heaved a sigh and returned to the problem at hand.
"Okay, look. I need you to tell me your name, age, and what day it is. This is really important, can you do that for me?" Baz tried to keep his voice as neutral as possible, as he wasn't sure how much Simon remembered exactly.
"Th-this is so weird. This is weird, right? My name's Simon Snow-when did you get back, seriously?" Baz snapped his fingers until Simon continued, "I'm 18, and I dunno, its around the end of October, isn't it?" Baz's eyes widened and he hung his head. He had no idea it was this bad. He pulled his mobile from his pocket and dialed Penelope's number, still kneeling awkwardly beside Snow. He wanted to reach out to him, but Simon didn't have the memory of them. He ran his hand through his hair, pushing it out of his face as Penny picked up.
"Baz? Wha-"
"You've got to come over. Simon fell and he-he-" Baz's voice wavered, but he knew Penelope wouldn't be able to tell. Only Simon would. Or at least the old Simon. The Pre-Disaster Simon.
"Okay, it's all right, Baz, I'm in the neighborhood anyways." She ended the call, and Baz's attention was quickly directed to the other boy on the landing.
"Where'd you go? You missed a lot of school, y'know," Simon's words were beginning to slur together, Baz noticed with a frown. "Is this what y'were doin'? Plotting...to kill me?" Baz could tell that the words were getting more difficult for Simon to get out. "Don't answer that actually. 'M gonna, I'm j'st gonna take a li'l nap here." Simon's head pitched forward, eyes closed once again. Baz knew he was no doctor but he knew that people with concussions weren't allowed to sleep. What if he didn't wake up?
"Simon? Simon, c'mon you gotta wake up," Snow merely scrunched his nose and furrowed his brow. "I promise I wasn't plotting. I don't want you to die, so you really need to open your eyes now," Simon peeled his eyes open, looking dazed.
"Wh're am I?" He squinted, "when did I get here?" Before either could properly assess the situation, Penny came bounding up the stairs, immediately concerned.
"Simon? What happened? Baz? What's going on?" It took Simon nearly a full minute, but he ended up being able to recognize Penelope.
"Penny? Oh, good, you're here! I think Baz is trying to kill me again," he tried to point, but his body didn't seem to be listening to him, as he lifted his arm and then dropped it like a wet noodle. He glared down at his arm as if it had done him a disservice.
"C'mon, let's-let's get you inside," Penny helped Simon up and supported his weight as she led him inside. Baz followed them closely, much like a lost puppy.
She led him to his and Baz's newly made bed with a quick kiss to the temple, "get some sleep."
Penelope quickly filled Baz in. Apparently a few of her siblings had had a few concussions in the past, and she knew what to do.
"You can let the concussed person sleep, but you have to wake them up every hour, otherwise there's a risk of the person not waking up," Penny said matter-of-factly, scratching the back of her neck as she realized how Baz would take that.
Baz found it hard to believe that this entire ordeal had happened in the space of just the morning. Penelope had promised him that Simon's memory would come back, he just had to wait, but that didn't help how Baz was feeling at the moment. They had finally gone from Simon and Baz to simonandbaz and this morning they had regressed back. It hurt Baz to think of how he could've easily prevented this. He knew that Simon wouldn't want him to blame himself but he couldn't help it. He sighed and flopped back onto their couch.
Penelope had set an alarm on her mobile for an hour after she had let Simon sleep for about an hour. Nervously, she peeked into the bedroom to see him curled into his signature 'sleeping ball' as Baz liked to call it. She walked in and gently shook him awake.
"Simon? You've gotta wake up, just for a sec, c'mon," he was responsive after a few moments and cracked his eyes open groggily. Penny smiled and let him go back to sleep. As she was shutting the door, though, she could've sworn that she heard him mumble Baz's name. It was too quiet to tell.
By the third wake up call, Simon was beginning to regain some of his lucidity.
"B-baz? Where's Baz?" Simon could barely get the words out before his eyes slid shut once again. Though in his exhaustion, the words came out jumbled and sounded more like, "B-b'z? wh're's B'z?" Penny waited a moment to hear his breathing even out before she left the room again, eager to tell Baz what had happened. She figured it was noteworthy.
Baz was, indeed, relatively glad (for Baz, at least) about Simon's words, but something was clearly the matter. There were some angry and buzzing thoughts gnawing at the back of his head that Baz just couldn't shake. Penny didn't comment, knowing that he most likely wouldn't share. She was right, but Baz almost wished she'd ask. He knew Snow would, and that was just it. How had they gone from lovers to enemies once again in just the blink of an eye? His chest tightened as he thought of the incident, no matter how many times he was reassured that it was completely temporary. What if Simon was never the same again?
Accompanying Penny's fifth visit to her 'patient,' she could safely say that Simon was nearly cognizant.
"Hey, good morning! You can go back to sleep in a moment. But can you tell me your name, age, and the year?"
He groggily yawned and mumbled, "Simon. I'm 18 and its 2016." Penny smiled and let him be.
She heard him mumble his boyfriend's name for sure this time, and she smiled and turned to leave when she heard a distressed whimper.
"P-penny? Penny, wait. Please?" She turned quickly and was surprised to see her best friend's eyes were brimming with unshed tears.
"Wh-where's Baz? Did I do something w-wrong? Why isn't he here?" Simon was still slurring his speech a bit and stumbling over most words, but Penny was able to understand him better now, especially compared to the morning.
"Oh, honey, no," she gasped, "not at all." She sat down on his bed and began to explain, "you hit your head kind of hard today, and you sustained a concussion. It wasn't mild; you lost a good chunk of memory, about a year. You forgot about you and Baz being together, and you seemed to think it was still October of last year." Simon appeared more than shocked to hear this.
"H-how c-could I f-forget Baz," he asked, fighting to hold back tears.
"L-let me go get him for you, he'll be happy to hear that you've regained your memory."
Baz entered shortly, his face concerned. Simon, still a little out of it gestured for him so come to the bed, he obliged.
Baz reached and arm out to Simon, stroking his hair. His tone soft, he asked, "Simon? Do you know who I am?"
Simon's tears spilled over as he held out his arms as a gesture for Baz to come closer, "I'm so sorry," he cried. "I didn't mean to forget, I swear." He scooted over on the bed to allow Baz to lay down with him, and Baz gladly accepted the offer.
"I know you didn't. I'm just glad you're okay," Baz reached out to grab Simon's hand, almost as if to ascertain that he was real.
Simon tucked his head into Baz's neck, "I love you, Baz," and then as an afterthought, "even though you're blurry."
"I love you too, Simon," Baz chuckled. They laid there, just content to be near each other, for the rest of the evening, and only later did Simon smile reverently to himself, realizing Baz had called him by his first name all day.