Work Text:
Simon
"Okay, lastly, let's talk about Harry Potter potions. Namely Veritaserum, Amortentia, and Felix Felicis." Professor Clarke says in his deep, quick voice. He's obviously excited for this lesson, if the wide smile on his face is anything to go off of. "Can anyone give us brief descriptions of these potions?... Yes, Mr. Pitch."
"Veritaserum is a powerful truth serum that forces a person to answer any and all questions honestly for several minutes to half an hour, depending on the strength of the dose. Amortentia is a love potion that creates an obsessive infatuation with whomever hands the person the potion, and will smell like whatever a person desires most. Felix Felicis is a good luck potion, that allows a person to be successful in all reasonable attempts." Baz says in a bored, yet confident voice.
"Yes! All of these potions were created by..." Professor Clarke keeps talking about the potions, but I've stopped listening.
I haven't been able to pay much attention in lessons since Agatha and I broke up a couple weeks ago. Probably because she keeps staring at Baz, and when I catch her doing that, Baz smirks at me, taunting me with it. Aggie said it doesn't have to do with Baz, but the thought of them together makes me queasy. I see the way she looks at him, like he's the most interesting bloke on the planet. Which, okay , he's definitely has an air of mystery to him, but he's a right git. I have no idea what she sees in him, besides the fact that he's fit, and rich, and an athlete. He's still a vampire and an arsehole. Luck really isn't on my side….
That's just it , I think, luck! Maybe, if I can get my hands on that potion, she'll fall right back in love with me, and out of her infatuation with Baz!
I sneak a glance at him, and he's enraptured by the lecture. Figures, he would be. He actually likes school. Though, he's usually frustrated in this class, since we're lab partners. I don't know why Professor Clarke insists on making roommates partners as well; he must be a sadist. Speaking of Professor Clarke, he is still talking about these potions...
I tune back in just as Professor Clarke says, "and Felix Felicis is odorless. Now, I'll pass these three around so you can take a look!"
When the potions make their way around the room to Baz, he looks that them all carefully. He raises the iridescent, steaming potion up to his nose, and makes a frustrated face when he smells it, and hands it to me. It doesn't smell like anything to me; though, I can't smell anything over Baz's posh shampoo. Plus, it's close to dinner, and it may be my imagination, but I swear I can smell fresh sour cherry scones baking. No one's looking at me, so I nick a bit of the potion, smiling privately when I get away with getting some into my empty water bottle. The bell rings just as I'm finishing up, and I'm quick to get out of here lest someone suspects me.
I see Penny in the dining hall, buried in a book. "Where are the scones?" I ask, confused.
"What do you mean, Simon?" Penny asks, looking up at me.
"I smelled them earlier." I say.
She looks puzzled. "They don't usually make them for dinner, do they?"
I shrug. "No, not always… but they do sometimes."
Penny changes the subject, and I let the idea of scones go somewhat when I see there's Steak and Kidney Pie. I make and excuse to go back to Mummer's alone afterwards, since I don't want Penny to know what I'm doing. I know she'll disapprove of using magic to sort out my love life. As I walk back, I get more and more eager to drink the Felix Felicis and reunite with Agatha.
As soon as I enter my room, I take out the water bottle. When I open it, steam overflows from the cap. I drink the potion, expecting to feel limitless, clear-headed, ready to get Agatha back and away from Baz…
Baz.
His face appears in my head, his high cheekbones, his Cupid bow lips, his silky black hair…
Baz Pitch is the most fit bloke I've ever seen. No, person. And he's so clever; he always has the right answer in class, the wittiest responses in our spats, the most effective spells in duels. And he's right funny, in a dry, sarcastic way.
Crowley. Why was I was with Agatha for so long? Could I get Baz Pitch instead?
Just then, the object of my affections walks in the door. I jump off my bed instinctively to face him.
"No need for formal greetings, Snow. I'm not the bloody Queen," Baz says with a frown. He's so pretty, even when he frowns.
I laugh earnestly at his joke. "You're so funny, Basilton."
Baz looks at me with a quizzical expression, still frowning, though I think I'm smiling enough for the two of us.
The two of us, how great that sounds. I giggle happily at the idea.
"What's wrong with you, Snow?" Baz says, as he takes a sip of his own water bottle.
"Oh, nothing. I'm just in love with you." I say matter-of-factly.
He spits out his water and it gets my face all wet, which just causes me to laugh even more. It was just like a spit-take from a movie. If this is a movie, when are we going to get to the part where we kiss?
"Wh-what did you just say?" Baz asks, sounding nervous.
"I've never heard you stutter before. It's so cute," I respond, dreamily. Baz's frown returns, though I don't see why. I just complimented him.
"Stop taking the piss," Baz snaps.
"Why would I do that?" I ask curiously.
"Because, we're enemies." He says plainly. I recoil like I've been slapped.
"Don't say that," I say as forcefully as I can manage. How can this beautiful boy be my enemy?
"Why wouldn't I? We hate each other."
I feel a tear escape me, and I say, in a small voice, I say, "are you saying you don't want me?" My voice breaks on the last word, and I see Baz's eyes widen in concern. He comes closer, slowly, like I'm a wild animal who could strike at any moment.
"Simon?" He asks, sounding young. He usually sounds so much older since he usually speaks so formally, but for once he sounds like a seventh year boy. My name becomes music in his voice.
He's so close, and he smells so good, like cedar and bergamot. He's so close, I could kiss him. Maybe he would kiss me back. I start to lean in, and we are so close I can smell his breath, and can tell he's just had salt and vinegar crisps. Just an inch or two more…
"Snow." Baz says, jumping back from me before our lips meet. "What did you drink just before I got here?"
"Huh?" I say, confused by his sudden question. He looks around the room frantically, before he his eyes land on my water bottle, and I realize what he's getting at. "Oh, I stole some Felix Felicis from Clarke. Please don't tell on me."
"Snow," Baz growls, and I've never noticed how hot it is when he does that. "That is not Felix Felicis."
"Then why am I about to get lucky?" I ask, trying to sound suggestive as I reach for his tie, but he bats my hand away.
"Where's your sidekick?" he asks brusquely.
"Who?" I ask, curiously.
"Bunce, where's Bunce?" He asks urgently, putting more space between us. I go to close it again, but he holds his hand out, stopping me from coming any closer.
"Penny?" I question. "She's studying out by the old Willow tree. Why?"
"We need to go talk to her, now." He says, and makes his way through the door.
"W-wait!" I yell, and he stops. "Can we snog first?"
Baz clenches his jaw, and it makes his bone structure look downright criminal. If it weren't for the fact that I broke his once straight nose, his face would be almost perfectly symmetrical. "After," he promises, and I scurry after him.
If we get to kiss afterwards, we better get to Penny straight away.
Baz
The universe has convinced me that my atheism has been misguided, because hell is real. And I am in it.
Only Snow would be daft enough to mix up Felix Felicis and Amortenia, despite the fact that they are not even the same color. Honest to Merlin, this boy is a fucking moron.
I thought I was going to have a heart attack when he said he loved me. The way his voice sounded when he said it is going to play on a loop in my head forever, I just know it. I'm in love with you . The exact words I've fantasized about for years, just thrown out carelessly because of a stupid mixed up potion.
Bunce is exactly where Snow said she would be, reading a book I recognize from Advanced Greek.
"Bunce." I say angrily, "You are a poor excuse for a babysitter."
"Pardon me?" Bunce replies, offended.
"It looks like Snow here has accidentally ingested Amortentia, and has found himself very much in love."
"With who?" She asks.
I don't respond. I just wait for her to get it. She looks over at Snow, who's looking at me like he never has before. Like I hang the goddamn moon and stars and sun for him. She bursts out laughing when she puts two and two together.
"What's so funny, Penny?" Snow asks, innocently.
"He...didn't…" she says, barely able to gasp for air to get the words out through her giggles.
I clench my teeth together so hard I'm surprised none of them break. "I'm glad you find my worst nightmare amusing, Bunce."
"I'm not your worst nightmare, Baz. You promised you'd kiss me later." Snow says, and I'm grateful that I'm too dead to blush when Penny steals my signature move and raises one eyebrow at me.
"What I said, " I say, barely able to contain my rage, "was that we had to come see you, and cure him of this potion."
"I took Felix Felicis," Simon says with a solemn nod.
"He doesn't pay any attention in class, so he thinks he took Felix Felicis."
"You stole a restricted potion, Si," Penny says, "Why? Is it," she drops her voice so I can't overhear her. Except I'm a vampire, so I know she whispers, "the Humdrum?"
"No, I was trying to get Aggie back. But this is much better." " Simon says at a normal volume, shrugging nonchalantly.
I think I show remarkable self restraint when I don't kill him in cold blood in front of his best friend for saying that.
"You did this to get your stupid girlfriend back? Snow, you are a fucking numpty." I say viciously.
He starts to tear up again, and Penny intervenes, “okay, okay, Si. Baz just doesn’t want you to get in trouble for stealing a potion. Right, Baz?” Penny says with a sharp look at me. She knows as well as I do that people affected by Amortentia are so obsessed with the objects of their affections, that insults and rejection can drive them mad, and if he took too much, suicidal. All I can manage right now is a nod, but it seems to appease Snow.
“Anyways, Dev told me you guys are a class ahead in your period,” I say, as calmly as I can manage. Snow’s not infrequent magical outbursts have made our class period an entire 2 hours behind the rest of Seventh Year. “So, presumably, you have gotten to the antidote homework? Clarke said we’d cover it next time.”
“Yes, yes, I just finished mine yesterday. I have it in my room!” she says, gathering her things, and begins speed walking towards her dormitory. “Though,” she whispers to me, “we could just wait out the effects. He couldn’t have taken more than a days worth.” She’s smiling mischievously at me, sparing a glance at Snow, who's got his head in the clouds.
“I will throw him to the merwolves. Don’t think I won’t.” I threaten, but she just laughs.
While she’s running up to her bedroom, Simon Snow is staring at me with the goofiest smile I’ve ever seen on his face, and I’ve got my hands balled into fists, repeating in my head, like a mantra, don’t punch him, don’t punch him, don’t punch him . Even though he’s inflicting this on me, even though he inflicted this on me to get his fucking girlfriend back, don’t punch him .
In what feels like hours, but what was probably minutes, Bunce is back with the antidote. It’s the opposite of Amortentia: black, flat, and odorless. Snow turns his nose up at it.
“I don’t want to drink that,” he says indignantly.
“You have to,” I say sharply, then remind myself to soften up, just for a few more seconds. “Please?” I ask, making my voice sugary sweet, “for me?”
Snow smiles brightly, and almost spills the liquid in his rush to drink it. He throws it back like a shot of top shelf whiskey. His smile slowly falls to a frown as the effects of the antidote kick in.
“Welcome back to Earth, Snow,” I say, trying not to sound as bitter as I feel, “still wanna go upstairs and shag?”
“I-I didn’t ask you to shag!” He says, clearly embarrassed.
“Would have if I allowed it,” I snap. Now that he’s being himself again, I am filled with true rage. There was one moment, just a second, when we almost kissed, where I thought he might have meant it. But then I smelled it on his breath, the Amortentia. At first I thought it was just him, fire and cheap Watford shampoo, but then I smelled the woods behind my house and I realized where I recognized that particular mixture of aromas. “You would have gotten on your knees like that,” I say, snapping my fingers on ‘that’.
Crowley, he would have. I could have hooked up with Simon Snow. But it would have just been his body, his lips, not him . It would have been a cheap imitation of the real thing if we’d kissed while he was drugged. Having half of him would have been more painful than having none of him.
Snow narrows his eyes at me. "You could have embarrassed the hell out of me, but you just took me to Penny to get the antidote. Why would you help me?" He asks suspiciously.
"You being in love with me was insufferable. I couldn't stomach it, even to humiliate you." I spit the lie out as harshly as I can. It was insufferable, sure, but only because it wasn't real .
He looks offended, and it makes me want to laugh bitterly. “A simple thank you would suffice, Snow,” I say, before marching off to the Catacombs for the night.
Simon
“I’m sorry, Simon,” Penny says, laughing at me, again , “but it was so funny. You were moon-eyed over Baz Pitch. ”
“It was not funny,” I insist for the fifth time. “Be quiet, we’re in a library.”
Penny motions locking her lips and throwing away the key, but she still has a smirk on her lips. I sigh and try to go back to my potions reading. I wanted to practice my swordplay tonight, but Penny said that if I was clueless enough to confuse Amortentia and Felix Felicis, I needed to study more. I tried to talk my way out of it, but, honestly, she had a point there.
Crowley, I can’t believe I tried to kiss Baz. I can’t believe how badly I wanted to kiss Baz. The weirdest part was that, for a moment, it almost seemed like he wanted to kiss me back.
I can't stop thinking about that moment. The way his face looked so concerned when I started crying about him not wanting me (not sure how I'm going to manage to live that one down). The pout of his lips and the furrow of his brow. The way he called me 'Simon'. He never calls me Simon, only Snow. The name sounded foreign on his tongue, though it wasn't bad. His voice was softer, sweeter. I kind of liked it…
"Simon?" Penny says, breaking me out of my daydream.
"Yeah?" I reply, and she frowns.
"To study, you actually have to be reading."
I realize I've been zoned out for 15 minutes, just thinking about the weirdness of today. I force myself to try and focus on potions, putting Baz Pitch on the top of my list of things not to think about.
Baz Pitch has his hair in a ponytail today.
He usually only has his hair up for football games, but he woke up late, too late for a shower, this morning. He was in a foul mood- even for him. I don’t know how late he got home last night. By the time I got back to the room, it was five minutes until curfew, and when I fell asleep a full hour later he still wasn’t in the room. He must be uncomfortable about yesterday, because he won’t even look at me today. No matter how much I try to catch his eye.
“Earth to Simon?” Penny says, her voice twinged with annoyance. “Hello?”
“Baz has his hair in a ponytail.” I answer, not taking my eyes off of him.
Penny mock gasps. “Do you think he’s hiding evil plans in there? The ponytail holder probably has a scheme on it written in tiny letters.”
“It looks… good.” I say reluctantly, and Baz’s eyes snap to mine, like he heard me. I blush and look down at my food. When I look up, Penny’s looking at me curiously.
“Are you joking, Simon?” Penny asks.
“Forget it,” I mumble, shoving a sour cherry scone into my mouth to stop myself from talking again.
Four days later, and I’m still noticing it. How fit Baz is. I mean, I’ve always known . Everyone with eyes knows. But I’m really noticing it, now.
He’s got long eyelashes for a bloke, I notice in our next potions class, as he’s leaning over our cauldron to mix the ingredients. I barely know what we’re brewing, because an eyelash catches on his cheek, and I have to spend the whole period resisting the urge to brush it off with my fingertips.
In Elocution, I notice how musical his voice is. I mean, I always knew his pronunciation was perfect. He’s got the highest marks in Elocution, after all. But it’s more than that, his voice, when it’s not marred by cruelty or sarcasm, when he’s casting a spell, is clear and honeyed and even a little sweet. I know he plays the violin, I wonder if he can sing? I ask him later, in our room, and he looks at me like I’ve grown a second head. He never answers the question, just stalks out of the room, and it makes me all the more curious.
Friday night, I go to watch football practice. I haven’t done it in a while, so I think, why not? And I notice how graceful Baz is. I’ve never seen him trip or fall or even move awkwardly. The way he runs is almost like dancing. (Another thing I know he can do well: dance. He asked Aggie to dance at last year’s Winter Ball and he looked as if he took professional ballroom classes). I wonder if that’s a vampire thing or a Baz thing. Part of me is absolutely sure it’s just a Baz thing.
I don’t know why I keep realizing these things about Baz. Is realizing the right word? I feel like none of this is new information. More like now, I’m properly thinking about it. I keep watching Baz, trying to figure it out. Why all this suddenly matters.
Though, on day five, Baz snaps.
Baz
Simon bloody Snow is driving me crazy.
I’ve been trying to avoid him as much as possible since the Amortentia incident, but he is not taking the hint. (Not that he’s ever been one to take a hint). This is worse than fifth year. At least in fifth year, I knew what he was trying to do. Now, I have no clue what he’s playing at.
He stares at me all day, every day. Not glares, stares . Like he’s trying to figure me out. It’s so wildly uncomfortable I feel like my skin is crawling.
Did he notice that I almost kissed him when he was under the Amortentia spell? Is that why he’s showing up to my practices and asking me weird questions like whether I can sing? Is he trying to throw me off, telling Bunce my hair looks good up? (I've had to resist putting my hair up every day this week after I heard that).
When I wake up Saturday morning to find him standing over my bed, I lose it.
“What the everloving fuck are you doing, Snow?” I snarl.
“I- uh- I- I’m sorry- I-” He stammers, and it only makes me more angry.
“ What are you doing ?” I demand. I wish that phrase was a spell, so I could put magic into my words, and force him to tell me. Twenty pounds says Snow could make the words magic, but I’m not Simon bloody Snow.
“I was just- I-” I rip my covers off, sick of his shit.
“What could I possibly be plotting while unconscious, Snow? I may be rather impressive, but even I can’t kill you in my sleep.” I snap.
“What?” He asks. His playing dumb act is only making me more angry.
“Stop. Following. Me. Everywhere.” I demand. “Stop coming to my football practices, stop staring at me from across the halls and classrooms, and stop watching me fucking sleep.”
Snow turns bright red. He swallows showily and I resist the urge to bite his Adam’s apple. I didn’t know I had a thing for Adam’s apples until Snow hit puberty and the thing started jutting out of his neck like a target. Though, maybe I wouldn’t have a thing for them if it wasn’t on Snow. I seem to have a thing for everything of Snow’s.
He opens his mouth to speak, but I interrupt him, not wanting to hear his stupid voice. “Stay away from me, Snow, you’re not my bloody girlfriend.”
With that, Snow turns on his heel, and walks straight out of our room, not bothering to shut the door behind him.
Simon
“Penny,” I say, desperately, and her head snaps up immediately. “It’s an emergency. We have a problem.”
“What is it? Is it The Humdrum?” She asks, jumping to her feet, looking around wildly like she’s expecting him to jump out from behind a tree.
“I think Baz is plotting something.”
All the concern drops from her face in an instant. She hits my arm. “Simon, you scared me. I thought there was a real emergency.”
“This is a real emergency!” I insist.
“Simon, you thinking Baz is plotting is not an emergency, it’s your constant state of being.” Penny huffs.
“No, listen , I think he did something to the Amortentia.” I say, panicking.
“The Amortentia you stole?” She asks with her eyebrows raised.
“Yes,” I say earnestly, ignoring her judgement, “it isn’t going away.”
“What isn’t going away?”
“My feelings!” I declare, exasperated that she’s not following me. “I still fancy him!”
It's taken a few days to figure it out. Why I've all of a sudden started thinking all these good things about him and following him around. Why, when he was sleeping this morning, I realized how peaceful he looked when he slept, and started thinking about what it would be like to kiss him in the mornings…
“I think he strengthened it somehow.” I say.
Penny pauses to consider it. “Did he touch the potion before you took it?”
“Well, no, not exactly.” I admit. “I mean, he handed it to me in class, but all he did was smell it. He must have done something after the fact.”
“Did he cast something on you?”
“No… well, actually, I don’t know.” I admit. “I really couldn’t think straight when I was on the Amortentia.”
Penny snorts at my choice of words, and I roll my eyes. “Ha ha ha, very funny,” I say sarcastically.
“Okay, okay, sorry.” She says, though she’s still smirking.
“We should steal some Veriserum!” I exclaim, the idea coming to me quickly, “then we can force him to tell me how to reverse it.”
“No, no, no,” Penny says, passionately. “I’m putting my foot down. It was bad enough you stole a potion the first time , and you were only taking it for yourself. We aren’t spiking Baz’s drink. Nope, Simon. This is the line, and we are not crossing it. You have found the end of my patience. No.” Penny looks deathly serious.
“Fine, Fine,” I concede. Well, that plans out. No way I could break into the potions room without her. “But we have to do something!” I exclaim dramatically, “or I’m going to fancy Baz Pitch for all of eternity!”
She gathers her things and stands, “I know what we’ll do, we’ll go to the-”
“Library.” I finish her sentence for her with a sigh. That’s always her plan.
“Penny, this is hopeless,” I say, after three hours of research. “There’s not an answer here. I think I just need to confront Baz.”
“And say, what?” She says, too loudly, “ Baz, since when have your eyes been so pretty ?”
“I told you that in confidence,” I whisper back harshly. “Maybe your antidote was faulty.”
She sighs loudly, putting her book down. “Professor Clarke tested my antidote in class. It’s not faulty.”
“Then why do I feel this way?” I say, more to myself than to her.
Penny gives me a searching look. I can practically see the gears in her head turning. “Simon,” she says gently, reaching out to grab my hand, “have you considered, well, maybe-”
Her sentence is cut off by Baz Pitch loudly opening the library door, causing us both to jump. It’s a Saturday, and we’re nowhere close to exams, so before he showed up the place was almost empty. But when he walks into the door, it’s like he fills the room with his presence. He’s not said anything, but I feel like he’s screaming the way his arrival makes my heart beat and stomach twist.
Without thinking, I march right up to him in the aisle he’s loitering in. “I know what you did.” I accuse.
Judging by his facial expression, I’d think Baz was bored. Except for his shoulders are tense and his jaw is clenched, so I know I’m affecting him, too. “I’m going to need you to be more specific, Snow,” He drawls, and I get butterflies at the sound of his melodious voice, “I do a lot of things.”
“I know you cursed me.” I say in a low voice.
“With what? Stupidity? Sorry to break it to you, but I’m sure that was there long before you met me.” He’s not even bothering to look at me, just scanning the shelves for some book or another. It infuriates me that he thinks he’s so superior to me, that he won’t even bother with eye contact when we talk.
I feel my eyes start to prickle, and with a devastating humiliation I realize I’m about to cry. “No,” I say, as evenly as I can manage, “you messed with the love potion.”
“The love potion?” He asks, still feigning ignorance.
“Yes. You made the effects long-lasting or something.”
“Why in Merlin’s name would I want to do that?” Baz says, with an indecipherable edge to his voice.
I don’t have an answer to that. What would Baz gain out of this? It’s not even like I’m writing sonnets and trying to jump him anymore, so it can’t be for humiliation purposes. What other motives could he have? “I- you- I-” I stammer, hoping the words will magically come to me.
“Spit it out. I don’t have all day.”
“Then why do I still want to snog you?” I ask before thinking about how my words will sound, and feel my face flush red. Of course, that’s the moment that Baz decides to finally look up at me. He’s not even bothering to hide his total and utter surprise, and that’s what makes it finally click in my head.
Baz didn’t tamper with the potion. I’m not under a spell anymore. The spell just made me realize things I always have thought. It made it impossible to ignore my feelings.
Crowley. I fancy Baz Pitch. And I practically just admitted it to his face.
I run out of the library without bothering to grab any of my belongings.
Baz
I can’t find Snow.
After he ran out of the library, I think I stood still for five minutes running his words through my head on a loop. ‘ Then why do I still want to snog you?’
Merlin.
When I walked out from the stacks, Snow’s sidekick was looking at me with a knowing expression. I just left the library without the book I was looking for, since I couldn’t remember what the book I had come for was.
Now, in an unfortunate role reversal, I’m looking for the Chosen One rather than the other way around. He must have picked up a thing or two on hiding places since stalking me so much in fifth year, because it’s nearly dark and I still can’t find him. I'm about to sacrifice my pride and ask Bunce for help, when I see a glint of silver in the distance. I walk quickly- I think about running, but I don't want to seem too desperate- towards the movement, into the Wavering Woods.
Snow is practicing his swordplay on a thick oak tree. It seems he's been here all day; the tree has dozens of deep hacking marks on both sides, and sweat is dripping down his forehead, making his curls stick flat on his head.
"What did that tree ever do to you?" I try to make my voice kindly teasing, but I startle him, so he whips around with his sword up like he's ready to fight. I jump back a little with my hands up. "Easy, killer."
He narrows his red-rimmed eyes and turns to continue hacking at the tree. I wait patiently for him to stop, and when he realizes that I'm not leaving any time soon, he sighs loudly and mutters the enchantment to sheath his sword. "What do you want?" he asks, tiredly.
I suddenly get very nervous that maybe I'm wrong about this. "Uh-", I say awkwardly, and then curse myself for my uncharacteristic stuttering.
Simon narrows his eyes, and I take a deep breath before speaking again.
Simon
Baz is not reacting the way I anticipated.
I've spent the entire day imagining all the ways Baz Pitch could react when he realized I fancied him. He looked shocked when I admitted I still wanted to snog him, but I was prepared for the shock to subside and turn to disgust or cruel amusement or some other awful emotion. I didn't expect this though. He looks flustered and embarrassed.
"Did you mean it?" He asks, tucking a lock of his hair behind his ear in a shy gesture I've never seen from him.
I think about denying it, but I've never been a very good liar. So I answer, quietly, looking at the ground, "yes."
I hear his sharp inhale, and I don't want to look up, but I can't help it. Baz is looking at me with a startling intensity, and I don't think to move when he lunges at me.
All I can think is, I always knew he'd kill me. Might as well get it over with.
That is until he puts his lips on mine.
Baz
I don't know what I'm doing. I just know that I need to wipe that dejected look off Simon's face.
He makes a noise of surprise when our lips meet, and I worry for a heartstopping second that he'll push me off, because he doesn't react immediately. Just as I'm thinking I might want to pull away, he responds, throwing his arms around my neck and pushing his body against mine so there's not an inch of space between us. He does this expert thing with his chin that I try to mimic, but I give up after only ten seconds, letting him take the lead. He knows what he's doing, and he's good. So good.
I let every thought fall out of my brain that isn't Simon, Simon, Simon.
Simon
This is what kissing is supposed to feel like. I didn't know. I've kissed a couple of girls, but it never made me feel this way- like it was the only thing in the universe that matters. I think Baz could set the Wavering Woods on fire, and I wouldn't stop kissing him. I'm not sure I can ever stop kissing him now that I've started.
Baz
I'm not sure how long we carry on like this, but it's pitch black when we finally break apart from one another. I shiver when a strong gust of wild reminds me that it's the middle of February, and that maybe we should go inside where it's warmer. Except, I'm a little afraid that if I let go of Simon, maybe I'll wake up to find this has all just been a far-fetched dream. Like I'll open my eyes and be back in Mummer's Tower, and I'll turn over to see Simon sleeping on his side of the room, unaware of how badly I want him.
"We should go back to the room," Simon whispers. "You're cold."
Then, he laces our hands together, and we walk back to Mummer's in silence. I'm too afraid to speak, afraid that I won't be able to get the right words out. So I say nothing, and neither does Simon. Not until we're back into the room.
After the door shuts behind Simon, he turns and gives me a searching look. He looks as nervous as I feel. "What was that?" Simon asks me gently.
"I think they call it snogging, Snow," I say, and immediately regret it when Simon flinches.
"Why did you do it?" He asks me, his voice breaking a little on the end. He manages not to drop eye contact with me, even though he looks anxious.
I realize that he still thinks I'm going to reject him, even after that kiss. Like there’s a dimension in the universe where I wouldn’t want him. Even if there was an alternate reality where I was straight (though, wildly unlikely), I’m sure I’d find a way to fall for him.
“I wanted to,” I reply honestly, and the tension in Simon’s shoulders dissipates. The smile playing at the corner of his lips convinces me to elaborate. “I always want to kiss you, Simon.”
This time, he kisses me.
Penny
When Simon doesn’t come down for breakfast the next day, I finally get worried that I’ve made a grave mistake.
I thought they’d figure it out by now, that they fancy one another. I mean, I think Basilton’s known for at least a year, maybe longer. I used to think he was always staring at Agatha, but then I noticed he only looked at her if Simon was there. And, well, he was always looking at Simon. Almost as much as Simon looked at him.
It was only this year that I became sure Simon fancied Baz. I mean, when he and Agatha broke up last month, he still talked about nothing but Baz. And after seeing him on that potion, and realizing his usual obsession with Baz wasn’t so far off, well…
I don’t know how Baz didn’t know about how Amortentia will awaken dormant feelings in someone if they take the potion from someone they already fancy. I mean, it’s not in our class textbook, so I didn’t think Simon would know, but Baz is surely reading supplemental textbooks if he wants to come close to beating me as top of the class.
I open the door to Simon and Baz’s bedroom, worried about what I’m going to find. The two of them fighting, Simon pouting in bed, Baz pouting in bed…
Instead, I find the two of them fast asleep in Simon’s bed, limbs tangled and shirtless. Simon’s head is tucked into the crook of Baz’s neck, and Baz is honest to Merlin smiling in his sleep, like he’s having sweet dreams.
I stifle laughter as I quietly walk out of their bedroom.
I’m still smiling when the two of them finally make it down to breakfast, both with bedhead and bright eyes. Baz leaves Simon to walk over to his table of friends, and I’m about to tell Simon that I’m going to spell his new boyfriend to come sit with us, until I realize he’s just telling Dev and Niall to come join his over here.
Thank Merlin, I didn’t want to have to spell him, I think, good thing love is more powerful than any kind of magic.