Snow in August

Chapter Four

He practically flew out of his seat to answer the door.
"I have to be honest here, Snow, I'm a little disappointed to see you're wearing pants." Baz smirked and held up a box. "Mac and cheese." Simon swayed a bit, gripping the door for support.
"Thank God. Here I was thinking you were going to make me a whole healthy meal." He leaned closer to Baz just as he began walking into the flat. Simon flashed a grin at the carpet before closing the door and following Baz into the kitchen.
"You have any clean pots?" Baz turned away from the cluttered stove.
"No, but I have green pot," Simon offered. Baz scoffed; his lips were curled up slightly. They stood there for a moment, just watching each other, until Simon pulled Baz forward by the strings on his sweatpants and kissed him. "Alright then, music?" He looked into Baz's eyes one more time before going into his room and looking through his records. The Doors: L.A. Woman. Simon frowned, he made a note to organize his vinyls soon.

"What's taking so long? The water's almost boiling already." When Baz found the bedroom, his eyes lit up. "Holy shit, that's a lot of records." He was hesitant, but Simon gestured him over.
"Help me look for The Doors." He looked up at Baz's overwhelmed expression and pulled at his wrist for him to sit. "I looked through these two already, start here." He pointed to the last huge bin next to him.
It was impossible to concentrate on anything when Baz was sitting there with a curious smile on his face, gasping at every other record and wanting to know all about each one.
"Snow! I think I found it." He pulled out the album and Simon wanted to kiss him again.
"My hero," he teased, taking the vinyl to the record player in the living room. "Dance with me, Baz."
He blushed when Simon said his name. Simon took a long swig from the vodka bottle, realizing he himself had been blushing the entire night so far.
He could hear the rush sound of pasta falling into the pot and then Baz emerging from the kitchen. "Love Her Madly" played through the speaker on the floor. Simon turned the volume deafeningly loud. He could figure Baz was shouting "Snow! Turn it down!" but he just shook his head and grabbed the idiot's hands. He yelled out the lyrics, dancing a dysfunctional tango with Baz who reluctantly ended up shouting the words with him. They pressed against each other, so close Simon could feel Baz's words vibrating through his chest. He watched Baz, the way that-no matter what-even grinning, one corner of his mouth rose just a little higher than the other. His eyes were intricate, full of a billion different shades of grey all streaked around huge pupils. Eyes that kept glancing down at Simon's lips until finally they just stayed, staring.
Simon removed his hand from Baz's to brush away his hair, keeping the other one pressed into the small of his back. Those grey eyes weren't staring anymore because they were closed. He wasn't smiling anymore because Simon was kissing him. He could feel Baz holding back just a bit. That's ok, he thought, pushing him into the wall.
"The pasta," Baz muttered.
"Shut the fuck up, Pitch."

Baz poured the water out of the pot. Of course, the pasta was near inedible being so overcooked, but Baz owed a dinner and he'd be damned if he didn't finish making it.
"Honey, honey, that's absolute mush." Simon liked how red Baz's face got when he made fun of him.
"Oh, I know something that'll really make it good." Against Simon's shouting and grabbing, Baz poured half of his vodka right into the pot. This then caused a load of smoke and hissing from the pot. Baz practically cackled until the fire alarm startled him, at which point Simon started laughing.
Baz shoved him into the counter with a strange look on his face and kissed him hard. So this was him not holding back. It didn't matter that the pasta was almost on fire or that the alarm was louder than the music. Baz tasted like coffee. And mint, which shouldn't work but it did. It really did.
"You make sense." He smiled with pink, swollen lips. The fire alarm and record seemed to turn off simultaneously.
"What do you mean?" Simon didn't even know what he meant.
"We make sense. I don't know, Baz, this just seems right. I don't know." He jumped up to sit on the counter, grabbing the vodka bottle and drinking from it. He suddenly wanted nothing more than to completely avoid any eye contact. Baz rubbed circles into his thighs, still smiling.
"Well listen, how about I go order a pizza and we get high and just not talk?" He asked softly. Simon nodded.
As it turned out, Baz liked pineapple on his pizza and Simon threatened to kick him out of the apartment. They passed a joint between them and didn't talk.
They were laying on his bed in the dark when the pizza arrived. It was quite a scene: Simon stumbling around giggling at the delivery lady, looking for the tip money. And then Baz, practically unable to stand on his own, just watching Simon struggle and laughing.
"Do you think... worms are ever self-conscious about their weight?" Baz asked, picking up the fallen cheese from his plate.
"Oh, baby, I'm no expert wormologist or anything, but yeah probably."
"Hm. Do you wanna know something?" Simon closed his eyes in response. "You're really beautiful."
"Man, just eat your pizza."
"Alright."
The pizza was eaten. Baz fell asleep on Simon's lap with his cheek on his shoulder. Simon couldn't really feel his legs, but that was fine. He just tried his best to adjust the pillow without waking the idiot and eventually fell asleep too.

For the first time since Agatha, Simon didn't wake up alone. Sure, he was upside down with feet in his face, but they weren't smelly feet, they weren't dirty or anything.
"Pedicure...?" Simon sat up and there he was. Somehow Baz had taken over the entire bed. The duvet was piled up on the floor. He bent over to pick it up, ignoring the pounding in his head, and placed it over Baz.
Simon was convinced there was no one in the entire world that could possibly come close to being as beautiful as Baz. Even asleep he couldn't shut up.
"Mum won't mind... yeah the bank is closed, the dog has no money..." Simon smirked and traced Baz's cheekbone before getting up to make breakfast. (Simon Snow does not make breakfast.)
After about thirty minutes of trial and error and about four rubbery batches of scrambled eggs (and a few shots), Simon decided to just leave out the oat milk and his various boxes of cereal.
"Knock knock! Simon I-"
"Shh! Penny, I've got someone sleeping inside." Penelope gave an exaggerated look of intrigue as Simon quietly shut the front door. She peeked around and broke into a fit of giggles seeing the cereals all lined up on the table.
"Since when do you eat breakfast? Oh my God, are you blushing?" She punched his arm a bit too hard. "Simon Snow, are you like, in loove?" Simon punched Penny's arm just as hard.
"Shut up, Pen, no." He stared at the cereal. "I mean I can't be, we've hung out twice." You can't possibly fall in love that quickly can you? "Don't-" He stopped her before she even opened her mouth all the way. "Don't talk to me about Agatha, man. I know the story."
The story was that he told her he loved her on their third date and she asked him to marry her on their eighth. And by their thirty fourth date, the thrill was gone and she dumped him. Alcoholism followed and Simon's been consistently drunk ever since.
"Why is it that all of a sudden I come over and you are never wearing pants?" Simon looked down at his underwear. "Oh hi, you must be Baz." He looked up to see Baz standing there with his eyes half shut and the duvet wrapped around him.
"Hiya, sleepy head. How's it going? I've got cereal and many painkillers just this way." He kissed Baz's warm cheek and guided him into the kitchen.
"Is there another person here or am I still blasted?" He dry-swallowed two pills and began examining the cereal options.
"A little bit of both. Hi, I'm Penelope."
"Oh, well hey. Baz." She mouthed He's hot! to Simon in the least subtle way. Baz kept his head down but he couldn't fight the smile off his face.
"Right! Well, I'd better go. Simon, I'll text you later? Ok, toodles!"
Baz looked up as the door shut. He smiled at the door, and then at Simon.
"She's quite wonderful. Hey, come here." He opened the duvet and Simon gladly sat, pulling Baz onto his lap with only a bit of protesting.
They of course ended up not eating cereal, but instead ordering sushi. Baz chose to listen to the Bobby Blue Bland vinyl and they laid on the floor in the duvet and watched each other.
"Why didn't you want me to call you beautiful?" He asked after a while. For the first time that morning Simon looked away from Baz.
"I never really thought that word fit me right. And it makes me feel guilty, I guess, because I used to call my ex that a lot and I never really meant it." Baz pulled Simon onto him.
"I mean it." He rested his chin on Baz's chest and closed his eyes, trying so hard to take in this moment.
The music, and the warmth and the way that Baz somehow still smelled so good even after a night in this poorly ventilated apartment.