Chapter 1- Simon

A/N: This was based off a Tumblr post I liked. I'm not trying to take credit for this idea in any way. The characters belong to Rainbow Rowell.

"Oh my God, what the fuck is that!"

Simon Snow had to work hard not to shove his fist into his computer screen as a terrifyingly-shriveled baby-like creature appeared in the sink for a second time.

A subscriber had suggested he play the new horror game, P.T., and so far he was scared shitless. Simon was starting to regret his policy of playing in the dark during scary games, but he both loved and loathed the thoroughly creeped-out feeling.

"Simon, you should really turn the lights on," Penny, Simon's best friend and roommate, was watching him play, hidden from the camera in the darkness but still commenting every once in a while. "You'll get nightmares again, just like last time, and then I'll have to listen to you complain about always being tired."

Penny's voice came from the couch behind him, and Simon looked for her in the viewfinder. He could see her glasses glint in the light from the screen.

"I'm trying to absorb what's left of the scary atmosphere! Pretty soon people will forget all about Halloween in favor of Thanksgiving, and I'm going to enjoy this for as long as I possibly can!" He maneuvered his avatar back through the door, focusing intently on anticipating the next jumpscare. Simon could practically feel Penny roll her eyes. He decided to ignore it.


"Went for coffee with Agatha, we'll bring you something. -Penny"

Simon crumpled the sticky note and tossed it at the bin. He had slept in this morning, making up for time lost to the predicted nightmares. He was lucky Penny had left so early, or he would've had to wake up to her "You-brought-this-on-yourself's"and "I-told-you-so's".

Maybe he could use the extra time before she came back to come up with a good argument or a clever comeback… Or he could get on YouTube.

Simon scratched his head as his laptop hummed to life, making his curls even messier than they were when he woke up. He logged into his YouTube account, checking the subscriber count first, like always. As an aspiring YouTuber, he became genuinely excited every time the number went up, even if just by a tiny amount.

The comments on yesterday's video were similar to the comments on all of his other videos. People telling him that he was funny and adorable (he smiled at those), people shipping him with Penny (he found those amusing), and people telling him he was annoying and talentless. (He gave them a Penny-worthy eye-roll.)

He shut the laptop in favor of going back to bed. If Penny wasn't there, there wasn't much point in being awake.


"Welcome to Starbucks, my name's Baz, how can I help you."

Baz recited the lines he had been using for a year and a half now. They had lost all the feeling that was once behind them, and came out in a monotonous, tired drone.

He nodded as he wrote down the customer's order, if only for the possible tip accompanied. As he moved about, preparing the coffee, he thought about asking the girl out. She seemed average in all physical aspects, and Baz didn't think convincing her to say yes to a date would be all that hard.

Baz sighed. That could never be his life. Girls weren't bad. They were good, actually. Good friends, at least. But none of them were interesting.

Boys aren't interesting either, he supposed, if the entertainment factor were what decided that. No one Baz had ever met was interesting enough to make him want to ask them out. Gender wasn't a problem, he really didn't care who he ended up with.

As long as he found someone… Baz was getting tired of waiting.

He gave the averagely-brown haired girl a tired half-smile and a nod as she left, dropping a dollar in the tip jar on her way out.

With the shop now effectively empty, Baz put in his earbuds and laid his head on the counter, scrolling through his Twitter feed and humming in tune with Death of a Bachelor.

'Slow day at Starbucks, anyone up for a Q and A?' He typed the message and hit enter before closing his eyes and waiting.

Minutes later, responses began popping up.

'How's work today?'

Baz smiled. Small things that let him know people cared were the best.

'It's pretty good today! Slow, like I said, but everyone's been nice so far'

'Your funny and hot lol'

'Not a question but thanks for fueling my ego'

'Do u have a boyfriend or girlfriend?'

Baz frowned. He figured someone would ask that, but he didn't think it'd be this soon... The question kind of killed the mood for Baz, and he scrolled past the question to try and find something less depressing.

'When does your next vid come out?'

'Not sure. I was thinking the day after tomorrow because after I film stuff it takes me a while to feel like editing'

Glancing up, Baz saw two girls through the spooky-ily decorated window.

'Customers are here, gotta go!'

Baz put his phone away and sat up properly, back arched and arms crossed on the counter. Baz was internally pouting at the thought of actually doing work today, but outwardly he showed no sign of it. He allowed himself to scowl until the last possible second before the bespectacled one held the door open for the blonde one.

"Good morning, welcome to Starbucks."

The one that held the door open, the tall one, had long, frizzy brown hair tied back into a ponytail, and a blue-gray cardigan with large buttons that went to her thighs. along with her glasses, Baz thought she looked like someone who spent all her time reading and not like someone who went out with friends on the weekend.

Especially not friends like that...The shorter blonde girl was beautiful, despite the fact that she looked like the most uncaring person in the world. Her hair was messily French braided in the way that was popular now, with an added flower pinned in the side, and her army-green jacket and lacy, flowey white blouse made her look like she had walked straight out of a Tumblr fashion blog.

"What can I get for you today, ladies?" Baz asked smoothly. He made eye contact with Glasses first, assuming she was more assertive than Flower-Hair.

"I'll have a Vanilla-Bean Cream Frappuccino. Medium."

Baz turned his head. It seemed he'd been wrong. Flower-Hair had gone first. Her voice was quiet and pleasant, and very calming. There's was an alluring quality to it, and Baz could see her being good ASMR videos if she wanted to be. Baz wrote her order down.

"Grande Vanilla-Bean Cream Frappuccino, got it," He said, writing it on his notepad. "And for you?"

Glasses was on her phone, tapping her passcode in. "Um...I'll have a Grande Carmel Macchiato..."

Baz wrote it down as she said it, and, noting it sounded like she wasn't finished asked, "Anything else?" with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, sorry. Simon says he wants a Pumpkin Spice Latte," she replied, setting her phone down on the counter. Baz could see now that she'd been checking her messages. The name at the top read, "Simon Snowman".

Baz wrote it down. "Also Grande?"

Glasses nodded. Baz got to work.

He made the drinks, finding it almost painful not to make noise while he worked. At home, he was obnoxious noise-maker, always singing or humming or tapping on something. Anything to fill the silence of a creepy apartment like his. It had become a habit since he'd moved in two years ago, and he'd been finding it harder and harder to stay quiet in public.

Baz picked up on Glasses and Flower-Hair's conversation, listening in like he usually did with loud-talking people. Not that they were being loud, of course. The store was just empty.

"Did Simon stay up all night playing video games again? Is that why he's not here?"

"Yeah. I keep telling him he's never gonna find a job if he doesn't fix his sleeping schedule, but he still thinks YouTube's gonna work out. I mean, at the rate it's going it's definitely possible, but I'd like him to have something to fall back on just in case."

Flower-Hair nodded in agreement, picking up her already-made drink with one hand and scrolling though Instagram with her other. Baz noted that her nails were a lovely shade of lavnder. He wondered if he'd get hate if he painted his own nails... Probably. People were just mean, all the time, for no reason at all.

He set the last drink on the counter, the one for their friend, Simon, as Glasses had called him.

"Your total is $14.75," he stated, tapping their orders into the cash register. Flower-Hair reached for her purse, but Glasses beat her to it. "My turn remember?" Glasses paid and the two left, leaving Baz alone once more in the coffee shop.


"Simon, we're home!" Penny called, waking Simon up from his dreamless sleep. Looking over at the clock, Simon saw that it'd been more of a nap, really. He got up and walked to the kitchen, shirtless and still in dark-green pajama bottoms.

"Morning, Penny," Simon said, smiling as he took his drink.

"Good morning, Simon," Penny replied, and then in a lower voice, "Better go put a shirt on. We have company."

"Agatha?" Simon asked, even though he knew the answer. Penny nodded, and Simon turned back to his room.

When he came back, wearing a maroon sweater, jeans, and polka-dotted socks, he greeted Agatha with a warm hug. He was lucky to still have her as a friend after all the crap he'd put her though when they dated and he went through his 'questioning my sexuality' phase, and even luckier that she never held it against him, or even brought it up, really. For that, Simon was eternally grateful, because he still felt a bit awkward about it around her.

She'd been full into the relationship, the perfect girlfriend, and Simon had just dropped the breakup bomb out of nowhere. In hindsight, he should have gently led her into it, instead of just saying "I'm gay" and expecting to be fine... Oh, well. It had worked out in the end, but Simon was still a bit ashamed at not thinking that through better.

"So, Simon. We were gonna play a round of Smash Bros, you in?" Penny asked, already setting up the game on their TV.

"Absolutely! But, just so you know, I'm not going easy on you guys like last time." Simon grinned, plopping down on the couch and grabbing a controller.

Penny rolled her eyes and Agatha 'ugh-d' at him. Simon just smiled. He knew full well that Penny could kick his ass in Smash Bros any day of the week, and that his bravado was nothing more than banter between friends.

They played for an hour or so, Penny and Simon tied, before Simon overpowered her and took the tie-breaker round. "Ha, I told you! I knew I could do it!" He grinned.

"Whatever, Snow, don't forget who beat you for the last four games in a row," Penny replied, mock-annoyed but still smiling.

"Simon you're really not that great," Agatha joined in, sipping her now room-temperature drink.

"What is this, Gang-Up-on-Simon Day?" He joked, standing up and stretching. "Just let me have my victory guys!"

"We would, if we were allowed to brag when we win! But you just pout all the time when you lose, it's no fun!" Penny exclaims, following Simon to the kitchen, Agatha following her.

Simon began to make himself a pastrami-and-mustard sandwich, much to Agatha's dismay. She wrinkled her nose at the smell.

"That smells gross," She stated bluntly, walking to the cupboard and making herself a bowl of cereal instead.

"Relax, Ags, you don't have to eat any," Simon joked, taking his plate to the bar.

"And believe me, I won't."

"So what's the plan for today? We going anywhere?" Penny asked, sliding into a seat at the bar next to Simon, tapping out the passcode to her phone with her dark red nails.

"I was thinking the mall today. It's been forever since we did that," Agatha said, looking up from pouring the milk on her cereal. "That, or a movie. What's playing?"

"Nothing good. I vote mall," Simon said.

"Same," Penny agreed. "There's nothing in theaters now we haven't seen."

Simon hummed in agreement. The movies were their go-to spot for hanging out, which they did a lot. No one ever wanted to make a decision, so someone just suggested 'Movie?' and everyone else just went with it.

When Simon had finished his sandwich and Agatha her cereal, Penny grabbed her keys and they all headed towards the elevator to the lobby.


It was past noon. Baz was ready to tear his hair out from boredom. He knew it was a slow day, but geez, where was everyone? He checked the clock for the hundredth time and groaned.

The entire upper half of his body was sprawled onto the counter, chin resting on the cold top. He wondered if he'd ever be entertained again, when he remembered the girls from earlier that morning.

Glasses had said something about YouTube that'd caught his attention...Simon. Her friend had a channel. Baz figured he might as well check it out, it wasn't as if he had anything better to do.

Baz pulled up the Safari app on his phone and typed in 'simon youtube'. Too vague. Nothing but the game 'Simon Says'.

Baz thought for a moment. He'd been saved as 'Simon Snowman' in Glasses' phone... Maybe that could work.

Bingo.

A channel popped up, for someone called Simon Snow, username 'TheSnowShow'.

Baz was about to cringe inwardly at the horrific rhyme-y username, but was stopped before he could. This guy was gorgeous. Baz had to remind himself to breathe for a second. Simon Snow had a head of copper-blond curls and tan skin, pretty blue eyes and a sprinkling of small moles and freckles seemingly all over his body. Baz hurried and clicked on the first video he saw, from yesterday and titled 'Simon Plays: P.T!'

Baz found himself paying more attention to Simon's box in the corner than the much larger part of the screen depicting what Simon was doing. Actually, all his attention was focused on Simon. Baz didn't really care about the game. He only knew what was going on from Simon's commentary and the occasional glance over. Soon, the video ended with Simon's outro, "Bye guys, see you next time!" with a grin and a small wave.

Baz eagerly clicked the next one.

Baz spent as much of his shift as he could like that, leaned over the counter, elbows falling asleep and ignoring it, focused entirely on the endearingly-perfect smile and extreme profanity that was commonly used by the gamer. He couldn't wait to go home and finish watching Simon's videos. His own channel would have to wait for a new video; this guy was way more entertaining.