Roommate

Chapter 1

The school year at Watford wasn't over, and for once in his life, Baz didn't dread returning to his classes. He was always glad to flee the judgemental gaze of his father, but the excitement always faded fast, once he got back to school. For one, there was the Mage, sworn enemy of the Old Families, who always seemed to be hovering over his shoulder. And the other thing was his roommate, Simon Snow. Simon Snow, with his perfect hair and perfect smile, and his perfect girlfriend, Agatha. Baz had been in love with Simon since he was twelve, and every year it became harder and harder to come back to school, and see Simon and Agatha so happy together. To have Snow dangled in front of his face, knowing full well that he'd probably beat the shit out of him if he were to find out how completely infatuated Baz was.

But that had changed only a few weeks earlier, when Snow had ended up at his house one night, and they had ended up defeating the Humdrum together, with Simon accidentally killing the Mage in the process. Baz wasn't sad to see the man die. And there was kissing. And now Simon and he were… kind of dating? He still wasn't sure the exact level of their relationship, although Snow had called himself his boyfriend a couple of times. (In private, of course.) They still hadn't approached his parents, and Baz wasn't ready too- not now, at least. And Simon didn't want to come out yet, even though Bunce already knew, and there were few other people who would really need to hear it. He understood how hard it was to say something like this to someone you loved, even if you knew they wouldn't reject you. He understood that Simon hadn't figured everything out yet, or if he was ever going to fully come out of the closet. He understood that he was willing to wait for the rest of the pieces to fall into place.

Simon was in the front seat, with Baz sulking in the back. "Front seat's for people who haven't been kidnapped by bloody Numpties," his Aunt Fiona had said, and Simon felt kinda bad for laughing. Fiona didn't hate him, though, and this was a step forward, even though Simon knew part of it was to do with the fact that he had killed the Mage. The Mage. He knew that the Mage wasn't a very good man by the end of his life, but sometimes he missed the late headmaster.

"So, Simon," Fiona started, and the paused. "I feel that, as you're now obviously a part of Baz's life, it's time to share a few things with you."

Simon didn't know how Fiona found out about him and Baz, and he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

"Fiona; if this is going where I think it is I will kill-"

"Shut up, Basilton. I'm your aunt, it's my job to embarrass you."

"I'm sorry, am I missing something?" Simon turned to look into the backseat. "What's going on, Baz?"

"Don't worry about it, Snow-"

"SO!" Fiona snapped her fingers at him, and Baz fell quiet without a spell necessary. "I think it's about time I gave you blackmail material on my nephew."

Simon's eyes widened. "You mean-"

She held up a finger, then reached under her seat to grab a thick envelope. "This is for you."

Simon raised an eyebrow, and Baz reached forward.

"Don't open that," he snapped.

Simon opened it.

"Is- is this Baz?"

The first picture he pulled out showed a chubby toddler reaching for the camera with frosting and a wide smile on his face.

"Yup," Fiona answered. "He just turned two in that picture."

"He's-" He's so young. His skin is so much darker. He's so… he's so happy. Simon said none of this.

"He's really chubby."

In the backseat, Baz buried his head in his hands.

Fiona laughed. "He was. Look at the next one."

The next picture showed Baz, maybe three or four, running through a sprinkler, stark naked and stumbling as he charged towards a cat on the other edge of the picture.

"Fiona! Of all the humiliating pictures, you had to put that one in there?"

"You know it's the best one. Right, Simon?"

Simon was still staring at the picture.

"Simon?"

He looked up, blushing furiously. "Yeah, um. Can I frame this and put it in the dining hall of our school, please?"

Fiona laughed again. "I would love it, if Baz weren't about to curse me into next week."

"Snow, if you so much as look at that picture again, you'll have to spell me-"

Baz saw Simon flinch, and stopped in the middle of his joke.

"Simon, I didn't mean-"

"It's fine."

That was the other thing. Simon had given the Humdrum his magic. All of it. He defeated the creature, but in doing so lost every ounce of power in his body. They both hoped desperately that it would come back, and this was the main reason Simon was even attending Watford for his final semester. Bunce's mother, the newly-appointed headmistress had agreed to personally tutor Simon, a sort of magickal therapy. But Simon was still upset, as expected, and extremely sensitive on the subject. But both were too scared to admit that it might never return, they had too much to lose.

"So," Simon said awkwardly. "Can I keep these?"

"Of course," Fiona said with a smirk. "It wouldn't be blackmail without evidence."

Baz sighed, and stared out the window. Heaven help him if those two were in cahoots with one another, no rational mage would dare stop a duo as stupidly determined as them.