Simon had never been this drunk. It was a strange feeling; his head buzzed and everything he did seemed like he was watching it from far off. It was fun, though. The karaoke, something Simon would likely shy away from in any other situation, came easily to him.

And he was almost scarily sure he knew who Blue was. Maybe it was just the alcohol, but maybe the clues that pointed to Bram Greenfeld weren't coincidences. Maybe... maybe Bram and Blue were one and the same.

Simon considered this as he stood across the karaoke platform from Bram, watching his mouth move as they sang, and hoping that Bram was too drunk to notice Simon staring at his lips. It was a risk, but he couldn't seem to tear his eyes from Bram's face.

The boys finished the song, and the other partygoers clapped halfheartedy, parting to let Garrett Laughlin through for a turn.

Bram smiled at Simon. "Thanks for singing with me, Simon."

"Anytime," responded Simon. He stood, not breaking eye contact with Bram. He was considering just giving in and asking Bram whether he was, in fact, Blue, but he couldn't seem to bring himself to do it. Simon looked at the floor and psyched himself up. Right when he was about to open his mouth and ask, Leah walked up to Simon's side.

"Time to go, Si. You are drop-dead drunk. We gotta get you home."

"Awwww, Leah, why now?" Simon whined.

Leah tapped her wrist. "Si, your curfew's in like fifteen minutes, and it's an eight-minute walk. Plus, you're drunk. Did I mention you're drunk?"

Bram waved at Leah and Simon, exiting the conversation, and headed off to the bar. Simon rolled his eyes. "Oh, fine."

Leah grabbed his arm and pulled him out of Bram's house, supporting him as they walked down the street. As they walked, Simon felt himself swaying on his feet. He tried to cover it up by dancing to the new Cabaret song they'd learned the Friday before. However, since Leah had to literally push Simon from the road back onto the sidewalk, he got the impression he should probably just walk normally.

The house was dark when the two arrived. Leah crept up to the door, Simon in tow, and they made their way upstairs as quietly as possible, as to not wake up Simon's parents. Leah disappeared into Nora's room after making sure Simon was safely in his own. Simon rolled his eyes as he got into bed. It was ironic, really. If his parents knew how gay he really was, they wouldn't worry about Leah sleeping in his room.

Simon scrolled through Tumblr for a few minutes, then noticed a little notification on his Gmail tab. He clicked over to the email from Blue. It was a typical enough email, about why Blue hadn't come out yet and when he was planning on it. Nothing special, really. Which was why Simon thought he could handle writing back despite his drunken state.

TO: bluegreen118 gmail. com
FROM: hourtohour. notetonote gmail. com
DATE: November 1st at 2:26 AM
SUBJECT: Re: coming out

Blue,,

I hope you jknow how excited I was when I opened up this tab and saw an email! To answer your question, I'm not entirely usre why I haven't come out yet. i guess I'm just not ready for my whole world to change. When I go to college, though, I'll be out and porud. I promise. I'll get a pride falg and hang it up in my dorm, and I'll have posters of Brendon Urie and Harry Potter and other hot guys and ranbows. All the rainbows. Blue, have I ever told you how much I love rainbws? Cause it's a lot. I'm eternally glad that someone somewhere chose the rainbow for Pride becuse it's beautiful.

Anywayyyyyy, i might even hire some fun backup dancers and choreograph a dance to Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance with Somebody". That'd be cool! I could get them to accompany me to my clasees.

Oh, fine. Maybe not that out. I'll keep ruminating.

Love,

Simon

He hit send and closed the tab before he could realize the mistake in his signoff, or any of the other mistakes, for that matter, and fell asleep ten minutes later, laptop on his legs.

Simon was woken up by the door shutting at nine-thirty, but he was not nearly as hungover as he'd thought he'd be. He silently thanked Leah for setting that bottle of water on his nightstand and for making him go home when she did.

His memories of the previous night were hazy. He remembered Beirut, he remembered karaoke with Bram, and that was about it. As he sat up, his phone chimed, and he picked it up off his nightstand. It was an email from Blue, which surprised him a little- was he really stupid enough to send Blue an email while drunk? Apparently he was. Simon tapped on the notification and the email popped up.

TO: hourtohour. notetonote gmail. com
FROM: bluegreen118
TIME: November 1st at 9:33 AM
SUBJECT: Were you drunk last night?

So I'm assuming you were drunk when you wrote me that email, which is fine. I'm not gonna tell you what you can and can't do. I was drunk last night too. I would recommend, though, that you look at your signoff.

Anyway, I hope you had a good time last night! I certainly did. I ate way too much candy and sang way too much karaoke. Beer does crazy things to me.

And apparently so does bravery.

Love,

Bram.

(404) XXX-XXXX

Simon had to read the email three times before the words set in. It was like he'd never read an email from Blue before. Brow furrowing, he tapped on the last email he'd sent and read over it. It was a pretty typical drunk email with lots of typos and a few wild concepts, but nothing too out of the ordinary for being drunk.

That is, until he read the signoff- "Love, Simon". And suddenly, every memory from the previous night came crashing down on him. He remembered Leah approaching him and Bram, right before Simon could confront Bram about being Blue, and he remembered walking home, and he remembered lying on his bed and typing out a message to Blue. He must have completely forgotten about his penname, and signed off with Simon, not Jacques. He hit his face with his head. How could he be so stupid?

Except everything was starting to make sense. Simon read over the email from Blue- no, Bram- again, and every puzzle piece fell into place. Bram was Blue. Bram, who shared an English class with Simon and always aced every single test and essay. Bram, who loved Halloween Oreos, and Bram, who thought it was so dumb that white and straight were the defaults- Bram, who was neither white nor straight.

His eyes fell on the phone number and he pulled up a new message.

SIMON: hey, this is simon.

Bram responded before Simon could even put Bram's number into his phone.

BRAM: Oh my gosh, hi. You have zero idea how many times I've refreshed this app in the last five and a half minutes. Meet me at Waffle House in ten.

SIMON: oh my god okay see you soon (heart)

BRAM: (heart)

Simon stood up and got dressed in record time, then headed to the bathroom and brushed his teeth and combed his hair at the same time. He scribbled a quick note to Nora and his parents and headed to Waffle House. Within five minutes of leaving, he had arrived at the restaurant.

He walked into the restaurant and immediately caught Bram's eyes. He was sitting at the booth in the very back corner, holding his phone in one hand and gripping car keys in the other, and had clearly been watching the door for Simon. He ducked his head bashfully as Simon walked to the table and slid into the booth across from Bram.

Bram looked up at him. "Hey."

"Hi," Simon replied. "Wow. I cannot believe this is... real."

"Honestly? Neither can I. But god, Simon, I'm glad it is."

"Me too."

They made small talk, neither boy wanting to make a move to talk about anything deeper than the weather, until the waitress brought by two stacks of waffles piled high with whipped cream and sprinkles. Simon gaped at Bram.

"How did you know my order?"

Bram smiled an embarrased smile. "Uh. I might have freaked out and asked Nick what you order at WaHo."

Simon's mouth fell open. "Oh. My. God. That's the cutest thing I've ever heard."

"Don't worry, I didn't tell him anything past that I was going to meet you there and wanted to have some food for you when you arrived. He doesn't suspect a thing." Bram laughed. "Typical Nick."

Grinning, Simon nodded and cut into the waffles. "Typical Nick." He stuffed a bite into his mouth. "Do you mind if I ask the big question neither of us wants to adknowledge?"

"Go for it."

"So, as of a week ago, you didn't want me to know who you were. What changed? I'm not upset, actually I'm the opposite of upset. But I'm a little confused."

Bram tilted his head to the side. "You know, I'm not sure. I think I just realized last night at the party that I needed to make a move. I was pretty sure, then, that it was you. And, you know, I couldn't imagine if something happened to one or both of us and I never got to know whether my anonymous Internet boyfriend was who I was hoping it was."

"Anonymous Internet boyfriend?"

"Oh, god, was that too forward?"

Simon shook his head. "Absolutely not. It was cute. That makes a lot of sense, actually. Are you ready to be out to the world?"

Bram inhaled sharply. "You know, I wasn't sure I was ready until I sent you that email this morning. I was afraid of what people would think. But as I typed it out, I realized that it's time I own up to who I am, and it actually wasn't scary anymore. So, yeah, I'm all in if you are."

"All in, like, non-anonymous, real-life boyfriend?"

"That sounds pretty good to me."

The boys grinned at each other and went back to their meals. They talked for a whole two hours, until the waitress started looking grumpy when she checked on them. Bram filled out the check and left a few twenties to pay.

As they left, Bram whispered to Simon, "I really want to hold your hand."

"So hold it," Simon responded, smiling softly. And Bram did.

The walk to Simon's car was a full-on dream come true. He was holding the hand of his boyfriend, Cute Bram with the soccer calves, who just happened to be the same person as Perfect Grammar Blue, who had just paid for Simon's waffles. An urge rose in Simon to kiss Bram, and he told Bram so.

"I really want to kiss you," Simon whispered in Bram's ear.

"So kiss me," responded Bram.

And Simon did.

written for caesar's palace: challenges by the dozen