Part III: oppositely charged ions

"He what?"

"He kissed me," Simon said miserably, "And he hasn't been in lessons all day and we have Chemistry this afternoon and I've fucked everything up, haven't I?"

Penny stared at Simon, "Yes, you've fucked everything up royally!"

"Thanks, Penny."

"What on earth – what were you thinking? Do you actually – Simon!"

"I was thinking that Basilton Pitch was kissing me and I wanted to kiss him back. Then I was confused and somehow sent him the entirely wrong message."

"Which was?"

"He thinks that I think the kiss was a mistake."

"Well? Was it?"

"No!" Simon yelled. He hesitated, "No, it wasn't. I wanted to kiss him and I want to do it again."

He kicked at the small rocks on the pathway. Simon and Penny were walking around the school grounds during their lunchtime – he had told Penny that he had something important to tell her at breakfast, but then he'd been too worried about where Baz had gone to actually explain what had happened.

"So what's the issue, Simon?" Penny asked, "Seems pretty simple to me: go tell Baz what you just told me, hold his hand and kiss him. Finished."

"It's not that simple," Simon moaned. He was aware that he was acting like a total prat, but he didn't care, "We've never been friends – we're like arch enemies! How do you go from hating someone to snogging them?"

"It's called sexual tension, Simon," Penny pointed out, "And now that I think about it, this is actually quite a good idea. You two would go well together."

"We're polar opposites."

"They say that opposites attract," Penny countered, smirking. Simon wanted to wring the necks of whoever 'they' were.

"Do you think he'll come to Chemistry?" Simon wondered aloud.

"Probably. If there's anything I know about Basilton Pitch, it's that he takes his future very seriously. He needs that grade for uni, and he's not about to let you take over for him."

"Cheers, Penny," Simon muttered, knowing that she was right. He just couldn't decide if he actually wanted to face Baz or not.

Penny was right – Baz was in Chemistry before Simon even entered the room. Simon sat next to him without a word, watching him nervously out of the corner out of his eye.

The lesson began, and Baz scraped his chair back as he went to get the equipment they needed. Simon dug around the cupboards for a Bunsen burner, and when he returned to the desk, Baz was back, scribbling down some notes.

Simon cleared his throat, "Do you want me to fill up the beaker?"

"Okay," Baz's voice was so low, Simon barely heard him. He gulped, walking away and then watching Baz from the sink. He filled the beaker with water and went back.

"So."

With a sigh, Baz looked up. His gaze was hard, weary. "What, Snow?"

"Are we going to talk about what happened yesterday?"

Baz glared, "You better not fucking out me to the whole class."

"I wouldn't do that," Simon said, "And the same goes for you."

Baz put down his pen and cocked his head, "So you aren't straight?"

Simon shrugged, "Who knows. I'm not so fussed about the label."

Sneering, Baz rolled his eyes, "Well, that's lovely for you. Can we get back to work now?" He turned away to grab a test tube.

"Wait."

"What, Snow?"

"I just – I didn't mean what I said yesterday," Simon stage-whispered, looking around to see if any of his classmates were eavesdropping, "It wasn't a mistake."

Baz clenched his jaw, "So what, you've just changed your mind?"

"No, I meant to say this the whole time. I was just confused. I'd never kissed a guy before –"

"Neither had I."

"Well," Simon fumbled, "You knew you were gay, right?"

"Shhh," Baz hissed, "Yes, fine. I knew."

"What I'm trying to say – no, don't interrupt! – is that I know you said that hating me is easier. Hating you is easier too."

Baz's expression was a cross between hurt and exasperated, "How fucking romantic. Listen, Snow, we don't actually have time for this –"

"I don't want things to be easy."

Simon waited with bated breath as Baz processed his words. Baz's eyebrows knitted together, "Okay..."

"I don't want things to be easy," Simon repeated, "Because I like you. I'm not going to say I love you, at least not yet, because that wouldn't be fair to either of us. But I will say it's a possibility. If hating me is easy for you, I want to make loving me easier." He could feel the blood rushing to his cheeks.

Baz stared. Simon bit his lip impatiently.

"You really do like overcomplicating things, don't you," Baz finally let out a huff of laughter. The tension in Simon's chest broke, and a rush of affection for his Chemistry partner ran through him.

He allowed himself a brief grin. "Should we get back to work then?"

"Thought you'd never ask."

Simon and Baz raced back to their room as soon as the bell rang. Amazingly, Simon managed to reach the door first in spite of the fact that Baz's legs were longer, only to be elbowed aside as Baz shoved his key into the lock and practically fell through the door.

Simon followed, breathing heavily, and went to sit beside Baz on his bed. The two of them caught their breaths, sharing nervous grins as they felt their hearts race.

"Now what?" Simon asked, silently admiring Baz's flushed cheeks and crinkled eyes.

Baz took his hand, "Now we have our happily ever after."

Simon's lips curved upwards. He leant forwards, titling his head and planting his lips firmly on Baz's. As happily ever after's go, Simon was pretty satisfied with theirs so far.

One month later

"I've been extremely impressed with how you two have been cooperating," Dr. Possibelf commented, smiling at the pair of them. Simon was holding Baz's hand under the desk, and he felt Baz squeeze it.

"I don't think you'll have any problems getting those grades, Basilton. You've certainly helped Simon's marks as well – good job, both of you."

The teacher nodded at them before leaving the room. All the other students had already cleared out, leaving Simon and Baz alone at their desk.

"Will you miss this lab when we're gone?" Baz asked, trailing a finger in circles on Simon's palm.

Simon snorted, "No, I hate Chemistry." Then, at the admonitory look on Baz's face, "Alright, fine. It wasn't so bad – I liked working with you."

"Working with you was...interesting," Baz smirked. Simon shoved him lightly.

"Interesting-bad or interesting-good?"

"Well, your experimental skills were definitely bad. They weren't even interesting, just fucking scary," Baz laughed. Simon stuck out his tongue childishly.

"Is that all?"

Baz shrugged noncommittally, "I guess getting you to fall in love with me was interesting-good."

Now it was Simon's turn to look smug, "You loved me first."

Rolling his eyes, "It's not a competition, Snow."

"Everything's a competition with us. And it's Simon," Simon replied, leaning forwards suddenly to give his boyfriend a chaste kiss.

"What kind of a kiss is that?" Baz muttered, catching Simon's lower lip between his teeth momentarily. Simon wiggled his eyebrows, causing Baz to laugh.

"We'd better go," said Simon, "Unless you want Possibelf to find us snogging in the lab."

"I'm pretty sure that violates some sort of safety rule," Baz said, following Simon's lead out of the classroom.

"In that case, let's stay –" Simon began, grinning.

Baz tugged on his hand, "C'mon, Simon. There's some lines that we really shouldn't cross, and lab safety is one of them."

Simon ignored his advice, instead choosing to step forwards between Baz's legs and drag him down for a kiss. "We're good at crossing lines," he murmured against the other boy's mouth. He knew he was one hundred percent correct on this one – Simon was certain that the point of being lab partners was not to fall in love, but he and Baz had done it anyway.

a/n: and that's the end! hope you enjoyed it, i know the last part was shorter but i think there was enough fluff to make up for it :P please review!