SnowBaz Chapter 5

A/N: Yo I'm just gonna say right now that this entire chapter was based off what my pal cal down in the comments came up with. I would say only 20 percent (or less idk) is actually my own lmao

(And yeah, I totally googled birds for thirty minutes just for this story)

Simon was laying on his bed, staring at the ceiling and grinning.

He was so happy their date had gone well that now that he was home he couldn't make himself stop thinking about it. It was a euphoric experience for sure, and in that moment, Simon felt like nothing in the world could drag him down.

Still, Simon had a video to record before the next morning because his schedule said he would upload a new video every Sunday, and Simon had been well… Distracted lately, to say the least.

Pulling himself up, Simon dragged himself to the bathroom. He ran a hand through his hair, momentarily separating the curls before they snapped back together in one big clump.

So that's how we're doing this, huh, Simon thought, narrowing his eyes at his own reflection.

With one hand he held his comb and in the other a fistful of hair, furiously attempting to tidy up his appearance so he could film. But every time he'd finish a section and move onto the next, the first section had already snapped back to it's original place and Simon found himself back at square one.

"I don't even know why I own a comb," Simon said out loud, accepting his defeat with a sigh.

He threw on a maroon hoodie and some black and white exercise shorts and headed to the office to get filming.

"Hey, everyone! Today I will be playing Undertale, by popular request! I know I'm a little late with this episode, but cut me some slack, I'm a busy guy!"

Simon laughed as the game loaded up.

"I'm hoping to get through with the game today if I have a really long episode, but honestly this game could be longer than I thought, I haven't actually checked cause I'm scared of getting spoiled."

With another laugh Simon booted up the game and begin playing. He hoped that he wouldn't wake up Penny, as she tended to go to bed early, but he was already recording and, in a selfish moment, decided to keep going.

Penny never came out to tell him off, though, so Simon stayed like that, playing through the game until he reached what he thought would give him about an hour of footage. As he feared, the game was not yet completed.

"Okay," Simon said sheepishly. "That's as long as I'm willing to make an episode, but we're still not done, so I guess you guys just get a super-long treat, huh? And more episodes, too, you spoiled subscribers."

Simon laughed and grinned good-naturedly before repeating the outro he'd come to use and turning off the camera.

Simon hummed to himself as he removed the card from the camera and inserted it into his computer.

Fetching his good editing earphones, Simon sat down to edit, knowing full well that he would probably be up until three in the morning. Simon struggled to remember whether or not he had anything he was supposed to do tomorrow that might require him to wake up early, but he couldn't think of anything.

As he edited, Simon's thoughts traveled to how he usually went hiking on Saturdays.

He obviously didn't mind skipping today, because he was too high-strung about his date to go, but he still was the tiniest bit disappointed about missing.

Then it hit him: what if Simon took Baz on a make-up hike for a second date?

Simon considered it for a moment. Was it his turn to choose, since Baz technically chose to go to the movies? Was that how it worked? Would Baz even like hiking?

Simon decided to take a break after he was done editing about half of the video. During that time, Simon picked up his phone and opened the conversation thread he had going with Baz.

Nervously, Simon tapped out a message and returned back to this editing before he could overthink things.

"Hello, everyone, it's Baz, and today is kind of a slow day, so I was thinking, vlog?"

He phrases it as a question, even though his subscribers won't get a say in whether or not this goes up.

Baz talks to the camera as he goes through the motions of cleaning the Starbucks mugs. He talks about his day so far (a horrendously old hag had shouted at him for getting her name wrong. "It's Ebb! Ebb with two b's, no h's!") and letting them know how he'd been since his last vlog a month ago.

"I went on a date yesterday as well, with-" Baz stopped cleaning and looked into the camera for a moment, contemplating. Was he allowed to tell people about him and Simon? No. It was definitely too soon. He started his sentence over.

"I went on a date yesterday as well, and it was only the first one, so it's too soon to tell, but I think it went really well," he said, horrified when he felt himself beginning to blush. "I won't tell you who it is yet, but hey, maybe if it keeps going well, you'll get to meet him soon."

Baz starts to wrap up the video, with some questions from Twitter, like always.

"Wrenegade asks when I'm gonna do another Q and A video!" Baz smiled a little sheepishly. "Gotta be honest with you, Wrenegade, it'll probably be the next time I run out of ideas. So next video."

He scrolled until one more caught his eye.

"From Alpaca-Mittens… ur a nerd. Thanks, Levi. And with that, I'm gonna go. Thank you guys so much for watching my videos, and hey, if you're new, subscribe! Goodbye, everyone."

Baz put his phone back in his pocket and got back to work, and as he cleaned, he let his mind wander.

Did Simon like him as much as Baz liked Simon? He sure hoped so. Baz smiled as he felt a bubble of happiness rise inside him. He couldn't wait 'til the next one.

"What're you so smiley about?"

Baz looked up as Levi walked through the door, grinning from ear to ear.

Baz blushed, and then frowned at his own body's betrayal.

"Is cleaning the counters that entertaining?" Levi asked jovially.

"I'm kidding," he said when Baz didn't reply. "I know what it is. It's totally that boy that came in to give you his number."

Levi smiled impossibly wider as Baz's blush got impossibly deeper.

"I'm not going to answer that," Baz said, setting down the rag and stalking off to the bathroom.

"I'm right, right?" Levi called after him, and Baz wanted to punch the southern drawl right out of his voice.

Baz is in the bathroom (waiting for his blush to die down) when he gets Simon's text.

Simon: Hey, so I know this is like, really sudden after our last date, but I was wondering

Simon: If you'd maybe like to come hiking with me tomorrow? I know it sounds dumb but I think it could be fun :)

Baz doesn't even think about it before he's typed, "Yeah, that sounds like fun! Not gonna lie, I have nil experience in hiking, but hey, try new things, right?"

Simon: Right!

Simon: It's gonna be at Zilker Park at 1:00, can't wait hang with you again!

Baz walked home that day excited but worried.

He had a ton of thoughts running through his head, but he refused to let that spoil the moment.

When Baz arrived home, it was kind of late, but he still stayed up to edit the day's vlog and do a little researching on hiking. Not the actual sport hiking (he figured he'd be able to manage that) but research to answer the real burning question: What should he wear?

Baz pulled out his phone to attempt to answer it, but instead he was greeted to way more Twitter notifications than he felt comfortable getting.

Baz's heart did flips as he read the tweets from his subscribers.

"Him? Basilton Pitch do you have something you'd like to share with the class?!"

"BAZ SAID HIM OH MY GOD HES GAY I KNEW IT"

"I literally cannot believe that this guy gets more dick than me :((("

With a sigh, Baz flopped down onto his bed and stared up at the ceiling.

Way to go, Baz.

Baz woke up late and and jittery from nerves.

He wasn't late enough that he'd be late to the park, but he did have to rush to get ready, something Baz was never really comfortable doing.

He'd decided yesterday to just wear shorts and a T-shirt, because apparently "proper hiking attire" wasn't a thing.

After speed-walking to the park, Baz spotted Simon mingling with the other hikers: some older couple with a golden retriever, a younger girl with dark hair that looked like she needed a nap, and a guy who had to have been the instructor, judging by the amount of hiking gear on his back.

Simon turned just as Baz was walking up, and grinned evilly as he pulled Baz to the back of the group.

"So, YouTube's newest gay arrives!" Simon cackled hugging Baz hello, and Baz found himself smiling even though last night he hadn't found his situation the least bit funny. "How's it feel to be freshly out?"

"It hasn't really hit me yet, I guess," Baz admitted, averting his eyes. "I don't actually feel that different."

"Trust me, you'll feel different when you make a few bucks off a coming out video," Simon joked, still giggling at Baz's expense. "And hey, you're getting lots of free publicity off Guru Gossip."

"Guru Gossip is not where I want my publicity coming from!" Baz groaned, rubbing his forehead.

Simon smiled and opened his mouth to say something else, but the guy with all the equipment said something with a grin, and the hike began.

Simon and Baz walked side by side, exchanging small talk of YouTube and the latest challenge trends. Somehow, they got onto the topic of collabs.

"Oh my god!" Simon exclaimed. "We should collab together! We could do the condom challenge! Or the not my arms challenge! Or maybe the chapstick challenge?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Baz rolled his eyes for show, but smiled anyways.

"Maybe our first collabs should be something a little more tame," he suggested lamely, and Simon laughed again, this time at the fierce blush on Baz's face from imagining kissing Simon again.

"Would you rather do a gaming vid with me sometime, then?" Simon asked, suddenly sincere, and Baz smiled.

"I'd like that."

They stood, neither wanting to break eye contact, for longer than either of them had meant to; finally after turning away, Baz saw that they'd lost the group.

"Um… Do you know where the group went?" Baz asked, even though he was pretty sure he knew the answer.

"Nope." Simon sounded way less concerned than Baz thought he should've.

"I mean, c'mon. How hard could it be to get back?" Simon asked nonchalantly. "We practically just started the hike. And besides, now we get to explore!"

Baz smirked at the way Simon's eyes lit up when he said "explore."

"'Explore?'" Baz teased. "What are we, ten?"

Simon pouted, sticking out his tongue and crossing his arms. "Maybe."

Baz laughed. "Whatever, let's go explore."

Simon grinned. "I'll lead the way!"

He grabbed Baz's hand and pulled him deeper into the trees.

"Look!"

Baz turned his head to look up where Simon had pointed.

They had been walking for several minutes in silence, just holding hands. Baz jumped a little at Simon's sudden exclamation, but luckily for Baz's pride, Simon didn't seem to notice.

"A bird?" Baz asked, tilting his head.

"Not just a bird," Simon said in disbelief, as if Baz not knowing what type of bird it was was a capital offense. "That's a blackbird!"

He looked back at Baz, eyes sparkling in amusement. Baz was still confused.

"Why's that important?" He asked cautiously.

"Blackbirds are a good omen! We have the blackbird's blessing!" Simon laughed.

Baz was torn between kissing Simon and questioning why he knew not only what a blackbird looked like, but the meaning behind it.

"Now I just need to see a bat to confirm my theory…" Simon trailed off, smirking straight ahead. Baz smacked his arm.

"I'm not a vampire!"

After they'd been wandering for about 15 minutes, the ground suddenly started to decline, and they soon came to a shallow creek.

"Let's just walk through," Simon suggested, and Baz didn't have a chance to argue before Simon was pulling him into the water.

It only came up halfway to their knees, but Baz knew he'd be irritated by his wet shoes for much longer.

Halfway across the creek, Simon paused, and Baz only had a moment to think, "Oh, no" before Simon was leaning down and splashing him with water.

Baz was quick to splash back, and Simon, surprised by the rapid return fire, fell backwards onto his butt, laughing.

"Oh my god, Baz, you're savage!" Simon laughed, running a wet hand through his hair and sticking the front curls together.

"I wouldn't have to be if you hadn't started a water-fight like a 12-year-old!" Baz retorted reaching a hand out to help Simon up.

Simon went with the classic response: Taking Baz down with him.

"Okay, that was so not cool," Baz complained, now wetter than Simon.

Simon shrugged. He rested his head on Baz's shoulder for a moment.

"Sorry that escalated," Simon apologized sheepishly.

Baz couldn't do anything it smile. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had this much fun, outside or with a friend or on a date or anything. And he didn't want it to end.