SIMON

Baz is quiet. I've either got it exactly right, or I'm completely wrong. I feel slightly jealous, and I'm not sure why. For once in my entire magickal life, Baz is focusing on someone else, and it hurts. He's not off somewhere plotting. He's just suffering in love. And he doesn't know what to do. He doesn't have anyone to talk to about it. Does anyone know? Do Dev and Niall know? He was so scared to tell me, and I'm his roommate! I've lived with him for six years!

I watch Baz, waiting for a response. He doesn't give me one. Instead he rolls over and groans. (He's doing quite a bit of groaning tonight.) Then he rolls back over and looks at me.

"What do I do, Snow?" He's pleading. I didn't think Baz knew how to plead. Apparently he does. Isn't this just a night full of surprises?

"Baz," I start. "I'm not entirely sure. Agatha's the one who asked me out. She initiated it. She invited me to a dance, and it just kind of went from there."

"What do you mean it just 'went from there'?"

I just shrug in response.

"Maybe try telling him how you feel?" I offer. I've never been good at this stuff. Romance. I'm a rather shitty boyfriend.

Baz shoots into a sitting position again. "Are you mad, Snow? Just... tell him how I feel? The bloke just bloody told me he was trans! What if he thinks I'm some creep?" He looks around for his pillow (probably to throw at me again) but he never grabbed it back after he threw it at me the first time.

"Well, I'm confused," I say. "You're gay, and he's transgender. So he was born a girl, and identifies as a boy, right?"

"Close, but not quite," Baz sighs. "So he was born a female, but is a boy born in the wrong body."

"That's what I said, isn't it?" (It is.)

"No, Snow. It's not. Being male and female is just what body you have. Boy or girl is who you are. On the inside. Dylan is a bloke. He's just stuck in a female body." I hate it when Baz is being smart.

"Okay," I start over. "So you're into males, but Dylan is female. So how does that work?"

"Simple. Dylan is a bloke. I like blokes. Dylan may not have a body to match who he is yet, but that doesn't change who he is. And I'm patient, if anything. I'd be okay waiting until he had a body to match who he is. Just because I don't want to touch what he has right now doesn't mean I'll never want him." Baz is sitting cross-legged on his bed, his posture straight as ever. He's looking at me as if all of this is common sense. (Which is stupid. I've never been good with common sense.)

"Oh."

Baz sighs again. He looks disappointed, but doesn't say anything.

"We should go to bed, Snow. It's late."

I nod. I turn off the lamp and lay down, staring at the ceiling.

It comes so quietly I'm not sure if it's real or not.

"Thank you, Snow."