#em writes stuff

“Whumpee?” She asks, taking a step out onto the porch. 

He steps back on reflex, eyes focusing when he looks at her. For a second, he doesn’t recognize her. Then his eyes light with relief and he slumps forward, falling into her arms. “Caretaker.” 

She catches him, hand coming around his back to support him. “What happened?” 

He shakes his head and leans closer to her, arm wrapping tightly around her waist. “I’m fine.” 

“Ok,” she says. “We don’t have to talk about it. Let’s go inside, alright?” He nods and lets her lead him into the house. “Are you hungry? I’ve got a few microwave meals in the freezer or we could order take out.” 

She stops in the living room and peels him off of her, holding him an arms length away. “That blanket is filthy,” she says without thinking. She takes hold of it and tries to unwrap Whumpee from it, not seeing the terror in his face. 

He swats her hand away and pulls it tighter around himself. “Please,” he says, looking at the ground. “Don’t.” 

Caretaker nods and backs away, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.” 

She clears her throat and shifts her feet. “So…dinner?” 

Whumpee looks up from the ground and nods. Caretaker smiles softly and turns into the kitchen. “Ok, I’ve got white cheddar macaroni and cheese or beef ravioli. Which do you want?” 

She walks out of the kitchen, both boxes in hand and holds them out to him. He looks at the boxes and shrugs, “Whichever you don’t want.” 

She laughs and turns the boxes toward her, “I bought them both, so I want both of them.” Whumpee’s face falls and she quickly comes up with a solution. “How about I cook both of them, see which one I want then, and bring the other one out to you. We can eat on the couch like we used to when you’d stay home sick from school? Maybe turn on an old movie?” 

He forces a smile and nods, “That sounds nice.” 

She beams and turns back into the kitchen. “I’ll put these in now. You’ve got enough time to go and change if you want to. I know it’s been a while…but you’ve slimmed down so you might fit in your old clothes again.” 

He stands there for a second before walking down the hallway to his old room. 

There’s dust on the handle when he turns it and the door squeaks open. He walks into his room and turns the lamp on, then turns it off when he sees the dust covering it. The door doesn’t quite close, so he does his best before walking over to the window and opening the blinds, letting the afternoon sun filter in. 

Caretaker tiptoes down the hallway and peeks into Whumpee’s room. He’s standing in front of the window with his eyes closed. He’d dropped the blanket and Caretaker turns around, guilty that she would invade Whumpee’s privacy like that. She takes a deep breath and knocks softly on the door. “Hey, there’s about two minutes left. You almost ready?” She can hear him shuffling around in the room and nods to herself. “Just come out when you’re done, ok? I’ll pull a movie up and be on the couch.” 

There’s a sound of confirmation from him and she turns back down the hallway and into the living room. She picks up the remote and scrolls through the channels before finding something that she and Whumpee used to watch all the time. She clicks on it and turns the volume up. 

The microwave beeps and she hurries into the kitchen to take it out before it beeps again. It burns her hand and she drops it, cursing softly to herself. 

The red sauce splatters all over the floor and nearby cabinets. She curses and picks up the ravioli with her fingers, dropping them back in the bowl. Her fingertips burn by the time she’s done, so she runs her hand under cool water for a minute while she digs through a drawer with the other hand, looking for a washcloth. She runs the cloth under the water and wrings it out in the sink. 

The sauce didn’t have time to dry, so it comes up easily, only staining the rug in front of the sink. She rinses the rag out and hangs it on the faucet, then pulls two forks out of the sink to wash. 

She can hear Whumpee’s footsteps in the living room and yells over to him, “I’m almost done! Just need to wash silverware and I’ll be out! Get comfortable, I think there’s a blanket in the cabinet!” 

He doesn’t respond, but she can hear the cabinet open and something fall out. 

“You ok?” She asks, tilting back to look into the living room. 

Whumpee’s stood in front of the cabinet, eyes locked on whatever fell. He’s in long sleeves and sweatpants, both of which pool around him. 

“Whumpee?” 

His head snaps up to look at her and he nods, “Yeah, just…scared me is all.” 

She smiles and dries the forks off with a towel, then sticks them in the bowls and walks to the living room. 

“You get macaroni tonight.” she says, holding the bowl out to him. “Careful, it’s hot.” 

He takes it and picks up a blanket from the floor. Wrapping it around himself, he sits on the couch and scoots back into the corner of it, knees drawn up to his chest. 

Caretaker looks at him and bites her cheek, debating what to do. She decides to pick up a blanket and sit on the other side of the couch, leg extended so it’s almost touching Whumpee. 

Amity nods and goes up the stairs. She knocks on the door and pushes it open. Popping her head past the doorframe, she says, “Luz? You ready for our date?” 

Luz looks up from her book and stares at Amity like a deer into headlights. “Is that today?” 

Amity purses her lips. “Yeah. We can do this instead though. Looks like you’re making some progress.” 

She looks at the pages strewn through the room. Some were scribbled on, some were crumpled and most were pinned to the wall. 

Luz nods, “I saw something earlier and it got me thinking about something else I’d seen in one of Eda’s books. But…I couldn't find it. So I took all the books and moved them in here. Figured out a spell that copies pages; so that’s come in handy. Found out a bunch about portals and I think as soon as we get a griffin’s armpit feather we can make one. We might also need a seasnake’s-”

“Luz,” Amity interrupts. “When was the last time you slept?” 

“I don’t know why people keep asking me that,” Luz says. “That’s not something I keep track of anymore.” 

Amity laughs half-heartedly, “So it’s been at least a day?” 

“Oh, easily.” 

“Right.” she pulls Luz away from a book and sits on the floor, head leaning against a dresser. “If you won’t sleep, then at least sit down? I can get anything you need for a bit.” 

“Ok,” Luz sighs. She sits down next to Amity and leans her head against her shoulder. “But just for a bit.” 

Simon half-stumbled, half-fell up the stairs up to his apartment complex.  Room 60. Penny’s was next to his, room 58 as the way the rooms were arranged, the even numbers were on the left, odd rooms on the right. Not sure how that worked exactly. Simon had thought to himself once before, at a time where his head wasn’t rocking from alcohol intake. He fumbled at the sides of his jacket, his fingers only finding lint and empty air.

Not thinking clearly, he pounds on the door to the back of him, hoping Penny will hear him, not remembering she’s still at the party downstairs and probably will be for a while.

Not only that but the room isn’t Penny’s he’s knocking at.

The door creaks open, oddly loud in the dead silence outside the room. A figure is there, just standing and staring at him with an expression of distaste and anger, but something else…confusion maybe? Intrigue?

Simon picks himself up, standing straight to face the tall boy in front him, trying to not look like he might throw up at any time.

“Baz?” Simon blinks up at the boy standing before him. The light above them is not bright, but it still burns Simon’s sky-blue eyes as he glances up at Baz. Still, he doesn’t turn away. His face flushed as he  looked Baz over, unable to deny how good he looked in the faint light of the hallway. That or his head was just swimming with warmth from the alcohol he’d consumed only twenty minutes ago.

“What—what are you doing here?” Simon mumbled, the slurring in his voice obvious.

“I live here, Snow.” Baz replied, indifferently. “What are you doing here Snow?”

“I g-got locked out. Penny’s not here. S-Sorry to bug you man I’ll just—wait for Penny to get back.”

Simon was trying so hard to keep composure. As much as he didn’t trust Baz, he respected him, maybe admired him. He didn’t want Baz to see him in his lowest state in a while. He tried to shuffle backward towards his room but Baz grabbed his arm and pulled him back towards him.

Baz knew he didn’t really care much for the ginger-haired boy who hated him so much, (or he did but would never admit it), but Simon looked pitiful. His shirt was dirty, his hair disheveled and sticking up on his head, and Crowley, did he reek of alcohol.

“Come on Simon,” Baz coaxed the boy towards his room. “You can sleep here tonight. I know how long Penny stays at those things.”

Simon opened his mouth to protest but his mind betrayed him, as did his legs as he tried to move toward Baz. Baz leaned down to catch him before his butt touched the tile floor of the apartment complex, and half-carried, half-dragged Simon into his room. Room 61.

Baz placed Simon gently on the small couch in his living room, grabbed a pillow for him to lean against.

“I’m gonna go get you some water okay?” Baz said. “Be right back.”

“Baz-“ Simon began but cut himself off.

“What is it Snow?” Baz inquired, annoyed but doing his best to be patient.

“Don’t leave.” Simon practically whimpered.

Baz was taken aback at the sudden needy Simon but shook his head to clear it.

“I’m just going to the kitchen to get you some water. I’ll be right back, I’m not going anywhere really.”

Simon looked longingly at Baz, his eyes round like a puppy who really just wanted attention.

“Can I come with you?”

“N-No Simon you can barely walk okay? Just let me get you some water. I’ll be gone like a minute, I promise.”

Simon reluctantly turned around so he could lean against the back of the couch, pouting in his drunken stupor.

When Baz returned, Simon was almost as excited as a kid being told he was heading to Disney Land.

“Baz!” Simon cried.

“Shhh, drink this okay Snow?” Baz handed the water to Simon who drank it obediently.

“Can I get you anything else?”

Simon shook his head as he gulped the water down.

“Alright, well get some sleep. I’ll be right here.”

“What?”

What was so surprising about that?

“I’m not gonna let you throw up and choke on it okay? I’m not a sadist, I don’t want you dead. I’m trying to take care of you, alright? Now lie down and go to sleep.”

Simon looked away from Baz, and Baz couldn’t tell if he was ashamed for something his little brain concocted, but there was something sorrowful in those shiny blue eyes. Those eyes that Baz secretly loved to look into when they used to be roommates.

“People always leave.” Simon murmured into the quiet.

Baz looked at him, sympathy in his gray eyes.

“Penny is still there for you. And I’m here for the moment.”

“For the moment.” Simon repeated.

Baz mixed up his words as his words repeated back at him forced an exasperated sigh to fall from his lips.

“That’s not what I meant, you know that. I just mean, I’m here now ‘cause no one else is and I want to help you, Snow.”

“I didn’t ask you to do that.” Simon grumbled, facing away from Baz on the couch, twiddling his thumbs.

“I know you didn’t. But I—“ Baz felt his face get hot. Why was such a perfect boy like Simon so pessimistic? It hurt Baz to see him like this. So lost, so miserable.

“I care about you, Simon. Whether you want to believe that or not is on you.”

Simon, beginning to sober up just a little, turned to look Baz in the eye.

“You…you do?”

The question hung in the air for several seconds before either of them spoke.

Simon couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He must be more drunk than he thought.

Baz? Caring for him?

Wait…did he just call him Simon?

“Y-Yeah I mean, we used to room together. I can still care for you right? I never hated you or anything. We just weren’t exactly compatible as roommates.” The words stung as he said them but Baz had to tell the truth in times like these. He knew his dream of kissing Simon Snow was just a dream. There was no point of lying.

“You did this ‘cause you care for me?”

The words coming out of his mouth felt strange, like a foreign language he was not even close to being fluent in.

“Yes.”

Simon smiled at Baz, reaching for his arm and pulled Baz down to his level so he could give him a hug. Baz flinched, surprised at the contact, although he had to admit he couldn’t have hoped of a better thing to happen right now.

Well, except…

Suddenly Simon was leaning in close to his face. They locked eyes for what felt like a lifetime, but couldn’t have been more than a couple of seconds.

Baz had to pull away, even though he was inwardly kicking himself for doing so.

“Simon, no, stop. You’re drunk and confused, this isn’t you.”

This must be a dream. Baz’s dreams always ended the same way—an almost kiss with Simon Snow.

But this was different. The bright lights from his dream weren’t present, the sun had long since gone down. And Baz had never really fallen asleep that night.

Now Simon was lying on the couch wanting to KISS HIM, and Baz had pulled away.

“Here I’ll get you another shirt to wear.” Baz said, trying to distract himself.

When Baz returned, Simon was removing his shirt and looking over at Baz expectantly.

“Snow—I have a shirt you can barr-ow…“ Baz trailed off looking dreamy-eyed at Simon’s exposed skin despite himself. His eyes were practically bulging out of his head. Fuck. Simon was everything.

“Get over here.” Simon instructed. “Please?”

Baz obeyed, thrusting the shirt in Simon’s face. He took it gratefully, and patted the spot on the couch next to him for Baz to sit. Baz smiled slightly and joined Simon on the couch. They were sitting next to each other, like they did when they were at their desks in their room.

Simon leaned against Baz’s shoulder, feeling sleep begin to take him, the tip of his nose nudging Baz’s neck softly.

Baz giggled at the affection as Simon’s nose tickled him.

Simon’s face turned beat red.  He’d never heard such soft sounds coming from someone like Baz. It was…actually…endearing?

Suddenly Simon knew how he wanted to thank Baz.

He reached for Baz’s, tugging him towards him. Baz’s face reddened, not sure where this was going. Simon’s breath hit his neck and a wave of warmth washed over him. His breath wasn’t great, but right now Baz couldn’t care less.

Simon leaned in slowly until he finally placed his lips on Baz’s, who let out a gasp at the contact, until finally sinking into the kiss.

Baz couldn’t believe this.

He was…He was KISSING SIMON DAMN SNOW.

No, Simon Snow was KISSING HIM.

Finally, to catch his breath, Simon pulled away.

“What was that for?” Baz asked, his face still red as a tomato.

Simon grinned at his embarrassment, which was also reflected on his own face as his blushed.

“Thank you for taking care of me, being here for me….and for calling me Simon.” The last part Simon said in the most pleasant, teasing way that Baz turned a full shade of pink.

Simon chuckled at Baz before placing another kiss on his neck, on his cheek then again on his lips.

“God I’ve wanted that for so long.”

Simon raised one eyebrow.

“How long?”

Baz blushed even harder.

Simon just laughed and pulled Baz back into his arms so he could rest on his shoulder again so they could cuddle each other on the couch.