A/N: This is a Secret Santa story so I'll be posting multiple chapters right now but it's still not quite finished yet. I'm working on it!

I'd like to personally thank everyone on the Simon Snow chat for helping me come up with this story! Your support and enthusiasm was much appreciated. :D

Anyway, I warn you of spoilers. There will be many spoilers, so, if you haven't read the book yet, I don't recommend reading this fanfic. I know, it can be hard, but this story will still be up when you've finished. Unless the internet gets suddenly deleted… but that probably won't happen….

CHAPTER ONE

Simon

It was very cold to say the least. Frost glittered on the ground and the air was foggy… crispy even.

Suddenly, a very young man with slick black hair, pale skin, and flashing gray eyes strolled out of one of the stores. He wore black jeans and a fancy gray sweater vest. A red scarf was draped around his neck and a bag was on one of his arms; the other hand was buried in his left pocket. He was also whistling-a very nice sound in the freezing air.

He stopped however when he noticed someone standing beside the Starbucks across the street.

"Well, well, well," he said with a smirk. "Don't you look strapping."

Simon Snow was leaning against the wall in a dark blue jumper dotted in snowflakes. He also had a scarf, and a hat, though his curls still peeked through around the edges. Both his breath and the cup in his hand were steaming.

"Merlin," Simon snorted with a roll of his eyes. "What took you so long? You were in that store for hours!"

Baz shrugged. "Sorry. I can take this all back, if you'd like." He jerked the arm holding the bag. "They're just your Christmas presents. But, you know, if you don't want them—"

"You got me Christmas presents?" There was something warm tingling in Simon's chest and he beamed at Baz. The vampire gave him a look and Simon stepped forward to kiss his cheek. "You are so sweet!"

"Enough, Snow," Baz muttered but still nuzzled into the side of Simon's head for a moment. "Where's Bunce?"

"Don't know." Simon stepped away and adjusted his grip on the steaming cup. "Sometimes I'm not sure you can keep track of women. It might be impossible."

"Crowley, she's your bloody roommate, Snow," Baz sighed. "I expected you to be at least slightly aware of the general direction that she's in."

Simon cocked his head to the side and gave a little goofy smile. Baz was nervous about something; he kept poking at his canines with his tongue. If Baz was nervous… that could only mean that he wasn't sure if he'd like the gift he'd gotten him.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Baz asked.

Simon's grin grew and he stepped forward to rub Baz's stomach with his hand softly. He'd recently figured out that this seemed to really do something for Baz. He got all quiet and closed his eyes—sometimes he made a purring noise in his throat.

"You don't have to be nervous," Simon said quietly. "I'm sure I'll like your gift."

"I'm not nervous, Snow," Baz growled in reply.

"Mmhmm, okay." Simon leaned up and kissed his boyfriend softly on the mouth.

Simon loved this; kissing (and getting kissed by) his boyfriend. He wrapped his arms around Baz's neck and felt his boyfriend's tongue flick playfully against his own. Instead of playing back, Simon tilted his head and sighed contentedly; he could feel one of Baz's hands on his lower back and the other near his shoulders, gently rubbing where his wings met his back. The feeling made him shiver which made Baz press forward a little more and deepen their kiss.

"Ew. Guys, can you please not."

They pulled away. Penelope Bunce was walking up the street in a dark purple turtleneck sweater. She was holding a bag of chips under her arm and she shifted it with a crackling sound. Today, her hair was red, dip-dyed green for a Christmas look.

"Why?" Baz asked with a smirk, his eyes sparkling with mischief. "Does it make you uncomfortable, Bunce?"

"Yeah, kind of."

Baz snorted and hooked an arm around Simon's waist. "Would it help if I kissed you, too?" Simon shoved him hard and sent him a sideways glare. "I'm kidding, Snow. You know I wouldn't give you up for the world."

Penny rolled her eyes. "Alright well, let's go see Agatha! I can't wait to see how she's doing."

They all started down the road, Simon was leaning into Baz who still had an arm around him and was now playing with his tail. Simon liked it when his boyfriend played with his tail, it let him know that Baz loved every bit of him… including his stupid tail and wings.

They were meeting Agatha for dinner before she headed over to her parents' house for Christmas. Simon made a mental note to go shopping the next day, which was exactly one week before Christmas, and get presents for everyone. He felt so guilty about not having done it already but it had been such a busy week that he hadn't really gotten the chance…. Plus, there was that whole thing with Baz….

"So where do we want to have dinner?" asked Penny, interrupting Simon's thoughts abruptly. "I was thinking somewhere we could have some cocoa; I'm freezing!"

"Me, too," Simon agreed. "And I just had a cocoa from Starbucks."

"You should've spelled your hair white, Bunce," said Baz for no apparent reason. "That would have been so much more appropriate for the season."

"Shutup, Basil," Penelope muttered. "My hair's fine."

Baz chuckled.

Simon rolled his eyes. "So, Pens, are you going to visit Micah for Christmas?"

Penny didn't answer because she had signaled the attention of a cab. "Everybody in," she said. "Let's go get Agatha."

# # #

Seeing Agatha again was awkward at best. It had taken five years in order to convince her to come back to England for awhile. Penelope had visited her whenever she was in America with Micah, and they had Skyped and stuff…. But it was still awkward.

After meeting up with Agatha they went to a restaurant called La Quila or something like that. Once their orders were taken—and Simon somehow managed to find a comfortable way to sit so that his wings weren't getting crushed—the four fell into a silence.

"So, Penny," said Agatha. "Are you going to see Micah this year?"

Simon looked up and saw that Penny was blushing a little. She took off her glasses and started cleaning them, which was not normal. Usually she just cast Clean as a whistle on them. She was nervous about something, Simon could tell as easily as he could tell when Baz was nervous about something.

"Um… yeah, about that." Penelope looked up at them with a look on her face that Simon couldn't really read. "Apparently, Micah is coming to London to see me this year."

There was a pause. Then Simon grinned. "That's great, Penny."

"No!" she hissed. "No, it's not great. Why do you think he's coming up here all of a sudden anyway? Do you think he doesn't trust me and thinks I'm cheating on him? Does he think I can't take care of myself? Do—"

"Bunce!" Baz sighed in exasperation. "Your boyfriend is trying to take a step in your relationship."

Again, the table fell silent. "What?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Baz raised arched a single eyebrow at her. Simon watched closely. Over the past few days he had tried to do that himself and had practiced in the mirror, but he hadn't made any progress and there was no way he was asking Baz for advice on it. "He wants to move forward." Baz made a motion with his hand. "Clearly he's handling that by coming to London in order to see you and show his commitment or something."

That went on for a little while, but Simon didn't really listen to most of it, being too busy trying to get comfortable with his wings. (Though, he did hear that though Micah was coming to London, he and Penny would be going on a road trip out of town for a week or so.) When they had all finished dinner and the girls both went back to Agatha's place for a while it was already getting dark and Simon's wings were starting to become visible again.

He and Baz walked down the quiet road in a comfortable silence; Simon leaning slightly towards Baz. He felt tired and ready to sleep heavily before having to get up and deal with the almost-Christmas-and-I-still-don't-know-what-to-get-anyone shopping.

As they passed a dark alleyway there was a loud crashing sound and both boys froze.

"Cat?" Simon asked hopefully.

Baz breathed in deeply through his nose. "Nope. Definitely not a cat."

"Then what is it?"

"I… don't know," Baz whispered and narrowed his eyes into the alley. "But it's not Normal."

Simon's tail flicked from side to side nervously but he took a step into the alley and listened. There was a strange noise coming from garbage cans that were lined up in the alley. He nudged Baz and motioned for him to make a fire in his hand but Baz shook his head and mouthed, someone might see.

Instead, he pulled out his wand and pointed it at an old street light. "Let there be light," he hissed and the lamp's light sprang to life. It showered down into the alley and there, right in the centre of the beam, something no bigger than a large cat crouched with its tail flicking from side to side.

Baz and Simon stepped forward. The thing hissed and backed up against the wall; its claws scraped against the ground frantically. Simon narrowed his eyes and crouched down so that he was basically on all fours.

All he could see was its yellow eyes, slitted like a cats, but different… almost… reptilian?

Dragon! That thing was a dragon! Simon's wings flared in surprise and panic and his tail whipped back and forth.

"What is it, Snow?" Baz demanded. He was still standing at the edge of the alley, which puzzled Simon. Why wouldn't he follow him?

The dragon made another sound in its throat; a funny chirping kind of sound, and threw itself at Simon wildly. Claws outstretched, mouth open as it let out a shriek. Baz shouted something, Simon flared his wings again in alarm and tried to run but the dragon hit him before he could move!

"Ah!" Simon yelled and jumped to his feet as the dragon scrambled up his side dove at his wings.

Then nothing.

Simon twisted around to look at what was going on and saw that the dragon was perched in between his wings—which were now fully visible—with its claws hooked into his shirt to hold itself there while he was standing upright. Its tail was wound around one of his wings.

"Rhyming rattlesnakes!" gasped Baz. "It's a baby!"

Simon continued to turn in circles until Baz called his name. He stopped and looked at the vampire with wide eyes. "What do I do? Why are you still standing all the way over there?" Baz had clearly moved but he was still a good distance away.

"It's a baby," Baz muttered.

"Kids make me nervous, too," Simon pointed out. "However, I'm pretty sure I'd risk being uncomfortable if one appeared to be attacking you."

Baz's face twisted into an annoyed expression—Simon knew he would have been blushing if he could. "No—Snow, baby dragons can't send off hostile 'back off' signals to other not-fully-human creatures. Our little friend is telling me to stay back; and frankly, I'm not really in the mood to risk what it would do if I didn't listen."

"Baz, look at this thing!" Simon twisted around so that Baz could see the baby perched in between his wings. "The most damage he's gonna do is squeal at you!"

"First of all, Snow, dragons don't 'squeal'. Second, of all—"

Simon had twisted back around at the same moment the baby dragon seemed to have enough with all the spinning. He felt its claws dig into his back and straighten rigidly with a loud, "Ack!"

"Snow?" Baz's gray eyes widened and he took a step forward in concern. "Are you okay?"

The blond waved his hand around a little. "Give or take. Though, I may have a few very claw-shaped scars on my back for the rest of my life."

"It's hurting you?" Baz's eyes narrowed to slits.

Simon could feel the dragon's rough-scaled stomach pressing against his back; it was shaking. The poor thing was terrified. Simon may not have been magic anymore, but he could still pick up on nervous or agitated magic when it came off of something in waves like it was with this little thing.

He held up his hands. "No. Baz, I'm fine. It's just scared."

Basilton didn't look convinced. "We could get that off if you just slam your back into the wall," he pointed out. "It wouldn't want to keep clinging onto you like that anymore."

"First of all," Simon began, "good gods, do you have any idea how much that would hurt? Second of all." He craned his neck to look over his shoulder at the baby. It met his eyes with a pair of narrowed yellow ones. "I uh… I'm not sure I want it off just yet."

"Great snakes. Crowley, Snow, then what do you plan to do?"

# # #

Baz

Of course this was Simon's plan. Of course this was Simon bloody Snow's fucking brilliant plan.

They had hurried to Baz's flat as fast as magicianly possible—and the whole time that bloody dragon hadn't removed itself from Simon's back! Was Baz supposed to be feeling jealous? He still didn't really know how boyfriends were supposed to do things when something seemed unnaturally attached to their partners' back.

Though, Baz did know that they probably still needed to talk about… that thing that Baz had expressed a few weeks ago—almost a month now.

He didn't really want to think about it just then.

Baz unlocked the door to his flat and they slipped inside. Simon pulled the coat that they had used to cover up the baby out from in between his wings and tossed it onto the couch. Baz saw the dragon dig its claws into Simon's back again and he growled.

"That's it," he said. "I'm getting that thing off of you."

Simon's eyes got a little bigger as he started towards him. "Whoa. Baz, don't hurt it."

Without answering Baz grabbed him by the arm and spun him around so that he was looking at the dragon. It hissed and dug in its claws harder.

"Ow," muttered Simon.

"Keep still." Baz grabbed the baby dragon around the middle and just below the jaw so that it couldn't bite him. He yanked it off his boyfriend's back—he was the only one allowed there as far as Baz was concerned—and held it up.

The baby dragon let out a high pitched shriek and struggled out of his grip. It darted around the room, jumping off of walls until it hit the door, then it made a high growling sound and leaped back towards Simon, claws outstretched. Snow let out a yelp as it landed on his shoulder and curled around his neck.

Suddenly, Simon's eyes got all big and he looked at Baz. "Baz," he whispered, "where's its mum?"

Baz held back a wince. He knew that face Simon was making. Simon always made that face when he was about to say something that he knew Baz wouldn't like, so he pulled the puppy dog eyes. He sighed and narrowed his eyes. "I don't know, Snow."

"Do you think she…."

"I'm sure she's not dead, Simon."

Simon bit his lip. "Baz."

"Don't even ask," Baz interrupted. "We are not keeping a dragon here. If anyone found out I'd probably have my wand snapped!"

"Oh, but we wouldn't keep it," Simon protested. "We'd just look after it until we find out where its mum is. Please, Baz, we can't just let it roam around out there by itself. It'll be killed!"

Baz looked at the baby dragon sitting on his boyfriend's shoulder. She—he knew it was a girl because of the thick horn on the edge of her nose; males lost that when they broke out of the egg and the females usually chipped the tip off, but it normally smoothed out again—had her tail flicking from side to side and her wings were rigid. She was clearly shaken up from all that had happened, though why she had chosen to follow Snow out of all the magicians in England….

Then it clicked.

"Crowley, of course!" Baz pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned.

"Um… excuse me?"

"It's your bloody wings, Snow!" Baz laughed. "That's why she decided to follow us! Great snakes, she thinks you're another dragon."

That smile that tugged at Simon's mouth did not bode well for Basilton's "no dragons" rule. Aleister Crowley, that face…. Baz could never say no to it. He sighed heavily. "Please don't ask, Snow."

Simon gave him an apologetic look. "Please? I have to help it—her—to find her mum again."

Baz grit his teeth and huffed. "Fine. Whatever. We'll keep it here, since we all know Bunce would have a fit if it got into her books. Besides, you were gonna stay here anyway while she was off with her American man anyway, right?"

"Of course." Baz wanted to be annoyed—maybe even a little mad—but Snow looked so goddamn happy. What was he supposed to do? "Thank you, Baz." Simon beamed and stepped forward as if he wanted to kiss him or something but the dragon hissed fiercely and he stepped back again.

"Right," Baz sighed. "Why don't we do that later."

Simon nodded. "So, uh, where shall I put her for tonight."

"Guest bathroom for now," Baz yawned. "I'll meet you in the bedroom. Just make sure there's nothing she can get into that might possibly be dangerous."

"Alright," said Simon. "I be there in a minute then."

Baz, still struggling with his yawns, turned and walked down the hall towards his bedroom. He felt tempted to say, "I love you" or something but he remembered the last time he thought about saying that when Simon had told him that he wasn't really sure that he was ready for "all that" as he had put it then. So he ignored the thought and slipped into his room to wait for his boyfriend.