Simon

When I wake up, there's a thin ray of early-morning sunlight streaming into the room through a gap in the curtains, and everything around me is the soft grey color you associate with early morning.

Baz is still asleep, of course; he's never been a morning person, although you'd think he'd make an exception, today of all days.

I climb out of bed, pulling on a tee shirt and twitching the curtain to block out the sunlight. Baz will never admit that it bothers him.

Penny's already awake, and the flat's small kitchen smells like coffee. She's standing at the counter, holding a mug in one hand and a book in the other, and there's a pan of bacon on the stove behind her.

"If you burn that, I'll never forgive you," I say.

Penny looks over at the stove, shrugs, and says, "Honestly, Simon. I can cook- unlike some people."

I laugh, making my way over to the fridge, careful not to knock anything over with my wings or tail. "I don't need to cook. There's a perfectly good bakery not five minutes from here."

"You're hopeless, Simon."

"Absolutely."

Baz chooses that moment to wander into the kitchen, yawning. "Why are you awake?"

"Good morning, Baz," I say. "Happy birthday."

He scowls, and it's all I can do not to laugh. "I seem to remember telling you to forget about it."

"And I seem to remember… persuading you otherwise."

"I don't think that counts, Snow."

I go back to digging through the refrigerator. "Well, you never said that." Penny grabs the frying pan, now smoking slightly, and dumps the bacon onto a plate. Baz is leaning against the wall by the door, still glaring at me.

"Oh, come on, Baz," I say. "We got you presents and everything."

"That makes it worse."

Penny puts everything on the table- bacon, eggs, coffee- while I finally locate the box of scones I'd picked up at the bakery yesterday (I knew if Baz found an uneaten scone in this flat, he'd know something was up).

Baz does all the cooking around here, even though he technically doesn't live with us. He's actually pretty good at it. Which is not a surprise, of course. Baz is good at everything.

So just this once, I figured I'd do the cooking (With Penny's help). And I did get him a present, even though he asked me not to.

"Here," I say now, as the three of us sit around the table. "I got you this."

Baz shakes his head, looking between me and the sloppily wrapped parcel on the table, in between the scones and the coffee. "Snow, you shouldn't have- you too, Bunce? Honestly," he sighs as Penny's gift lands on top of mine.

"Well? Aren't you going to open them?" I demand.

Baz sighs, untying the bow on Penny's gift. It's books, of course- a box set of The Magician's Guide to Modern Spellcasting. She told me there was an entire chapter dedicated to Vines.

My gift is also a book, but not the sort you can buy in a bookstore.

It took me a month to track down everything I needed- awkward phone calls with Mr. Grimm and Dev and Niall, and Agatha, of all people, and less awkward ones with the Bunces and some old school friends.

Baz pulls the wrapping paper off of the present, revealing the plain black cover. I wasn't sure what to put on the front, so I just left it blank.

It's a photo album- one that spans the last nine years, pictures of the two of us and our separate groups of friends, and then pictures of the two of us together. Our story. And on the very last page, I'd written him a message- just three words long.

Baz turns to face me, and he's smiling, but I think he's also crying a little bit. "Thank you, Simon," he says. "I didn't have anything like this."

"I know," I say, reaching over to take his hand. "I'm glad you like it."

Baz leans over to kiss me, and Penny allows it for about thirty seconds before she throws a scone at my head.

"No. No, no, no. No snogging in my kitchen. It is too early to deal with this."

"Penny," I start, but she holds up one hand.

"After breakfast, I am going to the supermarket. You can snog all you like when I don't have to put up with how disgustingly adorable you two are." She goes back to devouring her eggs and bacon.

I lean into Baz, still holding his hand, reaching for a scone with the other. "Happy birthday, Baz."

He chuckles, resting his cheek against the top of my head. "Whatever, Snow."