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SIMON
I never really had any close internet friends before Baz. I’m bad at keeping in contact, and I don’t really start conversations with people unless I have a reason. But with Baz, it works for some reason. I want to talk to him all the time, so I’ll come up with any reason to do so. He seems to like me too, and often tags me in things that remind him of me.
If I’m being perfectly honest, I didn’t like Baz at first. I had been following his YouTube channel because of his violin covers and checked his tumblr out to see if he had an FAQ. He did, and I thought he came off as pretty annoying and snarky, but I followed him anyway. I still admired his musical talent, and decided to give him another chance. Eventually I realised that he just had an odd sense of humour, and when he followed me back and started talking to me, I really liked him.
He’s a lot softer than he wants people to think, and can actually be really funny. It feels like we’ve been friends forever, even though we only started talking a few months ago. Now I watch his non-violin related videos too. (though there aren’t that many.)
We’re a surprising but good match.
BAZ
Simon commented on my channel a lot before he found my tumblr. I didn’t know that when we started talking, but when he sent me a selfie I recognised him from his YouTube profile picture. His tumblr and his YouTube are completely separate so he doesn't know that I know about them, but his comments always made me smile.
Our friendship is pretty public since we keep tagging each other in pictures, and we already have a ship name. SnowBaz. His first name wasn’t stated on his tumblr when we first started talking, so it’s based on his last name. I like it. I really don’t mind the shipping at all, I actually find it funny. The fanart is cute too, even if it very rarely gets Simon right. They have no reference pictures, and are just going by vague descriptions and a doodle of himself he posted once.
SIMON
I’ve just gotten home when I get a notification. It’s from Baz.
“I’ll be in London this weekend. Wanna meet up?”
I have to read the message a couple of times to process it.
“YES????? IS THAT EVEN A QUESTION???” I type back.
Baz responds immediately.
“NICE! Meet me at the train station at noon?”
“OK!! I’m so excited asdfsddsf!!”
“We’ll see each other! For real!”
“FAce to FACE!!!”
“I KNOW!”
Baz usually doesn’t use all caps, so he must be really excited too. I can barely contain myself, and I squeal loudly. It’s a good thing I’m alone.
BAZ
I can barely sit still on the train. I’m alone in my carriage, so I pick my phone up.
“Hello everyone! This video is a lot less planned than my usual ones, but I felt like this needed to be recorded. Those of you who follow my tumblr already know about my friendship with Simon. If you don’t follow my tumblr then… You should. I post great things. Anyway, this is a happy day for all of you Snowbaz shippers, because today I’m meeting up with Simon! I’m on the train to see him right now, and I should be there in about… Thirty minutes. I’m really excited!”
SIMON
The train isn’t going to be here in another fifteen minutes, but I don’t have anything better to do than wait. I’m so excited that I almost feel nauseous, and I keep having to pinch myself to make sure it’s real. I’m gonna meet Baz! For real! I’ll be able to hug him if I want to!
What if he doesn’t like me? What if he thinks I’m annoying in real life when I can’t take time to compose my responses? I ignore the thought. I won’t let anything spoil this meeting.
Then the train arrives. People well out from their carriages, and I’m practically jumping up and down trying to see over people’s heads and spot Baz. And I do. He steps out through the train doors and looks around the platform, but doesn’t see me. His black hair is perfectly slicked back and his coat looks expensive. If it wasn't for his jeans, you could almost mistake him for a time traveler from the past with his elegant posture and his vintage suitcase. The fact that he plays the violin doesn’t help. He has his violin case with him, I wonder if he’ll play for me…
BAZ
I hear Simon before I see him. He yells my name, and when I turn around he’s running towards me. I quickly put the violin case down, because it looks like he might be about to tackle me. As he comes closer, I become increasingly more sure about that theory, and I stretch my arms out to catch him. As I suspected, he throws himself at me in a hug that’s so fierce it knocks me over even though I was prepared for it.
“Hi” I chuckle as we land on the platform floor. Simon laughs into my shoulder and then lifts his head up to look at me.
“Hi” he responds, and his cheeks are light red. I feel mine heating up too.
“Sorry for knocking you over” he continues while struggling to get up. “I’m really excited to see you.”
“It’s totally fine! I’m excited too! I’m glad I had time to put my violin down though” I say, and grab Simon’s outstretched hand to pull myself up.
“Oh my god me too, I don’t know what I would’ve done if I broke your violin!” He seems embarrassed about his enthusiastic greeting.
“You didn’t though, so it’s fine! It was a great welcoming, I’m just kinda sad I didn’t get it on video.”
Simon and I laugh together, and then someone taps me on the shoulder. I turn around and at first I don’t see her because she’s so much shorter than me, but there’s a girl standing beside us. She’s blushing aggressively.
“I…. uhh, I did.”
“Did what?”
“Get it on video. The hug.” There is an awkward pause where Simon and I just look at the girl.
“Oh sorry, I recognised you from YouTube. Probably should’ve started with that. I don’t just film random people on the train station. My friend watches your videos so I wanted to show her that I saw you, so I was filming you when he attacked you. I could send you the video if you want it, or….”
“Yeah! Yes! Please do, here, I’ll give you my mail address… Just don’t give it to a bunch of people, okay?”
“Okay! I’ll send it when I get home. By the way, you two are really cute together!”
“Oh, we’re not…” but before I can finish the sentence, she’s gone.
SIMON
Baz somehow looks better in real life than he does in his videos. You’d expect it to be the other way around, but nope. It’s actually distracting how handsome he is. Also, his hair still looks good even after I knocked him over. I actually kind of prefer it like this, when it’s not perfectly slicked back. I like the way the loose locks of hair frame his face. I don’t tell him that.
It feels unreal to speak to Baz in person. I’ve kind of wanted to meet him since before we even started talking, and now he’s here, in the flesh. He smells kind of like a forest, but citrusy. It’s nice, I like it. I don’t tell him that either.
BAZ
Every other person we meet mistakes us for a couple. I guess the things we’re doing do seem a little date-like (you know, eating out together, sightseeing, walking aimlessly through London so close together that we might as well be holding hands, sharing an ice cream cone because I said I didn’t want anything and then changed my mind after we walked away from the ice cream guy…) so it’s not that strange, but still. I don’t mind though, and Simon doesn’t either.
I had my concerns about vlogging today since Simon doesn’t really show his face online, but he said it was okay, and I’m glad. I really want to have this documented, and I also want to share this amazing experience with my subscribers, especially those invested in mine and Simon’s friendship. The shippers are gonna have a field day with this… Good for them.
“Hey Baz?” Simon says.
“Yeah?”
“When you post the vlog, our… fans are going to know what I look like.” He does air quotes when he says the word fans.
“Yes Simon, that is a natural side effect of showing your face. I thought you knew this.” He pushes me lightly.
“I did, obviously. What I meant was that maybe now they’ll finally create some accurate fanart of us!” I choke on my own spit, and we both start laughing.
“Fuck, I wish I got that on video too!” I wheeze, and Simon folds over laughing.
SIMON
Baz and I are walking down the street together just looking at shop windows when he grabs my hand.
“Simon!” he says excitedly.
“What?”
“We need to go on the London Eye! That’s like absolutely something you have to do when you’re in London! Besides, I could get an amazing view of the sunset for my vlog, it would look so nice… Come on, we need to!” Baz is so excited, and I can’t help but smile.
“Yeah, sure. I don’t see why not.”
“Awesome! We need to hurry though, so we get there before sunset.”
Baz doesn’t let go of my hand when we begin walking towards the London Eye together.
The carriages on the London Eye are bigger than I thought they would be, but Baz and I somehow have one to ourselves. The line wasn’t that long either, so we really got incredibly lucky. The sun starts setting while we’re getting in the carriage, and it’s all a bit too good to be true. But it is true.
Baz gets some amazing shots of the sunset, but when he’s done we still have over twenty minutes of the ride left.
“I just had an idea that’s either crazy or amazing. Can you tell me which it is?” Baz says, stopping himself in the middle of putting his camera away.
“Sure. What’s the idea?”
“What if I did a violin cover… In here? I mean I have my violin and my recording equipment right here… What do you think? Crazy or amazing?”
“Definitely amazing! And then I’ll get to see you play in real life!”
Baz’s eyes light up, and he reaches for his violin case.
Once his camera and microphone are set up, Baz lifts the violin to his chin. He looks so graceful.
“Okay, I don’t have the sheet music, so I hope I remember it” he says, more to himself than me or the camera. Then he starts playing. I never really cared for violin music before I found Baz’s channel, but now I’m half obsessed with it. Nothing can ever beat Baz’s covers though, and hearing him play in real life is overwhelming. The carriage is bathing in orange-golden light, and Baz’s music makes me feel like I’m going to dissolve into a ray of light and melt into the sunset that’s making his eyes glitter like the Thames below us. His slim fingers move lightly over the violin neck, like this comes to him as easily as breathing, and his face is focused. He’s covered this song before, but the video is nothing compared to the real life experience. I could watch him play forever.
He finishes the song and turns to me, and I realise that I’ve been staring. I don’t really care though, because how could you not? That was a heavenly experience.
“How did I sound?” he asks, sounding surprisingly shy.
“You were breathtaking” I respond without thinking, and he blushes.
“Thank you” he mumbles “though I should probably play it one more time just to make sure I get it right. If that’s okay with you?”
“More than okay. Please proceed” I say silently, like I’ll somehow ruin the moment if I speak too loudly. Baz lifts the violin up again. it’s as spellbinding this time as it was the first.
I think that this song must be a love song. It feels like it.
BAZ
I try not to look at Simon while I play, because I’m pretty sure I’ll completely lose track of the song if I do. But it’s hard. He’s sitting there, glowing in the sunlight and looking at me like I’m an angel. His eyes are sparkling, and it’s hard to tell in this light but I think he’s blushing a little. And he said my music was breathtaking. He said I was breathtaking. I think this cover is going to be better than the one I’ve already done. The whole atmosphere of the ferris wheel and the sunset and Simon sitting on the bench in front of me makes it easy to get in to the song. Despite my best efforts, I end up glancing at Simon. He stands up, and I mess up a couple of notes.
“Sorry if I ruin your cover” he whispers, and takes a step closer to me.
“You already have” I respond, struggling to continue playing.
“Well I’m about to ruin it more” he says, and then he kisses me.
Who cares about violin covers?
SIMON
I thought Baz’s music was spellbinding, but I’ve decided that it’s actually just Baz in general.
And nothing is as heavenly as his lips against mine. Even though the violin is hanging loosely from the hand he’s wrapped around my waist, I can still hear the music in my head. Baz doesn’t just create music, he is music. We’re music together, and right now there’s no doubt that it’s a love song.
BAZ
“Baz.”
“Yeah?”
“I could kiss you forever, but I think we’re down soon and the wheel doesn’t stop, so we kind of have to be ready to get off.”
We separate, and I realise that he’s right. We’ll soon be back on the ground, and we barely admired the view. I don’t mind. I’d rather look at Simon anyway, and I’m pretty sure he’ll let me. I start putting the violin back in its case, and hear Simon chuckle.
“Now they can definitely create some accurate fanart” he says.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean” Simon says, gesturing to the camera, “that at least you got that on video.”