Limelight

Zach: Reputation

(I'm running out of time to get two one-shots done this month *^*)

Zach Fairmourn had a reputation. Everyone at Seabrook High School knew it, none more than Zach himself, but now it was time to leave it behind. Or, at least, try to.

Now that he had a boyfriend, he shouldn't really be flirting with anyone else. And, if he was honest, he didn't much want to. Sure, there were still plenty of people at school who he couldn't deny were attractive, but they didn't measure up to Diaz. Nobody else could catch his eye these days. His mind was preoccupied with thoughts of when they could next see each other alone without the danger of being outed.

But it couldn't be that easy. He had a reputation, and he had a closeted boyfriend to protect. So he dialed it back a little. Just a small comment here and there. Maybe a lingering look, on occasion. But he almost never actually stopped someone to try and talk to them anymore. Almost never.

Alonzo had asked why he was still staring at people sometimes when he had a boyfriend now.

"Dude, if I suddenly stopped hitting on people out of nowhere, they'd get suspicious. I've got to ease off slowly."

Al seemed to think about this, then nodded like he understood, but Zach guessed he didn't quite get it, "... Right..."

Zach's focused quickly shifted when he spotted something over Al's shoulder and he perked up. Al spun around to look and saw Diaz and his friends approaching.

Zach made a show of checking him out, looking him up and down. When his eyes rested back on Diaz's face, they locked with his and he saw his confused, and slightly scared, expression change as he caught on. It was quickly replaced with a look of disgust, and he turned away sharply. Fritz was biting back a smile while Zeke leaned in to whisper something to Diaz. Zach's antics had clearly made him nervous but whatever Diaz said in response must have been enough to keep him quiet.

Zach watched him go until he was out of sight, then he turned to Alonzo with a grin.

"This is actually kinda fun."

– LIMELIGHT –

His current decoy: Jessica, a human from the cheer squad. He'd happened to meet her once through Keira, and was preemptively rejected from the start. Which, looking at his current situation, didn't bother him one bit.

"Hey, Jess," he smirked as she walked by.

She just scoffed, "I am not in the mood."

Zach quirked an eyebrow, "Implying you could be in the mood some other time?"

Jessica held up a hand, like he could pounce on her at any moment and she needed to hold him back.

"Just stop. It's never gonna happen," she told him, in the most condescending tone he had ever heard from her, which was actually pretty impressive, "Not with me, not with anybody."

"I don't know about that."

"Please. How many times have you tried? Nobody here wants to date you."

Ouch.

He wasn't fazed. She was wrong, anyway.

"Actually, I do have a boyfriend," he said suddenly. He glanced at her briefly, just to check her reaction; a blank stare, and a slow, disbelieving blink.

"Uh-huh."

"He's just not out, you know? So, I can't tell anybody we're dating."

He waited. Two seconds. Three. Four...

"How long did it take you to come up with that one?"

Zach just chuckled and shrugged, "Been working on it."

With a classic roll of her eyes, Jessica turned and walked away, leaving Zach still smiling to himself, actually pretty satisfied with that response. Maybe he still had his reputation, but at least he knew if word got out somehow, the most likely outcome would just be that nobody believed it. Diaz would be safe.

If.