Limelight

Zeke and Izabelle: Changes

(Time for some Zebelle! This whole week should be filled with shippy Limelights to get ready for next week's Christmas fics! Get ready for Zebelle, Chanzie and Rozeira, probably even a new one-shot everyday~!)

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When the trio arrived at school that day, they found Hazen sitting down, nervously watching as Zeke paced back and forth. He had his head down, obviously lost in thought, and the girls looked at each other in confusion. Izabelle sat on the edge of the table near Hazen, Zadie leaning her hip against it with her arms folded and Riza placing her hands down on it. They all waited to see if Zeke was going to do anything but after a minute, Iza turned to Hazen.

"What's up with him?"

Hazen glanced at her and shrugged before he looked back at his best friend. Izabelle casually leaned back on her hands. She swung her leg a couple of times and when he passed by, Izabelle (gently) kicked him. That finally got his attention and he stopped, frowning at her.

"What was that for?"

"You were zoning out," she said simply, which made Zeke roll his eyes.

"I wasn't zoning out, I'm trying to think."

Izabelle held out a hand in fake concern, "Don't hurt yourself!"

"Very funny."

Zeke stopped pacing and sat down next to Hazen, but he still didn't seem to be paying much attention while the girls were talking.

Hazen tipped his head towards him and asked quietly, "Seriously, what are you thinking about?"

Opening his mouth to speak, Zeke took one look at the three girls and clammed up, shaking his head. Riza shoved his shoulder, meaning for it to be rough but she wasn't strong enough to actually make him budge.

"Come on, you can tell us!"

Zeke just slowly blinked at her, but then he turned to address all four of them.

"... I kinda wanna try-out for the cheer squad."

Izabelle snorted, "Alright, Mr Wouldn't-Be-Caught-Dead-At-A-Pep-Rally."

"Here we go..." Hazen groaned and dropped his head into his hand.

Zeke pushed himself back from the table and threw open his arms, "Look, I can be the bigger person here. I'm admitting I was wrong."

Izabelle ignored the point he was making and narrowed her eyes, "Was that a short joke?"

He dropped his arms to his sides, then awkwardly pointed at her, "Not... intentionally, but I'm sticking to it."

She propped her elbow up on her knee and held her chin in her hand, "You know I'm gonna mock you forever if you join the squad. Even more if you try out and don't make it, which, honestly, you probably won't..." she sat up straight again, a wide smile on her face, "So I say go for it!"

He stared blankly at her for a second.

"... Ignoring that. The championship was a lot of fun. I do parkour around Zombie Town but I don't get a lot of chances to really perform like that."

"You perform at the zombie mash all the time," Hazen said but Zeke tilted his head back and shrugged.

"Yeah, but it's just for fun at the zombie mash, I want to try competing again."

Izabelle look down, her eyebrows shooting upwards, "In that uniform..."

Zadie and Riza sniggered with her but once again, Zeke brushed it off.

"It's only weird if you make it weird, Izabelle."

"Oh, I'm making it weird," she giggled, "Good luck trying to convince Bucky."

That only made him smirk, "Things are changing, Izabelle. Even Bucky could surprise you. Remember what happened at the competition."

She had to give him that, at least. It had been a couple of days since the championships and already there had been signs of some progress in the right direction, including Bucky making some kind of attempt to be more open to the zombies. Maybe he was right.

She would still make fun of him for being a hypocrite, though.

– LIMELIGHT –

Izabelle could admit she was friends with Zeke at this point, so he got a pass just the same as Hazen and Roz did. However, a 'pass' from her only really meant from physical harm. Jokes and insults were still acceptable as she saw fit. And no matter how tough other people thought he was, Izabelle saw his soft side far more often, seeing as most of the time she spent around Zeke was when he was also with Hazen. And he avoided getting too physical with anyone when Hazen was around. She couldn't remember the last time she saw him get into a real fight; he was more likely to just talk someone down. Aggressively, yes, but still.

Until one day later that week when some random human decided to comment on Zeke's insistence that zombies be given a chance to try-out for cheer, and other teams, seeing as they'd missed the chance at the start of the year. Not everyone had warmed up to the zombies yet, apparently. They could put up with them being in their school, but letting them onto their precious, perfect cheer squad? That was too far.

Hazen wasn't there to talk him out of it when he punched the human in the face. Fritz and Diaz, on either side of him, jumped but they knew better than to get it the way when he was like this. Not too far away, the trio were quickly alerted to the sound of conflict. Izabelle, along with Riza and Zadie, ran to get a closer look, and they were not disappointed.

"Finally...!" Riza laughed and Zadie joined her.

"So this is what he's like when Hazen's not around."

Meanwhile, Izabelle was watching Zeke's every move in total awe. It was impressive. She'd heard he could get a little rough-and-tumble with his younger brother and sister, but this was something totally different.

When had she started cheering his name...?

He was landing every blow, never backing down, never hesitating and seemingly never getting tired. His expression was one of pure rage and determination, making Izabelle feel strangely... proud? Was that what she was feeling? She didn't have time to think about it, though, because it was then that Hazen showed up, desperately pulling Zeke away. Zeke continued to glower down at the human, panting heavily.

"You'll think next time before you say something like that again, won't you?" he spat and ushered Hazen away. Izabelle hopped up, Riza and Zadie right behind her, and followed after them, all three with smug smiles. While Riza and Zadie stepped around the human still on the floor, Iza opted instead for walking right over him. She may be small and light, but no-one wanted a 15-year-old zombie girl standing right on their chest, even for a split second, and that gave her almost as much satisfaction as it had to watch the fight at all. As she, Riza and Zadie slipped past Zeke and Hazen, Iza spun round to throw Zeke an approving smile, "You know, I respected you before, but I might actually be starting to like you now."

Izabelle could admit she was friends with Zeke. Anything else... well, she wasn't even going to admit that to herself.

She turned her back on him and continued on down the hall. Zeke paused. He couldn't help staring for some reason as his lips slowly quirked up.

Hazen's eyes shifted from Zeke to Izabelle and back again. He nodded to himself, "I knew it."

"What?"

"You like Izabelle."

"What?"

"You keep staring at her like that."

Zeke suddenly felt self-conscious, "Like what?"

"Like that!" he gestured to Zeke's face, "The same way you were staring at her after the homecoming game. And when Bonzo got back home."

"C'mon, man, I don't like Izabelle, I just..." it was impossible for him not to look back at her one more time, "I-" he could see how she was talking and laughing and it made his chest feel tight, "... Oh, my Z, I like Izabelle...!"