Limelight

Zeke and Izabelle: "Nothing"

(Time for some major development in Zebelle! I think this was actually the very first thing I came up with when I started shipping them. At least, I knew really early on I wanted it to go in this direction. Fun times are coming~

Tomorrow there should be both another Rozeira one-shot and also a Bonzo Day Limelight where he's with Izabelle and Paizley)

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Something was up. Izabelle had noticed Zeke was acting differently around her these past few days, but she couldn't pinpoint exactly why. What she hadn't noticed was that she was acting different, too. And the changes in both of their demeanours had come around the same time – that fight. The fight between Zeke and the human who disagreed about zombies joining more teams. Izabelle had eased up on him, considerably, and Zeke had taken to some much more light-hearted teasing than what they, and their friends, and been used to. Riza, Zadie, Fritz and Diaz took the shift in dynamic as just how Iza and Zeke's friendship was turning out. Zeke and Hazen, of course, knew better. But Izabelle... Izabelle couldn't grasp what she was feeling. All she knew was she was really starting to like having Zeke around.

That still didn't stop them from arguing.

It was the end of the school day and Zeke and Izabelle had just been in class together, without any of the others around to keep an eye on them, and at this point, they were already halfway through another disagreement. Neither one of them even remembered how it started but it kept them distracted long enough to be the last ones out the door and while Iza continued to rant, Zeke couldn't help being amused watching her.

He chuckled lightly and muttered just loudly enough for her to hear, "You're cute, y'know that?"

She froze. Her eyebrows shot up and her mouth fell open, but Zeke could tell it wasn't in a good way. She was seething.

"Did you just call me cute?"

Zeke thought for a moment. Why deny it? She was cute. It was just that everyone else was too afraid of her to admit it.

"Yeah," he nodded and shrugged casually, keeping his face neutral, "Yeah, I did."

Izabelle smiled that sweet smile that usually meant all hell was about to break loose. She folded her arms, titled her chin up and locked eyes with him. He stood his ground.

"I'd have thought you'd learned your lesson by now," she said calmly, another bad sign, but Zeke wasn't going to take it back, "Just 'cause we're friends it doesn't mean you can get away with saying that."

Smirking, Zeke tipped his head forward and she scowled.

"It's a compliment, Izabelle. I'm not trying to pick a fight here, I'm just saying. You're cute."

"Oh, you're gonna get it now...!" she charged towards him, raising a fist but he easily caught it.

"Are you seriously that mad that I think you're cute?"

"You're getting a little too comfortable here. We might be cool now but if you wanna start treating me like a baby, we're gonna have a problem."

That surprised him, "I'm not calling you a baby! I didn't mean it like that," he explained and she faltered, her scowl looking a little more like a pout. He almost saw the slightest hint of a blush dusting her cheeks but she hid it well.

"So, what did you mean?" she demanded. She still wasn't going to calm down.

"I meant exactly what I said; you're cute."

"OK. I'm cute," she grabbed hold of the front of his coveralls and yanked him down to her level, "And you...!" but somehow him being so close made her mind go blank, and the confusion that this caused her just made her rage increase. She tried to remain composed, but Izabelle had never been good at that, "Y-you...!"