Limelight

Zach, Alonzo and Zephyr: The Exception

(Second one-shot of the night, the other side of the new ship~ I'm calling them Zaz ^^)

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"Well," Zach sighed and sat down on the sidewalk outside the plaza next to Alonzo and Zephyr, not caring if he was disturbing them, "Zeke's officially off the market. Yet another potential true love is lost. Seems it was never meant to be..." He lay down on the ground, like he was giving up completely, and Zephyr slowly blinked at him.

Alonzo, on the other hand, didn't even look at him, mumbling "Chill" around a mouthful of potato fingers.

Zach briefly lifted his head, "Never," then he immediately dropped to the floor again, "And for Izabelle Graves, of all people! Izabelle!"

"I always thought she was aro," Al mused and Zeph nodded in agreement.

"I know, right? Riz thought she was, too. And she'd know. But all that aside, Zach, since when were you into Zeke?"

"When was I not into Zeke?"

Al snorted, "When was he not into every zombie he came into contact with? And a few humans," he turned to Zach, "I don't blame you, though, man, Zeke's hot."

Zephyr sat up, staring at him, "I'm right here! You calling other guys hot now?"

Laughing, Al reached over to brush a hand down his face, "Aw, c'mon, garzi'ka, you know you're my number one! I'm just saying, he is hot. Doesn't mean I like him."

"Uh-huh..." Zeph shot him a (jokingly) accusing look and Al laughed again. He leaned over to kiss Zephyr while Zach rolled his eyes and picked up the football lying by Zephyr's bag. Zeph hummed as he pulled away, "Alright, I trust you."

By the time he finished speaking, Zach had chucked the ball at him, shouting "Quit showing off!"

Zeph easily caught it without so much as flinching and smirked back at him, "You better not still try to hit on him, I know you want to. Izabelle would straight up murder you."

"Relax, I know when to stop."

"No, you don't."

"I know when to avoid a beating. I've lost my chance with Zeke but there's plenty of fish in the sea!" he shot the two of them finger guns, "Seabrook."

Zephyr groaned and Al waved a hand, "Leave the puns to Roz, man."

Zach brushed them off, "Hey, you know who I wish I had a chance with, though?"

Al furrowed his brow and leaned forward, curious, "Who?"

"Fritz."

Zephyr just shook his head, "Dude, don't go for the straight guy."

"I'm not! I just mean if he wasn't straight." he stole the potato finger from Alonzo's hand and popped it in his mouth, leaving Al gaping at him.

"What about Diaz?" Zephyr suggested as Al briefly mourned the loss of the finger but Zach didn't respond at first, "... Zach...?"

"It's funny," Zach started, oddly thoughtful, and sat up, "I've... never really talked to Diaz. Not like that."

Now Al was just staring at him, "... What?"

"Hold up," Zeph straightened up, "You're telling me there's a cute guy in Zombie To-"

"Wait a minute, I can't call Zeke hot but you can call Diaz cute?" Al suddenly sounded upset.

"It's not the same thing, Al."

"It's close enough! Now I'm kinda sorry I said that, it doesn't feel good..."

"Hey, c'mon," Zeph reached over to comb his fingers through Alonzo's hair, making him pout but shut up, "You know what I mean," he kept his hand in his hair as he turned back to Zach, who was watching them with a bored expression. Did they always have to be... like that? "So as I was saying, there's a cute guy in town who is gay, single and about your age," he counted each point off on his fingers, "and you haven't so much as tried to flirt with him? Ever?"

"No!" Zach said, just as surprised, "I haven't!"

Al narrowed his eyes, "Who are you and what have you done with my best friend?"

"Y-" Zephyr went to say something then looked at Al, slightly hurt, "I thought I was your best friend...?"

Al shrugged somewhat guiltily, "Then you became my boyfriend and Zach moved up the ranks."

"I can still be your best friend!"

"I can have more than one best friend," Al pointed out, "Roz is your best friend, too, aren't they?"

"OK, yeah, but...!"

Zach waved a hand in front of their faces, "Hey, uh, can we put the little lovers' tiff on hold and get back to me, please?"

"... What were we talking about again?" Al asked after a few seconds.

"The fact he's never made a move on Diaz."

Al snapped his fingers and pointed at Zach, "Why haven't you made a move on Diaz?!"

"I don't know!" he genuinely didn't, "I mean, he's a sweet guy but I just kinda... avoid him? For some reason."

"For some reason?" Al echoed in disbelief.

"Look, I already said I don't know why! What else do you want from me?"

"There's gotta be more to it than that!"

Zephyr, who had been sitting in quiet contemplation for a moment, leaned forward, "Maybe you like him."

"... Except I'm avoiding him. Besides, it wouldn't be such a surprise if I did like him, I like a lot of people. I'm not gonna deny it, you're right, he is cute," they both ignored Al's scowl, "But whenever I see him I specifically think; I am not gonna hit on him."

"I mean, maybe it's a subconscious thing. Like, you do the same thing over and over again, and you always get the same result. So part of you is scared if you did try flirt with him, he'd turn you down like everybody else. Or you don't want him to think he's just another notch in your belt."

"... You been hanging out with Zane...?"

Zeph held up his hands in defence, "Hey, it's just something to think about, I could be wrong. But do you have any reason to not flirt with him?"

Zach thought for a moment, but nothing seemed to stand out. Al watched him closely.

"This... could be interesting..." he said and shoved another handful of potato fingers in his mouth.

- LIMELIGHT –

"... So you think Diaz is cute, huh?"

"So you think Zeke is hot?"

"If you can call Diaz cute why can't I call Zeke hot?"

"Those two words mean something very different, Al!"

"How?"

"'Cute' is like you look at them and you smile and think 'hey, they're cute!' but 'hot' makes it sound like... like you want something from them."

"I don't want anything from Zeke, Zeph, I've got you. I just know a hot guy when I see one! It doesn't mean anything," Zephyr just pouted and a smirk stretched across Alonzo's face. He took Zephyr's chin in his hand, "You're hotter, anyway."

"... Yeah?"

"Yeah..."