Limelight

Zeke: Siblings

(And now we're introducing more of the BGZ's younger siblings! I already mentioned Al's sister Lindzey in a Limelight, and in Tattooed Mistakes, and now here's Zeke's brother and sister~ And this one briefly mentions Zion, the next sibling I'm working on. I haven't fleshed out his BGZ brother enough yet though, so he won't be showing up for a while still. But I've had the idea for the talk between Zeke and Blaze here for a while now. Bios for the siblings are linked on the BGZ masterpost on my Tumblr~)

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Zeke had only just gotten home from school and his brother was already getting in his way, but that was nothing out of the ordinary. Blaze was always hanging off of Zeke's arm, or tugging on his sleeve, or punching his shoulder or something to try and get his attention. And now he was bragging about beating some kid in a race at school that day, which he was obviously embellishing a little. He was still stuck in a school in Zombie Town, and there was no way a race the size he was suggesting could take place in what cramped space they had. It didn't look like he was going to stop anytime soon, though, but Zeke knew how to handle that.

The second Blaze heard Zeke speak, he shut up and froze.

"Hey, you know what 'blaze' means, right?" he stared blankly at his brother, who stared back, trying to mirror his expression but unable to keep that little hint of nervousness from showing. The younger zombie knew exactly what that tone in his voice meant. Zeke leaned in closer and Blaze faltered, "It means fire."

"... So?"

"So. Zombies hate fire," he started, then furrowed his brow and smiled slyly, "Now, why would Mom and Dad name you after fire if we all hate it?"

"... 'Cause-"

"No," Zeke shut him down before he could go any further, shaking his head. He crouched down, gave Blaze a fake sympathetic smile and waited a few seconds. Just to draw it out a little bit longer, "It's because they hate you."

"It is not!" Blaze scowled.

"It is. I'm sorry."

"Zeke!" he hit him but it didn't do anything.

"And they were running out of Z names," Zeke hardly reacted to Blaze's punches, "I mean, there's only so many you can use."

"Mooommm...!"

They both heard the usual groan of frustration coming from down the hall, followed by the usual slow, tired footsteps, before their mom appeared in the doorway.

"Could you two not fight for just five minutes? Please?"

Blaze pointed accusingly at his big brother, "He said you hated me!"

"Zeke..."

Now Zeke couldn't help wavering slightly under her fierce glare. He definitely got his intimidating nature from his mother. But he wasn't about to let Blaze get the upper hand, "What? You're the one who named him after fire, what was I supposed to tell him?"

"Of all the..." she muttered under her breath and cast her eyes skyward then turned her attention back to her two sons, addressing Blaze first, "Do not listen to your brother. We called you that because we liked the name, that's all there is to it. And you," she turned to Zeke and folded her arms, "Stop telling him things like that! He looks up to you, you know," she paused, "And you're not going to that block party tomorrow. I need you to babysit."

Zeke's face fell, "What?" he followed her out the door and down the stairs while Blaze went back to his own room, "That's so not fair! Why can't I just take them with me? Zoey and Zion will both be there for them to hang out with!"

"There is absolutely no way Jozlyn will even leave the house without me or you father with her knowing that many humans will be around, you know what she's like. Maybe if Hazen was going, I'd have let you take her. At least you'd be a little more on guard with him around. But he's not. So, you are staying here with your brother and sister. And speaking of your sister, she has been begging you to try cheering with her ever since the competition. Could you just humour her for half an hour?"

Cheering? Zeke pulled a face. He'd given in and helped them when they needed it at the championship but he certainly wasn't planning on doing it again anytime soon. His little sister, on the other hand, best friend of Zoey Necrodopolous, loved it. She was insanely jealous of both Zoey and Zeke (and probably the rest of the zombies who temporarily joined the team) for being part of it. He loved Jozlyn, and Z knows he'd bend over backwards for her, but cheerleading?

All of this was expressed in a long moan of annoyance until his mom snapped.

"Half an hour, Zeke! That is all I'm asking. Just half an hour."

He didn't seem to have much choice.

Soon after, Zeke was outside with Jozlyn, watching her stagger through a rough version of the routine from the competition that Zoey had been teaching her. She was so enthusiastic about it that he found it hard not to smile in spite of himself. She was having fun. Then she demanded he join her.

"No way, Joey. That was a one-time thing," he said, shaking his head.

"Come on, please?" she clasped her hands together and stuck out her lower lip as far as she could, "I can't do all the cool tricks and stuff, and I wanna see it up close!"

"You see me do those tricks all the time."

"It's not the same thing, though...!"

It only took a few more seconds of whining and pleading to convince him.

The stunting wasn't all that different to parkour, if he was honest. It was just more of a performance, and all synchronised with other people. That might be a challenge, but Zeke did like a challenge. As he went through what he remembered of the routine, he couldn't help thinking back to it.

Cheerleading itself didn't seem so bad. It was more the cheerleaders at Seabrook High School themselves that Zeke had a problem with, when he thought about it. If they were just less of a pain to be around, maybe he wouldn't have such a problem with them. If they could treat other people – especially the zombies – a little better, maybe he could even consider...

What am I thinking?

He stopped himself and focused on the last stunt. He stuck the landing and looked up at the sound of Jozlyn applauding. She was beaming from ear to ear and Zeke huffed and rolled his eyes but he couldn't stop himself from grinning as he walked over to her.

"Alright, that's enough," he told her, "It's getting dark and the patrol will be coming soon."

She started to protest but then Zeke scooped her up and draped her upside down over his shoulder to carry her inside as she giggled.

He'd probably have to put up with this again tomorrow.