Limelight

Zephyr, Alonzo and Zeke: Race

(It's been a while since I posted a Limelight, hasn't it? But I have a few in the works~ Including some to set up the context of my next multichap fic, currently nicknamed the "future fic"! It's another Zephzo fic and this one is on the canon timeline, unlike Tattooed Mistakes! It's sort of a sequel to Limelight, before Limelight even ends (if Limelight does ever end...) so make sure you get caught up on Zephzo and BFZ because the future fic will be coming by the end of the month...!

I hope you've also been reading Nothing's Gone Forever (Only Out Of Place), the backstory to Paizley and her relationship with Zed and Zoey ^^ The epilogue is coming on Thursday~)

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The members of BFZ were walking back home from band practice at the plant when something – or someone – caught Zach's eye and he stopped. Roz almost bumped into him and when they asked what he was doing, it alerted Zephyr to stop as well, and he reached out to grab Alonzo's arm and pull him back over. Al looked confused.

"What?"

Zeph just nodded at Zach with a knowing smile and Al turned to look, then followed Zach's gaze to see Fritz, Zeke and Diaz further down the road, near the old parking lot, freerunning.

Ah. Diaz.

Zach hadn't even answered Roz's question and they nudged his arm. He snapped out of it, started to apologise then quickly got distracted again. Diaz had dived off of a crumbling wall into a perfect roll across the concrete and was now balancing on a railing, looking back at his friends as he waited for them to catch up. Zeke hopped onto the railing and that was when Zephyr noticed where Alonzo's attention was. He suddenly felt jealous.

He had tried to let it go, but Zephyr was the worst for dwelling on minor things, not talking about it then allowing it to get out of hand. All Alonzo had done was call Zeke hot. It meant nothing. He knew that. He hadn't ever shown any interest in Zeke, in any way, aside from that. Plus, he had taken it back when Zephyr had said that Diaz was cute. There was absolutely no reason for Zephyr to worry. No reason to be jealous. And he knew it. He watched Zeke for a moment himself. By now, he had overtaken Diaz, who looked like he was taunting Fritz for being so slow, and was running for the next building.

He was fast...

It's not that impressive, Zephyr couldn't help but think, Any zombie could pull off those tricks... And I'm just as fast as him. Probably faster,Now he was just being bitter, but he wouldn't ever admit to that, I could do better. He turned to Al, who was more interested in teasing Zach at this point.

"Hey, garzi'ka?" Zeph gently patted Al's arm and he instantly forgot about Zach.

"Yeah?"

"Who'd you say is faster, me or Zeke?" he kept his eyes fixated on Al's face as he thought, glancing back at the other boy for a second or two.

"...Honestly, Zeke."

Zephyr leaned back, surprised, and arched an eyebrow, "Oh, really?"

"What's the big deal? Zeke runs around more than y-" he stopped suddenly, frowning at Zeph, "Wait, is this 'cause I said he was hot that one time?"

"What? Pfft, no. Come on, Al, I'm over that."

"You suck at lying," Roz said.

"Go back to sleep," Zephyr snapped and slowly turned to face Al as he started to back up towards Zeke and his friends, "You think he's faster? You ain't seen nothing yet."

With that, Zephyr made his way over to them, already a little overly confident.

Zach leaned towards Alonzo, "You're not gonna stop him...?"

Al shrugged and grinned, "Hey, if he wants to show off for me, I'm not complaining!"

Zach just rolled his eyes.

"Yo, Zeke!" Zeph called out and Zeke came to a halt, watching him stride over.

"What's up?"

"I got a challenge for you," Zephyr started, rubbing his hands together, and Zeke stepped forward with a curious expression as Fritz and Diaz hung back, "A race. From here," he pointed at the broken fence beside them, then down the street, "To the street corner."

Zeke raised an eyebrow, "Any reason you wanna race me...?"

"Why not?"

"Hm," he looked Zeph up and down, "Yeah, alright. You're on."

Zephyr smirked – Zeke Blakeley could never resist a challenge.

The two of them lined up with one heel pressed against the fence and as soon as Alonzo, who was definitely enjoying this, called "Go!", they both took off. And Zephyr was in the lead for a short while until Zeke took the opportunity to hop onto a wall and scale across a few feet before landing back on the ground ahead of him. He made it to the corner in just a few seconds after that and Zephyr gaped at him.

"Hey, no-one said you could go all parkour on this!"

"No-one said I couldn't."

"Alright, tough guy, I want a rematch. And no cheating this time."

"What's with the sudden animosity, Zeph?" Zeke asked, "C'mon, what're you trying to prove?"

Zephyr held up his hands in defence, "Nothing! Just a little fun."

"I'm not convinced."

"It doesn't matter! Are we going again or what?"

Zeke just smiled, "Fine. Back to the fence?"

Zephyr nodded. They were off again a moment later. And even without any kind of tricks, Zeke won again. Zephyr dropped to the ground, partially in exhaustion but mostly in disappointment. And shame.

"It's not a big deal, Zephyr," Zeke bent down to pat his shoulder, "It's just a race," then he lowered his voice, "And I don't think you need to impress Al, if that's what this is. He's already your boyfriend."

Zephyr huffed but didn't look up. He heard Zeke walking away and someone else approaching, then the sound of Alonzo's voice.

"Wow," he was obviously smiling, "You sure proved me wrong."

"Don't look at me," Zephyr whined, "I'm a failure."

Zach and Roz stifled their laughter but Alonzo didn't even try to. He crouched down and prodded Zeph's shoulder, "C'mon, get up!"

"Can't."

"Yeah, you can," Al laughed again and grabbed his hand, pulling him to his feet, but Zephyr wasn't done being dramatic just yet. He stood with his head tipped back, still panting, and raked his hands through his hair.

"I lost," he groaned, "Twice."

Alonzo pulled one of Zeph's hands away from his head and the other fell to his side as Al spoke, "So what? You're still way better than Zeke in my book," Zephyr rolled his eyes as Al cupped his cheek and kissed him, "Would you quit being so jealous all the time?"

Zephyr pouted, looking down to Alonzo's lips and back up, "Maybe if you kissed me again..."

When he did, Zach scoffed, "Can you two stop being so sickeningly in love? I get it, I'm alone!"

Al shot him a teasing smirk and gestured in the direction Zeke and his friends had left in, "Diaz is right there."

Zach glanced at the boy in question, then back at Al, "... Carry on," he said lamely and looked away.

Chuckling and shaking his head, Alonzo turned back to Zephyr.