Limelight

Zeke and Izabelle: Babysitting

(The triumphant return on Limelight! I've had this one-shot, and a few others, sitting on the backburner while I was writing both Out Of Place and Since We Broke Up and now that both of those are (mostly) over (Since We Broke Up will have an alternate ending), we can get back to the regular everyday lives of the BG zoms~! And even Beyond The Barrier, too! And if you didn't see, I'm working on a very angsty bonus chapter for Tattooed Mistakes ;) AND I'm planning a short fic about Alonzo's family background and his parents' divorce, kind of like Out Of Place. I have a lot of good stuff coming ^^)

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"So, you're cancelling?"

It was supposed to be their first date. Then Zeke called her up the day before.

"... Yeah. Sorry, Belle, but I can't get out of it," Zeke said and he heard Izabelle sigh, "Hey, so we can't go out tomorrow night but-""I was..." her voice sounded so soft and shy, which was rare to hear and it made Zeke go quiet, "... Really looking forward to it..."

He recovered quickly, "Why don't you help me babysit?"

"... Me? Babysit?"

"C'mon, you won't have to do anything. I can take care of them and once they're both asleep, then we'll have a little time to ourselves."

That was tempting, but Izabelle didn't exactly have much experience with children. Bonzo was only a few months younger than her and she hadn't ever been particularly close to anyone else. Then again, this meant she'd be meeting Zeke's little brother and sister. That was, like, an important step in a relationship, right? Meeting their family? She had seen Blaze and Jozlyn around town plenty of times before, she knew who they were, but she never had a reason to interact with them in any way until now.

"... Don't your parents kind of hate me?"

"They don't hate you."

"Pretty sure they do."

"They don't hate you," he insisted, "They're just warming up to you, OK?"

"They do not want me at your house, though. Especially not around your brother and sister," Izabelle said and he couldn't argue, "People say I'm a bad influence." She sounded both hurt and proud of that, somehow.

"Come over after they're gone."

"See. I am a bad influence." Proud. Definitely proud.

Zeke laughed to himself, "Is that a yes?"

"It's a yes."

– LIMELIGHT –

"... Joey?" Zeke tried to coax his sister out from behind him but she just gripped his leg tighter and hid her face. He huffed, "She's not gonna hurt you, if that's what you're worried about."

Izabelle, who had just entered the Blakeleys' house, bit her lip trying not to laugh at the sight. Jozlyn clung to her big brother's leg, barely even letting him move, and had been like that ever since she saw that Izabelle Graves was in their house. Zeke heaved a sigh when she still didn't let go and reached down. After a few attempts he eventually managed to prize her off and picked her up. He only had to take a single step closer to Iza for Jozlyn to frantically bury her face in his neck, and he struggled not to smile. This wasn't so out of the ordinary for her.

He leaned closer to her ear to whisper something comforting and Izabelle stifled a giggle. It normally wasn't this easy to break her but... it was Zeke, and she just couldn't help it. He was standing right in front of her now and Jozlyn turned her head enough to look at her with one eye.

"... She's scary..."

"I'm only scary to people I want to scare."

She glanced at Zeke and when she saw him crack a smile, Izabelle bit her lip and quickly looked back at Jozlyn, who still seemed nervous but her expression had changed.

"... Do you want to scare me...?" she asked in a small voice and Iza simply shook her head, "... OK."

Her brother put her down again and she smiled shyly at Izabelle, until someone called out from above.

"Zeke!"

Zeke groaned and rolled his eyes, "What?"

Iza looked up to see Blaze crouching on a step halfway down the stairs, hands gripping the bannister as he stared down at her with a scowl on his face.

"Mom said she's not allowed to come over."

"Mom's not here. I'm in charge, and I say she is allowed to come over."

"I'm gonna tell."

Izabelle slowly locked eyes with him and he faltered. She cocked her head, "Are you?"

Blaze mumbled something incoherent and backed away, hurrying upstairs again. Iza turned to Jozlyn.

"See? That's how you do it."

From then on, Jozlyn very quickly warmed up to Izabelle, while Blaze steered clear of her. Jozlyn was practically attached to her and Zeke until he put her to bed, with Izabelle watching, a little awkwardly, from the door. When they eventually went back downstairs, Zeke shot her an apologetic smile.

"Sorry about her. I didn't think she'd want that much attention."

"It's cool," Izabelle shrugged as she went to sit on the couch, "Jozlyn's... cute..." she didn't know what else to say. But she did honestly think Jozlyn was cute.

Zeke smiled and walked over to sit beside her, "She's convinced I'm already a cheerleader. The zombies' tryouts aren't even for another week!"

Izabelle's face broke into a grin, "Oh, my Z, I almost forgot about that! Finally...!"

Zeke laughed, surprised, "Finally? You're that excited for me?"

Trying to look nonchalant now, Iza shrugged, avoiding his eyes, "I'm mostly excited to see you in the uniform."

"I doubt you're saying that 'cause you think I'll look hot in it," he leaned closer to her, "You just wanna laugh at me, don't you?"

"Hmm. It's a little of both," she said casually until she saw the teasing look on his face, "... Maybe it's a little more that I'll get to laugh at you."

Zeke put an arm around her and pulled her in, "Y'know, the humans all seem to think dating a cheerleader is, like, the next best thing to actually being a cheerleader. Think about that, we're already the toughest kids in Zombie Town, pretty soon we're gonna have Seabrook High at our feet, too."

"If you make the squad," she reminded him but he just cocked his head.

"You think I can't make the squad?"

Izabelle smiled evilly and reached up to brush his hair aside, "You better. Or else those draks are gonna have to answer to me."

"Now, this is what a supportive girlfriend looks like."

He kissed her but they were quickly interrupted by a voice coming from the doorway, "Ewww!"

Zeke and Iza both turned to see Blaze standing there with a look of disgust on his face.

"What are you doing out of bed?" Zeke demanded and Blaze tried his best not to look like he was cowering away from Izabelle, which he obviously was. He pointed at her.

"She's still here."

"Yeah, so?" Zeke quirked an eyebrow, "Are you gonna tell Mom and Dad?"

Izabelle tilted her head and smiled at Blaze, maybe looking a little bit intimidating, "You're not getting rid of me, gralzig."

That seemed to make him nervous and he gulped. He clearly hadn't thought this far and didn't know what else to say. Zeke glanced from Blaze to Izabelle and back again.

"... Alright, if I let you stay up a little while longer, you've gotta swear you won't tell them Izabelle was ever here, got it?"

At that, Blaze's face split into a grin and he nodded. Izabelle turned to Zeke with a smirk.

"I really am a bad influence."