Title: Zero's Hole
Rating: G
Characters/Pairings: The Yelnats, the Zeronis. Zero/Stanley
Disclaimer: I don't own them, but if you haven't figured this out yet…
Warnings: Hints of slash. HINTS OF SLASH, I SAY.
A/N: This is just a one-shot (probably). I heart reviews.
Zero wasn't at Camp Green Lake anymore; he didn't have to dig holes. Zero hated digging holes, anyway. School was okay; he'd caught up with his age group fairly quickly. He'd even passed his age group in math. Zero was good at math, his mother said.
The Zeronis were now good family friends with the Yelnats, visiting at least once a week for dinner. Stanley would invite Zero to his room, and they would watch a movie or play video games, more time than not just sit around and talk. Zero didn't say much, but when he did Stanley would stop (in the middle of a sentence, if need be) and listen. Stanley talked about school or sports or his girlfriend, and Zero would talk about his life and school and the past.
Zero had friends, he had family, and he had a home. But there was a hole and he didn't know why.
Not a hole in the ground, or a hole in the wall, or a hole in the ceiling. This was a different kind of hole, sometimes he wondered if it was even real. Maybe some people wouldn't call it a hole, but Zero, he was an expert on holes.
And sometimes when Zero couldn't sleep, he thought about it. The particular night in question was one of these nights, but this night was different.
Zero needed action, he needed to figure this out.
The logical action was to go to God's Thumb way out in the wilderness of Camp Green Lake. That is, if by logical, you mean completely irrational (and I do). But in Zero's mind, this made perfect sense.
So he went. Walking. As far as he could in what he was fairly sure was the right direction. Some part of his brain (probably not the part that encouraged him to travel to God's Thumb in the first place) was dutifully informing him that he would never make it this way. As he walked, he began to think of different methods of travel.
Hitchhiking. He hadn't any experience in this department, but he had seen enough movies to know the general idea. He stuck out his thumb and waved it in the air, but no cars stopped. Zero glared at his thumb. Perhaps he wasn't doing it correctly. He tried it a few different ways, first using his left thumb, then his right. He wasn't exactly sure which direction Camp Green Lake was, exactly.
Zero frowned, the absurdity of what he was attempting to do crashing upon him. He was going to a mountain on what is now a girl scout camp to search for some phantom hole in his conscience. He began to lower his thumb (left, at the moment) and at the same time a blue sports car slowed down, presumably to pick him up.
The car pulled over and Zero stared, presently stumped by this turn of events. Eventually he began walking towards the car. Peering in, he saw the driver was…
Stanley.
"Zero? What are you doing out here?"
Zero swallowed. Zero didn't like questions.
"Walking. I was walking. What are you doing?"
"I was on my way to Vanessa's, but I can – do you want – get in, if you want."
Zero got in. Suddenly he was very tired. The car, pulling away, began to lull him to sleep.
It was like a light bulb, lighting up in his head, and suddenly he knew. It all made sense.
And as the last vestiges of wakefulness escaped him, Zero murmered, "Stanley, I think you're my hole."