Disclaimer - I don't own ZOMBIES or any of the characters involved. Copyright to Walt Disney Studios. Names of BG zombies are mine, characters themselves aren't.
Zephzo and Chanzie are ready for the Christmas fics, and after tomorrow, so will Zebelle and Rozeira be! Here's the second-to-last pre-Christmas Zebelle Limelight~
Zeke and Izabelle
Meltdown
Since the incident a few days ago, Izabelle had been acting especially irritable around Zeke. No matter what he said, no matter what he did, she was glaring at him but if he ever dared try to make eye contact, she'd turn away. If he said her name, she ignored him. And yet, she wasn't avoiding him. Not completely. She, along with Riza and Zadie, still stopped to talk before class started, although Izabelle was directing her words more at Hazen lately. If the trio caught sight of Zeke, Diaz and Fritz out freerunning, Riza and Zadie would be calling out their usual playful taunts and jokes but Izabelle didn't join them. Zeke did spot her watching him once, when she thought he wasn't looking, with a blank expression. He was getting such mixed signals from her.
You blew it. You kissed her and now she hates you. It could have worked out if you just took it slow but you had to kiss her, didn't you? the voice in his head kept saying, only for a second voice to counter it.
This isn't your fault, she's just working things out. Remember, she did kiss you first. That's a good sign! If you can talk to her about it alone-
When could you possibly talk to her alone?
Apparently, now that he didn't have Izabelle to argue with, he was resorting to arguing with himself.
He hadn't breathed a word about it to Hazen, either, and that just made it worse – he told Hazen pretty much everything. He could have, but he held back.
"Seriously, what is going on with you and Iza? You were finally friends with her, and that takes a lot, and you even admitted you had a crush on her. But it's like you hate each other again!"
"I don't hate her," he assured him, keeping his eyes down and shaking his head. He dug the heels of his palms into his eyes then ran his hands through his hair and tipped his head back, "Z, I definitely do not hate her. I just have to hope she doesn't hate me."
"Why would she? What happened?"
Zeke sighed, "If she doesn't want me to talk about it, I'm not gonna talk about it. She'd kill me and I can't risk anything else going wrong."
All he needed was a chance to talk to her.
– LIMELIGHT –
He was walking down the hallway alone when he heard people whispering Izabelle's name in scared and worried tones. They were all looking further down the hall in the direction he was heading in and he kept going until he saw her. She was pacing back and forth, her breathing heavy and her eyes burning. She was saying something under her breath and as he got closer, he could just make out what it was.
"Rizaka... Gozrea Rizaka...? Zadika, zet..." Where's Riza...? Or Zadie...
He recognised her signs of a meltdown immediately. One brave human girl approached her to ask if she needed help but Izabelle growled lowly and slammed a fist against a locker beside her, making the girl yelp and run off.
Anyone else who passed by avoided getting too close and scurried away. They knew her for being violent and unpredictable, they weren't her friends. They didn't know her like her friends did. But Riza and Zadie were nowhere to be seen. Hazen, he suspected, was with Suzanne or Azure or someone. Bonzo was in music class. Zeke was standing in front of her within seconds, his hands resting on her arms with a comforting touch.
"Izabelle?" he kept his voice low, not wanting to overwhelm her anymore than she already was. Her breathing quickened and she wrenched herself out of his grasp to go back to pacing. Zeke patiently pulled her back to him, muttering soothingly to her, "Hey, hey, look at me. Look at me," his hands went to her shoulders and she slowly started to lift her head as he spoke, "Izabelle. Listen. You're OK. Let's get you somewhere quiet."
She blinked in confusion, "Z-Ze'ka...?"
"Yeah, I've got you."
"Ze'ka..."
To Zeke's surprised, she clung onto him, burying her face in his chest, and he prayed she wouldn't feel his heart thud. Forgetting for a second that there were people around, he brought a hand up to stroke her hair and rested his chin on her head, "I've got you," he softly repeated. He then led her outside, where she wasn't in such a confined space and could get some fresh air, to sit down on a bench.
"Stay here, alright? I'll be back."
Izabelle gave the smallest nod and he went to turn away but then she raised her Z-band to her mouth and bit down on it. Zeke lowered her hand; she might like chewing things to stim, but her band was not a good choice.
"Don't do that, you'll hurt yourself. I'll get you something. Just wait."
What had Riza asked for last time...?
He was gone for only a minute or two. Luckily, there had been a small selection of zombie snacks added to a vending machine around the corner and thank Z, it had taffy tongues. When he returned, Izabelle was biting her Z-band again and he quickly stopped her, opening the bag of candy.
"Izabelle...?" he offered one to her, "Here. These are way better than chewing your band."
She snatched it from him, opened the bag and mumbled what might have been a "gazar". Then, a little clearer:
"Zrit." Sit.
Zeke hesitantly obeyed and felt himself tense up and then relax when Izabelle leaned on his shoulder. She grabbed his arm and forced it around her, all the while staring blankly ahead, still not quite back to reality yet.
"Zrayn," Stay, she said and she closed her eyes, taking deep breaths, with Zeke watching her closely.
This was normal. This was what Riza or Zadie or Bonzo would do for her. Just a grounding technique. She needed to be held, she needed pressure. That's it.
But that voice popped into his head again; Is that really all it is?
"... Izabelle...?" Zeke pretty much whispered but she didn't respond other than shuffling closer to him, even curling into him more, her head in the crook of his neck. He sighed, defeated, and began to stroke her hair, neither of them saying a word.
After some time, Izabelle was breathing steadily again and she sat up slightly, but she didn't move away. She stayed pressed against his side, making no attempt to remove his arm from around her.
"Um, Izabelle?"
"Mn?" she hummed but didn't look at him. She was halfway through the bag of taffy tongues.
"I..." was he really going to bring this up? Yes. He was. He couldn't keep quiet any longer, "I don't want to be, you know, taking advantage of the situation or anything but... c-can we talk about that... kiss?"
For a few seconds, there was silence and Zeke wondered if she even heard him until she said in an oddly small voice, "... Zon."
He nodded and bit his lip, "Alright..."
He turned his head away but kept his hand in her hair, then he felt Izabelle tugging on his coveralls and he looked down to see her staring back up at him. Their eyes locked and he gulped.
"What...?"
Her eyes flickered to his lips and back up, silently asking permission, and he ducked his head to kiss her. The bag had dropped into Izabelle's lap and she gripped his shirt with both hands while Zeke brought his free hand to her knee. He could taste the candy on her lips and smiled into the kiss. All too soon, though, she pulled away and looked down. She casually picked up the bag and went back to eating while Zeke tried to wrap his head around what had just happened. He moved his hand away and opened his mouth but she spoke first.
"... How'd you know?"
"What?" he frowned.
She rolled her eyes, obviously back to her usual self, "How'd you know I needed to chew something?"
He shrugged, "I've seen how Riza and Zadie take care of you."
Her face softened, both surprised and touched, "You remembered?"
"Well, we're..." Zeke wasn't sure what exactly they were at this point, but it would probably be best to stick to what was familiar, sounding a little awkward as he gestured between them, "W-we're friends, aren't we? If you ever need someone, I want to be able to help. So I need to know how to."
She didn't argue when he said they were friends, and he wasn't sure how to take that. Maybe, for once, he wanted her to argue.
"Hm..." Izabelle looked down at her lap in thought, "OK..."
... That was it? She still wasn't going to talk about it? Zeke stared at her. He couldn't help feeling a little annoyed.
"OK?"
Her head jerked up and she glared at him threateningly, "Did I stutter?"
"... OK..."
Give her time.
Zeke let it go and decided it was enough for now to just have a moment with her like this. Hopefully, there'd be more of these moments in the future. He smiled as he watched her, not even realising when he brushed a lock of hair from her eyes and she let him.
The words left his mouth before he could stop them, "You know I want to kiss you again..."
She turned her head away sharply so that he couldn't, but still didn't make the slightest move to get away from him. She heard him chuckle and felt his fingers running through her hair once more. He was pleasantly surprised when she closed her eyes and leaned back against his shoulder.
She still wasn't going to talk about it, but what harm would it do to just enjoy this?
