Hey guys! This is just a one-shot that I came up with after I made an edit for my Instagram account. It was a letter of Dan writing to Zoe and this is what it said,
'Dear Zoe,
I don't expect that you'll get this - I'm just guessing where you are. Tom refuses to tell me. But even though what I'm about to write is probably the stupidest thing I've ever written, I'm writing it anyway. I let my pride get in the way before and I'm sorry for that. What I wanted to say, Zoe, is that I love you and I miss you. Please come home.
- Dan.'
And after I made that edit, I got the idea for this and then it kind of just evolved into what you're about to read. What helped it do that was the fact that all the fics I've read have been really quick ones where Zoe comes back, there's a Zan kiss and it's all butterflies and rainbows. I'm not knocking those fics, they were really cute and I loved them. But when I imagine Dan and Zoe's reunion, I imagine it being equally emotional and difficult, because of the type of characters they both are. Anyway, I hope you like this. Enjoy!
Dan sighed heavily as he stomped into his HQ, his boots slamming loudly against the flooring. He'd just yelled at Keri - again - over something stupid that he'd probably feel like an idiot for later. But he couldn't help it - it didn't take much for the redhead to get on his nerves and it didn't help that she somehow knew just the right buttons to push so that his anger flared.
"What is your problem?" Aneisha asked as she stepped out of the lift, crossing her arms over her chest.
Dan resisted the urge to scream as he turned. "Keri is my problem. She's so . . . " he trailed off, unsure of what the right word to describe Keri.
"There's more to it than that." Aneisha said. "She doesn't just annoy you - there's something else."
"It . . . Doesn't matter." Dan said, turning away from her.
"Dan, it does." Aneisha said. "You know it does."
"Don't worry about it." Dan muttered.
"Dan - "
"She reminds me of Zoe, alright?" Dan shouted, whirling to face Aneisha.
"Keri and Zoe are nothing alike." Aneisha said.
"Not in the ways that you'd notice." Dan said, leaning on the centre piece in the middle of the room. "They're both compassionate. It's the subtle things that remind me of her. But at the same time, having Keri here is like a slap across the face, because they're so different."
"Dan - " Aneisha started, placing her hand on Dan's shoulder. Dan waved her hand away, hunchimg his shoulders as he dropped his head and muttered, "Just go, Neish. Leave me alone."
Aneisha tilted her head to the side and when she didn't leave, Dan raised his head so that she could see his tormented blue eyes as he whispered, "Please, Neish. She won't answer any of my calls and her sister is driving me insane. Please, just let me be miserable by myself."
Aneisha looked like she wanted to stay and comfort him, but she moved back to the lift nonetheless. Dan watched as the lift doors closed before he moved towards the desk, pulling open the top drawer to reveal a rabbit, with fur as soft as down and as white as snow. Flopsy.
Dan reached into the drawer and pulled Flopsy out before carrying him over to the centre piece table and placing him on the top. As Dan leaned on the top with his elbows, he watched as Flopsy sniffed around the edge of the table. When he was done, he lumbered over to Dan, poking at the boy's hands with edge of his nose. Dan smiled sadly, one hand going over Flopsy's small body and gently running over the animal's fur.
"Hey, Flops." Dan murmured. "How're you doing, buddy?"
Flopsy simply glanced up at Dan before turning to explore the top of the table again. Dan sighed, watching the easily-entertained rabbit with distant interest. When Zoe had first left, Dan had felt the need to make a connection with the rabbit because, in a way, Flopsy was the closest thing that Zoe had ever had to a childhood pet. So, when Dan felt frustrated with how unfair the whole situation with Zoe was - how she, out of everyone in the world, had to be a clone of one of the Mastermind, how she'd left, how he'd let his pride get in the way of telling her how he felt about her - he came down to HQ to have a chat with good old General Flopsy.
"I wish I'd told her." Dan said as Flopsy came back to him, nuzzling Dan's hand. Dan smiled as he started to pat the rabbit again - this time, he stayed and listened intently to Dan as he spoke. "I wish I hadn't been so stubborn. That I'd just have stopped making excuses and told her. And now she's gone and there's nothing I can do about it. Maybe if I'd told her . . . Maybe Zoe would have stayed."
Sensing the boy's distress, Flopsy squeaked and poked at Dan's hand that wasn't patting him. Dan sighed, his large hand smoothing over Flopsy's white fur absently. "Sometimes I really wish you were one of those carrier pigeons, Flopsy."
That simple sentence made lightbulbs go off in Dan's head. Quickly grabbing a pen and a piece of paper, he started writing in quick, boyish handwriting - pouring out his soul to the girl he loved. Flopsy nudged Dan's wrist that wasn't controlling the hand that was flying across the page and Dan smoothed down Flopsy's coat before going back to his writing.
When Dan finally emerged from HQ, almost an hour after he'd gone down there, he found Tom and dropped a sealed envelope in front of him. Tom looked up at his best friend curiously while Aneisha and Keri looked on with interest.
"I need you to tell me where Zoe is." Dan said.
Tom sat back in his chair, picking up the envelope and turning it over in his hands delicately. "I don't know where she is."
"Don't lie to me, Tupper." Dan said. "I know that you do. You're the only one she can bear to talk to anymore."
"It's not like that, Dan - " Tom broke off when Dan crossed his arms over his chest and fixed Tom with an intense blue gaze. Tom coughed and looked down at the envelope, trying to imagine the words that Dan had written. "Okay, I know where she is. But she doesn't want me telling you because you'll - "
"Fine. Just make sure she gets that." Dan said, gesturing to the envelope and walking off. Tom nodded and glanced down at the envelope before it was snatched out of his hands. Tom looked over to see Keri turning it over in her hands, blue eyes regarding it with interest.
"Zoe?" Keri asked. She looked from Tom to Aneisha, her expression curious. "Is this the girl that Dan's hung up over?"
"Yes." Aneisha replied.
"What happened?" Keri asked. "Did they break up or something?"
Tom snickered. "They would have to have been together to break up, Ker."
"So what's the deal?"
Tom sighed, getting up from his cahir and leaning against the side of his desk so he was facing the two girls. "Dan and Zoe had a thing - "
Aneisha rolled her eyes. "How about I explain it, Tom?"
Tom shrugged and gestured for her to contnue.
"Dan and Zoe were in love. I'm guessing they still are, from the way Dan's acting. I used to call them Romeo and Juliet because they were so different, but they still seemed perfect for each other. Dan and Zoe - they have that kind of relationship where they made each other better people."
"So what happened?" Keri asked. "Why didn't they go riding off into the sunset?"
"Dan's got too much pride and Zoe . . . She'd never loved anyone before. Zoe is Dan's first love, but it's different for her. Zoe, I think, was scared."
"So fear and pride." Keri said. "That's what drove them apart."
"It didn't drive them apart, really." Aneisha said. "It just kept them from being closer."
"There's one part of the story that you both don't know." Tom said. Both Aneisha and Keri turned to look at him as Aneisha asked, "And what could that possibly be, Tom?"
"Zoe left for Dan." Tom said.
"No, she left to find her sisters." Aneisha said.
"No, that was the cover story. Zoe seems to be under the impression that she doesn't deserve him, so she left. She's hoping that he'll get over her. That's why she won't call him."
"Have you told her that it's having the opposite effect?" Aneisha asked.
Smiling, Tom took the envelope from Keri and held it up. "I think this will do just fine."
Dan sighed with relief as the bell rang, signaling that it was lunch. It had been a month since he wrote that damned letter to Zoe, who still wouldn't pick up the phone when he rang. Dan was in an especially dark mood that day, his usually clear blue eyes now a navy blue.
As Dan gathered up his stuff, shoving it into the brown leather shoulder bag, he saw someone stand in front of his desk from the corner of his eye. From what he could see, the person was female - slender hips, thin waist and long legs that seemed to go on forever. As Dan shoved the last of his books into his bag, a crumpled piece of paper dropped onto his desk.
Dropping his bag onto the floor beside him, Dan picked up the piece of paper and turned it around so he could see the words scribbled across it. He realised that it was the letter he'd written Zoe a month before and Dan forced himself to breathe as tears gathered in his eyes. As he blinked them away, he looked up.
"Zoe." He said, but his voice shook slightly.
Zoe smiled, linking her thumbs through the belt loops of her jeans. "Hi, Dan."
Dan let the letter fall from his hands as he leaned back in his chair, blue eyes brushing over Zoe's appearance. She wore her hair down and Dan noticed the way the sun bounced off it, making it shine. She looked older - there was less of that childlike innocence in her eyes and more of that fierce determination. There was another emotion, shining deep within, but Dan refused to recognise what it was.
"You're back." Dan said. Zoe nodded and he asked, "For good?"
"That depends." Zoe said, taking a step back and placing the palms of her hands against the top of the desk behind her as she leaned against it.
"On what?" Dan asked, getting up and leaning against his own desk, so that they were mirror-images of each other.
Zoe glanced down before looking up at him. "You, Dan. It depends on you."
"What about me?" Dan asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Well, in your letter, you said that you love me." Zoe said. "But loving someone is different from actually wanting them around."
"You hurt me, Zo." Dan said.
Zoe nodded. "I didn't mean to, Dan. I had to find my - "
"You knew that it would hurt me." Dan said accusingly. "You knew that leaving would hurt me, but you did it anyway."
"I did it for you." Zoe said. "I left so that you could get over me - "
"No, you left because you found out about the feelings I have for you and you don't return them, so you left and tried to make me hate you by not answering any of my calls." Dan said bitterly. He watched as Zoe clenched her jaw and looked away, blinking rapidly. When she looked back at him, there was no trace of tears in her brigth green eyes.
"You're wrong." Zoe said quietly.
"Am I?" Dan asked, blue eyes flashing.
"Fine." Zoe said. She moved towards him until they were face-to-face, her mouth inches from Dan's. Dan found himself staring into her eyes, blue to moss green and wishing that he could get lost in them, that he could just kiss her and make the thick tension that hung between them go away.
"Tell me that you don't love me." Zoe said. "Tell me that you don't want me and I'll go. Tell me that and I'll walk out of this school right now. I'll walk out of this school and out of your life, Dan. I promise, you'll never see me again."
"I - " Dan stopped. He'd never loved anyone like he loved her and he was pretty sure that he could never love anyone else as he loved her. But she'd hurt him and when Dan hurt, he really hurt. He didn't want to get into anything with her, only to have her grind his heart under her foot again.
"Right, got it." Zoe said, her face falling. "Goodbye, Daniel."
She started to walk away and Dan realised what was happening. He was going to lose her again and this time, there would be no doubt about it. It would all come down to his own stubborness and stupidity.
Swallowing his pride, Dan reached out and grabbed Zoe's arm and pulled her back. Zoe gasped as she stumbled towards him, placing her hands on his neck to steady herself. Dan held Zoe to him by wrapping both arms around her waist, as Zoe watched him with curious green eyes.
"Zoe, you are everything to me." Dan said. "I love you."
Zoe smiled as one of Dan's hands moved to rest on her cheek and he pressed his mouth against hers. Zoe smiled as her mouth moved against Dan's, her arms wrapping around his neck to hold him close. As the kiss became more heated, more passionate, Zoe gasped into the kiss as she struggled to keep breathing. But when they broke apart, both of them were gasping for air. Dan wrapped both arms around Zoe's waist as Zoe's arms slipped down to wrap around Dan's shoulders and she tucked her head into the crook of his neck.
"You have no idea of how much I've missed you." Dan said, pressing his face into Zoe's hair and kissing the soft auburn strands.
"I think I do." Zoe mururmed, kissing the side of his neck before pulling back slightly and looking into his light blue eyes. Unlike before, they sparkled with happiness and love, an emotion that made her heart flutter. When she came back, she'd been so sure that he wouldn't want to see her, so ready to be hated by him. She took in his appearance, hardly able to believe how much he'd changed. He looked so much older, so much more mature than she remembered, but at heart, he was still the same boy. He was the same boy who'd rescued her countless times, who lifted her up when she felt down. She was still the same boy she'd fallen in love with.
Zoe kissed Dan's forehead, then his jaw, then his cheeks and then, finally, his mouth. Dan's mouth answered her own as she kissed him, threading her fingers through his hair.
"I love you. So much." Zoe said when they broke apart. "So much more than you'll ever know."
As she watched, Dan's mouth quirked up into a smile. Something told her that he didn't smile that much these days, so that made the sight all the more precious to her.
"I think I do know."