Bruh Moment - A Zemma Story
Special thanks to my Discord pal @willagainstcapitalism for the original idea
It was the end of the eighth season of Total Drama, and the first season of the reboot. Everyone was celebrating this after Priya bested all 15 other players in the game (including overcoming her adversaries Julia and Bowie) and forgiving her best friend turned sworn nemesis Millie after all hope seemed lost for the two girls. But now that the game had finished, it was time for all the contestants who had tried and failed to obtain the million-dollar prize to party.
One of these contestants was Emma Hoffmann. Originally the bitter ex-girlfriend of fellow competitor Jason "Chase" Chen after he cut the brakes to her car for one of his YouTube "pranks", she'd eventually reconcile with him after believing he apologized. Once he revealed that he wasn't truly sorry, however, she became even more enraged with him until he finally sacrificed himself during a challenge, winning her immunity in the process. Despite his otherwise arrogant and stubborn personality, this one act of selflessness (which was only the result of Chase wanting food) made Emma completely forgive Chase and fall in love with him again…
…Or so she thought. As she and Chase continued kissing during the party, as they had been throughout their attendance of the finale, a thought popped into her head that made her step back from her boyfriend.
"Uh, babe? Everything ok?" Chase asked confusedly.
"This… Doesn't feel right…" Emma said nervously.
Chase became even more confused. "Huh? What do you mean?"
Emma started to get frustrated. "What I mean is, why am I making out with you? After how selfish, arrogant, and stubborn you've been this entire season?"
"What?"
"And why did I suddenly decide to forgive you because you did one nice thing and got me invinicbility? If it wasn't for you being hungry, you'd probably have just let me fall off that platform so you could snag that invincibility for yourself!"
"Emma, c'mon…" Chase tried defending himself, only for Emma to rebuke him.
"No! Don't try and act all innocent here, you've been nothing but a self-centered asshole this entire season!" Emma shouted, drawing the attention of some nearby former contestants. "You never listen to me, you always put your own internet clout before my own happiness, you're too stubborn to realize when you're in the wrong, and after every single time I've made that abundantly clear to you, you still wouldn't apologize!"
"Emma, come on, you're being ridiculous!" Chase argued.
"Oh really?" growled Emma, "You're one to talk with your whole 'nice guy' shtick this season!"
"Well, why now are you telling me this?" Chase stammered. As much as he wanted to be right, deep down, he knew nothing he could do to win Emma over would work.
"Honestly, I don't know! I guess I just realized how naïve I was for wanting to be with you again because of one nice thing you did."
"But think about all the other great things I've done! Think about all the views we've gotten! Think about how many followers you got thanks to me!"
Emma's blood was starting to boil. "Oh, it's all about the views, isn't it? Just pixels on a screen?" She stepped back from Chase and said, "Well, you can keep your views, I'm gonna keep my sanity intact! WE'RE DONE!!!"
Emma then turned around and began to leave the party, as Chase tried to reach his arm out to her and say, "Wait, Emma! Please!"
In response, Emma flipped Chase the bird and cried, "I SAID WE'RE DONE, CHASE!"
Despite this interaction, the music kept playing in the background and only a few people noticed this argument unfold, with Bowie saying to himself, "Eh, good for her."
Emma stomped far away from the party, until she had gotten back to the cabins. She was prepared to sit on the porch of one of them and scream into her arms, before noticing someone else sitting at the other cabin. It turned out to be Hezekias "Zee" Goldberg-Rodriguez, who was sitting and drinking a bottle of Mountain Dew until noticing Emma walking by. As she also noticed the soda connoisseur, she said, "Oh, it's just you."
"Yep, it's just me," Zee responded, "What's up?"
"Not much… You mind if I sit here?" asked Emma.
"Sure, go on ahead," Zee moved to the side of the porch and patted their hand on the space next to them before Emma sat down and said, "Thanks."
The two sat in silence for a few minutes. Zee continued to drink his soda while Emma looked at the ground. After some time, though, Emma finally decided to tell Zee what was up.
"Alright, something is up," Emma started. "I broke up with Chase earlier."
"Oh, word?" said Zee.
"Yeah, I realized just how stupid I was for forgiving him and gave him a piece of my mind earlier. Now I'm just sitting here because I wanted to try and take my mind off that self-obsessed prick."
Zee took a sip from their drink and said, "Bruh."
"I know, right? I can't believe I fell in love with him to begin with!" said Emma.
Zee nodded and said, "Bruh."
Emma continued by saying, "I mean, he never listens to me, he's always focused on his YouTube videos, he constantly brags about how much money he and his friends make, and earlier, he talked about wanting to change my name to 'Chase's Girlfriend'! And he wonders why I got tired of his bullshit!"
Once again, Zee responded by saying, "Bruh."
"Look, Zee, I don't want some famous YouTuber or a self-obsessed tryhard, I don't want to change my name… I just want someone who'll listen to me, y'know?" Emma's eyes began to water as she poured her heart out to him.
"Bruh… I'm listening." Zee said as they pulled Emma in for a hug. Emma was taken aback by this sudden act of sympathy, but she also felt happy that for once, someone actually listened to her.
As she began crying into Zee's shoulder, Emma said, "Thanks, Zee. I'm glad you're able to listen."
"Yeah, no problem," Zee responded as the two broke from their hug and Emma wiped her eyes with her arm.
"Y'know, talking to you felt… Really nice." Emma said once she stopped crying. "I wish I could've gotten to know you more this season. You're a really nice guy."
"Heh heh, thanks, Emma. You're pretty cool yourself," Zee responded, flattered by her compliment.
"Here," Emma said as she gave Zee a piece of paper. "Call me."
"Bruh, really?" Zee said as his face lit up.
"Yeah. Maybe we can drink some soda together or something, I dunno."
"Bruh… That sounds awesome," Zee responded.
"Good to hear," Emma said before she gave Zee a kiss on his cheek. "How's tomorrow sound? I think the boats that'll be taking us home should arrive pretty soon."
Zee hesitated for a moment. "Eh, I dunno. Tomorrow's a Saturday, and my family and I are probably gonna be at synagogue for a while," he explained.
"Oh, I didn't know you were Jewish," said a surprised Emma.
"Guess you know now," Zee remarked. "Real talk, though, I got your number now, so I can just shoot you a text or something when I'm down to hang out."
"That sounds great!" Emma proclaimed. "Guess I'll be seeing you around then."
"Yeah. Thanks for talkin', bruh," Zee said as the two got up from where they were sitting.
"Any time, 'bruh," Emma responded, making Zee chuckle. The two shared one last kiss on the lips this time before heading to the dock to go home.
Finally, I got a new fic done! And don't worry, All-Stars Improved is still being worked on, I'm just busy at the moment.
Anyways, Island 2023 was a pretty good season. But one aspect of it I didn't like (other than Jurassic Fart, obviously) was Chase and Emma's relationship. Mostly because Chase is basically just a wannabe Andrew Tate most of the time he's on screen. And since I found it super forced and predictable that they got back together (and twice no less), I wanted to give Emma a better ending than getting together with Chase.
So, despite how I initially wasn't the biggest fan of the ship, thanks to my Discord mutual I mentioned earlier, I became a Zemma stan! Zee's already a strong candidate for my favorite TD character ever, so I figured they and Emma could make for a nice couple simply by Zee just being their usual, clumsy yet well-meaning self instead of being Dave 2.0, and Emma would find them to be endearing. Also, if you're wondering why I referred to Zee with they/them pronouns, it's mostly because of my headcanon that they're fine with any pronouns, but mostly use he and they.
Anyways, thanks for reading this fic, and another special thanks to @willagainstcapitalism for the idea!