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asarahworld-writes · 4 years

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Merry Christmas @vicapuleti ! I, @asarahworld, was your Zombies Secret Santa. You mentioned a love of Zeddison, Zoey, fluff and angst, and AUs. Well, it’s not quite an AU, but it is future fic where they’ve gone off to college. We’ve got Zed. We’ve got Addison. Zoey makes an appearance. And without further ado...

Chapter 1

It had been six months since Zed had gone off to the state university on a football scholarship, six months since Addison had been accepted at her parents’ alma mater, and four months and thirteen days since the last time they had seen each other if you didn’t count the five minutes after the game two months ago. The daily phone calls had slowed down to weekly; text messages became a quick thing to fire off between classes.

Addison was ploughing through a slough of research for her Writing Studies essay on “Classic Literature As Viewed Through a Modern Lens” when her phone buzzed. Automatically, she reached for it and immediately flipped it over upon seeing that it wasn’t the cheer squad’s captain, Juliette Viconte. (Unlike Seabrook High, the university squad had only one captain.) She stared at the screen of her laptop, thinking. She had just finished writing a decent-sized paragraph on Romeo and Juliet, exploring how if the leads hadn’t been so quick to act that the play would not have been the tragedy and leading into a comparison between the original storyline and modern adaptations. Star-crossed lovers destined to be apart. Ultimately, every version of the play needed to end tragically, otherwise the message Shakespeare had intended behind the story was lost in the happy ending.

She stared at the screen of her laptop, thinking. That was definitely the line of reasoning her professor would be looking for. And yet she couldn’t help but see herself and Zed in the characters. Two young people from feuding families (societies) fall in love. A relationship built on stolen moments. The relative innocence of one character balancing out the harsh reality lived by the other. Theoretically, modern technology provided ease of communication that could have saved Romeo and Juliet from tragedy. And yet, it was clear that just because one had the ability to communicate directly, that wasn’t necessarily going to happen.

She grabbed a pen and started re-working her notes. Maybe this essay wouldn’t follow the professor’s expectations. But Addison had her own ideas.

Her phone buzzed again. Addison, in the middle of frantic scribbles, fumbling, turned it off.

“Hey, this is Addison-”

“Hey, it’s me,” Zed said cheerfully. It was so nice to finally hear her voice.

“-so leave a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.” The accompanying beep following the end of the recorded message startled Zed, and he realized that he had reached her voicemail.

“Hey, it’s me,” he started over. “I know it’s getting old, but the captain’s scheduled another practice and of course it’s happening Saturday morning. Abraza garzi’ska, ag gar-gargiza ru,” he said softly, reverting back to Zombietongue. Zed smiled gently as the memory of when they had officially decided to only use Zombietongue for endearments. As horrible as that fight had been (not that it could even be considered to be a fight as they had resolved their issue without any drama), they were so much stronger for it.

“This relationship is with you, too, Zed,” Addison had said angrily. “I want you to be able to be completely yourself. And that includes being able to speak Zombietongue around me. Excuse me for thinking that that was a reasonable request.”

That hadn’t been it at all. But despite his best efforts, Zed had failed to properly explain what exactly he felt about his girlfriend’s wish to become fluent in his native language. Zed hadn’t even been certain that he himself knew why he was against the idea.

All that he knew was that Addison now sat by herself at the front of the classroom during Revised Local History, cheerleading practice was after football practice, and that the cheerleaders once again had their own table in the cafeteria.

“Zed, you’re overthinking this,” she’d told him when he’d finally confessed his fear. “History’s hard enough as it is without having you right beside me. You realize that you have gym the period before, right? So either you walk in and your hair’s still wet and there’s water rolling down your neck from your hair or else gym ran late and you didn’t even have time to change, let alone shower, and you,” she laughed nervously, “to be honest, you always smell amazing but especially then. I need to pass history. Surely you can get by without me for one extra hour,” she’d said, giggling.

“When you put it like that, how can I say no?”

“That’s what I love about you. Always willing to listen,” Addison had said with a smile. “As for cheer, well, during your practice, we’re up in the weight room. It takes a lot of work to be able to do this stuff.” Addison had been counting her rebuttals off on her fingers. “And as for lunch, some of the new kids seemed like they needed a friend. And the cheer squad is a family. We’ve gotta be there for each other.”

“Abraza garzi’ska… ag gar-gargiza ru,” Zed had said tenderly, threading his fingers through Addison’s.

“Gar-gargiza…,” Addison’s smile had grown softer. “Ag gar-gargiza ru,” she’d repeated. “I love you.” Suddenly, her gentle smile had turned into an excited grin. “Does this mean I get to learn more Zombietongue?” Zed had only laughed, repeating his declaration of love softly in her ear.

Writing annotated notes for her essay had taken her far longer than she’d anticipated and when Addison finally checked her phone, she was startled to see that it was nearly two a.m. She stumbled across the room to her bed and was asleep before her head hit the pillow.

Addison had learned during her first semester why you didn’t take an eight a.m. course unless there was no other choice. However, being an underclassman came with certain disadvantages. Being one of the last to choose courses was one of those disadvantages and with that came fewer course options. Taking English was mandatory for all students and Addison hadn’t had any other options to fill that credit without waiting another semester. So she begrudgingly took the Writing Studies course, wondering why she hadn’t looked for one during her first semester despite her parents’ insistence that she take it easy her first semester.

When the alarm went off at six, Addison immediately hit the snooze button. Once. Twice. Three times the alarm was silenced and Addison lay in bed. The phone rang.

“Addison, where are you? Class is starting in five minutes and you know that Professor Jackson docks points if you’re late!” Bree’s hushed panic broke Addison’s sleepy haze. She leapt from her bed, quickly changing into the nearest clothes that weren’t pajamas, and swept everything off her desk into her bag. She sprinted to the classroom, from the D building up to A, and up the flight of stairs to the second floor, barely making it in the back door as the prof began class. Luckily, she’d grabbed a notebook and pen in her rush, and was able to at least take notes.

The rest of the day passed in a similar haze. Everything was a mess, but salvageable. After her three-hour English lecture, Addison had another three-hour lecture (this time for Anthropology), followed by a short dinner break and cheer practice; practice ran much later than usual as the neurotic captain was more obsessed with perfection than Bucky had been at his most neurotic. Just like that, the day was over and Addison flopped into bed, exhausted.

Sleep, shower, repeat.

Wednesdays she worked part-time in a café down the street from the main campus. Though the pay was negligible, the hours were steady and gave her a reprieve from the stress of being a student. Seven a.m. to three p.m., then she was back to cheer practice and homework. Thursday was spent organizing her English notes and drafting her essay, Friday was another eight hour shift at the café and studying for her Anthropology midterm. The weekend only provided more of the same. When Monday came, her first draft was finished and Addison treated herself to a relaxing bubble bath. To her surprise, it was only six o’clock.

The phone rang.

“Hey, sweetie,” it was her mother. “How’s school? You didn’t call us yesterday, is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine,” she lied. “I mean, I guess I’m just stressed with midterms and my essay.” I haven’t spoken to Zed in a month. There’s only so much you can communicate in a text and I only get to see him during the games. Missy continued to press her daughter and Addison continued to say what she wanted to hear. When her mother ended the call, Addison sat staring at the phone.

The phone rang. And rang. And rang. No answer.

The phone rang.

“Zoey!” Zed couldn’t help smiling as he answered the phone.

“Hey,” his little sister replied enthusiastically. “Did Addison tell you she enlisted Miss Zàrate to work with the Zombeans while you guys are at college?”

Zed nodded in remembrance. “Yeah, said that someone had to make sure you rascals kept up with practice,” he joked.

“Is she there?” Zoey asked. An innocent enough question, but one that tugged his dead heartstrings anyway.

“Uh, no. It’s the end of the semester, everyone’s pretty busy with final projects and exams. How’s your schooling going?” Zed changed the subject. He didn’t want to talk about how the past few weeks had been hard, how they hadn’t even talked on the phone, much less seen each other. Zoey happily told him about Zombeans and her experiences at her new school. She talked about their Dad and Puppy, about the changes to Zombietown (the rusty gates had finally been removed, there was a bus that took the kids into the human part of town for school and a regular city bus connecting the neighbourhoods “we get to take the regular school bus with the humans to the bus stop,” she’d explained solemnly), and everything else that was important to an eleven-year-old girl.

“When are you guys coming back to Seabrook?”

Zed sighed. “I don’t know, Zozo. Probably pretty quickly after the semester’s over. Five weeks maybe.” He could practically hear her pouting over the phone. “I miss you and Pops and Puppy,” he said. And Addison.

“We miss you too,” Zoey assured him. There was a brief pause while she said something to their dad. “Dad says I should let you get back to school stuff. And he wants to go over my homework. I told him it’s fine, but…”

“Math?” At his sister’s hum, Zed continued: “you just gotta keep checking. Try to memorize the uses of each formula and always check your work. At the end of the day, all that matters is that you pass.”

“Thanks, Zed.”

“Hey, isn’t it just about bedtime?” He could practically hear her rolling her eyes. Laughing gently, he told her good night and hung up the phone.

MISSED CALL. ADDI. Read the call display. Zed cursed, a mix of English and Zombietongue, and hit the speed dial.

The phone rang. And rang. And rang. He cancelled the call, not wanting to hear her voicemail again. Instead, he sent a few messages. Fifteen minutes and a response later, he texted Addison.

U R FREE SAT! PICK U UP @ DORM @ 430. SEE U GORGEOUS.

He added a green heart emoji at the end of the message, slowly smiling.

When he woke up the next morning, there was a new message from Addison:

YOU MEAN LIKE A DATE? followed by a single pink heart.

It was Tuesday. He had three days to plan the perfect reunion date.

Zombietongue and translations all taken from Ly’s amazing masterposts. @unusual-ly

Zombeans belongs to Sarah @fist-it-out

Abraza garzi’ska, ag gar-gargiza ru. | Sorry garzi’ska, I love you.

#ZomSecretSanta2019 #vicapuleti #zombies #zeddison

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asarahworld-writes · 4 years

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a continuation of my ZSS prezzie for @vicapuleti

Chapter 2

Zed took a deep breath and knocked on the door of dorm C1018. The door swung open and he was excitedly greeted by Bree.

“Oh my god, Addi, he’s here!” She called towards the bedroom. “I’m going to be right back, with your girlfriend, so don’t you dare go anywhere without her,” she said firmly, before running back to meet Addison.

Zed could hear them freaking out in Addison’s bedroom and leaned against the door to wait. His stomach was tumultuous with anticipation, the butterflies almost as nervous as when they’d gone on their first date.

Addison stepped out of the bedroom and Zed was immediately captivated. “Hey, gorgeous,” he whispered, unable to take his eyes off of her.

“Don’t you mean delicious?” She asked, somewhat hesitantly, a smile nearly on her lips. Zed could only shake his head. She was beautiful. Hair softly curled, falling in snowy tresses around her face. A soft green dress with a short skirt and kitten heels, a perfect complement to his own pink blazer (over a white dress shirt and jeans).

“Are you two going to stand there staring at each other all night or are you going to take her out?” Bree interrupted their reunion, handing Addison her purse. Zed stuck out his hand, which Addison happily clasped as they left the dorms for the car. Zed opened the passenger door for his girlfriend, then jogged around to the driver’s side.

The drive back to Zombietown was only fifteen minutes, since it was on the outskirts coming into Seabrook from the university.

“Please tell me we’re not going back to high school,” Addison chuckled as they drove into town.

“Nah. But I do have somewhere special in mind.”

Addison knew exactly where he meant.

The old power plant was surprisingly empty for a Saturday night. “I might owe… everybody? in Zombietown a favor,” Zed said, only half-joking. “The mash was last night.”

“You’re telling me we came all the way back to Seabrook and we missed the mash?” Addison said in disbelief.

“I know we might be crazy,” Zed sang softly, “but did you hear the story?”

Addison took his hand. “I think I heard it vaguely?”

“A girl and a zombie.” Zed gently twirled her on the spot.

“Oh, tell me more, boy. Sounds like a fantasy.”

“Oh, what could go so wrong with a girl and a zombie?” They sang the last line in harmony, slow dancing to their own rhythm.

Zed had packed a picnic dinner of the finest foods a broke college student could buy. Cold grilled cheese sandwiches with tomatoes. Hard boiled eggs. And a package of technically-expired-but-still-safe strawberries that had been on clearance.

Addison ate the last of her egg and wiped her mouth. “Zed, this… this was perfect. I know I’ve been so busy these past few weeks. I kind of lost track of how much time had passed, really. And between cheer and football and class? I don’t know how we do this.”

Zed gently squeezed her hand. “By doing this. We make moments, like this one, in the middle of all the chaos.”

Addison smiled. “I love you, Zed. Ag gar-garziga ru.”

“Ag gar-garziga ru.” Zed repeated softly. “Addison, I love you.”

The couple stayed in the Light Garden for hours. They caught up on each other’s lives. They sat in silence, content to simply hold their partner in their arms.

Zed deftly cored the strawberries and presented one to Addison. She smiled, parting her lips and biting into the red fruit. Light juices ran down her chin as she took another bite and Zed gently wiped them away, licking the juice from his finger. She picked up another strawberry, holding it out for Zed. It was a smaller fruit, and he swallowed it in a single bite.

They kissed, softly at first, knowing exactly how their lover liked it. The kisses became deeper, harder, more desperate. All that mattered were Addison’s lips on Zed’s, Zed’s hands fisting her hair, Addison’s hands running up his torso and over his shoulders. All that mattered was that they were a girl and a zombie, together.

#ZomSecretSanta2019 #vicapuleti #zombies #zeddison

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