Page 54 of Spring Awakening

Zach holds onto one of her feet. “What’s the team-building thing?” he asks, half paying attention to the quiz show she said was amazing and then ignored. “Earth.”

“What?”

“That’s the answer. What electrical wire is yellow and green? Earth.”

“You being an electrician is wild.”

He raises his eyebrows. “Hot, right?”

“Why do I talk to you?”

Zach laughs. “Baby, tell me what the team-building is.” He stills, the endearment falling from his lips before he even realised he wanted to say it. In his head, he calls her Mal. Baby wasn’t even something he registered. She goes still next to him, and he swears he can hear her heartbeat from here. She called him honey, and he didn’t say anything. Though he was beinga prick at the time, and he wasn’t sure if she called everyone honey. (She hasn’t said it again to him, or to anyone else, which isn’t helpful and could mean nothing at all.)

He could apologise and say it was all a mistake. There’s a chance she’ll believe him, even if she can see the ways he cares for her in his everyday life. She might not have picked up on the fact that he makes her a tea at eleven every morning because she gets too engrossed in work and gets a headache from refusing to drink water. The way he restocks the laundry tablets into the bowl she has for them in the back room (even though she hates filling it up; she just likes how it looks). The way he’s always waiting for a time to help her.

She turns to look at him, her cheeks slightly pink. “I will, but I just remembered—can you remind me to get the electrical stuff you need?”

“I’ll get it,” he replies immediately.

Mali chews on her cheek. “Online? Because you can use my card, or I can transfer to you if you’re risking trying to go out without my dad as a tag-along.”

Zach frowns. “In what world would I take your money? And Mosi is great. He can come anytime.”

“Zachariah.”

“Mali.”

“You can’t get the materials! If I don’t pay you, that’s basically stealing, and I don’t know about you, but I’m against stealing. Please, add it to your invoice.”

“What invoice?” he says, laughing. Like he’d ever ask her for anything. As if she hasn’t given him enough.

“Zach!”

“Mali.”

She pulls the blanket over her face, but he tugs it back down, crawling towards her to see her face again.

“It’s unreasonable to use your strength like this!” she says, but she’s laughing all the same. He realises all too slowly that he’s basically lying on top of her. He makes sure to keep his weight off her. His locs fall to the sides of his face, and the movement sucks all the air out of the room. He is just a man, and he might combust if he doesn’t kiss her right this second. Her eyes flick to his lips. He thinks. Maybe. He hasn’t been this close to her since she hugged him in the shop and he was unable to form a coherent thought, let alone hug her back. He’s going to mess everything up, and the last thing he wants to do is mess it up with her.

“I’d do anything for you. I just need you to let me.”

She blinks. “You would?”

Zach leans back, and the air finally comes back into the room.

“Obviously,” he says, his voice low. He drags her feet back into his lap. “So, I need you to tell me every single thing you need doing so I can level the playing field a bit.”

“What?”

“Well,” he says, clearing his throat. “You let me live here, and you take my mum to the garden centre, and you put up with me stealing your cat.” As if Buffy knew he was being summoned, he strolls into the living room and jumps on the sofa. It takes a moment of pushing his paws into Zach’s thigh, but he sighs and drops onto Zach’s lap. Mali grunts, and Zach rubs his hand against her ankle. Zach wonders if it’s truly insane to get another cat. Then Buffy would have a friend, Mali would have a cat, and Zach would have a reason to never leave.

“You don’t owe me anything. I don’t want you to think that you do.”

Zach shrugs. “Even if I didn’t, I’d want to do it for you.”

Mali looks at him, and his heartbeat doubles. She looks unsure, and then she smiles brighter than he’s ever seen her smile.

“Are we friends? Honest-to-God friends?”

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