spin_kick_snap | The Mount, Ex-Los Angeles

The last time anyone from Fandom had been in Kathy's LA, the heroes had been living inside the walls that surrounded Paramount Studios, with the exes and the South Seventeens laying claim to everything else. Since then, they'd expanded; the Big Wall pushing the borders out almost a mile in all four directions. In some spots, it was hard to tell that there had ever been a zombocalypse; the streets were clean, the buildings repaired, the blood all scrubbed away. There was a proper school, lots of farms and gardens, several churches, and even a small library. The studio was still the heart of the community, but people had started to spread out and settle. It was still a tight fit, several thousand people into one square mile, but honestly not much worse than Los Angeles used to be, back before the world died and reanimated again.

Life had fallen back into a rhythm again. People got up, got ready for the day. Kids were sent off to school, adults took themselves to various jobs, though there were fewer sales people, baristas, and aspiring actors and a lot more guards, scavengers, and farmers these days. There was a brewery down on Larchmont and a still over on Monroe. Burns Park let people enjoy a bit of nature where the kids could run around and burn off steam and a Gold's Gym practically against the Big Wall. That was where the Unbreakables spent most of their free time, with curious gawkers watching them put more and more weight onto the machines.

It was a bustling little community of survivors, as safe as a place could be, surrounded on all sides by millions of undead waiting to find a way inside to devour them all.

[For them that are there! NFB, and ~~please wait for the~~ OCD is up! Previous entry Next Entry]

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"I just wanna get to know the guy who was all over Kathy with her boyfriend...s...right there," Nick snapped, stumbling over the plural. Giving up all pretense at niceness. "Wondering if I should maybe have a word with someone."

It was refreshing, almost, to hear Nick not pretend. As badly as he'd been pretending before.

"I don't think Kathy's business is any of yours," he said. "Though if you've never seen friends hugging before, I feel sorry for you."

"I know hugging," Nick scowled, rolling his eyes. "That wasn't hugging. You were holding onto her like she was the only source of oxygen in the room."

It was a familiar feeling, for Nick.

Ezra shrugged. "The last time I saw her before that, she vanished into a pillar of light," he pointed out, easily enough. "I think that calls for some clinging, dont you?"

"Last time I saw her, I was getting twisted around by a zombie freak hard enough I could see my own ass," Nick said. "And she was the undead bait that made it happen. But I managed not to hump her leg when I saw her again."

Classy, Nick you asshole.

Color Ezra so completely unimpressed.

"And you wonder why she doesn't like you as much."

Because, that was what this was about, right? Petty jealousy?

Yes.

"I'm perfectly fine with where my relationship with Kathy is at," Nick said. Stiffly. "Can you say the same?"

Pause.

"I'm just trying to watch out for her."

Ezra couldn't help the quiet snort. "Well, I'm sure you think that. I'll give you that much."

"The hell is that supposed to mean?!"

Sigh.

He did not have the energy to waste on whatever this was.

"Your jealousy is getting off-putting," he said. "So, I'm just going to go now, if that's okay with you."

"Jealous?" Nick scoffed. "What do I have to be jealous about."

You know, besides Ezra's ability to walk. And his home far away from here. Those things barely counted.

"But yeah, sure, walk away."

"Her."

A petty urge had him almost tipping his imaginary hat to Nick, but he kept that at bay. Just said that single word, and turned to go.

"She's not yours either," Nick said grimly, self-control the only thing keeping him self unlocking his chair and wheeling after this kid to continue bickering.

Ezra stopped. Turned to glance back at him.

"No, she's not. The difference between us is that I've never wanted to own her."

"I--I don't--!" Nick sputtered, mouth agape. "I just want--"

Ezra, meanwhile, had just one simple and elegant word for him:

"Sure."

The Mount, Ex-Los Angeles

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