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Chapter Text

Tina Belcher woke up to somebody shouting her name.

She'd been worried that either Gene or Louise were crying for her after they had woken up from a scary nightmare, until she realized that whoever had been shouting her name wasn't anybody from her family. She recognized their voice from somewhere, and after a few seconds she'd realized that it was Zeke. Why would Zeke be standing outside her window and shouting her name when everybody was asleep?

Tina found her glasses and sleepily dragged herself from her bed. She hoped that nothing serious was going on. Like, if her family's house caught on fire and Zeke happened to walk by at exactly the right second to warn her family before they were all burned alive, or if Tina had somehow slept through a zombie apocalypse and they were the only survivors still alive.

Zeke was shouting from below her bedroom window. Tina walked over and looked down to ask him what he was doing outside her bedroom window so late.

"Zeke?" Tina shouted down to him. They probably should have stopped shouting at each other unless they wanted to wake up her family.

"Tina! I was hopin' you'd be awake," Zeke said. He looked surprised that Tina had answered him at all.

Tina decided that any reason Zeke had to be standing outside her bedroom window and shouting for her couldn't have been serious or life-threatening because he would have told her right away if it was. She still didn't understand why he was standing outside her bedroom window when they were both supposed to be asleep, but Tina could only ask him one question at a time.

"You woke me up," Tina said. "Why are you standing outside my bedroom window, Zeke? Is something wrong?"

"You got any toothpaste I can borrow?"

Tina blinked. "You walked over to my house in the middle of the night and stood outside my bedroom window shouting my name... because you wanted to ask me for toothpaste?"

Zeke didn't reply for a few seconds. He stood there awkwardly and looked down at his feet before he finally spoke up. "If you don't have any toothpaste I can borrow, I understand. Jus' figured I would ask."

"No—No, I'll get you toothpaste from our bathroom cupboard and meet you by the entrance of our house. Do you want kids' toothpaste or regular? Louise hates brushing her teeth with regular mint-flavor toothpaste, so we usually have both."

"Regular is alright," Zeke told her.

Tina walked to their bathroom and found toothpaste for Zeke in their cupboard before meeting up with Zeke outside of their house. She was still wearing her ugly laundry-day pajamas, and her hair was completely tangled because she hadn't brushed it since she'd gone to bed a few hours earlier, but Tina decided that if Zeke was going to come over to her house and wake her up to ask for toothpaste he didn't have any reasoning for judging how she looked or what she'd been wearing.

"Here's your toothpaste," Tina said awkwardly as she handed Zeke his toothpaste. You can keep it, uh, if you want to. My dad buys our toothpaste in bulk at the restaurant supply store because he says that it's cheaper that way. We always have extra toothpaste that we don't need in our bathroom cupboard."

"Thanks, T."

"Why didn't you wait until tomorrow to ask for toothpaste?" Tina asked him.

She didn't understand why Zeke was asking her for toothpaste to begin with, and she thought he would've asked Jimmy Junior or another friend if he really needed toothpaste that desperately, but it was easier for Tina if she didn't start asking him too many questions. It wasn't that big of a deal, and her family did have A LOT of toothpaste.

"I ain't gonn' be here tomorrow," Zeke replied.

He was looking at Tina as if that answered her question, instead of raising even more questions that needed answering. Zeke had always been a little weird and she didn't understand what he was talking about sometimes, but this conversation was different than before. Tina was seriously starting to worry about him.

"What do you mean?" Tina leaned against their door frame as she asked him this. Zeke was the only age-appropriate boy from school that she couldn't remember ever having a crush on, and that led to her being less anxious and more confident when around him than with anybody else. She genuinely thought of Zeke as her classmate and friend, and nothing else.

"I'm runnin' away. I only realized I forgot to pack toothpaste for myself after I'd already left my house. That's why I'm askin' you so late. I would have asked J-Ju but he's stayin' with his dad this week, and it's a lot harder to sneak into an apartment without wakin' up his family and startin' trouble. Your folks are cool, right?"

"I don't think they'd have a problem with me giving away toothpaste," Tina shrugged.

Tina was lucky that her mother and father were usually understanding when she did something that got herself or her siblings into trouble, and that they trusted her enough to ask why she'd done something before they punished her. She knew that not everybody had a family who were understanding or willing to listen to what they had to say.

"Why are you running away?"

Tina wasn't stupid. Zeke and her had never been close friends, but even she knew that his home life was troubled. His biological mother was more concerned with drugs, sex and alcohol than she was with her own son, and his father had anger issues and a drinking problem. He punished Zeke when he didn't deserve that. Cheryl was supportive of him, but she had her own issues and Zeke had mentioned before that she would disappear for days at a time without contacting her family or letting them know if she was okay. Zeke's family didn't have a lot of money to begin with, and Tina knew that Jimmy Junior always paid for him when their school was planning a field trip or they were going to Wonder Wharf together.

Zeke's home life was obviously troubled, even without Tina knowing all the details, but he'd never talked about running away before.

He talked about wishing that he was allowed to move in with his grandmother in her retirement home, but Tina always assumed that he was joking because he had such a close relationship with his grandmother and wanted to spend more time with her.

Zeke didn't respond to her question. Tina looked at him and realized that he had several painful-looking bruises and dry blood underneath his nose. She was hoping they were injuries from yesterday's wrestling practice with Jimmy Junior.

"I don't wann' talk about it," Zeke finally said. He sounded nervous, which was very unusual for Zeke. "Thanks for gettin' toothpaste for me, Tina. I'll be outta yer hair."

Tina had started to wake up her exhausted brain and she realized that if she let Zeke walk away from her, she was never going to see him again. She didn't know if he was safe, or if he had an actual plan for where he was going to go if he ran away. She didn't want him to walk around hungry and alone in the dark of Seymour's Bay.

She needed to do something.

"Wait—Zeke! Why don't you come inside and I'll get something for you to eat? Are you hungry?" Tina asked.

"It's alright, T-Bird. I don't wann' trouble you for any longer than I already have," Zeke took a step backwards from where he'd been standing and raised his hands in defense.

"You wouldn't be giving me any trouble, Zeke. I'm already awake. My family wouldn't mind if I got you a snack from the kitchen. How long have you been outside?"

"I decided to run away after my dad and Cheryl were asleep, and it's been—uh, I don't know? A few hours since all of that happened. It's not all bad, though. I was sitting on the beach outside of Wonder Wharf and thinkin' about where I'm headed to next when I realized that I forgot to pack toothpaste for myself. That's when I decided to ask if you had any, 'cause I knew that your house was nearby."

"Did you eat dinner?"

"Nah, my dad was gettin' angry with me and I didn't want to risk goin' downstairs and seein' him," Zeke replied.

He talked about this like it was a normal life experience that every teenager had, and that there was nothing wrong with somebody being so scared of their father that they would skip eating dinner to avoid having to talk to him. Tina couldn't even imagine what it would feel like to be afraid of her own mother or father, and she was beginning to realize what a privilege that was.

Tina felt sick to her stomach.

"I'm going to get you something to eat," Tina told Zeke.

She began walking back upstairs, and to her surprise Zeke closed the door behind him and followed her without any further argument. He was hungrier than she'd thought he'd been.

A few minutes later, Zeke was sitting at their kitchen table and eating cookies that Tina had found in their cupboard. They belonged to her mother and she wasn't supposed to touch them without asking, but Tina decided that using them to feed a hungry friend who was running away from home was an exception to that rule. Nobody was going to get angry at her for giving cookies to Zeke. Everybody in her family loved him. Tina knew that her father had grown closer with Zeke during that week when he'd taught Home Economics at their school, and her siblings always said that Zeke was hilarious and fun to be around, even though Gene still wasn't a huge fan of his physical aggression and wrestling.

Even if she'd been giving food to somebody annoying and rude like Tammy was, Tina's family still wouldn't be angry at her. Tina didn't like Tammy either, but if somebody came to her asking for help she was going to help them without asking them any questions. It was the right thing to do.

Tina started talking as she looked through her family's kitchen for something else that Zeke could have. "You don't have to tell me why you're running away if you don't want to, but could you at least tell me where you're planning to go? I don't want to... are you still going to go to our school? Does Jimmy Junior know?"

"Nah, J-Ju was asleep when I texted him. He'll know I'm runnin' away when he wakes up. I don't know where I'm goin' yet, but I figured that it's Friday afternoon so I have all weekend to decide without gettin' in trouble for skippin' out on school."

"It's Saturday morning," Tina corrected him. She gave Zeke a bag of chips and sat down next to him at their kitchen table, stealing a cookie from him in the process. "I don't think that it's a good idea to run away if you don't actually know where you're going or how you're going to get there. What if something bad happens to you?"

"Look, Tina... I couldn't live at that house anymore, and I know that my mom doesn't give a crap about me. I don't want to run away, but what else am I supposed to do?"

Zeke looked so defeated, and it broke Tina's heart. She wanted to have an answer for what he was supposed to do, or where he should go. She wanted to be a responsible adult who could do something to help him and keep him safe, but she was just his classmate and she wasn't prepared for anything like this. She had no idea what she would do if she was in Zeke's situation.

"I don't know," Tina told him. "You don't have to go back to living with your dad and Cheryl, but I don't want you running away if you don't have an actual plan. I care about you, Zeke. I don't want something bad to happen to you, and I don't want you getting yourself hurt."

She avoided looking at the bruises on his body as she said this. Tina knew that there was a lot more to Zeke's story than she knew about or that she could ever understand, but that would have to be a conversation for tomorrow, or for whenever Zeke was ready. Tonight she just wanted to know that Zeke was safe, and that he wasn't going to do anything impulsive or dangerous. Her mother and father would have a better idea about what Zeke should do in this situation, or where he could go if he couldn't go back to his father.

Tina suddenly had an idea.

"You can sleep at my house for tonight, and we can figure everything out tomorrow," Tina said.

Zeke was immediately defensive. "No, Tina. You already got me toothpaste, and these cookies and a bag of chips. I don't wann' ask for anything else from you. Besides, would your folks even be alright with a stranger sleepin' in your house?"

"You aren't a stranger, Zeke! My family already knows who you are, and I'm sure that they would understand if I explained the situation to them. I would rather you spend tonight at my house. If you left and slept outside tonight, I wouldn't be able to sleep because I would be awake worrying about you and if you were okay. This would be better for both of us."

Tina was surprised that they hadn't woken up her family with their loud conversation, but she wasn't going to start asking questions. She would rather they both went back to sleep and talked about everything in the morning while they were eating breakfast, because she was starting to feel exhaustion creeping back into her body and she wanted to go to bed.

"Where would I even sleep?" Zeke asked.

"You could sleep on the couch, or you could sleep in my room," Tina said. "Actually, it would probably be a better idea if you slept in my room. I'm not sure how my family would respond if they woke up and found somebody sleeping on the couch, and they didn't know who it was or how they got here. If you sleep in my bedroom, I can explain everything to them."

"Yeah, you're right," Zeke agreed. He seemed to have accepted that he would be sleeping at Tina's house, and she was happy that she wouldn't have to fight him about that. She was worried about him, and she didn't want anything bad to happen to her friend.

Zeke yawned and Tina realized that he was even more exhausted than she was because he hadn't slept at all, and he'd been standing outside in the cold. They should both go to sleep.

Tina walked back to her bedroom with Zeke following behind her and looking more exhausted with every second that passed. He didn't brush his teeth with the toothpaste she gave him before going to bed, and Tina thought that was funny because it was the reason that he came to her house to begin with. She was happy that he did.

"Your bedroom has a lot of horses, Tina," Zeke said as they walked into her bedroom. He dropped his backpack onto the floor and pointed at one of her horse posters. "I like it."

"Thank you. I can give you an official tour of all my horses tomorrow, if you want. I have a backstory for all of them, and they all have names too," Tina smiled. Nobody that she was friends with ever seemed to be very interested in her horses when they came over, and even Gene and Louise were getting sick of hearing her talk about the backstories and personalities of her horses over and over again.

"Sure," Zeke yawned again. "Where am I supposed to sleep?"

Tina hadn't thought her plan all the way through because she realized that there wasn't anywhere in her bedroom for Zeke to sleep. He could sleep on the floor with cushions from their couch, but that honestly sounded more uncomfortable than sleeping outside. Tina had slept on the floor at sleepovers before and she always woke up with horrible pain in her back. They had sleeping bags somewhere, but Tina couldn't remember where they were and she was too exhausted to go looking for them. She wanted to go to bed, and try to sleep for a few hours before it was time for her to wake up.

They weren't having a sleepover but Tina's brain was pretending that they were, so that she didn't have to think about the real reason Zeke was sleeping at her house, which was because he didn't have anywhere else safe to go.

"You can sleep in my bed," Tina said.

"Where would you sleep?"

"Oh, I guess I didn't think about that. I could sleep in my bed, too. Gene, Louise and I have sleepovers in my bedroom, and they both sleep in my bed with me, uh, so you'll probably be okay," Tina shrugged. She was too exhausted to think any harder about sleeping arrangements, and she could tell that Zeke felt the same way. "Hopefully you don't fall out of bed."

Zeke laughed, and Tina was happy to see him smiling again. "Wouldn't be the first time."

Tina climbed into her bed and Zeke followed behind her. There wasn't a lot of room for them to stretch out or move around, but they both fit well enough and as long as they had a pillow under their heads and a blanket over their bodies, neither of them cared about where they were sleeping. Tina had a lot to worry about when it came to Zeke, but that would be a problem for tomorrow.

All that she needed to focus on right now was falling asleep with Zeke's arms wrapped tightly around her. She could hear him snoring loudly in her ear.

She wasn't going to question him cuddling with her, because she knew that he was a very physically affectionate person and that he probably needed to be comforted by somebody who he knew was safe. He acted like he was totally fearless and never scared of anything, but she knew that he was even more terrified than she was and that he had no idea what he was supposed to do next.

If falling asleep while cuddling Tina helped him with those terrifying emotions and all the pain that he'd experienced in his life, she didn't mind that at all.

Chapter Text

"Tina! Are you awake?" Linda knocked on her door, and when Tina didn't answer she walked into her bedroom to wake up her oldest daughter.

It wasn't normal for Tina to sleep in this late, considering Gene and Louise were already awake and eating breakfast. Linda was worried that she'd stayed up late writing in her journal. It was Saturday and Tina sleeping in later than usual wasn't a huge problem, but Linda wanted to be sure that she wasn't feeling sick and that she was still alive.

When Linda walked into her bedroom she was not expecting to see Tina asleep in her bed and cuddling with a boy. It was so far outside the possibility of what she thought could happen that she actually needed to take a second to pinch herself and check to see if she was dreaming. When did Tina start sneaking boys into her bedroom, and sleeping with them?

"Is Tina awake?" Bob asked Linda as he walked toward Tina's bedroom.

"No! Bobby, look at this," Linda said. "Tina snuck a boy into her bedroom without our permission! They're sleeping together. Do you think they..."

"No, Linda. Definitely not," Bob said quickly.

He looked into Tina's bedroom and saw her sleeping with Zeke's arms wrapped tightly around her, and his face nuzzled into her neck. He had no idea what Zeke was doing in her bedroom, but he honestly thought it was adorable that they were sleeping together. She shouldn't have invited somebody over without asking them, but he believed that everything that happened between them was innocent. It probably wasn't even romantic because Bob couldn't imagine Tina sleeping with a boy that she had any romantic interest in. She wasn't even confident holding hands with a boy that she liked, or going out on a date with somebody.

She had also never talked about having a crush on Zeke or finding him attractive before, and she seemed to have a crush on every other boy in her school.

"I don't think we have anything to worry about, Linda. It's just Zeke, remember? I mean, uh, it isn't good that she invited him over without asking us, but it's probably okay," Bob said awkwardly. He couldn't remember Tina ever doing anything like that before, and he didn't think that she had even slept in a bed with somebody outside her family. He was worried that something serious was going on with Tina.

"She still invited a boy over to sleep with her! Without our permission. Teenage girls aren't supposed to do that, right? Thirteen is technically a teenager."

"No, but I don't think... doesn't it feel weird that she's doing this? Whenever she starts breaking rules and acting like a stereotypical teenager it's always because she wants to impress somebody, like when she started hanging out with Tammy. Who would be impressed by Tina sneaking Zeke into our house and sleeping with him? We should ask her what's going on before we start freaking out about anything."

Linda sighed, and leaned against the wall outside of Tina's bedroom. "I know. I'm just nervous about her growing up too quickly, I guess. It feels like just yesterday that Tina was a baby, and now she's sneakin' people into her bedroom and sleeping with boys! I didn't start doing that until I was fourteen."

"If it helps, I really don't think whatever is going on here is romantic," Bob said. "We should wake Tina up, though. I don't want breakfast to get cold."

"Mom? Dad?" Tina said with a yawn. She was woken up by Bob and Linda's conversation, which was probably louder than it should have been if they were trying to have a serious discussion about their daughter. "Good morning. Zeke is here, by the way."

"I can see that," Bob laughed and walked into her bedroom. "You're up later than usual. Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm okay," Tina said. Zeke was starting to wake up, she put on her glasses and moved to the edge of her bed so that he could have more freedom to stretch himself out and move around. "Can Zeke and I wake up before we explain everything that happened? I need to go to the bathroom."

"Okay," Bob agreed.

He was starting to suspect that whatever happened with Tina and Zeke actually had been romantic and that they were in a relationship, because he had no idea what she could've been talking about when she said that they would explain everything that had happened. Even if they were in a relationship, that didn't explain why Tina would sneak Zeke into her bedroom without asking her parents. If she wanted to have a sleepover with him she would've just asked them. This had to have been something that happened with short notice on Tina's end.

Bob left Tina's bedroom to start cooking eggs and bacon, because Zeke was invited to breakfast and he didn't cook enough food for everybody.

Tina was standing in the bathroom and brushing her teeth when she realized that somebody was standing in the doorway and watching her. She turned around expecting one of her siblings to start annoying her or asking her a question, but instead she found it was Zeke who was awkwardly standing there and staring at her.

She hadn't expected him to wake up this early because he hadn't slept at all before he came over to her house. He must have been exhausted.

Tina realized that he was still wearing the clothes that he had been wearing to school yesterday, and that was because he probably forgot to bring along his pajamas or extra clothing. She would have to ask her family if he could borrow Gene or her father's clothes while his clothes were in the laundry, because sleeping in his old, stinky street clothes couldn't have been a pleasant experience. She was too exhausted to notice his smell when they were sleeping together.

Tina spit her toothpaste into the sink, and smiled politely. "Good morning, Zeke."

"Mornin' Tina. You weren't in your bedroom when I woke up, and when I asked Louise she said that you were in the bathroom. How long have you been awake?"

"Sorry, Zeke. I should have waited until you woke up before leaving my bedroom, or at least I should have written you a note. I thought you would still be asleep. I hope that it wasn't too confusing for you, waking up alone in a strange bedroom. I would totally be freaking out if that happened to me."

"Don't worry about it. Heh, I forgot everythin' that went down yesterday for a second when I woke up, and I thought I was in a crazy body-swap situation, or I had been transported to an alternate reality where I was a horse-obsessed teenage girl. Reality is a lot less exciting than that, huh?"

Tina shrugged. "Have you eaten breakfast already?"

"Nah, I figured I would wait until you were finished in the bathroom to eat anything. Didn't want to be rude, or whatever. Besides, I gotta brush my teeth, too."

"Oh. You brought your own toothbrush, right?"

"Yup," Zeke said.

Tina took a step back from the bathroom sink and held her toothbrush in her hand. With toothpaste all over her face it looked like she was infected with rabies. She was happy that Zeke had agreed to stay with her last night instead of running off into the dark and cold. She was enjoying spending time with him.

"We can brush our teeth together," Tina said.

Zeke held out his toothbrush and Tina squeezed toothpaste onto it. She used more toothpaste than was actually necessary, but who was going to notice if they wasted toothpaste while they were getting ready in the morning?

"You got a crazy beard goin' on, Tina," Zeke said with a laugh.

Tina didn't know if it was because it was early in the morning and he was still exhausted, or because of everything that had happened yesterday, but Zeke was a lot less energetic and loud than he usually was. She was beginning to miss his spontaneous wrestling and absolute lack of an inside voice.

"What do you mean?" Tina asked.

Tina genuinely had no idea what he was talking about, because she knew that she didn't grow facial hair. Unless she did? What if Zeke wasn't totally wrong about the body-swap thing from earlier, and she was stuck inside the body of a random teenage boy!

"Haha, I'm just teasin' you! You got toothpaste everywhere, girl. You look like you've got a beard bigger than Santa Claus."

Tina smiled. She appreciated that Zeke never teased her or told her that she was stupid when she didn't understand a joke. He would explain what he had been joking about to her, and they would both laugh about it. "Oh. It looks like I have rabies. Do you think I got it from the raccoons in the alleyway?"

"No way! That ain't how you catch rabies. I mean, unless you were pickin' up the raccoons and smooching 'em. Were you doing that?"

"They could've bitten me!" Tina laughed. She was happy that Zeke was in a better mood than he had been a few minutes earlier. "We should probably brush our teeth and start getting ready. We're supposed to talk to my parents while we're eating breakfast, and they'll get impatient if we take too long in the bathroom and our food gets cold."

"Does that mean I'm invited to breakfast?" Zeke asked.

Tina was looking for any sign of humor or playfulness on his face, but she couldn't find anything. She was reminded of the actual problem and the reason that Zeke was staying over at her house in the first place. It wasn't a happy reason.

Zeke never knew if he was going to be allowed to eat at his father's house, and he had applied those rules to Tina's house. She didn't like that at all, and she wanted him to know that he was in a safe and supportive environment. Nobody was going to get angry at him or tell him he wasn't allowed to eat, and nobody would ever lay a hand on him.

"Of course you're invited to breakfast, Zeke! You haven't eaten an actual meal since yesterday's lunch. Aren't you hungry?"

"I guess I'm hungry, but I ain't going to go around assumin' that I'm invited to breakfast whenever I'm sleeping over at somebody's house. Just seems rude. What are we going to talk to your folks' about?"

Tina sighed. "We have to explain why you snuck into our house last night, and why you were sleeping in my bedroom. It would also be a good idea to tell my parents about why you're running away, and what's going on with your family. They probably know better than me about how to help you, and find you somewhere safe to live."

"Do you think they'll call my house and tell 'em where I'm staying?" Zeke asked with obvious anxiety and fear in his voice.

"No, I don't think they would. Not if we tell them about you running away, and explain that it isn't safe for you to live with your family. They try to be responsible parents, but I don't think they want anybody getting hurt," Tina said and she spat her toothpaste into the sink. Zeke followed behind her. He was a lot faster at brushing his teeth than she was, even without all the interruptions, and he brushed a lot harder than her. He brushed his teeth like he had nothing left to lose, and it was possible that he didn't. Except for his dental health.

"Do you... do you want to tell my parents, uh, why you wanted to run away? Like, what actually happened. I don't need to be there when you tell them if you don't want me to be, but they will be able to do something to help you. They need to know what happened, and I'm scared that they won't take you seriously if you only tell them that you ran away."

Zeke was about to reply to Tina, but before he could say anything Linda yelled to them from the kitchen. "Tina! Zeke! Are you done wakin' up and brushing your teeth? Breakfast is ready, and your father and I wanted to talk to you!"

"I guess that means we should eat breakfast," Tina said.

"Are your folks' going to be real angry with us?" Zeke asked anxiously. "I'm sorry if I did somethin' wrong and got you into trouble, Tina. I wouldn't have came over here in the first place if I knew it was going to end up with people yellin' at us. I mean, I'm used to getting yelled at, but you shouldn't have to deal with that 'cause of something I did."

"It's okay, Zeke! My parents aren't going to yell at us, I promise. They don't usually like punishing us without talking about what happened. Even if we do get into trouble for some reason, I don't want you to worry about it. I don't care about getting into trouble if I'm with you."

Zeke smiled. "Are you gettin' a soft spot for me, girl?"

"Maybe," Tina laughed.

Tina walked toward the kitchen and Zeke followed behind her. He hadn't been to her house that many times before, and he didn't know where everything was.

She hadn't been nervous about getting into trouble before, but Zeke had put that fear into her head. The worst that could happen to her was getting grounded for a few weeks and getting lectured about what she had done wrong, but she didn't want her parents to get angry at Zeke and kick him out of the house. He didn't have anywhere else to go. Tina had snuck a boy into her house when everybody else was asleep, and that probably wasn't allowed. She had assumed that her parents would be understanding about everything that happened if she explained Zeke's situation to them, but what if she was wrong?

When they walked into the kitchen they found Bob and Linda sitting at the kitchen table and waiting for them. Gene and Louise were also sitting at the kitchen table, even though they had already eaten breakfast and they had empty plates in front of them. There was a fold-up chair for Zeke, and two plates of bacon and eggs for them to eat for breakfast. Everything was totally quiet.

"Gene? Louise? Didn't you already finish eating breakfast? Tina asked nervously. She didn't like how quiet everybody was being, and she definitely didn't like all the awkward staring that was going on.

"What do you mean? I'm not going to miss out on the opportunity to see my RESPONSIBLE older sister get yelled at for sneaking a boy into our house and sleeping with him," Louise said with a smirk.

Chapter Text

Tina and Zeke were standing together in the kitchen. Both of them were expecting to get in trouble with Tina's parents for letting Zeke sleep at their house without waking them up to ask them if that was allowed.

Before anybody could say anything to them, Zeke moved so that he was standing between Tina and any potential threat. He was protecting her. She wasn't exactly sure what threat he was protecting her from, because she knew that her parents only wanted to talk even if they were angry at her or disappointed, but there wasn't anything she could do to stop him.

"Don't do anythin' to get Tina in trouble! She doesn't deserve to be punished. She didn't do nothin' wrong, she was just trying to help out her friend—I was an idiot for comin' over without asking and not leaving after she gave me the toothpaste. That's my bad," Zeke told them.

Tina got defensive because she knew that Zeke didn't do anything wrong and he didn't deserve to be punished either. There wasn't anything wrong with asking for help when he needed it, and she was glad that he'd come over to her house instead of sleeping alone on the beach next to Wonder Wharf.

"No, Zeke! You didn't do anything wrong. I'm the person who invited you into our house and let you sleep in my bedroom. If anybody deserves to get punished, it should be me."

"I can take it, Tina. You think my folks' have never punished me for gettin' into trouble before? I can take a beatin' like nobody's business! If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be in trouble in the first place," Zeke argued.

Tina realized that Zeke was defending her because he was scared that her parents were going to physically abuse her as punishment, because that was what his father did when he got into trouble or did something wrong. That realization made her heart drop into her stomach. Her parents had never physically abused her before in her life, and they never did anything to hurt her. They never even spanked Tina or her siblings when they were younger. No matter what she did wrong or how badly she screwed up and disappointed them, she never had to worry about being physically abused or injured by her parents.

Not everybody had parents they could trust not to hurt them, either physically or emotionally. Tina was beginning to realize that Zeke's family life was a lot worse than he had let anybody know. At least, he had never talked about it when Tina was around.

"Zeke! Zeke, it's okay!" Bob interrupted their argument before it could continue. "Nobody is going to get in trouble. We just wanted to talk to you about why you were sleeping in Tina's bedroom, and what happened last night. Is everything okay?"

"Oh," Zeke said. He looked down nervously. "Everythin' is alright, Mr. Belcher. Nothing is going on. Sorry if I upset you, or made anybody worry 'bout me."

"Zeke," Tina started.

"Whaddya say, Tina? Are we going to start eatin' breakfast, or what? Your dad is a professional chef, so I'll bet it's going to taste amazing!" Zeke was obviously trying to distract everybody from having a real conversation about why he was there, but Tina was hungry so she was willing to go along with his distraction for a few minutes. Her father being a professional chef definitely had some advantages.

A few minutes later Tina was nibbling on a strawberry and quietly watching Zeke eat his second helping of breakfast, when Bob and Linda tried to start the conversation again. This time, Linda was the person who spoke up.

"Tina, sweetheart... why was Zeke sleeping in your bedroom last night? We aren't going to be angry, but we need to know if something serious is going on or if there's anything we need to worry about."

Tina blinked. "I wasn't sure how you would react to waking up to a stranger sleeping on our couch, and I didn't know where you kept the sleeping bags."

"Right. What your mother and I are asking about is WHY Zeke was sleeping at our house last night, as opposed to, uh, his own house? Or anybody else's house, like Jimmy Junior?" Bob asked. "If you wanted to have a sleepover with him, you could have asked us about it and we would've said yes. You know that we both trust Zeke, and he's your friend."

Bob knew that Tina wasn't trying to be clever or avoiding answering their questions. She took things literally sometimes and she had assumed that they were asking specifically about Zeke sleeping in her bedroom, as opposed to anywhere else in their house. He knew that getting angry at her or punishing her for taking things too literally wouldn't do anything to help in this situation, and he wanted Tina to trust him and tell him when something serious was going on.

Tina looked at Zeke and raised an eyebrow and he shrugged in response. She wasn't sure exactly what he meant by that, but she knew that she couldn't avoid telling her parents about this forever.

Tina awkwardly cleared her throat. "Zeke needed toothpaste because he forgot to pack his own, and he came over to our house to ask me if I had any that he could borrow. He was, uh—he's running away from home, and I told him that he should wait until the morning because I thought you guys would have a better idea of where he should go. It seemed dangerous to run away in the middle of the night. It's so dark, and scary! He was hungry and exhausted, so I got something for him to eat and then he fell asleep in my bed. That's everything that happened. Oh, and we brushed our teeth together this morning."

"Zeke is running away from home?" Louise asked with a mischievous smile. "That's AWESOME! I want to run away from home, too. I could pack my bag and we could ride a train together to New York City, and start our new lives there!"

"Sure, I'd be into that," Zeke agreed.

Bob and Linda exchanged a worried look with each other, before Linda turned back to them. "Louise, you aren't running away. Zeke, is everything okay at home? Why are you runnin' away, baby?"

"Probably is, now that I'm outta the picture," Zeke shrugged. "Don't worry 'bout it, Mrs. Belcher. Ain't got nothin' to do with you, or your family."

"Don't be silly, Zeke! Of course it does. We're the adults in this situation, and as long as you're under our supervision, we have to know that you aren't doing anythin' stupid or getting yourself into a dangerous situation. We need to know that everything is okay at home. That's our responsibility," Linda told him. "Would you feel more comfortable talking to us about what happened if Gene and Louise left the kitchen? I know it can feel stressful with so many people crowdin' around you and asking questions."

"Maybe," Zeke said.

Linda hurried Gene and Louise out of the kitchen so that they could talk to Zeke in private, and thankfully they seemed to realize that this was a serious conversation and they didn't fight her about leaving or try to sneak back into the kitchen when she wasn't looking. Linda sat back down at the kitchen table, where Zeke and Tina had their chairs pushed closer together and were whispering to each other about something. She decided that she wouldn't question what they were talking about, because Zeke obviously trusted Tina more than anybody else in their family, and they were both entitled to their privacy. She wanted him to feel comfortable and safe in their household.

Bob had been reading his newspaper and letting Tina and Zeke talk in private, but he rejoined the conversation when he noticed that Linda had returned.

"Zeke, we need you to be honest with us about what is going on. I know it can be, uh, scary talking about this stuff... especially with people you don't know very well, but we care about you and we don't want you to do anything dangerous or impulsive," Bob said. "We need to know if there's anything that we can do to help."

Zeke sighed, and he seemed to finally realize that there was nothing he could do to avoid telling the Belcher family the truth about what happened yesterday, and why he decided that he needed to run away in the first place. He might as well get this over with.

"My mom doesn't give a crap 'bout me, and my dad is an alcoholic with crazy anger issues. It's not usually too bad, but he's been pissed at me lately for actin' out and causing trouble in school. He doesn't—it's my fault for being an idiot and gettin' into trouble, but I was..." Zeke stopped to think about how much he wanted to share with the Belcher family, and especially Tina. "When I get into trouble, my dad will give me a beatin' so that I'll learn my lesson. He's been real angry lately, and he takes his anger out on me most of the time. Better me than Cheryl, I guess. He almost broke my arm last week, and I went to school the next day and got the crap kicked outta me in wrestling. Ain't that something? Anyway, I was actin' like an idiot in school again, and he was angry at me 'cause Mr. Frond called him and they talked—I was scared he was going to kill me, I gotta be honest with you. I didn't want to stick around and see if I was right about that. I had an emergency bag packed just in case I ever needed to leave on short notice, 'course I forgot to pack toothpaste. That's why I'm here."

"I'm so sorry, Zeke," Bob said. He took a deep breath and continued talking. "Is there anybody else in your family that you would feel safe staying with? I don't think it's a good idea to run away without any idea of where you're going."

Zeke was eating his breakfast as he spoke. "Not 'round here. My grandma's retirement home doesn't let family stay overnight, and my cousin Leslie lives in a studio apartment smaller than a freakin' closet. All of my other family is further south, but I don't want to leave all my friends from school, you know? I move around a lot, but this place is important to me."

"Do you think that your dad will come looking for you?"

"Nah, he won't. He probably hasn't even noticed I'm gone," Zeke laughed, but it sounded more bitter than humorous.

Bob looked over at Linda, and she nodded. She was always worse at dealing with serious situations than Bob was, and when it involved a child being abused or abandoned it was very difficult for her to stop herself from crying. That was why Bob had taken over their conversation with Zeke. He knew that Linda wouldn't be able to handle it.

"Zeke, you can stay with us until the weekend is over. I know that you're probably feeling scared and confused right now. It'll be easier for you to decide what you're going to do if you have a few days to think about it, and talk to people who will be able to help you. Does that sound, uh, okay?"

Zeke shrugged and casually leaned back in his chair. He wanted everybody to think that he was confident about everything and that he didn't care about what happened to him or where he was staying, but he was secretly happy that he had somebody who cared about him and knew what they were doing. He liked the idea of having a few days to think about where he was going to stay without fearing for his life or worrying about what his father would say to him. He liked spending time with Tina, too.

"I don't got anywhere else to go, do I?"

Chapter Text

After Tina and Zeke had finished eating breakfast, Tina went to her bedroom to write in her journal about everything that had happened, and Zeke offered to help Bob with washing the dishes.

Normally Bob would have told him that it was okay and that he didn't need to worry about helping out around the house, but he could tell that Zeke needed to do something to distract himself and he wanted to feel useful. He didn't think that washing dishes was a very labor-intensive household chore, so he agreed.

Linda was busy with Gene and Louise, who seemed to always be getting into trouble or mischief, so Zeke and Bob were alone in the kitchen. They quickly developed a system of Bob scrubbing the dirty dishes with soap and hot water, and Zeke rinsing them off with cold water and drying them with a towel. They were very efficient when they worked together.

Neither of them attempted to start a conversation. Bob knew that Zeke needed time to himself before he was ready to talk to anybody about what he'd been going through, and washing dishes together probably wasn't the right time for that conversation.

He hated that Zeke's father had mistreated him and abused him and that he hadn't been able to do something about it sooner. Zeke got into trouble at school and he had trouble with impulse control, but Bob knew that he had a good heart and he was very talented when he put his mind to doing something. Zeke just needed an adult in his life who was willing to nurture that creativity and talent and help him grow, which he clearly didn't have before. Bob knew what it was like to have children who got into trouble and acted out when they were at school, because all three of his children were a handful in very different ways, but he also knew that there were better ways to deal with misbehaving children than physical abuse and insulting or threatening them. They were independent people, and they deserved to be talked to and reasoned with before they were punished for something.

Even when Bob's children got into serious trouble or embarrassed him, and he felt so angry that he needed to walk away for a few minutes and be away from them, he had never considered taking his anger out on his children. He loved his children more than anything in the world, and them getting hurt was his worst nightmare. He couldn't imagine intentionally being the person that was hurting them, and he definitely couldn't imagine wanting to kill his own child. It didn't matter how angry or frustrated he was.

Bob's thought process was interrupted by hot water from the sink splashing onto his hand. He let out a painful noise and jumped back in surprise. He got a regretful look from Zeke. "Sorry for splashin' you, Mr. Belcher. Your sink is gettin' rowdy!"

"It's okay, Zeke. Also, please don't call me Mr. Belcher. Just, uh, call me Bob, I guess?"

"Can I call you Mr. Burger?" Zeke asked with a smirk.

Bob laughed. "I mean, I guess you can call me that."

"Whatever you say, Mr. Burger," Zeke said. Bob handed him another plate without looking, but Zeke was distracted and accidentally dropped it onto the kitchen floor, where it shattered into a million broken pieces. They were both very surprised by the loud noise and the broken plate, so it took Bob a few seconds longer than it normally would to respond and jump into action.

"Oops! I'll clean that up," Bob said. He was already reaching for a broom so that he could sweep all the broken pieces into a pile for the garbage. He was raising three children and he worked in a restaurant, so he was very experienced with cleaning up broken dishes.

"Crap, I broke yer plate! I'm real sorry, Mr. Belcher. I don't know why I'm screwin' everything up today," Zeke said.

He took a step away from where Bob was standing and looked up at him with genuine fear on his face. That broke Bob's heart because Zeke hadn't done anything wrong. He had accidentally dropped a plate on the floor and it broke, but that was something that anybody could have done if they were distracted, or if their hands were slippery because they were lathered with water and soap. It certainly wasn't a mistake that was deserving of punishment or abuse.

"It's not a big deal, Zeke. Don't worry. Plates get broken all the time," Bob said. He was trying to keep his voice reassuring and friendly.

"Not if they don't have idiots like me goin' around and breaking 'em," Zeke mumbled to himself.

"No, Zeke," Bob put a hand on Zeke's shoulder when he was trying to talk to him, but when Zeke flinched and looked up at him in fear he quickly stopped himself. He had to remember that what worked for parenting his children wouldn't always work for Zeke, because they came from very different backgrounds and experiences. "You didn't do anything wrong, okay? I don't want you beating yourself up about this. Do you know how many plates I've broken in my life? Like, uh, at least fifty. That's what happens when you're washing dishes, or working in a busy restaurant."

Zeke was looking down and he avoided making eye contact with Bob. He didn't say anything.

"I don't want you to be scared of making mistakes or doing something wrong while you're staying with us. I don't want you to be scared of me or worried that I'll do something to hurt you, and I want you to know that I will NEVER do that," Bob said with conviction in his voice. He knew that regardless of what Zeke did or how badly he screwed up, he would never even think about hurting him or giving him an unfair punishment. "You're just a kid, Zeke. You don't deserve to be abused or punished because of something as unimportant as breaking a plate, or accidentally splashing me with hot water. Even if you did something really terrible you still wouldn't deserve to be abused or hurt by anybody. You're allowed to make mistakes, and learn from them without being afraid of something bad happening to you. That's how real parenting works."

"Sorry 'bout that," Zeke said. His voice was nervous and it sounded like Zeke was about to start crying. That was something that Bob couldn't remember ever hearing in Zeke's voice before, and he was starting to get really worried about him.

"No, no. Zeke, you don't have to apologize," Bob said. He kneeled down in front of Zeke so that he knew that Bob was on his level. Bob knew that there was nothing that he could do to fix the years of abuse and dysfunctional parenting that Zeke had lived through, and his anxiety wasn't going to go away in a single day, but he needed to do something to help Zeke feel less alone and terrified of him. "I'm sorry that I scared you, and I'm sorry that I touched you without asking. I shouldn't have done that. I can finish cleaning up the broken plate and washing the dishes by myself, uh, so don't worry about doing that. I think Tina is busy in her bedroom, but why don't you go and ask Gene and Louise if you can play with them? They love spending time with you."

Zeke didn't say anything, but he nodded and walked out of the kitchen and in the direction of Gene's bedroom. Bob wished that there was something he could do to help Zeke feel better, but he knew that healing from such a traumatic childhood and so much abuse was going to take a long time and support from many people. Bob couldn't do everything on his own.

He hoped that this would be a start.

Chapter Text

Zeke was standing outside Gene's bedroom door and listening to him play his keyboard. He obviously wasn't professionally trained, but he had a lot of natural musical talent and a passionate heart that Zeke loved.

He knew that he shouldn't be standing outside Gene's bedroom door and listening to something that was probably a private moment for him. He should have knocked on Gene's door and asked if he wanted to do anything with Zeke, but he didn't seem to be able to make himself do that. He loved listening to Gene's music.

After a few minutes of listening to Gene play, his keyboard music stopped and everything was silent. Zeke took a step away from Gene's doorway when he heard footsteps coming towards him. Gene opened his bedroom door with a huge smile, and shouted excitedly before knocking Zeke to the ground with an affectionate hug.

"Zeke!"

"What's up, Gene?" Zeke laughed.

He'd never had somebody this happy to see him before and it was unnerving. Zeke was expecting Gene to be angry with him for listening to him play without asking. He decided that Gene was like this with everybody and that it was just his excitable and extroverted personality that Zeke wasn't used to.

"I'm trying to write a song for my history project. What are you doing here?"

Zeke shrugged. "Your ol' man told me to ask if I could play with you and Louise, 'cause Tina is busy and he's cleanin' up in the kitchen. I understand if you're busy. I know you got a life, and everything."

"No! It's okay! I wasn't feeling very musically inspired. Louise is busy with Mom, but you can try and help me with writing a song for my history project. I already know the chords," Gene played a few chords on his keyboard and they sounded amazing. It was hard for Zeke to believe that Gene was only eleven years old. "But I'm totally stuck on writing lyrics! It has to be something about the Roman Empire because that's what my class is studying right now. Do you have any ideas?"

"I don't know, Gene," Zeke said. He walked into Gene's bedroom and sat down on his bed. Gene's bedroom was a lot more disorganized than Tina's was. Just walking into his bedroom Zeke had counted at least five different musical instruments on the floor and there was dirty laundry everywhere. He didn't mind, though. "I'm not into playin' music like you are. I didn't even know we were allowed to write songs for our school projects!"

"Ms. Twitchell never said that I WASN'T allowed to write a song for my history project," Gene argued. "If you don't have any ideas, I'll just annoy Louise and Tina until they give me an idea for my song. They love it when I do that."

Zeke smiled. "You're real lucky that you got siblings around your own age, you know that? I got an older brother, but he's fourty-four years old and I've only met him twice. I always wanted siblings that I could play around with, and talk to 'bout personal stuff that I couldn't talk about with anybody else. I guess it's too late for that... unless I got a long lost twin that I don't know about."

"Tina and Louise are AWESOME! I love having sisters," Gene agreed. "Your brother is fourty-four years old? How old were your parents when you were born? Were they already all wrinkled up and old-looking?"

"Nah, not both of 'em. Just my dad. He had my older brother during his first marriage and he started goin' out with my mom when she was in high school, and he got 'er pregnant. He was already in his late forties, I think. My mom was never good at makin' smart decisions," Zeke explained. His mother and father were never married and they broke up when he was very young. He had lived with his mother for a few years when she lived at dirty motels and worked odd jobs, but eventually she realized that Zeke was more trouble than he was worth, and when he was seven she shipped him off to live with his father. That was the end of their relationship. At least Cheryl was cool with him.

"Gross," Gene said.

Zeke laughed. He loved Gene's honesty and lack of filter and he didn't think that it was rude or offensive. He thought that Gene was always fun to talk to and spend time with, even if he was the only boy Zeke knew who didn't want to wrestle with him.

Gene continued playing around with his keyboard and trying to write a song for his history project while Zeke sat beside him and added occasional useless commentary. He didn't know anything about lyrics or songwriting and he had actually found a way to fail the mandatory music class at their school multiple times. He could never figure out chords to any instrument or how to sing at the correct pitch, and according to their music teacher his singing sounded like a dying whale washed up on the beach. He didn't care about being told that because he had never been interested in pursuing music professionally, but sitting next to Gene and listening to him play was making him feel insecure about his own lack of ability.

"What do you think?" Gene finally asked him.

"That was amazing! You've got a real talent for this music stuff," Zeke said. "I don't know if I've got anything to add but I like hearing you play. I'll have to ask yer teacher if I can sit in on your presentation for your Roman Empire history project."

"Thank you!" Gene said. "I'm finished working on my history project for today so we can do something else. Tina is probably finished writing about you."

"Tina is writing about me? What's she saying?" Zeke asked. He was genuinely confused. He knew that Tina liked writing and she wrote interesting and creative stories all the time, but he'd never considered that she would write about him. He wasn't exactly romance novel material, and he knew that was most of what Tina liked to write about.

Gene shrugged. "I don't know. She writes in her private journal about her life all the time, and you're staying with us this weekend, so I guess you're a big part of her life. Louise will steal her journal later so that we can all read what she's writing! There's a lot of juicy gossip going on at school. Did you know that Tammy is secretly jealous of Jocelyn because she's known you and Jimmy Junior for so much longer, and that's why she dyes her hair blonde to look like Jocelyn? She's still insecure about being the new student at our school. That's what Tina thinks, anyway."

"Huh," Zeke said quietly.

He had never considered that other people would think or talk about him when he wasn't around, and Tina including him in her creative writing and talking about him in her journal were concepts that he was unfamiliar with. He wasn't angry about it. He had just never felt like he was important enough to somebody's life for them to talk about him when he wasn't around, especially somebody like Tina who didn't always seem happy to see him.

"Why are you staying with us? Did Tina invite you to a sleepover?" Gene asked.

"Don't you worry your pretty li'l head about it, Gene."

"You think I'm pretty?"

Zeke laughed and messed with Gene's hair like he was his younger brother. "Sure, I think you're pretty. All you need is a gorgeous lookin' prom dress, and we can call it a day!"

"And high heels!" Gene added with a big smile.

Zeke loved talking to Gene. If he had a younger brother he would have wanted him to be just like Gene. He was funny, but he was never mean to anybody. He was talented but he didn't hold it above other people or try acting like he was better than them, and he still loved having fun and playing around with his friends. Zeke hated when people started acting like they were better than him because they were good at something that he couldn't do. Zeke was a lot closer with Tina than with her younger siblings, but they were all fun to spend time with. Even Louise. He liked seeing a family that was so happy and loved each other so much and that always supported each other, because he never got that with his own family.

Zeke heard a quiet knock on Gene's bedroom door and Tina walked in. She looked a lot less anxious than she did before, and that was a good thing.

"My dad told me that you would be in here, Zeke," Tina said. "Why were you hanging out with Gene? If you wanted to do something you could have walked into my bedroom and asked. I don't want you to get bored. You're our guest."

"Nah, I didn't want to bother you. Your dad said that you were busy. Besides, I like hangin' out with Gene. He's teaching me all about music and history!"

"Yeah!" Gene agreed.

"Okaaay," Tina said awkwardly. "Uh, Zeke—I was wondering if you wanted to go on a walk and get frozen yogurt with me? I know being around my family can be kind of overwhelming sometimes, and... I wanted to talk to you about everything that happened. We haven't really had a chance to do that."

"Hell yeah! I haven't eaten frozen yogurt in a long time. Let's head out, T-Bird," Zeke said. He would never decline an invitation to get frozen yogurt, especially if it was coming from Tina Belcher.

"Can I come with you?" Gene asked. He was a lot more enthusiastic about getting frozen yogurt with his older sister than Zeke thought he would've been.

"I'm sorry, Gene. This frozen yogurt trip is for older kids," Tina said sympathetically.

Zeke realized that she was an amazing older sister. Nothing like the older siblings he watched on television who teased their younger siblings or got embarrassed whenever they wanted to be included in anything. Jimmy Junior wasn't embarrassed by Andy and Ollie because everybody knew that they were weird, but he certainly didn't enjoy spending time with them like Tina did with her siblings. He'd yell at them to leave his bedroom and stop talking to him whenever Zeke came over to their house. Zeke liked Jimmy Junior's younger brothers, if he was being honest. They were funny and weird but they also never worried about what other people thought about them, and they were completely unashamed of being themselves. That was how Zeke liked people to be.

It was possible that they were just as fun and interesting as Gene was, but Zeke would never know because he never got to spend time with them.

"Oh," Gene said. He looked disappointed but he quickly bounced back to his usual fun and optimistic personality. "Have fun without me! Bring me back Strawberry Swirl flavored frozen yogurt, and DO NOT be shy with the toppings! You're legally allowed to take as many as you want, and they aren't going to call the police even if they lie to you and say that they will."

Zeke grinned. "Don't worry about it, Gene. I'll make sure that we don't forget to bring you back some of that delicious frozen yogurt."

"You better not forget, or I will be very angry!"

Chapter Text

Tina had invited Zeke along to get frozen yogurt with her. They were talking and laughing loudly as they waited in line at Fro-Yo-Momma to order.

Zeke was easy to talk to because he never made Tina feel like she said something wrong and made everybody uncomfortable, or like she was an idiot for not understanding something that he said. She didn't have to pretend when she was spending time with him.

She was trying not to ask him too many questions about his home life or family because he probably got enough of those from everybody else, and she wanted to keep the mood happy and fun. He would talk about it with her when he was ready. She was just going to enjoy spending time with him and eating frozen yogurt without worrying about what people would think of them.

Fro-Yo-Momma wasn't very busy today and Tina was grateful for that, because she didn't enjoy large crowds of people or being in noisy restaurants. She didn't want to stress Zeke out, either. There was only one other customer in Fro-Yo-Momma today. He was standing in line in front of them and he was taking FOREVER to order. Tina wasn't angry about this because Zeke was really easy and fun to talk to, and they could spend all day waiting in line together without getting bored or frustrated.

"What flavor are you going to order?" Tina asked. "Gene asked me to order Strawberry Swirl for him, and I'm going to order Blueberry Burst. I don't like adding toppings to my frozen yogurt."

"I get that. All of those flavors inside yer mouth, there's a lot going on. If I wanted to add toppings to my frozen yogurt I'd order it with 'em, right?" Zeke laughed. "I'll probably go for Mango Fango. I like the flavors with them crazy soundin' names. They make me laugh. J-Ju and I always play this game when we go for frozen yogurt where we both try to find the craziest flavor name, and whichever one of us finds it doesn't have to pay."

"What's the craziest flavor name you've ever found?" Tina asked. She wasn't even asking because his story involved Jimmy Junior, she was just genuinely curious and she liked listening to Zeke talk.

"I'd have to say Krazy Kiwi Blast. Krazy with a K. When you've gotta start misspelling words for yer flavor names to make sense—I think it's about time for you to give up on the frozen yogurt namin' business. There's only so many new frozen yogurt flavor names you can come up with, you know?"

Tina nodded.

After they had ordered their frozen yogurt and paid for everything—Tina paid, because they both knew that any money Zeke had saved up needed to be invested into his future—they agreed to sit outside Fro-Yo-Momma in the patio area. It was a beautiful sunny day and Tina thought it would be a good idea for them to get fresh air. She hated sounding like her father or another grumpy old person when she said things like that, but it was true. They both needed it after the stressful weekend they were having.

"Do you think we should have ordered another frozen yogurt to bring back for yer sister? I don't want her feelin' left out," Zeke asked as he looked down at Gene's Strawberry Swirl that was sitting between them.

"No, Louise doesn't like frozen yogurt. She told me that if she wanted a frozen dairy product for dessert, she would ask for ice cream instead. I'm sure that my parents will bribe her with extra dessert if she's really jealous."

Zeke looked up and smiled at her.

"What are you looking at?" Tina asked him. She was genuinely confused.

"Nothing. It's just..." Zeke paused for a few seconds before he continued. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about what was goin' on sooner than I did. You deserved to know. I was just—I don't know, scared that talkin' about it would make it real? It was easier to pretend that I went back home to normal families like y'all do, instead of..."

He didn't finish his sentence, and Tina didn't need him to. "It's okay, Zeke. You don't owe anybody an explanation. I'm not angry that you didn't tell me sooner, I'm just happy that you're safe and not in a dangerous situation. It wasn't like we were close friends. Did Jimmy Junior know anything?"

"Less than he should've known," Zeke shrugged. "I kept things like that to myself, you know? J-Ju has got his own family issues goin' on and I didn't want to stress him out about my problems. He'd ask why we always needed to hang out at his house, and I didn't want to tell him that my dad hadn't cleaned up anything in three months and it was lookin' like a crack house. I know that kids' aren't responsible for their parents' bad decisions, but I still feel guilty 'cause of all the terrible shit my parents were doing. It feels like people will judge me 'cause of it, I guess. I don't want to be the kid with the screwed up family that's always movin' around the country, or the kid with the alcoholic dad and the bipolar, heroin addicted mom who ain't even want him. It's easier to just be Zeke. When I'm at school, anyway. I don't want people looking at me different, like I'm some kind of trailer park trash."

Tina had no idea what to say. Zeke's life was so different from anything that she'd ever known. It felt ridiculous for her to pretend to personally relate to what he was saying or to offer him sympathy that he didn't need.

"If it makes you feel better—I don't see you any differently than before, Zeke. You're still my crazy, loud classmate who loves wrestling and being friends with Jimmy Junior. Nothing could ever change that. I mean, I know things about you that I didn't before, and I'm angry at your dad for hurting you and for being scary... and I'm sad that you didn't tell anybody sooner, but that stuff doesn't have anything to do with you. It's not your fault," Tina said. She was avoiding making eye contact with Zeke, and that was something that she always did when she felt anxious or uncomfortable. Zeke didn't seem to mind.

Zeke sighed and looked down at his untouched Mango Fango. "What the hell am I gonn' do, Tina? What will I tell everybody at school? What will I tell Jimmy Junior? I don't want to leave, but..."

Tina didn't have the answers that Zeke needed.

"Has Jimmy Junior texted you back? Last night you said that you texted him about running away, but he was asleep and he would text you back in the morning. It's the afternoon," Tina asked instead. Jimmy Junior was Zeke's best friend, and if anybody deserved to know that Zeke was safe, it was him. There wasn't anything that Jimmy Junior could do, but he needed to know what happened and where Zeke was staying.

"I don't—I haven't looked. I'm scared to talk to him," Zeke shrugged. "I don't know what I'm gonn' say."

"Zeke," Tina started with a gentle warning in her voice. "You have to talk to him. He's your best friend, and he deserves to know what's going on in your life."

Tina felt like she did when she was scolding Louise after she did something she wasn't supposed to do and accidentally hurt somebody, but was also trying to be gentle and understanding because she knew that her sister was still young and didn't know everything yet. She didn't want to scare Zeke or make him feel like he'd done something wrong, but she also knew that Jimmy Junior deserved to know what was going on with him, even if it was scary for Zeke to think about texting him back. There wasn't any way for him to avoid telling his friends at school about this. Not after he'd run away to Tina's house and agreed to stay with her family.

Zeke didn't respond and Tina continued talking. "Would it help if I read Jimmy Junior's texts before you, and I can tell you what he said? Did you bring your phone with you?"

He gave Tina his unlocked cellphone without another word, and she was okay with that. She understood more than anybody that it was hard to find the correct words when she was in a very stressful situation, and she wasn't angry at Zeke for feeling that way. She was worrying about him because he was her friend, and she cared about him.

Tina started to read Jimmy Junior's texts while she ate another spoonful of her frozen yogurt. He texted back several hours ago.

wtf zeke 

are you okay?? why are you running away 

is everything ok 

why didnt you come by my dads apartment i could've snuck you in? where are you staying 

zeke you cant just not answer me this is serious

Tina suddenly felt very guilty for not asking Zeke about this sooner. Jimmy Junior had probably been worrying about Zeke all day while they laughed and ate frozen yogurt together without a care in the world. She needed to tell Jimmy Junior that Zeke was safe and that he was going to be staying with Tina's family this weekend. He wasn't walking around homeless and scared. Jimmy Junior could even come over to her house and visit them if Zeke agreed to that.

"Jimmy Junior is really worried about you, Zeke," Tina told him. "You need to text him back, or call him and have an actual conversation. I know it's scary, but... he's your friend."

Zeke sighed. "I know, I know. Of course I want to talk to him—I'm just scared that if I tell him about everythin' that's been going on he'll start acting different around me. I don't want him to pity me or treat me like I'm somebody who needs to be protected. I'm strong enough to handle myself. J-Ju is my best friend, and I don't want that to change, you know? I love him."

"Jimmy Junior will still be your friend, even if he knows more about your life than he did before. He cares about you, Zeke. This isn't going to change anything. Nothing that happened to you in the past changes the person that you are right now. I've known Jimmy Junior since we were both in kindergarten, and I think I know him well enough that I can tell you that he isn't going to change his opinion of you because of this. He's just scared of losing you, and he wants to know that you're okay. You can't avoid talking to him forever," Tina reached out her hand to hold Zeke's and he accepted it gratefully. It was easier when he knew that there was somebody there for him.

Tina could feel his hand shaking anxiously. She wasn't going anywhere.

Zeke looked up Jimmy Junior's contact and called him. When he answered he sounded very anxious, like he'd spent all day waiting around for a phone call from Zeke. Tina felt even worse for not talking to him sooner or asking Zeke about him. She had completely forgotten.

"Zeke? Are you okay? Where are you?" Jimmy Junior asked. Zeke had his phone on speaker mode because he needed Tina's support when he wasn't sure exactly what to say. Also, it would be reassuring if Jimmy Junior knew that Zeke wasn't alone.

"I'm alright, Jimmy! I promise. I'm with Tina right now. We're hangin' out at Fro-Yo-Momma and eating frozen yogurt," Zeke said.

"Did you—"

Tina started talking before Jimmy Junior could finish speaking. "Zeke ran away from home, and he's staying with my family this weekend. He's safe, but he doesn't know where he's going to go next or who he's going to stay with. That's, uh, everything we know for right now."

"Why are you running away, Zeke? Did something happen?" Jimmy Junior asked.

"Yeah, about that..." Zeke paused and Tina squeezed his hand in support. He smiled at her. "I'm running away 'cause—you know how I'm always complaining about my dad whenever we're hanging out? Well, he's a lot worse than I let anybody know about. He, uh, starts beatin' my ass whenever I get into trouble, or when he's drunk. I was actin' like an idiot at school, and Mr. Frond called him and he said—I don't know, I had to leave 'cause I didn't want to stick around and find out. My dad was pissed off 'cause he got into trouble at work and Cheryl was already on his ass 'cause of all that, and I was thinking if he saw me again after Mr. Frond got me in trouble he'd try and kill me jus' to get it over with. I already had an emergency bag packed just like we talked about. I was going to run away and never look back, but Tina found me when... when I was sittin' on the beach. Total coincidence. I guess I'm stayin' with her folks' until the weekend is over and I have a better escape plan."

"Oh my God, Zeke. Why didn't you tell me? I could've—I don't know. I could have helped you! Why didn't you try to wake me up so that you could stay over at my place? You know that I have an extra sleeping bag for you in my bedroom," Jimmy Junior raised his voice as he spoke. Tina knew that it was because he was worried about Zeke, but that wasn't going to help anything. He sounded angry. "Is that why you always have fresh bruises during wrestling practice? Is that how you broke your wrist when we were in seventh grade? You wouldn't tell anybody how you broke it. All those black eyes and bloody noses... how long has that asshole been treating you like this? Is that why you never let me go over to your house for sleepovers? What are you—what are we going to do?"

"Jimmy! I'm not—" Zeke started loudly before he was interrupted. He was trying to be heard over Jimmy Junior's anxious yelling.

"How did I not realize sooner? I'm such an idiot," Jimmy Junior sniffled and Tina's heart sank when she realized that he was crying. She could tell that Zeke was feeling the same way. "What if something bad happened to you, Zeke? I don't know what I would have done."

"I'm sorry, Jimmy. I didn't mean to upset you," Zeke said. "Nothin' bad happened to me, and nothing bad is GOING TO happen to me, 'cause I'm never goin' back to that goddamn house. Don't worry about me. I'm alright."

"Zeke is right. He isn't in a dangerous situation anymore. Yes, it's still scary, but... you don't need to worry about him. He's with my family, and I won't let anything bad happen to him," Tina added.

"When can I see you again, Zeke?" Jimmy Junior asked. "We haven't hung out all week. You can come over and help me feed my turtle. It'll be like nothing is going on."

"Hell yeah! I'll come over to yer house tomorrow and help you feed Terry. That sounds fun," Zeke agreed.

He was smiling and Tina was happy that his life was returning to some amount of normalcy. Zeke was always happiest when he was spending time with Jimmy Junior, and although Tina had been jealous in the past because of that, she was grateful for it now. She couldn't help Zeke all on her own. She didn't even know if he trusted her enough to talk about the worst things that he'd been through.

Jimmy Junior and Zeke continued talking and laughing over the phone, and Tina was more than happy to sit there and listen while she ate her frozen yogurt until she realized that Gene's Strawberry Swirl was starting to melt and they probably needed to go back to her house.

She didn't want her parents to worry about them, either.

"Zeke, I think we need to start walking back to my house. Gene's frozen yogurt is starting to melt," Tina said nervously. "If we bring him back melted frozen yogurt, he'll eat it, but he will not be happy. Trust me."

"Alright, I've got it. Just give me a second to say goodbye to Jimmy," Zeke said.

Tina nodded.

"Bye, J-Ju. See ya tomorrow! Tell Terry I said hi," Zeke shouted with an excited wave even though Jimmy Junior couldn't actually see what he was doing.

"Bye, Zeke. I love you," Jimmy Junior said so quietly that it was almost a whisper. He was probably scared that his father or brothers would overhear what he was saying if he was any louder.

"Love you, too!"

Zeke ended the call and his excitable and loud performance disappeared immediately. He didn't look like he was sad. Just relaxed. He was probably trying to be loud and energetic when talking to Jimmy Junior so that he didn't worry too much about him, or how he was doing. Tina was happy that he didn't feel like he needed to perform when he was talking to her.

They started walking home together, and Tina held Gene's Strawberry Swirl flavored frozen yogurt in one hand and Zeke's hand in the other. He stayed quiet while she rambled to him about different horse breeds to stop the awkward silence from continuing. She understood that Zeke was just tired and he'd been through a lot of stress in the past few days, but she didn't like walking home with him in complete silence. She felt like she was doing something wrong.

Zeke's hand was sweaty with either anxiety or adrenaline, and Tina swung their hands back and forth as they walked.

Tina didn't mind holding Zeke's hand. She knew that he was a physically affectionate person but he had trouble asking for support when he really needed it. Holding hands with him was comfortable and easy.

When she was holding hands with Jimmy Junior or another boy that she had dated, she was so anxious about doing something wrong or embarrassing herself that she ended up feeling miserable the entire time. She never felt that way when she was with Zeke. Tina didn't need to impress him, and she felt like she could truly be herself around him like she did around her family. He was a good friend, and Tina was disappointed that she hadn't realized that sooner.

Tina didn't think that Jimmy Junior or anybody else had ever intentionally made her feel like she was doing something wrong or that she needed to feel anxious. She did that to herself. When she wanted to impress a boy that she liked she felt like she needed to pay careful attention to everything she said or did, because she wanted him to see the best possible version of Tina Belcher. She wasn't worried about impressing Zeke, so it was easier to just behave how she normally would without feeling anxious that she was too awkward or cringey, or that she was sweating too much.

If Zeke was so annoyed by Tina's sweaty hands and awkward rambling about horses, he could always let her go and walk home by himself.

He didn't. He never did.

Chapter Text

"What are we going to do, Bobby?" Linda asked.

They were cleaning up after dinner together in the kitchen before they told everybody to get ready for bed. Linda was washing the dishes and Bob was wiping down the countertops, which was not something that happened as often as it should have in their house. They felt more pressure to keep the house looking clean and organized because they had a guest staying with them.

Tina and Zeke were hanging out in Tina's bedroom, and Gene and Louise were very focused on playing a game they came up with together in the living room. As long as it wasn't incredibly dangerous, noisy or creating a huge mess that Bob and Linda would have to clean up later, Bob was okay with that.

"What do you mean? About cleaning up the kitchen?" Bob asked. He was clearly confused.

"No, no! I'm talking about Zeke. I don't know... should we talk to somebody from his family? Or call the police? Report his father to CPS? I don't mind him stayin' with us, but this obviously isn't going to be a long term solution. We can't afford that. He won't want to sleep in Tina's bedroom forever! We can't let him run away on his own, either. He needs an actual home. Somewhere they'll treat him better than his father did."

Bob frowned. "I don't know, Linda. He said that he doesn't have any family nearby who can look after him, and I think him moving further south is a worst case scenario. He shouldn't have to say goodbye to all his friends and classmates. I mean... do you think he'd want to go into foster care? He's too old for anybody to adopt him, and that means that he'd go into a crowded and violent group home. That, uh, isn't exactly better than living on the streets or with family. You know how kids' living at those places turn out, don't you? Zeke is a good kid. He deserves an actual chance at a successful life."

"They're all good kids, Bob," Linda sighed.

"Right. I just—I don't know. Didn't Tina tell us that Zeke was close with his grandmother? We could try calling her and asking if she has any suggestions for what we should do. She would probably know better than us, uh, because she's actually a member of his family. I guess we'll ask Zeke about that before he goes to bed or tomorrow morning."

"We should probably explain everything that's been going on to Gene and Louise, too. Not everythin' that happened in full detail, but letting 'em know that Zeke will be staying with us for a few days. I also need to talk to Tina about how she's been handling everything. Poor girl—I can't imagine how she's feelin' right now," Linda rambled as she continued washing dishes. Her hands were getting all wrinkled and shriveled up because of how long she'd been doing dishes.

Bob stopped what he was doing and looked in the direction of Tina's bedroom for a few seconds. He could hear Zeke and Tina laughing about something.

"I wish there was something else that we could do to help Zeke. Better than what we're doing now. I hate that I can't magically fix everything for him and give him a happy life and a loving family. I can't make all his trauma and pain go away but that's all that I want to do. I mean, uh, do you think we're doing enough for him? Is there anything else we could do?" Bob sighed.

"Who knows? If it wasn't for Tina, Zeke could have ended up dead in a ditch somewhere instead of laughin' with Tina in her bedroom. We might have saved this kids' life," Linda said as she walked over to where Bob was standing. "I freakin' hate how Zeke's father treated him, and I hate that he doesn't have anywhere safe that he can go, but we need to remember that we're doing everything we can right now. We're makin' sure that Zeke is safe and that he's being fed and taken care of. Nothing bad is going to happen to Zeke as long as he's stayin' with us. We're doing SOMETHING, at least."

"It still doesn't feel like enough."

Linda kissed Bob on the cheek before resting her head against his shoulder. She looked as exhausted as Bob felt. "I know, Bob. I know."

Chapter Text

Tina woke up feeling very confused.

She'd only gone to sleep a few hours earlier. She had helped Zeke with setting up his sleeping bag and getting everything that he needed together, and after that they said goodnight to everybody in her family. Zeke slept in his sleeping bag on the floor of Tina's bedroom. He was wearing Gene's clothing as pajamas because Linda had his clothes in the laundry and they wouldn't be clean until tomorrow. Gene was almost too enthusiastic about letting Zeke borrow his clothes when they asked if he'd be comfortable with that, since he had the closest clothing size to Zeke in the family.

It was easier if Zeke didn't share a bed with Tina because it was very cramped when they slept together. Her bed was not big enough for two people to share without bumping into each other or waking each other up when they got up to go to the bathroom, even if she didn't mind sharing a bed with him otherwise.

Tina needed a minute to understand why she'd woken up. She was still exhausted and her brain was groggy so she wasn't thinking very clearly. She'd assumed that Zeke had woken her up when he was getting up to go to the bathroom or because he was snoring too loudly, but she quickly realized what was happening when she heard quiet sobbing coming from beside her bed.

She was anxious and got out of bed so that she could check to see if Zeke was okay.

Tina had never heard him crying before and she was seriously concerned for him. He was usually a positive and fun person who didn't let other people see his negative emotions. Even when he did get angry at somebody or start crying Zeke had this amazing ability to make everybody believe that it wasn't serious or important, and that nobody needed to worry. Zeke crying didn't mean something BAD was happening. He was just being dramatic and trying to make people laugh.

This didn't feel like those situations at all. Zeke sounded seriously upset about something and there wasn't anybody around to start laughing. Tina found her glasses and walked over to where he was sitting against her bedframe with his face hidden in his knees.

"Zeke? Are you okay?" Tina asked.

Zeke looked up at her in surprise, like he hadn't expected her to wake up because she heard him crying. He wiped his tears with his hand and smiled like nothing was wrong but he was obviously very shaken up about something. He wasn't good at hiding that. Not from Tina.

"I'm alright, Tina. Don't worry about me," Zeke said with fake happiness in his voice. After a few seconds passed by where neither of them said anything and they both stared at each other in an uncomfortable silence, he spoke up again. "Sorry for wakin' you up."

Tina ignored his apology and sat beside him on the floor. "You were crying. What happened? Did you have a nightmare?"

Zeke didn't say anything.

"You don't need to tell me about your nightmare if you don't want to," Tina added.

She knew that when people talked about their nightmares they could start to feel more real. She never liked thinking about her nightmares after she woke up because she was scared that they would follow her into her waking life or that they would somehow become real. It was easier to forget that they ever happened.

"I was—I was dreamin' that I lived with my dad again, and he was real angry about something. I don't remember why. It was different than normal 'cause you and yer siblings were living with me. My dad was pissed off at me but he was takin' it out on, uh—he was forcin' me to watch him, and Gene was..." Zeke swallowed hard. "The worst part was wakin' up and not knowing if it was real or not. Not knowin' if you were safe or if you needed me to protect you from him. I was confused about where I was. I saw my dad hiding in the shadows of yer bedroom, and he was watchin' me like he was waiting 'til I fell back asleep or I wasn't paying attention, and that's when he would jump out and attack me. I've never been so scared in my goddamn life."

Tina had no idea what to say. She continued listening as she sat next to Zeke, and she had a comforting hand on his knee so that he knew he wasn't alone.

"The scariest part wasn't thinkin' that I was living with my dad again, or even worrying that he was going to kill me. It was thinking about my dad hurtin' you, Gene and Louise. I don't know. What if he figures out where I'm stayin' and he comes over here and he tries to hurt you and yer family? What if he—what if he kills you? I already feel bad that I've been living here and eatin' your food, sleeping in your bedroom and stealing your brothers' clothes. I could never live with myself if something happened to you 'cause of me."

Zeke looked at Tina and it was obvious to anybody who saw him that he was totally exhausted. He hadn't been sleeping very well.

He sighed and lay down so that he was lying across her bedroom floor and his head was positioned in Tina's lap. She wasn't upset about this. Zeke's hair was curly and it smelled like the strawberry-scented shampoo that Louise liked to use from when he'd taken a shower earlier. Tina began running her hands gently through his hair as she spoke.

She hoped that this would help him relax and stop feeling afraid, the same way that it did when Gene and Louise were younger and came to her after having a nightmare.

"No, Zeke. Nothing bad is going to happen to you. My parents would never let anybody hurt you, and neither would I," Tina promised. "If your dad ever does something horrible and somebody gets hurt that STILL wouldn't be your fault. He's an adult and he's the person who chose to hurt somebody. Those are his actions. Not yours. You're a good person, Zeke. Nothing that your dad does will ever be your fault or your responsibility."

"It is my fault. None of this would've happened if I'd shut my dumbass up and kept living with my dad. I'm strong enough to deal with his bullshit. I never wanted to get anybody else involved in any of this. Especially not you, Tina," Zeke mumbled. She couldn't see his facial expression but she knew that he was ashamed of himself for not being stronger.

"No, no. You did a good thing, Zeke. I'm glad you got me involved with this," Tina said. "You're my friend, and friends are supposed to support each other when times are tough. That's what friendship is all about. I care about you and I would be upset if something bad happened to you because I wasn't there to help, or because you never told me anything was wrong. You feel the same way about me, don't you?"

Zeke nodded but didn't say anything. Tina understood that he was probably feeling incredibly emotional and it would be challenging for him to come up with a proper response to everything that she said. She didn't take it personally.

"I'll be here for you no matter how scary it gets," Tina whispered.

They sat together on Tina's bedroom floor for a long time without speaking a word. Tina was exhausted and she would love nothing more than to climb back into her bed and sleep until morning came, but she wanted to be there for Zeke in any way that she could. He was all that she cared about right now. She wasted time by studying the horse posters on her wall. They were getting to be almost as old as she was. Tina had redecorated her bedroom when she was three years old and not much had been changed since then.

Eventually she heard Zeke crying into her pajamas. Tina didn't say anything, but she continued running her fingers through Zeke's hair and trying to comfort him if that was possible. She knew that he was going through a lot of complicated emotions.

Zeke flipped himself over in Tina's lap so that he was directly facing her before he spoke. "I'm sorry for cryin' all over you, Tina. I'm jus' being stupid. You shouldn't have to deal with this."

"No, Zeke. You've been through a lot. You're allowed to cry about it," Tina said.

"I just don't think I'm ready to cry, 'cause when I start crying I won't be able to stop," Zeke sniffled. "I'm angry all the time, I'm pissed off and I'm scared... I don't know. I haven't really let myself think about anythin' that's happened lately. There's too much. If I don't think about what happened, it's like nothin' has changed and there isn't anything going on. I'm just stayin' at yer house for a sleepover this weekend."

"I know. I just don't... Zeke, you can't keep avoiding thinking about what happened to you. You need to talk about it with somebody and think about how scared you are, so that you can start to move on," Tina said. She was remembering how she was feeling after the worst days of her life when she was almost drowned under Wonder Wharf and held at gunpoint, or when her family was buried alive and they almost suffocated. She never wanted to talk about it, but after she admitted to her siblings how terrified she was of losing them and how much she loved them, and how she still hated being in small spaces without an easy way to escape, it got easier. They could talk about it with each other without feeling ashamed and they could openly process their emotions. Gene still hated taking the elevator.

Tina remembered something that her father had told her and her siblings when they were younger. "Crying is good for you, Zeke. Don't be ashamed. My dad told me that crying releases oxytocin and endogenous opioids, which are endorphins. They're chemicals that help to process both physical and emotional pain... I think."

"Don't start using yer crazy science language when talkin' to me, girl," Zeke laughed. "You know I failed science twice when we were in seventh grade."

"It means that crying is good for you because it releases happy chemicals inside of your brain. They will help you feel less scared and angry," Tina explained simply. "I don't really understand science terms, either. That's just what my dad told me."

Zeke took a few seconds to respond. "I feel crazy 'cause I know that he was a shitty dad and he didn't treat me right. But he's also my dad, you know? He loved me. I have happy memories with him where he isn't all angry or violent, like when he was watchin' my first wrestling match and cheered for me louder than anybody else. Why couldn't he be like that all the time? Why'd he ever want to hurt me? I don't get it. It feels like... when I talk about all the bad things my dad did, it feels like I'm lyin' about him 'cause he isn't around to defend himself. He really did all that stuff I was talkin' about, but I feel like I'm being—I don't know, unfair? He was a lot of other things, too. He was strong and tougher than anybody else I knew. He ain't let anybody see him cry. He was good at fixin' cars and he told me he'd fix up a truck for me when I reach my sixteenth birthday. Somethin' special just for me."

Tina started to feel Zeke shaking in her lap and she realized that he was crying. She could see the tears silently falling down his face. "I miss him so much, T."

Tina understood that there was nothing she could say to help him feel better. This was so far outside anything that she could personally relate to that anything she said would be childish and ignorant to his struggles.

Besides, Zeke crying and openly expressing his emotions was what she'd encouraged. She was glad that he felt comfortable talking about these things with her without feeling ashamed or embarrassed. He usually hid serious emotions from people he cared about because he was trying to spare their feelings and he didn't want people to worry about him, but in her experience that just made everybody worry more because they knew something was wrong but they weren't sure of exactly how to help. She had experienced that many times with Louise, even if it wasn't for all the same reasons.

Tina looked up at the horse posters hanging on her wall and continued running her fingers through Zeke's curly hair as she awkwardly hugged him with her free arm. Neither of them needed to say anything for them to know that this was a private moment shared just between the two of them.

Nobody else needed to hear about this.

Zeke's sobbing changed to occasional sniffling and finally there was silence in her bedroom. When Tina glanced down at him she realized that he had fallen asleep.

Although she would have loved spending all night sitting on her bedroom floor and watching her friend sleep, she knew that if she didn't fall asleep in a proper bed she would regret it in the morning. She was already feeling exhausted because of everything that happened yesterday and she didn't want to make that any worse.

Tina also didn't want to abandon Zeke to sleep by himself on her bedroom floor in his sleeping bag so she gently began shaking his shoulder until he looked up at her sleepily and blinked. She smiled at his adorable expression. He looked very confused. "Tina?"

"You fell asleep on me. Do you want to come up to my bed so that we can fall asleep together? If I don't sleep in an actual bed tonight my back will kill me tomorrow," Tina explained to him.

He giggled. "What're you already gettin' that old?"

Tina rolled her eyes playfully and watched as Zeke climbed off her lap and sat on her bedroom floor. She stood up from where she'd been sitting, and that was harder than she expected because her legs had fallen asleep from being in the same position for so long. She climbed back into her bed and snuggled into her blanket before moving over to make room for Zeke.

This was a lot more comfortable than sleeping on her bedroom floor, even if it did have posters of horses on the walls.

Zeke laid down beside her and he was so close that he was almost whispering in her ear when he spoke. "I'm sorry that I'm sleepin' in your bed again, Tina. I know it's a lot more cramped when there's two of us."

Tina moved impossibly closer to Zeke. "It's okay. I like having a Zeke sized pillow in my bed. Does sleeping in a bed with me help with your nightmares? Did you have one last night?"

Zeke shrugged and that was impressive considering the small space that they were both occupying. "It helps. I think... being around other people is helpin' me. I don't feel like I'm alone and my brain doesn't start makin' up crap to mess with me."

"Your nightmares are scared of me," Tina joked.

"Maybe," Zeke whispered.

She pulled him in tighter for a hug and he easily accepted. Zeke's face was pushed against her chest and she could feel his gentle breathing as he fell asleep. She liked that.

Tina didn't have strong opinions on physical affection one way or another but she knew that Zeke loved cuddling. Gene and Linda could both be very physically affectionate so she was used to impromptu group hugs and snuggling closely together when they were sharing a bed. It was comforting for Tina, because it reminded her of being with her family and feeling safe. Knowing that they were there to protect her from her anxious worrying and overactive imagination.

Zeke would always be safe with her.

Chapter Text

It was Sunday morning and Tina was sitting and eating breakfast with Zeke and Gene. They were all laughing together.

They were eating blueberry pancakes with whipped cream and strawberries, and Zeke was bragging about his ability to throw strawberries into the air and catch them with his tongue. It was very impressive.

"Wow, Zeke! You're so talented," Gene said in amazement.

Tina smiled at her brother after he said this. He was acting like a total dork because he had a crush on Zeke, and it reminded her of when she first realized she had a crush on Jimmy Junior and she thought that everything he did was amazing. Everybody in her family was very happy that she'd outgrown that stage of her life.

Tina already knew about Gene having a crush on Zeke and she thought that it was adorable. After Zeke agreed to stay at their house and started spending more time around Gene and his family his crush on Zeke seemed to have grown bigger. Gene was excited to spend every waking second hanging out with Zeke, and he REALLY wanted to impress him. Tina had watched Gene sneak Linda's special perfume into his bedroom and spray it on himself earlier, but thankfully he had learned about not using too much since his incident with Bob's cologne. Tina's nose still had nightmares about that.

Tina didn't think that Zeke would actually return Gene's feelings because he would feel weird about dating an eleven year old, let alone Tina's younger brother, but she didn't think that he was hurting anybody by indulging in his puppy love. She wanted him to be happy.

Zeke laughed at Gene's compliment and playfully punched his shoulder. He responded to that by giving Tina an uncomfortable look and rubbing his shoulder before pretending that he didn't mind. Tina would have to remind Zeke that Gene was a very sensitive person and he didn't like aggressive physical contact like that, even though it was Zeke's way of showing him affection and he didn't mean anything by it. She didn't want Gene to start thinking that Zeke didn't like him or want to be friends, because he clearly did.

Linda walked into the kitchen. She was busy talking to somebody on the phone.

Zeke told Tina that Linda was talking to Zeke's grandmother about him, but she'd said that it was serious and that they shouldn't try to eavesdrop on her conversation. Linda would tell Zeke anything that was important. She was talking to HIS grandmother and there wasn't any reason that she would be withholding information from Zeke.

Linda turned away from the phone for a few seconds. "Zeke, sweetie, could you go to Louise's bedroom and tell her that breakfast is ready? I'm not sure why she isn't already out of bed."

Zeke nodded and stood up from the kitchen table. "Sure thing, Mrs. Belcher! I'll drag Louise out of bed if that's what it takes. You can count on me."

"I wouldn't recommend doing that," Tina warned him as he left the kitchen. "Louise is a kicker!"

Zeke walked through the hallway and politely knocked on Louise's bedroom door. He paused for a few seconds and waited for a response before opening the door and letting himself in. He assumed that she was either asleep or in a position that she would feel comfortable with a teenage boy she didn't know very well seeing her in, because otherwise she would have been yelling at him to leave her alone after he first knocked. Louise was not somebody who worried about being rude or offending other people with her words.

He didn't know exactly what he was expecting when he walked into Louise's bedroom, but it wasn't Louise sitting at her desk and angrily scribbling something down on a piece of paper. She had disorganized school supplies all around her bedroom.

"Damn, Louise. I always thought that Tina was the artist in your family," Zeke laughed.

He'd never thought that Louise was the type of person to worry about school or finishing homework, but he also didn't know her very well outside of his relationship with her siblings. All he knew about Louise was that she was a fighter and he wasn't going to do anything to get himself onto her bad side.

Louise turned around to look at Zeke, and she didn't seem very happy to see him. "Oh. Hi, Zeke. I'm working on homework for school. Tell Mom that I'll come out and eat breakfast in a few minutes."

"What is yer homework tellin' you to do? Math problems? I'm the worst at math," Zeke asked her. He was casually leaning against her bedroom doorframe as he spoke. "Every subject in school, if I'm bein' honest. Except wrestling."

Louise shrugged. "I got into trouble with Mr. Frond on Friday and he said that if I didn't write him a twenty page essay explaining how everything I did was wrong and why I deserve to be punished, he'd give me detention for a week during recess. That's when I'm supposed to be hanging out with Rudy! I forgot about even writing this stupid freakin' essay until I woke up this morning. I'm drawing Mr. Frond looking like a TOTAL monster and yelling at me, and there's smoke coming out of his ears 'cause he's so angry. I didn't even do anything wrong! I think that Mr. Frond hates me and wants to punish me for NO REASON!!"

"I hear that. I get into trouble at school all the time. You know that one time they busted my ass for sneakin' week old pizza out of the cafeteria? Like, who is even eatin' it at that point? If I didn't steal it, they were just going to throw it into the garbage and waste food. I was doing 'em a favor," Zeke threw his hands up into the air in frustration. He'd worked out a system with the cafeteria workers since then, but that incident still annoyed him. "I got three weeks of detention for that stunt, and a real good beatin' from my dad."

Louise stood up and walked towards Zeke. She was happy to have somebody to complain about this with who understood everything that she was talking about. "I know, right? They don't even have a good reason for all their stupid rules! I understand if they're talking about rules like—I don't know, don't bully your classmates and don't copy answers during quizzes 'cause it means that you'll fail and become stupid. But some of their rules make no sense! Why am I not allowed to hide a fake cockroach in Chloe Barbash's locker when she's not paying attention? Just 'cause she starts freaking out and she goes and tells a teacher about me, and they all BELIEVE her? With no evidence! I think that she should learn how to APPRECIATE insect biology and everything that lives on Earth, instead of calling it disgusting and creepy!"

"Is that prank what got you into trouble with Mr. Frond?" Zeke smiled. He thought Louise's pranks were always hilarious and creative, and that she didn't deserve to get in trouble at school if she was putting so much effort into them. That took real dedication.

"No. That happened last month," Louise said. Zeke flopped himself down onto the purple bean bag under her bed and she joined him in sitting on the floor. "An older kid was teasing Regular-Sized Rudy because he needs an asthma inhaler and he has a wheezy voice. I got into a fight with him after he stole Rudy's inhaler, and Mr. Frond didn't like that. I almost broke that kids' nose. He said that violence isn't the answer and that if I have a problem with another student I should go and tell a teacher. Like they would give a CRAP about anything that I say! I'm Louise Belcher. They would assume I was lying to get another kid in trouble, or something."

"What grade was he in?" Zeke asked.

He wanted to know if he personally knew the student who thought that teasing Regular-Sized Rudy about his disability was funny. He could teach him a lesson if they were together on Zeke's wrestling team. Most of the biggest assholes at their school were. Jimmy Junior was the only person that Zeke could stand to be around on their wrestling team, because everybody else was just looking for an excuse to be violent without getting punished by their teacher. He'd heard them saying things when they were changing in the locker room after wrestling practice that he wouldn't want to repeat to anybody.

"I don't know. He was in sixth or seventh grade, I think? He was bigger than us. I didn't recognize him from Gene or Tina's classes so he was probably a seventh grader. He was being a jerk for no reason. If I didn't teach him a lesson, Rudy would have suffocated AND DIED!" Louise shouted. She was obviously upset about what happened, and Zeke couldn't blame her.

He hated when he heard other students mocking Jimmy Junior or laughing at his speech impediment—saying that they couldn't understand anything that he was saying and he needed a translator. Zeke knew that they could understand him. They were being assholes because they knew that they could get away with it. Jimmy Junior got bullied a lot less in eighth grade than when he was younger, because most of the students in their grade were used to his speech impediment and didn't like making a big deal out of it. Whenever somebody was bullying Jimmy Junior because of his lisp, Zeke let them know exactly how he felt about them talking to his best friend that way.

People sometimes needed to be reminded that they shouldn't feel so confident saying or doing whatever they wanted just because they were older or more popular than their victim.

He could still remember when they were in seventh grade and an older student had mocked Jimmy Junior's speech impediment in front of the entire cafeteria. Jimmy Junior was so upset that he'd run out of the cafeteria and Zeke found him crying in the bathroom. He pretended that people teasing him wasn't upsetting at all and that he didn't care, but Zeke knew that it still got to him. How could it not? Anybody would be upset if somebody was bullying them for something that they couldn't change about themselves. If somebody didn't think that they would, that was because they had never felt like they were different from everybody else before or that nobody would ever understand them. They were lucky.

Zeke knew what it was like to feel like he didn't belong anywhere and that he was totally different from everybody around him. He still felt like that sometimes.

"You can point 'em out to me on Monday, and I'll teach them a lesson," Zeke told her seriously. He was happy to stand up for Regular-Sized Rudy when he was being bullied by other students. Rudy was still his little fish, after all. That was a bond that lasted for life.

Louise looked up at him. She was analyzing him and trying to see if he was telling the truth. "Yeah, sure. I'll see you at school on Monday. And probably every second before Monday, because apparently you're living with my family now."

"Can I see yer drawing of Mr. Frond?" Zeke asked.

Louise shrugged and handed him her drawing. There was a doodle of Mr. Frond in his signature glasses and sweater vest except his head was twice the size of his body. He was clearly angry because he had smoke coming out of his ears, and he was yelling at Louise for standing up for her friends and telling her that she shouldn't do that because it's against the RULES! Considering it was done by a nine year old in her bedroom, he thought that it was a pretty impressive satirical drawing. Zeke laughed at her doodles.

"Is it alright if I add somethin' to your drawing?"

"Sure, go ahead. I'm finished with it. I'll probably get another two weeks of detention for drawing this, but it's worth it if I get to see the look on Mr. Frond's stupid face when he realizes what I did. He was never expecting me to actually write a twenty page essay or turn anything in."

Zeke grabbed a pencil and added stereotypical angry eyebrows and a mustache to Mr. Frond before scribbling a stick figure Louise in the corner who was saying 'BULLYING IS BAD!' and had her hands on her hips. He thought that she deserved to know that she'd done a good thing by standing up for her friend, and that bullying WAS bad even if the teachers didn't always agree with that. He showed Louise what he'd drawn.

"Looks good. Also, I forgot that I wanted to give you this," Louise said. She grabbed something from her desk and gave Zeke a keychain with a blue octopus hanging off it. She had a plushie with that same octopus sitting on her bed so he assumed that this was a character from somewhere. He didn't keep up with Japanese culture the way that Louise did, so he wouldn't know. "Aunt Gayle got me this for my birthday but I don't have any keys to put it on. I was going to keep it in my backpack and use it for self defense, but you can keep it. Her name is Akkorokamui and she's friends with Kuchi Kopi. She's strong and protective, and she has tentacles to attack people with. When you ride that train and run away to New York City if somebody tries to give you trouble, you can stab 'em with this keychain! Use it to poke out their eyes, or something."

He looked down at the octopus keychain in his hand. "Thanks, Louise."

From the minute Zeke had agreed to staying with the Belcher family for the weekend, he'd never questioned his decision of running away and leaving everything behind when it was time for him to leave. He had people he would miss and he didn't want to say goodbye to his friends, but he didn't have anywhere else to go. That was his reality.

Louise giving him this Akkorokamui keychain to remember her by when he left everything behind was the first time that he'd really considered what running away would mean for him. He wouldn't get to start another crazy scheme with his cousin Leslie, or visit his grandmother in her nursing home. He wouldn't be able to wrestle with Jimmy Junior or laugh together over absolute nonsense jokes at lunch, and he'd never get to see Tina or her family again. Spending the weekend at her house helped him realize how much he loved her and her family, and how he never wanted to leave them behind. He couldn't do this.

Zeke wanted to stay in Seymour's Bay. He wanted to graduate with all his friends and classmates and go to high school with them, where they would attend too many parties and get drunk and make stupid decisions that they would regret later. He wanted to put together last minute science experiments with Jimmy Junior and laugh when everything went wrong and exploded. He wanted to see Ollie, Andy, Louise and Regular-Sized Rudy as they grew up and matured. He wasn't prepared to leave everything and everybody that he'd ever loved without fighting. Not this time.

He had wanted to say goodbye to Tina before he left Seymour's Bay but he was beginning to realize there was no way that was going to happen. He would sleep on the beach under Wonder Wharf and beg for food and money if that was what he needed to do, but he wasn't leaving. This was Zeke's home.

Zeke was distracted by his thought process and when he looked up he realized that Tina was standing outside of Louise's bedroom and awkwardly waiting for them. He'd totally forgotten that he was supposed to tell Louise that breakfast was ready and everybody was probably confused about why it was taking him so long. He was embarrassed about his inability to focus.

"Are you coming to breakfast?" Tina asked Louise. "Mom made blueberry pancakes with whipped cream."

"Yup. I'm coming," Louise stood up from where she was sitting on the floor and Zeke followed her. He snuck his Akkorokamui keychain into his pocket. "Zeke and I were drawing Mr. Frond looking like a scary monster because he wanted me to write a TWENTY PAGE essay on why standing up for your friend against bullies is BAD! Can you believe that?"

"Why would Mr. Frond tell you to write an essay about that?" Tina asked as they walked toward the kitchen together.

Tina and Louise continued their conversation but Zeke followed them without saying anything. He felt like he didn't exactly belong in this situation. That was alright with him. He was happy just listening to them talk to each other without anger or judgment, because that was something he'd never experienced in his own family.

He liked living with the Belcher family.

Chapter Text

Zeke was awkwardly following behind Jimmy Junior as they walked to his bedroom to feed his turtle.

He had arrived at Jimmy Junior's apartment a few minutes earlier, and from the second he opened the door for Zeke it was obvious that their relationship was different than before. He hadn't felt this way when they were laughing together and eating frozen yogurt with Tina, and Zeke would love nothing more than to go back to how everything was before, like Jimmy Junior promised him yesterday but he wasn't making that easy.

Every attempt that Zeke made to joke around or start a conversation with him, asking Jimmy Junior how his weekend had been and if he'd finished that homework for English class, he was given only one word responses and uncomfortable shrugs. Zeke was seriously starting to feel like he was intruding on Jimmy Junior's personal life, even though he was the person who had invited Zeke over in the first place.

He was beginning to regret not bringing Tina along with him for moral support because that way everything would feel less awkward. Tina was not a social butterfly by any stretch of the imagination, but Zeke thought that talking to her was easy and she hadn't started acting any differently after she found out about how his family treated him. He was already missing that.

Tina and Zeke had fun joking around together but they could also have serious conversations without feeling awkward or uncomfortable. He'd considered asking Tina if she wanted to come along to Jimmy Junior's apartment and hang out with them, but he didn't want to come off as too desperate or clingy because they'd been attached at the hip since he showed up outside her window on Friday. Tina needed her personal space. He knew that she was supposed to be helping out with running Bob's Burgers today and he didn't want to distract her from her job because he felt too awkward spending time with his best friend without her.

He hated that he was feeling like this.

Zeke had been over to Jimmy Junior's apartment hundreds of times, either for a sleepover or because they wanted to hang out together. It was his home away from home. He didn't need to follow Jimmy Junior around like a lost or traumatized puppy left out in the rain to know where his bedroom was in this small apartment, but that was what he was doing. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to be thinking or saying and it was easier to keep quiet and let Jimmy Junior decide when they would start talking. He might have been upset about something completely unrelated to Zeke, like he got into a fight with his father or he was having a terrible day where everything seemed to be going wrong.

"How are Andy and Ollie doing?" Zeke asked. He wasn't above trying to fill the awkward silence with small talk.

"They're fine," Jimmy Junior said as he opened his bedroom door and walked inside. "I'm keeping an eye on them while my dad is busy with the restaurant but they're playing in their bedroom right now. They won't bother us."

Zeke was somehow unconvinced that Ollie and Andy would spend his entire visit playing quietly in their bedroom without asking stupid questions or interrupting to ask Zeke to play with them, but he wasn't going to say anything. He didn't have younger siblings of his own, but he knew that they could be annoying and they hated feeling like they were being left out of something exciting or being ignored. They wanted to spend time with their older brother and his best friend. Zeke thought that was adorable.

"We can feed Terry in a few minutes. I need to get fresh vegetables from the kitchen," Jimmy Junior said. He stood uncomfortably in his bedroom and Zeke sat down on his bed.

Despite Jimmy Junior's bedroom at his father's apartment being a lot smaller than where he slept at his mother's house, it had almost everything that belonged to him. He told Zeke that when he stayed at his mother's house he felt more like he was staying at a hotel than somewhere he actually lived. Everything needed to be clean and perfect and sometimes he felt like his mother didn't want him to be there at all. His father didn't always support him in everything he did, but he didn't make a big fuss about Jimmy Junior hanging posters of his favorite musician on the wall because 'chipped paint would decrease the property value' like his mother did. His parents weren't struggling financially by any definition, but that didn't mean that they were good parents either.

Along with posters from various musicians and movies that he enjoyed, Jimmy Junior had hung up crayon drawings and finger paintings that Andy and Ollie had made for him over the years.

Many of them were barely legible scribbles from when Andy and Ollie were toddlers and Zeke could never tell what they were supposed to be, but Jimmy Junior seemed to appreciate them because he kept every single one regardless of how questionable the quality was. Their drawings that he didn't have room for on his wall were kept in a secret box under his bed, and he'd shown them to Zeke once or twice.

Zeke was so distracted by looking around Jimmy Junior's bedroom that he jumped when he heard him finally speak up. "What is it like staying with Tina's family?"

"Oh! It's alright. I've been sleepin' in Tina's bedroom and I keep pretendin' that we're having a sleepover this weekend. That's been a lotta fun. Mr. Belcher is a good cook too, and I'm loving everything he's made for dinner," Zeke said. He was obviously very grateful that the Belcher family had taken him in because he wasn't sure what he would have done otherwise, but he didn't need to give Jimmy Junior a lengthy explanation of everything that happened since he started living with them. He was enjoying staying at their house, and that was all that was really important.

"They aren't treating you badly?" Jimmy Junior asked. There was a protectiveness in his voice that Zeke couldn't remember ever hearing before, and he almost sounded angry.

Zeke was confused because he honestly thought that Jimmy Junior knew the Belcher family better than he did. They'd been neighbors for years and he grew up being friends with Tina, so he should have known that they were good people. They were the most supportive and loving family he'd ever known, even if they got into trouble and were a little weirder than other people. "What? No, 'course they aren't. You've met Tina's family before, right? You've been over to their house."

"Just making sure," Jimmy Junior mumbled.

"Are you feelin' alright?" Zeke asked. He didn't like how Jimmy Junior was acting so passive aggressive and refusing to have an actual conversation.

"No, I'm not alright, Zeke! You ran away from home, and you didn't even tell me. Your dad was HURTING YOU and you never said anything to me! I could have—I don't know. I could've helped you, somehow. Why don't you trust me?" Jimmy Junior asked desperately. He sounded angry and he was almost shaking with rage. His fists were clenched tightly by his sides.

His voice sounded so broken and distraught as if Zeke had deeply betrayed his trust, and Zeke felt guilt growing inside of his stomach even though he knew that he hadn't intentionally done anything wrong. He did trust Jimmy Junior. He trusted him more than anybody else in his life. They were best friends and Zeke never would have done anything to upset or betray him. He hated that Jimmy Junior was feeling that way.

"Of course I trust you, J-Ju. I trust ya' more than anybody. I just—I didn't want to get you involved in anythin' that was going on, 'cause I know you have your own family problems to worry about. I didn't want to tell ANYBODY but Tina's folks' sat me down and told me that I needed to tell them what was goin' on. I didn't have a choice. If I had it my way I'd be on a train to New York City right now, and about to start my new life performin' in the subway for strangers. That or I'd be lying dead on the side of a highway somewhere."

Jimmy Junior's expression grew angrier and Zeke moved further away from him out of instinct. He knew that Jimmy Junior would never even think about hurting him, and not just because Zeke was a lot stronger than him and could easily fight back, but he still didn't like it when people looked at him like that. "That's the problem! You didn't tell anybody, and if Tina didn't HAPPEN to find you sitting by yourself on the beach then I never would've seen you again. You can't just leave me here, Zeke. What were you thinking?"

"I guess I wasn't thinking, huh?" Zeke said with irritation in his voice. He was beginning to feel like he was being scolded by Jimmy Junior or punished like he was a child, and that was not something that he was going to take without a fight. Not even from his best friend.

"No, Zeke! You weren't thinking. You NEVER think about what you're doing before you do it," Jimmy Junior spat out at him.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"You could have talked to somebody about this! Why didn't you ask anybody for help? Why didn't you tell me? You were going to LEAVE without saying goodbye. No explanation for why you were leaving or where you were going... knowing that you'd never see any of us again. Does our friendship really matter that little to you? That you couldn't even say it to my face?" Jimmy Junior asked. He was hiding his emotions with misplaced anger just like Jimmy Pesto always did, but Zeke knew him well enough to know that underneath his rage Jimmy Junior was feeling vulnerable and scared. He didn't believe what he was saying.

Zeke sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. He wasn't feeling defensive or angry anymore. He was exhausted. This had been one of the longest weekends of his life and he couldn't believe that it wasn't already over. "Don't be stupid, Jimmy. You know this ain't about you. It never was. I'm an idiot who does things without thinkin' them through, like you were saying. You and every teacher I've ever had."

Jimmy Junior frowned. "You aren't a dumbass, Zeke. I just didn't—I don't understand why you didn't want to say goodbye to me. Why would it even matter what I thought about you if you were never going to see me again? Did you just... not care?"

"Of course I care, J-Ju. I didn't... I didn't think you'd really notice if I was gone, if I'm bein' honest. I've only known y'all about a year and a half, and jus' about everybody else at our school has known each other for their entire lives. I move around all the freakin' time. I'm always switchin' schools. Do you know how many friends' I had who never even bothered to give me a goddamn phone call after I moved away? I figured this time wouldn't be any different. In a few weeks you'd forget all about me and I'd spare myself the pain of saying goodbye to everybody I love," Zeke admitted to Jimmy Junior. "Again."

Zeke wasn't lying when he told Jimmy Junior that but it also wasn't the full truth. He didn't think his friends cared about him enough to miss him if he was gone, and he was secretly worried that they'd be excited that he was finally out of their lives for good. He never knew how important he was to other people, because he'd known so many people he would consider his closest friends who seemed to be fine with never talking to him again once he moved away and they weren't forced to interact with each other every single day. His own mother barely seemed to make any effort in their relationship. Zeke knew that he was loud and high energy and that he could be a lot for some people, so he wasn't too upset about this. He was just happy to have time with the people he loved even if it was shorter than he would've liked.

Saying goodbye to people he loved and enjoyed spending time with was always painful, but he'd done it so many times that he thought he would've been used to it by now. He had accepted that he was replaceable in other people's lives.

Jimmy Junior was quiet for a few seconds before he climbed onto his bed and lay down next to Zeke. They were making eye contact as they faced each other—Zeke could feel Jimmy Junior's breath against his cheeks—and it felt vulnerable in a way that Zeke wasn't used to feeling around his friends. He liked keeping everything fun and lighthearted, but that was difficult to do when he could clearly see the tears threatening to fall from Jimmy Junior's eyes.

"I could never forget you, Zeke. Not even if we got into an argument and didn't talk to each other for twenty years. You're my best friend," Jimmy Junior said. He placed a hand on Zeke's elbow, and he could tell that he was serious when he said this. "Please don't leave me. I don't know what I'd do without you."

Zeke didn't know how to respond.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you, and I'm sorry for acting weird earlier," Jimmy Junior continued. "I was being an asshole. Can we just pretend that nothing happened between us and go back to how everything was before?"

Zeke opened up his arms and gestured for Jimmy Junior to cuddle him instead of giving him an actual response. That was alright, because Jimmy Junior understood that Zeke was better at expressing himself with his actions rather than with his words, and that this was his way of saying that everything was fine between them. Nobody was angry or feeling resentful.

He had always been physically affectionate with Jimmy Junior for as long as they'd been friends, and while around other people they stuck to wrestling and being aggressive with each other, when they were alone Zeke was gentle and liked giving Jimmy Junior surprise hugs or cuddles and holding his hand while they watched movies together. They didn't behave like that around other people because they knew that people would tease them and say that they were in love with each other, and that was honestly something that neither of them wanted to deal with. It wasn't worth the stress that it would cause both of them, so they preferred to keep their friendship fun and wrestle with each other in times of strong emotion or love. They would both know what it really meant.

Jimmy Junior gladly accepted his gesture and cuddled into Zeke's chest. He closed his eyes. Zeke was exhausted and he could stay like this forever, with Jimmy Junior's warm body pressed against his own.

Fifteen minutes went by in silence with Zeke and Jimmy Junior cuddling together and refusing to think about the outside world or the struggles they would face, until they heard loud footsteps running down the hall toward Jimmy Junior's bedroom and quickly moved away from each other. It was Andy and Ollie.

Jimmy Junior sat up in his bed and tried very hard to look like he hadn't just been cuddled up against Zeke's chest and slowly falling asleep. Andy and Ollie weren't going to judge them or tease them about anything but they might have ended up telling Jimmy Pesto or somebody at their school and Zeke knew that was a risk he wasn't willing to take. They were both sweethearts, but they had no social awareness and they were terrible at keeping secrets. There was no such thing with those two.

Andy swung Jimmy Junior's bedroom door open and Ollie followed closely behind him. "Jimmy! We want to play with Terry. We've been building an obstacle course for him in our bedroom out of paper towel rolls and cardboard."

Jimmy Junior coughed awkwardly. "You can't play with Terry until Zeke and I finish feeding him. You can watch us, though. I'm going to get lettuce from the kitchen."

"And celery!" Ollie shouted. Neither of them had any sense of volume control and Zeke thought that it was hilarious.

"And celery," Jimmy Junior confirmed as he stood up. He wasn't always a good older brother and he was embarrassed by his younger siblings most of the time, but he had his moments. "I'm going to the kitchen. You can stay in my bedroom because Zeke is here, but don't touch anything. And don't take Terry out of his tank!"

"Okay," Andy and Ollie agreed in unison.

"Hell yeah! Let's feed this freakin' turtle," Zeke said.

Jimmy Junior returned a few minutes later with an assortment of vegetables to Andy and Ollie jumping on his bed as Zeke watched them with a smile. They usually weren't allowed in Jimmy Junior's bedroom so this was very exciting for them and they were making the most of the time that they had, which involved going through all of Jimmy Junior's belongings and making a huge mess. Zeke wasn't going to be the person who spoiled their fun, even if it involved Andy accidentally kicking him in the face more than once.

They watched with excitement as Jimmy Junior carefully removed Terry from his tank and sat him down on his bed. Jimmy Junior got his turtle as a birthday gift from his father a couple years ago and although he was still young in turtle years, his age was definitely starting to show. In the time that Zeke had known Jimmy Junior he had nearly doubled in size.

Zeke placed a piece of lettuce down on Jimmy Junior's bed and they all watched quietly as Terry ate the vegetables that were laid out for him. Jimmy Junior would feed him healthy turtle food later that day, but apparently fresh vegetables were a good snack for turtles and they were a lot more fun to watch him eat. There was a satisfying crunch with every bite that Terry took of his vegetables.

Zeke looked around Jimmy Junior's bedroom as he and his younger brothers watched Terry eat his vegetables. He watched Andy and Ollie carefully following Terry as he ate with huge smiles on their freckled faces. They were ready to feed him the next piece of celery whenever he was ready for it. He watched Jimmy Junior focus on making sure that Terry didn't accidentally crawl off the bed or hurt himself, with his tongue poking out of his mouth in concentration in the same way that Zeke always found adorable when they did homework together. He had many friends before he'd moved to Seymour's Bay and had happy memories of getting into trouble with them, but he couldn't remember loving anybody as much as he loved Jimmy Junior and his other friends from school. As stupid as it sounded, Zeke felt like he belonged there and he wasn't ready to leave everything that he loved behind.

Life was hard, but Zeke knew that he wanted to spend the rest of his life sitting on Jimmy Junior's bed and feeding his turtle.

Two hours later, Zeke had to say goodbye to Jimmy Junior and return to Tina's apartment because they would be eating dinner soon. He had considered staying at Jimmy Junior's and eating dinner there, but when he heard that they would be eating leftovers from Jimmy Pesto's Pizzeria he decided that he'd rather not take his chances with food poisoning. He loved Jimmy Junior but everybody knew that his father couldn't cook to save his life, and honestly Jimmy Junior was probably going to inherit those traits from his father. Zeke knew that when they moved into an apartment together he would be doing all the cooking.

Andy and Ollie were busy playing with Terry in their bedroom and putting him through the obstacle course that they had been building so Zeke finally got a minute alone with Jimmy Junior. He loved those twins but they required a lot of attention and supervision, and that didn't leave a lot of time for Zeke to hang out with Jimmy Junior and have quality time between the two of them. Older brother responsibilities always came first, even if Jimmy Junior was reluctant about that.

They were both standing in the doorway to Jimmy Junior's apartment and staring at each other awkwardly. Neither of them knew what to say.

They had fun spending time with Andy and Ollie, and Zeke loved playing with Terry and watching him eat his vegetables, but they hadn't really talked about any of the serious issues that were going on in his life. They had been avoiding talking about that during their visit but that didn't mean not saying anything about it was easier for them or their friendship. They were trying very hard to avoid the elephant in the room but that didn't mean there wasn't a huge elephant waiting to be addressed by somebody.

"Zeke, I'm sorry for being an asshole earlier. I was scared of losing you and I was scared that our friendship never meant anything to you," Jimmy Junior started. He was rubbing his arm anxiously and he looked terrified of saying the wrong thing and upsetting Zeke. There was nothing that he could say to Zeke that would change the friendship between them, and he wished that Jimmy Junior understood that. "I don't want anything to change between us. Can you promise me that things won't be different, and we won't start being all weird around each other like we were today?"

"Things ain't going to be the same, J-Ju. You know that," Zeke sighed. "I guess I could stand to tell you about what's goin' on in my life more often, and talkin' about serious crap. You're my best friend, Jimmy. I love you. Nothing will ever change that."

Jimmy Junior looked up at him and for a few seconds he looked anxious about what he was supposed to do next, before he pulled Zeke into a tight hug which was quickly returned. Zeke was physically affectionate with everybody and he loved playful hugging but there wasn't anything in the world like a hug from Jimmy Junior. There was no comparison. He was hugging Zeke as if it was the last time that he would ever see him, and it was possible that it was. His future was uncertain but Zeke knew that no matter what happened, he wanted Jimmy Junior to be a part of it.

They stood there for a minute hugging each other in the doorway. Neither of them wanted to be the person who said goodbye. They needed each other.

"I love you too," Jimmy Junior whispered into Zeke's neck. His breathing was warm against his skin and he felt safe.