Chapter Text
After the excitement of the repair of the blood fruit orchard had died down, some of the vampires offered to fly their werewolf, zombie, and cheerleader counterparts back home to Seabrook, with the condition that they be allowed a full-day’s sleep first. The Seabrook squad readily agreed to meet them on the cliff overlooking Shadyside afterwards, eager for the opportunity to watch one more sunset on the beach before leaving.
Zed and Addison were sitting on the edge of the cliff - legs swinging, wind rustling through their hair, sun kissing the line between the sky and the sea - when she turned to look at him pointedly. He felt her gaze on him after a few moments, then turned to meet it.
“Enjoying the view?” he asked with a playful, teasing lilt.
“Yeah, yeah, I am. I can’t ever seem to get enough.”
Zed laughed, gently tapping Addison on the arm with the back of his hand. “You’re too kind, madame,” he replied, his tone still overly jovial.
Addison looked down at her lap. She was smiling, but there was an unmistakably sad quality to her expression.
“Actually, I have a question.”
Zed took note of her withdrawal and immediately dropped the teasing act. “Of course, ask me anything you want.”
“Can I stay with you?” Addison asked, her voice impossibly small. She balled her hands into fists around her skirt and squeezed her eyes shut.
Zed’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You don’t want to see your parents?”
She replied with a nearly imperceptible shake of her head.
“Yeah, yeah. Of course you can stay with me. I’m sure my dad won’t have an issue with you sleeping on the couch or…whatever you want,” he added quickly.
Addison turned towards him and opened her eyes, revealing the fact that they were watering. “I just know they’ll be disappointed in me.”
“Really?! Why on Earth would they be disappointed in you?”
She took a deep breath in, her upper body shaking ever so slightly. “I didn’t go to cheer camp. I’m not going to be cheer captain. My parents only care about me when I do something great. I know they’re not going to understand my decision to take a step back from it all.”
Zed’s face softened. “I’m sorry, Addi. But...you don’t know that for sure, right?”
“I do,” she insisted. “It’s happened before. At my first cheer camp when I was younger, I got really homesick. I begged the counselors to call my mom and ask her to come pick me up. When they did, she told them that she wouldn’t be coming and I had to get over it. I just…cried myself to sleep. Almost every night.”
Addison looked down again and absently grabbed at the ends of her hair, then drew them into her mouth to start chewing on them. Zed took a moment to study her motions and consider his next move.
“And what did she say when the camp was over?”
She dropped her hair and let out a single humorless laugh. “She just said that she was glad I’d gotten over myself. Then she was upset that I hadn’t gotten to the top of the pyramid by the end of camp.”
“I’m sorry.”
Addison dismissively waved her hand towards Zed. “It’s fine.”
“It’s not. I completely understand why you don’t want to go home. But, it’s not like I need to for my offer to stand. You’re welcome to stay with us anytime you want.” Zed slowly reached over to place his hand on Addison’s thigh. She let him get his hand fully in place before setting one of her own on top of it.
“Thank you. I’ll have to go home at some point to get some stuff, but-”
“You can borrow clothes from me and Eliza,” Zed insisted. “We can get you a new toothbrush, and I’m sure the werewolves have some extra skincare to spare.”
For the first time since the start of the conversation, Addison gave a genuine laugh. “They really do have great skin, don’t they?”
“It’s always glowing!” Zed agreed.
Once she stopped laughing, she looked up at Zed again. “I love you.”
His eyes widened in slight surprise. “Oh! I love you, too.”
Addison leaned towards him with her lips slightly puckered, to which Zed readily met her in the middle.
“Ewww! Heterosexuals? In this economy?” Willa called out from behind the couple. They quickly turned to see her and Eliza walking towards them.
“Where did you guys run off to?” Zed asked as the pair came over to join him and Addison on the edge of the cliff.
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Eliza retorted.
Zed frowned. “That’s rude.”
Eliza shifted her weight enough to bump into him with her shoulder. “You’re rude.”
He maturely stuck his tongue out at her, to which Eliza stuck her tongue out at him.
Addison giggled. “Come on, kids. Let's get along for long enough to get home.”
Eliza gave her best dramatic sigh. “Fine. But not for a moment longer.”
“You guys better not be missing this sunset,” Willa interjected, pointing towards the sea. The sky was painted bright pink and crimson, dotted with golden ribbons of clouds. The sea reflected all of it back, giving the whole scene a bright golden glow.
The group fell into a sort of hushed reverence, all gazing out at the sunset. After a moment, Zed leaned over to Addison.
“I’m excited for you to stay with us,” he said in a hushed voice. “But I hope you like cauliflower.”
Addison snickered. “Cauliflower is great.”
After a few more moments of sunset admiring silence, a large ball of crackling energy whooshed past them. The group looked over their shoulders to see Victor, Vera, and Vargas standing behind them.
“You guys ready to go?” Victor asked.
Zed looked to Addison, who set her mouth into a sure smile and gave him a strong nod.
“Absolutely,” he said. “Ready for whatever’s next.”