Who Are You? ((ZANECHAN FIC REUPLOAD))

Chapter 10- Sick of this.

Aphmau and Garroth shared a knowing glance.

"Why not" Garroth shrugged "good choice Zane"

"I'll pull a randomizer up on my phone to choose who'll go first" Aphmau said. After a moment she declared she herself would go.

They played numerous rounds, which all went fine. Whenever Zane was the hider, she always waited until she knew either Garroth or Aphmau had found him already before seriously playing. And every time it was her own turn to hide, she would hope to Irene that he wouldn't find her first. It tore her up to be avoiding him in such a way, but she was so scared that the avoiding was almost subconscious.

Eventually, round by round her guard was let down and she felt her stress slowly diminish as she escaped one-on-one contact with Zane.

But eventually, because Karma's a b*tch, when it was her turn to hide she was found almost immediately by Zane. Cramped in the dark of a small closet, she winced as the door opened and his pale face appeared. He swiftly stepped in and closed the door, settling in next to her.

"This is going to get really crowded if even one of them find us" he said light-heartedly. The 'if' made her want to shiver, the idea that they might not be found.

After a few minutes in which they could hear both Aphmau and Garroth walk past the closet, apparently not noticing it, Zane pulled out his phone and started typing. Trying not to be too obvious about it, KC reached to put her own phone on silent but just as her hand touched it, her text tone went off and it took every ounce of her self-control not to screw her whole face up in one big cringe.

She looked at Zane and saw, in the light of his phone screen, as his eyes slowly looked towards her.

A beat.

"sorry about that" she whispered, putting on an act of being apologetic "probably my mum" she pulled out her phone, making a big show of putting it on silent. The thing about being 'Kawaii~Chan' is that she got pretty good at acting as though everything was fine and dandy.

To be safe, she pulled open a text conversation with her mum and typed a whole message out and pretended to send it.

-----------

It was infuriating, not knowing if she was acting or not. He'd sent that text ("boo") to figure it out finally. Her phone had even rang at the right moment. But talking about it being her mum? He could even see her send a text and wait for a response, but no new text on his own phone. Absolutely maddening.

It struck him, with surprising violence, that maybe he was hoping Kawaii~Chan was Nana.

No, I just want this mystery to be over he reassured himself, it's got nothing to do with her kind face and pretty pink hair-

He blushed furiously and hoped dearly that KC hadn't noticed...

{December 19th 6:10pm} PM between Zane and Nana (KC??)

boo

its nearly christmas dummy

y u tryin to be spooky

get with teh times old man

Zane's eyes widened and he looked over at Kawaii~Chan. She was looking down at her phone calmly, no hint of humour on her face.

Have you seen me? I'm scary all year round.

festive spooks? Oo new nickname.

Festive tears

Emo

His heart ached for this girl. Who was she?!? He wanted to know so badly. Maybe if he apologised again, he could ask and she'd finally tell him.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw KC type again, just as the 'typing' bubble appeared at the bottom of his screen.

It had to be her. None of the other girls who it could possibly be had come as close to being proven as the mystery girl as Kawaii~Chan had.

They lapsed into silence once again, Aphmau and Garroth seemingly searching the opposite end of the house now, before he started half-mumbling/half-singing a song.

"sometimes you gotta bleed to know" he rested his head against the wall "that you're alive and have a soul"

In the semi-darkness, he could see her perk up as she recognised the words

"but it takes someone to come around" she sang softly, sweetly "to show you how"

"you like twenty one pilots?" he whispered, trying to seem vaguely interested. Nana likes twenty one pilots

He didn't miss her hesitation before she replied "I-I know a few of their songs"

He searched her face, desperate for a sign, but her face was a carefully composed mask.

He hung his head, sighing before making up his mind.

Looking her directly in the eyes, he asked:

"I'm sick of this. Are you or are you not, Nana"

He'd never said her name out loud before and it felt soft on his lips.

He saw her raise her eyebrows and widen her eyes in surprise before he was blinded by light as Garroth pulled open the closet door.

"HA!! I FOUND YOU NEERRRRDS" he said in a very goofy voice that was completely unwelcomed by Zane.

"come ON, I was SO CLOSE!! My legs are smaller so it's unfair" came Aphmau's voice from behind him.

Kawaii~Chan stood up, giggling. Her expression a perfect expression of surprise and joy (fake or real?).

"took you guys long enough! I can't believe you didn't figure it out sooner" she simpered.

Aphmau glanced at the clock.

"oh yikes, it really did take a while huh? I need to get home soon or else..." she shivered "The Chancla"

"oh me too!" KC said "got to go babysit half the population... aka my younger siblings" she rolled her eyes and Aphmau and Garroth giggled knowingly.

Before he could say a single thing, the two of them were heading out the door, saying their goodbyes to Garroth, himself and each other and walking home.

He walked upstairs, unable to think or to see past the swirl of emotions clouding his brain. He was filled with a cruel mix of anger, desperate sadness and pure self-hatred. 

This was all his fault. Yet he was mad at her too.
Was he? He just wanted her back, even just as a friend.
How dare she. How dare he, IT WAS ALL HIS FAULT.