Massive Disaster III-7

(Yes, this is shorter. I know. )

Zedd leaned back against the railing, arms folded tight enough to hurt, fingers tapping a scattered rhythm that didn’t sync with anything but the buzz rattling under his ribs. The spaceport noises blended into something he didn’t want to pick apart—mechanical announcements, people shuffling through departure gates like their lives depended on schedules and check-ins.

He shifted, rolling his shoulders against the metal, uncomfortable but not moving away. He didn’t feel like standing exposed right now, not in the middle of everything. He was already doing his best to keep a low profile.

He glanced at the terminal’s flashing departure schedule. Earth—Final Boarding: 12:25. It blinked twice, taunting him, neon letters imprinting afterimages behind his eyelids when he finally tore his gaze away.

Kira stood in front of him, duffel slung over one shoulder, weight shifted lazily onto one hip like she wasn’t about to leave the colony for the foreseeable future. She wasn’t good at lingering—never had been—but for once, she wasn’t rushing off. Zedd tried his best not to look at the bright blue dyed hair that had replaced the constant and ever-present bright blonde he’d seen for the last year.

“You’re doing the stare,” she said, voice dry, somewhere between amused and uncomfortable. She shifted her weight from one hip to the other, a small motion that felt way too big, way too noticeable. 

“I’m not,” he lied, eyes flicking briefly to her face, away again before he could settle into the unfamiliarity. “Just thinking.” 

“You don’t ‘just think‘,” she shot back, mouth quirking upwards in a way he doubted was fully as real as she wanted him to think. “You obsess or spiral or calculate. Now pick.”

He smiled despite himself, felt the pull of it tightening his jaw. “Fair enough. Obsessing, then.”

“Obsessing and looking right at my hair,” she said, voice low, clipped, not looking at him. No smile this time, just her mouth pressed into a flat line that didn’t match the easy shrug she threw his way. “Something you wanna say, Zedd?”

Yeah, don’t go. “Just getting used to the old look,” he replied instead. Easier than telling her he kinda hated it—hated how it meant she was leaving.

She tilted her head, her eyes sharp beneath bangs newly trimmed. “You like?”

“Nah,” he lied smoothly. “Ugly as hell.”

She scoffed softly, rolling her eyes. “Change of pace never killed anyone, right?”

Debatable. Zedd let the silence hang, sharp and edged with all the things he wasn’t saying. They’d done their big goodbye thing with Dev and Adele almost fifteen minutes ago, and even then it felt off. 

Everyone grinning too wide, laughing too loud, hugging too tight like that could keep her from leaving. And now it was just them. Just the quiet after.

He felt her shift closer—barely, maybe imagined—but real enough to make his skin tighten, hyper-aware of the air between them. Her shoulder brushed against his arm, accidental or deliberate, who the fuck knew, and the brief contact shot static through his nerves, knotted tension beneath his ribs. A part of him—a buried, traitorous, teenage part of him—wanted to lean into it, close the gap. The smarter, survival-trained part kept him rigid, eyes fixed straight ahead at nothing in particular.

“You know,” she started, adjusting the strap of her bag, “for a crazy guy who called me a criminal the first time he met me, you turned out okay.”

Zedd laughed, or something like it, dry and automatic, but his brain caught, replaying old conversations like a corrupted recording, picking out every subtle cue he’d probably missed. “I… I meant it as a compliment.”

Kira rolled her eyes again. “Right, because that’s what every girl wants to hear.”

He shrugged, shifting his weight. “Worked out for you, didn’t it?”

That got a smirk out of her, sharp and amused, but softer than usual. “Yeah, guess so.” She shrugged, voice going thin at the edges. Her eyes flicked toward the shuttle entrance, then back at him, quick, uncertain. She never hesitated when she had somewhere to be, but this time, she was… hesitating.

“I’m gonna miss you, blue.”

Her grip tightened around her duffel bag but she didn’t look his way. “Y-you haven’t called me that… since, I dunno, last year.”

Zedd swallowed. “…yeah.”

“Why?” She still wasn’t looking at him, almost refusing to as she kept herself turned away, looking at something that wasn’t there.

“…” He smiled sadly. “It was already tense… and I… I’m a dumbass sometimes, you know that, but I’m not an idiot.”

“Yeah… I do.” Her gaze flicked back to him, something unreadable there before she smoothed it out. “We could have been something, you know.”

It wasn’t a regret, wasn’t even a question. 

Just a statement. A fact acknowledged too late. 

There was something between them. There always had been, but neither of them had ever done anything about it. An understanding, an almost, a line neither of them had ever stepped over. There had been attraction, sure,. Hell, towards the middle of his first year in the colony, she had been a constant problem in his thoughts he wasn’t sure how to handle. But things had shifted before either of them had given it weight. 

Friends. 

Partners, even. Whatever you wanna call it, they felt like something that fucking worked.

Zedd’s throat felt tight in a way he wasn’t ready to examine. “I know,” he admitted, quieter than he wanted the words to leave his mouth. You sound pathetic, man up and spit it out! “I wasn’t… I didn’t do anything about it until it was too late.” 

He swallowed, his jaw working before words even formed. “Maybe… maybe if I’d said something…” Blue eyes snapped up and locked on to him, “decided to talk to you about this… earlier?”

Her eyes narrowed, sharper, that unreadable expression flickering behind her eyes. “What, like… the fuck do you actually mean, earlier? Like, what, before Nina? After Nina? When exactly?”

His throat closed, words stacking up behind his teeth as he didn’t rise to the bait of whatever argument she wanted to start. Not an accusation, but it landed heavy all the same. “Dunno. Just… anytime, I guess. Maybe it wouldn’t’ve mattered.”

“Mmm.” The sound vibrated deep in her throat, not exactly agreement, not exactly dismissive, either. She studied him a beat longer than necessary, searching, measuring. It made him want to look away, hide, but he forced himself still, chin lifted slightly, holding her stare. Not retreating.

“Another life, maybe,” she finally muttered, breaking eye contact first, voice too quiet for the spaceport’s noise. Her shoulder brushed his, deliberate again, the barest hint of warmth bleeding through his jacket.

The ship behind them let out a long beep before: “LAST BOARDING CALL FOR EARTH.”

“Guess that’s me,” she said, voice sliding back into that same casual half-cocky Kira as she bounced her short hair, masking whatever she’d let slip. “See you later, Mr. Big Time CEO. I’ll hit you up when I make Admiral.” Her hand brushed his arm as she turned, quick, but deliberate. Then she was walking, boots striking the polished terminal floor with the same steady confidence she always carried herself with.

She didn’t look back.

Zedd stood there, watching as the shuttle doors closed behind her, as clearance lights flickered, as the vessel lifted off and vanished into the upper atmosphere. His fingers twitched against the railing, but he didn’t move.

He blinked twice, forced his thoughts back into order, recalibrated. Pulled his aviators from his pocket, sliding the blue lenses into place, the familiar cool weight settling over his nose.

Nothing changed.

Not on the outside.