Forty-Eight Hours

By: BrunetteBeliever

Rating: T

Summary: It took Virgil two days to realize he and Stefanie were better off as friends. Zeke/Virgil Slash

Author's Note: Just trying to do my part and add to the practically non-existent realm of Zeke/Virgil fic goodness. I hope you all like it.

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Forty-Eight Hours

Dedicated to:

The first time traveler in history,

Albert Feline-stein (Meow!)

It took Virgil two days to realize that he and Stefanie were better off as friends, two days, two dates, and 48 non-stop hours of thinking of him. It wasn't fair. Things had finally gone his way. He had a chance to be with the girl he'd been pining after for years. It should have been perfect. He should have been happy. But…

When he leant in to kiss Stefanie goodnight, his face popped into his mind. He wished that her soft, timid lips were smooth and firm, pressing into his, opening him up. The long, blond hair that twisted in his fingers should be dark and short, almost a challenge to hold onto, but so worth the effort. When he stepped back and looked into soft brown eyes, they should have been blue and daring him to kiss them again. It wasn't right, wasn't right at all.

He went to Charlie because he was his best friend and, well, a genius after all. Charlie stared at him when he explained the problem to him. Virgil fiddled with a switch on the contraption Charlie had been working on. "Well," Virgil finally said when he could no longer take the dubious stares of Charlie and Albert Feline-stein any longer.

Charlie sighed and went back to typing on his computer. "It's rather obvious isn't it?"

Virgil shook his head.

"Non-stop thoughts of him, even when you're kissing Stefanie? You clearly have feelings for him that go beyond the realm of friendship." Albert Feline-stein meowed. "See, he agrees and cats are incredibly intuitive about relationships."

Virgil stared at his friend. Sometimes he scared him, just a little bit. He blinked when his words registered. "You mean, you wouldn't think it was, I don't know, weird if we were, uhh…like, together?"

Charlie shook his head. "You're both my friends and I'll always care about you, no matter what."

Virgil smiled. Sometimes he forgot what a good friend Charlie was.

- - -

Coming to the realization that he had a crush on his friend and acting on the crush were two complete universes apart. How did one tell their very male, very big, and sometimes very scary friend that you wanted to go out with them, like, on a date?

It took another week for Virgil to finally come up with enough courage to do it. He waited until they were alone one afternoon in the garage of the Cycle Cemetery. Charlie had left to take Albert Feline-stein to the vet and only the two older boys remained behind. Virgil sat on a crate pretending to read his History textbook while Zeke worked on a project for his dad's shop.

After nearly thirty minutes of agonizing over it, he finally stole himself and spoke. "Zeke," he said, peeking over the top of his book.

"Yeah," Zeke said, eyes glued to the part he was working on.

"I was wondering…ifyouwanttogooutwithme," he mumbled, rushing out the last part, face turning a bright crimson.

Zeke looked over to him with a crooked smile. "Slower, Virg, breath."

Virgil gulped. "I was wondering if you wanted to go out with me."

Zeke went back to his work. "Sure, should we call Charlie though?"

Virgil rolled his eyes. He knew this wouldn't be easier. Nothing with Zeke ever was. "No. Actually I was wondering if you wanted to go, like, on a…date with me."

Zeke stopped working. In fact, Virgil had the feeling he may have stopped breathing. The taller boy stood there staring at the tool in his hand before slowly looking over at him. "What did you just say?" he asked, incredulously.

Virgil went back to hiding behind his book. "I asked you to go on a date with me."

This time Zeke literally dropped the wrench in his hand. Virgil jumped at the noise and looked back over his textbook. "A date? You-you just asked me to go on a date with you?"

Virgil flushed impossibly redder. "Umm, yea."

Zeke stared at him for a minute appraisingly. "Okay."

Virgil blinked rather stupidly. "Really?"

A shy grin bloomed on Zeke's face. "Yeah, really."

- - -

All Virgil could afford was the local Hamburger Hour, but Zeke still smiled and held the door open for him. Virgil couldn't help but roll his eyes. "What?" Zeke balked. "Ladies first."

Virgil threw back a very witty Yeti comment and they went to order.

And this Virgil could handle - the easy banter of two friends. He wasn't quite sure how the whole relationship thingy went, but if it was like this, only with kissing, he thought he'd like it a lot.

They sat and ate and Virgil was afraid it would be awkward, because, well, it was a date after all, but the conversation was no different from when they hung out as friends - school, their latest inventions, Charlie and his odd relationship with his cat. It was easy, too easy. So somehow Virgil wasn't very surprised when Zeke shifted the conversation to a less easy terrain.

"You know," Zeke started off, nonchalantly enough to not worry Virgil in the least about the boy's impending words. "I was pretty surprised when you asked me out. I mean I thought for sure you had some secret thing for Derek."

Virgil nearly choked on his food. "What – Derek?!"

Zeke laughed and took a sip of his chocolate milk shake. "Yeah, I was betting Charlie the whole Stefanie thing was a cover for your secret boy crush."

Virgil's face couldn't decide whether to pale or blush. "You talked about this with Charlie?"

Zeke shrugged. "Yeah, he's a smart kid. I figured if anybody could figure out the whole Stefanie obsession it would be him."

Virgil's stomach clenched at the thought of this two best friends talking about him and Stefanie behind his back. "And what did he say?"

"Oh, he didn't say much of anything," Zeke said, a twinkle in his eye. "Albert did most of the talking."

Virgil couldn't figure out if Zeke was making fun of him or trying to get something out of him. "So you're talking behind my back now with talking cats? And you say I'm strange."

Zeke grinned. "I'm telling you, that cat creeped me out at first, but he's pretty smart."

Virgil laughed. "You've been hanging around Charlie too much."

Zeke nodded. "Probably, but my theory still seems to be correct."

Virgil put down his hamburger. "Oh really and how is that?"

Zeke smiled, that unbelievably adorable little crooked grin. "The whole Stefanie thing was a cover for your boy crush. I just had the boy wrong."

Virgil finally did blush at this because asking Zeke out on a date and telling him he had a crush on him were two different things. He tried to think fast. He leant across the table and said in a conspiratorial whisper. "Dude, you might wanna check your ego. I think people across the restaurant can see it."

Zeke laughed and shook his head. Virgil was thankful when the conversation shifted back towards the safety zone. Virgil's stomach flip-flopped when towards the end of the meal Zeke's hand came to rest on his own hand on the table. He stuttered what he had been saying and babbled quickly before ending with an "and I'm gonna stop talking now." Zeke smiled softly and squeezed his hand. Maybe the date wasn't going so bad after all.

- - -

Virgil was pretty sure that the thirty second walk up to his front door was the longest thirty seconds of his life. Seriously. Zeke and he stood awkwardly for a moment on the porch, looking anywhere but at each other.

Finally Zeke broke the silence. "Well, thanks, you know, for asking me out. We should go out again sometime."

Virgil tried to read him. Was he trying to let him down easy or did he really want to go out again? "Yeah," Virgil said. "Definately."

Zeke nodded. "Yeah, so…"

Their eyes locked and the next thing Virgil knew, he was practically being lifted off of his feet and being kissed by Zeke Thompson. And, wow, Zeke could really kiss. He was all hot breath and firm lips, but they were softer than he'd expected, than he'd dreamt they'd ever be. He twisted his hands Zeke's hair and kissed back as well as he could. When Zeke ran his tongue experimentally along Virgil's lower lip, Virgil gasped and then moaned as Zeke's tongue found its way inside his mouth. And it was everything he'd imagined it should have been with Stefanie only it was with Zeke so it was even better. When Virgil pulled back for air, those crystal blue eyes stared back into his own. And if that wasn't a dare to kiss him again he didn't know what was. He grinned and went to pull Zeke back down to him.

"Mom! Virgil's here with his ugly friend!"

The two sprang apart as if they'd caught on fire. Virgil turned just in time to see Amy running down the hallway through the front screened door. "Amy, I'm telling Mom about the hamsters!" He turned back to Zeke sheepishly. "Umm, sorry about that. She's, well, you know."

Zeke laughed. "Yeah, a pure little sister. Well, I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow."

Virgil nodded. "Yeah, bright and early."

Zeke went to walk away but at the last moment turned and planted one final kiss on Virgil's lips. Virgil grinned, that brilliant sunshine smile that secretly made Zeke's stomach flip-flop, and watched Zeke walk away. He tentatively touched his lips and walked inside to Amy's "Virgil's got ugly friends" chant.

Virgil sighed with a sappy, love-struck grin on his face.

It had taken Virgil two days, forty-eight hours, and two dates to realize that he and Stefanie were better off as friends. It took less than one day, a few hours, and one date for him to figure out why.