Sweet Reunions, Sweeter Cabbage [Homestuck peeps]

For the first time since the universe decided it would be hilarious to dump a bunch of anxiety on his head with the arrival of his old high school friends, Zach's mind was as clear as it was going to get. Usually, this was a sign that things were going to turn out alright. The girls were having a little spat, yes, but the combined efforts of he and Logan's scoldings ought to have brought them all back to happy street... right? And they were all together after years and years of being separated. That had to have been a good sign... right? Right. There were words being spoken in the midst of his trying to reassure himself that things were going to be alright again - “I'm sorry for not acting civilize. In all honesty, I had planned this to go a little differently when Lena first showed up.” - and the apology was what drove him to finally deciding that, yes. Yes, things were going to turn out alright. Even if the universe had other plans, he'd unsheathe his sword and beat okayness into whatever horrible situation they were thrown into. He replayed these words over and over in his head until even Cecilia's final jab didn't faze his idea. “Unfortunately, she decided to be immature and ignore me. We could have talked like old acquaintances at least, but no, I was ignored. Forgive me for stooping to her childish level.” Honestly, he almost flat out said she was forgiven. That was just how okay things were going to be. Except they weren't. Because when he turned to look at Lena, expecting some sort of response to the dark-haired woman's words, there were no words being spoken. At first, he pondered whether or not she'd even heard her. That was, until he saw her eyes water over and the beginning of what looked to be tears poking at the corners of her eyes. Unexplained guilt washed over him in a tide – so much, he was more thankful for his shades than he'd been in a long time because even his poker face couldn't hide that much sudden emotion – and he wanted to reach out to her, tell her it was going to be okay and not to cry, because didn't suit Lena, tears didn't suit one of his best friend, and – And then she turned on him. Him. Not C.C. Not Logan for his strange noises. But him. “Well, for some reason, he was more important than me and if he's not important enough to be here, I guess I'm not either.” And that was when his mind kind of broke. Guilt shattered under the force of a mighty hammer to reveal shock, betrayal, and a little bit of anger in its wake. He'd just been trying to mend the situation. He'd been trying to get them to stop hating each other because for the first time in a long time he actually had friends and he didn't want friends to fight. And maybe he wasn't very good with words. And maybe he wasn't the best therapist to ever walk to earth. But Lena was his friend. Maybe even his best, if he had to choose. And the only answer he'd elicited from her in response to his trying to help was the string of ice so cold it burned. An immature voice in the back of his mind jeered, “Would you like some ice with that burn?” before he shoved it away with a an outward growl and reminded it harshly like metaphorical ice was what had caused the equally metaphorical burn in the first place. Then the shorter blond was turning away, acting as though he and the other two had never existed in the first place. The only thing she did to even acknowledge their presence was hand Logan a cabbage and leave. The professor hadn't even noticed Logan fall to the floor – hyperventilating, bro? Seriously? Isn't that a bit over dramatic? … Oh, who am I kidding, I'm the king of being over dramatic – until he was getting up casting his glance between he and Cecilia and Lena all by her lonesome as though contemplating who to stand by. Go hang out with Lena, he commanded silently as a visible scowl tugged on his lips. Apparently it's abandon Zach day, anyway. Not like I should even care. But he did care. And all of those negative emotions were already starting to ebb away into that ugly guilt from before. Was it his fault? It was starting to look that way; Lena had more of a level head than he did and she'd snapped at him worse than she had at C.C. But he was snapped out of brooding once again as a projectile whizzed past the coordinator's head and nearly gave him a heart attack. “Seriously, this is all crud that happened years ago, and you're going to let it bother you now? Being stupid when you were young isn't an excuse to be stupid now. Seriously, I can't even eat cabbage around you people.” That was when it hit him. These weren't his friends. These were imposters. Logan was never serious. Logan never turned down cabbage. Logan especially never threw cabbage. And Lena – Lena was the one who was supposed to support him, who he was supposed to support in turn. She wouldn't snap at him and turn her head as if he wasn't there. It was all starting to fall into place! The bird tamer knew meeting all three of them was too good to be true! The only person he could trust was C.C. Putting an arm around her and yanking her closer to himself as if to protect her from the supposed “imposters”, he hissed, “Either they've gone insane or these aren't Lena and Logan.” … Maybe his mind had kind of broke when Lena spit liquid nitrogen in his face.