Donuts

Description: The one where Zay gets invited to the New Years Party and knocks some sense into people. And something about donuts and sprained ankles.

A/N: What even is this, what did I write. I don't know. Please don't hate it. Love you, bye!

He's being suffocated in a bubble of sadness and longing glances. He's gonna hurl. He doesn't bother starting up a conversation, but rather sits on the closest available bench to the ledge of the roof. Still didn't get him far enough from the lovesick hormones. He tried really: sat by a girl with pin-straight hair and pale skin. Her innocent smile didn't prepare him for "Do I know you? I was saving this seat for Farkle". 1-0 for the little guy. Why was he invited again? He overheard Riley and … and what ever his name is discussing it as he walked out with a box full of donuts from Topanga's. Don't even judge, a box full of donuts equals a happy mom and a happy mom equals a happy son. He was sure he wouldn't have had the pleasure of even knowing this party existed if he hadn't of bumped into –Chaz, Charlie, whoever. Riley being Riley, immediately sprung with guilt and invited him. Now usually his pride would take over but he just dropped $13 dollars worth of donuts across the pavement and decided his best option was to steer clear of the home area for a few hours.

So basically, he's on a rooftop sitting alone because of donuts. Plus, his phone died and it painfully forced him to acknowledge his surroundings. He sighs dramatically, causing a few distant glares that he returns with a sly smile. Things he's learned from the 15 minutes of deafening silence in his lonely corner: Riley isn't actually that interested in Chaz. Smackle –maybe it's sparkles, he doesn't know- is way too into Farkle. Farkle actually likes Riley. Riley still likes Lucas. He's so overwhelmed he almost forgot Maya wasn't there to jump into the hexagon of feelings with them. He's gotta give his best bud props for having a talented skill of letting Riley's feeling fly right over his head when he himself had figured it out in 4 minutes flat. Hell, he knew Maya liked Lucas before Maya knew Maya liked Lucas. He makes a note to slap his friend in the back of the head twice for being so dense. He was becoming quite blasé about this whole ordeal the more alone time he got on this bench. And shut up, he knows what blasé means

"You deserve better... I'm sorry." That pikes his interest. He averts his eyes from a narrowed eyed Farkle, to Chaz. And Riley may as well of kicked his puppy off a cliff because he could feel for the boy from all the way over here. Over here still alone, might he add. But who's complaining? Not him.

No, yeah, he's totally complaining. Like full on girl-who-got-a-pimple-on-picture-day-complaining. Apparently trying to sound smart and yelling "mitochondria is the power house of the cell" to imply you're smart to your crush isn't the way to go. Apparently.

But then he looks at the mess that is his friends and realizes he'd much rather buy donuts for his mother and play Fallout 4.

A mess of blonde curls cuts in front of him and makes a beeline for his other blond friend and oh my god it's happening. All those random comments falling on deaf ears in class were finally sinking in. This is all his doing. He's got front row seats to his die hard ship. He shimmies over across the bench to hear better and catches Lucas's eyes for a moment.

Oh crap, he's caught, okay. Distraction. Distraction …..

A half eaten kit-Kat, that's the thing he pulls out of his pocket, of course. Maya turns to acknowledge him for the first time and he can feel the bile rise in his throat. He clears it and waves the wrapper nonchalant over his head. "Did you know these have 518 calories in them?" Silence. "Me neither. Continue." He scoots back across the bench, taking an awkward bite out of the stale chocolate. "Y'continue, I'll be er" He mumbles out. Lucas turns back around to face Maya and damn he's gonna get an earful tomorrow.

"Well, I'm glad you're the one standing here with me."

He nearly shits himself when his friend smiles back. It kinda makes up for everything? He- wait. He shifts his gaze to Riley who was now on the opposing bench from him and then to Farkle. Riley glances at Lucas and then back at Farkle and it's plausible this is gonna turn into a shit storm.

"5…"

Farkle picks himself up from where he's leant against the exit and Zay stands up cautiously. What the hell is about to go down?

"3…"

Farkle makes a move to the center of the roof and Zay squints at him. Nuh uh, not on his Lucaya time.

"1…"

He paces towards Farkle as everyone starts cheering because he knows this boy gonna say some stupid shit, he knows it.

"RILEY STILL LO-"

Silence falls across the roof as Farkle is lifted off his feet and over his shoulder. God damn, what is with these kids and yelling out everyone's feelings all the time?

"What are you doing?! Unhand me." The smaller boy hisses under his breath, wiggling against him. Zay lets his words slide of his shoulders (get it? Because Farkle's on his shoulder?) and makes a break for the exit. "It's been a pleasure. Maya, Lucas, Riley," He nods as a goodbye. "Smackle, keep up that high standard attitude, Chaz, see you in chem." Chaz gives him a look. What did he say?

"They needed to know, what are you doing?!" He almosts runs through the exit door, slams it shut with the back of his foot and stalks down the stairs. "As superior as I feel being this high up for once, please put me down." The shorter boy is begging now and Zay rolls his eyes. His arms were cramping anyways. He could definitely put up a fight.

"Do you promise to let your brain process words before they fly out of your mouth from now on?" He feels a huff of breath on his shoulder and incoherent grumbling before he drops the boy to his feet. Farkle purses his lips, flattening out the wrinkles in his shirt before crossing his arms over his chest.

Zay raises an eyebrow, mimicking his stance. "Do you know how close I was to flinging you off that roof? I was ready to go all Jackie chan on your ass."

"The New Year shouldn't start off with a lie."

"Who died and made you king of everyone's feelings? You and Riley man, you belong together, blurtin' everyone's supposed feelings like you majored in psychology and shit." Farkle pales and parts his lips to object. Zay raises a hand to the shorter boys face. "And another thing," he tilts his head, "Love? Ain't nobody love anybody, we're in middle school, calm down."

Farkle pushes his hand out of his face. "You don't know how she feels."

"That's the problem, isn't it coconut head? I mean dude you're like a pal to me, you're funny as hell. But just because you have a 4.0 gpa does not mean you understand Riley's feelings. You're never gonna understand girls feelings, girls don't understand girls feelings." There's a pause where Farkle drops his head and well damn Zay just feels like a jerk now. He didn't wanna hurt the little guys feelings but you mess with a guys ship, hell's gonna break loose. Don't care who you are. He'll unleash hell on one of the people in that ship if they're gonna act foolish.

Bottom line, Zay is not to blame. Zay is always right. Zay is the love guru.

Farkle sighs and Zay notices the nervous hand gestures. "I just want Riley to be happy."

"Forcing two people who clearly have no idea how they're feeling is not gonna make Riley happy. It's not gonna make Lucas or Maya happy either. I'd break out into a rant about how you only bothered to listen to one side of the story, but man. I get it. You like a girl, it's completely normal."

"I-I-I do not like Riley." If the stuttering didn't give him away, his defensive expression did.

"Oh no, you put that on yourself, I never said a specific girl."

"Wait a minut-"

"On another note, you must be damn blind if you can't see how infatuated Maya is with Lucas. She lights up like a Christmas tree when he enters the room. Riley still has lingering feelings for him, yes, but the feelings are completely different to each other."

"I never thought abou-"

"And how come no one has asked Lucas what he feels, hmm? I mean I know because I'm his best friend-"

Farkle scoffs. "Pipe dreams, my friend."

"Oh no, I'm definitely his favorite, he just ain't gonna tell you that. And don't interrupt me."

"You keep inter-"

"Farkle. If you like Riley, go for your girl, man. As for Lucas, if you can't see how whipped he is for that blond mess, then you legit need to be thrown off that roof to knock the least bit of sense into yo-"

A creak of a door echoes down the hall and the boys look up. Fear itches into Farkle's expression. "Was someone liste-" Zay slaps a hand over Farkle's mouth and Farkle peels his hands off, shooting daggers at him. "You need to stop touching my face. And the rest of my body, thank you." He mutters.

Zay dismisses him and sneaks down the hall towards the door. Farkle rolls his eyes as the darker skinned boy does a twirl before pressing his back against the farther wall. He watches Zay motion for him to come with a nod of the head then drops to the ground and rolls.

"As you've said yourself, and I quote," Farkle raises a hand, "We are in middle school, you're not 007"

Zay stands up with a hurt expression. "You know what, Farkle, I take this friendship back, we are don-" They freeze as a crash and a cry of pain are heard from right around the corner. Zay's eyes almost roll out of his head when he recognizes the voice.

"Lucas, are you okay?" Another voice shouts from the other side of the wall followed by heavy footsteps. You have got to be kidding me. He spares a glance at Farkle and rounds the corner.

Lucas looks up at him from the floor with a guilty smile while a brunette drops to her knees beside him. Lucas doesn't break eye contact. Zay crosses his arms over his chest as Farkle pushes past him, bumping shoulders. Leave it to Lucas Friar to be the nosy one. He would have been less shocked if it was Maya.

"How long have you been here? Both of you." Riley plasters on the same guilty smile. She stands up slowly, dusting off her knees, laughing awkwardly, but quietly. Zay doesn't take notice and crouches down to eye level with Lucas.

"Hey Buddy." Lucas gets out before a hand slaps the back of his head. "Ow."

"Don't hey buddy me. You know the rules. Guy time is guy time, and other guys do not

spy on guy time when one guy is having guy time with another guy. Zay responds. He

attempts at another slap to the back of the head when Lucas catches his wrist in his hand. God damn Lucas and his god damn gorilla hands. He doesn't give up the suspicion that he's some youth undercover cop, because zay just turned 16 and he's still waiting for puberty to hit him like that, that fast.

Riley's voice cuts the tension. "I just came in like a minute ago to see where everyone went and Lucas was hiding behind this wall-"

Lucas cringes. "Let's just leave it at that."

"And then I heard you guys arguing and Lucas peered over the wall and got his foot stuck in that baseboard heater-"

"Can we focus on my clearly swollen ankle please?"

Lucas's words get drowned out as Riley continues. "But he must have sensed me because he turned back around and twisted his leg and boom he's on the floor."

Zay goes tell his crippled friend that he's never gonna let him forget this but the door whips open harshly.

"I heard a crash and I wasn't sure who it was from and thought someone was dying, but didn't wanna rush in because Riley just came in," Maya takes a deep breath, "but then it was silent and I was like ok I gotta make sure Riley didn't die- and Lucas of course. I mean all of you, I don't have favorites I swear- Lucas your leg!"

Zay smirked. On the inside he was giggling like a Japanese school girl. His ship is sailing and its so beautiful he's gonna cry. But he won't, because he's a man. Obviously.

Riley steps aside and shifts towards Farkle as Maya crouched down beside the other blond. The three of them watch in silence as the two bicker. "I can stand myself, Maya", "Don't tell me what you can and can't do when your ankle is swelled up to the size of a baseball" followed by, "You see what I mean? You just fell again and probably damaged it more" and "I know that. You know how I know that? Because IT JUST HAPPENED AND I'M IN A LOT OF PAIN".

Zay should give himself a pat on the back for this. Who knows what would have happened had he not been there? And besides, he has two ships that need to sail now. "Lucas, please, control yourself. I'm thinking." Smiling like the cheshire cat, he turns to face the couple behind him. "Farkle, it's 12:26, can't start off the new year with a lie. Why don't you tell Riley what you need to say?" He can faintly hear Maya and Lucas arguing as he pushes Farkle and Riley in the other direction.

"YEAH, HI, MAYBE YOU FORGOT ABOUT THE GUY ON THE FLOOR IN SEVERE PAIN? THERAPY SESSIONS CAN WAIT."

He thinks maybe he should have let his ships sail a different day when he's starring at the water machine in the emergency room. They've been here for six hours and his holiday cheer is disappearing in big chunks. He glares at the cylinder paper cups, one of which had leaked on his pants an hour prior. Perfect. A nurse strolls by, eyeing him as he struggles with the handle, pauses, and then walks away swiftly. Apathetic doctors are his favorite. Sarcasm? No not at all. He's wasted as much time as one possibly could in a waiting room for 6 hours. He's gone to the store (for reasons no one knows about yet), got a burrito, and even chatted up-and failed- the pink haired girl who was in for a fractured wrist.

Maya sighs and shoots up from her seat, muttering something about the bathroom. Zay waits until blonde curls are no longer visible before grabbing a chair and turning it towards Lucas with a questioning smirk. Lucas looks up from his ankle and meets his gaze, his eyes flash with horror. "If I could run right now, I would."

"Buddy," Zay coo's and Lucas shifts in his seat.

"No."

"Best friend."

"Even more of a no."

"It's guy time."

Lucas scans the waiting area, Riley and Farkle were at the other end of the room, his mom was getting food (not for him, for Zay, he wouldn't stop complaining). Zay swears the blond lets out a tiny whine before dropping his head. "This is karma. This is totally karma. "

Zay scoots closer, clapping his hands together. "Now, about that 'that kinda makes up for every' speech I overheard- stop groaning this is crucial. I know you heard everything I said back there. And I know you're driving yourself crazy about it." He says sincerely, patting Lucas's shoulder. "Talk to me, man."

"I don't wanna talk about it."

"Tell me something then. You and Riley kissed, who initiated it?"

Lucas tilts his head at him, narrowing his eyes. It was silent for a few moments and Zay knew the wheels were spinning in his head. "Not me."

"And the almost kiss at the camp-"

"Me."

"Who asked who on a date with Maya?"

"If you don't stop with these questions, I'll give you an ankle that matches mine."

Zay leans back in his chair, his bottom lip sticking out. "Stop trying to crash my ship."

Turns out, Lucas only slightly sprained his ankle. Big baby. Something about the fibia and a tensor bandage, he really wasn't paying attention, he was too busy stealing tape off the cart in the hall and stalked back into the room unnoticed.

And realistically when he took the tape, the tower of towels went timber and long story short, everyone hates him in this hospital now.

It takes another 25 minutes but eventually Lucas's mom leaves to bring the car to the front, Farkle and Riley went with her to get warm and Zay stood in the doorway like a pervert. But how can he leave when Maya's propped up in a chair beside Lucas's bed, her head leaning against her hand and a small smile on her face? The answer is no, and no he doesn't care if that doesn't make sense. He leans against the side of the door frame while Lucas looks everywhere but at the two of them.

"How did you sprain your ankle anyways?" All the color drains from Lucas's face.

"Uh...I was...like...you see," He starts fumbling over his words causing Maya to raise an eyebrow. Zay shakes his head and pushes off the door frame and steps into the room.

"We should probably go. I stole some tape earlier and I'm too young to be a juvenile delinquent."

The two blondes stare at him in disbelief but he gets a vibe off Maya that says she's actually impressed and starts to stand up to leave. Another two minutes of bickering back and forth and Maya finally helps him to the door.

"Nuh uh." Zay giggles at the furrowed brows of his ship and points up at the door frame the couple are standing right under.

"You taped a mistletoe to the hospital room door?" Maya ignores Lucas's statement and charges at Zay.

Oh shit he's done it now. He's gonna die. He's gonna sink for this ship. These puns were just too easy. But despite Lucas grabbing Maya's waist and swinging her back to him, he still takes a -very large- step back.

"It's tradition, you need to." He slaps on a smug smile to add to his cocky remark as the two glance at eachother again.

"One question," Lucas tears his eyes off Maya and turns awkwardly to Zay. "How did you know we'd be under the door at the same time?"

The question doesn't go unanswered for long when Zay pulls a stack of mistletoe from his bag. "I really didn't, that was just a fluke. I bought 6 more just in case."

Maya lets out a dry laugh, "You wait until I'm not under this mistletoe, because I swear to every god I wi-" Her threat fizzles out when large, rough hands grab her face and guide her closer.

"Apparently, I'm whipped." Lucas whispers against her lips and Maya leans up on the balls of her feet and collides her lips with his. Holy shit, campfire moment 2.0. Zay almost steals a camera too, he needs this moment embedded in his brain. Suck on that, everyone that told him he wasn't a good match maker. And to think glazed donuts brought him here.

This kiss is awkward really. Lucas can't balance and Maya's just kind of ridged and starstruck but eventually her shoulders slum and she has a hand on his arm to keep him steady. He has her unbelievably close, engulfing her in his arms and this is way too weird to be observing. Zay turns to put the tape back where he found it but then the lights start flickering and everyone jumps back as the hospital goes dark. Zay's jaw drops. He can merely see the outside of his friends figures and what in the f-

The emergency lights flicker on and the three just stare at each other. Maya opens her mouth, hopefully to make a sarcastic comment to lighten the mood but not before realization hits Zay.

"YOUR KISS WAS SO ELECTRIC YOU BLEW THE LIGHTS OUT!"

Lucas laughs nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. "No-"

"No. We didn't." Maya growls at the same time just as a nurse pushes through them.

"I'm so sorry, we have electrical guys working in the basement and they have to reboot Block B. It's a different block every hour. The lights should be on again within the next few minutes." The nurse smiles at them, completely missing the delusional expressions across their faces. Zay doesn't even care; their kiss blew the damn lights out and that's all he needs to know.

See, when he gets home -at 9:45am might he add- his mom shits a brick. And asks for more donuts. He stands his ground and says no and that he needs his beauty sleep. So he finds himself back at Topanga's with a new box of glazed donuts. Of course. Being a love guru is tough shit. He balances the box in one hand to rub at his eyes when he pushes the door open and-

Boom.

Crash.

You've gotta be kidding me.

"Gosh, I'm so-Zay?"

He raises his eyes from the box to come face to face with Vanessa. Oh god. Okay. Don't say anything stupid. Say hi, seem normal for once in your miserable life.

"H2O, Carbon Monoxide." He cringes as soon as the words leave his lips but he hears a short laugh. Whether its at him or because of him, he really doesn't need to find out. Ever.

"You seem to clearly know so much about Biology. But maybe we should study together some time...just in case you forget what the Mitochondria is one day."

He glances at the box on the ground. So pavement flattened donuts are his good luck charm. Of course. Every time he needs good luck now, he can just smash some donuts on the pavement. Seems logical. Except he can't even afford a pack of gum; he's never having good luck again.

Maybe one last time. He has one more ship to sail.

A/N:

I put this in the word counter on google and "Donuts" and "Face" come up in the top 5 used words.. What the flying fuck am I writing.

This feels...incomplete. So, I left it that way until I decide what to do with this. Although I tried to not go overboard. Lucas, Maya, Farkle and Riley are all still very confused about their feelings, so, simply Zay stopping Farkle wouldn't just suddenly make Lucas realize he's like in love with Maya. He totally is, he just doesn't know it yet. Obviously.

Also, Riarkle didn't have a conclusion. So, if you want another chapter then hit me up and review, favorite, follow. Whatever works for you. I don't know, man.