Tattooed Mistakes (Are Gonna Fade Over Time)

Chapter 10

(Oh my god, I forgot to post this to Wattpad for almost an entire week...! O.O Let's just pretend that didn't happen...

Well, here we are, at the final (proper) chapter of Tattooed Mistakes (Are Gonna Fade Over Time). This has been fun, huh? :D I decided it needed to end on fluff. It's hard to give this story a real happy ending, so the least I can do is leave it at a nice place. Although, there is still an epilogue yet to come~ And with this chapter being so late, the epilogue is coming tomorrow!

It's been a while since I updated any other fics but don't worry, now that TM is coming to a close, I'll get back to Limelight and BtB and AGAZ and all that good stuff very soon!)

He had definitely calmed down since Alonzo came home, Rizzo could see that clear as day, but she couldn't help worrying about her brother still. Sometimes she wondered if Zephyr was becoming too dependent on his boyfriend, and as his big sister, she felt it was her job to address the issue. Winter break was coming to an end and although Zephyr had tried to enjoy his time, especially now that Al was with him again, Rizzo knew neither of them were coping well enough. But they could start to heal if they would just let go of the last threads of insecurity they were holding onto.

They weren't going to fix everything so soon. Maybe even at all. But they'd never know if they didn't take the first step beyond their mistakes.

BFZ were still on hiatus seeing as Alonzo was having enough trouble readjusting back into his normal life, and it didn't help that their previous audience had diminished by about fifty percent. A lot of people didn't want to see a group fronted by a murderer. Despite that, Zephyr had managed to pick up his guitar again at times when he was alone in his room. Up until now, Rizzo had always chosen to leave him be when she heard him playing. That was his time for himself, but she felt like this talk couldn't wait any longer. She burst into his room, unannounced, as usual, and he swung round to glare at her.

"Rude!"

"Don't care."

"What do you want? I'm busy."

She folded her arms, "We gotta talk."

"Can't it wait?"

With a shake of her head, Rizzo stepped towards him, "Oh, I have waited long enough and I am not seeing any progress."

She went to grab his guitar and he jerked back.

"You have got to quit touching my stuff, Riz."

"Put it down," she demanded, "You need to talk this out and I don't see you trying to talk to nobody else."

He scoffed and rolled his eyes but did as he was told, "Alright, fine. But what do you even mean by 'progress'?"

"I mean you're not getting anywhere! Sure, Alonzo's back now so you're not angry all the time or moping around anymore but I can tell there's still something wrong here. And it's because you won't admit there was ever anything wrong."

That only confused him.

"Of course there was something wrong...!"

"Something wrong with you."

"I am fine," he insisted, "What matters now is helping Al get through it."

"Al's not the only one involved, though. You need-"

"I need to be there for him," at least he was calm. Not like when he and Alonzo were separated, "This isn't about me. It was never about me, it's about him. It's my job to take care of him."

Rizzo softened for a moment, "Zephyr..."

"You've heard what they've all been saying about him," he went on, "He's the one hurting here."