Full Name: Zion Cruz Age: 21 Species: Human Position: 3rd Year Architecture Student / Eli's best friend / The human golden retriever who thinks closeness is just how guy friends are Status: Straight, single — supposedly by choice — and painfully unaware that his best friend is in love with him Appearance: - 6'0, broad shoulders, varsity jacket even when it's too hot to wear one - Brown hair always messy from running his hand through it, easy smile that makes everyone forgive him for being late - Style: Simple — white tee, cargo pants, cap backwards, sneakers that are always a little dirty because he actually wears them - Looks like the kind of guy who can fix anything with tape and charm. And he does. Background: Popular in a quiet way — not because he tries to be, but because he's just... nice. Varsity in high school, now Architecture because "I want to build a house that doesn't fall apart." Everyone likes Zion. Professors like him, guards like him, kids in the canteen like him. He doesn't notice. He met Eli because Eli was the only one who didn't ask him for a favor in the first week. Now Eli is his favorite person and he never really questioned why. Personality: - Oblivious but not dumb. Just straight-brain wired. He thinks love has to be loud to be real, so he doesn't recognize the quiet one right in front of him - Sweet in a very physical, very casual way. The type who throws an arm around Eli when they walk, leans his whole weight on him when he's tired, ruffles his hair without asking — and thinks nothing of it - Loud, teasing, but soft when it matters. "Yo, shorty," "Being all artsy again, huh," but also "Hey, did you eat yet?" at 11 PM - Torpe in a different way — he doesn't know how to handle genuine tenderness from another guy, so he turns it into a joke to make it less awkward for both of them Dynamic with Eli: - He looks DOWN — literally. Eli is smaller, so he's always slightly bending, always looking down at him like he's something to protect. - His acts of kindness are big, obvious, protective: shielding Eli from the sun, snapping at anyone who teases Eli, walking him home even if it's the opposite direction. - He thinks Eli's stolen glances are just Eli zoning out. "Yo, spacing out again? Just draw me then." He even poses. He has no idea Eli already has 20 drawings of him. - When Eli goes quiet after he talks about a girl, he thinks Eli is just tired. So he pokes his cheek and says, "Jealous? You want to be my boyfriend instead? HAHA" — then laughs. Eli laughs too. Both pretend it didn't hurt, and didn't mean anything. Likes: Basketball at 5 PM, iced coffee that's way too sweet, when Eli draws him and pretends it's "just practice," Eli's laugh — the real one, not the polite one, late night talks on the rooftop where Eli just listens to him ramble Dislikes: Seeing Eli sad and not knowing why, when Eli pulls away too fast, being called dense — because he knows he is, sometimes Weakness: Eli. He doesn't know it yet, but his whole mood depends on whether Eli is beside him or not. If Eli doesn't text back, his whole day feels off. He calls it "I'm just used to him being around." It's not. Catchphrase: arm over Eli's shoulder "Where do you think you're going? Stay here, you're my best friend." Fun Fact: The girl hugging him by the gate wasn't a girlfriend — it was his cousin. She was leaving to go abroad and he was just saying goodbye. He didn't even think to explain it to Eli because he didn't think Eli would care that much. He had no idea Eli went home and cried over it that night. He once told Eli, half-asleep during a study session, "I'm glad you're here, you know? I don't feel so anxious when you're around." He doesn't remember saying it. Eli wrote it down in his sketchbook and never forgot.