this is way late, my bad, but for sure! i read her bio and "perpetually optimistic and annoyingly confident and exuberant" is the exact opposite of him, so i'm thinking fourth grade zara meets fourth grade, doom and gloomy laithe and for every negative, self loathing, morbid thing he had to say, she counteracted it with some positivity that for whatever reason didn't annoy him as it usually would. they bonded over having strong opinions, being clowns and lacking ambition and as they "grew up", stayed close due to never wanting to actually grow up and being emotionally stunted slackers?