Cedric had fallen in love with him too. And Zach had loved him - perhaps even as best he could. No that wasn't true, and Zach wasn't into lying, even though the truth hurt. Cedric deserved that much of him. Even before Cedric died, Zach...hadn't been able to tell him he loved him back. And he'd been too frightened of his father, too...whatever, to even do everything with him that he had wanted, that Cedric had wanted.
He wasn't frightened of his father anymore. Cedric's death had done that much. Or rather, Zach just didn't care. It wasn't enough to stop him from doing anything. No, no one was when it came to boys. That wasn't the problem with Colin. No, Zach hadn't been held back, had only held back in regards to trying to follow Cedric's example and not push, not try to make Colin do anything he didn't want to. At least Zach hadn't been a complete asshole.
Looking down at the photos, it was even harder to smile. Colin...hugged him, and Zach hugged him back. But he was being such a horrible person just being with Colin. Colin likely wasn't trying to find anyone else, even though most people would probably treat him better. And what if he thought Zach was it, how it was supposed to be? What if he hurt Colin even more than he'd ever been bad to Cedric? For better or for worse, since Cedric was dead, he couldn't actually be hurt by it. It was just Zach being a bad person. But Colin was alive and good...so good.
Listening to him as he talked, Zach just nodded. Bloody hell, he didn't deserve someone so amazing. "I ate lunch," Zach replied to the question. His stomach hadn't growled since then. And he hadn't been paying attention. "Bet she'd like that," Zach muttered. Colin...had better people to spend his time with than Zach.