[PRP] So, it has come to this (Alexyinder)

[ramenli]

Yin's room was in shambles. In fact, it looked rather like Alexander had stayed in his room for a week without him around to pick things up. Papers were strewn across the practice mats (which were haphazardly flipped upside down), the sheets were in one corner and the mattress sat on the bed diagonally.

That was not all. Practically every nook, cranny, and crevice had had it's contents removed, rearranged, and shoved back in. Somewhere a clock was ticking, and while Yin was not necessarily concerned about the precise moment it struck 3:00 (Alexander was rarely on time anyways, even if he was heading over right after an exam), he did know that Alexander would be here, soon, and he was no closer to finding his present than he was 7 hours ago.

He had not even been to the gym this morning.

This was serious.

Plus they were on a schedule here. They had to exchange gifts then get Alexander to the train station so he could take the last train home and be home in time for all the Christmas Eve cooking that Lady Van Rotte insisted he take part in. Yin had heard all about it the past few weeks. All about it.

There was already no time to pick things back up and even try to make them presentable so Yin just kept searching for the box, wishing that he had went with something large with flashing lights so it would be easier to find. He knew he had bought it, could remember perfectly the ghoul that had sold it to him, but for the life of him he could not remember where he had hidden it. That knowledge made him almost as frantic as not being able to find the present did.

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With his final-final exam of the year finished (the test itself a cakewalk for the zomboil), Alexander only had one stop to make before heading over to his fiance's dorm room, and that was to his own. Of course, at his typical slowly shambling pace, even though he was trying to go quicker than usual, that meant that he was likely going to be late for his appointed meeting time with the weremantis, though he was sure at this point, that Yin understood it was par for the course.

Still, he did shuffle that little bit faster than usual, not wanting to waste any time when he had so little of it left before he would be boarding a train and leaving for his families home. Sure, it would only be for a couple of days, but even that was hard to think about, and not just because he knew he would miss Yin, but because for several weeks now, something had seemed wrong with the other boil, no matter how much Alex tried to ignore suck thoughts, pushing them aside, coming up with exuses for the mantodae's strange behaviour. The more he thought about it, however, the sicker he felt, and the less he wanted to leave.

But that was silliness, of course. Yin would be fine. It wasn't as if he would be completely alone, either. He had friends, and he had his mother, and he also had a phone that he could use to call Alex with at anytime. And so, for at least the hundredth time in the last week, he shoved worried thoughts aside, and instead tried to focus on other things.

Like making sure all of his minipets had enough food, and checking that he had, indeed, packed enough ties for his journey. Most importantly, however, was that he remembered to grab Yin's gift before leaving the undead dorms, suitcase and wrapped box in hand, heading towards the monster dorms in the same attempted speed he had used to get to his room.

Hours later He arrived at Yin's room, glancing down at the watch built in to his wristband to see that the time was 3:30 (nice! That speed trundling had paid off!) before he knocked politely on the door to announce his presence, a split second before opening the door to let himself in, a ready smile already on his face.

Which slipped away the second he saw the state of the room. The zomboil was, for once, absolutely speechless.

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I blame any errors on ac

 

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It would be completely understandable if Alexander did not see the mantodae when he first arrived. The weremantis in question was most of the way up the wall in his mantis form, scanning the room with the best vision available to him. As the door opened he started to manuever to the ground, then quickly shifted back to his typical from, running clawed fingers through his hair as he tried to act like the destruction around him was completely normal.

"Greetings Alexander, I trust your exam went well?" Thankfully his last one had been the day before, and he had not had to worry today. Still, his innocent question was slightly marred by the fact that he was obviously shoving papers into a pile with one foot.

Well, that and glancing furtively around for a thin box that had to be somewhere.

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Several long blinks followed as Alex's gaze moved around the room, bone hand scraping along the door handle as it fell to his side. His mouth slightly agape, his eyebrows raised, he took in the absolute disaster that almost put his own bedroom to shame.

Almost.

At first, the mantodae was nowhere in sight, but even had he been in plain view, Alexander wasn't sure he'd notice him, as he was too busy staring around.

And then it hit him. Yin had been burglarized. Alexander let out a quiet gasp, blinked several more times (rapidly, now), and his wide eyed gaze finally landed on movement, the startling sight of his fiancé in giant mantis form almost making him hide behind the door he had just recently stepped through, before he recognized who it was.

"Yin...I...what..." He swallowed, and shuffled further into the room, shutting the door behind him. "Who did this to your room???"

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Yin's cheeks flushed as he looked around at the mess. This truly was inexcusable, and embarrassing as well. "I-it was me," he admittedly quietly, crouching down to shuffle some papers together in a semblance of order. "I meant to fix it before you got back..." Yeah, and that had failed. Miserably.

It was disheartening to realize that after all of this he had not even found Alexander's Christmas present. Now he had to go with a hastily made back-up plan...not mention presents at all and hope that Alexander forgot before he left. Maybe the room would distract him enough.

"Please do not worry, when I am finished I am sure that everything will be even cleaner than before. In fact, distractions were a great idea, so he started carefully picking his way over obstacles on the ground to where the zomboil stood. "Do you have everything ready for your journey home?"

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Wait, what? "But...why?" He couldn't help but ask, even as Yin made his way towards him. "I mean...No really, why?..." He dropped his things just where he stood, his suitcase, as well as the gift (really, what was just a couple more things littering the floor at this point), shuffling in just a little further to help make up the distance between the two of them.

At Yin's question, he blinked again, his mind obviously quite elsewhere. "Hrm? Oh, ya, my bag..." he gestured behind himself towards his suitcase vaguely, a frown creasing his forehead as he continued to gaze around.

This all just seemed so very wrong.

"Do you want help cleaning up?"

Apparently he was rather stuck on this.

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[ramenli]

In the chaos and confusion of the room, one thing stood out, and Yin had to blink several times as he tilted his head in confusion. "You are offering to clean?" Alexander. The same boil that left his room in complete disarray at all times, was offering to help.

It was probably a Christmas miracle, but at the same time guilt stung at the back of his mind. He could not knowingly let Alexander helped him clean up for something that was purely his fault. "It is not that big of a deal," he said, aiming for nonchalance. "I simply cannot find something and I have searched everywhere in this room multiple times. I am sure it will show up later. Please do not worry about it."

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Yay phone tags!

 

[Seussi]

It was simply unnerving to see Yin's room in such disarray. As much as Alexander detested even thinking about having to clean, it was a small price to pay to restore a general feeling of normalcy.

Especially with all of the other strange things going on. Especially with all of the strange things going on with Yin....

"Well ya, I mean..I might not be very good at it but I could..." He looked around with a hopeless expression, his voice trailing off as quickly as his thoughts, a hand raised before it fell helplessly to his side. He didn't really want to spend the last couple of hours he had with Yin before he had to board a train to head home for the holidays cleaning.

"Okay, fine." He frowned, listening as Yin explained further. "What do you want to do instead, then?" He asked, momentarily forgetting about the gift that he had brought with him, the sight of the weremantis's room having apparently been shocking enough to give him his own small memory lapse.

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What could they do instead? Yin froze, eyes startled, and panic setting in. He had not really thought of that. "Homework?" No, wait, he no longer had homework because nothing was assigned over the break. "Er I mean studying? You know, to get ahead for next year?"

It sounded flat even to his own ears, but he had no idea what else to say. Really he needed Alexander to leave the room so he could keep looking for his present. He had already looked everywhere in the room for it so...

That was it. He had looked everywhere in the room. So it must not be in the room. Where would he have put the present if not in the room? One could almost hear the gears grinding in Yin's head as he started to skirt around Alexander. "Actually I have just thought of something? Could you wait here for me for just a moment?" He darted out the door, closing it behind him, and scrambled down the hallway toward the empty rooms he sometimes hunted in. They were dark and grimy, and after several minutes he saw the wrapped package which he then carried triumphantly back to his room.

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Well, now it was clear. This wasn't actually Yin. It couldn't be. Somebody had swapped out his personality and replaced it with something more akin to Alexander's. A messy room, a desire to study of all things. The moment Yin requested it, for just a split second, Alex's face lit up at the idea, but that quickly melted away into a perplexed frown.

"Are you feeling okay?" He asked, clearly not buying any of this. "You're acting so...not you." He gestured, rather helplessly, before letting his hand drop at the other boil suddenly making his way to the door.

"Wha---okay, ya, whatever, sure." He had no idea what was going on, and gave his head a small shake before brushing black and white hair out of his eyes, completely bewildered.

With a sigh once Yin was gone, Alexander moved further into the room, not until that moment remembering the gift that was tucked in underneath his arm and ready to give to Yin, who had hurried away.

With a huff, he collapsed on the floor and waited, back up against the wall, eyes closing.

What a way to spend their last couple of hours together. Alexander never felt more confused and completely flustered in his unlife, though that seemed to be becoming a trend lately, something that he couldn't possibly continue to ignore.

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[ramenli]

Package under his arm, complete with authentic cobweb decorations, Yin hurried triumphantly back into the room. "I knew it had to be somewhere," he announced, a hint of smugness in his voice. Of course, the fact that he had not even been looking in the right room worried at the back of his mind, but it was overshadowed by the fact that he had managed to find Alexander's present before the zomboil had to leave.

He was not expecting his boilfriend to be over against the wall, but it made some sense. Alexander tended to sit when he could, not actively wanting to stay on his feet, so Yin gingerly hovered his way over the stuff littering the floor and then crouched in front of the zomboil. "I am sorry that my room is such a mess Alexander, but I will have it cleaned by the time you get back from your trip." He gave the zomboil a tentative smile and held out the gift, a medium sized but fairly slim rectangle. "But let us not bother with that now. It will be Christmas tomorrow so you should open your gift now."

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The sound of the door opening was enough of a clue that the weremantis had returned, and Alex's eyes opened once more, a smile on his face as he watched the other boil hover nearer to where the zomboil sat. At first, the announcement upon Yin's arrival had been rather confusing, until he took in the wrapped package in the other boil's hand, puzzle pieces clicking together in his mind.

"You lost my present?" He sounded faintly amused, as he sat up straighter from his slouched position, though even as he said it, he realized that Yin must have spent hours tearing apart his room in search of the gift, only to realize that it wasn't in his room at all, which was, well, odd, to say the least.

Just one more thing to add to the growing pile.

The smile didn't waver even while his thoughts turned to worry, and he reached down to the floor next to him, before grabbing the gift wrapped in black with orange and white stripes and offering it out to the other boil with one hand while taking the other.

The gift wasn't overly large, but it was rather heavy for it's size.

Once the exchange was complete, Alexander was wasting no time in tearing into the present Yin had given him.

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Yin accepted his own present, slightly startled by the heft of it, but did not open it immediately. Instead he watched as Alexander ripped into his gift. The book that was inside would be easily recognizable, a collectors edition of The Nightmare Before Christmas. It was a very nice edition though, but that was not all that there was to it. "Look in the front cover," Yin said, neck heating up as he started to get flustered over the gift. The nice thing about it being lost is that he had not worried about whether or not Alexander would like it all day, but now he was starting to get self-conscious.

Inside the cover was a pocket with a CD, a simple label stating "Narrated by:" and in his own distinctive scrawl his name.

But he really was getting self conscious so even as he said that he started slicing the tape on the wrapping paper for his own present, working to unwrap it in an effort to distract himself in case Alexander was wondering why Yin had gotten him a book he already owned. Yeah, now that he thought about it it was probably silly, and there was probably a reason the ghoul running the reporting booth has smiled so much when he'd mumbled why he was there.

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There was always that small yet giddy sense of excitement that came from opening presents, like he was just a scareling again on his very first Christmas morning. The fact that this particular gift came from Yin made it more special, as he was sure his fiance would only have gotten him something that he had put a lot of thought into, something that would likely be incredibly meaningful.

But as he tore off the wrapping paper to get to what was inside, at first, he was confused. It was a copy of a book that he already owned, and for a moment, he looked slightly puzzled, though he still smiled as this book in particular brought back a lot of fond memories.

His bone fingers ran over the cover, until Yin's voice startled him, and he glanced up to the other boil, his grin widening. Curious, he wasted no time in flipping the cover open, only to see what was inside.

He saw the CD with it's label, and at first he couldn't quite process what he was seeing. Yin had..recorded himself? Reading this book? Alex looked up at the other boil, startled, his mouth slightly agape. "Yin...this..." He began, and suddenly his throat seemed too tight, tongue too big for his mouth.

"It's wonderful. Thank you so much!" He smiled, his gaze bright as he leaned forward in an attempt to give his bonded a light kiss on the cheek even while he opened the gift that Alexander had gotten for him.

A gift that now he was afraid wasn't nearly as thoughtful.

Inside Yin would find a teapot, carefully wrapped in bubble wrap to keep it from breaking, which was clearly the culprit for the weight of the box. However, along with that, was a canister, which on the front had a label with a list of ingrediant's, and a title of "The Green Tea Special". Inside was a blend of three different teas.

Alexander was feeling rather embarrassed now himself, and as Yin looked at his own gift, he cleared his throat lightly into his hand. "I uh...I chose the different tea blends because they each reminded me of you in different ways. It might not actually be very good all mixed together though so I'm uh...sorry in advance if it's actually terrible." A small smile was given, before he was dropping his gaze back to the book in his lap, a gift that he would most definitely treasure.

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[ramenli]

Out of the corner of his eye Yin saw Alexander moving, and while he blushed and did not really look up he also stayed completely still while his bonded moved in to brush cool lips against his overheated cheek. Instead he renewed his concentration on the present in front of him.

It seemed like no time at all had passed from Alexander passing him the gift and the paper being removed from the box, so Yin felt a bit embarrassed. He could have at least waited a moment, and he had just torn into the wrapping like a scareling with no self-discipline. Still, he had come this far so he lifted out a heavy object wrapped in plastic. Unwrapping that revealed a gorgeous teapot, the shade of green alone had him smiling, and he took the lid off to peer inside even, completely examining it. "This is wonderful," he said, then took a look at the canister.

There was some sort of list that, as ever, he skipped over, merely taking in the title and stopping as soon as he realized it was some form of green tea. "I am certain they shall all be good," Yin said, looking up to meet Alexander's eyes. "Thank you. But what are you waiting for, you sho--," he glanced down, and realized that Alexander was already holding his gift in his lap, unwrapped. A by now familiar feeling of his heart pounding just a bit too fast in his chest filled him as he nervously tried to distract from the fact that Alexander had managed to open his gift without him noticing. "Um, I mean...did you look inside the front cover?"

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