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

[Seussi]

Alexander waited with equal parts eagerness, anticipation and nervousness for Yin to open up his gift, feeling that he could in no way compete with the thoughtfulness of the one that Yin had given to him. He was pretty sure that Yin would like the gift, of course, but now he couldn't help but think that he could have done something more, something special....

Well, too late now. He watched as Yin pulled out the first of the two gifts, and smiled widely at his fiances expression. He clearly liked it, if saying so wasn't indicator enough, and though he had been fairly certain of as much, he still felt a small wave of relief go through him.

"Well, I don't know much about tea but...Well, if it's no good, I won't be offended if you don't drink it!" He said, rather hurriedly, only a moment before Yin started to say something that....

No. Not again. Not here, not now.

A familiar feeling of dread, the exact kind that Alexander had been ignoring for days...no weeks..no, longer, was sweeping through him again. This wasn't normal, and he knew it. The way Yin had started to say something, and then halted, though the rest of his sentence had been obvious. The way he looked at him now, and asked him a question, when only moments before Yin had watched him do just that.....

Alex couldn't ignore it anymore. He just couldn't.

"Yin I....I already looked inside the cover. You watched me do it." He said, slowly, feeling rather numb as he did.

ramenli

 

[ramenli]

"Oh...of course you...y-you already did that" Yin's voice was tight and full of nerves, and he found his fingers twitching, energy thrumming through his body. "I saw you? I-I-I mean I saw you. Right." But try as he might he could not remember what Alexander's reaction is. He tried to imagine it, and if he tried hard enough he could picture Alexander smiling, maybe even about the gift.

"Um I think uh, I maybe forgot something in the other room. Or is it time for you to go? Does it feel hot in here?" Whatever it was the mood was just too off. He needed to get up. To move. To go. He started to get up, not entirely sure where he was going to go and why, but he knew he really did not wish to be here right now, and it would probably be easier for both of them if he just took a walk.

Seussi

 

[Seussi]

"Yes." He affirmed, slowly, watching Yin carefully as one might watch a person who was suddenly ranting and waving a gun around in a restaurant. He didn't really know what to think of everything that was going on, of Yin's sudden nervousness, of his all around behavior these past few months, except that the other boil knew that something was wrong too. He knew, and he was trying to avoid it as much, or more, than Alex had been.

"Yin sto--" He started to say, when he noticed the tell tale signs that his fiance was about to bolt. His words cut off, and in a sudden act of desperation to keep the mantis boil right where he was, the zomboil lunged forward, much quicker than he ever let on that he could move, hand attempting to grab for Yin's arm and keep him in place.

"Don't you dare." He hissed, his voice going low. "We need to talk about...whatever just happened. Don't you dare run away from me now." It was unlike him, to be so demanding, for his tone to be so harsh, but he was just so jack damned scared.

"Please." His voice was quieter, lighter, more pleading now, as if he realized he should have been more gentle.

ramenli

 

[ramenli]

Yin had not been expecting Alexander to move so quickly, nor so suddenly. As fast as his reflexes were he was just a second or two behind, and the zomboil's hand clamped down on his arm, effectively shackling him into place. When it came to speed Yin normally had the upper hand, but sheer strength went to the zomboil, and Yin already knew that he would not be able to escape his grip unless he did something desperate. Despite how much he wanted to leave, he wanted to hurt his bonded even less, so while he pulled and tried to back away not entirely unlike an animal in a cage his efforts were in vain.

Alexander's words...they tested him. He tried to jerk his arm back, hoping to catch the other boil off guard, letting out an unhappy hiss of his own when he still could not escape. "No we do not," he insisted, heart hammering in his chest.

Then Alexander's plea hit him, and for a brief moment the fight was all but driven out of him. His shoulder's slumped, and deep down he knew the zomboil was right. There was something going on, something was off, but surely it was not truly that bad. "It is nothing Alexander," he said, voice pleading, even as he looked down and could meet his fiance's eyes. "It was just a mistake. We do not have to discuss this."

Hoping that the zomboil would be caught off guard after him seemingly not fighting his grip any longer the weremantis yanked his arm back, trying to free himself and poised to flee. Anything to not have this conversation.

Anything than having to face that someone else also thought something was wrong.

Seussi

Why don't I drink again?

 

[Seussi]

At first he thought that Yin was going to fight it, fight him, in order to get away. He could feel muscles tense beneath his fingers, but he had locked down tight and knew that if the weremantis was to leave, it would be by dragging a zomboil behind him all the way....or, at the very least, just Alexander's arm as it might very well come unattached.

But then he felt the other boil give in, felt tension ease as Yin's shoulders slumped forward. "I wanted to believe it was just nothing for a long time, Yin. But it is something, and I think it's important. You said we needed to be honest with each other!" He reminded him, a little bit sternly, "So, if we're being honest." His group did nothing except tighten. "I think I should tell you that something is definitely wrong with you, and I think it started when you got that hunter chip removed from your core."

He felt the yank. It was hard enough that he heard his shoulder pop, felt sinews strain and snap, and if he wanted to keep his arm to himself he had no choice but to release him.

"If you leave now I'm not going home." He said, "I'll stay here until you come back and talk to me." The other boil might have been out the door when he said it, but he hoped he heard him.

ramenli

because drinkings bad mkay

 

[ramenli]

Alexander's words cut him. There was something wrong with him. It was not that he had messed up, there was just something wrong with him. And that scared him. Scared him because deep down he knew Alexander had a point, and it scared him because he did not know what to do to fix it.

He was not even sure what it was.

Now he was free from Alexander's grip though, and he scrambled to his feet, knowing that this was his chance. There was no way Alexander would be able to catch him. He was halfway to the door when Alexander started talking again, and his steps stuttered. He risked glancing behind him, knowing it might slow him down, but Alexander was still where he had left him, not trying to follow. "You cannot," he said, eyes wide, momentarily distracted from the conversation at hand. "Your mother is expecting you." He swallowed, trying to think of something, anything to say that might convince the zomboil. "We do not need to talk about this Alexander. I do not remember doing anything bad." His voice was pleading now, but he was still inching toward the door. "I am not doing anything wrong Alexander. The core had to be removed, you have to know that."

Even as he spoke, even as he had inched toward the door, he had also been slowly shifting, despite having an audience. Larger patches of green spotted his skin, his mouth twisting ever closer to mandibles, a slight hiss accompanying his words. His fingers lengthened and grew thinner, serrated edges lining the bottom edge of them as his body sought out what form of comfort it could offer him.

Seussi

 

[Seussi]

Yin wasn't the only one scared right now. Alexander was absolutely terrified, and he wasn't even the one that seemed to be experiencing lapses in memory and time (as that is the only thing he could see this being). If his shriveled and rotted heart could beat, it would have been beating loud and hard enough for every vampire in a 20 mile radius to hear. If he required breath it likely would have been shallow, hitched. Instead, however, he was able to appear remarkably calm and still, though his all encompassing worry was plain in his pale gaze.

It didn't surprise him in the slightest that Yin was attempting to run. That was, after all, what the other boil seemed to do whenever he was extremely upset. It was disappointing, however, to know that he -no, they- hadn't grown past this. That they couldn't sit and talk and figure things out like adults. If he wasn't feeling so panicky on the inside, this might have even been a moment for him to doubt that they were even ready to be married, if they couldn't even be ready to deal with situations like these.

But thankfully that thought did no enter into his head. Instead, his mind was whirling at a mile a minute, trying to come up with a solution, to find more words to say that might make Yin stay.

"I can, and I will." He confirmed, gaze lifting to where Yin now stood. "We do need to talk about this, Yin. Because that is the problem. You don't remember. If you'd done anything bad, how would you even know?" He pointed out, knowing that what he was saying could only be upsetting the weremantis more. But what else could he say now?

"I know it did. I know you needed that. I'm not saying any of this is your fault." No, it all went back to the hunters for him, as it always did. This was their fault, because they were the ones that had stuck their technology inside of Yin to begin with.

As he continued to watch Yin, he noticed him inching closer to the door, and he knew he was still losing him. Even more concerning was the fact that the other boil was shifting as well, something that he did not often do in front of Alex, and a sure sign that he was now feeling too uncomfortable to be in his humanoid form.

"Yin, calm down, please." Alex carefully set down the gift Yin had give him, which was still sitting on his lap, to the side, before slowly beginning to push himself to his feet, reaching out a skeletal hand in the weremantis's direction. "We can figure this out, I promise. I'm scared too, okay?" And he sounded it, that edge of panic that he felt inside readily infiltrating his tone of voice.

ramenli

 

[ramenli]

How would you even know. That struck Yin all the way down to his damaged core, and he visibly cringed. He hunched slightly, arms drawn up to his chest defensively, his body language shirking back to what he had used when he had first left the Mantodae, when he had first arrived at Amityville.

He could not do this. This was too much, and it was too difficult.

Maybe if he just left he could forget this entire conversation had even happened.

Alexander was making a move toward him, but for the moment Yin struggled with seeing him as his fiance. As his bonded. His words were cutting into him, and if he accepted the zomboil then he had to accept what he was saying as well. He just was not prepared for that. His elbow brushed the closed door, and he knew exactly how many steps it would be to the end of the hall. The number of the stairs that he had used to practice counting on his way up and down them. The shortest path out the front door and to freedom.

I'm scared too, okay?

He froze, hand stretched toward the doorknob, the tone of Alexander's voice cutting through his thoughts, taking his arguments and shredding them with the tone that he had caused. Being terrified was excusable, but hurting Alexander? There was pain in his chest as it constricted, and for once it was not caused by the mostly healed wound on his chest. "I do not know what to do," he whispered, the hiss carrying through the air, slightly marred by the telltale clack of his mandibles as the words escaped through his only partially humanoid mouth.

Seussi

 

[Seussi]

Things were looking grimmer by the second. He knew that what he had said might be perceived as harsh, but he did not know how else to get through to the weremantis how serious this actually could be. It did not seem like nothing, as the other boil so professed. It did not seem as if it was not a big deal at all. No, it was a big deal, a big problem, in fact, and one that needed to be faced, not ran away from, no matter how appealing that temporary solution might be.

Alexander swallowed, hard, after professing his own fright over this situation. He didn't want Yin to leave him here, alone, worrying about him, afraid that he would leave, and forget that this had happened, only to come back and have them do this all over again. He was scared for him, scared of what it could mean, for Yin, for both of them together, for their longevity as a couple, which he wasn't sure would be very long at all if Yin continued to run away from every single problem they had (not that Alexander hadn't run away his fair share as well).

But something he had said seemed to have made some kind of impact. Yin had stopped, if only momentarily, his half transformed figure growing still even as it reached towards the door, moments away from bolting.

Yin's words cut at him, his own fright, carried through the air on a whispered hiss that only sounded half like the Yin he was more used to, but that didn't make it any less potent to hear. Alex's gaze became pained, an almost helpless, pleading look in them, as he took just one more shuffling step forward, reaching his hand out further. "Maybe that's what we can figure out, together, if you stay."

ramenli

 

[ramenli]

Yin's eyes darted between Alexander's face and outstretched hand, taking in the worried look, the hair that rarely laid flat, and bones that he knew almost as well as his own hand. He could not leave that. There was no part of him that wanted to, not for a prolonged period of time. Yes, he wanted to avoid this discussion Alexander was insisting they have, but the proposal, the idea that they could work on this together and maybe come up with something, was nothing he would ignore.

"We have made it through everything else," he hissed, mostly to himself. Not unscathed, obviously, but they had survived. They watched out for each other and had each other's backs.

Alexander had searched for him when the hunters had taken him. And rescued him. Surely that proved something.

Slowly he took a single step toward the zomboil. Admitting there was a problem was the first step after all.

Seuss

IDK if we want to wrap this soon and skip ahead to them working on s**t, or just keep going here. Up to you!