[PRP] Love Diagnosis (Erebus & Xiu)

[Melodine Cantus]

His tea was cold.

He had taken a few sips here and there, but Erebus seemed very engrossed in a book he had brought in to read. It was, quite frankly, an embarrassing shade of garish pink, and the title emblazoned on the cover with cursive writing and dotted with hearts was that of, "Madame Aroma's Guide to Love".

As absorbed as he was, the Cerberus boil also looked rather distressed. With every flip of the page, his frown seemed to deepen and his eyes narrowed into slits.

It felt like he was getting a headache. Placing a bookmark where he had stopped, he shut the book with a loud sigh.

Kaiyumi

 

[Kaiyumi]

The sound of a plate being set down immediately followed Erebus' sigh, a fancy looking booberry tart now sitting in front of the boil. Meanwhile, the one who had brought it to him stood staring at him worriedly from beside him.

Xiu had greeted Erebus with a cheerful hello when he had first entered, but had unfortunately been able to chat more with him beyond their initial exchange of words due to how busy the cafe had been. With the rush of people coming and going, she and Gene's attention had been forcibly divided on multiple people and tasks, trying to get out as many orders as quickly as possible.

Now that the crowd had finally thinned out, however, the baku ghoul had the time to drop by and offer her friend a proper hello--or so she thought, anyways. Instead of finding him happy and smiling as always, she had been surprised to see him looking rather...well, discouraged? Distressed? Definitely not his usual chipper self.

And so with an extra booberry tart in hand, she had decided to drop by and find out what was going on. After setting it down, Xiu offered the boil a smile that did not quite hide the worry in her eyes. "Are you alright, Erebus?"

Melodine Cantus

 

[Melodine Cantus]

It was then when Erebus realized that he was not in the library nor in the comfort of his room, and was most certainly making a fool of himself out in public. The boil groaned, slowly lowering his head, settling his face on the book he had been reading.

"I'm... I don't know." A muffled voice answered his friend. It was usually easy for him to reply that he was fine, but he wasn't. He really wasn't, and he was unsure as to how he could explain it to Xiu.

It did all start with Lock and his comments at the prom--oh. He lifted up his head to stare at Xiu, wide-eyed at a sudden realization that had just struck him. "Congrats on being Alumni Prom Queen by the way."

And then his face promptly met the book again.

Kaiyumi

 

[Kaiyumi]

Xiu's brows creased in worry at the lackluster reply. Pulling out a chair, she had been on the verge of sinking down into it and asking Erebus what was wrong when the boil suddenly looked up and--

The baku stared at him blankly for a good few seconds before letting out a nervous laugh, her cheeks colouring. "O-oh, right, that! Um...thank you!" What an expected honour that had been. She had just wanted to drop by and visit some friends, and then...well. Still, it warmed her heart (annnd embarrassed her) to know that people had actually voted for her for the court.

Clearing her throat, Xiu finally sat down, setting her arms on the table and leaning forward.

"But forget that. Did something happen, Erebus? You seem...down."

Melodine Cantus

 

[Melodine Cantus]

Erebus wasn't exactly surprised that Xiu had won; after all, she was one of the nicest ghouls he knew! He hadn't had time to congratulate her during prom, however, because he was too busy gawking at Lock for his absurd suggestion-- ugh. Ughhhhhhhhhhh.

"During prom, Lock said," he said, face still plastered against the pink cover, as though Madame Aroma would somehow give him some comfort (it didn't), "that uh... that well, he thinks that... I... he thinks that I like Tomoko."

"And not in the friend sense. Like, you know..." He raised his head and pointed at the book he had been reading.

Kaiyumi

 

[Kaiyumi]

Xiu blinked at him. And then at the book. And then back to him.

Oh. Was that what this was about?

Setting her hands in her lap, Xiu leaned forward and lifted her brows. "And? How did Lock's words make you feel?" she asked, despite having a pretty good guess as to what his answer would be. After all, he had gone as far as to get this "Madame Aroma" book, meaning that he at least doubted how platonic his feelings were for Tomoko if only by a little.

Orrr maybe a lot considering how distressed he seemed about all this.

Melodine Cantus