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Alex had done all those things. Yes. All of them.

As it came time to get ready, Alex snapped his book shut and put it back on the stand next to the bed. It had been such a quiet and relaxing day so far but he knew that all hell was going to break loose at any minute and it made him nervous as he glanced over towards Yin, who was now grabbing a new shirt from the closet to put on. It was one Alex hadn't seen before and he cocked his head to the side as he watched Yin put it on.

"That's...new?" He asked, noting the stiffness of the collar and how slightly uncomfortable Yin looked. He stood up from the bed and walked up to him, eyeing the collar.

"You knoooow.." He said, grinning and casting a glance over to his closet full of ties. "If you want to borrow one, just say so! I'll happily help you put it on!"

But for now he should probably get dressed himself. His mom had washed all of his clothes, managing to get out the worst of the stains. He went over to the closet and grabbed out his cleanest shirt, pants, and then to the other side of the closet to put on a new tie as well. Might as well, right? He grabbed one that was white with red stripes trimmed in black, then took off to the spare room to get changed before wandering back into his bedroom several minutes later.

"I can hear people arriving. Are you ready?"

Alex was only slightly disappointed that Yin didn't want to wear a tie. Didn't he know how good it looked? Ah well. He eyed the tie that Yin pulled out of the closet, and nodded in approval. "I like it." Of course he did, why else would it be in with his collection? Mentally he check marked it as one that would be going back to school with him, however. He wondered if he would be able to get Yin to pick out any more that he liked so Alex could take them back as well?

Obviously thoughts of the discussion Alex had with his mom last night were running through his mind. He kept focusing on one thing that she had said "there might not be anything there now, but there might be in the future." If there was any way that statement could possibly be true, Alex had decided he would try anything to make it happen, and so he wanted to do whatever he could to please his friend and just...hope for the best. The talk with his mom had actually really opened his eyes in a lot of ways. He was feeling more comfortable around Yin now, having just accepted that the feelings were there and he wasn't going to be able to change it. He also no longer had hopes that they would just go away on their own either. Instead, he just...embraced it, and looked forward to every moment he would get to have with Yin, even if it never did lead to anything.

That was all he could do, right?

It was slightly awkward though, when Alex got this incredibly strong urge to reach over and grab ahold of Yin's hand to take him downstairs to meet the family members that had already arrived. He wanted to hold on to him, and not let him go until the evening was over and the weremantis went to bed for the night. It was a silly thing to want to do, he knew, but the compulsion was there, none the less.

Instead, however, he kept his arms firmly at his side, and gave Yin the most reassuring smile he could muster. "Yes, we'd better go. Don't worry, just stick with me and everything will be allright."

And with that he headed out the door and out into the hallway, excited to see his family, his horde, but nervous for his friend all at the same time.

From the hallway it was much easier to hear the talking coming from downstairs, the laughing and joking and constant hum and babble of several different conversations going on at once. More and more family members must have been arriving each minute that they had stood in Alex's room, preparing to go downstairs. Alex began his slow descent down now, recognizing some of the laughter, some of the voices, eager to see the faces of his aunts and uncles and cousins that he'd not been able to see these last couple of months.

The living room was nearly full of zombies. Young and old and in between. Boils and ghouls, some in severe stages of rot and decay so that they were mostly bone, and others looking so normal one might not even think that they were undead. There were zombies that were so young that one was even crawling along the floor, pulling itself up to it's feet by tugging on other zombies pant legs or long skirts. Silence befell the crowd as Alex slowly made eased his way into the room, making sure Yin was right beside him the whole time.

"ALEX!" One of the younger cousins called out, and it was like life and energy burst into the room once again as a mob of zombies began pushing there way forward to greet him with a hug or a pat on the back. A lot of them gave Yin curious looks, offering him names and holding out hands for shaking as well.

Alex was happily smiling at the greeters, hugging his aunts and receiving pats on the back from his uncles. Joking with his cousins, tousling the younger ones hair and leaning down to give many of them hugs as well. They had all seemed to miss him so much, and he felt a small twang of guilt for leaving them, but he had only done what he'd felt was right for himself.

A quick glance to his side to see if Yin was ok only showed that they had somehow gotten separated already. He could see that the other boil was fine, however, if not a little flustered to be surrounded by so many zombies all at once. This was, really, going to be the worst part (or so Alex imagined), however, so as long as Yin could pull through this then he was sure the rest of the evening would be fine.

And fear not, Yin! For it appeared that Alex's mom, who could see what was happening from where she stood in the entry way to the dining room, had craned up to whisper in Alex's dad's ear, sending him in to the rescue. The large zombie was clearly one of the biggest in the room as he pushed his way politely through the crowd, smiling at his relatives and asking them to kindly step aside. He ended up beside Yin, giving the boil a pat on the back with one large hand, and effectively blocking him from most of the crowd that were threatening to drown him in their numbers.

An announcement from Alex's mom rang out in a clear voice to say that there were snacks on the table, and that cleared out the room by half as many of them made their way to the dining room happily.

As more and more zombies filtered out of the lounge and into the dining room to grab some food, Alex found himself surrounded by a small group of male cousins all around his age. He had seen his dad go to Yin's rescue, so for the moment he wasn't really paying attention to the weremantis, too busy chatting and joking with all of the other zomboils that he had grown up with, and who were practically like brothers (only better, because none of them were Nathaniel).

A quick glance towards his friend showed that he had been accosted by Alex's uncle Richard, however, and Alex knew how overwhelming that particular uncle could be with his far fetched stories and desire to be the center of attention. Indeed Yin did look incredibly uncomfortable and was looking over towards Alex as though he were in need of some help.

"Hold on a second, guys." He gave his cousins a quick half smile before shuffling his way over towards his uncle, throwing an arm around the male zombie who was actually quite a bit shorter then Alex was. "Heeey, Uncle! How have you been? I see you've met one of my friends from school!" He slowly began guiding his uncle away from Yin, which would hopefully mean the weremantis could be left alone for a minute or two. His uncle was now going on and on about how he had a friend who's child had gone to Amity but had been taken out of the school because of all the rumors going around and how Alex should probably just pack up his things and come back home for good.

Same old same old.

Alex just nodded along before practically pushing his uncle through the entrance way to the dining room, slipping away from him and shambling back over to his friend.

"That wasn't so bad, right?" Alex grinned, a hopeful look in his eyes as he nodded towards the grouping of his cousins still waiting for his return, and waved them over to where he and Yin were standing.

As they all made their way over, Alex said, "Guys, this is Yin. Yin this is.." And he pointed to each one as he said their names, "Justin, Daniel, Michael, Jacob and Olivia."

Ok, so Olivia wasn't a boil, but she sure dressed like and acted like one. She wore a baggy t-shirt and jeans that hid her figure, and kept her long hair tied back and tucked beneath a ball cap. She was small, only about 5'4", and she was looking up between Yin and Alex with a tiny frown on her face.

"They're all my cousins! Well, except Olivia. She's just a stray." He laughed, and she gave him a mock glare before taking a hand out of her pocket and punching him in the arm, though she couldn't help but smile.

"I've told you not to call me that." her voice was oddly sweet and soft, sounding odd coming from such a rough exterior.

The other boils all gave Yin a smile and a nod, grunting out their hello's before Justin spoke up. "So we gonna go around back and steal some food or what, Alex?"

Alex nodded. "Of course! That's what we always do, isn't it?" He turned to explain to Yin. "Anytime the family get's together like this, Mom always put's snacks out in the dining room, but leaves the rest of the meal in the kitchen. When you're a zombie in a horde this size, if you don't get in their fast, you aren't getting anything to eat. We figured out pretty quickly that the best way to get a meal was to sneak into the kitchen through the back door while Mom and everyone else are the in dining room, grab as much food as we can, and take it outside. Now's the best time to do it, so are you in?" He hoped so, because if Yin didn't want to...well, he'd have to figure out something else then.

Yin was nodding along with the plan. Excellent! As the small group of zombies made their way out the door, Olivia casting a lingering last glance up to Alexander before slipping quietly out into the evening air, Alex paused when Yin spoke to him. He then leaned down putting a hand on Yin's shoulder and whispering close to his ear. "Everything will be fine, trust me" before giving the shoulder a light pat and heading outside himself.

The group of zomboils were laughing and joking, a couple of them pushing each other around on the deck, the typical rough housing that one might expect from young boils. Olivia didn't join in however, she just couldn't seem to stop looking between Alex and Yin as though something was bothering her. Eventually, however, a look of determination crossed her face, and she moved forward, all smiles and sweetness as she grabbed a hold of Alex's arm and pulled him along "Come on, Alex! Before anyone see's us!" She was pulling him down from off the deck so that they could make their way around the house.

Still being tugged along by the eager zombghoul, Alex cast a glance over towards Yin. "It's really not a big deal. I'm pretty sure my mom knows that we do this, and she's never told us to stop. I mean, it'd be pretty hard for her not to notice that a good portion of the food is missing when she goes to serve it."

They were all gathered around at the back door that led into the kitchen now, the sounds of talking and laughter coming through the cracks and filtering out to the group. Alex craned his head up to look through the window at the top of the door, as Olivia finally let go of his arm. "Nobody in there right now. In and out, right guys? Just grab whatever you can as quickly as possible and meet back in the trees." They all nodded silently, most of their faces split into grins. There was really no danger, but they still liked to pretend, and it was somewhat exhilarating to feel like you were doing something you really shouldn't be.

When the door was opened, they all slipped inside and set about their task.

Was Alexander a little slow getting in and out of the house? Well, ya, of course he was. But it didn't really matter as all the adults (and most of the scarelings) were still in the dining room and lounge, completely unaware of what was currently happening in the kitchen. Alex didn't even bother with a plate, he just grabbed two halturduckens, tucking one beneath his arm and holding the other with a free hand while scooping up several skewers of meat in his other. There was really only so much he could manage, and though he looked at the layered meat dish longingly, he decided he probably had enough as it was and made his way back outside, smiling happily to himself. If Yin hadn't stayed behind, he would have likely been the last one out. As it was Olivia was waiting for him on the other side of the door and fell into step beside him as Yin came up from behind and passed him on the way to the tree's.

The other zomboils and Yin were already seated when he approached. He made a move to walk towards Yin, fully intending on sitting beside the weremantis, when Olivia suddenly darted forward and snagged the spot for herself. He frowned a little, slightly unhappy with the seating arrangement, but sitting down between her and Michael regardless while she beamed at him happily.

Why was she being so weird, anyways?

Alex set his food on his his lap, and began devouring the cubes of meat off of the skewers first, picking off the cubes one at a time and tossing them into his mouth happily. It was delicious, as per usual. He was really going to miss this type of food when he went back to school.

"Everyone get enough?" Alex asked, and was replied to with a round of nods from a group of zombies too busy eating to care about conversation.

Bliss.

As usual, it didn't take Alex long to devour most of his food. The halturducken took a little longer because of all the bones that Alex didn't want to consume, so a small mountain of them were beginning to pile up in front of him as he picked them out and tossed them to the ground. Olivia seemed to be inching her way closer to him once she had finished her food, and he was starting to wonder if she was maybe still hungry and just wanted some of his food as well.

If that was the case, she was looking at the wrong zombie to share with.

Halfway through his second halturducken he was distracted by Yin, who was asking about one of the meaty concoctions his mom had made. "It's..uhhh...you know what, I'm not sure what my mom calls it. Something with meat in the name?" He laughed, and then to answer Yin's other question. "I know it's delicious, but I was in a hurry." Wouldn't have known it by how slow he went. "So I just grabbed what I could hold, didn't have time to get a plate." He tore off another strip of meat from the remainder of his meal and stuffed it into his mouth.

Alex was one of the zombies giving Yin an incredulous look. Was he seriously offering the rest of his plate of food? Did he not realize the significance of such a gesture? Well, obviously he didn't, and Alex just chewed on the meat in his mouth thoughtfully before his face split into a grin. Alex supposed that he had shared his meat platter with Yin at the Restaurant...but that was slightly different as it was a platter meant for two to share.

Nevermind the fact that Yin was trying to pass him the plate from around Olivia. Alex just turned to the zombghoul and said, as cheerful as can be "Excuse me, please!" The practically pushed her out of her place as he scooted over towards Yin. Olivia was clearly upset at having been ousted from her seat, and was giving Alex such a look, but Alex was completely ignoring her as he reached out to take the plate of food from Yin happily.

"Are you jacking serious!" She shouted, her face set in a scowl as she stood up and stormed off. The zomboils in the group watched her leave with smiles of amusement hidden behind their hands. Alex just watched her leave, completely nonplussed with her odd behavior, until his cousin Daniel spoke up between laughs.

"Alex..just..I thought you were supposed to be the smart one." He continued to laugh as Alex raised an eyebrow at them and then turned to Yin with a frown.

"Am I...completely missing something here?"