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"You don't have to be sorry, Yin, it's not even remotely your fault, and I'm not like..angry or anything." He frowned, he had once again managed to make his friend feel like he needed to apologize for something, which had not been his intention at all.

"Of course you can keep it. Why not? I don't need it, look at all the books I have! It would be just plain greedy of me not to give it to you, right?" He smiled, then moved over to the bed to sit next to Yin, his leg pressing up against the other boils. "I don't know how historically informative it really is, but it's a nice story, and most of it is an accurate account of events just...made to be more like a story then a collection of facts. I think you'll like it." He reached out to flip back the cover, then past the first couple of pages to the first page of the story.

"Go ahead." he urged, fighting against a sudden compulsion to lean down and rest his head on Yin's shoulder.

This room was seriously some kind of trap.

Alex listened to the words of the story as Yin read them out with a fond sense of nostalgia. He hadn't heard this story in quite a long time, actually, but it brought back memories of when he had been just a young zomboil first learning to read. He knew all of the words without even looking, almost surprised by how quickly they came back to him after all these years. It didn't bother him that Yin was reading it slowly, or was having some trouble with the longer words. He even thought he noticed some improvement as the other boil went along.

When he stopped reading, Alex shifted his gaze from the book to look at him curiously, feeling the book and..something warmer, brush against the top of his leg. Yin was asking him if he could read for a bit, and Alex smiled down at him. "Of course!" he replied, and then, without even needing to look at the book, continued on, but still looked down as though he were reading from the page, and turning the pages along as he went.

It didn't take long for Alex to finish the story completely. It really wasn't a very long one and there really weren't all that many words on each page. As he finished, he closed the book, then shifted it back over to Yin's lap.

"So...uh..now you know a little bit more about Jack...what did you think?"

"I've had it since I was little, but I don't ever read it anymore. This is probably the first time I've looked at it in years. It would make me happy if you would keep it, now." He answered, not wanting Yin to refuse the gift and smiling as he started flipping through the pages again.

"Ah yes, well this is just the most famous story of Jack Skellington, there are of course more, but you'll just have to read about them in your other book." He grinned, not wanting to tell Yin anything so that he could just learn about it on his own.

He saw Yin stifle a yawn, and looked out the window. It wasn't exactly late, but Alex also didn't know anything about the sleeping habits of a weremantis, and he did know that Yin got up quite early on a daily basis. "You're tired." He said, "I should go so you can get to sleep." He stood up from the bed slowly, not really wanting to leave but not wanting to keep Yin awake either. "Unless of course you want me to stay." He frowned. It wasn't hopeful thinking or anything, he was just wondering to himself if it would put the weremantis more at ease in his home if Alex stayed with him for now and then crept out after he'd gone to sleep. He could always sit down by the door, in that case, to at least be near some coolness as it filtered in from beneath.

"Ok, well, goodnight then!" He gave a vague waving hand motion-thing before reaching over and grabbing one of his books from the stand next to the bed and turning to shuffle towards the door and opening it and disappearing into the hallway.

---------------------------

Alex slipped quietly from his bedroom, book in hand, shutting the door quietly behind him. He was planning on spending the rest of his evening downstairs on the couch, alternating between reading and watching skeevee. As he turned to head down the hallway though, he found himself facing his mother, who was just staring at him, eyebrow raised. It was..unnerving, to say the least. "Mom?" He asked, raising his own eyebrow in response. "Is everything ok?"

She just smirked back at him, her eyes glittering in the dim light of the hallway. "That depends, I suppose. I think we should talk, Alexander. I also think you probably know what about."

It was just as he feared. His mom knew, and not only that, she wanted to actually talk about it. "Really mom? I don't want to talk about it. Can I just please go and read my book? If I theres anything I feel like I should tell you, I promise I will..." He was practically pleading with her, his voice a hushed whisper so as not to bother his friend in the room next to them. His mom just pursed her lips and shook her head resolutely. She as not letting him go, they were going to talk, and she was standing firm.

"Go and sit downstairs and wait for me, I'll be down in a few minutes." She hissed back, reaching up to pat him on the cheek before pushing past him towards her bedroom. Alex turned to watch her go as she opened the door to her room and disappeared.

So, this was actually going to happen then. Fine. He could deal with this. He could, and he would. He made his way towards the stairs, though his feet may have been dragging a little more then usual. Just because he felt he could deal with this didn't mean he wanted to.

Once finally downstairs, he settled himself down on one of the couches, book on his lap, as he waited for his mom to come down. He idly wondered where his dad and brother were, having not seen them or heard any noises from his brothers room as he'd gone past. It wasn't long before his mom entered the room, and sat down on the same couch as him, though a little further down and turned to face him with hands clasped on her lap.

"Where are dad and Nathaniel?" He asked, looking at his mom, who was just staring back at him again, her eyes practically probing into his soul.

"They've gone to get Isabella and bring her home. She wasn't enjoying herself at your uncles house and wanted to come back here tonight instead of waiting until tomorrow. I think she may have missed you." His mom finally smiled, a genuine smile full of love for her children, which made Alex feel slightly more at ease.

"I missed you all, too." He replied. Even the twins? Nah, but he wasn't about to say so in front of his mother. "So..what did you want to talk about?" Was he vagualy hoping that this had nothing to do with what he thought it did? Why yes, yes he was. Unfortunatly that did not appear to be the case.

His mom just looked at him, " Yǐn Cáng is a nice boy..." She started out, speaking softly and slowly, and pausing near the end as though not sure how to continue. "..You like him, don't you? And not just as a friend. I know you do, I could hear it in your voice over the phone, and I can see it in your eyes now. You've always been a fairly happy boil, Alex, but now there's just something..extra. What I want to know now is, what are you going to do about it?"

Alex's chest tightened at her words, as though hearing her say it out loud had finally made it all the more real. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse, and his eyes kept flicking down to the book in his lap as was finding it quite difficult to look his mother in the eye right now. This was just too hard, and not anything Alex wanted to discuss with his mom, but it was a little late for that. "I---I'm not going to do anything about it."

The answer seemed to surprise his mom, who's eyes had widened a little, but then narrowed quickly in suspicion "What do you mean, you aren't going to do anything about it?" She hissed, "Surely you are going to at least tell him---" But Alex was finally looking up at her, his gaze steady as he cut her off.

"No. I didn't want this to happen, and it's pretty damn obvious that Yin is completly oblivious and doesn't feel the same way. Why would I want to ruin our friendship by telling him. Why should I do that, mom? He.Doesn't.Feel.Anything.For.Me." he finished, though admitting it all out loud, what he had already known to be true...it hurt, and it hurt badly.

His mom was almost at a loss of what to do. She just sat there for a time, completely speechless. Her son was obviously in a lot of pain, and she couldn't bare to see it. She scooted closer to him on the couch, wrapping one arm around him and patting him on the shoulder with her other skeletal hand. "You're right." She murmmered softly, "I guess he doesn't look at you the same way you look at him. I'm a little surprised..but no of course you would see it, you've always been such a smart boil, Alexander. This is probably for the best, anyways."

Alex, who had for a moment been leaning into his mom's embrace, stiffened. Her words were just confirming what he had just said, and it was not what he had expceted. He started to pull away from her. "What do you mean, for the best?" he swallowed heavily past the lump in his throat, as she continued.

"I'm telling you that you're right, Alex. You shouldn't tell him. In fact, I don't even know why you would have any feelings for that..monster. You two are nothing alike and it would just turn out badly. Best if you just buried any feelings you have now and never think about them again. Oh, maybe you should think about not being friends with him anymore, either...."

Alex just stared at his mom in horror. "..You..you don't actually mean that, do you?"

She slid away from him on the couch far enough away that she could look up into his eyes and glare. "Of course I don't mean it, you idiot. There might not be anything there now but that doesn't mean there won't be in the future. The way you're feeling right now, like your world would be empty if you did any of those things that I just said? Remember that, it's important that you do." She stopped, because this wasn't quite going the way she had intended and she could see how hurt her son was, but she needed to finish what she'd started.

"Now, I know we've had...the talk, before you went to school but...I heard some things going on in that bedroom earlier and I'm a little concerned."

Oh...dear...Jack.

His mom had suddenly, from somewhere -where had she even been hiding those??- produced a handful of protection charms, and was dropping them on Alex's lap. His face began to warm up as it began to slowly flush, his cheeks glowing with a faint pink undertone under it's rotting pallor. His mouth and throat had gone completely dry. His voice came out strangled, when it finally came out at all. "Mom...what? This is just, so completely un-necessary." He reached down to pick up one of the small square packages by the corner with thumb and forefinger distastefully, fighting the urge to just knock them all off his lap to the floor and running for dear unlife. "It's also kind of gross. Where did you..Why...never mind, I don't want to know! And what do you mean, you heard things in the bedroom? We..I..no! I just told you he doesn't feel the same way, why would you think that there was something going on??"

His mom just arched an eyebrow at him. " 'This is where your hands were on me, Alexander, do you want me to continue?' to which I believe you replied 'Do it'? Sounds like there were things going on in their to me. And stop acting like such a scareling, you're nearly an adult, I simply want you to act responsibly and not do anything stupid."

Alex was just staring at her wide eyed. "That was..that wasn't.." Could this conversation possibly get any worse? "Nothing like that happenend." He finished lamely, giving in with a sigh and finally scooping the protection charms off of his lap. "I really don't think I'm going to be needing these, mom. Where exactly am I supposed to even put them??"

"I was hoping you might be able to figure that out on your own, son.." She answered, giving him a look before standing up from the couch to walk away from him.

(and that concludes day 1 of the weekend o___o)

Yin would have run into Alex's dad at the bottom of the stairs, who was just coming in from outside, his hands, shirt, and face bloodstained, and he was just about to make his way up the stairs.

"Good morning!" he rumbled cheerfully. "Alex is hunting with Izzy and Nathan." The big man announced, "Will be back soon." He stopped before going up the stairs, however, his slow brain telling him that perhaps he should say more.

"Sleep well?" He asked, in an attempt to be polite like his wife had taught him.

Alexander had been sitting on the front deck with his youngest sister and brother, for a change not even fighting with Nathaniel. They were both asking him questions about Amityville, about all the different students he'd seen, about the different teachers, and about the classes he had taken. He was regaling them with the events of trashology when Yin came jogging up, and all three of them looked in his direction at once. They had returned to the house not long after Yin had left, and so had had time to clean up the blood that had been on them from the hunt.

"Morning, Yin!" Alex said happily, though he was a little surprised. "I didn't even know you were out of bed yet..." He hadn't really expected the other boil to be up quite so early, and he'd obviously been out for some morning exercise.

He realized fairly quickly that Yin was staring at his sister, who was staring opening back at the boil. She appeared young, much younger then Nathaniel though she was in fact older then him. She had one skeletal arm up to her elbow, and her hair was long and wavy, light brown, with a thick wave of white hair falling over her eye. She liked to keep her hair that way, because underneath she was actually missing an eye, and had only an empty socket and a long line of stitches beneath. Her remaining eye was grey, like Alex's and his mother's.

"Yin, this is my sister, Isabella, or Izzy, as my dad likes to call her." He reached out to mess with her hair, and she reached up to slap his hand away, not smiling, a little bit hunched over, and raising her other hand to wave at Yin in greeting, not actually saying anything to the weremantis.

Nathaniel was pushing himself to his feet, "What's the matter, Yin? Afraid of a little ghoul?" He joked, cackling to himself as he made his way into the house. Alex shot a glare after him, but the other boil was already turned around and couldn't see it. Isabelle gave the faintest hint of a smile however, and looked down in her lap.

Alex had wished he'd known that Yin was up and out of the house. He had some..things..that he needed to hide up in his bag, which was still shoved in the corner of the closet. Oh well, he was sure he'd be able to sneak them up there later at some point, hopefully before the rest of the family showed up.

"Don't be silly, I was just telling Izzy what it's like at the Academy. Sit down?" He gestured to the empty area beside him, "Unless you're hungry or something. There are still left overs from dinner in the fridge. I can help you heat some up." Not that Alex really liked using the stove. He didn't trust anything that could be so hot and potentially start a fire.

"And no, I don't think that would be a very good idea." He laughed. Surely Yin was joking. There was no reason to be "teaching" Nathaniel anything.

"Mom says the family will be coming around sometime before dinner and staying tonight and all day tomorrow. Are you...gonna be ok with that?"

Isabelle just continued to stare down at her lap, occasionally glancing up at Alexander while biting down on her lower lip. She really looked like she had something she would like to say, but Alex knew from experience that she wasn't likely to spit it out.