The shy boy [AU - CW]

Romeo frowned a bit at the scoffing and then he heard what was going on, "wait what?" the lycan shook his head gesturing to the giant backdrop, "what you did was amazing, what is he on about?" He shook his head. No, this was as far from fair as possible. "If he wants it a certain way, he can paint it himself," he was a bit grumpy from not eating, gritting his teeth as he looked around. He thought he had an idea. "Why don't we put it to a vote? That way everyone gets a say, I mean, it's the theater club, not his personal club, right?" he tried to sound encouraging to Eden.

Not fitting the vision. Bullshit. Eden took his hand, guiding him away from the others, talking to him so quietly. Of course the vampyre wouldn't object, but Romeo had seen all the work that had been put in. "I'm not letting him shit on you like this," he said. No, it had been fair to request something different before the backdrop and the other sketches had been made, but this piece was finished. "Ehi, can we have a quick meeting?" Romeo called out, grabbing Eden's arm gently, not wanting to force him to stay, but to guide him over to the large canvas. The others came over, and Romeo smiled at them, his charming ways making some of the girls blush a little and some of the guys had to check themselves. "Eden's been working really hard on these backgrounds, and while I'm new here, I just wondered if you guys always just let one person in charge of everything?" he then went on to explain what the leader had said, even if the leader was there it would just be better. "I think we should vote - Eden's already made a lot of sketches for the other backgrounds with the same concept, so if he has to redo this one then every one of those sketches has to be redone as well," he looked around a few already clearly showing where they leaned, perhaps because they found it a little enticing that the lycan was defending the vampyre. Since when had that happened?

Romeo watched as Eden left, a bit sad, but for now he had to handle the situation in here. He spoke to most of the others, at least those that the leader didn't have wrapped around his fingers and they all really liked what Eden had done. They liked the creativity and the twist, besides everyone knew that they had ran out of color, so restarting new paintings would be quite the hassle and would cost more. "I'll go check on him," the lycan excused himself, coming out to Eden who was hopefully still outside.
"Are you alright?" he asked carefully. He knew he might've overstepped, but he just couldn't see the justice in that jerk of a leader getting to decide everything.

What met the lycan was clearly a guy in crisis, and he didn't even have to touch him to see that. Eden walked closer, cupping his face and he felt those cold hands almost burn against his face. Not in a bad way, no far from it as he relaxed in to his touch. Their faces weren't far from one another as Eden seemed to reel himself back, and let go. The lycan gasped softly, having been almost consumed by the feelings and touch. He was nauseous. Yeah, but there was something else too. As the vampyre spoke about leaving, something instinctual took over in the lycan, reaching over to take his hand. "Please don't leave," he pleaded. If anyone should leave it was him. He had stepped over the line, right? It was his fault the vampyre felt this way. "Come back inside ... We'll stay until everyone else has left," that had been his plan. He wanted to see Eden work.

They were all looking. Romeo felt eyes on him all the time so he hadn't quite realized, but then the vampyre pulled him in for a hug, one that he recipocated. A kiss right now would be nice, but he thought that might make the vampyre more fearful afterwards. No, that urge he felt from the vampyre could wait a little. "Let them stare," he whispered sweetly, hushed almost as if he wanted to make sure that the vampyre knew this was only for him to hear. "Those idiots wouldn't know what art was even if it slapped them in their faces and dragged them for 30 miles," he smiled a little at the thought, giving the vampyre a tight squeeze but not letting go until Eden wanted to. When he was ready, Romeo lifted his hand, cupping his cheek like he had up at the windowsill, smiling at him with a warmness to his eyes. "We are going to go back in there, and they are going to realize that you are an artist who knows what they're doing," he told him firmly. He knew Eden wanted to shy away, but not this time. No, this was about standing his ground. "If you feel people staring at you, just pretend they are staring at me like they always are anyways ... And when you start to feel the urge to run out again, grab my hand, he said, using his free hand to take the cold one, "and you squeeze me hard, even if you break a bone, you will squeeze and not let go; And then I promise you'll feel better."

They came back in and even though some people had changed their minds it seemed that some still were on Romeo's side. The threat made Romeo scoff, shrugging lightly, "getting thrown out from a club because you speak up sounds a bit unfair ... But I guess the story most people will hear are mine," as he wasn't really worried for himself. He looked at Eden with a small smile, before he turned his face back to look at the leader, "I think I read something in history class about a guy who was a great dictator - but I also remember something about people turning on him and the fact that he had to blow his brains out in the end," he hummed before he looked at some of the others. "Do you all really mean to think that what he says is right 100 percent of the time?"

The boyfriend remark made him frown a little, but he actually took it as a compliment. Even if the girls seemed to shake their head he didn't mind, chuckling softly, "I don't know what kind of mind you have to be seeing stuff like that, but could it be possible that Eden knows something about me that other's don't?" he asked with a small sigh, stepping forward as he looked a little sad to disclose this. "I'm recovering from an eating disorder," he said point blank. It was true, so it was not a lie. "Eden knows because he found me my first day in the stalls about to throw up what I had just eaten in the cafeteria," some of the girls gasped, because they could relate to what he was saying. "I told Eden not to tell anyone, and he kept that promise ... He even promised to check up on me during the day because we have biology together which is almost always before lunch," he was making Eden out to be quite the guy. An empathetic guy who was looking out for his new classmate. He turned to look at the leader, "but sure ... Mock me ... Come on, tell me how I didn't spend yesterday throwing up because I was so nervous to fuck up in this new club ... Tell me again how I don't care, that despite being sick I still gave feedback to Eden over the phone," he said looking to one of the girls that he sent a sweet smile, "even Louisa can vouch for that, because she texted me about wanting to practice lines with me, and I agreed so we did it over the phone." All of the girls seemed to be awfully jealous of Louisa now, but the girl confirmed it was what had happened, her cheeks all red.
Romeo looked at Eden with a sad smile. He knew he had promised to wait to tell him what was going on with him until the weekend, but now was a good time as ever. "If you don't want me here then I guess that's fair, but I was kinda hoping on staying after already putting my time in to all of this."

People were starting to argue, but Romeo was not prepared for people calling for his leadership. No, he couldn't lead this club, but he did not feel it was fair that Kennedy got to decide all of this. They were a team, and even if someone had had their vision approved, that didn't mean they got to play king of the castle. He felt the pull on his sleeve, turning his head to look at the vampyre rather apologetically. But maybe more things were making sense now. Frankly he hadn't wanted the whole club to know, because he knew this would spread to the outside of the club, but he gladly took this over being mocked by some lowlife like Kennedy.
"I think fighting about everything should stop," Romeo spoke up, the group silencing as most probably saw in him a leader. "Let us continue to do a great work today and after the weekend we can discuss leadership - though I won't accept the role, someone else here might be much better of a fit," could they not understand that with what he was still recovering from that he needed some time? With that he excused himself, walking in to the room where the backgrounds were laying. He looked at the finished one before sitting down in a chair, running a hand through his hair. If Eden had followed he would be silent for a bit before looking at the vampyre. "I'm sorry," he said, tears in his eyes as he smiled at him. He wasn't good at keeping it in once his emotions had been touched so deeply, and talking about his recovery was hard. There was a lot of stigma, mostly because he was a guy and what could he possibly want with starving himself?

Honesty? Well where would he even begin? He chuckled, rubbing his other eye slightly but not moving away from the vampyre's gentle touch. No it was like he needed it to breathe. "I relapsed yesterday," he said, shrugging as he didn't know what else to say. He had been doing better. He had been eating and doing everything he was supposed to do. "I just kept thinking about what you wrote ... That I could have anyone?" he shook his head, it wasn't Eden's fault, it was his mind that was fucked up. He reached out, holding on to the vampyre's hand, clinging to it like it was life or death. "My mind started spiralling ... My mother noticed how I didn't eat any dessert the night before, and she basically locked me up in my room watching over everything I ate and followed me to the bathroom to make sure I kept it down," he explained. It wasn't easy to talk about, but the vampyre wanted honesty and he was giving it to him. "As soon as she left for work I threw up everything in my stomach until it was only gall coming up," his lip quivering.
Scoffing he took a few deep breaths, "the only reason why I got to go today was because I cleaned my plate this morning, but ever since I've had no appetite and everything just smells wrong ... And I feel so fucking disgusting because who wants to be around the guy with puke breath?"

It felt good to tell someone about it, at least someone that wasn't just his therapist, but he also feared how Romeo might view him after this. And yet it seemed like he didn't have to worry for long, soon enough feeling those cold lips burning against his own warm. He was a bit surprised, so much so that he didn't really kiss back, instead he pulled away. Looking at Eden with conflicted eyes, it took him a good few seconds of staring before he leaned in to kiss him instead. He felt the smooth marble lips against his own once more, gasping softly as he actually got to kiss him for real.
How long the kiss lasted he wasn't sure, at least long enough to have to force himself out of it, his breath heaving softly for air, his stomach all aflutter as he opened his eyes to look at the vampyre. "Making out with you back here feels a little illegal now," he admitted in a soft chuckle, kissing the vampyre in another soft peck. But he also felt so happy, and yet still conflicted. "Maybe we could postpone this to the weekend?" he asked.

If anyone wanted to make out with the vampyre right now, it was Romeo. He wanted so badly to just forget what had happened in there, just feel the other guy there with him. Eden seemed to hesitate at his suggestion, but it was mostly because he wouldn't want to risk the group turning on him. At least not right now. But he also wanted to not have tears all over his face when he was kissing the guy he was quite attracted to.
Eden got up and Romeo dried off his eyes and cheeks before moving to his feet. He went over to join him, looking at the sketches. The lycan had to admit he liked them a lot, but then there was talk of unfairness and he frowned a bit. Sure Kennedy was an ass, but he cared more for not having the vampyre to repaint everything. "It's not only me he's been treating badly ... It's you and the propmakers; Hell even some of the actors seem fed up with him," he said. This wasn't about him, this was about the group. "I don't want to be forced in to leading this club," he said quite honestly, looking at Eden with soft eyes. The young lycan had enough to worry about as it was.

It was nice to be assured that he didn't have to take the leadership role, but it didn't make the others' words go away. He looked at the sketches, humming softly as he was asked how he felt. "I don't know," he replied a little thoughtful. He had spilled a lot today, and it was a bit overwhelming right now. But then he said something that might be a good sign, "I guess I feel a little hungry," he chuckled, shaking his head as it was silly to joke about it. However his therapist had told him that saying it out loud would more often than not lead to actually him eating.
"I know you don't eat ... But do you think you could sit with me while I got something down?" he asked. It was clear he wasn't that trusting of his own body, especially not after yesterday's relapse. Reaching down he took his hand, just holding it a little loosely, "I heard the school has some pretty nice vending machines," he said, not really sure if he was ready to take the first step to getting something to eat. But hopefully the vampyre would support him.

Romeo always had to deal with people staring and speculating, so he didn't mind holding Eden's hand. In fact he felt like he was the one being kept safe for once. They reached the vending machine, and he hesitated looking at the options. In his mind he was almost counting the calories, but he shook his head, trying to snap out of it. This was his idea. Swiping his card he pressed a few buttons until a box dropped down. He stuck his hand in, pulling out what he had bought; A sandwich with chicken. It wasn't really exciting food, but it was a meal and not just some nuts. He turned it over in his hand, feeling it was quite big and perhaps a bit too much for him to eat in one go, but it was better than opting for a smaller meal.
Going over to sit down in one of the couches in the hallway he unwrapped it carefully, not wanting to look at the nutritional value on the back, in fact he made sure to scramble up the plastic so he couldn't so easily look at it. "Thank you for doing this," he said, taking a careful bite of the sandwich. Okay, it wasn't the best sandwich he had ever had, but his body was basically starving at this point and he felt like he needed to eat. And having Eden here would ensure he wouldn't just purge afterwards. Chewing a little silently he looked at Eden, "what's vampyre snacks like?" he asked, wanting to hear about what it was he had picked out.