The shy boy [AU - CW]

Loralei didn't bother reacting to Kareema, no she was currently far too occupied with studying the features of the lycan. He was pretty. At least her brother knew what to look for appearance wise, but this was almost silly. Romeo felt odd. When Eden touched him, it was like fireworks when their skin temperature clashed, but with Loralei it was almost repulsive. He heard Eden's voice then, looking to the door and seeing the vampyre. Even now he was ignoring him? Romeo looked away before getting up, "thank you for having me, but I'll head home now," he just said, passing the vampyres and heading down the stairs. He just had to get away. Stop being so stupid and hung up on a guy who was clearly not in to him.

Romeo hadn't liked that exchange. He went home straight after it, his parents starting to ask questions of where he had been, but he was simply speechless. His mother started to yell, saying that this would've never happened if they had just stayed in Italy, and was now angry at his father. Romeo was sent to his room, a plate of food delivered, but he had no appetite. He just sat there, staring at the plate in front of him. Sometimes he wondered what it would've been like if he had just been born normal. No troubles, no need to seek out his own hurt all the time. Just existing like everyone else.
A message ticked in, and he read them, seeing it was almost the thoughts that Kareema had that he was reading out. She told him not to worry, but it just made him feel worse. He felt guilty, but for what he wasn't so sure. Guilty that he had accepted and gone with Kareema? Guilty that the other girl had touched him? Was there even a point to apologizing when he didn't know what he was apologizing for? So he did the only natural thing to him, but it wouldn't help anyone.

It wasn't like Loralei was worried. She somehow always knew where her brother was, even when he ran away, and it was the same this time. She had found him by himself, sitting and grumbling as if he was an old man. "You agreed to the game," she just said, moving over to stand in front of him, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "What's wrong? Are you angry that I touched your lycan?" - "Grow up," hissing it almost, like she was a viper. "You've known him for a week, but I have known you all my life - I know you."

Empty without him? She had to scoff. He was nothing more than a spoiled brat, and anyone could see that if they put in the effort to look. And yet she had to pity her brother. If he had truly fallen for a lycan, and intended on going down this path, then he knew what their parents would say. While they were not cruel, they were old fashioned, and a vampyre and lycan being together was so wrong in their eyes, they would barely care that it was a male at all. "You're acting like a little kid," she shook her head. Why was he always so possessive? She knew she had those qualities too, but she cared so little when it came to her brother. With him she would gladly share the world, but it seemed it would never be reciprocated. He picked up his phone and she snatched it out of his hand, failing to notice that it was still dialing and that someone picked up. "You know how mother and father are going to react to this," her tone for once sounding worried as she looked at Eden. They had sent her away, but she didn't wish that for him. "Do you really think that their disapproval is worth all of this? They'll never accept it, and even worse, the Acton family will be furious when they find out you haven't been spending your time right with Kareema," all of this, Romeo could hear, but it was unbeknownst to the two vampyres.

"You're talking like a madman," she scoffed, pulling the phone out of reach from him, but it didn't stop the call from happening. The lycan sat on the other end in deep silence, phone pressed to his ear as he heard what was going on. He felt his heart beating like a drum, so scared and a little nauseous from the suspense. He knew he should've hung up, he knew this wasn't for him to hear, and yet he couldn't tear himself away. "We're vampyre's Eden, what do you think will happen when he starts to grow up and you suddenly won't? What do you think will happen in ten, twenty years?" Loralei was worried. Even if she could be cruel, she cared for her brother, more than she wanted to admit to. "And I know you ... You'll be tired with him before the end of the year, and then you'll ghost him like you do with everyone else who dares get too close to you."

Loralei gritted her teeth, looking at how her brother was reacting was almost expected, but she had failed to see it coming. Perhaps because she felt she knew him so well and now he was refusing what she knew. As Eden turned to walk away, she looked down at the phone, seeing that the call was ongoing and it made her more upset, because now the lycan probably saw her as a villain in all of this. Hanging up she stuffed the phone in her pocket.

The next day at school, Romeo was sitting outside by one of the benches. The sun was out for the first time this year, like warm and everything, so most students that weren't vampyres rejoiced in the heat and change of seasons. He was just looking up at the clear skies above, mostly minding himself, a tray of untouched food next to him.

Romeo went to throw out his dish of food before heading inside. He wanted to get a good seat before next period started. But as he passed a classroom he saw Eden gathering his things. He knew he should've kept walking. Pretend like he hadn't heard everything on the phone yesterday, but something in him compelled him to seek out the vampyre. He went in to the classroom, closing the door behind him. He didn't want him to run now. "It's not like you to skip school," he said, touching the doorframe beside him, his nails digging slightly at the wood.
Okay, enough of this pretend. He walked closer, looking at him with calm eyes, and yet his fingers itched to reach out and touch him. But he didn't. He didn't want to feel what the vampyre felt, he wanted to hear him. "I think it's my turn to ask for honesty," he said, though saying it felt almost bitter. It wasn't like Eden had lied to him, but he had more so given him the cold shoulder.

Sick? Romeo frowned, walking closer, but if the vampyre started to show himself recoiling, then he would stop. "Was it something I did?" he asked carefully. He had heard Eden say so many good things on the phone. Why couldn't he just say it to his face? Was it just to toy with him? "Please speak to me," I've missed your voice. He wanted to be brave and just say it. Just say how he had really missed him, even if it had been only for a few days. But those days had been too many. He felt like he was going crazy. Never had he felt this instant connection to someone, and now it seemed he was being pushed away again. He reached his hand out, wanting to take the vampyre's, but the hand dropped as soon as another student entered the room. Romeo let his hand fall down, looking down and away, feeling hurt that he couldn't just show some vulnerability with others around, but it was too hard to do. "Get better soon," he muttered, turning around to head out the door.

He felt like dirt shit. Like he didn't even deserve to know what was going on, and yet he wanted to know. The mumble made him hesitate, and as the vampyre fell over, he was by him quickly. He didn't know what compelled him, but he went to him, lifting him up in his arms. Even if he hadn't really been eating, he still had some strength in him, and for a lycan he was stronger than he looked. He got Eden to the nurse's office who was quite surprised to see Romeo holding the vampyre, but alas she had seen stranger things at a school like this.
Eden was placed in a bed while Romeo took a seat beside him, refusing to leave his side even if the nurse tried insisting. No, the last words that Eden had pleaded was for him not to leave, so he wouldn't go anywhere unless Eden said so himself.

Safe to say, Romeo hadn't expected the first words out of the vampyre's mouth to be that of an apology. It made him shake his head no. He was just as much of a coward it seemed. Hearing that he was liked was nice, but it didn't explain what was going on. If he liked him, then why was he avoiding him like the plague? "I know you like me," he just said. Might as well come clean. "Last night ... I got a phonecall from you, but all I heard was you and your sister yelling and talking ... I know I shouldn't have listened in, I know that was a private conversation, but just hearing your voice and how passionate you were I-" he had to look down, ashamed that he hadn't been able to just hang up. "I wished you had called me for real, that you had told me all of that stuff." Eden wasn't completely forgiven, he still needed a bit more to put the pieces back together. "If this is because you're scared that your sister is going to come between us, then you don't have to worry; I'm not into girls," he muttered.

He had to scoff, reaching over to that the vampyre's hand that was shaking a little, just holding it and keeping the pressure firm. "Eden I had this problem before I met you ... You're talking as if you were the one making the choices for me," he said rather calmly. No, him not eating was not Eden's fault. This, for him, was about control. The less he could control his surroundings, the more he restrained himself. It was a vicious cycle, but he wasn't blind to it. "I have my ups and downs but my mother is looking in to getting me a therapist to help me, if you're that worried," he said. He didn't like receiving help from the outside, but he also felt like he couldn't keep living like he did. "I'm not starving myself because you're not talking to me, I'm starving myself because my brain is stupid." That was the best way to put it if you asked him.

He sighed. Sure, he would admit that Eden hadn't been helping in all of this, but he wasn't the sole cause of it all. "And the night before I got sick, my parents had a huge fight about moving back to Italy," he said with a small shrug. "I know things from your perspective might've looked like it was all your fault, but I promise you it's not," he added, giving his hand a soft squeeze. "But you also make me want to get better ... Make me want to try harder and work on myself."

Romeo smiled. It seemed they might be able to work something out. He felt relieved in that sense, but it lasted such a short while before the grown vampyre entered the nurse's office. Romeo had thought that the presence of another would deter Eden from touching him. Maybe even feign disgust or something like it. But he kept his hand in his, and in that sense he felt a little proud. The vampyre then addressed him directly, "I was the one who brought him back to the nurse after he fainted ... Romeo Trevino-Altera," he said politely, but he had been raised well. Was this someone Eden was related to? He wasn't sure, and he didn't really want to ask and be presumed racist.