“I know you’re apparently too thick to understand this but I can’t leave, Lewis,” he insisted, his anger rising in his voice, his cheeks reddening. “I... have this condition, my therapist told me. Agoraphobia. It’s just - it’s just not safe outside,” he explained, his anger eventually simmering as he spoke.

“You don’t know anything about me so don’t assume I can just... do something like you,” he grumbled, his eyes beginning to water a tad. “Nyle isn’t leaving, he’s going to come back. You can’t do that to me - I don’t ask for much, yeah?” He grumbled, sniffling a tad.
 
"Why would he want to come back here? If it's not you, there's someone out there who thinks it's fun to try to poison him, Leo. Or are you too thick to realise that?" He countered with his own anger rising, mostly because a) Leo didn't seem to take in how serious this was, and b) he still didn't believe a word he said. He didn't expect any answers, but he had anticipated to hear some apologies for not acting appropriately when the incident first occurred. To not even get that was suspicious and downright wrong.

"His Dad doesn't want him leaving. Can you imagine? We let him come back here and then we get the news he's been killed? Nah, that ain't happening. Until someone gets arrested for attempted-fucking-murder, I won't let my best friend step foot in this weird town. It's not my fault if you're agoraphobic or whatever, I won't let Nyle come here and get killed-- either by you or the culprit you suggest is still out there."
 
“He won’t because I won’t let him,” he quickly replied, his fists clenched as he washed the plate quickly. How he was keeping his form together was a mystery, though it was probably the fact that he knew that he would probably have to kill Lewis if he let the fact that he was a ghost slide.

“That’s... that isn’t fair. I can’t go see him so I’m just... supposed to give up? I’m not leaving this house, nor am I breaking up with Nyle. Outside of what happened, we have a good thing. Besides, I... got him better. He got better. I know this may be a surprise but I’m not as incompetent as I look,” he quickly enforced, his inky eyes closed now as he paused. “Get out of my house, Lewis. I don’t need such a negative person like you here while my boyfriend is away.”
 
"You poisoned someone -your own boyfriend, no less- but I'm the bad one because I'm challenging you about it in your own home? You're actually insane, you know that? Literally insane," he scoffed in reply, turning his back in order to pull out his phone. Even if Leo wasn't behind it, the police still needed to be told, right? Nyle may hate him for it, but he wanted the person who almost killed him to be put to justice and punished. Either that was Leo, leaving Nyle to move on with someone else, or the real culprit could be put behind bars and they'd know for certain that Leo was innocent.

Of course, he didn't think he was. It was hard to take anything he said seriously.

"I'm calling the cops, I ain't listening to your bullshit anymore," continued Lewis with a scowl of his own, jabbing the numbers in. "...We could go to the station right now, save you the embarrassment of being dragged out of your house by police."
 
YOure not going to do that!” He snapped, slapping his fists on the sink. The minute he slammed his fists, the pictures on the walls shook and collapsed and the phone seemingly flung across the room, crashing onto the wood tile floor by the stairs. Taking a deep breath, he ran his hands through his hair.

“You aren’t doing that. Everything is fine and there’s no reason to call the cops. If you want, I’ll call them myself.” He explained, his face flat after he took in an unneeded breath. Slipping out of the kitchen, he went to pick up the now cracked phone. “Unfortunate.”
 
Rather than completely freak out at the fact his phone flew out of his hands without Leo grabbing it beforehand, Lewis somehow seemed to calm himself down enough to lock eyes with Leo and arch a brow. He didn't know what was happening and he sure as hell wasn't comfortable with it, but it wasn't in his nature to start freaking out and showing his fear if he could somehow take time to restrain it.

"...Use your phone and call them then, tell them that you want to own up to the attempted murder, or if you won't do that because you're still claiming innocence, tell them you want an investigation started to find the real culprit. This isn't going away, I'm not going to just stop questioning this situation when it's fishy as fuck. There's something fucking weird about you-- I wouldn't let Nyle come back to this creepy ass town, over my dead body."
 
“You’re lucky I want you gone because I would hold you to that,” he replied simply with a growing grimace. Snatching his phone, he knew the town well enough that they honestly didn’t give a shit. With a whopping 150 citizens, cops were used to simple work and starting up an investigation on something that everyone figured was alright.

And, unsurprisingly, he thought right. He was barely heard - as was evident from the constant ‘what?’ on the other line, and it was annoying enough to have the cops hang up.

“Happy?” He questioned. “I’m going to call Nyle and Tell him you’re going to head back now. You can sit down if you want.”
 
"I'm not happy, no. Why would I be happy? You're still a liar and you're deluded if you think Nyle's coming back here-- his family aren't going to let him return to a place he almost died in," came Lewis' response, which he was pissed off about having to constantly repeat. Either Leo was genuinely dim enough to not get the severity of the situation and couldn't understand that they just wanted to protect Nyle, or he was choosing to ignore it in his desperation to get his boyfriend back. Either way, Lewis was hardly pleased with it.

"I'm going, relax. I got the answers I need-- you're clearly guilty and I should probably beat the shit out of you for that, but you aren't worth it. You're pathetic, you know that? I'm getting the hell out of here. You can charm some other guy in and poison him, you aren't doing it to Nyle again. His family ain't gonna let that happen-- so don't call, I doubt they'll let him answer."
 
I’m not guilty!” He snapped, his fists clenched. This was the first time his form flickered, albeit briefly. “You keep saying that I’m guilty but you don’t know me! You don’t know me, you don’t know us - Nyle and I have a special relationship that you willc never understand! I want to be hospitable to you for Nyle’s sake but you’re just a dickbag.” He angrily yelled, so much so that Bitters emerged from the bedroom quickly.

“You don’t know what we’ve done here. You only know what he shows you. He is an adult, he is in no way obligated to tell you what he’s doing with his life,” he firmly reminded, calming down once picking up the fat cat to hold him close. “Just like how you don’t know anything about me and you’re just jumping in to assume I hurt Nyle when I love him.”
 
"I just find it suspicious and I want the best for him-- you're not it. This place isn't like him, it's boring and he doesn't do anything here-- Nyle's not like that. I find it strange that he's changed his lifestyle so much when this isn't him at all, and I blame you for that. We all do, you're not good for him," he mumbled in return, albeit slowly as he tried to come to terms with what he'd seen-- or what he thought he'd seen, at least. It wasn't physically possible for someone's form to just... flicker, so he assumed he was seeing things.

Though the incident with the phone almost immediately convinced him something was definitely not right.

He didn't stick around much longer to find out, making his exit the moment he was convinced Leo was the culprit. If not, he'd learned how strange he was, and he didn't think that was good enough for Nyle either. It would be a long twenty four hours before Nyle was able to offer Leo some information on what was happening, video-calling him at 11pm the following day when his family had all gone to sleep.

"...They have my passport, I can't fucking do anything. They think you're bad for me, they think you're going to kill me-- I mean, you did try to do that, but still," he grimaced, sitting up in his childhood bed with the blankets covered up around him, managing a smile to his boyfriend to reassure him. "I haven't got the cash to travel there using trains or buses-- I don't drive, either. Like hell am I hitchhiking my way there, knowing my luck I'll get into a serial killer's car-- I don't know what to do, Leo. They don't want me going back there, they think I'll end up dead."
 
If the hours prior were stressful, the last 24 were probably the most stressful hours of his entire life, undead or otherwise. He had spent the last 24 hours pacing through the house, through walls, and crying hard. To be suddenly FaceTimed by his boyfriend was at least some relief, though it only triggered more problems.

“I’ll wire you the money,” he insisted, his cheeks reddening as he wiped his tears away. “Can’t you stand up for yourself? You’re an adult, you can’t let them take that away from you,” he insisted while anxiously nibbling on his fingers. “Your friend stopped by and he was a proper dick. I would have beat him up but I didn’t want him here forever or for you to get mad. Like... maybe if your parents met me they would realize that income a good person?”
 
"I know I'm an adult-- but I'm always gonna be a kid to my Dad. He doesn't want me to end up dead, and I get that. I... get where they're coming from. I just know that you made a mistake and you won't do it again, but I can't tell them that. They'll just tell the police and... that's not going to end well, is it? I don't know what to do," he shrugged, lowering his voice to avoid waking his family. They couldn't stop him talking to his boyfriend, but he wanted to avoid the argument that would arise if they found out he was still doing that.

"...I don't want to go home to you and stay there the rest of my life. I want to be able to make visits back to Philly and stuff, Leo. I want to socialise with my friends whenever I come back here to visit, and they'll just abandon me if I went back to you-- but I need to go back because I love you and I'm not breaking up with you, ever," he promised, smiling quickly as another form of reassurance. "I might have to stay here for a month, just until they calm down. I'm sure they'll calm down eventually, Leo."
 
“And if they don’t? What if they never do, Nyle? What if they, like, force you to stay there? I would come with you if I could but I can’t,” he reminded, sniffling as he wiped the tears from his eyes. “I’m stuck here without a way to defend myself and you’re forced over there without a way to defend yourself,” he whimpered, only being distracted by their cat eagerly hopping onto the bed to rub against the phone at the sound of Nyle’s voice.

“I... I don’t mind if you spend time with your family! That’s fine! I just.... want you back here with me. I mean, you’re... you’re like the only family I have and I don’t want to lose that,” he insisted as he carefully picked up the cat to move from the screen. “I don’t know how long I’ll be able to handle being here without you.”
 
"They're my family too, Leo. I want to keep visiting them for as long as I can, I... don't really want them to ever have to go to my funeral. I want to be with you, I do, but... I don't need to kill myself, do I? I... was thinking about that idea you had and it's... not something I want anymore. Being here, hanging out with friends and stuff-- I want to keep doing that as long as I can," he admitted with a glance away. He had never been completely on board with Leo's idea, but he had promised that he would do it one day in the future.

But he was surely allowed to change his mind, right? He wasn't separating from Leo - he was simply choosing not to kill himself.

"We'll have decades together, Leo. I just don't want to have my Dad bury me, or my sisters crying over me. That's... not something I want to happen. I know that now."
 
Leo pursed his lips in response, his brows knit tightly. He didn’t want to say something and have Nyle never come back but he also was internally fuming. When someone made a promise, he held a lot of weight in those promises. To hear Nyle backpedal on that promise was infuriating, though he chose to keep that to himself until Nyle came home.

“Yeah,” He simply replied, his form seemingly flickering again in his upset as his cheeks only grew more stained in tears. “... you aren’t coming back, huh? You don’t want to come back, you want to stay in Philadelphia. That’s what Lewis made it seem, huh? That’s... not fair.”
 
"Hold up, I never said I wasn't coming back. I just... don't want to off myself and stay stuck in that house, I don't think that's wrong of me. I'm a social person. I have friends, I like partying, I... want to work and take walks and do fun stuff outside, Leo. I don't want to kill myself-- fucking hell, it's not a bad thing to say that I want to live, is it?" He mumbled, trying to remain as serious and stern as he could, but the sight of Leo breaking down obviously hindered that. He wasn't going to change his mind over a few tears, but it did stop him from criticising his boyfriend's viewpoint any longer.

"I'll be home when I find my passport and when you send me some money. But I'm not going to kill myself for you, Leo. Not now, not in fifty years down the line. I just-- I like living. I enjoy life, I... don't want to stay stuck in a house for eternity, I... that's not for me."
 
“I’ll wire you the money later,” he reassured quickly, blatantly ignoring the whole failed plan of the other’s suicide. He had to eventually mention it, though, and frowned. “Look, I don’t care what you do I just want you here with me. I-I... I don’t care if you go out and party or whatever, I just want you to be here again. See, this is what makes me assume you don’t want to come back. Where I live, none of that exists. It’s quiet and secluded a-and... nothing like what you want, so why would you come back?”

Setting the phone down briefly, he wiped his face of the tears in a childish scene, he rubbed his nose on the sleeve of the other’s sweater. “You’re already making me feel like a piece of shit a-and I haven’t even done anything this time. Is it so wrong that I just want you back with me? And i such a horrible person?”
 
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"I'm bad for telling you I don't want to die? Seriously? Okay, fine. I hate that town, Leo. I hate the people for being judgemental pricks. I hate that there's nothing to do there; I hate that I got beat up the moment I tried to have a beer just on the outskirts of the town. I hate that it's so quiet and boring and the only thing I like about it is you and Bitters-- that's why I'm coming back. the place is a shithole, but you're there and that's... you're all I want, alright?" He grimaced, folding his arms in the effort to emotionally hold himself together. In reality, the outburst not only too him by surprise, but genuinely upset him. He didn't want to admit how much he hated the town, but Leo was pressing for the truth and honesty was clearly important in a relationship.

"I AM coming back, Leo. Just... in another week or so, when things settle down here. I'll be back and things can get back to how they were, assuming my family doesn't hate me for going back to you, aha..."
 
“... don’t send your friend here again,” he murmured, his eyes locking on to the door. “Don’t send any of your friends here, o-or.... or your family. If they hate me now, I don’t want anything to do with them. You can hang with them, call them... whatever. If they’re going to hate me I don’t want to be reminded of that all the time, Nyle. I know that they’ll never forgive me and I don’t want to be told how terrible I am anymore,” he whispered.

“Just keep me updated, okay? Like I said, I’ll wire you the money in a little bit but don’t tell your parents,” he insisted, his tone immediately reflecting his defeated mood. “Just... try and get them to not hate me anymore?”
 
"I never sent him here--do you think I wanted him to come and be an asshole to you? I'd never do that, Leo," he grimaced, evidently upset at the apparent belief that he had been behind Lewis' impromptu arrival. He had no doubt that it had been horrible for Leo to deal with, and having the blame pinned on him for it didn't sit right with him-- though he also knew Leo was emotional and didn't deserve to be corrected too harshly at the moment.

"I'll be back soon with plenty of gifts for you and I got this really cute cushion for Bitters," he gushed eagerly, in an effort to end the call with a good atmosphere between them. "Just make sure you record all those cheesy reality shows so we can binge watch them together when I get back, we'll spend all day on the couch doing that-- sounds cute, yeah?"