Zane stared at his reflection, disgusted.
His skin was becoming filthy, the color changing. No, seriously. His skin was turning from the most pale of whites to the most pale of greens. As if having alarmingly pale green skin wasn't bad enough, he was starting to habe scales form. His teeth were changing, too. They went from normal shaped and sized human teeth to skinny, long fangs. He didn't want to mention this part especially, but he had a tail now, too.
How did this happen, you ask?
.......
Ein. Just.... Ein.
"Zane? Are you alright?" His mother's sweet, but highly concerned voice came through the door.
He sighed heavily, looking down at the floor. He wasn't alright, he was far from bein alright. How could anyone be alright during something like this? The forming of the scales on his skin hurt, his teeth still ached from changing so drastically, and his tail growing had been the most painful part. No, he was far from being alright. He couldn't accept himself like this.
"I'm fine..." Zane lied through his teeth, sighing heavily again.
"ZuZu, someone came to see you..." Zianna said, opening the door slowly.
"W-Who?" He asked, stuttering on his word.
He was fine with his brothers or parents walking in, and he'd be fine with seeing Aphmau like this. But anyone else... that's when he had to worry a bit. He knew how much they loved to make fun of him for how he looked, with his hair covering his eye and his sickly pale white skin. He never let that get in his way of being friends with Aphmau and Aaron, but he couldn't help feeling hurt by the remarks sometimes. It was a normal thing, he was sure.
"His name is Gene, sweetie." She answered, beckoning to someone he couldn't see. "He said he's your boyfriend.."
Oh no.
If there was one person that Zane didn't want to see him like this, it was Gene. Yes, they were dating, and Zane trusted Gene with all his secrets. Well, almost all of his secrets, anyway. Someone would find it odd why Zane didn't trust Gene to see him like this. Yes, Zane knew that Gene loved him more than anyone else, except maybe Dante. The real issue was the fact that Zane was becoming a snake dude.
Gene hated snakes.
Oh, Irene... what was Gene going to say when he saw Zane like this? Zane should just turn him away, say he wasn't allowed to see him. But he wanted to see Gene so badly at the same time...
"He can come in." Zane responded, though he wasn't sure why he had said that.
"Alright, sweetie." She nodded, letting Gene in.
"Hey, Zane." Gene greeted, the door closing behind him.
"H-Hey..." Zane stuttered out, stepping away from the mirror.
"Aphmau told me you weren't feeling well, and that's why you hadn't been coming to work lately." He said, walking up to him. "What got you so down?"
"I-I'd really rather not ssssay..." His new snake features extended the 's' in his words, and he blushed at it.
"Oh, come on, Zane. You can tell me anything." He insisted, before spotting something. "What's that?"
Zane looked over his shoulder, seeing Gene reaching for his tail. He mentally cursed at himself, feeling foolish for forgetting to tuck his tail away before Gene walked in.
"N-No, don't!" Zane cried, but it was already too late.
Gene pinched his tail in his hand, sending a shock of pain through Zane. The raven haired emo let out a yelp of pain, whirling around. His tail slid out of Gene's hand, and now he was facing him with everything he was ashamed of.
"Whoa.... Zane, you're skin is green and scaly." Gene whispered, poking Zane's forehead. "Yeah, definitely scaly."
"I know..." He sighed, looking down. "I'm hideoussss and a monsssster..."
"No, no baby, that isn't true." He sighed, lifting Zane's chin up. "You know that isn't true."
"Jusssst look at me, Gene!" He cried, tears starting to form in the corner of his eye. "My sssskin issss pale green and covered in sssscalessss! My teeth look like a ssssnake'ssss do! I have a tail! Who the hell findssss that attractive!?"
"..... I do.." He murmured, crossing his arms.
"H... Huh....?" He whispered, his face clouding up with confusion.
Gene have him a small smile, kissing him on the lips. Zane felt himself blush, and Gene laughed lightly at it. Zane turned his face away, crossing his arms. He couldn't believe he still got all flustered and embarrassed from Gene kissing him!
"I can go of you want me to, but I just want you to know that I still love you." Gene told him, caressing his cheek.
"But I'm a ssssnake dude.... you hate ssssnakessss..." Zane trailed off, his tail flicking.
"I hate snakes, but not you." He pointed out, giving him another kiss.
"Heh.... I love you too..." He smiled weakly, resting his head against Gene's shoulder.
"Is there a cure for this?" He asked. "I'll still love you either way, but I know how you feel about this."
"We're not sure...." He sighed, looking down. "I'm not even sure what happened... all I can remember is it having to do with Ein.."
Gene's expression darkened, his eyes becoming clouded. Zane knew that look. It was the look he got when he became lost in thought. He knew that Gene had been working with Ein back in high school, the year after Gene had graduated. He would give Ein an expensive hair dye, in return for pictures of Zane. While Ein had been a huge problem for everyone back then, he had been way better than who he was now.
"Gene?" Zane whispered quietly, breaking the older from his thoughts.
"Sorry, Zane, but I have to go." Gene muttered, getting up and leaving.
"Why?" He asked, staring after him.
Gene gave him a small glance and a smile, closing the door as he left. Zane couldn't help but feel nervous for some reason... what was Gene going to do?
