Two of a Kind | Grethan

II

"Mom!" Grayson called out. After he retrieved his ball from the neighbor, he walked in on his small and fragile mother struggling to lift a box that was obviously too heavy for her. He took it from her and carried it into her room.

"Thanks, Gray." She said, wiping her forehead. "Moving boxes is a lot harder than it looks."

"You're lucky you've got me to help." He laughed heartily and kissed her cheek. She nodded and exhaled sharply.

"So I just met one of our neighbors." He said as he began unpacking some of the boxes in the living room.

"Oh yeah? What are they like?" She asked curiously.

"Well I accidentally threw my football into his backyard, so I rang his doorbell, and when he answered, apparently I had woken him up. I guess he's not really a morning person, because he was really pissy the whole time." He sighed as he pulled out one of the many family photos his mother kept around. It was of his mom, his dad, and himself.

Grayson's dad passed away last year in a fire at his workplace, it was a tragic event for the whole state of Minnesota. Twenty eight people died and twenty more were injured. It took a huge toll on Mrs. O'Brien. She was a wreck for the longest time, but she's finally begun to pick herself back up.

Him and his mother decided to move for a change in scenery, maybe to help brighten her mood. Minnesota is a drab place, anyways. It gets old after awhile.

"I think he was around my age. Oh, and probably an important thing to tell you is that he looks exactly like me." He explained. He felt as if she wouldn't believe him.

"Exactly like you? You sure you don't mean similar to you?" She laughed, taking what he said as a joke.

"I'm not kidding, ma. I mean exactly like me." He said. Sometimes, he would joke around with her for fun, but as he talked about Ethan, the more he remembered the similarities. He thought about their introduction.

As he was fooling around in his new front yard with his football, he accidentally threw it too far, and it landed in the backyard of the neighbors across the street. He winced at his actions and trilled his lips.

"I should probably go get that." He whispered to himself and began making his way across the street. When he approached their porch, he took a deep breath and rang the doorbell, crossing his hands in front of him politely. About a minute later, there was no response, so he decided to ring again. He was about to ring again until he heard the locks clicking on the other side.

The door opened to a young man, rubbing his eyes with his hand. He was wearing a pair of light grey sweatpants and nothing else, he was shirtless. He had sculpted muscles and abs. His hair was long and chocolate colored with a faded violet streak amongst the messy waves, swooping to the right side of his head. He ran his fingers through his hair before he looked in Grayson's direction.

"Oh, hi! I'm-" Grayson began before cutting himself off.

When the stranger looked at Grayson's face, the whole world stopped turning.

The two had the exact same face.

The beautiful stranger's hooded hazel eyes were hidden under his dark bangs, framed by thick, arched eyebrows. His nose was slightly crooked, but was small and round. His lips were plump and shaded as a pale rose. A predominant freckle laid on his right cheek, as well as by his left eye. His eyes widened when he saw his own spitting image on his front porch.

"Woah." Grayson gasped with an awkward chuckle. It was almost uncanny, only some subtle differences. "My name's Grayson O'Brien. I just moved in across the street." He attempted at a greeting by holding his hand out for his neighbor to shake. He only briefly looked at it before returning his gaze to Grayson's face.

"Ethan Dolan." He said menacingly, ignoring Grayson's offer. "You woke me up."

"Oh crap, I woke you up? I'm sorry. It's just that I kinda threw my football in your backyard and I took it as an opportunity to meet you." Grayson said, trying to brighten his potentially new friend's gloomy attitude. He just continued glaring at Grayson, raising an eyebrow at him as he spoke. "I can get it if you want, I don't want to be any more of a bother than I already have been."

"No, I'll get it." He mumbled and disappeared into his semi dark home. Only seconds later, he reappeared with Grayson's ball in his hands.

"Thanks! Hey man, maybe after I get settled in, we can hang out and maybe toss the ball around a little." Grayson suggested cheerfully.

When Ethan held it out for Grayson to take, their hands made contact. For some reason, Grayson didn't want to remove it. In fact, he wanted to move it further. He wanted to examine every inch of him. Even his hands looked like his own. He wanted to know what else was similar in their physicality.

It took Grayson a few seconds to finally remove his hand from Ethan's and take the ball. And when he did, Ethan looked at him again. The darkness in his eyes seemed to have faded away somehow. His gaze had a more soft look to it, almost bright.

"I'll pass." He finally spoke, breaking the silence between the two.

"Aw, okay. Well I'd better get back now, my mom'll be needing me to help lift the heavy stuff. Nice meeting you." Grayson said and waved as he ran back across the street.

Something about Ethan's brooding darkness intrigued Grayson immensely.

He wanted to know more about him.

He wanted to know everything.

Something about the fact that he had the same face as Grayson, but acted almost completely opposite was so interesting.

"Well you know what they say, there's at least seven other people in this world that look just like you." His mother giggled as she continued the unpacking process.

As Grayson and his mom unpacked, all he could think about was the mysterious man across the street. He was taken by surprise when the doorbell rang. He ran to it and unlocked it, putting a smile on his face.

He opened the door to a fairly tall woman with brunette hair and bright eyes. She was holding an angel food cake in her hands. But once she looked at Grayson, her smile faded and her eyebrows furrowed.

"Hi! You must be Mrs. Dolan, yeah?" He asked, trying to start a conversation.

"Um, yes. How did you know?" She said softly, clearing her throat.

"I just assumed by the way your facial expression changed. I'm Grayson, I just met Ethan a few hours earlier." He said with a grin.

"So you're Grayson... It's uncanny." She said, mouth slightly agape. "Uh, I'm Lisa. I brought my homemade angel food cake as a housewarming gift."

"Aw, that's so sweet! Thank you so much. Would you like to come in?" He offered.

"Sure, thank you." She tried to smile through her shock and walked inside.