Chapter 11: I'm you
Chubby Daniel and Jay worked in the store until it was the early morning, Chubby Daniel was tired but Jay showed no signs of tiredness.
Vasco had left a couple hours into the shift in order to get some rest before school while Jay stayed up all night helping Daniel restock along with learning how to work the register.
Chubby Daniel let out a yawn as he changed out of the borrowed uniform and back to his tracksuit.
He tossed the borrowed uniform into the dirty clothes pile while Jay took the uniform off but decided to keep it since he had around 40 days to go, not including today apparently.
"Well, good night... err good morning Jay I'm gonna go home. I think Daniel's stuff is still at school so you don't have to follow me home to get his things." Chubby Daniel said as he and Jay walked out of the store.
"..."
"Yeah I'll be fine walking home alone thanks anyway, besides don't you have school?" Daniel asked as Jay nodded before he reluctantly nodded and with a wave began walking back to his house.
As soon as Jay was out of his line of sight, Daniel ran home and dived into bed.
He closed his eyes as he slept in order to change bodies.
----
Daniel (the tall one) opened his eyes as he looked at the sunlight lit ceiling of Jay's room. He sat up as he stretched, moving out of the soft and warm blankets of Jay's bed.
'Jay's still on his way home and I have no idea where he put my uniform.' Daniel thought as went to the bathroom to freshen up.
Using his fingers to comb his bed head until it looked presentable, using the toilet, and finishing with washing his hands.
Daniel spotted some mint gum on Jay's dresser as he began fixing Jay's bed.
After deeming it as somewhat fixed (the blankets one side was longer than the other and the spread was a bit wrinkled from the indent from his body), Daniel heard the front door open.
'He's quick.' Daniel thought as he peeked his head into the hallway.
Jay came walking into the hallway as Daniel moved out of his room with a smile and a wave he said, "Good morning, Jay! You were out pretty early this morning."
Jay flinched when Daniel said this, he decided it wasn't best to lie especially to someone as nice as Daniel.
"..."
"Oh, you were working with my roommate at the store? Because it was your fault that you made him late? You're working with him to make up for it? I'm pretty sure it's not your fault, Jay, time is something you can't control." Daniel said as he saw Jay's shoulders slump in relief.
"..."
"No I haven't eaten since lunch and I was wondering where you put my uniform." Daniel said as Jay facepalmed surprising Daniel.
"..."
"You put my uniform in the washing machine but forgot to turn it on? It's going to take at least 45 minutes for it to be cleaned and dried? We don't have enough time?" Daniel was starting to panic as Jay nodded to each question, "Well maybe I could borrow a spare of yours."
Jay nodded as he went to his room and shifted through his closet before pulling out a spare of the school uniform for Daniel to wear.
Jay and Daniel changed to their uniforms, back to back though Daniel did peek at Jay a bit from time to time.
"Thanks I'll be sure to wash it once I get home." Daniel spoke as Jay waved his hand dismissively before letting Daniel wear one of his jackets.
Jay's chef prepared them breakfast though in reality Jay didn't need to eat another perk of being a vampire, though it was questionable where he had enough energy daily. He did eat just to taste the food or to look human.
Probably sunshine was his energy charger?
Daniel noticed Jay picking at his breakfast but thought that Jay was too tired to eat. Jay ended up putting said breakfast in his fridge possibly to sit there awhile until it had mold.
Daniel ended up borrowing a toothbrush which he took with him when they left Jay's house to Jay's disappointment (he may or may not have a Daniel shrine room in his house).
Leading Daniel to his motorcycle, Jay gestured for Daniel to get on behind him and to wrap his waist which Daniel did shyly before Jay started the engine and began their ride to school.
Daniel meanwhile looked at the buildings pass by along with cars and people who were walking to school or work.
'Jay smells nice, just like the mint gum he always chews.' Daniel thought as he inhaled Jay's scent as they rode to school.
Jay noticed Daniel shifting his head along his back but thought nothing more of it, thinking Daniel was trying to get comfortable.
Once they arrived at school and Jay parked his bike safely away from the usual places delinquents hang around to smoke in secret, Daniel slid off and waited patiently as Jay checked over his bike and slipped his gloves that he wore into his pockets.
"Thanks for the ride, Jay." Daniel smiled as Jay smiled and nodded back.
The two began walking to the school, girls as usual gawking at Daniel while guys looked annoyed at him.
"OMG, Daniel and Jay are together."
"Woah, two handsome gods are amongst us this morning."
"They are the sun to my darkness!"
"OMG you quoted from Half-Light? I heard the sequel is coming out today!"
"I'm going to go straight to the bookstore after school and buy it!"
Girls whispered about the sequel as Jay wondered why on earth people liked that banal edgy romance novel enough to garner sequels.
Daniel listened too, he had no doubt that a movie sequel was most likely going to come out soon after.
Not like he was interested in Half-Light anything, but he did admit he was curious if the writer was getting better at writing or not. Guess he'd have to ask Zoe again if she'd be willing to share her copy after she was done reading.
Speaking of Zoe, he had to return the book he borrowed from her, he hoped no one stole and ruined it since he had practically left it out in the open yesterday.
Entering the classroom with Jay, Daniel was swarmed with questions and apologies of why he jumped out the window.
"Danny why'd you jump?"
"Were you dared?"
"We're sorry if you tried to commit suicide because of us!"
"Please don't do it again, you almost gave us heart attacks!"
Daniel tried to calm them down as Jay subtly slipped them both from the crowd of apologetic potatoes and nosy parrots.
No one seemed to remember that Jay had jumped first nor did they pester him to Daniel's relief and sadness, it seemed like no one really cared about Jay even though he heard that some girls found Jay attractive.
'Ah well, they're missing out on something great..... Wait did I really just think that?!' Daniel thought as he flushed pink to Jay's alarm.
"..."
"No no, I'm fine it's just a little warm in the cla-" Daniel was cut off by Zoe appearing and grabbing his arm.
"Danny! You're back and in one piece, I'm so glad! When Mira, Zack, and I saw you jump out the window we thought you were killing yourself for sure but you landed perfectly! Don't worry, Mira and I made sure no one messed with your stuff! Also I took my Half-Light book back, I assumed you finished reading it, right?" Zoe babbled as Daniel nodded here and there, a tiny bit overwhelmed by her barrage of sentences and questions.
Jay slipped to his desk, his Hermes bag was there as usual untouched to his relief.
He did notice some cruel words written on his desk ranging from 'Emo', 'How dare you do that to Daniel?', 'It's your fault, he could've died!', 'Kill yourself!', and some words that Jay didn't even feel like reading.
Edgy teens be edgy.
Jay paid no mind to this, though he did wonder why Daniel followed him out the window instead of y'know, the door? Or the stairs?
He didn't blame anyone only himself and his blood-lust for making him jump.
Jay vowed to apologize to Daniel about it later.
----
At lunch, Daniel was caught by Vasco who was crying tears of relief that Daniel was unharmed from his jump as Jace patted Vasco in comfort when Daniel had to separate to get his lunch.
Jay watched from afar, he could feel some glares on him, rumors he heard as he passed people in the halls confirmed that most were hostile around him.
"He made Daniel jump, that jerk."
"He stole something from Daniel so Daniel had to chase after him to get it back."
"He's inhuman isn't he?"
"..."
Jay ignored this as he watched Daniel sit with Jiho and Duke before the two assaulted Daniel with their own questions and concerns.
Jay turned and began walking out of the cafeteria, he only wanted to ensure that Daniel was eating after all, but he was stopped.
"Hey Jay, where are you going?"
Jay saw Daniel walking up to him as the cafeteria stared in awe and surprise.
"..."
"Oh you don't feel like eating in the cafeteria? Me neither! Let's go back to the classroom." Daniel said as Jay panicked a bit, the smile Daniel was giving him, the blinding heart snatcher smile, his hormones and blood-lust shooting up.
Jay felt his fangs elongate, as he cursed his weak resistance and forgetting his gum and tic-tacs in the classroom in his bag.
Slapping his hand over his mouth to cover his fangs, Jay turned and ran for it, to Daniel's surprise.
Daniel ran after him, confused on why Jay ran like the demons of Hell were on his heels.
"Why's Daniel chasing after, Jay?" Zoe asked as she stood up but was stopped by Mira to her surprise.
"I have a feeling that Jay and Daniel have something they need to discuss alone." Mira said as she made Zoe sit back down, "Don't you think so too, Zack?"
Zack nodded, he always agreed with Mira and her judgement but he too was curious on why Jay had bolted from Daniel.
---
'I drank yesterday night, why am I so thirsty all the damn time? Maybe that creature I saw last night is a foreshadowing of my blood-lust taking over. I need to control it completely but how? The only time this urge kept shooting up is when I started getting closer to Daniel!' Jay ran as his thoughts raced, he bumped into some people knocking them over but he didn't dare stop to help them, not with Daniel and his intoxicating scent coming after him.
'Drink his blood! Drain him dry!' a voice, gravelly and demonic said from the shadows of his mind, Jay's eyes widened as he heard this.
'Never, get outta my head blood-lust!' Jay screamed back, he swore he could hear screams, screams of pain, echoing in his mind.
'Thirsty! Thirsty! I'm so thirsty!' the voice of blood-lust screamed as Jay slammed himself into the wall, as he tried to silence the voice.
The voice was silent as Jay felt the ache of his arm and side of his head heal as he limped to the bathroom nearby.
He limped past the mirrors, daring to look at the glass.
There stood the creature staring back at him, mimicking his current pose of holding the once injured arm and slumped forward a bit.
'Get out of my head, shut up.... I'm not giving into you any longer.' Jay thought to the creature that merely blinked its red eyes at him.
The creature began to form, the black mass surrounding it moved to a human shape until Jay was looking back at an imperfect reflection of himself, with black hair and paler skin.
'I can't leave, because I'm you. You can't leave yourself.' the darker reflection said, it was smirking evilly at him as Jay glared beneath his bangs, the embodiment of his blood-lust was mocking him.
Reeling one fist back, Jay punched the mirror.
Glass spraying onto the floor and sink, he had hit the reflection's face the whole big but he could still see it smiling.
'I'm you, I'm you, I'm you!' it's voice chanted in his head as Jay gritted his teeth, and smashed the mirror further alternating between fists as his infamous black blood dribbled out from the knuckles.
'Shut up! Shut up! Shut the hell up! I'm not you! I'm never going to be you!' Jay thought as he huffed, his knuckles healed already as he looked over at the shards and black blood decorating the floor.
Jay looked at where the mirror once was at the empty base.
He turned and looked into the shards of glass on the floor.
He saw his faded reflection once more, his usual self but once he blinked he saw it flicker to the blood-lust side.
'I'm you.' the voice echoed.
Jay fell to his knees as he covered his face into his hands.
The corners of his mouth twitched upwards, snickers soon following, before laughter.
'Well isn't that the truth?'
----
Daniel stood before the bathroom where he saw Jay run into, it was one of the oldest ones in the school and rumored to be haunted.
Reaching his hand to open the door, Daniel pulled it open as he peeked inside.
"Jay?" Daniel asked as he entered.
Jay was standing there, washing his hands well not washing he was literally just keeping hands underneath the running at full blast sink water.
Daniel walked up to Jay, tapping his shoulder knocking Jay out of his trance.
"You okay?" Daniel asked as he saw Jay nod at him before he turned the handle to shut the water off in the sink.
Daniel watched as Jay went to dry his hands off from the paper towels and walking to the door.
"...?"
"Yeah, I'm coming." Daniel said as Jay opened the door, he stopped when he saw something in the mirror.
It was for a brief second but Daniel swore he saw the bathroom shrouded in darkness, glass shards and what seemed like black ink on the floor surrounding what looked like a black-haired Jay.
This version of Jay sent shivers down Daniel's spine, not because it was paler but the smile complete with fangs protruding out of its lips.
The smile that said, 'I'm coming for you, you can't run.'
Blinking, Daniel rubbed his eyes.
His reflection merely stared back.
Thinking about the rumors, Daniel hurried to walk with Jay who was standing there watching him with a confused smile.
"...?"
"No, it's nothing." Daniel replied.
Jay nodded and closed the door behind him.
The sink dripped.
Falling into the drain was a single drop of black.