Always you wear a mask…
To hide the soul that is in you.
Chapter Seven: Lies & Bloodlines
There was almost never a day of peace in your house.
You could barely stand to be here. A moment of silence was nearly frightening— you knew it was only a matter of time until someone started yelling. It was always either Henry or Lauren, of course. Peter usually kept to himself—luckily for him, he never got yelled at.
At the time, it was quiet. You were in your room, lying stomach-down on your bed. With your back to the bedroom door, you continued to giddily text Allen.
Since Peter wasn’t in the room (…that you shared with him), and Henry was out speaking to the landlord, the house fell quiet. You had no idea what Lauren was doing, but you didn’t care to think about it. You texted ‘Send me a picture of you’ to Allen. When you’d asked what he was doing, he’d replied, ‘Just got out of the shower ;)’
You received the picture just as you heard footsteps down the hall. Oh great… she’s coming, you thought to yourself with a groan. This didn’t even give you enough time to take in the shirtless photo of your boyfriend.
You hid the iPod Touch beneath your pillow just as Lauren opened the bedroom door. “Uh, _____?”
You sat up to face her, “Yeah…?”
She glowered at your indifference. “Don’t just sit there. Do something.”
You tried not to roll your eyes, “Like what?” You’d already done your ‘chores’, and it’s not like you had homework in the summer. Peter wasn’t here, so you didn’t have any babysitting to do.
She scoffed, “’Like what’? When I was your age, I had plenty to do. Why don’t you clean up? Get a job? Get off your lazy ass and vacuum the house?!”
You flinched at her volume. “You don’t have to yell at me!” You knew telling her was pointless. It seemed you could never speak to her without getting into an argument. You were sick of this. “Go take out your anger on someone else!” You knew she was stressed, but that didn’t give her an excuse to act this way all the time.
She looked as if she’d just been slapped. Once she regained composure, she gritted her teeth and began to walk over towards you. Oh, no. This wouldn’t be good.
“Since when did you become such a disrespectful little bitch?”
Her words were sharp, low-pitched, and laced with brimming fury. You were honestly surprised that she hadn’t smacked you.
…She hadn’t smacked you. She felt offended, not upset. That much was clear.
It made sense a little too late. You’d instantly regretted your words, and felt remorse wash over your limp body. “…L-Lauren, I’m sorry.” And you were. She was working so hard to make everything okay again, even though it never would be. You were tired of her being your enemy. “I’m… really sorry,” You got up to hug her, but… she wasn’t convinced.
“Get away from me,” She hissed, backing away from your slightly opened arms. “You don’t respect me; I know you hate me. You’re not even my real daughter!” She clenched her teeth—nearly shaking with indignation—and left the room. As she walked back down the hall, she called out, “AND VACUUM THE HOUSE!”
…To be honest, her words stung. All of them. The fact that she went on as if she hadn’t just acknowledged you as a foster child hurt even more. She came in to tell you to do something, and even though you tried weakly to fix your relationship with her, she still left after telling you to do something. Since it was coming from someone who was supposed to be your mother figure, it pained you greatly—no matter the bloodlines.
You’d tried. You did. But… maybe she didn’t want your love. Maybe she regretted—no.
You knew she regretted adopting you.
Why were she and Henry still putting up with you? At least… you hoped to God they liked Peter.
If you didn’t feel that you loved your foster parents, how could you expect them to love you? The relationship felt strange, but unlike them, you felt an intense emotional attachment to Peter, your adoptive brother. He felt like he was your own blood—your real little brother. You’d do anything to protect him, and… you’d try to get along with everyone if it was for his sake.
You knew he loved you, saw you as his sister—as well as loved Lauren, Henry, and saw the four of you as a real family.
With the devastating situation that you were all in, you couldn’t bear to take that one last piece of innocence away from him.
-D-E-A-D-L-Y-A-T-T-R-A-C-T-I-O-N-
That night, Allen called you to tell you about the vandalization.
He’d informed you of the idea long before he went through with it, and from the start, you didn’t have a good feeling about it. But since it wasn’t anything too reckless and it was for someone whom he despised for a good reason, you didn’t tell him your worries.
…Besides, he was really, really excited about it. He nearly reminded you of a child planning to steal cookies from the cupboard as he explained his idea. It was… kind of charming, and you knew he wasn’t the type to easily get caught, so you’d basically just shrugged and stood on the sidelines as he went through with it.
“That damn cop’s house is trashed. I literally had to step back and admire my work, y’know?!” He laughed—nearly villainously. He always sounded pretty fucking adorable through the phone. “Inside and out. That piece of shit is gonna regret ever meeting me!~”
“Yeah… and there’s no way he could know it was you, right?” You were lying in bed; everyone in the house was asleep.
He stopped laughing. “Well, duh. I wore gloves the whole time; you think I’m stupid or something?”
You shook your head, even though you knew he couldn’t see it. “Of course not! I just want to make sure you’re safe.”
You could practically see him rolling his eyes. If this was the case, you wondered if he sensed your head-shake. “You don’t have to worry about me, dollface.” His voice lowered, “You never have to worry about anything when you’re with me…”
You grinned dreamily, “Y-Yeah… I know.”
“Anyway,” He went back to explaining his night of illegal revenge, “It was fun as hell. Why didn’t I ever do this to someone before? Haha, I’m not gonna forget this for a while…”
He sounded genuinely excited. It truly must have been an adrenaline rush to wreck the house of an enemy—someone he hated to the point of destruction.
“…I actually took something from there,” He continued.
Your eyes widened a bit, “Allen—what? You didn’t tell me you stole something.” Although, vandalizing property was just as bad as stealing.
“Don’t act so surprised. I thought you were cool?” He chuckled, and you blushed. You wanted him to think you were ‘cool’—even if he’d said it in a joking way. He probably thought girls like Alexa were ‘cool’. Thinking back to that night at the party, you felt a little self-conscious. “I-I am. What did you take anyway?”
“An engraved pocket watch. It says ‘To the best police officer, from Claire’. What a stupid gift. I don’t blame him for leaving it unopened in one of his nightstands.”
You glanced over to the bed across the room—Peter was still sound-asleep. Good. “Then why did you take it?”
“I dunno, to remember tonight? I already told you that I didn’t want to forget it, heh.”
You subconsciously wondered why he never wanted a keepsake to remember anything about you. “Oh, I see.”
“Don’t sound so concerned; it’s annoying. And…” A pause. “…I think my dad just got home. Talk to you later.”
“’Kay, bye…” You didn’t feel too happy with the end of the conversation, but you ignored it. Seconds later, he hung up.
You dropped the device to your side and shifted positions on your mattress. It was late, but you couldn’t bring yourself to fall asleep. You couldn’t deny that late-night conversations with Allen often kept you from sleeping.
…Even long after he hung up.
You didn’t feel tired. This… is gonna be a long night, you thought to yourself grimly.
As if to save you from your boredom, the phone started vibrating again. “Huh? Is it Allen…?” You wondered aloud as you looked at the ID.
Nope. A few letters were changed around: Alfred
You felt your heartbeat speed up a bit. With a giddy smile, you pressed ‘answer’ and placed the device near your ear. “Hello?~”
“Hey! …You awake?”
You chuckled, “Of course—I answered didn’t I?”
You could hear Alfred’s grin through the phone. “Great! There’s something COMPLETELY AMAZING I needed to tell you, but I was hoping you weren’t too sleepy. Anyway… yeah so, guess what?!”
Strangely enough, it didn’t strike you till just now how similar Alfred and Allen sounded through the phone. “What is it?”
“I said GUESS!~” He sang cheerfully.
“Uh,” You racked your brain for possibilities, “You got the comics you’ve been waiting to come out? You finally got someone to direct one of your movie ideas? You got that Korean kid to leave you alone…?”
Alfred laughed, “Nope, nope, and dude! C’mon! Yong Soo and me are totally buddies now! I guess that’s what happens when you leave me alone in California while you run off to—”
“-Hey,” You tried to say it in an accusing voice, but you couldn’t hold back your laughter, “You know it wasn’t my choice to move. Anyway, what was the thing?!”
“The thing? Oh right, the thing! OMG, so the thing is that I’M COMING TO VISIT YOUUUU!”
You never thought you’d hear that last string of words in a sentence—coming from Alfred—for a long time. Needless to say… you were caught speechless for a full minute.
He took this time to explain. “Isn’t this exciting?! I miss you so so so much! I was going through a _____ withdrawal, I swear! And when I told my parents, they gave me the good news that we’re coming by this summer! AND ON FOURTH OF JULY WEEKEND, TOO! MY BIRTHDAY AND AMERICA’S, BITCH!” He fell into a fit of enthusiastic laughter.
After you got over the shock, you were ecstatic. Wow, such different emotions you got from Alfred’s phone call compared to Allen’s. “…Oh my god, I can’t wait! I miss you too, Alfred! It’ll be so fun to see you again!”
“Mhmm! We’ll be staying at my grandparents’ place. Remember I told you they live near your new house? We’re… actually visiting them, but my parents said I could definitely come see you too,”
“Oh yeah, I remember when you told me that before I moved.”
“Yup! I used to go to their house every summer when I was a kid—but now I haven’t been there since fifth grade. It’s how I know Zao! We met when we were, like, two!” His voice rose, indicating his delight at seeing you as well as his old childhood friend. “…By the way! Have you been talking to him?”
Your thoughts flashed back to when you first met Zao. “Yeah he’s cool.”
Alfred yawned, “Awesome…”
Finally, you realized it was Alfred who was tired. “Alfred… you asked me if I was sleepy, but it’s really you who’s tired, am I right?” You chuckled. He really could be a kid sometimes.
He was mid-yawn as he replied, “Yeah… I guess… I just got super excited when I found out I’m gonna see you soon…”
Today was July 1st, meaning Alfred would be here in just a couple days.
You were thrilled to meet up with him again.
You went to sleep that night without even bothering to think about what Allen would say regarding Alfred’s arrival.
-D-E-A-D-L-Y-A-T-T-R-A-C-T-I-O-N-
The next night, you were walking to Allen’s house.
He usually picked you up in his truck, but that was only if his dad wasn’t home. Unfortunately, he was tonight, so you had to sneak in through Allen’s window. He’d told you to be safe about a million times before you left your house, even though he only lived about a block away.
What could possibly go wrong? The streets were pretty quiet. Allen could probably even meet you outside his house, and—
You suddenly heard a scuffle.
…Oh shit.
Frightened, you immediately pulled out your cellphone. A call to Allen and he’d be here in an instant with either a baseball bat or a fully-loaded shotgun—depending on how dangerous your situation was.
You held your breath, and cautiously looked around. Nothing came into view other than a dark, empty street, and two rows of run-down houses.
Just as you began to let your guard down, you heard another footstep.
...And then another.
You could detect someone creeping out from behind a nearby vehicle.
You were about ready to kick some asshole in the balls. “…Show yourself!” You shouted without thinking. You didn’t like this game of ‘waiting for the person to pop up and attack’.
At that moment, someone slinked out of the shadows.
As they sauntered closer, you instantly recognized it as Zao.
He was holding up his hands as if in surrender, “Whoa whoa, don’t call the cops on me, princess.”
You stared, jaw agape. After a few seconds, you stomped your foot and furiously shouted, “…Zao-!”
He smirked. “Excited to see me~?”
You shook your head, “Why were you following me?!”
“Pfffft, I wasn’t.” With an eye roll, he crossed his arms. “…Hey, you do know we’re neighbors right?”
Oh… correct. You’d almost forgotten that he lived down the street from you. “Er, y-yeah. Where were you going? And… d-don’t creep up on me like that, dammit…”
He was silent for a moment. “Heh,” He chuckled and crept closer to you, his black military cap shading his eyes. You two were directly beneath a street lamp; the road was completely empty. Before you knew it, he’d snaked his arms around your shoulders and leaned in teasingly, “Maybe I was coming to visit you?” He purred, grinning seductively.
His pale skin was smooth and icy to the touch; you gasped when he brought you in closer to his chest. For some reason, he didn’t smell like opium tonight—he smelled of cologne. “Zao… what are you doing…” He was, in a way, your friend. He was the first person you met here, he was a mutual friend of Alfred’s, he was nice despite his teasing and overall, seemed to be a reliable person. He’d looked out for you since day one; you couldn’t bring yourself to be mean to him. “…You know I’m with Allen.”
He shrugged, and tilted your chin up with his thumb and pointer finger—he wanted you to look at him. “Yeah, so?”
You avoided contact with his mischievous red eyes, “Quit teasing me.” …He was cute. Good-looking, even. He was… actually kinda hot but you couldn’t be thinking of that right now.
As if your brain had just caught up with your heart, you suddenly became very aware of his arms that were wrapped around you—they were strong despite his relatively small frame. He was wearing a sleeveless black Changshan with red trim and cross stitches. You’d never noticed before, but he had a dragon tattoo around his upper left arm. The shirt was half-open so just like at the party, you’d accidentally gotten an eyeful of his bare chest. From what you’d seen, it was just as muscular as Allen’s.
“Okay, fine.” He pulled away slightly, but kept his arms hanging over your shoulders. “I actually did come to talk to you—I knew you’d probably be on your way to Allen’s. Anyway, I wanted to ask…” He paused, and looked you right in the eye. “When he comes. What are you gonna tell Allen?”
You instantly knew he was talking about Alfred. “I-I don’t know. I… don’t think it’ll be a big deal. Allen will understand that Alfred’s just a friend of mine. And… of yours, too.”
“Really…” Zao wasn’t convinced. He brushed a few strands of brown hair from his eyes and stared at you, thinking. He actually had a thoughtful expression on his face—he was human just like everyone else. It had taken you until now to realize how kind and protective he’d always been towards you. He’d kept you friendly company at the party too—even better than Allen had.
After a minute, he exhaled and patted your hair affectionately. “Listen. You should know that Allen’s… the jealous type. I already told you that. So… don’t let him know how close you are to Alfred.”
“What? But I—”
“-That’s all I came to tell you. Be safe,” He winked. “After all, you’ll be mine eventually, tàitài.” He smirked, and gave you a two-fingered salute. With that, he turned and sauntered off into the darkness.
“…AND QUIT CALLING ME YOUR WIFE!” You shouted after him as he left. Damn that Oliver for letting you know what ‘tàitài’ meant.
After you turned and continued your walk, you soon made it to Allen’s house.
“Hey dollface. Ya run into any monsters out there?” He joked as you came into his bedroom.
Your thoughts flashed to a certain opium-addicted Chinese boy with red eyes and a teasing smile. “Haha, nope. No monsters. Just a dragon.”
As you and your boyfriend lay in bed together, you conversed about several silly and random topics. Tonight was one of those rare nights that Allen didn’t start unraveling his belt as soon as you came in, and that was kind of nice. Although, his kisses were close to never-ending as usual.
“Hey. You know what I just realized?” You asked breathlessly.
He ran his hand through your hair, savoring the silky strands till the edges reached his fingertips. “Hmm?”
“I don’t even know your full name.”
After a few seconds of no response, you’d thought he hadn’t heard you. That changed when he started laughing. “No way—really?! Haha, guess it never came up?” He was still grinning.
“Guess not. So what’s your last name?”
He placed another chaste kiss upon your lips as he breathed out, “Allen D. Jekyll.”
“…Jekyll? Like, as in… The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde?”
“Obviously I’m not named after him, but yeah, it’s spelled the same way and everything.”
“Wow… that’s…”
Creepy.
Really creepy.
You couldn’t bear to tell him why, though.
Alfred F. Jones. Allen D. Jekyll. Two boys who you cared about more than anyone. One was the sweetest, sunniest, most charismatic person you’d ever met. The other was misunderstood, rebellious, and mysterious. They looked exactly alike, to be honest. Their colors and choice of clothes were all that kept them appearing different.
In other words, they looked like the same person, and yet had nearly opposite personalities.
Jekyll & Hyde was a famous novel about a person with split personalities—one good and the other evil.
A hero and a villain, pretty much.
And Allen’s last name was Jekyll.
“That’s… interesting.” You managed to finish.
“Everyone says that. I haven’t actually read the book though.” He lay on his side, placing one elbow to the mattress and using his hand to support his chin as he looked down at you. “So what’s your last name? Want it to be Jekyll?” He teased.
“I…” You were lying on your back, and before you could respond, he leaned down and pressed his lips to yours once more. “Mhmm…” You rose one hand up to tangle in his soft brunette hair.
He pinned down your other wrist and straddled your body. “What do you say we change things up a bit tonight~?” He whispered into your ear, and then proceeded to run his warm tongue down the nape of your neck.
“A-Allen…”
He continued to dominate your night.
This made you wonder how things would be like once Alfred came to visit.
You hadn’t told Allen much about him or your life in San Diego. Maybe Alfred and Allen could be friends? They were both very special to you, and they happened to look alike, so there was something to talk about.
“Oh yeah, before I forget…” Allen pulled something out of his jeans pocket, and smiled down at you. “I wanted you to have this.” He handed you an elaborate pocket watch.
Gingerly, you took it. The chain was long, and you noticed words engraved into the silver. “Allen, is this…”
“Yup, it is. Keep it safe, ‘kay?”
The pocket watch he stole from that cop’s house. He’d already told you how much he wanted to remember that night, and yet he let you keep his only piece of memory.
For Allen, giving you this was nearly equivalent to an engagement ring. This actually meant a lot to him.
“Hey, _____...”
His words caused you to look back up at him, “Yeah?”
He grinned shyly. “…I love you.”
It was the first time he’d said it.
…Did you love him too?
A.N.: Raise your hand if you love Allen =7=
Oh, and looks like Alfred is finally gonna be back next chapter. Caw caw motherfuckers. *bald eagle screeches in the distance*
…Is everyone ready to know Allen’s reaction to Reader’s sexy male BFF~?
By the way, I fucking love 2P!China. And, hmm. It seems this story is toying with 2P!/1P!America x Reader x 2P!China. OhgodwhatamIdoingforthisfandom.
…So what do you think? Should I give Zao-kun more screen time? OwO