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Familiar Faces (2) : As you walk around town, you start to notice that people seem different. Faces you used to remember have been swallowed by shadows; you may 'know' the person by a feeling, but their face is completely masked in deep black shadow. Their voice is unfamiliar, and it's clear to you that something is wrong, but no sense of logic can explain this. Shadows seem to be replacing people around you--associates, neighbors, maybe even friends or family members. Even if they act completely normal, you are left with an unsettling feeling. The shadow impostors seem to come and go, and are always just convincing enough to pass for someone in your life. It’s hard to feel safe anymore. Maybe you’ve just come down with something–or, maybe something from the shadows is just watching you.

Sitting still, head in hands as he tried to think, tried to go over every moment of the past year and a half. Second guessing things as he sat there. He could feel the band of his engagement ring against his cheek as he tried to think about things. There was more than one occasion the other could have just let him die, let him keep going down the path he’d been on with none the wiser.

But it didn’t feel good either way, he didn’t like being on the other side of things where he had to question motives and the reality of a conversation or intention. Maybe it was being hypocritical when considering how he was when it came to things, barely dosing out the truth behind issues. Smoothing things over and busying himself so as to not consider things. They’d let him lean on them and went along with almost all of his requests, it wasn’t as if they were visiting. More often than not Liam was with him so he would have noticed something, wouldn’t he have?

Standing up, leaning on the bookshelf as he looked out one of the windows. He swore the people walking by looked off, it wasn’t everyone though only a few that he was certain he recognized the clothing of. People who walked by on their commute or were students of his class, but there were shadows around them and it made him worry.

Looking from where he stood, towards the stairs, he wondered if the urgency of his message would lead Liam to come through the mirror instead of driving. Reaching up, he worried about things for a moment and decided to take off the earring that he had since Liam had the other right now as he did some days. Maybe he didn’t want them to know what he was thinking, that he had doubts even if he had made wedding rings for them both and he was currently wearing the engagement ring they’d proposed with.

Hearing a knock on the door, it looked like Liam was outside but… something was wrong. There were shadows again and he wasn’t sure what was going on. The voice that came through the door didn’t comfort him, if anything it made his stomach twist in knots as he thought back to that voice on the phone.

The loud sound of Liam jumping down upstairs from the bathroom counter had him jump, his back pressing against the door for a moment until he heard the other voice coming from outside. It was wrong, not quite the same as the yelling he heard coming from upstairs.

Curling his fingers shut around the earring in his hand, he looked back towards the stairs to see Liam rushing down. They looked worried, something he knew was a common occurrence when he was as stressed as he was right now. But he couldn’t shake the doubt that that phone call had stirred up as he looked at them. He didn’t know if they could hear the other voice, the one that sounded like Liam but not exactly quite right.

“I got a call that may have shaken me up a bit but things are okay now.” Trying to tamp down his worry, to act like things were okay, he moved away from the front door to go back toward the shelf where he’d initially been trying to find the sheet music he needed for the next visit to the Evans home for tutoring music.

While he looked at the shelf, he tucked that earring into the pocket of his vest and looked at his ring again. He wanted to just push it off as a prank call but it was hard when it had cut right to the main part of his worries.

Aloysius tensed as they mentioned not lying, his fingers pausing as they traced over the various folders of sheet music as he looked for the one he needed. Inhaling slowly, he straightened up a bit to try and look more alright as they came up behind him. “It was a call, unsettling maybe but just a call and I may have overreacted.” But they were right, he usually was a bit less vague when it came to his texts or calls to them except with things were not going well.

Looking towards the door, he could still see that shadowed look-alike of Liam standing on the other side, barely visible from this angle through the glass panes on either side of the door. The one behind him had to be real but that didn’t make him feel much better. “I think I am okay without tea for now, I just need to find what I came for so we can leave.”

Moving again, pulling down a folder here and there as he tried not to look back at them, he slowly managed to get things together for the lessons. Putting the other folders back up, he froze again as they rested their head on his back. A knot twisted in his chest, it hurt because they sounded concerned as they always had when it came to how he was doing mentally or physically.

Questions bubbled up, ones related to what the voice had said, but he couldn’t just blurt them out. It could have been a prank, he didn’t need to mess with the status quo because of that but he felt like he needed to ask them before it poisoned things. Taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly, trying to get his thoughts in order, he didn’t turn to face them as he spoke. “Why did you decide to stay, to help?” It could have applied to more than one occasion in their relationship but he meant the beginning. They’d just taken it upon themselves to do something about him without really knowing him. Sure they had seen him teach a class years back and he hadn’t really considered why they’d decided to stick around.

It couldn’t even have been said that he’d been good in bed originally since it had taken nearly half a year to get to that point even. He enjoyed the attention they gave him, the care they provided, and the fact they did things for his benefit but that twisted voice had gone and made him consider things. If it had been someone else, would they have stuck around? Would he have gotten attached to anyone else that had happened upon him at his lowest? He’d clung like a drowned man to the blond who in turn was now clinging to him. The worst part was how he couldn’t see any way forward without them really, would he just slide back into his old ways and end back up at the bottom?

“I guess the core issue is why do you stay with me? Why did you propose?” Finally shifting slightly, he turned his head to look at them as they pressed their cheek to his back. The words came out so quiet, barely a whisper as they were filled with that doubt and uncertainty that had been stirred up by that doppleganger.

“Yes…” Trailing off as they held him, his hand moving to rest over their arm. Nothing seemed off, not like that voice on the phone or the one still looking from beyond the door. It sounded like pity to him, at least partially, but he’d always been that way himself which was why he hadn’t really shown he’d been hurting if he could manage it. It had just gotten to a point that he hadn’t been able to keep it hidden that night, he’d gotten drunker than he had ever been before that point trying to drown himself completely. But where he’d been hiding things it didn’t ever seem like the other had, even now they were telling him what sounded like the truth.

It sounded like things he wanted to hear but… was that any different than how things usually were? Outside of the few corners they’d backed him into and uncomfortable decisions they’d had him make or agree to. They were stubborn, almost as much as he was, and even now they were squeezing him close and tightly. It helped reassure him, get him grounded back to things even as he glimpsed that shadowy look alike moving away from the door.

“I tried not to have that side of things seen… I never really intended for someone to figure it out.” It would have meant people saw that he was weak, that he wasn’t as put together as he led them all to believe. Deadlines were met, classes and lessons occurred without interruption, and even his work in the Negaverse had never ceased as it all piled up and he chugged on through. The only cost was sleep and his mental health but he’d rather keep on going so he wouldn’t have to dwell on things. It was fine as long as he kept busy and kept from stopping long enough to let the guilt and nightmares catch up.

Exhaling slowly as he worked to try and settle that doubt away with their help, he nodded. He hadn’t really planned on it either, hadn’t expected them to stay and to keep trying to get him to talk about the real things that were going on. Maybe he had helped a bit, nudging them along by offering things to make them stay and it had worked. They’d done the same but not in a visible way, instead of opportunities and a place to live, they’d just kept near him and tried to comfort him or make things easier in time. Just as they were doing right now as they held him and worked to reassure him and steady him against the doubt.

It took a moment as he stood there, that knot in just chest slowly easing up. “I… remember I told you this time of year is the worst on me?” Looking towards the door again as he leaned back into them more. “This time I got a call… and it was my own voice.” Pulling deep-set doubts up and back out into the light.

“This has happened before… though not in the same way.” Unlike the rest of his problems they had helped with, this one was much more apparent as he turned to face them instead of the other version outside. Moving in their hold, he held them tightly as he pressed his cheek to their head. “Yes something did happen, we got lucky last year even if winter was less than kind to me…” It was honestly why he hated the holidays, hated being in the city more and more since they’d moved back out towards the edges where it was quieter.

A loud bang came from the front door and he closed his eyes and held on tighter. The deadbolt was locked so odds were that it wasn’t getting in but it probably wasn’t happy about the real Liam being here. “You will stay though, even if I doubt things at times, because I cannot really imagine steps forward without you either…” Keeping very quiet, he rubbed his cheek against the top of their head.

“I…” The words died as they spoke because really would he still be here, even if his habits hadn’t taken him out Melody would have succeeded at some point in taking his starseed. Glad might not be the word because he still didn’t enjoy people knowing how he really was but Liam wasn’t one to take that information and use it to hurt him.

“A few times, almost yearly, I have been chased or haunted by something that looks like me. Then that one year… with my own gravestone after I had fought back against it.” He’d been a wreck when he’d called for Ochre, it wasn’t something he really was prepared to see and deal with. Jumping again as another loud knock rang out against the door.

“I… maybe, but it is hard with classes and I have a team I need to figure out. Maybe during break but…” Squeezing his eyes shut as the knocking persisted, he chewed nervously on his lip. “Maybe we can try just a stay-at-home vacation first, just in case..” He didn’t like the idea of being pulled away from work or his responsibilities but… these things he would very much be alright with stepping away from.

He could tell they were angry, though not at him—at least he hoped not, considering he wasn’t in the best frame of mind right now anyway. “I have what I need.” He kept the folder with music in it close after he retrieved it from the shelf but didn’t move far from them. Nodding as they mentioned heading upstairs and through the mirror, he was more than alright with that method. “Thank you darling…”

He wasn’t sure, not exactly but right now wasn’t the time to really argue things. It sounded nice, the idea of stepping away but that felt like running away to him and he wasn’t sure if that was any better. Maybe during winter break, he could at least step away for a few days without much trouble. It wasn’t something he wanted to do but right now he wasn’t really keen on staying put.

Letting them pull him along and up the stairs, he looked back down towards the door and saw as the figure started stepping away. It seemed to be warping and changing as they got farther from him and he recognized that distinct braid of his in the twisting shadows. A cold chill went down his spine and he picked up the pace. “Yes and… make sure the doors are locked.” One last look downstairs, before they went around the corner toward the bathroom, told him that the thing was gone for now. It was a relief knowing that they were heading back further out from the center of the city.