Switched at Death.
Summary: When Ethan and Aiden's Voltron Wolf is 'killed' by the Darach, their two personalities are altered and Ethan finds himself obsessed over Lydia while Aiden falls in love with Danny. But how will their respective lovers react?
Hello dear readers! Today on Christmas day, I'm posting my new fanfiction called "Switched at Death", which refers to the expression "switched at birth". I hope you enjoy my crazy idea. At first, I had given it to my dear DoctorLoveRose as a prompt, but in the end she returned it to me! I'm dedicating this fanfiction to her.
"Can you save them?" Cora asked after she helped lay the twins on two tables.
Ethan and Aiden were incredibly still, and dried blood fell from their mouths where the veterinarian had put oxygen masks. Lydia stood by her lover and Derek's sister took care of Ethan while Deaton was searching for medical tools.
"I don't know. The Darach has killed their Voltron form, though there's a slight chance their human form is still alive. But they might be damaged, if they do wake up."
Finally, he stung the twins' arms to inject them some clear liquid. But nothing happened.
"They ain't moving. Why ain't they moving?" Lydia asked as she was holding Aiden's hand. But then the Alphas loudly gasped for air, sitting up. "Aiden!" the ginger girl said, relieved.
The taller twin turned his head toward her, looking down at their interlaced fingers. He seemed lost and quite disturbed. His eyes were madly looking for his brother, who had refused Cora's attempt to help him sit on the table and had let his legs swinging in the emptiness.
"Are you alright, guys?" Cora asked worriedly.
"My head hurts as fuck. It's like I've been hit by a truck," Ethan confessed.
"It's natural, given that you nearly died."
"What—What happened?" Aiden asked, stuttering a little as he slowly recovered.
"Well, the Darach killed you after you merged, so I guess your Voltron Wolf is dead," Deaton explained. "But we managed to save you. The girls brought you just in time, otherwise you'd be dead."
"Thank you," Aiden whispered softly.
Ethan sniffed, and got on the floor, hands on his hips. "You okay, Aid? Can we go, now?"
"What? Where are you going?" Lydia said, frowning.
Ethan turned around, looking at her. Like, actually looking at her. She was pressing her hand against his twin's, her arm around his shoulder, even though Aiden looked like he was embarrassed by the contact. The smaller werewolf opened his mouth to answer, but stopped as he got lost in contemplating her. For the first time, he truly saw her. Her dark green eyes, her beautiful red hair, her painted lips and her fine curves under her blue dress. When he finally knew how to breathe again, he shook his head and said, his voice not quite stable, "The Pack may need us."
"But you just woke up!" Lydia protested. "You need to rest, Ethan." She turned to her boyfriend. "Aiden, say something!"
The tan boy shrugged, incredibly ill-at-ease, and murmured to his brother, "Eth, I don't know if we should do this… I mean, Deucalion would've totally let us die… I don't think he deserves our help any more."
"Aiden, we don't belong here!"
"But the Pack doesn't care about us. Scott's pack does…"
Ethan rolled his eyes and approached his brother, taking him by the arm, deliberately getting him out of Lydia's grasp. "You come with me." He pulled on his arm, but their ginger friend stopped him.
"Ethan, let go of him! What's wrong with you? You're not like usual." She glanced at her boyfriend, who was passively staring at Ethan's hand on his wrist. "You neither, Aiden."
"C'mere, Aid," he repeated impatiently, ignoring Lydia's remark. His brother obeyed and quickly he was standing by Ethan, head down. The smallest put a hand on his bare back and said, "Thanks for reviving us. But we need to go."
"Hey!" Lydia yelled, getting angry. "You can't leave like that! We saved you! I think we deserve something better than 'thanks'." She got near Ethan and pointed his chest with her finger. "You ungrateful puppies."
Ethan felt his skin burn under her touch. He tried to control himself, wondering where all this came from. His brother seemed to notice his awkwardness, and asked in a whisper, "You okay?"
"I don't know. I feel weird." He looked at Lydia. Beside feeling weird, there was obviously something going on with her. "Sorry," he said louder to Lydia. "We'll go. See you at school tomorrow, I guess."
The twins left, and the three remaining people looked at each other, shocked.
"What just happened?" Lydia said. "Did you see that?"
"I don't know them that much," Cora replied, shrugging. "They seemed pretty normal."
"Didn't you notice? It was like… like they were switched."
Lydia got out of her class with Allison, checking her phone while walking beside her best friend. The girls headed for the lockers inside Beacon Hills High School, and Lydia opened hers to pull out a few books. Allison was standing beside her and then she informed her friend in a whisper, "There's someone waiting for you." Lydia frowned, closing her locker, and she found herself facing a tall tan boy leaning against the metallic cupboards.
"Ethan?" she said, bewildered.
"Hey, Lydia," he replied in a radiant smile. "What's up?"
She looked at him in total shock. Usually, Ethan never talked to her. They had not addressed a word to each other since they had arrived at Beacon Hills. He did not even seem to like to talk to any girls at all. There was something strange about him starting to do so.
"What do you want?" she asked, a bit sharply.
"Well, aside from you, nothing."
Allison chuckled behind her, and Lydia glared at her. The brunette got the message and left in a smile, saying she was going to see Isaac in the courtyard. The ginger teenager got her attention back on Ethan, who was waiting for an answer, in a provocative posture.
"I don't know what game you're playing, but it's not funny," Lydia stated, walking away from him. The werewolf followed her. She quickly turned around. "Stop it, already! What's your problem? Since you and your brother woke up yesterday, you act weird. Did something happen?"
Ethan narrowed his eyes and spoke very seriously. "Look, I know no more than you. In fact, all I know is that when I opened my eyes the other night, all I saw was you. I don't know what occurred when I 'died', but I've changed. I'm a complete new man. And I think you could like me."
She opened her mouth, taken aback. Was it actually Ethan—shy Ethan, gay Ethan—who was saying this to her? She managed to get a grip on herself, and asked, "Wait, are you making advances to me?"
"Well, I'm certainly not advertising a new detergent."
She prevented herself from laughing. This would have totally been something his brother would have said. Why was Ethan acting just like he was Aiden?
"Look, I don't know what exactly it is you want, but I have things to do, so leave me alone, please."
"Lydia, wait!" He grabbed her by the hand as she was walking away. She shivered at his soft, delicate touch. His hands were nothing like Aiden's. "I know I usually suck at this, but now I feel as if I were invincible, and that's why I need to tell you this now, while I still have the guts to…" Lydia frowned. What was that again? "I like you. I know it seems weird, and I don't know how it happened, just like I don't know why I'm like that, but one thing I know: I like you."
For a moment, his words seemed pure and honest, and Lydia felt herself half falling for them, but then she remembered. Ethan might have Aiden's features—his hair, his eyes, his smile—but he was not Aiden. She freed her hand and said, "I'm sorry, Ethan, but it's your brother I like best."
He widened his eyes. Apparently, he was too confident and did not expect to be turned down. Lydia smiled softly and left for good, letting the werewolf lost in the middle of the halls.
Danny turned around in the corridor, just to see Ethan take Lydia Martin's hand and squeeze it. At first he frowned, surprised, but then he felt a violent warmth in his stomach. Jealousy. He knew that Ethan was gay, and that he would never cheat on him—not with a girl, at least. But when he saw the way his boyfriend was looking at Lydia, the way he was touching her, he felt hurt. And endangered.
The Hawaiian boy closed his locker—maybe a bit too hastily—and strode toward them, staring at Ethan, now alone in the hall after the young ginger woman left. He put his hand on the other boy's shoulder and said, "Hey, what's going on?" Ethan turned around so fast Danny was not sure he had even moved. The smallest raised an eyebrow, looking down at his hand, on his arm now. Danny could not help but noticed he looked like… disgusted. The dark-haired teenager smiled softly and repeated, "I saw you with Lydia. What's going on?"
"I was just talking to her. What do you want?"
Danny was strung out by his tone. Ethan was usually so gentle and kind, but now he sounded much more aggressive and impatient. "Nothing." His hand lowered to Ethan's and he took it. "Are you okay, babe?" Ethan grimaced at the nickname and took his hand back. "Did I do something wrong?"
Ethan shook his head, like he was weary. Danny softly caressed his cheek, but only got the smaller teenager to push him back. "Don't touch me!"
"What? What did I do?"
"Danny, I don't—Look, I think I can't be with you anymore."
"What?" Ethan raised his look at Danny, who was staring at him blankly. "What do you mean, you can't be with me?"
"I don't love you anymore. Well, to be honest, I don't remember ever loving you."
Danny's eyes were already filling with tears, but he tried to stay calm and ask, "How can you not love me anymore? What have I done?"
"I don't know, okay? You saw it yourself, I just can't be touched by you, or be given nicknames… I think I'm not gay, finally."
"But, Ethan, you can't—you can't become straight overnight, I mean, there's got to be something that started out all this, there's got to be—Oh." Danny stopped, suddenly remembering since when Ethan had acted weird. "It's her, isn't it?" He looked down. "It's Lydia, huh?" The Hawaiian student sniffed, not even bothering drying his tears. "It's always Lydia, anyways." At Ethan's interrogative look, he responded by a faint, "I've always hated her. Do you know why? Even back in kindergarten, I knew she was dangerous. That's why I was happy to find out I was gay in high school. At least I knew she wouldn't break my heart. But she did, the minute you chose her over me."
"Listen, Danny, I'm sorry. You're a good guy, we had fun together, and I won't forget that, but… I'm just not interested anymore." He stopped as Danny was trying to hide his sobbing. "I think it would be better if you stopped talking to me. Okay?"
Danny would have wanted to cry out his rage, to insult Ethan and remind him of all they had together, but instead he subdued, and replied docilely, "Okay." As his now ex-boyfriend left, he could not restrain his tears and exploded in the middle of the corridor.
Lydia left Ethan with pity, but also with puzzlement. Ethan was not in a normal condition. She had to find Aiden, she needed explanations. He was in the next corridor, calmly taking a few books in his locker among the crowd. She hauled herself to kiss him on the cheek but he immediately pulled away.
"Lydia! What—What are you doing here?"
"Nothing," she said with a big smile. "I just wanted to see you. You okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"Yeah, you surprised me." He passed a hand through his hair and bit his lips. "So, hum, what's up?"
"I could turn the question back on you! You act so weird."
"Why do you say that?" he murmured, looking down.
"Well, you never act shy, or embarrassed, usually."
"I don't know. I feel strange, too."
Lydia took his arm and started to walk in the corridors. Her boyfriend, who literally ruled the school before, looked like he wanted to be invisible right now.
"What about we find an empty classroom? We could talk in private there," she proposed viciously.
"Well… I'm not really in the mood…"
Lydia stopped violently, then turned to him. "Aiden. You're always in the mood for sex."
"Not this time, sorry…"
"Okay, what is it? Tell me." She crossed her arms on her chest. "I'm not moving until you tell me."
"I need to get to class…"
"You don't care about classes!" She calmed down. "Okay. So, what's going on here?"
"I—Nothing. Nothing's going on."
"Aiden."
"Yeah…?"
"I know there's something." Aiden bit his lips, again. "You know you can tell me."
"It's… It's just…" He breathed in. "I don't know what happened at the vet's, but since then, I just can't behave normally. I just… I'm not myself. I'm scared all the time, I'm uncertain, I live in constant timidity. And the thing is, when I woke up, the only person I wanted next to me was—"
"Me, obviously," she cut, smiling softly as she was being sympathetic.
"No, I was going to say Danny," he mumbled.
Lydia raised an eyebrow, opening her mouth, speechless. "Danny? Like Danny Mahealani?"
"Yeah… I know it's odd, but I can't get him out of my head. I've been thinking a lot about him, lately. I don't know why I haven't gone see him yet, because everyone says how much he's cool."
"What are you talking about? He's your brother's boyfriend, why would you go see him?"
"He's attractive," Aiden said after a moment of silence.
"What?" Lydia was out of her mind. "Aiden, he's a boy."
"Yeah, that's a shame."
Lydia shook her head. "You're going nuts. What did Deaton do to you?" As Aiden didn't answer, she grabbed his hand and pulled him in a classroom. He quickly pulled away. "Come on, Aiden."
"No, I don't want to go in there."
"Why not?"
"I said I wasn't in the mood."
"Maybe you'd go, if I were Danny," she said, half-kidding.
"Maybe, who knows?"
She stopped immediately, letting go of his hand. "So you're saying you like Danny better than me?"
"I didn't say that. I said Danny wouldn't make me do what you do."
"Oh, because he's so damn perfect! Everybody loves Danny, of course!" the ginger girl grunted hatefully. "You know what? You'd better go with him, if you're so fund of him!"
"Lydia, I didn't mean to upset you…"
"Well, you did," she whispered as she felt tears rushing to her eyes, but she stopped them straightaway.
"I'm sorry, that wasn't my intention."
She raised her head toward him. He looked genuinely sorry. "Why are you so kind?"
"Because it's my fault if you're upset." She sniffed loudly and he added, "I'm sorry. I think it would be better if I left. And… it would also be better for the two of us if we… you know, if we just ended everything here."
"So you want to break up now?" she just asked.
"Yes. I know I'm a jerk, but—"
"You're not," Lydia cut. "The Aiden I knew would never apologize, and he would never put that this way. He would have been a jerk. But you're not the Aiden I knew. Not anymore. I guess that's why we can't get along."
"Oh… So you're okay if we stop there?"
"Yep. You've become so prude, it wouldn't have worked anyway." They smiled to each other. "I really hope you'll be happy. With Danny, or whosoever."
"You really think Danny likes me?" Aiden asked in a blush.
"I don't know," she replied, shrugging. She testified, "He likes your brother."
"Your argument is invalid," he giggled. "It'd be like I asked you if you like my brother."
"Maybe I do," she whispered to herself. And then she went off.
The recreation had just started, and Ethan was heading for the courtyard after his altercation with Danny. He did not know why he had been so mean to the boy, but he had felt like Danny was too tactile with him, and it had repulsed him. He thought that, perhaps, he had been too hard on the poor teenager. He knew he had always been so sweet to him, and how did he thank him? By dumping him like shit.
As he was grabbing the doorknob to go outside, Ethan felt somebody grabbing his arm to make him turn around. He just had time to see red hair and drop dead green eyes, and Lydia whispered viciously, "Reconsidering it, you're pretty hot too, and I'd rather spend some time with you in an empty classroom than with no one at all."
Ethan smiled back, feeling his desire already growing, and followed her in Coach Finstock's Office.
Aiden looked as Lydia was leaving, and finally went in the courtyard to take a bowl of fresh air. He was happy he had brought this thing with her to a close. He had felt they had no more to share, and he was glad it was finally over.
The brown-haired boy was waiting for his brother on a bench, his phone in his hand, but the werewolf had not shown up and he did not answer his texts. He did not know where he could have been. As he was being impatient, he looked around and his heart missed a beat. Was that Danny crying on the opposite bench?
Automatically, he got up. Taking a deep breath, he walked in the boy's direction. He was around ten strides away and he got the time to detail his look during the journey, and it was like he discovered him for the first time. Danny was tall—taller than Ethan, but surely the same height as Aiden. His hair was so dark it seemed dyed, but Aiden knew it was naturally beautiful, just like him. He had his face in his hands, and it did not matter how miserable he looked, because when he raised his head at the sight of Aiden's feet, his tearful face was still extremely cute. Even if his brown eyes were damp from tears, they oozed kindness and honesty. His square features suited him well, making him look like a child good enough to eat, and Aiden bit his lips, to prevent himself from wanting to kiss this delicious mouth of his.
"Are you alright?"
Danny sniffed. "Yeah."
"You're crying," Aiden unnecessarily pointed out.
"No. No, I'm fine."
"Are you sure?" he insisted.
"It's not like you care," Danny muttered.
"Why do you say that?" Danny slowly shook his head, ignoring his remark. "Can I sit?"
"Be my guest," the Lacrosse player mumbled.
Aiden did. They stood in an awkward silent for a minute, and the werewolf asked, "So what happened?"
"Why would I tell you?"
"I don't know. You like Ethan. I like Ethan. See? We have at least one common trait."
"That's the problem. Ethan just broke up with me." Danny's tone was more resigned than sad, and Aiden instantly admired him for his strength and self-control.
"What? You—I mean he—Wait, you're single?" Aiden stumbled.
"How does it even matter?" the other student asked in shock.
"No, it doesn't. I'm sorry. It's just—I don't get why he would let you go…"
"Well, he said he's not gay after all." The dark-haired boy had a sour laughter.
"He's not?" Aiden repeated, unnerved.
"No. He's in love with Lydia."
Aiden stood speechless. "Lydia? Lydia Martin?"
"Yeah, your girlfriend."
"Oh, we're not together anymore. I don't think we've ever really been together, in fact."
"What happened?"
"I wasn't in love with her."
"So you dumped her, just like Ethan did," Danny guessed, hateful and disgusted.
"No! No, Danny… I—You're different from Lydia, you—If I had been Ethan, I would have never done that to you. Because you're so wonderful. And… And because I like you."
"We barely talk to each other, how could you like me?"
"I didn't need to talk to you. I could see how great you were just by looking at you. Ethan was a bastard to dump such a marvelous person. I swear he'll regret it. It would've never happened with me, I promise. I would've never hurt you. Because you deserve to be loved, and taken care of, like nobody else in the world. And I…" Aiden made a pause in order to gather some strength to carry on. "I can be that man. I want to be that man, Danny."
Danny was staring at him in sheer bewilderment. He stood still for a few minutes, making Aiden uncomfortable because he had no answer. Finally, the Hawaiian boy hissed, "Why are you making fun of me?"
"I'm not! I swear I'm not."
"So you're telling me you've loved me the whole time and you want to date me right after your brother dumped me?"
"Well, in fact I'm only aware that I like you since yesterday, but now you're single so that's settled."
Danny raised an eyebrow. He had stopped crying and he looked dead serious. "You're poking at me. Why are you doing this?"
"Danny, you've gotta understand! I'm serious. Something happened in my life, I still don't know what, and now I just know that I like you. I really like you."
"So suddenly you like me and Ethan doesn't?" Danny ironically asked.
"I'll admit that's a great coincidence."
"You're crazy!" he yelled angrily. "It's not funny! I've already made a fool of myself believing Ethan could actually love me, I don't need his damn brother reminding me how little I'm worth!" Danny had stood up in front of Aiden, who raised his look at him. "You know what? You and he are not quite so different, and I can see your game now. Don't you have something else to do than annoying nice and loving people? Truth is, I should have seen what you two were up to, you've always been so bizarre, so mysterious. I ought to know what you'd do to me, what you'd do to everyone. You just like to play with people's feelings and hearts. You had mine. Are you satisfied? And don't tell me it's not true because you beautiful bastards nailed it at making me believe I meant something to you. Now I'm done with being taken advantage of. I won't be your stupid toy any longer. I'm tired of being used, being just an experiment. 'Cause that's what I am, ain't I? A silly boy you used to have fun, just like many others I bet. So, did you have fun? Was I entertaining? You think you can switch personalities and love partners as much as you want, but there's one point where your little toy is broken, Aiden." Danny had tears back in his eyes, but he did not try to dry them.
Aiden was gaping, he did not know how to react. Danny was just so wrong about everything. He was so desperate he imagined the worst. "No, you don't get it… It's not like you think, Danny…" But the Lacrosse player had already vanished after a whispered "I can't believe I liked you", and Aiden was left alone and heartbroken on the bench. He watched as Danny ran off, crying, toward the parking-lot. He had wasted his chance.
Lydia put her clothes back on, staring at Ethan as he was doing likewise. Back when she was with Aiden, she had always thought Ethan was weak and fragile. But now she did not know. Her ex-boyfriend's twin brother had actually been gentle, but incredibly satisfying and good. It was disruptive not to know what to think about someone anymore. Truth was she liked Ethan—and now even more than before—but she did not know if she could get over Aiden by having sex with his brother. At least, she would try. Ethan really seemed to like her. Why not let him a chance?
As the boy was starting to walk out of the room, she grabbed his wrist and he turned to face her. She had a devilish smile on her lips. The ginger girl gave him a passionate kiss—his mouth definitely tasted different from his brother. "I'll see you around," she said in a wink. And he left.
Lydia followed, after a few minutes, and looked for Allison, wandering around the school for the last instants of recreation. She did not find her, because she was certainly making out with Isaac somewhere, but found someone else. And she never would have thought such a vision could have been given to her. Aiden, sitting on a bench, was crying. She frowned. Aiden never cried.
"Hey," she whispered when she finally made it near him. Aiden raised his head toward her. He smiled a bit and looked away in shame. "Am I dreaming or you're actually crying?"
He sniffed, then wiped his nose on his cuff. "Leave me alone," he begged quietly.
"I could do that. Or I could just sit here and ask you what's happened."
"Lydia, I just broke up with you, don't you think it'd be awkward for you to sit here, listening to my problems?"
"First, you didn't break up with me, we both agreed on breaking up. And secondly, I'm definitely listening to you problems, because I like you, and I kinda date your brother, or something like that."
"You—What?" he asked in shock.
"Yeah, we just got laid in Coach's Office, but I don't know if it really meant something. We'll see."
"Well, he didn't waste his time!" Aiden laughed warmly, drying his tears.
"What do you mean?"
"He just dumped Danny. And now he's with you. And I bet he didn't even wait for me to leave you to ask you out."
"You're right, he didn't. I was surprised, because it didn't look like him."
"He doesn't look like himself anymore. Neither do I, apparently." Aiden was not puzzled by his own statement. It was like he had already accepted this new situation, like he knew something weird had happened to them and that nothing could be done to change it.
"Why would you say that?"
"Well, you might not believe it, but I just told Danny Mahealani I loved him."
"What? You really did?" she nearly yelled, her eyes widening. When she subsided, she added more seriously, "So… You like men, now?"
"I think I do. Well, I like Danny. But he doesn't. Like me, I mean."
Lydia could tell Aiden was trying hard not to cry again. His jaw and fists were clenched, and he was looking at the ground. "What happened?" the red-haired student asked in a soft voice, putting a hand on his.
"He was crying because my brother had dumped him, so I went to him and I tried to comfort him, but I kind of ended up telling him I liked him and he misinterpreted it, he thought I was making fun of him and… he just left." Aiden had started crying again in the middle of his speech. Lydia grimaced and placed her arm around his shoulders. He leaned on her and hung to her clothes to find balance, to find support.
"It's okay," she murmured. "Danny was just in a state of shock, he didn't know what he was saying…"
"Of course he did! You should've seen how he was talking to me… I felt like shit."
"But it was so unnatural of you to tell him these things, he was just surprised."
"What side are you on? His or mine?"
"Yours, obviously, sweetie," she reassured. "But you've got to let him time to recover from his break-up with Ethan. And then, maybe, he'll be able to listen to you and to start liking you."
"Do you really think he could, after what happened today?"
"Sure. If you're patient enough to wait for him to be ready."
Aiden had stopped crying. He smiled to Lydia, straightening his posture. "I'll wait for him. As long as it takes."
"You're so cute," she said, amazed.
"Well, ain't all gay people cute to girls?" They laughed. "Anyway. Thank you," he added. "For helping me out with that."
"No problem. We might not be together anymore, we're still close friends." She instantly frowned, and turned to him. "Wait. Does that make you my gay best friend?"
The recreation was over and the bell had just stopped ringing when the twins reluctantly came back to class. They both had French class, and they were sitting aside—which caused trouble tell them apart for their teacher.
"Hey," Aiden said as he sat on his seat a few minutes later than Ethan. "What's up?"
Ethan turned his head to face him. Something passed between them—that was nothing, just a glimpse of a smile—and they did not even need to say anything because they knew exactly what was up. They had always been close, they had always known what the other was about, but now that they literally were what the other was about, they knew each other completely.
"You gently dumped Lydia and timidly asked Danny out but he refused and broke your heart. Am I right?" Ethan said—and it was almost not a question.
"How did you know?" Aiden whispered, pretending to take notes as their teacher glared at them.
"Because that's something I would've done, back when I was… Well, when I was me."
"Oh." The tallest blinked, frowning. "So we've really been switched, haven't we?"
"Yeah, something like that. I just hope you'll find a way to be with Danny."
"And I hope you'll be a better brother than I have, especially now that there's no more Pack and that we're Omegas again."
"Don't worry, pup. I've got your back." Ethan winked at him.
The teacher stopped their little conversation and asked them something in French, to which Ethan boldly replied with a nearly perfect accent, "Je ne connais pas la réponse, mais vous pouvez demander à mon frère. Maintenant, c'est lui le plus malin*." And as they both knew it was true, since they had been switched at death, his twin smiled and gave the right answer.
*Translation: "I don't know the answer, but you can ask my brother. He's the smartest now."
So what did you think? Let me know, it would be really nice! Merry Christmas to you all!