This is written for destinyshiva for the usxuk Secret Santa. Thanks so much to my friend, sealedsprite for her opinions and hotbabysitter for beta-reading this!
Merry Christmas, everyone! :D
Chapter 1 – The Golden Boy
"And he jumps! He shoots… HE SCORES! Let's give a round of applause for our very own Alfred Jones of Albion International High School!" The voice boomed from the loud speakers.
After the announcement was made, a swelling roar filled the arena – cheers and celebration on the home side, and booing and moaning from the visitor's side. Alfred F. Jones blew kisses at his audience as he ran to the side bench. His team had just won the high school basketball competition against the neighboring Avery High School.
Alfred grinned widely as he continued to wave enthusiastically. This was what he was meant for, winning games, having people cheering him on like a hero. Well, he was a hero, in a way. After all, his last three-pointer had saved the day.
Life is good, Alfred thought. He wasn't particularly tall compared to some of his team mates, but he was quick and agile on the court. In addition to the team practices and workouts, he went to the gym three times a week on his free time to be able to keep up and stay ahead of the competition. He flexed his arms in satisfaction. All the hard work paid off.
He went into the locker room and received more congratulations and slaps on the back from his team mates. He returned them, unable to keep the grin and the laugh off his face.
It always felt good to take a hot shower after a major work out, especially after a victory. He was whistling as he patted himself dry and rummaged in his locker for his uniform, groping around for his glasses. He frowned as he noted the wrinkles on his pants. He had forgotten to fold them properly again.
Alfred pulled on the slightly wrinkled dark blue plaid pants. He tucked his white shirts and put on his plain black tie loosely around his neck, like he always did. Then he shrugged into his dark blue sweater and pulled both sleeves to his elbows.
He noticed many students huddled around the school yard studying as he walked out of the gym. The exam was due to start tomorrow. He was not particularly worried. He never needed to worry about his academic. He was a science student majoring in Chemistry and he always aced all his subjects, even though he barely studied. He was soon surrounded by girls as soon as he stepped out in view. Girls fighting to get his attention, trying to talk to him or taking pictures of him.
The girls' uniforms, unlike the boys, were all in red, short plaid skirts and suspenders. He stole a glimpse at one of the girl's shapely legs and smiled again. Life, for him, was really good.
This is the life.
The sight of him took Arthur Kirkland's breath away.
The golden boy, Albion International High School's hero, was surrounded by girls as usual. He was really popular. He wished he could approach him and talk to him like one of those girls – but he wasn't, so he didn't. He was at the basketball match just now and was still in awe at how strong Alfred was. There was just something about Alfred that caught Arthur's attention, but he hadn't figured it out yet. His body? His hair? His looks? Or is it the cute way he smiled at the girls?
He wishes he could run his finger through Alfred's dark blond hair…
Arthur shook his head and blushed. He laid back against the trunk of the big tree he was under and continued his studies. Right now, his exam was more important than guys.
Alfred never once glanced or noticed the thin figure under the tree.
Exam week came and went like a breeze. Alfred stretched lazily on his chair and wondered what he should do with the upcoming night. Now that exam was finished, everyone would be taking it easy for a while, preparing for the Christmas prom which was less than two months away.
Oh I know! There was that Fatal Frame game that Kiku Honda lent him the other day. He really should find some time to finish it and return it to Kiku.
And, speaking of the Devil, there came Kiku now.
They were from different class, but despite that, Honda Kiku was one of his closest friends. He was Japanese and had been living in America for five years now due to his father's work. Honda was at least half a head shorter than he was and thin, with short cropped black hair and brown eyes that looked bored all the time. He was usually quiet, and sometimes Alfred wondered what was going on inside that little head of his.
"Hey, what's up," Alfred said cheerfully.
Kiku showed him a game wordlessly. He was not a man with many words. It was another horror game.
"Ku… On?" Alfred read, struggling through the pronunciation.
Kiku merely nodded and said in a quiet voice, "Try it. It's fun."
"Sure," Alfred accepted the game then turned to look at Kiku. "You coming over to stay tonight, right?" he asked hopefully. Kiku was still staring at him dully and finally gave him a small nod.
As macho as Alfred may have looked, he was afraid of anything horror-related; it made one wonder why he still loved to play horror game so much. If he was going to play this game, he would need Kiku to be there with him!
"Just come over at around seven, after dinner!" Alfred slapped Honda's back, jolting the small figure a little. "I'll see you later, then, I need to go to the lab for a bit." He winked cheekily.
He loved to play with various projects, and his current one was the determination of caffeine in tea samples. He wasn't a tea lover, but his parents were, so since he didn't want to waste precious coffee on a trial experiment, he thought this would be a good start. If it worked, maybe then he'd try it on coffee.
The lab was empty, just as he liked it during this hour. He hastily put on his lab coat and set up everything he need on the table. Let's see, beaker, tea leaves, funnel…
After he counted out his things, he began by adding tea leaves and a small amount of water into a beaker and slowly heating them. He continued working on them, filtering the solution and adding lead acetate until he was satisfied at the result. He then added chloroform until two layers were visible in the separating funnel. He then separated the lower layer, letting the solution exposed to atmosphere so that the chloroform will evaporate. He weighted the left over residue carefully and began to note down his experiment.
Alfred breathed as he closed his notebook. He intended to experiment on a few more brand of tea leaves and compare the results.
As he was cleaning up, he snapped up his head in alarm when he felt that he was being stared at - well, more like scrutinized. He began to feel goose bumps all over. He quickly did a cross over his chest, and every gory and graphic image from his horror games came flooding into his mind all at once. A very pale scent of roses followed, and it only increased Alfred's horror.
Are zombies going to come out? No, wait, zombies shouldn't smell like roses! Could it be some unsettled spirits? He was too scared to think otherwise and damn it, forget cleaning! He was dumping everything in the sink and intended to bolt for his life, if need be. He dashed out of the lab and ran right into something or someone, and they both fell onto the floor with a great deal of yelling involved. The scent of the rose was a little stronger now as Alfred thought about evil spirits roaming the empty floor. He scrambled to get up and was met by a pair of bright green eyes in front of him, and a pair of very thick, bushy eyebrows that were yelling for some trimming.
Alfred instinctively scrambled backwards, a scream threatened to escape from his throat. He covered his eyes with both hands and refused to acknowledge what was in front of him. He was looking quite unsightly at this moment and was glad that there was no one else around to witness this.