Chapter Text
There were very few things that both Jackson Jekyll and Holt Hyde could agree on. The two boys wer as different as can be despite the fact that the two happened to share the same body.
Jackson was quiet, timid and analytical. Holt was loud, brash, and impulsive. Jackson liked school, math, and science. Holt liked music, art and partying.
Even despite all their differences there was one thing that the two could agree on; They were exhausted.
It had been two weeks since the boys had started at Monster High.
Two weeks since they had learned of the other’s existence.
Two weeks of hiding the fact of their shared body from the rest of the student body.
Keeping the secret was exhausting. At the end of nearly every class period whoever was currently in change of the body at to rush to find someplace they could hide to transform so that the other could attend their own class.
Two weeks of hiding.
Two weeks of lying.
Two weeks of trying their hardest to not get caught.
The lying was the worst part. Constantly having to make excuses for where the other one was and why the two were never seen together. It was hard knowing that they could never be fully honest with anyone other than Heath, who was currently the only student at Monster High who knew of their affliction.
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Holt groaned as he stepped over the threshold and into his house. He was lucky that no one was home at the time because it was a groan loud enough to wake the dead. He tossed his backpack over by the couch, choosing to ignore the homework he had due on Monday.
Holt collapsed onto the couch, the tension and stress from the last two weeks releasing as he sunk into the plus cushions. He closed his eyes and just allowed himself to relax for a while. Just a few minutes where he was unburdened by Jackie’s anxiety or the secret of their joint existence looming over his head that his normie counterpart insisted that they keep.
Holt didn’t really care that much either way. If people knew then he wouldn’t have to worry as much. He wouldn’t have to constantly be cautious about letting it slip. Accidentally saying the wrong thing or someone seeing anything that reveled them to the world. On the other hand, a small part of him worried that if the secret got out, he would never be seen as his own person. Just a part of a whole. Holt shook the thoughts from his mind. He wasn’t going to think about any of that right now.
Holt felt his phone buzz from the back pocket of his jeans and pulled it out to see what it was, grateful for the distraction from thoughts that he would rather not focus on right now. As he turned on his iCoffin he was greeted by a text from Heath.
HEATH: Yo dude! My dad is out of town for the weekend again so I’m throwing a party at my place tonight. Can you dj?
HOLT: Totally man! Just lemme know when to get there
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Holt sauntered up to Heath’s house a few hours later with a thick air of confidence surrounding him. He could clearly see the hordes of ghouls and mansters already swarming inside of the house as he approached. As he made his way through the crowd he greeted nearly every monster that he passed. Whether it be nothing more than a wink or a smile, Holt made his presence known to as many monsters as he could.
Despite his rather limited social life before starting at Monster High, it was clear that Holt was quite the social butterfly. In the recent weeks of school Holt had been flourishing. He talked to anyone who wold listen, said hello whenever he would, and still hadn’t joined a specific friend group simply because he hung out with all of them!
Holt needed the social contact and attention almost as much as he needed oxygen. This party was the very air that he breathed. The pumping of the bass through the speakers, the house packed full of ghouls and mansters all there to have a good time, even the sticky residue left on the tables and counters from spilled sodas. All of those beautiful imperfections that made the atmosphere so intoxicating.
Before he left for the party Holt had written a note to Jackie and left it on their shared desk. Just a simple explanation of where he was going so that if an accident occurred and they transformed back unexpectedly, Jackie wouldn’t panic too much. Originally Holt had left out the part about him sneaking out and not telling Mom or Dad about the party but he was forced to come clean when Jackie wrote him a reply asking if he had gotten permission. Of course, Jackie had heavily objected to the whole concept, writing Holt a very strongly worded letter detailing every reason why they should tell Mom and then 10 more reasons listing why they shouldn’t even go to the party in the first place. After an absolutely exhausting 45 minutes of swapping back and forth in an attempt to have a conversation, Jackie had finally given into Holt’s request, albeit begrudgingly.
Holt spotted Heath’s fiery hair across the pack of monsters like it was a beacon in the night and expertly weaved through the crowd of excited party-goers to get to him.
“Yo Heath!” He called out, practically yelling over all the noise.
Heath turned around, his face literally lighting up when he saw Holt. “Holtster! How’s it goin’ man?”
“Eh, can’t complain.” Holt replied with a simple shrug. “Though I will say, It was not easy trying to get Jackie to agree to this.”
“I’m gonna tell you now in case you don’t already know. That dude has no idea how to have fun.” Heath said, slinging his arm over Holt’s shoulders and leading him to the backyard where there were even more people crowing the lawn.
“Jeez, how many people did you invite to this thing?” Holt asked.
“Oh, I told pretty much everyone at school, everyone in town and everyone at the next school over. Basically I invited nearly every ghoul and monster I could find and told them all to invite their friends.”
“That would explain it.” Holt said with a laugh. “Now lets get these people moving! Seriously, did you pick this music?”
“I just put on a random party playlist I found on BooTube! I needed something playing while I waited for you to get here!” Heath protested.
“Yeah, yeah. Save the excuses.”
Holt practically sprinted over to a plastic fold-up table that Heath had set up in the backyard. He whipped his laptop out of his backpack and hooked it up to the two floor-standing speakers next to the table. He flipped through the list of different setlists and playlists that he had spent years carefully curating for a moment such as this.
“Let’s get this party started!” Holt shouted excitedly into the crowd of monsters, receiving a chorus of cheers in response.
Holt pressed play and cranked up the volume. The partygoers immediately began to bounce along to the beat of the song. The music was so loud that Holt could feel the thumping of the bass and the beating of the drums shaking his bones in a wonderful symphony of electric energy.
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As the party went on, Holt felt that it was a good time to take a quick break from his dj set and explore the party a bit. He headed into the kitchen to grab a drink and was greeted by a familiar face.
“Frankie! Didn’t expect to see you here!” Holt exclaimed as he approached.
“Oh—Hey Holt! Yeah, I wasn’t really planning on coming but Draculaura and Clawdeen talked me into it. It’s my first party so I wasn’t really sure what to expect.”
“First party huh? How are you liking it so far?” Holt asked.
“It’s pretty fun! I’m loving the music. It is a bit loud though.” Frankie said with a giggle.
“Well it’s a party! The music is supposed to be loud! Honestly, I might take offense to that, Frankie-Fine,” Holt said with a smirk.
“I take it that you are in charge of the music then?” Frankie asked with a smile.
“DJ Hyde at your service,” Holt replied with a two-fingered salute.
“So…You fancy yourself a DJ do you?”
“I sure do,” Holt said proudly. “So what about you? What kind of stuff are you into?”
“Well, science mostly but in all honestly I’m still kind of figuring that out.”
“Have you tried music? I know I’m sorta biased but still,” Holt said with a laugh. “Here, I can send you some playlists that you might like if you want?” he said, handing is phone over to Frankie for them to put their number in.
“Asking for my number already? That’s quite forward of you, DJ Hyde,” Frankie said with a playful smirk.
Holt’s face flushed a deep shade of purple. “I-uh-I didn’t mean it like that,”
Frankie laughed and took the phone from Holt, quickly typing their number into it and passing it back. “Here, text me sometime.” they said with a smile as they walked off to rejoin Clawdeen and Draculaura in the backyard.
Holt looked down at his phone, open to the new contact in his phone. He smiled, blushing slightly before tucking his phone back into his pocket and returning to the rest of the party.