Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Cesar had been unable to sleep, ever since he had heard the sudden burst of static from downstairs, which was still ringing through the air at that moment. This same burst of static was the very thing that woke him up that night.

At first, Cesar had thought that it was his mama, but that theory was quickly disproven when the static lingered for more than ten seconds. He knew his mama would never leave the television on static for that long.

Now, he wasn’t too sure what it could have been. What would be the point of breaking and entering just to turn on a television, and even then, why would they leave it on static, too?

Now that he thought about it, weren’t all the televisions supposed to be disconnected from the power, anyways?

Deciding this might actually be something that could substantially affect him and those he loved, Cesar shuffled out of bed, not bothering to deal with his appearance, since whoever it was didn’t appear to care enough to knock before entering the home.

Cesar made it out of his room fairly quickly, and out to the living room as well, all in less than two minutes. Their house was quite small, after all.

Upon creeping out to the living room, and getting in sight of the television, Cesar could see that it was in fact on, although the instant he entered the room, the static faded away from the device.

The television’s screen remained a solid black, prompting Cesar to wonder if he’d just been hearing things, mostly since, now that he was awake, there was no way his mama hadn’t made it here before him, unless she had been called in late again…

Usually, if she left late at night, she’d leave a note on the fridge, so maybe it’d be best to investigate that, first. Cesar then turned to leave the room, working towards the kitchen.

Before he could make it all the way out, however, the television let out a strange beep, prompting the man to turn back around and stare down the previously black screen.

On the screen now, was a strange, unnerving, smiling face. Everything about the thing made Cesar wish to flee back to his room, maybe call Mark, his best friend, and yet… he couldn’t help but feel as though something kept him firmly in place.

“Why hello there!” The face called out, eyes seeking Cesar out in the glow of the television. Cesar then realized how dark it was, and how easy it could be for someone to sneak around, and perhaps steal something, which, though it could be solved with the cameras set up around the house, it would be better to just prevent any robberies in the first place.

The face on the television seemed intrigued by Cesar walking away from it, though that intrigue quickly faded when the man simply turned the room’s light on and turned back around.

“I’ve never seen you before! My name is Stanley, what’s yours?” The face, Stanley, introduced, eyes still directly staring Cesar down. Cesar gave a hesitant smile, conflicted in what to do, but not trying to be rude, even to this person on the television. He could’ve sworn he’d heard something about that…

“My name is Cesar… it’s a pleasure to meet you, Stanley.” Cesar introduced himself, putting on a false bravado.

“Say, how many friends do you have, anyways?” Stanley asked Cesar, eyes roaming the room, before quickly snapping back towards him.

Cesar, who was a bit thrown off by the question that seemed to come out of nowhere, and seemed like it was better phrased for a smaller audience, perhaps children, paused in his response, despite already knowing the answer.

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about responding, I’m quite used to that.” Stanley assured, looking off to the side with a false frustrated expression for a moment.

“Sorry! I… uh, was just taken off guard for a moment there, my apologies.” Cesar clarified, wondering why he was being so open to this person on the television. “To answer your question, just one.”

That one friend was Mark, his previously mentioned best friend. Now that he thought about it, wasn’t Mark the person who had mentioned something about televisions being dangerous? He could feel the connections beginning to form in his mind, yet he couldn’t quite connect them entirely.

“Oh, that’s great!” Stanley cheered, though Cesar wasn’t terribly focused on him, feeling the effects of waking up late in the middle of the night, finally. “Say, how do you feel about having another friend?”

In response, Cesar simply stared blankly at the screen, not seeing any particular reason to try and make friends with this Stanley.

“Well, all you have to do is imagine what makes the perfect friend… what do they look like? How do they act? What is their favorite color?” Stanley persuaded, grin growing to its full size.

Cesar lightly hummed, not really sure where Stanley was trying to go with this, although the face did once again tell him something which reminded Cesar of Mark.

“Now close your eyes, and think really hard about them…” Stanley instructed, Cesar following along just so that he wouldn’t look rude.

“Now! You may open your eyes, and go find your friend! They are somewhere inside your home.” Stanley called out, before the television let out a deafening burst of static, causing Cesar to momentarily clamp his hands over his ears until the noise faded.

As soon as Cesar could think normally again, his head was suddenly flooded with thoughts, and he quickly remembered the alternate situation. That was the danger that the television possessed, that was what the thing on the television was. And there was also one inside his home right now.

Cesar’s first instinct was to go for a weapon, but then he remembered the whole thing with M.A.D, where alternates would get their victims to kill themselves. It would probably be better just to get out of his house, maybe call the police, head over to Mark’s place, camp out there until the alternate was gone.He would have to call his mama to inform her of the situation, though. 

Before Cesar’s thoughts could escalate any further, he heard the noise of a door slamming shut, and, if he listened closely, he could hear rapid, hitching breathing.

Knowing it was probably the alternate, but still wishing to comfort whoever seemed to be having a bad time, Cesar made his way over to the room that had been slammed shut, which turned out to be the laundry room.

Cesar gently knocked on the door, only to be met with a tinge of guilt as all noises from the other side of the door stopped, in fear of discovery.

“Hey… mind if I come in? I’m not gonna hurt you.” Cesar assured, backing away from the door a bit.

To Cesar’s surprise, the door in front of him then clicked open, cracking open only a small amount. Cesar waited in apprehension, expecting some otherworldly entity to claw its way out.

Going against all expectations, a man, who looked identical to Cesar in every single way, at least, as far as Cesar himself could tell, popped his head out of the door nervously, instantly making eye contact with Cesar.

Cesar gave his doppelganger a small, friendly grin, trying to provide some calm to the clearly panicked alternate. He knew they were the alternate that Stanley had set loose in his house, and sure, he may get killed by this alternate, but he was in distress, and there was no reason to leave him in distress.

The doppelganger made his way out of the laundry room entirely, revealing that they were both wearing the exact same thing. Observing his alternate, Cesar realized just how awful the both of them probably looked. It wasn’t like he was going to sleep any time soon, and he wasn’t even sure if alternates slept, so the two of them would have to do something about this.

Cesar held out his hand to the alternate, not entirely sure how to socialize with them yet. Thankfully, he seemed to get the message, giving Cesar his hand and following him through the house. Cesar took note of how the alternate’s hands were exceptionally cold.

It didn’t take the two of them long to make it to Cesar’s room, though it was enough time for the alternate to fully calm down, Cesar gesturing at the bed for his alternate to sit down on while he sorted through his closet for a suitable outfit for the both of them.

This time, Cesar’s doppelganger didn’t get the message, awkwardly standing by the door, observing the room around the two of them.

The alternate was taken out of whatever thoughts he was having by Cesar approaching him with two different overly fancy suits, one black, the other one a deep navy blue.

“Which one of these do you like more?” Cesar asked the alternate, holding them further apart so that they could both be clearly seen.

Cesar’s doppelganger spent a moment staring at the two outfits in confusion, before reaching a hand over and patting the navy one gently. As soon as he had patted it once, the alternate rested his hand on it, eyes wide open in awe.

“Oh, right… you can have that one, don’t worry.” Cesar started, cutting off when the alternate sharply up at him. “It’s just… What do you want to be called?”

The alternate blinked once in confusion, before his eyes suddenly widened in realization, mouth opening in an ‘o’ shape.

“You’re Cesar already… yes?” The alternate asked, though there was a slight glitch to the voice, it was an almost perfect replica of Cesar’s own voice.

“Yeah… probably gonna need something else for you…” Cesar stated, briefly looking off to the side, before his eyes quickly snapped back to the alternate. “You already have a name, or will we be coming up with something?”

“No, I’m one of the newer ones. None of us were named.” The alternate said as he shook his head, hand resuming its previously paused pattern of pats across the navy suit.

“Well, we can change that now. Do you have any ideas in mind, or…” Cesar trailed off, once again looking away from the alternate as he searched his mind for some kind of name for the alternate.

“Maybe… some variation of Cesar? I mean, it does appear I was created in your likeness, and it does feel… natural, I think.” The alternate asked, nervously glancing around as Cesar’s eyes snapped back to him again.

“Yeah… that works…” Cesar responded, going over many different variations of his name mentally.

“How about… Ceri?” The alternate asked, looking at Cesar for approval.

“I think it’s lovely!” Cesar agreed, nodding his head as he spoke. Ceri smiled at the approval, though the smile was wide enough that it seemed to warp his face strangely.

In the distance, Cesar thought he might’ve heard a phone ringing, but right now, he wasn’t too concerned with what may or may not have been real, instead bringing Ceri over to the closet to find an outfit that actually looked good, in case either of them went anywhere when the sun rose.

Cesar realized he’d have to either find a way to keep Ceri out of his mama’s sight, that is, if the alternate was actually staying. It was either that or explain to her why there were two of her son in her house.

Alas, that was a problem for future Cesar. Right now, all he was worried about was Ceri accidentally clawing open an expensive suit, with the way he seemed to handle them.

Chapter Text

It had taken a long time to sort through Cesar’s closet to find outfits for Ceri. Luckily, they didn’t have to worry about anything not fitting the alternate, due to them both being identical.

Cesar took a quick glance at the time, revealing it to be 4:45 AM, almost two hours after they had started their impromptu project. It was then that Cesar realized something that was of high importance.

“Shoot… I’ve got school.” Cesar muttered. Now, he was somewhat regretting not sleeping any longer during the night, but he had his priorities.

“School?” Ceri asked, glancing over at Cesar from where he was gently patting the bed, for whatever reason.

“Yeah… I’ll be gone for most of the day, just uh… stay in here, I guess. I can bring you food and water before I go. Just make sure you don’t leave the room while Mama is home. And don’t answer the door, either. If someone goes in here, just… hide, I suppose.” Cesar instructed, turning back to the closet to find an outfit for the upcoming school day.

“You’re… leaving?” Ceri asked softly, his hands seeming to become longer.

“I’ll be back, don’t worry.” Cesar comforted, continuing to flip through the various articles of clothing.

“But… how long will you be gone?” Ceri asked, walking over towards his counterpart’s side.

Cesar lightly waved his hand as he counted the hours, finding it to be approximately seven hours at school, not counting the drive there and back, and any time spent after school.

“About seven and a half hours.” Cesar answered, still not having too much luck in finding a suitable outfit for school.

“Is there any reason why I can’t come with you?” Ceri questioned, head twisting to the side.

“Complications.” Cesar answered, finally finding a suitable outfit to last him through the day. Nothing too fancy, but nothing that looked too dreadful either. “It’d be weird if there were two people who looked exactly the same wandering around, yes?”

“Oh.” Ceri stated, nodding, and then plopping down onto the bed, dramatically falling over and sighing.

Cesar gave him a sympathetic glance, removing the articles of clothing he had picked out from his closet; today, it was a simple black hoodie, combined with dark blue jeans. Of course, he also brought his red bowtie along, even with the more casual outfit. At this point, it was somewhat of a signature.

“I’ll be back momentarily.” Cesar announced, exiting the room to go change into the new outfit.

Ceri watched him leave from the bed, pondering if he should follow Cesar to his school or not. Then again, if Cesar left for school, and an alternate got in, who would watch the house? Also, there was almost certainly cleaning that could be done, and school also involved lots of strangers.

Deciding that he would remain in the house, Ceri lifted himself off the bed once again, heading outside Cesar’s bedroom, glancing around the house. Cesar showed up in a couple of seconds, though he was momentarily shocked by Ceri’s appearance outside of his room, he quickly pushed it off.

“If you want to check around the house, go ahead. Mama shouldn’t be back for a good few hours, and after she gets home, she either has another shift or goes straight to bed.” Cesar said, waving out to the rest of the house as he passed Ceri to go back into his room. “I’ll be here a while, if you need me.”

Nodding, Ceri set off into the house, hearing the click of Cesar’s door behind him as he walked away. There was a somewhat large amount of rooms to explore, Ceri figured it would take several hours to inspect all the details.

Well, there was nothing better to do, so he best get to that, then!

The loud noise of Cesar’s alarm clock going off echoed through the otherwise silent house, Ceri jumping over the couch in surprise, while Cesar, who had traveled out to the living room after getting completely prepared for school, let out a quiet sigh of disappointment.

“Alright, I’ll go get that, and then I have to go. I’ll see you in a while, Ceri.” Cesar announced, getting up from the couch and heading towards his room. Ceri nodded, despite knowing that Cesar wouldn’t see it.

As he had said he would, Cesar silenced the alarm clock, before making his way over to the front door, making sure he grabbed his car keys on the way out, and his backpack.

“Just make sure you’re somewhere hidden by noon. Also, do you think you could lock the door after I leave?” Cesar asked, barely waiting for Ceri’s agreement before he exited the house.

By the time he’d gotten into his car and gotten it started, Ceri had already locked the door, and was back to exploring everything. Maybe alternates weren’t really as bad as the reports seemed to make them out to be.

Still, he wasn’t too sure how safe Ceri was to be around. He thought that the alternate was nice enough, actually being great company, but for all he knew, Ceri was just trying to gain his trust.

It’d be better to just see where this all ended up, Cesar thought, instead of taking premature actions solely based on theory, with no solid evidence. Cesar took a deep breath, deciding it’d be better to think about it when he wasn’t driving through the middle of Mandela, surrounded by traffic.

It didn’t take long for the Mandela High School to appear in Cesar’s vision, though that wasn’t too surprising, since it was one of the larger buildings. It also didn’t take long to find a parking spot, since Cesar was one of the earlier arrivals to the school, preferring to get there earlier rather than later.

Once he had safely parked and removed himself from his car, Cesar made his way over to the school, not seeing a particularly good reason to wait around outside.

There was a slightly ominous feeling in the air, though maybe it was just some leftover fright from the previous night, before he knew Ceri better.

Before he knew it, Cesar already had everything he needed for his first class of the day, having gotten it out of his locker and backpack on auto pilot.

Well, he should get to class then. Cesar didn’t know when Mark would show up, or even if he was coming today, so staying by his locker would be purely pointless.

Whilst walking through the halls, Cesar suddenly got a strange feeling, almost as though he was being followed, freezing, Cesar glanced around, suddenly unnerved by how little people were there at the time. Turning around, Cesar saw an almost unnervingly tall person approaching him at a concerning rate. They had their hands cramped as far into a pocket as they could go, and their head craned down, a hood covering their face.

“Hello?” Cesar called, not wishing to make a premature assumption on the person. As soon as he spoke, the figure’s head shot up to reveal… himself? So that meant… “Ceri! What are you doing here?”

The alternate dashed over to Cesar, appearing distressed. “I thought… I thought something bad had happened to you!” Ceri confessed, eyes enlarged slightly beyond that of a human’s capacity.

“I’m alright, Ceri. You don’t need to worry about me.” Cesar comforted, glancing around for any students who might see the two of them together.

“But what happens if one of them gets to you and I’m not there to protect? What then?” Ceri asked, glancing around nervously, possibly in response to Cesar’s own glances. Cesar didn’t have any response to that, staring down at the floor for a couple moments.

“How did you even get here?” Cesar asked, changing the topic entirely.

“I opened your window, climbed out of that, and ran until I found your car. Then it was just a matter of getting into school and following you into school.” Ceri explained, appearing to significantly calm down.

“At this point, you should probably just stick with me through the day, just keep your head down, and either don’t go into the classrooms, or find a way to get in undetected.” Cesar suggested after a moment of hesitation. Ceri nodded in agreement.

“I’ll do that!” Ceri exclaimed, giving a light grin. Cesar returned the grin.

“Alright, I should head to class now. Just… make sure you don’t call any attention to yourself. If you need to, just pretend you’re me.” Cesar instructed his counterpart.

Waving goodbye, Cesar started back towards his class, this time, there were no interruptions. Well, time to wait through an entire school day so that he could deal with everything, then. Lunch break might be an exception though.

Sighing, Cesar navigated to his seat, prepared for a long, slow, and boring day at school, again. His only “fun” classes were all after lunch. Pretty much the only thing he paid much attention to in the mornings was his calculus class.

He didn’t think that he was going to tell Mark about the alternate in the school. It would probably be fairly panic inducing and hard to explain, and for all he knows, Ceri still could have bad intentions. Cesar hadn’t known the alternate for long, after all.

Giving one final glance outside the door, Cesar could no longer see Ceri, instead greeted by the regular masses of people swarming around the halls. All he could do now was hope that everything would turn out alright. His thoughts were quickly interrupted by the ringing of a bell, signaling the call to the first class of the day.

Now there was nothing he could do- without consequences- about the situation, other than hoping for what was probably a miracle.

The bell signifying the end of class finally rang, allowing the students to head down to the cafeteria for their lunch break. Cesar let out a sigh as he realized he’d need to see what Ceri had been getting up to. Hopefully, nothing had gone wrong, but Cesar wouldn’t be too surprised if something did.

The halls were a mess, as per usual, unfortunately, Cesar didn’t catch sight of Ceri. If he was lucky, Ceri would follow the crowd down to the cafeteria.

“Cesar?” A voice asked, breaking Cesar out of his thoughts. Cesar blinked a couple of times, stopping in his tracks as he looked up to Mark, who had been the one to call for him.

“Oh. Mark!” Cesar responded, letting out a smile, before realizing something. “My apologies, I had forgotten to wait for you by the door today.”

“It’s alright, I don’t mind.” Mark said as they began to make their ways over to the lunch line. Cesar knew he probably never would mind, but it was better to apologize anyways. “I was nearly late anyways, so by the time I’d gotten there, we’d not have had much time to hang out.”

Letting out a nod, collecting ‘food’ as he went down the line. That wasn’t too surprising, due to Mark’s laziness and tendency to either oversleep or simply not have the energy to not go to school.

They walked back to their table in silence, Cesar remembering he still had to find Ceri before something bad happened. He nervously glanced around the cafeteria, though he didn’t catch sight of the alternate.

Almost immediately after sitting down, Cesar jumped up from his seat, muttering a quick “Excuse me.” before heading off through the hallways. The first place he’d check would be his locker, since it seemed like a fairly likely spot for Ceri to be, since he’d been there the previous few times Cesar had seen him.

Before he even made it to the halfway point, however, Ceri appeared, an almost haunted look on his face.

“Ceri? Is something wrong?” Cesar asked, glancing around for anything which might have disturbed the alternate.

“There… there’s an alternate here, Cesar!” Ceri half whispered, half shouted. Cesar was confused, though. Wasn’t Ceri an alternate?

“You mean… you?” Cesar hesitantly asked, not entirely sure if the answer would be something good.

“I’m not entirely an alternate, but now isn’t a good time. Right now, it’s out in the front entrance to the school. It's fighting something.” Ceri explained, already starting to walk towards the entrance, or, one of them, at least. There were several entrances to school, Cesar figured the one Ceri was heading to was one of the main doors, though.

“Should we call the police?” Cesar asked, following after his doppelgӓnger, who shook his head.

“I don’t think the police would come.” Ceri said, nearly sprinting towards his destination. Cesar nodded, despite knowing Ceri wouldn’t be able to see it.

Ceri began to speed up the further they went, Cesar also increasing his speed, if only to keep up with his doppelgӓnger. They were close to the entrance by the time that they were both running in a full on sprint through the halls.

The two of them skidded to a stop in front of the desired door, Cesar reaching out to open it, before his path was interrupted by Ceri.

“Let me go first, that way, it can attack the one of us who isn’t bound to bleed out if things go south.” Ceri said, opening the door before Cesar could give an answer.

As Ceri had said, there was an alternate right by the school, and it was fighting something, or someone. The alternate appeared angered, or frustrated, at the least, and the ground was spattered in static and black and red blood.

“No way…” Ceri muttered, stepping forwards slightly, Cesar following him closely. “I didn’t think…”

“What is it?” Cesar asked, keeping his voice quiet so as to not get them slaughtered by the alternate. It was occupied, but there was no saying that it wouldn’t have the time to get to them.

“It-it’s fighting…” Ceri started, his gaze a mixture of blankness and nervousness. “One of us.”