Chapter 24: Temperance III

Duncan stood in front of the Stacys' house, a car waiting for him on the road. The boy was dressed formally for a semi-formal event in a black and white tuxedo. He appeared anxious, owing primarily to the prospect of confronting Gwen's father.

Duncan only took a deep breath before knocking on the door. The door opened seconds later, showing the old man who owned this residence.

"Duncan," George introduced himself.

"Mr. Stacy." Duncan replied awkwardly.

"I heard about what you did yesterday." George continued to examine the youngster from head to toe. "I didn't think that you were a sporty type. But… That's only natural, I suppose."

"Um… meaning?"

George remained silent and stared at him. Finally, the man sighed and motioned for Duncan to enter. "Come in, kid, she's still getting ready."

"Thanks…" Duncan muttered. When he returned his gaze to the car, he noticed Paul lifting his brow, amused by the situation.

The boy simply shrugged and entered the house.

He could see the identical view from his prior visit. Gwen's childhood photos, George's marriage photos with his wife, and photos of them as a family.

Helen could be seen in the kitchen as he approached the living room.

"Hello, Mrs. Stacy." Duncan greeted her.

"Duncan!" She gave him a friendly smile. "You look fantastic."

"Oh, thank you." Duncan was flattered by the compliment. "The last time I wore something like this was to that wedding—"

Duncan suddenly stopped speaking after realizing what he had just said. The boy merely awkwardly laughed at his comments.

"That will not happen this time, Duncan." Helen reassured him, despite the fact that he didn't want one in the first place. "Just have a good time, but don't go overboard."

"All right, Mrs. Stacy."

Suddenly, Duncan heard some footsteps from the stairs near the living room. He turned towards it, only to see Gwen, dressed in a purple gown, step down from it.

"Mom, have you seen—" Gwen came to a halt as she noticed Duncan standing in the living room. "Oh, you're early; that's surprising."

Duncan just rolled his eyes. "Haha, very funny."

Gwen looked at the boy from top to bottom, raising her brow. "You look really good."

"Thanks." Duncan shrugged. "You too."

There was awkward silence for a few minutes after that. Gwen didn't say anything; she simply stepped closer to her mother to speak with her about something.

"I'll just... stand outside," Duncan explained.

"That'll be great." Gwen hummed as her mother worked on her hair.

—

As Duncan waited outside, he saw that Mr. Stacy was talking with Paul about something. The boy walked towards them, and joined the conversation.

"She isn't ready yet?" asked Mr. Stacy.

"She's almost ready; she's asking for help from Mrs. Stacy." Duncan answered.

"Okay…" Mr. Stacy hummed. "Duncan, listen. Don't stay up too late and bring Gwen home early, understood?"

"Why?" Duncan asked, confused. "Something happened?"

"Lots of things are happening in this city right now." Mr. Stacy sighed. "Murderers, gang violence. Recently, there's been a killing again; an entire gang was wiped out in one night."

"One night?" Duncan looked intrigued. "Who could it be?"

"We don't know yet..." Mr. Stacy answered. "That, on top of the killer who "saved" you last month being on the loose, it's not quite safe right now."

"So you think it's a different person?"

"The angel you mentioned before has this sort of gimmick where he puts tarot cards on his or her victims. But the gang massacre didn't have one, just bullets inside their bodies."

"Okay… you don't have to tell me that." Duncan sighed. "You know, you're a bit unprofessional for a cop to talk about murder scenes to teenagers, don't you think?"

"I'm giving you a warning, kid." Mr. Stacy refuted. "Weird things are happening right now. Aliens exist, people can fly, gods are appearing, gang violence is at an all-time high, you should be careful, and if anything happens, run the other way with my daughter, you understand?"

Duncan hummed. "Sir, yes, sir."

—

As Duncan and Gwen arrived at school, both of them could see the entrance to the corridor was decorated quite neatly. A bunch of balloons were placed everywhere, sparkling things covered the lockers, and the word "Homecoming" could be seen on top of the door.

Duncan saw the students enter. Whether students were coming with their significant others, with their friends, or simply coming alone, all of them looked at least a teensy bit excited about the event.

"Let's go," said Gwen calmly, grabbing his hand and dragging him towards the gym, where the dance was supposed to be.

When both of them entered, passing a sparkling curtain made out of shiny papers, they could see students already dancing in the middle of the gym. The song was playing loudly in the background with an upbeat tune, and the violet lights of the dance floor shone everywhere.

The people were dancing merrily following the upbeat tune; the boys literally took off their suits to dance, and the girls took off their heels and danced their worries away in the gym.

It was not Duncan's type of thing.

Both of them just looked at each other, seemingly doubting whether they should have come.

"You want to dance?" Duncan asked halfheartedly.

"Yeah, no," she answered, sighing. "This is… not my thing…"

"Ditto." Duncan hummed. "I thought it would at least have a slow dance or something. I don't really like jumping around like this."

"That's prom." Gwen stated. "Well, maybe they will have a slow dance session later."

"Your dad told me to bring you home early, though. Paul is waiting outside because of that."

"Of course he did," she murmured. "What should we do now?"

Before Duncan could say anything, Gwen was suddenly hugged from behind by another girl. It was MJ, along with two other girls following her.

"You actually came!" MJ said to the girl.

"Yeah, well, he asked me to go with him." said Gwen, pointing at Duncan.

MJ stepped back a little, raising her brow. She looked at Gwen, then at Duncan. "Both of you look great. Alone and together."

"Haha." Gwen rolled her eyes. "You didn't get a date?"

"Nope, the guy I want to go with didn't ask me." MJ sighed. "Locked up in his own apartment as always."

Duncan raised his brow in amusement upon hearing that. He definitely knew who it was.

"You guys don't want to dance?" Gloria asked both of them.

"Not really my thing." Duncan stated, and Gwen concurred.

"Well, I can't force you." MJ said to Duncan, but then turned to Gwen. "But you…"

"What? No, no, no—"

"Let's go~" MJ proceeded to drag Gwen to the dance floor, leaving Duncan alone.

Gwen practically pleaded with Duncan with her eyes, but the boy was amused at the sight, so he just shrugged at her, displaying the most annoying smirk he could manage.

Now alone, Duncan just looked around the place, and he spotted the beverage stand.

—

Duncan eventually just sat on the gym benches with a fruit punch in his hand. He sat at the very top of the benches so he could observe what was going on in the room. He could see Gwen dancing uncomfortably, as if forced to by her friends; he could see the football team gathered in the corner with their own dates, though he didn't notice Flash among them. When Duncan sat alone in the location, a lot of girls approached him to dance with him, but he turned them all down since he wanted to be alone for now.

The loud music continued to play in the room, the DJ made sure to pick the most exciting music possible, and people continued to dance to it.

Suddenly, he could see Matthews with an angry face exiting the room, seemingly dragging Jean out of the place. The boy grimaced; it was none of his concern, but anyone with a rational mind would recognize that a boy with rage and jealousy issues dragging his girlfriend, who appeared to be in distress, is not a good sign and may lead to more... difficult circumstances.

Duncan just slowly stood up from his seat and walked towards the exit. He looked around the corridor and saw that Matthews had dragged Jean Grey to the men's toilet.

Duncan stood in front of the entrance to the toilet and decided to eavesdrop to make sure that it was actually leading to a sensitive situation rather than both of them wanting to have some alone time.

"I don't want to do it with you, Duncan!" He heard a scream inside the toilet. "Why are you like this?!"

"The others have done it; why won't you do it with me?!" Matthews snapped back.

"Oh, so you want to do it because everyone else is doing it?!"

"You're my girlfriend!"

"Stop it! Don't touch me!" a scream echoed once again. "You're crazy; first I can't talk to anyone because you're so fucking insecure, and now you want to force me to have sex with you?!"

Hearing that it was about to get out of control, Duncan quickly entered the room. He could see that Matthews' hands were already raised, preparing to do something with them.

When Duncan entered, Matthews instinctively stopped.

"What are you doing?" Duncan asked calmly as he rolled up his sleeves and came toward the sink.

"Plagmann." Matthews simply greeted, ignoring the seemingly shocked Jean.

Duncan turned on the sink, washing his hands slowly. "That hand is awfully high, Matthews. Did you want to do what I think you wanted to do?"

"No, of course not," he said. He then turned to the still-shocked Jean. "Come on, Jean."

When Matthews was about to go with Jean, Duncan stopped the sink, shaking his hands to dry it out. "I don't think so, buddy."

Duncan stood in front of Matthews, blocking the way.

Matthews frowned at what Duncan had done. Duncan looked at Matthews's hand, where he was clenching Jean's arm tightly.

"You should probably go home. Alone." Duncan continued.

Matthews' frown deepened even more. But when he looked at Jean and saw how scared she was, a trace of regret could be seen in his eyes. He released his grip on the girl and just shoved Duncan off before leaving the toilet.

Duncan sighed at the sight before taking out a handkerchief and giving it to Jean.

"You okay?" he asked, and the girl took the handkerchief.

"T-thank you…" she said, still shaking.

"You have a ride home?" Duncan asked again.

The girl just shook her head.

—

With Jean following him, Duncan walked to the parking lot of the school. He approached the car, which he was quite familiar with, and knocked on the window pane.

When the window opened, he saw Paul looking confused at him.

"You brought a cop's daughter to homecoming and then brought home a different girl?" He raised his brow. "You've got some guts, kid."

"Paul, don't joke right now." Duncan said. "Can you bring her home?"

Once Paul took a good look at the girl, he finally realized that the girl wasn't exactly in the right state of mind.

"What happened?" Paul asked, quickly turning on the engine.

"Just do it, will you?" Duncan pleaded.

Paul nodded. "Get in."

Duncan proceeded to open the passenger door, and Jean entered the car calmly.

"Thank you again," she said, still sobbing a bit.

"Just get some rest." Duncan nodded. "And maybe break up with him if you can."

Jean chuckled in self-deprecation. "I don't think I can do that."

Duncan just nodded at the response. Trying to make it less uncomfortable for her, Duncan closed the door and knocked on the front window.

After that, the car left, leaving Duncan alone in the parking lot.

—

Duncan sat atop the benches of the football field, his tie loosening and his suit unbuttoned. He kept staring at the sky; the stars were sparkling dimly, but the moon was barely visible as it was a new moon.

He was fidgeting with a stick that he picked up from the ground, trying to just clear his mind and calm down.

"You're an asshole, you know that? Leaving me like that." A voice suddenly sounded from the side. Duncan turned to look at who it was, it was Gwen.

Duncan chuckled softly at the accusation. "Sorry. But it was pretty funny. You awkwardly dancing is kind of cute too."

"It was hell." Gwen grumbled. "I'm glad you were entertained."

The girl walked towards Duncan, and sat beside him.

"I heard you came out of the boys' restroom with a girl." Gwen stated.

"I'm not that desperate to do it in the school's toilet, Gwen." Duncan rolled his eyes.

"But it's true, right?"

"Yep." Duncan hummed. "Matthews' girlfriend. He tried to hit her in the toilet, but then I came."

"That's… horrible." Gwen frowned. "Is she okay?"

"I asked Paul to bring her home." Duncan answered.

"That's good." Gwen hummed. "You know, your words are quite rude sometimes, but you're really nice to people."

Duncan just laughed. "I'll take that as a compliment."

"Like, come on, if you weren't homeschooled, girls would like you a lot." Gwen continued.

"What does homeschooling have to do with my love life?" Duncan was confused, but also amused.

"Girls dig that kind of stuff, you know?" Gwen pointed out. "Quiet guy, a gentleman, a bit rude but didn't really mean it. If only you weren't so awkward…"

"That only applies if the dude was good-looking." Duncan stated.

"Well, sometimes." Gwen laughed. But then she quickly changed the topic. "So, have you enjoyed school this past month?"

"It's… manageable." Duncan answered. "I fucking hate Mr. Harrington, though."

"Yeah, even in homecoming week, he's still giving us homework."

"Well, half of the hate is probably because of you, who want to do the assignments the same day they are given." Duncan rolled his eyes.

"But you get to do anything you want on weekends, though; you should actually thank me." Gwen refuted. "How's football coming along for you?"

"It's fun." Duncan shrugged.

"You literally just did a miracle yesterday, and you say "fun"." Gwen scoffed. "Anyway, I noticed that you rejected a lot of girls when they asked you to dance with them in there, do you really not like dancing that much, or do you just swing the other way?"

"What does that mean?" Duncan raised his brow.

"You know… Gay…" Gwen said quietly.

"What?! Of course not!" Duncan quickly denied. "Why did you even think that?"

"Well, a lot of boys would probably accept all those girls, even though they can't dance." Gwen shrugged. "I mean, come on, all of them are pretty."

"You're very observant." Duncan chuckled. "But no, I don't like dancing, and I also don't really want to pursue that kind of thing right now."

"You mean you don't want a girlfriend?" Gwen said. "Or just sex in general?"

"Geez, you're quite straightforward today." Duncan stated as much with amusement.

"I mean, it's obvious. Those girls want to get in your pants," she said, rolling her eyes.

"I don't even notice that." Duncan whistled. "You're VERY observant."

"You didn't answer my question."

"Both." Duncan shrugged. "Got a lot on my plate right now. Extra baggage is not going to help."

Gwen rolled her eyes again. "Oh, please, what are you busy with? As far as I know, only football."

"I have a lot of secrets. And secrets are not healthy in a relationship." Duncan answered calmly. "Why are you so curious anyway? Do you have a crush on me or something?"

Gwen scoffed. "Of course not."

A lie.

Duncan didn't say anything after that. He secretly cursed himself for having the ability to detect lies or for having asked what he asked.

Now it's just awkward.

"Look, I'm just saying that if people knew the real me, most of them would probably hate me." Duncan shrugged. "That's all."

"I won't hate you." Gwen said. "Hell, if people knew the real you, they would probably like you even more."

Now it's really awkward.

Duncan just chuckled in appreciation. "Would they, though?"

"Of course." Gwen stood her ground.

Duncan hummed. "Have you ever heard of a psychologist named Carl Jung?"

Gwen shook her head. "No, why?"

"He said that a personality has two components." Duncan continued. "The Persona, which is the mask that we show to other people, the person that we want to show to others. And then there's the shadow, the part that only you know, the side of you that you don't want others to see."

"Okay… so you're saying that if people knew your 'shadow', they would hate you?"

"Probably, but I don't really care, it's still a part of me after all." Duncan hummed. " But the problem lies if I have a relationship or some sort. If they can't accept my shadow, then the relationship is just going to fail, correct?"

"Well, you don't know that. Maybe they'll accept you."

"Gwen." Duncan stated. "Would you date a closet killer?"

Gwen was confused by the question. "What kind of question is that?"

But Duncan just raised both his brows, signaling her to continue.

"I mean... probably not." She murmured.

"Exactly." Duncan hummed.

"Wait, are you saying you're a murderer?" Gwen raised her brow.

Duncan just laughed. "That's just an example, Gwen. Besides, you wouldn't want to date me, right?"

"R-Right…"

Duncan then just stood up from the bench and stretched his body. He then offered his hand to the girl and spoke.

"Come on, Paul should have come back right about now. I promised your dad you would come home early."

Gwen just nodded meekly and took Duncan's hand. Suddenly, the boy could hear chains breaking inside his mind, a sign of ranking up.

Finally, Duncan just smiled at the girl before walking back to the parking lot to take her home.

===

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Temperance - [V] The Empathy of the Temperate: Allows you to vaguely sense a person's emotion.