Chapter Text
The sun shone through the windows, warming the familiar office, but it did little to warm the man pacing across the wooden floor. He had been performing this nervous stim for well over half an hour, pausing occasionally to stare at the red stains across the otherwise perfect wood.
He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. The blond mane draped across the familiar face, the almost red vest, the grabbing, the Scottish, the running had shallowed him in a nauseating haze and made him wake up sweaty and tangled in his bedsheets. The nightmare persisted throughout the entire night, but that was all that it was, he had told himself. The stains painted across the window sill and floor proved him wrong, however.
And yet, after two full days since the incident, he had not seen Hyde. If one were to question how a delirious man who had suffered from blood loss and had just gotten stitches managed to outrun Robert Lanyon, he would not be able to answer that. Other than the fact that Hyde knew the layout of the Society better than him, the man was surprisingly fast. Robert, on the other hand, couldn't remember the last time he ran.
The next day, he had asked the Lodgers if they had seen the wounded man, but they were shocked to learn that Hyde was stabbed. They told him that they would make sure that Hyde was alright and also asked if he, per chance, knew who stabbed him. And if the assailant was well-known, if they would be missed, if they were fire-proof. Put off by the eager eyes watching him, Lanyon had coughed awkwardly into his fist as he explained that he hadn't the faintest clue.
When he had asked Rachel, she pulled a knife on him and asked what he wanted with Hyde. He quickly decided not to tell her what happened with Hyde. If he did tell her, he'd have to tell her how he managed to lose Hyde, and he liked being alive, thank you very much.
Hyde shouldn't have gone far, and yet no one had seen him. Images of Hyde's wound reopening and him bleeding out in a dirty ally somewhere kept forcing themselves into Lanyon's mind. He shuddered. He didn't particularly care about Hyde. Hell, he barely even knew him! But Lanyon was the one who had let him run off with a stab wound. If he died, it would be because of Lanyon's inability to catch up to him. Not only that but Henry would never forgive him. Fuck, Henry probably won't forgive him for letting Hyde out of his sight and leaving him to deal with his injury on his own. Even if Hyde didn't die, Henry would still look at him with resentment.
Lanyon gave another shudder. He wouldn't be able to bare it if Henry stared at him with the same hatred that his other exes reserved for him. He had avoided the office ever since the incident. He dreaded seeing Henry and having to tell him about Hyde. His stomach twisted itself into knots everytime he thought about it.
However, Jekyll wasn't in his office. In fact, it looked as though Jekyll hadn't been in his office the entire time Lanyon had been avoiding it. The room looked the exact same as the last time Lanyon had seen it. The blood had been left to dry into the wood, and the first aid kit was still open beside the stains. Henry wouldn't have left his office in such disrepair.
Nevermind the fact it was unlike Henry to not show up to work, especially without informing him.
Lanyon slumped into the desk chair and raised his hand to his forehead. Ugh, all this worrying was giving him a headache. Maybe Jekyll and Hyde were fine. Maybe Hyde went to Jekyll for help and Jekyll was busy treating him. Yes, that was probably it. Jekyll was probably so busy helping Hyde and worrying about him that he forgot to inform Lanyon.
He let out a relieved sigh. They were both fine. Yet, his nerves were still whispering that something was wrong. That he should keep searching. That he needed to find them. He tried to shake off the thoughts. He was overthinking. They were fine. Henry was busy with Hyde and couldn't work at the Society because of that. He would probably appreciate it if Lanyon worked on the finances without him.
…His eyes kept wandering back to the stains.
Maybe he should take the day off. He obviously wouldn't be able to focus on work until he knew that Henry was alright.
He stepped outside of the office and almost covered his ears immediately. The Society was up bright and early, alight with excited gossip.
"Hyde must've gotten caught stealing something again!"
"Stealing, really? That's too-"
"Expected! Boring! Maybe an old flame of his caught him flirting with someone and-"
"In a fit of jealous rage, they stabbed him and-"
"But how'd he get to Jekyll's office?"
"He climbed?"
"Climbed? With a stab wound?"
"Maybe he…fell from the roof and-"
"Fell? That's absolute poppycock! Why would someone wi' a stab wound be on a roof?!"
"I don't know! It's Hyde! If anyone would be on a roof with a stab wound, it'd be him!"
"But, still-"
"No, no, it makes sense. I mean, you've seen his eyes, right? How they seem to glow? And how his teeth are too sharp? He might not be human!"
"What?! That's-! Wait, actually, that might explain how he was able to navigate through the Society back when Tweedy caused that blackout."
"See? So maybe Hyde-"
Lanyon decided to tune out the rest of the gossip. All it was doing was making his headache worse. To make matters worse, the Lodgers were blocking the bloody entrance. Great. Just fantastic.
He did not want to walk through the Lodgers and get dragged into their noisy gossip. They'd pester him with questions until sunset. He was not going to deal with that. He began walking away as the gossip began discussing the likelihood of Jekyll creating Hyde or if Jekyll was into monsters.
Why on Earth would they ask if Jekyll was-
Wait, did they think he and Hyde were-!
Did they not see they were related?! How the bloody hell did they come to that conclusion!
He quickened his walk to a brisk-not-about-run pace, not wanting to hear any more of the conclusions about Jekyll and Hyde made by the Lodgers.
He needed a quiet room. A room where no one would bother him. Robert chuckled dryly to himself. As if a room like that existed. He always confined himself to Henry's office whenever he was at the Society, afraid he'd get tangled in some experiment if he dared to explore. He knew where the kitchen was, but that was about it. At this point, Rachel must've known that something had happened with Hyde, and the Lodgers' loquaciousness would have her coming after him with a knife sooner rather than later.
Lanyon gulped. Not the kitchen, then. Where to then? No matter where he went, a Lodger would find him eventually. He would have to go to a room that none of the Lodgers knew about, but there was absolutely no such th-
His office. Lanyon had an office here. Jekyll had insisted he have one even though he never worked without Henry. Sure, it probably had a bunch of knick knacks that Lanyon had placed there for convenience that he ended up forgetting about, but it was still somewhere he could go.
With a destination now in mind, Lanyon quickly made his way to his office, the Lodgers' chattering fading from behind him.
He arrived at his office door in practically no time at all. A relieved breath climbed through his throat. Finally, he could get a break from all the stress that Hyde had brought with him. And with that reassuring thought, he raised his hand to the door knob and
noticed that there was a bloody handprint on it.
Shit.
There was no way.
He and Jekyll were the only ones who knew about this room.
He wouldn't be in there, right? There was no way.
Avoiding the blood stains, Lanyon grabbed the part of the door knob that connected to the door and turned it slowly, wincing as he heard the click of the door. He creaked the door open, his breath stubbornly clinging inside his chest.
The man on the desk was silhouetted by the circular window at the back of the room. It illuminated the otherwise dark room, dust particles dancing jubilantly in its light. However, the dust's mood didn't seem to extend to the man. The man looked sombre with his head hung low, hair matted and dirty, legs barely touching the ground as he remained seated on top of the desk, seemingly unbothered by Lanyon's presence. Robert sucked in a breath.
Edward Hyde was inside his office.