Work Text:
He’s had so many different masks throughout his life. Or should he say lives? Each life has been a mask, hiding who he truly was at the beginning, until the level of masks meant he truly couldn’t remember who he used to be. He’s been Will, John, Jean-Pierre, Tim, Alexander, Mark, George, James so many different names, and he can’t remember what his original name was. It could have been anything. The number of masks, different stories, jobs, lives, is in the millions, he’s lost count of them. But right now, Roy is the most important, and it’s easy to forget about the past while protecting people, until he’s allowed to be alone with his thoughts. Then all the things he’s done, all the people he’s been, come flooding back. It’s easier to blunt the memories with alcohol, drown them in scotch, than think about them, or talk to anyone. Who would believe him? If he told anyone that he can’t remember where he was born because the name changed so many times and boundary lines have been drawn again and again after invasions and wars. If he told anyone about any of the things he’s seen, he’d get put away.