Chapter Text
The walk wasn’t a terrible idea.
Jake felt more like himself as they went on, which was absurd because this probably wasn’t even his own body. But apparently he and Werewolf Jake were similar enough physically that it didn’t make him uncomfortable just to exist.
But…if this was the other’s body, did that mean he had access to the werewolf form too? Might be worth trying out the next time he had the overwhelming urge to not be seen. He’d seen the other Jake transform several times, and it was nearly instantaneous. A lot more convenient than having to wait half a day to be normal.
Steven was saying something, possibly inside their minds, but Jake couldn’t keep focused. It sounded…different. Of course it did, they weren’t in the same body, of course it would be different. Not bad, but it hammered in how this was not his Steven.
His Steven was also not fucking him. Or Marc.
The others had fallen over themselves with assurances that they weren’t interested once that had come out. Jake had no reason to disbelieve, Layla aside. Fuck. Layla. He’d started out by scaring her…not great. If only she’d kissed one of the others--
Well, that might be what she was up to now. Apparently it was a total love fest around here when the correct versions of people were present. Thank God it seemed like the psychic connection wasn’t automatic; if they wanted to get up to whatever he’d be able to make himself scarce.
Hmm. Gods. Khonshu wasn’t this Jake’s Patron. Diana was the Werewolf-maker. If she wanted him to do something, he’d just have to try his best.
What the fuck would a werewolf God even want? Vengeance, like Khonshu? Was he supposed to go prowling around London mauling people? No, no, Steven would never put up with that. So…what then?
He needed to start voicing some questions, either verbally or otherwise.
“Steven.” He’d try the psychic thing soon, honest. “Do I need to be worried about Diana sending me off on a mission?”
“Diana? Oh, goodness, no! We have a sort of arrangement. Uhm… it sort of boiled down to not letting… maidens be… uhm. Deflowered. That’s the literal side of it, but mostly we interpret it as protecting people from that kind of assault. And as we’re already working alongside Khonshu, who - as I said, somewhat Thoth - and with Taweret… it all sort of…”
Steven made a gesture with all fingers and thumbs, roughly equivalent of a bucky-ball mesh. “So you’re good! She was a bit pissed with him for a while, but we saved her temple and got her some new acolytes and resolved a generations-old problem, then saved even more of her temples, so… you’re good on that!”
He was trying very, very hard to be reassuring and calming. It wasn’t easy when he was fretting about his Jake, but also that meant he worried about this one, and the other Marc and Steven.
“If we did anything - if - we’d all be in it together, so you really don’t need to worry. We pick and choose a lot of the time.”
Jake nodded. “Okay, yeah. I can get behind all that. With any luck we can get this resolved first, but I’m happy to throw hands for that.”
Hands (and knives and guns and other things he could grab) might be what he was left with. He hadn’t tried to call the suit. If he wasn’t still connected to Khonshu--
Wait.
If he wasn’t connected to Khonshu he might not have access to his limited stock of spells either. Not that he used much of it in combat, but that idea didn’t sit well. His stomach was roiling at the thought alone. Was it just him, or was his unease feeding into the other two? Was that making them jumpy? Could they make a feedback loop of feeling like shit?
He hadn’t let his thoughts stray to his own Marc and Steven. How concerned they would be. Or the other Jake, now stuck in a body with them, when he’d never had to do that before. Not that his idiotas wouldn’t do everything they could to help him through it.
Tentatively, he tried to wrap his brain around the others being there, but not. He might have been imagining it (no easy way to tell), but it sure as hell felt like he was getting two waves of distress crashing into his brain.
Okay. Feedback loop. Not good. A simple joke wasn’t going to cut the tension here. He was too freaked out to try and pull his own suit. But there was something he could try, and if he failed, no big deal.
He took a glance around; nobody was out aside from them. “Kid, bear with me a sec, okay?”
He didn’t wait for the answer, but tried to radiate a sense of ‘it’s cool’ before--
Oh, fuck, that was--
Things were higher, but not so high as he was used to. Damn, the wolf was big. There was a definite change in emotion from Steven, but it was (too strong? Too new?) not something he could identify.
Oh god, the smells. How was other Jake not constantly distracted by that? Not like it was too much, but it was a lot, or impacted different, or?
Words. Not the easiest at the moment. He settled for sitting, hoping he hadn’t freaked Steven out.
“It’s a lot, isn’t it?” Steven was used to his own Jake shifting at the drop of a hat, and he’d had to deal with distant, confusing connection when it first started. This was much better.
A little cock of his head and a silent message of intent was all it took as he went a bit off the path to sit on the grass, cross-legged. He waited for Jake to decide what he wanted to do, giving him the space to explore the new form.
“I can still hear you if you want to be heard. Just think like you’re talking, or think really loudly. We can feel strong emotions, and we can’t really block out communicating if anyone’s in distress, but we wouldn’t want to. If you hit your funny bone I’d probably know about it, but if you forgot your Netflix password I’d only find out if you wanted me to.”
Except for Marc. He gets really grumpy about passwords.
Despite the distance, Marc responded. You make them too complicated.
I’m preventing phishing!
Of our NETFLIX?!
“See what I mean?”
Okay, keep it simple. Yes?
It was still weird, but no weirder than voluntarily turning into a wolf. Jake took a few minutes to gambol around the small patch of grass, getting used to the form and the feel of it. Not bad. Not something he’d pick over his own abilities, but not bad. And if he needed to not be seen, it was nice to have a way that wouldn’t take all day to reverse.
Okay, he felt a little more stable. Time to try and be positive. Not his preferred emotional role, but he needed to do something useful. Gonna fix this. My idiotas will take care of him for now.
Touch, Stevens liked touch no matter whose they were. Jake sat next to him and tried to softly ram him in the shoulder. More of a cat move, but he wasn’t quite ready to start licking anyone. Gonna be alright.
Steven beamed, and then lifted an arm to offer a bear-hug around the neck, not forcing the matter unless Jake accepted. It could be difficult if not comfortable, but he wanted to let him feel the reassurance. Steven knew Jake enjoyed pettings a great deal, and Steven had always found it incredibly calming when they’d switched bodies from time to time.
“We will. It’s what we do. I miss him, and I worry, but he’s got your two. And you’ve got us.” He paused, checking, before his fingers set about scritching near ears. It was obscene how good ear scritches felt.
Because he could, Steven dropped onto his back and welcomed more cuddling. “Have you - can you contact your Khonshu? I don’t know how all of this works now, but you can contact Diana, so I’m assuming you can contact Khonshu. And if it’s a by-body basis, then you should be able to use the suit. If not, you could always try switching bodies with me or Marc as well. In fact, you should probably try that for emergency reasons, too. Want to make sure you’re as prepared as possible. You want to try to take over mine?”
Jake wanted very much to bury his face in his paws and whine that he’d just done something new. But Steven was right. He needed to know who he could contact and what the hell to do if things went sideways.
Swapping bodies was a different matter to wolfing out or talking, though. He remembered when he’d been split from his Marc and Steven; they’d managed to swap. A few times even on purpose. He reached out the same way he’d done then (when he wasn’t panicking and being forced to by Khonshu). Yeah, should try.
Fingers buried deep in his scruff, rubbing at his shoulders, Steven offered as much emotional reassurance as he could. “That’s right… I won’t fight. Just--”
There you go! Steven yipped in happiness, then licked at Jake’s face in unbridled praise. His tail was wagging constantly, telegraphing his delight in every which way. See! You got this!
Jake tried to cope with the sudden shift but was very distracted by the large amount of wolf-Steven trying to love on him. “Easy, easy kid. Okay, so we know that works, good.”
This body felt…not…wrong, but not his. Not that the other body was his, but it was closer. There wasn’t any sort of physiological difference that he could name, but it felt weird. Like putting on a friend’s jacket. Not bad, but Not His.
He didn’t have time to ruminate as Steven was insistent on offering praise and getting pets. Jake set to floofing the fur. He had to try one more thing while he still felt confident.
‘Jefe, you there?’ He reached for his Khonshu, his suit. The Khonshus were able to go across universes. He’d seen that. And his was…well, connected to the other two, but it wasn’t as strong since they weren’t Avatars anymore. Fuck, what if he could summon the suit, but they couldn’t? What--
“They can summon it.”
The suit enveloped him as Khonshu spoke. Jake looked, but didn’t spot the god. He did stay invisible sometimes, so that wasn’t so weird. “Jefe, are they alright? Is other me okay?”
“Marc and Steven are fine.” There was a pang. “They miss you and are trying to comfort the other you. He was…unsettled by the nature of your being.”
Jake winced. “But you’re working on fixing this right?”
“Of course. I am speaking with my other self. Hopefully we will not need to involve the one who started this.” A small breeze kicked up. Khonshu was still pissed at the version of himself who’d set things in motion.
“Jefe, don’t let him rile you up.” Jake drew the wolf-Steven close.
“I will endeavor not to.”
He reached for Steven. You wanna swap back? Have him give your Jake a message?
Steven managed not to lick a stripe up Jake’s face, but it was a close-run thing. He whuffed softly, and then an insistent pressure that built was the warning before they flipped back.
For a moment, the world didn’t seem to know quite what to do, Steven’s eyes flickering with the moon and an awkward blur of magic over him until it resolved into the suit he normally wore.
Which Khonshu - if it even mattered which - was responsible was far from clear. “We’re looking after your Jake, too,” Steven reassured the god, the stroking turning slower, more deliberate. “You don’t need us to tell you he’s a good one, but he is.” And then Steven smirked down. “He’s a good boy, aren’t you Jakey? Such a good boy!”
Jake rolled his eyes and considered biting the kid. He settled for turning the body back to human form. “You Stevens always think you’re so goddamn cute.”
“I will advise the others that you are coping.” His Khonshu ignored the antics. “I do not doubt that the three of you will be able to bolster each other for the duration.”
“Yeah, well, don’t think hearing you didn’t bolster me too Jefe.” Knowing that he wasn’t severed helped so, so much. “I wasn’t sure it would work.”
“I would not lose my son so easily.” The wind ruffled them both. “I will come if possible when called. If I am prevented or busy, do not grow discouraged.”
Jake nodded. “Gotcha. You’re gonna be busy with Loverbird unfucking this.”
“Yes, well, Dad can’t be everywhere at once, can he?” Steven snarked back at him. “And if you didn’t think we were cute, none of you would put up with us.”
Although, then a flicker of doubt crossed his face, the suit vanishing to bare it. Uhm. Just to be clear I wasn’t flirting, though? Because all of a sudden he realised Jake might think he was, where he was certain he wasn’t. You’re… not my type? Except on the purely material level.
I know. Of all the things to be worried about, that wasn’t high on Jake’s list. I hope your Layla isn’t too freaked.
“I presume their Layla will prove as resilient as yours.”
Jake winced. “You caught that?”
“As always, I can sense your general feelings Jake. I could not ‘hear’ Steven’s side of the conversation, however.” The bird sounded perplexed.
“I was just reassuring him I wasn’t trying to get in his pants,” Steven said out loud, addressing the god. “Other than if we swap bodies, but that’s semantics.” Nerves always made him babble or go too far, and he pushed a hand through his hair.
“Layla will be more worried she’s been terribly rude, and hurt your feelings. We’ve been through weirder, and our Jake is into guys except the exceptions. She’ll miss him like we do, but it was a long time before… anything at all. So. She’s probably just going to want to smother you in tea and biscuits, like me.”
He was avoiding dictating any messages. It felt… wrong. What he wanted to say, he didn’t want this Khonshu to hear. Plus saying it might mean this Khonshu then left, and he didn’t want that, either.
Jake couldn’t sort through all the feelings he was getting from Steven, but he slung an arm around the kid’s shoulders. “Let’s head back and try for an introduction without anyone’s tongue in my mouth, then. Jefe, you might wanna take a peek at the place too, just so you have the layout.”
There was a small noise of acceptance from the bird. “I will…take you up on that.”
The bird didn’t materialize, but that was okay; he was there. That was enough for now.
“Layla might want to meet you as well. If you want to say hello. She’s - well - you know Layla!” Steven softly bonked his head to Jake’s. “I can get Marc to put something on to eat if you want… benefit of split bodies means you don’t need to compromise so much. You have anything you’d like them to get for you?”
“Uh, yeah. Anything’s fine, I guess. Just no fake meat, okay?”
“If you are going to experiment with canine forms, you should consume red meat.”
Jake rolled his eyes and got to his feet. “I don’t need pet care tips Papi.”
“Technically it’s lupine, but that’s if you’re going by the-- anyway. You don’t have to decide just yet. Just… let us know what we can do to spoil you, okay? Because if you don’t, we’ll just bug you until you tell us anyway.” Steven hopped up, too. “And Khonshu, if you - er - eat, you’re welcome to join us as well. If you don’t need to hurry back.”
“I can traverse the multiverse in an instant. There is no need for hurrying.” The bird sounded haughty. “I do not tend to eat outside of occasionally accompanying Jake after missions for a 99 cone.”
“We’re working on socializing.” Jake relayed. “You gonna materialize or what Jefe?”
There was a sigh. “Do not be alarmed.”
Before Jake could get alarmed, the bird popped into existence on his shoulder. “Ah. Still having issues with your appearance across the ‘verses, huh.”
“Indeed.” The bird would have scowled if he’d been able. “Rest assured my capabilities are as normal.”
“Hey, you’ve taken ribbing from our Marc and Steven, these guys can’t be much worse.” Jake ran a finger down his side. Khonshu didn’t push him off, but he was a bit stiffer than normal.
"One Mr Whippy it is, then!" Steven sends the request through to Marc, happy to have something to give at last.
“...Do I wanna know what a Mr. Whippy is?”
"How long have we been in London?" Steven rolled his eyes. "Ice cream, Jake. Get your mind out of the gutter; it's 99, not 69."
Jake tried to huff in annoyance, but there was a laugh under the noise. “Some time we’ll take you for fried ice cream, kid. Show you how to dessert right. But not here; your people can’t even manage a Mexican Bake Off episode.”
"Talk to me when you understand Eurovision," was all Steven would say in return. At least Jake seemed back to 'himself'. Ish.
“You are all ridiculous.”
“Glass houses, Jefe.”