Chapter Text
“I’m fine dad,” Shifty said into the phone, unpacking his last box, “I’m already almost settled. Classes start tomorrow, and I’m ready! Stop hovering!”
“I know,” dad sighed, sending a burst of static, “I’m just a worrier. This is different than visiting the farm for the summer. It’ll be a whole school year! You ain’t never been out of the valley for that long! What if not shifting so much is bad for your form!”
“It won’t be the whole year; I’ll be back for holidays. Plus, I already found a few good spots to stretch in private.”
“I just wish you’d let us get an apartment for you. Give you some privacy.”
“I want the whole experience, that means living in the dorms for at least a year,” Shifty pulled out his family photos and smiled, then set them on the desk, “I promise, if its too much then I’ll let you know.”
“Alright then. Call again tomorrow, you hear? Your pops wants to know how your first day goes.”
“Will do, love you dad.”
“Love you too Shifty,”
He hung up the phone, then set it on the desk next to the photos.
Shifty was legally eighteen, (thirteen biologically) finally ready to start his higher education. He’d spent the last couple of years fine tuning his official adult human form, and the last two getting ready to apply to colleges that had good astronomy programs.
Pops had wanted him to go big, like Harvard, while his dad had said go small, like the local community college. Ma had just told him to pick a place with lots of parks or forests, so he could stretch. Uncle Stan had told him college was for nerds and no one needed a higher education to make it in the world, then ran off when everyone else yelled at him.
Shifty had applied to the University of Notbadsburg, California. Far enough away from the valley to be out in the world, close enough in case of emergencies. Plus, it was close to the ocean, and the woods, so Shifty could sneak out and stretch without freaking out humans. And it had a good astronomy program. Perfect place to start.
Shifty pulled out the last object from the box, a wooden plaque with everyone’s names carved in it, and leaned it on the desk against the wall. There, now he was all moved in and ready to get to it tomorrow. All he needed to complete the experience was-
The door opened with a bang, and he turned to see a stack of boxes with legs. The boxes stumbled in, and Shifty moved over to help.
“Here, let me get-”
“Do not!” the boxes said, stepping away and stumbling towards the bed across from Shifty’s, “touch my things. Thank you, excuse me.”
Behind the boxes was Shifty’s new roommate. He was much smaller than Shifty (which wasn’t unusual, he’d chosen to take his dad’s height and his pops and Uncle Stan’s build), with a mess of curly black hair and wearing a buttoned shirt and slacks.
“No problem,” Shifty said, backing away and sitting on his own bed, “My names-”
“Theseus McCorkle, yes I know,”
It was a good thing he knew, because Shifty had forgotten.
He’d asked to borrow Aunt Carla’s name, because of how well known his parents were, at least for right now. He was trying to live life on his own, he didn’t want others to have expectations for him based on his parents. That way, when it was his turn to threaten global safety, everyone would be surprised.
“Yup, that’s me,” Shifty said, watching his roommate sort out his things, “but you can call me Theo. Theseus is a bit much. And you are…?”
“Jonah Baxter. Now lets set some ground rules,” Jonah turned and faced him, hands on his hips, “No girls, no parties, no coming in late at night drunk, don’t go through my things, no loud music, no friends without prior warnings, lights off at ten, no food on my side, I’m not your study buddy, I’m not your friend, we don’t know each other outside this room, understood?”
Shifty blinked at the assault of words, then took a moment mull it over.
“Hmmm, yeah OK!” With that he threw himself back onto his own bed, then reached down and grabbed one of his text books. It was nice to know a guy who had boundaries. Made it easier to test them.
He heard Jonah scoff, then leave the room. He spent the rest of the evening bringing in more boxes and unpacking his things. Shifty left him to it, already buzzing with excitement.
His first roommate. They were either going to be best friends like his parents or worst enemies like his parents. Either way, it was going to be fun.
The next day Shifty went to all his classes, ready and eager to learn. Most of it was basics, and all of it was looking over syllabus and introducing themselves, but that was fine. Shifty wanted to spend at least one semester taking regular classes, before testing into the more advanced ones. Pops had gotten his first PhD in four years, and Shifty wanted to break that record.
He saw Jonah a few times but made sure to avoid eye contact. He hoped they had at least one class together. He had a pretty great prank he wanted to use.
By lunch he was smiling, hungry, and ready to take a break until his next class. He already had a few names of potential friends, and potential enemies. He’d never get a list as long as moms, but he was determined to at least give it a shot.
He was walking in the cafeteria, tray full of food from the buffet and looking for a place to sit, when he saw him.
In the corner of the room was a man sitting by himself, maybe a year or two older than what Shifty appeared to be. He was wearing jeans and a T-shirt, with short brown hair and hunched over his own overflowing tray. There was nothing that distinguished him from anybody else, in all appearances a normal college student, eating their first lunch of the year and keeping to themselves.
But Shifty knew better. He wasn’t sure how he knew, had never had anyone to tell him why, but he knew that man was a shapeshifter.
Just like him.
Shifty didn’t hesitate, walking over and sitting next to him, grinning ear to ear. The man glanced up at him, bored, then started choking, eyes going wide. A second later he coughed, then sat up and stared, hands going white where they were holding his silverware.
“Hi!” Shifty said, “I’m-”
The man shoved a bunch of food down his throat, then stood up and booked it out of the cafeteria, snatching his bag on the way out.
Shifty watched him go, mouth open. OK. Weird. Maybe he’d panicked? Or maybe there was some shapeshifter cultural thing he didn’t know about? Was he not supposed to approach directly?
Shifty ate his food, thinking. Then he ate the rest of the other guys food. Couldn’t let it go to waste, and maintaining forms took a lot of energy. He’d have to make it up to the other guy for missing his lunch.
Well, he knew Shifter (Shifty’s name for his brand new friend) took classes here. All he had to do was keep an eye out, and they’d meet again. Easy.
Not as easy as Shifty thought. They didn’t share any classes, and whenever Shifter saw him he’d turn around and fast walk away. It had been a month since Shifty had first seen him, and he still didn’t know his name.
Pops had tried to help, but there wasn’t much he could do from home. None of them had ever met another shapeshifter, ma said his species might be territorial, or anti-social for all they knew.
Shifty thought Shifter might just be panicking and shy.
At least Jonah was in his intro to physics class. Shifty was having a great time acting like his roommate was two separate people. It was pretty funny watching him try to figure out if Shifty was messing with him or just that dense.
“What you need to do,” Uncle Stan said, “is trap him. Force the conversation to happen. That’s what Ford did to me, and it works.” There was a muffled voice, then “You did! My legs didn’t work, and you forced me to sit there and talk to you!” More muffle, “Of course I would have!”
“Thanks Uncle Stan,” Shifty said, then hung up when he heard the sounds of fighting and the phone drop.
Trap him. How did you trap a shapeshifter on a campus. He had a few ideas.
In his literature classes there was a woman who Shifty had seen hanging out with Shifter a lot. She was small, with long blonde hair that she put in a pony tail and tended to come to class in workout clothes. Her name was Darcy, and she spent a lot of time watching Shifty in class and avoiding him out of it.
It was easy to follow her, she wasn’t a shapeshifter, all he had to do was turn into a bird and hop into the sky. He had three hours until his next class, plenty of time.
He spent a week tracking her and learning her habits, then waited until Saturday to strike. That way he didn’t have to worry about missing any classes if this took a while.
Darcy worked at a local pizza place, from four to ten almost every night. Shifty waited outside as an owl, then took off to follow her once she got off. It wasn’t too far from the dorms, but there was one small area that cut through a small patch of trees.
Shifty waited until she was there, then shifted into his human form and popped out.
“Hi! Sorry to- please stop screaming,” Shifty said, watching Darcy screetch and jump away from him. He’d been very tempted to snatch her as a giant eagle, but he wasn’t sure how much she knew about Shifter. Didn’t want to give away his new friend’s secrets on accident.
“Sorry to bother you,” he continued, once she stopped screaming and lent forwards, hands digging through her purse, “But I had something I wanted to ask you, and you kept avoiding me.”
“So you pounced at me in the dark!” she yelled, taking a few deep breaths and holding something in her hand. She straightened up, then eyed him.
“You’re Theo, right?” She didn’t seem comforted by that; in fact she looked more nervous.
“Yup! We have a literature class together! Anyway,” Shifty ducked when she tried to pepper spray him, then stood back up, “I wanted to ask you about-” and she was running, bursting past and pulling out her phone.
Hey! That was an idea!
Shifty quickly caught up and plucked the phone out of her hand, then flipped it open and looked through the contacts. He held it up in the air when Darcy started jumping for it, humming to himself.
He didn’t know any of the names, but Jon had Martian written next to it. He knew enough about shapeshifters in media to make a connection. He selected the contact, then dialed it, letting it ring and ignoring how Darcy was now trying to climb onto his back.
He put it on speaker phone, then made sure to keep it high enough so she couldn’t reach, stretching his arms a little.
“What are you doing?!” Darcy yelled, “give that-”
“Hello?” came Jon Shifter’s tired voice, “Darcy, we talked about this. I have to get up early tomorrow.”
“Hi!” Shifty said, and Jon made a noise on the other end, “This is-”
“What did you do to Darcy,” Jon interrupted, voice cold. Shifty frowned at the phone, then looked to where Darcy was on his shoulders. She stared at him with wide eyes, and he raised an eyebrow, then turned back to the phone.
“Nothing? She’s right here, say hi Darcy,”
“Jon, run” Darcy yelled, “get out of here fast, I’m sorry!”
“Darcy! I’ll be right there, tell me where you are!”
“No!” Darcy yelled, just as Shifty said, “We’re in that small grove of trees next to the gen ed building.”
“Don’t touch her,” Jon growled, then hung up.
Shifty frowned at the phone, then picked Darcy up off his shoulders and handed it back to her.
“Thanks for letting me borrow it!” he said, smiling. Then he frowned as she started backing away, looking terrified.
“Uh, hey, are you alright?”
“What are you going to do to him.” she whispered, clutching the phone. Shifty frowned harder. He was missing something here, he just didn’t know what.
“Nothin’ just wanted to talk. I’ve been trying to do it all month, but he keeps avoiding me, so this was my next best idea.”
“You’re next best idea was kidnapping someone?!”
What?
“What? Who- I’m not kidnapping you? I tried to talk, and you just ran off? Then I saw your phone and had a better idea. You can leave whenever, he’s already on his way.”
“I’m not leaving him here to face you alone.” She snarled, looking determined.
He was definitely missing something. Maybe shapeshifters were territorial? He didn’t feel like fighting, but he also wasn’t sure if he was full grown yet. He was only thirteen after all, he might still be a kid.
They stared at each other for a few minutes, then turned when they heard rustling in the bushes. A moment later Jon burst out, holding a sword.
“Woah! Cool!” Shifty wanted a sword! Were they even allowed that on campus?
“Stay back!” Jon yelled, darting forwards between him and Darcy and holding the sword up.
“Ok! Hey, it’s Jon, right? We haven’t been formally introduced, my names Theseus, but you can call me Theo. Or Shifty! That’s what my family calls me!” Shifty smiled, ignoring the sword and trying to present his best self.
“Shifty? For a shapeshifter?” Darcy said, peering over Jon’s shoulder and frowning, “that’s a little unoriginal, isn’t it?”
“Oh! So you do know! I wasn’t sure,” it made things way easier.
“What do you want.” Jon growled, waving the sword. Right, introductions and then intent.
“To talk!” Shifty grinned, shuffling his feet. This was so exciting. His first conversation with another shapeshifter.
“We have nothing to talk about, I already told your boss I’m not interested.”
Well, Shifty didn’t have a boss, so it looked like there was some kind of misunderstanding going on here.
“I think-”
He was interrupted by the appearance of another shapeshifter, riding a bike down the path and trying to hit him. Shifty side stepped it, eyes sparkling in delight. Two whole shapeshifters!
“Jon! I came as quick as I heard, are you alright!” This one looked like a woman, remarkably like Darcy, except with short pink hair and a leather jacket. Man, he hoped she had a motorcycle. She looked like the type.
“We’re fine,” Jon growled, eyes locked on Shifty.
“Wow! Two shapeshifters! College is the best! I need!” Shifty took out his mini journal, then quickly wrote in a note about what was happening. Best to get his feelings down in the moment.
The other shapeshifter scowled at him, standing on his other side across from Jon.
“Who are you, what do you want.” She snarled, hands turning into claws.
“To talk!” Shifty chirped, finishing his note and putting his mini journal away.
“So you snatched Darcy? What made you think we’d want to talk after that!”
Man, they were getting really loud. Also-
“I didn’t snatch anyone, I told her she could go whenever,” Shifty said, waving his hand, “I came out to talk to her and she freaked out, then I stole her phone. But I gave it back!”
“He didn’t hurt me,” Darcy said, eyeing him from behind Jon, “and he did give it back.”
Shifty gestured to her, looking smug, then backed away when the sword got closer.
“OK, I’m here, what did you want to talk about so badly.” Jon didn’t look any happier from clearing up that miscommunication, but whatever.
“Oh, all sorts of things!” he had so many questions, like “Where are you from? Who raised you? Do you know your parents? What’s your favorite color? Favorite form? I personally enjoy anything soft, but ceramics make me more comfortable. Do you want to get lunch sometime? What’s-”
“Stop.” Shifty stopped, beaming. Jon rubbed his temples, and the other shapeshifter came around to stand next to him, leaving her bike on the ground, looking confused.
“That’s. That’s too many. Aren’t you with the Full Moon coven? Trying to recruit?”
“I have no idea what that is.”
They stared at each other, Shifty continuing to beam and the others looking confused.
The new shapeshifter rubbed her face, then took a deep breath.
“If you don’t know what that is, then what are you doing here.”
“I wanted to talk! I keep saying that, but I’m not sure if you’re actually understanding.”
“Why did you want to talk to Jon so bad.”
“Because I was so excited!” Shifty shouted, hands coming up and leaning forwards, ignoring the sword, “I’ve never met another shapeshifter! The moment I saw you, I knew! Isn’t that crazy! How did I know? Do you know how we know? Is it biological? Or more psychological? Some kind of-”
“Stop.”
Shifty stopped, mouth hurting from his smile and vibrating from how hard he was focusing on not dropping form.
“You’ve never met another shapeshifter?” Darcy asked, stepping forwards and putting her hands on Jon’s, forcing the sword down, “What about your parents?”
“I was adopted, my pops found my egg buried in the ground and raised me. Do Shapeshifters generally raise their young? Were you born from eggs? How did-”
“Stop.”
Shifty stopped. He had so many questions, it was hard to control himself.
Jon sighed, then sheathed his sword at his side and rubbed his face.
“Listen, its late, and I need to get up early tomorrow. How about, we go home, I’ll meet you for lunch tomorrow, somewhere more private.”
“We’ll all meet you for lunch,” the other shapeshifter added, still eyeing him.
Shifty grinned, then gave Darcy his phone number so she could contact him.
“Ooooh this is great. I have. So many questions.” Shifty grinned, “message me, I’ll clear my schedule.”
With that he finally dropped his human form, turning into a bat and taking off into the air, back to his dorm.
He’d need to start writing them down.