dnf oneshots

11. that cat and dog thing

Cat/Dog/Idfk AU
In this world, you are given the gift to transform into your soulmate's favourite animal once you turn 18. When George wakes up as a dog, he's screwed -- everyone likes dogs. But he knows only one person who likes this particular breed... his best friend. [fluff, a bit of light lime]

(also, whenever someone shifts in this world their ears start ringing. when they shift back, their ears pop.)

Everyone is excited for their 18th birthday...

So says the media, and the media does nothing but lie.

No one is excited for their 18th birthday. Not only does it come with adulthood, and therefore responsibilites, but there is that thing that happens where you wake up as your soulmates favourite animal.

Now, your first thought may not be "well, what if my soulmate's favourite animal is a fish? I'd die in my sleep!"

No.

See, this problem was solved forever ago. Okay, not forever ago, but awhile ago. On the night before your 18th birthday, a package shows up at your door. It's a new bed. It's a bed specially designed for the night you turn into an animal sometime after midnight. 

With a sensor positioned right above your head, it can tell when you shift, what you shift into, and what you need to survive. For example, if you become an aquatic animal, then the bed somehow turns into a tank. If you become a snake, it becomes a terrarium. Etc, etc. 

I got this package 20 minutes ago, and it's been sitting in my room for 19. I've been staring at it for 18. I'll do something about it eventually. 

My personal opinion is this whole soulmate thing is stupid. I mean, anyone's favourite animal could be a shark. "Oh well, it could be a specific shark-"

Listen, Karen, anyone's favourite animal could be a fucking hammerhead shark, okay? Fuck you. 

My parents have both shared their tales of when they woke up the morning of their 18th birthday. My dad said he couldn't feel his legs... with good reason; my mom's favourite animal is a lionfish, and therefore, 1. poisonous and 2. legless. So now my dad has to be in a pool or something to transform. 

Meanwhile, my dad's favourite animal is a baby black bear. So sometimes I'll walk past the living room at 1 am for a snack and see my dad, fast asleep, cuddling a black bear cub. It's slightly disorienting. 

Plus, they get some of their animals traits. Like, Dad poisons some people if he touches them. But it's only people he hates. Which is both an advantage and a curse. And my mom often has cravings to eat raw deer meat or something like that, or she'll go outside to climb the trees for a few hours. 

I've been stressing about this day for the past three years. Okay, the past 15 years. 

"George," Dad sings. "Knock knock. How's the-" He pauses in the door way and sighs. "Bud, you gotta set it up before 6 pm. You know that rule."

I nod. "I know," I mutter. "I'm just thinking."

He sits down next to me. "About what?"

"The shift."

"Nervous?"

I shrug. I mean, there's reason to be. I just don't know if I am. 

He settles back and my (old) bed. "When I was your age, the day before my shift-" he starts.

"Here we go," I joke, interrupting him. 

He sticks his tongue out at me. "Anyways, before my shift, I was nervous as hell. I had a huge crush on this girl in my Bio class at the time, and I really hoped I woud turn into her favourite animal."