Mouse in Another Life (G/t and Animal Shifter AU)

What's His Problem?

The setting is set. Living room. A crowded living room at that. Standing in the middle of the living room was a normal looking brown haired guy, well except for the Disney shirt he was rocking today.

For an outsider, the scene present would seem odd, but normal. He was a normal guy that loved animals. Outsiders would know he loved animals, because he was throwing a light blue ball for a Golden Retriever who was excitedly retrieving and bringing it back like it was his goal in life. There was a white and grey mixed cat curled up in a ball on the couch, just letting out a long and exaggerated yawn, before placing it's head back down to sleep and giving off the feeling he does not want to be bothered the rest of the day. Lastly, there was a beautiful and primed up pure white Cockatoo who was, for some reason, perched up on the back of a wooden dining room chair...looking at a book?

From an outside perspective, anyone could see this was just a normal home for a very self entertaining guy who surrounded himself with companions of the animal persuasion. To some it was odd, for others it was normal.

But if one continued to look around, they would notice one small thing out of place. Just sitting up on the steps, peering through the bars was an emo boy. Wait. Sorry. An emo guy. He wore a black sweatshirt that had purple, obviously sewn on, patches that probably hid holes in the plain black material, or was just for decoration. Who could know. He wore a purple shirt underneath the sweater, just to have something on underneath, then, to tie up the whole ensemble were torn and ripped up dark jeans. If one looked closer, he had black circles under his eyes that one could mistake as really badly smeared mascara. If one looked even closer, then looked at the guy playing with the Golden Retriever they would notice beside the descriptions given, they looked exactly the same...just one was very on edge. He was especially staring down the cat who was nowhere near his body like he was angry...no... scared.

In all reality, he was not scared or angered by the cat...just apprehensive and cautious...more on edge. Honestly, he was apprehensive with all the animals...just no one knew why exactly, not even the animals.

But in fact, there was one person who knew why he was like this with the other animals. Thomas.

Thomas knew exactly why he was nervous and cautious around the other animals.

The plain fact was all these animals were not just animals, but parts of him. A long time ago, four people who looked exactly like him showed up in his living room and just never left.

There was Roman who was supposedly his creative side, Patton his morality, Logan his logical side, then last but not least, Virgil his anxiety.

To help conceal the fact these were all a part of Thomas, and fit into the real world, all the sides had animal forms they grew accustomed to and loved. Well...except for Virgil. Roman could shift into a cat, Patton a Golden retriever, and Logan was obviously the white cockatoo. Thomas just had to tell people Virgil was a twin who lived in another country if he was ever seen, but really, unless he was summoned, he never left the house or hung out with his fellow sides.

Roman always thought Virgil could never animal shift because he was technically a Dark side who turned light. That Dark sides would never have the capability or encouragement to shift into a cuddly animal at will. There was no use for it.

Patton once again ran over to Thomas with a slobbery, mucky ball full of excitement. Thomas laid his hand out, gesturing for Patton to drop it. He did very excitedly and instantly. He circled three times in front of Thomas ,then sat down begging for Thomas to throw it one more time. Thomas petted his head, ruffling up his ears and making Patton stick his tongue out. Thomas threw the ball one more time, causing Patton to bark and chase after it just like the other ten times he's done before. Thomas, at this point. knew what each side liked and how they liked to be treated. He knew Patton loved the full effect of being a dog and didn't care if he was treated as one, to an extent, as long as he got the affection and pets he deserved when he was done. Logan, on the other hand, would bite Thomas if he was ever treated like a real bird. He learned that a long time ago. Thomas also knew all three wanted to be treated as people and like equals when they were human, not like Thomas would treat them any differently anyway.

As Thomas threw the ball for Patton, he looked over, noticing Virgil sitting on his own, again. He sighed. He made sure to make the ball fly threw the air exceptionally far to occupy Patton for the meantime. Once Patton was out of sigh, but barking up a storm, he walked over to Virgil and sat down in front of him on the stairs.

" You know you're staring again. Right?"

Virgil shook his head for a moment and looked down at the sitting creator. " In all honesty, I did not know. I'm sorry."

" You realize this is getting ridiculous right? We are family. They are going to find out eventually."

" I know. I'm just...I'm not ready. Not all have even accepted me...so why would they accept this?"

Thomas sighed and looked down at the ground. " Look. If I found out-" He was abruptly caught off guard when Patton ran up to the both of them. He could just feel Virgil tense up and get nervous with just Patton's presence. Thomas slid his hand on Virgil's leg and patted him a bit, trying to calm him down and make sure nothing happened right in the living room.

Virgil was just so tense. His whole body kept getting uncomfortable, and the closer the dog got, the tighter he could feel his body react. He knew in his head this was just Patton, but...his instincts told him differently. His whole body was telling him to run. Run for dear life, please.

Patton sat down, dropping the ball at Thomas and Virgil's feet. Even he could sense how uncomfortable Virgil was the closer he got. He decided to try and help by sitting down at their feet and tilting his head. He was trying to be as cute as he could be to make the tension disappear. He stuck his tongue out, panting, then barked once.

Virgil's body tensed up immediately and disappeared. Literally. He disappeared and reappeared in his mindscape...away from the danger.

Thomas could just hear Patton sigh and transform right in front of him. He was told their transformations were instant and quick. There would be either a flash or smoke to cover their bodies that matched their coordinated color, then they would appear human.

Patton sighed, then there was a light blue smoke bomb that went off right beside Thomas.

When this happened, usually Thomas had to look away for an instant to collect himself.

Thomas looked over and Patton was sitting on the steps wearing his usual light blue shirt and grey sweatshirt that was tied around his shoulders. " Why does he do that? He talks with us while we are normal." Patton said with a soft and sad tone.

" He just doesn't like animals very much." Thomas remarked while staring at the spot Virgil disappeared from.

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Inside of Virgil's mindscape there was no Virgil. One would look around and would have sworn he went back to the living room. He had to...but in reality, if one looks closer, they would notice the blankets on his bed were disturbed and rolled up.

Inside was not a crying human Virgil, but a little grey mouse with tears in his eyes.

" Why can't I trust them?"