Archive of Our Own ^beta

♪ two, three, four ♪

At the start of the day, Jeremy had thought that besides a slight headache, it seemed like it was going to be just another normal day (as normal as it could be, anyway, considering his friend group).

Boy was he wrong.

He’d been wrong before, of course, many, many times even, but this was just the pinnacle of wrong-ness. The epitome of incorrect assumptions.

♪ we could fly to the moon ♪

The first strange thing happens in his second period.

Jeremy felt like everyone else must be out to get him, because his classmates were all being louder than usual with their fidgeting and it was just so hard to focus.

He turns his attention to the teacher, trying his best to pay attention to the lesson, but the girl who sits by the window is clicking her pen and it is so loud and obnoxious and he just wants to go over there and tell her to shut the fuck up and-

Just as he feels like he's about to burst, the cap flies off the water bottle of the guy who sits to his left, and water gets all over his desk.

Everyone in the class turns to look at the guy, who is very obviously biting back curses at his ruined notebook.

Jeremy wonders if that was his fault, but remembers that his powers aren't that strong, and his weak control over water wouldn't be able to knock the screwed-on cap off of a water bottle.

Even so, the incident sticks in his mind, and he has an even more difficult time focusing for the rest of the period.

♪ get there by tomorrow afternoon ♪

The second thing happens after third period.

He meets up with Rich in the hallway halfway to his next class, as usual, since he and Rich have fourth period in adjacent classrooms.

Today, of course, is not usual, apparently. Rich meets up with him, which is normal, but the face Rich is making at him? That definitely isn’t.

When he questions Rich on the look, Rich doesn’t respond beyond a shrug, and they continue on their way to fourth period. Despite the deflection, Jeremy still feels like he’s being scrutinized, and fidgets a little more than usual under the gaze.

When they reach their classes, Jeremy says bye to Rich and goes to walk into his classroom, before glancing back to see Rich still watching him instead of walking into his own class. Then, Rich blinks, and as if broken from a trance, turns slowly and walks into his own classroom.

Jeremy thinks about how weird that was, but shakes the experience off as the teacher greets the class.

♪ we could swim in the sea ♪

The next weird thing happens on his way to lunch.

Jeremy’s walking to lunch like normal, and he’s not expecting anything weird to happen.

He should really stop not-expecting the weird shit, at this point.

He’s only about a minute into his trip to the cafeteria when he feels eyes on him. He glances around, but he doesn’t really see anyone through the crowd.

Another minute later, and the crowds have thinned, but the eyes haven’t left.

In fact, now he can distinctly tell that it’s more than one set of eyes.

Looking around, he finally spots the source of the eyes, which happens to be a group of a couple people.

Trying to place them, he realizes that they’re mostly werewolves, with the exception of the redheaded one, who he recalls is some sort of….fox shifter? He can’t remember the actual term for it.

He tightens his hands’ grip around the straps of his backpack and quickens his pace, feeling nervous and paranoid the whole rest of his way to the lunchroom.

♪ beyond where we should be ♪

The lunchroom, of course, is where the fourth weird event of the day occurs.

Seriously, why are there so many weird things happening to him today? He swears that nearly every werewolf (of which there are many, because they’re pretty common in the area) stares at him for at least a solid minute before looking away.

When he reaches the table where his friends are gathered, he sits down stiffly, trying to will himself to relax and stop being so paranoid, but the feeling of eyes on him doesn’t leave.

And of course, the loudness of the cafeteria isn’t helping much. He feels hyperaware of each and every sound, and it’s grating and he wants to tell everyone to quiet down but he knows it’s no use.

After hearing a particularly loud scrape of a chair being pulled out somewhere, though, he groans and slams his head down on the table, which, of course, does not help in the slightest. In fact, all it really does is make some of his friends jump in their seats, startled at his sudden movement.

When Brooke asks if he’s alright, Jeremy makes a wordless sound that has no distinct meaning before lifting his head. He tells her he’s fine, it’s just been a weird day.

He sits up more and puts his elbows on the table, leaning onto them heavily and sighing. When Jenna inquires as to what he means by it being a “weird” day, he tells them about how everyone’s being really loud for no reason today and about the stares and how he feels stupid and paranoid-

His ranting is cut off by Michael, who slides into the seat to his left. Jeremy turns, expecting the usual goofy grin that Michael tends to wear but freezing at the sight of Michael’s eyes being tinged with gold, pupils partially slitted, fixing him with a stare similar to the one Rich was wearing earlier.

He groans at the sight. Not you too, he insists, if a metric shitton of people are going to stare at him today, why does Michael have to be one of them, he rants on and on, rubbing the ends of his sleeves between his fingertips like he does when he’s stressed.

He’s so busy complaining that he almost doesn’t notice when Michael snatches his hand, and turns to see Michael’s concerned face as he reaches up to wipe at the few tears that Jeremy hadn’t even realized he’d let fall.

He feels a gentle hand land on his shoulder from his right, and can tell from the size that it must be Jenna’s. When Michael asks if he wants to skip the rest of the day, Jeremy gives an affirmative, and the rest of the squad give him various variations of the relatively same message: that they hope he feels better, and to text them later if he feels up to it. Jeremy tells them he will, and then he and Michael bid them farewell and leave school.

♪ we could live in a haunted house ♪

The weird things don’t stop happening once they leave school, though.

As they sit in Jeremy’s living room watching various movies, the loudness of every sound doesn’t stop. At one point, a door squeaks as he’s opening it and Jeremy can’t stop himself from whimpering as his ears start ringing at the loud sound. He covers them with his hands, but it doesn’t do much good.

A couple times throughout the afternoon and then the night, Jeremy will zone out and the kitchen sink will start running, even though the handle hasn’t moved. At this point, Jeremy knows it’s him doing it, but he wants to ignore it, so he says nothing. As if sensing this, Michael doesn’t mention it either.

Eventually, it’s late, and they’re both finally worn out enough to go to bed. Truthfully, Jeremy’s a little relieved that the day is over. It’s been a really weird day, and he falls asleep hoping tomorrow is normal.

That night, he dreams of a dark sky, an equally dark ocean, and a forest trail lit up with a soft, silver glow.

♪ see how long ‘til we move out ♪

All the weird things fall into place the next morning.

Jeremy wakes up to the sun practically assaulting his eyes with it’s light, and he begins to blink the sleep from his eyes. He flushes when he realizes that Michael is pressed against his back, an arm wrapped around his middle.

Ignoring the twisting feeling in his chest at the proximity, he eases himself out of Michael’s grip, and sluggishly makes his way to the bathroom.

As he’s washing his hands, Jeremy realizes that the sound is different than normal. He pauses, and turns off the faucet before turning it back on again.

Yeah, it definitely sounds off.

Louder, like yesterday, but also more....informing? In the sensory sense? No, wait, Jeremy thinks, he just confused himself. Truth be told, he doesn’t really know how it’s different, just that it is different. Sighing, Jeremy turns the faucet off again. He looks up at the mirror, and freezes.

His hair is streaked with silverish white, which doesn’t really look bad, but....his thoughts are a bit more preoccupied by the fact that holy fuck he has rabbit ears .

Jeremy tugs at the ends of them, and finds that the fur there is soft. He notes that they’re mostly the same brown color as his hair, but the ends are the silvery color of the streaks in his hair. He leans in closer to the mirror and inspects the pale color that’s replaced the normal inky blackness of his pupils.

The only thing Jeremy can manage to think is holy shit. Then, of course, he makes an ungodly screeching noise and goes to wake up Michael.

♪ yeah we got magic in our hands ♪

Michael grumbles as Jeremy shoves at him, and voices his displeasure at the rude awakening. Jeremy tells him to shut the hell his mouth and to look at his goddamn ears because holy shit.

Michael rubs at his eyes and then studies Jeremy’s change in appearance. He reaches out and rubs at one of the ears, ooo-ing at the softness of it. Then he snorts.

Jeremy shoots him a look as he starts giggling, silently asking for an explanation. Michael just tells him that he’s reached the ultimate level of furrydom. Jeremy turns his head and pretends to look into the camera like he’s on the Office.

In the back of his mind, Jeremy is relieved to have a logical reason behind all the weird things that happened yesterday.

...Even if that reason happened to end with him having to defend for the nth time that he’s not a furry Michael, stop it.

♪ we play in the stars when the sun comes up ♪