There are those of us who breathe in one soul with our first breath of life, but then there are others that breathe in two. These special few are known as werecats. They are special beings that are either born human or feline, but could live both lives how they please. Most chose to stay with their fellow surroundings, using their abilities in great times of stress, but others live their lives freely between both worlds.

For centuries, werecats and humans lived side-by-side as equals until a period of witch-hunts deemed the species to be too dangerous to trust. These events almost lead them into extinction until new generations realized their mistake and stopped the hunts before it was too late. Today, humans live as the dominant species around the world, thinking of the many werecats they once lived with as a distant memory. The only surviving specimen living in labs and in enclosures as their cat form. But some are still free, disguised as their human counterparts as a means of survival.

Although their numbers have greatly decreased from what they once were, some still question whether their friends or neighbors are really a ferocious tiger or a shifty alley cat. Even some question the big cats they see in zoos sleeping in the sun.

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"There he is!"

"There who is?" Pidge asked as she looked at Lance, confused at why he was hiding behind an alley wall.

"The guy!" Lance clarified in a hush tone as he pointed around the corner.

Pidge signed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Hunk, please explain."

"Lance thinks that guy over there is this stray cat that he unofficially owns." Hunk explained as he pointed down the road toward a teen that was standing at a small magazine stand. The boy had black hair that reach to the base of his neck and even though he was dressed in casual, unimpressive clothes, he was wearing a dulled red colored jacket that made him stand out a bit from the other people on the street.

Pidge squinted her eyes. "Um, Lance, hate to break it to you, but that's a guy not a cat."

"I know that! He's a werecat! I just know it." Lance responded as he looked around the corner.

"You sure that you just have a crush on him instead? He looks to be your type." Hunk suggested, trying to find any way out of his friend's current paranoia.

"As right as you are Hunk about him being my type, I do not have a crush on him. I'm certain that he's the cat that's been coming by my room every night."

"And what makes you so certain that a stray alley cat can be a werecat, let alone already know what it's human form looks like? Especially when finding one outside of a lab is like a one in a million chance now." Pidge argued, her patience running thin.

"No! I'm sure of it! Just hear me out." Lance said, trying to get his friends on his side. "So anyway, right before school started this little alley cat was meowing right by my window. I opened it up and it just jumped right in and went straight for my food stash that I had under my bed and stole one of my honeybuns. A week later, it came back and did the same thing. So, then I started buying food for it, like actual cat food."

"What other kind would you get?" Pidge muttered under her breath.

"Anyway," Lance said pointedly at Pidge, "this continued for a while longer and now it comes by every night after I get back home from school. Sometimes it even falls asleep with me when it's cold outside. But recently, I've been noticing that guy over there more and more on my walks home. Sometimes he's near the school or near my house, but he's always somewhere on my route."

"So? It's a small town. Maybe he's new around here?" Pidge interrupted again.

"Nugget! Please! Let me finish!" Lance responded irritably, making Pidge steam at his nickname for her. "Now, I usually leave my window open so the cat can leave when it wants during the night. But last time, I was up late studying for my exam and it had already feel sleep. I was getting cold, so before I went to sleep, I closed my window. You would think that I would wake up to a meowing cat wanting to get out the next morning, but no. I woke up to my alarm and my window being open. Now explain that to me!"

Pidge just stared at Lance and then glanced over at Hunk. "So how long have you been forced to listen to this story?"

"Pretty much since it started." Hunk responded.

"You two are horrible friends!" Lance shouted.

"No, we're just the only people willing to listen to your crazy stories." Pidge said as she looked down the road. "By the way, your dream prince left so can we go now?"

Lance instantly calmed down and looked around the corner from his hiding spot. The mysterious teen was now gone from the magazine stand and the coast was clear. "Oh, I guess so." Lance said as he stepped out of his hiding place.

"Good," Pidge sighed and she adjusted her bookbag. "Oh, and one more thing." She then quickly punched Lance's arm. "Quit calling me Nugget!"

Lance screamed in pain and quickly put Hunk between him and Pidge. "Hunk did you see that?"

Hunk shrugged his shoulders. "Don't cry to me, you provoked it." Both him and Pidge then started to walk off, leaving Lance behind.

"I need new friends," Lance pouted as he followed them.

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The sun was beginning to set once Lance reached his house, shadows from the row of buildings across the street making his block seem dark and isolated. As he pushed the front gate open, a soccer ball rolled away from the gate till it hit a discarded tricycle. The entire front lawn was covered in kids' toys, making the home seem more like a daycare more than a home. Lance kicked the soccer ball toward him and continued to kick it with him down the walkway to his front door. Before reaching the small series of steps, he kicked the soccer ball to the side toward a small goal by the bushed. Just as the ball hit the net, a blast of noise rang through the air after Lance opened his front door. Once he walked in and closed it, the small neighborhood was silent and isolated again, as if he entered another world that no one knew about.

"Mamá! I'm home!" Lance yelled over the sound of a television as he walked through the small foyer, avoiding even more toys.

"Lance! What took you so long?!" Lance's mother yelled as she came out of the kitchen doorway. She was about in her mid-forties, but her tired look made her seem much older.

"Sorry mamá. Me and the guys stopped by a shop to grab a snack and walked through the park. Pidge wanted to scout for a good spot for her and her brother to star gaze tonight." Lance kicked another toy out of his path. "I'm guessing the twins gave you a hard time today?"

"Even though the doctor said they were sick, they haven't acted like it all day," Lance's mother huffed as she pushed back the loose strands of her brunette hair. "That's why I need you home right after school. It's not easy watching them, especially now that your sister's off at college."

Lance frowned. "Sorry, again. I promise I'll be home earlier tomorrow."

"Thank you honey. Do you mind getting them ready for bed tonight while I do the dishes after dinner?"

Lance smiled. "You can count of me. I'll have those little suckers down by 9."

"Thank you so much." Lance's mother stood up on her toes so that she could kiss her son's cheek. "You mind checking on them for me on your way to your room? They were taking a nap last time I checked. And if you see a toy on your way, please pick it up for me, my back is still a bit sore."

"Will do," Lance said with a wink before walking toward the long hallway on the other side of the living room.

Once in the hallway, Lance took the number of kids toys he had picked up on his way and went to take them to the first door on his left. When he entered the room, it looked just like any kid's rooms with forgotten toys sitting outside their bins. On one side of the room, a children's movie was playing on a television that was sitting on top of a small table and on the other side was a bunk bed with very distinct decorations for each bunk. On the bottom, the blankets were dark toned and super hero and car stickers covered the walls around the bed. The top portion was built for a princess with pink blankets and sequined pillows and a white canopy hanging from above for added effect.

"I thought you two were taking a nap?" Lance said as he took the toys he collected over to one of the empty bins in the room.

"We were but then we woke up." The little boy on the bottom bunk said as he continued to watch the movie. "Lillian tried to get me to watch a girly movie but I said no and stole the remote."

"Aiden that's not nice." Lance frowned as he looked at his younger brother, who only shrugged in response. Lance then walked over to the bed to check on his little sister in the top bunk. "Hey Lilly-Bean. You want a friend with you?" Lance asked as he held up a doll for his sister to see.

Lillian was curled up against one of her bigger pillows, fighting sleep so she could watch the movie. She nodded her head and held out her hand for the doll. "I was up first," she mumbled tiredly.

Lillian's cheeks were a bright pink and she was paler than her usual complexion. Lance reached through the mesh canopy to feel his baby sister's temperature. "You feel a bit warm. Maybe you should stay in bed for the rest of the night. I'll tell mamá and bring you your dinner."

"Thanks Lance." Lillian gave her big brother one of her sweet smiles that shot him right in the heart.

Lance then bent down and looked at his baby brother. His complexion was a bit darker than his twin sister's but Lance could still see a bit of red in his cheeks. He then placed the back of his hand on Aiden's forehead. "You're warm too, but not as much as Lilly."

Aiden shrugged his shoulders, still watching his movie. "I'm fine. What's mamá making for dinner?"

"It's a surprise. You both should try to sleep some more before then." The twins gave him a unison 'ok' – Aiden staying where he was and watching the movie, Lillian moving around to get under her covers. Lance smiled at them both. "Ok then, I'll let you know when it's time to eat." He then walked out and went toward his room at the end of the hallway.

Lance's room was small with only a bed that was a bit bigger than a twin, a desk, and an entertainment system being able to fit in there. He threw his bookbag on the floor by his desk before falling on his bed. His few moments of silence were short lived before Lance could head loud meowing coming from his window.

"Oh crap!" Lance jumped off his bed and went straight to open the window by his desk. Right away a small black cat jumped through the window and settled into Lance's room by sitting in the middle of the room before grooming itself. "Sorry bud, it took me a bit longer to get back home today. I hope you weren't waiting long." The cat looked back at Lance over its shoulder, as if it understood what he said and then went back to grooming its fur. "I bet you're hungry." Lance went over to dig through his bookbag. "I stopped by the store too and got you some tuna and wheat grass you can try. The worker there said that it was safe for cats to eat so hopefully you'll like it." Lance dug out the pet shop bag from his bookbag and pulled out the potted wheat grass and tuna. "They even tried to talk me into buying you food in bulk at first, saying it would be cheaper. But you don't really live here and with how snoopy the twins get now and then, I can't have cans of cat food sitting around. That's when they suggested the wheat grass, that way if you end up coming by and I don't have food, you can eat that instead." Lance placed the potted wheat grass on the floor in front of him and waited for the cat to finish what it was doing and actually interact with him.

The cat stretched out its front legs and yawned. It then walked over to the wheat grass and sniffed at it. If cats were to be able to make facial expressions, it would have frowned and turned its nose at the plant from how it reacted.

Lance laughed a little at the reaction. "Yeah, I figured you wouldn't like it at first. You're really picky with what you eat. Let me go drain this and I'll feed you." Lance then got off his floor and left his room to go drain the water out of the can of tuna.

Once alone, the cat looked around the room and then zeroed in on Lance's desk. It jumped on top of the desk and walked over to the edge and leaned over to look out the window. Outside in the alley right by Lance's window as a small group of dirty alley cats sniffing around the area and jumping up on some of the boxes and trashcans that neighbors leave there. One stray began to sniff at a small bag that was left in the alley, making it growl at it through the window till the stray moved away.

"Are you already wanting out?" Lance asked when he walked back in his room and saw the black cat sitting on top of his desk. The cat quickly turned around and jumped to Lance's bed and sat down on the pillow, waiting for its food to be brought to them. "Ok, sorry I asked. Here's your food." Lance said as he placed the small can of tuna on his bed before taking a seat next to it.

He watched the cat eat for a while, taking note that it wasn't as skinny as it used to be when if first broke into his bedroom. Also, it's fur looked to be less matted and well-groomed which made Lance wonder if the cat ever goes to anyone else for care.

"You know, I had a suspicion that you were a werecat for the past couple of weeks now." The cat froze for a second. "But when I talked about it with my friends and can see how that would be a crazy thing to think." The cat then went back to eat, seeming to be spooked by a sound that Lance didn't notice. "I mean, it's really rare to see a werecat outside a lab now-a-days. The only way they could be found outside of them would be if they escaped from one or something. But even if that were to happen, the chance that you could be one are very low." Lance reached over and scratched the cat's head as it ate, letting his hand drift down to pet and pinch at one of the cat's ears. A small growl came from the cat's throat as it glared up at Lance. "Sorry, forgot that you don't like your ears touched," Lance said as he held his hands up in defense.

"Besides, even if you were one, I doubt one would risk exposure by coming by someone's house just to be fed and stay warm. Why do that when they could just stay in their human form and just live a normal life? I mean, you stole my snacks from me the first time we met, something I'm sure a werecat wouldn't do. It's too much of animal instinct." Lance paused mid-monologue when he felt a slight pressure on his leg. He looked down to see the cat climb into his lap and begin to knead at his leg before curling up and lying down. Lance smiled at the cat and scratched it's back. "You know, you can stay here if you want. Mamá and Pops wouldn't really mind having a cat and Lillian would spoil you nonstop. The only person you would have to have to worry about is Aiden whenever he's bored. He turns into a demon then." The cat then began to purr as it fell deeper into sleep as Lance continued to scratch its back. "But it's up to you if you want to stay or not. I'm ok with things being how they are right now if that's how you want them."

The night continued like usual for Lance and his family. Once dinner was ready, he left the cat in his room to continue sleeping and went to join the rest of his family. After dinner he kept his promise he made with his mother and took care of his twin siblings after dinner, giving them their medicine and getting them ready for bed. He helped his mother finish cleaning around the house before his father came home for the night and went back to his room to do homework. His little guest was still fast asleep on his pillow, like every night before then whenever the cat would visit. He picked up the small plant of wheat grass off the floor and put it on his desk and grabbed his bookbag before sitting down at his desk.

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I'm cold. Why is it cold?

Sometime during the night Lance had fallen asleep at his desk.

Why is the idiot still at his desk? I'm cold damn it!

The bed creaked as weight shifted around.

What the hell? Oh shit! It happened again!

The growing pain in Lance's neck and back started to pull him out of his sleep. He groaned as he forced his eyes open, unhappy to find that he fell asleep with the lights on. He sat up in his seat and stretched his back. Something in the corner of his eye caught his attention and he looked over. Sitting on his was bed was a boy about his age looking down at his hands and was shockingly stark naked. The familiar sight of the teen that Lance has seen on his route home for the past few weeks instantly made him fall back out of his seat and land on the floor, catching the attention of the mysterious boy.

"I knew it." Lance mumbled as they stared at each other.

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