A/N: This is just a kind of One-Shot thing I did while suffering from an extremely long bout of writer's block. I wasn't sure if I should post anything after being inactive for so long, but here it is so I hope anyone who reads this will provide some feedback. Thanks in advance!

I don't know exactly how this blonde boy came across me, but now he was persistent. He came to the same place every day and gave a low, quiet whistle. And I would come out of hiding behind the dumpsters, ears laid back, immobile tail straight out behind me, and my face bordering a snarl as I kept my distance and stared at him cautiously. He would always set down the plate of scraps and back away with that unreadable expression and the aviator shades that blocked his eyes from my view. Without fail, my nose would always involuntarily twitch and catch a whiff of the food and I stepped forward. I would watch the boy the entire time I spent slowly eating the food he brought and he learned after the first few times that if he tried to approach, I was gone. Hungry or not, I couldn't be sure of his intentions and wasn't risking it. I was part human, after all. I knew what they could be like to other humans as well as to a canine. I've experienced both.

Lately, the boy had been standing a little closer as I ate and I allowed it since he was still a good distance away. I'm not sure how long he's come and fed me every day just as the sun was making its decent, but I found myself looking forward to it and waiting for him.

Today was a bit different. I hadn't been able to eat anything today and my stomach wasn't happy while I waited for the boy. He showed up with two hotdogs, and I stared at him expectantly for a long time before he shook his head and spoke to me for what may have been the first time I didn't just ignore him or responded with a growl.

"Not today. You want the food, you come and get it." He said, waving the hotdog around and succeeding in making me involuntarily pick up the scent.

I tilted my head to the side, thinking about it as I stared at the ever unreadable boy. It didn't take long before I took the first step toward him. He crouched and by the time I was close enough to stretch out to take the hotdog in my teeth, there was a smirk on his face. I chomped down on air and huffed through my nose at the boy who had pulled the hotdog out of my reach.

"Sit here and eat with me."

I gave another canine version of a sigh and walked a few more steps to sit down in front of him. He gave me the food and the thought of dashing off now that I had it crossed my mind, but I decided to just eat it slowly and watch him carefully. He just casually ate his own hotdog. After he finished it, he rested his elbows on his knees and his hands hung limply from his arms. I watched him wearily as I started the second half of my hotdog, but he didn't make any threatening movements. After I finished my food, I gave him one more curious look and took off.

Over the next few days, he insisted I eat near him, but never really said much. Today, he touched me for the first time. He just reached out and patted my head as he was giving me the food. I froze up from the shock of the contact, but decided to allow it and brushed it off. After that, he became more talkative and patted me as much as I'd allow before I started growling a warning. He talked about his friend who would've liked me first. Just a brief statement and nothing more. Then he asked me some rhetorical questions about myself and how I ended up a stray. I could've shifted and told him how I had chosen to live as a dog after becoming homeless, but was a bit afraid of scaring him off. Instead, I listened to him tell me about being a DJ who raps on the side and how he was writing a webcomic of some kind. Little by little, he opened up to me. He mentioned his brother who made robots and also rapped and DJed. A bit later and he was talking about his friends and what they did. John, his best friend, owned a prank shop. Jade, the one who'd like me, was a tech genius and adventurer. Rose, who was like a sister to him, was an author and a scientist of some sort. I started to think that maybe he was just talking to talk when he told me about them, but I still gave him my full attention. It was interesting to hear about.

Today, I came to the realization that we might've formed a bond of some kind as I noticed just how excited I was to see him now. It worried me a bit. Even so, when I heard the low whistle, my ears perked and my tail wagged as I padded out to meet him. Today must've been special. He's never brought me ice cream before. He must've noticed my tilted head and my perplexed expression when he set my cone of mint ice cream down on a napkin on the ground and started to dig in his favourite red hoodie's pocket.

"I got you something." He said it like that would explain everything.

I was even more confused when he pulled out a red circle of thick fabric with little black music notes as a design on it and a circular piece of metal hanging from a metallic loop built into the thing. I slowly came to the realization that it was a collar when the tag had a record design on the front and an engraving on the back. He held it toward me and I sniffed at it as I tried to read the writing. It had a phone number and "Very important; If lost, return to Dave" on it. There was a blank space at the top, probably left for a name. I looked up into his shades with wide eyes as he carefully started to adjust it to fit and moved to put it on me. I was too shocked to move out of the way and honestly, I'm not sure if I really wanted to. He was claiming me. I'm not sure how to feel about that.

"I don't have a name for you yet, but now you won't get thrown in the pound if they find you wandering around out here." He explained, then sighed. "I would take you home, but I'm still working on convincing the landlord to let me have a German Shepard cross or whatever the hell you are in my apartment."

I finally snapped out of my stupor and barked at him, trying to tell him not to worry about me, but it didn't get across.

"Don't like it?"

I admit it feels weird and it's itchy, but I guess I'd keep it. I shook myself out and nuzzled the hand he reached out to grab the collar as a way of getting him to leave it. It worked and he instead rubbed my muzzle and told me to eat my ice cream. I happily licked up the melting dessert and we parted ways, as usual.

It was weeks later and still no name when I finally got up the courage to just give him one. I shifted, found a place to clean up and got some clothing, and called the number on my collar from a payphone. It was the middle of the afternoon, so I'm sure he'll pick up. And he did.

"Dave Strider here." His familiar monotone came through.

"Uh, yes, hello? Is this the Dave I'm supposed to call about a very important dog?" I asked nervously. It felt weird to use my voice after so long.

"Yeah, did you find her?"

"I did, but she ran off before I could get to a phone. I think, uh," I stuttered as I tried to think of a reason I would run away after letting someone close enough to read my collar. "A police siren caught her attention." Well, good enough. "A-Anyway, that was a while ago. In the Wal-Mart parking lot."

"Ok, I'll go check around the area for her. Thanks." He sounded like he was going to hang up, so I spoke up first.

"Wait!"

"Yeah?"

"Um, I was just curious, but I didn't see a name on the collar. Does she have one?"

There was a pause. "Not yet."

"Oh. Well, if you wouldn't mind too much, I'd suggest naming her, uh," I felt my nerves kicking my courage down, but fought it off somehow. "Isabelle."

"Isabelle?"

"Izzy if that's too long." I said quickly. "Sorry, my late mother had a dog with that name and she looked exactly like the one I saw today. Of course, my mother's dog ran away and is probably gone now." I rambled before forcing myself to stop talking.

There was a long silence which made me start deflating immediately and I quickly said, "Sorry for wasting your time." Then I hung up.

I met up with him that night as a canine and feeling a bit down as I ate the scraps he gave me. He looked like he was about to leave, so I stood up to go my own way too, but he stopped me and reached for my collar. He took it off and my eyes went wide as I watched his blank face as he spoke.

"I'm gonna borrow this for a bit."

And with that, he left. I didn't though. I hung around the area all night, terrified thoughts of what ifs and the possibility he was ditching me running through my mind. That is, until I heard the whistle the next day and went running around the dumpster to stop at his feet and look up at him, tail wagging from the relief and happiness that washed over me. He set down my food, but before I ate, he pulled out my collar and showed me the new engraving filling the blank space on the tag. I felt my eyes water with happiness that my indirect way of telling him my name had worked.

"Someone suggested it. Isabelle. Is that cool with you?" He asked.

I barked an affirmative and wagged my tail happily as he put my collar back on me and rubbed my ears. After that day, even if it was rare he called me by name, it was always Izzy. Always. It made me happy that he used the nickname even though he had engraved the full name on my tag. After a while longer, I started following him around. I'm not sure if he noticed though, since I tended to either hide or sit in a back alley. That's how I found out the alley we met up in every day was the one behind his apartment building. It's also how I found out that his top three places to spend time in were clubs where he was probably working, a record store, and his apartment building. He caught me following him when he whistled and I came running to sit at his feet before I realized that he did it because he had caught on. His only reaction when discovering it was a raised eyebrow and an amused twitch of his lips before the poker face was back. After that, he started to take me to dog parks, though I simply sat and growled warningly at any dog or person that came too close to me and he was almost constantly looking at his phone. I think I heard his phone make the picture taking noise once and turned my head to the side, giving Dave a perplexed look before hearing it again. He then started tapping on his phone's screen like he was typing, so I guessed he must've been messaging someone. I just huffed at him for taking my picture, then went back to looking around.

It was a bit later that he took me to the park and I could sense a sort of anxiousness from him. He fiddled with his phone and adjusted his shades and clothing a few times before I jumped up on the bench with him and gave a soft, concerned whine. He patted my head distractedly, then suddenly stood up and waved. I followed his gaze to spot a dark haired woman with large round glasses and a grin on her face as she waved back and started running over to hug Dave. I watched them, feeling an odd urge to tell her to back off but dismissing it as being overprotective since he seemed comfortable with her. Instead, I listened as they started catching up and caught the woman's name as they did. So this was Jade. I cautiously approached her and sniffed. Unfortunately, she noticed and looked down at me with a confused gaze for a second before smiling and reaching down to place her hand on my head. However, before she could get close, I darted around to stand behind Dave, ears back, tail straight out behind me, and hackles raised. She looked at me with a confused expression as I glanced up at Dave for a reaction.

"Sorry. She's...Hard to get along with at first." He said, poker face and monotone remaining.

She pouted. "Aw, Dave! You said she was super sweet!"

If I was human, my face would be red. Instead, the flustered reaction I had to that was pressing my head against Dave's legs to hide my face and earning a giggle from Jade.

"Oh! There it is!" She said excitedly. "How cute!"

Dave rubbed my back, so I removed myself and turned back to Jade, looking at her and assessing the amount of threat she posed to me or him as she and Dave sat down and talked some more. Apparently none. She was very energetic, but kind. I couldn't sense any threat from her right now, so I went over and sat in front of her. She didn't notice me this time, so I glanced at Dave, who seemed to enjoy this girl's company. With all the nerve I could muster, I brought myself to nudge her hand with my nose and get her attention. I allowed her to hesitantly start petting me, then listen to her squeal about how adorable and smart I was before going back to telling my owner all about her latest adventure.

Jade was alright. Maybe a tiny bit annoying and a little hotheaded about some things, but she was alright. She was Dave's friend, so she was on my tolerating list. Well, until she freaked me out when she started talking about this show she was watching where the pet was really a person who could turn into an animal or something. Dave laughed it off, saying, "As if that shit happens" and changing the subject after a pause in which they both glance in my direction. I had gone rigid for a long time after Jade had brought that up, but I eventually recovered and decided to leave them to catch up.

It was about two weeks later when I was waiting for Dave to get off work that I felt my entire body aching. I went to the usual alley and laid down behind the dumpster, curling up and attempting to sleep it off. I couldn't get to sleep, since the ache progressed into feeling like my body was burning from the inside out. Thankfully, after a while of withering around from the pain, I passed out. However, when I awoke, it was the last thing I wanted to hear. A low whistle had pierced my consciousness. I also heard footsteps followed by a plate breaking before I lost consciousness again.

My body must've moved on its own or I was sleepwalking, but I somehow woke up under a particularly shady tree in the park. It wasn't where I had passed out. I decided to shrug it off and try and get up. A hand gently resting on my back caught my attention then and I stopped, looking for its owner only to find a familiar blonde's sunglasses staring back at me. He looked pretty relieved when I tilted my head in confusion at him.

"I didn't know what to do. Want some water?" He offered me a bowl and poured some water from his bottle into it.

I lapped it up slowly, watching him run a hand through his hair and sigh. I lifted my head, lowered my ears, and gave a soft whine. He patted my head and his lips twitched up just a little for a second.

"You had me worried." He responded, apparently not understanding me.

I gave another soft whine and crawled my way over and onto his lap, nuzzling my face into his torso. He let me stay there and pet me for a while before he reluctantly headed home, considering the sun had now set and he had to work tomorrow. However, I didn't go right back to my usual place. I got an idea and went to look for clothing. I had come to the conclusion that perhaps that sickness earlier was from not shifting to human in a while. I eventually decided to just grab a long trench coat from some woman's clothesline and hoped it would be enough.

The next day, I followed Dave to his venue for tonight and took the coat along with me. I don't think he saw me, but I'm glad he told me he wouldn't be by with supper tonight because of work. It must've been around nine that the place opened to the public. Some kind of bar or club or something. Either way, by ten o'clock, I was human, standing in line with the trench coat that reached my knees on and hoping the bill I had found on the ground earlier would be enough.

Surprisingly, I got in, got to the bar, sat down, got some soda, and started scanning for Dave. Before I found him, a thought hit me and my hand latched onto the collar around my neck. Reluctantly, and with a silent apology, I took it off and shoved it in my pocket. When I looked up and scanned again, I spotted the DJ booth and the familiar blonde behind it. It probably took me fifteen minutes to build up my courage and go sit at the stool that had a better view. I cringed at the loud music, my eyes awkwardly darting around the room. I never knew where to look in these places. Well, openly staring at the DJ isn't that weird, is it? Well, better than watching people making out over there anyway.

I don't know how long I sat there watching my owner in a daze before someone went and talked to him and he stepped out of the DJ booth. I lost sight of him and looked around, but the next thing I know, he's in the seat next to me.

"Sup?" He nodded at me as I turned to him and nearly fell off the stool.

"Uh, I, um," I stuttered, not sure what to say that wouldn't tip him off. "Your shades. They're pretty cool." I got out, even if it did sound awkward.

"Thanks." He responded, sipping his bottle of apple juice. "So, you don't seem like the crowd type. How'd you end up here?"

"Someone very special to me is here." I smiled slightly, looking at the familiar sunglasses on the boy in front of me. It would be nice if he could always understand me like this.

"Boyfriend?"

I shook my head.

His eyebrow raised. "You like this dude?"

I grinned as I looked at him. "Like him? He's the best friend anyone could ask for. Of course I like him."

He shook his head. "No, I mean, you want him to be your boyfriend?"

"I don't know. I never thought about that." I paused, my eyes looking up as I thought about it.

I did really enjoy Dave's company, and maybe he was pleasing to the eye. And, okay, maybe I was a little too protective of him when girls are around sometimes. And maybe I do often find myself thinking about how often I would be blushing or laughing with him if I was human around him, but I never considered the possibility that I may like him in that way. My heart is beating a little faster and my stomach is full of butterflies right now, talking to him like this. Did I like Dave that way?

"Hm." I felt my cheeks heating as my face remained set in a stoic expression. "Perhaps. But it wouldn't work. He doesn't know who I am. Besides, I'm happy just being around him. I just want him to be happy."

He shook his head and smirked. "How well do you know this guy if he doesn't know you?"

I smirked back and leaned a little closer. "Better than you'd think."

"You some kinda stalker?"

"God no." I paused, then sighed. "Well, not really. It's complicated."

He looked like he wanted to say something else, but the bartender came and told him his break was over, so he got up and went back to his station. I got up and left the entire place, quickly ducking into an empty alley and putting my collar back on before shifting. I left the coat in the alley and headed over to sit outside the door Dave always came out of. It must've been hours before he came out and spotted me laying there outside. I sat up and my tail wagged as he approached and patted my head.

"Hey Iz." He greeted.

I found myself wanting to say something back, but instead just gave a soft whine and nuzzled his hand affectionately.

"Something wrong?" He apparently picked up my slight sadness.

I was thinking of how to respond when the surge of pain washed over my body once again and I dashed off blindly. I barely registered Dave calling me before I blacked out. I'm not sure how I got to an abandoned building or how I managed to lose Dave, but I didn't feel well enough to move for a week. I did finally manage to drag myself back to the usual alley, but as soon as I got halfway in at nearly six o'clock, the pain came back and I think it forced me back to human form. It was when the plate shattering caught my attention that I realized someone had seen something. I struggled to get a look at who, but didn't manage it before I collapsed and just accepted the embrace of darkness.

I came to in a place I had never seen before. On a futon in a messy living room and in clothing that was too big for me. I was shivering when I woke up. At least the blanket over me was sort of warm. I curled under it as I looked around at the room littered with video games, apple juice bottles, and various cords and wires I wasn't sure what they connected to. Some footsteps made me freeze up and clutch the blanket tighter. Then, a familiar set of shades along with now disheveled blonde hair became visible and I couldn't sense a threat as he looked at me. Still, it made me nervous. Unconsciously, I grabbed the tag hanging from the collar around my neck as I waited for him to speak.

"So," he started hoarsely, sounding as if he hadn't slept well in a while. "What the fuck?"

That's all he managed. It was quiet as I tried to think of a way to explain. I coughed a little before I started.

"Okay, um, I know this is really weird. You know shapeshifters? That's what I am. And I...I.." My voice wavered as I tried to hold off a cough, but failed and fell into a fit of coughing.

I don't know why, but the next thing I know once I've stopped, Dave's beside me, rubbing my back. I had to force myself to refocus on explaining.

"I didn't mean to deceive you or anything. I truly wanted to live out my life as a canine when you started pushing for me to get close to you. And I-" I managed to hold off on the fit this time. "And I thought I could, but I don't think my body can handle it now."

He sighed. "Great. Now you're sick, possibly in love with me, and I now have a shapeshifter as a pet. Because just trying to get a dog wasn't hard enough."

I hung my head, ashamed. "I can go. It-"

"Hell no. You're staying here." He made me lay down, pulled the blanket up to my chin and put the back of his hand to my forehead before frowning. "You've got a fever."

"But I'm cold." I said in confusion.

"Yeah, that happens sometimes with fevers." He responded with a shrug. "Now, mind telling me how to take care of a sick shapeshifter?"

I shrugged. "I don't know."

"Didn't you get sick as a kid and your parents had to take care of you?"

"My parents abandoned me. I mostly just laid around somewhere and hoped I got better."

"Oh." He frowned.

Something about the uncertainty and slight panic I could sense from him as he tried to take care of me the way humans do when they're sick was incredibly endearing to me. Though I remained quiet and he just occasionally muttered to himself most of the time I spent awake, it would be a lie if I said I didn't enjoy it to some extent.

He said it had been a week when I actually felt well enough to sit up and eat the instant noodles he had given me. It was obvious he couldn't cook, but I didn't mind. After I ate he sat back down on the couch by my feet. He turned to look at me, which I responded to with a tilt of my head and a small smile. He didn't really react visibly, but my mind was a bit too foggy and I may have missed something.

"You feeling better now?"

I nodded. "Thanks to you."

"So...Shapeshifter, huh?" His monotone bordered on awkward.

I looked at my hands that were resting on my lap. "I, uh, I understand if you want me gone." His silence caused me to continue with a twinge of sorrow. "I just have one parting request..." I took a deep breath and my hand latched onto the tag hanging from the collar still around my neck. "May I keep this? I will scratch out the phone number so no one bothers you."

It was quiet for a long time before I looked up at his unreadable expression still facing me. I gave a slightly awkward, but mostly sad smile as I waited for an answer.

"Nah, keep it. And the number." He finally responded, getting up and turning his back to me. "I was coming to bring you home when I found..." He trailed off, uncertain how to word it.

"I apologize. You shouldn't have had to see that or deal with me."

He shook his head. "Dog or not, you're staying here until you get better."

I felt my face heat up as I looked down again and squeezed the tag in my hand tighter. I managed to whisper out a shaky "Thank you." before I focused on forcing back the tears threatening to escape my eyes.

He kept his back to me as he gave a curt nod and going into the kitchen for a few minutes before coming back with a bottle of apple juice and a plastic wrapped sandwich. He handed them to me with the usual blank expression as he sat down.

"I don't have much else. I usually eat out." He stated.

I had already gotten to work unscrewing the sealed bottle of juice and failing at it since my strength had been depleted by my illness. He wordlessly held out his hand for it, then handed it back to me in a second. I muttered a thank you before gulping down half the contents and then moving on to the sandwich. After my meal, it was quiet for a pretty long time.

"So, you were the dog I was hanging out with all this time?" He suddenly asked.

I nodded, a little surprised by the sudden question. "I am. Why?"

He shrugged. "I was just thinking about how you got all weird when Jade brought up the animals turning out to be people."

I stiffened and gulped a bit before laughing nervously. "Oh. Well, that wasn't my intention. I just...I guess I should've listened to those people." I muttered the last part to myself.

"Who?"

"Oh, the shifters I ran into pretty early into my dog lifestyle. They told me it doesn't work that way. It's both, not one or the other. According to them, it's either you're a dog who turns into a human sometimes, or you're a human that turns into a dog. I thought they were being assholes, but they were right. If you don't use both forms, your body will force you to, whether you like it or not."

He was silent for a bit before he asked, "Did you learn anything else from them?"

I tilted my head to one side as I thought about it. "Um, just that shifters smell different than humans. I didn't stick around to hear them criticize me for long."

He seemed to be thinking this over a lot. The silence started to make me anxious.

"Um, you know, if you didn't eat out so much you'd save some money. So, um, I know how to cook a little and I was thinking I have to be a human sometimes anyway. Plus, if you're letting me stay I'd rather pay you back somehow..."

He looked at me for a few seconds before a smirk crossed his face. "You're probably the only dog that can cook."

"It's kind of cheating when I can shift into a creature with opposable thumbs though." I replied, holding up my thumbs and bending them for emphasis.

His smirk remained for a little longer before slipping away as he went back to his thoughts. "This is really weird."

I deflated and looked at the ground. "Yeah, sorry."

"Nah, I mean, it's just that I'm thinking about all the garbage I said to you, thinking you were some dumb mutt that wouldn't understand me well enough and now I find out you're some dog that has a human mind and can shift into a human-"

"Dave." I cut off his rambling with a soft voice. I was a little surprised it worked actually, but I continued anyway. "Nothing you say to me is garbage. I don't care how shitty that metaphor was or that you kind of resent being in your brother's shadow sometimes. I will tell you right now, I'm still that dog. No judgement. Loyal. I will always listen to you."

He gave me an odd look for a few seconds and I nervously looked down again.

"Izzy." He said it like he was testing it, but my head still snapped up and I can feel the ghost of my tail wagging.

An amused look crossed his face before he sighed and one hand went to his sunglasses. I froze, watching him as he slowly slid the shades off and his closed eyes were revealed. He took a deep breath before he finally opened them to reveal red irises.

"I guess we're both freaks of nature."

I just sat and stared at his eyes with my mouth slightly opened for a few seconds before I grinned at the now anxious boy and more or less tackled him into a hug, knocking us both onto the floor.

"Wow, Dave! I never would've guessed your eyes were so cool! They match the rest of you!" I said excitedly before I started laughing.

He stared at me in surprise for a few seconds before a genuine smile crossed his face and he hugged me back.

"Things are definitely gonna be interesting around here."

~~Extra~~

It was about three days of getting used to my new routine of spending most of my day as a dog, turning human to cook for Dave, then going back to canine to eat. The fourth day, Dave was out and I was bored, so I started to try and do the partial shifting thing some shifters I met a while ago told me about. It was frustrating and the quiet was driving me insane, so I decided to go on Dave's computer, access the internet, and put on some great music to listen to while I did it. About an hour later, I had tried to partial shift my ears so I could hear better, but ended up with my canine ears and tail on my human body and being unable to undo it before giving up and letting myself get lost in the wonderful song that was playing.

"I like that old time rock and roll~"

I sang along as I danced around in a lazy swaying kind of motion. I could feel my furry tail brushing against the backs of my legs since I had just thrown on a shirt of Dave's that was too big for me. He was certainly tall compared to myself. Anyway, I think I might have howled a few times during the instrumentals too, but I didn't really care since no one was around to see me. Or...that's what I thought anyway.

"Well, that's new." Dave's amused comment after the song ended made me jump and spin around to stare wide-eyed at the boy leaning against the door with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face.

"You weren't supposed to..." I trailed off as my embarrassment was turning my face red and my reaction to it was to shift and run to hide behind the couch with my paws over my face.

"Aw, come on. Iz, turn back and tell me what you were doing." Dave's soothing tone coaxed me out of hiding and I gave in after looking at his serious expression.

I sighed as I sat on the ground in human form, sans ears and tail now.

"I was trying to figure out this partial shifting thing. The shifters I have had contact with in the past mentioned it."

"Partial shifting." He repeated blankly.

I nodded. "But I screwed up and ended up like that and didn't know how to undo it. The point of it was supposed to be to raise certain senses by shifting the internal parts rather than the entire body." I felt my head and found normal human ears again. "I guess shifting and then going back must've reset it."

He was quiet for a minute before shaking his head and going over to his computer. "Yeah, whatever. Another thing," he quickly dismissed the subject. "Please don't tell me all your musical tastes are awful."

"Hey! Those are classics!" I defended, crossing my arms and pouting.

"Dean Martin? That's one of your classics?"

"Um, you know, "Ain't That A Kick In The Head?" is in Fallout: New Vegas and he was in a lot of funny movies. I especially enjoy the ones with both him and Jerry Lewis."

"Oh man, no wonder you wanted to be a dog. Those tastes are awful."

"Hey!"