A//N: New chapter! I'm starting to catch up to the part I haven't written yet, so I need to be on the ball. Anyway, so Jake shows up, and he and Shane have a rough time of it. This chapter's pretty filler because it's just Jake/Shane introduction, so sorry about that. Next chapter will be fun though, I promise

And a big round of applause to Marcus, who's horribly nice to me and agrees that Tobias is very tragically cute :)

Disclaimer: I write on Fanfiction. net.

Someone pulled up in front of Shane's house on a bike, leaning it carefully against the old oak in the front yard and starting towards the door.

"That's Jake, isn't it?" he asked Tobias, who was lounging on the couch, deep into one of Shane's books. A full day of being human had loosened him up and made his actions more natural, but his face stayed as cold as ever.

That was the part that bothered Shane most about Tobias. He knew it wasn't that Tobias didn't feel anything, but he didn't show it. He wasn't used to talking, so most of what he said was monotone, and he was still flexing out his face muscles. Shane wanted to see him smile more, at least for his own peace of mind. He wanted to be able to tell what Tobias was feeling, seeing as how Hawkboy sure as hell wouldn't tell him himself.

Tobias looked up reluctantly, trapping his page as he closed the novel with a finger. "Yeah." He said simply, sliding to his feet and going to the door. He slipped out and shut it behind him, leaving Shane alone in the well-lit living room.

Shane got up and tried to think on what he could possibly cook for dinner, but he couldn't focus on anything but Tobias and Jake and whether they thought Shane was a Yark. It was a disturbing thought, to think of being trapped inside your own body, as someone impersonated you, someone who acted more like you than you did…

It was a good thing he wasn't a Yark.

And he, Shane, knew he wasn't, but Jake and Tobias didn't, and that was the worst part about it. On some level, they suspected that Shane wasn't real, wasn't a genuine, and it kind of hurt being thought of as a fake. He didn't want the first group of kids he met in town seeing him that way, no matter whether they became friends or not.

Especially Tobias.

After a moment of failed wondering, he sighed and shamefully crept up to the kitchen window, which he had left open in the day's heat. If he was going to feel ashamed about thinking of eavesdropping whether he did it or not, he might as well do it. They were talking about him anyway, so it didn't really matter, did it? Okay, so it did, and it was still eavesdropping. Whatever. He could get over it.

Tobias and Jake hadn't bothered to move away from the house, confident he couldn't hear them. Their faces were hidden by the shadow of the tree, and they almost looked like a couple of delinquents in Shane's yard. Though the conversation they were having gave off the total opposite impression.

"-kept an eye on him the entire time, nothing suspicious."

"Don't let him fool you, Tobias. It's possible he's a Yeerk; we've got to make sure our secret's kept. If the Yeerks find out we're just normal kids and not Andalites, we're done for. No matter how nice he acts, we won't know if he's infested until the three days are up."

Oops. It was Yeerk. Would he ever get this right?

"So, if he's not a Yeerk, what are we going to do? We can't just let him go, he could just become a Controller in the future."

"If that's the case, which I guess it will be either way, he'll just have to become one of us."

Tobias was silent for a long moment.

"…you can't be serious."

Shane heard the distasteful tone in his voice and wilted a little. He had thought he and Tobias were getting along okay. But then, maybe it was just paranoia. Maybe Tobias didn't really mind. He had subconsciously realized that the Animorphs were a close-knit group; after all, they had been through things kids shouldn't ever see, but that didn't make their almost automatic dismissal of him any better.

"That's our only choice, Tobias."

"Jake, we can't have another David on our hands."

David? Who was David?

"Well, we can't jump that hurdle until we reach it, so let's not worry about it." Jake didn't sound very confident in that statement. He sounded like he was trying to convince himself as well as Tobias.

"You're going to worry about it, Jake. I know you will."

Shane heard Jake sigh. "That's what comes of being a fearless leader, huh?"

"Don't work yourself too hard, Jake," Tobias replied. "I guess I'd better get out of here."

"Yeah, okay." The familiar sound of bones cracking and organs squishing started up, though slightly faint from distance.

Shane jumped away from the window and busied himself looking through the cabinets, trying to squish the little bead of jealousy in his chest. Tobias was so…comfortable with Jake, as if he had known him all his life. Well, okay, he probably had. But he couldn't help wishing he already had that type of relationship with Tobias.

Well, they had done okay so far. Maybe it would turn into that.

He heard the door open, and looked over as Jake came in silently, alone. He shut the door and stood there awkwardly, looking around at the small house. He didn't look particularly happy to be here, which was an out of place expression for the situation: two guys spending the night. Come on, wasn't this supposed to be casual and fun?

"Come on in." Shane said in his 'I-love-houseguests!' voice as he poked through the cabinets for edible sustenance.

Jake took a few steps forward and again just stood there.

"Hey, look, we kind of got off on the wrong foot with the whole 'Oh-my-god-you're-a-Yeerk' thing." He started, extending a friendly hand. "So why don't we reintroduce ourselves in a more normal way. I'm Shane."

Jake took his hand and shook it, looking at Shane rather than their joined appendages. A real leader, to be sure. Shane couldn't tell whether he was relieved his roommate-for-the-night was a nice guy, or jealous that Jake-who-knew-Tobias-well was a nice guy.

"Jake." He introduced simply, letting go.

Shane, not one to be fazed by unfriendly behavior, smiled effortlessly and beckoned towards the kitchen.

"I was just attempting to start dinner. Wanting anything in particular?" he questioned.

Jake's eyes flicked with distrust and suspicion. It was less guarded than Tobias's, but still just a slight meaningful glance in Shane's direction, unnoticeable unless someone had just spent an entire day with a boy who was really a hawk and expected him to be a brain-sucking mind-controlling alien slug. Put that way, the glance was pretty obvious.

"Unless, of course, you've already eaten." He threw over his shoulder casually, still searching the cabinets for something sustaining. The cabinets regurgitated nothing, and apparently he hadn't remembered to buy food and forgotten about it. Damn.

"Okay, well, actually Jake…" he said sheepishly, "Turns out I don't exactly have any food to cook. You, uh, have an aversion to pizza?"

Jake looked surprised for some reason. Was it that strange to offer someone staying at his house food? Or did he expect him to act obviously like a Yeerk?

"What kind of pizza do you like?" he asked, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket and flipping it open. Jake shrugged.

"I don't like mushrooms."

Shane twisted his mouth. He liked mushrooms. Figures.

"Whassay we get a half supreme, half whatever you want?"

Jake shrugged.

Shane felt a stirring of annoyance in his stomach. He hadn't grown two heads or anything. Why where they being so cold to him?

"Hey, listen, I know you've got a problem with me possibly being a Yeerk, but we could at least be friendly to each other. I mean, even if I was a Yeerk, wouldn't it be just like talking to the real me anyway?" he said angrily, clutching the phone in his hand in a death grip. Jake stiffened noticeably, his face getting hard and hateful.

"How can you say that?" he asked icily. "Talking to a Yeerk…an imposter…sharing your life, your feelings with a slug that's laughing while the real person is screaming and crying…" he said passionately, his voice low. His thin, long hands were gripping the kitchen counter like it was going to be ripped from him, and Shane could almost hear it creaking.

There was a story there. A million stories. Shane's mouth opened. He wanted to know.

It closed. No. No he didn't.

Jake wouldn't tell.

"Look, I'm sorry…I…" he stopped, seeing that Jake had yet to finish.

"You don't know. You don't know anything. So just keep quiet and keep your nose where it belongs, okay?" Jake rasped as he looked at him with those sharp, prideful eyes.

Shane did as he was told. For once, he didn't have anything to say.

The pizza came, in all its pasteurized-processed cheese product and canned Prego glory. They ate silently, Jake's mood having gone from suspicious to stony, and Shane kept his lips sealed in case they spouted something stupid again.

Jake glanced at him before sighing and setting his pizza down.

"Listen…"

The brunet looked up, his mouth full and a piece of pepperoni hanging from his lip. He swallowed and grinned sheepishly, and Jake's face softened for a moment.

"I guess I've been kind of tough on you. If you really are just a kid, then none of this is your fault. It's just that..." he trailed off, fingering a piece of crust. "It's hard to find out that the people you love the most… they're lies. They're fakes. And 24-7, your real parents and siblings are trapped, with no hope of escape." He grinned slightly.

"It's hard to have someone and then realize, you've been living with a slug for all those years."

Shane smiled back. "Yeah… I guess I don't have that problem." He said quietly.

The teen was sorry as soon as the words were out of his mouth. Jake looked surprised, the shut his lips tightly, looking pained.

"So, um.." Shane trailed off, trying to think of something to say.

"So, I guess you guys are stuck with me, huh? What's…what's it like being an Animorph?"

Jake grinned. Sourly.

"Your grades begin to drop. You come home exhausted. You don't have time for anything else. Your parents constantly ask if there's something wrong. You fall asleep in class. You lose friends. And you develop a really bad sense of humor from Marco's lame jokes."

Shane laughed; despite all evidence to the contrary, Shane had believed Jake to have a sense of humor, and here it was.

Shane opened his mouth and was about to reply when the doorbell rang.

A//N: Ooh, suspenseful. Who will it be, ringing at the new guy's door on a Saturday? Stay tuned! And as always, review please.