I
You could say it was all Jay´s fault, that's what Jake always says anyways.
As he was packing his suitcase, he realized he had way more belongings than he anticipated. Some of his favorite books and collectibles would have to stay behind, much to Jake’s dismay.
He had been looking forward to this day, but right now, looking at the closed door of what used to be his room for practically his whole life, Jake could feel something tight and heavy filling his chest. Quite bothersome, but unsurprising.
If you were to trace it all back to the very beginning, you would find a very young Jake meeting for the first time with his archnemesis (best friend) Jeongsong, a.k.a Jay.
Despite his dashing looks and charisma, Jake actually really struggled to make friends with the other kids at the orphanage. It was mostly due to his peculiar… condition. And when Jay showed up at the orphanage around ten years ago, the two of them became fast friends as soon as it became apparent to Jake that the other kid was keeping a secret as weird as his own.
Jay was way worse at hiding it than Jake though. He could still remember the time his friend almost got them both kicked out of the house because he set the hallway on fire and Jake had to pretend he didn’t see it happen. Or the time he sent a classmate to the hospital under some unclear circumstances, that to this day Jake was afraid to ask about.
As much as he liked to tell Jay off or make fun of his antics, he really did consider him his closest friend. They would study for every test together until their eyelids closed against their will and they’d wake up slumped over each other. Jay was the first person to wish him happy birthday every year, and the only one who cared to remember what Jake’s favorite food was. So it came without saying that it was quite the shock for him the moment Jay simply disappeared .
It was as if the earth had parted and swallowed him whole. He simply stopped showing up to class and didn’t come back to the orphanage house. Jake asked everywhere, but no one knew where he went. The adults that looked over them said that he had simply ran away, but Jake found it extremely weird that Jay wouldn’t tell him something as big as that; Jay was an oversharer by nature, why would he keep this from Jake out of all people?
Jake tried to make peace with the fact that his best and only friend had simply left without a word. But it never sat right with him.
His suspicions were confirmed the moment he saw Jay´s very familiar figure waiting for him at a bus stop close to their school. His friend had a paper bag held in one hand, and as soon as he saw Jake he pushed the bag in his direction, an awkward smile on his face.
“Here, is an apology gift for not contacting you for so long”
He took a tiny box out of the bag to reveal the logo of a very expensive looking cologne, Jake would never even dare to ask for something like this. He wasn't even a cologne type of guy to begin with. His friend probably bought him the first thing that crossed his mind.
“Bro, who did you scam to get the money for this?”
Jay hit him with a “Hey! Who do you take me for?” and they both chuckled. Things were fine between the two after all.
His friend instructed him to take a second look into the bag; and as Jake found inside a neatly folded letter, Jay started to finally tell him about where he had gone off to for the past couple of years. Then, just like that, Jake learned that there was a school that exclusively taught students with supernatural abilities, and that in the same way Jay had two years ago, Jake had just been invited to join this live-in one of a kind school.
And so here he was now, on his way to the country's one and only Belift Boarding School for the Supernatural. Jake knew he should have used the bus ride there as a moment to socialize and make himself acquainted with the kids that just like himself were on their way to the school for the first time. But as soon as he let go of the luggage and sat down on the bus seat, it was as if something took over Jake's body; a wave of drowsiness crashed into him, and he knocked out cold. Before he knew it, he slept throughout the whole ride and it wasn´t until someone bumped into him on their way out that Jake realized they had arrived. Oh well.
Blame it on the Harry Potter franchise, but Jake was lowkey expecting to be welcomed by a gothic looking castle surrounded by a crocodile infested moat the moment the bus stopped. But instead what he had in front of him the moment he got off the bus was… a school. Granted, it was a very big, very fancy looking campus. If it were a regular boarding school, it certainly would cost a fortune to enroll here. Luckily Jake was blessed with being a freak of nature, so his tuition was covered!
Regardless of the seemingly ordinary appearance of the school, Jake could sense as he walked through the main gates that life wasn't quite the same inside these walls. The air was prickly with energy and Jake himself felt like his days were about to take a one eighty from today on.
…
The induction assembly was remarkably brief. Jake could sense that stiff and heavy feeling growing inside his chest once again. Everyone around him looked a little odd, but it was hard to pinpoint how so. It was as if every person was human-looking, but not fully human. Was this how other people saw Jake? Then no wonder the other kids at the orphanage didn’t approach him.
He was whisked away after the formalities were done with in the main hall. And now it was his turn to sit in the middle of a well illuminated office; the man in front of him had been looking through his documents for about half an hour, and Jake had been debating whether to make small talk or not for just the same amount of time. The plate on the desk read “student advisor”. After turning the last page over, the man finally looked up at Jake, a calm and friendly expression on his face.
“So,-” Jake smiled tentatively “is everything in order? are my grades good enough, mister…”
“Yuki-” the advisor provided “No need to use the mister, I’m not that old. And this isn't about your grades Jake. Though I’ve noticed they are pretty good. I was just confirming where you'd fall into, you know, the dorms?”
Oh yeah, the dorms. Jake definitely wasn't paying attention during that part of the assembly. But Yuki didn't need to know that, so he nodded along.
The man walked over to open one of the drawers and after scrambling a little he came out with a shiny key to hand over to Jake, “The keys to your room” he said, and with that Jake was dismissed from the advisor’s office. Not without being introduced to the student council president first, that was. Koga had been waiting for him outside Yuki’s office, clearly being given the task to show the new students to their dorms and not being particularly thrilled about it.
“Which one?” Koga turned to ask him. Clearly overestimating how much information Jake got from the advisor.
“Which… what?”
The student president chuckled. Despite looking a little intimidating, he seemed like a chill dude.
“In case you weren't told. The students’ quarters are sorted by kind, as if in the kind of creature that you are-” Koga waved his hands around “Not all supernatural creatures are the same, you know. The dorms are divided by Witches and Wizards, Shape-shifters, and Ghouls. So now, which one?”
“Werewolf” Jake said, pointing at himself.
“Okay, to the Shape-shifters dorms it is”
…
Koga disappeared somewhere on the way to Jake's room. The student president seemed like a busy individual, and Jake already had an idea of where he needed to head anyway, so it was fine.
He saw a couple of other students in the hallways, and now that he knew a bit more he couldn't help but wonder; was that girl with pigtails a mermaid? Was that guy a kelpie? or maybe a skinwalker? He had never been surrounded by people as weird as himself, so he was equal parts excited and concerned. There wasn’t anyone with murderous tendencies on school grounds, right? Violence was surly against school rules, right ? Jake swallowed a lump in his throat as he hoisted his suitcase up the last flight of stairs.
Finally, when he was sure he was on the right floor, he opened the door that matched the number in his keychain, and the room inside welcomed him with bare walls and an off-puttingly symmetrical layout. Tired, he tossed his suitcase on one of the beds and it landed over a big bundle of blankets.
“Ouch!”
Oh god. As if the pile of blankets took a conscience of its own, it moved around angrily until a boy’s head popped out of one corner. A pair of big owlish eyes looked very offended in Jake’s direction.
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you there” Jake hurried to drag his luggage off the bed.
“Yeah, I think that one is yours” said the boy pointing across the room towards the other bed. He fully came out of his entanglement of covers and stood up as Jake bowed in deep apology. “-damn is your luggage heavy.” he said rubbing his back.
“I really didn’t mean to-” Jake scratched his nape in embarrassment. “I’m Jake by the way. I’ll be your roommate from today on” he extended his hand for the boy to shake.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Jungwon”
Jake wasn’t one to unpack on the same day of a trip, but as it seemed too soon to go looking for Jay and he wasn’t tired enough to take a nap, Jake found himself taking out all his belongings one by one and putting them in their new place.
“Are you… a chimera? tanuki?” Jungwon asked him from his side of the room, not really looking up from his ipad.
“I am a werewolf. What the hell is even a Tanuki?”
“Oh, I see. It’s my first time sharing room with one-” the boy inched closer in Jake's direction and spoke in a more secretive tone "Are there some precautions you’d need me to take, or maybe some space? You know, during those times of the month?”
Jungwon looked death serious, Jake couldn’t help but laugh. “Don’t worry about that. I’ve always lived around regular people, so I’ve got it well under control. I’m more harmless than a purse dog”
“I see. That must be interesting. Always having to hide it I mean”
“You didn’t have to?”
Jungwon considered for a moment, long enough for Jake to wonder if he forgot to answer altogether, but he eventually smiled to himself saying “Well, it had always been just me and my grandma. We lived far into the countryside. There really wasn’t much people to hide it from, so I don’t have much of an idea of how it must have been for you”.
After a bit more back and forth with his roommate, who had already ditched whatever he had been doing with his ipad, Jake got enough confidence to ask. “As I said, I don’t got much experience hanging out with other supernaturals, so I don’t know the etiquette for stuff like this. But, if it is not a rude question, what are you?”
“It’d only be rude depending who you ask. In my case, It’s better if I just show you”
Jungwon jumped up with a mischievous smile on his face. He walked up to Jake, and got almost uncomfortably close as he put a hand on the other’s shoulder, staring directly into Jake's eyes.
“Wow, ask me for dinner first, boy-”
Jake’s laugh died in his throat as he saw Jungwon start to… blur around the edges? His eyes lost their roundness, his hair started to grow longer and lighter. As all the boy’s features melted, morphing into different ones, Jake ended up locking eyes with… himself.
He pretty much recoiled from the shock. Standing right there where his roommate used to be, was another Jake; a carbon copy of himself. From the way his hair fell on his face, to the shape of his fingernails, that was him.
“I am a mimic!” his face said back at him, a smile plastered on. It was still Jungwon’s voice coming out of what looked like Jake's mouth.
He tried to suppress the shivers that went through his body as he nodded and took a step back. Oh yeah, his stay here was going to be a lot spookier than he anticipated.