*Chop chop*
A Jolteon slices vegetables into practiced portions in the soft light of their modest kitchen. The light clacking of a keyboard resonates from the attached living room, where their Furret boyfriend plays a game. It was the sounds of a calm peace the Jolteon had grown quite fond of over their time living here.
*Bzzzzzzt*
The doorbells harsh buzz cut into the stillness, though it wasn’t a cause for alarm for either of the mons. “Can you get that, Volt, Hunny?” The Furret said to his Jolteon partner.
Volt put down their knife and headed for the front door. Looking through the peephole revealed nothing but the quiet streets of their neighbourhood and the pale morning sun. They open the door completely, searching their doormat for any packages that might have been left. Instead, they noticed the familiar form of a rather distressed pile of goo.
“Oh it’s you, Ampere, come right in!”
“Uh actually, Volt, would you mind picking me up? It’s kinda weird to move like this…” Ampere asked his friend, knowing they’d understand.
And they did so, scooping up Ampere’s gelatinous form in their arms and holding him against their chest. “Are you having phantom limbs again?”
Ampere moves around a little in Volt’s arms, trying to find a comfortable way to lay his amorphous body, “Yeah, I can still feel your form, Volt. Sometimes it even feels like I can move my paws, it’s strange...”
The two of them pass by the Furret, who lets out a friendly, “Hi Ampere,” without taking his eyes off the screen.
“Hi, Eld!” Ampere repaid the greeting. He had come over for a new form so many times, even after Eld and Volt started dating. His visit must have seemed unremarkable to them, or maybe it was just a nuisance they wanted to get over with quickly.
Volt and Ampere headed up the stairs to the bedroom. He looked at the photos adorning the staircase walls. Framed pictures of Volt and Eld together with their friends. Ampere was in a lot of these, though not in the form he inhabited currently. He eyed a particularly old photo from before Volt met Eld. It was just Volt and Ampere together, smiling; two Jolteons side by side. They were so similar to one another, only minor differences like the way they kept their hair, or Volt’s piercings. They looked like they were identical twins…
But they weren’t. Ampere shifted again in Volt’s arms, trying to find a comfort that eluded him. Volt was the Jolteon, and he was the copy.
Volt cut into the silence with a question, “So, what was it that broke your form this time, another asshole you were dating?
Ampere chuckled lightly, sending ripples through his gooey shape, “I know that’s my type, but this time it was my own fault...”
Volt stepped into the bedroom. Warm light filtered through the thin curtains of the room, highlighting the softness of Volts smile. “Well, don’t worry about it, mistakes are important to make. And you are bound to make them eventually,” Volt lays Ampere down on the bed.
Ampere looks back at his friend, he can’t help but admire their features in the dim light of the bedroom. They were soft, rounded, and adorable. He has received so many compliments from partners in his past, all because he was a copy of Volt. Ampere couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt, he knew he wanted to be a Jolteon deep down. But was any of this really fair to Volt?
“It’s really nice to see you again Ampere, lately it feels like I only see you when you need a new body,” Volt said it without a hint of aggression, but it still felt like a bolt going through Ampere’s heart.
“I-I’m sorry, You’ve been a really good friend to me all my life, I shouldn’t be using you like this…” Ampere’s gelatinous body deflates across the bed as he speaks. “I like seeing you too Volt, it’s just well… When I’m in your body, and I am with you… It’s impossible to ignore the fact that I’m the copy...” Ampere shivers, ripples moving through his form. He feels like he wants to cry, but it’s something his current body just can’t do. So he simply convulses, his reactions telling him to wipe away tears that don’t exist with paws that also aren’t real. “I just feel so guilty coming back here. Knowing what I’ve been doing with your body…”
“Ampere please, you don’t have to-”
“I know you’re asexual, Volt. I try my very best to respect that while I’m with you. But after I leave I let every boy, girl, neither, both, or in-between fuck your body however they like. I’m sorry. I should probably just accept the fact I’m a Ditto, and live in my true form. Instead of dragging you along on my identity crisis…”
“Ampere stop!” Volt uses his paws to group together Ampere’s deflated form. Tilting his face up so his eyes meet theirs, “You are a Jolteon, I know this form means a lot more to you than just looking like me, so please, take it!”
Ampere stares at Volt for a moment before wordlessly doing it. He transforms. It isn’t anything spectacular, just white light and shifting shapes. His body being molded into the form he has spent nearly all of the last decade in. The form of a Jolteon. What he knew he really was deep down, and also a copy of Volt.
Volt speaks softly to the person that looks so much like them, “You are a Jolteon, Ampere. Don’t listen to what the rest of the world says, this is your true form.” They run their digits through Ampere’s fur, “Nobody should feel like they’re stuck in the wrong body, Ampere. You should be allowed to be what you truly feel you are.”
Ampere sits back on the bed, letting his body be still as his nerves calm. Speaking after finally finding the comfort he was missing, “Isn’t it unfair that I get a chance to steal other bodies, to better fit how I feel?”
“Maybe a little, but I hope someday everyone has the chance to live in a body they feel comfortable and at home in. Some think that all we’d need to make that a reality is a technological breakthrough, but they're wrong. We both know that physically being isn't the same as living. To really reach a future like that, I think we’d need to see that future first. I think accepting individuals like you, Ampere, is an important step.”
Ampere smiles warmly and lovingly, “Thank you Volt, for everything… Your support, letting me use your body-”
Volt puts a digit to Ampere’s lips, before sweeping it through his hair fur, styling it in the fashion Ampere usually wears it, “Stop calling it that. It’s your body, after all...”
