- Toby, right after getting the amulet, almost dies, and decides he can't let Jim know, ever, because it would put him in too much danger.
- Strickler and past-Jim had a father-son relationship, kind of, except there was still that distance between them, because, as changeling, they were used to not trusting anyone. Strickler is the one who immediatly notices Jim isn't acting right. Sometimes, Strickler feels like he's grieving, when that doesn't make sense, right ? Because Jim isn't gone, he is right there !
- Jim starts asking questions to Toby, because he really, really can't go to Trollmarker with Toby, because doing so would be very dangerous for him, and because he can't find an excuse for knowing about Trollmarket aside from "I'm a time traveler" which sounds crazy and "I'm a changeling" which... he can't say that. No. Nope. Never. But he has to know where Toby is on the timeline, and what happened to him. What can he do, follow him around on his patrols ?
- He follows Toby around on his patrols. In his troll form. Because of course he does, what if Toby gets killed by a Stalkling ? What if Toby stumbles upon Bular ? No, it's way too dangerous to let him patrol alone in the middle of the night.
- This makes Toby very suspicious. His best friend is asking questions about what he does outside, and he's very insistent too. And then afterwards, he feels like he's being watched constantly when he's out patrolling. So... he starts asking questions back. About what Jim does when he's at the history club with Strickler. And Jim keeps derouting the conversation to another subject without answering him anything. And he lies, too. Toby knows this because Toby knows Jim. And Jim hasn't been acting like himself recently. Well, the lying part is actually in character, Jim lies all the time. But, thing is, he's somehow become bad at lying, overnight. Jim is supposed to be good at lying. And then... he remembers Strickler is his prime suspect for being a changeling. He remembers Jim never touched the gaggletag.
- Toby starts taking notes. He notes the way Jim avoids the subject when he starts asking about the History club. He notes the way Jim seems to appear out of nowhere after he's survived a dangerous fight, and proposes to walk with him, and the way he always has his favourite lunch cooked the day right after. He notes the flash of guilt in Jim's eyes when he stops a little too long on his injuries, like he knows. He notes the way Jim avoids looking at him in the eyes. He notes the way he walks, and, for the first time, notices how fluid and quiet his movements are. It makes him think of a leopard. That's the same way he saw other changelings walk. Like a predator. And he thinks, and thinks, and thinks again about that feeling he has when he's patrolling outside.
- After the gaggletag incident, Toby is now being watched by changelings on the regular. If he didn't have Blinky and Aaarrrgh with him, he would be dead right now. (Some part of him asks : Did Jim tell them ? but then he dismisses the idea. They'd have to be stupid to not suspect a teenager throwing gaggletags aroud. Jim wouldn't tell them, right ? Right ??)
- Toby slowly drifts away from Jim. Their conversations are riddled with double-meanings. Their smiles are fake. Their silences are deadly. They keep up a façade, but there is this secret between them, this thing they refuse to name. Even when they take time together, and play video games together, the few times where they actually have the time to do it, when they can actually forget, for a little while, everything around them, the minute their hangout ends, they're back at staring at each other, Jim looking at Toby with guilt, Toby looking at Jim with anger and hurt.
Ideas for how its all going to go down :
- One day, Toby decides he's sick of this changeling (at least he assumes it's a changeling) following him around. He pretends to not notice them, and leads them directly into an ambush. Aaarrrgh jumps on the stalker and forces him on the road, exposed under the street lights. The changeling is light blue, and tall, very tall. Toby looks at the vicious claws, the fangs and tusks, the long tail lashing behind him, the blue cat eyes, and braces himself. (One of those things almost eviscerated him once. He's terrified. But he can't back down. If it's not him then he will attack someone else, and he can't let that happen) (He thinks about all of the missing persons' cases. He failed every single one of those people.) So Toby takes his sword, and raises it at the changeling, prepared for a fight. He's shaking like a leaf, but his hands are steady.
- The changeling looks at him. And, God, he looks terrified too. But Toby knows better. Changelings a crafty. Changelings lie. (Changelings make you lunch with a smile that looks a little more strained each day. Changelings wait for you under the rain without an umbrella. Changelings look at you in the eyes and tell you to be careful out there and to not get killed, please.)
- The changeling raises his hands in the air, and, in a choked voice, says "Tobes" (No.) And then when he realises what he just said his eyes go wide, like he didn't mean to say that. (No, no no no no no, not that, no that, everything but not that, please.) There is only one person who calls him Tobes. Jim. Jim. Jim, his best friend in all the world, is a changeling. Jim was following him around on his patrols. Jim was spying on him. Jim has been working to bring about the end of the world. Jim is an enemy.
- Toby keeps his sword raised, but his hands are shaking badly. He can't drop his sword. He can't he can't he can't he can't he can't. But Jim is right here But Jim is dangerous. His hands shake and he can't breathe, he can't breathe, he can't breathe, why can't he breathe ? His sword clatters on the ground. And he slowly drops down to the floor, and tries to take it. He needs it. He needs it. There is a changeling right there And this changeling is Jim but it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter Because changeling are dangerous (he thinks about the claws) and changeling kill people (he thinks about the missing posters covering the streets, and the descriptions printed on bottles of milk). And if he lets this changeling go, he's going to go and kill people, and it will be his fault ! So he needs to take that sword and get back up ! But he's shaking so much and he can't breathe. He tries, and tries, but, every time, his knees fail under him.
- Jim is staying very, very still, as to not shake Toby even more. He thinks he might be about to cry. This can't be happening. This can't be happening. Toby is looking at him like he's something to be afraid of. Toby is afraid of him. This isn't right. Toby shouldn't be afraid of him. But here he is, struggling to breathe, crying on the pavement. And here Jim is, unable to go help because he might just make it worse.
- Suddenly, there is a blue blur in front of Toby. He hears Blinky's voice, telling him to breathe, please, Master Tobias, and that he is okay, he is safe, Aaarrrgh is keeping the changeling at bay, he cannot hurt you now. He hears Blinky's voice counting with him, telling him to follow his breathing, and in his mind, he thinks about another time, another place, and the same words, told by someone else. (Please, Toby. Breathe.) He does. It takes some time, but, after following Blinky, his breathing calms down. His shaking takes more time to subside, and he still felt pins and needles in his hands and legs, but he was fine. He takes a deep breath. Now, he needs to tackle the problem head on.
- He gets up on his feet, and takes his discarded sword on the ground. The changeling, Jim, hasn't moved. Although, if it's because he actually cares about Toby or because Aaarrrgh is right there, ready to restrain him if he needs to, he can't tell. He can't assume to be able to tell anything from Jim's body language, because he's clearly proven he can hide things very well. He's proven he can be a threat, following him around quietly like that, and yet, Toby still can't hold the sword at his throat. He ressorts to putting it against his torso, where he doesn't have to look at it too much. He breathes in, breathes out, and looks at the creature in the eyes. Jim avoids his gaze.
- Jim, he calls. Briefly, the changeling's eyes flicker in his direction, before he goes back to avoiding him. "Yes ?" Jim answers, and, oh God, Toby is not ready. This is not Jim's voice, too gravelly to be his, but it is his tone, in is his mannerisms, it is the hesitancy he has come to expect these past few weeks when interacting with him. He can't deny it anymore. This, This right here, is Jim.
- Jim, he repeats, and his voice breaks on every word. Why ?
- He expects Jim look at him like he's nothing to him, to stop this charade they have going on right now and start insulting him, or maybe laugh at him for being so guillible. He expects complete betrayal, he expects everything they ever were to each other to start crumbling and turning to dust before his very eyes. He expects Jim the changeling.
- Instead, what he gets, is this. Jim starts to shake, and, when Aaarrrgh brutally takes him by the shoulder to force him away from Toby, he... starts crying. Jim is crying, and, for a brief instant, Toby falters. But then as easily as breathing, Jim shrugs off Aaarrgh's hold like it is nothing, and throws himself at Toby, and Toby thinks about long silhouettes moving faster than the eye can follow and glowing eyes in the dark and wicked sharp claws coming a hair's breath away from cutting him open, and he thinks, that's it, that's how I'm going to die. He closes his eyes firmly, because he doesn't want to see Blinky and Aaargh's horrified expression when he bleeds out on the pavement. He feels cold, stone arms closing around him and... nothing. Nothing ? The moment is brief, and he hardly has time to take it in before Jim is forcibly removed from Toby, and he tries to make sense of what just happened. Was Jim... Was Jim hugging him ? He looks up, and dares hope that he actually meant something to his friend. Jim is crying. Jim is crying hard, and he speaks so fast Toby barely can make out the words. I'm sorry.
- Jim is... apologizing ? Jim is crying, and Toby was about to... Toby looks with horror at the sword in his hand, and immediatly dismisses it. And then bracing himself, he takes a few steps forward, until he's right in front of him. Blinky pleads him to step back, saying it's dangerous, that he's going to get hurt, but Toby does not care. He looks, really looks at Jim. He looks at the sharp claws and the fangs and the slumping shoulders and the tired, tired eyes.
- This is Jim, he tells himself. This is what Jim looks like. This is your friend, and he is crying. He dismisses the armor entirely, and he hugs Jim hard. This is Jim, and even though he felt like they were slowly losing each other, drowning and choking on their secrets, this is Jim, and he is right there. This is Jim and he is crying. This is Jim, and he stayed. Come on, you can do this. And he hugs the scary changeling who is also his friend. And even when he feels four arms trying frantically to make him let go, even when he sees Aaarrrgh trying to get Jim away from him, he doesn't let go. This is Jim, he thinks, and he needs you. A flash of light, and, suddenly, there are the arms he's knows all his life, wrapped around him, and hugging him back.
- There are a lot of explainations coming. And he is going to ask a lot of questions, and he is going to get angry and scream, and cry, but later. Later. Right now, he is hugging his best friend, and his best friend is hugging him back.
