Inspired by Homegrown Pet by TrisGhost
Imagine finding a small blob of flesh on your way home. You don't know what animal it was, just that it's been calling for who knows how long, all alone. You take it home after contemplating for a while. You haven't taken care of a pet for so long, so you're not sure how you'll do this time around.
If things don't go well, at least it'll look better when you give it away for adoption, compared to what it first looked like when you found it.
You're not sure of its diet, or breed, or what it is in the first place, so you have been very careful around it. It's appearance hasn't gotten any better, no matter how much you bathe or take care of it. You tried asking the internet for help, only to end up with nothing. Weeks pass and this starts to worry you, but it seems happy on its own, chirping and humming whenever you give it any attention.
You're not sure if a blob of flesh should chirp when you pet it.
It seems to like meat, or anything that it could find really, so you started giving it your leftovers. You accidentally left some candy lying around once, and much to your horror, it ate the confectionary. To your relief however, nothing bad seemed to have happened, and your pet looks happy upon eating something sweet.
You thought that you'll have a really weird blob of flesh for a pet for the rest of your life— or its life, until you woke up and found that it changed shape overnight.
You're not sure if what stands before you is a dog, or a strange imitation of one. It looks like a dog, but it's not a dog, not when you can see "folds" upon its hairless body. And for one, a dog does not have multiple eyes nor two sets of tongues. Despite the abnormal situation, somehow, you're oddly fascinated with your pet, deciding to keep it instead of calling for help.
And as you continue to feed it, barely paying any mind about foods that animals definitely shouldn't eat, your pet continues to change. From looking like a failed imitation of a puppy, it went and stuck itself to your wall. Somehow, it looks like an overgrown plant, but made out of flesh. Was it because you tried giving it vegetables?
Like its previous form, multiple blacked out eyes were scattered around its body, following your every movement from its own corner of the house. It would've creeped out any other owner, but since they say that pets take after their masters, this just proves that you're not quite right in the head either. Besides, how can you be afraid when its eyes close whenever you try... "petting" it. Could you even pet a plant?
It still has something similar to a mouth, so you continue to feed it everyday, much to its delight. Candies always make them perk up, so you decide to use it as a reward system, giving it some whenever it does a good job on keeping critters off your property. You called it "good boy" once, after it killed and ate some cockroaches, and you never saw any insect or pests around after that.
As time passed, your plant-pet started growing tendrils, alongside a lump at its center. If you touch it or put an ear on the muscle, you can feel something beating. Is it a heart? Or something else? You don't know. The tendrils seem to take it as a hug every time you lean closer to inspect it however, so you've gotten wrapped up by fleshy vines more than once.
When you woke up one morning, you nearly screamed as you thought that an intruder had broken in. It turns out to be your pet once you turn on the lights. From the lump emerged a humanoid that resembled an upper body of a human male. "Resembled" is generous, especially since there are layers of what seems to be teeth on one half if his "face". Your pet grew something similar to hands though! And you can vaguely hear him saying something despite his lack of vocal chords, much less a proper neck.
After a few moments of trying to understand the noises, you finally realize that he's telling you his name.
Huh. Now that you remember it, you never really named your pet.
Meal times are more convenient now that he has hands. Tendrils don't have much of a precise grip, so he tends to make a mess back then. You tried handing him utensils, and much to your surprise, he can use them with his "hands". Maybe he learned from observing you?
His form was still inconvenient, leaving him stuck in one place, but you suppose that no one will find out with him hidden in the house. You feel bad about leaving him alone but you still need to go out for work and groceries, so to keep him entertained, you gave him a book. Later that day, after an overnight shift, you returned home and saw various reading materials scattered on the floor; it seems like he grew out his tendrils to search for more things to read while you were gone, and despite the mess, the books were gently laid without a single crease on them. After reprimanding him for leaving them on the floor, he requested more books about cooking.
You somehow ended up with a pet-turned-plant-turned-roommate with how his mannerisms developed to become human-like over time. He's oddly engrossed with books, despite never really teaching him how to read. Did he pick up stuff from observing you that much? His mimicry of your actions didn't stop at mere habits, having tried to help out around the house with his tendrils acting as his extra hands. It was adorable seeing him so focused on holding the broom right, with his eyes zeroed on the single, trembling appendage that's struggling on sweeping. He learned to get better over time, as expected, and helped with keeping the house clean while you were away.
He was banned from the kitchen, however. An incident where he tried cooking based on the simple cookbook you got him ended with one of his fleshy tendrils getting burnt. He wouldn't stop wailing for the rest of the day as the house smelled like cooked beef, so you both agreed to never let him get near anything hot.
His rapid evolution didn't stop there. Soon, the broken and torn parts of his humanoid body molded together as it formed something similar to a human skin. The number of eyes on his "face" was reduced to two, and he grew an actual mouth! Multiple mouths, in fact! One on his "face", another on his neck, his shoulder, his chest, and by his navel. He does speak using the one on his humanoid face despite it all. His voice made you jump the first time you heard it, as it was unnaturally... human.
Congratulations, you got yourself a conversation partner! He's still stuck on the wall, though...
You spy hair growing on his head one day, and wondered how far his mimicry of humans will go if you hand him a fashion magazine. He took one look at it and pointed at the series of hairstyles in one section, asking you in a broken language on what you prefer the most. You decided to humor him, not expecting his appearance to mimic the style the very next day, with his humanoid head leaning towards you like he expected praise for doing so.
You gave him a good petting and candy after that.
Since then, his changes gradually focused on the miniscule details, mainly on his humanoid form. The teeth protruding on random sides of his head had vanished, alongside the mouth on his shoulder, his "skin" changed into a healthier color, and his language and vocal skills improved as well. Motion and movement was still restricted to his position, but he gained better control over his motor skills.
You were quite content with your stuck-on-the-wall roommate. Your empty house had gotten livelier because of him after all. Though you do wonder if feeding him certain... meat will make him change again. Not that you could kill someone to test it out, but it's a thought that you've been entertaining for a while. You are what you eat, after all.
Your speculations were eventually put to rest as your slow days were interrupted by an actual break in this time. It was late at night when you decided to get some water, and maybe pet roommate if he's awake, when you hear a window shattering by the living room. Worried about the risk of your... "companion" being discovered, you rushed to the scene and was confronted by the agitated burglar who didn't expect to get caught almost immediately. They threatened you at knifepoint to give up your valuables, oblivious to the eldritch being creeping up behind them. With a snap of your pet's "jaw", the criminal was snapped in half, with the rest of their body falling to the ground as he chewed on their torso and head. Blood splattered all over your living room, with some getting on your face. But you were more concerned about your furniture getting ruined over anything.
Sensing your agitation, your pet's tendrils wipe the blood that got to your cheek, before carrying you out of the room as his humanoid self assures you that he'll clean up the mess. You couldn't sleep well that night, worried about the bloodstains that might stick over your couch and pillows. The window was broken too...!! Your dreams were filled with your money being taken away from you by a bloody monster.
The next day, you woke up with various plans on how to salvage your living room, having accepted that you'll lose money for the repairs. Trudging out of your room to get some coffee, you were surprised to see that everything was spotless and clean. Gone was the splatter from last night, though there's a missing window, and there's a faint smell of coffee in the air. Rushing towards the source and expecting another intruder, you were instead met with the sight of your roommate who busied himself in the kitchen.
Having noticed you, he hands you your coffee with a morning greeting, with his smile flashing teeth jagged like a shark's. What surprised you wasn't even the fact that he's fully dressed... in your clothes, you make a mental note to buy his own later, it was the fact that he's walking. Noticing the way you look at him like you're searching for something, he explains that he was able to separate his humanoid vessel after last night's incident, but he could still control his... other body, and demonstrated it with multiple tendrils shooting from various directions as they gently carry you to your couch. He also adds that he spent the whole night cleaning up and making sure to get all the stains off from everywhere, as he hands you your breakfast, though he looked disappointed to himself as he laments that he can't replace your broken window. Touched and grateful, you reached out to squish his cheeks and pet his hair as you praised him for a good job, which he responded with trill as he leans to your touch.
You told him to stop worrying about your window, as you had long since accepted that you'll spend money for repairs anyway. And since he's also in need of clothes on his own, you suggested that he accompany you to go shopping later, something that immediately lifted his mood. Taking your hand and kissing your inner wrist, he says that he cannot wait for your first date.♡
