Aiden can’t help but be impressed by Jesse. Just a little bit.

At the first Endercon Building Competition he ever saw them at, the familiar green hoodie and huge build of Axel, even back then, and the green beanie over bouncy pigtails of Olivia overshadowing a tiny girl with short brown hair, a red pin pressed into it, her extremely dark green eyes practically glowing with excitement, he thought she looked like a five-year-old.

(He couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow when she said she was eight years old, puffing her cheeks out and crossing her arms playfully. She seemed to think he was joking.)

(He hadn’t been.)

She was short and very nice even when Aiden started calling her names, Lukas shooting Aiden a disapproving look and Maya simply following his lead. Gill was a little slower on the uptake but finally also began to be rude to Jesse.

Six years later, six years of teasing and mocking and smirks and taunting when they lost the competition-- every year-- when they arrived at the Building Competition, Jesse was gone. Instead, there was a short boy with chocolatey brown hair and bright green eyes, a warm grin dancing across his lips and his red suspenders pulling up a pair of slightly-too-big pants.

“I see you’ve ditched Jesse,” he snarks at Olivia and Axel. “What, she finally got too annoying for you?”

The boy gives an awkward cough, one that is oddly familiar. When Aiden stares intently at him, he suddenly is able to pick out tiny little mannerisms and quirks. The way they tilt their head. The way their bright green eyes shift awkwardly when they’re trying not to be rude. The way he was shifting his weight awkwardly.

“Uh... actually, I’m Jesse.”

It takes a few minutes for the boy to stammer out a brief explanation. How he recently got the ability to shapeshift, about half a year before this year’s competition. How he can change his appearance at will, and even alter his height and weight to an extent.

Instantly, he couldn’t help but be jealous. The only other people he’d heard of having superpowers was the Order of the Stone, so for Jesse to have superpowers was incredible.

(Incredible, but what did they do to deserve it?)

Jesse toggles between being a boy or a girl from day-to-day life-- when they’re asked, they blush profusely and mumble something about being genderfluid. Their appearance changes, their face can morph in an instant, skin tones warping every time to an impressive degree. 

So now he’s kicking himself for realizing that of course the Founder wouldn’t be able to spot Jesse in a crowd. If they wanted to, they could change into somebody completely different and slip away.

A huge commotion rises up, and Aiden looks up to see Jesse, Lukas, and that weird bearded guy (Ivor?) being dragged to the front of the crowd by several guards. Jesse’s a girl this time, with long black hair, bright green eyes, and a golden pin pinning back her thick hair.