randomweaving | Changeling: Chapter 1

Fic: Changeling
Characters: John Dorian/Perry Cox
Rating: NC-17 (eventually)
Chapter Rating: PG-13 for mild language and implied m/m attraction.
Description: This is a wildly AU story with fantastical elements based on

thuri's Nano writing project. It begins late in season three, before Carla and Turk's wedding, and from there follows the characters as they face the Change, a strange, magical phenomenon that is turning ordinary humans into half-human creatures from fantasy.

Chapter listings: Contents Post

General Story Disclaimer: When

thuri and I (

randomslasher) set out to write this, we had one scene in mind. We'd planned to write it as a fun, crack!fic break from our other projects.

Over time, though, the characters took over, and the story has morphed into a 280-page epic. After feeling out the Scrubs fan community, we decided, with no little trepidation, to post it.

But there are somethings you should know, before you start reading. Because this wasn't supposed to turn into a real story, it was not planned out beforehand. As such, it's occasionally repetitive, it shifts POVs, and it's frequently quite OOC. And it's definitely still crack!fic.

But it was an awful lot of fun to write, and has become rather dear to us, so we decided to post it anyway.

Still with us? Then settle in, and enjoy! We will try to post two new chapters a week, depending on how fast we can edit and revise; our goal right now is to update every Wednesday and Sunday.

Now, without further ado:

Chapter One

Perry Cox had definitely been having a strange week.

To start off, there'd been the odd murmurings about the mysterious symptoms suddenly appearing, apparently at random, around the world; odd talk of mutations (or perhaps hallucinations, as Perry found far more likely). He'd ignored it at first, of course. Everyone had. But the reports were getting clearer, and there'd even been a few photos. Grainy, Bigfoot-Loch Ness Monster style photos, sure--but even Perry was starting to wonder. Either this was the oddest conspiracy since crop circles, or something very, very strange was happening.

Then JD had vanished.

At first he'd at least rearranged his shifts. Nervous Guy had been covering for him, to Perry's eternal irritation, but early last Monday, neither JD nor Doug had appeared for the scheduled shift. Perry had called Doug first, who insisted JD had never asked him to cover--then tried Elliot, and finally Turk, before he called JD himself.

He'd gotten no answer. He hadn't really expected one.

Tuesday the same thing had happened. And Wednesday.

By Thursday, JD was officially declared missing, and the rest of his shifts were removed from the board. Perry had spoken briefly to the police, who, upon learning JD was a fully competent 28-year-old doctor, snorted and said "We'll keep our eyes open" with barely hidden disdain. Perry knew they'd suspected JD had just flaked on them, and run off with some girl or something.

Perry knew better. JD was more responsible than that, whatever else Perry might say or think about him. And by Friday, Perry was getting downright worried.

Turk and Carla were worried too, as was Elliot, but without JD there, and with the growing number of frightened people appearing at their hospital complaining of odd (and usually imagined) symptoms, they didn't have much time to look for him. Instead they waited, not knowing if they should be afraid or angry, and settling on quietly hoping for any news. It was understood that unless something new came up, they would not mention him. His absence was very nearly a physical presence anyway, and they knew the moment they took too long to think about it, they would be unable to focus on anything else.

So they waited. And, secretly, feared the worst.

Alone in his apartment, Perry sat back on his couch and sighed, idly flipping through channels on the television. Unverified reports and sightings of strange creatures filled the news stations, and he rolled his eyes, uninterested. He was still surfing, looking for either boobs or some kind of sport, when there was suddenly a knock on his door, loud and frantic.

He jumped, sloshing scotch over his fingers, then stood with an irritated frown. Who on earth--?

Then, suddenly, a terrible thought entered his mind: What if it was the police, with bad news about JD...? If they'd found the kid alive, they would just have called--to come to his door it had to be bad.

He thunked his glass onto the coffee table and hurried toward the door. Once there, he unbolted it and threw it open without even bothering to check the peephole, trying to prepare himself for the worst.

It wasn't the police. But it was so unexpected that for a moment, all he could do was stare.

JD stood before him, dripping wet and shivering. He wore a tattered trench coat that hung nearly to his feet, clutching it tightly around himself. There was something odd in the way he was standing, too--bent forward, he appeared to be trying to counterbalance a weight of some kind. There did appear to be a lump under the coat. A backpack, perhaps, carried under the coat to protect it from the rain?

None of that could explain the look on JD's face, though. He was pale, and there were dark shadows under his eyes, which were haunted and frightened.

Perry, struck speechless for the first time, simply stared, and after a moment JD broke the silence himself.

* * *

"Can I come in? I need help," JD said, teeth chattering. Dr. Cox looked like he'd seen a ghost, and JD supposed in a way he had. But he couldn't think about it, couldn't let Cox start to talk, or he'd lose his nerve. Lose his nerve, and end up God knew where. The cheap hotel he'd hidden out in for the last week wasn't any kind of a refuge, and he was starving, already thinner than he had been.

Cox didn't reply, but wordlessly stepped backward, and JD moved in out of the hallway, hesitant. He could see all the signs of an approaching rant: the furrowed brow, the clenched jaw, the finger brushing his nose before he crossed his arms.

This time, though, JD knew he could head it off. "I...I have something to show you." His voice was soft, as calm as he could make it, and he dropped his battered duffle, shrugging the dilapidated coat off his shoulders. He wore no shirt beneath it, and water dripped down his bare chest, but that wasn't what made Cox gasp, and he knew it.

The wings started spreading as soon as the tension was released, and JD winced as the muscles he'd held so tightly clenched extended and stretched, nearly filling the small room. Gray and black feathers cast a shadow across Cox's face as they blocked the lamp.

"I didn't know where else to go..." he said softly, then waited for Cox's reaction with bated breath, lip held fast between his teeth.

Perry's face was a mask of disbelief; he was aware his mouth was hanging open, and that to say the least, he didn't make the most dignified picture. He couldn't care less. JD's wings--for there was no doubt they were attached to the young man's back, and that he had control over them--were gigantic, the feathers a dark mottled grey and black with white undersides. The feathers were shedding droplets of rain onto the hardwood floor; seemingly of their own volition, the great wings twitched, flapping ever so slightly and sending more water flying into the air. Even that slightest of movements stirred a breeze strong enough to send papers scattering to the floor.

"Sorry," JD muttered, pulling them in self-consciously. Folded, they lay along his back, barely visible over the top of his shoulders and hanging halfway down his calves; Perry was further amazed at how compactly they could be folded.

He realized his mouth was still hanging open and snapped it shut, then swallowed, taking a tentative step forward. "Are... are they...?"

"Real?" JD said dully, then snorted. "Yeah. Unfortunately."

Perry shook his head slowly, moving toward JD as though afraid to startle him. In truth, he was feeling rather startled himself.

JD was watching him, eyes dark with fear and worry. "Don't be afraid," he said quietly, voice pleading. "Please. It's still me, I promise."

Perry, who had been staring at JD's wings again, snapped his eyes back to JD's face, and suddenly softened a little. He realized why JD had hidden, why he hadn't wanted anyone to know--they'd have him locked up in a lab somewhere in a heartbeat, if the media got wind of this. He also realized what trust JD was showing in him, and felt oddly touched.

"Right," he said after a moment. "I know, I'm just a little... surprised."

JD quirked his lip into a half smile. "Yeah," he replied. "You and me both." He shivered, wings shuddering with the movement and making him stagger a little. Perry lunged forward and grabbed his arm, steadying him, and JD looked up, sheepish. "I... haven't quite gotten used to the weight yet," he admitted.

Perry nodded. "Can you... you know..."

"Fly?" JD supplied, and Perry nodded. JD shook his head. "I don't know. I haven't tried. I've had a hard enough time hiding these in the first place--the last thing I need to do is wind up in the hospital because I broke my neck in a crash landing." He sighed, curling his arms over his stomach. "Besides," he said, "right now I don't think I'm strong enough. These things use muscles I never really developed, and a few I'm pretty sure are brand new." Not to mention the fact I'm starving, he added to himself, but didn't voice the thought. It didn't take his medical training to know the scant food he'd risked going out for wasn't enough to support his huge wings, and definitely not enough to supply all the energy it'd taken to grow so much new bone and tissue.

It became a moot point a moment later anyhow, when his stomach suddely growled. Loudly.

Perry stepped back, releasing JD's arm, and looked him over critically. Now that he was over his initial shock, he was beginning to notice things he hadn't before. Like the way JD's collar bones stuck out sharply, or the way he could count each of his ribs. The absence of the soft padding JD'd once had at his belly and on his sides. JD had gotten way too thin in far too short a time, and Perry didn't like it one bit.

Not to mention the fact that he was still dripping wet, wearing jeans that were sopping and muddy, and shoes that weren't much better off.

"Okay," Perry said, snapping out of his stupor and moving to take JD's sodden coat from his trembling fingers. "Okay. First things first. We need to get you dried off and in clean clothes, then I would imagine we need to get you fed." He rolled the coat into a ball and tossed it onto the tile of the entryway; they could clean it later. Or get a new one, and throw that one into the garbage where it belonged. "Where have you been, anyway?"

JD shook his head. "Hotel," he muttered, shivering. Perry watched with raised eyebrows as the wings unfurled a little, moving to slip themselves over JD's shoulders like a cloak. When JD realized he was watching, he cringed self-consciously, and the wings slid back into place, once more folded along his back.

Perry snorted. Maybe he wouldn't even need to replace the trenchcoat. He turned away and headed for the bathroom to get JD a towel.

JD watched him go, toeing off his shoes as close to the door as possible. He wanted to just sink down onto the couch and sleep, but he wasn't about to sit on any of Cox's furniture until he'd stopped dripping. His mentor seemed willing to help him, but JD didn't want to do anything to accidentally piss him off, just in case. He knew how precarious his own situation was.

As if to drive this point even further home, the TV suddenly switched to a news report. He couldn't see the screen from where he was standing, but he didn't really have to. Not when it was talking about new pictures coming out, a report of a riot in Philadelphia, and the body of a Changeling, as the news was calling them now, actually found and examined.

JD hugged himself tighter, wings once again enfolding him defensively. JD felt his lips twist wryly. Lot of good they'd be, if someone came after him...especially in this state. They'd get in the way before they'd help him.

By the time Dr. Cox returned with a towel and a handful of clothes, JD had sunk down to the floor, sitting with his knees to his chest, wings half splayed on the floor around him. He scrambled up, blushing. "I didn't want to get your couch wet..."

"For God's sake, Newbie, it'd dry." Perry tossed the towel at him, again steadying JD when he swayed standing up. Looking the kid over again, the older doctor wondered how much of JD's unsteadiness was due to the weight of his wings, and how much was malnutrition and sheer exhaustion. "Dry off, and I'll cut slits in the back of this sweatshirt for you," he ordered. "We'll see if we can't get it on around those things."

JD started using the towel as Perry went looking for a pair of scissors, and was hesitating over his jeans when the older man came back. "Believe it or not, Felicia, I've seen one before," he said, nodding at him.

JD blushed, but stripped off his jeans and boxers, scrubbing the towel over his skin. And then his feathers, moving as carefully as he could to avoid upsetting anything in the apartment. By the time he'd finally finished drying off, Cox had finished with the sweatshirt. JD tugged the sweatpants and socks he'd brought on his own, but just looked at the shirt, chewing his bottom lip.

"Need a hand there?" Cox offered, looking amused.

JD blushed. "Yeah, I think so..." he admitted shyly. "Um, thanks."

Perry made a dismissive gesture, moving forward. Between the two of them, they got it on, and JD sank gratefully--if awkwardly--down on the couch, trying to keep his wings as tight against his back as he could. Perry kept staring at them. Not that JD really blamed him, he'd stared enough himself. "I think this Changeling thing might be more than a rumor," he offered, shifting and resettling his wings again, to keep from squishing the feathers.

Perry chuckled. "I'd say it's a possibility we're definitely going to have to consider," he agreed. "Just relax, Newbie, I'll get you something to eat."

"Thank you," JD murmured, and Perry vanished into the kitchen. JD sank down onto the couch, huddled in the too-large sweatshirt, eyes drifting shut as the combination of warm, dry clothes and feeling of safety enfolded him for the first time in days.

He was half-asleep by the time Perry returned. But the smell of soup roused him soon enough, and he gratefully ate it, having to remind himself to go slowly. "God, thank you," he said.

"You're welcome," Perry replied, watching him eat, his face carefully inscrutable. "How long ago did this start?"

"About a month," JD replied between bites of bread soaked in what was left of the broth. "I had an odd itching around my shoulder-blades, and then they just sprouted. But they stayed small, until about two weeks ago, which was why I had Doug start covering my shifts. And then I panicked," he admitted, blushing again.

Perry nodded slowly. "You had us pretty worried," he said, voice light, but JD paused and looked up, surprised. Dr. Cox, worried? About him?

But he could read the truth of it in the older man's eyes, even though they wouldn't quite meet his.

"I'm sorry," he said, looking down at his now-empty bowl, wondering if it would be impolite to ask for more. "I was scared."

Perry nodded, then stood and took the empty bowl from him. JD was dithering about whether to admit he was still hungry when Perry returned, bowl refilled, and offered it to him along with another chunk of bread. JD accepted both, making a small noise of gratitude.

Perry watched him as he devoured his second bowl, thinking he might very well have to open another can, if the kid kept inhaling it like that. But from the looks of him, he needed it and then some. He'd started with soup, knowing it to be easier on an empty stomach than some of the other things he had in his apartment, but when JD fell asleep he'd have to go out to the store and get him something a little more substantial.

Suddenly, he thought of the others--Elliot, Turk, and Carla. They needed to know JD was okay. But he knew if he called them they would want to see him, and Perry couldn't have that, either; JD had come to him in confidence, and he knew if he'd wanted his friends to know where he was he would have called them himself. He hesitated. "I need to make a phone call, let the others know you're all right," he said, "but I won't tell them you're here, if you don't want. I'll say you called me from a pay phone, or something."

JD paused and looked up, hearing something more to the words in Cox's voice. "It's that bad?" he asked, incredulous. "What did they think happened?"

Perry shrugged. "It's a crazy world right now," he said. "This stuff about the riots, and the Changelings--and you just vanishing? We didn't know what to think. But we feared the worst."

JD's eyes widened. "They--they think I'm dead?"

"Like I said, we didn't know what to think," Perry said. "But it was definitely one of the possibilities on our list."

JD bit his lip, eyes going distant. He never thought his friends would have cause to think--jesus. He closed his eyes, rubbing his brow. "I--yeah," he said. "Call them, but--don't tell them I'm here?" He looked up, eyes imploring. "I just... I don't think I'm ready for everybody to know about this yet. I want to get used to this myself before I start letting my friends know."

Perry studied him a moment, then nodded, getting to his feet and heading for the phone.

JD finished the soup, setting the bowl aside, wondering if he should ask for more. He knew he could eat it and happily, but it would probably be a good idea to give his stomach more time to adjust to having food in it again. He half-curled a wing around himself, eyes closing as he listened to Cox. He was talking to Carla, who didn't seem to be satisfied with what he was telling her. JD smiled wryly, glad he wasn't the one on the phone. Carla would get him to tell her where he was in moments.

He yawned, distracting himself by watching Cox through his lashes. The older man was speaking softer than JD was accustomed to hearing, reassuring Carla again that the kid was all right, and would come back when he could. The kid. There'd been a time JD would've loved it if Cox had called him that...And anything that wasn't a girl's name was an improvement, after all. But he'd missed even that, hiding out in the hotel.

Didn't have to, now, though. JD didn't know what would happen next, what he'd do about his new appendages, but he finally had some kind of hope again, sitting here warm and fed and comfortable, for the first time in a week. He realized, blinking, that Cox had stopped talking, and looked up. "What'd she say?"

Perry'd hung up the phone and turned to tease JD, let him know he was in trouble, but the words had died on his lips. The kid was curled around himself, looking small in the too-big borrowed clothes. And the wings... Perry found he kept blinking, expecting them to disappear. But they didn't, and as JD sat up more, they shifted in response to his movement, seeming to automatically relax a bit when he wasn't thinking about them. "She said 'Bambi'd better get his ass home, if he knows what's good for him.' But she seemed relieved to know you're safe," he answered.

JD smiled, before yawning again. He eased his shoulders as he yawned, and the wings extended, knocking over a stack of books. "Shit!" he blurted, scrambling to gather the fallen books. "I'm sorry, I can't seem to..."

"It's okay, Newbie." Perry shook his head, amused. JD'd always reminded him of a newborn colt, all spindly limbed and awkward. Add in the wings he seemed to have less control over than Perry'd first assumed, and the kid was a walking disaster.

"They don't always go where I want them to," JD offered, wings now held tight against his back once more.

"I'd offer a piece of sage and comforting reassurance, such as 'I'm sure you'll get used to them', but to be honest, we didn't really cover management of new limbs in my med school classes."

JD giggled. "Mine either," he groused. "Though it looks like we're going to have to do some rewriting in a lot of those text books, huh?"

"I'll say," Perry agreed, moving forward again, circling around to look at the wings from behind. They were darker, on the backside--sleek, and completely dry, even though JD's hair still stood out at odd, damp angles. "They shed water," he commented, almost to himself.

"Yeah," JD replied, twisting around to try to look at them too. "Pretty well, actually, which is nice, since it's been raining for almost four solid days." He shivered involuntarily; though he usually enjoyed it, this particular rain had felt somewhat ominous, as though the earth itself were in rebellion. Of course, that could have been a side effect of the fact that he'd been cramped in a dingy hotel room, scared shitless, starving, and trying to figure out what he was going to do now that he was a walking freak of nature.

Perry reached out, then hesitated. "May I...?" he asked, uncertain. The physician in him was curious as hell, and wanted a closer look, but he didn't want to be rude; after all, these were JD's limbs now, odd as that seemed, and he didn't want to just start poking and prodding without permission.

JD nodded, slowly and carefully extending one wing a little to allow Perry better access. Perry circled, reaching out to curl his fingers over the top of the wing and squeeze, though he did so gently. JD didn't seem to mind, though, so he did so again, trying to feel out the structure of the bone underneath. "Bones don't seem to be hollow," he commented after a minute, reaching out with his other hand to follow the line of the wing until the bone ended, just before the primary feathers sprouted forth. "Makes sense; the rest of your bones aren't, so if these are to be strong enough to lift you..."

"I'd noticed that," JD said, and Perry suddenly recalled that JD was a doctor, too. Somehow, he'd forgotten that, ridiculous though it seemed--but right now, JD was something out of a fantasy novel, and it was easy to forget that two weeks ago, he'd just been another resident. "There's more muscle in them than in bird's wings, too, I think."

He'd spent his time in the hotel room trying to read up on birds--they'd had an internet jack, and he'd brought his laptop. He was afraid to leave, but at least he could try to figure out what he was going to do. "And they're larger than angel wings, I noticed. At least the ones in those old paintings."

Perry snorted. "They're not aesthetic, then," he replied, moving around front and bending the wing gently to see how it folded. "Those angels in most of those old paintings couldn't really fly anywhere, with wings that size."

JD nodded again. "These take a lot of chest strength to control--part of the reason I can't very well, yet," he admitted, feeling sheepish. "But my muscles are developing. Quickly, actually--I think it must be part of the... Change." There was no better word for it, really.

"Mmm," Perry said, releasing the wing and stepping back to squint at it. Then he shook his head. "Well, I'm not exactly sure what to tell you," he said. "As far as growths go, you could've done worse, I suppose." It was true, too. Odd and out of place though they were, the wings were beautiful; sleek even in the dim light of Perry's apartment, and colored to match JD's hair. He wondered if that was a coincidence, or if it would be a trend with other Changelings.

Well. There'd be no way to know, not until the hype died down and people regained their senses, so they could come out of hiding without fear.

"All right," he said, drawing a deep breath. "It's late, and I really don't think there's any more we can do tonight." JD held his breath, suddenly terrified Dr. Cox would make him leave--but the older man continued: "I'm not sure how you sleep with those things, but I'm betting the couch isn't the best place."

JD shook his head, slowly; he'd already noticed that much. The wings were bulky, and the couch back and arms didn't allow him room to stretch them comfortably. Perry frowned for a moment, then nodded, coming to a decision. "Right," he said. "You take the bed, then, and I'll stay on the couch."

"But...!" Whatever JD had been expecting in terms of hospitality, this certainly went above and beyond. "Dr. Cox, I can’t--I mean, I can sleep..."

"What?" Perry interrupted. "Sleep on the floor? Sorry, Lindsay, not happening--you need to get some actual sleep. You don't look like you've managed that in a few days."

"No," JD admitted reluctantly. He'd been too afraid to sleep, and usually when he finally did, it was fitful, brought on by sheer exhaustion but still not entirely restful. That, and he kept rolling over on his wings awkwardly, which never failed to wake him. "No, I haven't."

Perry nodded. "Fine. Then you're sleeping in the bed. I'll take the couch."

"We could..." JD shut his mouth abruptly, realizing he was more tired than he thought, if he was about to offer to share a bed with Dr. Cox. Not that he didn't want to--in fact, he wanted to very much--but he didn't want to get tossed out on his ass, and crisis or no crisis, admitting to a homosexual attraction to his attending was likely to get him pushed out the door very quickly. "We can figure something out, tomorrow," he finished lamely. "Like an air mattress, or something..."

Perry found himself wondering at the source of the blush that suddenly swept up JD's face, but let it go for now. "Do you always babble when you're tired?" he asked instead, tugging JD up and leading him into the bedroom.

JD nodded absently, pulling his wings tight to fit through the door, absolutely longing for the huge bed in front of him, the sheets and blankets still tangled across it. It'll smell like Perry he thought with a slight smile, not questioning his sudden--if internal--use of Dr. Cox's first name. "Yeah, I do. Babble when I'm not tired, even," he added with another yawn. "Dr. Cox...no one else will come here, right?"

Perry shook his head, shaking the blankets out a little and trying not to wince when one of JD's wings brushed a lamp as he unconsciously stretched them with the yawn. "Jordan's at her mother's, Jack's with her, and the bedroom door locks. From the inside. I sleep on the couch often enough if there's something good on TV, Newbie."

JD relaxed a little more. "Thank you. I can't...I just...thank you. I didn't know who else I could trust with this."

Perry pushed him gently toward the bed. "Get some sleep, kiddo." He watched as JD stretched out on his stomach, the impossible wings stretching out on either side of him, and shook his head. That many feathers shouldn't be attractive. Neither should the kid's ass. Perry shuddered, berating himself even as he pressed the button latch on the door and closed it behind him, leaving JD to his rest. Only one the kid could trust? Trust to do what, lust after him secretly? God, he was a sick, sick man.

JD inhaled deeply, smiling at the scent of Perry all around him, and, for the first time since the wings had grown too large to hide, fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.

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Next chapter

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