Chapter Text
Before Chan had even learned his name, Minghao rushed through the hallways of the Chateau. Sprinting up staircases and taking corners a little too tight for comfort, he arrived at Jun’s room entirely out of breath.
“Junhui!” he shouted while he banged on the door.
The responding voice was still hoarse “Come in.”
Minghao busted in to see Jun’s room in disarray. The bed was surrounded by crumpled-up tissues, cough drop wrappers, and Q-tips—and what pillows weren’t being used to support the blanket fort on the bed were littered on the ground. Bouncing excitedly to the entrance door (blanket flap) of the fort, Minghao made his presence known. “Can I come in?”
He heard Jun’s voice from the center of the blanket monster: “You know you don’t have to ask, Hao.”
When he brushed past the entrance he saw Jun’s rusty orange cat ears flicker towards him. The cat hybrid was cuddled up next to the sleeping form of their youngest dog hybrid (as of this morning). Hansol was, of course, utterly dead to the world and seemingly didn’t notice Minghao’s presence.
It was hard to blame him though, the cat hybrids were highly sought after for naps. The combination of their purrs, gentle pets, and warm bodies could put almost anyone to sleep. Most of the time they would curl up next to each other and leave the dog hybrids on the sidelines, but Jun was firmly on bedrest and forbidden from seeing his other cat hybrids, lest he get them sick too.
Part of Minghao was torn apart to see his best friend sick. The dog hybrids, who were immune to this particular strain of illness, had developed a schedule to make sure Jun had someone with him at all times. It was weird not seeing his best friend jumping around the halls and hearing his laughter ricocheting throughout the Chateau, but they all knew that rest was the best medicine, whether Jun liked it or not. The schedule existed in equal parts to make sure someone was keeping Jun company and to make sure he wasn’t sneaking out.
But on the other hand, he never felt safer than late night cuddles with a sleepy, slightly out-of-it Jun.
“The new puppy is here!”
“What? Right now?” Jun immediately tensed to get up but Minghao held his hand out.
“No, no, no, no, no,” Minghao said in quick succession. “You still have to rest. He’ll still be here when you get better.”
“Come on Hao! I’m like ninety-nine percent healed!” He let out a little sneeze. “Okay, like ninety-five percent. Please?” Jun widened his deep brown eyes and gazed at Hao through his lashes.
“The only way you’ll get better is if you relax. Besides, you don’t want to get Seungkwan sick, right? And god forbid you get Hoshi sick, you remember the last time he was sick and he made us wait on him hand and foot?”
Jun groaned and buried his face in the fluff of Hansol’s hair. “Fine. Fine! But why’d you come here and tempt me if I’m not even allowed to meet him?”
“I thought maybe Hansol would be interested, but he looks comfortable where he is.”
Minghao knelt down and lovingly ran a hand through the dog hybrid’s hair. Hansol didn’t stir and Hao positioned himself so that he was the other piece of bread in the Hansol sandwich. He shuddered as his skin touched the cold surface of the amber gem dangling from Hansol’s collar.
“What’s he like? The new guy.”
“Well, his name is Chan. He’s tiny, not as small as Woozi but pretty small. Furry black hair, tail, and ears that seem sort of terrier-ish. Perky, you know?”
“Perky… in a good way? Or in an annoying way?”
“He seems nice. He has Seungcheol hyung’s approval so I’m not sure my opinion matters.”
“Of course your opinion matters.” Jun let out a small cough. “You don’t like him?”
“No, that’s not what I’m saying. I think I’m just nervous. If he’s really the last hybrid Jeonghan is going to add to the pack, I just hope he makes friends. It would suck if he was lonely here.”
“You think Seungkwan’s going to let him be lonely? He’s going to make friends whether he likes it or not.”
“Yeah. It’s just he seems really untrained. Like, super untrained. He tried to open the cage he arrived in.”
“By himself?”
Minghao nodded.
“Wow. I know Jeonghan said he was a stray but… Cheol will have his work cut out for him. But that doesn’t mean he’s not friendly, he might be scared. This must be a pretty extreme change for him.”
“I guess.” Minghao paused. “Was I like that? When I first joined?”
Hansol, sensing anxiety in the air, pulled Hao closer to him and buried his nose in the dog hybrid’s neck. For a moment it seemed like he was going to wake up, but he let out a breathy sigh and settled in the new position.
“What do you mean?” Jun asked as he settled his chin on the crown of Hansol’s head. “Nervous? Everyone was nervous, I was so scared I hid under a bed for a full day.”
“Not nervous, was I… feral? Like that?”
Junhui tightened his lips and scrunched his eyebrows. “Just because he’s untrained doesn’t mean he’s feral. Besides, we’re all hybrids. There’s a bit of feralness in all of us.”
“No, I know. I just don’t want him to hurt anyone.”
“Hao, that was an accident. You have to stop beating yourself up about it.” He extended a hand and comfortingly laid it atop Minghao’s. “Dokyeom forgave you years ago, you know he loves you more than anyone.”
“But…”
“And you know it wasn’t only your fault. DK got too excited, no one blames you.”
“I know, but I still feel bad. I don’t want the new puppy to go through that.”
“Relax, he’ll make mistakes and it’s up to us, mostly, to make sure he knows he’s loved, just like you should know.”
“I know, believe me.”
Jun smiled and kissed the top of Minghao’s head, then gave it a kitten lick for good measure. “Good.”