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Jisung didn’t think he could continue walking for more. His feet hurt, as well as his empty stomach and he was trembling from head to toes. He wrapped his tail around his abdomen, trying to keep the little warm his body was so desperately trying to produce. He couldn’t do this anymore.
Still, he kept fighting through the pain, like he had been doing for the last couple of weeks. He didn’t really know where he was and the really expensive houses he was now passing by went unnoticed by the tired boy.
Jisung was only looking at his ice cold feet, only glancing every now and then to the sides for a shelter for the night. But then he noticed something even better. A bowl of food. Cat food to be specific. He quickly went over there to see if he could actually eat it. “Maybe it won’t taste as bad if I can manage to shift..,” he thought as he took in the strong odor of the food.
He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t shift. His head started to pound as he concentrated on his body morphing. But everything went to waste. Heavy breaths went past his lips and he felt exhaustion taking over his small frame, his legs giving up under him and soon after the harsh pavement was against his skin. “It’s too late now, right?”
Before letting his eyes shut close, Jisung moved a little closer to the fence where the bowl was left. At that point he let darkness take over him.
~
Minho was annoyed. He wasn’t actually tired, but having to stay at work instead of chilling in his comfy bed wasn’t something he enjoyed a lot. Don’t get him wrong, he actually liked his job, teaching others how dance was something that made him very happy. He just hated doing paper work, witch was what kept him awake until one in the morning at the dance studio.
That, and the fact that he had the brilliant idea to walk to work this morning, instead of just driving with his car.
Minho smiled to himself when he saw the outdoor lights of his house come to view. But that’s when he heard a cat hissing loudly from that same direction. Where the cats that he had been feeding fighting? Or they where hurt?
He speed walked to see what had happened, concern taking over him. After a few seconds he could recognize one of the new kittens that started visiting him more often over the last week. He was trying to make himself look bigger by curving his back, and was still hissing over where Minho knew the bowl was. So he turned his head over that direction and he instantly froze.
A small body was curled on itself, covered only by some dark pants, a lose and quite dirty shirt and a blueish hat. It lightly winced every now and then, mostly because of the cold and the thin clothing.
Minho felt fear as he slowly started to move closer to what he could tell was a boy, probably younger than him by a few years, and taking out his phone to call the police if something went wrong.
He stopped about two meters away from the stranger and with all the courage that he had in him he tried to wake him up. “Ya! What do you think you’re doing?” He loudly spoke, “go away before I call the police on you!”
The small boy jolted awake, his head shooting up, looking confused and terrified at the same time. His eyes quickly scanned his surroundings before stopping on the boy in front of him. His eyes widened in fear and he rapidly brought his arms to cover his head, knocking of the cap we was wearing. “Please don’t hurt me..” he whispered.
It took Minho a couple of seconds to notice the small curved ears peaking through the boy’s hair.
He let a soft gasp at the sight.
A hybrid. He couldn’t believe his own eyes. What was a hybrid doing outside alone and this late at night? Everybody knew that hybrids were very expensive and pretty uncommon, so what was this one doing here?
“You’re a hybrid..” he repeated his thought, stepping closer to the small boy, “are you ok?” He asked, his initial fear replaced by worry.
When the boy didn’t answer Minho squatted to get a better look at the younger’s face noticing that he had closed his eyes and his hole body was trembling. Minho’s heart broke at how the terrified the boy was of him.
“Hey.. sorry if I screamed at you earlier,” he tried again, “can you please look at me? I promise that I won’t hurt you.”
The thin arms slowly uncovered part of the stranger’s face and his eyes watched Minho again. The older smiled gently at him, trying to calm him down.
“Hi.. I’m Minho, I live in the house behind you,” he spoke sweetly, hoping it would help gain some trust, “would you mind telling me your name?”
The boy’s lips trembled a little before letting out a soft “Jisung.” He glanced at the ground and then back at Minho before continuing with the same tone “please don’t hurt me, I’ll immediately go away and never come close again..”
Minho furrowed his brows “do you have anywhere to go and spend the night though? Aren’t you cold?”
“I..” The boy, Jisung, started before stopping himself as if to think about lying or not, “I don’t...” He left his arms fall down and hugged himself.
“What about your owner? Do you have one?” Minho asked, only for him to receive a disapproving shake of head from Jisung. The older knew that leaving a hybrid alone was big trouble and he couldn’t call a shelter, knowing how bad hybrids were treated there. So the only thing he could offer to the one in front of him was “would you like to spend the night at mine? I have a spare room you could use if you want.”
Jisung stared at him in pure shock, immediately refusing. “No, I could never bother you.”
“But aren’t you cold? It’s warm inside and I can make you something to eat if you’re hungry too,” Minho insisted, “really, I don’t mind having company.”
The younger stayed silent for a bit, actually thinking about the offer. “Are you sure? You don’t even know me..” Minho only nodded and Jisung studied his face for a few seconds, “ok..”
“Ok Jisung,” Minho got up, giving his hand to the small boy to help him get up as well, “let’s go.”
Jisung stretches his arm out, gently gripping Minho’s soft hand and extended his legs under him, shaking a bit from the exhaustion. His tail, that was before covered by his bend legs was now curling around his thigh.
The other boy guessed that it was a self comforting gesture, as he watched in awe. He took the keys of the gate from his coat pocket and he headed towards its direction with Jisung’s hand in his. He walked slowly, so it would be easier for the hybrid.
The place where Minho left the bowl for the stray cats was only a couple of meters away from the entrance to his property, so it didn’t take long to reach it. He opened the gate and closed it after both he and Jisung went through it. Minho quickly glanced at the other, noticing his stiff form. He started tracing small circles on the hand he was holding, trying to ease him. They crossed the garden in no time, getting inside Minho’s house where it was significantly warmer.
Minho turned on some of the lights that illuminated softly the big house. He noticed Jisung looking around, amazed by it. “Oke Jisung,” Minho started, “what about you take a shower and change into some warmer clothes while I make us something to eat? Does that sound good?”
Jisung turned to look at him, big dark orbs observing him still pretty scared. He then nodded slowly, letting Minho lead him to the second door in the hallway they were in.
“You can shower here, I’m gonna bring you some clean clothes, ok? If you need anything, anything at all, just call me.” Minho said before disappearing for one minute and returning with a smile pile of clothing in his hands. He left them by the sink and smiled once again at Jisung before stepping out of the bathroom. He was about to close the door when he heard a soft “thank you.”
~
Jisung stared at the door for a couple of seconds, trying to understand what just happened.
So he feel asleep in front of someone’s house and said someone just took him in? What the hell? Still, he felt grateful and warm at the concern the human, Minho, showed him.
But then, a small voice inside his mind asked why Minho was being so kind to him. Maybe he just was a kind person. Maybe he just felt bad for yelling at him earlier. Maybe he was going to use him in some kind of way. Maybe he was going to hurt him, make him suffer like the people at his old shelter. Maybe-
“No,” the boy shook his head, hair falling into his eyes “stop thinking this way, if he ends up being bad I’ll just run away again”. The adrenaline in his body was slowly wearing off, letting him feel pain in various parts of his frail body.
Taking a shaky breath, he got undressed, leaving the dirty clothes on the counter, near the clean ones Minho left for him. He entered the shower stall and started the water.
The hot water burned his skin, leaving it an angry red color. Jisung felt like crying. But not because of the addition pain it left, but because he finally, finally, wasn’t cold anymore. His muscles relaxed after god knows how long and he thought he was gonna fall asleep right there. He managed to stay conscious and quickly cleaned his skin and hair with shampoo from the various in the shower.
He got out and dried himself, immediately putting on the clothes left for him so to not lose the warmth the water gave him. Minho left him underwear, socks, soft looking sweats and a large thick sweater. A sweet scent came from them, roses covered in honey and Jisung’s heart skipped a beat at how good it made him feel.
He turned to the mirror to dry his hair only to notice his appearance. His eyes were surrounded by purple skin and he realized just how skinny he had gotten, his round cheeks nowhere to be seen. “Damn Jisung, you look like shit” his mind spoke.
He closed his eyes and tried to calm down. Minho was probably waiting for him and Jisung didn’t want to make him mad by taking too much time in the bathroom.
So with all the courage left in him, he went out of the bathroom. It was located pretty close to the front door so he didn’t actually see where the other rooms in the big house were. There was another door between the front door and the bathroom and on the opposite wall the moonlight was let in by large windows.
Turning his head to the other side he noticed an open space and once he slowly reached it he realized that it was the living room, occupied by a long couch and two armchair, all positioned in front of a big television. On the other side of the room a grand piano stood proudly and Jisung couldn’t even imagine how expensive it must have been. Pretty close to it, a sliding door was open and he quietly went to it.
A glass table was in what he could consider being the dining room, divided by the kitchen only by an island counter surrounded by four bar stools, behind it the rest of the kitchen. He couldn’t focus more on it because Minho was just in the middle of it.
The man had changed clothes as well, wearing something similar to Jisung and he was softly humming to himself. He then turned around and noticed Jisung, getting surprised for a second before smiling at the hybrid, “hey there”.
Jisung flinched, eyes widening, and he was ready to run out of the house but he managed to stay where he was. He let his head bend downwards letting a soft greeting too.
“Come over here Jisung,” Minho still held his voice soft, “I’m making us some oatmeal, hope you won’t mind it.” he said turning back to the stove where a pot was placed.
“Honestly,” he thought “you could give me half an apple and I’d still thank you”. He still managed to get closer to the human and he took in the smell of the meal. His stomach squeezed painfully.
Minho poured the oatmeal in two separate bowls adding on top some sliced bananas and some nuts. He turned around and placed both of them on the island counter. “It’s not much,” he spoke, “but I don’t have anything better to offer right now.” an apologetic smile on his face.
Jisung studied his face for a second, taking in just how beautiful the man was. Cat like eyes and pointy nose made him look like royalty, red lips looking like rose petals and perfect looking skin, Jisung asked himself how can someone be so damn handsome.
Minho latched eyes with him, brows furrowing in worry, “no need to be scared Jisung, come sit down.” He pushed one bow towards the hybrid.
Said boy, still filled with insecurity, slowly reached the barstool closer to the bowl with his meal and sat down. Minho smiled at him, handing him a spoon which he took hesitantly. He looked down at the oatmeal and, after scooping some up, he brought it to his mouth.
Damn, how much did he miss eating a homemade meal. He thought he might start crying. From the corner of his eye he could see Minho turning around and taking a golden jar from the counter and placing it between them. “I usually like to add some honey to mine.”
“Honey..” Jisung didn’t realize he said that until Minho snapped his head in his direction and expected him to continue. He immediately looked down, cheeks warming up.
“Do you want some? I can add it for you.” Minho offered.
“Uhm... yes please.” His voice came out so quietly, he was scared Minho couldn’t hear him. And while the human was pouring the golden liquid with a teaspoon on both bowls, Jisung gathered all his courage and asked to the other “do you like honey?”
The boy seemed confused for a couple of seconds, before returning to his normal expression, “yeah, I always leave it out on the counter. I usually make myself tea in the morning and I always add some honey to it instead of sugar. Or sometimes I just eat some teaspoons of it.” He added with a chuckle, “why are you asking?”
Oh, so that made sense. Jisung watched the delicate fingers that pushed his bowl back in front of him. “You... I mean.. your clothes smell like honey, so i just.. yeah..” he spoke, quickly going back to his meal, now much sweeter and delicious. He could bet that his entire face was red now but he tried to ignore it.
Minho left a small surprised noise, gaze resting on the hybrid that sat on the other side of the counter. “Well then, I hope it won’t bother you too much.” He said, and began eating as well, leaving them in a semi comfortable silence.
They didn’t say anything until both of them finished their meal, Minho taking both bowls and putting them in the sink. He turned back to the small boy and watched him playing anxiously with his fingers. “Hey Jisung, how old are you?”
Said boy snapped his head up, taking a couple of second to take in the question. “I’m 19.”
“Ah! I’m 21 so I’m your hyung! You can call me that.” Minho said happily. “You’re a squirrel hybrid right?” The younger gave him a small nod, “shouldn’t you be with your owner right now? It’s not save out there by your own, you know?”
Jisung froze at that. It’s not like he had an owner, but that was the main problem, he didn’t have an owner and he was stuck in that horrible shelter. He felt tears gathering in his eyes and he let his head hang low.
“Hey, hey, I’m sorry, that was insensitive of me, I’m really sorry, you don’t have to answer that if you’re not comfortable..” Minho rushed to his side, bending down to his knees but he didn’t touch Jisung, scared it would do more harm than good. “I’m sorry Jisungie, please forgive me.”
Jisung sniffed and turned to face the older boy, surprised to see how sincere he looked. How long has it been since someone looked at him that way? In that moment he felt like Minho was the only one that had ever cared for him in his entire life, even if he had known him for like an hour.
“It’s.. it’s ok.. don’t worry...” some tears left his eyes, “but I don’t really wanna talk about it... I’m sorry.”
Minho was looking at him like he was the most important thing in the world and it made Jisung’s heart squeeze. “It’s not your fault, no need to say sorry,” the words coming out softly “how about we put you to bed, how does that sound?”
Jisung nodded, trying to get on his feet, only to instantly feel lightheaded, close to falling to the floor, only stopped by Minho’s hands coming to hold him by his waist. His head was hurting, also feeling discomfort in having so much food in his stomach after having none for so long. God, he was so tired.
“Hey there, are you feeling ok?” Jisung could only whine quietly at Minho’s words, face hiding in the crock of his neck where the smell of sweet roses was stronger. He managed to bring his arms around the older’s shoulders, grabbing his shirt in closed fits. Minho let out a sad sigh, wrapping his own arms around the younger and keeping him close, “oh baby, it’s gonna be ok, you’re not alone anymore, I’m here with you now.”
If Jisung wasn’t crying before, he was defiantly crying now, letting out strangled sobs and wetting Minho’s shirt with his tears. He really hopped Minho was genuine and wasn’t playing pranks on him because his hearts could not recover from that.
“Come one little squirrel, let’s get you to bed.” Minho lead him over to the stairs he didn’t notice in the living room, going to the second floor. Minho starred at two different doors for a couple of seconds, before turning to the boy still laced to him. “Sungie, do you want to sleep alone or do you want to sleep with me in my room? I won’t take offense if you want to sleep alone and you won’t bother me if you want to sleep with me.”
Jisung already knew that he wanted to sleep with the elder. He gave his a sense of security and calm he missed so much and he wasn’t ready to be alone again. He felt his face get warm again, “can I sleep with you..? Please.. Hyung?”
Minho broke into the sweetest smile possible and took the hybrid to what he could tell was the master bedroom. He let both of them slip under the covers and Jisung squeezed himself closer to Minho’s chest, nose pressed on the soft shirt. The older wrapped his arms around the small boy, softly kissing the top of his head, right between his twitching ears. “Goodnight Sungie.”
“Goodnight Minho hyung.. and thank you.”