Work Text:
It was ass o'clock in the morning, when Taeil finally finished the spreadsheet he was working on, the whole thing giant, and number-heavy, and generally unappealing.
He stretched, feeling the familiar ache in his neck and shoulders from slouching over a computer screen for too long, and glanced at a pile of dirty mugs and bowls on the side table.
Yeah, he'd probably have to deal with that sooner rather than later. There might be a single clean mug left in his house, and it is probably the one he keeps his pencils in.
Oh, well. At least, it was an incredibly productive week.
It's not that his schedule was always that chaotic, but rather that there was no schedule. His employer, Taeyong, would send him a task, and Taeil would make sure to get it done as soon as possible, whether it was day, or night, or a national holiday. Things he did were usually those Taeyong couldn't trust anyone else with, and he was paid handsomely both for his skills, and his availability. Which was generally really cool, but sometimes meant staying locked up in the house for the whole week, squinting at the screen and living on coffee, ramen and carrot sticks for a while, and barely getting any sleep, usually squeezing a couple of hours here and there, mostly during the day.
He had a system worked out for these occasions.
He would stock up on everything first and foremost, so he wouldn't have to waste time on delivery or, god forbid, going out. He would make a thorough, detailed plan, dividing the entire work load into little, manageable tasks, and he would also put his phone on "don't disturb" with only exceptions being Johnny, Taeyong, and his grandmother.
From there he would fall into a routine of working, making ramen, eating, working again, taking a sleep break after crossing out a significant number of tasks, working, eating, working, sleeping, working, and so on, until there was no work to be done.
At this point in his life the routine was quite easy to fall into, but kind of hard to fall out of.
Taeil knew that he had been working for over six hours and that he should probably go to bed now, but he was too restless to sleep, and the sun was already up, lighting up the mess that was his office, and the smart thing at this point would probably be to start cleaning up, but Taeil was known for being skilled, not smart. So he got up, wincing at how numb his ass and thighs felt, changed into a fresh shirt, tugged his backpack from under the table and went outside.
The air was rather chilly for late spring, yet it was nice, and fresh, and smelled like the aftermath of rain. The streets looked empty - it was too early even for the earliest of the morning shifts.
Taeil walked down the street to the open-all-hours convenience store. It was pretty useless store-wise - just some quick snacks and a large selection of alcohol that Taeil wasn’t really interested in.
The good thing was the vending machine in the corner, which served horrible coffee, but very agreeable hot chocolate. And the night shift staff was quite fun to chat with - mostly students from a nearby college, trying to earn some money for the holidays. They usually only lasted for a couple of weeks, before moving on to something else: in a span of a couple months Taeil had met a journalist, an anthropologist, two teachers (one insisted that he wanted to be a private tutor), a physicist, and a biologist, who, apparently, was a stand-in for one of the teachers, who had an exam next day and needed to study.
The physicist actually lasted for a decent time - Taeil had already seen him a couple times before his big work week, that felt both like a single day and a whole fucking month. He was pretty young, with big glasses and constantly half buried in a scary-looking book filled with formulas and sticky notes with more formulas on them.
This time, however, the book was laying on the chair, seemingly forgotten, and the boy was standing awkwardly in front of his cash register, deep in his thoughts. He jerked when the door creaked and Taeil came in.
“Good morning,” he said, clearly on autopilot, “How can I help you?”
“Good morning,” Taeil replied, even though his inner clock seemed to think it was somewhere around early evening, “Everything alright? You seem kinda-...”
The boy glanced in the direction of the coffee machine. Taeil did too and stopped right in his tracks.
On a small stepping ladder by the machine sat a bunny hybrid. Really young one, with a delicate doll-like face and fluffy brown ears, clutching a plastic cup in his hand.
He was barefoot, and dressed in what looked like a cheap pajama set, clothes clearly too light for the chilly weather. It was dirty too, mostly around the knees, as if he fell in a puddle. There were a few dark stains on the front of his shirt, and a few on his right hand, that he kept pressed into his side.
His unkempt hair and long ears were somewhat obstructing his face, but Taeil could still see his eyes, big, scared, but filled with strange, morbid determination. Taeil had never seen a bunny hybrid with such a gaze before.
He turned back to the physicist and raised his eyebrows.
“I don’t know!” the boy whispered, even though the bunny could most likely still hear him, “He showed up, like, fifteen minutes ago, and asked if there was anything hot to drink. I bought him some tea from the machine… Tried calling the police, but he said he would leave if I did. And I don’t think he should? He doesn’t have any shoes, for fuck’s sake,” he was clearly relieved to have someone share the responsibilty with, “I don’t know what to do in these situations! I tried looking it up, but, like, he doesn’t have a collar or anything? I’m so fucking confused, hyung.”
Taeil stopped him by putting a hand on his shoulder.
“First of all, calm down,” he said, “You’re panicking more than he does. Go sit down, drink some water. We’ll figure it out.”
The physicist’s shoulders sagged a little in relief, and he nodded, making a way to his chair. For a second there was a voice in Taeil’s head, sounding suspiciously like Taeyong’s, that reminded him that this was none of his business and that he should really get some rest after a full week of work, but it was gone as fast as it appeared.
“Hey buddy,” he said, stepping a little closer to the hybrid, but making sure to stand far enough away, and move slowly, predictably, “You look like you had a bit of a rough time.”
The bunny glared at him from under his unkempt fringe and gave a small, jerky nod.
“You sure you don’t need any help?” Taeil leaned his shoulder on a shelf, “These cuts on your feet are looking pretty nasty, you should probably get them cleaned before you get an infection of something.”
The bunny looked down at his feet almost in surprise, as if he had only now remembered that he didn’t have any shoes on. He was most likely in shock, despite his clear state of alert - it probably didn’t even hurt much, yet.
“I, uh-...” he said, voice hoarse, “Yeah, I will. I guess.”
“There’s a lot of weird shit on the city floor,” Taeil spotted a supply box and sat down, trying to appear more laid back and relaxed than he actually was, “Dirt, glass, microplastic… I’d sanitize that thoroughly, if I were you.”
Another small nod.
“Not a good night to be out, either. Too chilly for my liking… At least it looks like you avoided the rain. That would suck.”
Another nod, a hint of a smile. The bunny took a sip from his plastic cup.
“I’m just here to warm up,” he said hesitantly, and shot a glance at the physicist behind the counter, “I’ll leave in a bit.”
“Do you have anywhere to go?” Taeil asked.
For a long moment the bunny stayed silent, and by the time he managed a soft “no”, Taeil had already known the answer.
“That doesn’t sound very good,” he said, “You sure you don’t want me to call the police? They know how to deal with such things. You’d be-...”
The bunny shook his head so aggressively he almost dropped his cup.
“No,” he said, “No police!”
“Alright, alright. No police then. Whatever you say,” Taeil raised his hands up slightly, “Do you have anyone I can call for you then? Anyone at all?”
The bunny shook his head again, looking even more lost now. He clearly had no idea what to do next.
Frankly - neither did Taeil.
He knew what the responsible thing would be: to call the authorities and then make sure the bunny stays here before they arrive. Seeing his state, they would probably make sure to keep him in the safety of the care system, while investigating whatever the fuck happened.
Who knew why the bunny didn’t want to go to the police? The reason may as well be something dumb. Maybe his neglectful family threatened him not to talk with any authorities, maybe his current or potential master told him that they were bad.
Or maybe, just maybe, that wasn't the case at all, and Taeil would do him a massive disservice by doing it.
“Well, you can’t stay here forever, buddy,” he said softly, “And if you’ll go wandering the streets like this, you’ll definitely get taken in.”
“I can… Hide?” the bunny argued weakly, “Like… Under the bridge? Or... Somewhere?”
“Buddy,” Taeil said, “I hate to break it to you, but all worthy hiding spots around here are probably already taken. Are you sure you want to pick a fight over one?”
“I can fight!”
“I didn’t ask if you could,” Taeil said patiently, “I asked if you wanted to.”
The bunny visibly deflated. He shook his head.
The more Taeil looked at him, the more convinced he got that it was actually the bunnies first night out on the street. He was stubborn and rather strong-willed, but clearly inexperienced. Whatever or whoever he was running away from - that was evidently his first time doing it.
Fuck, Taeil thought, I really shouldn’t be doing this.
But the bunny was shaking so badly, and the cuts on his feet looked really upsetting, and Taeil was a known softie, purposely staying away from all the darker, more apparent parts of Taeyong’s business. Now matter how much he tried to tell himself off for it, the decision was already made.
“You can come with me,” he said slowly, half believing his own words, “We’ll deal with your cuts and find you something more… Weather-appropriate to wear. And then I’ll put you on the phone with my hybrid friend. He was a runaway once, I’m sure he’ll be able to give you some good advice.”
The bunny studied his face with narrowed eyes for what felt like a full minute.
“...alright,” he said finally, “I’ll come with you. But if you try anything…”
He took his right hand from under the t-shirt, to reveal something that looked like a shard of colored glass or tile. His hand was bloody where he was holding it.
“Of course,” Taeil said, “Also, that’s one more cut to sanitize.”
The bunny looked down at his hand, then back up at Taeil.
“That’s not my blood,” he said softly, just loud enough for Taeil to hear.
That should have probably made Taeil much more worried than it did.
Because, well, the bunny in front of him had straight up confessed to hurting someone, whether another hybrid or a human, but instead of being concerned for his own safety, all Taeil could think of was how unsanitary it was to hold a bloody shard, and how scared the poor boy must have been.
Prey hybrids were generally peaceful creatures. Something very messed up should have happened for a bunny to willingly do harm to someone.
And this one looked so young too - Taeil’s heart was hurting at the thought.
“We can talk about this later,” he said, just as soft, “Or never, if that’s what you want. Let’s just make sure you don’t freeze to death right now, alright?”
He stood up and took his jacket off to put it over the bunny’s shoulders.
“...alright,” the bunny said.
He stood up as well, and it was only then when Taeil realized that the bunny was almost a head taller than him. He snickered, and the bunny smiled a little, barely a crook of his lips. It probably made him feel a little better to have that advantage.
"If you take my backpack, I can give you a piggy back ride," Taeil said, "It's not too far, but you really shouldn't be walking on the street like this."
The bunny nodded hesitantly.
He was very light and bony, shivering slightly, either from cold, or being nervous, or a mixture of both. Taeil hooked his hands under his knees, adjusting to the weight, and internally thanked Johnny for dragging him to the gym every now and again, because overwise he would be out of breath before they even reached the door.
He was halfway up the street when he remembered.
"Fuck, I was gonna buy some actual food for once... We'll have to made do with ramen and carrot sticks, at least until someone begins delivering."
"I love ramen," the bunny said softly, "Is it spicy?"
"Pretty spicy, yeah."
"Fuck yes."
Taeil snickered and picked up the pace. His back was beggining to protest the excersise, and he also had a hungry bunny to feed.
The morning had barely even started, and yet the day was already going completely off the rails.