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Minho had a problem.
Or well, Minho had many problems. He was trying to pay off his house while not overworking himself, he hadn't shifted into his animal form for almost two weeks now and his instincts felt like they were going to explode, and one of the dance instructors quit at his dance studio the other day so he had to cover the man's classes until he hired someone new, just to name a few.
But those problems he could deal with, the real problem was weirder. For weeks now, every time Minho walked under a tree in his local park, an acorn would fall on his head.
It was getting so annoying that he started avoiding walking under trees entirely. It was so weird, Minho would sit on a bench to see multiple different people walk under a tree and nothing would happen. Not a single nut fell from the tree. But the moment he stood up and walked under that same plant, one fell on his head.
He first thought that it had maybe something to do with the fact that he was a cat hybrid, not that that made sense but still. That was until he actually sat down and watched a whole group of cats, dogs, wolves, and ducks walk under the tree. He had made a habit out of watching the trees in his free time, trying to look for a sign that it was not just him. But again, nothing happened. Minho was tired of it, so he stood up to walk away, and just as he set a step forward. Another acorn fell with a plop on his head.
He crouched down to take the nut, there was nothing special about it. He pocketed it in his jacket and proceeded to walk away, by the time he was out of the park there were another 5 acorns that made their way down to his head. He was cursed, Minho decided. It was getting so bad that people around the park started noticing. He didn't know what he had done to piss off some nature spirit or whatever gods existed but there was no way that this was a coincidence. He sighed and went home. Maybe he should spend his next few hours in his cat form relaxing by the fireplace, that would do him good.
The next time that Minho went to the park was after a long day of teaching, he had finally found a new dance instructor who could teach his intermediate classes. Hyunjin was a fine dude and an even better dancer. The moment the boy had walked in his interview Minho knew that he was the right person for the job. He and the ferret hybrid had gotten along quite well, the last time he had built such a connection with an employee so quickly was when Felix first joined the little dance studio. Due to Minho getting his normal hours back, he had planned an extra lesson for his advanced class which had run late.
It was about 7 pm and he had just eaten in a nearby sushi restaurant when he decided to visit his park again, maybe the gods would let him rest this time he had thought naively. It turned out that they would not in fact let him rest.
After finding his favorite bench occupied, he went to sit on one of the others. This was a problem because the occupied bench was the only one in the park that didn’t have any trees hovering over it. The moment he sat down, there was a familiar feeling of an acorn hitting his head. Minho instinctively looked up, he found himself staring at a normal oak tree. Being fed up with the constant head injuries, Minho searched in the pocket of his jacket and put his hand on a familiar nut. He then threw it as hard as he could to the spot where the acorn had just fallen from. He first thought that he must have missed, but then he saw a small red flash rustle through the tree.
There was a squirrel .
There was a squirrel in the tree.
This squirrel was the reason that nuts had been hitting his head for weeks.
A combination of the realization and the running prey, made his instincts act up and before he knew it, Minho was in his cat form chasing the small rodent through the trees. He must admit that it wasn't the best choice he'd ever made, but in his defense, his mind was in other places at the moment. The squirrel was very fast and definitely had more knowledge about moving through the trees, but Minho was determined and in a total predator headspace.
The cat eventually caught up to the squirrel and grabbed him which resulted in both of them falling out of the tree. Minho landed on his paws and made sure that the small animal hadn't been hurt. The cat then proceeded to slowly approach the red fluffy animal. The squirrel looked so scared that Minho almost felt bad for it, except for the fact that it had been dropping nuts on his head for weeks. So he didn't feel that bad. The squirrel tried to scramble away but Minho had his paw on his body in a second. He locked eyes with the scared animal and then the squirrel shifted .
He was a shifter, the animal who had been dropping acorns on his head wasn't an animal at all.
It was a hybrid.
The boy before him was around Minho’s age, he had clearly spent most of the time in his animal form, the boy’s clothes were a bit too small and had stains all over them. The hybrid looked at Minho with his big round eyes and cute chubby cheeks. Two small red ears were peeking out of his soft-looking hair, and he had a big fluffy tail that was flicking nervously as he looked at Minho approaching. The cat hybrid decided to also shift back into his human form, and the moment that his body started to shift, the young boy started to speak.
“Please don’t hurt me! I’m sorry!” He said fearfully as Minho looked at him with an intense gaze. The boy was clearly not used to speaking, or he was in the middle of an anxiety attack, Minho couldn’t really tell.
“Care to explain why you’ve been dropping acorns on my head for literal weeks?” Minho asked in a dangerous tone, looking suspiciously as the boy's cute cheeks flushed soft pink.
“Oh, well they’re gifts.” He softly whispered, looking embarrassed. Minho was confused as to what was going on. The boy refused to make eye contact with him.
“You’ve been dropping nuts on my head, as a gift? ” Now the boy’s whole face was almost as red as his ears. Minho was just so confused. What did that even mean? What was happening?
“Yeah well I guess it wouldn’t look like that, it was more instinct than anything anyway, you know, every time I saw you I just felt like I needed to give you a part of my winter stock. I just needed to provide-” The boy was quietly explaining before he cut himself off. It answered none of the questions that Minho had, actually, it raised even more questions.
“Why?” He asked, desperately wanting to understand what the other boy was saying.
“uhbecauseithinkyourpretty-” The squirrel quickly mumbled.
“I’m sorry I didn’t catch that.” Minho looked expectantly at the other boy, wanting to know what the other was so embarrassed about, or better yet, what the actual reason for the whole nut-throwing thing was.
“Because I think you’re pretty!” He exclaimed, immediately curling in on himself in an awkward way to avoid eye contact.
“...”
“You’ve been throwing nuts at me, because you think I’m pretty? The timid boy nodded slightly, he was shaking a little and Minho let out a snort. The boy looked up at the noise, thinking that Minho was making fun of him but instead, the cat hybrid looked at him with an endearing smile. Sure the permanent bruise on his head wasn’t fun but what could he do when the boy before him was just so incredibly cute?
“Next time you want to give me a gift, don’t throw it at my head, okay?” The other boy looked at him with wide eyes. His chubby cheeks formed a small dimple when he smiled back.
Cute.
“Next time?” The boy asked with an adorable frown like he couldn’t figure out why Minho would want to talk to him again.
“Well yes if we’re going to go on a date, you should actually give me the gift, don’t you think?” He saw the hybrid’s bright doe eyes widen and smiled, this boy was already making him addicted to him.
“Uh- uhm.. Yes! Of course!” He rushed out.
“I’m Jisung, by the way!” The cute hybrid smiled excitedly at him.
“Nice to meet you Jisung, I’m Minho.”