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Jisung pawed at a wildflower, watching it sway back and forth. A warm, almost-spring breeze ruffled the grass, Jisung smacked in the face by one of the blades. It was peaceful, being in the woods just a short distance away from campus. Most people didn’t make their way there — at least, it was pretty empty when Jisung arrived. He let out a contented sigh, shutting his eyes for a moment.
Clearly, it was a bad moment to have done that, as when the world fell away into darkness, it also seemed to fall into silence, the air no longer flowing around him. He felt something creeping up behind him, a chill running down his spine.
But by the time his eyes snapped open, he had been lifted off of the ground, paws flailing as he squealed in surprise. Jisung squirmed, turning his head to see who — what — had picked him up, his blood running cold when he met the gaze of a feline, yellow pupils alongside a smattering of black spots on grey fur.
A snow leopard.
Jisung had been picked up by a snow leopard, who was undoubtedly about to eat him— wait!
His brain suddenly seemed to start working again. Jisung shifted back into his human form, forcing the snow leopard to drop him, its mouth unable to hold the body of an entire person.
He fell to the ground gracelessly, wincing as he felt the solid ground under his thighs. Jisung was lucky he hadn’t strayed far from his belongings, his fingers blindly reaching for the soft fabric of his hoodie. The moment his fingers twisted into the soft fabric, he pulled it over himself as a makeshift blanket, haphazardly blocking his bare torso as he scooted back, air making contact with the exposed skin of his back. He shivered, both from fear and from the temperature change.
Jisung had been raised in a community of mostly prey hybrids, the ratio of prey to predator hybrids around 7:3. It wasn’t to say that Jisung had never met a predator hybrid before — his senior who had taken him under his wing was a wolf hybrid himself.
In fact, he was known to be relatively feisty as a prey hybrid, often challenging predator hybrids without a second thought. But he had never had a first meeting like this, where they were both in their animal forms, the predator clearly intending to snatch him up and run away. His instincts had completely overtaken him, fear shooting through his entire body.
Jisung’s voice came out shaky, his round ears pressed flat into his hair. “Don’t… don’t eat me…”
He had no idea if hamsters were natural prey to snow leopards, and while he didn’t intend to find out, his body had completely locked up, unable to do anything but look at the snow leopard that was still staring him down, unmoving.
“Um…” Jisung flustered, pulling his legs closer as he tightened his grip on the hoodie, trying to make himself smaller.
The snow leopard finally blinked, tail lashing behind it as it stalked forward, an embarrassing yelp squeezing its way out of Jisung’s throat. He curled in on himself further, squeezing his eyes shut as he braced for impact.
But even as moments passed, he didn’t feel sharp claws sinking into his flesh. Jisung slowly blinked open one eye, trying to get a peek of what was happening. He flinched when he noticed that the snow leopard had come right by his side, much closer than it was when Jisung looked away.
It lowered its head and huffed, warm breath fanning over the side of Jisung’s face. Its ear flicked as it pressed its head to Jisung’s cheek, soft fur brushing his skin. Jisung tried to hold still as it nosed along his neck, although its damp nose caused him to shiver involuntarily.
When it made its way down to the junction of his neck and shoulder, it gave his skin a lick, Jisung jolting from the roughness of its tongue. He made a strangled noise, pulling away from the snow leopard. It drew back then, staring Jisung down with its intense gaze.
As if finally realizing that Jisung was scared, it meowed, the sound high and light. Jisung stared back at it, one hand subconsciously coming up to touch the spot that the snow leopard had licked.
The snow leopard huffed, shifting into a deferential position. Jisung watched it lower its haunches, settling its head onto its paws. Now, it didn’t seem so intimidating, despite the fact that it was clearly a predator.
“You… don’t want to hurt me?” Jisung asked tentatively.
The snow leopard’s ear flicked in response, a quiet purr rumbling in its throat. Like a flower in spring, Jisung’s body slowly unfurled, foot touching its paws. The snow leopard didn’t move, even as Jisung scooted closer to touch the feline’s head. In fact, when he approached, the snow leopard pressed its head into Jisung’s hand, almost asking to be pet.
Jisung offered it a small smile as he curled his fingers into its fur, watching the snow leopard close its eyes contentedly.
“You’re just a big kitty, aren’t you?” Jisung giggled, moving to scratch its cheek.
It turned to lick his palm before blinking back up at Jisung. Jisung opened his mouth, about to ask why the snow leopard hadn’t shifted back into their human form when there was a rustle off to the side. The snow leopard was up on its paws in an instant, suddenly turning its back to Jisung, tail brushing against the grass.
“Jisung!” A familiar voice called out, Jisung perking up at the voice. “Where are you?”
“Over here!” Jisung responded instinctively.
The snow leopard turned around then, closing the distance between them with a few steps. It blinked, then nosed Jisung’s cheek one more time before darting back into the cover of the trees, disappearing in an instant.
Jisung stared blankly after it, only jolting out of it when he heard the sound of leaves being crushed, signalling a person’s arrival. He shook his head to clear his thoughts, hastily putting on his hoodie and reaching for his pants.
What a strange encounter.
-
“You didn’t even see him and your instincts took over?” Seungmin raised a brow, leaning back in his chair.
“You wouldn’t get it,” Minho sniffed.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t,” Seungmin deadpanned. “I’m not a freak like you.”
To that, Minho just stared back at him. Seungmin coughed lightly. “Okay, I meant that I’m not a freak like you.”
A satisfied smirk snuck its way onto Minho’s face. “Seriously though,” Seungmin patted his lap, a streak of orange jumping onto his legs and settling down there. “Did you really think that a hamster of all hybrids wouldn’t be scared shitless upon seeing your animal form?”
Minho huffed. “He didn’t run away after shifting back, though.”
“Yeah, well. How is a hamster supposed to call the cops with its paws? Of course he’d have to turn back into a human first.” Seungmin narrowed his eyes.
Minho’s spotted tail smacked against the ground. “He didn’t call the cops on me, you dog.”
“Oh.” Seungmin made a face. “Then, go after him, I guess. It’s not every day you meet someone that matches your energy like that.”
Minho’s “going after” really just meant waiting for a chance to see the hamster hybrid again. In any case, he knew nothing more than the fact that his name was Jisung. Seungmin had been wrong about one thing — he had seen Jisung before making his move, even if what he saw was a bundle of white and orange nestled in the grass.
Maybe it was a form of cuteness aggression, but something in Minho’s brain went mine the second his gaze settled on the hamster. It was just… unfortunate that he wasn’t able to properly control himself, body moving his brain could catch up.
Although, he was lucky enough that just two or so weeks later, he ran into Jisung again. Though their campus wasn’t that big, it was big enough that he rarely ran into his friends or classmates by chance.
He had spotted Jisung through the glass of a library study room, head pillowed on his arms that were crossed on the table. He was asleep, chest rising and falling rhythmically, orange and white ears folded back on his head.
Without realizing it, he had crossed the library floor, stopping outside of the study room to take a closer look at Jisung. If he had half a brain cell more, he would have realized how stalker-ish he looked from an outsider's perspective. But his brain was too filled with the thoughts of how cute Jisung looked, completely drowning out the sound of footsteps approaching the door from the inside.
“Did you need something?” The door suddenly swung open, revealing a second person inside the study room.
Minho startled so badly that he shifted instinctively, a strangled meow coming from his throat as he looked up at the other.
“Uh.” The person who had opened the door — a wolf hybrid — stared blankly at Minho.
He meowed again, glancing over at where Jisung was still sleeping, face slack with sleep.
“You’re here for Jisung?” The wolf tilted his head, curiously.
Minho dipped his head once, tail sweeping the dust off of the ground. The wolf stared at him for a moment longer before pulling away from the door and allowing Minho in, picking up his clothes and shutting the door after Minho entered the room.
“Jisung-ah,” the wolf hybrid called out as he walked over, touching Jisung’s shoulder gently. “Someone’s here for you.”
A growl nearly tore its way out of Minho’s throat when the wolf hybrid touched Jisung, but he managed to suppress it at the last second. Goodness. When had he become so bad at controlling himself?
He padded over to Jisung’s chair, sitting down next to him. Snow leopards weren’t that big, so he only came up to the other’s thigh, his snout touching the side of the chair.
Jisung woke a moment later, blearily blinking away his sleepiness with a quiet “nn?”. Before the wolf hybrid could say anything, Jisung turned to see Minho staring back at him, and in turn, he was startled so badly that in the blink of an eye, a hamster was in the place of the person that was previously sitting on the chair.
The wolf hybrid froze, eyes darting between the two others in the room. “Now, this is a little awkward,” he laughed, even though it sounded a little forced.
Though it wasn’t usually a big deal, most hybrids had a “cooldown period” between transitions, which meant that they couldn’t shift from human to animal form and then back within a short amount of time.
So now, they were stuck there, two animals and a human.
“Well, since we’re here, I’ll introduce myself,” the wolf hybrid grinned. “You obviously already know Jisung here. I’m Chan; I’ve known Jisung since the tail end of his middle school years. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you before…?”
Minho wrapped his tail around his paws, tearing his gaze away from the hamster that had just struggled out of his clothes. Chan made some idle conversation, talking about how he and Jisung liked to work on projects together in their free time, whether or not it related to their majors.
While it was nice of Chan to ward off the awkward atmosphere, Minho was itching to transform back. Before long, Minho stood up, picking up his clothes that Chan had considerately brought inside for him. Curling up with it, he managed to dress himself in the moment that he shifted back — how it worked, he didn’t really know either. But in any case, he was back in his human form.
He cleared his throat awkwardly as he stood up, bowing his head to Chan in apology. Before he could even say anything, there was a high chirp followed by the rustling of clothes. Minho turned toward the noise, only to discover that the hamster that was previously there had disappeared. In his place was a small lump shifting under his clothes.
Confused, Minho tilted his head, fuzzy ears following the movement. “Ah?”
Chan laughed as he poked the lump, earning an indignant squeak in response. “Come on, aren’t you going to say hi to your friend?”
The hamster fell silent for a moment before he peeked out of the sleeve, blinking his eyes up at Minho. Minho offered his softest smile, and Jisung scrambled back under the cover of his fabric. A moment later, he shifted back, pulling the neckline of his hoodie up to hide the lower half of his face.
Instead introducing himself like any normal person would, the first words out of Minho’s mouth were — ”date me”.
His mind had run away with the thoughts over the past few days — the delusion of a domestic life with Jisung had snuck its way into his head. It was absolutely insane. He had only met Jisung once, and not even properly, yet his brain was filled with those thoughts, with the need to find him and hold him close.
The air stilled, Jisung’s hoodie slipping out of his fingers as he stared at Minho in shock.
“I— I, um…” Minho stammered, uncharacteristic of his normally-assured self.
“Uh, I’ll step outside for a moment.” Chan coughed, excusing himself, though neither seemed to notice at all as they continued to stare at each other.
Minho’s cheeks had been flooded with a shade of light pink, his tail swaying slowly on the ground. It had to be a good sign that Jisung was at least not vehemently denying him, right?
Jisung’s lips parted as he moved to speak, round ears wiggling in his permed hair. “Okay.”
Minho perked up, surprised that Jisung had agreed so easily. He took one step closer before Jisung spoke again. “But only after a month.”
“A… month?” Minho echoed.
“One month should be long enough for you to court me properly, right?” Jisung tucked a strand of his hair behind his ear, looking away shyly. “After all, I don’t even know your name.”
-
“You said yes?!” Changbin yelled, Jisung’s phone slipping out of his hands. “Are you insane?”
“He’s been nice to me!” Jisung pouted, drawing his knees closer to his chest.
“Yeah, so far!” Changbin shot back.
To say the past week wasn’t eventful was a lie. After the snow leopard — Minho, he learned — had asked him out, Jisung decided to go the irrational route and accept. An impulsive decision, Chan had chastised after Minho left.
Jisung hadn’t been too big on the dating scene. He had a month-long relationship with a girl in high school, but the furthest they got was holding hands and nervous pecks on the cheek. Jisung couldn’t say that he wasn’t excited by the prospect of being courted by an older man.
Although he had been startled by Minho’s animal appearance during their first meeting, it quickly melted away into curiosity. Jisung almost felt a sense of loss when Minho bounded away, somewhat regretful he wasn’t even able to get his name.
So when Minho came back and presented himself on a silver platter, Jisung really had no reason to say no. After all, Minho really had been treating him nicely. Just three days after his proposition, Minho brought Jisung to a homely ramen restaurant, the two of them talking about anything and everything, clicking immediately.
Despite his distant exterior, Jisung found him to be quite warm and even cute.
“Did you put this in my bag?” Jisung showed Minho the laminated daisy bookmark that he had found a few days earlier.
Minho’s ears immediately twitched on his head, and he looked away guiltily. “That day I first saw you, you were in a field of daisies, so when I saw another one, I was reminded of you…”
Jisung’s cheeks bunched up as he smiled, butting his head against Minho’s shoulder. “Aw, thank you, hyungie. I’ll be sure to use it a lot!”
Minho’s tail flicked over Jisung’s waist, a soft and warm weight settling over him.
After a beat of silence, Jisung tilted his head up to look at Minho. “Why me?” He asked softly.
“Hm?” Minho looked at him.
“Why did you want to… date me?” Jisung bit on his lip out of nervousness, but he really wanted to know the answer.
“I… I don’t know,” Minho admitted truthfully. “When I saw you, this feeling came over me and all I could think about was making you mine.”
Jisung blinked, not expecting that to be Minho’s answer. “What,” Jisung playfully swatted at Minho’s arm. “My little hamster form was that captivating?”
“Maybe,” Minho huffed with amusement. “It was a good idea to listen to my instincts, though.”
“Yeah?” Jisung nuzzled his head onto Minho’s shoulder, leaning his weight back onto him. “I think so too.”
-
“It’s been a month,” Jisung hummed, leaning against the kitchen counter.
“Hm? Oh, has it?” Minho looked over from where he was stirring the curry, making sure it didn’t burn on the stove.
Within just four weeks, they had become inseparable, Chan and Changbin joking about how he had gained a scary cat shadow. Now, whenever he was free, Jisung would stay at Minho’s place, whether it was to do homework or just to hang out.
Minho would let him stay, making him meals without batting an eye, even letting him sleep over if Jisung was too tired. But they had never gone past hand holding and casual touches; Minho had been a stickler to his rules.
“After you make your decision, Jisung-ah,” Minho would chide, tapping Jisung’s lips as he pouted.
Jisung watched as Minho turned off the fire, setting the curry aside to cool before turning to him. “Do you have your answer, jagi?”
Jisung nodded. “I’ve decided I’ll say yes… on one condition.”
“Wasn’t your condition to wait a month?” Minho tilted his head.
“Um… originally, yes! But I added one more just now!” Jisung pushed himself off of the counter to close the distance between them.
“What’s this condition of yours, then?” Minho, already used to his antics, simply gave him a fond smile.
“Let me touch your ears.” Jisung said seriously, Minho tilting his head in surprise.
“My… ears?” Minho echoed, confused.
Jisung nodded eagerly. “If you say no, it might really be a dealbreaker for me.”
Minho blinked rapidly, before huffing with amusement. “Fine. But only if you let me touch yours back.”
“Deal!” Jisung didn’t even finish speaking before launching himself into Minho’s arms, the snow leopard’s tail coming to settle on the back of his calf.
Minho’s hands settled on Jisung’s waist as the prey hybrid reached up, threading his fingers into Minho’s hair and massaging the ears at the top of his head. Minho started to purr subconsciously, the rumbling making Jisung giggle as Minho tightened his hold.
“Does that feel good, my big kitty?” Jisung teased, rubbing it between his thumb and index finger.
“Mm,” Minho gave him an affirmative hum.
After playing around with his ears for a solid minute, Jisung finally let his hands drop onto Minho’s shoulders. “Okay, your tur—”
It was only then that he realized how close they were, and how deep the affection was in Minho’s eyes. Jisung swallowed harshly, words trapped in his throat as he stared back at Minho, their breathing being the only sound that broke the silence in the room.
“Jisung-ah.” Minho murmured, his tail shifting where it was curled around Jisung’s leg.
“Uh…?” Jisung blinked up at Minho. Even though their height difference wasn’t that big, it was still enough for Jisung to have to lift his head slightly when they were standing so close.
Minho’s gaze dipped down to his lips before flickering back to his eyes. “What’s your answer?”
He rubbed circles into Jisung’s clothed waist, the only indication that Minho was slightly nervous. If he was in any other situation, Jisung would’ve teased him for it, but under the snow leopard hybrid’s intense gaze pinning him down, he could only give an honest answer, the hamster instincts in him trembling.
“Yes,” Jisung breathed out, his hands twitching where they were resting on Minho’s shoulder. “Of course it’s yes, hyung.”
The intensity in Minho’s gaze lessened then, although he didn’t make any move to pull away. Instead, he leaned in closer, lips nearly brushing Jisung’s. “Then this must be okay now, right?”
Jisung couldn’t hold back his smile. “Yeah,” he whispered, closing the distance between them.
-
Jisung sprawled out with his eyes shut, enjoying the warmth of the sun. Beneath him, the ground was soft, shifting under him… what?
He blinked open his eyes, looking down to see an expanse of silver and black. Ah, right — he had begged Minho to carry him around on his head so he could “see” what the world was like from Minho’s point of view.
But he had fallen asleep on Minho’s head instead. Sue him, Minho’s head was a comfortable place to be on! Minho’s ears twitched as he felt Jisung’s little paws shift on his head.
He paused for a moment, Jisung squeaking on top of him. Minho huffed, tail swishing behind him. Even though they couldn’t really “talk” as animals, Jisung was still able to understand that Minho was just checking on him, wondering if anything was wrong.
Jisung settled back down, hoping it was enough of a sign for Minho to realize that he was fine. It seemed the snow leopard had taken it that way; just a moment later, he started moving again.
Their destination was the school grounds, out on the large lawns that were scattered across campus. Jisung sat up on his hind legs, surveying their surroundings as Minho walked forward. Now that Jisung was awake, he could really see the difference. He was rarely in his animal form out on the streets, as it was way too easy for someone to accidentally harm him, or startle because they didn’t expect something on the ground to move.
On Minho’s head, he didn’t have to worry about tripping in the grass or almost getting run over by bikes or other people. He lay flat on Minho’s head like a pancake, curiously taking everything in. Honestly, the view itself was pretty similar to Jisung’s while he was in human form, just lower to the ground.
The other thing was that people would make a path for Minho, most hybrids unwilling to block his path. Not that people would run into Jisung on purpose, but they would always expect him to be the one that moved out of the way.
In conclusion, it was a pretty nice experience.
He only realized they had come to a stop when Minho lowered his head, Jisung sliding off with no tact. He landed on his back, paws flailing in the air until Minho pushed him over with his nose, huffing in what could only be amusement.
Jisung gave him his best glare, although he was sure his hamster eyes were not very intimidating. Minho just settled down on the grass, nosing the side of Jisung’s flank. Jisung squeaked indignantly, scuttling backward to avoid his fur getting even more wet.
Minho decided to stop moving then, shutting his eyes and basking in the sunlight. He had told Jisung earlier that Jisung could do whatever, and Minho would bring them back whenever he felt like it. Equivalent exchange, or whatever.
After a moment of stillness, Jisung decided to pluck a few blades of grass, starting to gather it around one of Minho’s front paws. Nesting was common behavior for hamsters, although it normally involved something softer than grass. But Jisung didn’t exactly have that option now, so he diligently gathered what he could, sprinkling a few flowers into the mix.
Minho stayed still as Jisung fussed about, managing to pile enough grass to form a small circle before flopping onto Minho’s paw. Minho’s tail flicked behind him, coming around to settle onto Jisung’s back. Although most cat’s tails weren’t long enough to do that, as a snow leopard, Minho didn’t have that problem.
Jisung was completely worn out from exams, so even though he had already napped on the way there, he quickly fell asleep again, carpeted in the warmth of Minho’s tail.
Changbin had once joked about how easy it was to kidnap Jisung in his animal form, seeing as he was just the size of a human’s palm. And while Jisung had experienced the terror of that feeling when Minho had first approached him, what he was feeling now was different.
He felt his body get picked up, teeth gentle on the back of his neck. Sleepily, he blinked open his eyes, his body swaying in the air. But this time, instead of panic, he just lay there limply, letting himself be carried.
It was pretty obvious that the one carrying him was Minho himself; there was practically no chance that anyone would try to steal him while Minho was right there, whether he was in animal or human form.
The last time someone tried to do that, Minho had nearly growled at them, slinging a possessive arm over Jisung’s waist as his tail curled around his ankle. Minho’s ears had flattened until it was hidden in his hair, his demeanor uninviting.
“What’s going on here?” He had asked, staring directly at the other person.
Jisung couldn’t really remember what had happened after that, except the fact that Minho was practically glued to his side for the rest of the night. Jisung had found it kind of cute, cuddling up to him and promising that he wasn’t going anywhere as Minho buried his head into Jisung’s shoulder, trying to scent him in human form.
… All that to say, Jisung was perfectly safe as Minho trotted away.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a cat hybrid staring at them, blond hair falling over his shoulders. He looked torn between chasing after them and just letting them go, although in the end, he didn’t follow.
“Did something happen?” Jisung asked as he tugged his shirt on, glancing at Minho who was busy with his phone.
“No,” Minho shrugged. “Just wanted to go back.”
“Oh,” Jisung crossed the room to sit down next to him, immediately settling his head onto Minho’s lap, the other not even flinching. “Okay.”
“Still tired?” Minho used his free hand to card through Jisung’s hair, massaging his ears.
“A little,” Jisung hummed, melting into the touch.
“Go sleep then,” Minho’s tail flicked onto Jisung’s waist. “Hyung will be here when you wake up.”
Jisung made a noise of assent, idly grabbing at Minho’s tail and letting his fingers sink into the soft fur. As he fell asleep, he felt Minho shift slightly before a warmth settled over his torso.
-
“So,” Jisung slid into the booth, purposely squishing into Minho’s side.
Across from him, Felix and Chan looked like they had just stumbled into an interrogation.
Chan sighed, glancing at Felix before turning his attention back to Jisung. “Yes, Jisungie, we’re dating now.”
“I told you!” Jisung squealed, shaking Minho’s shoulder.
Minho just gave him an amused smile, hand settling onto Jisung’s knee. “Mm, my jagi is so smart.”
“You have to tell me everything,” Jisung demanded.
Felix giggled, running his hand through Chan’s twitchy tail. “Well, pretty much started with you, you know?”
Jisung nodded, hand reaching for Minho’s under the table, squeezing it out of excitement. Minho already knew how the story started, as Jisung had brought it up at least twice before, but if it made him happy, Minho really didn’t mind hearing it once more.
Felix cleared his throat then. “So, after that…”