Chapter Text
In all of the years that Jisung has known Chan and Felix, nothing has ever happened as bad as this. This tragedy is unmatched at all levels. Worse than surprise vet visits. Worse than when he tried to ride a bike.
“Come on, sweetheart.” Chan crouches down, trying to get Jisung to look at him. He lifts his chin with his fingers, forcing eye contact.
“Jisung… Sweetheart, I promise it won’t be that bad.”
“It will be that bad!” Jisung argues, jerking away from Chan’s touch with a huffy little sound. “I don’t want a stupid cat around here!”
Felix walks in, wiping his hands on his pants. “Is he still fussing about this?”
Chan sighs and rocks back on his heels and up to stand. “Yeah, he is. Baby, are you sure? What if he really isn’t ready for this? Are we even ready for this? And if I’m having my surgery tomorrow-“
“We’ve talked about this,” Felix says, voice turning firm but not unkind. Jisung doesn’t think that Felix had the ability to be anything but kind. “And he needs a home. And you’re just getting your wisdom teeth out, it’s not like you’ll be bedridden for a month.”
“Still,” Chan unsurely says. “We could take him home next week instead. I’m sure that if we called…”
“It’s either now or our adoption offer is withdrawn.” Felix shakes his head and spares a glance at Jisung. “Jisung and Minho will be fine. Jisung is just fine with Hongjoong and Seonghwa’s hybrids, so I don’t see why he’ll have an issue with Minho once they meet.”
Minho is the stupid cat-hybrid that Felix and Chan decided that they needed. It’s utterly ridiculous, because Jisung is perfect. Why would someone need more than Jisung?
“Come on.” Chan tugs on one of Jisung’s floppy ears, standing up straight. “Let’s go meet your new friend.”
“Not my friend,” Jisung grumbles, but he still follows them out to the car. He gets buckled into his special car seat that he needs help to get out of, because you throw yourself out the window one time and no one trusts you anymore.
“Aw, can’t you be nice?” Felix pouts as he checks that Jisung can’t wiggle free. “I bet that Minho will like you.”
Obviously. Because Jisung is fantastic.
But that’s not the point. Jisung won’t like this weird cat-hybrid because ew, cats.
They arrive at the shelter, Felix giving Jisung his hand to hold as they wander inside. Chan talks with the receptionist for a minute before they’re led to the back.
Jisung immediately digs his heels in. “No. I- I don’t want a stupid cat!”
“Jisung,” Chan lowly says. “We’ve talked about this several times already. We’re taking Minho home, and you need to be nice to him.”
“Aren’t you worried that he’ll be mean to me?” Jisung clutches tightly at Felix’s hand.
Felix laughs lightly, not answering his question. He squeezes Jisung’s hand and tugs him into the room ahead. Inside is a bed with fluffy blankets, a table and chair, and the hybrid himself.
Minho.
He’s slim, with black hair and cat ears poking out of his neat style. His brown eyes narrow on Jisung before he smiles brightly at Chan and Felix, adjusting his shirt.
Jisung instantly hates him.
“Why don’t you say hi, sweetheart?” Chan gently suggests to Jisung. “We have to fill out the final paperwork, but we’ll be back in a minute. Be good.”
Jisung scowls, his ire fading momentarily as Felix kisses his forhead. But it’s back in full force when his owners slip out of the room, leaving him with the cat hybrid. He turns to face him, finding him sprawled across the bed.
“So…” Minho drawls, resting his chin on the palm of his hand. “You must be their old pet.”
Jisung bristles at that, because the phrasing is odd. They won’t get rid of him for Minho, will they? No, that’s just ridiculous.
“Puppy hybrid?” Minho says, not really asking. It’s obvious by Jisung’s floppy ears. Also when you get to know him, it’s even more obvious. He tends to be… excitable.
“You smell weird,” Jisung bluntly says, wrinkling his nose. It’s a lie, since Minho’s scent reminds Jisung of hot chocolate. Not weird, but he would never admit it.
Minho grins maliciously. “You smell delicious.”
Jisung frowns, because that’s odd. It’s a very odd thing to say to a stranger, especially in the context where one of them isn’t a juicy turkey. This Minho is one strange hybrid.
“In fact, I could just eat you up,” Minho purrs, sprinting up to his feet. He approaches, and Jisung nervously presses his back to the wall. “You’d let me, wouldn’t you? Or would you be a bad puppy and go tattle to our owners?”
Jisung opens his mouth, only to find he’s currently incapable of making sound. He splutters nonsense for a solid two seconds before the door swings open and Minho glides away before anyone notices anything.
“All done,” Chan announces, giving his husband a quick peck on the cheek. “Minho, why don’t you get your things? We’ll buy you things of course, but bring anything that you like. You’ll get your own room at home.”
Minho nods, walking to the bed. He gathers his blankets into his arms before turning around. “I’m ready to go.”
Jisung whimpers and clutches Felix’s arm. “He’s weird and I don’t like him! He wants to eat me!
“Jisung,” Felix chides, expression souring. “Be nice. You haven’t even given him a chance yet. And cats don’t even eat dogs.”
Minho pokes Jisung’s back, causing the puppy-hybrid to jump. “Here,” Minho says, holding out one of his blankets. “It’s for you.”
Jisung’s face pulls together in displeasure. “I don’t want it.”
“Jisung,” Chan warningly says, crossing his arms. He arches his brow in a I’ll spank you if I need to look. “Your new friend is giving you a gift, which you should accept.”
Jisung reluctantly takes it, huffing as he trails behind to the car. The workers all say bye to Minho, wiggling their fingers at him. Minho’s things are deposited into the back of the car, and he takes the seat behind the driver’s side where Chan sits.
“Okay, sweetheart,” Felix lightly says, nudging Jisung towards his car seat. “In you go.”
Jisung pauses, glancing at Minho. “We only have one car seat.”
“That’s because Minho hasn’t proved that he’s a danger in the car,” Chan chimes in from the front. “He hasn’t tried to jump out of a moving vehicle before.”
“That was one time,” Jisung grumbles, climbing into the car. Felix buckles him in, while Minho watches curiously. “I’m fine! If Minho doesn’t need it, then I don’t need it!”
“I think it’s cute,” Minho comments, eyes gleaming. When Felix turns away to get into his seat, he smirks at Jisung. “A cute puppy.”
Jisung growls, earning himself a stern reprimand from Chan. He pouts the whole way home, refusing to look at Minho. He stares out the window, imagining how sweet it will be when they finally return him. The cat hybrid won’t be a good fit into their family.
That night, he’s sent to bed and fussed over by Felix as his new blanket is draped over him. It smells like Minho, but Jisung hates it. He spends an hour tossing and turning before ripping it away and throwing it at his door with an audible thump.
Chan peeks his head in a minute later with a frown. “Jisung, what was that noise?”
“The stupid blanket,” Jisung grumbles, waving a hand at the thing sitting uselessly on the floor. “It’s so dumb and I hate it.”
Chan sighs and steps inside, shutting the door behind him. “Jisung, I’m sorry that we didn’t give you a lot of time to adjust to the idea, and I’m sorry that you don’t like Minho.”
Jisung pouts, hearing the but coming before it even slips out of Chan’s mouth. It always ruins every sentence ever.
“But he lives here now,” Chan continues, “and you need to understand that. He gave you such a nice gift too, and you threw it? That isn’t very nice, Jisung.”
The puppy-hybrid scowls and sits up in bed, kicking his feet in irritation. “But it smells like him!”
“And maybe he’s trying to be friendly,” Chan suggests as he walks over and sits on the edge of the mattress. “Give him a chance, Jisung, and maybe you’ll get a brand new best friend.”
Jisung groans and sinks into his pillows as Chan lies the blanket over his, smoothing out the wrinkles. He’s loathe to admit it, but the scent is better now that he’s a bit sleepier. It sinks into his senses and helps ease him into his dreams.
He is completely distraught the next day when Chan and Felix have to go out. Chan has to get his wisdom teeth removed, which means that Felix will be driving him.
“No!” Jisung grabs Chan’s hand, tugging him back inside. “Don’t leave me with him! I don’t like him!”
“We’ve talked about this several times now,” Chan chides. “And my mouth hurts, sweetheart. Do you really want hyung to be in pain?”
“No,” Jisung mumbles dejectedly, hanging his head in defeat. “I’m sorry, hyung.”
“It’s okay.” Chan brushes his lips against Jisung’s forehead, causing the hybrid to lean into the touch. He’s definitely not touch-starved, but he’s always looking for more. More touch, more affection, more love. And even though Minho could give at least the touch part of that to him, he doesn’t want it from him.
“We need to get going,” Felix says, standing in the doorway with the keys. “Minho, you’re sure that you’re fine being left so soon? After we got Jisung we didn’t leave the house for a week…”
“I’m much more independent than the puppy,” Minho assures him. Jisung can’t help but feel insulted at his words, turning his head to check the cat-hybrid’s expression. It’s infuriatingly blank except for a polite smile pasted on.
“Okay.” Felix takes a deep breath and squeezes Chan’s shoulder. “Um, we’ll be back by around one, but there’s lots of stuff to eat around here, and we have Netflix and everything. Jisung will answer any questions you have.”
Jisung hesitates as his owners turn to leave, clearing his throat. “Chan-hyung… you’ll be okay?”
Chan smiles softly, nodding gently. “Of course, sweetheart. Do you know how many people get their wisdom teeth out? It’s so common, and I’ll be completely fine. I’ll just be an out of it when we get back because of the anesthesia.”
“And Minho will cuddle you while we’re gone,” Felix adds, grinning brightly. “Now come give us a kiss before we go.”
Jisung scurries closer, giving each of them a kiss on the cheek before winding his arms around Chan as tightly as he can. Maybe if he holds on enough, Chan won’t go.
“Sweetheart,” Felix murmurs, rubbing Jisung’s back. “He’ll be fine, we promise. This is a really common surgery.”
Jisung still doesn’t let go. Chan can’t leave, he just can’t. Not to go have surgery.
“Minho?” Chan reluctantly says. “Can you help, please?”
Minho wordlessly unlatches Jisung, carrying him away so that their owners can make their escape. Jisung bursts into tears, hating himself for crying in front of him, but unable to stop himself.
“He’ll be fine,” Minho says, sounding not at all sympathetic to Jisung’s plight. He really is the bane of Jisung’s existence. He needs to go.
“I hate you!” Jisung yells, pushing away from the cat-hybrid’s grasp. “I hate you! You- You’re stupid, and you smell bad, and you’re the worst! You don’t need a car seat either! I don’t need one!”
“You jumped out the car while it was driving.” Minho sits down on the couch, keeping Jisung on his lap. He grabs the remote and switches the television on without further comforting him. “You need the car seat so that you don’t hurt yourself, and it’s their job to protect you.”
Jisung sobs miserably, burying his face into Minho’s chest. “H- hyung’s gonna- gonna have surgery and- and-“
“And be fine,” Minho finishes for him. He turns on a comedy and leans back against the couch cushions. “Settle, puppy. You’re squirming all over my lap.”
Jisung hiccups, rubbing his eyes as he peels himself away. There’s a noticeable wet spot on Minho’s shirt, and Jisung can’t even find it in himself to feel guilty.
They sit and watch the show for a while until Jisung starts to feel a bit better. Then he stands up, glaring at Minho as he straightens his shirt out. “I hate you.”
Minho smiles as if they’re sharing a secret, eyes focused intently on Jisung’s face. It’s creepy. “I know that. But you’ll change your mind.”
“No I won’t!” Jisung snaps, resisting the urge to punch his stupid face. He would definitely be punished for that. Instead he flicks one of the cat ears perched atop of Minho’d head, knowing full-well that they’re sensitive. It will hurt, and Jisung will have his sweet, sweet revenge.
But Minho moans, lips parting as he hips give a miniature buck up. Heat floods Jisung’s face and he rushes off to his room.
“Where’re going, puppy?” Minho drawls from the living room. Jisung glances back to see him smirking lazily, sprawled out with his arm thrown over the back of the couch. “You don’t wanna play?”
Jisung snarls as he marches off to his room, slamming his door pettily. He knows that the sound reverberates through the house and a sense of pride rises up in him.
“I have a feeling that certain owners would love to hear about this behaviour!” Minho yells, smug and arrogant.
Jisung will make sure his displeasure is known if it’s the last thing he does. Felix and Chan will rue the day that they let a cat-hybrid into their home.