Chapter Text
Jisung sat on the ground in a secluded corner of what looked to be a remodeled warehouse that was bustling with mainly hybrids but also some humans. He had his legs pulled close to himself, hugging them, his once fluffy cat tail pressed between his torso and his legs. One of his cat ears was pressed close to his head, the other standing alert, eyes darting around the room periodically.
The day before, the humans Jisung had stayed with had been arrested for hybrid abuse or something of the like. The police officers who had taken his humans into custody had also taken his collars, diminishing his status from ‘belonging’ to ‘available’. Some care worker had brought him to some overcrowded facility and Jisung hadn’t even tried to follow the explanation what it was for. It seemed like somewhat of a homeless shelter, offering refuge to hybrids and humans alike. The people working there had told him to come to this place, so here he was.
Jisung ducked further into the shadows when a human in a white medical coat approached the corner he was sitting in, but luckily, the person was turning to someone else. Jisung’s eyes flickered around the room once more. Upon his arrival, he had been led to some kind of medical care section where notably mostly humans were working. Against another wall, tables had been erected and food was handed out by what appeared to be both humans and hybrids. Small clusters of chairs and makeshift tables were scattered around that area as well. Jisung had also spotted a variety of information booths on his way to the medical section: something about job opportunities, about hybrid rights…
The majority of hybrids seemed to use this place as some kind of get-together, either standing in groups or sitting in the meal area. And they were loud. Everyone seemed to be talking all at once, laughing, squealing, screaming—
“Hi.”
Jisung curled himself into an even tighter ball when a human with a white coat came to a stand right in front of him. Jisung’s second ear pressed against his head as well and he pointedly stared at the ground, hating the way his body started trembling immediately. He should have never stayed in this section, but the human volunteer who had greeted him at the entrance had led him here right away. Of course he couldn’t have opposed them.
The human in front of him squatted down, presumably in an attempt to make eye contact, but Jisung continued to stare at the dirty gray ground. He clenched his teeth to prevent them from clattering, breathing even flatter. Why couldn’t he make himself invisible?
“Hey,” the human attempted again, his voice softer this time. “I’m not here to hurt you. My name is Kim Seungmin, I’m with the medical team. Not quite a doctor yet, but working on that step. What’s your name?”
Jisung’s heart started to race with their proximity and he tightened his grip on his arms to the point where it hurt. He couldn’t hide the shaking anymore, couldn’t hide further, couldn’t get away.
Please, please, please, just leave.
“It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me your name. What are you here for? Will that be more comfortable for you to answer?” the not-yet-doctor continued his questions, still not leaving.
Jisung squeezed his eyes close, trying to will himself away, wishing he could just disappear. But it never worked. It never had and it never would.
The human let out a quiet sigh. “That’s okay, let’s try something else then. I’ll be back shortly, okay?”
Please leave and never come back, Jisung begged in his head.
Quiet rustling revealed that the human rose to his feet and Jisung counted the other’s steps to ten before he slowly dared to open his eyes again. The gray floor in front of him was empty. What a relief!
His grip loosened, the muscles unable to do what he wanted them to, unable to keep up his feigned sense of security and control. The ground was hard, uncomfortable, and so, so cold. Jisung was cold. He pulled his arms between his torso and legs, hiding his hands in the sweater sleeves that were too wide for his frame. One hand moved to pet his tail, but the self-soothing gesture had long lost its effect, no matter how well he avoided the bald and wounded patches all over his tail.
Steps approached, two people this time, and Jisung let out a quiet whimper. Why couldn’t they just leave him alone?
One of them gasped, then hurried closer, dropping to his knees. He wasn’t wearing a white coat, but he smelled so strongly of food that a wave of nausea made Jisung’s stomach churn.
“What happened to you, darling?” Two hands appeared in Jisung’s vision, hovering over his knees before seeming to think better of it. One of the hands was pulled back while the other gently touched his upper arm.
Jisung let out another whimper, hugging his arm closer to himself, shifting a little to get away from the touch.
“Darling, don’t be afraid of me.” No one had ever called him darling, especially not with such a gentle tone. “Minnie asked me to come over for mental support. I’m like you, okay?” A tail appeared in Jisung’s vision, so fluffy that he wanted to cry. “No need to be scared.”
Jisung very, very slowly raised his eyes from the ground and the tail to a form clad in simple jeans and a black T-shirt, staying somewhere on the other hybrid’s shoulder. In his periphery, he saw a beige collar, a shock of blond hair with two ginger-cream-colored cat ears perking out, and a face with eyes trained on him and lips turning into a smile.
“There we go, darling!” The male hybrid’s eyes turned into crescents as his smile brightened even more. “My name’s Felix. I usually help distribute food, but I’m sure you already figured that out. Minnie said you seemed very scared, so he asked me to come over. What’s your name?”
Jisung lowered his gaze again, pointedly staring at the gray floor. He couldn’t help but feel a little more at ease with the other hybrid around, but knowing that he was there for the human was enough to keep that comfort down. Were they collaborating against him?
The stranger seemed to accept his silence when he said, “I’ll just keep calling you darling then.” He finally stopped touching him, but it was only to hold out that same hand. “Wanna come with me? If you came here… Wait, did you come here or were you brought over?”
“Brought,” Jisung whispered, wincing at the raspy sound of his voice, clearing his throat. How long had it been since he had really talked? Even the police officers hadn’t asked for a statement from him, making him wonder once again why they had come to the house. Had a neighbor tipped them off?
“That’s okay. But if someone brought you over and you’ve stayed until now, let’s just get this over with, okay?”
He shouldn’t have stayed. Shouldn’t have come in the first place.
“I’ll stay with you however long you want me to, alright? Let’s just have Minnie check on where you’re hurting, then we can grab some food, if you’d like?”
How long had it been since he had eaten something? Jisung knew that he should technically be hungry, but hunger had become such a constant presence that he barely noticed it most of the time.
“Darling?”
Jisung shifted his gaze slightly more towards the other hybrid, towards the outstretched hand.
“We won’t do anything you don’t want, okay? Even when Minnie starts checking on you, one word from you will be enough and he’ll stop. Just give it a try, okay?”
Jisung continued to stare at the outstretched hand, blinked at it, waited for it to fall away. But it hung in the air, waiting, stable. He just had to do this, then they’d leave him alone, right? Then he could leave.
He took an unsteady breath that was meant to calm him down but did little against his nerves, then he finally reached his own hand out. Even through the fabric of his hoodie sleeve, he could feel the warmth of the other’s hand, immediately making him want to curl into it.
The other hybrid stood up, gently pulling Jisung along. Jisung’s legs nearly gave out, numb after how long he had sat unmoving on the cold ground. The other hybrid seemed to have been prepared, steadying him with one arm around his shoulders. Jisung flinched away from the touch, wrapping both of his arms around himself as soon as he stood at least semi-stable, ignoring the uncomfortable tingling in his legs as the blood started to circulate again.
“Follow me,” the human said.
Everything in Jisung screamed to do the opposite, to run away, but the hybrid by his side motioned for him to go first, so he swallowed dryly and did what was expected of him.
They didn’t go far until they reached a curtained off section with feigned privacy. “Take a seat,” the human said, motioning for a treatment table. Jisung went over to it, tensing up once more when he noticed the other hybrid not following him.
“I think he might be the one that the news mentioned this morning,” the hybrid mumbled, presumably only for the human, but Jisung’s heightened senses picked it up easily anyway.
The human only made a confirming noise.
Jisung sat down on the treatment table, keeping his thin, gray tail wrapped tightly around himself under the sweater, his sleeved hands in his lap, and his eyes down. Quick steps approached him, then the other hybrid was standing in front of him. “Do you want me to sit with you? I can also remain standing,” he offered, voice chipper as if the exchange with the human had never happened. Jisung shrugged lightly, which the hybrid seemed to take as a sign to jump onto the table next to him, sitting close but not touching him.
The human, whose name Jisung had forgotten at some point, came over to them with a clipboard in his hand. “If there’s anything you don’t want to answer, you can skip the questions, alright? I do, however, want you to know that it would be helpful if you answer since it will make future identification and potential treatments easier.” His voice was a little more on the stern side this time and Jisung pulled his shoulders up, wishing once again that he could simply disappear or at least hide.
“Take it down a notch, you’re scaring him,” the hybrid next to him replied, and even though his voice was gentle, Jisung froze in place. Waiting for the inevitable. Preparing himself for what was bound to come.
The human let out a soft sigh. “Sorry, the doctor in me is taking over a bit.”
Those words felt like a whiplash to Jisung, his mind reeling. He had to have misheard. There was no way that a human would be apologizing towards a hybrid, after being reprimanded nonetheless!
The cat hybrid next to him—Jisung realized belatedly that he had forgotten his name as well—giggled. “That’s what I’m here for, right?”
The human didn’t reply, but his voice was indeed softer when asked, “What’s your name?”
“Han Jisung,” Jisung mumbled, shrinking in on himself even further when the human made a confused noise, but the hybrid had understood him, repeating the name.
They went through a series of presumably standardized questions that quickly wore Jisung out. With every question he was asked, he wished more to just disappear, simply dissolve…
Eventually, it was quiet for a bit and it was all Jisung could do to keep his eyes on the floor, to ignore the dizzy spell that overcame him. Even the trembling had stopped from the sheer exhaustion of keeping himself upright and having to stay focused after he had been surrounded by strangers since the day before.
The not-yet-doctor returned to stand in front of him, this time without his clipboard. “Jisung-sshi,” he called out gently, but Jisung still flinched when the other reached out his hands.
“It’s okay, darling,” the hybrid next to him mumbled, still not having let up on that pet name.
“Is there anything you’d like us to check out? Are you hurt anywhere?” the human continued.
Wasn’t the better question to ask where he wasn’t hurt? There was a cut on his side, maybe he should show that one? It wasn’t healing particularly well and had hurt for quite a while. At this point, Jisung wasn’t even sure whether he had just grown numb to the pain or if it had really ebbed away, but it still didn’t look very good.
He glanced towards his side, at the hybrid’s chest. The hybrid immediately perked up, seeming to understand that Jisung’s attention was on him. “What is it, darling? Do you want me to leave? Do you need me for anything?”
Jisung shook his head lightly and looked down again. His fingers curled around the hem of his sweater and he pulled it up, trying to ignore the deafening silence that fell over their cubicle. Did they regret having asked him? Jisung knew that he was hardly more than skin and bones, it truly had to be an ugly sight to behold.
He turned a little to give the human a slightly better view of the wound, using the sweater to hide away his face, resting his already tired arms against his head.
“Is it okay if I touch you?” the human asked quietly and Jisung gave a mere nod, yet the moment the human’s fingertips came in touch with his skin, he flinched away.
Jisung tightened his grip and clenched his teeth, forcing down the instinct to run away, to scoot against the wall when the human’s fingers came in touch with his skin once again, checking for who knew what.
“You can lower the shirt,” the human said after a while and Jisung did, looking down again. He let some advised treatment rain down on him, nodding it off just to be able to say that he had done whatever he could. All he really gathered was that the not-yet-doctor would get an actual doctor from somewhere around the medical section. The idea of having two humans so close to him was nearly too much for Jisung, but he still simply nodded it off.
He was told to lie down when the two humans came in and was told to raise his sweater again. He simply followed the instructions, grateful for the hybrid who settled at the head end, hands ghosting over Jisung’s every so often as the two humans seemed to first take protocol of Jisung’s state before actually doing something to treat the wound.
Pain washed over him periodically and he had long since stopped trying to make sense of the two humans’ words until he was supposedly all patched up, another very recent wound also having gotten some kind of medical dressing. Jisung pulled his hoodie down again and curled up on his side, facing the wall, making himself as small as possible.
After the second human had left, the hybrid left Jisung’s side, only to stand with the other human. “Minnie, we can’t leave him like that,” he whispered, the words clearly not meant for Jisung to hear.
“And what do you suggest we do?”
Silence hung over the cubicle for a moment before the human sighed.
“You want to take him home, don’t you?” He seemed to receive an affirmative answer. “You know that you and I can’t decide that on our own.”
“Then let me call Channie-hyung.”
“What if he doesn’t want to come with us?”
“And where else do you think he could go? You heard him, he’s been brought to some shelter. Who in their right mind brings someone in Jisung-sshi’s state to a shelter?”
“Lix—”
“No, Seungmin. What he needs right now is people who can care for him. People who have an eye over him. People who will cook for him and make sure that his wounds will be taken care of. We can provide that for him. Some lousy shelter can’t.”
“What if he doesn’t want it? What if…” The human seemed to hesitate, then Jisung heard steps. The curtain was pulled aside, then pulled back in place. As if that made any real difference. “Lix, I agree with you, but first of all: there’s no guarantee that the others will be okay with this.”
“They will be.”
“Second of all,” the human continued as if the hybrid hadn’t said anything, “I’m not sure he would want this.”
“And why not? Let me at least ask him! We can also totally make it a temporary thing, at least until he’s fine to be on his own.”
“Do you really think he’d want to be in one place with four humans? He seemed extremely scared when it was only me talking to him and he only started somewhat relaxing when you joined.”
“He’ll have me, Jinnie, and Innie, so it won’t be like it’s only him against four humans. And as far as I know, those shelters have a lot more humans around, at least more than four.”
They were quiet for another moment and Jisung wondered what kind of cruel joke the world was playing on him that he was still existing.
“Please, Minnie. At least let me ask him and the others.”
“What will you do if he says no?”
For a very long time, all Jisung could hear were the sounds of the surrounding people, of the other medical staff with their patients in the other cubicles, of the constant chatter in the background…
He finally managed to find the strength to uncurl himself and slowly sat up, trying to ignore the pain that immediately shot through him from the wound that the two humans had tempered with. Had it really been worth it? Going through the pain all over again?
Jisung was just swinging his legs over the ledge of the table, ignoring another dizzy spell, when the other two came back into the cubicle, the hybrid immediately walking over to him, coming a stand in front of him. “I have a proposition to make.” So he had won, apparently. “I assume you’ve heard what we said, but allow me to lay this option out for you properly anyway: I would like to take you home with us. ‘Home’ currently means a house that seven of us share; four humans and three hybrids. If you are okay with that, I’d of course have to call them to talk to the others about it, but I don’t think any of them would object.
“I want you to know that none of us would expect anything from you in return. All I want is to offer you a place and an environment where you can heal, a place where you’d be well taken care of.”
“Naturally,” the human added, stepping closer as well, “you making one decision today doesn’t have to determine what you want to do in the future. If you decide to come with us today, it doesn’t mean that you have to stay: if it doesn’t work out for you, it doesn’t work out for you and that’s okay. Or if you decide today that you do not want to come with us but you change your mind, Felix and I are usually here every Saturday. If I can’t make it, Felix will nevertheless be here unless something very urgent happens, so you can approach us then as well.”
Jisung stared at his lap. Was he some kind of charity project for those two? It was clear that they were into charity, or at least volunteering, by their mere presence at this place, but were they asking Jisung to come with them simply because they wanted to feel good about themselves, to be able to say that they had done a good thing?
“I would just really like to know that you’re safe, okay, darling? I promise you that everyone at home will treat you well,” the hybrid added, his tone almost… begging? No, that didn’t make sense.
“Why don’t you two grab a bite to eat while Jisung-sshi makes up his mind?” the human suggested. “You could tell him a little more about the others in the meantime.”
The hybrid, Felix, nodded enthusiastically. “Darling, what do you say?”
Jisung shrugged lightly, unsure if he’d be able to stomach any food or the other hybrid fussing over him. Eventually, he still gave a small nod, though, the thought of letting them down even worse than his alternative.
He pushed himself off the table, hugging his arms around himself again. Before they left, Seungmin put a small box into Felix’s hands, then the two hybrids were back out in the bustling crowd. Jisung didn’t know how Felix did it, but he somehow made his way through the crowd nimbly and in no time, they had crossed the place. Felix basically deposited Jisung on one of the chairs before he made his way to the long tables where food was distributed.
One of Jisung’s ears stood alert again and he grabbed his anxiously swinging tail, petting it down in another futile attempt at self-soothing, scratching it occasionally as had become an unhealthy habit. He was almost completely surrounded by unknown hybrids; every clatter, every laughter, every squeal fighting for his attention. The strong smell of food made his stomach flip and all he wanted was to run away. But where to? He could hardly stay on the streets, yet the one place that he should have been bound to until his last breath had just been stripped away from him.
Felix returned to his side, putting down a huge tray with two bowls of bibimbap, an array of side dishes, and two cups of water. “Hey darling,” he said quietly, his eyes never leaving Jisung who immediately lowered his head in shame. Shame at the state he was in, at his inability to calm himself down, at his lack of opportunities, at the recurrent thought that if only he had been a better hybrid, he wouldn’t be in this situation…
An abundantly fluffy tail came to rest in his lap where his fingers were still busy working his own tail and Jisung froze.
“It’s okay, darling, you can use my tail.” The tip of the tail in question lightly flicked against Jisung’s thigh as if to say ‘I’m here, I’m ready’.
Jisung’s fingers recoiled, his entire body torn between hyperventilating from the proximity and finding comfort in the ground weight, in the softness.
“Let’s eat,” Felix said as if this all was the most natural thing to do.
Jisung dutifully picked up his spoon, mixing the rice with the vegetables. He briefly thought about adding some of the spicy sauce, but his stomach was already rebelling the mere thought of eating, so he quickly discarded that thought. It was only when he had raised the first spoonful of food to his mouth and was chewing quietly that Felix spoke up again.
“Let me know if there’s anything specific you want to know or if you have any questions, alright?” When Jisung nodded lightly, Felix continued, “So, as I said, we’re currently four humans and three hybrids: there’s me, then Jinnie who is a ferret hybrid, and Innie who is a fox hybrid. We actually only have six bedrooms, but that won’t be a problem: you can have my room, I never sleep in there anyway.”
Jisung frowned, trying to figure out how having seven people but only six bedrooms made sense, but Felix went on talking as if it was normal.
“There’s this… thing that we have going on, where basically everyone takes care of everyone. I guess that’s a kinda good way to describe it? But, of course, we wouldn’t expect you to engage in anything. I really only want to take you home so you can heal, darling.”
Jisung’s frown deepened, trying and failing to fully comprehend Felix’s sentence. Or maybe he did fully understand it and simply didn’t think that his train of thought could possibly be right.
“Anyway, Minho-hyung is the one who cooks most of the time and his cooking is good. Like, really good! I’m sure he’ll be able to quickly nurse you back to health like that. At least, like, physically. And then there’s Seungmin, of course, who’s still studying to become a doctor and who will be able to help with any kinds of injuries and illnesses. Aside from that, Minho-hyung and Jinnie are dance teachers. Channie-hyung and Changbin-hyung are working part time in the music industry as producers and part time boring office jobs. Believe me, there’s no need to go into detail with those office jobs because you’ll hardly hear anything about them except from how boring they are. Innie hasn’t been with us for all too long and is currently trying to re-orient himself, as he called it, so he and I are home most of the time. I’m also teaching one class at that studio where Minho-hyung and Jinnie are teaching. What else would you need to know…?”
One of Jisung’s hands had inadvertently found its way into the soft fur of Felix’s tail, but since the other didn’t react in any way, Jisung kept his fingers buried in the long fur, the touch alone already bringing more comfort than petting his own tail.
“Oh, right!” Felix perked up again, his tail flicking lightly. “Another thing is that we don’t really do the hierarchy thing. Everyone’s needs and opinions are taken seriously, which, I understand, would probably take some getting used to, but it’s not like we would expect you to run around and do whatever. It’s more that I want you to know that you could always come talk to us, all of us, if there’s anything you need or want.”
Jisung gave a faint nod, staring down his food. He hadn’t even eaten half the bowl, but he already felt like he couldn’t eat a single rice corn more. Wasn’t that weird? He had rarely been given the chance to eat throughout the entire week, yet once he was faced with a proper meal, he could hardly get anything down.
He continued to stare at the food, trying to will his body into cooperation until his stomach seemed to flip and a wave of nausea rushed through him so strongly that he could hardly keep himself from gagging. He pushed the bowl away a little, averting his eyes, first to dart around the room in search for danger, then down at his lap where the fingers of one hand were still buried deep in the fur of Felix’s soft tail.
Felix did look well taken care of, better definitely than Jisung had been in years. His tail was the epitome of fluff, so soft and full that Jisung’s fingers all but disappeared in the mass of fur. But maybe it was just because of what seemed to be an overall bright disposition? Maybe Felix was just much better at being a good hybrid. Yes, that was undoubtly the case.
“Felix, are you gonna come back here or what?” someone called and Jisung flinched, quickly withdrawing his hand from Felix’s tail. He was holding the other up from what he was supposed to be doing!
“I’ll be right back,” Felix called over his shoulder, judging by how his body twisted, before he turned towards Jisung again, continuing in a much softer tone, “Have you already made a decision, darling?”
“I don’t have anywhere else to go,” Jisung replied quietly, pulling his arms around himself again, tugging a little on his tail.
“Alright, then I’ll call the others and see what they think. Will you stay nearby?”
Jisung simply nodded, guilt dripping in his stomach when Felix cleared their table quickly and pulled back his tail, its lack manifesting almost as physical pain for Jisung. How could something so insignificant have such a huge impact on him so quickly?
Felix stood up, only to let himself plop back down. “I almost forgot!” he fished the small box from earlier out of somewhere, putting it down in front of Jisung. “Painkillers. But it’s recommended to eat something before you take these, that’s why Minnie didn’t give you any earlier.”
Jisung nodded lightly. Under Felix’s watchful eyes, he opened the box, naturally on the wrong side first, as it was wont to happen with medicine boxes. Once he had opened the right side, he pulled out one of the blisters and popped a small, white pill out of it. He took his cup that was still half full with water, swallowing the pill with the liquid, grimacing. He shuddered lightly, putting the empty cup back before closing the box and hiding it in his sleeve.
Seeming content, Felix smiled at him before he left and when other people approached the small table that Jisung had been sitting at, he hurried to leave as well, finding a free area at a wall again. He had the food distribution tables in direct view, and one of his sides was protected by some stacked up boxes. His body ached when he pulled his legs close to himself again, the floor too hard and too cold for him to sit in that same position all over again, but he ignored it, just like always.
Felix came over at one point to let him know that the others he was living with approved of his idea and that one or two of them would come over later. Jisung had merely nodded that information off, staying in his safety nook.
Hours had probably passed by the time that Felix’s bright voice cut through the fog that had settled over Jisung’s tired mind from the ongoing clatter. “Hyungs!”
Jisung’s eyes involuntarily went over towards Felix. Two humans were approaching him just as Felix hurriedly took off his apron, leaving the nearly deserted food distribution area in favor of flinging himself into the two humans. One of them laughed, hugging him back closely, while the other wore a fond smile, petting Felix’s head. Felix’s tail was swinging lightly, happily.
“Where’s Seungmin?” the one who was petting Felix asked, prompting the cat hybrid to lean back a little.
“Still working, I think? He would have come over if he was already done.”
The first human nodded with a pensive expression. “He should be off soon, though, shouldn’t he?”
Felix was quick to nod. “Yes, yes! But they seem to have had lots to do, as always.” He turned his head a little. “There are still a lot of hybrids waiting over there…” His tail stilled, losing its vigor until the first human petted his head again.
“It’s alright, that’s what this is for, isn’t it? To give all of them a chance at receiving medical aid.”
“But I don’t like that there’s so many of them,” Felix replied and Jisung thought he even heard the other whine.
“I know you don’t. But we’re doing our part whenever we can, right?”
Felix simply huffed, but he was quickly distracted by the second human. “Now, where’s that kid you were telling us about, huh? Believe it or not, but hyung and I didn’t come all the way over here just for you.”
Felix gasped, raising his hands, but his tail was once again swinging happily, ears perked and showing no sign of real distress. “You didn’t?”
The two humans laughed and the first one ruffled Felix’s hair before cupping his cheeks, cooing at him. Even watching from the back, Jisung could tell that Felix’s radiance dialed up at the affection and he leaned closer, pecking the man on the lips.
The second human gasped. “What’s that, Chan-hyung is getting all your attention now? I see how it is with you.” He sounded displeased and Jisung immediately cowered, looking away even though the first human—Chan, apparently—laughed and Felix turned towards the second human, still showing no signs of distress.
“Come on!” Felix said next and Jisung’s body went rigid when he noticed from the periphery of his view that the three of them were approaching him. His formerly alert ear once again pressed against his head as he tried to make himself as small as possible. He kept his eyes trained to the ground even when Felix crouched down in front of him, one of the two humans quickly following suit. “Darling?” One of Jisung’s ears flicked ever so lightly. “I want to introduce Chan-hyung and Minho-hyung to you.” Felix’s voice was as soft as ever, much more subdued than the tone he had used when speaking to the two humans, and he motioned to each man around him as he said their names.
“Your name was Jisung, right?” the human who had crouched down, Chan, asked and Jisung gave a minute nod, pulling his legs a little closer.
“It’s okay, darling. Chan-hyung and Minho-hyung won’t hurt you. They came here to pick us up,” Felix continued and Jisung gave another nod, but he didn’t change anything about his posture.
The other human also crouched down and for a moment, they were all very quiet. Jisung felt their eyes on him, as if they were waiting for something, anything. It only made him want to disappear even more.
“I think I’ll have to go over my meal plan again,” the second human, Minho, spoke up eventually, and the other two seemed to finally shift his attention.
“Huh?” Felix made.
“He’s lost a lot of weight, so I’ll need to check what foods will be best for him to gain weight and energy. And also what foods his body will be able to take well.”
“The hospital should also have some information on that,” a new voice entered conversation and Jisung froze, panic sparking through him because he hadn’t noticed the other person approaching them.
“Hey darling, it’s okay. It’s just Seungminnie,” Felix spoke up, dropping form his crouch onto his knees, one hand gently coming to rest on Jisung’s arms.
“Should we go home? It’s probably been a long day for all of us,” Seungmin suggested.
“Is that alright for you, Jisung-sshi?” Chan asked, bringing the attention back to the cowering hybrid. “Do you want to come home with us?”
Jisung gave another small nod because what else could he do? There was nowhere else for him to go. Even if these seven people should turn out to be traffickers or whatnot, would it really be worse than what Jisung had already been through?
“Then let’s go,” Minho said and rose to his feet. The other three followed more slowly, leading the way out of that place.