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Chapter Text

Wonwoo runs down the street with his hood up and a plastic bag full of canned food and instant ramyeun in his arms as rain pours down on his head. He sees the last block he has to turn to before seeing his apartment building and picks up his pace.

Jeonghan had warned him a week ago about the impending storm coming up, reminding him to stock up on food if he wasn't going to take up his offer of staying over his own condo unit. Wonwoo waves it off and, it's not really his fault. Jeonghan had always been breathing down his neck about anything so Wonwoo didn't think this time would be different. Well, he didn't till he woke up today with the fire escape creaking from the howling winds outside, the sky overcast and the air heavy with the impending rain. Wonwoo curses, throws on a hoodie and his best pair of sweatpants on before running out the door in his converse with his phone charging by his bed and his wallet a heavy weight in his jacket's pocket.

An hour passes and here he is now, soaked from head to toe, hugging an equally drenched plastic bag filled with food that can probably last him a week or three days, depending on his mood, and his glasses safely folded in his jacket pocket as he stands in front of his apartment building. He heaves out a heavy sigh and was about to key in when he hears a soft sound to his right. It startled Wonwoo at first but then he heard it again. A soft mewl by his foot and he looked down and saw a ball of white blurr curled up on the edge their door, behind the potted plants by the side of the entrance. Wonwoo took out his glasses and rubbed it gently on his hoodie before putting it on.

Wonwoo looked down and saw a small kitten looking up at him with huge pleading eyes, curled up in on itself as it mewls up at Wonwoo. Wonwoo cooes and leaned down to reach for it, only for it to jump up on his sleeve and to climb up his arm and to settle down on his shoulder, nudging it;s little head on Wonwoo's chin. Wonwoo laughs and reaches for it, lifting him gently and placing him on top of the plastic bag he has before going in.

Wonwoo walks up to his room and picks up the kitten before leaving the plastic bag by the door and going straight for the bathroom. Wonwoo took two towels from his closet and draped one around his shoulders and wrapped the kitten in the other. Wonwoo strips off his clothes and dried off, checking in on the kitten snuggled up on the towel by the sink before going back to his closet for some warm clothes. Wonwoo wore a shirt under his favorite sweater and settles for boxers, knowing full well that he'd be in his bed the whole day anyways. He drapes the towel on his chair byt his study table and came back in the bathroom to check in on the kitten. It was softly purring, snoring, probably, as Wonwoo picked it up out of the towel and brought him to his bed.

Wonwoo went under the covers as he checked his phone, setting the kitten in his lap as he replies to Jeonghan that no, he doesn't need to send Seungcheol to Wonwoo's apartment to see if he's dead, or starving. Wonwoo rolls his eyes and sets his phone face down on his bedside table before sttling in on his bed.

Wonwoo lets out a sigh of relief as he feels his bones thaw and his muscles relax under the covers. Wonwoo closes his eyes and lets sleep take over his body as the rain pours harder outside his window.

Wonwoo then wakes up an hour later feeling warm. Warmer than he's used to. He snuggles closer and wraps his arms around-

His arms are around someone's shoulders.

Wonwoo's eyes flew open in panic, then he panics even more when his eyes adjusts and sees cat ears twitching right infront of him, poking out of a head of blond hair.

Wonwoo pushes the body away from him and Wonwoo belatedly realizes that the body is a guy, and that the guy is naked. Wonwoo flushes, lifts his eyes towards the ceiling as he slips out of the covers to wrap it around the guy. Wonwoo succeeds but the guy groans awake and pouts at Wonwoo.

"Cold." He says. Wonwoo looks at him with disbelief as the guy wraps his arms around Wonwoo's neck.
"Uh..." Wonwoo, the composed and ever so chill guy that he is, rips the guy's arms off of his neck and promptly runs out of his bed and grabs for his glasses by his table and grabs for the closest thing he could use as a weapon and points it at the guy in his bed. Which is a metal ruler he had used a week ago.

"Who are you? and How did you get here?" Wonwoo asks, he hopes his voice wasn't as shakey as he thought it sounded. The guy sist up, the covers sliding down his body as he rubs the sleep off of his eyes. Wonwoo stares at his lean torso and up his head and Wonwoo tenses.

Cat ears.
He really did have cat ears on top of his head. They were twitching a bit as he looked around. Wonwoo then bleatedly notices the tail swaying left and right behind the guy. Wonwoo stares in disbelief as the guy looks up at him and pouts.

"Cold." He says. Wonwoo continues staring in disbelief as the guy lifts the covers and wraps it around himself, staring up at Wonwoo before lifting up his arms.
"Cold." He says again.

Wonwoo lowers his completely dangerous weapon and stares at the guy. Wonwoo was about to ask again who he is and how he got in when all of the sudden the guy jumped forward, off of his bed, and turned into a cat mid leap and lands on the floor as a small white cat. He then pads staright to Wonwoo's feet and rubs himself by Wonwoo's ankles. Wonwoo feels his brain malfunction as he stares wide eyed down at the kitten by his foot.

"You're..." Wonwoo doesn't even know what he wanted to say and just sighs.

"What the hell is happening?" Wonwoo asks around the room, he doesn't know if he's asking out or if he's asking himself but either way, he knows he's not getting an answer. Wonwoo sighs and picks up the kitten in his hands. Wonwoo then puts him back in the bed, under the covers, and stepped back.

"Change back." Wonwoo says. The kitten just stares up at Wonwoo with wide eyes and his head cocked to the side. Wonwoo asks again and in an instant, the white kitten turned into the pale guy again, white cat ears poking out of white hair and white tail swaying softly over his shoulders.

The guy looked back at Wonwoo with questioning eyes and Wonwoo heaved out a deep breathe.
"Who are you?" Wonwoo asks. The cat-guy-thing on his bed cocked his head to the side with a confused look on his face and Wonwoo groans. Wonwoo then points to himself and looked at the cat-guy-thing on his bed.
"Wonwoo." Wonwoo says. The cat-guy-thing then lifts a finger and pointed at Wonwoo.
"Wonu." He says. Wonwoo's smile falters. It's not perfect but he'll take it. Wonwoo then points at the cat-guy-thing. He then points a finger to himself and looks up expectantly at Wonwoo. Wonwoo points back at himself.
"Wonwoo." He says, and then points back at the cat-guy-thing. He must've understood whan Wonwoo meant as he smiled and pointed at Wonwoo.
"Wonwoo." He then pointed at himself and smiled wider.
"Chan." He says.
"Chan?" Wonwoo asks, pointing at cat-guy-thing again. He then nods and smiles at Wonwoo.
"Chan!" He exclaims, standing up from the bed and Wonwoo's glad he had turned around before he saw anything. Wonwoo went up to his closet and grabbed a random pair of boxers and a shirt and walked back near his bed without looking back.
"Chan?" Wonwoo called out. He then felt a hand in his and he stopped dead in his tracks.
"Wonu." He says back. Wonwoo grabbed the shirt in his hand and steeled himself before turning around, his head held higher than usual as he unfolds the shirt and easily slipped it in over Chan's head. Wonwoo peaks lower and lets out a relieved sigh when his shirt goes down to Chan's thighs. Wonwoo then lifted the boxers in front of Chan's face. Chan looks at it confused and Wonwoo kneels with the boxers held in front of his legs.

Wonwoo looks up and sees Chan looking down at him with a questioning look on his face. Wonwoo then looks back down and taps on one of Chan's legs. Chan lifts it cautiously and Wonwoo fits his leg in the boxer before pulling his leg down softly. He then taps on his other leg and proptly pulls up the boxer up to his waist.

Wonwoo stands up and steps back. Chan was probably half a foot shorter than he is so the large shirt that's already large on Wonwoo completely swallows Chan's frame. The boxer shorts were tugged up in a haste which lead to the shirt being messily tucked in the waist.

Chan looks down and keeps rubbing at his shirt and boxers, frowning. Wonwoo was about to ask if he was okay when Chan pulls at the boxers from behind and his tail sways merrily from behind.

Chan then looks back at Wonwoo and smiles.
"Wonu?" Wonwoo swallows.
"Cold." Chan says, arms wrapping around himself to make a show of how cold he was.
"Cold?" Chan nods and points at Wonwoo.
"You can use the covers to-" Wonwoo steps closer to reach for the covers when Chan walks up straight to him and wraps an arm around Wonwoo's back and nuzzles his face on Wonwoo's chest.
"Warm. Warm Wonu." Chan says.

Wonwoo groans. He tries to pull Chan away but he keeps whining and whining and even ended up with baring his claws on Wonwoo's back when Wonwoo had pushed him further.

Wonwoo settles himself on the bed again with a clingy half cat half guy on his chest and texts Jeonghan about his situation. Wonwoo sees the time and realizes that its still 8 AM. He waits a minute for Jeonghan's reply and sets his phone back on the bedside table afterwards.

He looks down at Chan, face slotted in Wonwoo's neck, and sighs.

Theres's a cat hybrid lying next to Wonwoo, or more like wrapped around Wonwoo, to be honest, and Wonwoo can't help but find him completely endearing and cute.

Wonwoo runs a hand through his hair and Chan purrs. Wonwoo threads his hand through his hair again and lets it settle there, rubbing his fingers softly back and forth as Chan makes a satisfies purring sound from his throat as he snuggles closer to Wonwoo's neck.
"Warm." He says softly against Wonwoo's neck. Wonwoo lets himself drift back to sleep again, this time even warmer than when he woke up.

Chapter Text

Wonwoo woke up to someone slapping his face aggressively and groans as he tries to turn over, to smush his face against his pillow, only to be stopped by a weight on his chest pinning him down. He blinks his eyes open sees Chan. He was sitting on top of Wonwoo's chest with his legs pinning his arms down.

Wonwoo tries to squirm out under Chan when Chan's right hand went down to his throat, his claws digging in his skin as Chan leans down closer to his face. Wonwoo could feel blood drip down the side of hsi neck and on to his pillow.

"If you move or speak without permission I will rip out your throat. Got it?" Chan says. His voice was deeper, almost like he was growling as he speaks, as he stares Wonwoo down.

Wonwoo nods and Chan eases his hold on his neck.

"Now tell me who do you work for and what do you want from me." Chan demanded. Wonwoo stares dumbly up at Chan.

"What?" He says back. Chan presses his claws in again and Wonwoo hisses.

"Answer. Me." Chan gave one more squeeze and eases his hold on his neck again.

"I don't-" Wonwoo's mind starts to malfunction when he notices Chan's ears. They're normal human ears now. even his hair wasn't the fair color they were before they slept. It was a mop of brown hair on top of his head.

Chan grunts and presses in his claws.

"Look. The last thing I remember are a bunch of guys chasing me down the lab with taser guns. So if I were you, I'd tell me who i really am or I'll treat you the way i'd treat them." Chan made sure to emphasise the last bit of his sentence by pressing harder on Wonwoo's throat.

Wonwoo lets out a choked up groan before swallowing down his nerves and trying to speak again.

"I-I work at the cafe down by the campus! And-and I don't... You... I picked you up earlier from the rain! The rain outside!" Wonwoo yelps when Chan retracts his claws and presses his fingers around Wownoo's thorat, a gentle but sturdy grip on his neck.

Chan looks down at him with peering eyes. As if he was trying to weigh Wonwoo's words. Wonwoo whimpers when Chan's eyes shimmered from the light reflecting off of them. Chan then gently took his hand off of his neck and before Wonwoo could react, Chan leaned in down on his neck.

Wonwoo tensed when he feels Chan licking his neck clean. Wnwoo flinches when the punctures on his neck stung for a second before feeling nothing at all. A few seconds later and Chan sits up again.

"You have no idea what I am, do you?" Chan asks. His eyes and voice more gentle now.

Wonwoo nods.

Chan heaves out a sigh before removing himself off of Wonwoo's chest and standing up in front of Wonwoo's bed.

Wonwoo's first instinct was to wrap his hands on his neck to put pressure on the wounds.

"Don't. It's okay." Chan said. Wonwoo looks at him in disbelief and pulls away his hands to see them conpletely free of blood.

"How did you..." Wonwoo trailed off. He's pretty sure he's better off not knowing.

"Sorry. I'm just..." Chan said. Wonwoo looks up and sees him with his hands behind his back and his head lowered. Wonwoo's mind malfunctions again as it tries to connect this Chan to the Chan on top of him just minutes ago, threatening to pull his throat out if he so much as breathes wrong. Wonwoo studies him and sees his shoulder slack but also tense. Giving the info Chan had said to him, about his last memory, the last thing he remembers, Wonwoo thinks he looks...

"Scared?" Wonwoo offers. Chan's head whipped up and his eyes stares right into Wonwoo's. Wonwoo sees them glimmer again and forces himself to not flinch. Chan looks down and nodded.

Wonwoo stares. That's really all he could think to do right now, to be completely honest. He had just been subjected to an unsolicited dick pic, but in real life, he had been subjected to a kinda forced cuddle session he may or may not have enjoyed himself, and now he's been woken up with a death threat and claws in his throat.

And all of that happened in under seven hours.

Wonwoo looks at his phone and sees it's almost three in the afternoon. He realizes he's slept through lunch (no, it has nothing to do with how comfortable and warm his long mid day nap was thanks to a certain someone) so he stands up to make some late afternoon lunch.

The second Wonwoo stands up, Chan tenses up and moves one foot back and lift both hands in front of his  body, plams up.

Wonwoo stares and lifts his hands in defense.

"Sorry. Just..." Wonwoo drawls off.

"Do you want to eat?" Chan seems to be taken off guard by the question as he slowly drops his arms.

"Eat? Food?" Chan asks. Wonwoo catches a glimpes of the half-cat-half-guy Chan from earlier as his eyes widened at the mention of food. And as if right on cue, Chan's stomach growls. Chan wraps both arms over his stomach and blushes as he looks up at Wonwoo.

Wonwoo smiles. He has to admit Chan looked really enderaing and cute.

"Shut up. 'M not cute." Chan counters, cutely. Wonwoo laughs and shrugs.

"Didn't say you were." Wonwoo says. Chan glares at him as he passes him to go out in the small kitchenette he has by the bathroom.

Wonwoo looks for the bag of food he had just gotten this morning and Chan walks in the kitchen with the plastic bag in his arms.

"It was by the door." Chan says. Wonwoo takes it from Chan and he felt how cold Chan's skin was. Wonwoo then places a cautious hand on Chan's arm and his eyes went wide.

"Jesus, Chan. You're freezing." Wonwoo rubs his hands up and down Chan's arms and Chan makes a soft purring sound from his chest before leaning in to the touch and even presses himself close to Wonwoo.

Wonwoo then looks down at Chan.

"Do you want thicker clothes?" Chan mindlessly nods, still pressed up by Wonwoo's side. Wonwoo then grabs for a pot and quickly fills it with water before leaveing it on top of the stove to boil. He then brings Chan back to his room to rummage through his closet.

Wonwoo grabs the thickest sweatpants he owns and gives it to Chan as he looks for this specific black turlte neck sweater he knew Chan would love. He finds it at the bottom of the stack and turns around to see Chan already wearing the black sweatpants. Wonwoo's large shirt still hanging off one of his shoulders. Wonwoo walks up, fixes Chan's shirt before slotting the sweater on his head. Chan then slips his arms trhough the sleeves as Wonwoo pulls it down on him.

Wonwoo takes a step back and looks at Chan. The sweat pants going past his ankles and hiding half of his feet save for his toes. The turtle neck was covering up to his mouth, right under his ears, and the sleeves covers his hands completely. Wonwoo can't help but smile at the sight. Chan then looks up at Wonwoo and glares.

"I'm not a pet you can just dress up to look cute." Chan said with his intimidating voice. Wonwoo quirked up a brow.

"I'm not. But if it bothers you that much you can take them off." Wonwoo offers. Chan's glare deepens and Wonwoo's smile widens.

"Come on, I think the water's ready." Wonwoo says, turning to the door and walking up to the now boiling water. He takes three mugs from the cupboard above the counter beside the stove. He uses one of them to pour the other two hot water before rummaging for the plastic bag for two packs of ramyeun. Wonwoo rips the packets open and takes the seasoning out before dumping the noodles on the boiling water. He puts the lid back on and turns to face Chan.

"Coffee or tea?" Wonwoo asks. Chan was seated on one of the four chairs by the small dining table Wonwoo has, his legs folded up in front of him secured by his arms around them. Chan looks up and cocks his head to the side, as if confused.

"Do you want coffee? Tea? I think i have something for hot chocolate, too, if you want. Are cats allowed chocolate?" Wonwoo's train of thought derailed a bit at that and was pulled back in track when Chan growls.

Like, literally growls.

"I'm not a pet cat!" Chan growls, then turns to staring down at the table in front of him as if it was the table that offended him.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to... say that." Wonwoo offers. Chan gave him a glance before going back to glaring at the table.

"Do you want chocolate?" Wonwoo asks, cautiously. Chan was still staring at the table but gave Wonwoo a soft nod. Wonwoo smiles and reaches for a couple of packets of chocolate mix and stirs them quickly in the mugs. Wonwoo brings both on their tbale and places one in front of Chan. Chan reaches for it instantly and Wonwoo warns him that it's really hot. Chan wraps the mug in two sweater covered hands and lifts it cautiously up to his lips. He gave it a tentative sip, sighs, and then sips at it carefully. Wonwoo smiles and went back to the stove.

Five minutes later and Wonwoo places a bowl in front of Chan, chopsticks on his right and a spoon to his left. Wonwoo smiles and reaches for his own chopsticks. He was about to dig in when he sees Chan pull down the neck of his sweater down to his chin and pull up his right sleeve and reaches for the bowl with his hand.

Wonwoo panics and stops him just in time.

"What are you doing?" Wonwoo asks. Chan looks at him, almost like he's scared.

"I thought you... I was... I was just gonna eat." Chan says, his voice small and shaking at the sides. Wonwoo apologizes.

"Answer me honestly, okay? I'm not gonna judge you or anything. But, do you not know how to use chopsticks?" Chan lowers his head and pulls his sleeves down.

Wonwoo sighs and smiles softly.

Wonwoo then reaches for his chopsticks again and went closer to Chan to lift the noodles up to Chan's lips.

"It's okay." Wonwoo says. Chan looks up. His eyes fleets back and forth over to Wonwoo's eyes and the noodles in Wonwoo's chopsticks before taking it in his mouth and slurping it in.

Wonwoo smiles as Chan chews happily, his hands in his lap as his eyes widen at the taste.

"Good, right?"  Wonwoo says. He takes a bite from his own food and went back to feed Chan again. He'd lift a spoon half full of soup up to Chan's lips every other time he takes in noodles and Chan smiles up at him. Somewhere in the middle of eating, Chan held on to his mug and settles it on his hands on his lap, sipping at it softly as Wonwoo eats.

After Wonwoo had shown Chan how to drink the remaining soup from the bowl and had enthusiastically beaten Wonwoo by drinking it up in a couple of seconds, Chan sighs happily on his seat.

Wonwoo takes a sip of his hot chocolate as he steals a glance as Chan's head. Somehow he feels like it's weired that Chan doesn't have cat ears and white hair. Wonwoo then chokes on his drink as Chan's hair starts to turn white from roots down to the tips and his human ears disappears into nothing as cat ears emerges from his hair. Wonwoo catches his breath and sees Chan smiling at him, his white tail swaying left to right.

"You should really try to keep your thoughts at bay, you know." Chan says. Wonwoo stares wide eyed as Chan laughs.

"Yes, i can sometimes read your thoughts. And no, I don't think you're a creep." Chan says with a cheeky smile on his face.

Wonwoo sighs and tries to organize his thoughts. A million questions rushes through his mind and he hears Chan sigh. Wonwoo looks up and sees Chan smiling sadly.

"No. Don't. It's okay, really. I feel like it wouldn't change a thing if i know so..." Wonwoo says. Chan lets go of his mug and moves his chair closer to the table, folding his legs back up and hugging them again.

"It's okay, really. Not much to tell. I grew up in some lab, just an experiment by some rich billionaire. And apparently i'm the .001% that they got right cause i'm the only one who survived the experiment. Or so they all say." Chan lets out a heavy sigh and Wonwoo wants him to stop.

"One day, this really nice doctor, I don't know his name but I'll never forget his face. He's young, younger than most of the ones in the lab, and he's sweet. He'd call me by my name and not subject 3466. He's been in charge of my social and personality tests? I'm not really sure what that means but he's been really kind to me, and I don't know if it's real or not but i do think he cares for me." Chan says. His eyes were on the empty bowl in front of him but Wonwoo knows his mind is farther away.

"Anyways. One day, after the day i succeeded in a complete human transformation, they told me i'll taking a test. They took me outside for the first time." Chan smiled. But Wonwoo feels torn by the smile. It was a real and genuine smile but it was also so sad.

"It was the first time i saw the sky, and walked on grass. I was happy. And that was my first mistake."

Chan turned to look to his left and Wonwoo was confused at first before he saw it. A pair of scar on the side of Chan's neck.

"They made me wear a collar. And whenever my heartbeat goes over a certain point it zaps me." Chan went back to staring at the table, but now his left hand going up around the side of his neck.

"But that was the last time i felt that. 'Cause after that, when i was being escorted back to my room, the power went off. And that never happens. So i thought that that would be my only chance to get the hell away from that place and i took it. I took off and ran down the hall, the guard chasing me with their taser guns, and i shifted into a cat as i got the door opened. I ran out into a field and slipped out of the fence and ran. I had no idea where i'm going but it's better than where i'm running from so i kept running. And that's all i remember." Chan ends. Wonwoo looks down on his own empty bowl and sighs.

How do you react to that? How do you even speak to someone who has been through that? Wonwoo feels like he should apologize but for what? He wants to give Chan a hug or maybe feed him more cause what if they didnt even feed hima ny food in there? Wonwoo wants to do and say a lot of things but he's afraid to do or say the wrong thing to do or say.

Chan chuckles from his side and Wonwoo whips his head towards him. Chan smiles, his eyes still a bit glossed over as he lifts a finger and taps it on his temple.

Right.

"Thank you." Chan says. His voice a bit hoarse as he speaks. Wonwoo gave him a small smile back.

"Can i ask though? Do you know when all of that happened?" Wonwoo asks. Chan thought about it for a few seconds before looking back at Wonwoo.

"It's the middle of February. The nice doctor always celebrates my birthday arounf that time and... that day. The day i got out... That was my birthday." Chan says in a quiet voice.

Wonwoo stares in disbelief.

"So you've been a cat all this time?" Wonwoo asks. Chan gave him a confused look.

"Chan, February was more than two months ago. Almost seventy to eighty days ago." Wonwoo says. Chan's eyes widened at that. He then turns back to staring at the empty bowl in front of him but now his stare was just... empty. Wonwoo tells him he can rest in his bed again and Chan thanks him before padding up towards Wonwoo's room.

Wonwoo then puts the bowls and mugs on the sink as Chan goes back to his room. Wonwoo follows and stops by the door when he sees Chan curled up on his bed, sleeping.

Wonwoo walks up to the bed and lifts up the covers up to Chan's chest. Wonwoo smiles as Chan smiles in his sleep and snuggles deeper in the covers. Wonwoo then notices something on the pillow by Chan's face, it was a dark blotch that kinda looks like-

It's his blood. Wonwoo's hand instinctively goes up his neck.

So far, Wonwoo had listed down things Chan can do that he can't:

:shapeshift into a cat

:read minds

:cure wounds with his tongue

Wonwoo runs a hand through his face and groans quietly. He just wants to survive the storm passing by.

His phone vibrates on his bedside table and he picks it up only to see a dozen of missed calls form Jeonghan and almost a hundred messages from him as well.

He scrolls through his messages and the first ones were him just asking Wonwoo if he was high because of his messages and then they abruptly turns into panicked messages of asking if he's at home. Then Wonwoo starts to get worried as he reads along.

Jeonghan:

SOMEONE BROKE INTO MY UNIT AND ASKED ME ABOUT SOME HYBRID

WONWOO

I SWEAR TO GOD IF THIS IS SOME ELABORATE PRANK IM HUNTING YOU DOWN AND MAKING YOU PAY FOR MY NEW DOOR YOU LITTLE SHIT

I DONT CARE HOW HOT YOUR NEW FRIEND IS BUT HE CAN GO TO HELL TOO

WHO JUST BREAKS INTO SOMEONES UNIT WITH A FAKE GUN LIKE THAT I SWEAR

Wonwoo swallows. He takes a step back and almost drops his phone when he hears a click from behind him.

"Don't scream. Turn around slowly and give me your phone." Someone says from behind Wonwoo. Wonwoo whimpers as he turns around slowly.

There, standing by his bed room door, dripping on his floor boards, is a man with really dark hair and really scary eyes. He was a few inches shorter than Wonwoo but he was built more than Wonwoo, so Wonwoo decided that the odds are againts him on this one.

Well, that. And also he has a gun pointed at Wonwoo's head.

Wonwoo drops his phone as his hands starts to shake and the guy smiles as it audibly cracks.

"Good boy. Now move away from Chan or I'll drag your lifeless body away from him myself." Wonwoo gulps and takes a few steps away from the bed, leaning in by the wall.

Wonwoo hates to admit it, but right now, with a gun to his head and a hybrid sleeping on his bed, he kinda wishes he had taken Jeonghan's offer to stay over for the weekend.

Chapter Text

Wonwoo sticks his back to the wall as the new guy, who he's gonna assume as the same guy who terrorized Jeonghan in his place, makes his way closer to Chan. He was taking it step by step all the while still pointing the gun at Wonwoo's head.

Wonwoo feels like throwing up, and peeing, he's not sure what he feels, really. But he has to find a way to wake Chan up without getting himself killed.

Wonwoo stares at the gun. Then he stares at the guy holding the gun. He still had this long black coat on him which was dripping all over the place. His hair was a wet mess covering most of his face but his brown eyes pirces through as if they're pinned down on Wonwoo.

Wonwoo then notices him glancing at Chan before going back to staring Wonwoo down. Wonwoo glances to his side and sees his table a step away from him. Wonwoo saw a familiar glint of his earlier weapon and went back to staring at the man.

Wonwoo has to time this right. Not that he has any experience with, well, anything that's happening right now, really. But he's played enough games to know how to take down bigger opponents when he has nothing.

Well, he hopes he does. He really wishes he has a bit more to go with than just video games right now considering how he's pretty sure he won't get an extra life here.

Wonwoo waits. One step. Then another. The guy looks. He takes one more step, then another, and look. Wonwoo takes in a shaky breath as the guy takes one step, another, and-

Wonwoo ducks his head and bends his knees, his left hand on the metal ruler in an instant as he surges forward. The guy was a beat too late and Wonwoo brings the ruler up to hit the guy's hand to the side before he could shoot. Wonwoo then reaches the bed, he turns to seat on it properly before lifting his legs and taking advantage of the guy looking at his gun flying across the room as he kicks him away from the bed. The whole bed frame shakes and Wonwoo feels the bed behind him dip before Chan promptly leaps over Wonwoo's head and land quietly on all fours in front of him on the floor.

The guy scrambles for his gun and whips back around with both hands on the gun. He stares in shock as a half cat half human Chan hisses at him. Wonwoo was sure he was about to shoot Chan as Chan leaps towards him, claws out as he lunges forwaard only to stop as the guy drop his arms by his side.

Wonwoo can see the man give Chan a sad smile before Wonwoo hears a soft gasp coming from Chan. Chan then takes a wobbly step back as the man just looks.

"Hi Chan." He says, his voice gentle, and deep. Chan then turns around and runs back to the bed. He goes up and around Wonwoo, arms around Wonwoo's stomach as he peeks over his shoulder.

"That's him." Wonwoo looks back and sees Chan's eyes glossed over. He's not really sure if Chan is scared or not. But one thing's for sure, that man wasn't here to harm or kill Chan.

"He's the nice doctor." Chan says quietly, his voice muffled on Wonwoo's shoulder and Wonwoo looks back up at the man.

The man was looking at Wonwoo with measuring eyes now. Wonwoo can feel the weight of his stare being just as heavy as when he had a gun pointed at Wonwoo's head.

"What do you want from Chan?" Wonwoo hears himself ask. He's not really sure where that came from but that seems to break the man's gaze on him.

"Me? I-I should be asking you that!" The man counters, pointing an accusing finger at Wonwoo. Wonwoo scoffs.

"You're the one who broke in to my apartment, threatened us to-" "I didn't threaten Chan! Just.... just you." The guy says. He sounds, well, he sounds unsure, for some reason.

"I'm not... I've been looking for Chan since he got out, okay? Do you even know what he is?" The man says, a bit loud, kind of frustrated. Chan whimpers from behind Wonwoo and burries his face on Wonwoo's back. Chan's legs were now on either side of Wonwoo's and Wonwoo places a comforting hand on Chan's knee.

Wonwoo goes back to glaring at the man and the man actually looks guilty.

The man does somethign to the gun and it clicks before throwing it to the ground. Chan whimpers even more and Wonwoo glares at the man. The man gave him an apologetic look and unbottons his coat. Wonwoo sees a white shirt underneath as he then reaches in somehwere and pulls out a dinosaur plushi the size of Wonwoo's head. The man smiles down at it before squeezing it, making the plushie make a roaring sound. Wonwoo feels Chan's arms around him tighten. He looks over his shoulder and sees Chan's ears twitching. Chan then peaks up again and lets out a gasp as he sees the plushie.

"That's mine!" Chan says, one hand lifting to point at the plushie before going back around Wonwoo.

"Yeah. You used to call it Dino, remember?" the man says. Wonwoo looks up warrily at the man and the man looks at Wonwoo with gentle eyes.

"I'm... I don't know how much you know about Chan but I used to work for the people who did... stuff to him. I tried to make him as comfortable as he could be in there but..." The man then lets out a deep sigh as he takes a seat on the floor, the plushie still in his hands as he continues.

"I planned to take him out one day, i made a few distractions and I'm pretty sure they're not gonna be so kind when they find either of us so..." He drawls out. Wonwoo places a hand over Chan's and he can feel Chan breathing over his shoulder.

"You caused the explosion?" Wonwoo asks. The man looks up at him, surprised, before smiling softly. He nods and looks over Wonwoo's shoulder. Wonwoo was about to ask about somethign else when Chan pipes up.

"Cheol." Chan says. The man tenses and Wonwoo eyes him warrily.

"You said i could call you Cheol." The man then breaks into a wide grin as he sighs.

"Yeah, that's me. Do you remember me Chan?" The man asks. Chan moves, he left his place behind Wonwoo and moves to sit beside him. Chan was looking down at his lap and Wonwoo wraps an arm around Chan's wasit. Chan leans in to the touch and scoots even closer.

"You said you'll be there for me when i get out."  Chan spoke up. His voice was small and quiet. But if the man's face was a sign, Wonwoo takes it he heard Chan perfectly clear.

"Chan." The man says dejectedly. He sounded so defeated and Wonwoo almost feels sorry for him for some reason.

"They caught me. They cornered me in my office and it took me longer to get out. By the time i was out i didn't know where to find you. I didn't know where to look." Chan then stands up and walks up the the man. He kneels in front of the man and reaches for the plushie in his hands.

The man looks down at Chan as Chan wraps his arms around the plushie, squeezing it harder and making it roar as it was burried in his chest. Wonwoo watches as the man helds up his arms open and Chan crawls over and lets himself be caught in the hug.

Wonwoo feels like he's intruding a private moment. He pretends the tears falling from the man's closed eyes are drops of water rolling off his hair. Chan burries his face on the man's chest and Wonwoo feels a warm pressure on his chest making him feel uneasy. Wonwoo looks around and remembers his phone in the middle of the floor, broken.

Wonwoo sighs, picks it up before going back to his bed.

"Sorry." The man says, he was looking at Wonwoo's phone in his hand and Wonwoo shurgs before putting it down on his bedside table. Chan pulls away from the hug and goes back to Wonwoo's side with the plushie on his lap.

"So..." Wonwoo drones. There's a hybrid on his bed beside him and a scientist or doctor with a gun by his bedroom door. Wonwoo looks at Chan and then back to the man and sighs.

"Anyone want any hot chocolate?"

Fifteen minutes later Wonwoo and Chan were huddled up in the couch with their own mugs of hot chocolate in their hands. The man, Seungcheol, was seated on the loveseat in front of them. Wonwoo had made him take off his coat and even lent him some clothes while his were drying.

"So, let me get this straight." Wonwoo says. He brings down his mug in the coffee table in front of them before leaning back and letting Chan snuggle up his arm.

"You were recruited in the program because of your cross species theory thingy-" "Cross Species Genetics." Seungcheol cuts in.

"Yeah, that. They recruited you for that and you thought it was just basice research but you later found out they're doing experiments on humans and that's when they assigned you to Chan." Wonwoo says. Seungcheol nods as Chan takes a loud sip of his hot chocolate.

"I'm the youngest in the lab so they thought Chan would connect with me more." Seungcheol adds. Wonwoo nods at that and looks down at Chan on his side. He sighs and looks back up at Seungcheol.

"Well, what now? What's your plan?" Seungcheol looks at him warrily. Wonwoo can understand, Seungcheol isn't sure if he can be trusted.

"Actually, don't tell me. But, promise me this though." Wonwoo says in a stern voice. Seungcheol looks at him with wide and attentive brown eyes. his eyes seems to pop out even more now that he pushed his hear back.

"Take care of him." Wonwoo says. Seungcheol had a surprised look pass his face before he composed himself and nodded. Wonwoo hears the dryer beep, notifying them that Seungcheol's clothes are already done.

Seungcheol says he'll get them himself and asked Wonwoo if he could spare Chan some more fitting clothes before they go. Wonwoo nods and pulls Chan back to his room, making him leave his mug.

Wonwoo rummages for old clothes, clothes that are small enough to properly fit Chan, and made Chan change as he looks for another pair he could take with him.

"Wonu?" Chan asks. Wonwoo looks back and sees Chan out of his black sweatpants and black turtleneck, now Wonwoo's large shirt is under a hoodie that's just the right size for Chan and a pair of joggin pants Wonwoo's mom had given Wonwoo before. They're much too small for Wonwoo now but Chan fits them perfectly. Wonwoo zips up the hoodie fixes Chan's shirt inside.

"Can't you come with?" Chan asks. Wonwoo tenses at that and forces a smile as he leads Chan outside.

"I can't, silly. I have exams next week. And not to mention work." Wonwoo says. Seungcheol emerges from the bathroom wearing his own clothes and hands Wonwoo his clothes. Wonwoo then offers the extra pair of clothes for Chan and Seungcheol smiles. Seungcheol puts it in the backpack he has under his coat and smiles.

"You ready, Chan?" Seungcheol asks. Chan was still pouting and Wonwoo wants to just carry him out and lock the doors for a month because fuck him for getting attached to him in less than a fucking day.

"Why can't Wonu come with?" Chan asks, looking over at Seungcheol. Wonwoo looks up at Seungcheol and feels himself blush as Seungcheol smirks.

"He can't Chan. It's not safe." Chan whines and lets Seungcheol drag him out.

Wonwoo cannot believe how heavy it feels to be saying good bye to the two people who have threatened his life in a span of hours. Chan was by the door when he stops again and tugs at Seungcheol's sleeves.

"Can't he come? Please?" Seungcheol smiles sadly and looks up at Wonwoo before looking down at Chan.

"Chan, do you want the bad people to come after Wonwoo as well?" Chan whines and shakes his head no.

"Then we can't let him come. I'm sure you've gotten attached somehow but we have to go. We have to get as far as we can before they pick up on our trail." Seungcheol explains. Chan nods and looks back at Wonwoo then looks back up to Seungcheol.

"But I marked him already." Chan says softly. Wonwoo watches in confusion as Seungcheol's eyes widened.

"You did what?!" Seungcheol lets go of Chan and walks up to Wonwoo. Seungcheol grabbed hold of Wonwoo's jaw and lifts it up. Wonwoo manages out a surprised yelp as Seungcheol turns his jaw lef tand right until Seungcheol stops. He brings his hand down and it ghosted over the side of Wonwoo's throat. Wonwoo looks back and forth at Seungcheol's panicked face and Chan's guilty one. Before he could even say anything, Seungcheol turns to Chan and lets out a frustrated groan.

"Chan! What did you do?!" Seungcheol yells. Chan apologises and Wownoo removed Seungcheol's hand from his nekc.

"What ar eyou talking about?" Wonwoo demands. Seungcheol looks up at him and Wonwoo feels like Seungcheol's expression is anything but good news.

Seungcheol's brows were furrowed a bit and his eyes were looking a bit guilty and a little sad. Seungcheol sighs.

"You need to know something else about Chan. About what Chan is." Seungcheol says. Seungcheol tells him who Chan really is and what he is and Wonwoo feels his knees buckle. He would've fallen on his ass if it weren't for Seungcheol supporting him.

"Oh my god, what?" Wonwoo says. Seungcheol rolls his eyes at him and Wonwoo hits him in his arm.

"You just told me Chan is some vampire-cat-hybrid thing and that he marked my blood! This is a totally normal reaction!" Wonwoo defends. Seungcheol groans and Chan looks down bashfully.

Wonwoo really cannot catch a god damn break.