Lonely Kitten

27

Jisung sat with Minho late into the evening and watched the little color. Minho was still mostly non-verbal, whining or tugging on the rapper's hand to get his attention, if the other's attention wasn't already on him. It had taken a few hours but Minho had finished his first mandala, which had turned out pretty neat considering how little he felt. Wanting to get back to a regular sleeping schedule, Jisung had fed the little a bowl of apple sauce before having some ramen himself and got them both ready for bed. Minho was a bit calmer now but still followed him wherever he went, not liking his caregiver leaving his sight. The rapper hummed a soft tune as he heated up some milk for Minho's bottle, the little curiously watching the cup turn in the microwave, his cat ears twitching at the sound. When the microwave beeped indicating the milk was done, the hybrid spun around and grabbed Jisung's hand, pulling the rapper towards the microwave, urgently pointing at the device and exclaiming: "DA!"

Jisung calmly moved Minho aside and got the milk, pouring it into the baby bottle, smiling: "You ready to have your milky and go to sleep, kitten?" The hybrid purred in response and slipped his hand into Jisung's waddling along as they made their way to the bedroom. They still hadn't tidied the bed, Minho's nest from the previous night still standing. "Do you want to sleep in your nest again or should we put the stuff back?", the rapper asked, pointing to the arrangement of pillows and clothing items. Giving the other an offended look, Minho climbed into the nest and fluffed some of the pillows back up, moving some of the hoodies around until he was satisfied with it. The little sat in the middle of his nest and looked at Jisung expectantly, who cooed: "Such a cozy nest you made. Can I join you there? It looks really comfy." Nodding happily, Minho waited for the other to climb in too before crawling into his lap, so he could have his milk. It was only now that he noticed he'd have to remove his paci to be able to drink it, which he didn't like. It had already been a struggle to get him to eat his apple sauce because he didn't want to give his paci away, holding onto it tightly while Jisung fed him.

Holding his paci in his fist, Minho melted into the other's chest and closed his eyes. Jisung cooed at the adorable boy, holding the bottle teat to his lips and watching him latch onto it. While the little contently suckled on his bottle, Jisung felt his forehead again, relieved that he only felt slightly warm. A good night's sleep would hopefully get him back to his usual self. Minho purred quietly when the rapper handed him his blanket, that he had dug out between the variety of different hoodies and sweaters. Softly singing one of the slower songs they had been working on at the studio, Jisung let the little finish his milk and watched him knead the material of his baby blanket in his hands, clenching and unclenching them. When the bottle was empty, the rapper placed it onto the nightstand and picked up the paci Minho had dropped when holding onto his blanket. He tried to remove any lint that stuck to it before slipping it between the little's lips. Jisung carefully got them laying down and gently ran his hands through Minho's hair and along the base of his ears, successfully lulling the other to sleep.

He himself wasn't sleepy yet, not used to an early bedtime, so he pulled out his phone and decided to text Felix, having more than just a few questions. Feeling possessive of Minho, Jisung wanted to confirm whether all hybrids had mates and if it was possible to decide against one's mate in favor of a different partner. Maybe if he loved the older enough, Minho would choose him over his mate when the time came to pick one of them. Hearing a sleepy huff, the rapper looked down and found the hybrid pressing himself tighter to him, the paci barely moving as his suckling had slowed. This was his baby, Jisung decided, and although he had made some mistakes with feeding him wrong and leaving him alone for too long, he was determined to take the best possible care of the hybrid and didn't trust anyone else to do a better job at that.

The rapper was lucky that Felix was still up playing video games and eagerly agreed to answer all questions the other might have. The Aussie was happy not having to hide anymore, so why not educate his friends, especially since he had a feeling Jisung was way deeper involved in the entire hybrid-thing than the rapper was aware of. Felix was taken aback when the other asked if it was possible to decide against one's mate. Did Jisung not want to be with Minho? Recalling how his father had spoken about his mate, the Aussie had to deny. There was no way to keep two mates apart without both of them going crazy and there was no deciding against the other because the love and desire to be with them would make the decision for them. Felix was heartbroken hearing where this conversation was going. He couldn't help but pity Minho after witnessing how whipped the older hybrid was for Jisung, so for the rapper to want to change anything about something predestined, showed he didn't support a relationship between them at all. That was when Felix decided to drop the bomb, revealing that him and Changbin were mates although Jisung had to keep that detail to himself because Changbin didn't know that yet.

The Aussie's revelation was followed by a long silence before Jisung confirmed whether Changbin was human. Felix replied that yes, Changbin was for sure human but that it was possible to have a human mate, even if it was really rare. The following silence was even longer and the hybrid carefully asked Jisung if he was still there or if he had fallen asleep with his phone. Eventually, the rapper texted back that he was still awake but was trying to make sense of something. Taking a deep breath to ground himself, Jisung described how he had suddenly felt really bad and could tell he had to go home to check on Minho. He hoped his words even made sense at this point but he had to confirm. Why could he tell Minho needed him? The rapper's heart pounded when he hit send and waited impatiently for Felix to reply. His hand was shaking so bad, he almost dropped his phone, but heard a soft purr as Minho nuzzled his face into his chest, helping him calm down without even waking up.

Felix almost dropped his phone when the other asked if it was possible for him to be Minho's mate. He read over the situation Jisung described and was now even more assured than he had been before, those two just had to be mates. Unaware of how he was torturing the rapper with the suspense, Felix took his time to type a slightly longer message: 'If you think you are his mate, why do you so badly want to change anything about it? I had a feeling the two of you got along pretty well.... From the way I've seen Minho-hyung act around you, I think it's quite likely for the two of you to be mates, even if hyung is still in denial. He insists that it's quote "statistically more than just unlikely". Personally, I think he's just afraid to get his hopes up in case you don't feel the same, which I assume is the case, considering you wanted to decide against your mate.' Jisung's eyes widened when he received the Aussie's message, reading over it before glancing at the sleeping little in his arms. Could he really be so lucky as to have Minho for himself?

He could barely tear his eyes away from the adorable sight of Minho with his pacifier but when he did, he texted Felix that he had no intention of deciding against Minho but that he had feared the older would leave once his real mate came around, so he wanted to know if there was a chance of Minho deciding against his mate to stay with Jisung instead. Reading that, Felix couldn't help but face-palm. How could his friends be so dull and oblivious? Well, at least one of them had accepted reality now and they only had to get Minho to see it too. Eventually, the rapper told Felix good night, wanting to cuddle his mate properly as Minho didn't deserve any less than 100% of his attention. Rolling his eyes at Jisung, the Aussie shot a quick 'good night' back before turning back to his video game, relieved that he had been able to open the other's eyes.