"yuta, stop crying... we're not leaving forever..."

it had been one month since taeyong and jaehyun's first date; but it hadn't been long since their last one... it was something frequent now...

ten was still lonely, often having dark thoughts about taeyong's love life, and trying to stay with yuta as much as possible so that he didn't think taeyong was abandoning him.

yuta had grown much, physically. his human for had stayed the same, but his animal form was now almost as huge as an adult lion's body. and despite his growth, his mindset was still the one of a cute lion cub, all giggly, cute and sometimes whiny...

"b-but... yuta wants to go with you!!!" the hybrid cried harder, clinging to one of ten's legs and one of taeyong's.

"we're going to work baby, we need to." taeyong told.

"why can't you bring yuta with you?!!" yuta sniffed multiple times.

"because we have to work over there, we won't be able to take care of you..."

"b-but... usually one of you always stay with me!!" yuta started, not controlling his tears anymore.

"ten and i have a very important show to perform on next month. we need to train. both of us..."taeyong explained.

"don't you want to see both of us winning the competition?" ten added.

yuta nodded, sniffing from time to time.

"then we have to go and train..." ten continued, kneeling down to rub yuta's head gently.

"why can't yuta come with you? i promise i'll be calm." the hybrid pouted.

"i'm sorry baby, but it's not possible..." taeyong said sadly.

yuta almost burst out in tears again if it wasn't for ten engulfing him in a bear hug.

"yuta, baby, listen to me. if you come, you'll see our messy performance, and we don't want you to see this one. we want you to come to our show, when we'll perform perfectly, with no mistakes, and then we'll win. can you understand?"

the hybrid slowly nodded, understanding why he shouldn't come to see their practice.

"w-when are you coming back?" he asked, voice broken.

"in the afternoon." taeyong replied. "i promise we'll try being quick."

"okay..." yuta pouted.

the two humans smiled, bending to drop a kiss on the hybrid's head.

"enjoy your day baby."

"take care."

🦁

ten walked inside their music school's cafeteria, dropping his tray of food in front of sicheng's with a loud noise, catching the attention of many people around. 

"you're not eating with taeyong? that's new." sicheng told, mouth full of chicken.

"wow, not even a hello?" ten raised a brow.

"so... you're in a bad mood." sicheng rolled his eyes. "could i know why you're coming to pollute my air with your bad mood?"

"very funny."

"indeed."

ten started eating, his eyes never leaving his plate of food, not even to look at sicheng who was judging him harder than ever.

"okay." sicheng pulled ten's tray of food away, obliging ten to look at him. "what is the problem?"

"nothing." ten replied.

"wrong answer. try again."

"i didn't want to come this morning, and here i am, dealing with you." ten rolled his eyes.

"let me remind you that YOU were the one who sat at MY table." sicheng retorted, emphasising the words 'you' and 'my'.

"yuta was crying, begging us not to go to work this morning." ten continued speaking.

the thai male rambled about his hybrid, and how he had been heartbroken by the sight of yuta kneeling down because he didn't want his owners to leave him.

"it broke my heart, sicheng. can you understand that?" ten asked.

"you know what breaks mine?" the chinese replied with a straight face. "seeing taeyong and you turning around each other without getting together. it is painful for me as much as it is for you."

"we're not turning around each other anymore." ten scoffed.

"i don't believe this crap."

"i swear."

sicheng furrowed his brows, not expecting such sincerity in ten's words.

"what does that mean?" he asked, sceptical.

"he found someone."

"really?!"

"jaehyun, they've been on several dates already." ten explained, trying to get the thought out of his mind immediately.

"so, he doesn't love you anymore...?" sicheng asked.

"i don't know."

"how come you don't know?"

"we're not as close as before!" ten exclaimed. "we know we should stay apart. and so, we do. he's eating with his future boyfriend at the moment..."

sicheng eyed the whole cafeteria, finding taeyong and jaehyun having lunch a few tables away from them. they were laughing together, as if they always had been close.

"wait a minute..." sicheng turned around looking at ten in the eye. "does that mean that you plan to date me?"

ten grabbed the half-eaten piece of bread on sicheng's tray and threw it right in the boy's face.

"are you stupid?" he asked. "why would i date you?"

"i mean..." sicheng smirked. "i'm quite a man..."

"shut up." ten rolled his eyes. "i'm not in the mood."

sicheng did as he was told, judging it was not time to bother ten who seemed to have a really bad day.

"hey?" he spoke, catching ten's attention again.

"yeah?"

"if it can reassure you, i can drop kun to your house tomorrow so that him and yuta can spend a day together. this will lift a weight off your shoulders."

ten thanked the gods above for having a friend like sicheng.

and without second thoughts, he accepted the offer.