"hello taeyong." jaehyun said when he saw his date approaching him with a smile.

"hey jaehyun!" taeyong replied with a smile.

"i see you took your hybrid with you." jaehyun noted, looking at the beautiful lion that was walking behind taeyong.

"yes, i did!" taeyong passed his hand through yuta's mane. "this is yuta. come say hello to jaehyun, baby."

jaehyun watched in adoration how taeyong spoke to his hybrid.

a second later, the lion morphed into a tall and shy boy. taeyong ruffled his hair quickly and encouraged him to talk before looking at jaehyun again.

"hello yuta. i am jaehyun." he said, holding his hand out for yuta to shake it.

yuta looked at the hand for a second before shaking it timidly, mumbling a small 'nice to meet you', and earning a low chuckle from taeyong.

yuta immediately walked behind taeyong, using his body as a shield.

"you didn't bring yours?" taeyong asked, looking around.

"oh, i did." jaehyun told, turning around to search for his hybrid. "yua! come here!"

taeyong and yuta stared at a beautiful girl who was making her way towards them, two fluffy yellowish ears moving on her head.

when she got next to jaehyun, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"meet yua. she is a lion hybrid, just like you, yuta." he said as yua waved her hand.

🦁

"i thought i would be able to enjoy waking up late today. turns out i was dreaming... what do you want ten?" sicheng asked, still half asleep.

"advice." ten replied, inviting himself inside the house.

sicheng closed the front door of his own house and followed ten to the living room.

"couldn't that wait for a few hours?"

"sicheng. it's eleven already." ten replied, a brow raised.

"i got to bed late yesterday."

"not my problem."

sicheng sighed, knowing very well that ten wouldn't leave his house until he has the answers to his questions.

so, he decided to prepare some coffee for them to drink – and for him to wake up a bit better.

"so... tell me. what is bothering you?" sicheng asked, handing ten a cup before sitting on his armchair.

"feelings."

"no shit." sicheng rolled his eyes. "i know you hadn't come here to ask me whether i preferred zebra or leopard patterns."

"you are- "

"annoying. i know. now, tell me. what has taeyong done again?"

ten fidgeted with his fingers before answering.

"it's not him."

"NOT HIM?!" sicheng yelled, almost knocking his cup of coffee over. "you found someone else?!"

"what? no! i still love him. how could i stop loving him?"

"oh... what is it then?" sicheng asked rather confused.

"lately... i've been quite confused about my feelings towards yuta..."

"yuta?!" sicheng widened his eyes, almost knocking off his cup for the second time.

"i-is it a... p-problem?" ten asked, voice trembling.

"no, no. i was just... surprised." sicheng replied, taking a sip of his coffee. "tell me everything."

"well..." ten set his chin onto his palm as he was looking around the house, his eyes never going near sicheng. "he was my little baby at first. cute hybrid that taeyong and i had bought, soft boy that we could cuddle all day. i was very attached to him at that time. i still am, but now it's different. it used to be adoration, because he was cute, and i was supposed to take care of him. but lately, it turned into something more... intimate? actually... it's like..."

sicheng listened very carefully to ten.

he knew that yuta had somehow developed feelings for his two owners. kun and him had talked about it a few times already.

but he didn't expect to have ten over telling him similar things so soon.

"are you telling me you are attracted to him?" sicheng cut ten's incoherent rambling.

"yeah." the thai male replied simply, not understanding why sicheng was grinning like this. "what?"

"you are in love with your hybrid?"

"huh... maybe? i mean... i'm not sure being 'in love' is totally it, but we're getting there." ten explained, fidgeting with his fingers.

"what about taeyong?" sicheng asked.

"i still love him. he's just so perfect. how could i ever stop loving him?"

sicheng chuckled. "i was asking what taeyong thought of your new feelings for your hybrid actually."

"oh... i didn't tell him anything." ten said quickly. "i don't talk about feelings with him anymore."

"because you still love him?"

ten nodded. "i know i'll end up hurt. he'll speak about his relationship with jaehyun. and i don't want to hear about it."

"are they together?" sicheng asked after a while.

"almost." ten replied.

"almost?"

"he's always out with him and he even brought yuta today..."

"but how can you be so sure he has feelings for jaehyun...?"

🦁

jaehyun and taeyong had been hanging out for three hours.

three long hours during which taeyong's eyes never left his hybrid.

no, he wasn't worried that yuta could do something dangerous.

he was simply throwing daggers at yua for being this clingy with his hybrid.

they may be two beings of the same kind – and even the same specie – but this didn't allow them to be stuck to each other like they were.

"they're cute, aren't they?" jaehyun asked, turning around to see yuta and yua in their human form sitting on the grass, a few meters away from them. yua was clinging on yuta's arm while the other pointed at the sky, surely telling her how one of the clouds was funny-shaped – something he loved to do with ten and taeyong.

taeyong swallowed the lump in his throat before speaking. "well... don't you think yua is a bit too clingy?"

he couldn't understand what was happening to him.

since when had he started getting bothered by the way others were looking and acting towards his hybrid?

yuta was his. there was no doubt about it. so, why would he feel like other people were trying to steal him from taeyong?

"she's usually like that." jaehyun chuckled. "why? are you perhaps jealous?"

"w-what...?" taeyong stuttered, thinking about it hard.

could he be jealous?

sure, he loved yuta with all this heart, but jealousy was a different feeling. something you felt when someone touched to your loved ones, to your partner or to your family.

but that didn't make sense. yuta has never had this place in his heart...

or had he?

"don't be jealous of your hybrid. i'll cuddle you too if that's what you want." jaehyun said with a smirk.

"huh... sure?" he answered – obviously not sure about it – a small part of his mind telling him that jaehyun's theory could be right.

but his heart immediately told him that he was wrong.

he wasn't jealous of yuta because he got cuddles and not him.

he was jealous of yuta because someone was acting clingy towards him when the only persons allowed to it were ten and him.