To relieve you of your taolessness for the next week T︵T request sutaohun for playful?? We will be with you Jay >_<
done!
“You both knew this was coming. I can’t believe we have to go through this every time.”
I hope @meowtao will accept this as a fill for sutao for playful too, this.. got a little long ;; (and ty for your nice messages both of you!) I kind of want to work this into a longer fic ahh. hybrid au~~
“You both knew this was coming. I can’t believe we have to go through this every time.”
“But,” Junmyeon starts in protest, eyes round and fluffy ears flat to his hair. Sehun squares up and makes himself just that little bit taller, towering over the puppy. The intimidation is on the verge of working until Zitao lifts his chin from Junmyeon’s narrow, hunched little shoulder and does the same trick. Taller still. Sehun sighs.
“You have to think about how we feel,” Zitao continues, a protective arm slipping around Junmyeon’s waist. “It’s against our nature.”
Sehun purses his lips. Oh really. It’s the first time he’s tried to pull that one. “I don’t care, Tao. It’s bath night. Guys–”
Just saying the words sets them off again. Junmyeon darts behind Zitao, tail between his legs. Zitao bares his teeth, and Sehun’s not having any of that. Zitao yowls and hisses and digs his heels into the floor as Sehun tugs hard at his forearms, but to be honest Sehun’s mostly sedentary student lifestyle doesn’t have much on someone who spends pretty much every moment they’re not napping or eating being ferociously active.
“Ridiculous,” Sehun tells them both, just a little out of breath, when he’s given up. Zitao’s tongue pokes out at him. “I’m running the water in, and you need to be ready in ten minutes, ok?”
Junmyeon whimpers.
“Good.”
Every Sunday is bath night, but every Sunday comes around as though there’s never been one before it. Zitao actually likes baths, once he’s in them and is satisfied with the volume of bubbles and nice smelling goop being massaged into his hair and behind his ears. But Junmyeon.. Junmyeon is very much a dog.
Sehun’s sure that hybrids are supposed to have these sorts of domesticities trained into them as kittens and pups, but he’s not really all that well versed on how this kind of stuff works. Maybe you’re supposed to teach them yourself. Junmyeon and Zitao didn’t come from one of those high-end breeding parlours, though, and Sehun signed up to the rehome-a-hybrid-get-a-tax-break deal thinking they’d basically just be company around his own age and help with the rent.
That was correct in some ways. They all hang out together, take turns to cook, clean – Junmyeon even works a couple nights a week. False in most others, though.
“Tao, don’t you dare–” Sehun winces, and from outside the bathroom door Junmyeon yelps in surprise at the clatter of a can to the tiled floor. “Tao! In the water, now.”
Zitao sullenly bats another item off the counter before doing as he’s told. He grumbles about humidity and his fur and how long his tail takes to dry, but Sehun has bigger (well, not literally) things to worry about and just steps around him.
“Junmyeon, Tao’s already in.” Sehun pushes his sleeves up over his elbows, for all the good it’ll do keeping him dry once Junmyeon is involved. He steps out into the hallway and finds Junmyeon right there, ears and tail drooped. He’s a faithful pup and hasn’t attempted hiding – he’s just got his fingers firmly around the doorframe. “You wouldn’t make Tao bath all by himself, right?” Sehun encourages as he prizes Junmyeon claw by tiny, blunt claw from the paintwork. “You wouldn’t take up my entire night not getting in the bath so I don’t get my essay finished, right?”
No, Junmyeon would never do that. Not intentionally. Sehun ends up practically carrying him into the horrible steamy room, reminding them both that if they want to be independent and fit in with humans they need to at least start the week off smelling pleasant. And no, their own idea of grooming doesn’t meet human standards.
Fitting both hybrids into the tub at once is no easy feat when Zitao’s legs are such a length that he has to bend his knees to fit in alone, but there are means and ways when you have the ingenuity of a broke student. It’s taken quite a few bath nights to figure out, but sitting them side by side is workable, if not comfortable. Zitao crosses his legs, paws on the edge of the tub, tail swishing and elbow digging into Junmyeon’s side. Junmyeon’s still looking less than pleased about this whole ordeal, his knees hugged tight to his chest.
There’s more than a little water on the floor and Sehun’s shirt is already sticking to him in places, but this is progress. As usual, Zitao is enjoying himself now he’s actually in, and that’s making the task at hand a lot easier. Apart from when he nips affectionately at Junmyeon’s damp ears and the pup sends more water splashing over the sides of the tub.
“I have an essay,” Sehun reminds them when Zitao swerves having the lather rinsed from his hair, not content with the barely ten seconds of working it in he got. “I need a thousand words by midnight.”
“Haven’t you had all week to work on it?” Junmyeon asks from behind his knees. It’s not an invitation that the bath should last longer. Everything above his shoulders is still dry, his pale chest striped pink where the water level has remained.
Sehun scowls. “Haven’t you had twenty four years to get used to taking a bath?”
Zitao stretches across Sehun’s bed while he waits to fully dry out. Junmyeon towelled his ears so carefully, patting each between both hands and rubbing softly at the base where fur meets hair. He scrubbed at Zitao’s hair, too, fluffing it up until he looked more like a lion than a house cat.
His tail is another matter entirely, though. It gets heavy and uncomfortable when it’s wet, and Junmyeon tries to swat it away every time Zitao lets it sway over onto him. “But you’re warm,” Zitao mouths to him, letting his tail flop over Junmyeon’s waist again. “It’ll dry faster.” Junmyeon pouts.
Sehun is at his desk, slowly poking at his keyboard, and neither of them want to be the first to disturb him. He already had to get changed after how Junmyeon clung to him when it was time to get out and the bathroom no longer felt suffocatingly hot but freezing cold. So Junmyeon makes no further complaints about the damp fur draped over his back, even trying to get comfortable under it. Which he can’t.
Zitao dozes off easily once he’s started to warm up again, and his low purrs start to lull Junmyeon, too, despite the cold soggy fur. The next time Junmyeon opens his eyes it’s to Sehun leaning over them. His ears immediately perk, and Sehun shushes him.
“Smallest study break ever,” he tells Junmyeon. “I’m getting stiff shoulders sitting there.”
“You’re working so hard,” Junmyeon says sleepily. He wriggles the little bit closer to Zitao that he can, leaving just enough space for Sehun to squeeze in on the end.
That didn’t sound sarcastic. Sehun’s not sure Junmyeon really understands much about essays and average typing speeds, but who’s he to turn down some encouragement. “Yeah, well. It’ll be done in time.” He brings a hand to Junmyeon’s damp hair, scritching at the base of an ear. “How are you recovering from the bath?”
“Don’t wanna think about it.” Junmyeon shudders at the memory, but he’s soon happily butting his forehead and cheekbone against Sehun’s palm. Sehun’s forgiven for the horrible experience, as he is most Sundays. Really it’s no duty of his, at years younger than them both, to try to play parent. Junmyeon had given Zitao the best education he could – all secondhand knowledge from books donated to the shelter, and he’d thought during that time he’d prepared them for the human world. He’s been studying it for as long as Sehun has been alive. But once in practice he really hadn’t got a clue; they lucked out being taken in by someone so kind.
“Junmyeon– you’re chewing.” Sehun prizes his damp sleeve out from between Junmyeon’s blunt little teeth and just gives his hair a soft pat when horrified realisation dawns. It’s just a puppy thing – Sehun’s helped Jongin out with new kids enough times. He’s thankful Junmyeon knows not to target his fingers like Jongin’s entirely non-human pups do. “Were you worrying? Don’t think about unhappy things. I’m on study break, we gotta make the most of it.”
For a moment Junmyeon isn’t sure if he misread that invitation, because Sehun isn’t kissing him back. Then Zitao’s tail swats at his back and he realises why. Cats are such inquisitive creatures. Especially this one, when he suspects there’s some petting happening that he’s not involved in.
“Is this about rewards for bath time?” Zitao drapes over Junmyeon’s shoulder and paws at Sehun’s chest, still clumsy and heavy with sleep. “I was really good. Where’s mine?”
Junmyeon sinks back against Zitao, giving him space to lean over and drowsily nuzzle at Sehun’s jaw. Zitao’s tail is practically dry now; it stops swaying to instead curl snugly around Junmyeon’s wrist as he strokes along the curve. Junmyeon’s own tail is thudding against the bed as it wags, but no one seems to mind.
Pairings: Suho/Tao/Sehun; Suho/Sehun
Word Count: ~9 700
Summary/Prompt: Tao falls in love with his best friend Sehun's boyfriend, Junmyeon.
Notes/Warnings: for jenn. beta by ash. language, polyamory, explicit sex.
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Zitao’s always known about Junmyeon – but maybe he’s never known about Junmyeon until Sehun brings him home.
but wh who doesn’t like an unexpected hybrid right ;;
Zitao is supposed to be the one that’s reliable in times of need, who’d snap someone in half if they tried to do any harm. That’s in daylight, though. It’s Sehun that’s leading the slow, cautious creep down the stairs. The only weapon of sorts he’d found at short notice was a can of hairspray, and the way Zitao’s hand keeps suddenly yanking at the back of his shirt has almost made him fire it off twice already.
“It sounded like it was in the kitchen,” Zitao tells him for the seventh time, whimpered beside Sehun’s ear. Zitao’s in charge of guiding them with the light on his phone, but considering the shadows it casts are frightening him too, his aim is kind of off. “What if someone got in?” Sehun almost slips down the bottom two steps when Zitao suddenly crushes himself up against his back. “Oh my god, Huna, what if it wasn’t a person!”
Typically Zitao, to be more scared at the prospect of a spirit than a potential murderer. “Will you please let it go that there are ghosts here,” Sehun sighs. He doesn’t really know what he expected, considering they’ve lived here for seven months now and Zitao still scoots past the dark windows with his eyes shielded. Wait. The windows. They’ve been getting into the habit of leaving a window open at night to let out some of the sticky August heat and let in a breeze so they can actually get some sleep. Sehun tightens his grip on the can.
“What?” Zitao asks shakily when Sehun tenses beneath his grip. “Did you hear something?”
Sehun had thought he (or maybe Zitao, if he suddenly found his courage again) would attack on instinct if there actually had been a break-in, but maybe it’s just that their intruder is so small, or that all they appear to be stealing is the contents of the fridge. Or maybe it’s the soft, floppy ears poking out of his soft, floppy hair. Or maybe, maybe it’s just that Zitao’s scream startles him so much that he bursts into floods of tears, and Sehun doesn’t have the heart to unload a can of hairspray on that.
“He’s a bunny,” Zitao confirms, but Sehun had guessed that five minutes before Zitao had taken charge of trying to understand the poor thing’s jittery voice.
Sehun’s never seen any other kind of hybrid with ears like that. He was probably expensive. “I’ve never heard of rabbits climbing through windows and eating people’s lunch.” If he’d been a fox, maybe, or a wolf.. but Sehun’s never met any of those around here. It’s not really the kind of area where you’d expect to find hybrids at all.
“He must have been so hungry,” Zitao says defensively. Considering he’d nearly jumped out of the window himself at finding someone in the house, Zitao’s taken to their intruder remarkably fast. He looks small and frail as it is; tucked in at Zitao’s side he’s too tiny for Sehun to take much issue with, either.
He’s called Junmyeon, he tells them eventually, and he’s been lost for quite a while. And he really, really had been raised better than to steal, and he’s so, so sorry, trembling to the tips of his little ears. Sehun tries to reason that if they call the police — not to report him for the theft of half a sandwich, but to register him as missing, he might find his way back home, but Junmyeon’s eyes grow startlingly wide at the idea.
Zitao, soft-hearted as ever, willingly obliges when Junmyeon turns and tries to bury in under his arm. “We should wait til morning though. He’s tired. And scared.” Zitao sounds distinctly like he’s cooing as he soothingly rubs at one of Junmyeon’s soft ears. “You’re scaring him with your mean eyebrows.”
“Tao,” Sehun says warningly. His plucking technique is none of Zitao’s business, and he’s seen that look before. They’d never been meant to have dogs until Zitao had discovered how effective that look is. “He has a home to go to.”
Zitao scowls over the top of Junmyeon’s head. “But not right now! It’s dark. And he’s still hungry, and he’d probably like to clean up before he starts looking for his home again. Right?” Zitao gives Junmyeon’s narrow shoulders a squeeze. It encourages him to burrow deeper into Zitao’s arms, his pale little paws balled against Zitao’s chest. Sehun sighs. “You can stay here with us,” Zitao tells Junmyeon, “I’ll look after you even if that meanie won’t.”
Honestly. “I never said that,“ Sehun protests. Zitao beams up at him, and well. At least it wasn’t a ghost.
Sehun sat in the kitchen, a glass of milk in one hand and his phone in the other. He couldn’t sleep and he didn’t want to wake his hyungs up to keep him company. Baekhyun had mumbled a grumble when the light of the kitchen came on, bleeding into his makeshift room in the living, but he went back to snoring soon after.
Sehun wasn’t really looking for anything. If he was up so late, it was Kai or Suho who would keep him company before dragging him back to just “try and sleep”. If not one of them, he would try to push off sleep with Tao. But Tao wasn’t there.
Sehun sighed, downing the rest of his milk before going back to bed to try and drift off to sleep. He was rinsing the glass when he heard the door code being entered. All the members were home, sleeping peacefully. Lay was still in China for another week before he said he was coming back. It had to be their manager, he thought.
Sehun moved to the door to scare manager-hyung for creeping in so late. He held back his snickering as he stood near the door as it opened slowly. Sehun’s smile slowly faded as the masked man peered in before stepping in. Sehun’s breathing stopped as he watched the man, mask covering half his face and his hands holding onto luggage, toe off his shoes before looking up.
No one could mistake those cat-like eyes that always sparkled when he smiled and looked at Sehun. They were the same eyes that Sehun loved and had missed for so long.
Zitao pulled off his mask and smiled to Sehun. A relaxed and enthused smile was given.
“My Sehunnie! Were you waiting for me?” Zitao whispered, dropping his bag to the floor. Sehun pushed out a breath before he rushed Zitao, pulling him into a hug. Zitao was scared as Sehun started to sob into his shoulder. “Oh! What’s wrong? Why are you crying?”
Hiccups and coughs were all Sehun could respond with as he clawed to hold onto Tao, make sure that it was really him.
“Sehunnie, come to bed already. We have t-” Zitao turned him and Sehun toward a groggy Junmyeon rubbing the sleep from his eyes. His eyes adjusted to the view before him.
“Junmyeon hyung!” Zitao called out. Sehun sat up, sniffling as he wiped away his tears.
“Hyung...”Sehun croaked out as he leaned against Zitao’s shoulder.
“Tao-ah...you came back,” was all Junmyeon could say before he rushed to younger members, pulling Zitao close. His fingers pushed into Tao’s flesh, giving him tactical evidence that his panda had returned and was before him. Sehun squirmed into the embrace, sandwiching Junmyeon between the two of them.
“I’m back,” Tao whispered into Junmyeon’s ear as he rubbed his back.
