I almost forgot to tell you guys:
I dreamt of non-mc, orange tabby hybrid!reader following Zayne to work and essentially becoming an emotional support cat for the staff, but specifically for Zayne because he's their favorite. The rest is under the cut cause it got quite long (I might end up writing it)
This happens a little bit after he meets mc again as her physician. He's shocked that Tabby (that's what I'm gonna call reader) is so friendly with him because animals usually run away from him. Tabby follows him to work, after letting him pet them for a bit, meowing as if they were having a conversation while they walked. And when he makes it to Akso hospital he crouches to say goodbye and pets their head before walking in.
It becomes a habit, sometimes Tabby walks him to work, other times they don't. Until one day they decide to just walk in, climb one of the desks and situate themselves where people could see them and easily pet them. It's perfect, because they get to see Zayne come in and leave, they get food and treats, it's warm and everybody loves them.
They decide to start roaming the halls, follow Zayne around when he goes to see the kids and offer some emotional support for them. Everyone pitches in to get Tabby a collar, and they do a little makeshift ceremony when they put it on.
Naturally, Tabby meets mc after a while– she's Zayne's patient after all– and while they like her at first, they are quick to realize Zayne has a thing for them when they notice the way he softens with her. Cue marking territory, the moment they see mc or even catch a whiff of her scent, they book it towards Zayne's office and sit on his desk.
They're not openly hostile towards mc, they still let her pet their head, but they show that they don't like it when they approach each other. Tabby is always the barrier between them. It's a clear "Zayne is their human, back off" of course, mc jokes about it with him and he finds it adorable, but he makes sure to gently remind them that it's fine when they're alone.
Then comes the moment where mc indirectly rejects Zayne. He doesn't confess or any of that, but one of the other boys comes to pick her up after the check up and he sees them kiss. Instant heartbreak. He throws himself into work, barely finishes his meals and barely sleeps. Tabby is the one to slowly pull him out of it by getting him to take breaks and providing distractions for him. (Idk if I wanna write a scene where he allows himself to cry into Tabby's fur over a culmination of a bad day, but, it could happen)
Something happens that Tabby gets sick– idk, they eat something they shouldn't or they get injured in some way (I'm leaning heavily towards injured)– and Zayne is the one to take them to the vet and later drive back home after getting a few days off to take care of them, and finally, after a few days, we get the big reveal scene:
They're cuddling on his bed when it happens. In one second, it's night time and Zayne fell asleep to the rumbles of a purring orange cat on his arm. The next, it's early morning and he's waking up the warmth of another body pressed against his.
He's disoriented when he turns to kiss Tabby's head and ends up feeling hair instead of fur. It takes him a few minutes to compute that the broken thing under their neck is the collar they had given them. And then he stares, silently, taking in every feature of the hybrid in front of him.
I don't remember very well beyond that point, but I think Tabby went back to being human? They were practically homeless when they met him and all their important things were stored somewhere safe. They were just trying to figure out how to move with life when they met him– right in the middle of a crisis that turned them into a cat because of the stress– it ended up snowballing out of control the day they went into the hospital.
Zayne "adopted" them (It means that he became her willing "caretaker" because the mandated one had proven to be negligent and untrustworthy– they were the reason she ended up homeless–) and she was able to find more stable footing after moving in with him. She still visited the hospital from time to time, both in cat and human form (I think it's implied that Ivonne and Greyson recognize them because of the hair and mannerisms).
And there's a bit of an angsty scene where she makes something for Zayne and ends up having a misunderstanding when she sees him with mc. I don't remember what they were doing but it was enough for them to walk away without saying anything and staying a cat for a few days. They stay close to him during that time, but there's an obvious distance that hurts both of them and then I truly don't know what the fuck happens after because I woke up....
Yeah, I'm totally writing this, I got a whole fucking outline right here. Imma do that after I nap tho, I got wrongfully forced into waking up early and I'm fucking tired.