For Chocoyeol: A Big Small Surprise for Me and You
For: chocoyeol
Author: tiggie0307
Title: A Big Small Surprise for Me and You
Rating: PG
Pairing: Zitao/Kyungsoo
Word count: 2299
Summary: Zitao thought he was just doing his aunt a favor, not coming face to face with an abandoned hybrid.
A/N: Dear recipient, I hope you enjoy this fic as much as I enjoyed writing it. It was a lot of fun. Thank you L for helping me with this!
Zitao was too nice.
This was the only explanation he could give himself after telling his aunt yes, he’d clear out one of her rental properties on his day off. It's not that he didn’t mind helping her out, her sons had both gotten sick so she was behind on a lot of other things. She was always there for him when he needed something so it wasn’t unusual. Besides, he’s done this before so, what’s a few hours from his three day vacation from work? Cleaning one rental for his aunt would be nothing compared to his work at Hybrid Services.
Zitao had never been so wrong in his life.
Not only were the runaway tenants disgusting, they had left a member of their family behind. The smallest hybrid Zitao had ever laid eyes on. Normally when he found kittens while at work, they would either whimper away from him or flat out run.
Not this one. Zitao had the feeling that if he tried to come closer he would pay dearly. The kitten wasn’t hissing but his glare could make a lion think twice about attacking. He knew he would have to try a different method than what he would with hybrids at work.
“Hi.” Zitao said in his most friendly voice. “I didn’t mean to scare you when I came in…”
The kitten blinked, still glaring at him from its spot.
His aunt hadn’t told him if the ex tenants were Chinese or some other nationality and it may make this ten times harder if the hybrid didn’t understand at all.
“I’m not sure if you understand me at all but..,” Zitao thought of what he could say and almost did back away when the kitten spoke.
“I understand you fine, human.”
Zitao blinked wide eyed in surprise at the kitten who was clearly a full grown male hybrid cat; with an attitude unlike any hybrid he’s ever come in connect with. He cleared his throat.
“Well, great. My name is Zitao but you can call me Tao if you’d like,” he said as he kneeled down. The cat seemed to relax a little at this which made Zitao more than happy to be getting somewhere with him.
“Why would I call you any name when you won’t be here when I wake up?”
Zitao frowned, confusion written clearly on his face, “Why would you think I would leave you here after finding you? This is no place for anyone to be living...”
There was a shift in the hybrid's eyes that didn’t stay for long but it gave Zitao something to work with. He searched his brain for the right words to try to convince the cat that he wasn’t a bad guy.
“You’ve been living here on your own for months now...and..and I would like to take you home with me.”
“And if I don’t agree,” the cat asked, eyes no longer glaring but still guarded.
ZiTao sighed a little, “I will have to tell my aunt about you and she’s going to put in a call to my boss to have you removed; but I’d rather not have you go through that.”
The cat flicked his ears back and forth before given Zitao a once over. “Do you have hot water?”
“Yes,” he answered, “and warm food...and milk.”
The hybrid stood up quickly. “Ok, I will go with you. If you try anything I will hurt you.”
Zitao smiled in relief, “I’m fine with that.”
He watched silently as the hybrid collected his belongings. “It’s fine if I bring these,” the other asked.
“Yes, of course,” Zitao nodded. “I can carry some of it if you want me to?”
This confused the hybrid, making him frown. “But you’re the human; you’re not supposed to worry about my belongings. “It’s not your responsibility, it’s my own.”
Zitao only smiled softly as he stood up, “Well, I’m a different kind a human.”
Again, Zitao found himself being glared at, but the defensive gaze was gone.
“May I know your name even though you won’t call me by mine,” he asked gently. The hybrid paused before he zipped up his suitcase and backpack. “My name is Kyungsoo.”
“Kyungsoo,” Zitao tested the name out. “That’s Korean.”
Kyungsoo placed a hat on top of his head. “This is South Korea.”
“Your owners where Chinese though,” Zitao replied, picking up Kyungsoo’s suitcase.
Kyungsoo stayed silent as they walked outside to Zitao’s car and on the ride to his apartment. That gave Zitao time to think about the hybrid not having to be reminded to put a hat on. Normally, it would be something that they would have to be reminded of but Kyungsoo grabbed it without a reminder.
He could tell Kyungsoo was not a regular hybrid at all. That alone made him question just what had he stumbled into.
“This is nice,” Kyungsoo commented after he’d taken a seat on Zitao’s sofa. His small frame almost bounced as he sat back, taking in the living room area.
Zitao placed a cup of warm milk on the coffee table in front of the hybrid. He’d already texted his aunt about the house and said he’d finish up tomorrow. There was no way he was telling her about Kyungsoo. The tenants didn’t put him in the rental agreement which could set off more than a few alarms.
Worse case scenario would be finding out Kyungsoo was stolen. If that was in fact true, he would have reported it to the local authorities to be returned to his rightful owners. Something almost all hybrids were trained to do when lost or stolen.
Then he remembered, Kyungsoo was far from being like any other hybrid.
“So...how long have you been by yourself?” It was a question that had been begging to to be asked. Kyungsoo sipped his cup before he answered. “Six months.”
Zitao’s anger flared. Kyungsoo tensed at the change, watching Zitao’s hands ball into fists in his lap. Zitao noticed it too and rubbed his palms on his jeans to cool down.
“I’m sorry. I’m not upset at you or anything but...no one should be left to fend for themselves, human or hybrid.”
Kyungsoo placed his empty cup on the coffee table. “I made it just fine…”
A wave of sadness hit Zitao’s heart, “But you should be taken care of and looked after and protected..not abandoned.”
“Like I said, I made it just fine. Now where is your bathroom? You said you had hot water.”
The sudden change snapped Zitao out of his thoughts and he pointed down the hall behind the hybrid’s head. “It’s the second door on the left.”
Without another word Kyungsoo grabbed some clothes out of his backpack and headed to the bathroom.
“Do you need any help washing up?”
“I’m not a human baby or a kitten, Zitao,” Kyungsoo slightly hissed out before he closed the door.
Zitao sighed into his seat, running a hand through his hair. He wondered just how he was going to get Kyungsoo to open up to him. The usual petting and cooing he normally makes use of at work would all fail on this hybrid. The difference in Kyungsoo’s personality from other hybrids was even more strange. He was completely out of his element with Kyungsoo. This left him the most confused since he had worked with hybrids on a daily basis for the past 12 years. There were only a handful of breeds he’d never had the chance to work with but there was no way Kyungsoo’s owners could afford one of those unless they were millionaires or black market smugglers.
“Um..”
Zitao looked up to find Kyungsoo watching him with questioning eyes with his top lip between his teeth.
“You can ask me whatever it is, Kyungsoo. It’s ok…”
“You...you work for H.S.”
It wasn’t a question but it also didn’t take much thought for Zitao to figure out why Kyungsoo said it, since anything ever manufactured and sold with the Hybrid Services logo on it was everywhere in his apartment.
“Yes, I do,” Tao stated. “I’ve been there for a long time. I work in the Recovery and Placement division...Do you know what that is?”
Kyungsoo nodded but Zitao could see the slight tremor in his shoulders. He didn’t know if the hybrid was a runaway but he was not about to find out.
“I recover stray and abandoned hybrids and help them to get placed in new homes.” Zitao kept his tone neutral, slipping into work mode, something he’d been finding hard to do since this morning.
“Normally I report back to my boss about finding hybrids in a house by themselves, but not when i saw you,” he said, choosing his words carefully. “But I thought you’d like it here better…”
“You thought correct,” Kyungsoo muttered but Zitao didn’t miss the relaxed stance. Zitao smiled at him. “Good. Would you like lunch?”
“I...sure.”
Zitao cooked some shrimp and tossed it in a nice salad. Kyungsoo watched him work from the sofa. The hybrid would go from the tv to watching Tao cook from time to time, as if Zitao would disappear, leaving the other to wonder if that’s what happened with the hybrid’s previous owners.
Food always worked on anyone no matter what. It also gave Zitao time to think about what he was going to do with Kyungsoo and he knew he would get nowhere trying to guess, so he asked questions while they ate. Zitao kept the questions light, he wanted Kyungsoo to see him as a friend and not hybrid police, but he got the feeling it was going to take more time than the three days he had off work. It was a great thing that he was never one to back down from a challenge.
He was going to crack Kyungsoo if it’s the last thing he does.
Tao was not going to crack Kyungsoo.
The hybrid shared very little with him. Even when Zitao explained over the last three days that he was just wanted to get to know him better. Kyungsoo had a firm hold on his feelings and his heart. He was polite with Zitao and friendly, but there was no doubt about him holding back.
Absolutely nothing was working and Zitao could not understand what he was doing wrong. If his coworkers saw this, he’d be the laughing stock of the floor. He was unsure how to even go on with trying at this point.
That is, until after dinner the night before he had to go back to work. Kyungsoo was sitting beside Zitao on the sofa now, a minimal upgrade from their separate seating.
Without thinking, Zitao’s fingers ran through Kyungsoo’s hair. Neither realized what had happened until the hybrid purred, causing them both to jump away from each other.
“What--,” Kyungsoo said a bit dazed.
“I’m sorry I didn’t--,” Zitao started but Kyungsoo shook his head.
“It’s….It’s fine,” Kyungsoo swallowed, “I was just surprised that’s all. You didn’t seem the type to want to pet.”
“What?! Why would you think that?”
“Well,” Kyungsoo shrugged, “You work for H.S. but you don’t have a hybrid yourself, or a regular dog or cat. You don’t seem like… a hybrid person.”
So that was it, Zitao thought. He almost laughed. This whole time, Kyungsoo was under that impression. No wonder he was holding back.
He smiled as he picked up Kyungsoo’s hand with his, “I actually have been thinking about adopting, but I’ve been too busy. So much so that my boss forced me to take this three day vacation.”
Kyungsoo peered up at Zitao, “Why would your boss do that?”
“Because I work too much,” Zitao answered, running his free hand through Kyungsoo’s hair once more. “I like my job Kyungsoo. I like helping hybrids find homes. I just haven’t found the right one that is meant to find a home with me.”
Kyungsoo sighed and pulled himself away from Zitao’s touch, “Too bad it won’t be me.”
“What..why,” Zitao asked alarmed. Kyungsoo balled up on the other end of the sofa.
“I’m not the type people like to keep.”
“Kyungsoo,” Zitao cooed, sadden by the hurt in the hybrid’s voice, he wrapped an arm around his small shoulders. “I thought I told you I wasn’t like most humans.”
He kissed the top of Kyungsoo’s head causing the hybrid to look up, surprised with wide eyes .
“Just because I don’t have a dog or cat doesn’t mean I have never had one before and I really want you to like me and like it here because I do like you and someone so cute should be petted everyday but I thought you’d punch me in the face if I tried.”
Kyungsoo laughed, “Sorry about that. I learned that from my mom. Most humans stayed away from me when I’d go out with my owner looking like that.”
“I don’t blame them,” Zitao chuckled.
They watched each other for a moment before Kyungsoo came out of his ball and sat tucked under Zitao’s arm.
Zitao had to stop himself before he jumped up to dance in victory. He’d finally broken down some of Kyungsoo’s wall.
“So,” Kyungsoo looked up at Zitao, “does this mean...I’m staying with you now? For good? And you won’t leave me?”
Zitao smiled and wrapped both of his arms around Kyungsoo. “Yes, yes and I promise to never leave you and pet you every single day. Is that fine with you?”
“I guess so,” Kyungsoo replied cuddling closer to Zitao, “that sounds more than fine to me.”
Tao was more than happy to build his home with Kyungsoo.
Author: tiggie0307
Title: A Big Small Surprise for Me and You
Rating: PG
Pairing: Zitao/Kyungsoo
Word count: 2299
Summary: Zitao thought he was just doing his aunt a favor, not coming face to face with an abandoned hybrid.
A/N: Dear recipient, I hope you enjoy this fic as much as I enjoyed writing it. It was a lot of fun. Thank you L for helping me with this!
Zitao was too nice.
This was the only explanation he could give himself after telling his aunt yes, he’d clear out one of her rental properties on his day off. It's not that he didn’t mind helping her out, her sons had both gotten sick so she was behind on a lot of other things. She was always there for him when he needed something so it wasn’t unusual. Besides, he’s done this before so, what’s a few hours from his three day vacation from work? Cleaning one rental for his aunt would be nothing compared to his work at Hybrid Services.
Zitao had never been so wrong in his life.
Not only were the runaway tenants disgusting, they had left a member of their family behind. The smallest hybrid Zitao had ever laid eyes on. Normally when he found kittens while at work, they would either whimper away from him or flat out run.
Not this one. Zitao had the feeling that if he tried to come closer he would pay dearly. The kitten wasn’t hissing but his glare could make a lion think twice about attacking. He knew he would have to try a different method than what he would with hybrids at work.
“Hi.” Zitao said in his most friendly voice. “I didn’t mean to scare you when I came in…”
The kitten blinked, still glaring at him from its spot.
His aunt hadn’t told him if the ex tenants were Chinese or some other nationality and it may make this ten times harder if the hybrid didn’t understand at all.
“I’m not sure if you understand me at all but..,” Zitao thought of what he could say and almost did back away when the kitten spoke.
“I understand you fine, human.”
Zitao blinked wide eyed in surprise at the kitten who was clearly a full grown male hybrid cat; with an attitude unlike any hybrid he’s ever come in connect with. He cleared his throat.
“Well, great. My name is Zitao but you can call me Tao if you’d like,” he said as he kneeled down. The cat seemed to relax a little at this which made Zitao more than happy to be getting somewhere with him.
“Why would I call you any name when you won’t be here when I wake up?”
Zitao frowned, confusion written clearly on his face, “Why would you think I would leave you here after finding you? This is no place for anyone to be living...”
There was a shift in the hybrid's eyes that didn’t stay for long but it gave Zitao something to work with. He searched his brain for the right words to try to convince the cat that he wasn’t a bad guy.
“You’ve been living here on your own for months now...and..and I would like to take you home with me.”
“And if I don’t agree,” the cat asked, eyes no longer glaring but still guarded.
ZiTao sighed a little, “I will have to tell my aunt about you and she’s going to put in a call to my boss to have you removed; but I’d rather not have you go through that.”
The cat flicked his ears back and forth before given Zitao a once over. “Do you have hot water?”
“Yes,” he answered, “and warm food...and milk.”
The hybrid stood up quickly. “Ok, I will go with you. If you try anything I will hurt you.”
Zitao smiled in relief, “I’m fine with that.”
He watched silently as the hybrid collected his belongings. “It’s fine if I bring these,” the other asked.
“Yes, of course,” Zitao nodded. “I can carry some of it if you want me to?”
This confused the hybrid, making him frown. “But you’re the human; you’re not supposed to worry about my belongings. “It’s not your responsibility, it’s my own.”
Zitao only smiled softly as he stood up, “Well, I’m a different kind a human.”
Again, Zitao found himself being glared at, but the defensive gaze was gone.
“May I know your name even though you won’t call me by mine,” he asked gently. The hybrid paused before he zipped up his suitcase and backpack. “My name is Kyungsoo.”
“Kyungsoo,” Zitao tested the name out. “That’s Korean.”
Kyungsoo placed a hat on top of his head. “This is South Korea.”
“Your owners where Chinese though,” Zitao replied, picking up Kyungsoo’s suitcase.
Kyungsoo stayed silent as they walked outside to Zitao’s car and on the ride to his apartment. That gave Zitao time to think about the hybrid not having to be reminded to put a hat on. Normally, it would be something that they would have to be reminded of but Kyungsoo grabbed it without a reminder.
He could tell Kyungsoo was not a regular hybrid at all. That alone made him question just what had he stumbled into.
“This is nice,” Kyungsoo commented after he’d taken a seat on Zitao’s sofa. His small frame almost bounced as he sat back, taking in the living room area.
Zitao placed a cup of warm milk on the coffee table in front of the hybrid. He’d already texted his aunt about the house and said he’d finish up tomorrow. There was no way he was telling her about Kyungsoo. The tenants didn’t put him in the rental agreement which could set off more than a few alarms.
Worse case scenario would be finding out Kyungsoo was stolen. If that was in fact true, he would have reported it to the local authorities to be returned to his rightful owners. Something almost all hybrids were trained to do when lost or stolen.
Then he remembered, Kyungsoo was far from being like any other hybrid.
“So...how long have you been by yourself?” It was a question that had been begging to to be asked. Kyungsoo sipped his cup before he answered. “Six months.”
Zitao’s anger flared. Kyungsoo tensed at the change, watching Zitao’s hands ball into fists in his lap. Zitao noticed it too and rubbed his palms on his jeans to cool down.
“I’m sorry. I’m not upset at you or anything but...no one should be left to fend for themselves, human or hybrid.”
Kyungsoo placed his empty cup on the coffee table. “I made it just fine…”
A wave of sadness hit Zitao’s heart, “But you should be taken care of and looked after and protected..not abandoned.”
“Like I said, I made it just fine. Now where is your bathroom? You said you had hot water.”
The sudden change snapped Zitao out of his thoughts and he pointed down the hall behind the hybrid’s head. “It’s the second door on the left.”
Without another word Kyungsoo grabbed some clothes out of his backpack and headed to the bathroom.
“Do you need any help washing up?”
“I’m not a human baby or a kitten, Zitao,” Kyungsoo slightly hissed out before he closed the door.
Zitao sighed into his seat, running a hand through his hair. He wondered just how he was going to get Kyungsoo to open up to him. The usual petting and cooing he normally makes use of at work would all fail on this hybrid. The difference in Kyungsoo’s personality from other hybrids was even more strange. He was completely out of his element with Kyungsoo. This left him the most confused since he had worked with hybrids on a daily basis for the past 12 years. There were only a handful of breeds he’d never had the chance to work with but there was no way Kyungsoo’s owners could afford one of those unless they were millionaires or black market smugglers.
“Um..”
Zitao looked up to find Kyungsoo watching him with questioning eyes with his top lip between his teeth.
“You can ask me whatever it is, Kyungsoo. It’s ok…”
“You...you work for H.S.”
It wasn’t a question but it also didn’t take much thought for Zitao to figure out why Kyungsoo said it, since anything ever manufactured and sold with the Hybrid Services logo on it was everywhere in his apartment.
“Yes, I do,” Tao stated. “I’ve been there for a long time. I work in the Recovery and Placement division...Do you know what that is?”
Kyungsoo nodded but Zitao could see the slight tremor in his shoulders. He didn’t know if the hybrid was a runaway but he was not about to find out.
“I recover stray and abandoned hybrids and help them to get placed in new homes.” Zitao kept his tone neutral, slipping into work mode, something he’d been finding hard to do since this morning.
“Normally I report back to my boss about finding hybrids in a house by themselves, but not when i saw you,” he said, choosing his words carefully. “But I thought you’d like it here better…”
“You thought correct,” Kyungsoo muttered but Zitao didn’t miss the relaxed stance. Zitao smiled at him. “Good. Would you like lunch?”
“I...sure.”
Zitao cooked some shrimp and tossed it in a nice salad. Kyungsoo watched him work from the sofa. The hybrid would go from the tv to watching Tao cook from time to time, as if Zitao would disappear, leaving the other to wonder if that’s what happened with the hybrid’s previous owners.
Food always worked on anyone no matter what. It also gave Zitao time to think about what he was going to do with Kyungsoo and he knew he would get nowhere trying to guess, so he asked questions while they ate. Zitao kept the questions light, he wanted Kyungsoo to see him as a friend and not hybrid police, but he got the feeling it was going to take more time than the three days he had off work. It was a great thing that he was never one to back down from a challenge.
He was going to crack Kyungsoo if it’s the last thing he does.
Tao was not going to crack Kyungsoo.
The hybrid shared very little with him. Even when Zitao explained over the last three days that he was just wanted to get to know him better. Kyungsoo had a firm hold on his feelings and his heart. He was polite with Zitao and friendly, but there was no doubt about him holding back.
Absolutely nothing was working and Zitao could not understand what he was doing wrong. If his coworkers saw this, he’d be the laughing stock of the floor. He was unsure how to even go on with trying at this point.
That is, until after dinner the night before he had to go back to work. Kyungsoo was sitting beside Zitao on the sofa now, a minimal upgrade from their separate seating.
Without thinking, Zitao’s fingers ran through Kyungsoo’s hair. Neither realized what had happened until the hybrid purred, causing them both to jump away from each other.
“What--,” Kyungsoo said a bit dazed.
“I’m sorry I didn’t--,” Zitao started but Kyungsoo shook his head.
“It’s….It’s fine,” Kyungsoo swallowed, “I was just surprised that’s all. You didn’t seem the type to want to pet.”
“What?! Why would you think that?”
“Well,” Kyungsoo shrugged, “You work for H.S. but you don’t have a hybrid yourself, or a regular dog or cat. You don’t seem like… a hybrid person.”
So that was it, Zitao thought. He almost laughed. This whole time, Kyungsoo was under that impression. No wonder he was holding back.
He smiled as he picked up Kyungsoo’s hand with his, “I actually have been thinking about adopting, but I’ve been too busy. So much so that my boss forced me to take this three day vacation.”
Kyungsoo peered up at Zitao, “Why would your boss do that?”
“Because I work too much,” Zitao answered, running his free hand through Kyungsoo’s hair once more. “I like my job Kyungsoo. I like helping hybrids find homes. I just haven’t found the right one that is meant to find a home with me.”
Kyungsoo sighed and pulled himself away from Zitao’s touch, “Too bad it won’t be me.”
“What..why,” Zitao asked alarmed. Kyungsoo balled up on the other end of the sofa.
“I’m not the type people like to keep.”
“Kyungsoo,” Zitao cooed, sadden by the hurt in the hybrid’s voice, he wrapped an arm around his small shoulders. “I thought I told you I wasn’t like most humans.”
He kissed the top of Kyungsoo’s head causing the hybrid to look up, surprised with wide eyes .
“Just because I don’t have a dog or cat doesn’t mean I have never had one before and I really want you to like me and like it here because I do like you and someone so cute should be petted everyday but I thought you’d punch me in the face if I tried.”
Kyungsoo laughed, “Sorry about that. I learned that from my mom. Most humans stayed away from me when I’d go out with my owner looking like that.”
“I don’t blame them,” Zitao chuckled.
They watched each other for a moment before Kyungsoo came out of his ball and sat tucked under Zitao’s arm.
Zitao had to stop himself before he jumped up to dance in victory. He’d finally broken down some of Kyungsoo’s wall.
“So,” Kyungsoo looked up at Zitao, “does this mean...I’m staying with you now? For good? And you won’t leave me?”
Zitao smiled and wrapped both of his arms around Kyungsoo. “Yes, yes and I promise to never leave you and pet you every single day. Is that fine with you?”
“I guess so,” Kyungsoo replied cuddling closer to Zitao, “that sounds more than fine to me.”
Tao was more than happy to build his home with Kyungsoo.