When Jun and Minghao returned home, there was a little consternation that made Joshua want to climb back into his fridge: but he was soon coaxed out again by Seungcheol, and led upstairs to meet the others.

He was an almost feral hybrid, having difficulty with social interactions. Joshua was placed on a cushion in a defendable corner of the room, where he was quite happy to glare at anybody who came near.

When Jeonghan walked in and saw him for the first time he gasped, dropping the notebook he was bringing Jun. He simply stood in the middle of the room, gasping for breath, frozen in place. Then he gently sank to his knees and with all the caution and trepidation of a curious kitten he slowly inched forward, low to the ground, until he could look up at the hybrid from up close.

“…you’re a cat,” Joshua whispered.

“You’re beautiful,” Jeonghan whispered back, in complete, astonished awe of this creature. “Oh my God, you’re so beautiful. The most beautiful cat I’ve ever seen.”

Joshua leaned in, exposing his long neck and the golden fetters that trailed down the back of his neck: he sniffed lightly in curiosity.

“Jun, we have to keep him.”

“Now, Jeonghan.”

“No. You don’t understand. We have to. I need him.” Jeonghan looked up with an expression that shocked his lover: he was more fiery, more defiant than he’d ever been before. Usually, the hybrid was languid and soft, almost bored with everyday life. Never had he displayed this kind of passion before. “I need him. Look.”

“What if he doesn’t want to stay?”

Jeonghan leaned in a little more and a little more, as Joshua did, until the two of them were barely a finger’s breadth apart.

“Stay with me,” Jeonghan whispered, his awed gaze boring into Joshua’s large, dark eyes. The question had been asked as if it were the most important thing ever said in the history of mankind, as if Jeonghan’s entire life would hang in the balance of the answer.

“Okay,” Joshua answered simply.

A simple googling expedition quickly turned up that Joshua was an ocelot – beautiful, small wild cats with huge eyes and distinct markings. In Joshua, thick black lines had been replaced with dusty marks that seemed to be the shape and form of other dappled markings, from many different wild cats. The pattern truly did look like somebody had taken golden lustre dust and brushed it on, or perhaps golden eyeshadow. It was such a startling contrast to his admittedly beautiful bronze skin, that it was entrancing to look at.

Jeonghan was the only one allowed close, and the young hybrid went for it: he curled up exactly like a cat to the large hybrid beside him, purring loudly.

“You hurt your foot?” Jun asked.

The ocelot hybrid nodded, shifting it out slightly. “I had to get through a crack in a brick wall. Then it went crack.”

Jun frowned a little, getting down to take a closer look. “This house isn’t made of brick. Not anywhere.”

“Not here.” The hybrid refused to speak anymore, simply requiring a little encouragement before allowing his leg to be examined.

“Well, I’ll need an x-ray to be sure. Looks like you’ve ripped some ligaments though. With lots of rest you should make a full recovery.”

Jeonghan smiled, nudging his face into Joshua’s neck as a sign of deep intimacy, which was very weird for the poor ocelot. “You’re going to be okay,” he grinned proudly.

With the hybrids all tucked away, snuggled up in various beds around the house, Jun poured his close friend a drink. They had several before Jihoon could speak.

“…it was so fast. One moment we’re having pancakes, the next minute he’s gone, he’s just gone. Taken. It was exactly like Seokmin told it. But I couldn’t have imagined… It grips you like a fist around your heart. This split second of… what if I lose him?” The look in the poor man’s eyes was one of feeling haunted. Complete, destroying fear. Soul-snatching, just like Seokmin had said. “So I just… I rushed out, off the balcony, and climbed down the front of the building to catch them. I took him back. Put him in the car and sped off.”

“Oh my God.”

“The last time I was so afraid… I thought I would stop living. I just couldn’t think, Jun. I couldn’t think at all. I just thought, I have to get him back. There was no if about it. I had to. Jun. God, Jun, what if I hadn’t been in time?”

Jun poured him another drink to ward off the tears pooling in his eyes.