Chapter Text
Walking into a new school was NOT for the weak.
Well… okay. Maybe it was just not for Kim Seungmin.
The puppy hybrid stood frozen in the middle of the hallway, fingers tightening around the strap of his backpack as everything around him blurred together.
The bright lights overhead.
The constant chatter.
The squeaking of shoes against the floor.
The lockers slamming shut.
The loud voices of students calling out to each other from across the hallway.
It was too much.
Seungmin tried to focus on one thing. Just one.
The feeling of his backpack strap beneath his fingers.
The small movement of his tail behind him.
The familiar scent of his own hoodie.
Anything that would remind him he was okay.
Except he wasn’t exactly sure if he believed that yet.
A new school in the middle of the year was already terrifying enough. Add hundreds of unfamiliar scents, unfamiliar faces, and absolutely no idea where his classes were?
Yeah.
Not his best day.
“HEY!”
Seungmin flinched.
A little too hard.
His ears shot up immediately as he turned toward the source of the voice.
A quokka hybrid stood in front of him, practically glowing with excitement.
“Are you Kim Seungmin?” the boy asked, eyes wide. “Because we don’t usually get new students in the middle of the year, SO I AM SO. SO. EXCITED THAT YOU’RE HERE.”
Seungmin blinked.
Once.
Twice.
His brain was still trying to catch up.
“Uh…okay..?”
The boy smiled even bigger.
“THAT’S THE SPIRIT!”
Seungmin’s ears twitched.
That was apparently not what he meant.
“Okay, so I’m Han Jisung, but you can just call me Jisung! AND, if you couldn’t already tell, I’m a quokka hybrid!”
Han leaned closer, looking at Seungmin’s puppy ears and tail with complete wonder.
“But you—”
He gasped.
“You are literally the most adorable puppy hybrid I have ever seen.”
Seungmin stared.
“OHMYGOSHIMLITERALLYGONNACRYATHOWCUTEYOUARE-”
“Han Ji.”
A calmer voice interrupted.
“Leave the poor pup alone.”
Seungmin looked up.
And immediately forgot what he was going to say.
The bunny hybrid standing beside Han looked completely different from him.
Where Han was full of endless energy, this person was calm. Relaxed.
His bunny ears drooped slightly as he smiled, almost amused by Han’s behavior.
And for some reason…
Seungmin’s brain decided that was the most attractive thing it had ever seen.
Which was incredibly inconvenient.
The bunny hybrid chuckled.
“Sorry about him. He gets excited.”
“Hyung!” Han whined. The bunny hybrid ignored him.
“I’m Lee Minho.”
Seungmin opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
His tail, however, had completely betrayed him and started wagging.
Minho’s eyes flickered down for a second before a small smile appeared.
Seungmin immediately looked away.
“I-I’m Seungmin.”
His voice came out quieter than he wanted.
Minho didn’t tease him.
He just smiled.
“Nice to meet you, Seungmin.”
Seungmin stares.
Absolutely mesmerized.
Which is embarrassingly making him slick up a little.
Because why was his brain suddenly forgetting how to function just because a bunny hybrid smiled at him?
His tail betrayed him immediately, moving faster than he could control.
Great.
Perfect.
First day at a new school and he was already making a fool of himself.
Thankfully, before Seungmin could embarrass himself any further—
“SEUNGMIN!”
A loud voice called from behind him.
Seungmin immediately recognized it.
His ears perked up as he turned around.
Standing there was a wolf hybrid, his familiar scent immediately cutting through the overwhelming mixture of the hallway.
“Oh—”
A small smile appeared on Seungmin’s face.
“Hey, hyung.”
Chan walked over, immediately moving beside Han as the younger hybrid happily leaned against him.
The sight was strangely comforting.
Even though everything else around Seungmin was unfamiliar, Chan wasn’t.
“Seung,” Chan said, raising an eyebrow. “You promised to meet me at the coffee shop!” He whines.
Seungmin blinked.
“Oh.”
Right.
The coffee shop.
His brain had completely forgotten.
Not surprising considering he had just met Han Jisung, the most energetic person he had ever encountered, and Lee Minho, the bunny hybrid who somehow made him forget how words worked.
“Sorry, hyung,” Seungmin said quietly. “I kind of forgot.”
Chan laughed softly.
“I figured.”
Chan moves to Han wrapping an arm around his waist, letting the quokka nuzzle into him.
Seungmin looked between Chan and Han.
So this was him.
This was the person Chan had been talking about nonstop for the past two weeks.
The quokka hybrid who apparently had enough energy to power the entire school.
Seungmin had been curious.
Actually, he had been really curious.
Chan was one of the only people he could call a friend.
They had known each other for about four months now, ever since a random Snapchat notification had interrupted Seungmin’s schedule (causing a meltdown) and somehow turned into a conversation neither of them expected.
Somehow, that conversation became another.
Then another.
And eventually, Chan became the first person Seungmin actually trusted.
So when Chan started constantly mentioning someone named Han, Seungmin wanted to meet him.
He wanted to know who had made Chan so happy.
But now that he was actually standing in front of him?
Seungmin wasn’t sure if he wanted to run away or laugh.
Probably both.
Han looked between Chan and Seungmin with wide eyes.
“WAIT.”
Everyone looked at him.
“You’re the Seungmin Channie hyung keeps talking about?”
Seungmin froze.
Chan immediately looked embarrassed.
“Ji.”
“What? You do!”
Seungmin glanced at Chan.
“You talk about me?”
Chan’s ears flicked slightly.
“Maybe.”
Jisung gasped dramatically.
“He totally does.”
“Han Ji.”
The quokka hybrid grinned.
“What? It’s true.”
“THAT DOESN’T MEAN HE SHOULD KNOW—”
Chan pouted, crossing his arms.
“Stop crying, you big baby,” Jisung huffed.
Seungmin watched them.
And honestly?
He was starting to regret leaving his house.
Not because of them.
Actually, weirdly enough, Chan and Jisung were kind of entertaining.
It was everything else.
The bright lights above him.
The constant footsteps.
The voices from every direction.
The hundreds of different scents mixing together.
It felt like his brain had a million tabs open and every single one of them was playing music.
He wanted his room.
He wanted his blanket.
He wanted the quiet.
He wanted to clean his room while listening to the same playlist he had listened to a hundred times because at least he knew what to expect there.
But no.
Instead, he was standing in the middle of a loud, chaotic school with people he barely knew.
Fantastic.
“Hey.”
Seungmin’s ears twitched.
A quieter voice.
A calmer one.
“You okay, pup?”
Minho.
Seungmin slowly turned toward him.
And suddenly all of his thoughts disappeared.
Which was somehow worse.
“I-I… u-uh…”
Nothing.
His brain completely stopped.
Great.
Absolutely perfect.
Come on, Seungmin. Say something.
Anything.
But the words were there and somehow they weren’t.
His mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Internally, Seungmin was screaming.
I FUCKING BLEW IT.
Minho only watched him for a second before his expression softened.
He didn’t laugh.
He didn’t look annoyed.
He just smiled.
“Hey, it’s okay.”
Seungmin blinked.
“It’s a lot, isn’t it?”
The question caught him off guard.
Because somehow…
Minho understood.
Seungmin looked away, embarrassed, but his tail betrayed him immediately, wagging behind him.
No.
No, no, no.
Not now.
He quickly tried to move it behind his leg.
Minho definitely noticed.
But instead of teasing him, he just smiled a little wider.
“How about I show you around?”
Seungmin looked back at him.
“Just us. Less chaos.”
That sounded…
Actually nice.
“U-uh…”
Seungmin cleared his throat.
“Okay.”
Minho nodded.
“Come on, pup.”
Pup.
WHY IN THE WORLD IS HE CALLING ME PUP?
Seungmin’s face warmed slightly.
It was weird.
Not bad weird.
Just… weird.
He wasn’t used to people giving him nicknames so quickly.
He looked down, avoiding Minho’s gaze as his fingers fidgeted together.
One finger rubbing against another.
A small repetitive movement.
Something familiar.
Something that helped.
Minho, thankfully, didn’t point it out.
He wasn’t staring at Seungmin.
He wasn’t trying to force a conversation.
He just walked beside him quietly, letting the silence exist.
And somehow…
That helped.
A little.
Because Seungmin’s brain was already working overtime.
The fluorescent lights above them buzzed loudly.
The hallway was filled with voices from every direction.
Shoes hitting the floor.
Lockers opening and closing.
Random scents mixing together until he couldn’t focus on one thing.
It was too much.
His ears twitched as he tried to ignore it.
His inner puppy was practically begging him to curl up somewhere quiet and hide until everything stopped.
And honestly?
If Seungmin wasn’t standing next to the person he had just met five minutes ago, he probably would have.
But he couldn’t.
Not here.
Not in front of Minho.
Especially not in front of a very attractive bunny hybrid who already probably thought he was strange.
So Seungmin held on.
Just a little longer.
He could make it through the hallway.
He could make it through the tour.
He just had to keep moving.
-------------------------------------
Minho finally stopped in front of a classroom.
“Well… this is my stop,” he said, pointing toward the door. “But your classroom is actually three doors down on the right.”
Great.
So close.
And yet somehow Seungmin felt like the distance between them was a mile.
“U-uhm… okay,” Seungmin said quietly.
Minho studied him for a moment.
Like he noticed something.
Like he knew Seungmin was trying really hard not to panic.
But instead of making a big deal about it, he just gave him a small smile.
“You’ll be okay, pup.”
And then he walked inside.
Almost immediately, Seungmin was alone.
His breathing became uneven.
Too much.
He told himself.
Too much.
The lights above him felt painfully bright.
The sounds around him blended together until he couldn’t separate one from another.
Students talking.
Laughing.
Walking.
Too many scents.
Too many voices.
Too many things happening at once.
No.
No, no, no.
He needed somewhere quiet.
Somewhere safe.
Somewhere—
“Hey.”
Seungmin froze.
A voice behind him.
“What’s a dog like you doing out here?”
His stomach dropped.
He didn’t answer.
He couldn’t.
His brain was moving too fast and not fast enough at the same time.
“Hello?”
The voice got closer.
“I said, what’s a mutt like you doing out here?”
Seungmin slowly turned.
A lion hybrid stood much too close.
Too close.
His body immediately reacted before his brain could catch up.
His ears pinned back.
His shoulders tensed.
“Answer me, you mutt.”
The words hit harder than they should have.
Seungmin’s throat tightened.
The Lion ended up spitting in Seungmin's face
His eyes widened, panic rushing through him.
“STOP—”
His hands immediately moved as he tried to wipe it away, his breathing becoming more frantic.
“NO, NO GET IT OFF—”
The lion hybrid only laughed.
Not because he understood.
Not because he cared.
Because he thought Seungmin’s fear was funny.
“Stupid mutt.”
Before Seungmin could process what was happening, a slap hit him square in the face.
A sharp sound.
A gasp.
Then—
“HEY!”
A familiar voice.
Seungmin looked up.
Jisung.
Standing there with a cat hybrid and a fox hybrid beside him.
But Han didn’t look energetic now.
Not even close.
His expression was furious.
Felix’s ears were lowered, his usual warmth replaced with worry.
The Fox's eyes narrowed.
“What did you just do?” he asked quietly.
The lion hybrid looked between them.
“What? I was just messing around.”
“No.”
The cat hybrid stepped forward.
His voice was calm.
But somehow that made it more serious.
“You weren’t.”
Jisung immediately moved toward Seungmin.
“Seungmin?”
Seungmin couldn’t answer.
He wanted to.
He really wanted to.
But his brain was still stuck.
Too many sounds.
Too many emotions.
Too much.
Jisung’s expression softened instantly.
“Okay.”
He lowered his voice.
“Okay, I’m here.”
And for the first time since Minho left him alone in the hallway…
Seungmin felt like he could breathe again.
-------------------
Jisung brought Seungmin over to the bathroom, the Cat and Fox hybrid trailing behind.
Seungmin slumps against the stall and lets out a sob.
"Hey-" The cat says gently. "Shh.. you're safe now."
Jisung pulls Seungmin into a hug.
"Hey, hey.. I know.. I'm sorry Felix, Jeongin, and I didn't come earlier.."
He says apologetically.
Trying not to crowd him Felix and Jeongin stay back, conversing with eachother.
"Hey Seungmin, can you tell me what happened?"
Jisung asks softly.
"I-I.."
He can't finish. He just nuzzles back into the older's chest silently
Jisung guided Seungmin toward the bathroom, keeping his movements slow.
Not rushing him.
Not asking questions.
Just staying close enough that Seungmin knew he was there.
The cat hybrid and fox hybrid followed behind them quietly.
Seungmin barely noticed.
His mind was still stuck somewhere else.
The hallway.
The laughter.
The fear.
The humiliation.
The second the bathroom door closed, Seungmin leaned against the stall wall.
And then everything hit him.
A sob escaped before he could stop it.
“Hey…”
The cat hybrid’s voice was gentle.
But he stayed back.
Giving him space.
“Shh… it’s okay.”
Seungmin looked up slightly.
He didn’t know him.
He didn’t know either of them.
And somehow that made the tears worse.
Because he didn’t know why they were being kind.
Jisung immediately noticed.
“Hey, hey…”
He stepped closer.
“Can I hug you?”
Seungmin didn’t answer.
But after a moment, he leaned forward.
That was enough.
Jisung wrapped his arms around him carefully.
“I know.”
His voice was softer than Seungmin had ever heard it.
“I know.”
A shaky breath left Seungmin.
“’M s-sorry.”
Jisung frowned.
“For what?”
“I-I…”
Seungmin couldn’t finish.
The words were stuck.
Because what was he supposed to say?
That the lights were too bright?
That the hallway was too loud?
That he couldn’t make his body calm down?
That he hated that someone had seen him like this?
Jisung cuts his thoughts off.
“I’m sorry Felix and Jeongin didn’t get here earlier.”
Jisung’s voice cracked slightly.
Behind them, the two hybrids exchanged a look.
Felix’s ears lowered.
Jeongin looked away.
Neither of them wanted Seungmin to think he had to apologize.
“Hey, Seungmin?”
Jisung spoke quietly.
“Can you tell me what happened?”
Seungmin opened his mouth.
“I-I…”
Nothing.
His throat tightened.
His brain searched for the words, but everything was tangled.
So instead…
He just hid his face against Jisung’s chest.
Silent.
Jisung didn’t push.
He just held him.
“Okay.”
A hand gently rubbed his back.
“You don’t have to explain right n