Hybrid Discovery [SKZ fanfiction]| Lee Felix and Bang Chan

How to human 101

Writer here:
A last loooong cute an fluffy chapter before things go downhill;)
As mentioned in the beginning, this story has a pretty dark storyline in which not all will be nice and fun.
So enjoy one of the last joyfull chapters, cause after this, the real plot will start.
Sorry...

The very first thing Mimu does when she wakes up, is pull her clothes with her to the bathroom. Somewhere along the night she must have shifted back to her cat form. She doesn't mind it, but now she knows they fully accept her as a human as well, she's dying to try out everything she couldn't do for quite some time.
The big hoodie proves to be an obstacle with her towing it in her mouth, but she's also too shy to transform right there in the living room. She huffs when she reaches the bathroom and almost wants to mewl out loud when the door is closed. There's no indication if anyone else is inside and with a quick scan around she becomes a human, grabbing the hoodie from the ground and immediately entering the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Nice! First obstacle overcome!
Now for her second mission; searching for a toothbrush. She found some still packed in plastic when she was searching for a clean towel yesterday. Being a human means taking care of it like how it's meant to be. She has her own hidden toothbrush at home, but she's still a little bit skeptical Jeon Sora won't be there. Hopefully Felix won't mind her grabbing a toothbrush for herself. The minty toothpaste foams a lot more than the one at home and she makes a mess around her mouth. Being human isn't easy.
Third task is finding someone who's awake and wants to help her make breakfast. She secretly wants Felix to help her, but she knows the human probably is still asleep and will be so until the afternoon. Chan would be an option if she knew where he was sleeping. To her reassurance, Changbin is already awake. He's in his work out clothing and almost chokes when he sees her waddle into the kitchen.
'Gosh, I'm sorry. I didn't recognize you right away,' he apologizes whilst wiping his chin from the juice he spilled.
Mimu awkwardly stands still on her spot and fumbles with one of the long sleeves of the hoodie.
'M-Morning?' she questions with a soft voice.
Changbin smiles at her with red ears, also feeling awkward. 'Yeah, G-good morning. Did you sleep well?'
She shakes her head and points to him and then herself. 'Warm,' she mumbles whilst giving herself a hug.
Changbin chuckles when he understands what she means. 'I hope you don't mind us sleeping together on the couch. I don't like to sleep as a human.' He looks over to the glass of half spilled juice. 'Want something to drink as well?' he asks her.
Mimu's eyes shine up as she points at the kettle. 'T-Tea?' she almost whispers.
'Hm? Ah sure. Should I show you how to do it yourself?' he asks.
He fills the kettle up and places it back on its stand, flicking the switch at the bottom. As soon as the kettle starts making sounds she shrieks and hides behind him, grabbing his sports shirt with her small fists and sneak peeking around his arms at what's happening. Changbin chuckles and asks her which mug she used last night.
'Red one,' she replies, pointing at the mug Chan usually uses.
Changbin gives it a quick wash with cold water before placing it on the countertop and rummages through one of the cabinets in search of their tea bag collection. The kettle switch flicks off and Changbin shows her how he pours the hot water in the mug and places a new tea bag in it.
'Depending on how you like your tea, you can leave the tea bag in or take it out after it's a nice color. How do you want yours?'
'Chan's,' she replies.
A light tea, Changbin snickers whilst pulling the tea bag out after a few dips. He places the mug on the kitchen table and warns her to wait a few minutes before drinking.
'How about breakfast?'
She seems to think as her eyes go up and she bites on her lower lip. 'Milk?' she asks.
'Milk is no breakfast. Milk is to drink,' Changbin replies.
She tilts her head and grabs one of the kitchen cabinets handles behind him. She pulls out the box of Felix's cereals and shakes it in her hands.
'Ah, you want to try that?' Changbin asks.
He pulls out a bowl and spoon and pours the god's liquid into the bowl. Mimu's eyes are glued to the milk and with both hands she almost crunches the cereal box. Changbin pries it from under her fingers and pours a normal amount into the milk. Mimu tries to withhold herself from drooling. Finally she can try out the delicious looking treat Felix always eats first thing when he wakes up. She looks up to Changbin with anticipation and awaits for his approval. He nods for her to dig in and with a shaky hand she scoops up a spoon full.
'Hm!' she squeals with a high and delighted voice after eating the first bite.
It's almost as good as the pancakes Felix bakes. It's sweet, creamy and crunchy. A texture she's not used to.
Changbin leans against the kitchen counter and witnesses her scooping spoon after spoon in her mouth whilst making tiny, happy noises.
'Can't wait to get you some candy,' he smirks whilst gulping the last of his juice away. 'I have to go out for work. Do you want me to grab you anything when I go back? I mean, I think we'll see you more often like this?'
She stares at him and tilts her head, not knowing which stuff he means.
'Clothes? Hygiene products? Maybe something like underwear?' he averts his eyes, mentioning the last thing.
She raises her eyebrows and looks down to herself. Ah. Yeah, she's supposed to wear those as a human. She got some things hidden at home. Maybe she should go out to grab them.
'Alright. I-I'm okay,' she shyly replies to his words.
Changbin doubts if he should ask her if she's alright because she doesn't have any or if she's okay without it. He decides to leave it as it seems a delicate matter. He points at the clock and tells her he'll be back around three.
'You know how to read the clock?' he asks her to be sure.
She stares at it and shakes her head, then nods it before shaking again. She holds her arms out and fumbles them around while watching the clock. 'Like t-this?' She mimics the clock hands and Changbin nods when she gets it right.
'Three o'clock indeed. Good job. Now, I'm off. Will you be alright?'
She nods and gives him a thumbs up. 'G-good luck, working,' she says to him.
Changbin grabs his collar and his keys before turning around a last time to look at her. She gives him a bright smile and only then he can leave the apartment with an eased feeling.

'Anyone seen Mimu?' Chan asks, having searched for her around the apartment.
'I thought she was with you?' Han replies.
They all turn around to the hallway when they can hear a soft knocking on the door. Chan walks towards the front door and when he opens it, Mimu is there. Her eyes dart around and as soon as the door opens she scurries through under his arm into their house.
'Where have you been?' Chan asks while walking after her.
She holds up a small canvas bag she was clutching against her belly. 'House?' she replies.
'Are the neighbors back?' Felix frowns at her.
'And did you go over there like this? I thought they didn't know you were a hybrid?' Chan is worried and he can't hide it in his voice.
Mimu freezes in her spot and slowly turns around to him. For the first time she lowers her eyebrows and her always smiling mouth pouts at him. 'Not stupid,' she nags at him.
She NAGS. At him. Chan doesn't know what to do with the adorable face which reprimands him not to undermine her. Chan's hands shoot up in the air and he quickly apologizes. 'Sorry. Sorry. I should've known you were smarter than that,' he mumbles.
Minho and Felix start laughing at him and Mimu looks surprised at their reaction, not expecting it.
'You were quick to admit defeat,' Minho smirks at him. 'Normally he will defend himself before admitting his overbearing behavior. He's worse than Felix.'
The human beside him gasps and smacks the Russian Blue on his shoulder. 'Am not!' Felix exclaims to which Minho lifts one eyebrow to shut him up.
Mimu is looking from the two to Chan, not sure what to think about their bickering.
'All things aside, are the neighbors home?' Felix repeats his earlier question.
Mimu shakes her head.
'Then how did you get in?'
'K-key. Plant pot,' Mimu answers, showing one of her hands being dirty from digging in the plant pot.
'That's... an odd place to keep your spare key,' Minho remarks. 'What did you bring along?'
Mimu seems to be thinking before placing the bag in Felix's hands. She simply nods and runs to the kitchen to wash her hands. Giving the human permission to unpack the bag.
'Are these your belongings?' Felix asks and Mimu nods proudly when she turns around, making the soap foam up to her elbows. Minho huffs at her and walks over to help her clean her hands properly. Sometimes she's like a toddler.
Chan and Felix exchange a look when they examine what's inside. If these are her treasured belongings, what life has she lived until now? Inside are an old toothbrush, a broken comb, a crochet blanket, a black T-shirt that has seen better days, two pairs of boxers Chan recognizes must be from the grandson and last but not least an old collar with a tiny silver penning on it. The inscription is too worn down to read. They try to smile at Mimu when she takes place next to them on the kitchen table. Minho on the other hand doesn't sugarcoat anything.
'Is this all you own?' he asks, baffled.
Chan and Felix both throw an angry face at him to shut up, but he's not buying it. 'Girl, have you been living like a real cat all this time?'
Mimu looks from them to her stuff and bites her lower lip. Her proud smile now confused and a bit ashamed. She knows other hybrids probably own more stuff as she has witnessed Minho and the others all have their own possessions, but they are in the minority of hybrids living good lives, she thinks.
Looking back at Minho she slowly nods.
Minho's face shows slight horror before turning into something she thinks is pity. She doesn't like that.
'I..I T-turn, myself - Go b-back,' she balls her fists as the words don't come out as she wants. After such a long time of having no one to speak to, her vocal cords are betraying her. She tries again. 'Ni-night. W..When g-gran-ny asleep. J-Jeon Sora gone. I-I... transform.'
They see her struggle explaining and Felix cups one of her balled up fists with his hands to encourage her.
That's why she didn't seem to have trouble transforming back and forth, Chan thinks. Then she surprises them again by saying; 'B-been hi-hiding... as a-a cat f-for... t-this long.' She holds up a full hand.
'What, weeks? Months?' Minho asks and she shakes her head and Chan blinks in disbelief.
'You're kidding, right?' Minho huffs. 'You mean years?!'
She nods her head in honesty and they all fall still for a moment. How?! Minho has been in his cat form for three weeks at most and after that time he already had troubles transforming back. They are shifters, their bodies ache to switch between both their sides. Being in one for too long can give complications, like deteriorating health or even amnesia as they've seen with Seungmin. The Budgerigar parakeet had escaped or lost its way back home and was in his bird form for over a month before Jeongin spotted him in the nearby park at their old home.Jeongin recognized he was a hybrid and took it upon himself to help the clearly distressed bird hybrid. When Seungmin finally transformed to his human form, he couldn't remember who his past owners were and it took him a full year to remember his own name. They tried searching for his old owners, but Seungmin quickly became content with his new life with the human and other hybrids.
Minho is perplexed and asks her if she still remembers anything from before that time.
'Yes.' She doesn't even blink saying that single word.
Her whole demeanor shifts and Minho can feel the weight attached to that one word. Is it anger? Despise? Or maybe determination.
Chan picks up the worn down collar and fidgets with the penning on it. 'Is this your current collar?' he asks.
'N-no... Jolanda's,' she replies. Not making any sense to the three. She sighs and quickly gets up to run over to Seungmin and Jeongin who are lounging in the living room. She tugs on Seungmin's sleeve and makes moves with her hands, pointing at the book he's holding.
'You mean writing?' he tries to guess and she nods at him. 'You want something to write on. Got yah.'
Seungmin rummages through Hyunjin's work bag and hands her a note block and pencil. Curious what she needs it for, the two youngsters follow her back to the kitchen table where the others are.
Mimu sits down and with clumsy hands she draws a wobbly line. At the start she writes the name "Jolanda", followed by an arrow to "granny." She looks at her hands and writes numbers above the arrows. Then she goes back and draws another arrow before the woman's name.
When she's done she traces with her finger from the start to the end. She starts at something called "home" where she's been for fourteen years. After that she draws something that must resemble an animal and she points at Minho and Chan.
'Ah, it's a cat!' Jeongin remarks. 'You've been a cat for three years?'
She nods and shakes her head. She holds up one finger and draws a trash can beside the cat.
'Streetcat,' Minho guesses.
She gives a thumbs up and points at the next arrow with the name "Jolanda".
Two years. 'Was that your previous name?' Chan holds up the penning on the old collar, but she shakes her head and points at Jeon Sora's name. She draws a heart between the names and draws another cat-like animal between them.
'She's your previous owner?' Jeongin asks. 'Was she the girlfriend of the neighbor?'
Mimu nods. 'B-broke up,' she says whilst drawing a cross through the heart.
After that she points at "granny Jeon". Another two years are noted down. The last arrow points at some gibberish they try to pronounce out loud.
'Peulish? P-eiloks? What did you write?' Chan asks her.
She turns red, noticing her mistakes in her writing and buries her face in her hands.
'Paa. I think that's an A. Or maybe an E?' Seungmin tries.
She looks up all embarrassed and pouts while pointing at Felix who gives her a bright smile while the others start laughing.
'Aw! You tried to spell my name?!' the human coos her.
She gives him a face, asking for help to make the others stop laughing and hands him the pencil.
'You seem to know the western alphabet, but struggle with Korean?' Felix asks while spelling out his name in both ways.
'J-Jolanda... Am-American,' she answers.
Minho whistles. 'Our neighbor got an international girlfriend at some point,' he praises Jeon Sora.
'Here,' Felix shows her the spelling of his name. 'I often use my Korean name when writing in Korean and the other only when I have to do non official things.
'Y-yong...Bok?' she spells out after reading the name.
'Yes! Yongbok. It means lucky dragon,' he says. 'If I were to be a hybrid, I would've been a dragon!'
Hyunjin enters the kitchen, coming out of one of the bedrooms and scoffs at the words of Felix. 'A lizard you mean?'
Felix pouts at him and Chan tries to defend him. 'Better than a snake,' he smiles at him, knowing the follow up Hyunjin will give.
'Ugh... How often do I have to explain this? I'm not a snake. Slow Worms are a family of the lizard tree.'
Jeongin mimics him in silence while Hyunjin rolls his eyes and places his hands on his hips.
'I don't even-,'
'Have venom like real snakes,' Han finishes whilst also walking in. 'What are we talking about?' He looks over Hyunjin's shoulder to the drawing on the table and points at the numbers. 'Your the same age!' he exclaims happily. 'That's awesome! When's your birthday? Then we will know if Lix and I need to address you as our noona or not!'
Mimu tries her best to follow all his words as the hamster hybrid said all that within one breath. She shrugs her shoulders at the question. She doesn't know when she's born and it never mattered. She counts all the winters she experienced as a year that passed to keep track of time, but that's it.
'Yah, she could be younger than me!' Seungmin smirks at her. 'Now I don't need to be formal to her.'
Jeongin pouts. 'I'll always be the youngest.'
'And the cutest,' Felix coos him while squishing his cheeks.
Chan is still staring at her drawing. She had a home before she ended up on the streets. Seven years she's been gone from her home, but it doesn't seem like she wishes to go back. It's different from his own past. He sometimes wishes to be back at his old home with his hybrid parents. Being near the beaches, the sea. Those are the fondest memories he has. His past life was good, until those researchers came around. They promised his parents the world and he willingly travelend with them, all the way to Korea. He never got the chance to go back.
He gets called and looks up seeing Mimu stretching her hand out to the collar Chan is holding. 'Ah, sorry,' he says.
It's then they hear the front door open and Changbin frowns when he sees all the hybrids and his human around the kitchen table. 'What's this?' he mumbles, placing his keys next to his collar on the dresser in the hallway.
Mimu points at the clock and smiles at him. 'T-three!' she happily says. 'W-welcome...B-back!'
He chuckles and nods at her. 'Nice noticing. Thank you.' He walks over to them and stares at the mess on the table. 'Why's there trash on the table?' he asks, only to be met with angry glares and seven of them making loud noises.
'He didn't mean it!' Felix hushes Mimu who drops her shoulders hearing the words.
Changbin frowns again before understanding what he just insinuated. 'Aaah! I'm sorry! That's what you meant this morning. These are yours,' he tries to make up to her.
Her cheeks turn red as she nods.
'Hyung! Why did you say that? You're heartless,' Jeongin scolds him.
Changbin profusely apologizes and they all try to say nice things about her stuff. She doesn't seem to buy it, but can't deny her precious things are not in the best condition anymore.
'Maybe we can get you some things?' Felix tries to brighten her up. 'Is there anything you want?'
With that she twists her head in his direction and leaves the table. They all see her sprint off to the bathroom and come back with a blue toothbrush. She points at it and herself with a questioning face.
Felix doesn't get it right away and looks beside him when he hears Chan grunt. 'Lix... All she wants is to know if she can keep the toothbrush she used yesterday. You know we don't mind you keeping that,' he says to her.
Mimu's voice goes up and with sparkling eyes she looks at the toothbrush in her hands.
Felix opens and closes his mouth. She's happy with something like that? Oh boy.

Mimu is over the moon with all of her new things. After seeing her squeal from happiness over a toothbrush they quickly gathered some of their own possessions and gave it to her. She's now the proud owner of her own note block and pencil, a pair of shorts from Jeongin and the comb Hyunjin used to comb her hair yesterday. They told her they could use their clothes if she liked and Chan told her to keep the hoodie she borrowed from him. Hyunjin and Jeongin take her to the livingroom to draw with her on her new note block while the others watch over the trio.
'Should we get her more things?' Han asks. 'I can't believe she doesn't even own a pair of pants.'
Minho hushes him to be quieter, but agrees. 'Bin, you said you asked her if she needed anything this morning?'
Changbin grunts without looking away from the black cat hybrid and tells them what he asked her. 'I don't think she knows it's normal for hybrids to own things or she doesn't want to burden anyone,' he says.
'Or she simply can't afford having stuff,' Seungmin remarks. 'I mean, they think she's a normal cat. Cats don't need clothes or toothbrushes.' He points at the stuff on the table. 'She has to hide her "human" things if she's with her owner.'
Felix scoffs and crosses his arms. He can understand granny. She's probably too old to see that her cat is in fact a hybrid. But the grandson? 'How come he never noticed?' he mumbles mostly to himself.
Chan has been silent while they all try to figure out what gave Mimu her view of the world. He follows every move she makes while she smiles at Jeongin and tries to have a little conversation with him and Hyunjin. He's - again- fumbling with her old collar when his eyes dawn at the penning. 'She could go outside,' he mumbles, gaining all the attention from the others.
He stops fiddling with it and blinks twice when hearing his own words. 'Mimu?' he slowly asks.
She looks up to him with questioning eyes and tilts her head.
'Can you still fit this collar?' It looks small in his hands, but Mimu simply nods when she walks over to him and takes it from his hands. They all look how she places the collar around her neck and closes it on the loosest setting.
She must admit, it has been some time since she wore her old collar. It isn't meant to be worn for her as a human, but Jeon Sora got it for her when he was still living with Jolanda. The sales clerk thought he was buying a collar for a hybrid and Jolanda had been giggling hanging the way too big collar around the kitten's neck. They kept it somewhere back in their closet with the joke that their kitten would probably grow into it one day. Mimu brought it with her when they moved to Granny.
'Little T-tight,' she smiles, turning to Chan whose eyes are a weird mix of envy and jealousy.
She has her own penning. Maybe not one that can be read that easily, but it could pose as a hybrid tag. Together with the old hybrid collar, she could walk out on the streets without having to fear animal control picking her up. They all seem to think the same thing and Felix is the first to break their silence.
'Should we buy some things from the convenience store?'
Changbin is the first to jump up. 'Yah! We can bring her outside, you tell me?!' He's all hyped up and Mimu flinches with his loud yelling. The others start shouting as well and soon there's a discussion about who would join them in her first outing.
'I suggested getting her things first,' Changbin yells.
'Yeah, but you go out every time. That's not fair,' Seungmin yells back.
'I'm the most familiar with the outside world!' Hyunjin pleads.
'That doesn't matter, Lix is with her!' Han exclaims.
All the while Mimu looks at Felix with big eyes, not yet getting why they're all hyped up. Is her wearing a collar that special? She slowly shuffles over to Minho who is the only one not yelling right now. She tugs on his arm, not knowing what else to do. Minho smiles at her. 'Yah!' he yells at the others, making them stop bickering at once. 'She chose me. Y'all can go back to your places.' He stretches out his hand and Changbin walks towards the hallway to hand him his collar. Minho snatches it out of his hands and with a satisfied smile he puts it on, before grabbing Mimu's hand. 'Is there any volunteer to be our pack mule?' he glances over at the others.
'I can-,' Felix starts, but is cut off by Minho. 'You're our wallet already. So, who deserves the honor?' He looks around and pauses at Chan. 'It's a cat outing today,' he confirms to the demise of the others. They all shut up when the Russian Blue cat gives them another glare.
Mimu is still lost in their whole conversation. She had hoped Minho would explain what was going on, but instead they decided on an outing?
'Get your ass up, Bang Chan. We don't have all day,' Minho shouts at him.
Felix sighs as if this is the normalest thing on earth. Why does he even bother trying to take the lead in his group? He grabs his phone, wallet and keys and throws two plastic bags at Chan. 'C'mon. You heard our master,' he chuckles.
He asks what he can get the others and notes it down in his phone. 'Yah, choose something else,' he scolds Hyunjin who names an ice cream brand. 'I can afford a simple snack or you have to buy it yourself.'
Hyunjin settles for some chips and after a minute they make their way to the hallway.

Chan had to explain to Mimu she could go outside without having to fear someone would know who she is. She was calm when they gave her a pair of Felix's shoes but panicked as soon as she understood she would go outside in her human form. Something she hadn't done for the past five years. Only after Chan calmed her down and Felix told her she would pose as one of his pets she believed them.
Now they set a first foot outside and Mimu squeezes for dear life in Felix's hand. She knows how the world works. She's seen it on tv and experienced some of it when she was with the street cats when she was younger. But it all falls short to the real life experience. Everything is louder, busier and smellier.
'We're not going far. There's a convenience store around the corner,' Felix tells her.
She nods and waddles with him, taking in every detail on their way. Chan and Minho walk in front of them and don't seem to be as nervous as she is. Although Chan looks around way more often than Minho does. Minho walks around as if he owns the place. She admires how confident the hybrid looks. They enter the store and Chan picks up a basket for them to put their things in. Minho walks through the aisles and throws in stuff which Felix grabs out of the basket and places it back when Minho doesn't look.
'Minho,' he warns the Russian Blue cat who rolls his eyes and takes his owner's phone to look at their grocery list. 'Fine, but I get to pick my own ice cream,' he nags while walking off to the freezer aisle.
Felix mutters something about the ungratefulness before pulling Mimu with him. She tries to scan almost every item with her eyes and tries to see which packages she recognizes. She holds still when she sees Felix's cereal. 'Yum,' she says, pointing at the box.
'I've got that one at home. Have you tried it?' Felix asks, chuckling hearing her little "yum" sound.
She nods and smiles at him. 'F-Felix...cooking is...t-the best,' she whispers to him.
'Well, thank you, cutie,' he coos her.
They walk towards the non-food section of the store with Chan behind them and Felix searches for the items in his mind.
'Do you know your sizes?' he asks Mimu whilst holding up a multipack of women's underwear.
'Yah, you can't bluntly ask her that!' Chan nags at him with red ears. He snags the multipack out of his hands, looks at the size and puts it in the basket. 'This is probably the right size,' he murmurs, avoiding their faces.
'M-mine?' Mimu asks Felix when she understands they're here to buy her things.
He nods and points at other stuff. 'Your owner gave me money to buy you food, but we can use it however you want. I thought getting you some human essentials would be better.'
Her eyes light up and she squeezes Felix's arm tighter. 'Thank you!'
'He gave you money? To feed her?' Chan asks when Mimu lets go of Felix's arm to look over the different types of toothpaste she can choose from.
Felix hushes him and nods. 'He gave me this with the words he would come back next week. It doesn't seem like he cares what happens to her.' He knows Chan is angry when he hears it, but all he does is sigh out loud and look at the money he showed him.
'Hey Mimu? Should we get you some lip balm? I think they have some that smell like cherries over here.' he walks her to another aisle, leaving Felix behind who chuckles at Chan's cute behavior.