Chapter Text
One major condeception about hybrids in their world was that they were needy and unable to make a living for themselves. However, this assumption was simply false.
Hybrids were not allowed to work for a majority of their existence. Regular humans had believed that their animalistic features weren't trustworthy and therefore they couldn't be placed in a work environment. These biases were found untrue after some time but they still stuck around after being proven wrong. Humans were simply prejudiced beings.
They also weren't much needier than regular humans were. It really depended on what type of hybrid one ended up with and obviously their own personality and how inclined to physical touch they were.
Obviously they had animalistic tendencies but they weren't all the same and one couldn't simply generalize them.
Matthew had thought about all of that a lot since he started his new job a couple weeks ago.
Everyday he came home and felt a little exhausted. He liked his job but he still wasn't used to it. The hours upon hours of working in front of a computer.
He worked at the front desk of a library. Greeting visitors like students and workers alike, managing their calendar and simply being the first face one would see when stepping inside. When he first took this job he wasn't so sure about whether he liked being all out and about as a hybrid.
Generally people tended to think hybrids were cute as long as they were dogs and cats. “Pet-Hybrids” were what regular humans often called them. Matthew didn't like that term. (They aren't pets! They are humans too.)
But Matthew was not a dog or a cat hybrid. In his orangy-reddish-brown hair two pointy fox ears were hiding, their white tips poking out ever so slightly. And even if one would not notice his ears, there was no way people wouldn't see his red and white tail swaying behind him. All in all he was pretty obviously a fox-hybrid.
Before he started working here he was parttiming for his mom at her bakery (He wasn't really allowed to touch any food, since he had always been an absolute disaster in the kitchen but he did some office work alongside his dad). His mom was a regular human who fell in love with a fox hybrid, his father, ages ago. That's where he got his pointy ears, is what his parents tell him all the time.
And he really liked working with his parents but he also wanted to make his own experiences and find a job on his own.
His boss at the library was nice. His name was Hao and he was a regular human but he had accepted his CV with open arms. (Yes Matthew walked into the library one day and asked if they were hiring and left his CV right then and there, his mom forced him.) He told Matthew about his boyfriend who was a cat hybrid and who always has a hard time finding a job and then he just kept talking about his boyfriend and after their conversation he told Matthew to come back a day later so the working librarian, Taerae, could show him how everything worked.
It really went better than he originally expected. Who could have thought his boss was gonna be so chatty and nice.
So far he has had a good time working in his new position. He liked Taerae. They often had shifts together and they got along well. Sometimes the fox hybrid got weird stares from people visiting the library and Taerae was always quick to comment on their dirty looks to make them stop staring.
But working was also exhausting. Yes, he was a capable adult who had a sense of urgency and responsibility for himself and the people around him. Yes, he didn't let his animalistic side overtake during work and he pulled himself together to prove he can be a well working cog in the system, but he was also just a hybrid. A whiney one at that.
Whenever people assume what his hybrid side must be like they usually are right dead on. Foxes are whiney, want attention and are usually all over the place. They love to pounce and when they like a human, they want to be as close as possible to them. And while Matthew wasn't an animal who couldn't control its urges he still wanted to do all that from time to time with the right person at least.
Much to his boyfriends dismay (He absolutely adored the attention Matthew gave him.) who was often the subject of Matthews attacks after work.
Jiwoong, his boyfriend.
He met Jiwoong through his dads work friend a few years ago, back when his dad was still working for the city. He likes to think about it as fate aligning and bringing them together. Two people meeting at the right place and time.
He was picking up his dad after work on a spring day. He had promised to take him to the comic book store after his shift. His dad was still talking to a colleague, smoking a cigarette and seemingly waiting for Matthew to get there.
When he got closer to almost be in earshot he saw a third person standing next to his dads colleague. The man couldn't have been much older than Matthew was but his aura felt so mature.
“Oh, there he is. Mashu!”, his dad had greeted him, waving his arm once he saw him approach the group.
“Hey kid, I haven't seen you in forever,” the colleague had greeted him too, stomping on his cigarette on the ground.
He introduced him to Jiwoong a moment later. Telling him, he was his son and was interning in the office at the moment to gain credits for his uni course.
University still sounded pretty serious to Matthew at the time. He had just entered his last year of high school at the time, not the slightest idea what to do after.
They somehow bonded through Matthew talking Jiwoongs ear off about the comic he wanted to buy today, the reason he even came to pick up his dad for. Jiwoong seemed interested enough to ask questions about the comic series he was reading and they ended up exchanging socials to stay in contact.
Six years, that's their age gap.
They became a couple quickly after the first meeting. Matthew fell quickly and head over heels and Jiwoong was there to catch him and keep him close.
At first he was scared he would be too much for Jiwoong to handle since he knew how clingy he could be around people he felt safe with but Jiwoong had noticed quickly that Matthew was somehow holding himself back and made sure he knew how much he liked Matthew, in every way.
His key turned in the door and he let out a soft sigh when he stepped inside and closed the door behind himself again.
Inside it smelled like freshly cooked food, something still sizzling on the stove.
“I’m back, Hyung!”, he shouted while toeing off his shoes and putting them away to step further into the flat.
“In the kitchen, darling,” came back a response and just a second later Jiwoong leaned his body outside the door of their kitchen and flashed a grin at Matthew, “I prepared dinner.”
Mashu reached him and immediately wrapped his arms around his boyfriend's neck, a high pitched whine escaping his throat.
Jiwoong wrapped his arms around Matthews' back tightly and cooed softly “Aw, baby, was work a lot again today?”
The other just simply nodded his head against the crook of Jiwoong’s neck and kept whining cutely. “It’s nice but I have to be really really adult-y and grown up there.” He mumbled softly, pulling back a little. “I am an adult and grown up but, you know, I have to pull myself together a lot there. I want to make a good impression.”
Jiwoong hums softly, his hand cradling up his back and into the hair at the nape of Matthew’s neck, drawing lazy circles with his thumb there, “You know that Hao won’t fire you even if you don’t mask all the time, right? He knows he employed a hybrid, he made that pretty clear.” A soft chuckle fell from his lips.
His tail swished behind him from left to right as he thought about Jiwoong's words. He was not wrong about that. He loosened his hold around Jiwoong's neck a little to look at his face and nodded again, “Yeah, I know that but I don't want people to think the worst of hybrids if they catch me acting like one.”
Jiwoong's hand cradled further up to the crown of his head and his fingers brushed against his ears softly. It almost made the hybrid pur. (That happened sometimes, yeah, he wasn't even a cat but some of the sounds he occasionally made weren't really explainable to him.)
“Tickles Hyung.” Another whine leaving his throat.
“Let’s eat before talking about heavy topics, okay?”
Matthew agreed, talking about these types of things was hard sometimes so he should reenergize first.
Later that night they found themselves on their couch cuddling and they both had kind of forgotten to talk about it.
Jiwoong loved touching Matthew, at least that's what he's been observing over the past couple years that they've been together. He always had his hands close to Matthew and held him either at his waist or the small of his back, casually, wherever they were. It gave Matthew a sense of security that he didn't know he needed until he had gotten it.
He also loved it when Jiwoong touched him, drawing lazy patterns into his skin or above his clothes. He liked the warmth Jiwoong emitted and how he's taller than Matthew so Jiwoong can hug him close and basically make Matthew disappear in his arms, save from everything else around them.
Jiwoong's hands were on Matthews waist right now as well. Again drawing lazy patterns into his soft skin, underneath his shirt, while the little fox was tucked into his side. The tv was running but Matthew had his eyes closed, just listening to whatever was on. His ears were twitching around every now and then, he could feel how they were brushing against Jiwoong's chin every now and then, the elder humming surprisedly whenever it happened. He was a little ticklish there.
It was lazy but soft nights like these that Matthew cherished the most, maybe even more than those nights where they had sex. (The sex was pretty good too but he was always a little more keen on cuddles, really.)
Jiwoong was laughing about something that happened on screen, the rumble of his chest vibrating right through Matthew, causing him to open his eyes to take a peak at what was going on.
“Are you even watching, baby?” Jiwoong asked, his breath right next to his ear, making the hybrid shiver. His ears were extremely sensitive. While human ears were sensitive too, his fox ears were much more flexible and sensitive to all kinds of sensations like wind and sound. Jiwoong liked teasing him about it from time to time.
“No, not really. I'm really sleepy right now, Hyung.” He closed his eyes again and nuzzled closer into his boyfriend's chest.
“Do you want to go to bed?”
Matthew shook his head no. He really just wanted to be lazy and lay on the couch for a little longer, spend quality time with his boyfriend. “No, I want you to cuddle me more.”
Jiwoong chuckled again, pulling Matthew closer, onto his lap, the younger boy now straddling his hips while still laying against his chest. He felt Jiwoong press a soft kiss to his forehead and another to his temple. His hands were roaming across his back now. Matthews face was half squished against Jiwong's chest, the position felt a little awkward but Jiwoong was still kissing him so everything was perfect.
He craned his neck a little to catch Jiwoong's lips with his own in a quick peck. Jiwoong kissed back immediately, capturing Matthew’s lips with his and cradling his head closer to deepen the kiss.
What was supposed to be a cute quick peck turns into a little bit of a make out session quickly and Jiwoong's lips keep moving against Matthews, licking his lips with his tongue and pulling cute noises from him by squeezing his hands into his ass ever so slightly.
Matthew pulls back momentarily to rearrange their positioning and properly sit on top of Jiwoong's hips. He bends down to kiss Jiwoong again, holding his jaw with his hands, cradling his face. Jiwoong always likes to joke about how much smaller Matthews hands are compared to his but it's really just a given since Matthew is naturally smaller build. He is a fox hybrid, not a freaking leopard like Ricky or a big dog like Gyuvin. (Also his mom is small and his dad is also a fox hybrid and therefore smaller built. Where in the world is he supposed to get height from?)
Jiwoong kisses him back passionately, leaning his head to the side so their noses don't smush together as much, even though Matthew really likes that sometimes, being a bit messy and stuff like that. He doesn't mind. Jiwoong's hands wander back to Matthews back and down again to his ass, really just mapping him out top to bottom, remembering every inch of his body.
When they part a slick sound smacks from their lips, followed by soft panting by them both.
“Hyung, I would like to keep this going but I am really tired,” he whines, still cradling Jiwoong’s face softly. The older licks his lips quickly and grins up at him, “You don't need to explain, baby. I've told you that a million times by now.” Matthew nods quickly but still presses another quick kiss to Jiwoong’s lips. Jiwoong is always so perfect and understanding.
He’s not once made Matthew uncomfortable in their relationship. He always made sure Matthew was okay with whatever they were doing at whatever point in their relationship they had been at that time. When Jiwoong spent his first heat together with Matthew he had sat them both down a few days prior and talked about everything he needed to know and what was okay and what wasn't.
Jiwoong hadn't dated a hybrid before Matthew and he told him he also hadn't been interested in it before meeting Matthew, but that changed when he came into his life.
“I just want to take care of you, is that alright?” he had asked back then, “Not just during your heats but in general.”
And Matthew had simply nodded, emotions washing over him, tears brimming at his eyes. This wasn't something he had before. In a prior relationship it never went like that. He didn't really like thinking about that a lot but he's made some bad experiences in his life already.
Jiwoong however felt safe from the beginning and he kept proving himself over and over again during the course of their relationship.
And right now, laying on the couch together he said it again “Mashu, I just want to take care of you as best as I can.”
Softly Mashu nuzzled his nose into Jiwoong's neck, kissed him there quickly and laid down flat on top of his boyfriend. “Mashu sleepy.” Jiwoong hummed in response, chuckled lightly at his boyfriend talking in third person, picked him up and carefully carried him to their bedroom to get ready for bed.