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

Keeping a house

"Hey little one. The world is a cruel place, you know? Some are born in loving families, others without anyone who cares for them. You were a lucky one. Even though you won't see much of the world outside anymore. We'll love you forever."

'I swear, Seungmin, give another tweet and I will feed you to Hyunjin.'
Felix was more than done with the parakeet on his shoulder. 'You can't just scold the landlord because he called you a feathered pest. Last time you did that, we got kicked out, remember? I want to try to keep this place for at least another three months.'
The Blue Australian Budgerigar let out an angry screech, but kept quiet after that. Felix sighs out loud and rustles through his pockets for the car key. He hasn't even opened up the trunk and the car is already shaking.
'Keep quiet, all of you,' Felix hushes whilst hurrying up with the keys. Different animal sounds ring through the vehicle in response.
'For fuck sake,' Felix mumbles.
He opens up the trunk and back door of the car and a total of six animals try to escape.
'So far the low key entry, remember?!' he whines whilst catching the hamster ball mid air as its inhabitant launched himself off the backseat with it.
'Han! You idiot! Want to die in that hamster form?!'
The fluffy animal scratches the blue plastic in an attempt to escape to no avail as Felix keeps the ball in his arm. 'Don't act all dramatic,' Felix warns him.
The hamster pouts and sits down in the ball, listening to the boy.
'Changbin, can you carry Minho and Chan with you?' Felix asks while the colossal of an Estrela Mountain dog waggles slowly out of the backseat, panting heavily from the warmth in the small car. He turns around to the passenger seat and grabs the handles of a travel carrier in his mouth. A loud mewl warns him to be careful and Changbin simply huffs.
'Yes, Minho, I'll let you out in a moment. I promise Changbin won't drool in your domain.'
The Russian Blue cat doesn't seem to believe Felix as his cat eyes squint at the boy before laying down in the carrier.
'Now, where's Hyunjin? There's enough space now for him to transform,' Felix asks the others.
A Jackdaw picks on the back window of the car where a Slow Worm pops his tiny snakelike head up from behind one of the bags placed on the parcel shelf.
'Ah, Thanks Jeongin. Hyunnie, I've got some clothes for you. You can transform now so you can help me with the bags.'
The Slow worm sticks out its tongue and slithers off the parcel shelf on the back seat and within a second there's a full human body in the car, demanding for his promised clothes.
'Here you go, your majesty,' Felix jokes when handing over a pair of slippers so the other can get out of the car.
'I hate hiding,' he mumbles whilst stretching his sore limbs.
'I know, but the car is too small to fit everyone and our stuff,' Felix nods.
'Changbin could've been in his human form. Would take up half the space,' Hyunjin huffs.
'You know that wasn't an option. I rented this place for one human, two hybrids and five animals. If he saw your faces, the others won't have any chances to go out.'
Hyunjin grumbly nods and grabs one of the many bags left in the car. He knows Felix is right. If the landlord saw their faces, he would start asking questions when the others would go out in their human forms without collars around their necks or suspect them for keeping illegal hybrids as there would be a different face every time they went outside with one of their legal collars. It's better for them to be anonymous to have more freedom.
'Stop that, stupid bird! I know I have to be careful with your stuff!' Hyunjin huffs at the Jackdaw who flaps around his head to make sure Hyunjin takes out his bag with care.
'Innie, go fly up to the second balcony, third floor. Will yah? We'll open the balcony door as soon as we're inside,' Felix coos the young, black bird with sharp, blue eyes which are taking up the facial expression of the boy. The parakeet on Felix's shoulder hops up and down, but Felix reprimands him by tapping one finger on his head. 'No, you stay here. You're a house bird. Can't fly around in the wild. Jeongin can.'
The parakeet bites Felix's earlobe and the boy angrily janks his head away from the agitated bird.
'What did I say about behaving yourself?'
'Should I take him?' Hyunjin smiles. 'I can take care of him with one gobble.'
Now the parakeet loses it and Felix needs to grab the bird with his full hand to keep him from attacking the Slow Worm hybrid. 'Hyunjin! Don't joke about that. He's been in your mouth more than enough!'
'Aah, and everytime he survives,' the other smirks. 'I won't eat him for real, you know that. Too feathery.'
Felix puts the angry little bird in the pocket of his jacket and pushes in his head when the bird still chatters aggressively at the other. They're not even inside yet and the bickering between some of his family members has started.
Family members are what they call each other as that's exactly how their dynamic feels. These are his hybrid friends, each with their own personalities and quirks. The eight of them are a weird combination for sure, but he wouldn't be without them.
This is their seventh apartment in one and a half years and he really needs this one to be a more permanent one if possible. Living with one or two normal animals is already considered a hassle for most people in Korea, let alone seven. Especially when they're all hybrids and only two of them have been legally registered and chipped to be his.

In Korea, all animals which are considered "Pets" have to be registered and chipped if they have an owner. This is to prevent strays or illegal breeding. Both are still a thing, even here, but with the chipping, lost hybrids can be returned to their rightful owners and certain species can be monitored to prevent overpopulation. It's a way of control, not a solid solution.
'Collar?' Hyunjin asks Felix when he's done with picking up the last bag out of the trunk.
'Oh sorry, my bad,'Felix answers, handing a simple, black collar to Hyunjin.
Hybrids can't walk around without one, or they will be taken by animal control if captured. Most strays are smart enough to avoid that and only if a hybrid wears a visible collar with penning they can go outside without their owner. Hyunjin and Changbin are the only ones with their own collar which they seem to like wearing outside of the house. Felix doesn't particularly like the collars, but knows it means his family can get a little bit of freedom for what it's worth.
'Let's move before Changbin's drool pisses off our cute kitties,' Hyunjin pesters Minho who can't do anything else than hiss back.
Chan doesn't react to the ruckus between the others. The black hybrid cat simply stays hidden in the shadows of the travel carrier. Felix hopes he will adapt quickly to his new environment.
The black cat is the latest addition to the family with his arrival four months ago. It was when Felix got back from his night shift at the convenience store he worked at at the time. Felix saw the distressed cat transform behind the dumpsters, to collapse a moment later. Felix, with his heart of gold, wanted to help the hybrid. He approached the hybrid who was naked and shivering between the trash, only to be met with angsty hisses and two bright, green eyes filled with fear. There were sounds of dogs in the distance and Felix told the hybrid it was him or the dogs, giving the hybrid no other choice but to let Felix take his hands to get him out of there. He helped the stray without asking any questions, trusting his instincts that this hybrid needed his help.
It took the hybrid a full month to build up a connection to the other six hybrids, but now he seems as attached to them as the oldest ones of the group. There's still a lot Felix doesn't know about the black cat shifter, but the guy is one of the sweetest ever. A little in his own world from time to time, but who isn't?

'No! That's mine!'
'No it's not! Felix, tell him it's my blanket!'
Han and Seungmin are both pulling on one end of a tiny blanket. Felix is busy whisking the batter for the pancakes he plans to make for lunch and walks out of the kitchen to see what's the matter.
'Lix, have you seen my charger? I thought I had it in your room, but I can't find it,' Hyunjin asks.
'Shut up, you menaces!' Minho yells at the two fighting over the blanket.
'You shut up!' Han yells back while Changbin laughs out loud.
'You sure you want to talk to him like that?' he smirks, seeing the Russian Blue cat human squint his eyes at him.
'Not fair! Felix! Minho is doing it again!'
A loud thunk can be heard on the balcony and Hyunjin points at the sliding doors whilst burying his head deep into the clothes hamper in search of his charger. 'Can someone let Jeongin in? He flew against the window. Again,' he says.
The Jackdaw shakes his head as he sits on the ground in his naked human form.
This is daily life for Felix. His family is a loud one and not in the slightest capable of maintaining peace. There's always someone in trouble, in search of something or picking fights amongst themselves. Felix hopes the walls in this apartment are thick enough to keep the noise to a minimum. He already invested in some sound panels on the walls and made sure to rent a place where most of the people in the building are on the older side, in the hopes their hearing won't be as good.
'Han, that's Seungmin's blanket. Yours is in the laundry. Hyunjin, get out of there.' He pulls the Slow Worm hybrid out of the hamper and points at the charger on the kitchen table. 'Use that one. And Jeongin, for fuck sake. How many times do I have to say not to transform whilst on the balcony? One of these days we'll get a complaint about a naked man flashing himself.'
The Jackdaw hybrid doesn't seem to hear him and simply smiles at him when his human opens the door for him to enter.
'Aren't you overmixing that?' Minho tries to poke his finger into the pancake batter when Felix swats his hand away.
'Don't eat that. There's raw egg in it, you fool. Can anyone tell me where Chan is?'
It's at that moment the doorbell rings and everyone stops midst their movement.
'Protocol!' Felix yells at the others who quickly transform to their animal form, leaving random piles of clothes in the room when they hide.
Felix places the bowl with batter on the table and jogs to the front door. There's a young looking man outside who's looking uninterested whilst waiting for the door to open.
'Eh, hi?' Felix greets the stranger. 'What can I do for you?'
The man, in his late twenties, holds up a container with what seemed like food and smiles awkwardly. 'Hi, the name's Jeon. Jeon Sora. I'm the neighbor's grandson. Also living there. My granny wanted to welcome you into the building. She cooked oxtail soup.'
It looks like he doesn't want to do this at all, but has to as his granny ordered him. Felix looks from the container to the man with his sleek, backcombed hair and decides he better embrace this right now before it will look suspicious.
'Ah, thank you. Lee Yongbok. Want to come in?' Please say no, Felix prays, but the man nods and follows him inside.
Felix leads him into the living room where Changbin lays on the couch, taking up a good portion of space. He lifts his head a moment, only to huff and lower it back on his front paws.
'That's.... a big dog?' the neighbor remarks. 'What race is it?'
'An Estrela Mountain dog. He's my hybrid. I think the landlord notified the other residents I have two?' Felix looks over at the terraria against the wall under the mounted tv, but doesn't see Hyunjin in it. Shit, where's that stupid reptile.
'Yeah, he did. We're an animal friendly building or something like that. I believe one of the gramps downstairs has an old terriër hybrid. My gran has a normal cat. Not the biggest fan, but I can't complain.'
He looks at the terraria as well and one of his eyebrows lifts up. 'You have a snake hybrid?'
Felix spots Hyunjin slithering under the coffee table and ducks to catch him with two hands. The man steps away from him while Felix holds Hyunjin up and awkwardly laughs.
'He has the habit of crawling out if I don't close his cage correctly. But don't worry,' he hastily says, seeing Jeon's eyes dart to the door. 'It's not a snake. It's a Slow Worm. Family of lizards. Can bite, but isn't venomous.'
He holds up the wriggling, small reptile to give Jeon a better look and Hyunjin sticks out its forked tongue to taste the air around him to "see" the neighbor better.
'Do you have a license to keep that thing?' Jeon asks, half curious and half in disgust.
It's the standard question Felix gets when people learn he keeps a reptile hybrid. Only people with a license can keep reptiles as pets and to get one, you need to do a lot of paperwork and research.
'I got one,' Felix states, putting the Slow Worm into its terraria and carefully closing its enclosure. 'I've got a friend in herpetology. Learned from him.'
The neighbor nods and gives a last stare at the terraria with the reptile in it. 'Good,' he mumbles as he looks around, away from the Slow Worm.
'Ah, I have the tendency to throw my clothes around,' Felix hurriedly tells him when the piles of clothes are now in view of Jeon. He simply shrugs, before looking up to Felix. 'None of my business. You're a young guy, right? Part of our nature, am I right?' He looks at his phone and goes back to Felix. 'Well, it was a pleasure to meet you. I'll tell my Gran you said hi. She'll probably want me to say something like "Welcome to the neighborhood. If you ever need something, come knocking." yada yada, so that's that.'
He walks himself out and Felix awkwardly waves him goodbye before exhaling loudly. That was a... rather mundane welcome. Maybe that's for the best. At least it wasn't a noise complaint or anything like that.
'Coast clear,' he mumbles and with that a few of the hybrids come out of their hiding spots. Seungmin and Jisung seemed to have made it into their enclosures in time and Jeongin comes from his frozen spot in the corner of the room. He often pretends to be a taxidermied animal sitting on a piece of wood Felix selectively put next to a few books on the bookshelf. Most people fall for it.
Both cats had been hiding under the couch and only Minho transforms back to his human form, leaving Chan behind in the dark.
'Suite yourself,' Minho sniffs to the black cat whilst picking up his sweatpants off the ground.
'Play nice,' Felix warns the Russian Blue, but he shrugs and picks up the bowl with batter from the table and starts whisking it.
Felix plucks the black cat from under the couch to its displeasure and place him on Changbin's back who decides to stay in his dog form, scratching the black cat under its chin a few times before walking over to the terraria to save Hyunjin from his prison. Changbin places his paw on the remote to use the tv so he and Chan can watch something.
Yep, a normal day in Felix's family.

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Welcome! A new fanfic and a new subgenre to explore.
This story is already finished, so here's the promise there will be an ending!

We start off with a dash of humor and fun, but the story will touch up some disturbing/traumatizing topics later on. (I'll include a warning at the top of those chapters. I've also included a warning/introduction before reading.)

For those not familiar with the hybrid universe:
Further rules of this universe will be explained in the story, but if you have questions, let me know below:)