“You don’t look like you’re in a rush to leave either,” he comments instead, leaning against the back of the truck. He hopes he looks as nonchalant as he wants to. 

“I was thinking about some last minute exploring,” you chuckle, looking at him with a small smirk on your face, “If you want to join me. But all credit would be mine, I’m warning you.”

“Sure,” he shrugs in an attempt to hide his eagerness.

His steps are fast, though, because as cute as it is to watch you get frustrated when you have to walk at a slower pace, he wants you to be comfortable. And the faster you both walk, the faster you’ll get away from everyone. 

And soon enough, it’s only you two, the sky, and the silence of the night. Should he try to hold your hand? Would it be too soon? Giuk knows he’d try if he wasn’t getting back on the road tonight. He takes a deep breath of the chilly air and pulls off his jacket to drape it over you. Winter's coming, it’s the first time you've met at such a time. He wonders if maybe you could see the first snow together.

“Think we’ll get paired up next time too?” you hum.

How many times has it been? Five? Six? He doesn’t really remember, even though at some point each time meant another frustrating end and sleepless night over what could’ve been.

“Why? Are you getting sick of me?” he teases. Though the possibility of you saying yes does cross his mind and he regrets asking.

“Not at all,” you huff, bumping your shoulder against his. Your voice drops lower. “Just hoping we’ll get more time at the next location.”

It feels like the ground drops from below his feet. Like something is pulling Giuk up, making him levitate in the air. He risks a quick glance at you. You don’t meet his eyes, but you’re worrying your lip between your teeth. A habit that you developed recently. Or did he only just notice? Or maybe, did you only now get a reason to be nervous around him? 

“That would be nice,” he admits softly, “Really nice.”

Your fingers brush against his, yet you don’t take his hand. But it’s enough for now. Enough of a reassurance that the only thing between you and him is time. 

At least your units usually work together. You should be able to meet at the next location too.

“Do you think the aliens are only sticking around to see if we end up together?” you laugh. And, taken aback by your bluntness and the ridiculousness of the idea, Giuk has to laugh too.

“I hope they’re rooting for us.”

The last time the cute guy, Giuk (unless he’s giving a fake name for his orders), visited he left his number on the receipt. Then crossed it out to the point it became illegible. Then wrote his instagram handle right underneath, just to cross it out too - he just didn’t do that good of a job. Good enough that you were not able to find him due to the missing letters, though. 

And sure, maybe if you were overthinking it you could persuade yourself that he wasn’t leaving his number for you. For someone else, maybe? But then again you were the only person he kept looking at - and that’s including the friends he usually comes in with. Flattering, very flattering. You wish he cut it with the slow burn, though.

“I’m gonna scam him,” you smirk at your coworker. 

Before he can question you further, though, the customers make a move. The friend orders first and you swear he gives your victim a meaningful look before walking off to the side to wait for his drink. Then your cute guy steps up.

“Hello,” he greets as usual, fiddling the phone in his hand. As expected, he orders the same as usual. You almost want to call him out. While you’re ringing him up, he opens and closes his mouth a couple times, like he wants to say something. He never does, though, so you pretend to make a mistake to have an excuse to put his order in again and give him a chance to try one more time. He doesn’t, even if you give him a curious look. He looks away. You can’t help but think he looks disappointed.

“You know there’s this promo event going on,” you say nonchalantly, the script well-rehearsed in your head, “If you follow the cafe on instagram there’s a small sale on your order. Unless you’re already following.”

“Oh, I’m not, wait a minute.” 

It’s adorable, the way Giuk jumps at the opportunity and also keeps looking at you as if you’re gonna walk away if he takes too long - and not even acknowledging you haven’t said anything to his friend. He shows you his screen as he taps the follow button and smiles warmly when you thank him. 

“No, thank you,” he hesitates for a second, “Do you have to follow the page too since you’re working here?”

Mentally you raise an eyebrow at that. Does he want to play the same game you’re about to? If so, maybe you should put your plan on hold a little… No. He’d just drag it out anyway.

“We don’t but most of us do,” you shrug, “It’s a good way to get reminders about the news.”

He nods, again seemingly trying to find words while you put the employee discount on his order (nobody will know anyway) and he has to pay. He lingers for a bit longer when everything is done and carefully takes the receipt from you. 

Your coworker is already done with both of their orders in the meantime and readily hands them over, effectively chasing him away, before crowding you as you hide to pull out your phone.

“Explain?” he prompts before invading your personal space.

“Remember how I couldn’t find him from that scribble? I should be able to guess it now if I see that name-” Bingo. But he really needs to work on his handwriting. 

“Oh?” he’s already leaning over your shoulder to see. 

The profile is private but how many people still wear leopard print and have such pretty earrings? Here goes nothing, you think as you press the follow button and promptly hide the phone back into your pocket. You return to your tasks as if nothing happened, your nosy coworker whining behind you. Probably for the first time, it’s you nervously checking on the crushing guy. 

He’s already on his phone and then, all of a sudden, he freezes. After a beat he looks up, eyes wide and mouth agape. You send him a sheepish smile that quickly grows when you see Giuk brighten up. You feel your phone vibrate and take it out. As expected, there’s a request waiting for you too. As soon as you accept it, he sends the first message.

luckily you kept some cat food on hand for strays and he seemed to really appreciate a proper meal and a warm place to sleep. he slept peacefully by your side on the couch while you watched TV. an emergency alert popped up on your TV while you were watching. “this message is to alert city residents that a tabby cat hybrid went missing on January 1st, 2022.” the message switched from the automated voice to a distressed woman’s voice. “his name is Giuk, he has a teal streak in his blond hair and when he’s in cat form the teal streak translates to his ear. he is very precious to us, if you find him please call (xxx) xxx-xxx.” the message ended abruptly.

you looked beside you at the cat you had taken in. his big eyes looked back at you, assessing your reaction to the message. “Giuk?” you asked quietly. the cat blinked at you, his form changing before your eyes. “yes.” he mumbled. “why were you on my back step?” you asked, Giuk sighed. “i ran away. the family i was with weren’t very nice to me and i couldn’t take it anymore. i don’t know why i ended up in your backyard, i was hungry and tired and your house smelled good… please don’t turn me in, i don’t want to go back there! i’ll do anything, i’ll leave and i won’t come back-” he stopped mid sentence, tears rolling down his cheeks. you cooed gently at him, “it’s okay, i won’t turn you in. you can stay here until i figure out what to do. okay?” you wiped away his tears with your thumb, he nodded wordlessly.

during the next couple of days you struggled to figure out what to do, you could appeal to the hybrid protection program. but you had no evidence of abuse or mistreatment and Giuk wouldn’t tell you anything about his past. at this rate you were worried you would have to either leave the city with him or turn him in. besides the fact that you were essentially hiding someone’s ‘property’ (you hated calling a living being property but that is how the law would see it), you got along really well with Giuk. he was sweet, cute and extremely cuddly. you wondered how anyone could mistreat such a kind hybrid.

one day when Giuk was laying with his head in your lap, you noticed a scar on his neck. when you looked closer you saw it was actually a brand. ‘property of the Smith family’ stretched in tiny letters along the base of Giuk’s neck. you ran your finger gently over where the letters marred his skin. he flinched slightly, his eyes focusing intently on you. he was now much more comfortable with you, he liked being by your side and he knew he wouldn’t be able to be by your side if he didn’t tell you about his past.

so the second your eyes met his after staring at the scar on his neck, everything came tumbling out like a waterfall. in another life he could have been a rapper (😉). your heart broke for Giuk, he had been through so much. the abuse he had suffered was evident by the scars that littered his delicate skin. “thank you for trusting me Giukie, i’m going to keep you safe okay? nothing bad is going to happen.” you brushed your fingers through his hair, Giuk smiled and his nose scrunched. you cooed at him and pinched his cheeks.

you appealed to the hybrid protection program, and they agreed that Giuk had been mistreated. his previous ‘family’ was investigated and banned from having any more hybrids in the future. but there was still one more obstacle in your way; you had to adopt Giuk. because of his background and your hiding him, the HPP (hybrid protection program) was making you jump through several hoops to adopt Giuk. first there was the criminal record check, then the mental health assessment, then the house check and finally several weeks worth of hybrid care classes.