Then Donghae was fifteen and a delinquent and Hyukjae was twenty-three and a high school teacher. On Hyukjae's first day back from graduation, he got the desperate request from Donghae's mom to tutor the high-schooler. Hyukjae kind of got the fact that Donghae was going through the troublesome teenage years, and the hybrid mix wasn't helping with the aggression and the angst. Even Donghae's dad had refrained from meddling; the first and last time he did so had them ending up thrashing the family home and nursing claw wounds and bruised egos for weeks.

Hyukjae had learned enough that the physiology had an effect on their kind, and why he had wanted to be a high-school teacher in the first place. He had seen enough of their kind struggling to grow up with the mix of human and clan traits, and watched families get torn apart, too, when it seemed like a terror to be bringing up hybrids when it was just hormones kicking in and displaying exactly what is expected of teens of both races, compounded only by the fact that the hybrid teens display both traits at the same time. And with no elder around to guide them through the tumultuous years, well, it took some getting used to. They eventually turn out alright, because admit it or not, they had the best of both worlds. He was sort of spared from the phase, because his mom had him fully switch to his human form whenever he felt irked for some reason - this dampened down his gumiho powers and just left him a sullen teenage human most of the time. But unlike him, most hybrids can't shift, like Donghae, who had the full effect of his heritage rampaging in his veins.

What Hyukjae didn't bargain for was for his own hormones to go haywire seeing Donghae again. Donghae had grown beautifully into his skin, his orange and black hair stripes forming a hood from his hair, shoulders and upper back before tapering into a straight thin line ending around his tail. The rest of him is human, though his hazel eyes can turn into slits and can summon fangs and claws when he gets excited, agitated or whenever he feels like it. But the deadly combination was his beautifully masculine face, cat ears and the feline quality with the way he moved. Hyukjae could see the ripped physique, because their first meeting back was during Donghae's swim training and he wore nothing but trunks.

Then Hyukjae facepalmed when Donghae's almost growly meeting of "Who're you?" was directly opposite his image.

"I don't think my full human form sufficiently masks my scent, Summer. Either that, or for a tiger, you have a stunted sense of smell."

Donghae glared and attempted to frown at him. Attempted, because really, to Hyukjae's amusement, the combination of that face and ears just made the frown cute.

Donghae got out of the pool, making Hyukjae gulp at the highschooler. Yep, feline alright, the way Donghae padded to where his towel was. Or the way he shivered and stretched as he toweled himself down. Hyukjae had to look away, disbelieving at the effect the teen was having on him.

"What are you doing here, Lee-nim?" Donghae sarcastically drawled. "I've study hours after this and my new tutor will be coming over, so as you can see, I've no time to entertain unwelcome guests."

Hyukjae snapped. "For a teenager, you can really be petty, huh? It's been years! I had to go to university!" It had been rude of the younger to completely avoid him just because he was nursing a grudge all this time.

"You never told me anything!" Donghae yelled, or rather roared. "Right up to when you left, you never told me!" His hackles were raised, not to mention the ears and tail gone rigid.

Hyukjae's eyes narrowed. "Well then, it seems like I'll be making up for it, because congratulations, I'm your new tutor!"

Donghae's face went from disbelief to pure fury before he stalked back into the house yelling he'd have Hyukjae removed from being a tutor.

Good luck with that, Hyukjae thought, his own mischievous nature appearing as he followed back the harried teen into the house and for the next hour, a fox and tiger chase ensued with the rebellious Donghae protesting against Hyukjae becoming his tutor and Hyukae wanting to exert his authority as an educator and putting to practice what he had been preaching. He was convinced if he can succeed with Donghae, he can succeed with any teen student he'll have once this summer is over and he started work in the local high school.

Things only came to a halt when Hyukjae dragged the still protesting Donghae back into the study room to begin lessons. He had to turn back into his gumiho form to counter Donghae's superior strength, though a pinch in the right area on Donghae's cat ears was enough to make the boy follow him back into the study. The subdued boy sniffed and mewled behind the sleeves of his pajama top as he was forced to sit down on the mat while Hyukjae got the study materials ready.

Hyukjae was surprised when Donghae suddenly went quiet.

He turned around to find Donghae's mesmerized gaze glued on his tails. He had forgotten that they were effective in distracting Donghae to a happy silence.

"They've grown bushier," Donghae said in awe, and Hyukjae uncharacteristically blushed at the compliment on, well, his tails. As with all gumiho tails, his was wrapped in thick, fluffy fur that made the tails look thicker than it actually was. Then he was confused by Donghae's question of "Can I?" before he saw the grabby hands going for his tails.

Hyukjae sighed. No one ever really touched his tails other than Donghae. In his gumiho form, he'd be careful to get it out of everyone's way since the tails are as long as he was tall, and everyone just assumed that not touching it was being respectful to him. For Hyukjae, it was more of not accidentally hurting anyone because really, those tails pack a punch. Not Donghae, and they had just both gotten used to using the appendages when Donghae was walking too far back for Hyukjae's hands to reach him, or the boy would be doing something naughty out of sight and it was easier to use the tails to get him out of the fray, or get him out of reach of his prey.

Then he stiffened, in a bad way, because he did not expect Donghae touching his tails to send electricity running through his body. His head whipped around to watch Donghae curl fists each around the left and right tail and then rub his face against the middle one. Hyukjae's throat went parched as he can feel both the hold and the rubbing against his tail.

He saw the particularly evil feline look on Donghae's face before Hyukjae felt the claws and fangs dig into his tails.

Donghae was thrown clear across the room, banging against one of the bookshelves that was thankfully securely anchored. He avoided hitting his head but to add insult to injury, a book from an upper shelf got dislodged and hit him square on the head. Their shocked looks collided and then Donghae curled into himself, starting to cry and meow alternately.

It has been years since Hyukjae had heard Donghae cry this way, and no matter the age, sent him scampering to Donghae and hold the shivering form. Donghae was tall enough now to keep Hyukjae from carrying him like he used to, so he just rocked the younger one back and forth, after determining Donghae was only crying from hurt but no broken bones. Hyukjae thought he had gained sufficient control on the tails but they still react harshly to pain. There was now an additional dilemma of the stabbing feeling in his heart with Donghae's pitiful cries. All he could do was murmur I'm sorrys, but even he didn't know what it was he was being sorry for. And Donghae just only cried.

The crying exhausted Donghae enough to make him fall asleep. He woke up to find himself still wrapped in Hyukjae's arms and tails and Donghae wondered if Hyukjae was even aware that he had already escaped Donghae's grasp. But now he was back, and Donghae wasn't about to let go. Never again.

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