Luhan was still out like a light when the doorbell to Xiumin's apartment rang.  

Eyes wide in alarm, Xiumin quickly looked down at Luhan to see if the hybrid had woken up from the loud noise. Luckily, the hybrid only stirred in his sleep for a moment, but not waking up. 

Relieved, Xiumin slowly moved Luhan´s head from his lap, before going to answer the door. Opening the door he wasn´t surprised to see D.O standing outside. What surprised him though was the other person standing behind him, face hidden behind boxes and shopping-bags. 

"I hope you don't mind, but I brought Beakhyun with me. He kind of helped me finding things for Luhan, and showed me places were I could buy cute stuff". 

The figure behind the boxes gave a small wave, before quickly holding on to the swaying mountain of boxes once again. 

"Hi Xiumin-hyung. Can we please come in now? I think my arms are dying, and I can't afford surgery for fake ones". 

Chuckling to himself, Xiumin got out of the way to let the two men into his apartment. 

"Sorry Baekhyun. I hope finding all this stuff wasn't too much trouble. I'll pay you back right now, really! These things must´ve cost a fortune!" 

After putting his share of the boxes and bags down, D.O just shook his head with a smile. 

"Xiumin, don't worry about it. I know you wouldn't run out of money by paying us back, but we really wanted to do this. What happened to Luhan was awful and we want to be a part in bringing him some sort of happiness, even if it's just material-love for now. I don't know if he'll trust us to give him hugs and support just yet". 

Beakhyun grunted audibly as his arms were relieved from the boxes, and turned to Xiumin, slinging an arm over his shoulders. 

"He's right you know. And we're not the only ones who want to help you and Luhan out. As soon as D.O told me, I told Chanyeol, who told the rest of the gang. We all want to be there for you guys, whenever you need it. Actually, Chanyeol already ordered a surprise-gift for Luhan. Don't ask me what it is because he refused to tell me. But what I really want to say is... we're here for you okay? What you're doing is such a great thing and we're all proud of you. Suho and Chen even cried when we told them!" 

Xiumin could no nothing but look at his friends with a stunned look on his face. He had expected his friends to ask him if he was out of his mind to adopt a hybrid like this. He knew that they'd understand after a while but... not this soon. 

"Thank you guys, really I mean it. It means a lot to know that you guys already have accepted Luhan. He's a part of our little family now you know?" 

D.O and Beakhyun smiled at him, nodding they're heads at his statement. Yes, Luhan was definetly a part of their family now. 

"Speaking of the little cutie, where is he?" 

Baekhyun was standing on his toes to look into the apartment, searching for a mop of blonde hair. 

"He's probably still napping on the couch. He fell asleep while we watched a movie earlier. Come on in". 

Going into the apartment, the two visitors couldn't help but to coo at the sight of Luhan sleeping on the couch, blanket and tail wrapped firmly around himself. 

"Oh my god, he looks so precious!". 

Typical Baekhyun, loving everything small and cute he sets his eyes on. 

"Hey Xiumin-hyung. I brought some groceries as well. Want me to help with dinner?" 

"Oh my, I completely forgot I was supposed to make dinner before you got off work. I'm sorry, you guys must be starving". 

D.O just rolled his eyes and chuckled at his hyung, before following him into the kitchen to prepare dinner for everybody. 

"Hyung it's fine. Bakehyun whined about getting milkshake earlier and of course he used the "I actually helped you as the great friend I am"-card to make me buy it for him. I don't think he'll faint anytime soon". 

Chopping the vegetables into small pieces, Xiumin pictured the situation in his head and couldn't help but to laugh. Typical Baekhyun strikes again. 

"I swear, that guy can guilt-trick you into doing possible anything he has in mind". 

"Tell me about it. Thankfully he found a guy like Chanyeol who has as much energy as he has". 

They both laughed silently, before going back to making dinner. 

Half an hour of cooking later, the two chefs were ready to serve dinner. While setting the table for the second time that day, Xiumin looked over to the sofa to check on Bakhyun and Luhan.  

Luhan was still sleeping on the cough, and Baekhyun was sitting on the floor, watching some TV-show on mute in order not to wake the hybrid. Xiumin flicked his gaze back to Luhan, a little worried that he was still sleeping. 

"He must've been exhausted. Why don't we let him rest while we eat? We can heat the food for him later. It will taste just as good pre-heated". 

Once again thanking D.O for making the decisions he couldn't make, he gave a small smile. 

"Yeah I guess so. Baekhyun, come on. Dinner is ready!" 

The boy on the floor looked away from the TV, before making his way over to the table. 

They ate in silence for a while, until Baekhyun striked up a conversation about something cool he had seen on the internet. They talked and laughed in hushed voices and they were only interrupted when a small sound of plastic moving caught their ears.  

Turning towards the direction of the sound, they discovered Luhan squatting in front of one of the many bags the boy had brought over earlier. They all watched amused as Luhan carefully pulled out a small yellow ball from the bag, only to almost drop it when the sound of bells caught his ears.  

The boys at the table couldn't help but smile at Luhan's cuteness, and Baekhyun looked like he wanted to jump on the boy and hug him right then and there.  

Luhan must've felt their eyes on him, because he moved his gaze towards the table and blushed, realizing he had been caught. 

The bells inside the ball jiggled slightly when he put the ball back into the bag, looking a bit sad and disappointed at being interrupted from exploring so soon. He looked like a kid who had been caught trying to steal cookies from a cookie-jar. 

"I-I'm sorry I looked through your stuff. It won't happen again". 

Luhan was looking down at his fingers, shifting his weight from one leg to the other before he slowly looked up from under his bangs. 

All of the boys rised from the table at the same time and made their way over towards Luhan. This seemed to alarm Luhan as he looked up in panic, but he stayed put where he stood. 

Xiumin gently put a had on Luhan's head and scratched him behind his ear to calm him down, trying to send the message that it was okay. 

"These are actually gifts Luhan. D.O and Bakhyun bough all of these nice things just for you. They wanted to make you happy and help us out a bit". 

Luhans' eyes widened at his words, looking over all the bags and boxes before turning his gaze to D.O and Baekhyun, who were both smiling". 

"B-but I don't have anything to give you back. Why would you want to give this much to someone like me?" 

"Because we care about you already Luhan. What they did to you back at that club was disgusting and we want to make sure that you can live happy and comfortably here with Xiumin. I know that everything we've given you right now is material, but we want to be able to be here for you as family in the future. You're a part of our family now, and family helps each other out". 

Luhan was slowly tearing up, so Xiumin brought an arm around him and rubbed his arm gently.  

"All we want in return for this Luhan, is that you're happy okay? Don't get me wrong, if you're sad or angry the it's alright. But we want you to enjoy life and be happy. Understand?" 

Silent tears were making their way down Luhan´s cheeks, but he nodded and gave them a small smile. 

"Okay". 

The other three smiled at him, and before the boys left, they even got a hug from a very shy and emotional Luhan. With a promise of coming back soon, they left the apartment. 

Once D.O and Baekhyun had left, Xiumin and Luhan began exploring the contents of the bags and boxes. Xiumin began to fold and organize the mountains of t-shirts, sweaters, pants and other clothing. Luhan was obviously excited as he put on one hat after the other, before putting them away in a messy pile on the floor.  

Xiumin didn't mind organizing the stuff his kitty threw around though. Just seeing Luhan being so happy and smile so much made his heart feel pleasantly warm.  

He quickly decided he liked the feeling. 

Once Luhan was done building mount-socknest with all the different patterned socks he had found, he moved on to one of the big boxes standing by the wall. Ripping open the tape sealing the box, he stuck his head inside as Xiumin chuckled at the sight of the sock-creation Luhan had left behind.  

Luhan felt like he was in heaven. Two of the big boxes he had just opened were filled to the brim with toys of all kinds, raging from teddy-bears and plushies, to colorful balls and even a hula hoop. Taking out one toy after another, Luhan looked over every single one with huge concentration and excitement, eager to play with all of the contents of the box.  

He immediately grew especially found of a big and white teddy-bear with a baby-blue bow around it's neck, which he hugged close to himself before putting it on the sofa.   

Once Xiumin was done putting away all the clothes into the wardrobe, he went over to the final box and brought it to the kitchen to open it. Opening the box, he was greeted by a card on top. Picking it up, he began to read, and almost teared up at the short message written there.  

"Xiumin-hyung! The owner should give his kitten a token of his love, don't you think? If you don't like any of these, you can always find another one. Take care of Luhan well!" 

He smiled through his tears, looking back into the bock. A small pile of collars in different colors and designs greeted him, and he immediately spotted the perfect collar for Luhan. Picking it up and holding it behind his back, he made his way over to Luhan, who was fussing over his plushies. 

 Xiumin took a moment to observe the innocent kitty sitting in front of him.  

What would've happended to this precious little creature if he hadn't found him and brought him home the other day? Would he still be sitting in that alley, crying? Would he be in the hands of some ert? Would he even be alive? 

Xiumin didn't even want to imagine what would've happened, and what was the point? Luhan was here now, smiling and being his precious little self. He was finally able to be the innocent little kitten he was always meant to be, instead of a stripper working for other's pleasure. 

And he was happy. So incredibly happy. 

Kneeling down in front of Luhan, who turned to look at him with shining eyes, he realized that he had really made the best decision of his life by taking the hybrid in. They had only been together for about a day, but his life had already become so much brighter. All thanks to the little ray of sunshine sitting in front of him. 

"Luhan". 

"What is it Xiumin?" 

"Are you happy?" 

"Of course I am! How could I not be happy by such a big gift of kindness?" 

"No, that's not what I meant. I mean, are you happy here Luhan? With me? Staying here". 

Luhans eyes became even bigger than they already were, as he now turned to fully stare at Xiumin. 

"I am. I've never been this happy in my entire life Xiumin. You took me in without even knowing me, and you gave me so much care and kindness which I can never repay you. You're my savior Xiumin". 

With that, Xiumin's heart had really decided. No matter what, Luhan was staying. 

"I'm really happy Luhan, but we can't continue on like this". 

Luhan looked at him, eyes wide in alarm and his gaze moving all over Xiumin's face in panic. Was Xiumin really kicking him out after all? 

Taking out the collar and showing it to Luhan, Xiumin smiled. 

"Not before we put this on". 

Bringing the collar up to Luhan's neck, he clicked on the baby-blue collar. On the side, a small silver badge was attached, displaying the Chinese sign for love.  

Looking back up at Luhan's face, he was met by a crying Luhan, who couldn't hold his tears in any longer. Xiumin smiled sadly at him, before he brought him into his arms, moving them both to the sofa where he wrapped Luhan in his blanket and held him in his own lap.  

He  Luhans' hair and held him close as he cried. He understood that this was probably a big deal to Luhan, who had never had someone to truly care for him. Even though Luhan was crying, he was happy that the tears were coming because Luhan was happy and not hurt. 

Quite a while later Luhan was still crying, but he had stopped sobbing and by now, only small sniffles were heard. Xiumin almost wanted to giggle at the small gurgling sounds that left Luhan every once in a while, but that would've been way too mean of him.  

Luhan slightly shifted in his lap, before he spoke up though his tears. 

"They never bothered you know? Giving us a collar to show where we belonged. I always wished they would've, even though I hated the place. Just so I could feel like I belonged somewhere in this world". 

Xiumin just his hair and hummed in reply, encouraging Luhan to continue. 

"It was tough. Coming down here from China. The labs were not nice to live in, horrible actually, but there I was safe. We all were safe.I didn't know anything about the outside world until the labs were found and we were taken away. Those men, they tested us. They had people hit us and beat us, trying to see what we would do. Gave us nasty foods to see how we would react. Tried to make us fight against one another. Most of us are of submissive nature when we need to survive so we never reacted aggressively. But some did, and they were sent away to be "trained" or something like that. Most of them ended up like lab-rats anyway..." 

Xiumin was shocked as he listened to Luhan. Everyone knew that hybrids had been tested for aggressive behavior, but the fact that they had been treated that badly was horrible.  

"They killed the ones who didn't stop their behavior after a couple of days. Cut them open, analyzed parts of their brain and DNA to see what they could find. Tried to learn more about us. Why bother when those types of files already existed". 

Luhan was crying again, and he had every right to. Xiumin felt like crying himself in that moment, those poor boys and girls being used as research-material for the big guys who wanted to earn money by discovering things that had already been discovered.  

"They k-killed one of m-my friends who I-I had been with since birth. We had shared the same cage since we were born and we were always sleeping huddled up next to each other to keep warm. He didn't want to be controlled by those men so he fought. He wouldn't listen to their orders so they used him as a subject for their pointless research. I saw him die before I was released". 

Xiumin hugged Luhan tighter. He didn't want to listen anymore, too overwhelmed by the images in his head, but still he wanted to know how Luhan ended up like this. 

"When we were release we had to take care of ourselves. They only gave us one set of clothing and a bag with water and food to last for a week. Some of us were able to find good people immediately, others were found by people who wanted to help by opening adoption-centers for hybrids. And some of us... weren't as lucky". 

It was kind of obvious were this story was going, and Xiumin didn't like it. Still, he was glad to hear that a fair number of hybrids had been able to get help so early on. He could only imagine how lost all of them must've been, left on their own in a world they didn't understand or knew anything about. 

"I spent the first couple of days on my own, exploring Beijing and trying to find somewhere to stay. Just when I thought I was never going to find someone, this man came up to me. He said that someone he knew in Seoul had opened a adoption-center for hybrids, and that he could help me get there. Of course I accepted his offer, as I was so desperate and naïve at the time. I should've know better than to just leave China for some man I didn't even knew. But I foolowed him. He got all my papers in order, and so we left China together. I thought I was lucky to have such a bright future. But that didn't happen". 

"When we got to Seoul, he took me to a hotel to get some rest, saying that he'd call his friend in the morning. We got into the same bed, and I was falling asleep, I suddenly felt his hands on me. I tried to shrug him off, but then he slapped me across the face and began undressing me. I tried to get away from him, but he slapped me again and claimed that this was the least I could do after he had helped me. I was afraid, so so afraid, and I didn't dare to say anything against him. So he me. The next day he took me to this "friend" of his. More like a business-partner. His "friend" owned a club and he was almost completely broke. When he heard about the hybrids being released  he, like many others, saw his chance to make some good cash. He closed the old place down and opened a new place, the club that I worked at. The man who took me to Seoul was his assistant, who got paid to find hybrids and lure them to his club. He had been on vacation to China when he found me by chance. And that's how I ended up working there". 

Xiumin didn't say anything for a very long time. he didn't know what to say at all. How do you respond to a story like that?  

When his head finally cleared a bit, he hugged Luhan even tighter before looking down into those sad eyes, wiping away his tears with his thumb. 

"I'm never going to let anybody treat you that way again okay? As long as I am here, you're safe. As long as we all are here for you, you are safe". 

Luhan nodded, before snuggling his face into Xiumin's neck, giving out a small, pleased sound. 

"Thank you Xiumin. Thank you so much". 

Xiumin gave a small smile, before kissing the top of Luhan's head as the hybrid snoozed off on his lap. He then carried the tired hybrid into his bedroom, putting him down on the bed under the covers before sliding under them himself.  Luhan's hair a bit absentmindedly, he looked over Luhan's sleeping face a final time before going to sleep with Luhan in his warm embrace. 

A/N: Well this became a bit longer than I expected, but I guess you guys don't mind, right? ^^ 

I hope you enjoyed the new chapter! Leave a comment down below with your thoughts, it'd make me really really happy :D  

For reader of my other stories! I am currently writing new chapters for all of them, so please look forward to it! I know I haven't updated in a really long time. 

See you guys soon! ^^