I’m not scary… Don’t worry… Come over here…

These are words that Zitao wanted to express over anything else as he leaned down, head finding it’s way to the top of his crossed hands, a huff causing his body to relax into place. This cliff was a place where he felt slightly better, where he could watch over humans as they go on their routine.

Even though it was far away, he could still see happy faces and working hands and sounds that are so human and real and he loved it. He loved humans.

They just never accepted him very well.

A couple of high schoolers stopped in their path to stare and point at him, eyes watching with wonder as they shielded their mouths behind their hands, lips probably pronouncing words about him. His position must be quite weird to them, he assumed. A few minutes later they giggled and walked away, chattering loudly as they disappeared from sight.

Watching those people from afar calmed Zitao’s desire to be close, but never stopped the feelings from bothering him.

*

"It’s alright, little baby, don’t be scared. You’re a good boy, aren’t you? It’s alright."

Sehun’s heart was beating unevenly in his chest as he squinted in a seriously awkward position, face probably twisted in a concerning face as he reached out to the kitten that sat on the side of the road, careful not to move a millimeter too much. The kitten leaned in carefully, testing his hand by sniffing it even though it twitched away every few seconds.

The only way one could describe the boy that found himself in this weird situation oh so often is the following: Oh Sehun was the name, second year of high school was the nightmare, no boyfriend in sight thanks to obvious reasons and an almost illegal love for animals. He loved all kinds and species of animals, which lead him to trying his hardest to be liked by them whenever he met them, with the only problem being…

"I won’t do anything to you, I just want to love you, that’s it… It’s alright," Sehun took a deep breath, the muscles of his thighs twitching as they got ready. He let the air out slowly right before… "Gotcha!" He leaped forward and wrapped both hands tightly around the kitten’s body – without harming him, of course, that’s something he’ll never do – and brought it plush against his chest, hugging it tightly. "I told you not to run away, I was so worried! You’re such a naughty kitten! I won’t ever let go of y – " The kitten let out a violent hiss that shook its entire body with rejection, claws digging right into Sehun’s precious face in desperation to get away from the high schooler.

The problem was really painfully obvious, animals hated his guts.

Some jerk from his class said it’s probably because he loved them too strongly, but what does he know. Seriously. Sehun watched as the kitten pushed itself away, the claws that were on his face seconds ago stabbed themselves into a nearby tree as the cat made his way up to one of the branches that Sehun couldn’t possibly reach. Of course he tried anyways, stretching his body along the wood as he called out to the cat, begging him to come down and never climb trees again. The cat responded with more hissing and bearing of teeth and Sehun could really feel tears prickling in the corners of his eyes. “Jump onto my chest, I’ll catch you! Come on!”

He kept pleading and yelling until the sun came down and rain started falling softly on him, but the kitten remained firmly on the branch, simply staring down at him in what looked like slight amusement. It even stretched and made itself comfortable to watch the show, the little minx.

A tune by his favorite band – BEAST – blasted from his pocket and he already knew who it was before he even answered the phone. “I’m sorry, Dad, I’ll be home soon.” Of course his father knew him too well, so the guess of his whereabouts was a piece of cake for the old man.

"It climbed a tree again, didn’t it? The poor thing’s really scared of you."

Sehun blinked in disbelief through the rain. “It’s not because of me, Dad, it’s adventurous! The nature calls for him!” His father only laughed on the other side of the line. “Instincts, Dad!”

He was pretty sure his father was wiping tears by now. “Alright, but don’t miss dinner over this. Come home soon.”

He hung up and returned the device to his pocket, hands coming up to cup his mouth as he continued calling his precious runaway kitten. Lightning blasted above him, distracting him for a few seconds at a time as the rain got heavier, making it harder for him to see the cat on the tree. “It’s okay, I’m here, don’t be scared! I’ll get to you soon, I’ll – “

A violent rustle came from the top of the tree and Sehun froze in his tracks and stared, his brain having a hard time to process what it was seeing as a boy jumped out of the rustle’s origin, feet landing on the ground as if he didn’t just leap out of a very tall tree. His black hair shone under another lightning blast but the kitten in his hands wasn’t scared at all, he rubbed his face against the boy’s and made pleasant sounds that Sehun never got to receive from any animal he ever had.

"Um, excuse me," he neared the boy slowly, careful to alarm either him or the kitten. "That’s cat is mine…" Another lightening, the strongest there was throughout this storm, blasted above just as the boy turned around, a horrified face staring up at Sehun like he’s the boy’s worst nightmare. It was just for a second, but Sehun stopped heart stopping features and the sharpest canines he’s ever seen in his life, and really, he couldn’t breath properly anymore.

The boy released the kitten and got up with such speed it took Sehun a few blinks to see him again, and even though Sehun yelled at him to stop, to wait, he still ran off, his running form as elegant as a panther’s. A silver chain gleamed as it moved from the force of his run, something like a dog’s palette returning the moon’s light.

Sehun sighed and picked up the cat, patting it’s head ideally as he watched the boy disappear into the distance. The claws that found their way to his face without warning should really not have been a surprise. “Why are you so mean? You didn’t attack that boy, did you? Why don’t you like me?!”

As the rain fell, the cat hissed and the desperation settled once again in his chest, Sehun failed to notice how fatefully important the encounter he just experienced is.

*

"Dude, your face looks horrible." Kim Jongin’s laughter was such an annoying sound, seriously. Sehun couldn’t stand it. "These will definitely leave scars behind, you’ll be Scarface soon!"

"Shut up, Jongin, as if you never got rejected in your life," Sehun huffed as his hands made themselves busy with his plastic bottle. "I just love him so much, but he keeps hurting me and running away, what’s that all about?"

Kim Jongin’s smug face was punch worthy. “I’ve never experienced that, actually.”

Junmyun’s gloomy face told an opposite story of Jongin’s mouth.

Some guys from behind him commented that he should put all that love into a love interest instead of animals, calling his undying passion a waste of time. What’s so great about having a boyfriend anyways? Humans can’t purr at you and look extra cute doing it. Fools.

He was just never interested in anyone before, nothing was cute enough. For some reason, the boy from the night before popped inside Sehun’s head, and he wondered where he came from, how he got on top of that tree, how did the devil’s kitten liked him so much so quickly… Not listening to the teacher is something he used to do a lot, but a rumbling rose from his section of the classroom as the students hummed questions as each other, snapping him out of his reverie.

"Please accept this student warmly into the class, make him feel like he belongs, a part of you. Huang ssi, come present yourself," the teacher gestured towards the door, mentioning the person standing outside to come in. A metallic dangling sound was heard as the boy complied, making his way to the teacher’s desk. The sound came from what looked like a dog’s palette that looked horribly familiar.

Wait.

The teacher swallowed saliva with unmistakable difficulty, forcing a smile on his strained lips. “Umm… This is Huang Zitao. He just came to Korea, so there are many thing he doesn’t know about our culture.” Only stunned silence rose from the classroom, each and every student stared in terror at the most intimidating face anyone has ever seen in their entire lives. “Please be kind to him. And… Don’t be scared.”

The last part was useless to speak, since the classroom itself almost shivered with fright, everyone except one Oh Sehun.

He could just gape at the boy, the one who kept his thoughts busy just moments ago. That’s the guy from yesterday, the one in the tree whom the kitten accepted so easily as a caretaker. The one who runs like a panther and has a dog’s palette around his neck, that’s him right there!

The lesson passed mostly in silence as scared glances were exchanged all over the place, and that day will be marked as the first day in which break time was not something the students wished for. They gathered in groups when the bell was heard at last, whispering and staring as the new boy, Zitao, stayed sitting in his chair, unmoving.

"You go talk to him if you have the guts, go on."

"No way man, he just glared at me. I don’t want to get involved with the mafia."

"His eyes, they’re eyes of a man who murdered hundreds, I’m telling you!"

"I bet he does drugs, he’s probably that kind. Look at those dark circles, it has to be it, I’m telling you."

Every single voice disappeared immediately as the boy pushed himself into a standing state, all eyes trained on his with various feelings behind them as he walked to the door, opened it and shut it behind him in alarming silence.

"I thought he was going to massacre us," Jongin breathed out, a hand on his chest right above his heart.

Sehun huffed, leaning back in his seat. “And he should have, you’re all extremely rude. He’s not deaf you know, he can hear everything you’re saying. You jerks are all judging him by appearance and he may not be so scary if anyone actually spoke to him.”

Baekhyun shook his head almost violently, “I call bull, Oh, the class president said he’s a bad guy.”

"I only said there was a really big fight last night, and half a group of delinquents were heavily injured," Junmyun glared at Byun who didn’t really notice. "The guys who got away said it was a guy who looked sort of like a beast, intimidating. That’s the information the police received."

"See?" Baekhyun was being way too dramatic for Sehun’s taste, he should harm him in some way. Preferably a hilarious one.

"We still don’t know it’s him, calm down."

Sehun shook his head and got up, someone has to talk to the new boy and his classmates all seem to stupid to do it. If you want something to be done, so it yourself, is a spoken truth after all.

He found him the first place he looked, on the roof. He was right there, Huang Zitao, leaning on the railing and looking at something in his hands. Sehun clenched the bottles of juice that he got as a thank you for yesterday’s events, a content smile on his face. He’ll just walk over there and start talking to him like it’s no big deal, he wasn’t so scared when he watched him from far away, being close won’t make any difference. Sehun hoped that Zitao liked orange juice. Sehun also hoped that Zitao really isn’t a bad guy that would beat him into a plump with no witnesses around to testify at his murder trial.

Happy tweets came from the boy’s direction and Sehun noticed the birds that gathered near his hands for the first time, even that species accepted him immediately, and birds are awfully cowardly usually. The common knowledge is that animals know best when it comes to danger, right? He could count on it, right?

More and more birds found their place to different parts of his body as Sehun’s mouth slacked slowly in disbelief, watching as they covered him up. The surprise shifted slowly to something else that Sehun knew so well, jealousy burning inside his like a mighty flame before Sehun even knew it. He clenched his fist, a gorgeous red bird bearly touching the top of Zitao’s head before it flew away with the rest as one of the bottles that Sehun was holding rolled from his hand onto the floor. Sehun dropped to his knees, his suddenly nervous mind spitting out ‘I’m sorry’s and his name and class and before he knew it the bottle was no longer on the floor, but in Zitao’s outreached hand.

Sehun blinked at him. “T-Thank you.” His eyes moved the bottle and he pulled himself up, shaking an outreached palm in front of him, “That one is actually for you, I wanted to thank you for yesterday.” Dark eyes stared back at his, not even blinking. “You know, you save my cat? I didn’t get a chance to thank you, it’s lucky that we met again… Even like this…”

Sehun got all flustered and looked down at his hands before he felt something different, wrong, and when he looked up again Zitao was way closer than before. He didn’t even sense him leaning. How creepy. “I’m not scary?”

"Um," Sehun shook his hands slightly. "No."

The boy finally blinked – Sehun felt really good after that it made him really uncomfortable in ways he can’t describe – as a smile so charming it actually returned the ways of the sun broke across his face, a light kind of laugher rushing to accompany it. “Wonderful, I’m not scary… I’m so happy! This is the first time someone said that to me!”

Sehun was pretty sure his jaw just hit the ground.

The brightness retreated as Zitao frowned, “What’s wrong?”

"I didn’t expect you to," Sehun took to mumbling something he didn’t quite understand himself as he flapped his hand in front of him, a nervous expression on his face.

"I’m not scary after all?"

"No, no, you’re alright, you probably have a split personality but that’s alright just takes some getting used to, yes, but you’re not scary, no." Sehun’s words shot out of his mouth with next to zero control, his entire face turning red.

"I see," was Zitao’s simple response. He slacked back against the railing, bending to sit on the heels of his feet.

Sehun’s body moved on his own to stand besides the crunching boy, hands opening the seal on his own bottle. “Maybe you should, like… Talk to the rest. Explain to them that you’re not scary and maybe the gray cells of their numb brains will awake to understand, you know.”

"I’m nervous when talking to new people, I didn’t do it in a really long time, too, so."

"Didn’t you need to communicate where you came from too?" Sehun glanced at him.

"I came from a deserted island," Maybe Sehun spitted a bit of his drink, but he wiped it with his sleeve using his special ninja skills so Zitao probably didn’t notice this little error. "And then I moved to the Savana in Africa, so."

Sehun coughed at the images that flashed inside his head – Zitao wearing close to nothing but animal skin as he stood on top of a tree and looked ahead at his pray, you know, the usual things to imagine when you meet a new person in the middle of Seoul, no big deal – the ability to understand where Zitao is standing slowly downing on him.

"That would explain why you climbed a tree last night. What were you doing there anyways?" He tried to make it sound casual, he really did. Zitao coughed on his own drink, mumbling words of explanation that failed to explained anything, making Sehun hide a grin as he slapped a hard on his back. "Take it easy, man. You don’t really have to explain yourself."

A soft look passed on the hard features of Zitao’s face as he reached inside his shirt to take a small velvet bag out. “Here, have this.” Sehun stared at it as it dangled in front of his face. “It’s a good luck charm that I made in Africa. It’s my second most important treasure.”

He wasn’t sure if he was scared it’ll be something gross or he was actually being polite, but Sehun shook his head with a small smile and said, “I can’t accept that, it’s important to you.”

"It’s alright though," Zitao urged on. "I’m giving this to you since you’re such a nice person, the first nice person that I met here. That’s important too!"

Sehun wondered how can such a gentle person look so intimidating as he reached out to catch the bag with both hands, promising to take good care of it and return it to Zitao if he ever wants it back. He may have felt it up to see if what’s inside it is alive, but he did it very politely so it must be fine.

It did feel suspicious though. Sehun pulled it around his neck and held it in one hand, “What is in this anyway?”

"A lion’s golden ball." Sehun chocked a bit on air, but he’s alright, he is. "It’s the most precious of all kinds of animal balls."

What the actual .

*

"Can you take the trash out, Zitao ssi? It’ll really help me," Sehun asked as he threw the boy a glance. Zitao picked up the said item with a blank expression, nodding at Sehun’s instructions on how to get to the recycling bins.

As the door shut close behind him, Jongin and Baekhyun jumped on Sehun, screaming that he tamed the beast and demanded knowing what kind of weakness he used against the foreign boy. Sehun always knew that he was superior to his peers, but it sure is nice to finally be recognized for it.

"I already told you you’re wrong about him," Sehun pulled his shoulders. "Maybe one day you’ll understand."

"I heard he caused another fight yesterday though, he half-killed another group of delinquents!"

Sehun threw his eraser at Baekhyun’s head, the boy moving out of the way in the very last second, “Where the hell did you get that from?”

"The heads of both teams came here looking for him not a long time ago," Baekhyun sufficed. "They looked bloodthirsty."

*

Sehun never ran this fast in his life, but his legs threw more effort into their movements as the scene in front of him became clearer – Zitao was standing there with the trash can still in his hands, frozen in front of three buffed guys that you didn’t need to ask before knowing what kind of people they were.

"Hey!" The men turned to him, watching as he shamefully chocked on air and collapsed to the ground, calling quits on this world a few times through ragged breaths. When he was completely sure he can’t see no damn light that he’s meant to walk into, he lifted his eyes to find the buff guys standing next to a tree. Sehun pulled himself up as he worded every curse word he knew, advancing towards them. "What are you doing?"

The bald guy turned his head to him, hand coming up to point at the tree. “He’s hiding over there.”

The shapes of Zitao’s face could be seen through the shadows of the leaves. Sehun shook his head, “It’s alright, you can come down. Just talk to them, tell them it wasn’t you, they’ll understand!”

Somehow, Sehun wasn’t really sure how, he found himself in a circle made of tearful delinquents, one blinking Zitao and himself. It could have been a comical scene, if his lungs weren’t still burning with pain and distracting him.

"You had it so hard," the one with the nasty scar across his face said, smearing a tear that managed to escape onto his cheek. "Being so misunderstood just for the way you look."

Sehun blinked. “Aren’t you guys the same though.”

"So you really didn’t pick a fight with our men?" One asked with sickingly hopeful eyes.

"I don’t really fight." A cloud passed across Zitao’s face, reminding Sehun why every single person who lays eyes on him is scared. "I fight with people who illegally murder animals… And I fought with animals before. I was almost killed by a Leopard once." Sehun’s eyebrows drew together as he listened to words Zitao spoke in a haze of memory. "Yesterday I say a group of scary men… In an alleyway. They asked me if I wanted to ‘bring it on’, but I didn’t understand, so I stayed silent." Zitao pulled one of his hands into the other, fingers running across dirty bandage. "They stabbed me and my arm started bleeding. I panicked and my mind went blank… When I came to, I was hiding on top of a tree."

That must be the tree from yesterday, that’s what he was doing there, Sehun bit the inside of his cheek in thought.

"You don’t remember?" One of them narrowed his eyes at Zitao.

"Um," Zitao looked down at his hands. "It happens, when I get attacked and I see blood. Since that time with the Leopard that almost killed me, it’s my defense mechanism. When I came to, the Leopard was laying at my feet with his entire throat bitten off. Maybe, yesterday… I did the same…"

The pain in Zitao’s voice, realization of what he could have done, it pained Sehun’s heart in a way nothing has before. This boy, he grew up in a place so much more dangerous then where Sehun grew up, he faced death and having his back against the wall with nothing to do but fight, and it pained him that he did. His heart was that sensitive.

"Don’t worry about it," the bald guy set a reassuring hand on Zitao’s shoulder. "Even if that’s the case, they were the ones who started it. I understand that you’re not a bad guy now. Be careful of that kind of people, and if anyone bothers you again, contact us." The guys got up one after the other, all of them looking at Zitao with a sort of respect. "It’s the only thing we can offer for picking a fight with you like this."

Sehun pulled himself and Zitao up as well, his eyes never missing the empty look on Zitao’s face as they watched the delinquents walk away. “That’s kind of cool, isn’t it? Being saved by hardass delinquents?”

He never expected Zitao to actually answer it.

"Sehun ssi." He turned around when he heard his name being called. "I’m sorry I haven’t told you about yesterday. I was really happy that you were kind to me, and… I didn’t want you to be as scared of me as I am of myself."

Sehun shook his head, “I – “

"Oh Sehun!" Junmyun appeared out of nowhere, breathing hard as he stared at the two of them with wide eyes. "What are you doing with him? Do you know bad guys from other schools are here for him?"

"What?" Sehun could just sense the troubles coming again.

"They’re in our classroom, come to the roof. They won’t find you there."

Sehun nodded at Zitao to follow along, the three of them making their way to the roof as quickly and quietly as they could. The students in the halls stared as they passed by, probably horrified from the blankly dangerous look on Zitao’s face.

"Why would delinquents come to a classroom though? That’s stupid," Sehun commented as they stepped out onto the roof, Junmyun turned around and locked the door behind them. "So many people can spot them and tell us."

"That’s right," Junmyun’s voice sounded wrong somehow, even though Sehun couldn’t put his finger on what it was exactly. "Only smart people would understand that a classroom is not a place for something like this."

A horrible sound came from behind Sehun, hands coming tightly around him to turn him around and hold him in place. His eyes searched desperately for Zitao only to find him on his knees, a group of boys that were known for being troubles all around the city surrounding him with metal bars in their hands.

One of them thread his fingers through Zitao’s hair, pulling his head up. “Yup, this is definitely the boy. Thanks, Junmyun ssi.”

Sehun snapped his head towards his classmate, shock freezing his body in place. “Junmyun, why did you…?”

"I chose the roof since I can lock it, and hide these people from sight until I do. That’s what I chose this, if that was your question," he smiled politely, like he commented on the weather, not how he brought his own new classmate to get beat up by guys whom were actually dangerous. "These guys steal and sell drugs, they’re no joke. I give them information that I get from my cop dad, and they give me money." A twisted grin flashed across his face. "We’re pals."

"Stop faking not knowing me, dude," Sehun returned his eyes to Zitao, watching as blood dripped across his face and onto the floor in front of him.

Getting attacked. Blood. This isn’t good.

"What are you going to do, go crazy like you did yesterday?" The thug stepped on one of Zitao’s hands that layed on the ground, his eyes moving to Sehun. "Hey Jun, you don’t care what happens to that princess over there, right?"

"Run away, Zitao!"

Junmyun turned to stare at Sehun, “Do you really think we’d let him get away?”

The man who was holding Sehun laughed as well, a cruel sound coming right across Sehun’s neck.

He opened his mouth to say something, anything, when a more sickening crash was heard. He turned his head just in time to see Zitao standing on the guy who attacked him’s head, blood sprayed across the floor from where he landed. Any word that Sehun could have used was ripped right out of his throat. Zitao stepped off, eyes black and motionless as he made noises that Sehun could only explain as animalistic.

"What the is wrong with that guy," One of the guys yelled, his face white with fear. Zitao took off towards that guy, knocking him off with his entire body weight. Sehun was powerless to do anything but watch, and remember the gentle way Zitao told him that he’s scared of himself, the way he spoke of what he could do to another human being with such pain.

Zitao jumped on Junmyun next, dropping him to the ground as his tongue wiped across fangs too sharp to be a human’s.

"I’m sorry, I really am! You’re human too, right, we make mistakes, Zitao ssi please, let’s talk about this!" Junmyun resisted and yelled and sobbed so loudly but it didn’t even make Zitao bat a lash as he get ready to – Sehun could only assume that’s the case – deliver the same fate the Leopard took to Junmyun as well.

"Let go of me!" Sehun kicked and hit the man behind him in absolute desperation. "He’ll die if he’ll bite his throat out, let go, I mean it!" The man’s grip grew loose and Sehun took the opportunity with both hands, running to Zitao and throwing himself at the other boy, his left arm getting directly in the way of the bite Zitao was just about to deliver.

"Okay," Sehun hummed, breathing toughly through the pain of his left arm as he allowed his right hand to rest on Zitao’s forehead in what he wished was a reassuring touch. "Okay, you’re okay. Stop this now. You’re alright." Zitao stopped biting into his arm, simply holding it in his mouth as he concentrated on listening to Sehun’s words instead. "You’re a good boy, let go." His mouth opened and Sehun pulled his arm away, ignoring the blood with every drop of willpower he had, just hugging Zitao to him instead.

"It’s alright, you’re okay."

*

"I’m sorry."

Zitao’s eyes refused to leave Sehun’s heavily bandaged arm as he walked closely besides him.

"For the hundredth time, you don’t need to apologize. You weren’t even aware of what you were doing. You grew up in the wild, and you got into a life and death situation, no one can blame you for what you did to survive. It’s really alright." He arranged his bandages again, coving the spot that pounded with pain. "It’ll keep these guys away for a while though, they’ll be too scared to come back. Especially Junmyun, he’s a chicken inside." Zitao made no noise. "Hey, at least acknowledge that I’m talking to you – " Sehun turned to him to find a tormented look planted on Zitao’s face.

"Sehun ssi, I’m…"

"Not scary," Sehun filled in with a smile. "Don’t worry, just keep up with my step I can’t yell everything I want to say at you." Zitao flinched away when Sehun laid a hand on his shoulder, yet the shorter boy ignored it anyways, giving more strength to his smile. "Don’t make that face man, you’re my friend. And call me Sehun ah, you’re considered a year older than me here."

Zitao stared in a way Sehun got used to – that look on his face means he’s analyzing the information he just received instead of not understanding like he looked to others – before a smile broke across his face in a way that made the boy eyesmile at Sehun. “Got it, Sehun ah!”

Sehun blinked as his insides moved with something he didn’t quite know, turning around quickly and breaking the connection between them. “Let’s go, alright?”

"Okay, Sehun ah!" Zitao returned joyfully.

It’s weird, how Sehun likes animals so much, yet they hate him with the same passion as his love, and somehow the person he closest to fastest, is…

"Sehun ah!"

"What?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to call your name. Sehun ah!"

A beast-like guy.