They stared at one another, eyeing each other up. Joshua's mother was the first to break their little staring contest; she hmphed and turned her head. She walked away moving towards the stairs. A few steps away from the second floor landing she turned around, staring down at them.  "I don't like you two. You're no good for him. I won't approve."

Seungcheol growled low, not liking how this was going. She didn’t even know them that well and she was declaring they were no good. He could see why Jeonghan was no good but him as well?

Jeonghan simply stood there, staring right back at her. He wondered why she was so vehemently against them.  Seungcheol he could understand. But him as well? He was the better of the two hybrids. Did she know something they didn't? But it wasn't as if Jeonghan could ask. No. He could; he probably wouldn’t get an answer though.

She turned away once she said her piece, leaving the two of them in the living room. Walking down the hall, she frowned staring at just how close Jeonghan and Seungcheol’s doors were to Joshua’s room. Her son held them close, that was clear. But was he in love? That was something for her to find out.

"She hates us," Seungcheol said. If there was a slight whine to his voice, well he had a very good reason to be annoyed. The person Joshua loved most, respected the most, didn't seem like them very much. "Why doesn't it bother you?" He hated asking Jeonghan things, but at this point they were in the same boat so he had to give in.

"Why should I care?" Jeonghan said, shrugging. He paused, lips pursed slightly, brows furrowing, "Well that's the wrong thing to say. More like what could we possibly do at this point to make her like us?"

Jeonghan was met with silence and a confused stare. The idiot wolf. He sent an annoyed look at Seungcheol.  "Nothing, if that wasn’t obvious enough. There isn’t much either of us can do to get in her good graces, so why be bothered by it. We have no choice but hope she either leaves soon or she grows to mildly tolerate us."

"Right," Seungcheol said, nodding as he got the message. "It's not like we're leaving anytime soon either. Neither or us are going to leave Shua. She'll have to deal." Seungcheol stopped though. His brain went into another direction. What if... "What if she somehow makes Joshua give us away? What then? We're ed then."

Jeonghan snarled, his eyes flashing. "He wouldn't. He told us he loved us. It's more likely that she might suggest to him to free us. But he'd never send us away. Never." Even though the jaguar hybrid said this to Seungcheol a small part of him couldn't help but wonder. What if she managed to convince Joshua to let them go? Would Joshua? He shook his head. Going down that path of thinking was stupid. He shouldn’t question Joshua’s love for either of them. He knew. Jeonghan knew that Joshua loved them. With every little smile, every kiss he gave them, every hug, every little indulgence. Joshua showed them that he loved them. Jeonghan had to believe in that.

He sighed, readying himself for what he hoped would be a tense room, a silent tense room. Not one filled with carnage hopefully. The things his mom could do if she got angry. God. Joshua hoped nothing happened while he was gone.

"I'm home," he declared, pushing the door open as he turned the knob. "Hello?" He looked around seeing no one, hearing nothing at all. Not a single tail or animal ear in sight, and his mom wasn't there either. What on earth?

"Seungcheol? Jeonghan? Mom?" He let out a noise of distress. They wouldn’t go anywhere at this time. No. "Where are you guys?"

This didn't bode well at all. Where were they? Joshua’s phone started to ring, startling him out of his train of thoughts. Fumbling, he grabbed his phone from his pocket. He looked at the screen.
Odd. It was a number he didn't recognize. Tapping the button, he said "Hello?"

"Is this Dr. Hong?" A semi-gruff voice asked.

"Yes," Joshua said, tensing. This didn't sound good at all. 

"We have your mother and your hybrids at the police station. They were involved in an incident. We thought you'd like to know."

"What?!” Joshua’s heart dropped to his stomach. His heart rate started to pick up; his heart thumping hard and fast. “What sort of incident?! Are they ok?! What happened?!" Joshua panicked. Never would they hurt anyone. It couldn’t have been Jeonghan and Seungcheol hurting someone. Why were they at the station. And his mom as well. What happened?

"No. Nothing like that. They were involved in a robbery. Or rather an attempted robbery. They caught the robber and turned him in. They're here to give us a statement. But since your hybrids are bound to you, it’s a legality that we contact you to inform you. They’re here at the station waiting for you to get them after we've finished taking their statements."

"Of course. I'll be right there." Joshua hung up and turned to go out the door, making sure to lock it. A robbery?! How did that happen? All of this was bad for his health. They needed to stop making his heart race.

"We heard a noise. Something or I guess someone jumped the fence into our garden," Jeonghan explained. "Seungcheol and I went to investigate and we saw a trail of what looked like jewelry.”

Seungcheol nodded. "We smelled something foreign. A scent that didn't belong in the house. So, we searched around and caught him hiding in the bushes by the pine tree."

Jeonghan picked up from there. "He tried to fight us, but we grabbed him and held him down as Joshua's mom called the police. She heard a minor crash and rushed down to see what was happening."

The police officer nodded. "So, all you saw was a trail of jewelry and scented something off?"

"Yes." Jeonghan nodded. "We  would notice if a different smell is coming into our territory. We marked the house. It's ours after all."

"Got it." The policeman said, typing some more before he looked over to the suspect, who was currently cuffed and held down by two other officers. He turned back to them, specifically Joshua’s mom. "And you Mrs. Hong? What did you see?"

She took one look at the robber and shook her head, turning back to the officer. "Nothing much. I heard a loud crash and I thought it was the two of them. But when I came down the stairs and found the source of the noise I saw the two of them holding down that man, and he didn't look like he was cleaning the garden. Clearly something was wrong." She continued. "I called the police and by the time you all came, Seungcheol and I found a bag with the things he took and picked up the other jewels and put them in the bag."

The officer hummed. “That was unnecessary. But at least you two wore gloves. A smart thing. Otherwise that would've gotten your prints on the items."

"Watch a lot of CSI and cop dramas," Seungcheol mumbled. It was sort of embarrassing, but he liked the thrill of the shows, even if sometimes he couldn’t solve the case.

The officer chuckled. "A good thing that. Although not all of the tv shows get that stuff right."

Seungcheol nodded. It was fun to watch nonetheless.

Jeonghan sighed, trying to make this move along. Joshua would be worried and Jeonghan wanted to go home quickly. "So, what was he after?"

"There has been a string of robberies around the area." The policeman said, "If you have heard?"

"No," she replied. "I came to visit my son."

The hybrids shook their heads. "We were too busy working and being with Joshua."

"Dr. Hong?"

They nodded. At that moment, there was a mild noise, one they recognized. Joshua’s gait filtered into their ears.

Joshua ran through the doors of the police station. Winded and out of breath. The entire time he drove he wondered if anyone of them were hurt and thankfully they weren't. Well from what he could see from here.

"Mom! Jeonghan! Seungcheol!" He walked the rest of the way over, hugging them one by one. "What in the world happened?"

"A robbery sir," the policeman said. He stood up and bowed, "Officer Park at your service. It seems your hybrids found a robber in your gardens and your mother called the police." He smiled. "They caught a thief. And found the missing items that he had taken from your neighbor I would presume."

Joshua’s heart dropped. "You two," he said whirling around to scold them. "What did I say about playing hero?"

"He came into our territory Shua," Seungcheol explained, his voice had a hint of whine in it, as if he were trying to play at being innocent.

"It smelled off. We investigated," Jeonghan added. "And threw out the trash." He snarled a bit at the thief who sat a few chairs away from them.

"Oh god." Joshua said. "And you mom?"

"I heard noises and went to check. Since I saw Jeonghan sit on the robber I just called the police. I doubt your hybrids would've attacked people they knew."

"At least no one was hurt." He turned to Officer Park, "They're done now?" He was anxious to get them home so he could check on them.

He chuckled. "Yes. We got all the information we need. Although the owners of the items would like to send you the reward money for their lost items." He gave Jeonghan and Seungcheol a look. "I'll tell them the pertinent information if that's ok with you?"

Joshua looked at them. "Go on. If you two want."

They nodded. It would be a nice bonus. They were planning for Joshua's upcoming birthday anyhow.

"Good. Until then. Try not to catch any robbers please. Thank you for your time and for sitting on him."

Jeonghan and Seungcheol bowed, before turning and following Joshua who stood by the side with his mom waiting for them.

Joshua reached out and ran his hand over their cheeks. "God. You two scared me. Let's go home and you can tell me all about what happened ok?"

"Of course, Shua," Jeonghan rumbled.

Seungcheol nodded in return, pushing his face into Joshua’s warm hand.

Mrs. Hong watched them. Her eyes picking up every little thing they were doing. The touching, the concern. The way Jeonghan and Seungcheol leaned into Joshua’s touch, angling their bodies toward him yet making sure to protect him if anyone were to get close. The cogs in her head turned.

Sighing, Joshua pushed the door open, this time with his family right behind him. All the excitement at the hospital left his mind thanks to the unexpected situation that took the three of them out of the house. "Should we order take out?"

His mom made a noise of protest. "Joshua."

He laughed. "Come on mom. You guys didn’t have time to cook since you were wrapped up at the police station. Save the things you prepped for tomorrow. Let's order take out and eat. You must be tired."

She sighed, giving in to her son and his soft smile. "All right. For today only."

"I'm looking forward to tomorrow's meal. Don’t worry," he teased. "Today is just a cheat day."

Jeonghan sniffed at Joshua’s hair. He had gotten rather close on the short walk from the car to the door, pushing into Joshua’s personal space. "Take a shower Shua. You smell like you need it.”

Joshua let out a surprised bark of laughter. "Do I stink?" He lifted his arm, sniffing at his own clothes.

Seungcheol shook his head; he too came to take a whiff of Joshua. "No. It's not that. You just smell of fear and a shower would be good for you."

"Oh," Joshua let out softly, eyes going wide. Blinking softly, he said, "I forget that you two can smell these things." He gave a little laugh. "I just was afraid of what had happened to you all. I didn't mean to get so worked up over it."

Jeonghan’s hand came out, petting Joshua’s hair gently. "It's not a problem. It just makes me antsy smelling you afraid. I don't want you to be," Jeonghan explained. "We're right here and nothing happened. We made sure of that."

"Take a shower. Relax. We'll be down here when you're done," Seungcheol said. His tail moved softly against Joshua’s side, trying to cheer him up.

Joshua nodded. "Right. Ok. I'll be back." He turned to his mom. "You can choose since you're so stern on what I eat," he teased.

"Obviously," she teased back. She had seen their little exchange. Joshua had leaned into Jeonghan’s hand, wanting to be petted, comforted. Something he had never let her do unless he was in so much emotional distress that he couldn’t hide it. Yet he let his hybrids come close and give him comfort; even if it wasn’t overt. She could see just how comfortable Joshua was with them. Interesting. Maybe she had them pegged wrong. Still, things would have to change for them to be anything other than Joshua’s hybrids; their relationship would go nowhere at this point unless things changed.

Laughing, Joshua nodded. "I'll be down when I’m done."

The two hybrids nodded, watching him as he went upstairs.

"Perhaps you two should take a shower too," she suggested, as Joshua left to his room. "You two did all the heavy work. Taking down the robber, and sitting on him until the police came."

They googled at her. Was she being nice? This was weird.

“Joshua will probably like it better if you washed up. You two sweated a bit no doubt.”

. Seungcheol lifted his arm, nose wrinkling as he smelled sweat. Damn she was right. He ran off to wash up.

Jeonghan stood there, looking at her. “I don’t know what you’re doing but we won’t be leaving him.”

She stared back. “Wash up. We’ll talk. Eventually.”

The week passed by. Joshua’s mother was surprisingly…nice. While she wasn’t super giving, she was polite, less cold than she was the days before. It was definitely something different.

The weekend came and it was time for her to go home; to Jeonghan and Seungcheol’s relief. Joshua was feeling a bit sad though. He couldn’t spend as much time with her as he would’ve liked but he had barely any time to schedule so much time off. Now he had to say goodbye.

He held on tight, not letting her go through the security gate just yet. “I’ll miss you. Sorry if I didn’t have more time to spend with you.”

She held on as well, patting him on the back. “It’s all right. It was an abrupt visit. Take care of yourself.” Tilting his chin up, she smiled. “Don’t overwork yourself and maybe talk to Jeonghan and Seungcheol.”

“Mom?” Joshua was surprised she was suggesting he talk to them. About what he didn’t know but about something.

Shaking her head, she hummed. “Never mind. I have to go in now. Before my plane leaves without me.” She kissed him on the forehead, forcing him to bend down. “Take care.”

“Yea,” he said softly, feeling like a little boy again.

Walking towards the security gate, she turned and gave Seungcheol and Jeonghan a look before nodding to them.

They nodded back. What they talked about the night before she left was their little secret.

Joshua waved at her until he couldn’t see her anymore.

“Time to go home Shua,” Jeonghan said, taking one of Joshua’s arms and looping it through his.

Seungcheol followed suit. “Let’s cuddle. I miss cuddle time.”

He laughed. “Ok. Let’s eat snacks and cuddle while watching shows.” As they walked towards the airport doors, he asked, “What did you two and mom talk about last night? When I got back you three were almost nice to each other.”

The two of them said nothing. Jeonghan’s tail didn’t even twitch. But Seungcheol’s ears moved a bit, like he was hiding something from Joshua. Joshua could always count on Seungcheol to give things away.

“Jeonghan,” he said, his tone low, “Seungcheol.”

“Nothing Shua,” Seungcheol piped up first.

“Lies,” he protested. “You three talked about something.”

Jeonghan laughed, tugging Joshua to the car. “Not going to tell.”

“Jeonghan,” Joshua gasped as Jeonghan tugged him out of Seungcheol’s hold and lifted him off the floor, almost running to the car.

“It’s a secret!” He yelled into the air, holding Joshua close.

“Hey! I want to hold him too!” Seungcheol cried out running behind them. “Jeonghan! Don’t cheat!”