fire emblem x readers | UNDER REVISION

smitten kitten [1] | hybrid!felix

Winter where you lived was always harsh. The snow and wind whipped around daily, freezing everything in sight, including you.

Luckily for you, you were stuck inside of your job for another thirty minutes, watching the winter rage on outside. Business had been slow in the pet shop and you barely had any customers, so you sat at the front desk and watched Netflix, occasionally checking on the fish and little hamsters that lived in the store. You were just finishing popping popcorn using the microwave in the back room when the doorbell rang, signaling a customer.

You walked back out and smiled, seeing your friends Ashe and Sylvain. "Hey, boys!"

Ashe grinned back, his teeth chattering. "Hi!"

Sylvain only pulled his coat tighter around him and hid himself in his hat, smiling at you. He'd always been a little grumpy coming to the pet shop. "Ashe says I need a new leash."

"Only because you broke the last one!" The other boy exclaimed, "You know you have to wear one eventually. You can't hide every day once it warms up."

Ashe was right, unfortunately. As a Border Collie Hybrid, Sylvain was legally Ashe's pet. Of course, all of your friends who have hybrids don't see them that way, but many do. Hybrids were often treated as nothing but animals, despite them literally being human with cool ears and a tail. Laws required them to walk around with their owners on a leash and punishments were rather severe if the rules weren't followed.

You didn't agree with how hybrids were seen one bit. Because of this, you were torn on what to do. Should you continue to stay uninvolved in hybrid care and only focus on regular pets, or should you help one and face the consequences when you inevitably don't follow the rules? You would be heavily fined and your hybrid would be put in a shelter. The one in your town was literally named "Madame's Hybrid Correctional Facility" and if that didn't spell trouble, you didn't know what did.

Hybrid shelters were their own form of Hell. Hybrids were often whipped into shape to become the perfect obedient pet for their owner. Luckily for Sylvain, Ashe found him before he was sent off to a shelter and he's been living in his own little Heaven in Ashe's apartment.

You grinned and took them to the aisle with leashes, letting Sylvain pick out his own. You rang them up and bagged the leash, knowing that he wouldn't dare wear it in public. Not when the cold winter allowed him to hide his tail with a coat and his ears with a warm hat.

Waving goodbye to your two friends as they left, you finished your popcorn and began closing up the store for the night.

——

You shivered in the cold, wrapping your jacket tighter around you as you approached your apartment building. As you walked past a narrow alleyway, you heard a rustling noise. You paused, looking into the darkness.

It rustled again.

Against your better judgement, you turned on your phone's flashlight and walked in, following the noise until it led you to a large garbage bin. You slowly peeked inside, but reeled back as a hiss echoed through the metal bin. You looked in once more.

Inside was a black and white cat, curled around itself in a corner. Its ears were back and its tail bushed up, trying to scare you away. You reached into your pocket and pulled out the packet of treats for Sylvain. You were sure he wouldn't mind if you gave the kitty a treat or two.

Grabbing a treat and your hand out, you cooed towards the cat. "Come here, baby. It's okay."

The cat only stared at you.

You set the treat down in the bin, still calling for him. Soon, the cat unsurely stepped towards you, sniffing the treat before eating it. He retreated back into the corner.