Chapter Text
Chapter 1: The Fur-st Meeting
~.~.~
The space echoed with barks, meows, hisses and yelps. “Freshly-Picked Apple” could be smelt sporadically throughout, though certain areas had the suspicious underlying stench of urine. This was completely normal for the little shop, well, if you could still call it little after the renovations. You see, this little shop was home to many pets; from dogs to cats to turtles to snakes. That’s why the Waanjais decided to renovate actually. Originally, their little shop only dealt with the most common of household pets: dogs, cats, and, on the particularly odd occasion, a rat that was owned by the old man a few blocks away. With the growth of the once-small town, Mr. and Mrs. Waanjai decided to upgrade their shop, expand their clientele, and meet the demands of the rapidly growing population. With a bigger space and more customers, the Waanjais needed more help than just the two of them.
This, my dear friends, is where a boy named Gulf Kanawut comes in. Yes, the one you’ve all probably been waiting to hear about. The Waanjais have known little Kana since he was just a baby. With the Traipipattanapongs’ business being close to the store, little Kana always found a way to visit “the place with all the fluffies” as he liked to call it. After the Traipipattanapong’s G.U.P business took off and Mama T found a job at a nearby retail shop, the Waanjais saw the young boy more often, seeing as his big sister, Grace, found him much less annoying when he was too busy playing with the pets to bother her. As the years went by and as the small town expanded, the little boy (not so little anymore) remained a loyal visitor to the fluff shop. And, as a means to afford his own pet, since his parents were unwilling to spend their own money, the Waanjais agreed to hire Gulf as their first employee. At age 16, Gulf Kanawut was a proud staff member of The Aowf Club and an arguably even prouder father of his precious kitten Ju.
Considering Gulf’s experience with the puppies and kittens dated back to when he was a kid, the Waanjais thought it was best that Gulf be in charge of their newly added petcare section with a focus on the dogs and cats. He had the most clients to deal with and the most responsibility, but he was someone Mr. and Mrs. Waanjai trusted and knew he would be the best for the job. However, the couple still needed to find someone to be in charge of the reptiles, the smaller mammals, and the store where they sold things like toys, pet beds, and food. Mild, as Gulf’s best friend, was victim to being dragged along to the store with Gulf on numerous occasions throughout their childhood; Therefore, he became the top choice for Reptile Caretaker.
“What, no way”.
“Yes way! It’ll be fun to work together please,” Gulf begged, dragging out his last word and pulling the strongest pouty face he could do.
“No,” Mild shook off Gulf’s grip on his arm, “You know I’m afraid of reptiles.”
Gulf followed Mild into the kitchen. “But you need money right? They’ll pay you a lot,” Gulf moved out of the way as Mild reached behind him for a cup. “Come on please,” he whined, “I thought you were saving up for something.”
Mild took a sip and tsked, “No amount of money is going to be enough to make me deal with rep-”
“Boat will work there”.
And the rest, as they say, was history.
The only problem? Well, Gulf never actually asked Boat to work there.
“Can you at least think about it?” Gulf pleaded to his friend, stopping the ball that came rolling towards him. He quickly wiped the sweat that was coming down his forehead, afraid it would come and disturb his eye. Gulf hated when sweat would hit his eye; it was a very uncomfortable feeling.
Boat shook his head in exasperation, motioning for Gulf to kick the ball back to him. The two friends had decided to go to the park together and play around with a football. Although Gulf was no longer playing the sport for school or recreation, meeting up to pass around a ball was a normal occurrence for the two football friends who used it as a way to catch up with each other even after Gulf left the team. So, when Boat received a text from Gulf to come to the park, he thought nothing of it. Obviously he should’ve realized Gulf had an ulterior motive. “You know I already have a job,” Boat sighed, “why would I quit to work at a store that’s further away from my place?”
Gulf pouted, rolling the ball back and forth with the bottom of his foot before kicking it back to his friend. “I know, but I promised them I knew trustworthy people they could hire! Are you really going to make me tell the Waanjais I actually don’t know who else they could hire?” Gulf shuffled as the ball rolled a little out of his leg range. “They’ll pay you more than what you’re making now”.
With a slight huff, Boat stopped the ball with his foot. He rested his fists against his hips and glanced at his friend’s pouting face. “I’m sorry, Gulf, I just don’t really have a reason to quit the job I have now. Maybe I can ask some of the guys on the team if they’re interested?”
Sighing, Gulf shook his head and mumbled, “Now what am I going to tell Mild?”
“Mild?” Boat’s head shot up from where he was looking down at the ball. He cleared his throat and tried to relax his posture, “Uh, what uh, what was that about Mild?”
Gulf raised his eyebrow in confusion, “Oh, it’s just that I promised Mild I would get another friend to join the staff so he could be more comfortable. He’s going to be in charge of the reptiles and you know that he’s-”
“-afraid of them, yeah. Of course I know he’s afraid of reptiles, why on Earth would he get a job like that?”
Gulf sighed, absentmindedly playing with the ball as he thought of how he was going to convince Mild to stay on the staff even without Boat being there. Maybe he could offer to buy him lunch every time they shared a shift? That might work. No, maybe that isn’t strong enough. Maybe he could-
“I’ll do it”.
His eyes widened, “What?”
Boat cleared his throat and didn’t make eye contact with his friend. He rubbed the back of his neck a little, something Gulf noticed he did whenever he got shy or nervous. “I mean, uh,” Boat shifted a little like he didn’t know how he should hold himself, something Gulf thought was a bit strange, “I guess I could use a little more money”. Boat let out an awkward laugh, “You said they pay more right?” Gulf nodded, confused at his friend’s sudden change of heart. “I’ll do it then,” Boat picked up the ball when Gulf kicked it back over, tucking it under his arm and starting to walk away.
“Really?” Gulf exclaimed incredulously. “Yay! You won’t regret it,” Gulf promised, running after his friend and throwing his arms around him as they continued to walk. He was still a little confused, but he wasn’t going to question it.
And that is how the chaotic trio all became the known staff of The Aowf Club, along with the part-timer Eye, of course, who was only called in on days that the rare bunny, hamster, or any other small fluff ball was asked to be put in the care of the shop.
But that’s not the story you came for I’m sure. No, no, the story of puppy love actually begins a few years later, after the gang has already earned lots of experience from their positions at The Aowf Club. Let’s fast forward a couple years, shall we?
~.~.~
“Good afternoon and welcome to The Aowf Club!” Gulf greeted excitedly, “Oh, Mrs. Jongcheveevat, you’re back earlier than usual!” He wiped his hands a little with the towel and straightened up at the sight of one of his favorite customers. “I’ll go and get Chopper! Give me a minute”.
Mrs. J nodded with a smile and watched the tall boy jog to the next room over. She looked around while she waited, noticing a newly added picture on the wall next to the front desk of the petcare area. That Kanawut sure is a cute one, she thought to herself, wondering not for the first time why the young man hadn’t gotten scouted for a modeling agency yet.
“And here he is!” Gulf cooed, stretching out the “a” sound at the beginning as we walked through the archway, “Little Chopper reunited with his mama.” Gulf handed the small dog over to Mrs. J, smiling when the pup let out a happy bark. “He was super well behaved today, ma’am! Ate everything without a fight, took a nap, and just sunbathed all day. Honestly I think he beat out Ju in how much he’s been sunbathing lately, which is quite the feat,” he chuckled, thinking about his lazy cat.
Landing a sniff kiss on top of Chopper’s head, Mrs. J greeted her precious pet, “Hello, Chopper, did you miss me?” another kiss, “Thank you as always Gulf.”
Gulf rubbed the pup’s head a little, “It’s no problem, ma’am, it’s always a pleasure to work with Chopper here.”
“I remember when we first enrolled him in the petcare system. He bit you, right?” they both laughed at the memory, “Oh how your relationship has changed. I’m so happy he’s warmed up to you now.”
Gulf beamed, “Me too! I swear, he’s warmed up to me faster than my own Ju has.”
Mrs. J laughed again, shifting Chopper in her arms as the dog started getting a bit restless, “Ah, yes that cat of yours sure knows how to play hard to get.” Her eyes traveled back to the new photo. “What’s that for?” she jerked her chin towards the photo in question.
“Oh that?” Gulf turned in the direction she was gesturing towards, “that’s just one of the photos we’re using to help promote the shop. We want a bit more regular clients like you and Chopper here, so we’re hoping some posts on social media will give more attention to our petcare instead of just the shop section.”
Mrs. J hummed, “I see. So what social media are you promoting on?”
“We used to just post on Facebook since that was the only account the owners had up, but Mild said if we really wanted to get more people interested, we needed to open up an instagram as well.”
“He’s certainly right about that.”
“Of course I am,” Mild chimed in cheekily, “Hello Mama J, how are you and Chopper doing?”
She chuckled at the boy’s sudden appearance while Gulf rolled his eyes at his friend, “We’re doing fine, Mild. So is the instagram account already up and running?”
“That’s good to hear! And of course it is, actually it’s been up for a few months now,” Mild turned to smirk at his friend, “with the one and only Gulf Kanawut as our model.”
“Mild” Gulf whined, blushing red as Mrs. J gasped and clapped enthusiastically. He could feel his entire face getting hot, the red reaching his ears as Mrs. J gushed about him being the perfect choice as a model.
“That’s exactly what I was thinking, Mama J! That facebook account was just too old and the only posts that seemed to get a more than decent amount of impressions were the ones with our Kana in them,” Mild exasperatedly revealed, “I mean, who else could we choose? Not only can we use it as a campaign to show how long the shop has been in the business, but Gulf’s face on its own is enough to gain more customers. He was only a kid in most of those posts, I can only imagine the traction he’d get with his looks now.”
Mrs. J eagerly agreed with his sentiments, urging Mild to pull up the instagram account so she can see all the posts they’ve made over the past few months. As the two of them scrolled through the account, pausing every now and then for Mild to point out the thousands of views and likes or for Mrs. J to coo over Gulf playing with some kittens, Gulf silently excused himself. He busied himself with feeding the kittens that had just woken up from their naps. He couldn’t believe Mild sometimes, how could he just unashamedly brag about someone else’s visuals like that? And why did it have to be him, Gulf frowned a bit, embarrassed at the voices he could still hear gushing over photos of him. OF HIM. He found it hard to believe all the praises that were spilling from their lips.
“Well,” Gulf turned to look at a still chuckling Mrs. J, “as much as I loved viewing all of Gulf’s cute photos, I really must be going now. My son should be arriving home soon and he’d probably be worried about not seeing his mom and his precious pet.” She pulled Gulf into a hug when he made his way back over to the duo, “Goodbye, boys! Good luck with the shop! And Mild, dear, make sure to follow me back!”
“Of course, Mama J! It’s @ mompeemew right?” Mild beamed, returning the woman’s hug.
“Yes, yes, I post daily photos of our little Chopper here. You know, I wouldn’t mind if you guys wanted to post some photos of Chopper on The Aowf Club’s instagram, he’s quite the handsome pup, it’s practically a disservice to not allow you guys to post him. Go on and post a photo of him and Gulf together, yes?”
“Yes, ma’am,” saluted the two boys. They both waved enthusiastically as Mrs. J left the shop. Mild turned to his friend with a cocky smile, “See, I told you the instagram was a good idea! Even Mama J agrees with me and if there’s anything I know about that woman, it’s that she’s always right.”
Gulf rolled his eyes but chuckled nonetheless, “Yeah, yeah,” he moved to put the towel he was holding in the store’s hamper. “Boat! The hamper is getting kind of full, do you mind taking it up to wash when you have time?” After receiving a muffled noise of confirmation, he turned back to Mild, “but it’s already been a couple months since you guys have been posting on instagram and there still isn’t that many regular pets coming here.”
“Oh, Gulf,” Mild shook his head and rested a hand on his friend’s shoulder, “these kinds of things don’t happen overnight. Just you wait, one of these days, a post with your face on it will go viral and business at The Aowf Club will boom! I feel it in my gut!”
Gulf snorted, “Yeah, right, a post with my face on it,” he shook his head at the possibility, “It’s more likely for a post with Chopper’s cute little self in it to go viral. It definitely won’t be because of me. The only customers I bring in are the ones that shop for the toys and food. Remember that girl that came in last week? She didn't even have a pet! Just gave me a weird look when she was buying a dog leash. I mean, what would she need a dog leash for if she didn’t have a pet? People are so confusing,” his eyebrows pulled together as he continued to remember the strange customer.
Mild laughed at his clueless friend, thinking in his head that the “weird look” that was given to Gulf definitely didn’t do what the girl thought it was going to do. Better luck next time, sister, Mild thought. He sighed and threw his arm around Gulf’s shoulders, “Don’t sweat, buddy, I know my instagram plan will work. I told you, right? I feel it in my gut! Has my gut ever lied to you?” A loud rumbling sound filled the space, Mild letting out an awkward giggle and sheepishly revealing that he hasn’t eaten yet.
And Mild would be right of course, his plan to become instagram famous in order to promote the shop would be successful, but neither of the boys knew it would be successful in more ways than one.
~.~.~
He let out a low whistle as the last few notes of the song faded out. Kaownah looked over excitedly, eager to know what he thought. “It’s good, I think it fits the group well. It might even be good enough for your next title track.”
“Wow,” Kaownah drawled, “those are some big words Mr. Hotshot. It means a lot coming from the Mew Suppasit.”
Mew laughed at his friend’s antics, “I mean it, dude, the song fits your group well and I honestly think it could be a title track.”
“Thanks, man,” Kaownah rubbed the back of his neck shyly at the praise, “The boys and I have a good feeling about this upcoming comeback.”
“For good reason! Hey, you showed this to Turbo yet?”
“Nah, you know how he is,” he got up to unplug his phone from the system, “he likes listening to the final product first. He’s afraid he might accidentally spill the song before its release if I show him too early.”
Mew chuckled and got up to put his coat on, “At least he’s self aware. I’m gonna go, man, it’s been a long week.”
“Yeah, dude, go ahead. You just got back from the States not that long ago; you deserve the rest.”
The two exchanged farewells and promised to meet up again soon. As Mew made his way to his car he pulled out his phone and called his mom. It’s been weeks since he last saw Chopper in person, having to be content with only the pictures and videos his mom sends since he couldn't bring his precious pet to his trip with him. He told his mom that he’d pick up Chopper from the petcare himself, seeing as he was off work already and could do it. Mew plugged the address his mom sent him into his GPS and drove off.
Almost half an hour later, Mew finally arrived at the shop with a big sign on top that read “The Aowf Club”. He chuckled at the name and got out of the car, noting how cute the shop was looking even from the outside. A bell chimed once he opened the door, followed by a sweet voice, “Welcome to The Aowf Club! I’ll be right there!”
Mew nodded, though the voice wouldn’t have been able to see it, and took the time to look around the place. It was cute, filled with pink and blue and lots of pictures of all different kinds of pets. Looking a bit closer at one of the photo walls, he noticed even his little Chopper made an appearance. Delighted, Mew took out his phone to snap a picture.
“Sorry for the wait, sir. One of our staff had to leave early because of a fever-”
Mew’s head snapped up at the voice, quietly sucking in a breath at the sight of the figure before him. He’s beautiful, thought Mew, wondering just how a creature of that caliber could possibly exist in the same realm as him. A tall body, maybe even taller than his own, delicate fingers, a tiny waist he could imagine his arms around, and the hint of fluffy hair peeking out from beneath the baker boy hat the angel was wearing- everything about him made Mew’s heart beat faster. And when his angel finally looked up and made eye contact with him? There were no words in any language that could do justice to how the boy made him feel. The boy had thick, neatly styled eyebrows, heart-shaped lips, and round cheeks faintly dusted with pink, from makeup or just naturally, Mew couldn’t tell. Mew had never been more thankful to be alive than this at this exact moment. Those pink, plump lips were moving, and after he realized this deity had been talking to him this entire time, Mew snapped himself out of his trance and barely caught on to the last part of what was being asked.
“-ich pet is yours, sir?” Oh lord, now the pretty angel was smiling at him! How could anyone expect him to be able to focus in the presence of such a vision?
“Chopper,” Mew croaked, blushing at what he assumes is a lame first impression. He cleared his throat and tried again, “I’m here to pick up Chopper. Usually my mom is the one that does it, but I got off work early today.” You are so lame, Suppasit. Good job making a fool of yourself in front of a literal god.
Gulf giggled, is this what you hear at the gates of heaven? , and turned in the direction he came from with the promise of bringing back his pet. A few moments after, Gulf placed an excited Chopper into Mew's arms. Mew cooed at Chopper, telling him how much he was missed and how he would never leave him for so long ever again. His angel walked over to the counter and told him to sign out with the pet’s name, his signature, and the time.
“Goodbye, sir, thank you for trusting The Aowf Club with your pet’s care. We look forward to Chopper’s next visit!” His angel beamed at him.
“Thank you, an-” Mew stuttered and paused, realizing he can’t just call this stranger angel like he has been in his head.
“Gulf,” his angel smiled kindly, pointing at the white embroidery on his apron that spelt out his name, “it was a pleasure to meet you.”
“Gulf,” Mew tripped a bit on his way out, “Yeah, it was nice to meet you too. I’ll- uh- see you later then?”
His angel nodded in confirmation, waving sweetly as Mew stumbled out the door. In a daze, he made his way to his car and started it up. He looked over at Chopper and was met with a blank stare.
“I’m so screwed aren’t I, buddy?”
“Aowf!”