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The idea of owning a pet had been one of many discussions the Bang Pack had before.
In the end, they decided against it for a multitude of reasons.
For one, living with seven other animals, even if they were ‘just’ hybrids, would likely be overwhelming, no matter the amount of love a pet would get from them.
Secondly, Seungmin hadn't been able to hide his pout when Jeongin suggested a puppy. The dog shifter had long since left the age range where he could be called a puppy, even if he bore the nickname “pup” like a crown. And on top of that, a puppy living with three wolves probably wouldn't have been the best idea.
Thirdly, and most importantly, they were all well aware of how chaotic they were; raising a baby pet would be impossible, maybe even cause fights to break out, and simply wouldn't work with them.
That, however, doesn't stop Chan from noticing the shivering kitten beside a vending machine in one of the alleys he walks past on his way home from work.
He's humming a song to himself, basically itching to run back to the studio and compose it, when he smells the sour spike of fear in the air. Chan pauses, blinks, and sniffs again – the scent hits him again. It's faint, and he knows his good nose is working overtime right now.
Sure, the established rule is that no one gets a pet.
But helping a stray kitten, shivering in the chill of early winter, thin and trembling, clearly unable to help itself?
That doesn't ignore any rule. That's simply the right thing to do, and Chan knows all of his pack mates would've done the same as he is right now, picking the small feline up and wrapping it in his brown scarf –though he thinks it might just be Seungmin's– and decidedly taking it home.
He hurries on his way home, but the kitten seems to have enough of a sense of self-preservation to cuddle deeply into the brown fabric it’s wrapped in. And though Chan is glad about that, he isn't glad about the way the kitten was trembling and meowing just seconds ago, while it is now still as a flower.
Chan practically throws himself into his pack's apartment, not caring to take off his shoes. Immediately, various voices greet him, but it's Jeongin who tilts his head into the hallway.
“Channie-hyung, you're back! How was— Huh?” He spots the bundle of fabric, once a scarf, that Chan is carrying, and blinks.
“Hi, Innie.” Chan hurriedly greets him, pressing his nose to the fox shifter's cheek for a second before stepping past him, rushing to get to their spare bedroom, where they also keep the fluffiest pet beds stored. He feels Jeongin curiously follow him, and knows that the rest of his pack will likely follow suit.
One arm around the bundle with the kitten, the other reaches out to open the wardrobe and reach for one of the fluffiest beds they own. Chan carefully unfolds the scarf, but the kitten whines — alright then. By the time he's got the small cat safely cuddled up in his (or Seungmin's?) scarf in the cat bed, his pack has gathered at the door.
Chan slowly places the small bed on the sky blue duvets of the actual bed, before turning to face his pack, uncertainty gnawing at him. Who knows what his mates will think about him bringing home a kitten without talking to them first — they likely wouldn't have wanted him to just leave it there, but this is still, technically, something they’d usually discuss beforehand. Alas, his worry proves unnecessary when he's just met with fond expressions.
“What happened?” Hyunjin breaks the silence, head tilted.
Chan waves them all inside, and they quickly –and surprisingly calmly– huddle up around the bed. Now that his initial panic and worry subsided, Chan allows himself to take a breath and leans against Minho, who wordlessly pulls him against his chest.
“Found a kitten basically dumped into an alleyway.” He mumbles. Jisung gasps, almost immediately shooting up to rush to the bundle on the bed, but Changbin stops him.
“What do you think happened?” The wolf shifter asks, worry lining his features. Chan shakes his head, “Don't know. I'd assume the usual, though.”
The usual being people getting a pet, thinking it too easy of a job to raise them, and abandoning them the moment they misbehave the slightest. Beside him, Seungmin tenses. He was adopted by humans who didn't know that he was a shifter when he could barely walk, and was thrown out just a month later. He was a Christmas present to his ex-owners’ daughter, and when she got bored with him, they simply put him in a box on the sidewalk.
Hyunjin notices, wrapping his arms around the dog shifter's waist and presses a soft kiss to his jaw.
“So you brought home a kitten?” Minho asks behind Chan, and that's when he realizes. Minho is a cat. One with a well-earned and protected territory, one with a pack. And he brought another cat straight into the center of that; And on top of that, everyone's going to be taking care of the kitten, that goes without saying after all.
Shit.
Chan tries to sit up, but Minho's grip is iron. He settles with tilting his head, because he can't win against iron, trying to keep his worry from flooding his scent, “I'm sorry, Min, we can bring it to the shelter once it's in better condition, if you w—”
“I'm not gonna be mad at a kitten, Chan-ah.” Minho silences him, then his gaze narrows in on the bundle on the bed. Chan takes in his apple pie scent, and he doesn't smell jealous or anything, but Minho's always been good at keeping a lid on his scent.
“Is it doing okay?” Jisung, now visibly more relaxed, asks from where he's sitting against Changbin. Chan gently nudges Minho, and this time he lets him go. The wolf sits up and carefully takes the brown bundle into his arms.
“When I picked it up, it wasn't, but the trembling and meowing have since stopped.” The brown scarf unfolds easily, and Chan tenderly brushes the fabric back from the kitten's head.
Its fur is of a very light, amber color, with some white spots scattered across its face. Beside him, Jeongin coos, “It's so small!”
“You were tinier, kit,” Hyunjin giggles against Seungmin's temple, eyes on Jeongin, “Fox babies are tiny.”
“Says the ferret,” Jeongin grumbles, but with the way his cheeks redden, anyone could tell that he likes the affections.
“It really isn't.” Minho huffs, sitting up behind Chan and shuffling to get a better look at the smaller feline. He sniffs, then wrinkles his nose. “That's one sour scent, I can barely smell anything beneath that fear.”
Chan nods, a headache slowly making itself known. A scent like this covers up everything else, and it's impossible to tell whether it's only fear souring the scent, or if the stench of the alley seeped into the kitten's coat.
“Without a proper scent, we won't be able to smell any sickness.” Seungmin mumbles, deliberately trying not to pout at his scarf's ruin.
“Let me bathe it.”
The room falls completely silent for a long moment as everyone's gazes slowly turn to Minho. The cat shifter remains calm, not meeting anyone's eyes and instead staring at the kitten.
“You hate bathing, Hyung.”
“I thought cats hated water?”
“Since when do you volunteer for bathing?”
“What?”
Chan and Changbin, who hadn't commented, simply blink at the second eldest of their pack, confusion visible in their very postures. Minho raises an eyebrow.
“I do hate bathing, but do any of you want to deal with a kitten that might not even know that what's happening is beneficial? Y'know, a kitten that we might want to keep? With claws and fangs?”
Changbin huffs. “What danger could a kitten possibly be to one of us, hyung?”
Minho's gaze whips to him, and Chan suddenly feels unbelievably glad that he didn't open his mouth. The wolf holds the cat's intense stare for a whole five seconds –and that's generous– before his shoulders drop and he gestures to the brown bundle, mumbling.
“Do you also want to say anything?” Chan quickly sets his jaw and offers the brown bundle to Minho, who cradles it carefully, attentive eyes focused on the kitten.
“Don't drown it.”
“Yah, Kim Seungmin.”
Chan watches Minho exit the room, the bundle safely cradled in his arms, and his heart squeezes fondly. His fondness must bloom out with his scent, because he suddenly has an arm full of Hyunjin in his lap, squeezing his waist.
“Does this mean we can finally keep a pet?” His plush lip is shoved forth in a pout, so Chan does the only sensible thing and presses a soft kiss to Hyunjin's lips until the ferret shifter sits up in his lap and begins kissing him back. Chan chooses that moment to retreat, grinning at Hyunjin's attempt to chase his lips.
“We will see what we'll do. I feel like we've had this talk and agreed on ‘No’ often enough, did we not?”
“But hyung,” Jisung plants himself against Chan's side, pulling Changbin along with him, “it's different this time! Because we didn't choose this kitten, it chose us, which means it must be fated that it found us. Cat distribution system, don't you know?”
“And you know that we all agreed not to be pet parents, and why,” Chan scoots back, gently settling Hyunjin back on the white carpet, “This is a decision everyone needs to make together. And I'd want everyone to be absolutely okay with accepting a cat into our midst.”
Changbin presses his nose to Jisung's neck, who melts against him as the shifter enwraps him with his warm toffee scent. Chan would love to lean in, too, but he knows he has to settle this here and now.
“Before we decide anything, we'll wait for Minho to finish,” He looks to his other side, where the two youngest of the pack are sitting, “Innie, Minnie—”
“Whatever you want to say, keep it,” Seungmin shrugs and scoots forward to wrap an arm around Chan's waist and press his nose to his shoulder, “You worry too much about what we want, hyung. Consider your own opinion, too.”
Seungmin's gaze settles intently on Chan. “What do you want to do?”
He doesn't have to think about an answer for long. “Obviously, I'd love to nurse the kitten back to health and see how that goes to decide whether or not we could or should keep it.”
Satisfied, apparently, Seungmin unwraps himself and leans back. Jeongin, who watched their moment with the keen eyes only a fox could possess, nods, “Yeah, that seems smart. That way, if the poor thing starts running away from Changbin-hyung because he's too loud, we'll finally have an excuse to replace him.”
“Yah, Yang Jeongin-ah!” Changbin lets go of Jisung, not-so-gently placing him back in Chan's lap, though the youngest wolf drapes himself over Hyunjin as well, in favor of tackling Jeongin and growling at him. His growl would be far more effective if he weren't grinning at the way he was squirming beneath him.
“Hyu–ung!!” Jeongin whines beneath him, but doesn't make an actual effort to push him off.
“Words, Jeonginnie.”
Changbin gets a tongue in response.
He isn't deterred by Jeongin's lack of words, though, bracketing him between his arms and pressing kisses to his neck as Jeongin half-heartedly fights him off. Jisung sits up between Chan and Hyunjin to get a better look at the scene in front of him, somehow almost elbows Hyunjin in the process, and finally ends up all over the ferret shifter.
Hyunjin holds him up for a breath, then flops right against Seungmin, who yelps and tries to scurry away, but ends up in reach of Jeongin, who pulls him in like a live shield.
Chan watches fondly as his pack members lovingly roughhouse, and his heart swells with pride that floods his scent and likely drowns the room in his coffee bean scent, but from the way everyone inhales deeply, no one is bothered.
It's so easy to lose himself in this visual of his packmates being so openly happy with one another. So easy that he's only reminded of Minho and the kitten when he hears a yelp, and then another, much deeper voice from the bathroom
Another voice.
Chan's blood runs cold, and he's on his feet and running down the hallway within a blink, blood rushing in his ears.
The hallway isn't even long, yet the tan colored walls with their seemingly endless doorways suddenly feel like it stretches on forever. Like Chan is much too late, like he'll never reach the bathroom in time.
Another voice.
His socked feet (when did he take off his shoes?) slide across the floorboards with how fast he was going, and he slams a hand against the doorframe to stop his momentum and haul himself inside their big bathroom.
Another. Voice. He's looking for the intruder, eyes flitting from the bigger window to the left, across Minho and the blond in the bathtub, to the smaller window above the shower.
Wait.
Slowly, he drags his gaze back to the bathtub. His eyes didn't fool him: In their big bathtub, filled with just enough water for a kitten, sits a man, not much younger than Chan, and he's staring at Minho with wide eyes.
The two seem to be trapped in another's eyes, and Chan feels trapped in the doorway. The rest of his pack, whom he didn't realize had followed, too, appear to be at an impasse.
Then, too many things happen too quickly.
Chan clears his throat, carefully. Makes eye contact with the boy in the bathtub, who startles, and shifts right back to a cat –kitten– before Chan can blink. Minho turns around, eyes flashing, not careful. Opens his mouth.
Chan expects words. He gets a hiss, confused blinking, and then a low whine from Jisung beside him. Minho's expression softens until he looks apologetic, “Aish, you scared me.”
“Can we…?” Chan gestures to the inside of their bathroom.
“What are— Yes, yes, stars above, come in.” Minho sounds exasperated, but there's something faintly guarded about his expression, his posture, the way his hand is reaching out as if to cover the kitten in front of him. He watches them warily, but appears to realize what he's doing because he turns back to the cat in the bathtub.
“Hey, hey. It's okay, okay? You're safe here.”
Chan stays behind. The others, except Jeongin, were standing beside him. Jeongin plasters himself behind Changbin instead. Minho tilts his head, staring at the kitten –cat?– who's staring right back and somehow manages to look pouty in doing so.
“Hm,” Minho tilts his head, then very slowly raises his hands to his head and cards them through his hair once. “Need a sign to trust me– us? Here.” His cat ears unfold themselves from his hair, and from under his shirt, his tail makes its way to rest on the edge of the tub. “We're like you, if that's what you're worried about.”
Chan watches as the kitten scrutinizes Minho for a long moment, feeling his pack hold their breaths around him. A tense second or two pass, then he presses one of his paws to the hand Minho offered and licks across his fingers. Minho chuckles, scratching the kitten beneath his chin. Almost immediately, the small animal melts into his affection, purring quietly.
Not averting his eyes, Minho nods, beckoning his pack closer.
While Chan takes a cautious step forward, Jisung and Hyunjin rush to get to the tub. Changbin manages to hold Jeongin back from following the older two. Seungmin, thoughtful as he is, also doesn't rush forward.
Though Chan supposes that one step would've been enough to set the kitten off.
They're hissed at again, less protective and more distressed this time round, and a fresh wave of feisty green apple hits them. Minho inhales it deeply, his nose flaring, then he snaps his neck to them.
“Yep, we're out.” Chan snatches Jisung's and Hyunjin's waist and pulls them against him, then the pack stumbles out of the bathroom to leave Minho alone with the cat shifter. Before closing the door behind them, he halts again, “Take your time, Minho-yah,” he says, meeting his mate's eyes. Minho nods, and even though he doesn't seem any less tense, Chan knows the words registered.
He's greeted with a lamenting Hyunjin and a pouty Jisung when he steps into the hallway.
*
Once the scatterbrains of his pack left, Minho turns back to the cat in the bathtub, who was staring up at him with big, wide brown eyes.
“I know they can be loud, but maybe don't hiss at my packmates,” He mumbles as he offers his hand up to be the personal brush of the kitten, “They mean well.”
The kitten pouts. Minho doesn't know how he knows that, but he knows it's true. He coos internally, but also has to set something straight.
“The big silver wolf guy, my pack leader? He found you. Saved you from the snowstorm that’s coming, so spare him some.” The kitten mewls quietly, and Minho instantly pulls his hand away, afraid that he hurt the kitten, but he pulls his hand right back with his tiny paws.
“Yah,” Minho mumbles weakly, but he knows his fondness is visible and smellable all over him. He never had a kitten before –obviously– and he grew up almost exclusively in his human form, so he never got to meet many of his kind.
The kitten softly nibbles on his finger, then tugs him forward again — not like he's doing much, but Minho lets him indulge.
“What, want me to join you?”
If the wonder the kitten looks at him with, along with a loud and clear ‘meow’ and the way it shuffles back in the narrow water to make space for him (in a giant bathtub, but thank you), is anything to go by, then he wants Minho to join him.
Minho chuckles and scratches the tomcat's chin before stepping away from the tub. It almost chases after him, eyes wide, but Minho ‘shhh's softly.
“I'm not leaving. Just gonna take off my clothes, okay?” He pauses. “Actually, mind turning away for a moment? It's, eh, awkward, so to say, considering you're a shifter too.”
Minho can’t prove it, but he just knows that if the kitten were in its human form right now, he’d raise his eyebrow. It huffs, then turns around in the tub with loud stomps and flops down face-to-face with the opposing side of white, and Minho does not find his tiny taps in the water endearing. Why would you assume that?
In one practiced motion, Minho strips bare of everything but his shifter-proof underwear. When Changbin first suggested getting those, he hadn’t believed they were real, but by now, he’s thankful that somehow, somewhere, people managed to conjure some unknown science into them and give shifters worldwide the chance to keep some dignity.
Just like he asked, he finds the kitten focused on the wall of the tub when he turns back around. Minho slips into his cat form –a brown tabby– easily, human arms and legs replaced with the lean legs of his other form as he sinks to the floor. He stretches once before he hops onto the edge of the tub.
Sure, Minho's not a fan of water, but his mates were exaggerating everything — he's not that bad. He doesn't hesitate to jump into the water.
The kitten turns around and watches him curiously. Minho brushes his nose against its head in greeting, and the kitten giggles in his mind.
I know I said it already, but I'm Minho. Call me Hyung. Minho gently nudges the kitten until it sits down, circles it once, and snakes around the smaller feline so it's all curled between his limbs.
I'm Felix, He stares up at Minho. And to answer your question, my old owners threw me out because I was too ‘headstrong’
Felix's voice is much deeper than Minho expected, and he manages to have a slight accent even in head voice. He licks across his head once and Felix chirps happily. Minho huffs against his head, but his words still pain him.
Humans suck, period. He deliberates for a moment, absentmindedly cleaning Felix's face still. The tomcat purrs happily. You're not alone. Some of my packmates also got put onto the street by their old owners. It's humiliating, not for us, but for the humans, that they sink to such levels. You'd think that they'd care more for the cute pets they coo and ‘aww’ at.
Felix shivers and sinks deeper into Minho. He nuzzles into the younger's neck, then prods at his side until the kitten stands up. The water around them isn't as warm as before anymore, and Minho isn't gonna stand for unpleasant water. Felix follows him with loud, clumsy stomps.
Used to their tub, it takes Minho barely a second to get the stopper out, even with paws and fangs. Felix cheers quietly behind him, as much as a kitten can cheer.
However, a kitten may be able to cheer, but with his tiny wet paws, Felix doesn't manage to quite get a proper stand on the edge of the tub. Minho steps forward and picks Felix up by the neck. The kitten startles but indulges Minho as he hops off the edge and onto the mat.
How are you still so tiny?
Felix huffs. I'm a kitten shifter, we don't really grow past this.
Kitten shifter? That's not a real thing. Minho snickers, but pulls the towel he prepared earlier from the sink nonetheless.
Felix manages to roll his eyes, even as a cat, but the moment Minho awkwardly wraps him up in the fluffy white towel, he forgets anything he could have complained about and begins purring contentedly. And if Minho feels a newfound sense of pride, that's his business and only his.
By the time Felix is all fluffy and dry, Minho found new ways to use his limbs as a cat. Felix stares up at him with big, wide eyes again and Minho can't help but shoot forward and lick across his face.
The kitten yelps and wiggles out of the towel, meowing as he tries to get away. You just dried me off!
Minho chuckles and leaps in front of him, tail swishing side to side — in joy, because apparently he has picked up some habits from his more canine packmates. Felix laughs loudly, in head voice, and attempts to turn around, but crashes right into Minho's chest due to his momentum. The older picks him right back up again.
Felix mewls loudly, and Minho knows what's about to happen before it does; The door flies open, and three of his packmates storm into the bathroom.
Minho is through the door –right between Changbin's and Jisung's legs – and through the hallway immediately. He knows his scent of apple pie is happy as it trails after him, and that the wolves must pick it up, which is why they don't follow him.
Not immediately, at least. He hopes.
The guestroom’s door is still ajar and Minho grabs the opportunity as it comes, pushing it open with his shoulder. Felix curiously looks around. Were we here earlier?
Yeah, Channie-hyung brought you here when he first came back. Minho jumps onto the bed and puts Felix down. The kitten climbs onto the cat bed that never left the blue covers. Minho watches as he makes himself comfortable, and contemplates leaving, but before he even gets to weigh both options, Felix's eyes snap to him.
Join me, hyung? He tilts his head and Minho does not find it cute.
Minho carefully climbs into the plush of the cat bed, wrapping himself around the kitten. The purr that resonates against his chest is worth every bit of caution, though, and he begins lightly cleaning his neck.
Felix is asleep and tipped off against his shoulder within a minute.
Minho joins him in no time.
And when the wolves peek into the room, alongside their other packmate, and find their usually set on not-purring mate purring alongside the kitten he's entangled with, then they for once decide to allow some peace and quiet.
*
“He hissed at us twice, my heart is broken.” The ferret shifter says.
“Hyunjinnie, we had to forcefully pull you out of the room because of their mixed scents,” The wolf shifter, who Minho said found him, chuckles as he scratches the ferret shifter's scalp where his head is resting in his lap.
“Hyung, you can't deny that apple pie and green apples are a combination made in heaven?”
The dog shifter snorts, “No, he can't. He was too dazed to pull you out of the room because the scent hit him just as hard. I think he was even drooling.”
“Says the one whose tail was wagging,” The fox shifter snickers.
Felix watches with bated breath from the doorway, Minho's arm securely around his waist. His clothes are comfortable, a bit big on him but filling his nose with sweet apple pie that blends with his own green apple to create just the right mix of fruit and bakery.
He tilts his head slightly, just to where Minho has his head hooked over his shoulder. He's watching him, gaze perceptive.
“You sure they won't mind me? The ferret said that his heart is broken,” Felix whispers, voice filled with uncertainty, “What if they want me to leave?”
“They won't. Don't.” Minho promises, like he did earlier, when he suggested Felix stay here, like he did when they shifted back, like he did before they left the guestroom.
Minho squeezes Felix's waist reassuringly and lifts one arm to gesture to his pack. He's building a door for Felix, and Felix really wants to walk through it, wants to have comfort.
The door seems too fancy for Felix, though. He presses against Minho.
“But I'm just…” He shrugs.
“Just what, Felix-ah?” Minho presses his nose to Felix's cheek and inhales softly, “You're not a danger to us, quite the opposite. You're kind and you mean well. You were in distress and didn't even scratch anyone, which is more than some of us can say.”
Felix bites his lower lip. Minho waits, clearly not minding how long it really takes for his words to settle in.
“Minho hyung looked so cute, all worried and protective over the kitten!” The youngest wolf giggles.
“The shifter was cute too, did you see his face? No wonder hyung was trapped staring at him, I would've been stuck counting stars too.” The other wolf, the smallest one with the biggest muscles, declares loudly, and Felix flushes.
Minho rolls his eyes, but he looks fond. Felix feels like the other cat would be content to just stay here and listen to his pack talk forever, both for Felix's sake and his own amusement, but Felix doesn't want to make him wait. He's been on the run and moved from owner to owner long enough, had to fend off hunger and loneliness and cold until it almost killed him — perhaps it's okay if he walks through this door.
Felix wraps a hand around one of Minho's, whose gaze moves to him in question. Felix nods.
“Okay?”
“Okay.”
Minho wait a few breaths, testing whether Felix suddenly changes his mind, but when he doesn't, he speaks up.
“I hope all of you are aware that we can hear you.”
Safe to say, they weren't aware. Also safe to say that Minho and Felix likely will never forget the others’ faces when they turned around to the pair in the doorway, each of them a mix of surprise and fondness.
The moment the sight in front of them really registers, though, the oldest wolf stands up and greets Felix all nice and proper, introducing the pack and pulling him along to join them on the soft cushions.
Minho stays close the whole time, an arm around his waist, their own happy mix of scents flooding the air to mix pleasantly with everyone else's.
Felix may have been afraid of leaving what was uncomfortable but familiar for something unfamiliar, but with the way he's surrounded by warmth and comfort right now, he knows he'll never want to return there again.
And when he meets Minho's eyes again and the other smiles at him with an unfamiliar softness, Felix can't help but think that maybe, maybe this is a really good kind of unfamiliarity. The kind that leaves him feeling fuzzy all over, the kind that serves him with an abundance of cuddles, warmth and coddling. And perhaps something deeper, too.