the record store is sickeningly faux hipster.

rows upon stacks upon milk crates full of dusty records bought in bulk at estate sales and swapped out in a resale system that luhan quite frankly thinks is a of completely useless paperwork when it is the same few customers coming back to switch out the scratched vinyl.  the posters on the walls are all reproductions of actual cool posters thus leaving a lackluster impression with inked in faded corners and visible wrinkles that are shiny smooth under curious fingers.

sometimes luhan wonders if joonmyun only ever hired him because he was a thrift shop dressed, vintage ornament to compliment the atmosphere.  then he remembers that tao was actually the one to hire him, more like begged on paws and knees, after luhan had sauntered in one afternoon and ended up shaming the hell out of some pretenscious smartass by winning their argument while simultaneously revealing the dickhead was sneaking extra 45s out in the 78s slip covers when tao was too busy fighting off flirty girls playing with the silver of his ears.

the fact that luhan was also a catMAN, not catboy because his balls had dropped ten years ago thank you very much, might have also swayed the invitation for employment.

it just so happened that luhan had been desperate for a job at the time and joonmyun had also figured in the flat above the store free of rent.  joonmyun was a rich bastard, literally paid a five figure monthly allowance to keep his mouth shut about his true parentage, who owned four other businesses besides the record store.  tao, joonmyun's cat/man friend/prince to his fairytale princess, practically let luhan run the place now and everyone was happy.

luhan worked from noon to close everyday except when they closed the shop of sundays and on the random days, read:heat week, labelled vacation time by handwritten notes on printer paper in the front display window.  tao helped him out in his spare time, joonmyun paid them both generously, and the customers came trickling in to browse while flirting with the two handsome catMEN amid the sunlit dust particles floating romantically through the air.

if somedays, read:heat week and occasional weekends, luhan shifted awkwardly alone in the dim of his flat and let himself dream about another body to keep him company in the constant drift of scratchy vinyl playing form the corner of his makeshift living room, he didn't let himself think about it too much.  he just called up his best friend minseok and his catboyfriend/alienmate jongdae for an evening of pizza with beer or slinked out into the night to browse the underground clubs a few blocks over.

the record store is faux hipster, luhan is borderline depressed, tao is ing the boss, jongdae is constantly threatening minseok that he is going to beam them back to his mother planet, and everything is peachy.  well, more pear-y because luhan can't stand the peach fuzz that gets caught in his rough textured tongue.

so yeah, pear-y as hell.

-.-.-

one of the regular customers is this snot face of a little human named sehun that thinks calling luhan by the nickname 'lulu' is perfectly acceptable.

'what did i tell you about calling me that, you smartass punk,' luhan hisses and has to run his palm down the back of his neck to stop his skin from tightening until his hair was standing on end.

'but it totally fits you.'

luhan snarls and three girls wearing headband cat ears pass the counter cooing.  'see!  everyone thinks it is cute.'

luhan has never really cared what everyone else thinks.  as an independent hybrid in a world of kept pets, he has long grown use to the sneers and whispers hidden behind hands and the words that seem to cling to him like there is no possible way that he can be his own person without a collar around his neck.  he remembers the days in the adoption shelter when he had hoped beyond hope that he would be graced with the priviledge of wearing someone else's name around his throat, then he had slid into the unacceptable age for adoption and found out that being two minutes away from having his life ended just because no one wanted him enough to keep was his reality.

he grew up quickly after that.

'i am not cute, oh sehun.'

the girls now browsing the early 90s grunge section apparently think otherwise as they squeal at the way he smacks away sehun's fingers pinching at his cheeks.

'uhm, excuse me.'

luhan leans to his left to see around sehun and before his eyes even meet the new comer his nose is wrinkling because something suddenly smells like the faintest trace of wet dog.  sehun twirls to face the new voice as well and luhan is vaguely aware how much taller the little is compared to the intruder.

only vaguely aware because luhan is too caught up in the sparkle of obsidian eyes and the oversized beanie that is failing horribly to disguise the obvious upward of dog ears and how he has never seen someone with such adorably flushed cheeks before that he has the unnerving instinct to reach up and pet.

'i was wondering if you are hiring,' the voice doesn't match the face.  it is husky to the soft, a rasp ending each word in a slight higher note before settling deep again.

sehun is glancing curiously at the black tail with it's pure white tip curled around the inside of the stranger's right leg.  luhan follows his gaze and notices a few tiny details that map out more the of the guy's story, like the barely noticable thin patches of denim that are worn from actual wear than for stylist appeal.  his shoes are painstakingly well kept, the white and grey of the sneakers making luhan almost sick a their cleanliness, but the soles are visibly threadbare from use.

luhan feels a pang when the hybrid shifts nervously under their persistant gazes while plucking at the hem of a flannel shirt two sizes too big.  yoongi knows poor and struggling and the pride that has the beanie shifting over the alert ears.  he knows because four years ago he was in the same position.

'i can't really help you,' luhan says while shifting his gaze until he meets the dark eyes with a tender respectful empathy. the disappointment is immediately apparent in the way his face falls at the words.

sometimes luhan has trouble with words.

'i'm not the boss, i mean.  you will have to come back and talk to tao when he is here,' he rushes to spit out and only feels mildly relieved when the black and white tail quivers in excitement.  'he can help you.  he should be in on thursday, aorund this time.  you should come back then.'

the guy looks like someone had just scratched his belly after giving him praise.  the bright twinkle in his eyes and the way he bites his lower lip with quite impressive canines to stop a smile from stretching his mouth.

'thank you so much!'

before luhan can ask his name or sehun can pet the fluffy tail, the pup bounces out of the shop with a happy whine in his throat that was only audible to luhan's sensitive ears.

'i take it back.'

luhan breaks his concentration on the shaking of the bell attached to the door handle after it closes to find sehun blinking dreamy eyes into space.

'take what back?'

sehun reaches up to scratch indignantly behind the rare tortuise sell fur of luhan's ears.  'you aren't cute, you are actually ugly.  he was cute.'

luhan sends him a death glare followed by a roll of eyes in exasperation that get caught on the now silently still doorbell, and he can't help but agree.

twice before he flops asleep face first on his mattress later that evening, he ends up thinking about the fluffy hybrid.  he wonders what color his ears are and if they flop when he is relaxed and what he would have looked like if he hadn't bitten away his excited smile.

-.-.-

minseok isn't a hybrid, but luhan has always imagined that if he was he would either be part hamster or part chincilla.

they met in a coffee shop, where minseok worked the early morning shift while jongdae snored in a huge cardboard box that had once been used to transport minseok's ten thousand dollar custom made espresso machine, on a tuesday when luhan had still been homeless and hungry and infinitely y.  he had smelled the fresh baked pastries from the alley he had been sleeping in behind the shop and before he could stop himself luhan had his face pressed to the wide storefront display window like a kid window shopping for christmas presents.  he still had the scar from where jongdae scratched his arm when he had tried to run away from minseok hissing and ended up tumbling them into a heap of chortling laughter and skinny limbs.

'what would you like,' minseok had smiled down into luhan's face.  jongdae had hissed at the expression before purirng away in luhan's lap where he was trying to decide whether he was holding him down or resuming his early morning nap.

luhan had insisted that he hadn't any money to pay and minseok had insisted that he didn't give a .

their friendship had been a beautiful one full of dependency and overly dramatic catboyfriend/alienmates ever since.

-.-.-

luhan is not excited.

it was just a normal thursday, with a plain assortment of ordinary customers shuffling about and boring classical music playing over the weak speakers adjoined to the record player in the corner.  he is sitting as usual behind the cashier's counter with his feet kicked up on the stack of dog earred comic books that tao had a tendency to leave strone about.  he is not glancing at the clock every ten minutes.  he is not hypersensitive to the jingle of the entrance bell.  he is cool, calm, and collected.

'what is your problem,' tao yawns from a beanbag between the glam rock and hiphop section with custom fitted earphones perched awkwardly over the constant lazy flick of his ears on top of his head.  'you look like you are about to climb out of your skin.'

luhan ignores the chuckle hidden in the lilting accent of his coworker/manager.  he is not about to climb out of his skin, and when his arms start to itch from the tightness of his joints he does not scratch at them because that would make tao think he was right and he definitely is absolutely not right.  end of story.

he just cannot help it if his mind has been wondering for the past three days, circling round and round a blurry image of black and white fur and dark eyes and a face that he vaguely recalls somewhere in his memory.  he blames it on the memories that the down and out luck of the hybrid had dragged up from the darkest corners of his mind.  he had found his meals lacking luster and bed too empty and new clothes too hot against his cold skin.  on his trip to the grocery store around the corner, luhan had spent half his walk looking down the side alleys searching for a familiar body and if he dropped by the local shelter to volunteer it was only because he had always been a er for the playful kittens that reminded him of his long days in the pet store years before.

the day before sehun had stopped by the record store with a bag full of clothes that he claimed were no longer in season and had begged luhan to take them to the thrift shop on his next trip.  before he had slipped out the front door with a scratched copy of lana del ray's newest album, the brat had coughed with blushed cheeks as he mentioned that if luhan could give them to someone if they needed them instead.  glancing through the bag luhan had spotted more than a few price tags attached to the clothing that looked much too short for sehun's freakishly long legs and torso.  the punk was apparently much more observant that luhan gave him credit for.

'i am perfectly fi-'  the door jingles with a new arrival that halts his retort when he spots the slotchy beanie and squeaky clean sneakers of the dog that has been pestering his brain since monday.

'hello,' comes the rusty thick voice that is such a juxtapose to the sweet curve of cheekbone.  the shorts are gone, replaced with a pair of stiff blue jeans that hide the furry tail and luhan wonders if it is as uncomfortable for the hybrid as it is for him with he stuffs his tail away from view, but the huge flannel tent of what is meant to be a shirt is still present from their last meeting. 

luhan breaks his attention to motion to tao who is peering curiously around the end cap of the shelving.  his eyes are flicking up and down, taking in every tiny nuiance in detail about the new comer.  luhan has to clench the edge of his stool to stop from standing to shield the dog from the intense scrutinity. 

tao visibly jolts at the sudden force the obsidian eyes turn towards him and luhan takes a deep breath.

'hello.  my name is zhang yixing and i was wondering if there are any job openings at the moment.  i was told to come back today to speak to you,' the hybrid says around a huge smile that makes his face split into a silly picture of sharp teeth and soft dimples flashing.

there is a long stretch of silence.

tao is sizing him up, yixing slowly breaking down behind the barrier of false confidence he had previously held tight over his face like a mask, and hums in what sounds like a condisending tone that luhan knows really means tao is curiously interested.  his nose curls up in a twitch as he takes in the wet dog scent that had caused luhan to do just the same days before.  the headphones are slowly pulled away to reveal the twitching tips of his gleaming silver ears and he stands up to tower over the hybrid much the same as sehun had.

'we aren't really looking for any help at the moment.'

maybe it is all catMEN that lack a way with words.

yixing flinches and visibly withdraws within himself.  he nods halfheartedly while managing a sad smile before he begins to turn to presumably leave.

'but i have been wanting to take some time off and start spending more time at some of the other stores.  so i suppose you start some training shifts and see where it takes you,' tao quickly spits out when he realizes his bad choice of words.

luhan glances back at the retreating hybrid with what he will later swear is absolutely in no way a smile, grin, or other expression of joy.  he will admit to laughing at the loud meow that is slammed out of tao's body when yixing suddenly embraces him until his feet are dangling three inches off the ground though.

a/n: seriously.  i don't even know. /hides from the world