Minseok was wandering around the kitchen at the shelter. This was where he preferred to stay since they'd sent his brother to the hospital. Well, here and glued to Yifan, when he was around. The large dog hybrid he'd run into in the kitchen awhile back had actually turned out pretty nice, offering to take him to see Baekhyun when he had nothing else to do. He'd gladly accepted, of course. Minseok was happy to have met the large hybrid and his owner Tao, he just wished it was under different circumstances.

He really didn't like to see his brother hooked to so many machines. 

Glancing into the refrigerator, Minseok frowned. He was pretty sure he couldn't eat most of what was in there without it coming back to haunt him.  He had tried talking to the chef but ended up having an anxiety attack and fleeing before he could ask any of the things he wanted to. Sighing he found an empty spot in the employee break room and curled up for a nap. It was what he was used to, after living on the street for so long, if you're hungry and can't get food, you try to sleep it off.

A couple hours later an exhausted Luhan dragged himself into the breakroom. He'd just returned from a vacation to his parent's house that had drained him faster than his work ever had. If he'd gotten sleep in the last 24 hours he might have been glad to jump right back into work. 

But that hadn't exactly been an option, so he flung his backpack onto the couch in the breakroom and flopped down next to it, dragging his hand over his face. He really needed to get to work but the old worn out couch was so comfy, so inviting. 

He was snoring within minutes, sleeping so soundly he didn't notice the pink haired cat hybrid that was watching him since he walked in. He didn't even wake up when said hybrid crawled into his lap and nuzzled its face into his neck, purring quietly as it drifted off.

Tao had walked in once to see if Luhan had arrived yet, so he could take a proper break, but when he saw the two sleeping together on the couch he just smiled and wandered out. 

He could take his break later. 

--

Jongdae and Jongin were sitting across from Chanyeol and Kyungsoo, watching the two interact quietly, the large hybrid trying his best to be quiet so the tiny hybrids on Kyungsoo wouldn't wake up. He'd already been on the receiving end of Yoongi's claws when he'd woken him up earlier. He wasn't too keen on that happening again. It was Jongdae who spoke up after a few moments.

"So Chanyeol... what do you think, Will Jihoon go a legal route if he can't convince you to go with him?" he leaned forward in his chair, resting his elbows on the table in front of him.

"Honestly? he probably would... and if that doesn't work... I don't know." Chanyeol trailed off and Jongdae raised an eyebrow, causing the larger hybrid to wave his arms a bit.

"Don't get me wrong, he's not a terrible person, he's just..."

"A selfish ?" Jongdae supplied with a small smile.

"yeah, that..." Chanyeol sighed and leaned back against the couch.

"Don't worry, Chanyeol. I can see how much Kyungsoo means to you and  if I have anything to say about it, you won't have to worry." Jongdae's smile widened as he glanced at a couple hybrids across the room. 

He knew just how to straighten this whole mess out, without even involving Chanyeol. 

Now he just had to hope that JiHoon wasn't big on reading things before he signed them.

His phone vibrating in his pocket brought him out of his scheming and he smiled at the name flashing on his screen. 

"I have to take this..." He smiled and answered. "Jun, babe, what's up?" his smile widened as he stood up and walked away from the table, leaving Jongin alone to squirm uncomfortably in front of the couple in front of him.  

A few minutes later Jongin decided to excuse himself and wandered to the front desk, talking to Joy to kill time.

"You know, you should consider adopting a hybrid. it'll change your life." Jongin gave the girl a weird look and she quickly added: "For the better, I promise."

Five minutes later and he was going through the book of adoptable and soon to be available hybrids the shelter currently has.

He reaches a cat hybrid that has an unclear date for availability and his heart stops. The cat hybrid was absolutely gorgeous, even with its eyes closed.

"I... Can I see this one? Can I meet him?" he slid the book over the desk to Joy and she nodded. 

"You can, but there is a small problem with him... He was in an accident and they aren't sure when he'll wake up or what kinds of problems he may have when he does... He might have special needs after this, and you may have to adopt his brother as well... they seemed to be a packaged deal when they came in."

Jongin looked thoughtful for a moment, rolling his bottom lip between his teeth.

"I understand, Can I meet his brother then? "

Joy nodded again. It would be great if he adopted these guys as a pair.  

"Of course, Just follow me." she smiles as she leads him into the back half of the shelter.

--

Junmyeon shook his head as he listened to Jongdae over the phone. The plan the cat hybrid had this time sounded like it wasn't exactly legal, but knowing him as well as he did, he figured it was probably barely this side of legal, a small technicality being all that stood between the Jongdae and jail time.  He only hoped the guy was as dumb as Jongdae seemed to think, or trouble would be knocking on their door. Junmyeon sighed.

"I heard that Jun, just stop worrying, okay? I won't do anything that will affect us. you should know that by now." he waited for a reply and gnawed at his nails a little.

"Okay, I'll try. but you know I'll still worry, and after this, no more risky moves! I'm meeting the bank for the loan tomorrow and I'd much rather use it to open my bakery than to bail you out of jail." Jongdae would have thought he was serious the way he said it, but when the chuckle came through the phone a second later, he knew Junymeon was kidding.

Now as long as Jongdae didn't get caught and make that a reality, he would be fine.

 

A bit of a filler chapter, and update on the side characters. the next chapter is ready to go through its next round of edits and will go right back into the storyline :) 

Enjoy my babies! and again thanks to all my subscribers commenters and upvotes!! <3 

-Miki