Taeyong never gave up on any of his hybrids. Unlike the owners of most shelters he knew, Taeyong didn't believe in turning hybrids back out onto the street if they couldn't attract a companion within two years. It rarely took the hybrids in his shelter that long for someone to fall in love with them—Taeyong made sure his hybrids were as tidy and well-mannered as he was. Yuta was the exception.

Yuta would have been kicked out twice already if he had stayed this long at any other shelter besides Taeyong’s Home for Wayward Pets. Between the trouble he stirred up with other hybrids and his general hostility towards humans, Yuta had spent most of his life in and out of shelters. If he wasn't in a shelter he was living in alleyways and behind dumpsters, where he had more freedom, sure, but it was a lonely and dangerous way to live.

Once he would have welcomed the both the risks and freedom of being a stray. That was when his only two friends, Ten the fox hybrid and Hansol the calico catboy, were still around. But eventually even they were taken into human homes as pets, while Yuta was left to wander on his own. Nobody knew what to do with him, and he didn’t know what to do with himself either.

Yuta wasn't even sure exactly what kind of hybrid he was, since he'd never really been told. He assumed he was a dog hybrid of some kind, though the coloring and shape of his ears and tail resembled more of a raccoon. Which was unfortunate enough, because who would ever want a pet raccoon?

He also had the nasty, crass personality of a creature starved of affection its entire life. Which was partially true, but also partially a deliberate act to keep others at a distance. Yuta would rather have others be afraid of him than to pity him for being a poor, lonely, freak of a hybrid that nobody wanted. For the most part, humans didn’t know what to do with him, and other hybrids were afraid of him. Yuta would have continued to live like this, restless and bitter and independent, until Taeyong took him in.

Taeyong’s shelter was home to rare species of hybrids that typically weren’t found in other shelters. The rare types were the hardest to find owners for, which is why other shelters avoided them, sticking to typical catboys and puppy hybrids that were always in steady demand. Yuta was the first of his type that Taeyong had seen, a tanuki hybrid that he had believed only existed in myth. Yuta’s personality was so mean and grouchy that Taeyong was sure that Yuta must have been mistaken his entire life for a common raccoon.

Even four years of living in the comfort of Taeyong’s shelter couldn’t leech the wariness out of Yuta. That guarded, suspicious look in his eyes still survived, despite Taeyong’s best efforts to make Yuta feel safe and comfortable around others. Potential owners found Yuta off-putting, to say the least.

Yuta hissed and snarled at anyone who came close, whether it was a human or another hybrid approaching him. He refused to wear the collar issued to all the hybrids in the shelter, not that he needed one to be identified. Anyone who had heard of Yuta could tell which hybrid he was. Yuta was well-known in all the wrong ways, the untameable pet.

Most of the other hybrids in Taeyong’s shelter left Yuta alone after timid attempts at befriending him. Only some of the younger boys like a puppy named Donghyuck and a kitty named Jaemin still tried to play with Yuta. Sometimes Yuta would play along, to Taeyong’s relief, but usually he just brushed them off. In Donghyuck’s case, Yuta would physically push him away since the playful puppyboy had a hobby of giving everyone slobbering kisses whether they liked it or not.

The only other hybrid besides Donghyuck who was completely unafraid of Yuta was Doyoung, a bunny hybrid. Doyoung was a rare, highly desirable specimen, but too high maintenance and expensive for the average pet owner to take care of. Doyoung wasn’t fooled by Yuta’s belligerent act, and he was the only one comfortable enough to .

In spite of Yuta’s intransigence, Taeyong still made a valiant effort to include Yuta in as many activities as possible. He wanted “Taeyong’s Home for Wayward Pets” to be just that—a home. A family for hybrids who never found a family or were abandoned by one.

One of their traditions was a welcoming party for new hybrids, who were often frightened, hurt, and starving when they arrived.

A welcoming party for a new catboy was going on downstairs, but Yuta remained curled under a body pillow in the upstairs bedroom he had all to himself. He was the only hybrid in the shelter with that luxury, not that anyone minded. Nobody volunteered to be Yuta’s roommate when it was time to swap rooms, and Yuta preferred it that way.

There was a soft knock on the closed door of Yuta’s bedroom, and then he heard Taeyong’s voice, low and gentle.

“Yuta? Our new kitten Sicheng is here. Would you like to come downstairs and say hi?”

“No,” Yuta answered curtly. He had better things to do, like not socializing.

There was a pause on the other side, and then Taeyong added, “There's cake. I'll save you a plate, if you want.”

Footsteps fading away told Yuta that Taeyong was gone, and he was left alone once again. Yuta debated internally whether it was worth it to face everyone in the shelter gathered in one room, but then his stomach growled and the decision was made for him.

Slinking down the stairs, Yuta peeked into the living room, where the other boys were sitting cross legged on the tattered carpet or draped across disintegrating sofa cushions. Taeyong’s Home was furnished with donated or found furniture, much like it was populated with abandoned pets and strays. The creaky townhouse repurposed into a hybrid shelter wasn't in the best condition, but it was safer and more comfortable than the alternatives—living on the streets or in one of the corrupt shelters that swallowed hybrids and spat out broken, abused pets.

Yuta had been through both. He would have taken homelessness over being exploited any day. Besides, the hybrids living in Taeyong’s shelter were happy. Yuta was happy, in his own way, though he never exactly showed it. Taeyong’s Home was maybe the one place in the world he would have stayed at by choice. As if he had any choice in the matter at this point.

It wasn't difficult to pick out which one Sicheng was. Taeyong had given Sicheng a special chair to sit on in the middle of the room, but from the timid, apprehensive expression on Sicheng’s face, it looked like he was being punished by being the center of attention. His long, narrow body was tense, and his full lips were pressed together as if he was holding back a sob. Yuta could see how distraught the catboy was. He recognized the fear and distress. Sicheng looked like he was ready to bolt, but too scared to even move.

Even though his silky black fur was matted with grime and his tail was frayed at the end, it was obvious that Sicheng was well-bred and had probably been raised to be accustomed to luxury. Not that Yuta cared about where Sicheng came from, or how he ended up at Taeyong’s Home for Wayward Pets.

Kittens like Sicheng were showered with affection as soon as they arrived at the shelter and quickly adopted afterwards. Yuta had seen the type. Humans took one glance at catboys like Sicheng, and they had to have him. Catboys like him were in and out of the shelter within weeks. For Sicheng, Yuta estimated one week, maybe two at the most before he was swept away to his happy ending.

But Yuta….Yuta was just a mean old thing that looked like a raccoon. His only way out of Taeyong’s Home would be to run away and face an even worse ending.

Yuta spotted the slice of cake set aside for him, vanilla with pink icing. It was on a table on the far side of the living room. There was no way to reach it without passing Sicheng. Taeyong probably placed it there on purpose to force Yuta to introduce himself to the new kitten. Taeyong might have been an evil mastermind if he wasn’t so nice.

It was as if Sicheng could sense Yuta’s approach. The faraway, forlorn look in Sicheng’s eyes cleared away, and something more anxious and alert took its place. As Yuta approached, the room went quiet and Sicheng’s knees started trembling.

Sicheng had such a long torso that even sitting down, he was almost as tall as Yuta. His mouth fell open just slightly, but then he bit his plump lower lip and cast his gaze down to his lap. Sicheng had the heartrending look of someone who had something to say, but didn't have the courage to speak the words.

Yuta felt something hard and mean begin to fracture inside of him. His voice was gentler than anyone had ever heard it when he said, “Hello, I’m Yuta. What's your name?”

“My name is Sicheng.”

The catboy’s voice was startlingly deep, but creamy, like his milky skin. There was something that felt practiced in the way he introduced himself, and it was strangely endearing. All at once, Yuta found everything about Sicheng irresistible, in the way that it’s impossible to resist scratching at a mosquito bite or pressing on a bruise.

Yuta leaned in closer to Sicheng, felt his heart ache at the look of rising panic in Sicheng’s eyes, his body poised to skitter away. But Yuta held him in place with a hand on Sicheng’s shoulder and brought his lips close to the sweetly rounded curve of Sicheng’s cheek. And he kissed him.

He pulled back and felt more of that meanness frozen inside of him melt away when he saw a shy, dopey grin beginning to pull at Sicheng’s mouth. Yuta glanced over Sicheng’s shoulder and saw pure, unadulterated shock on Doyoung’s face, which just made it more satisfying.

“Welcome home,” Yuta said with his first genuine grin in a long time.

A/N: explicit scenes in upcoming chapters~ || find me on twitter!