Summary: After several incidents, TaekWoon finally gave into the idea of getting SangHyuk a collar.

The idea of SangHyuk having a collar never actually crossed TaekWoon’s mind because he wanted to keep him as far from his past experiences as he could but after several cases of his kitten not being in the apartment when he came back from work (the boy liked the feeling of freedom and he would always come back), he felt like that would be a good arrangement for both of them.

“So…will that be ok with you? If not, we can find another solution,” he tried to explain nonchalantly while he petted SangHyuk’s head,  which was on one of his legs as they were just enjoying a calm Sunday morning laying on the couch.

“A collar? Like HongBin’s?” TaekWoon face-palmed because he remembered the time HakYeon took him to choose a collar for his new companion, “I…I think that’d be fine, I mean, I could just wear it when I go out and take it off when I’m here.”

“Mmh,” the caboy looked up at the older, giving him a reassuring grin after his quiet answer, the other only stared at him, his expression neutral but his eyes were soft.

~

SangHyuk was excited at the idea of carrying something that showed he belonged somewhere, to someone; none of his past masters had wanted him to wear a collar because they only saw him as a pet, as a thing they could use, but TaekWoon was different. In the back of his mind, in a small part of his heart, he envied HongBin for wearing that red collar almost everywhere. He tried to hide his enthusiasm, as they walked around a mall, in vain because his flicking tail gave him away, so he distracted himself in controlling that and his ears since he didn’t want TaekWoon to start thinking weird things of him. Luckily, his owner was lost in his own thoughts to take notice of his demeanor.

“…Here,” he pointed to a pet shop, he still remembered the place from the last time, “you’re still sure?” SangHyuk nodded so fast, he blinked in surprise but opened the door anyways. The place was almost empty as they looked around for the accessories section, TaekWoon didn’t think he could be more surprised until he saw some of the things the shop had.

Out of nowhere, a little girl around four or six stepped closer to SangHyuk, staring in awe at the catboy before she tried to reach one of his ears with her short arms, “Kitty!” she beamed when he crouched down for her to play with them, “Pretty,” TaekWoon felt his lips curving up at the scene, little kids and animals were his weakness. Soon the girl’s mother came; she picked her baby up and thanked him for letting her play with his companion, praising him for having such a cute cat as she left.

“At least the new generations won’t look at us like freaks,” SangHyuk mumbled low, TaekWoon knew that wasn’t meant for him to listen but he sighed.

“Only idiots do.” he stated as he started walking again, soon deciding to ask one of the workers where were the collars. Not all hybrids wanted stuff like that, most wanted to feel equal to humans, however the ones that didn’t mind seemed to be very picky because there was a whole room for customized collars.

There were all kinds of materials, sizes and designs for the bands so they took their time looking at each one until SangHyuk saw the perfect one, it was made of black leather with no extra decorations except for a metal plaque on the front, he thought the ones that hang would annoy him, “This one, hyung,” TaekWoon turned to him and nodded but SangHyuk held it out to him and stretched his neck, the black haired man hesitantly took the collar from his hands and placed it around his neck, leaving it hanging so it wouldn’t bruise his neck’s skin, “how does it look?” the catboy inspected himself in a mirror on the wall.

“It fits you,” SangHyuk tilted his head to the side, looking satisfied with the accessory, “so…let’s go pay for it.”

The kitten nodded but his eyes seemed sad, he was slightly hoping TaekWoon would want to get his information engraved on the plaque.

~

Two weeks later, SangHyuk was watching TaekWoon finish another one of his compositions; he enjoyed hearing him singing more than anything (it always made his inner cat rumble) when his owner suddenly stopped and faced away from the piano that occupied half of the living room, “I have something for you.” he simply stood up and went to the bedroom.

One of his ears fell with his head tilted to the side, very confused, “What is it?” he questioned when TaekWoon walked back with a long box, he silently gave it to him, “Hyung?” he just signaled the gift with a movement of his head so he just lifted the lid to find a collar, his collar with “SangHyuk” in big letters engraved on the nameplate and TaekWoon’s information in small letters at the bottom.

“You like it?” he his bottom lip nervously, quite uncommon in him.

Back when they were in the store, the clerk said the collar they chose was only for exhibition since they ran out of them but if they wanted it, they could wait a few days for the new ones to arrive. He didn’t know TaekWoon had gone back there alone and fixed what the nameplate would say so as soon as his owner hooked it on his neck, he pounced on him, tackling both to the floor and rubbed his head on his chest, purring loudly.

“I’m going to take that as yes,” he smiled when their eyes met again and his companion shook his head, making his smile drop suddenly.

“I love it, hyung.” TaekWoon snorted but scratched SangHyuk’s ears as he moved his head against his hands. His collar was a little bit tighter around his neck from the last time he tried it on.

Note: I...I don't know what to think of this, srsly. I liked it but at the same time I feel it...so...wrong? I mean, I really tried to like not make it sound like they were into or smth but it was so hard, just try to think as if SangHyuk was totally a cat...if that helps(?) because I absolutely don't know who would like (besides me, of course) to have a necklace or a collar with my loved one's /owner's/ name on it, for real. And I updated soon because I had time, I really just update whenever I can and feel like it (and it ended up longer than expected, again). The image's only a reference, so you could somewhow picture how Hyukkie's collar actually is.
Also thanks for the lovely comments<3 I appreciate them!
Keep loving Luck! (and Chabean, lol)
Ken (JaeHwan) and Ravi (WonSik) will appear soon...I guess.