"Hey hey hey hey," Luhan mumbled, half-awake from under the sudden attack of fur on his chest. He woke up completely when a heavy weight landed on his face and followed by him inhaling the air of cat-. It's not nice, if you were wondering.

He then mustered all the strength he had in the morning and gently carried the cat up from his face. Squinting his eyes, Luhan saw that it was Drop, one of the two sister cats which belonged to Sehun. Drop miaowed grumpily as Luhan sat up and put her down on the wooden floor beside the bed. 

His own cat, Navi was still prowling around on top of the blankets, so he naturally carried her up and lay back down on the bed to sleep. 

"Rrow," Navi said as he pawed continuously at Luhan's arms, trying to get free. Dumbly, Luhan stared at the ceiling while Navi continued to mewl noisily. Then he turned his head to look at the alarm clock on the coffee table. It was half an hour to opening time.

Luhan lazily raised an arm and whacked his boyfriend over the stomach. "Yah, Oh Sehun. Wake up," he said. As usual, there was no response from him. He sat up and put Navi down onto the floor beside Drop before turning over to shake Sehun gently.

"Oi. Wake up."

He clambered closer to Sehun and shook him a few more times. Suddenly, Sehun stretched out his arms and engulfed Luhan in a hug, as a result bringing him down back onto the bed. Luhan said with fake anger, though he was smiling, "You idiot."

"I love you too," Sehun muttered dreamily at Luhan's ear. Being in Sehun's embrace made him sigh in content as he closed his eyes again. They lay there in a peaceful silence for a while until sunlight filtered in through the windows, which meant they had to get up now. Luhan poked Sehun in his stomach and said, "We have to get up now. Jongdae and Minseok are probably up by now."

"They are always up before seven, my dear," Sehun yawned as he pecked Luhan lightly on the lips before sitting up. Luhan followed suit while ruffling his head. He then slipped onto his slippers before scooping Navi into his arms and went out of the room door.

Once downstairs, Luhan was greeted with the barks of delighted dogs from their cages. "Hi Jewel," he said meekly as a poodle scampered up to him with a toy in it's mouth. Jewel yipped sharply before dropping the toy at his feet and wagged her tail expectantly at Luhan. He smiled as he picked up the toy and threw it out towards the back yard.

A few dogs immediately dropped their own toys and chased excitedly after the toy. Luhan laughed inwardly before moving off towards the kitchen. 

"...he's not getting any better."

"Maybe a cold?"

"Minseok, it's already been more than a week."

"Poor guy... Oh, hi Luhan."

Luhan slipped onto a seat beside the table and glanced at the golden retriever Jongdae was patting. "How's Kieran?" he asked worriedly, seeing the dog lying motionlessly on the floor. Jongdae sighed, "Still not better." Kieran then gave a little whimper and flopped over on his other side.

Minseok and Jongdae gave each other anxious glances and Luhan picked up a piece of toast and placed it in his mouth. As he chewed, he tried not to laugh. "Guys, who made this toast?" he asked.

Minseok gave Jongdae an accusatory look and Luhan continued, "I feel like I'm eating a brick." "Yeah whatever," Jongdae retorted, "Like your cooking is good." Luhan poured a glass of water for himself while he bit the piece of bread between his teeth. After gulping down the water with the bread, he said defiantly, "That mashed potato was only one time, Jongdae."

Just then, Sehun stepped into the kitchen with a yawn. Luhan took this chance and asked, "Sehun, is my cooking bad?" "No, of course not," was Sehun's immediate reply. Luhan looked at Jongdae truimphantly but he complained, "That's not fair! Sehun is your boyfriend!"

"I agree that Luhan's cooking isn't that bad," Minseok chimed in beside Jongdae and Jongdae immediately glared at him. "You're supposed to take my side." Minseok rolled his eyes as he chugged down a glass of milk, "It's true, Jongdae. Your cooking the worst."

Sehun picked up a piece of toast from the plate innocently and asked, "Why are we even on this topic- Aack!"

"... Jongdae, your cooking is really bad."

"Don't insult my Jongjong."

"Damn Minseok. How many pet names do you have for Jongdae?"

"He's my pet so isn't having pet names normal?"

"Min, we've already disscussed not to talk about petting in front of them."

"But you only said about heavy petting! Not the-"

"GOD DAMN IT YOU TWO IT'S 8.00 IN THE MORNING. NOT 8.00 AT NIGHT. STOP."

------

After their morning debate of whose cooking was the best and Minseok's three parakeets' barking insults at them, the day started fairly enough.

Jongdae left Kieran in Minseok's care before he went out for a call from a household who had a dog who kept biting the owners since the day before and Sehun accompanied an elderly couple around the shelter to look at the cats. Luhan's job was to make sure none of the animals made a nuisance and sit at the counter in case anybody wanted information.

Luhan whistled while he entertained Navi with a dangling ball. The shelter and vet wasn't supposed to be a big thing, but after the four of them caught animal smugglers transporting cages of purebreed cats and dogs and took the animals in, they received a fair amount of attention from the community.

It had been a year since Luhan voiced out the idea of combining the animal shelter with a vet and the business had been surprisingly good, so they bought a bigger house nearer to the town center for the shop. Luhan thought that it was mostly the kids who brought them business. (Kids seriously love him.)

The chimes on the glass door then tinkled, signalling that someone had just entered the shop. Luhan stopped jangling the ball and stretched his neck out to see who had entered. A girl, maybe about twelve came in with a cat in his arms. She stopped in front of Luhan and asked, "Hello! My cat recently fell ill, so I'm here to see the doctor."

"He's down that corridor, dear," Luhan smiled and pointed towards his left. The girl thanked him before moving off in the said direction. "Luhan, this guy's going off to a new family," came Sehun's voice. He turned back around to see Sehun carrying a tabby kitten, very much like Navi, towards him with the elderly couple walking after him.

Just then, the door opened again and two men walked in. Luhan leaned over as he whispered to Sehun, "You go help the guys. I'll take everything from here." The taller nodded and walked off. Luhan carried the grey tabby and scanned the tag to check on the cat's status. Navi jumped up on the desk and sniffed at the tabby kitten.

"Navi..." Luhan warned but the elderly woman laughed. "Is he yours?" she asked warmly. Luhan smiled and nodded as he picked up Navi and put him back onto the floor, "Yes he is."

He returned to the computer screen and read the information before explaining to the elderly couple about the background of the kitten. "So this kitten is a female. From what I know, she was found by my friend wandering on the streets out of town. She likes to play with string," he paused and looked at the kitten who had found his earlier discarded string.

Luhan asked kindly as he held out the string, "Would you like to play with her? Just to make sure you really want her." He then led the couple to the sitting area and explained to them on how to take care of cats while the couple took turns playing with the kitten.

The elderly man told him with a small smile, "You really love animals." Luhan cocked his head as he watched the grandma play with the kitten. He nodded and replied, "Yes. I loved them since I was young."

"You and your friends are one in a million, boy," the elderly woman told Luhan while patting the kitten. At this, Luhan felt curious. "Why?" She then sighed after a momentary pause, "People don't have much respect for animals other than their appearances back where we're from."

"You're from...?"

"Daegu. Not far from here, son," the elderly man replied with a crinkled smile. The kitten had just jumped up onto his lap. Still, Luhan did not understand why they would come all the way here to just get a cat. Don't they have similar shelters in Daegu?

The elderly woman raised an eyebrow at him and explained, as if reading his thoughts, "The big cities are not reliable for pets, my dear. The pets mostly are from breeding centers. As you know, breeding centers are terrible. Furthermore, your shelter is famous." Luhan did not know which news to be more surprised at, the first or the second. "Sorry for being rude but, did... you just say our shelter is famous?"

She scratched the kitten behind her ears while answering, "My boy, news spreads at a maddening pace nowadays. You and your friends' act of saving those pups and kittens is well known. Animal rights activists back in Daegu have been praising you four!"

------

It turned out that the two men who visited were from Seoul, and Minseok was curious to know how much the place had changed. Luhan stifled a yawn while Minseok listened attentively to them over the counter.

"They definitely have more office buildings there now," the one called Kris said, though eyeing Jewel suspiciously from the corner of his eyes. Minseok muttered under his breath with a disbelieving look, "It was bad enough when I left..." "When did you leave?" Kris' friend asked curiously as he patted Navi on the head. 

Minseok made a face and answered, "When I was thirteen." "Then it definitely has changed," Kris said adamantly. Jewel suddenly barked and began tugging at his shoelaces. Kris immediately shook his foot but Jewel held onto his shoelaces tightly. "Is this poodle always like that?" he asked with a slightly disturbed face.

Luhan shrugged, "Most of the time. No one can really control her. Jongdae tried, but he ended up with broken ceramics." At that, Luhan thought that Kris' face turned a shade paler. "That's... Ah, um. Reassuring..." Kris muttered. His friend looked genuinely worried for him as Jewel started gnawing at the shoelaces. 

His friend cleared his throat and turned to Luhan, "Do you still have any of those purebreed dogs?" "They've all been adopted," came Sehun's voice before his face popped up behind the guy's shoulder. Kris' panicky expression morphed into a slightly upset one after hearing that. "Dang my cousin always wanted a purebred dog," he sighed, "You guys were my last hope."

"Are you saying that the people like purebreed dogs?" Minseok asked, lifting his head up from the counter's surface sharply in interest. Navi gave a mewl and leapt into Luhan's lap. The guy snorted in reply, "Not only dogs, cats too. Like your two cats over there." He then tilted his head towards Tear and Drop who were napping in the corner.

Luhan unconsciously tightened his grip around Navi. "The people in Seoul are weird. They only think that purebreeds are good," Kris added, still trying to pry Jewel away from his shoelaces. The poodle instead growled viciously and held on stubbornly to the shoelaces. Minseok burst out indignantly, "That's not true!" 

"You tell that to the people. Perfectionists, pfft. And uh, Tao ah. Can you help?"

Luhan watched as Tao (jeez he sure had lack of sleep) bent down and disappeared behind the counter, probably to take Jewel away from Kris' shoe. Minseok voiced out Luhan's exact thoughts at that moment, "Guys, that dog doesn't listen to force. In fact-"

Kris suddenly yelled in surprise as he fell backwards, toppling over Tao at the same time. Luhan and Minseok immediately rushed over to look over the counter. Luhan found Jewel scampering away with a totally undone shoelace and Kris rubbing his bum on the floor. He noticed a flash of blue and green zip into the counter area which landed on Minseok's shoulder.

Minseok sighed, "Sef, Fir, this is not a good time-"

"Eeeeeeediot. Stupid eeeeeediot."

"Shyaaat arp."

------

Luhan frowned at the poodle and said sternly, "Jewel, put that down!" But the dog just ran off with the ladle, wagging her tail. "She's getting weirder everyday," Jongdae said  tastefully as he picked up the pieces of a broken cup. He then dropped them into the waste bin in the kitchen. Sehun told Jongdae matter-of-factly, "Jewel hasn't been in her right mind since her own mum disowned her."

"Shut it," Luhan warned as he took his seat beside Sehun. The taller raised his arms in mock defeat, "Okay okay. I was just kidding. But seriously, she's hard to control." They watched Jewel run around the shelter excitedly with the wooden ladle in for a few minutes until Luhan heard someone's stomach growl loudly.

He immediately turned and narrowed his eyes at the two men around him. Jongdae quickly said, "It wasn't me. It was Sehun." 

"Why is it always me?"

"Because you're the eternally hungry one."

"I thought it was supposed to be you?"

"No, I'm the eternally mad one. I am the one they call the mad king."

Luhan groaned aloud when he heard that, "Another reference to the Game of Thrones and I'll legit vomit blood." Sehun immediately put his arms protectively around him and glared at Jongdae accusingly, "Stop it! You made my bae sick." Jongdae facepalmed himself as he leaned against the kitchen sink. "Dude that is so gay."

"Like you're not!" Both Sehun and Luhan shouted at once in reply. "Fine," Jongdae relented, "But then why are you two always so cheesy?" Sehun sat up straight on his chair and answered with a solemn face, "Because Luhan always puts too much cheese in my spaghetti."

Luhan tutted and hit Sehun's arm hardly, making him wince in pain. Meanwhile, Jongdae thought aloud amusedly, "I haven't had cheeseballs in ages." 

"I wasn't talking about cheeseballs, Jongdae!"

"Well, there's cheese in cheeseballs. So..."

Just then, an ashen-faced Minseok strode into the kitchen with Kieran lying limp in his arms. "Kieran!" Jongdae shouted as he pushed away from the sink side and half-ran forward. Luhan watched Jongdae take the golden retriever from Minseok's arms. Then he realised with a start that Kieran was shivering horribly, as if he had been put out on the streets for days.

"What's wrong with him?" Jongdae asked Minseok worriedly, smoothening the fur on Kieran's back. Minseok bit his slightly trembling lips and answered, "I found out. Kieran has wound infection. The pus has already built up, but I don't have the equipment to drain the pus or treat Kieran."

"We have to go to Seoul."

A/N:
Actually I hope that by the end of this fic you guys will learn something more about pets. And
some of the incidents that happen later on will be related my friend's life because she volunteers
at a pet shelter.

Nuf talking how's the chapter? ^^