Chapter 2: I declare thee Chan

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Sitting at your desk in the corner of your room, bent over your tablet, you worked as fast as you could to finish your project. While you enjoyed being able to work from home, as it gave you the advantage of being able to work at your own pace, deadlines often hung over your head, stressing you out, often causing you to work for hours on end with no breaks. Usually, your neighbor's cat hybrid, Minho, would come over to harass you out of your work, but for some odd reason he'd been avoiding your apartment for the last three days. You could only assume that it was because he smelled the wolf and cat hybrid that you were now cohabitating with, as you'd heard that unsocialized hybrids often became confrontational when meeting unfamiliar hybrids. Minho probably realized this, and his realization would be correct, as neither of the two hybrids seemed to enjoy any kind of change.

The wolf hybrid had adapted more easily than the cat hybrid, named Felix, had. Neither of them had told you anything about their lives prior meeting you, but it was your understanding that the wolf had experienced house living before, while Felix had been a stray. You, of course, had learned this from the receptionist at the hybrid adoption center when you had adopted the two, as neither were willing to tell you anything about themselves. She'd told you that the wolf had been a trained guard dog of some kind, while Felix had been found as a stray and taken to the shelter to be sold. However, neither had been able to find new owners, as both were deemed "problematic". The wolf hybrid, of course, had been aggressive towards the staff and other hybrids, but it was Felix's supposed "issue" that surprised you.

The woman had given you a discount when adopting the two, claiming that they weren't worth their usual prices considering that the wolf was aggressive and the cat was "defective". When you'd asked her what she meant by this, she'd told you that Felix did not meet the cat hybrid "breed standard". His features, according to the receptionist, didn't match that of the "ideal cat hybrid", and therefore he wasn't worth very much. When you were only able to stare at her in confusion, she'd said, "Think about dog breeds. Felix should be a golden retriever, but he has the wrong colorations and his fur isn't the right texture. He isn't a purebred; he's a mutt."

It was ridiculous - laughable, even.

What was so wrong with Felix, anyway? The woman hadn't told you what exactly made Felix "defective", and you hadn't asked (because you didn't care), but you, for one, found him to be extremely cute. Why the hell was there a "breed standard" for hybrids, of all things? It had to have been one of the stupidest things you'd ever head.

Though neither of the two hybrids were particularly aggressive or skittish around you, they didn't seem to be very fond of you, either. They didn't speak to you much, if at all, and they avoided being in your presence as often as they could throughout the day. You only had two bedrooms in your small apartment, and the two had chosen to share your spare bedroom. They stayed holed up back there throughout most of the day, only leaving to steal food from your pantry. You were hoping that they'd come out of their shells on their own, but the last three days had been... awkward, to say the least.

BAM!

You jumped in your seat, jerking your gaze away from your tablet to look at your bedroom door. Brown ears pulled back against his head and tail swishing frantically back and forth against the door - which he had his back against - Minho's eyes were wide as he looked over his shoulder, as if he were taking cover and watching around a corner for an enemy to shoot at him. You had to fight back a laugh at how ridiculous he looked.

"I haven't seen you in almost three days," you chuckled, amused.

He looked at you from his position barricading the door, reaching behind him to lock it before walking towards you, an annoyed expression forming on his face as he narrowed his eyes. "I thought you said you would never adopt any hybrids."

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