He thought he was prepared but nothing could have prepared him. Junhui walked in to the pet store to find the smiling woman waiting for him with a plastic crate sealed shut. "Here's your purchase. And here's your receipt," she said as she handed over the piece of paper. "I-is he okay?" Junhui stammered out as he approached the tiny plastic crate. It had wheels on the bottom and a handle at the front. It looked way too small to contain the fox who Junhui had guessed to be at least 5ft 4. "Of course," she said with a curious look. "We had to sedate it for our own safety and yours. I suggest you get it home and secured before the sedation wears off. Here's the trigger for the shock collar." She handed the button and key over before she passed a cursory glance at an expensive looking watch and back up to Junhui's face. "I think you have about an hour."

Junhui began to shake and Minghao moved in closer. "Let's just go," he whispered furtively as he pushed Junhui towards the crate. Junhui snapped out of his fast forming rage and grabbed the handle at the front. It weighed barely nothing as Junhui dragged it on its tiny wheels away from the pet store and the awful woman forever. "What now?" Minghao asked as he helped Junhui push the crate into the back of the work van. "I guess you just take us home," Junhui replied.

Minghao helped him again as they moved the crate inside Junhui's home. They dragged it into the spare room sparsely furnished with a single bed and a bedside table. Junhui opened the locks and lifted the top of the crate free and gasped with shock. The fox was almost folded in half he was so crammed into the tiny plastic crate. "Help me get him out," he said and grabbed him under the arms as Minghao lifted him behind the knees and they moved the featherweight creature to the bed.

"I think you should go," Junhui said softly as he stared at the fox just starting to shift in his drug-induced sleep. "If this goes bad it's on me. I don't want you caught up in it." Minghao was just about to argue when he saw the look in his friend's eye and acquiesced. "Okay man," he said patting Junhui on the shoulder. "If you die it was nice knowing you." And Junhui found himself alone with the fox.

He sat on the edge of the bed and eyed the creature up close for the first time. His hair was almost as black as night and just as thick. It curled slightly on the ends where it was too long and it was obvious he had never had a real haircut before by the haphazard style it was worn in. His ears were grey with tufts of orange and black stipples around the base where fur blended in with hair seamlessly and they twitched every time Junhui moved. This was a creature who didn't know relaxation, who was always aware, always on defence even when asleep. His eyes were sharply shaped and heavily lashed and his nose was fine and regal. He looked like he was crafted by the hands of a master artisan who'd been charged with making the perfect hybrid. Junhui's eyes scanned his thin neck and prominent collarbones escaping the dirty smock. His arms were wiry and his hands, so fine and thin but veined in the most masculine way, his fingers so long and delicate. This creature, wildly beautiful and painfully skinny, was no doubt a man in his eyes more than anything else.

He couldn't help but wrinkle his nose at the smell. He didn't know when the fox had last had a bath but it was going to be the first thing he needed. Junhui got up to find something the fox could wear and suddenly worried all his clothes would be too big. He was so small and delicate that Junhui's sweaters and track pants would probably drown him. It was only then that he considered the purpose of the smock. The fox's long tail hung freely from the bottom, topped with grey and tipped with black, and Junhui wondered how you put pants on a hybrid. He shrugged as he decided to cross that bridge when he came to it and for the time being he went to his room and found some cosy old track pants that were well worn in and a t-shirt he hoped wouldn't be too big.

When he poked his head back in the spare room, the fox hadn't moved. So he went to the bathroom and began to run the water, as hot as he could stand it, finding shampoo and washcloths and a nice clean towel. He hoped human shampoo and soaps would be fine to use as he didn't have any of the candy scented toiletries most liked to use on their pets. His lack of preparation suddenly sank into his mind but it wasn't so worrying. He would make do with whatever he had.

He left the bath to fill and fetched some water before he went back in to check on the fox just in time to see his eyelids flutter and then open. "W-www" he began to stutter and Junhui stopped him. "Don't try to talk. They drugged you," he said as he picked up the bottle of water. "Drink," he said softly as he held the bottle to the fox's lips. It spilled and ran down his neck as he tried to drink but he was still hazy from the drugs in his system. But it was enough to wet his dry throat and tongue.

"Where am I?" he asked as he sat up and tried to look around at the sparse and humble spare bedroom in Junhui's tiny house. "Home. My home. Your home too until you're strong enough," Junhui said. He didn't feel afraid. The fox was weak and submissive and drained. He didn't seem like he would be able to hurt Junhui even if he tried. The memory of his strong jaw crunching chicken bones like chalk was fading into a world of soft skin and fuzzy ears as Junhui eyed the creature lying back down on the bed.

"I'm going to take this off," Junhui said as he leaned over the weak fox's prostrate form, "please don't hurt me." He turned the collar in his fingers and saw the scars and rubbed raw skin beneath it. It was heavy leather and plastic and looked painful enough to wear without the added shock from the electrodes implanted in the bottom. Junhui turned the little key in the lock and the collar popped open and the fox's eyes widened in response. His hand flew up to his neck and rubbed at the sore skin as he tried to sit again. The collar was left behind, discarded on the bed, as Wonwoo itched and clawed at the wounds it had left behind. "Don't," Junhui said as he clutched the creature's hands. "You'll make it worse. I'll put something on it after you have a bath and it will make it feel better. I promise."

This was all so strange to the fox. Words that held meaning, words he didn't understand, words he knew should make him feel something. Bath, better, promise. They didn't make sense but they settled in his mind and gave him a warm feeling inside. The haze of his sedation was just clearing and he shrank his knees up to his chest as he revelled in the comfort of the collar being gone. "You need a bath," the man said to him and, once again, he didn't understand that word. But if the man wanted him to bath then he would bath. He would do anything the man wanted him to do. He reached out and grabbed for the man's hand and nosed gently at it as he enjoyed the scent of his skin. He smelled of strong lemony soap and fresh food, not unlike the chicken he had brought that day, and kindness seeped from his skin. The fox felt a few little yips of happiness escape as he nosed the skin and curled his tail around himself.

"I won't hurt you," the fox said to the man as he looked up in his sweet caring eyes, "I promise."