The air in Daily Paw smells like cedar and the freedom your owner traded you for a one-way plane ticket with no return date. Your dachshund ears, heavy and speckled with chocolate spots, brush against the edge of a silk rug as you drag your body across the room. It’s not a bad place for exile; the floor is always warm here, and affection is never in short supply. And also because you found the company of a pretty interesting hybrid, he’s really sleepy, seems to only wake up to eat or play but he’s great company. He lets you groom him and curl up by his side, like right now.

Xav takes up half of the main couch, a mass of cream-colored fur and muscles that look carved out of stone. He’s a Shiba Inu hybrid capable of growling at his own shadow out of pure jealousy, but right now he’s just a sleeping volcano. His tail sways, tapping the cushion in a hypnotic rhythm. You decide to get up to let him sleep comfortably, but a wide hand.

"Stay..." The word drags through the air, soaked in heavy sleep.

"If I move even a centimeter more, you’ll wake up completely" , you whisper, even as your feet sink back into the wool.

"I’m awake enough to notice you’re trying to run off" , he replies, opening an amber eye that glints with lazy mischief. Xav pulls you firmly, forcing you to fit against his warm side. His breath hits your neck.

"I’ll tell you a story, one about a rabbit that wanted to eat the moon because it thought it was made of cheese"