Archive of Our Own ^beta

Laughter could be heard bouncing around the walls of The Littlest Pet Shop as most of the pets were gathered around the window. From Sunil's high pitched giggles to Zoe's yipping, to Vinnie's somewhat deep bellows and… well, you get the point.

And it was very annoying.

"Hey, what gives? I was sleeping!" Pepper exclaimed grouchily, poking her head out from the fire hydrant. The fur on her head was all mussed up and ruffled from tossing and turning for the past hour she was asleep, her speech was slightly slurred but she didn't care in the slightest. Not only was she woken up, but something was being funny without her, which is just unforgivable.

Vinnie was the one who answered her. "Pepper! Come check out this funny guy on the other side of the window! He is a hoot!"

A hoot? Well, that can't be right. There's no way he can be funnier than her. Now Pepper is a hoot, not some random stranger they didn't even know the name of. Besides, they probably don't even know how to juggle.

Pepper groaned and shook her head, she was being unfair. Sure, she didn't know the guy, none of them did, but that doesn't mean she should be mean about it. Who knows? Maybe the guy is funny and she was just missing out.

Begrudgingly, she left her rubber chicken that she had been snuggling during her nap and scurried across the floor and jumped up on the ledge where all her friends were hanging out. Sunil and Penny scooched over to let Pepper come in between them so she could see.

She wondered what animal was making her friends laugh as hysterically as they were. They had to be really funny if they got Russell of all people to grip his sides from pure hysterics. A weasel maybe? An otter?

Can otters even be kept as pets? Pepper wondered before suddenly remembering who she was sitting between. She could hear Minka's hollers from above before looking down at her own claws. A scowl formed on her face.

Oh, right. Over half of the pets here weren't supposed to be pets.

Pepper immediately shook those resentful thoughts away as quick as they came. Now was not the time to be angry for no reason, she'd deal with them later. Now, she'll be the judge on this guy's humor. Just to see if they were worth her… time…?

Wait…

The guy on the other side of the window didn't have fur, fangs, claws, or a tail. He had two long noodle legs with an even noodlier body, and it almost looked like he had twigs for arms. Pepper's eyes traveled to his face and locked eyes with his. It wasn't an animal at all. It was a human.

Ew. Gross. Disgusting. Revolting. Nuh-uh. No thank you.

"Seriously?!" Pepper cried out, jerking back as fast as she could with her teeth bared at the man.

Russell turned around, "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong? Well, first of all, you guys woke me up for this!" Pepper paced back and forth, only pausing to gesture to the man before going back to pacing, "Second of all, what was he doing that was soooo funny, when I'm right here?"

"Well, he stopped when you came over, but he was doing some silly dance that some people think monkeys do! Oh! And those monkey noises!" Minka explained rapidly, not looking away from the window.

"Didn't you say you hated that stereotype?" Pepper asked her incredulously with furrowed brows.

The skunk was about to continue on with her aggravated rant until she noticed all of her friends had gone quiet and weren't looking at her, they were looking behind her. Slowly, Pepper began to turn around and came face to face with the man from outside the window with his face pressed up against the glass, staring straight at her.

Letting out an ear-piercing shriek, Pepper jumped back only to land on the hard ground. She groaned from pain and rubbed her back before shaking her head rapidly. She took a couple deep breaths to calm her racing heart from the scare.

Pepper took in one last breath before jumping back up to confront the human who decided it was a good idea to give her a heart attack. She leaped back up on the platform where the other pets were waiting for her. Her face flushed with embarrassment when she realized they were all staring at her, including the human.

Russell rushed over to the skunk immediately. "Pepper! Are you okay? Let me look at you!" The hedgehog didn't wait for a response before he grabbed Pepper to examine her for injuries. If her face wasn't on fire before, it sure was now.

"I'm… fine, Russell! Let go!" Pepper exclaimed, trying to push him back as gently as she could so she wouldn't hurt the hedgehog.

"Are you sure…? That looked like a pretty nasty fall." Penny chimed in timidly when Pepper finally managed to get Russell off of her.

"If I say I'm fine-" Pepper started, stomping her front paw for emphasis. A sudden stinging pain erupted from her foot, causing her to jolt and retract her paw with a hiss before catching herself. She set her paw down again but more gentle and lighter, and she was pleasantly surprised to find that her paw stopped throbbing. Just don't put too much weight on it, seems easy enough, "-then I'm fine, okay?"

The pets glance at each other, clearly not convinced. Pepper looked down at her claws in order to avoid eye contact, she was silently hoping that no one caught her slip up and would pester her about it. She only looked up when she heard Sunil speak.

"... Okay, if you say so." The skittish mongoose replied slowly.

Pepper ignored Sunil and glared out of the window into the human's emotionless, piercing dark eyes. She figured that she'd give him a piece of her mind for making her friends think he was funnier than her and for making sure she'd embarrass herself by falling. But when they actually came face-to-face… Pepper flattened her ears against her head and glared at the human, she dug her claws into one of her legs in order to keep her trembling to a minimum. She racked her mind to say something to him, like yell at him and tell him to get lost or snarl and claw at the window in an attempt to intimidate him, but her mind came up empty. She continued staring into its empty eyes, then the human spoke.

"Why hello there, sweetie!" The human cooed at her. "I'm sorry for scaring you! I just didn't expect another cutie to come say hi and I got excited. You're so cute! Yes you are! Yes you are! Such a cutie patootie!"

Blech, so he was one of those humans.

Her ears turned warm again when she heard the sound of stifled giggles from around her. Pepper twirled around baring her teeth at the other pets, she hid a satisfied smirk when they all immediately got quiet. Pepper faced the human and crouched down in a pouncing position, her fur standing on end.

"Oh, don't be like that, sweetie pie! I'm a nice human, I promise!" The human told her softly. "I ain't gonna hurt you! I just wanna see your cute wittle face, yes I do! I bet you wouldn't be so grumpy if you got some tummy scratches!" As the human said that, he put one finger up to the glass and wiggled it, making Pepper instinctively flinch and cover her stomach with her tail.

Only Pete was allowed to give her tummy scratches!

Pepper launched herself at the window with an enraged snarl. She clawed at the window with all her strength ignoring the burning sensation in her foreleg from earlier. The human let out a startled yelp and stumbled back, covering his hand even though it wasn't injured in any way, in his scared state he lost his balance and fell backwards onto the concrete, causing him to groan. She bit and scratched where the human's finger had been, she didn't even care if the human wasn't in front of her anymore. Pepper was just sending a message.

"Dad!" A voice cried out, bringing her outburst to a halt. Pepper paused and all the pets gathered around the window, she frowned when she noticed they were trying to keep a bit of a distance away from her. A young human girl ran up to the man and reached out a hand to him. "Are you okay? What happened?"

The man groaned, taking his daughter's hand and getting up, rubbing his sore back. "I'm… I'm okay, Blythie. I was just saying hi to those adorable little pets, and then the skunk walks up and I start talking to it, and before I know it, it tries to attack me! It's a good thing there's a window between us right now, or else I'd have no eyes!"

Did… Did he just call her an 'it'?

The girl glanced back at the window and spotted Pepper, she glared at the second human and bared her teeth. The girl flinched back and turned back to her dad.

"Uh… maybe we should leave her alone, dad, I don't think she's in a very talkative mood right now." She said, pulling the older human along with her, leaving them out of the pets' sights.

"Wait, the skunk's a she? How could you tell?" was the last thing she heard was from the dad.

Pepper wore a victorious grin until she heard Russell clear his throat behind her, causing her to deflate. Great, an incoming Russell lecture…

The skunk turned around and realized her friends did not look too happy with her. Russell and Zoe wore disappointed and irritated expressions, Vinnie, Penny, and Minka looked concerned, and Sunil was wringing his tail, which tended to be a nervous habit of the mongoose. Pepper felt a pang of guilt stab her in the chest when she realized Sunil might be afraid of her for a while.

That guilt quickly morphed into defensiveness as she glared at Russell. "What?" She asked incredulously, looking at each pet individually, whenever she tried to meet any of their gazes they would conveniently find the ground or curtains very entertaining. "What?!" She asked again, this time louder.

Russell let out a long suffering sigh, rubbing his temple. "What were you thinking? You could've seriously hurt him, Pepper!"

Pepper rolled her eyes with a scoff. "Were you not paying attention? There is a window between us! His finger is still intact!"

"I mean when you scared him so bad that he fell onto the sidewalk! He was just trying to be nice to-"

"-yeah, and that's how they get you-"

"-he's old, he could've broken his back, or bruised his tailbone, or-"

"-but he didn't-"

"-how would you know-"

"-if you could you stop interrupting me-"

"-me?? You interrupted me first! Would you just-"

"-would it be so hard if you just-"

"LISTENED TO ME FOR ONCE??" Russell and Pepper had both lost their patience at that point and were inches away from each other's faces. They argued so loud and aggressively their voices were becoming slightly hoarse. Before things could escalate, Vinnie and Penny got in between the two and moved them away from each other as quickly as possible.

"Oooooo-kay. I think you two need to be apart for a while before things get out of hand." Vinnie said tensely, holding onto Russell as if he was about to pounce on Pepper at any second. Penny was doing the same thing for her.

"Agreed. Russell's right, Pep, you need to stop losing your temper on innocent humans. It wasn't much of a problem before, but this is just getting out of control!" Zoe exclaimed to Pepper, she rolled her eyes again.

"You're over exaggerating, Zoe. Right, guys?" Pepper asked with a grin, she knew that her other friends would back her up… until she noticed they were all hesitating with their responses. "Right, guys?"

"Uuuuuhhhhhh…." Was their only response.

"Vinnie? Penny?" Penny might not back up Pepper, but Vinnie definitely will. The gecko is Pepper's go-to for any help she might need for more complicated pranks to pull, and she also practices her jokes and comedy routines on him the most out of the pets. Yeah, at least Vinnie will-

"Sorry, Pepper, I hate to say it, but Russell's right. …. Wow, I did hate saying that!"

"I'm still here!"

…. Traitor.

Pepper didn't even want to hear Penny's opinion.

She sighed, "Penny, can you let me go now?" At Penny's hesitant stare, she added, "I promise I won't try to kill Russell." Penny reluctantly let her go and set her on the ground.

"Same goes to you, Vinnie. You can let me go now- oof!" Vinnie proceeded to drop Russell, which wasn't from a very tall height considering he was a gecko, but it still surprised the hedgehog.

"I still don't see what the big deal is!" Pepper continued. "Sure, I gave him a bit of a scare, so what? It's not like we'll ever see that family again- why do you all have that face?"

All the pets shared looks with each other, very anxious, unsure looks. Penny stepped forward.

The panda began to speak. "You see, Pepper… we didn't want to tell you this because we knew your reaction would not be… good. But… they're actually moving above the pet shop!" Penny explained to her quickly.

Pepper blinked once…twice…

"Pepper… are you… okay…?"

So, Pepper did what she does best. Whether she's in an uncomfortable moment, a serious moment, or just to show she wasn't bothered… she'd use this method whenever she was scared, or sad… or really anything.

She laughed.

"Pfffffft, are you guys kidding me right now? So what if two humans are moving in above us? That doesn't mean we'll ever see them, you guys practically hid this from me for no reason!" With that, Pepper jumped down and proceeded to go towards the fire hydrant slide.

"Where are you going?" Sunil asked from behind her.

"Isn't it obvious? You guys woke me up from a perfectly good nap! I'll be lucky if I can get back to the dream I was having!" As soon as Pepper entered the fire hydrant, her smile faded almost immediately.

Stupid Russell… stupid humans… stupid Pepper.

Why did she yell at Russell like that??? Sunil was scared of her now! Everyone was! And she had the audacity to- ugh, how could she be so stupid?! She'd be lucky if Mrs. Twombly didn't kick her to the curb by tomorrow! She hated it when she got these outbursts, they were practically unpredictable, she's surprised the pets still hang out with her after all the things she put them through. Russell probably already hates Pepper, the others probably want nothing to do with her after today. Heck, they must all be dreading the next time they have to talk to her!

Pepper stared at Mr. Clucks for a long time while in contemplation before her eyes start to feel heavy. She chuckled softly. "Heh, at least I know you won't leave me, Mr. Clucks." Pepper smiled at the rubber chicken, lying her head on the rubber, giggling when it made a squeaky noise from the pressure.

Yeah… she was being irrational, everything was going to be completely fine.

...

Everything was not, in fact, fine.

"Littlest Pet Shop is… closing?" Sunil asked no one in particular in a quiet voice.

Vinnie rubbed his arms anxiously and tapped his foot against the floor. "Does that mean we won't see each other again?"

Other voices of concern from the pets whirled around Pepper, but the skunk didn't want to hear them. She didn't even want to be here right now. She would've been perfectly fine living in ignorant bliss until the day the shop closed down, at least then she wouldn't have to worry about saying goodbye to the others. Pepper got along with any daycamper that would visit the shop for the day, but Pepper never really got the time to know them before their owners came to pick them up. But these pets… were Pepper's only real friends, and she was about to lose them.

Pepper heard a sniffle coming from a couple feet away from her and spotted Penny across from her. The panda was on the verge of tears and had her ears folded against her head. Pepper could tell she was trying not to let the tears fall but found it increasingly harder to do. Standing up, the skunk was about to comfort her somehow, but paused when she realized she had no idea how to do that.

How would she even go about comforting her? A hug? An awkward pat on the back? Or worst case scenario… words. Pepper sighed and sat back down, luckily it appears that no one noticed her stand up in the first place, or if they did, they decided not to mention it. She took one last look at the devastated panda before quickly glancing away when Penny caught her eyes. The last thing Penny needed was Pepper's sad attempts at comfort, she'd only make things worse anyway.

"You know what? No! I won't stand for this!" Pepper got snapped out of her thoughts by Russell's authoritative tone. All eyes were on the hedgehog now as he paced back and forth. "We can't just give up! There has to be something we can do! We're not accepting defeat so easily!"

"Oh, really? And what are you planning for us to do, oh wise one!" Pepper piped up sarcastically with a quirked brow, doing a mock bow at the end of her remark.

Russell growled in frustration while the others looked back at her with unimpressed 'really?' looks.

… Okay, so they might not be over the whole 'scaring an old man' thing. For some reason.

The hedgehog continued. "Well, I'm not sure yet-" Russell ignored Pepper's scoff and eye roll. "-and that's why I need ideas! Come on, guys. Remember, no idea is a bad idea! Do it for the shop, do it for us!"

Silence fell upon the pet shop as they all brainstormed. Yes, even Pepper. She wasn't going to admit it out loud, but she would do anything to save the pet shop-

Penny approached Sunil and Russell. "What about Blythe?"

… Let her rephrase that. She would do almost anything.

Yeah, that teenage human who was that old man's daughter? Her name is Blythe, apparently. Not that Pepper asked, but she guessed it was good to at least know her name. For some reason the human developed some weird ability to talk to animals. Which, sure, Pepper will admit that is pretty cool, but that's besides the point! How does one simply develop a superpower like that human did? Pepper was, of course, skeptical, so she did what anyone would do when a stranger came tumbling out of the dumbwaiter who claimed they could now talk to animals: yell in her face.

Yeah, Pepper knew that wasn't a preferable way to act, especially after earlier, but it was too good of a chance to pass up. It was just like how she was sending a message to the old man, that's all! She was honestly trying to get the human out of the pet shop in order to leave them alone, which she was about to do, before Zoe just had to break out into song. Pepper did try to interrupt the song during one of the dog's prolonged rifts, which immediately backfired because it led to her introducing the other pets. And yeah, Pepper could've just yelled over the music in order to get them to shut up, but she found it difficult to interrupt Zoe when she was in the zone, which she would never dream of telling the dog. Ever.

Despite her personal distaste for humans, she couldn't deny the fact that she was in hysterics when the girl ran out of the shop screaming. Pepper chose to ignore the glares everyone sent her way during her laughing fit.

Pepper subtly glanced at Sunil, Russell, and Penny, silently hoping that they had already come up with another plan so they wouldn't have to use a human. She suppressed a sigh of relief when Russell dismissed her.

"Not right now, Penny," he replied absently, waving his paw dismissively.

Penny deadpanned at Russell before rolling her eyes and turning away. For once, Pepper was happy that Russell thought he was better than everyone else so he wouldn't hear that horrible idea- why is Penny walking over to her and Zoe?

The skunk bowed her head to hide a snarl of annoyance when the panda asked again. "What about Blythe?"

Pepper eyed Zoe, heart in her throat. She has never in her life so desperately wished that her friend was a mind reader.

"Penny, can't you see this is serious?" The dog gently scolded, causing the skunk to perk up.

Penny caught Pepper's eye and gave her a pleading look, causing her to wince. Truth be told, she could never resist the sad, pathetic eyes her friends would sometimes give to make her do something. But she wasn't planning on giving up so easily, especially when it came to some scumbag human.

Turning around, she mumbled. "Listen to Zoe, Penny."

There was a moment of silence before a soft sigh of disappointment sounded from behind her. Pepper curled in on herself and avoided eye contact, there was no doubt in her mind that Penny knew she was being purposefully ignored by her.

She made a mental note to apologize to Penny later.

The sound of paw steps were starting to fade ever so slightly. Pepper glanced at Zoe, then to Sunil and Russell. Yeah, maybe she ignored one of her friends, but it's for the best. Who knows what horrible things the human could come up with to sabotage them and humiliate Mrs. Twombly? Pepper doesn't know what the girl would do exactly, but it couldn't be good, and Pepper will be damned if she thinks she can take her only friends away from her-

"What about Blythe?" Pepper turned around in what felt like slow motion. Who else could the panda be asking? She already went to Sunil and Russell, and then her and Zoe. Did she just decide to repeat herself so they all could hear her loud and clear?

It was only after she turned around that she realized…she forgot about Vinnie and Minka.

Pepper isn't as worried as she was when Penny was asking the others about the human. Simply because Vinnie and Minka were extremely absentminded sometimes. Not that Pepper was going to pretend she was much smarter than them, because she wasn't, but it would make sense if they weren't paying attention to Penny like everyone else.

… Which is what she thought until Russell snapped his fingers with a victorious gasp, a smile grew across his face. "I got it! We need Blythe!" He exclaimed.

Oh. So they didn't even get to hear Penny say her idea. Great.

Zoe stood up and yipped with a wagging tail as Sunil pulled Vinnie into a hug- much to the gecko's chagrin. Penny simply facepalmed with a groan.

"Every time…" The panda mumbled as everyone gathered around to discuss their plan.

Pepper gaped at the group, gobsmacked. She felt her eye twitch a couple of times. "Are you kidding me right now?"

Everyone stared at her as Russell groaned and slid a hand down his face in exasperation. "Oh my goodness- what is it now?"

"Don't act like you don't know! Look, if we just come up with something else-"

Russell cut her off. "We don't have time to come up with something else! The shop is closing tomorrow, and if I didn't know any better, I'd just assume you don't care!"

Pepper could tell by the end of his sentence that he immediately regretted it, at least… she thinks. Judging by the way the hedgehog's eyes immediately widened and everyone staring at him. But that doesn't matter to Pepper, not one bit. Pepper bared her teeth at him and growled. It was funny seeing Russell at a loss for words for once.

"Wait- no, Pepper. Th-That's not what I-"

"Whatever." Pepper hissed, already making her way to the dumbwaiter. "We'll use your dumb plan, but don't come crying to me when she screws everything up like literally all humans."

She could tell Russell was going to say something else, but reconsidered it and closed his mouth with a dejected look. Good.

The others looked between the hedgehog and skunk awkwardly. Sunil shrugged and leaped into the dumbwaiter, he turned towards the others.

"Well? What are we waiting for? We can focus on Pepper and Russell's drama later! We have a pet shop to save, do we not?" He asked incredulously.

Vinnie followed close after the mongoose, then the others jumped into the dumbwaiter one by one. Pepper prepared herself for the jump she would have to make into the dumbwaiter, her leg had only gotten injured this morning so it definitely wasn't healed yet, and the last thing she needed was for everyone to waste their time on a stupid sprained leg. So taking a deep breath, she hopped into the dumbwaiter, Russell following slowly behind her, refusing to even take a glance at Pepper.

Not that Pepper cares, of course. Why would she? Nope, not at all, not one bit. Besides, she's too focused on not screaming out in absolute pain from the sudden burning in her paw.

She's fine, though. She's dealt with worse. Far worse than some petty argument and a sprained leg. She gently tried to set down her paw on the metallic surface, before immediately jerking it back upwards. Okay, so maybe it was a little bit more than sprained. It was still fine, nothing she couldn't handle.

Penny and Vinnie both grabbed the rope and began to pull upwards, Minka closed the door of the dumbwaiter. As they started to go up, Pepper couldn't shake her intense feeling of dread, she'd just be in a singular room with not only a human, but a teenage human, the worst kind in her opinion. She wished she had Mr. Clucks with her right now, she'd just chew on him until she calmed down, he was in the pet shop though, so she had to wait.

She just hoped she wasn't wasting her time.

...

In retrospect, they should've planned that out better.

Okay, so they might've forgotten that she ran away screaming and hasn't come back yet, no biggie.

It was now the morning of the next day, therefore, attempt number two.

Pepper tapped her paw against the metal of the dumbwaiter anxiously. She sighed in frustration, what was taking so long? The sooner they got this over with, the sooner she could keep her distance from the human.

In all honesty, Pepper did not want to go back into the human's room. It was bad enough being in the same place the human would sleep, but being in the same room she'd be in at the same time as them? Pepper wasn't sure if she could handle it.

Zoe swung the door open as soon as Vinnie and Penny stopped tugging, resulting in Pepper jumping in the air in fright, immediately banging her head against the top of the dumbwaiter. The others let out a collective "ooohhh," of what she guessed was sympathy. A pair of gentle claws attempted to steady her, but it was too late and she went tumbling out of the dumbwaiter, face planting on the floor with her legs outstretched.

… At least she fell on carpet.

Pepper let out a groan of pain, rubbing her head. Could this get any worse?

As soon as Pepper asked herself that question, she was brought to the attention of her banging head and the spinning room. She felt nauseated by the rapidness of the spinning and swallowed, her dizziness combined with the pain in her head and paw was making it extremely hard to keep her lunch down. She tried to get back on her legs, refraining a hiss at the pressure she was forced to put on her leg. The same gentle paws that had tried to help her before were back.

"Pepper! Are you alright?" Sunil asked frantically, his paws on her shoulders in order to steady her.

A scoff came from a couple inches away. "Yeah, I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I don't think she's okay," she could hear Vinnie state. A blob of green stood in front of her. "How many fingers am I holding up?" He asked.

Pepper leaned in closer and squinted to inspect the hand. "Six! Final answer!"

There was dead silence after her answer. If Pepper didn't feel like she was about to throw up, she'd definitely question it.

"Pepper… I'm holding up three." Vinnie told her slowly, she felt her fur flush.

"Three? Oh. Well, that explains why they're all on the same hand then," Pepper replied, it was only after her sentence that she realized that her speech was slurred. Well, that can't be normal.

… Eh, it's probably fine.

The pets stayed silent for a couple moments, which was good for Pepper's head, as well as Sunil gently scratching the top of her head. Usually she would've swatted at his paw and told him to quit, but it just felt so good right now. The throbbing in her head wasn't gone, but it was almost… muffled. And… okay, it felt pretty good. This was probably the nicest she felt all day.

"Alright," Russell's voice cut through her momentary peace, she winced and repressed a sad whimper when Sunil removed his paws from her head. "Blythe is still sleeping, I'm just going to go over and wake her up. You all stay here and don't touch anything. Got it?"

Mutters washed through the pets as well as Pepper's own grunt of agreement. Although it sounded like Russell was talking to all of them, it was pretty obvious he was referring to her. And she couldn't blame him.

Pepper tried to stand up and to her surprise, she was balancing pretty well on her four paws. At least until she stumbled a bit forwards and got caught by another set of paws.

Something wet hit her cheek. "Honestly, Pepper, you should take it easy. You don't look so good," Zoe told her with concern.

Pepper scoffed, wiping at the place that Zoe had licked her. "I'm fine, okay? Just a bit dizzy. It'll probably wear off in a couple minutes," she waved her paw nonchalantly for emphasis.

"... I don't think hitting your head like that is something that can just 'wear off'," Penny said, it took Pepper a couple seconds to realize the panda was using air quotes.

"Guys, I'm fine," Pepper told them in slight annoyance. Yes, she knew they mean well, but god damn was it getting on her nerves. "Look, I'm going over here perfectly fine. See? My head doesn't even hurt anymore!" She said like a liar.

"Pepper. What are you doing?" Minka asked, suspicion evident in her tone.

The skunk trotted over to a large white desk the human seemed to own, she used her claws to open a drawer that was on the same level as her. She began to rummage through it.

"Pepper!" Sunil exclaimed in a hushed yet frantic tone. "Russell told us to stay put!"

Pepper glanced behind her shoulder in an attempt to focus on the mongoose. "Pffft, relax, Sunil. I'm still in the room, aren't I?"

"Well, yes, but-"

"But nothing, buddy! Isn't most of this stuff things you're curious about? We're not owned by teenagers, why not just take a look around? Besides, it's not like Russell told us to not touch anything!" Pepper told them, putting her claws on more things she didn't care about. Okay, Pepper didn't actually care about any of the things this teenager had, but if it piqued any of her friends interests, in such a way that they accidentally made a mess, who was she to complain?

"Well, she had me in the first half," Vinnie said flatly.

What?

"Yes he did, Pepper! He literally told us not to touch anything! He said that thirty seconds ago!" Sunil said, voice laced in frustration.

"He… did?" Blurry heads nodded to her question, she shook her head in an attempt to get rid of the dizziness. "Doesn't matter. Russell won't care, he's too busy trying to wake up Blythe," she said the human's name in a mocking tone.

"He most definitely will care. Have you met the hedgehog?" Zoe asked incredulously followed by mumbles of agreement.

"I think she hit her head a bit too hard." Pepper's ear flicked as she heard Minka whispering to someone.

Pepper's claws gripped the edge of the drawer in frustration. "I heard that!" She called over her shoulder.

Everyone was quiet for a couple of seconds, drawing a sigh of relief from the skunk as the pounding tones down in her head for a moment as silence overtakes the room. Pepper tries to focus her eyes and squint at what exactly she was holding. She could make out a drawing of… someone wearing a dress with vibrant enough colors that it caused Pepper to hiss and grab her head. Despite the immense pain she was in - not just her head but her leg which still hasn't healed - she got an idea.

"Oh, Zoe~" Pepper sang with a toothy grin.

She heard a sigh followed by an annoyed, "What?"

"Come and check this out, I think you'll like it."

Although Pepper had her back towards the others, she could tell Zoe was hesitant. After about five seconds she heard paws scamper across the floor.

"This better be good." Pepper jumped slightly as she realized the dog was right beside her, but covered it with a smile and chuckle.

All Pepper had to do was point at the paper

Zoe let out a delighted gasp as her tail began to thump against the floor. "Oh, this is absolutely gorgeous!"

The skunk leaned over to Zoe's direction with a smirk. "Maybe there's more pictures of dresses up on that desk. But I guess we'll never know unless you jump up there…"

"I see what you're doing!" Zoe exclaimed almost immediately.

"Is it working?"

"... No comment."

"Come on, guys! You're all acting like Russell! Where's your sense of wonder?" Pepper asked the group, she wrapped a paw around Zoe. "Zoe, aren't you curious about what other things could be in here?"

"Well, yes, but-"

"Okay, then explore a little bit! You might never get a chance like this again!"

That final sentence seemed to do it for Zoe, she sighed and finally relented, "Fine. I guess I'll go take a look, but only for a second."

The other pets were quiet before Penny spoke up. "I mean… I guess she has a point. We'll probably never be able to see this room again, so why not make the most of it!"

"I suppose Pepper's right," Sunil pondered. "Okay, fine. I guess I'll take a look."

"Oh! Oh! I'm joining Sunil!" Minka called, Pepper guessed that the monkey had jumped onto the top of him by the way he squeaked followed by a small thud.

Vinnie shrugs. "Eh, you guys do whatever. I'm chilling on the wall if anyone needs me."

Pepper held a smirk of satisfaction on her face as she heard many paws shuffling across the floor when they scattered. She heard the sound of Zoe panting and saw her struggling to keep her balance on the chair before taking a final leap up onto the desk. Great! Now in under thirty seconds, the room will be destroyed beyond recognition! Perfect!

CRASH

Huh, that was under ten seconds… even better!

"What the- why…?" A raspy voice spoke up from across the room, Pepper didn't try to hide her scowl. The human.

There's no doubt the human had definitely seen the pets messing up her room. See, if she could actually focus her vision on the human, she would laugh in her face as well as her giant head because why not, but she couldn't, which is infuriating.

The human would definitely end up making her headache worse.

"What in the world is going on here?" Russell asked in a shrill yet aggravated voice. "I told you all to stay put, didn't I??"

Despite probably getting brain damage, she could tell all the pets were pointing at her as an explanation, which was only confirmed by an, "of course…" from the hedgehog.

… Well, okay then. Screw you guys too.

Out of pure spite, Pepper grabbed a stack of papers from the drawer and threw them onto the floor. "Whoops."

The human ignored her and got up from the bed to go talk to Zoe about… something. Pepper didn't really care, she just wanted to get out of here and sleep for days without any interruptions. She could tell that Russell has already told Blythe about their predicament, so why not just agree to help and come up with something? Or better yet, do nothing so Pepper can brag about being right about the human this whole time!

The human cut into Pepper's thoughts. "Okay, no! You guys need to leave before my dad catches you! I don't want you to bruise his back again!" Pepper suspected that last sentence was directed at her.

Pepper scoffed as she was placed in the dumbwaiter. Sadly, the human was too fast so she couldn't bite her. "Well, it's not my fault he can't stay on his feet-"

Penny and Sunil covered her mouth with nervous smiles before turning back to Blythe.

"No, no no no, you can't send us away!" Russell was begging now, looking at the human in desperation. "You… you don't understand, Blythe! If the shop closes, we'll be sent to Largest Ever Pet Shop! They treat their animals horribly! They keep them in small cages, the toys are old and ripped to shreds, and rumor has it that the treats are all stale and some are expired!" Russell ranted, counting off the horrible things with his claws before taking a breath and shivering a bit as he added quietly, "... and they use shock collars on all their pets!"

That last part got Pepper's attention, she suppressed a flinch and shut her eyes tight in order not to accidentally make eye contact with someone. She couldn't find it in her to care about the headache getting more extreme, she had bigger things to worry about. Another reason the pet shop couldn't be closed down, she couldn't go back to those things, not again. The stinging in her neck that would radiate through her body and leave her bedridden for days on end.

Oh, it hurts so much-

"Oh… my goodness, that's terrible!" Pepper looked at the human, confused at what just came out of her mouth. No, this has to be some kind of trap.

The human continues. "But why me though?"

"Well, for starters, you live just above us, you seem really nice, and, oh yeah, you're the only one that can talk to animals!" Russell told the human matter-of-factly while Pepper rolled her eyes. Yeah, nice. That's what she wants you to think.

"But-"

Penny cut the human off. "Please, Blythe? We need your help, we can't do this on our own! Pleeeeeaaaaaassssseeee?" The panda begged, pulling off her cutest face.

Oh… oh no, Pepper sees where this is going. She glanced at her friends and saw they were doing their cute faces one-by-one. Pepper simply huffed and crossed her forelegs, there was no way she was-

Sunil elbowed her with an annoyed expression before shifting back into his cute face. Pepper sighed and folded her ears against her head and formed a pout and attempted to widen her eyes. The human made eye contact with Pepper for a moment before sighing.

"Fine. I'll help."

...

They did it. They actually did it! They saved the pet shop!

Not that Pepper had any doubt in her mind, of course.

Okay, maybe a little, but that doesn't matter!

So the human came up with the idea to do a pet fashion show, not the worst idea Pepper has heard, and it was actually a lot of fun! Except for the part that hundreds of humans were watching her, that was terrible. The bright lights and the booming music didn't help all that much as Pepper had to walk in as straight of a line as she could and get into a person's face. Pepper was surprised she didn't pass out, it's been a couple hours since she banged her head on the roof of the dumbwaiter, and she was not getting better.

But hey, she got to squirt water into a man's face, and she wouldn't have to wear a shock collar again, so that's a bonus.

"Hey," a sudden voice sounded from right beside Pepper, she looked to her left and saw Russell right next to her.

They were all in the pet shop, waiting for their owners to pick them up after the fashion show. The shop was being swarmed by humans right now, so Pepper opted to stay in the back.

"Oh. Hey, Russell," Pepper tried to offer a grin, but the throbbing returned and she winced, she chuckled nervously and prayed that the hedgehog wouldn't notice. "What's up?"

Russell eyed her weirdly for a second before opening his mouth. "Just checking up on you, you weren't out there with the others."

The skunk looked down at her paws. "Well… you know, there's a lot of people out there," she explained slowly. "I don't want to end up biting… or-or scratching someone. It's better if I stay in here."

Russell hummed in understanding, an uncomfortable silence overtook them for a couple of seconds. "You were really good out there, Pep. You all were! I know going out in front of all those humans must've been hard for you."

"Pfffft, it's fine! It wasn't that bad!" Pepper lied, waving her paw. "And besides- wait, you never call me Pep."

He shrugged. "Eh, first time for everything I guess. Unless you don't want me calling you that!" Russell said quickly.

Pepper cut him off. "Dude, it's fine. I don't care."

Russell simply nodded and turned away from the skunk, twiddling with his paws. Pepper went back to looking at the floor. Another awkward silence took place and Pepper ran her claws through her tail anxiously. She could tell Russell wanted to say more, but she didn't know what and it was driving her crazy!

Was Russell about to tell her that he was still mad at her? That Mrs. Twombly has finally decided she had enough of her and kick her out?

"How's your leg?" He piped up, eyeing the leg that she was hovering above the ground. The same one she injured yesterday.

She chuckled nervously. "What are you talking about? My leg is fine!"

"Don't lie to me, Pepper." Russell sighed, not annoyed, but exasperated. "Every time you put any weight on it, you hiss. Did you seriously think no one would notice?"

"Well… kind of…?" Pepper offered a sheepish smile.

Russell snapped his fingers with a victorious grin. "So you admit that your leg is injured!"

She sputtered for a couple moments before relenting with a sigh. "Okay, fine. My leg has been hurting ever since I took that fall, I probably landed on it weird or something. Happy?"

"Actually, no. I don't like seeing my friends in pain, believe it or not." Russell stated, crossing his arms. "Especially when they might have brain damage, does your owner even know about that?"

Pepper chose to look anywhere except at the hedgehog. How does he know about that? She thought she was hiding it so well!

"He doesn't, does he?"

She shook her head.

They both remained silent again, but this time it was Pepper who spoke up. "I'm sorry!" She blurted.

Russell turned back to her, confused. "Huh?"

"Yesterday, when I yelled at you, I shouldn't have done that. And I wouldn't listen to you no matter what you said, I… I was horrible, and I'm sorry." Pepper rambled, until she felt small arms wrap around her. Russell was hugging her.

"I'm sorry too." He began to apologize, "I wasn't much better, especially when I said you didn't care about the shop, that wasn't right. You went up in front of a large crowd of humans while you were in a lot of pain, Pepper! That's more than enough proof that you care, even if it's incredibly stupid that you never got help."

Pepper hesitated before melting into the hug and wrapping her paws around the hedgehog, being careful of his quills.

"So… does that mean we're cool now?" Pepper asked quietly.

Russell pulled away and looked at her with a gentle smile. "Yeah, I think it does." He paused, "just one question."

"Okay. Shoot."

The hedgehog's smile faded and his expression turned serious. "During our argument, you said something about how 'that's how they get you.' What did you mean by that?"

Pepper quickly turned away from the hedgehog. She couldn't tell him, not at all. "Uh, well… it's just… ummm-"

"You know what? You don't have to answer that." Russell reassured with an apologetic and understanding smile.

Yet another silence started up again, causing Pepper to sigh. She was getting really sick of these long pauses.

Russell leaned into Pepper with a smug grin. "Sooooo, Blythe isn't so bad now, is she?"

Pepper shrugged. "I mean… I guess she's alright. And even if I did like her, it's not like we'll see her that much!"

"You mean you don't know?" The hedgehog asked.

"... Know what?" She replied, quirking an eyebrow suspiciously.

"...Blythe is going to be working here now."

"..."

"Pepper? Pepper, are you okay-"

"She's WHAT?!?!?!"