Chapter Text
Jackson had never really thought about owning a hybrid. Not even a little.
He was really the perfect candidate for one. The lump sum he’d inherited from his favorite aunt’s death several years prior ensured he’d have no problem providing for a dependent. And truthfully, his house did feel a bit too large for it’s lone inhabitant.
Still, hybrids just seemed too foreign to be comfortable.
In Jackson’s old world, hybrids were more legend than reality. They were still so much rarer than pure humans, and they were carefully bred for the wealthy class. Jackson’s own family struggled to make rent for their tiny apartment. His childhood and teenage days were spent sweeping shop floors, washing dishes, mowing lawns- really, taking any work he could get. His family needed it, they’d always worked hard because they really had to.
Or so he thought at the time.
In actuality, his parents were the only ones out of all their relatives who struggled. They were the ones who were outcasts, poverty-stricken where they easily could have lived comfortably, but were instead doomed to a life of pain and hard work due to their own selfish choices.
His parents weren’t struggling anymore, Jackson made sure of that. But he still hadn’t entirely forgiven them either. Still, without them, the space of his (also inherited) lavish home was more lonely than he ever could have imagined.
But hybrids always gave him the creeps. Their ears and tails were beautiful, sure, but they looked more like they belonged in a fairy tale than in his own living room.
So Jackson had always politely declined his family’s offers to find him a reputable dealer. His surviving two uncles and their own families both housed hybrids of their own, but Jackson had never been able to look the haughty creatures in the eye.
Now, however, he was having second thoughts.
He was standing at the cross walk, waiting for the light to change. His car was parked a block away from the restaurant he’d just eaten dinner at, and he was anxious to get home. It’d been a long day, and he craved his soft pajamas and his nightly dessert of warm milk and a muffin. He couldn’t help but stare ahead, trying to avoid staring at the light to will it to turn faster.
Straight ahead just happened to be a swank hybrid shop. And in that shop window, there just happened to be the cutest boy Jackson had ever laid eyes on- hybrid or not.
Jackson stared. He felt like the air had left his lungs. How could one boy possibly be so cute? Was it his round cheeks? The fluffiness of his dark hair? Or perhaps the pink streak of his fringe?
Jackson tried to avert his eyes, but just couldn’t look away. The hybrid looked up, looked straight into his eyes. He looked a bit concerned at first but quickly offered a small wave and a smile.
There was no hope left for Jackson to move on at that point. He had to talk to that boy.
The crosswalk beeped sharply, announcing the light had changed. Jackson sprinted across the street, running up to the door of the shop and wrenching it open. His heart beat loudly in his chest, but he knew it wasn’t from the exercise.
He vaguely registered a salesperson greeting him but he couldn’t really pay attention. The small boy was half turned towards him, still standing in between other hybrids in the window display. He looked a little scared and Jackson’s heart squeezed at the vulnerability on his face.
Jackson stepped towards the boy, still maintaining a bit of distance before speaking.
“Hi. I’m Jackson. I..” He trailed off, not really knonwing what to say. To be fair, he’d only seen this boy about a minute ago and that wasn’t nearly long enough to form a game plan. And now, up close, he could see what was impossible to see from across the street. Inky black cat ears and a slinky dark tail.
The boy just faced down shyly, looking up through thick lashes. His eyes were light olive green, pupils clearly inhuman in shape. Jackson already felt awkward.
“Er… What’s your name? I mean, you have one, right?” The boy nodded slightly, head still bent to the floor.
“I’m Bambam.” If Jackson thought the boy was cute, his voice was the most adorable thing in the universe. Jackson suppressed the urge to launch forward and embrace him, instead continuing the conversation.
“How old are you, if you don’t mind me asking?” Bambam looked a bit surprised, but responded quickly enough.
“I’m sixteen.” Jackson hummed a bit, mulling over the information. From what he knew about hybrids, they usually weren’t sold until they were eighteen or so.
“I’m twenty-one. Thats..” Jackson stopped to count it out, looking down at his fingers to help visualize the numbers more out of habit than need. “Five years older.” Bambam nodded before responding.
“You’re really young, aren’t you?” Jackson snapped up, glad that the younger boy had taken the initiative to respond on his own.
“Yeah, but you’re one to talk! Sixteen! You’re still a baby!” Jackson smiled as Bambam crossed his arms and stamped his foot lightly. However, his smile dropped as his eyes followed the movement of the hybrid’s feet. His other foot was chained to a round peg firmly attached to the window display, and it certainly didn’t look comfortable.
“Hey! Watch how you act in front of customers! You’ll never be sold at his rate.” Jackson had actually forgotten the presence of the woman at the counter altogether, but now that she was close to him and interupting his conversation with a shrill reprimand, he wished she could’ve remained forgotten.
Jackson’s frown only got deeper when Bambam’s smile vanished as he returned to hanging his head low, shifting back a bit so he was closer to the glass of the shop window.
“Is she always this bitchy to you guys?” Bambam’s head snapped up as his plump lips formed a perfect ‘o’ of shock. The woman’s face turned red as she stammered, looking for words to respond.
“I’m not- They’re hybrids! They don’t care. Are you even looking for a hybrid, or are you just here to try and provoke the pets?” Jackson could feel his temperature rising. He’d only been in the shop for a few minutes and he was sure of two things.
1.) He hated this woman and
2.) There was no way in hell he was leaving Bambam there.
“As a matter of fact, I am looking for a hybrid. But I’m not sure I want to buy one from someone like you.” Her face only got redder, arms flying to cross her chest as she bit her lip.
A tense moment passed where Jackson stared at the saleswoman, she stared at some display slightly to the left, and Bambam attempted to melt into the ground.
Jackson finally broke the silence by speaking again. “Lucky for you, I want Bambam so much that I’ll buy him from you anyway. Even though you were like, super rude. I mean, what happened to ‘the customer is always right?’, huh?” Her mouth flopped open in a way that reminded Jackson of a fish, but he wasn’t all that concerned with her at the moment.
“Bambam, is that alright? Will you go home with me? I know we don’t know each other all that well but I like you and I think we can be good friends if you give me a shot.” The younger boy was obviously stunned, but only took a moment before nodding enthusiastically. Jackson could feel himself start to calm down a bit just looking at the wide grin now gracing Bambam’s face. He didn’t bother turning away from Bambam while he reached for his wallet.
“Then that’s settled. I’m taking Bambam with me.” When the saleswoman didn’t respond, Jackson felt forced to rip his gaze away from where he really wanted to keep it to see what was wrong now.
“Are you serious? Like, really serious? You haven’t even asked his price or breed or- or anything, really.” Jackson shrugged as he got out his debit card.
“I can afford him, I’m sure. Just ring me up.” The woman shook her head slightly to herself, but took his card and started to back away. Jackson stopped her by grabbing her shoulder as she turned her back.
“Wait, before you go away, let Bambam down. I want to take him to pick out a new collar.” The woman scoffed a bit, but did grab a key off of a ring full of them, and clicked open the lock. Bambam hesitantly moved his left foot back and forth, testing how it felt to be free from the shackle. Jackson extended his arm in an offer to assist him with his balance, and Bambam easily linked his own arm with Jackson’s.
There was a decently sized wall of collars, in varying colors and styles. Bambam looked apprehensively up at them. Jackson noticed that it looked like he wanted to say something, but was holding back, so he nudged his side gently before reassuring him.
“Did you want to say something? If you do, please say it. I don’t give a shit about wanting a quiet hyrbid or whatever the hell that bitch was going on about.” Said bitch huffed audibly from the cash register, but Jackson ignored her, instead focusing on the boy beside him.
“Well..” Jackson nodded, wanting Bambam to know it was fine to speak. “I just never expected to be able to pick something like this. I don’t know how.” Jackson was perplexed for a second before it occurred to him that if most hybrid owners had expectations like this saleswoman’s, hybrids probably didn’t get much choice at all.
“We can start with one part of it at a time. Do you have a color you like?” Bambam bit his lip, obviously deep in thought.
“I don’t think so. I like different things about different colors.”
“Do you like pink? Your hair is pink. Well, some of it is.” Bambam shrugged his shoulders.
“I do like pink, I guess, but I didn’t decide on that for my hair. Pink matches my sales theme.”
“Sales theme?” Bambam’s eyebrows furrowed as he looked back up to the collars.
“It’s not that important, at least not with you, I don’t think. I mean, if that wasn’t out of place for me to say!” Jackson reached forward and rubbed Bambam’s arm gently, recognizing the rising panic in his tone.
“You can say whatever you want to me. But if you say it’s not important, then it’s not important.” Bambam relaxed again and gave a soft smile before turning back to the collars. He narrowed his eyes in appraisal before pointing to the top shelf.
“I like that one.”
“The white one?” Bambam nodded. Jackson swung his arm up to get the saleswoman’s attention.
“Can we get this collar down off that shelf and you can just add that to the card?” She nodded and moved over with a small step stool to get it off its high perch.
Ripping the cardboard backing away from the off-white leather felt extremely satisfying, but it paled in comparison to the way it felt when his hands clasped the buckle around Bambam’s neck, the younger boy beaming up at him as he did so.
His card was handed back to him and he was led to the register to sign some forms. He signed them quickly, wanting to be given permission to take Bambam away from the store. He was given a stack of papers- Bambam’s history and legal documentation- and then he was finally free to go.
Jackson stepped away from the counter, turning from the saleswoman’s tight-lipped smile to Bambam’s genuine and warm one. He offered Bambam his hand and Bambam quickly grabbed it, lacing his fingers in with Jackson’s own.
As they walked out the door, Jackson felt giddy. He hadn’t had much to be happy about lately, but having someone as sweet as Bambam around could only make things better.
For the first time in a long time, Jackson felt hopeful about what came next.