Chapter Text
Nothing infuriated Choso more than receiving a call from his dear old dad. It had been an ordinary day as he was heading out of work, watching the last few kids playing on the play ground as they waited for their parents to pick them up. Fishing his phone out of his pocket, his fond smile soured seeing "Fuck off" written over the call buttons. With a heavy sigh, he pressed answer and brought the phone up to his ear.
"What do you want?" He spat with venom lacing his voice.
"Aw I'm wounded, is my favorite son that uninterested in hearing how I'm doing these days?"
Choso didn't think his mood could have soured any further, and yet they never failed to surprise him. Waving goodbye at the children shouting "Bye Mister Kamo," he hurried to his car to ensure they wouldn't notice his expression.
"I'm your only child, and you know that." Slamming the car door shut was the only outlet for his rage now.
"Mh, yes I suppose. The others were all far to weak after all. Such a shame," the voice on the other end of the line overflowed with glee, having tormented him enough times to know the exact words to send him into a blind fury.
No, he was better than that—is better than that. The monster that had claimed the lives of all of his siblings would not get under his skin anymore. He took three deep breaths, only now realizing how tightly he was gripping the steering wheel despite not even having started the car yet.
"Whatever. I don't have all day, so tell me what you called me for or I'm hanging up"
"My, what an attitude! I just wanted to let you know I had a gift for you. Christmas is right around the corner after all." He didn't like the sound of that at all. In all the years he has known his creator, a gift was something Kenjaku never even considered giving him.
Nonetheless, he knew he wasn't in a position where he could refuse. However odd or unserious Kenjaku's whims might be, if someone were to try to stand in their way, the consequences would not be pretty.
Taking his silence as acceptance, Kenjaku continued, "I'll be over at that new place of yours later today, do try to make it presentable." A beep was heard as they hung up, leaving Choso to stew in self-pity and anger.
He never told them where he lived.
His brain went into autopilot the moment he returned home, not even allowing him time to dread the arrival of his father. He cleaned his entire apartment and showered despite the disgusting, slimy feeling he had all over his body lingering as he got dressed in something "more appropriate." Just as he ended his tasks and his emotions threatened to resurface, he heard keys turn in the lock of his front door. Of course.
"You couldn't just ring the doorbell like a regular person?" He walked into the entry way to greet the intruder, stopping dead in his tracks as what greeted him at the front of his apartment was a pink-haired boy, small in stature and clearly malnourished. His hazel eyes stared straight down towards the floor beneath his feet, not glancing up once even when Choso stopped moving.
Kenjaku was no where in sight.
Despite his strikingly unnatural hair color, it paled in comparison to what was hidden in between the short fluffy strands. A pair of animal ears, seemingly of a dog or a wolf, replaced the regular human ears you'd come to expect. They were flattened against the hybrid's head, giving away his fear without mercy.
Now that Choso looked closer, behind the kid he could make out a long fluffy tail. It was unkept to the point where it touched the floor, seeming almost like felt from the mats and tangles throughout. No, don't tell me they—
Just as he opened his mouth, his phone joyfully dinged, the jarringly unexpected sound pulling him out of his stupor.
He pulled it out of his pocket and opened the message notification to a message from the person he had expected to show up instead of this child.
"Here you go dear,
A special hybrid made just for you. You're always so upset about how your siblings turned out, I figured I owe you another chance to make up for it.
As for his needs, he is an omnivore with a preference for meat, so you can give him dog food if you prefer that. Otherwise he is the same as a regular human child with just a stronger sense of hearing, smell, and taste. And don't you worry, he is 100% vaccinated and clean, so no need to go to any shady doctor.
I truly outdid myself with this one, so I do hope you treat him well and don't dispose of him too quickly.
Love,
Your dear father."
Resisting the urge to throw his phone against the wall proved incredibly difficult. The only thing stopping him from doing so was the clearly terrified kid in front of him. Despite his body language expressing how stressed he was, his face remained blank and almost dead, while his eyes stayed cast downward the entire time.
'Another chance to make up for it'
As much as he hated falling for their obvious manipulation, there was a boy in need of help right in front of him. A boy that, were he to hand him in to the authorities, would never even make it into an orphanage before the government stole him away for more experimenting.
He did find the line about 'preferring' to give him dog food quite odd, but he figured it was another part of his father's humor he never managed to understand. Or wished to.
His main priority now was for the boy to relax and to not cause him anymore panic. Hopefully his training as an educator would help him seem less threatening.
"Do you have a name? Would you like to tell me it?" He had low hopes. Kenjaku rarely named his experiments, let alone those he planned to give away.
The boy's voice could only be described as small, barely a whisper and almost indistinguishable from an exhale. "Yuuji, aniki."
Choso's heart skipped a beat at the word, only to drop from his chest once he remembered where this child came from. Despite the years no contact, Kenjaku still knew exactly what got a reaction out of his son. Yuuji's expression had remained blank even while speaking. It was obvious the little hybrid had no idea what the word meant, this was all their father's doing.
Nonetheless, it plucked at Choso's heartstrings just as Kenjaku had intended, his desire to care for this child only increasing.
"That's a sweet name Yuuji. Do you know who I am?" For the first time since he had entered the apartment, Yuuji moved. He nodded his head once and pointed a finger straight at Choso's chest.
"Aniki," he said again, his voice quivering, doubt seeping into his frail voice. With a heavy sigh, Choso chose to accept this new role fully in that moment.
"That's right, I'm your aniki. Please call me Choso-nii from now on." Yuuji nods again but doesn't say anything.
Choso knew from experience that usually his father didn't allow his 'experiments' to talk, so he was pleasantly surprised Yuuji had spoken at all. His heart swelled with something akin to pride, subconsciously already having accepted Yuuji as his little brother.
"Alright Yuuji, let's get you some food and something to drink while I organize a few things. Follow me to the couch."
While he was searching online for children's clothing and necessities, his doorbell rang. Upon opening the front door, Choso only found a bag lying in front of his feet. He could already guess who it was from, finding the timing yet again unnerving to say the least.
He brought the bag inside and opened it, finding multiple sets of clothing, a children's sized blanket and pillow with two sets of colorful bedding, and even a dark teal teddy bear. More upsettingly, under these perfectly normal items were cans of dog food, a dog collar and a fucking leash.
Immediately Choso threw those in the trash. There was no way in hell he'd treat poor Yuuji like a dog.
He left Yuuji in the living room, putting on a show well liked by the kids in his class, Bluey. Even though it was meant for children a bit younger than Yuuji, the communication it taught was something the boy would have to learn sooner rather than later. He knew exactly what that monster did in that lab of theirs. Choso would need to work very hard to even begin to heal the trauma his little brother had experienced.
After setting up a bed for Yuuji in the guest room right across the hall, he returned to the living room to order take out for the two of them. Today had been far too mentally exhausting for him to cook something proper.
They spent the rest of the evening in relative silence. Yuuji mostly answered with non-verbal cues and Choso, while getting increasingly more worried about the boy's mental state, was thankful for the calm so he could get his thoughts in order.
Around 8 pm, it was time to get Yuuji ready for bed. Choso took him with him to the bathroom, deciding to begin with brushing his teeth.
The boy was light, pliant in Choso's hold as he lifted him up on the bathroom counter. He could feel the outline of his ribs starkly under his hands, barely any meat between his skin and his bones. Choso knew how little Kenjaku cared for the health of their experiments. He had seen it plenty of times before, had learned to ignore their pleading eyes, their malnourished forms trying to reach for him through the glass barriers in the lab.
But he wouldn't look away from Yuuji, wouldn't leave him to starve and suffer. This boy was his to save, to care for and to protect. He has lost so many of his "siblings" over the years, Yuuji would be his chance for redemption.
A quiet whimper, barely louder than a gust of wind pulled Choso back into reality, and he noticed how tightly he was gripping his ribcage. He loosened his hold but didn't dare to fully let go. His brother was so small. If he let him go, the lightest breeze was sure to have him crumble to nothing but dust.
"Ch-Choso-nii .. okay?" His frail voice stumbled over the unfamiliar words, still not used to being allowed to speak at all. He pointed his small index finger at the middle of the older man's chest but didn't try to touch him.
Choso attempted to compose himself with a deep inhale "I'm alright Yuuji, I'm sorry for worrying you," he sighed. "Let me just get the toothbrush, have you ever had mint?"
Despite the clear confusion in his eyes, Yuuji nodded eagerly to hide his worry about being punished for not knowing. "Yuuji it's okay to not know. Please be honest with me." He hoped he sounded encouraging, even tried to put on a friendly smile as to not scare the kid.
Immediately, Yuuji's eyes welled up with tears and he started sobbing. "Sorry! Sorry sorry, Yuuji sorry please forgive— Yuuji honest! Swear! 'M sorry Choso-nii." Small hands started scrambling at his chest, tugging at his shirt with more strength than he would've expected. All of Yuuji's previous inhibitions about touching him were forgotten in the face of pure panic.
"Hey, it's okay— Yuuji!" He had to physically grapple with the boy's hands to get him to stop moving. Trying to stay mindful of his smaller, frail frame, he released Yuuji go the moment the boy settled back down, his string of apologies turning into soundless sobbing. "You're not in trouble, I won't hurt you."
He held his hands up in a pacifying gesture as he continued, "I just want you to be comfortable so that we can work together, alright?" Yuuji let out a quiet yes. Choso reached out behind him towards the toothpaste in the cupboard, opening it to put a small amount on his index finger.
"Great! Tell me if you like the taste of this, it's alright if you don't." He extended his hand towards Yuuji's mouth, who obediently licked the toothpaste off the finger. The little tongue felt velvety on Choso's calloused finger, lapping it all up as the hybrid's eyes seemingly got larger with every lick.
"I like it," he whispered against the finger, his mouth close enough for Choso to feel little puffs of air.
He blinked back to reality and hastily pulled his hand away. Behind Yuuji was his toothbrush so he reached behind the boy to grab it, blocking out Yuuji's startled gasp at the sudden proximity.
"I'm going to brush your teeth Yuuji, is that okay?" Seeing his timid nod he squeezed a bit of the toothpaste on the bristles and wet them under the running faucet. "Open up." He gently grabbed the boy's jaw to keep it steady while inserting the toothbrush. Yuuji kept his mouth open obediently, his eyes remaining downcast, almost closed.
Choso was smart enough to not assume this as a sign of trust or comfort. The boy was still clearly terrified of the situation and possible punishments. Despite how much it pained him to admit, Choso's own similarity to Kenjaku surely wasn't helping him feel at ease.
Now that he was paying closer attention, Yuuji's teeth reflected Kenjaku's apparent neglect. He clearly needed braces, his teeth mostly displaced and some showing slight chips and even a few minor holes. His two front teeth had a gap between them. In the back there was a molar missing, the two teeth on each side already closing in the gap and barely leaving room for a new tooth to grow.
Lost in his thoughts, his hand subconsciously moved from Yuuji's jaw up to caress along the lower row of teeth, running a finger over each one. The toothbrush stayed long forgotten in one place.
The feeling of his pants getting uncomfortably tight pulled him out of his thoughts. He once again jerked his hand back, as if he had been burnt. Trying to pretend nothing odd happened, he returned to brushing Yuuji's teeth like a normal adult caring for a sibling should, trying to ignore his ever growing boner. He did his best to overlook the way the bristles of the brush moved along each tooth, or how Yuuji's tongue subconsciously moved along the toothbrush and his clean teeth, or how as time went on more and more drool built up in Yuuji's mouth from keeping it open and not swallowing.
Finishing up quickly as to not get lost in thought, he showed Yuuji how to rinse his mouth with a cup of water by himself.