I want to adventures with you

Luke reopens the map, turning it around until he's sure north is facing north. He traces his finger along their route.

"Yes, we just stay on the I-40 for pretty much forever. The same as it's been the whole time."

He looks back up at Bobby, whose grip on the steering wheel had somehow tightened. Bobby removes his right hand and gestures toward the expansive desert surrounding them. "Does this look like the interstate? Any interstate?" he asks through gritted teeth.

Luke looks around and shrugs his shoulders. This is his first time outside of LA, how is he supposed to know what the interstates of anywhere else looks like. Nevermind that they'd been on the I-40 for what feels like a million years already and this definitely doesn't look like that.

"Uh, guys?" Reggie's sheepish, all too sleepy voice calls out from the back.

"What?!" Bobby barks back at him.

"Don't yell at him!" Luke snipes back. Somehow even with a years long agreement, Bobby can't always control his temper, even at Reggie. Of course, he always blames Luke. Everything's always Luke's fault.

Luke mentally rolls his eyes.

"What's going on, Reg?" he asks patiently even while shooting daggers at Bobby.

"I uh… I need to pee."

Bobby heaves out a sigh. "We literally just stopped."

Luke narrows his eyes at Bobby. "Not literally, clearly, considering the nap of it all." If Luke's being honest, he's a little irritated too. He's not allowed to nap. Not allowed to close his eyes. Being shotgun means being navigator, he repeats sarcastically in his head. It's not his fault that the back seat makes him carsick. And it's not his fault that he doesn't have his driver's license yet. He studies and practices and practices and studies but everytime he's in that driver's seat, something goes wrong.

"I didn't have to pee then! I have to pee now," Reggie explains, his voice verging on the edge of that whine that they all know Bobby can't stand.

Bobby sighs again. Luke looks out at the road ahead of them. No shoulders, so they can't really just pull over. He supposes that there's not really enough traffic to cause any major issues but he also knows that Bobby won't risk it and the way Alex will worry the entire time makes it not worth trying.

"Can you hold it?" Bobby asks.

"I can try…"

Luke can feel Reggie's knees jumping in the back of his seat.

"But I don't know how long it'll last."

"Can't you just pee in a water bottle and call it a day?" Luke suggests. He can sense Bobby's grimace but there's no rebuttal.

"Dumped 'em all at the rest stop," Alex murmurs from his own half-sleepy state.

Bobby huffs out a breath, "Great."

Luke considers offering to chug a new bottle of water to free one up but if he's being honest, he's not far off from needing his own roadside stop and he doesn't want to incite further wrath.

See, Bobby? Sometimes he can think!

"Luke!" Bobby interrupts Luke's internal problem solving. "Figure out where we are and get us back on route."

"Aye, aye captain," Luke says with an obnoxious salute. He looks at the map again, trying to figure out where they could have gone wrong and traces their choices back. He looks out the window and tries to catch sight of literally any sign of where they might be. They're so in the middle of nowhere, there doesn't seem to even be a driveway or roadway to attempt turning around or stopping in.

He relaxes into his seat. He can feel Bobby's eyes boring holes into the side of his head.

Luke turns to face him. "What? There's clearly nothing we can do right now until we find somewhere to stop so just turn around when you can and we'll figure it out then."

Bobby scoffs but turns his attention back to the road. "You won't be saying that when we miss the show because of your shit directions."

Luke's jaw drops. He hadn't really considered that possibility. They'd given themselves plenty of time to get between stops for a reason!

He knows they want a puppy-hybrid, not too young, but still energetic enough, none of this 'virgin' shit- Jack wants a rescue, something to sink his teeth into. Robby wants something sweet off the batt, something he can dote on and hand feed and love. Lets hope they find a compromise. He likes the idea too- bleeding heart that he is- of taking in something that needs a little extra love. A male hybrid too- an omega (Robby's preference). Jack had frowned at that. He doesn't really miss pussy, but there was a moment of insecurity with that when he realised Robby might. Still, Robby's been struggling a little lately, and if a wet little hybrid-omega pussy is going to cheer him up then fine. The only real strong preference Jack has that Robby is indifferent on is speech capability. Robby would be happy without it, but the thing is they can train that into him and have the best of both world. So he knows when Jack's at work he can't speak dogs don't speak Jack, they bark and he knows he can when Jack's home I'm not yapping to myself all night Michael. He doesn't want a stupid dog. 

Jack relays most of this to the attendant, who studiously nods and notes some things down. "Okay, boy you guys sure do know what you want huh? Makes a nice change." 

He leads them through to the back, where the big windows are casting rays of light down on the shared play area. It's a cute sight, Jack has to admit. He's never really been into the whole hybrid craze, but seeing the little bunnygirls curled up around the catboys and the puppy's play growling and tugging ropes between them. Yeah, cute. 

Robby looks fucking enamoured too, sucker. 

"Okay so we have a couple of options…" Jim takes them around to meet a few hybrids, who are nice and everything, but largely indifferent. Jack would have happily adopted any of them, but Robby- when he was a wee kid- once had a puppy jump into his arms and snuggle into his neck. He still laments to Jack that his bubbe didn't have the capacity to keep it and him, and Jack thinks that he's secretly wanting to recreate that here. God, he wants it for Robby too.

Robby outright veto's the one that growls at him, though Jack would have also taken a crack at that one. He's grown up with dogs, see, back in the mountains. He knows how to set down rules and guidance in a way he thinks Robby would be terrible at. And really, with some of these hybrids, their animal nature runs closer to the surface than one might think. 

They see him when Robby starts to flag. Well, Jack sees him first. The hybrid is laid out in a corner on some blankets, stretching his arms above his head and yawning so hard it ends in a little yip. He's in the sun like a cat, but that's definitely puppy ears on his head between those would be curls. Maybe with Jack's curl cream they would. Fuck, he even looks a little like Jack in med school. Definitely Robby's type then. The stretch pulls up his t-shirt, giving Jack a look at the taught stretch of his little stomach. Very cute. He nods his head and Robby follows his line of sight. 

Like fate, when he looks over the hybrid blinks open his sleepy eyes and perks up, floppy ears twitching and his head raising. He smiles over at Robby and his little tail starts to wag. Robby, predictably, melts. 

"Oh hey buddy." Robby grins, leaning down and crouches next to Dennis, whose whole body wiggles as he shakes his tail. 

"Oh, Dennis." The attendant says, tapping his clipboard. "Hmm-" 

"Hmm?" 

"Well, he does fit you're needs. He can speak, male omega, he's twenty seven." 

Dennis clearly gets fed up of waiting for Robby and buts his head straight into his chest, huffing as Robby brings a delighted hand to his ears to pet him.

"Okay… so?" Jack raises his eyebrow. 

"Dennis is…a slightly more complicated case. Bought for farm work as a pup, raised with the family in Nebraska, but presented late as an omega. The owner has put a pretty- a pretty exceptionally high price tag on him, shipped him over here I think in an attempt to fool some city slicker. Financial trouble I think. Hoping to get him sold as a breeding omega, but he's a little too old for the price tag on him, despite being a virgin." 

"Huh, and how much are we talking?" 

Robby is laughing now as Dennis wiggles and rolls about and shows Robby his belly, stretching out again as Robby says 'big stretch puppy wow.' 

Jim names the price Dennis' owner has set, and Jack winces. It's more than double what he'd expected, way too high for what Dennis is, but then who the fuck cares about that. They both have way too much money to know what to do with, and they're not breeders or traders, he just wants a pup that will make his partner think twice about stepping near the fucking edge of the roof again. 

"Are we sure he can speak?" 

"Ah, well most people prefer them not to. So we advise them to stay quiet during the meet and greet stage of adoption." 

"Sure." 

"It's sad really. He's such a good boy, we've never really had any trouble with him at all, but the price just-" 

"I think if my partner agrees then we'd be interested." Jack interrupts, as he watches the boy giggle as Robby scruffs him about a bit. "Is there any room for negotiation on price?" 

"I'm sorry- his owner was very clear on that. He's been rotated around five stores already. Due to be moved on next week." 

Jack winces. Poor little pup. 

"Michael?" Robby peers over his shoulder, hand stilling in Dennis' ears. Dennis stills too, looking up at him, over his crossed arms and raised brow and bites at his lip, ears going back a little. "What do you think?" 

"Jack." He breathes out. Yeah, he thought so. 

"Okay, we'll take him." 

Dennis' tail stars wagging so hard that Jack thinks he might take off. He yips excitedly and he can't help but smile down at the kid. 

"What a day hey Dennis!" Jim laughs too, reaching down to pet Dennis' ears. "You want a little more time or are you happy to start the paperwork?" 

"Why don't you go ahead Mike and get us started while I say hi to Dennis here?" Jack offers. He still hasn't heard the kid speak yet. Although he's not sure he could stop Robby wanting him even if Jim was wrong and he couldn't. 

When the two men move to the side and Robby starts giving out their information Jack tentatively reaches out his hand, palm towards Dennis. The kid considers him for a second or two, much longer than Robby, but then butts his head into Jack's hand and hums delightedly when Jack scritches at his ears. 

"There we go kiddo. So, Jim tells me you know how to speak?" Dennis looks at him cautiously. "It's okay, I know you were told it's better to stay quiet? But I'm looking for a hybrid who can." 

Slowly, Dennis leans back to peer up at him, but not so far as to dislodge Jack's hand. "Hi." 

"Hi." Jack laughs. "My names Jack, that over there is Robby, or Michael. Or sometimes I call him Mike." 

"Thats a lot of names, I'm just Dennis." He tilts his head to the side and his ears flop. 

"Yeah, I'm just Jack too kid." 

"Are you really going to adopt me?" 

"Well, that depends on you buddy." 

"Me?" 

"It's not just our choice." He runs his hand from the base to the tip of Dennis' ear. "Michael is super excited because he's been wanting to adopt a hybrid for a while, you'll have to excuse him, but that's why he has me right? I want to see if this is what you want to." 

"Yep!" Dennis bounces on his heels. "For sure." 

"Hold up there buddy." Jack laughs. "I know you've been waiting a while for this, but it would make me feel better, personally, if I told you what it would be like if you came home with us, and then you can make an informed decision. I…hybrid ownership has never been on my radar before, so it's all a little new for me. Can you do that for me?" 

Dennis tilts his head the other way, and his ears flop again. He considers, biting his lip. "Okay, yeah. I can do that." 

"Good boy. Okay, we both work at the hospital in the emergency department, I work nights and Robby works days, so they'll be someone at home most of the time. We live near a nice park-" Dennis' ears perk up. "-and I like to run if you think you can keep up with me. We go hiking sometimes in the woods, and have a nice little yard. But also… you grew up on a farm right? Farm work is a little different to being a house pet…" 

Dennis bites at his lip. His canines are a little longer than usual. "You can say it. I know that owners have sex with house pets, not like working hybrids. I presented a little late, and then my da- my owner. He uh, I think wanted to sell me to a breeder, so I haven't had sex or anything," he says, fast. "-and they didn't want me to do anything to like impact that sale? So I haven't touched myself a lot or anything but I know what house pets are expected to do, 'specially omegas… can I tell you something though?" 

Makes it a little easier. Dennis sure isn't stupid. "Sure bud." 

"Sometimes when the others are getting adopted, the older rescues who have already had sex, they uh- they play with them here? And sometimes I wish that was me. I've touched myself um- twice? Just on the outside, and it was so good but then they made me stop. And they always look like they're having a lot of fun." 

Dennis is bright red, squirming and looking down. 

"Yeah puppy? You gonna be our good boy and let us make you feel good too?" 

"Please? Do you um- I know Robby was interested but do you think I'm… attractive?" 

Jack laughs, scruffing his ears. "Very much pup. What about us? How do you feel about us?" 

Dennis flushes nearly twice as much. Beet red to match the blanket he was sprawled about on. 

"Well I guess that answers that well enough. You were practically crawling in Robby's lap earlier. None of the other hybrids were doing that. So, you wanna come home with us Den?"