lockjaw | j.t
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paring: hybrid puppy!jayce talis x f!reader
request: after a recent breakup you find yourself adopting a hybrid to keep you company, but he's more feral than you can handle
series warnings: 18+, hybrid jayce (ears and tail), slight omegaverse traits (could argue alpha jayce), eventual smut, protective jayce, size difference
words: 2.7k
chapter warnings: a lot of exposition, but trust me
chapter notes: first time writing a hybrid, let me know how i did, this will be multi-chaptered
part one | part two | part three | part four | part five | part six | part seven | part eight | part nine |
want a handwritten letter from a character? / join the discord
When your friend had suggested you get a pet, this is not what you imagined.
A cat or dog perhaps, even a fish would've made more sense, this whole thing started with you coming into the shelter asking for just that.
You’d asked about their cats or even their smaller dogs, but they’d all either been adopted or were reserved by potential owners.
“Have you considered a hybrid?” Those five words, and your inquisitive “A hybrid?” Is what landed you in this situation.
The lady excitedly lead you through a few different doors until you were in a room that overlooked a large spacious area.
“There’s so many of them,” you muttered to yourself, but it was clearly loud enough for her to hear you.
“Not many people want a hybrid, they prefer a traditional cat or dog,” her tone was melancholic, and a pang of guilt hit your chest. That was exactly what you’d done.
“Chances are the majority of these guys will spend their whole lives here,” she sighed sadly.
A high pitched yelp interrupted her train of thought as she perked up to see who the culprit was. It seemed to be a pink haired girl, her matching feline ears were pressed back against her head whilst another hybrid had their hand raised into a fist.
“Jinx no!” Your guide leaned over the small balcony to scold her. All the hybrid’s snapped their attention to where her voice was, but the blue-eared one slowly lowered her fist and skulked off to another corner; content that the conflict was over the rest of the room relaxed and continued what they were doing previously.
However, one pair of eyes remained on the balcony.
You couldn’t place it at first, but then you spotted him. His eyes were so piercing that you quickly avoided eye contact.
“Who’s the one on their own?” You asked quietly as if he could hear you. The vet leaned into you and the excitement was radiating off of her.
“That’s Jayce, our chocolate Labrador hybrid,” she paused for you to ask questions, but continued quickly anyway.
“He’s been with us for about 3 months, he was completely feral when we found him. He’d been abandoned by his previous owner when he was a puppy and was surviving on his own for so long,” her voice lost its usual joyful lint the more she spoke.
“When he arrived he was practically uncontrollable, we thought we’d have to separate him from the others entirely,” she paused as she realised her voice was getting louder, “But he bonded well with one of our felines, Viktor his name was, but he was adopted quite quickly-“.
The entire time she was talking your eyes kept darting back to who she was talking about.
He was sat in a chair with with his leg on his knee, away from everyone else, his annoyed gaze continuously on the balcony as if he knew he was being spoken about.
“-We encouraged them to adopt the two of them as a pair, but they didn’t want a canine, so he stayed with us. Unfortunately, some of his feral habits returned but he mostly keeps to himself now,” she finally finished her monologue.
You furrowed your eyebrows with empathy and glanced towards her, "He's lonely, like me," you commented and put your elbows on the railing to rest your chin on your palms, overlooking the space again.
His eyes were still on the two of you, you could feel it.
"Do you want to meet them?" the vet asked a little too swiftly.
The thought bounced around in your mind for a moment, contemplating if you should even entertain this idea; but as you looked around the room you felt your heart ache for them.
You sighed as a sign of conceding to the idea, "Yeah, why not?" you pushed yourself up off of the balcony and turned to the vet, waiting for her to start moving.
The smile on her face was one of relief and joy. It was clear that not many people were jumping at the opportunity to adopt a hybrid, let alone even entertain seeing them.
It didn't take long to get to the 'sanctuary' door - that's what she called the main communal area for them - she swiped her key card and the door beeped open.
For some reason your heartbeat increase slightly as you stepped over the threshold and into the room.
"Hello everyone!" she said in a slightly elevated voice, not loud enough to be shouting but loud enough for it to carry throughout the room. "We have guest today, she's very nice so don't worry," she warned them.
Although the atmosphere didn't feel hostile, it didn't feel welcoming either. The majority of them observed you from a distance.
There were so many questions you had, but you didn't know where to start.
"If we take a seat over here we can let them come to us," she lead you to a sofa in the middle of the room, but as you sat down she moved away to a cabinet to retrieve a big folder.
The time you were alone was minimal but a spike of anxiety went through you, some of the hybrids moved closer to observe you but never close enough to speak to any of them individually.
The vet returned and sat next to you on the sofa, placing the big folder onto the table, "We have all the information on the residents in here," she didn't open it but left it for you, if you felt inclined.
It didn't take long for the blue haired feline from before to bound over and sit next to the vet, "Hello sweetie," the vet said as the feline put her head on her shoulder and started playing with her hair.
"This is-" she started, but this time you interrupted, "Jinx?".
Both the vet and Jinx looked up at you when you spoke, "Yes! She's quite the troublemaker, especially with her sister Vi," she pointed at the pink-haired feline that was being bapped earlier.
"I see," you spoke slowly as you opened the folder to their joint page. 'Must be adopted together', it read in bold under their photos.
"As they're actually siblings, we can't have them separated, it wouldn't be healthy," she explained as she started to tighten one of Jinx's braids.
It reminded you of her story from before and you instinctively raised your head from the folder to where the Labrador hybrid was sitting before, he was still staring at you.
"What type of space are you working with?" you were thankful she was asking you questions, you felt completely out of your depth.
Your eyelids fluttered in surprise, he must be territorial, you thought.
"Just a one-bed apartment," you eventually answered. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw the vet lean back to glace at Jayce and her lips curled into a smile again.
"Ah," the noise of disappointment, "That's not a lot of space for play, if you were to adopt it would need to be someone more relaxed,".
She leaned forward and started flipping through the folder, unclipping certain pages and laying them in front of you.
"Unfortunately, they're all a little rambunctious here, but these are who I'd recommend," she'd placed two folders on the table.
"Caitlyn', and 'Ekko", she said aloud even though their names were written down in front of you - Jinx stuck her tongue out and made a 'Bleh' noise when she said Caitlyn.
You spent some time reading their files, they seemed nice enough, two felines; but the whole time you were reading your mind kept drifting back to the one who's eyes you could feel in the side of your head.
"What about-" you started, pausing for a moment to reconsider if you actually wanted to suggest this, but before you could get the courage to complete the sentence the vet interjected with a surprised "Jayce?!".
You glanced up from the pages to ask her how she knew what you were going to say, when you realised there was a large figure basking you in his shadow.
Immediately, your heart started beating quickly again and a nervous rush went through you. "Oh, hello," your voice shook as you spoke.
Now that he was closer you could see that his eyes were a golden yellow, which complemented his chocolatey brown hair pretty well. His nose twitched as if he was also rethinking his approach, or he was catching your scent.
"Jayce, this is..." the vet started the introduction and waited for you to say your name out loud for him, which you did.
His eyebrow raised slightly as he seemed to look you over; from your shoes to the top of your head.
Before, it felt like you couldn't make eye contact with him, but now you were struggling to look away. There was a sadness in his eyes that you recognised all too well, he was lonely too.
Unsure of how to manage the situation, you stuck your hand out for him to shake. He studied your hand silently and without movement, you were starting to think you should put your hand down when he slowly took it.
His hands were large, much bigger than your own and very warm. Although he didn't move his hand, he held a gentle grip on yours and watched where they connected.
"Nice to meet you, Jayce," you tried to say as softly as possible and timidly shook his hand up and down. His brown ears twitched slightly at the mention of his name.
After a few long seconds he let go of your hand and with a quick exhale he walked away.
You blinked a few times and lowered your hand, "Did I do something wrong?" you asked the vet, she chuckled to herself "Not at all, I'm actually surprised he showed any interest at all, he normally never moves from his spot,".
"Oh," was all you could say.
After some time, the vet stood and gestured for you to do the same, leading you towards the exit, "We should leave them to it, we try not to overstimulate them with new people too often,".
Once you were out in the halls again, you asked "Why's his hair so long?". Whilst it wasn't an unmanageable length, it was certainly dishevelled and outgrown.
"He doesn't really let people near him, let alone people with scissors and a razor," she laughed, "Like I said, he still has some feral tendencies, nothing that we're concerned about but it does mean he's a bit scruffy sometimes." she explained.
You nodded slowly to show your understanding. Whilst you felt yourself being drawn towards Jayce, the more you heard about his behaviours the more you were thinking that you weren't cut out to have a hybrid.
"I don't think I’m capable of looking after someone like him," you confessed even though it physically hurt your chest to say.
The vet chuckled again, "When it comes to hybrids, they look after themselves. All you really need to do is feed them, give them a home and attention when they want it.".
She picked up the folder again and flipped through the files, "I know it might seem overwhelming, but we don't just let anyone adopt our hybrids, there's a vetting process to it," she said as she handed you another file.
"What about my apartment? It's only one bedroom, and he's quite..." you didn't know what word to settle on, "Large,".
She nodded at your concern, "Ordinarily, I'd say it was an issue, but for a canine like Jayce, he just needs companionship and intellectual stimulation.".
You took in her words, you were hoping she would agree and tell you that it wasn't possible, that it wasn't meant to be. Then you could let this go and move onto something less demanding.
"Take this home, have a read and see how you feel. If you're still interested we can set up another meeting," you took the file from her and held it close to your chest.
Over the next couple of days, that's exactly what you did.
You read the file over and over, it felt like every detail was engrained into your brain, along with those piercing yellow eyes that were so full of sadness.
He was like you. As much as you hated to admit it, he was your reflection.
"Hello?" you spoke into you phone, the voice on the other end greeted you and asked you to verify your name, which you did.
"How can I help you today?" the receptionist was characteristically bubbly, "I'd like to set up a meeting, please?" you asked hesitantly.
The line was quiet, save for the tapping of her fingers on the keys, "Of course, is that for Jayce?" she eventually said and you felt a bolt of excitement charge through you.
"Yes, please," you confirmed. A few more details were exchanged and the meeting was set, "Perfect, we'll see you tomorrow at 1pm!".
The evening went by too quickly and too slowly at the same time.
Luckily, you worked from home so you were able to be fairly flexible with your availability, despite your morning being relatively unproductive.
Instead of doing your job, you'd spent the first three hours of your shift researching canine hybrids; their needs, requirements and any medical issues.
You'd only just started researching about feral hybrids before you realised the time, 12:30.
When you arrived he was sat in the same chair as before, but this time he wore a black tunic with the sleeves rolled up.
If not for the fluffy ears and tail, you'd think he was a business man or politician of some sort.
As you approached him - with the vet in tow - he stood.
It took you by surprise and your steps faltered. He blinked a few times and his eyebrows softened slightly for a second, before putting his hand out the same way you had a couple days prior.
A soft smile came across your lips as you tentatively took his hand and shook it, he’d copied your gesture to make you comfortable. His touch felt familiar, as if he was someone you’d known for years.
Despite the gentle nature he was showing you, his eyes still bore into you like he was trying to figure out if you were a threat or not.
When he eventually let go of your hand, he sat down and his eyes looked between you and the chair opposite him. He wanted you to sit as well.
You glanced at the soft armchair behind you and side stepped until you were in front of it; before you lowered yourself down, you turned your head back to Jayce to check this is what he wanted.
When there was no change in his demeanour, you plonked yourself into the soft cushions less than gracefully, it was a lot lower and bouncier than you’d anticipated.
“He got this out when he heard you were coming today,” the vet said from behind you, honestly you’d forgotten he was there.
You’d somehow failed to notice that on the table in between the two of you was a chess set, set up and ready for a game.
“I’m sure you’ve already read his file, but Jayce here is very intelligent, he loves these types of games,” the man sounded so proud.
Meanwhile, Jayce stared at him with a displeased facial expression, like he was waiting for him to stop talking.
“I’ll leave you to it, but I’ll be over here if you need me,” the man gave you a small wave as he moved to the other side of the room.
This was the first time you and Jayce were somewhat alone, there was a spark of excitement as well as nervousness.
You just hoped he liked you.