Not the Home I Know

Ranboo

"It's worth about fifty emeralds and ten diamonds," Ranboo flinched and hunched his shoulders. His legs trembled with the effort to hold himself up as it'd been so long since he'd been let out. He couldn't remember when he'd last been out. Only the phantom pain on his back reminded him that it hadn't been good. It never was.

"Really? Only that much? I thought you'd be asking for more," Another voice replied, followed by a grunt and the clink of a glass.

"This one's a bit deformed, doesn't mean he won't be good for a freakshow joint or somethin'," Came the man's reply, and Ranboo felt his knees go weak at the statement. He was a monster in their eyes - that's what they always said.

Only now, it was getting harder to not believe it.

"Deformed?" The creaking of a chair had Ranboo flinching again as one of the men leaned forward to peer down at his cowering form.

"You blind, dumbass?" Another voice piped up, just as grating and harsh as the first. It was followed by a dull thud as his glass was set on the table. "Look at it. It's obviously a mix of something else," Ranboo fidgeted and thanked whatever being above for his unruly hair that covered his heterochromia eyes as the men stared down at him.

"It ain't purebred?" A resounding crash caused Ranboo's heart to fall to his stomach as the man who spoke was shoved harshly and fell to the ground. Ranboo took a slight step back when he groaned and rolled over, his hand nearly brushing the child's foot.

"Obviously not!" The old man groaned causally, seeming to ignore the harsh treatment around him.

"What's it mixed with?"

"We ain't too sure, but it's still worth something as an exhibit, which I hear you fellas specialize in," The old man lowered himself into a chair across from the other males. Ranboo fidgeted with the fraying waistband of his shorts. He didn't know what an exhibit was and wasn't too keen on finding out any time soon.

"Sure do," One of the men boasted and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table's wooden surface. "I'd reckon we'd make a hella lot of profit with this one," The other male hummed in agreement to his partner.

"This one will match with the other brat we got a while back," Ranboo perked up at those words. There was someone like him? What did that mean? He hated how he felt excited at the prospect of meeting someone unfortunate enough to be like him.

"Oh really now?" The old man mused aloud and took a swig from a nearby bottle and exhaled in satisfaction. Ranboo wondered what the drink tasted like. Maybe it wasn't as foul as it smelled. "That means you're willing to buy?" He asked with a loose gesture towards the child in question, and Ranboo ducked in reply as their eyes shifted towards him once more.

"We're running on a tight budget, so it's hard to say," The other man's voice slurred out and set his glass on the table with a heavy sigh.

"No, we're not. Didn't we just-" The second man was cut off as his partner slapped him upside his head. He grumbled a half-hearted apology in response. The old man laughed at the exchange and took another deep drink from his bottle before slamming down onto the table, causing both men and Ranboo to flinch at the noise.

"I ain't stupid, fellas," He started to say and reached down to wrap his thick fingers around Ranboo's chain. The boy whimpered as he was jerked forward suddenly and struggled to stay on his feet. The old man released the chain and roughly gripped onto the boy's two-toned hair, eliciting a startled cry to fall from his lips. He shoved his face in the direction of where the two men sat, and for a brief moment, Ranboo was forced to make eye contact. He closed his eyes in response to the pain that blossomed behind his eyes and in his scalp. "I know a con when I see one. Hell, I'm one myself! How'd you think I managed to get that stupid whore to make this heathen?" He laughed and shook the boy a little. Ranboo whimpered and clutched the man's wrists to lift some of his weight from his grasp.