PABU PAL

Genre:Friendship

Rating:K

Pairing(s):Just Pabu love

Summary:All Bolin wanted was a new friend.

Bolin always liked the shops that held the animals, and whenever he could get away from Mako (he was fourteen after all, definitely old enough to be trusted to walk down the street!) he always found himself wandering into the stores.

Usually it was just your regular messenger hawks squawking away or even the turtle ducks swimming in a make-shift pond until someone bought them for a fountain or a child's pet. But today, today Bolin's gaze was drawn straight to the newest animal.

A fire ferret.

He inched closer, his eyes roaming around as if he might get caught doing something wrong (even though he had no intention of actually doing anything!), but the little guy's nose was wiggling and sniffing the air before he was against the heavy metal of the cage.

"Hey, little dude," Bolin murmured softly as he let the fire ferret sniff his finger and even lick him. He was adorable, and Bolin felt his heart beat with the need to cuddle him.

Without even thinking, he flipped the price tag to see how much it would take to be the owner of this adorable creature, and his heart sank. Not only was that more than Mako made at his odd jobs, but he could already hear his brother's voice:

Bolin, we can't feed another mouth. What do you expect me to do, I can barely make enough to keep you fed, and to even have to spend all the money to buy the thing….

Nothing Bolin said would make a difference, and he suddenly realized how unfair the world was. There were a bunch of little kids tugging on their parents sleeves as they oohed and ahhed over the animals, but Bolin would never be able to do that.

Maybe that was why he reached over and slipped the cage off the shelf.

Maybe that was why he edged his way out of the shop like he had all the right in the world to be carrying a living, breathing animal out into the cruel world where Mako would yell at him.

Bolin ran after he heard the shouts, his arms clutching the clunky cage to his chest and the fire ferret let out a little mew of danger and surprise.

It wasn't until he had gotten back to their makeshift home, an alley near the coal plants where Mako had found work that Bolin was able to beat the lock off with a rock.

The fire ferret bounded out of the cage and up his arm, nuzzling his face with it's nose that Bolin said-

"I'll take care of you, Pabu."