Chapter Text
“Good timing Legoshi! We were just putting the movie on!” Jack waved the remote from his position amongst the pillows.
“And I got some snacks!” Miguno held out a large bowl of popcorn. There was a general air of excitement in the room and he felt bad to ruin it.
“Ah sorry! I just had to get another shirt.” Legoshi plucked one from his little cubby hole. “We’ve got extra practice on tonight.”
“What?! But you’re not one of the actors, why do you need to be there?!” Miguno was pouting.
“We have costumes to finish and I need to make sure all the lights are working.” He did a quick change. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“We can wait for you if you want?”
“Ehh?!” Miguno glared at Kolo.
“It’s OK! I can watch it some other time.”
“You sure?”
Legoshi nodded and Kolo shrugged.
“Try not to work too hard,” was the last thing he heard Jack yell as the door clicked shut behind him.
They only had a week and a half left until their first showing of Adler for the first years and the entirety of the club were going mad trying to prepare. Legoshi had to practically dash to get back so he didn’t leave the others working without him for too long.
“You’re back! We need your help moving this scenery!” Dom was waving to him from the corner.
“Right!”
This was one of the best things about drama club in his opinion; it was one of the few places his strength felt like a help rather than a hindrance to others around him. The herbivores here appreciated that he could do all the heavy lifting for them and didn’t seem to be as scared of him as those outside the club.
But that was not his favourite thing about this place. He had his roommates of course, but the other students in this club all worked together well and he had some solid friends amongst everyone he had met here. But his favourite person above all else had to be-
“Do it again! More forcefully! And with conviction!” Louis’ voice rang out loud and clear above all the others. Legoshi only realised he’d paused to look when he was interrupted.
“Could you take this box too? It’s too heavy for me.”
“Oh! Right, sorry…” He took it from Kibi’s arms quickly.
“Are you OK? You seem distracted.”
“I’m alright, just… thinking about laundry.”
“You’re supposed to be working; keep focused!” Bill shoulder barged him as he went past, smirking as he did.
“Sorry…”
It was hard for him to define quite how he felt about Louis. He had a lot of admiration for him, that was for sure. The young red deer was confident, striking, skilled, and beautiful both in the things he did and the way he was. A lot of animals looked up to Louis and yes, Legoshi had always done so too. But recently it had been verging on something not quite so… platonic.
And there was nothing he could ever do about that of course. Ignoring the large differences between their personalities and the way they were viewed, ignoring that they were both male; Louis was a herbivore and Legoshi was a carnivore. And that he knew could never happen. Teenage crushes were normal but he still felt guilty about these feelings.
Chances were, he was imagining it. It was normal to feel strongly towards your Senpai when they were that talented. He had to focus on getting everything sorted out anyway. Not that this helped things…
You had to look at the actors when working out the placement for the lighting, and who was the main actor in this play? Oh yes… The way the light shone on him made him look even more regal than usual.
I don’t think I can like him. I must just want to be like him. That had to be it. Legoshi did kind of envy Louis’ body and his charisma. He couldn’t imagine how it must feel to be that confident in yourself.
“Good job tonight everyone!” Sanu clapped his wings together. “Same time again tomorrow.”
“Legoshi!” Sheila yelled up at him as the others began to disperse. “Don’t forget, you’re on clean-up duty.”
“Alright!” It was something he didn’t mind doing.
It never took him very long to do this either. As he mindlessly mopped the floor, he thought through all the things he needed to do; namely the laundry and acquiring more snacks for the room.
I need to get a birthday present for Durham too. I nearly forgot! They’d all been roommates for a year now and they were all such good friends, he wanted to make sure he didn’t forget to show his appreciation.
“Are you not done yet?” Tem had paused in the doorway on the way out and Legoshi could see some of the others going straight on back to their dorms behind him.
“I’m nearly done.”
“You don’t need to be that perfectionist, y’know?”
“I guess not….”
“And…” Tem looked around quickly before leaning in and covering his mouth with his hand. “Think you could help me practice my lines later?”
“I thought you knew them all.” He was getting them right in all the rehearsals.
“Not those.” His ears folded down and he peered around. “The other thing.”
“Oh! You mean the letter?”
“Shhhh!” Legoshi quickly put his hand over his mouth.
“Sorry…”
“It’s OK. I just want to make sure I get it right!”
“But you’ve practiced it loads of times now.”
“Probably… I just keep changing my mind you know? I want to do it right. You only get one chance to confess.”
“I guess so. I wouldn’t really know how to do it though.” Legoshi had zero experience in romance so he wasn’t sure why Tem spoke to him about it, but apparently he was one of the only ones who knew. It was because he’d seen him placing the letter in his locker but being taken into confidence like that… It made him happy.
“I just like having someone to talk to about this.”
“If it helps…”
“It’s probably too late now but you think we can meet up sometime soon?”
“Sure.”
“Thanks Legoshi!”
I hope they do get together. The idea of Tem and Els made him smile a lot. Maybe it was because they would look cute together and they were both kind-hearted. He just hoped Tem would try to tell her soon.
As he put away his cleaning supplies and sloped to the changing room to put his uniform back on, Legoshi’s mind was elsewhere. Like that light he needed to check the fuse on and the floorboard that was looking a little loose. He didn’t need to sort all of these things but he noticed them, perhaps because he usually observed. It was part of what he liked about being in a supportive role.
It was already dark outside when he finally left the building, not an issue for him with his eyesight and with the lighting on outside but most students were back inside by this point in the evening. Others would assume the worst about a wolf out alone at night but then, they tended to assume the worst about him anyway. Not that he wasn’t used to it.
I wonder if the others are asle-. Legoshi paused. His nose twitched.
He could smell something. A scent drifting across in the breeze. This was not unusual in a place with so many animals confined together but Legoshi had never smelt anything like that before. He paused in place.
It was definitely an animal right? He took a deep breath and tried to take it all in. A herbivore maybe? Or a carnivore? No… It had to be one of those but Legoshi couldn’t tell. This was rare considering how accurate his sense of smell was and it was a little frustrating not to be able to work it out.
Legoshi hadn’t made a conscious decision to do so but his feet had begun walking, moving in the direction the smell had been coming from. His instincts were pulling him without him being able to think about it. He wasn’t sure what he was doing.
Am I stalking someone? Shouldn’t I stop this? His logical mind wanted to get back to his room and go to sleep but his instincts were screaming to do… something. He wasn’t sure what at this point. And then out of the gloom, a figure. Tall, long, slender limbs. Twisting horns….
A herbivore! Maybe? They look like a herbivore. Legoshi just couldn’t couple that scent with a herbivore smell. He stood and stared as this figure moved with strange and graceful movements through the trees. Why would a herbivore come out in the dark? They seemed to pause and then they turned in his direction, ears upright. They had to know he was watching, even if they couldn’t see him.
What should I do? Do I leave? Wait until they move? Part of him was screaming at him to jump at them but he held that down as best he could. He just worried about them running. If they ran, would he be able to stop himself from pursuing? They seemed to just have frozen, like a deer in headlights.
“Hey.” And then he heard a voice. “What are you, some kind of stalker? Do you want something?” They sounded confident in the way they spoke.
“I…” Legoshi gulped. He had been drooling a little. “Sorry, I just wondered what someone was doing here.”
“But what about you? You’re kind of suspect, sneaking around in the dark.”
Legoshi didn’t know how to answer that.
“Why don’t you come over here?”
“You want me to?”
The figure had crossed their arms at this point.
“I told you I did.”
Legoshi did not want to do this but he didn’t like to be rude either so he walked, hunching his shoulders and trying not to look too intimidating.
His view had not been wrong; they definitely seemed deerlike. But at the same time… Those eyes…. He’d never known a deer to meet him in the eye before. Except for Louis of course. And he’d never seen anyone wearing a mask across their face in the school before.
“Oh wow, what a big guy you are. You’re kind of intimidating for a little thing like me.” The not-deer closed his eyes, apparently smiling?
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to. I just wondered why a, um…” He didn’t want to offend him and get it wrong.
“Can’t you tell? I’m a gazelle.”
“R-Right. I just don’t usually see herbivores out at night so…” It sounded rude and he felt quite bad about it.
“You’re saying I can’t go outside at night? How narrow-minded of you.” The tone he used made him difficult to read. He sounded so cheery in spite of the things he was saying.
“I didn’t mean it like that!” He’s not going to make me say it is he?! He didn’t want to mention devouring.
“Don’t worry I understand. Are you thinking about eating me right now?”
“No!” Why did I have to be born a wolf? Why couldn’t I be a bug… Or a tree?
“In that case you can help me. Follow.”
“Eh?” He had to have misheard right?
“I need your hulking mass.”
Legoshi didn’t know if this was an insult or a compliment but he followed anyway.
Up close he could clearly see those slender limbs and that tail. Did gazelles have long tails? Probably. It swung lazily from side to side as he walked and Legoshi found himself looking down at it. He was feeling too awkward to risk making eye contact again. The weird gazelle eventually came to a halt in front of him and Legoshi finally looked up. They were standing in front of the outer fence.
“Give me a boost.”
“What?!” Did he mean what he thought he did? “I can’t do that!”
“Why?”
“Because you’ll get in trouble if you sneak out after hours.”
“So?” He certainly didn’t sound concerned.
“It’s against the rules. You could get expelled!”
“Which year are you in?” The sudden topic change threw him for a second.
“Second, why?” Those eyes closed again as he apparently smiled. It was hard to tell with the mask of course.
“Well I am a third year. And as your Senpai, I am demanding you be a good little Kohai and help me over the fence.”
“I…” Now he was feeling torn.
“I’ll just do it without you otherwise.”
“I’ll help!” He was always too weak to say no to strong personalities.
“Thank you.”
So light… Legoshi could feel how thin this guy’s limbs were as he lifted and a part of him wondered if Louis would feel something like this. And then a foot was shoved right into his face as his apparent Senpai used him as a springboard. He put his hand over his nose and looked up at the figure crouched on the top of the fence. As they landed on the ground on the other side, Legoshi glanced around; no one else seemed to have seen.
“W-Will you be OK?!” They didn’t even look back, they just waved a hand back in his direction.
“Bye bye little Kohai.”
“Wait!” But they were gone, slipping away while Legoshi watched with drooping ears. It wasn’t like he could do anything about it though.
I hope he’s OK. He didn’t even know the guy’s name.