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It is mostly an unspoken fact, but the rest of the Drama Club knows how weird Legosi can get when he’s alone.
As a carnivore, it’s almost insulting how much Legosi reduces himself into something invisible, but when the situation calls for it, he’s quick and light-footed, rushing to action with instincts running him over. But for the most part, he is subdued, introverted; he is mostly friends with his canine roommates, and some of the people in the various teams.
Then, he started dating an infamous dwarf rabbit.
For the most part, Els is happy for him.
She understands the concern of others; it is very uncommon for a carnivore and a herbivore to get into a relationship, much less a romantic one, but for the first time in ages, Legosi seems so genuinely happy. He’s actually smiling more now, something Els isn’t aware the wolf is even capable of doing, and it’s a good look on him.
On the small moments where she sees Legosi and the rabbit on halls, they always seem like they’re gravitating to each other with a force so strong, it almost makes Els jealous. Not on the relationship itself, but with the existence of the feeling.
Legosi looks at Haru like she’s the sun, and Haru looks up at Legosi like he’s the only reason why smiles exist.
Els knows there’s a turning point for her interest, however, when Legosi leaves for class, and Haru is left in the hallway waving after him. From the other side of the hallway walks Louis, confident in his strides, and shares a private smile with Haru, like no one is supposed to see.
Like no one is supposed to know.
Els gulps, and rushes off in a scamper.
Bill isn’t one for gossip, but when Els shares what she saw in the hallway, he has to at least admit that his interest is piqued.
“Are you sure you’re not just exaggerating the story, even just a little bit?” Bill asks during the club’s break time, a little irked at the idea of Els rushing to him for tattling. He reaches for his water container by the stage and gulps it down in one go. “Not that it’s any of our business who Legosi decides to date, but we shouldn’t be meddling into affairs that include Louis, to begin with.”
“I know, but—”
“Look,” Bill sighs, placing a hand on Els’ shoulder softly. “I get it; you’re fond of Legosi, and it’s the first time he’s even remotely interested in anyone that way, but that wolf is asking for trouble for even fraternizing with a herbivore.”
Els looks at him angrily, and Bill thinks, fuck, that came out wrong. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Els, don’t be daft; you know I wouldn’t insult a herbivore with you around,” Bill explains, then sighs. “All I’m saying is, Legosi can be extremely… stupid. You know. About herbivores in general.” They both turn to the wolf, who’s assisting Kibi the Anteater with the costumes for the next production. Legosi is carefully cutting the patterns Kibi has laid out, and they are talking animatedly about the new ant shake flavor. “You never quite know what he’s thinking, especially regarding you guys.”
The goat nods in agreement, and Bill sighs in relief.
“With that said, with Louis joining the goddamned picture, I might as well forget this conversation even took place.” Bill shudders at the remembrance of Louis aiming a gun on his forehead, and he continues. “Legosi’s in trouble if Louiis after the same rabbit.”
At the other side of the room stands Louis, who is talking to Shiela and Dom about specifics for the next production. Bill is careful, obviously avoiding looking at the deer for too long to the fear of being singled out at practice. Louis is distracted though, only half listening at the two team heads and has his sight directly at one direction, and when Bill follows where it leads, it lands on Legosi, who is staring right back at the deer.
Bill is willing to admit that he has never fallen in love before, simply because sex is too enjoyable to be tainted with feelings. So when he sees the Legosi and Louis’ shared looks, he knows he’s missing something big.
It doesn’t last long, and Legosi breaks the gaze first, resuming his pattern-cutting chore, but Louis’ holds the look much longer, stare unbearably fond.
Bill feels like he’s intruding on something, and he looks away immediately.
“Bill?”
He looks down at Els, who is looking up at him worriedly. He laughs it off immediately, and Els’ worries melt away at the sound of his lively, albeit forced, laughter, but even after practice ends, he can’t seem to shake off the feeling that he has seen something he shouldn’t have.
Unbeknownst to the Bill and Els, the gossip somehow gets spread around the Drama Club with an intense ferocity; something about Legosi and Louis fighting over Haru the “slut”. It creates an underlying buzz of tension during practice, and while the wolf is mostly ignorant over things that may concern him, Louis is extremely keen with his. He is extra snippy during practice, much to the actor team’s dismay.
When Legosi approaches the deer for lighting instructions, the whole club stills. Louis knows they are being stared at, so he opts to bring the conversation in his office. The door closes behind them, and the members scramble to listen by the door, and Sanou could only wonder why.
Kibi, on the other hand, feels extremely guilty about everything. When hears about it, he remembers the day he left Legosi at the gardening club alone with Haru, and he wonders if he unknowingly started the whole thing.
“Is it my fault, Tao?” Kibi asks the panther, obviously panicking at the idea. “I might have actually caused a rift in the club!”
“Calm down, dude,” Tao says, laughing slightly. “You can’t exactly take the credit for Legosi’s sexual awakening.”
“But—”
“Here, what about this. You tell your good lucks to Legosi; he obviously needs it, if he’s going against Louis,” Tao gives Kibi light back pats and the anteater eases on his seat. “Legosi’s your friend, right?”
“Right!” Kibi nods, suddenly invigorated at the idea. “I’ll give him an ant shake to wish him luck!”
Tao only smiles. At the back of his head, he wishes the wolf luck, as well; heavens know he’s going to need it.
“Louis, really?” Dom asks in disbelief. “Of all the people you decide to fight, you had to choose a damn wolf?”
The deer folds his newspaper in half and raises a brow at the peafowl, expecting him to explain what he’s trying to say.
“There’s been… rumors running around the club members—”
“If they have time to indulge on such rumors, I might as well double their workload, don’t you think?” Louis resumes reading his paper, tone flat and uninterested at the entire ordeal altogether. “I’m not even going to ask what it’s about; I’m sure it’s about something stupid.”
“Are you sure it’s not unfounded, though?” Dom asks again, a little too inquisitive this time, and Louis sighs at his paper and folds it away. “You have been a little too interested in Legosi.”
“I’m not going to eat him, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Louis bares his teeth. “I don’t have the teeth for that.” The deer sighs. “I expect the club to be a well-oiled machine by the time I’m through with it, but it seems like it still have many ways to go. Ah, and it’s the last performance for us, too.”
Dom has been a part of the club for as long as Louis has, so he prides himself in knowing a lot about how most of the members act; he isn’t a team head for nothing after all. So when Louis acts nonchalant like this, almost too liberally, he knows the deer is acting , and has something in his mind that’s completely related to what they’re discussing.
His observation isn’t sound, however, and is very prone on missing out extremely important details. The peafowl has the tendency to miss out on gaping facts that are in complete display, and he often doesn’t even realize it, himself.
By then, he believes Louis is harboring some abhorrence over the wolf, and he completely misses the way the deer looks out the window and smiles at the very mention of Legosi.
Juno can’t say she’s even remotely surprised at the turnout of everything, but it frustrates her even more with Haru involved.
Truth be told, the rabbit makes her so self-conscious to the point of self-doubt; Haru is so unapologetically her that it highlights Juno’s inadequacy to feel remotely real about whatever she’s feeling. First year in high school and she attempts to please everyone, proudly announcing to Louis the Red Deer that she wants to become the next Beastar just to get a boy that he likes — who doesn’t even care.
Her motivation runs thin throughout the year, with Legosi changing so much, and with Louis leaving school indefinitely. When the segregation looms over Cherryton months before, she has silently rooted for it, knowing very well that she can never amount to anything as much as how Haru is.
If there’s something she won’t admit though, it’s mostly the fact that she has made an unlikely friendship with the upperclassman in the midst of it all, helping her from time to time in her gardening club duties.
In the middle of the rumor mill running around the club, she sighs dejectedly at the absurdity of it all, and skips altogether. She makes her way up the gardening club, where the rabbit is hunched over her out of season hydrangeas. Haru’s ears twitch, and she turns around with a happy smile, the kind that she looks forward to seeing.
Maybe she was getting weird, too.
“Juno-chan!”
She walks over in careful strides, hunching over beside the rabbit. “What are we doing today?”
Haru tilts her head. “Don’t you have club activities? Legosi-kun and Louis-kun will get mad at you, you know!” She laughs. “I don’t blame you for playing hooky though; the drama club can get a little intense.”
Juno’s ears droop and she nods. “There’s this rumor running around among the members. I really don’t want to talk about it.”
Haru looks extremely curious, but says nothing. Juno silently thanks her for it.
“If it involves you, you’re better off clearing your name,” Haru says as she tilled the soil around the hydrangeas. “You tend to brood over stuff like this, and I worry, since I’ll be graduating soon, and as far as I can tell, you never show this side of you to anyone.” Juno isn’t sure how to feel about Haru’s frown. “If you have something on your mind, it’s not a bad thing to voice it out. You’re a lot stronger than you think.”
Is this it? Juno asks herself. Is this why those two are so in love with you?
“I only recently fought for things that I want, and that has made all the difference,” Haru shares, her smile reaching her eyes. She takes off her gardening gloves and cups both of Juno’s cheeks. “Will you be okay?”
“Yeah,” Juno finally smiles. “Yeah, I think I will be. Thanks, senpai.”
“No need to thank me,” Haru nods. “Now, help me with these hydrangeas?”
When he’s up on the spot booth handling the lighting situation, Kai sees things a little differently.
Back when he’s a part of the actor team, he barely gives anything else a second glance. From the stage, he has a narrow view of what goes on in the theatre, and he thinks that’s a part of why Louis threw him in the lighting team.
Unfortunately for them, Kai now sees everything clearly from there.
He knows more than he honestly wants to; he now knows Bill’s underlying protectiveness over Els, Dom’s vague inclination for Tom, Fudge’s tendency to doze off during club, Mina’s weird friendship with Shiela, so on and on and on and on.
One thing he never expects to see, however, is Louis looking up at the spotlight, almost he’s looking way past it. He looks at it, eyes mellowing out into the light, like he’s caught in the headlights, and for a split second, he yearns .
He guesses if there’s anyone he has no idea about, it’s mostly the guy maneuvering Louis’ spotlight. He turns to Legosi with a suspicious look and says, “Seriously though, Legosi? Are you hiding something from us?”
Legosi is a bad liar, but when he blinks and says “no”, Kai is almost convinced.
Pina prides himself for being a dall sheep beyond anyone’s wildest expectations. He loves surprising people, luring them into a false sense of security with his demure looks and large eyes, then clutching them by the reins with a tight grip. He never settles for one single person, knowing that every single person has something good to give. The difference makes it so much better, and Pina could always come back for seconds, when one deems worthy of a second dip.
He has very little thought about carnivores, if he is to be honest. Other than riling them up in unnecessary situations, there’s no underlying anger or annoyance that drives it so. He knows their tendencies, of course; fake enthusiasm to keep the herbivores feeling safe, faux cheerfulness to mask their anxiety.
Legosi does none of these, so naturally, Pina is interested.
When he tempts Legosi to eat him, he is obviously kidding. It’s a way to ensure that the wolf won’t hurt him, safeguarding himself from a carnivore he can’t read. He forces the wolf to show his large fangs, holding him by the hand, eyes steeled with focus as he prepares himself for the taking.
Is it weird to feel disappointed for not getting killed? Pina thinks when Legosi walks away. What a weird senpai. Am I catching his crazy?
Even so, he is still young. Much to be learned, even in the club, so he is asked to do some errands, with most of the stage crew busy for the preparation. Since he has a minor role, he is asked to run to the gardening club to fetch the flowers needed for the stage decorations. He figures it’s a good opportunity to meet the infamous “Haru”, so he agrees.
That day, Louis called in sick, and Legosi is tasked to bring over final instructions to his dorm room, much to everyone’s nosy remarks.
So when Pina opens the door to the gardening club, he isn’t expecting to see both of them in the middle of it all.
Legosi has his back turned on the door, and with his huge built, he completely covers Louis, and if Pina isn’t attentive, he would have missed the antlers sticking out. From that position, it looks like Legosi’s leaning over and… kissing… Louis…
Louis is peering from Legosi’s shoulder, pulling apart from the kiss (“Wha—?” Legosi gasps.) and he raises a finger to his lips with a smirk, before pulling Legosi by the neck and closing his eyes.
The sheep takes a couple of steps back, attempting to close the door silently, succeeding somewhat, only to meet the dwarf rabbit when he turns around to leave.
“Ah,” the rabbit says, smiling softly. “You saw.”
“I—” Pina’s shock is doubled by the fact that a mere dwarf rabbit is rattling him to the core, rendering him speechless.
“Were they beautiful?” Haru asks. “My lovely flowers?”
Pina is absolutely sure that she means something else, but for the lack of will to answer her, he walks down the stairs in a hurry, muttering a small apology for the intrusion.
As he strides back to the club room, the sheep realizes a few things: the rumors are way off, and he’s annoyed that he hasn’t seen this coming, even with the obvious signs.
Haru knows about the rumor; Louis has told her all about it.
While not entirely baseless, she can’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it all. If people are attentive, even in the slightest, they would have seen how it shifted over the months, growing into something much more delicate and precious, for all three of them.
Legosi knows nothing about the rumor, and the two intend on keeping it that way.
“I know I said that you should get some sunlight, Louis-kun, but this is too much,” Haru says when she opens the door. His two boys turn to him with a smile, and she approaches them with a skip on her step. Louis kneels down and Haru touches him by the neck, feeling his temperature. “You’re still so warm.”
“Legosi has been taking such good care of me,” Louis says, smiling fondly. “You didn’t have to rush here after your class.”
“Well, with you two here, who knows what would happen?” Haru laughs. She grabs both their hands and walks them in the cabin. She leads Louis to the bed and tucks him in. “Legosi, can you grab something for Louis to eat? Soup, perhaps?”
Legosi nods, tail wagging excitedly over the prospect of an errand. He rushes off.
With the wolf gone, Haru sighs. “You wanted to put an end to the rumor.”
“Well, that tattletale would keep the story straight, at least,” Louis shrugs. “Legosi’s been so good to us, and I really don’t want to chase him off just because of some stupid rumor.” Haru joins him on the bed and lies down with him. “He was feeling some kind of pressure, and it’s obviously because of the unwanted attention from the nosy members. With that gone, he can finally relax.”
Haru’s smile fades. “I really don’t want to leave this school yet.”
“I know.”
It is unspoken, the way Louis finishes off his statement with, I don’t want to leave him when we just found him together.
“He loves us,” Haru says assuringly, and Louis smiles again. “That’s all that matters.”
Legosi stumbles upon Kibi in the cafeteria after grabbing the soup to go for Louis. He figures that Kibi wants to talk to him about something, but a hungry Louis is a sicker Louis, and Haru will be upset with him, and that equates to zero praise. His tail bristles at the idea.
“Hey, I really can’t stay long, I need to bring this to Louis-senpai—”
The anteater seems restless with two ant shakes in tow, and he gives one to Legosi with a sheepish grin.
“No matter what, I’m rooting for you!” Kibi says, and runs off. Legosi’s ears twitch in confusion, and he walks back to the gardening club in long strides.
He walks into Louis and Haru snuggling on the bed, and he feels a heavy pang of jealousy on his chest, until he realizes that he could always join in, and they wouldn’t find it weird if he did.
Haru sits up on the bed and welcomes him back, saying, “You’re quick!” Legosi’s tail wags happily at that. “Louis-kun, can you sit up?”
Louis motions for him to come hither, and asks him to sit down the bed. The deer settles on sitting on the wolf’s lap, and Haru laughs. Legosi noses Louis’ neck and breathes in.
“So warm,” Legosi mumbles, arms wrapping around Louis’ small waist. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Louis replies. Haru spoons some soup and Louis takes a tentative sip. “This is really good.”
“It’s hardly dinner time, so I went to the kitchen and explained that you need it,” Legosi explains. “Louis-senpai, you really should go to the clinic.”
“Are you throwing me away, silly wolf?” Louis jests. “Don’t need me anymore?”
“I always do,” Legosi admits, mostly to himself, and he watches Haru’s smile turn unbelievably fonder. “But there’s a performance this weekend, and we need you in your best shape.”
Louis pouts. Legosi likes this side of him, the part that’s spoilt rotten, taking in everything he wants without fear of consequence. Haru feeds him some more.
“Can’t I have today with both of you?” Louis asks in a hush. Haru puts the bowl down on the ground and crawls to hug Louis. “I’ll go tomorrow, I promise.”
“Ah, my fawn,” Haru coos, and Legosi can’t help the laugh that escapes him. “So spoiled! Such a baby!” Legosi’s tail wags happily, curling around Louis’ arm. In the warmth of their bundle, Legosi finds himself realizing that their moments are short-lived, with the two of them graduating soon.
“If anyone finds out about us,” Legosi starts, and the room is silent. “Do we have to stop this?” He recalls Kibi and his little quip about rooting for him, and the ant shake he gave is melting under the setting sun, outside the shed.
“No,” Louis answers almost immediately. “Not if you don’t want to. Besides,” He boops Legosi’s nose. “It’s hardly anyone’s business, isn’t it?”
“Did anyone say anything?” Haru asks.
“Well,” Legosi’s hides on Louis’ neck, bashful. “There’s been rumors…”
The extent of it, he’s not entirely sure, but Legosi is an open book, and people could probably see how he longs for both herbivores on various instances, so he figures it’s about that. To his surprise, the two herbivores only laugh and pin him down in a tight cuddle, and he thinks, maybe I was wrong about something?
When he comes back, Louis barely has the interest to dabble on the current rumor mill, but the club certainly has their morale up because of the coming play. The days roll on quickly and the weekend arrives; before he knows it, he is waiting for the curtain to rise, and the excited murmurs of the audience rings true in his sacred halls.
He is going to miss this, miss the way the curtain opens and the spotlight centers him perfectly, knowing very well that Legosi is behind it, watching his every move. Ever since, he has always requested for Legosi to be in charge of his light, and in many ways, it continues on even after Cherryton.
Before he settles into his character, he takes one look past the spotlight; he knows Haru will be up in the spot booth with Legosi, and he knows they will be watching him on his last performance, smiling at his brilliance, and he thinks, I’ll perform for you both, so watch me. Keep your eyes on me.
The light is tinted red, and on his last performance, Louis the Red Deer acts his heart out.
At the curtain call, he is given a bouquet of roses from Haru’s garden, and he plucks two from it, kissing it tenderly, and raises it to the direction of the spot booth, where he smiles a genuine one, the first and last for the student body, and the audience gasps at the sincerity of it all.
He ends the rumor mill entirely when Legosi and Haru meets up with him after the curtain call with their own bouquet, a gorgeous bunch of gardenias and red tulips, and he thinks to hell with it all when he presses a soft kiss on both Legosi and Haru’s lips respectively, soft and chaste and pure. The whole thing is met with a hysterical uproar, with Pina leading the entire thing, screaming I told you so on repeat, and Louis attempts to hide his amusement, failing miserably, and laughing with his lovers as they escape to their garden.
“Your senior year will be extremely amusing,” Louis tells Legosi.
“No thanks to you,” Legosi replies.
“You are ridiculous, Louis,” Haru cannot seem to stop laughing at the absurdity of it all. The admission of love is unspoken, taunting the night with endless possibilities, but for now, Louis settles on holding both their hands and running fast into the night.
They have very little time left, but they know how to make every moment count.
end