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Louis was stubborn, but even he had to admit that this was pushing it. He ignored the sweat dropping off his back, the painful sting in his protesting lungs and sharp rocks jabbing through his expensive sandals as he scaled through the dry, red mountains of the outskirts of Greece. “This is how far I go”, his driver had said with a shrug about 20 minutes ago. Now, the only thing keeping Louis going was his aforementioned stubbornness, combined with an unhealthy dose of curiosity and maybe some slight bitterness at his late father and Yuta.
He’d accidentally stumbled upon the letter when he just happened to be going through Yuta’s briefcase one day. Brows furrowed, his eyes had slid over the words that would come to pester him for weeks on end.
“Everything alright here. House is fit to Oguma’s standards. Send the strawberries I like once a month. Keep an eye on Louis.”
And underneath it, an address to a secluded place in a Greek desert.
Of course, asking Yuta had gotten him nowhere. The ram had snagged the sheet of paper out of his hands and after lecturing him about privacy, had sighed and crossed his arms.
“It’s nothing. An old… Relative. None of your concern, sir.”
And that had been all. Louis had kept on pestering him about the letter for an average of 8 hours a day, even threatening to fire him a couple times, but Yuta’s lips were definitely sealed shut tighter than his briefcase had been. He kept on ‘politely’ asking his boss to drop the subject and let it go.
But of course, Louis did no such thing. In fact, the letter slowly started to topple him over a certain threshold of insanity. The idea of a living relative, one who had known Oguma enough to immediately mention him, had known him enough to know and care about Oguma’s son, eventually kept Louis from fully enjoying a meal or getting enough sleep at night. Entering the address in Zoogle maps had led to nothing; just some blurry, red mountains as far as the eyes could see.
And so, one night, after having turned and wondered for another 3 and a half hours, he’d had had enough. Was he a billionaire, or was he not!? Without granting it another thought, he’d hopped behind his laptop and ordered a flight ticket to Greece for the next morning. After hastily leaving a note for his staff saying he had forgotten about a sudden conference in Vienna, Louis left his mansion with nothing but a small travelling bag over his shoulder, the letter with the address and a whole lot of stupid devotion to track down whomever had written those goddamn words.
And so, there he was, hiking through Grecian mountains and wondering whether he might actually be the biggest, dumbest, completely braindead-est, inconceivably STUPIDEST STAG that had ever lived. What was he doing here!? He wasn’t going to find anything! He wasn’t going to find some long lost relative! All that he’d find would be more stupid, red rocks and sand and drought and despair before finally giving up, turning around and returning home after the biggest waste of money and time he’d eve-
Brown ears perked up and a snout snapped closed, cutting of his own panting as he found out he was wrong about being wrong.
There was a house.
And not just any house. ‘Fit to Oguma’s standards’ hadn’t been a lie. Louis’ lips curled in a disbelieving smile as he neared what appeared to be a miniature mansion with pillars, statues and brickwork that would’ve given the architect of Louis’ own mansion a run for his money.
The third surprise came when he found the round, glistening red door of the house was wide open. Louis swallowed dryly, pushing away his need for water with his need for answers. He squeezed the handle of his Camel bag and resolutely entered the hallway of the house.
The cool breeze of air conditioning hit him and pulled a small sigh of relief out of the deer; this certainly was a welcome change of atmosphere… So welcome, he’d almost forget he was trespassing on property that most likely belonged to the closest thing he’d had left to a family member. Louis cleared his throat.
“U-uh… Hello!?” He yelled out into the house. All that answered him were the own echoes of his words, bouncing from pristine wall to wall.
“Hello!? I-“ He really should’ve rehearsed this... “I uh… Think you know Oguma? Ex-leader of the Horns Conglomerate?”
The soft, slapping sounds of sandals on tiles got Louis to turn his head. His ears dropped, however, when the slapping soon was joined by more footsteps, and footsteps soon joined by voices. More of them. Numerous, male voices, coming towards him, getting closer, closer, just around the corner and oh God oh God OH GOD-
Louis had already backed off towards the exit, ready to bolt from what was sure to be a group of hungry carnivores ready to split him apart for both his meat and money- but he froze in place at the group that turned the corner to meet his gaze.
Six young, herbivore men all blinked at him at the other end of the marble hallway. What Louis first noticed was their apparel: They were all in… Bathing suits!? Some of them had slapped on a thin, often see-through vest while others had bathing towels around their necks, but Louis was shocked by the amount of skin he was suddenly confronted with. The next thing he noticed is that all of the young men were unapologetically gorgeous. Louis was (mostly) straight, but he did have eyes, and those couldn’t deny the undeniable appeal of the boys’ slim bodies, shiny fur and dazzling eyes.
All of them looked like they’d collectively stepped out of a page of a Dolce & Gibbonna swimsuit issue.
“D-d… I- uhm…” Louis’ vocal cords turned out to be useless at a time like this.
The boys’ curious eyes took him up and down before a chipper looking antelope started smiling brightly.
“What’s this?” he spoke -or rather sang- with a French accent,
“A new one!?”
The other boys now joined in with sending delighted squeals Louis’ way. The stag meanwhile, was nailed to the ground, brain not even starting to comprehend what in the ever-loving hell was happening right now.
They approached and it was Louis’ turn to squeal, but not so much in delight. He backed off, but the strange men weren’t discouraged, one of them ‘aww’ing at what he believed to be nerves. Without a word of explanation, Louis suddenly felt himself being pulled further into the estate by impeccably manicured hands attached to beachy and expensive smelling guys.
“W-wait, hold on!” He stammered, to no avail. His eyes desperately shot between the excited strangers, begging one of them for support.
“I-I’m looking for a red deer!?” he tried, “Please- stop pulling- Do you even know who I am!?”
They weren’t impressed, pulling him through a spectacular looking living room and through an open, glass door onto the terrace overlooking a massive pool. The impeccable beauty of the garden, as well as another two or three similar guys lounging around the pool, only slightly registered to Louis before he noticed a pair of antlers and he froze in the hold of the men. He gulped when he realized that the red deer had been exactly who the male models had been trying to deliver him to.
This was it. A red deer stag who had known his father. When this stranger was to turn around from the bar, would Louis be standing eye to eye with his uncle? His grandfather? A nephew?
“A new arrival! ~ He seems a little nervous, poor thing!” the antelope said.
The boys let go of him when he was about five feet apart from the stranger. Louis’ clenched his hands into fists in those two seconds it took the man to turn around.
The man that turned to him was indeed a red deer stag, somewhere in his late fifties. He was wearing red shorts, expensive leather sandals (much like Louis’) and a Hawaiian shirt that wasn’t held closed by a single button, proudly showing off the mans’ slight tummy to the world. Both his hands held a fancy looking cocktail with little umbrellas in them while his face held a kind, content smile. It faded, however, when their eyes came in contact.
And in a split second, Louis realized why smiles weren’t appropriate at this moment.
It was because Louis was looking in the disbelieving, utterly shocked, wide, brown and unmistakable eyes of his father, Oguma.
“….FATHER!?”
The cocktail glasses slipped out of Oguma’s hands and crashed to a thousand pieces on the tiles, the contents of which splattered up Oguma’s legs.
For the next 30 seconds or so, all the stags could do was stare at each other. Jaws hung open, eyes wide as saucers, ears dropped low; Louis and his father’s brains had both completely short-circuited and needed some time to restart. The males around them exchanged a few confused looks.
After the Windows start up sound had chimed through Louis’ skull, his eyebrows and jaws both enclosed, sharpening his expression to a very much disbelieving one. He took a step forward.
“…Father?”
Oguma’s features also softened, his hands finally lowering after having been frozen in the position they’d held up the cocktails in.
“…Louis.”
And suddenly, Louis was touching his father. His living father. That fact was still registering in his brain, making Louis carefully push his fingers in his father’s chest, shoulders and jaw, needing proof to confirm this ridiculous, impossible theory.
“Y-you’re-“ Louis stammered, mostly to himself,
“You’re alive.”
Another silence. Louis felt tears prick at the edges of his eyes, but couldn’t tell what emotion had caused them to appear. Oguma finally carefully opened his arms.
“…Would you like an embrace?” he asked, tone and lips curving into a carefully optimistic angle.
Louis pondered on that offer for a few seconds and then decided to pass on it. With a fist planted in his father’s stomach.
“YOU- YOU FUCKING- YOU UTTER, FUCKING, PIECE OF SHIT MOTHERFUCKER!”
The models shrieked surprised while Oguma doubled over with a shout. Tears of anger (Louis had realized) now rolled down his cheeks as he refused to grant his father even a second of recovery. His brown fists came crashing down on Oguma’s back, legs kicking and voice snarling in their attempt to form coherent sentences:
“YOU STUPID PIECE OF MOTHERFUCK! YOU- YOU OAF! SHITTY FUCKERMOTHER! I’M GONNA FUCKING-”
The stunned models finally came into action and Louis got pulled of his father. He fought the restraints as he kicked and shouted and tried to get back to the current bane of his existence.
“YOU SHITTY, STUPID, USELESS FUCKING EXCUSE FOR A FATHER! I’M GONNA MAKE YOU FUCKING REGRET EVER PICKING ME AS YOUR SON YOU STINKING, STEAMING BAG OF HORSE SHIT- LET ME GO!”
Hands resting on his knees, Oguma raised two sad looking eyes to stare at his unhinged son.
“I’m… Assuming you have some questions, Louis.”
“ONE OR TWO, YEAH!” Louis shrieked.
Oguma straightened his back and his clothes.
“Why don’t we, uh…” he turned back to the bar, “Converse over some new beverages.”
He snapped his fingers to the eavesdropping barman, who quickly got to work remaking the cocktails. An okapi shushed Louis and brushed some fur out of his face.
“This is a feisty one,” he giggled.
Louis and his father sat across from each other, both on their own lounge bed next to the pool. The splashing and voices of the young men in the water was banished to the back of his mind when Louis started his cross-examination.
Underneath the Greek sun, Louis learned that Oguma had been severely unhappy for the past 15 years. The old stag couldn’t really put his finger on to what caused his unhappiness, but had managed to stuff it away for the sake of Louis’ childhood and, of course, the company. It wasn’t until Louis had come of age and started his internship as CEO at the conglomerate, that it had dawned on Oguma.
“Louis, I had been wasting my resources, my youth and my life to an insulting degree,” Oguma shook his head.
“My life revolved around money and the company. That’s all. Every day, every decision, every action and every word that came out of my mouth were all designed with the sole intent of furthering the company. I was living to make more money just to make more money again. My life wasn’t my own, Louis.”
A tray with two colorful, new cocktails being brought over interrupted the conversation. Louis promptly grabbed both the drinks and finished the first with five greedy gulps. Oguma smiled before continuing.
“So, when I was certain that you were going to be alright, I decided to… Opt for an early retirement, so to say. I decided to take all that money and finally put it into me and my happiness, for the first time in my life.”
Louis had listened quietly through it all, curiosity having won it from anger. Sipping on the second margarita, he realized his father thought that explanation had been sufficient and the straw escaped his lips.
“…You know, father,” he started, “Most people buy a new car or cheat on their wife or something during a midlife crisis.” Louis gestured around him.
“They don’t fake their own death to go live in a secluded mansion in Greece with- what exactly are these employees supposed to be!?”
Oguma laughed shortly.
“Well, I did always have a flair for the dramatic. You inherited that from me.”
Oguma’s posture then shifted to an uncharacteristicly nervous one, raising one hand to rub the back of his neck with an awkward smile tugging at his lips.
“As for the uh… “Employees”, well…”
Louis’ heart wildly jumped in his chest when he was suddenly grabbed from behind. He yelped and squeezed his eyes shut but before he could fully realize it, a loud, thick kiss was smashed on his cheek. When he hastily turned to look, he stared in a smiling face that quickly started to register to him as a familiar one.
“P-Pina!?”
“Hi, darling!” the ram greeted him with a cheer. He let go of his shoulders and strolled over to Oguma while Louis stared him down with his jaw hung open.
“What are you doing her-”
A new word would have to be invented to describe the amount of disbelief Louis felt when Pina slouched down on Oguma’s lap with a flick of his tail and the flash of a bright, white smile. Oguma’s awkward grin broadened apologetically, his hands instinctively moving to keep Pina in place.
“W-well,” Louis’ father stammered, “Uh… Did you ever come to question why I never married, Louis?”
Louis had, but never in a million lifetimes would his father being homosexual be the answer he’d come up with. Pina dropped his head on Oguma’s shoulder and preceded to utter the most nauseating words Louis had heard up to that point in his life:
“Looks like we’re sharing a daddy now, Loulou ~”
The second margarita quickly met its maker in the back of Louis’ throat.
“Hey, easy on the alcohol!” Oguma shouted worriedly. Louis ignored him, gesturing to an endlessly amused Pina with the empty glass.
“So, these guys,” he spoke slowly, every word building to this horrible, surreal reality.
“These guys… Are your prostitutes?”
“Heavens no, Louis!” Oguma berated him, clutching Pina closer who giggled.
“They’re here on their own volition. Aren’t you?” He rubbed underneath Pina’s chin with a bent finger, earning some soft bleats of the delighted sheep. Louis scoffed.
“Right. I’m sure the free mansion, foods, drinks, pool and- knowing you - clothing and accessories, don’t have anything to do with it.”
Oguma coughed and pulled one of Pina’s see-through sleeves up to his wrist in a meek attempt of hiding what appeared to be a feverishly expensive watch. Louis rolled his eyes, disappointed but not at all surprised.
“Sure, daddy provides some sugar,” Pina shrugged before turning Oguma’s face to his with a push of his finger,
“But most of us are definitely here for the… Spice.”
Louis watched as Pina then growled lowly and playfully at his father, letting his r’s roll over his tongue and into Oguma’s smiling mouth seductively.
“I might throw up,” Louis warned them.
“Well, that’s what happens when you down two alcoholic beverages in a row, son.” Oguma replied.
“No, that’s what happens when you watch a barely legal, former classmate of yours sit in your father’s lap and revisit the memory of their throes of nightly passion together-“ Louis actually gagged, “Oh Rex, I made it worse.”
“Barely legal?” Oguma furrowed his brows, “He’s 22.”
“No he’s not!” Louis said, “He’s two years younger than me and I’m 21! So that would make him-“
“OH HEY, TIME FOR A REFILL!” Pina shrieked, promptly getting up and bolting past Louis towards the pool bar. Oguma followed his figure with wide eyes, before they rested upon his son’s knowing face.
“U-hum,” Oguma blinked, “I suppose I’m still kind of new at this.”
For the first time since he’d been reunited with his father, Louis chuckled. A disappointed, disgusted chuckle, but a tiny sound of joy nonetheless. It got Oguma to smile back at him hopefully.
“So you’ve uh- been acquainted with Pina before?” Oguma asked his son.
“He’s in the drama club,” Louis furrowed his brows. “Why’d you pick him for this, anyway? He’s insufferable.”
“Are you joking!?” Oguma’s lips split into a beaming smile,
“He’s my favorite one! He’s so handsome and- and fun and mischievous and don’t even get me started on him between the sheets, because he’s-“
SPLASH
Oguma realized he’d gone a step too far when his son would rather jump into the pool fully clothed than hear how that sentence would end. Louis resurfaced and drifted on his back, spewing some water out his mouth like a miniature fountain would. He remained there for a few seconds with his eyes closed, realizing the cool water was welcome in more ways than just a way to escape this new reality for a few seconds. He needed some time for himself. This was all so, SO much to take in… If he opened his eyes, he wouldn’t be surprised to be waking up from a very, very strange dream, back home in the mansion.
But when he did open his eyes, he was met with three of the models having gathered around him, blocking the relentless sun by staring down at him with three curious, beautiful smiles.
“U-um…” He murmured. The boys chuckled.
“So you’re daddy Oguma’s actual son?” the gazelle from before said with a tilt in his head.
“P-please don’t call him that,” Louis tone was desperate, having had his fill of this disgustingly erotic dynamic between Oguma and his courtesans. He moved to ‘stand’ upright, balancing his feet down on the pool’s floor.
“He’s so cute!” a zebra with luscious, black mane said, raising a hand to pull on one of Louis’ ears.
“Like a pocket sized version of- eh, Mr. Oguma!”
A kangaroo on his right gently helped him out of his soaked button down, while the gazelle behind him chuckled and ran his fingers over Louis’ neck. Louis felt his blood started to boil with discomfort, weakly tugging to try and get his limbs back from the touchy males.
“Do you think his thing is pocket sized, too?” the gazelle wanted to know.
“FATHER,” Louis blurted out, “COULD YOU CONTROL YOUR TWINKS, PLEASE!?” He froze in spot shortly after to add:
“…There’s a sentence I’d never thought I’d say.”
The next two hours slowly softened the atmosphere. Louis felt the anger and disbelief finally start to fade, leaving him in more of a dazed but surprisingly okay state. As he finally dared to believe that this wasn’t in fact a dream and his father was still alive and kicking, more questions started to bubble up. After talking about the conglomerate for the better part of an hour, Louis broke a content silence with a loaded question.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
He tried to remain stoic, but his tone betrayed his sense of betrayal. Oguma looked up from his chair, but Louis refused to meet his gaze for now. His father chose his words carefully, like Louis was used to him doing.
“I contacted an expert on the matter years before I faked my passing. His first and most crucial requirement for the plan to work, was to inform the least amount of people possible.” Oguma lowered his ears.
“and he meant that in the most literal sense of the word. ‘Only people who are essential to the disappearance and not a single soul more.’ It eventually landed on Yuta, a doctor and a driver.”
Louis sighed and allowed for their eyes to meet. He found his father’s gaze to be surprisingly genuine.
“I longed to tell you, Louis. I longed to tell you more than anyone. You are-“ He coughed and it was his turn to avert his eyes. Louis’ ears pricked up and to his surprise, Oguma dared to finish his sentence:
“You are the only person I truly love.”
Holy shit. Dying had changed his father.
“Excuse you!” the stags' attention was caught by the antelope, who Louis had learned was called Jacques, splashing up near the edge of the pool.
“You love me too, right, my darling!?”
Taro the kangeroo popped up to Jacques’ left and draped his arms all over his friend.
“What about me!?”
They both put up their best pouts, sparkling their vibrant eyes up to Oguma and pulling a laugh from him.
“Yes, yes, I love all of you more than words can say.”
The boys swam away again, laughing and blowing kisses to Oguma, leaving Louis to shake his head with an admittedly amused grin on his face.
“So!” Oguma slapped his thighs, “Enough about me, how have you been doing, son?”
“Me?” Louis had honestly forgotten that he’d had a life of his own, so baffled and consumed with the secret life his father had been living for the past three years.
“I’m- uh… I’ve been doing alright. Mostly running the company and stuff…” Louis tried to think of more, but started to draw a blank. Or rather, wouldn’t know where to hell to start with the whole turf war thing that went down years ago. He was relieved when his father decided on a subject himself:
“Are you married to Azuki?”
Louis blinked, then hung his head low, starting to fidget. In a few seconds however, he realized his father had absolutely no grip on his life anymore, as he was supposedly dead. Why would he keep up a pretense for him?
“Uh- no. And I don’t intend to.”
And to Louis’ surprise, Oguma smiled.
“Do you love another?”
Such a simple, honest question. It got Louis to struggle with the words in his throat.
“I- um. I guess.” He finally decided to tell the truth. The barriers that used to stand between him and his father had been torn down.
“There’s this wolf girl that I kind of-“ Louis couldn’t suppress the lovesick laugh that bubbled up in him when he visited the thought of Juno.
“That I really like,” he decided on, “She’s so incredibly… Fun and feisty and surprising. Not a day is dull with her! And she’s stunningly gorgeous, too, I just-“
Louis stopped. In the 14 years he’d known Oguma, from the day he was adopted to the day Oguma had ‘died’, he’d never once been this open with his father about romance. It felt cathartic. He was then surprised to feel a big hand grab the back of his neck. When he looked up, Oguma’s face looked happier than he’d ever seen it.
“Go pursue that relationship,” his words were stern.
“But what about the company?” Louis asked.
“Fuck the company.”
“WOW.”
Hearing his father say those words was about as surreal as hearing Legoshi call Haru a bitch or seeing Haru trample down a bed of garden roses. Was he sure he hadn’t just mixed up some medicine and wasn’t just having a crazy fever dream back in Denko?
Oguma laughed and squeezed his son’s neck.
“I’m being serious, Louis. Look at this;” He used his free hand to gesture around the premises.
“I’ve got everything I could ever want. Except for one thing.” Their eyes locked and Louis swallowed nervously.
“Your happiness. I want you to chase it, Louis. I want you to chase it, tackle it to the ground and never let it escape again!” he clenched his fist in front of them.
The most heartfelt, genuine feeling of affection Louis had ever been granted from his father spread through his chest. It reached his face and translated into a smile, eyes softening and ears lowering.
“Will you promise me that?” Oguma asked and Louis finally nodded.
“S-sure. Sure, father.”
“Good.”
Oguma retrieved his hand and turned to lounge back into his chair, seemingly satisfied with getting his point across. Louis pondered for a second, fidgeting with a loose thread on the lounge chair, when he heard Pina calling from the pool:
“Hey, Louis!” He looked over to see the sheep hold up a big, pink beach ball.
“‘Bet you suck at water polo!”
The models around him encouraged Louis to take up the challenge, calling for him and gesturing for him to join them. Louis’ lips curled up and he glanced over to his father, who was smiling as well.
“Go play nice with the other kids,” he chuckled.
“Gross,” Louis replied, but he got up nevertheless, kicking off his sandals under a cheer of celebration from the men in the water.
“I’m ordering dinner soon, what would you like?” Oguma asked.
“A shitton of celery salad, with cheesecake as dessert.”
“Watch your language.”
Louis stuck his tongue out to his grinning father and with a jump, joined to beat the boys in a game of water polo.
(Not canon but I died laughing making it so here:)
Edit: I got some hilarious fanart!! Thank you so much Albino!!! Please check out their instagram!
