Archive of Our Own

Through mostly closed blinds over the apartment window, a bright orange light illuminated directly onto the small mattress in the corner, two deeply sleeping animals laying cuddled up to each other. It was quite cold in the room, but they kept each other perfectly warm. As the light passed over the grey wolf and the red deer, the wolf’s ear lightly twitched, and one of his eyes slowly started to open in wake. Despite falling asleep way too late, he woke up feeling refreshed, as if he’d just slept for a whole week straight. Looking at a small clock he had above the door, it was only 9:22AM, giving them nearly eight hours of sleep. The wolf looked down at the sleeping deer in his arms, his face feeling hot for a moment before quickly looking away. The deer’s hand was still stuffed under his shirt, resting carefully on his fuzzy chest. Afraid of waking him up, Legosi slowly moved Louis’ hand out from under his shirt and sat up, leaving the deer fast asleep on the pillow alone. Legosi felt a slight tug on his arm fur, looking to the source to find that the sleeping Louis was gently trying to pull him back. Being very careful about it, Legosi took the deer’s hand in his and lifted it away, letting it lazily drop to the pillow. Fortunately, Louis remained completely unaware.

Slowly climbing off of the mattress and quietly stepping around the sleeping deer, the carpet being excellent for silencing his heavy figure. He took a moment to get used to the cold air on his fur, moving to a switch on the wall to turn the heating on. The heaters in the room being switched on with a loud ‘click’. The sound made Legosi jump a little, worriedly looking over to the mattress deer. Unfortunately, it was enough to take the deer out of his deep sleep. Louis’ hand tightly grabbed the sheet below him, then started to rub and search around to try find the familiar touch of wolf fur. After a moment, Louis slowly sat up, finally using his senses to see that wolf wasn’t actually there anymore.

“…Legosi?” The sleepy deer said with his lovely deep tone. Hearing his name be called out like this by Louis made his heart jump a little.

“G-Good morning, Louis.” He quickly replied back.

Louis shuffled on the mattress, laying back down and pulling the blanket over himself. “It’s cold, come back to bed.” The deer was likely still quite asleep.

“It’s…” Legosi knew it would be better to wake up early, so he could maybe go fetch something to eat from the store, but getting back in bed with Louis was so inviting. It was cold, and maybe it wouldn’t hurt to give the deer something to hold for warmth…

Before Legosi could make a full decision, he noticed Louis was already back peacefully sleeping. As much as he wanted to get back in bed with him, he really needed to get the two of them some food. He didn’t want Louis to stay alone for too long, either. While it was bound to get warmer overtime, mornings were always the coldest part of the day. Legosi didn’t want to leave Louis in the cold for so long.

Quietly as to not disturb the deer, Legosi slowly put his clothes from the night before back on, bundling up to his sweater and scarf with the jeans. He had considered wearing his coat, but he figured it would be better to place it on Louis as a second blanket instead. He did just that, placing the large coat on the sleeping deer, now covered by both the bed sheets and the wolf-scented coat. With as much silence as he could muster with his large body, he grabbed his wallet and crept through the door, slipping out to the cold outside.

As it was still very cold outside, the snow was still inches deep from the night before, but Legosi was protected by his thick boots and excess of fur. The cold didn’t have much of a way to slip through him with his thick natural fluffy protection. He didn’t want to take too long so he hopped down the stairs to the snowy floor below, going on his way to the nearby store. The walk was always quite peaceful, nobody ever pestered him all that much. It was definitely due to his intimidating size, but that didn’t bother him all that much either. Walking down the snow white streets, picking up the pace a little but trying his best not to attract more attention than his size normally does.

At last, after a short time of walking and nudging past oblivious pedestrians, he made way into the small corner store. Taking a basket from a stack of other baskets at the entrance, he took a look around for anything that may seem appetising for them both. Walking through the isles there was pizza, ready-made meals, snacks, a lot of drinks; a lot of stuff he didn’t think the high-class Louis would enjoy. It worried him, but he didn’t want to take too long. Unfortunately, the food mentioned was pretty much the only thing the store held that he didn’t have to cook. Legosi had no idea if Louis knew how to cook, he already knew that he himself didn’t know much about it either. He didn’t want to risk ruining the morning.

In the end, he looked behind the glass door and saw a small pack of vegetable sushi, a pack of egg sandwiches and a small salad. It wasn’t much, but Legosi wasn’t a fan of spending too much in case he needed his limited funds for something else.

Paying for his food, he happily strode back towards his apartment, a single plastic bag in hand of his things. The sun was up, but all it did was work to blind anyone who even had it in the corner of their vision. It did barely nothing to melt the snow with the cold breeze around. Once again, he walked back unbothered by anyone. Carefully walking up the steps towards his room, something inside his heart already missing Louis and his scent.

He unlocked the door with a small click, peaking in to find the deer still in bed, tightly grasping Legosi’s coat. Walking in, he closed the door behind him and placed his bag down on the carpet and taking the food out. Putting down the food too, he crawled over to the sleeping deer, giving a slight tap on the shoulder.

“Hey… Louis?” He asked gently, his hand on Louis’ shoulder. The only response he got was a small shuffle and a soft sigh from him.

Legosi rolled Louis onto his back, his mean-looking face laying asleep in front of him. Jeez, he even looked angry in his sleep. Though, to Legosi, it was quite a beautiful look. Seeing the sleeping deer like this made his face feel hot with panic signals going off in his mind. He shouldn’t think like this about his friend. Since Haru, he was already over worrying about liking an herbivore, but Louis? Louis was different. Legosi obviously didn’t care about them both being male, in fact, the thought never crossed his mind. Louis was a very intense person, with a soft heart. Louis was way above him in status, likely being incredibly wealthy as the CEO of a company such as the massive Horns Conglomerate. He was just a simple wolf who earned his money by working at a nice café, only living in a tiny apartment alone with minimal services. There was nothing they had in common with how they lived. Yet, whenever he looked towards the deer, sleeping or not, his heart ached and yearned for something more. Something more with Louis. There was nothing more beautiful. He didn’t deserve it.

Legosi shook the deer, not too hard but enough to try wake him up. The deer’s eyes slowly began to fully open, and it felt like Legosi’s heart stopped for a moment.

“Legosi?” Louis said softly, waking from his sleep. “Mmn… Is everything okay? You look scared.”

Legosi took a moment compose himself, smiling down at the deer. “Good morning!”

Louis sat up, rubbing his head and antlers. “Goodness, Legosi.” He said with a yawn. “Quiet down a little, I’ll go deaf with your howls.”

Legosi bounced back a little to give Louis some space, moving to sit seiza as the deer woke himself up. Legosi placed his hand over his mouth. “Sorry!” He replied in a hushed apology.

Louis looked over at him with his usual stern look, looking at him up and down in examination. Something about his gaze felt a lot softer than it did before. “Where have you been? You’re still wearing your boots. They’ve still got snow on them.”

From behind his back, Legosi picked up the things he bought from the store previous, showing them to Louis. “I bought us breakfast! It’s not much, but I didn’t know what you liked…” Looking over the small food stuffs Legosi had bought, he sighed slightly, worrying the wolf. “Are you disappointed?” The wolf asked.

Louis quickly shook his head, answering him with the tip of his fingers against his forehead. “Is this all you buy for breakfast?” Legosi responded with a slow nod of his head. This was what he usually did for breakfast. “Good grief, how on Earth do you keep all that muscle?”

Legosi tilted his head confused, looking down at the food. “Is… Is it not enough for you?”

Louis shook his head once more. “No, no. It’s just, you’re a massive wolf. You need to eat a lot more than just egg sandwiches for breakfast, you know.”

Legosi’s ears flopped down, worried he had messed it up. “Oh… I’m sorry. I can go get more if you-“

Louis waved his hands in a refusal, a slight panic in his own expression for worrying the wolf. “No, you don’t have to do that. I’m grateful. Thank you, Legosi. You’ve done well.” He reached over and placed his gentle hand between Legosi’s ears, gently petting the wolf in reassurance. In response to the physical affection, his eyes closed and he instinctively pushed further into Louis’ hand, tail drooped and wagging slowly behind him, melting beneath his touch. Gosh, this felt amazing for both of them. Louis kept the pets for a short moment, before he took his hand away, tapping the wolf on the nose to get his attention. “However,” Louis raised the finger. “I *will* be taking you out for food. I’m not accepting you barely eating.”

Legosi nodded quickly, his previous worries vanished, a relaxed smile on his face which made Louis smile back, almost having to hide his face in case he blushed. “Okay!” The wolf said in excitement, crossing his legs and turning around to open the small plastic containers.

While Legosi opened the packets, Louis looked down at his hand, still warm from the feeling of Legosi’s head. While Legosi’s back was turned, Louis slowly raised his warm hand up to his face, taking in the pleasant scent of his wolf. Legosi’s head felt so soft… So warm… He wanted more. Legosi had such a lovely reaction to the pets, like a loving dog. Louis thought to himself. “I can only wonder what would happen if I called him a good b-“

Legosi turned back around, turning around with an egg sandwich in hand and giving Louis the vegetable sushi, a big, goofy smile on his face. Louis quickly put his hand back down, hiding what he was doing and the big blush on his face. “I hope you enjoy it! I didn’t know what you wanted. I hope this will be fine.”

Louis nodded, taking the sushi from the wolf’s grasp. Legosi himself took a small bite of one of his two egg sandwiches, softly chewing it as Louis took one of the pieces of sushi between his fingers since Legosi didn’t have any chopsticks in his apartment. He ate the piece of sushi in a singular bite, the exterior sesame seeds adding slight crunch and a surprising amount of extra flavour for their size. The rice was quite lovely to bite through, doing well with the sesame seeds. The vegetables in the middle were excellent, even for ready-made store bought sushi. The feeling was a small explosion of taste in his mouth, and he loved it. Legosi definitely made the correct choice. He finished eating the delicious treat, and he still had five more to go.

He took another one between his fingers, looking up at Legosi in front of him, who had still forgotten to take his boots off. Legosi carelessly ate through the egg sandwich. It was incredibly soft to bite through, and the egg worked well for Legosi’s tastes. He looked so happy, gleefully eating through his egg sandwich. It was pretty funny to Louis to imagine that this large wolf, built for fighting, jaws made to violently tear things apart, was just sat before him, carefully biting down a soft white bread egg sandwich. Those jaws could rip so much apart, even something alive, and they were being used to bite through a simple sandwich. The thought of it made Louis chuckle.

The two happily ate their food, sharing the salad between each other. It was just a small cardboard box of various vegetables, nothing special. Louis occasionally taking sneaking glances at the wolf before him. If it wasn’t cold in here, the amount of layers the wolf was wearing would be worrying. For Louis, he was still comfortably sitting with his legs beneath the sheet. It wasn’t the best for warmth, but it was fine. After a while, the two of them finally finished their food, tucking the packaging beside the mattress.

“What should we do now?” Legosi asked, sitting patiently across from the deer. Louis thought for a moment, he had asked for a day off from his company, maybe he could ask for something else.

“I’ll take you out for food. I still need to get you something else to eat. I’ll have to call someone from my work to bring new clothes over.” Louis replied, taking the phone out of the pockets of his suit pants from beneath the blanket. He’d only noticed now, but sleeping beside a wolf really covered him in the wolf’s scent. It wasn’t that surprising, but he’d have to try keep away from any other canines, with Legosi’s scent covering all of him, he didn’t want anybody to get the wrong idea. Well, he didn’t want people to get the right idea either. Being caught in the arms, even worse bed, of a wolf sounds humiliating for an herbivore like him. It’d be wise to keep away from anyone with a strong nose.

Legosi smiled, excited for the day. “I can do that! There’s still snow outside, are you sure you could call someone right now?”

Louis crossed his arms with a nod. “It’s much brighter now, along with the snow having stopped fallen. I’ll call one of my best.”

Legosi’s tail wagged excitedly behind him, he didn’t know how to drive so all he could do was trust Louis. “That’s fine, then. I’m alright with waiting.

Legosi happily kept quiet as Louis made the call to his work. He didn’t hear all that much, but sat patiently regardless before Louis hung up on whoever was on the other side, placing the phone back within his pocket. “It won’t take too long, I hope. They’re on their way now.” Louis said, pulling the covers more over himself as a shield from the cold.

The two of them sat patiently and silently, they didn’t have too much of an idea of what to talk about, but they enjoyed being with each other nonetheless. The silence was halted by the “thwap” of Legosi’s tail against the carpet repeatedly, he’d still forgotten to take his boots off. Louis was convinced he had completely forgotten he was wearing them. All Louis could do while waiting was watch the wolf peacefully. He was massive even for a wolf, and he’d really put in the effort to keep his body in shape. Large, furred arms that could comfortably keep him warm during cold days like this. A big body and chest for him to lay on, to hear and feel the strong heartbeat of a wolf. The deer found himself daydreaming about the ways he could grow closer to the wolf, to feel the warmth of his strong arms around him, to hear the heartbeat of the giant against him. The thoughts were lovely, though Louis had the internal struggle of seeming weak once more. What on Earth was with this wolf? If he wasn’t so airheaded, Louis would stand no chance against his affections. Before anything else could happen, there was a strong knock on the apartment door, Legosi’s ears shooting up in alert to the noise.

Louis kicked the covers off of himself, and wiped the fur off his clothing as best he could, slowly standing up. “I’ll get it. It’ll probably be my driver.” Legosi stayed put, nervously awaiting to see who had arrived.

Louis unlocked and peaked out the door, before opening it fully. There was a large lion man standing in an expensive looking suit like the one Louis wore before. He was even taller than Legosi, standing at 6 feet and 3 inches or 192cm, only two inches taller than Legosi’s 185cm but had a physique almost similar to his. He wore some nice, professional-looking rectangular glasses too, giving him a kind of mature look; and goodness, was that a gun in his pocket?! With a long flowing mane and a terrifying looking glare, he probably doubled as Louis’ bodyguard. He looked more like he belonged to some kind of underground mafia. Such a terrifying carnivore taking care of an herbivore like Louis? Well, not that it was much different than what Legosi did. He could only assume this was the driver, especially since he carried some extra clothing and a coat over his arm.

Louis spoke first, seeming quite happy to see this lion, perhaps they were close. “Ibuki. I hope you’ve been well.”

The lion before him met Louis with a deep bow. “I wish the same for you, boss.” He said with a deep, rough voice. Making Legosi feel intimidated. However, Louis seemed unfazed.

“You know, you don’t have to call me boss when we’re outside of the company.” Louis replied with a grin. “I know how it was when my father was in control, but you’re my friend.”

The lion quickly stood back up. “S-Sorry, Louis. It’s difficult to break out of habit.” He said with nervousness in his voice, pushing his glasses back on like he had gotten ahead of himself and forgotten gravity existed. Maybe he wasn’t all that different from Legosi after all.

Louis nodded. “It’s fine, thank you for coming out here in the snow.”

“It’s my pleasure,” The lion replied. “I have the clothes you requested.” He held out the clothes to Louis, who promptly took them from his large, beastly hands.

“Thank you, Ibuki. I hope the journey back is safe.” Louis replied. The large lion gave him a toothy smile and a thumbs up with his right hand.

“I’ll be fine! Don’t go worrying your little heart.” Louis let out a light-hearted scowl at the comment, all while smiling. “I may need glasses, but I’m an excellent driver.” The lion let out a hearty laugh.

“Reckless and lucky does not mean excellent, take care of yourself.” Louis joked back with a sigh.

The lion chuckled some more, before focusing his attention to the large wolf staring at him from within in the room. He leaned down to the side of Louis’ head. “Who is..?” He whispered to the deer.

“Don’t worry. He’s a good friend of mine. I trust him.” He whispered back. Legosi felt uneasy from the two of them whispering while the scary lion half-glared at him.

Ibuki kept his eyes locked to the wolf, concerned. “Are you sure? He’s quite… large… even for a wolf, don’t you think? Do you know if he eats…?” The stare down just got increasingly more penetrating and painful for the wolf. “I’m sure you know of the carnivore troubles this side of the city has.”

Louis shook his head, making sure he didn’t hit Ibuki with his antlers. “You’re one to talk, but don’t worry. I’m certain he doesn’t eat meat. He’s an old friend of mine. I’ve told you about him before. You know, the café waiter? From Cherryton?”

Ibuki’s eyes widened for a moment, eyes moving to focus on Louis. “You mean the one you had a crush-”

Louis tilted his head, this time intentionally hitting the top of the lion’s head with his antlers, quickly putting a finger to his own lips. “Not a word from you, big guy.”

The impact didn’t hurt the lion, but he got the message. “Y-Yes, sir!”

Legosi was mainly just confused at this point. He couldn’t hear a word of what they were saying. Louis wasn’t being intentionally malicious, he just enjoyed teasing those stronger than him. Ibuki was aware of this, and they were close so it didn’t feel mean whenever it happened. “Good.” Louis smirked at the lion. “I’ll give you another bonus to your pay since the company won’t allow me to raise your salary any further. Thank you for coming this far out for me.”

The lion rubbed the top of his head, fixing his mane. “I-It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. Thank you, sir.” Their relationship was so difficult to follow for Legosi. Louis somehow always stayed completely dominant in the face of this giant lion.

Louis waved off the lion, who nodded at the deer, giving Legosi another glance from the doorway. Louis watched him leave and turned back in to the apartment, clothes over his arm as he laid the clothing on the carpet. “That’s my driver, Ibuki. Also one of my top assistants.”

“He looks super scary.” Legosi replied, moving into a more comfortable cross-legged sitting position.

“Yeah. He’s quite nice if you get to know him, though. He’s a close friend of mine. He has a soft lion heart. Naturally, quite full of pride.” Louis turned away from Legosi.

“I didn’t expect someone like you to have a lion assistant. He looked so strong.” Legosi rocked on his carpet as he sat like a pup.

“My entire higher staff are lions, mostly assistants because they can’t stand to be alone without me for too long.” Louis began to unbutton his shirt as Legosi had his mind filled with questions about the kind of life Louis had.

“Why lions? How did you even meet them?” Legosi asked, looking down at and messing with his scarf.

“I met them about a year before my father died. There’s only eight of them. They were originally just street thugs in the back areas of the more dangerous parts of the city. I can’t figure out why, but they took a shine to me, taking me as one of their own since they didn’t have a designated leader. I suppose I fulfilled that role for them.” Legosi looked on in astonishment. “In terms of a ‘right hand man’ or ‘second in command’, I’d say Ibuki fills that role, even if unofficially in a job hierarchy.”

“Wow…” The thought was shocking to Legosi; he could only wonder what the others were like. His thought was interrupted with the sudden drop of Louis’ shirt, revealing his bare, fluffy back to the wolf. Legosi quickly turned around, flustered and blushing, eliciting a laugh from the deer. “Y-You’re undressing here?”

Louis shrugged his shoulders, picking up a shirt from the mattress. “It’s much more comfortable here than it would be in the public lavatories. You can look away if you’re uncomfortable.”

Legosi kept his eyes locked to the wall, away from Louis as he got dressed, a thick blush on his face. “H-Hurry up.”

Louis finished getting dressed and turned around. “You can look now, you silly wolf.”

Legosi turned around to see the deer, his old clothes lazily tossed into a pile. He looked… simply beautiful… All of his clothing was very high quality and expensive-looking. A nice pair of clean thick black pants for the cold, a peach turtle neck sweater which perfectly kept the heat in, lovely looking black boots to step through the snow, and a nice blue scarf which almost matched Legosi’s. If you looked at him, it’d be like sparkles would shine from him. He looked absolutely dashing.

“So…” Louis said softly, his voice could pierce the heart. “Would you like to get going, now?”

Legosi nodded, still a little red in the face from before. “O-Okay!”

Louis smiled back at him, picking up the coat he had been given and putting it on, leaving it unzipped. “I didn’t have Ibuki take us there directly since I’d much rather do other things as we look for somewhere to eat. I want this to be a fun evening for both of us.”

Legosi stood up, putting on his coat and readjusting his scarf. “I love it. Thank you.”

Louis blushed but could hide it within his scarf, having to resist saying the similar phrase he so wanted to say. “I’m glad, I’m ready. We can go when you’re ready.”

Legosi smiled. “I’ll be fast!” He said excitedly, but his head tilted to the side after a moment of looking around the room. “I… don’t remember where I put my boots.” All Louis could do was stare at him, trying to hide laughter under his scarf. Wow, this scarf was useful against an airhead like him.

Soon enough, the two of them were on their way. Walking through the snow, the new clothing Louis had was perfect for the weather, and he no longer needed to keep near to Legosi whenever he felt cold. Though, he decided to stay near anyway. Everything kept normal for Legosi, already doing quite well with his natural protection. He didn’t mind Louis sticking by him, in fact he quite enjoyed being this close; a mutual feeling they both shared.

The two happily going along, getting a lot of strange stares from suspicious strangers. Not to mention, the thick wolf smell that hadn’t left Louis’ fur that even the coat couldn’t keep in. Fortunately, only a few people noticed as the scent from Legosi masked it. While the sun hung high, the winds and snow kept the temperature very low. On the plus side, this meant there was a lot less people out in the snow. As they got further from the apartments, the streets slowly became more busy overtime as they entered the more populated areas. Eventually, they made it to their destination. On each side of the street were buildings connected by high overhanging wires, rows of small obscure stores or the occasional café; often two stories high for a place for the owners to live. All the buildings had a thick layer of snow on their roofs or windows, and often had unlit colourful LED lights alongside the walls for when the December nights came along. Speaking of which, a lot of stores had begun to pack Christmas style products, showing them off in the windows or visible from the outside.

The two boys stayed close by each other’s side, not a full plan in mind but just looking for something to do before they went and got a proper meal for the day. It was getting close to 11AM, so they certainly had a lot of time in the day left.

While they waited for the time to pass, the two decided to check out one of the nearby stores, for gifts to buy for each other or whatever nice they could find. Legosi kept his purchases short but Louis didn’t really mind, he could buy the whole store if he so desired.

In the end, neither of them bought much. Louis bought the wolf a pair of thick grey gloves which had the pattern of a wolf’s face on it. Legosi had bought a short wire of Christmas lights, like you put on a Christmas tree.

“What is that for? Are you planning on decorating your apartment?” Louis asked, eying the lights which Legosi stuffed into his pocket.

“It’s a surprise! I’ll show you later.” Legosi replied with a smile, keeping the lights in his coat pockets.

The two kept going, wandering around as it got closer to the time they wanted to get themselves some food, with nothing to do besides walk around in the snow, they figured they might as well be on their way now. Louis walked close to Legosi’s side, his hands shuffling around in his pockets, but he had an idea. He had forgotten to ask for any gloves earlier, while his pockets kept his hands warm well, this was a perfect opportunity. Slowly, Louis wrapped his arm around Legosi’s, carefully moving to grasp Legosi’s hand in his. The deep warmth of Legosi’s thick, furred hands made it feel incredibly cosy as they walked holding each other’s hand. Legosi had of course noticed too, but he wasn’t resisting Louis’ advances. The deer leaned his head on the coat sleeve of Legosi’s arm, comfortably holding him close like he was hugging the wolf’s arm. The warmth of Legosi’s arm was enough to deeply warm his heart; his face too, but that was something else stirring deep inside of him. Legosi’s own face got a thick red haze to it, and his lips curled into a gentle smile, he’d wanted this for a while. The soft fur of Legosi’s hand and Louis’ kept each other warm and made it feel so comfortable. The contrast in their size was much too, Legosi’s large hand could easily hold all of Louis’. They didn’t care if anyone had seen them like this; they just happily went on their way towards their destination, hand in hand.

Louis had already picked out a place for them to eat. It was a small yet quite fancy restaurant in the middle of town. The prices were no bother to him, not anywhere close to a dent in his budget. Though Louis expected Legosi to try pay for the food, he was too sweet. Louis had already decided this was his treat the moment he had the idea to get food. Legosi didn’t exactly know where they were going. He knew the name and the location of the restaurant as he’d passed by it many times in the past, but he’d never been inside.

Finally, the two had reached the restaurant, the time coming up close to 11:30AM. They walked through the door, Louis in first as they unzipped their coats to handle the heated environment. The restaurant had the feeling and theme of a log cabin on a larger scale, the walls painted brown and made to look rough with many chairs and tables evenly placed around the restaurant. Red cloths with a checker pattern lay on the tables and the chairs were a fancy ornate wood for the legs and the back, but had a pillow-like material built into the chair’s seat and its back. The ceiling wasn’t too high, but high enough to have chandeliers with glass lights which let off a bright but cosy orange glare, giving the impression as if the whole room was being lit up by a multitude of fireplaces; the heat in the room befitted this feeling too. There wasn’t a counter or anywhere to specifically order your food, usually a waiter would come round, take your order and then go straight to the kitchen. The room wasn’t too tightly packed, seemingly the main customer base being various antelopes and other herbivores like bulls or zebra, looking quite high-class, much like Louis. Carnivores weren’t looked on so highly in the city, due to the frequent cases of devouring, so it only made sense that the wealthiest and most high-class respected places were barely populated by his Legosi’s kind. The windows were pretty small, well, quite normal sized for windows in comparison to the windows the café had. This restaurant focused more on the comfort of the interior, while the café took advantage of the outside to make the inside more inviting, giving it a lovely bittersweet comfort.

The two waited in front of a small cash register connected to a computer of some kind, likely to set reservations and handle payments, placed on a fancy wooden stand for somebody to come and give them their seats. Soon enough, somebody did. An old sloth wearing a suit waistcoat with a white shirt underneath it, some fancy black suit pants and a pair of black shoes. He was only about a foot shorter than Louis, grabbing a specialised step ladder to be taller than the stand. Why does everything fancy have to be the colour black?

“Good morning, sir.” He said, addressing Louis. “A table for…” The sloth gazed at the wolf, looking him up and down, a clear nervousness on his face. The wolf was giant in comparison to him, and that terrifying scar above his eye. He wasn’t prepared for something like this.

Louis looked at the man’s face, annoyed, then looked down at their hands. Louis tapped the wolf on the shoulder to get him to lean down. “Hey, Legosi. Your hand.” He whispered into Legosi’s ear.

Legosi looked down, still clutching Louis’ hand in his, Louis not able to let go due to Legosi’s strength. He must’ve gotten too used to the deer’s warmth. “Oh! Sorry.” He said, letting go.

Louis looked back over at the sloth man, glaring at him, pulling a kind of business card out of his pocket and showing it to him, clearly showing the man what kind of man he was and his position. CEO of the Horns Conglomerate, a highly respected title. Louis wasn’t one to put up a fuss in public, but there would be dire consequences if they were disallowed service due to the wolf. The sloth nervously bowed at the deer. “R-Right this way, gentlemen.”

They were taken to a corner in the restaurant, a nice secluded area for the both of them as they took their seats at a table for two, having to sit opposite each other. Thankfully, the table was small enough that it wasn’t a problem. Legosi’s tail swished behind the chair through a gap; this place really wasn’t made with carnivores in mind. The sloth gave them a menu and left them be, hurriedly walking back. They took their coats off and looked over their menus, it was quite expensive, but this wasn’t a problem for the deer. However, for the wolf, it was quite worrying.

“Hey… Louis? This place is pretty expensive. Are you sure this is fine?” Legosi asked, anxiously looking over the menu prices.

Louis lay one leg over the other, moving his gaze back to the wolf. “Don’t worry. This is my treat for you. I have more than enough money for this.”

Legosi shuffled in his seat, still nervous. “Are you sure? We can split the costs-”

Louis reached over the table, placing his finger against Legosi’s lips. “Hush, pup. This is my gift for you.”

Legosi spoke past the finger. “I want to give something back to you…”

Louis reached a little higher and planted his hand upon Legosi’s head and began petting. “You’re already the perfect gift here, much more than I could ever give.” Legosi once more melted underneath the touch of Louis’ hand, the softness of his hand making him feel wonderful. Louis stroked over the wolf’s head and rubbed his ear, moving his hand down to scratch under his chin, which Legosi relaxed into, feeling at bliss in Louis’ hold. Louis took his hand from Legosi’ chin, giving him a tap on the nose to bring him back to reality and get his attention. “Hey, pup, the waiter is coming.” Legosi whined quietly, but had no choice but to regain his composure.

Legosi shifted back into his seat, face completely red from just Louis’ touch. The waiter came over, a tall horse, slightly shorter than Legosi much skinnier, with black hair with a ponytail, wearing the same as the sloth. He held a small notepad and pencil in hand. “What would you two like to request?”

Louis spoke up first, menu in hand. “I’ll take the Okra Aemono, the Sunomono with cucumber, and a bottle of red wine, thank you.”

The horse nodded, writing down his order. Next he focused on Legosi. “For you?”

Legosi stayed quiet for a moment, surveying the menu. Louis got slightly worried he wouldn’t know what to order since he’s likely never heard of most of the things on this menu. “I’ll… I’ll take the potato salad, with apple juice.” He shuffled nervously in his seat. “T-Thank you.”

The horse nodded once more, indifferent to the wolf’s nervousness. “Thank you. Is that all?” He asked, addressing both.

Louis pondered for a moment. “I’ll take another one of the Okra Aemono.” This wasn’t for him, this was for Legosi since he definitely had no idea what to order besides the potato salad.

The horse wrote down their orders, and turned to head back into what was likely a kitchen across the restaurant. Legosi leaned forward closer to Louis. “Do… Do they even sell apple juice here?” He whispered.

Louis chuckled in disbelief. “Yes, I’m sure they do. It’ll just be much of a higher quality and maybe a cider. Non-alcoholic.”

Legosi looked down in dejection. “I don’t fit in here…”

Louis gave him a reassuring pat. “You’re with me, don’t worry. I’ll take care of you, pup.” Was that his new nickname now? Pup? Not that he was complaining.

It was very fun for Louis to treat Legosi like this, to have him to himself. Legosi was a beautiful carnivore, but that’s not all he liked. Legosi was a wonderful person, and really sweet, maybe a little airheaded, but lovely. He was blunt, perhaps unintentionally, like he didn’t know the impact of his words. That’s probably how he broke through Louis’ defences so easily. He wasn’t afraid to defend the ones he loved, as loving as he could be, he was certainly ready to fight at any moment for the justice he deemed fit, which Louis loved. They quite perfectly gave what the other didn’t have. Legosi had the sense of justice and power to fight, Louis fuelled this feeling within the wolf and encouraged Legosi to do what he thought was right. Cherryton was a strange academy in itself, but even there it wasn’t every day you saw a wolf and a tiger brawl on stage in front of everyone.

A light clink sounded out as the bowls of food were placed onto their table by the same horse that took their orders, followed by a bottle of wine and a few wine glasses placed in the middle of the table in a small bucket of ice. Legosi was passed his potato salad and a glass of very strangely nice looking apple juice, which was definitely apple cider at closer look.

They were passed the proper utensils and the two were left alone. Louis slid the second Okra Aemono over to Legosi, who was already wolfing down his potato salad. Good lord, he must’ve really been hungry. Louis definitely isn’t going to let this happen again. He’d handle breakfast if he ever comes over to Legosi’s apartment more often. The two ate their foods, it was certainly worth the price.

Okra Aemono is a lovely green dish, known for an unusual sliminess texture, made from the Okra plant with an uncooked dressing and then seasoned with soy sauce and bonito flakes. However, as bonito flakes are a type of tuna, thus meat, they will be removed from this for the context of Beastars. The soy sauce mixes with the strange texture of the food and creates a delicious coating and a unique texture.

Sunomono is its own food without the cucumber. It only means a dish of many Japanese foods pickled in vinegar. Cucumber Sunomono is thinly sliced cucumber that has been dried and then pickled in a light vinaigrette of rice vinegar, soy sauce, and a bit of sugar. It’s often mixed with Kombu seaweed. It works to eat as a side-dish with other meals.

Potato salad is of course very popular in a lot of places in the world, however Japan does something special with it. It’s known to be sweeter and thicker due to the added ingredient of Japanese mayonnaise. Japanese mayonnaise has a rich flavour and is thicker in texture in comparison to western versions of the food. It can also contain diced ham or cucumber. In this case, just cucumber.

The two took their time eating through their foods, Legosi ended up enjoying the extra bowl of food, though it made him feel bad for troubling Louis. Overtime, as they ate through their orders, Louis had been taking small drinks of the wine. Legosi didn’t drink wine, so he just stuck to his apple cider which he enjoyed. If he had the budget, he’d definitely come here more often.

Legosi had gotten through his salad and half the bowl of Okra Aemono, having drank most of his cider while Louis was only through half his bowl, and the Sunomono wasn’t even touched. He looked to be probably down a few glasses of the wine too. The two happily ate through their food, and about an hour later, they were both finished. Legosi had asked for a few apple refills and Louis didn’t have to change. It had been about an hour since they had gotten there now, and they had both had a good time. The bright light of the sun outside didn’t shine through the windows anymore, but hung high above them. Louis seemed a little tired, so Legosi raised his arm in hope that it’s what you did to call a waiter over. The horse from before came over and took their plates and drinks away, before coming back over with the bill. Legosi almost tried to pull his wallet out before the deer pushed his arm down beneath the table, both as a silent “Remember, my treat” and a “There’s no way you can afford this, let me handle it.” Legosi reluctantly complied, though smiled at Louis’ touch. Louis paid for everything, giving a big tip to the horse afterwards who bowed to them as they left.

The two left the restaurant, side-by-side, Legosi giving a peaceful wave at the sloth who had greeted them at the door. As they left to the outside, Louis tightly held onto Legosi’s arm, leaning his head against his upper arm. It felt so lovely, but Legosi had other things in mind. “Hey, Louis? Is everything okay? You’ve been quiet for a while…” In response, Legosi only received a grumble directed into his arm. That’s when he realised what had really happened. Louis wasn’t holding onto Legosi in physical affection, he was clutching onto him for balance. “No… He couldn’t be… Louis?” Legosi thought to himself, but the answer was clear. Louis was *very* drunk. He’d gone through about a quarter of the entire big wine bottle in under an hour alone, and he wasn’t exactly very big, either. He was pretty slender for his species and age. He was a natural lightweight, and now the wolf had a very drunk deer to take care of. That’s most likely why he looked too tired to call over the bill. There wasn’t much to be done now, it would be better to get Louis to a safer environment. He was too tall for Louis to wrap his arm around his shoulder, but Legosi kept a firm grip on him against his arm. He took Louis out of the more crowded areas and into a secluded alleyway and sat him down on a bench to help him rest. Legosi sat beside him, and let Louis lazily fall down to use his lap as a pillow. Louis was laying on his side, head against Legosi’s muscled thigh.

“Louis?” Legosi said quietly, holding Louis’ shoulder as the deer laid comfortably against him.

Louis clutched onto the cuffs of his sleeve. “I-I’m fine. Let me up.”

Legosi wasn’t even trying to stop him from standing, Louis just wasn’t getting up himself, but Legosi didn’t want him to go anywhere either. He’d like to get Louis back to his apartment, but he’d rather put him under the care of the ones closest to him and likely more experienced in taking care of the deer. “You’re drunk, hold still.”

Legosi reached down into Louis’ pockets, fishing around in each one, getting only a small growl in annoyance from the deer but not much resistance. Eventually, he found what he was looking for: Louis’ phone. It certainly wasn’t a cheap phone, so he was very careful with it. “I’m not… Give me that back...” Louis reached up to try take the phone back, Legosi just carefully and casually pushed his arm back down with ease, but not before taking Louis’s soft hand and using it to unlock the phone with the fingerprint scanner. Legosi wasn’t going to do anything to invade Louis’ privacy, and just headed into the contacts app.

He scrolled through the list, what was that lion’s name again? Ibuki? Fortunately, the list was alphabetical so it didn’t take too long to find his name in the contacts. It took a moment to take the call, as Legosi knew it’d be weird for someone who wasn’t Louis to call them, and they might get worried. Nervously, he called the number. It took a few seconds for anyone to pick up, but soon Legosi found himself on the receiving end of presumably the rough-voiced lion, Ibuki.

“Boss! How is everything?” He said quite cheerily, in the background of the call he could hear more deep but quiet voices, seemingly excited for the call too. “Do you need me to come pick you up?”

Legosi took a moment to build up his courage, and answered back. “H-Hello! It’s me, the wolf who was with Louis earlier today…” All the voices on the other end of the line ceased, he was probably on speaker phone, which only made him more anxious, he didn’t want to anger a large lion like Ibuki. “It’s nothing bad, I promise, he’s just…” He looked down at the deer’s face, who had a red blush bridging across his face due to the alcohol; the sight alone made him lose his place in his thoughts for a moment. “U-Unable to call at the moment.”

There was a growl on the other end of the line, perhaps that last line was worded dangerously. There was a rough, angry-sounding voice on the other end. “What do you want with our boss?”

Legosi immediately froze up, realising he’d probably given him the wrong idea. “N-No, no! It’s not bad! Louis is… very drunk. That’s what I meant. I’m hoping you can come pick him up. He’s safe, please don’t worry.”

In the background of the call, Legosi heard a few sighs of relief, hopefully Ibuki would be a lot less scary now. “Fine,” He said with a light growl behind his voice. “I’ll come down there. Where are you?”

Legosi shuffled uncomfortably in the bench, holding onto Louis’s arm gently. “Ah… Not too far from the apartment. If you look in all the alleyways on the way to town, you’ll probably see us. Louis is just resting right now.”

“We’ll be there soon. Do not let him be in any danger.” Ibuki demanded from the other side, hanging up the call right after. It was clear that if these instructions weren’t followed, the lions would be very unhappy with him.

All Legosi could do was sit there with a very dazed deer using his thigh as a pillow as they waited, he deeply cared about his friend. Giving a careful shake of Louis’ arm, Legosi checked on the drunken deer. “Hey, Louis? Is everything okay?”

Legosi felt Louis’ head rub against his thigh like a nod, but suddenly he felt a tight grasp and weight on his arm, as Louis pulled himself up. “L-Legosi…” He said, clutching Legosi’s arm. Almost sitting up, having to lean on the back of the bench for balance with one hand, the other wrapped around Legosi’s arm; Louis addressed Legosi, but kept his stare down at the bench.

“Louis, be careful!” The deer swayed slightly to the side, but managed to keep his balance on Legosi. In response, the wolf grabbed tightly onto Louis’ shoulder to hold him steady, turning to face him with crossed legs on the bench.

Louis looked up into the eyes of the large wolf holding him, and Legosi got a good look at Louis’ own hazy eyes and blushed face. He looked almost sad, an expression he hadn’t seen from Louis in a very long time. Louis’ eyebrows curved down and met Legosi’s gaze with a soft frown, like he deeply longed for something. The herbivore’s eyes looked all over the wolf’s menacing face, getting a close look at his scars. Legosi looked at him worriedly, and it just made Louis think to himself: “How can someone so scary be so kind?”

Legosi felt the light weight of a very weary deer falling onto him, Louis’ head into his chest, face buried against his coat, as he wrapped his arms tightly around the wolf’s body, pulling himself close to the wolf. Eventually, Legosi had to stretch out his legs and let the deer sit in his lap, his back against the arm of the bench. “Legosi…” The dazed deer started, clutching Legosi closely. “You’re so beautiful…”

Legosi’s face bridged a thick red at the sudden compliment. “L-Louis!?” The deer brought his knees close to his side, huddling close to Legosi in his lap.

“You’re so warm… I want more…” More? Surely, he didn’t mean the kind of “more” Legosi wanted with him, right? There’s no way Louis had those feelings for him, he was just drunk.

“L-Louis, deep breaths… You need rest.” Legosi rubbed Louis’ back, pushing his hand beneath the deer’s coat to help comfort and hold him.

Louis continued, sitting up from Legosi’s chest slowly. “Pup… You’re so dense sometimes, you know that?”

Legosi held the deer steady as he sat up. The wolf made the mistake thinking that Louis was simply being silly or teasing due to the alcohol. It had only made him more honest. He was letting out his deepest feelings in the comfort of his wolf’s hold. “B-Be careful, you might fall.” The wolf nervously replied, the blush never leaving his face.

In response, all Louis did was grab hold of Legosi’s shoulders, pulling himself close to the giant. “Shush, you cute fool. You know what I want.” The deer leaned closer, knees beside Legosi’s thighs as he brought himself up, clutching the wolf’s shoulder. “I only want you… Why is it so difficult to make you understand this?”

Their snouts got closer, Legosi now able to feel the hot breath of Louis on his face as their noses almost touched. “L-Louis…” It was clear what was happening now, Louis wanted to feel the soft lips of his dear wolf against his own, and Legosi knew this.

“Legosi…” The deer whispered in his deep, sultry voice. “Seal the bond between an herbivore and a carnivore…”

Legosi’s whole world was on fire, and it felt like it too. Deeply embedded in his fur, there was only warmth; there was only comfort. His heart beat quickly, rhythmically with Louis’. Both their desires linked together, both their hearts and spirits linked together. It was only them. Louis leaned close, their lips only an inch apart, and slowly pushing closer. Legosi looked deeply in the beautiful, soft, hazy eyes of the deer. It would feel so perfect for Legosi, the touch and love of the deer before him. He made a decision.

He placed his hand on his chest and pushed the deer away; he wouldn’t do this. No matter how he felt, no matter how true Louis’ words or feelings may be, Legosi would never take advantage of his friend in this drunken state. He knew how much he longed for the deer’s love, but Legosi didn’t just want love. If he truly loved Louis, he’d make sure Louis got the same love back. He didn’t know how deep his feelings lay inside, but that didn’t matter to him. Louis’ care and comfort was what mattered to him. This wasn’t like Haru. While he cared for Haru back when they were together, he recognised that a lot of his desire came from his love for herbivores, not for Haru. Louis was different. Louis was always different. Legosi wanted to explore every part of who Louis was, not what he was.

He carefully pushed Louis back onto the bench, giving him space to lay back. It was quite easy given his strength, and Louis didn’t resist much. The deer looked over at the wolf, his heart only starting to calm down. “Legosi? Is… Is something wrong?”

Legosi moved to put his feet back on the ground, sitting beside Louis. “Please, don’t worry. I-I want to wait until you’re comfortable.”

In the moment, Louis could swear he felt his heart skip a beat. Legosi placed his hand on Louis’ small shoulder, and helped him stand up with him. Legosi stood high above Louis, but this didn’t worry the dazed deer. In Louis’ perspective, Legosi’s massive body completely blocked the sun, making him look quite dark and terrifying in the shadows. This still didn’t worry the deer. He felt calmed in the wolf’s large presence. Unfortunately, their time was cut short. A yell rang out from behind the wolf, which Legosi quickly spun around to see, and Louis peeked his head around Legosi’s arm. “Hey, you!” An unrecognised voice yelled from the entrance to the alley. “What are you doing to that herbivore!?”

The deer couldn’t see or really that aware of the surroundings, but he already knew what was happening. With Legosi’s massive size, plus the extra size of his coat on, this was bound to happen eventually. Legosi immediately changed his attitude, shoulders hunching down and hiding his claws, becoming more reserved. “O-Oh, hello, officer!”

Louis clutched Legosi’s arm tightly, letting out a sigh, this was bound to be a disaster. Louis leaned up as best he could, whispering to the wolf. “Don’t do anything rash, Legosi.” Being a high-ranking member of civilisation, Louis knew all about how the police force here worked from his father’s connections. They wouldn’t stop even if he told them to.

The officer at the end of the alleyway was a coyote, maybe around 5’3” to 5’5”. His fur was a soft yellow with a peachy brown semi-circle pattern from his forehead to his nose with bubble-shaped brown fur beneath his eyes like freckles. He wore a simple officer’s uniform of a deep blue with a golden badge on his hat to show his profession, along with many other professional decorations on his clothing.

“Step away from the herbivore!” The man yelled, reaching into his pocket. Something about the way he called Louis an herbivore frustrated Legosi, but he couldn’t tell why. Louis had a pretty good idea, however. For the police, it didn’t matter what the species were when it came to carnivore related crimes. There was only “carnivore” and “herbivore”. That’s all it was. It didn’t matter how they acted, it only mattered that they were a carnivore. Either the ones seen as safe, or the ones always seen as dangerous. Even the officers who were carnivores themselves followed these set of rules. Legosi was probably one of the most dangerous-looking people in the city. To the officer, Louis was nothing but an herbivore. If the circumstances were any different, Louis would’ve gotten more than angry at being seen as weak.

Legosi froze, not too sure what to do in this situation. This wasn’t his first run-in with the police, but the previous times he was usually helping them. It got much, much worse when the officer pulled a gun from his pocket and pointed at the wolf.

In the heat of the sudden moment, a new kind of instinct awoke inside the wolf. While it wasn’t entirely correct, inside Legosi grew something new. With the gun pointed in his direction, it didn’t feel like his life was in danger. To him, it felt like the life of Louis was in danger. It was as if he wasn’t even there, just the gun being pointed in the direction of Louis, no matter if he was the target. It was like a fire deep within his heart. His posture straightened itself and his claws came out, simply by instinct. The overtaking desire to protect. Louis felt worried, letting go of his arm and falling down to the ground, sitting with his arms behind his back in the snow. He wasn’t close to sobered up yet, so this was all quite overwhelming for him. Looking at Legosi, it looked like a fierce predator protecting their meal from other carnivores.

Suddenly, before anything could get any worse, the silence was broken by the roar of several engines loudly yelling outside of the alley, breaking Legosi out of his trance and scaring the officer, who kept the gun locked in place but finger away from the trigger. There was the shuffling of many footsteps stomping through the snow before they finally came out to the entrance of the alleyway. Shining in the sunlight behind them, eight fierce-looking lions of various sizes and builds took the stage; Ibuki, with one hand on his hip and a tie blowing with the wind, standing prevalent before the other seven. The roar of the engines came from three motorbikes that had been parked outside the alley with a black car in the middle of them. Legosi could only look on in awe. They all wore very scary-looking bandanas, definitely unfitting of what you’d imagine a CEO’s group of assistants to look like.

Ibuki wore a large, black coat with a (fake) furred hood over his suit, the middle unzipped showing his large build under a white shirt and red tie. He was the only one not covering his face. Though, his uncovered face only worked to make him look more terrifying, as his teeth were bared at the sight before him.

“Hey, hey! What is going on here?” His deep voice boomed through the alley. From his angle, he could see Louis sitting behind Legosi, the massive wolf who currently had a pistol aimed at him. The coyote was stiff, surrounded on both sides by giants with very terrifying appearances.

Trying to maintain his composure at the sight of the giants, the coyote yelled back. “Y-You can’t be here! This is a cri-” Before he could finish his sentence, Ibuki had already walked up to the coyote, tightly gripping his arm with the weapon in one hand, twisting it to release his grip on the gun, and simply picked him up with by the back of his collar with the other. With hardly any effort at all, Ibuki tossed the officer to the wall of the alley, taking the weapon from him with ease. Now with the weapon in his hands instead, he wrapped his hand around the barrel and the other around the handle, letting out a grunt as he snapped the gun in half and threw the pieces away.

The officer sat against the wall, clearly outnumbered. He tried to swipe for his radio, only to have it easily swiped away by one of the other lions and crushed when he squeezed it with one hand. Ibuki walked over to the wolf, who was quite scared at the taller lion, but still had some of the fire left inside of him. By instinct alone, Legosi found himself glaring at the lion in the face of danger, ready to fight if he posed a threat to Louis; which Ibuki would never be, but Legosi was doing it subconsciously. He took a step back, not out of fear, but to cover Louis. Ibuki looked like some kind of evil demon, like an ominous silhouette in a horror movie. The large lion looked over him, taking a good look at every detail on his face.

To the surprise of Legosi, Ibuki simply walked past him fearlessly, kneeling down beside the overwhelmed deer and examining his body. “Boss! Are you hurt?” He said nervously in a whisper-yell, not wanting to cause Louis any more issues in his state. Anymore loud voices might make him go mad. Legosi felt his body and instincts calm themselves, watching the sudden nervous display of the lion who had just thrown a police officer and budged right past him. Much like Legosi, Ibuki quickly changed his attitude whenever Louis was in danger. This was something they both had in common. They deeply cared about Louis.

Louis gave the lion a restrained nod, all of this was giving him a terrible headache. To Legosi’s shock once more, Ibuki scooped his arms beneath Louis’ knees and his back, picking up the deer in his arms in a kind of bridal-carry, and Louis didn’t even resist at all. Louis would’ve never let anyone else see him like this.

The lion stopped before the wolf, not smiling, but Legosi didn’t sense any feelings of hostility from him. “Follow us, wolf. You’re coming with us.” Legosi felt like he wanted to deny him, but the feeling of making sure Louis was safe was much stronger. It’d also not be wise to resist the orders of a lion like Ibuki.

He was led to the black car with Ibuki and Louis. Six of the other lions got on the bikes, two on each and the lion which crushed the radio joined Ibuki and the two in the car. Ibuki opened the backdoor of the car, carefully laying Louis in the backseat, the unknown lion sitting in the middle beside the deer. Ibuki walked over to the other side and opened the door, standing expectedly. Realising this was his cue to get in, Legosi followed instructions and sat beside the lion in the back seat.

As Ibuki sat in the front seat, Legosi took his time to examine the lion beside him. He sat at 188cm, 6 feet 2 inches, only 1 inch taller than Legosi’s 185cm. His didn’t have a full mane, but instead a large mullet on top of his head. On his eye was a long, rough scratch scar, making him look quite terrifying. His build wasn’t as large as Legosi’s or Ibuki’s, but he was still quite strong and looked as if he could hold himself in a fight.

The engine of the car started up, and in tune so did the roars of the bike’s engines. Soon enough, they were moving onto main roads. The bikes kept close to the car, making it look like some kind of convoy or important escort. The lion kept his eyes forward, occasionally taking peeks at Legosi or Louis as Ibuki drove them into the more populated areas of the city. Peeking out the window, Legosi saw large office-looking buildings and crowds of people walking the streets. This certainly looked like a more job-focused area. Legosi could only wonder where they were being taken. Louis had long passed out in the back, sleeping with his head against the lion’s shoulder. Fortunately, their issues with the police didn’t seem to have put them in any trouble yet as nobody was following them. The whole time Legosi sat there uncomfortably, shuffling in his seat and rubbing his hands together in nervousness.

The sun had started to set by the time they reached their destination. The car passed in front of one of the tallest buildings. From the outside, it looked like a simple office building with a lot of windows, maybe taller than usual but it seemed like an average building. The lions all drove by the side of the building, then down a small slope under the building to a large underground parking lot. The car stopped in one of the spaces by the corner of the lot, with the bikes in all the spaces beside it. Ibuki stepped out of the car, opening Louis’ door and picking the sleeping deer up in the same way as before. The other lion stepped out with him, and Legosi took this as a hint he should follow them too, opening his door and stepping out into the chilly parking lot. Ibuki looked over at all the other lions, making sure they were all ready and counted. He waved his hand in a “follow me” gesture, and walked towards an elevator built in the wall of the parking lot.

Legosi followed, but quickly found himself surrounded by the lions as they all walked with Ibuki. Looking closer at them, he found that a few of the less stoic ones had their own subtle show of nervousness on them. They likely all cared for the deer, it was surprising and quite sweet on how much they valued the deer. He really was like their leader. He served his role as a guiding figure for them quite well, almost like a proud father for eight massive lions.

The elevator doors opened and they all stepped inside. The peculiar thing about this elevator was that there weren’t that many buttons for how large the building was, only four, and there was a card reader under the buttons. Ibuki pulled out some kind of administrative-looking key card, sliding it through the reader, and all the buttons lit up red. He pressed the third button up, and the elevator started moving up. The wait was painful, they seemed to be moving for quite a while. The elevator was bigger than any normal elevator, likely to fit all of the lions, but with Legosi it was cramped with little space.

After an uncomfortable few minutes, the elevator finally stopped, and the lions pushed through the opening door. As Legosi stepped through with them, he looked around at where he was. A few of the lion’s figures were blocking some of his vision, but he could see quite well. The elevator had gone to some kind of brightly lit, white hallway. There were no windows so he couldn’t tell how far up they were, but Legosi had the feeling he was a long way from the ground. There were a few small, fancy tables to sit potted plants on top of them, all alive and well taken care of. The hallway wasn’t too long, as soon they were at another door. Ibuki pushed through the door with his shoulder, deer in hand and everyone followed. When Legosi came through, the sight shocked him.

The floor was nicely carpeted, with a very expensive looking material; it had some feline fur on it, but seemed to be well cleaned. It was a mix of a soft brown colour and patches of large, black circles around, kind of like the skin of a leopard. In the far corner of the room was a large, wooden dinner table with nine seats, four on each of the long sides and one at the very end, presumably for Louis. Even the seats weren’t normal chairs, but small, singular, comfortable-looking, grey couches. The walls were the same dull white, but decorated with paintings and nice plants, along with what honestly looked like decoration that was bought on impulse to try make the place look nicer. In the corner opposite the seating area looked like quite a nicely furnished kitchen. It seemed to have every kind of cooking appliances imaginable. Fancy, clean oven, with an electric cooktop. A metal sink besides it with the regular faucets, completely empty, so either it was never used or cleaned often. Lots of different cupboards sitting beside and against the ceiling. Legosi couldn’t see inside, but he wouldn’t be surprised if they were completely stocked. Same with the black fridge, which had its own water and ice dispenser on the front. Beside it lay another smaller mini-fridge with a door that had a window to see inside. Rows of different high-class-looking wines of all kinds, along with rows of various soft drinks sat on the racks through the window. The walls themselves that faced the outside were mostly glass, with large glass windows letting the room be filled with light; though, as the sun was going down, the room was illuminated with soft, orange lights in the ceiling. The view gave an excellent sight of the sundown. In the other corner looked like a relaxing area, with a large, comfortable sofa with another two smaller ones beside it, all pointed towards a massive flat TV on a wooden set of drawers. In between the sofas sat electric heaters for the cold, and a lot of the walls had their own radiators too, powered by sockets in the floor next to them. There was a thick scent of lavender floating through the room, coming from several bowls of incense placed neatly around the room’s walls. Walking in, he took off his boots and coat, placing it on a small stand.

Ibuki carried Louis over to the sofa, laying him down with his head on the arm. He kneeled down beside Louis, taking off Louis’ coat and showing his nice, peach sweater once more. He flicked on the switch for the heater and started looking on his body for any harm. Fortunately, the only thing which could be a problem was damaged fur on the palm of his hand due to falling over back in the alley. There wasn’t any cuts, as the snow had thankfully absorbed most of the fall.

While Ibuki was taking care of the deer, Legosi walked over to the window. He could look down at the city, finding himself far above most of the other buildings. He could barely see the pedestrians below, he was closer to the ground than the clouds, but the people below just looked like ants or dots on a map. This must’ve been the Horns Conglomerate main building.

The lion from the car walked up beside him and looked out to the sundown with him, he didn’t look too happy, but that was likely due to Louis’ state. “Heya, kid. I’m one of the boss’ assistants. Feel free to call me Free.” The lion smirked as he introduced himself, he must’ve really loved that last line.

Legosi realised he’d put his large hands against the clear glass as he quickly took them off and wiped his hands on his clothes, but the smudge was already there. “O-Oh, uhm. My name is Legosi, it’s nice to meet you!” He said, bowing towards Free. Leaning back up, he looked towards the window at the smudge. “I-I’m sorry for that.” He was always nervous meeting new people, but the lions were a whole new level of intimidating.

Free gave a toothy smile, both working to scare Legosi and making him less anxious. “That’s alright, I know who ya are.” He took a small cloth from his suit pant pocket and used it to wipe the smudge away, then pushed it back into his pocket. Aside from the nervousness, Legosi was also quite confused as to the behaviour of the lions. He had been instructed to keep Louis safe, then immediately got him in danger again. He thought he’d be looking at something quite dangerous to him in no time. Looking over to Ibuki, he felt worried.

“I know that look, don’t worry. I think Ibuki likes you.” Free started, putting his hands in his pocket.

“What did I do for that?” Legosi responded, very unsure.

Free looked over at the sofa where the deer lay. “If ya ask me, from where I was standin’, you were protecting the boss with your life, and Ibuki was the first to see that.”

Legosi sheepishly looked down, remembering how he likely almost attacked an officer and caused a whole world of problems. “Ibuki seems to care about Louis a lot…”

Free nodded, looking back at Legosi. “Yeah, he really does. I think I trust ya, no clue if the others do. I think so does Ibuki, if only a little bit.” Free scratched under his chin, looking back over at Legosi. “Don’t worry yerself about it. Just make sure that the boss is okay.” The lion smiled at him, then walked away towards Ibuki to check on Louis. There was not much for Legosi to do, so he followed him over to the deer.

“How… How is he?” Legosi asked to Ibuki, kneeling down beside him.

“He’s fine, just still asleep. He’s not in danger, he just needs something to drink when he wakes up.” Ibuki replied, standing up and towering over Legosi. “You work at a café, right? How about you make him some tea?”

Legosi stood up quickly. “I-I can, I’ll go make him some!”

The wolf quickly hopped over to the kitchen with his tail between his legs, reaching up to the cupboards to find ingredients. The quality of the equipment and ingredients were astonishingly high-quality in comparison to the equipment used at his café. With that, Legosi wanted to make the deer the best tea he could.

Legosi leapt across the kitchen from one cupboard to another, trying his best not to knock anything off the counter with his tail or generally massive body. Some of the fancier equipment was completely unrecognisable to him, he didn’t really know what he was looking at.

Back over to the sofa, Ibuki was sat beside the deer, waiting for him to wake up with anticipation. The lion had flipped Louis around, letting him rest his head on Ibuki’s thigh. Ibuki sat idly with his hand under Louis’ chin, scratching it softly.

Suddenly, the lion felt the hard whack of an antler slam into his face. “Gah- B-Boss-!” Ibuki yelped as the velvet hit him on the nose, which since Feline noses were especially sensitive, hurt the big lion quite suddenly.

The incredibly dazed deer had woken up, instinctively jumping up at the feeling of a massive paw against his neck. “F-Fuck- Oh!” Louis said, quickly drawing the attention of all eight lions, who immediately crowded around the sofa. Legosi stayed over in the kitchen, too focused on his tea to notice. Ibuki rubbed at his nose, taken aback by the pain, but let the deer stay where he was.

“Boss!” Free leaned over the back of the sofa, looking down at him. Louis rolled onto his back, keeping his head laid against his lion pillow with Ibuki keeping a reassuring paw stroking through his head fur.

Louis looked up at all the lions crowding tightly around him, bringing a small smile to his face before being hit with terrible, throbbing head pain. He let out a yelp, holding his head in his hands with his antlers slipping through between his fingers.

“I-Is everything okay?!” Ibuki asked, panicked, taking his hand from the deer’s head.

All Louis could simply do was lean onto his side with a groan, pressing his cheek into the lion pillow as his head banged with pain.

It took a moment, but all the lions realised what had actually happened, a few of them backing away to give him space, while Free kept leaning over the top. “You shouldn’t drink so much, boss…” Ibuki asserted, letting the deer lay there quietly. Looking over to Free, Ibuki pointed over to one of the drawers beneath the TV. “Go get him some blankets or anything comfortable. He seems completely out of it.”

Free nodded, quickly moving off from the sofa and heading over to the TV, kneeling down in front of it.

Over with Legosi, the tea was almost finished, dropping a few cubes of sugar into the cup and carefully mixing it all together with a spoon handle. Putting the cup down for a moment, he searched through the cupboards under the table and took out a small plate, placing it up onto the table. Making tea was fairly easy for Legosi, but the challenge came from his general strength potentially smashing a cup if he got carried away. The wolf carefully placed the tea down onto the plate, making it look all neat. The gentle aromas of the drink filled his strong nose with gentle and lovely smells alongside the steam, and Legosi smiled at the cup, proud of his work.

The wolf carefully made his way over to the sofa, and was met with a very strange but lovely sight once he walked past the arm. Louis, presumably with his knees up on the sofa, sat up and cuddling into a large blanket which covered his whole body except his head. Of course, he was glaring at Legosi like usual, but everything else about his current appearance completely nullified any aggression the deer was trying to present. Five of the lions were still near to the deer, the other three idling chatting to each other over by the dining table, Ibuki and Free sitting beside Louis on the sofa and the other three stood behind, all eyeing the wolf, filling Legosi with nervousness.

Seeing the deer awake again filled Legosi with happiness and excitement, causing his tail to sway lazily from side to side, but he tried his best to keep his grasp careful on the tea. Kneeling down, he presented the tea to the deer and his surrounding lion men as respectfully as he could, though showed a gentle smile to the deer as he passed over the drink. “H-Here’s your tea, sir.” Still too work-formal, and he wasn’t even at work.

The deer’s slender arms tangled out from the open sides of the blanket, and he took hold of the plate and drink, shaking slightly so Legosi had to guide his hand to help him drink some of it. Louis let out a quiet breath of relief as he took small sips of the hot drink down, before passing it over to Ibuki who held onto it for the time being until it cooled down some more.

Louis was happy to see Legosi too, but he was too dazed and in pain to really say anything to him. The tea helped alleviate the pain, but it was too hot to drink right now. Thankfully, since he didn’t have too much of the drink, it had mostly left his system but the consequences stayed all the same.

Free stood up off the sofa, giving a small pat on the head to Louis as he did so. Usually under any other circumstances, he would’ve been hit by a flustered deer but now Louis just needed the company and angrily withstood the gentle touches; though, of course, he secretly loved it. “Let me go cook us all some food, does any of ya want anythin’?” Free asked, standing in front of everyone.

Louis and Legosi had already eaten prior, so they stayed quiet. Ibuki wasn’t interested either, so he stayed quiet too. It took a few moments, but from behind the couch one of the younger-looking lions spoke up. “Could… could I get some vegetable soup? I’m starving.”

Free nodded, crossing his arms. “Alright, don’t worry about it, Agata. Anybody else?” Another one of the lions beside the one named Agata sheepishly nodded too, asking for the soup as well. “No worries to the both a’ you, come with me.” The three lions left to the kitchen, leaving a free space on the sofa for Legosi. They really were like a big lion family, weren’t they?

The wolf wasn’t sure if he was allowed, so he just sat there awkwardly on his knees before the deer. Fortunately, his nervousness was noticed, not that it was much hidden in the first place. “You can sit there, kid. It’s fine.” Ibuki said, leaning his head on his elbow on the sofa’s arm with cross legs, the deer taking back the tea and drinking more of it down.

Legosi’s ears flopped down submissively as he took his seat beside the deer, sitting with his legs up and close to his chest. Louis looked to him with his head still faced forward, sneakily taking looks of the wolf to examine more of his posture. His gaze softened as he looked over to the absentminded wolf. His eyebrows became less furrowed, and he took a tighter grasp of the blanket around him, drinking down the sweet tea slowly.

With no place to go, Legosi’s tail sat lazily behind him, the end of it pointed towards Louis, occasionally bouncing against the soft seat. Louis sighed and looked forward again, the hot drink warming up and comforting his body. His memories were fairly hazy, but he could remember most of it. He thought about the attempted kiss, which made him both flustered and frustrated. Flustered because of the attempt, frustrated not because he wanted the kiss to happen, but because he didn’t understand why the wolf would do such a thing for him. Everything the wolf could’ve wanted just a simple inch away, and he made the decision to take Louis’ feelings over the chance for all of that.

The wolf was so painfully kind, he couldn’t understand it. His childhood was filled with giants who saw him as livestock. Great beasts with hands that could crush a skull like his in a single swing. Then when he finally had everything, above so many people in the world, he meets one of the animals who could’ve easily been like the ones who he was trapped by. Then, instead of using his strength to tear meat apart, or to capture small animals to sell for high amounts of money, he spent his time alone during school, in the drama department of all places, then took a job at a café in the city. The only time Legosi had shown the ferocity that Louis would’ve expected from a beast like him, was Legosi’s conscious desire to protect him.

The pain in his head was slowly subsiding, making it just about bearable. Nudging closer to the wolf, he simply just laid his head against Legosi’s arm without a word. “H-Huh? Oh, hey, Louis. Are you okay-?” Legosi was quickly shushed.

“Hush, pup, let me have this…” Louis spoke quietly, cuddling up to the wolf’s arm. Legosi complied, but gave a glance towards Ibuki on the other side of the couch who simply shrugged, he didn’t mind it. As long as Louis was happy. The other lion who hadn’t asked for anything had gone off to the others at the dining table, leaving the three alone.

“Is it okay if…?” Legosi lifted his arm, causing Louis to bounce closer to keep his balance. Legosi lowered his arm, wrapping it around Louis to hold him closer, holding the deer’s blanket-wrapped shoulder. Louis complied too, cuddling up closer with the wolf. He lost focus on the pain, and didn’t notice as it slowly faded. In a few short minutes, the two had fallen asleep.

Hours later, the sound of plates and cups hitting each other caught the attention of the wolf’s ear, which flicked softly in the direction of the room’s kitchen. Legosi’s eyes slowly opened, a sleepiness under his eyes as he nodded awake. The windows had gone black, the moon hung high in the sky. The lights in the room had softened, but illuminated the room nicely.

Looking over to the kitchen, he saw a few of the lions working away, cleaning plates and bowls as some others helped pack things away. The rest had fallen asleep too in some of the other seats around. Legosi looked to the walls, looking for a clock. The hands said it was somewhere around 11:55 PM. Legosi stretched his arms up and shook his body slightly, much to the dismay of the deer laying on his body who fell onto his side trapped in a blanket, waking up the deer with a “weh” sound as he fell over.

Louis shook himself awake, now lying with his head against the sofa, unwrapping himself from the blanket. Sitting up, he was met with the very close face of the worried wolf. “S-Sorry! I forgot you were there…”

Louis leaned back, looking at the window, rubbing his eyes, taking in the surroundings as Legosi moved back to his previous position, putting his legs down. “It’s fine… Gosh, what time is it?”

“Midnight…” Legosi sleepily answered. The wolf looked over at Louis, who was looking over at all the sleeping lions and the ones still cleaning up. “I suppose… I should get going back to my apartment.”

Louis looked back over at the wolf, lazily placing the blanket on the arm of the sofa. “Are you sure? The floor below here is my own personal room.” Louis crossed his legs on the sofa. “You can stay the night. Your apartment is really cold.”

With a slight blush, Legosi tilted his head to the side. “But… I don’t wanna make your bed smelly and covered in wolf fur.”

Louis brought his hand under Legosi’s chin with a gentle smile, giving it gentle scratches and strokes. “Don’t worry about it, pup. I don’t want to put Ibuki’s driving habits to test on the snow this late at night, anyway.”

Legosi melted back into Louis’ hand like he usually does, feeling the warmth of the deer’s hold. It was always a beautiful feeling. Though soon, Louis’ hand glided from under his chin.

“Come on, follow me.” Louis said, taking Legosi’s hand. Standing up, Legosi followed, and Louis took him over towards the room’s exit. The deer waved at the lions who were still awake, saying goodnight to them as he kept Legosi’s hand tightly in his. Though Louis could never really take Legosi’s hand or pull him anywhere with Legosi’s own massive strength and heavy body, Legosi followed him anyway, not letting go of Louis’ hand.

The two walked into the elevator. Swiping a card he had taken on the way out, he pushed the second button up, the one below the current floor. The journey down was much shorter than the journey up, and soon the elevator door opened. The room was lovely. It was like a kind of expensive hotel room. Peach walls, a softer colour than his sweater. A single window on the far wall with blinds blocking the outside completely. The floor was a thick grey carpet, cushioning their feet as they walked in. A large king-sized bed against the left wall with two small tables beside them with bedside lamps. There was a door off to the side which lead into a bathroom. Across from the bed lay several nice cupboards and a small fridge besides them. On the wall above that sat a rather large flat screen TV. Legosi was amazed by the sheer level of quality in here compared to his current apartment.

“Give me a few moments.” Louis let go of Legosi’s hand, walking over to the cupboards and drawers and taking out a fresh pair of clothes. He gave a little wave to Legosi as he hopped into the bathroom to change.

Given time to look around, Legosi walked over to the bed, sitting down on and stroking the covers to feel how soft they were. They were surprisingly comfortable, almost too comfortable. Was this seriously the life Louis lived day-by-day? It really was completely different in comparison to his normal apartment. He no longer had to sleep on a mattress on the floor tonight.

The bathroom door clicked as Louis walked out, his suit-wear hung over his arm. Now he wore a simple night outfit: white/blue striped bottoms and a bland white shirt. Legosi could only wonder how he got his antlers through that. The deer smiled gently at the wolf, tossing his regular clothes casually to the side.

He walked on over slowly, both still pretty sleepy from the nap before. “That reminds me…” Louis spoke, sitting on the bed beside Legosi. “You don’t have any spare clothes or nightwear, do you?”

Legosi looked over to the drawers, it was all for Louis so nothing would fit him. “Oh, I don’t…”

Louis shrugged, grasping the sheets. “That’s fine, just take your shirt off. I don’t care.” The wolf’s face hushed a bright red, which made Louis smirk. “Really, it’s fine. I’ll just clean the sheets in the morning.

“If… If it’s okay with you…” Legosi hopped off the bed, blushing. Louis chuckled to himself, it’s always fun to tease the massive wolf.

Louis playfully waved as the wolf hurried into the bathroom, which made the deer smile more about the wolf going into the bathroom to simply take off his shirt. He was only in there for a short moment, stepping back into the room with a gentle yet nervous smile.

The deer looked over him with a hazed blush, examining Legosi’s fur. He still couldn’t believe such a massive wolf was so gentle. Taking a second to compose himself, Louis pat the bed next to him to gesture him over. In a moment, the wolf planted himself down beside the deer comfortably, his arms saw with palms open against the bed.

Legosi tried to be as careful as he could as to not rip the bed sheets with his claws. The wolf tapped the floor with his feet playfully, while Louis could only sit with his feet slightly off the ground.

“Come on, you silly wolf.” Louis said, pulling his legs up atop the bed, turning to crawl over to his side of the bed.

Legosi followed, but simply stood up and pulled over the duvet covers to climb inside. The bed creaked as he stepped in, not used to the weight of a carnivore like him, but the thick mattress supported him perfectly. As expected, small bits of fur stuck to the surfaces of the bed, but Louis didn’t care about that. He cuddled into the sheets nicely, laying on his back.

Just as the wolf started to feel comfortable, he felt the gentle furred hand of Louis on his shoulder, beckoning him to roll over. He hadn’t realised it when they got in, but Louis was already so close to him. Legosi felt the soft, hot breath of the deer on his chest. Cuddling in deeper into the bed, Legosi felt a thick blush haze over his face as the deer shifted closer to him. The deer wrapped his arms around Legosi’s neck, pulling himself closer to the wolf. It didn’t take too long until Louis had buried his face against the wolf’s body, hiding a thick blush of his own.

Louis was a mess, having curled up to Legosi, feeling his hot body heat mixed with his, though kept his composure with a warm smile on his face. Legosi reached over, putting his large hand against the deer’s back, just below his neck, and pet it gently. Any sense of danger an herbivore could’ve felt with such a large claw pressed near to their neck was completely gone, having been replaced by an incredibly intense feeling within the herbivore’s heart.

Legosi cuddled in closer, placing his muzzle atop the deer’s head between the antlers, just like a dog leaning into the palm of a hand. The deer gently nuzzled into Legosi’s fur, enjoying the warmth, but soon pulled back, moving back in front of Legosi with his hand on the wolf’s shoulder and a claw against the back of his neck.

“Pup, I’ve missed this so much…” He leaned in closer, the covers laying comfortably on top of them. Louis reached up, smirking as he placed his hand between Legosi’s ears. Legosi’s body relaxed in an instant. It was just like the mother of a kitten picking them up by the scruff. Just like that, so easily too, Legosi relaxed in content as Louis softly pet him between the ears. Legosi’s eyes close and his hand relaxed, falling lazily to the bed. This was the perfect opportunity.

Louis softly dragged his hand to the back of Legosi’s head, stroking it softly. Slowly and carefully, Louis closed his eyes and leaned closer, sealing their lips together. For a few seconds, the two just laid there with their lips locked, as if Legosi hadn’t even noticed that it had happened. Just enjoying the touch and warmth of the other. The wolf’s eyes slowly opened, and Legosi moved out from the kiss, his brain slowly processing what had just happened. His eyes stayed hazy and relaxed, the thick blush never leaving his face. To Louis’ surprise, he just pulled back in, locking their lips together once more as if there wasn’t anything else to do in the world. Louis’ heart jumped for a moment, but he didn’t want it to end. This was the deer’s revenge, well, more like a reward, for Legosi not kissing him back at the alley. The kind purity in this airheaded wolf, he wanted to repay it somehow.

They both simply laid there together, enjoying each other’s love. Legosi moved back, but only to take a short breath of air, before going in again to continue it. Louis wrapped his other arm around Legosi’s body, cuddling him close as they kissed. Eventually, though, the kiss subsided, and the two separated, but all the intense feelings stayed deep in their hearts.

Legosi hugged the deer near, who had rolled to lay on his back to make his antlers more comfortable. “I love you…” The wolf said quietly, holding Louis close.

Louis let out a soft chuckle in response, taking hold of one of Legosi’s beastly hands and squeezing it. “I love you too.” The words almost got stuck in his throat, blushing softly as they escaped his lips. “Now come on, it’s so late out. Aren’t you tired?” Legosi quietly whimpered, not wanting the moment to end yet. “That’s okay… Just listen to my voice, or whatever you need to fall asleep with me. As long as you need.” Louis laid back into his pillow, the warmth of an entire wolf keeping him comfortable.

Slowly, the deer’s eyes began to close, and he dimmed the room’s lights. He could feel the soft breathing of Legosi against him, but he didn’t mind that. In the comfort of the wolf, Louis gently drifted off to sleep alongside Legosi soon after. They didn’t want anything else. This was perfect, and all Louis needed in the universe was this wolf right beside him. He was his own world, and that made him feel absolutely lovely.