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When Epel was grabbed by the collar of his school uniform jacket and dragged unceremoniously down the campus halls before being thrown into an empty classroom, his first thought was that he was either being kidnapped, or some punks had come to pick a fight with him for as-of-yet-unknown reasons. He managed to keep himself upright even as he was pushed through the doorframe, holding his arms out to the side to keep balance before he was able to stand back up straight. Before he even registered who his assailant—or assailants—was, he reached for his magical pen.
“What in the blazes—now just who do you think you—”
He looked in front of himself and saw a tall, fit, and muscular beastman with dark skin and a lion’s mane sitting atop the teacher’s desk, his tail flicking about as he looked down at Epel with a face that spelled trouble.
“...are?”
Leona Kingscholar, that’s who he was.
Epel jumped when he heard the classroom door slam shut behind him. He turned around quickly to see another beastman, smaller, with scruffy blond hair and hyena ears, his hand pressed flat against the door. Ruggie.
Epel lowered his hands to his sides and curled them into subtle fists, a glare quickly crawling to his visage.
“Can I help you with somethin’, boys?”
Ruggie turned to lean against the door, folding his arms over his chest, giving Epel a devilish grin. “Heard you and Jack started goin’ out last week. Izzat true?”
Epel raised an eyebrow, his glare persisting. “So what if we are? What’sit t’ you?”
“Tch.” Ruggie rolled his eyes in disgust. “What’sit to us?” He walked towards Epel, stretching one arm out wide and tenting the fingertips of his other hand on his chest, over his heart. He backed Epel up so far that Epel hit the front of the desk and could feel Leona literally breathing down his neck. Ruggie looked up at Leona. “You hearin’ his guy?”
Leona rolled his eyes so hard they might have fallen out of his skull.
He didn’t want to be here, but Ruggie nagging him about it was even more annoying than sitting through this. Leona knew when to pick his battles. The sooner they got this over with, the sooner he could get back to the dorm to take a nap.
When Jack had told them yesterday that he and Epel were seeing each other, Ruggie felt his own heart shrivel up like white people’s skin in the Sunset Savana sunlight. The last thing he wanted was another Pomefiore Prettyboy screwing around with a member of his pack. Vil caused enough trouble for Leona as it was. But Leona lived for the chase. He didn’t need any protection from his poor life choices, and he wouldn’t have wanted it, anyway. Jack was another story, and Ruggie wasn’t about to let this rotten apple ruin his little brother’s life.
Leona wasn’t nearly as invested in this… predicament… as Ruggie was. It wasn’t like he was rooting for any more PomeSavana partnerships to start popping up. It would honestly be a pain in the ass. The thing was, Jack may have been a softy, but he was also a Savanaclaw. He had a big heart, but he was tough. He knew how to handle his own emotions and he knew how to stand up for himself and his morals. He was a good kid. He didn’t need anybody’s protection.
Epel was a good kid, too. Driven. Passionate. Athletic. Talented. Much stronger than he looked, and a heart of gold just as big as Jack’s. Leona couldn’t have picked out better matches for either one of them if he wanted to.
But Ruggie had insisted. “Even that small fry wouldn’t take a hyena seriously on his own. But with you there…”
“Just hurry and give him the rundown, Ruggie. Don’t make me regret this.”
Ruggie hovered over Epel and placed a hand down on the desk behind Epel, boxing him in with only one way to escape. The other hand, Ruggie put on his hip. Epel put his hands up in front of his chest to try and create some space, but Ruggie wouldn’t budge.
“Listen up, Applesauce. Jack’s our family, and if anything happens to him, there’s gonna be a world of pain to pay for it. Y’lead ‘im on, y’make ‘im cry, y’break up with him, Savanaclaw’s gonna learn to love apples, ‘cuz we’re gonna be feasting on ‘em for weeks—if you get what I mean.”
Epel furrowed his brow. “Isn’t all that a little unreasonable to ask…?”
Ruggie stuck his finger in Epel’s face. “You Pomefiore Popinjays don’t get to mess with our family, y’got that? You break his heart, and they’ll be pickin’ up pieces of you all the way back in the Shaftlands, you got it?” He looked up at Leona. “Right, Leona?”
Leona gave a quiet growl, baring his teeth slightly, although Epel couldn’t see it.
The growl freaked Epel out a little bit, but he didn’t feel any real menacing coming from Leona. Epel was more confused than anything. Epel didn’t think of himself as a weakling anymore, but between the two of them, he certainly didn’t think that Jack was the one who needed protecting.
He raised his hands higher into the sky. “What in the Seven is this all about, anyway? I’m not gonna break Jack’s heart or nothin’! What could I have possibly done to give you that impression?”
“You pretty boy types are just like that,” Ruggie said, sneering at Epel before also giving him a soft growl. “But if you think for a second that you get to try femboy manipulation shit on our l’il bro, you got another thing coming. Better sleep with one eye open from now on.”
“C’mon, Ruggie. Think you’ve harassed him enough. Let’s get out of here,” Leona grunted.
Ruggie growled at Epel again before backing away from him and beginning to walk towards the door. Leona pushed Epel out of the way, slipped down from the desk, and then gave Epel’s shoulder a hearty clap. His claws lingered for a moment too long, pressing lightly but uncomfortably into Epel’s skin underneath his suit. “Good talk, kid. See you at practice.”
There was a sinister tone to his voice, and as he followed Ruggie out of the classroom, Epel caught the sadistic glint in his eye—the look of a lion who was about to start playing with their food. So, maybe Leona was a little more protective of Jack than he was willing to admit. Or maybe it was just funny to see Epel squirm.
All Epel could think as he watched the two beastmen leave the classroom was what in tarnation did I do to deserve that?
~*~
“I think he threatened to kill me probably like five times,” Epel said, pouting as he sat at one of the coffee tables in the lounge, Rook sitting across from him, as Vil stood in the mirror that was mounted to the lounge’s wall fixing his makeup.
Rook laughed awkwardly and shook his head. “Who knew Monsieur Dandelion felt so strongly about his new freshman? It is rather touching, don’t you think?”
“No, I don’t think!” Epel rejected. “I thought I was getting kidnapped, or somethin’! I was about ten seconds away from being lion food!”
Vil rolled his eyes with an audible sigh, which Epel could see in his reflection in the mirror. “Please, Epel, there’s no need to be so dramatic.” He shrugged before returning to his makeup. “Honestly, I expected this. It makes perfect sense why those two would get on your case about Jack.”
“What? What’re you talkin’ about? Why’s he the one that needs protectin’ here? Ain’t nobody giving him the shovel talk for me!” Epel said defensively.
“The fact that you can’t understand why you would need the shovel talk just proves that those Savanaclaw boys were right to give one to you,” Vil said, as if it was the most undisputable truth in the universe. “Why, I should have given it to you myself rather than letting those fools fail so miserably at it.”
“What?” Epel demanded, his jaw practically hitting the coffee table.
Vil turned to look at Epel directly. “Jack may be tough, but he’s also precious,” he began. “He has a kinder heart than almost anyone among us, and he’d sooner put himself down than ever hurt someone he cared about. You’d better be careful with that boy, Epel. If you do anything to hurt him, I’ll help Savanaclaw learn how to make a delicious apple pie.”
“You’ve gotta be kidding me!” Epel exclaimed, then put his head in his hands. “It’s like you all think I’m some sort of monster!”
“You’re a dangerous poison apple, my dear Epel. You know I’ve always encouraged you to embrace that part of your identity,” Vil said with a slight hum, “but I would prefer it if you didn’t use those skills to take advantage of my sweet childhood friend.”
As Epel sat at the coffee table, dumbfounded, with Rook still sitting awkwardly across from him, Vil finished re-applying his lipstick and then began to walk out of the room. He smiled to himself, imagining Leona and Ruggie giving Epel a hard time together. He always liked seeing Leona showing he cared far more than he let on, and he was especially glad that Ruggie and Leona were so protective of Jack. He could finally rest easy knowing that his dear young friend was in such good hands with brothers like them.