Chapter Text
"Just relax ... just relax"
Legoshi was a tall, 6'2ish grey timber wolf. He knew it and everyone knew it. In the halls of Cherryton Academy, everyone stared at him, even the carnivores.
He stood, hunched over in his dorm. It was 701, mainly for canines. The dorms were split into different sections based on one's sex and animal kingdom family. Legoshi was in his room, with one of his other roommates Jack. He was a labrador retriever who was the epitome of the word joy. Even when he was feeling down, looking at Jack gave him a sense of calm. It gave everyone a sense of calm. Jack was the sun to Legoshi, that's why they made such a good pairing. The sun and the moon go great together, don't you think?
"Lost in thought?" Jack poked Legoshi's arm with a smug smile, "You always are ... whatcha thinking about?" he prodded. While they were best friends, Legoshi didn't like telling him everything.
"Oh- um, nothing of importance," he brushed it off and walked to his bed, he pushed the curtain and sat down, "we don't have to talk about it."
Jack wagged his tail slightly, it could be heard thumping on the ground, "Okay now we HAVE to talk about it! It can't be bad. Truly, Lego," his nickname for Legoshi, "you're overreacting. It's not bad! I guarantee it's not bad!" he had a way of talking his way into things, things that no one initially wanted to tell him.
"Well..." Legoshi paused and looked down. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good. It was embarrassing on his part, in all fairness he wanted to keep this secret with him to the grave. But Jack did a great deal of talking, and he felt inclined to share.
-flashback time-
Legoshi walked through campus. He had no intention of talking to anyone, merely getting to his club. He was in Drama Club, in the lighting department. It wasn’t anything special but he enjoyed it. He knew that the stares he was getting weren’t because he was walking, it was because he was walking with purpose, and that scared people.
He cut through a building. Abandoned … maybe, he thought. Scary? Definitely.
It was dark and the floorboards creaked under his feet. He was going to continue to walk without paying attention to the rest of his surroundings, but he noticed a small sound. It sounded like a squeak. It got slightly louder and he couldn’t ignore it. Legoshi turned and before he could say anything something knocked into him. It was a girl … in his year he thought, he hadn't seen her before. She was a raccoon with brown coloring instead of grey. She knocked into him so hard he stumbled back. She let out a frantic huff and didn’t seem to realize she was in the presence of the “scary” Legoshi. The raccoon knocked into him and her head buried into his stomach, seeing as it was eye level with her.
Legoshi felt his cheeks prick bright red and he looked down at her. She stumbled back and looked at him slightly red too. She looked down and mumbled, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to run into you, don’t be mad.”
I’ve come face to face with a beast … a dangerous beast who only saw me as a piece of meat to tear up and destroy. That must be what she’s thinking, he thought. There’s no way she isn’t scared of me.
He looked down and tried to smile softly, but he knew that it was futile trying to save something that he already ruined, “I’m not mad.”
“Yeah … you look mad,” she let out a breath. He could see her chest rise and fall with every motion. She breathed so fast that he thought she would’ve gone unconscious.
He looked away and smiled tight, “Not mad, I’m startled. Where are you going?”
She let out a breathless laugh and smiled genuinely. Legoshi furrowed his brow and stared at her strangely. She was laughing, he thought, at me. She wasn’t scared? Not the least bit frightened? It would make sense, she wasn’t a herbivore, racoons were omnivores. But she was still so small he could’ve crushed her.
“You’re funny,” she stopped laughing, “I’m about to be expelled if I don’t leave … I’m sorry,” she nodded her head in thanks and turned and ran in the direction Legoshi had not planned on going. He watched her in awe, knowing he’d never see her again.
Face to face with a beast … and an angel. Almost like that angel in white, he met once, but they hadn’t spoken in a bit. He then thought of her, he missed her. He wanted to speak with his angel in white, Haru, but he was going to be late for Drama Club. But he was also interested in where the raccoon was headed.
Expelled? Huh, I didn’t realize that someone that small could pose a threat of being considered to be expelled.
-End of flashback-
Jack sat next to Legoshi with his tail slightly wagging, “did you follow her?” he asked.
“For a bit,” Legoshi trailed off before adding, “I couldn’t find her in the crowd. I ended up skipping Drama Club and I hung out with Haru.” he looked down.
He felt something for her, but it wasn’t strong enough for them to even see each other regularly. The two of them went to each other when they were bored, as friends and only that, and talked about their problems. Legoshi spoke to her about the girl and her response was a shrug and asking his help moving some pots. She didn’t care to hear about other women, she didn’t care to listen either.
“You two are weird, you know that, Lego? If I had a girl like Haru who liked me, I’d do a lot more than talk to her,” Jack stated matter of factly.
“I’m not you. I don’t even think she likes me, she likes my company. I like her company,” he sighed, “I don’t think I like her. But that raccoon has been in my mind all day. She’s so mysterious. Like- like someone in one of your magazines!” Legoshi got up and stretched a bit. He turned to Jack, light on his feet, and smiled slightly.
“It's manga but continue.”
“She feels like that girl that has everything put together … but I don’t know anything about her. The chances of us meeting again are slim,” he glanced at the door and no one entered, “especially now.” The sun was about to begin setting, and he could see from their window. Their other roommates weren’t back, but they would be soon.
“Aw, are you finally feeling it? Love! I feel it every week!” Jack wagged his tail excitedly and got up as well. He jumped around and fell onto the floor purposefully with his legs crossed, “Girls do like you Legoshi, like you said, mysterious. They adore it, even some of the guys do if you’re into that.”
Legoshi shook his head, as far as he knew he only liked girls. There was the one time in grade school- but he hated to think about it. It didn’t count. Nothing before high school did.
“I don’t think I’d know what to do if I saw her again, maybe ask for her name…” he trailed off, beginning to get lost in thought.
The door opened abruptly and closed. It was their second roommate, Ayn, a hyena with a shaggy coat. He was the same height as Jack but Legoshi still towered over all of them.
“Ugh, can you believe this? They’re switching out Kodi for some new student!” he groaned and sat down on the floor with Jack, “Hey…” he muttered and waved his arms in a greeting.
“Isn’t Kodi a fourth-year, wouldn’t it make sense for him to stay?” Legoshi asked. Kodi was their final roommate, a fox. He was the only one who could be comparable to Legoshi, in height, and strength-wise.
“That’s why they’re moving 'em! Something like- erhm argh!! Kodi you need to room with these first-years in the second Canidae dorm because they’re causing trouble! Take this second year instead!” Ayn recalled, closing his eyes and pressing his temple.
“Aw no, the families broken up, this means- who’s gonna be our mama?” Jack pouted.
“Don’t say that,” Ayn glared at Jack but then added, “I dunno who this new guy is … his name is like J- something, I forgot. Some kind of short fox dog.” he shrugged, clearly not having been paying attention when Kodi told him who it was.
“Maybe he’s nice and quiet…” Legoshi sighed and sat down beside the window.
He looked out aimlessly and saw Haru with another guy. He felt some kind of emotion to see her with him. It wasn’t jealousy- or maybe it was. It was strong and he could feel his teeth beginning to bare. He shook his head slightly and looked back. She gave him a polite hug and walked away to her dorm, and him back to his own. He couldn’t get a good look at the guy, a black cat, maybe?
Then they all heard a knock on the door…
It’s him, he thought,