Chapter 44 - A Little Talk With Gon

Some time later…

Louis was sleeping soundly. The night before had been another date night between them. They just stayed in and watched a movie, but Louis still had a good time. It didn't end in anything steamy, but it was romantic. He slept well.

Legosi slid behind him, moving his arms around him and placing his head on his shoulder, as he usually did in bed. He nudged him with his nose.

Louis mumbled. "Legosi..."

Legosi kneaded his large hands into Louis' thin stomach, rubbing the fur around. He was always more affectionate when he was tired. He sniffed Louis' ear, giving it a small lick.

Louis opened his eye, slowly. "Hey..."

Legosi brought his arms up to squeeze his chest. "I'm hungry...We should make something special today."

"Like...?"

Legosi licked his lips, thinking of all the foods he craved.

Legosi wrapped his legs around Louis, completely embracing him. "Having some nice hot soup for this cold weather would be nice..."

Louis smiled. "Hot soup...hm..."

"Mhmm." Legosi rubbed his body against Louis, kissing his jawline.

Louis nuzzled him and licked his cheek. "Do you like celery?"

He blinked sleepily. "I do. Crunchy."

"It's my favorite..." The deer rubbed up and down his back to the base of his tail slowly.

Legosi squeezed tighter upon being touched in a sensitive spot. His tail thumped beneath the covers. "What do we need to make it?"

"Mmm...We can look..." He kept rubbing. Their legs were tangled as always.

Legosi felt himself dozing off again. He didn't know how he ever slept without a warm deer to snuggle.

Louis nuzzled him once more. "Hey, come on..."

"Hmm?" The wolf yawned, his mouth opening wide and smacking his lips together.

"Don't fall asleep again. I'll miss you."

"Then fall asleep with me. We can go somewhere in a dream."

He grabbed his tail and moved it through his slender hand, the soft fur rubbing against it. "You said you were hungry."

Legosi licked his lips again. "Yeah..." He sat up, all the fur on his one side matted flat. He rubbed the sleep grit from his eyes and blinked, sitting with his back hunched.

Louis sat up as well, then messed with his boyfriend's cheek fur until it was looking proper.

Legosi leaned into the touch, sighing in contentment.

His mate smiled. "Another new day."

Legosi nodded. "I have some homework, but I should be able to help with the food."

"I can help you with that. I'm pretty smart."

"Okay." Legosi slid off the bed, going to the bathroom.

Louis smiled. "Make sure you brush your teeth well!" He got up and went to the kitchen, moving sluggishly. "Hm..."

Legosi left the bathroom after he was finished, spotting the red deer looking around the kitchen. "What do we need to get?"

Louis turned to him. "Ah, hold on." He went to a drawer and opened it, searching. He pulled a little yellow card and placed it on the counter. "Shogi gave me the recipe for the soup he always made me." He looked down at the card. "I hope he's doing well..."

Legosi took a moment to think about the nice butler he had met at the Horns HQ who became good friends with his mate. "I bet a place like that has a really nice kitchen to make food like that. I hope ours can compare."

Louis smiled. "It's all money in that place."

Legosi looked thoughtfully at the kitchen, and at Louis. "In this place...it's love." He smiled, feeling clever.

"Exactly." He grinned. "I didn't know wolves liked cheese so much."

"I mean, canines will eat anything." He glanced over to the deer and then looked away quickly. "Uh, you know what I mean..."

"I meant that was cheesy," Louis smiled.

Legosi groaned, rubbing his face. He couldn't keep up with Louis!

Louis came over. "Hey. it's okay."

The wolf removed his hands to look at him. "Does cream of celery soup have cheese in it? I think that'd be tasty."

"We could add cheese," he raised his brows. "Legosi the cook~"

"Oh, and carrots!" He bounced up and down slightly.

Louis laughed. "That could be good too!" He always knew how to make him smile.

"Maybe some spices? I'm not sure though. That could ruin it."

Louis squeezed his face. "Let's use the base spices."

He wagged his tail. "I used to help my grandpa cook. I guess I haven't really done it since then..."

"It will be fun!" Louis said. "And hopefully come out well."

"Are we missing anything?"

"I don't think so. Does the gardening club grow carrots? You told me you've been helping Haru. I've heard other schools have grown vegetables and such before."

Legosi shook his head. "No. This time of year she can only grow things in the greenhouse and she prioritizes the flowers." Legosi thought about asking Louis if they should invite her over to help, or maybe some animals from club, or maybe even his friends from 701. But he knew that Louis might not like that. He probably wanted to spend the day alone with Legosi, and Legosi felt the same. His canine instincts just urged him to get more animals together.

Louis scratched his cheek. "Do you have any idea where we can get some? I could go out into the city..."

"Well, we could ask if we could get some from the school kitchen. Principle Gon might let us." The principle seemed to be protective of the two.

Louis nodded. "True! Okay! And it's just for food, so I don't see where there'd be an issue. I'll stay here and get the other stuff ready. Don't take too long..."

Legosi slipped on a warm outfit and made his way to Gon's office, nervous, but excited to see what he would say.

Not many students were out today, since it was a weekend and the weather was cold. Legosi walked into the building where Gon's office was, and walked up to the secretary. "Is Principle Gon in?"

She nodded. "Go on in."

Legosi bowed in thanks before heading in. The tiger was at his desk, doing paperwork like usual. Legosi wondered if he ever took a break.

Gon looked up and smiled. "Legosi! You look well."

The canine smiled. "Thank you, sir! Um, I was wondering if it would be possible to borrow some ingredients from the school kitchen? Well, not really borrow, since they wouldn't get them back, but..."

"What for?" Gon asked, setting his elbows on the desk and folding his hands together.

Legosi rubbed the back of his head, leaning his weight from one foot to the other. "Well, Louis and I wanted to make a recipe."

"How are you two, by the way! He came to me asking for you to move in with him. Of course, it took some time to explain but I of course said yes."

"Um...", he rubbed his arm before taking a seat in front of the desk. "I'm worried about him. He's not eating much. He's getting really skinny."

"What? That wasn't what I expected you to say."

Legosi looked up. "Oh, well everything else is going fine! But I'm worried about that. Louis doesn't seem to think it's a problem."

"That is a problem."

Legosi's ears perked up. Someone was getting it. "It...it is! It really is! But, don't let him know I told you. He'll be mad..."

Gon made a face. "Does he get mad at you often?"

Legosi shook his head. "No. If anything, he gets mad at himself." He looked down at the floor.

The principal furrowed his brows. "Is everything alright with him? That's not like the confident Louis I know."

Legosi flicked his ear. Oh, right. Legosi forgot most animals didn't know him like he did. "He...he's a lot more sensitive than he lets on. He has a lot of problems. He just hides them." Legosi continued to look at the ground, eyes following the pattern of the carpet.

"Is that hard for you?"

Legosi nodded his head. "I wish...he could love himself as much as I love him." He felt hypocritical saying that.

He looked up at Gon. "Sir, why did you go to so much trouble to help us? Does the school board know about it?"

Gon looked to the side. "It's very important that my students aren't held back in any way. You're not harming anyone by being there."

"You don't think our...relationship is a bad thing?"

"Why would it be...?"

"Um..." Legosi scratched his chin. "Well, a carnivore who's in love with an herbivore is in danger of accidentally eating them. And, we're both males, so we can't further our species at all..." The reasons he listed weren't ones he particularly agreed with, of course, but he knew they were society's reasons. He was reminded of the gazelle at the ramen shop and frowned a bit.

"When was the last time you tried to eat Louis?"

Legosi bristled up. He looked into the tiger's kind eyes, a scar adorning one of them. He wondered what this animal must have been through...It was the same eye as Louis, too.

"Back...back in the spring. But it was dark and when I found out it was him I ran away. I never tried to eat him again, or even wanted to." He fiddled with his hands nervously. He shouldn't have told him that. He might call the police.

Gon leaned on his hand. "That was a long time ago. And since then, you've saved him. Twice."

"I know. I'm just afraid of myself. And I'm not sure, but Louis might be afraid of me too, just a little bit."

"Has he shown any signs of that?"

Legosi thought back to his muzzle suggestion. He...definitely wasn't going to tell Gon that. Instead, Legosi just shook his head. "It's just a fear I have."

"It's very clear he loves you." The principal said.

"It's just hard for me to understand. I know he loves me, but it's still so new to me. I was always used to herbivores being afraid of me." Gon must understand that part, since he was a tiger, right?

The principal nodded. "When he came and talked to me he had this dreamy look in his eyes and he spoke of you in such high regard." He recalled the meeting. "He told me that even if you ended up eating him he'd be grateful for the time he did get to spend with you."

Legosi gave a bit of a horrified expression, but quickly made his face neutral again. "Well, that won't happen!" He looked off into space, trying to remember why he was here. He shook his head. "A-anyway, will we be allowed to take some ingredients?"

Gon nodded. "That's fine. I'll let the cooks know." He swiveled a bit in his chair before speaking again. "Legosi...Please be careful."

"Of what?"

"It's a dangerous relationship. But I know you can do it. Especially if Louis is involved."

Legosi looked at him with confusion, not understanding his words for a moment. But then he realized:

They're not dangerous to each other. Society is dangerous to them. He nodded, stood up, and bowed. "Thank you, sir." He stood up straight again. "Can I...come talk to you if Louis' eating disorder gets worse? I used Zoozle to look it up and I think it's an eating disorder."

Gon smiled and his eyes lit up. "Well, of course! You can talk to me any time, Legosi."

"Thank you. It really means a lot." He turned to leave, stopping as he went out the door. "Have a good day, sir."

Gon waved. He sat back, almost feeling like he was a father. He didn't know Legosi well enough yet to fully feel it, but it was there.

Louis had gotten all the ingredients they already had at home prepared while he was gone. He was hoping that Legosi's conversation with Gon had gone well. He didn't even think about them talking about anything else than what he came for.

Legosi left Gon's office, feeling refreshed. Optimistic. He was gathering allies.

He made his way over to the cafeteria, sparsely populated with whatever animals ate there on off days. He approached the counter and the cow behind it. "Excuse me? Principle Gon said I have permission to use some ingredients from the kitchen?"

The cow blinked. "When did he say that?"

"Um, 5 minutes ago? I just talked with him..." Legosi realized how fishy this sounded. He hoped the news would be spread quickly...Wait, what did they need, again?

"Hold on! Principle Gon should let you know soon..." He dug into his pocket for his phone, dialing Louis.

Louis answered, being very good about that. "Hello, Legosi~" He sounded happy.

"Louis! I got permission from Principle Gon to get ingredients, but...what do we need again?"

"Onions, leeks, garlic, carrots..." There was music in the background, coming from the radio that they had recently purchased. Legosi couldn't see but Louis was moving his hips to it.

"Oh, uh, a lot of those are poisonous to canines in large amounts, so we may have to lower the amount in the recipe..." he swallowed.

Louis tapped his foot. "Oh, right! I really need to look more into your food restrictions..."

Legosi took a napkin and a pen that he always carried with him, writing down the ingredients. He also wrote down "apples". He slid the napkin to the cow. "Well, I think it'll be okay as long as it doesn't call for too much. Recipe sites usually have alternatives for it, too."

"Okay, but don't have me worried over here."

Legosi smiled. "I know, I know. Should I buy something to drink here, too?"

"I love tea. If there's anything to make that, that would be great." Louis said. "Ooh, I love this song..." He had gotten into music more and more since they gotten the radio. He listened to it all the time.

Legosi laughed softly, tail wagging. "Okay, I'll be there soon!" He didn't want to miss out on Louis being so happy.

"Hurry!" Louis said. "See you soon!"

Legosi hung up, looking down at the napkin and then back up at the lunch lady. "Uh, I'd like some tea, too? If you have it in bags, maybe."

The cow blinked again. "Once the Principal says you can have ingredients, you can have ingredients."

Suddenly, a hand was on his shoulder. "Well, then he can have ingredients."

Legosi jumped slightly, looking behind him. "P-principal!"

Principal Gon laughed. "Legosi! Didn't I just see you?"

Legosi smiled. "You did!" His tail wagged, bumping against the tiger's leg.

Gon smiled and crossed his arms. "I didn't know you wanted them now!"

"Uh, that's why I came to see you! It's important." Legosi tapped his foot. He needed to get home to Louis before his mood could dip!

Gon laughed and looked at the cow. He kept his hand on Legosi's shoulder. "This wolf and Louis the red deer are special cases and are allowed to take ingredients from the kitchen as they please. They have enough. Once one of them, I assume Louis, gets a job, he can pay weekly for them but until then, please help these students out."

The cow raised a brow. "I can't argue with orders from you, Gon, but why are these two so special?"

The tiger shook his head. "Let me worry about that." He rubbed Legosi's head. "I had come down to tell them, but I have things to get back to. Enjoy your meal!"

Legosi's tail wagged even faster from being pet. "Thank you, sir!"

Gon grinned kindly and turned to talk off.

Legosi looked back toward the lunch lady, expectantly.

The cow sighed. "Come on, then."