Chapter 46 - First to the Finish: Legosi vs. Louis

Sometime later...

Louis was cooking that day. He was excited for Legosi to find out what he was making. He wore his "Carnivore Tamer" apron and a smile. Now, he had no issue with it. Legosi definitely liked it. They had ordered both of the aprons the wolf wanted, but they hadn't been delivered yet.

There was a knock on the door, which Legosi did just to let Louis know he was about to come in without startling him. It swung open, revealing the carnivore, along with...

"Oh, what the hell, dude? This place is nice as shit!" Legosi's coyote buddy, Durham, walked in, something tucked in his arms.

Louis' eyebrows raised. Legosi hadn't told him they were having visitors.

Legosi mouthed "sorry!" to him silently.

Jack came in behind him. "It's way cleaner than our dorm!"

"Something smells good!" Collot chimed in, the tiny Voss clinging to him.

Louis blinked. "I was just trying my hand at an apple pie." He wore his straight face.

Legosi stood there, hands folded as if pleading for forgiveness. The dogs all snapped to Louis, bowing to him. "Hello, Louis-senpai! Sorry for the intrusion!" They immediately began sniffing around. Legosi drug his hands down his face, knowing exactly what they were doing.

Louis blinked, raising a brow at his boyfriend. He assumed this is just what dogs did in a new place.

Legosi looked at him, wearing the smile of a broken man. "Durham let us borrow his Gamestation!" he said shakily.

"Yeah, but only if he let me set it up because I don't trust him. Also, we wanted to see the place," Durham explained.

"You're really letting us borrow your Gamestation? Won't you miss it?" Louis asked. There was no scent indicating anything.

The canines looked at each other, confused and disappointed. Miguno mentioned something about how they must have just washed their sheets. Legosi looked like he wanted to crawl under a rock.

"Eh, I've got a Z-Box too. I can go without this for a bit," the coyote said.

Louis heard the comment about the sheets. "You guys are real mature. I guess I'm not surprised."

All their tails went between their legs.

Louis admired them, but kept his straight face. "We haven't done anything, yet."

Jack bowed. "We're sorry, Louis-senpai."

Legosi slunk back, face burning.

Durham started getting all the wires out, plugging them into the wall mounted TV they had bought.

Louis put the pie in the oven and then came over, his apron in full view now.

All the dogs stared at it, jaws agape. The wolf wanted to run right out the door. It was just one thing after the other.

Louis blinked and then looked down. "This is a joke from Legosi." He came up with that quickly.

"N-!" All eyes turned to him. The wolf looked down, defeated. "I...I think it's funny..."

Louis smiled. "So what if a deer is wearing something like this? Some carnivores need taming." Why did I say that?

The eyes stayed on Legosi. He looked like he was going to melt into the ground.

Louis went over to him. "Are you alright, Legosi?"

Legosi stood up a bit straighter, nodding. His friends all laughed softly. It was a different side to him, that was for sure.

Louis grabbed his hand.

Jack's tail wagged. "You guys are just as cute as I thought you'd be!"

Legosi rubbed his neck. It would be weird to get used to his friends seeing him with the one he loves, but they all knew and supported him, so why feel so embarrassed?

"Alright, that ought to do it. All set up. Now...there was something about pie?" Durham raised an eyebrow as he asked this.

Louis looked over. "It was for Legosi."

Jack sunk back a bit. "You're still as terrifying as ever, Louis-senpai..." The eyepatch doesn't help…

Legosi cocked his head. He reached down and tickled Louis on the side ever so slightly.

Louis smiled a bit at that and lightly smacked his hand.

The larger animal huffed. It was tough to get him to show his softer side in front of others.

Louis got closer to Legosi, though. "We only have one pie."

Jack grinned. "One slice for each of us!"

Louis crossed his arms. "What do you mean 'for each of us'?"

"What, kicking us out so soon?" Miguno had a shit-eating grin on his face.

The deer squinted. "You're trying to eat Legosi's surprise."

"Well it's not a surprise anymore," Jack said. "Also, you've been hogging him for so long. We miss him."

Louis put a hand on his chest. "Hogging!" He wrapped his arms around Legosi and looked back at them. "Is it hogging or is he choosing me over you?" He smirked.

Legosi blushed. "Uh, they can leave if you want. They just wanted to see the place..."

The deer shook his head. "It's fine."

Jack looked at them over the couch, dangling his arm. "We can leave!"

Durham looked over. "I should get pie for letting you borrow my system."

Legosi draped an arm around Louis, rubbing him idly as he watched everything happen.

Louis looked at him and spoke quietly. "The pie was for you..."

The wolf smiled. "I like to share, though." His ears drooped as he realized something. "That includes you…"

Louis got closer. "I don't like sharing." He was talking about Legosi. "It was all for you, though."

Legosi sighed. He didn't want to bring this up around his friends.

"Alright guys, let's all go back now!" Collot called out.

Louis looked at them. "If we plan better, you can come over again."

Jack's tail wagged. "Yay!"

They filed out, all saying goodbye as they left. It was quiet once again.

Louis looked at Legosi. "Oh my god."

"Sorry! They just sort of tagged along. I should have called or texted to warn you."

The deer covered his face. "Legosi..."

"Sorry! Are you upset?" The carnivore placed his hands on his shoulders, rubbing them gently.

Louis looked up at him. "They're...so cute…"

Legosi's face went blank. Of course..."Well, we can have them over sometime."

The young buck blushed. "Sorry I was rude."

His mate hugged him. "It's alright. You're trying. I'm still glad I'm the first animal you decided to show yourself to..."

"Me too...I guess now you know you have pie in the oven."

Legosi wiggled a bit in excitement. "I can't wait to eat it with you!"

"Yes, I also can't wait for you to eat it."

The wolf went over to the bed, sitting on it and grabbing one of the controllers for the game console. He booted it up, navigating the menu.

The deer joined him and looked at the screen. "You know how to use it already?"

"I've played it a lot! Look, I have a profile on here." Legosi opened up a profile named beetle2000, showing off the cute little wolf avatar he created for it. It looked a lot like him.

Louis smiled. "You really love beetles."

"They're cute..." Legosi navigated to the "New Profile" option. "Let's make you one on here." He handed the controller to Louis.

"We should get you one, then."

"Oh, well, I had a beetle but it flew away last spring."

Louis took it and looked at it. He had no idea how to operate it. "You did?"

"Yeah...my beetle, Kabu-chan." The carnivore fiddled his fingers.

Louis messed with the controller. "Oh, so this is how you move it."

"...Oh, yeah, with the stick there."

He pressed buttons and various things happened. "What did I do?"

"Oh, you just canceled out of the profile creator. And you just went into options." Legosi looked over at Louis skeptically.

The deer squinted. "I did? How do I get back to it?"

"Press the B button to go back to the main menu. Then go to profiles and select 'Create New'."

Louis looked down. "Okay..." He pressed the button and did as he was told. He pressed the same button to try and select it. "Hm..."

"Oh, no no you need to hit the A button to select. B button always goes back." Legosi scratched his head.

Louis tried it and it worked. "Okay, now?"

"Yes! Now you just have to choose a name for yourself."

"Hm..." He pressed the button multiple times, typing 'AAAAAAA'.

"Good name."

"That's not what I wanted."

"Press X to backspace. Use the stick to move to what letter you want."

"Okay..." He tested it then moved around, pressing B. "The keyboard disappeared."

"Yeah, you pressed B. That button pretty much goes back to whatever screen was previous. You should avoid pressing it."

Louis frowned. He got the keyboard to open again and then slowly began typing. l-o-u-i-s.

Legosi nodded approvingly. "When you're happy with it, just go over to Enter and hit A."

"Well, I wanted the L to be capitalized...Am I supposed to have numbers too?"

"Only if you connect the account online."

"There's more?" He sighed. "We haven't even got to the games yet and I'm already ready to quit."

"I can do it for you, if you want."

Louis handed the controller back to him. He rested his chin on him as he watched.

"Here, now we can make a little avatar for you." The screen showed a Carnivore and Herbivore option. Legosi selected Herbivore, and then scrolled through the list. "A lot of this is a bit generalized, since having every single animal species would be too much for the memory." He found deer and selected it. The plain, base deer appeared.

"That makes sense," Louis nodded. "Oh, that's a white-tailed deer. Do they have a red deer?"

"Well, we just have to change the fur color." Legosi went into the fur options, looking through the different colors and patterns.

Louis looked at them. "I think you can gauge which one is closest."

Legosi nodded, selecting a solid color pattern and choosing an orangish-red color that was the closest.

"Oh, perfect. It looks like me...minus the eyepatch..." he mumbled.

"I think they actually have that in accessories. We get to that at the end."

"Oh, wow." The deer blinked.

"Okay, time to work on your features..." Legosi stretched his neck away from Louis, getting a good look at his face. He chose a slender face shape.

"You can go full out with this?"

"Well, just with these presets, but there's quite a few. A lot of them are shared between species, though." Legosi got to the eyes, scrolling through them until he got to a pair of stern, tired looking eyes. The nose he selected was on the small side.

"It really is looking a lot like me," Louis blinked.

"I know my deer." The wolf poked his fangs out. He cleared his throat, selecting ears that were on the longer side that stuck out to the sides.

Louis admired him and looked down at Legosi's fingers, which were tapping and moving along, this way and that. He couldn't look away from them.

Legosi added some more pronounced eyebrows, and selected antlers that resembled Louis'.

The herbivore just kept watching those long fingers. He remembered Legosi began filing his nails down more often. He was doing a good job.

"Alright, time to dress you up. I'll let you decide what you want to wear. I'll go through the options."

"Can I wear nothing?" He asked, with a serious face and tone.

"...Here's some briefs?"

"Oh so that's as far as you can go"

"You can't be naked!"

"That's not very realistic."

"It's a video game."

"Okay...?"

Legosi chose a pair of swim trunks that he was able to get in a color close to his fur color. "There, now it kind of looks like you're naked."

Louis laughed. "You like what you see, Legosi?"

"...There's nothing there."

"Do you want to take that deer on a date?" He laughed more. It looked so funny to him.

"You can't have the avatars date, unfortunately. That'd be cute, though!"

"We can pretend yours is dating mine."

"Yeah." Legosi went to accessories, and attached a black eyepatch to the deer.

"Now I'm naked with an eyepatch. Ooh."

"Yeah, so technically..." The wolf 'Save'.

"You're actually using it?!"

"What? You said you wanted it!"

"I was just playing around!"

"Okay, I'll go back in and give you clothes."

"Didn't you save it already?"

"You can go back in and change it. Here, let's go through the outfits."

Louis looked closely. "Hm..." He watched him scroll through.

There were casual outfits, formal suits, summer clothes, dresses, costumes...

"...What do you think...?"

Legosi went over to one of the suits, and changed the color to a deep purple. "You look handsome in this."

"That's perfect, then." Louis smiled. "It's nice to hear you say things like that. I remember the first time you called me handsome."

"Oh, really? That was over text, right? After you called me cute..."

"Yeah...It was..."

"Wow...we were really funny back then, huh?"

"We were...?"

"Well, I don't know about you, but I realized I loved you pretty early on, and I just thought you'd never feel the same way, you know?"

"I get what you mean. You realized you loved me early on because you're a big wolf who wishes he could be tamed." He smiled a bit. "You liked my orders and demands."

"N- I..." Shit...was that why? "B-but you're not actually like that! And now we get along really well!"

"Yeah, but that's definitely something you enjoyed back then. You always came to me asking for things to do. A big carnivore who likes being ordered around? Adorable."

"I-I just admired how strong you were and thought you were a-attractive and wanted you to approve of me!" It was strange looking back at their past interactions with a lens of truth.

"And put a leash and collar on you and have you stay by my side?~"

"I never thought of that! I just wanted to be your friend at first!"

"At first!"

Legosi retreated into Louis' chest, hiding his blushing face in it.

Louis wrapped his arms around him. "I can only imagine what you thought about back then."

"Honestly, I just wanted to be around you and have you like me. I think it was because you weren't afraid of me. I thought it meant we should be friends?"

Louis scratched his back. "I'm just pulling your tail, Legosi."

The wolf grunted in frustration. He pulled back, selecting his profile and opening his avatar. "Well, here's me." It was a surprising likeness. The eyes were tired, the expression friendly and relaxed, and the fur color and pattern spot on. The wolf wore a plain shirt with a beetle pattern on it with some jeans and simple sneakers.

"You have to let me see him naked, now. But...this also looks like you took time to make it."

"Yeah, I spent a lot of time getting everything right. I think I did well." Legosi went to the same pair of swim trunks again, making them gray. "This isn't accurate, though, since my lighter fur pattern extends from my face, down my neck, into my chest and stomach." Legosi looked away bashfully. "Of course, you know that."

Louis nodded. "You're very beautiful, everyone knows that."

"Thank you. So are you." Legosi put an arm around Louis, resting his hand on the side of his rear.

Louis blushed and smiled a bit. Legosi's hand definitely belonged there. "So, we can play with these profiles now?"

"Yeah. There's some games on the hard drive, but Durham also brought some physical games, too."

"Does that mean you'll have to move?"

"Not if we play one of the games already downloaded. Or whatever one is loaded inside the system." He went out to the menu to check.

Louis just relished the feeling of Legosi's hand in case it disappeared soon.

"Oh, looks like Nitro GX 7 is in there. It's a racing game." He flipped through the downloaded games. "Here's some trivia party game, a card game...Oh, here's that dating sim that Durham's obsessed with."

"Dating sim?"

"Um, it's a game where you talk to characters and you get to date them. This one has aliens, so the characters aren't actually animals."

"They should have one where you date serial killers so we can see how they resist to kill their lover and why."

Legosi gave him a wayward look, raising his eyebrow. "I mean, that's probably out there somewhere."

"Well, we should buy it."

"...Louis, you're not talking about me, are you?"

"What?"

Legosi fumbled. "Th-that idea isn't based on me, right? Because I tried to eat you that one time..."

"You're not a serial killer!"

The wolf's ears folded. "Yeah...I'm sorry, it's just...you came up with the idea so quickly, like it's something you think about a lot..."

"I think about a lot of things all of the time."

"...Uh, anyway, what should we play?"

"Is there a game where I can beat your ass?"

"Well, you don't even know how to navigate menus, so I don't think so."

"Excuse me? I'm going to win."

"Alright, then." Legosi launched the racing game. He realized midway through that the other controller was on the table under the TV, so he had to get up to get it.

Louis felt his hand disappear and was a bit disappointed, but he was ready to win.

"So, do you want to train first to get used to the controls?" Legosi handed him the spare controller.

"No, I just want to beat you and be right."

Legosi scratched him behind the ear, something he hadn't done before, but he figured a deer might get the same enjoyment out of it a canine would. At least he hoped so.

It felt nice, but Louis wanted to race. "Let's go, Legosi!"

"Alright, I'll set a race up between just the two of us."

Louis nodded, waiting with a determined face.

Legosi chose a simple figure 8 track, and he picked his racer, whose car was shaped like a bug. "Alright, now you just have to choose your racer and car."

"Is it the same controls that I used to type?"

"Pretty much. Just use the left stick and the A button to select."

Louis looked around and picked his wolf racer and a car that looked like a hearse. "This game is weird..."

"Yeahhh...Anyway, we're ready to go." Legosi hit start and the race loaded.

3...

2...

1...

GO!

The wolf's car sped off, and disappeared in the distance on Louis' half of the screen, while his car just stayed there. He kept tapping X. "I think my controller is broken."

"Press A to go." Legosi stopped holding his down, instead opting to tap it to start moving slower and give Louis a chance to possibly catch up.

The deer looked down and pressed A. "Oh, I'm moving!" He crashed into the wall and began dragging his car along it. "Wow...this racer is terrible at his job..." The car blew up from being damaged too much. "And now he's dead."

"...I win."

Louis' car blinked back onto the screen in the middle of the road. "No wait, I'm still here somehow! This guy must have superpowers! He brought himself back to life!"

Legosi chuckled. "You get 3 lives in a race. See that meter over there? That's your health. Use the stick to steer."

"Which one? There's two." He held up the controller.

"Left."

He tried the two button combos and found himself steering. He swerved left and right, his car wiggling along the track. "Is he drunk? What's going on?"

"Uh, don't hit any direction and you'll go straight. Only use the stick to steer. You don't have to hold it down."

"Oh..." He tried again and was finally driving normally.

"There you go!" Legosi stayed ahead of him, careful not to go too fast.

Louis leaned in. "Now I'm gonna beat your ass!" He tilted the controller with the car like it was a steering wheel, as new gamers often did.

Legosi leaned in too, only to kiss his boyfriend on the cheek.

Louis saw Legosi's bug car. "I'm going to squash you like the little bug you are! Ha!" He rammed right into him.

"Oh! Good job! You caught up to me!" Legosi used this moment to accelerate ahead. "Catch me if you can!"

"Hey! Get back here!" He sped his car after him. "I must win!"

"Hmm. I don't think so."

Legosi's car was so close. There was the finish line! Louis' car passed his and just barely crossed it. The deer stood up and raised his arms in victory. "Ha! I won!"

Legosi passed him, just like that. "It's a race, Louis. There's 3 laps."

The herbivore watched his car vanish in the distance. "No!"

"Keep going!" Legosi didn't slow down now. Louis had to learn this way.

He gripped his controller and his car revved back into action. "You're probably almost to the third lap!"

"You're right. Come get me!"

He smacked the controller out of Legosi's hand and it landed on the carpet. "I will!"

"Hey! That's dirty!" Legosi shoved Louis lightly before reaching down for his controller. When he came back up with it he held it out of Louis' reach.

"You're lucky your arms are longer than mine!" He thought of what he could do next. He still hadn't caught up!

Legosi truly drove fast, now. Louis' trick got rid of any handicap the wolf would give him.

Louis gasped as he realized he was going to lose. He thrusted himself backward into Legosi and sat on his lap, blocking his view with his body. "You can't win!"

"Why not!"

"Because, I'm going to!" He moved his body to keep blocking Legosi's eyes from the screen.

"You dirty deer! Stop!"

"Ahahaha!" He felt Legosi's nose on his back. He was on his knees so he could move his body better on his lap to obscure his view. "I will win this battle, wolf!"

Legosi got up, standing on the bed, his head pressed flat against the ceiling. Unobscured, he started driving properly again.

Louis stood up as well. He raised his hands in front of Legosi's eyes to block them.

The wolf jumped down to the floor, running away from Louis just as he was in the game.

Louis gasped. "Hey! You can't run away!"

"I shouldn't even have to!"

"That's what playing games is, right? I'm using a thing called strategy! Learn it and weep, wolf!"

"It's all supposed to stay in the game!" Legosi laughed. Louis sure was an interesting animal.

Louis jumped off the bed (not too high because of his antlers). "What's the point, then?! You would win!"

"I can win! I'm allowed to!" Legosi never got this animated during gaming. Of course, he had never gamed outside of the box like this. He turned his eyes to the screen. He was almost at the finish line.

Louis quickly grabbed a pillow and chucked it at him, hitting the controller out of his hand again. "I'm so close!"

Legosi glared at Louis, suddenly shooting out at him and tackling him, grabbing him by the midsection and pinning him to the ground, the controller flying from his hands. He pressed his entire body against him, not letting him move.

Louis' eyes widened. "Urgh! Legosi!" He squirmed.

"You're just going to have to move me if you want to win." He let his body weight press on him completely. Louis' frail body felt so small beneath his.

He squirmed still. "You know I can't do that, cheater!" He had a quick thought, knowing exactly how to get him off. He wasn't even thinking about the implications, but he pushed his hands under their bodies and grabbed his crotch. He was sure the wolf would jump back like a scared cat.

Instead, Legosi wrapped his arms around him tight, growling deep in his throat, instinctively.

Louis blinked, his hand unmoving. "Y-you're supposed to get off!"

"I can't let a cheater win! This is about justice!" Surprisingly, Legosi didn't think too much about what just happened.

"Noooo!" His hand disappeared. "We both don't even have controllers!"

"...It's a draw," Legosi uttered, before kissing Louis deep on the lips.

The deer blushed red. He pulled back from the kiss. "How could you let it end in a draw?! I was winning!"

"You were cheating, dear." Legosi leaned back down, licking up Louis' neck.

Louis huffed. "You...I...You cheated harder by using my body against me..."

Legosi retreated, getting up and letting Louis up with him. "Okay, let's finish it for real." He was panting a bit.

Louis panted as well. His eyes didn't leave Legosi. "Mm..."

Legosi picked up his controller, finding Louis' across the room and handing it to him.

Louis took it and sat back down on the bed. "On the count of three. One...two...three!" The race began again, but Louis was already behind.

Legosi shot forward, sure to not make any sudden movements that might make the deer strike the controller from his hands again. For such a small guy, he could be strong.

It was far too late for Louis to win. Legosi's car crossed the finish line and the game was over.

"Impossible! I was supposed to win!" Louis frowned.

Legosi looked at him with a grin, eyes squinted.

"I used all that strategy!"

"Well, I just knew how to play the game." Legosi sniffed the air, and he began to salivate. "I think the pie is ready."