Legosi knows that he will never be the best at relationships.
Not that he is bad at them, per se. Just… they don't quite come as easily as he hopes they would. Louis has charm to fall back on and Haru has her confidence, but despite his strength Legosi can't quite get a good grip on either.
But tonight? Tonight he was absolutely determined for things to go perfectly.
Legosi, standing idly in the center of his apartment, shifts nervously on each foot, sneaking tentative glances at the door. Poorly-concealed tension lines almost every muscle in his body. For what's probably the fourth or fifth time, he recounts the pre-date research that's been committed to his memory as quiet rain begins to fall outside.
A clean apartment? Check. A herbivore-friendly, well-prepared meal? Check. A list of palatable conversation topics if (when) he freezes?
He rummages through one of his pockets to confirm it's still there. Check.
A familiar knock at the front of the apartment startles him out of the spaced-out reverie he's fallen back into, and it only takes two paces to reach his target. He takes a deep breath to psyche himself up.
Legosi opens the door and just sort of… stands there. In the doorway. Blocking a casually-dressed Haru from entering, all the while staring at her joyfully. His tail does an excited dance behind him that perfectly mirrors the potent mix of anxiety and excitement curling in his stomach, but he discovers very quickly that his mouth refuses to move.
"Are you going to let me in?" Haru asks, amused. Her eyes roam over the not-quite-casual ensemble he's decided to wear: a polo t-shirt and slacks. One of her ears twitch.
It takes another few seconds of staring for him to process her statement, before he lets out an embarrassed "oh!" and steps aside. Haru unhurriedly pads into the apartment, her eyes snagging on the remains of the hastily-cleaned stains adorning the thin walls; a frown threatens to take over her features, but it morphs into a delighted snort when she sees the scented candle in the middle of the room, prompting Legosi to smile nervously. He tries very hard to hide his teeth.
"Since when were you such a romantic?" she prods lightly, turning back towards him as her head tilts teasingly to one side.
A cheesy, icebreaking response flits through his mind, but it escapes before he can fully form the idea - he can't do much more than diligently hold on to his nervous smile while playing with the recently-filed tips of his claws. Behind him, the blue-gray blur of his tail has gone completely still.
The playfulness drains from Haru's eyes when she sees that her attempt at jokingly poking at Legosi hasn't quite had the intended effect. Instead, concern fills her features.
"Hey," she says gently, putting her hand over his, "everything's going to be alright. We're going to make this work, and we're going to meet a few stumbling blocks. Enjoy yourself, okay?"
Legosi nods hesitantly, feeling a rush of affection for the diminutive rabbit. The warmth of Haru's small paw in his hand is calming in a way he can't quite describe, and he squeezes it once in loving recognition. She returns the nod when his smile grows to match hers.
After a few more moments of mutual support framed by the gentle noise of rain, his eyes shift back to the dinner he's prepared. Leading Haru tenderly by the hand, he sits at one side of a makeshift table - a red blanket covers one of his larger cardboard boxes in lieu of a tablecloth. Despite its shoddy construction, Haru looks absolutely delighted at how much effort he's put into making her happy.
With one hand, he delicately passes her a vegetable-filled plate. His tail begins to wag again when he hears a fond chuckle at the concentration he's exerting into not dropping it.
"I... don't cook for herbivores very often, so tell me if it's bad, okay?" he says softly. Although he very explicitly avoids meat, his body has to get protein somehow; meat-substitute probably isn't suitable for a herbivore, and thus cooking himself a purely-herbivore meal is a rare occurrence.
Her hand - still intertwined with his - squeezes him once. "I'm sure it's fine."
Despite her comfort, he watches her expression with hopeful anticipation. Rolling her eyes when she catches him staring, she raises a fork self-consciously to her mouth regardless, beginning to chew.
Her eyes light up, and Legosi has to resist letting out a howl of victorious triumph.
"I- Legosi!" she manages through a mouthful of greens, "this is incredible! Are you sure you don't cook for herbivores often?"
The thrilled smile he's wearing could light up the room, but his head tentatively tilts to one side. "Really?" he asks, needing that extra touch of confirmation.
"Yeth!" she laughs through a mouthful of food. "It's better than the food at my university, at least."
Legosi's head tilts to the other side, and a fair amount of genuine curiosity makes its way into his voice. "Thanks. How's university going?" He is immensely proud that his voice doesn't crack; his grin upgrades from bright to blinding.
Meanwhile, the conversation cards in his pocket lay completely forgotten.
Over the next hour, talking to Haru becomes… surprisingly easy. It takes more time than he'd like to admit - Legosi's hardly a conversationalist - but it gets easier, and that's what matters.
Of course, it helps that he's discovered her weakness.
"Haru," he asks, in as serious a tone as he can manage. His tail hurts from how long it's spent wagging, but somehow it picks up in tempo when he sees Haru barely able to contain her laughter.
"Yes, Legosi?" she squeaks, making tiny gasping sounds after both words. Fortunately, she's finished her food. The candle's almost completely drained of wax.
"W-what do you call a lost wolf?" He stumbles a little bit on the delivery, but it's worth it to see Haru pounding on the table in repressed laughter. Pleadingly, she holds her hands out in front of her, begging him not to finish the joke.
"A where-wolf!" he finishes, watching in glee as Haru bursts into joyful howls of laughter. Legosi closes his eyes slowly, relishing in the sound of having made somebunny happy.
"O-okay. That's enough. I have to get going," she wheezes unsteadily, trying (and failing) to stand up.
Before he can help it, a quiet whine escapes him. He blushes.
Finally in control of her chuckles, Haru gives him a sympathetic look and a reassuring smile. "Legosi, today's been great - seriously, it has - but I need to head home. My parents are expecting me to visit tomorrow."
Reluctantly, he nods. She gathers her things, sneaking a few glances at the gray wolf (he's adopted a startlingly effective pair of puppy-eyes) before turning to the door.
Just before she reaches the door, a thought reaches Legosi. It's not particularly romantic. Frankly, it's not even very original. But still, he wants to ask for a kiss.
Before he can make up his mind, Haru's already reached a decision; she jogs over to Legosi's sitting form and presses a short (and surprisingly chaste) kiss on his nose, giving him an affectionate wink before quickly making her way out the door.
Turnabout is fair play, he supposes.
The knock on his door fifteen minutes later shouldn't surprise him, but somehow he manages to jump a full inch off the mattress he's been trying to sleep on. A hushed swear escapes him as he fumbles for the light.
"Hello?" he asks muzzily, trying to shake off the edges of the almost-sleep he'd reached. The pleasant white noise of the rain doesn't help.
Another knock at the door. It's more insistent this time.
Some distantly aware part of his brain tries to process who might be visiting him this late. It doesn't come up with anybody. "I'm up, I'm up," he mutters, scrambling for the light switch. Standing up proves to be a little more of a challenge than he expects - another quiet swear escapes him when one of his legs collides with the makeshift table.
"It's me, Legosi," the voice outside grumbles.
His eyes snap open, and everything finally clicks into place. Is that…?
"It's Haru," she grumbles louder. Despite the fact that she's an herbivore, it almost comes out as a growl.
Finally, he reaches the lights and strides toward the door, opening it to reveal one thoroughly drenched rabbit. Both of her ears droop far behind her head, and Legosi can see a trail of water leading from his door to the stairway.
There's a few moments of silence.
"It's raining," Legosi provides unhelpfully. As soon as the words are out of his mouth, he regrets them; his tail goes completely still.
Haru's face twists into an irked scowl that screams I think I've figured that out. Legosi winces - admittedly, that wasn't the suavest thing he could've said - but quickly pads over to grab two of his pajama shirts before she can admonish him.
"Here," he says, throwing out the word as apologetically as possible, "use one to dry off. If you want, you change into the other. It's pretty big." In an attempt to be comforting, he hands her both shirts. She mutters a quick thanks before shuffling over to the hallway's bathroom.
As soon as she's out of sight, Legosi runs a nervous hand through his headfur, internally cursing his own obliviousness. He'd heard errant thunder during their date, but hadn't considered the implications until…
Now, he guesses.
A deep sigh escapes him, followed by a loud burst of thunder outside. He glances back into his apartment. It's clean, at least; after Haru left, he didn't do much besides trying to sleep. Talking to her for so long was surprisingly exhausting.
Unconsciously, he picks at the collar of his shirt, running through solutions for Haru's unhappiness. She can't exactly head home; there's a veritable ocean pouring down outside. Then again, her parents are expecting her to be home any minute now.
The obvious solution neatly presents itself: she could stay the night. Honestly, that idea doesn't frighten him as much as it probably should - in fact, it's almost… comforting.
With the edge of a smile quirking his lips, he rolls the idea around in his head a few more times before internally shrugging. Haru should decide. In the meantime, he might as well change out of his date clothes.
Ten minutes later, a substantially drier Haru walks out of the bathroom, wet clothes draped over her arm.
Legosi - in fresh pajamas - waits just outside.
She opens her mouth to say something, but it's cut off by a snort - Legosi smiles. Giggles bounce through the empty hallway, providing some much-needed levity.
"Are those rabbit-print pajamas?" she says through a laugh.
He nods, one ear twitching happily. Stylized white rabbits cover the light-blue shirt and pants, with the pattern breaking at the clothing's seams. "There's a nightcap, too." Reaching behind his back, Legosi caps the adorably tiny hat over one of his ears. It doesn't fit at all.
Haru tries desperately to smother her laughter with one hand, reaching the other to grab one of Legosi's fingers. She gestures vaguely towards his apartment.
"Is it okay if I stay the night? The rain doesn't look like it's going to let up any time soon," she asks, finally in control of her voice. In almost perfect synchronicity, the wolf and rabbit both look outside to check on the rain. If anything, it's coming down even harder than before.
"Sure," Legosi says, his tail beginning to wag, "but you should text your parents."
She nods once, quickly pulling out her phone while idly walking towards the apartment, still hand-in-hand with Legosi.
Gently, he squeezes her hand. "I'm sorry about the rain." Somehow, despite the fact that it's the weather, his hindbrain nags at him to apologize. The words feel alien and slow as they fumble out of his mouth.
She squints at him, equal parts amusement and affection. "It isn't your fault, you know," she says, settling down on the mattress. "And even if it was, I think the incredible date makes up for it."
The compliment sends his tail into a renewed flutter, but it's promptly smothered as he sits down next to her. He squeezes her hand again. "I like making you happy," he murmurs, as genuine as he can be.
With a smirk, Haru pushes him over onto the mattress with a soft thump, climbing over his leg to settle into the crook of his arm. "You sap," she mutters back, letting out a content sigh. "Still, I guess you did a pretty good job."
Legosi curls around her a little tighter, snuggling into her form. Hesitantly, he presses a kiss between the 'V' of her ears, and again, she sighs happily.
"I love you," Haru says quietly; comfort rings her voice. After a brief pause, Legosi settles his head on top of hers, nuzzling into her fur affectionately.
"I love you too, Haru," he returns, pulling a blanket over both of them. "Good night."