Hey guys,

so this is the very last chapter of this story. We all knew the day would come one day, but I hope I´ve done it justice with this.

Here we go.

Beastars – Into the spotlight

Chapter 25 – Thank you for everything

Normal POV

"How can you be so heavy already?" she asked with a little chuckle, trying to lift up the pup again after she had to release him when he joyfully moved his arms around.

They already made it into the hallway, but Leon found something new that was interesting, and the rabbit couldn´t do a whole lot to stop him.

"Come on, boy" she told him with an encouraging little smile, "The water is getting cold already! You want to be fresh and clean when mommy comes home, don't you?"

She picked him up again, carried him a few steps, and then he freed himself again, trying to rob himself into another corner of the room.

Haru followed him with a patient little sigh, when he suddenly let himself fall onto his side and then rolled onto his back with his arms and feet in the air.

"You little goofball" she chuckled, not able to be mad or even stop smiling at the happy, energetic and therefore very exhausting little wolf.

Leon gurgled a little bit when the white furred rabbit gently grabbed one of his feet and dragged him across the floor towards the bathtub.

"Jesus…" she panted, lifting him over the edge of the tub with her last strength, sitting the little wolf down into the warm foam covered water she had prepared for him, "…you´re gonna be carrying me around soon if you keep growing like that!"

The pup now experimentally touched the white foam with his hands, finding it very fluffy and enjoyable. Haru immediately used that moment of his distraction and carefully started showering his head with more warm water. She rubbed a little more shampoo into his fur, washed it off, and then she left him to play with the foam on his own for a few moments, quickly getting the clothes Juno had prepared for him to wear for the little gathering this evening. Her sharp ears were always listening to any sound the pup made, so she was sure he was alright for the short time she was in the other room.

When she came back into the bathroom though, there predictably was foam out of the bathtub and splashes of water all around it as well. Leon loved to play with the light and fluffy white stuff around him, and he was not afraid of spreading it across the entire bathroom.

"Well…" she chuckled, more to herself since the kid could really understand her yet, "…you surely know how to make a mess of things. I know who you inherited that from…"

POV Legoshi

"Damn, it´s hot today, isn´t it?"

I nodded in agreement, pouring the rest of the water I didn´t drink over my head to cool my fur at least a little bit.

"…so what are you doing this weekend?" he asked, getting himself another cup of the cool water from the catering table as well.

"Oh, just having a fun evening with some friends tonight" I chuckled, "On Sunday we wanted to go to the beach with Leon."

"Well, that sounds awesome!" he said contentedly, "Quality time with daddy."

I nodded with a little chuckle.

"What about you?"

His smile widened even a little more now.

"My girlfriend finally got her flyer´s license as well. Of course it is just at the end of the summer break now…" he added with a slight hint of sarcasm in his voice, "…but you gotta make the best out of it, right? So I don't think I´ll be spending much time on the ground if I don't have to."

I nodded in agreement. I always liked when he talked about his ability to fly. He usually was very humble about himself, but that was one of the things he just wouldn´t shut up about.

"Heh, sometimes I really wish I could switch bodies with you" I told him for a little wink.

"Oh, me too" he grinned ironically, "When I have to kiss you on set for example!"

I couldn't help but grin widely about this. "What because you like yourself so much?"

"Yeah" he said ironically, "That´s the reason."

I was glad he was that confident about himself in the meanwhile. He no longer played himself down like I was so much better of an actor than him, and the other leads really enjoyed working with him as well. It finally seemed like he felt totally accepted here, and there was nothing more I ever wanted for him.

Still, he had a valid point bringing that up.

"…it was kinda weird filming that scene, wasn´t it?" I asked in slight amusement.

"And half the school is gonna see it in the show probably" he added with a little nod.

"Nah, don't worry, we´ll already have graduated when this gets on air" I waved it off.

He nodded with a shrug of his shoulders and a little smile, not actually being all that bothered about it either. Gender diversity wasn´t that unusual in these times we lived in anymore.

"You think the director had already imagined us in those roles when he saw us on the Cherryton-stage?" the bald eagle asked, "You think he only wanted us to do it because nobody else wanted to do a bi-sexual role?"

"No, I don't think so" I said, shaking my head as I went through today´s script once again, "And we have quite complicated lead roles after all…"

"Yeah, true" he agreed, "I had to read some of those parts twice before I fully understood them…"

It really was demanding and also kinda stressful work we were doing here sometimes. It was a lot of fun, but we also really had to deliver now that we were doing this professionally. It took the both of us a little while to get used to it.

Aoba helped himself to another few grapes from the buffet, then he looked into his own script again as well. There still was one more rather long and complicated scene left to shoot for today, and the short break we got while they readied the set was almost over. Just a few minutes left to memorise the lines, then the assistant would shut the clapperboard once more and it was go-time again.

POV Miguno

"You ready for the big show tonight?" the excited but also slightly exhausted looking coyote asked, putting down the AMP I had asked him to get from the van.

"Still kinda nervous to be honest" I replied, "I hadn´t expected the house to be sold out."

"Come on" he chuckled, "You´ve played in front of the whole school before…"

"Yeah, but that was with the drama club…" I explained, "And today it´s over 600 people!"

"There are other bands too" he tried to calm me down.

"These band contests never get sold out!" I told him, "I hadn´t expected this one to be!"

"They´re all here to see you" he told me, rattling my shoulders with a motivating little smirk.

I couldn´t help but smile at him. After all these years, he still was the only one who made me truly happy. No matter what he tried to make me believe, no matter how much of a dork he was.

"And if they don't like it, I´ll be sitting in the front row and cheer for you anyway!"

"You dickhead" I said, lightly punching his shoulder.

"Tell me, dumbass" he chuckled, taking a look down onto the clock on his phone quickly, "There is over an hour left until the first band starts…"

He now looked me right in the eyes with a naughty little smirk.

"…what are you getting at?" I grinned, well aware of what that expression of his meant.

"What can I do to take your mind off things a bit?" he said, scratching his chin in a thinking pose.

"Oh, what could you possibly come up with?" I asked ironically, crossing my arms in an over-acted way.

"Wanna lock up in the backstage room?" he suggested with a dry little smirk, "I could suck you off if you want…"

I just had to shake my head again, I couldn´t help myself.

"I always love how decently you´re suggesting things like this…"

"What, not interested?" he grinned, "Might relax you a little bit…"

"Do I not look relaxed enough already?" I asked, taking a short look around.

"Absolutely not" he told me ironically, checking out our surroundings as well, "I can smell your stage fright from here."

"Oh shut up."

My band was here already, but it still was over half an hour left until our scheduled sound-check would start. The sound technician couldn´t get started with the other bands yet either as there still were other technical issues that needed to be figured out first.

"What is it, hyena-boy?" he grinned, "You scared we´re getting caught?"

"Alright" I told him with a reluctant but dirty little smirk, grabbing one of his hands and pulling him with me now, "Come with me, horndog."

POV Jack

"See?" she giggled, "Told you uncle Rico would be fine with letting us life here if we water his plants."

"Yeah, that was really nice of him. He´s a cool guy…" I added, putting our suitcase down onto the floor after carrying it down the stairs.

"Phew" I panted, "Those stairs though…makes me wonder how he carried all those guitars up there…"

"Keeps you fit I presume" she giggled.

"Yeah, probably" I agreed, trying to catch my breath again while Anita looked for our route towards the train-station on her phone.

"Are you really sure Legoshi and Juno are alright with us staying at their place for another night?" I asked her, reminding her of a problem I had mentioned earlier already, "We can´t go into the dorm-rooms before tomorrow."

"Yeah, I know" she said with a shrug off her shoulders, then she waved it off, "I think we´ll be alright though, they have a big couch we can crash on."

She said that with a sort of confidence as if she knew it couldn´t be any other way. She knew we´ve had spent almost all of our money our parents gave us for our holiday vacation and renting a hotel room for another night could get us into a little bit of trouble financially, but I also knew she probably was right about it anyway. Legoshi wouldn´t let us down in a situation like that, and he also would help out with money if all else failed.

Anita had spent almost the entire summer break with me, and we´ve had an absolute blast. We spent a few nights at her parent´s house, a few nights with my family, and for this last week her uncle let us use his flat in Tokyo while he was on a business trip in Osaka.

"Yeah…you´re right. They won´t be too mad about it I guess…" I chuckled.

She now took the lead down the road, following the route her phone showed her, and I followed her pulling our big suitcase behind me. The early afternoon sun was nice and warm, we´ve just had a really nice lunch and my girlfriend was looking just as beautiful and well spirited as ever.

Tomorrow would be the last day before school continued again, and I was really excited to visit Legoshi and Juno again tonight, finally getting to know their little pup they were talking about so much.

We´ve already seen the pictures Juno sent us, now we wanted to get to know him ourselves.

We just had a three-hour train ride in front of us now, but those would just fly by as well with my favourite person besides me. Every day was an adventure with her, and I didn´t want to miss a single moment of it.

POV Boris

"Relax, fluffy…" she told me, waving it off with a little smirk, "…how long have we been doing this already?"

"Yeah, but I´ve never done this on my own, what if they…"

"Listen! Same amounts as always. Just make sure you don't confuse anything" she said, moving towards the door with what I would almost describe as a little swing in her step.

"W-what?!" I asked again, "You really want me to take your place in the meeting? I´ve always just been your personal body-guard!"

"You remember what we need, right?" she asked plainly, "You must do, you deliver it every week!"

"I…I mean…yeah…"

"There we go" she told me with a little wink, "You got this. Just call me when it´s really necessary. I´ll reward you later tonight, okay?"

This woman just left me speechless yet once again. Every day she shared a little bit more with me.

"Why is everything so easy all over sudden?"

I took her out for a nice dinner, let her get a little closer into my private life, making our relationship one that was a little more than just cold-hearted and professional, had casual sex with her from time to time, and now she suddenly trusted me with things of this importance all over sudden.

Of all the things I thought I had to do to finally get something of a promotion, this was the last thing I would have expected. I thought I would have to throw myself in front of and catch a bullet for her in order to gain her trust, but it was just some light-hearted romance in the end.

"Come on, Fluffy" she told me, "I promised my daughter I would come and see her tonight! I know you´ll have my back!"

I nodded with a little sigh, then I replied her little smile with a smirk of my own. It was not like I wanted to deny her that of course, and I was glad she trusted me with this after all.

"Thanks, darling" she said gratefully, "See you tonight!"

Then she closed the door behind her, leaving me alone in her office just like that. She hadn't even logged out of her laptop.

Here I was. Taking her place for a few hours, having a really important meeting to handle all on my own. A real piece of responsibility.

I couldn´t quite tell what really triggered all that to happen, but I couldn´t say I complained about it.

Ten actually was a really nice person behind the façade, she was gentle and caring, and although she was a few years older than me, she still was really hot and the sex was just fantastic.

I was still convinced there was a reason for all these nice changes in my life though. I figured it either was Juno becoming a mother as well or Ten was slowly but surely getting tired of being the head of the Inarigumi. I was pretty sure the first option might have had quite an impact on it in any case. She asked me about Juno a lot, and talking about the little pup always seemed to be the most exciting topic of her day.

I couldn´t help but smile happily right now. My life felt alright at the moment. I wasn´t even thinking about Skye that much anymore. What I´ve had with Ten was real and it seemed more and more like a genuine relationship in the meanwhile. She was a good boss, she trusted me, she even paid me rather good money for the work I did. I liked how it was right now, and I didn´t even want anything to change about it. It seemed like I had finally found

POV Aoba

"Cut!" the director yelled again, shaking his head with an ironic little sigh as half the set couldn´t stop themselves from laughing once again.

It still was really hot out there in the mid-afternoon summer-sun, this party-scene involved a lot of actors and background artists and cameras from all angles, and the only thing Legoshi was supposed to do is carry a little tray through the crowd. There were 4 fancy looking Cocktails on the tray, one for himself, the other ones for me and the other two lead characters in this scene.

For the first attempt he almost fell over a cable on the floor and spilled some of the cocktails, for the second one a background character stepped into his path at just the wrong moment. It wasn't really helping that Legoshi had to have his shirt off in this scene and it kept on distracting everybody, but the wolf kept his calm and just started over once again.

For the third attempt that just got interrupted he seemed to have everything in order at first, but then when we all helped ourselves to the drinks and rose them up to clink glasses, he was supposed to say a line but had completely forgotten what it was. He looked at us shortly, hoping he would remember it quickly enough, but the pacing of the scene already wasn´t right anymore.

"Dammit…" he cursed lowly, once again making everybody chuckle with his charismatic appearance, "…I just had it on my tongue."

You just couldn´t be mad at him.

It wasn´t even like he messed it up very often, he usually was a lot more focussed than many of the other actors, but he liked to remind us that he wasn´t perfect either sometimes.

"Let´s make a toast to the best night ever" I reminded him of his line, "First round is on me, motherfuc*ers."

"Right!" he told me with a thankful nod, collecting the drinks on his tray again where we all just took them from, "Sorry everybody."

The background actors made way for the shirtless wolf with the scars on his back once again and he went back to his starting position for a fourth attempt.

"Alright everybody!" the director yelled, making sure everybody was on their correct positions and ready to get through it this time, "Scene 16, take 4! And…Action!"

POV Kai

The summertime break had been nice and really necessary, but I also was glad school would start again soon.

I wanted to know how they all were doing. I wanted to know about Juno´s kid, I wanted to know how Legoshi was dealing with it and if he had accepted that TV-role in the end.

I wanted to know how all my friends from the drama-club where doing and what the next and probably last piece we will do would be about.

I was happy with my life right now. It finally seemed I´ve found my peace after this really rough and exciting journey ever since Legoshi was pushed onto the stage for the first time.

It felt like I had gotten a whole lot more mature, it felt like I had my ego under control in the meanwhile.

There was only one more day left before school would start again, I was laying in the grass on a hill near my countryside hometown, the powerful afternoon sun warmed my fur and the clouds formed funny shapes in the sky. There was not a lot of background noise to disturb the tranquillity either, just a few crickets and occasionally a car passing by on the country road a few hundred yards away.

Besides me, another mongoose about my age was laying in the grass and watched the sky with me. I never knew I would call him a real friend one day, and I also never knew he lived just two small towns away from mine. It was just a fifteen-minute bike-ride to visit each other, and finding that out made the summer-break a lot less boring for the both of us.

The first time I invited him over I thought it was a little weird to spend time outside school together as well, but then I quickly noticed how much I had missed him in the first few weeks of vacation.

He truly was my best friend in the meanwhile, nobody understood me as well as he did. And apart from Legoshi and my family, there was nobody else I respected and also trusted as much as him.

I could talk to him about anything, I didn´t have to pretend to be somebody I´m not around him and he always listened.

I didn´t even need an activity as a reason to spend time with him, I could just talk to him all day long and it wouldn´t get boring.

There was one thing however which I hadn´t found the guts to tell him about yet. I had been conflicted about this ever since I received the letter, because it probably was a pretty life-changing decision to make. I wanted to tell him about it before the holidays ended, and I had already postponed it to the very last opportunity I just noticed.

Not wanting to tell him about in the Cherryton-dorm, where privacy was pretty rare most days, I bravely decided to swallow my doubts and trust him with another secret of mine.

"I got invited to an audition for a theatre in Tokyo" I finally shared with him in one sentence, still looking up at the sky while doing so.

"What, really?" he asked in great excitement.

"Yeah…" I affirmed with a little nod, turning towards him now, "It´s in the autumn break. They already sent me parts of a script I have to learn and they said they would pay for the train-ride and for the hotel-room as well."

"That sounds so awesome!" he immediately shared his opinion, lifting himself off the ground and into somewhat of an upright sitting position now.

I haven't expected his reaction to be much different, but I still somehow had my doubts about it. I wasn´t quite sure if I was ready to move out of my parent´s house right after graduation, assuming I would really get offered a job there.

"…seems like they´ve somewhat liked my performance in the last show. I didn´t even know there was an actor scout from that theatre in the audience. There was so much other stuff going on that day."

"Isn´t it true that Legoshi and Aoba got offered roles in some sort of TV series?"

"Yeah" I affirmed with a little nod, "But I wasn´t quite sure if they both had accepted it after all…"

He now shrugged his shoulders and started shaking his head a little bit.

"That shouldn't be a reason for you to not try it though" he said, "Don't waste this chance, Kai!"

"Yeah" I said with a little nod, "…who knows if I´ll ever get another one."

He now tilted his head a little bit.

"Legoshi gave you a second chance" he then pointed out with a little grin towards me.

I nodded silently, turning my head towards the sky again.

"Big bad fluffy baby daddy Legoshi" I chuckled lowly after a short moment of silence, "What a legend."

"Remember when he played on stage for the first time?" he asked, "Playing Romeo and making half the school fall in love with him already?"

"He was complaining about having to be on stage almost every day during the rehearsals" I chuckled, "They literally had to force him into it so we would have a wolf-couple playing Romeo and Juliet."

He nodded with a big smile.

"…he just did it because he didn´t want to let down the rest of the drama club."

"I mean…come on!" he chuckled, "He must have known he a talent for acting beforehand…you can´t tell me he didn't have fun playing for the drama-club."

"He must have enjoyed it a little bit" I agreed with a little nod, "he wouldn´t have done it again otherwise."

"You can´t perform with that kind of confidence when you don't have fun doing it" he explained with an amused smile.

"Oh, you mean like you when you´re going down some guy´s pants?" I asked him teasingly.

His grin widened even a little more, now turning his head towards me again. "…there must be a reason you´re bringing it up right now?"

"Nah" I waved it off, "Just messing with you. Stop thinking about business all the time, will you?"

He now punched my shoulder with an ironic little smirk, I couldn´t stop myself from laughing anymore at this point.

I was a good call telling him about something like this once again. He told me to take the chance without thinking about it twice, and I guess that was just what I wanted to hear in the end. I wanted to take that adventure, even though that meant I wouldn't see my friends and family all that often anymore.

"…no, I was talking about the confidence Legoshi already had when he first stepped onto the stage" he went back to the original topic, "Laying there in the spotlight all shirtless, showing off the battle wounds on his back, delivering a show the entire school was talking about for days…"

"They all loved immediately loved him" I agreed with a little nod, adding with a little chuckle: "…and I really hated him for that!"

He just smiled about that a little bit, well knowing that I was thinking very differently about this now.

"But even though he was doing great and they all wanted to see him on stage again" I mentioned, "…he immediately turned down the next lead-role Sanu wanted to give him."

"Because of that tiger, wasn´t it?"

I nodded affirmingly.

"Man, I still can´t believe that story" he said while shaking his head with a little smirk. "I wish I was there to see it myself."

I nodded with a little smile, then I rested the back of my head in the grass again and looked at the sky.

"…I guess his looks helped him with confidence as well" Tyler mentioned after a short moment of silence, predictably still not done with that topic, "…and even though he´s really humble…you can´t tell me he isn't enjoying himself in the spotlight."

POV Juno (by RedLiteAlexi)

The bags shifted as I walked. Nothing was particularly heavy but after walking for several minutes, it was starting to get to me. My tail began to wag as I could see the door of Legoshi's flat. I was finally home and I could see my favourite wolf. I set one of my bags down and pulled out my key and unlocked the door. I let myself in and I looked around. Immediately, I detected the scent of soap.

"Someone must have had a bath" I thought to myself as I entered the hallway. I looked around in excitement as I heard a small sound coming from the living room. Haru was sitting on the couch, gently resting beside a sleeping wolf pup swaddled in a towel.

I was grinning like a fool as I saw the adorable sight. I dropped my bags and moved over to the rabbit. She lightly rubbed her fingers over his head as he slept.

"Hi Mom." Haru whispered with a smile. I leaned down towards the rabbit and kissed the top of her head.

"I have a name you know?" I said with a quiet chuckle. I looked down at the small unconscious ball of fur. He breathed slowly. I almost burst into tears as I saw him. I knelt down and nuzzled my head against the sleeping pup. I felt the soft dampness of his fur. Leon let out a yawn and resumed his rest.

"He fell right asleep after his bath," She said. I listened to her words as I continued to snuggle my pup. He was so beautiful and I loved him from the moment I laid my eyes on him.

In the last days of my pregnancy, I was beyond nervous. I would spend the days resting, too encumbered by my belly to do much. I felt rather useless during that time. Sure I had Legoshi and Haru waiting on me hand and foot, even still I got slightly depressed.

I was nervous about the pain and worried about all the things that could go wrong. I couldn't sleep much and ended up most nights clinging to either the wolf or rabbit. When the day finally came a few weeks ago, I was so anxious that I thought my first signs were all in my mind. It was only when my water broke, that I realized it was really happening.

My memories of getting to the hospital were a blur. I remember being in Legoshi's car holding Haru's hand while Legoshi delivered me to the hospital. Despite the large amount of pain that was starting to overcome me, I couldn't help but notice his shaking hands on the steering wheel as he drove.

While part of me was thinking that the experience would be less painful than I expected, that was unfortunately not the case. My delivery had actually been very painful. As soon as we got to the hospital, I began to feel the pain. I nearly lost my footing as I got out of the car and had to be wheeled into the hospital. From that moment, I felt like I was flashing in and out of reality. Legoshi and Haru followed me towards the delivery ward before they were stopped.

It was really scary in those moments. From being changed into a gown and placed in a bed I was surrounded by strangers and I just wanted someone to keep me company. I looked at the various animals in scrubs and nearly recoiled as they looked me over. The pain had made me weak. A zebra who I assumed was the lead doctor, looked under my gown.

I blushed hard as he informed me that I was dilating rather quickly for a first time mother. I braced myself for the reality that I would be giving birth sometime in the next two hours. I wanted to avoid an epidural due to the immediacy of the birth. I closed my eyes and breathed quickly as the contractions came over me. The next thing I remembered was a large hand taking my own. I looked up in a daze and saw the large grey wolf standing above me in hospital scrubs.

"Legoshi?" I said

"I'm here Juno, Haru's waiting in the lobby. She said I should be the one to be in here." He said as he held my hand. Tears filled my eyes, from pain and from emotions as he looked down at me. I focused on the task at hand and buckled down. The doctors returned to help me with the final moments of my pregnancy. I tried to tune out everything and close my eyes.

My eyes opened in reflex as I heard the soft sultry crying. My vision returned but I couldn't see him. Legoshi held my hand as I searched the room. Two doctors had their backs to me as they obscured the source of the sound. I wanted to cry as well, I couldn't wait any longer. The doctors turned to me with a small bundle in a towel. My heart beat was fluttering so intensely as they walked over. I was wet with sweat and felt the dampness as the towel was placed in the crook of my arm.

I met the light grey furred face of my son. He took deep breaths and closed his eyes tightly. His fur was sticky and slicked down. Legoshi leaned down and kissed my cheek, though my attention was elsewhere. I looked at the pup as he adjusted to his first moments on earth.

Every time I held my pup, I was transported to that moment. The most pure instance of connection that I ever shared with another animal. I would hold that memory sacred for the rest of my life.

"Did you get all your school stuff?" Haru asked me with a chuckle.

"Huh?" I replied, I had zoned out in my head.

"All the overpriced books and whatnot?" She asked.

"Oh yeah, sorry I just really missed him. I don't know how I'm gonna be able to deal with being away from him even if it's just for the day."

"He'll be fine, and it's only one more year." She said giving my chin a scratch.

"You're so cute." I said as my attention shifted to her.

"Where'd that come from?" She asked with a smile.

"I'm just happy that I have you in my life. However unconventional my life is, I'm thankful for what I have."

The rabbit giggled. "That makes two of us, actually I guess three…no wait four?"

POV Legoshi

"That´s a wrap for today everybody!" the producer finally told us after having watched that last take on the display he was carrying around with him everywhere, "I think we can work with that."

"Thank God" Aoba chuckled lowly, making the whole cast giggle with that.

I couldn´t help but chuckle a little about this as well.

"Come on" I told him ironically, "My breath isn´t that bad!"

He shook his feathers once again in slight discomfort thinking about it, still smiling though. "Those fangs are really scary up close."

"I think it was really cute" one of the actresses commented, "I´m a little bummed you only needed two takes for this."

"Yeah, yeah" Aoba chuckled at the spotted jaguar girl, "Just wait for the day the script changes and you have to make out with him."

She couldn´t hide a little grin at that comment from the bald eagle. She´s been checking me out since quite a while actually, and since we were still walking back towards the trailers, I still didn´t have my shirt with me right now. I still just had the swimming shorts on me that they told me to wear for this pool-party scene, just like always not really all that bothered about them staring at me from all sides.

A lot of the actors just wore swim-wear right now, but for some reason I seemed to be the biggest point of interest once again.

"I´m not too scared of those fangs to be honest" she whispered towards Aoba with a little wink.

I obviously heard that as well, but I didn´t say anything about it. Instead, I changed the topic with my new super-weapon when it came to switching topics.

"I´m glad Leon doesn´t have any fangs yet" I told them, "He´s always trying to swallow the entire spoon when I feed him…"

"Oh he eats solid food already?" Aoba asked with great interest.

"Well, not really solid" I explained, "Still mostly milk and baby food. He really likes peach pudding."

"Daaaw" the jaguar actress said, predictably finding that really cute as well, "You have a son? How old is he?"

"Almost four weeks now" I told her with a proud little smile.

"Aww do you have a picture?" she asked excitedly.

I pointed at the trailers we were walking towards right now anyway.

"I have some on my phone, let me get changed quickly, then I´ll show you if you want…"

"Yeah, gladly!" she chuckled, "I can´t wait!"

"Hey Aoba" I asked him quickly, just before our ways parted in order to get towards our separate trailers, "…I´m here with the car. Should I take you to the train-station again?"

"Very kind offer" he said with a big smile and a little wink, raising his wings shortly, "…but with this weather today, I´ll be home before you even left the car-park."

"Show off" I chuckled ironically, waving him goodbye for today with a little smirk.

"See you on Monday, Romeo" he told me with a little wink, waving us as well quickly, "Bye Mila!"

"Bye" she waved after him, "…see you next Saturday!"

With that, Aoba was out of sight already and I had almost arrived at my own trailer.

Having entered it, I quickly got into some regular shorts and a T-shirt, ignored all the ridiculous luxuries around me, made sure I had all the things I brought with me and then left the small house on wheels again.

There were quite a few more shooting days we would have to attend for this TV-series, even though we´ve been shooting throughout the entire summer-break already, but it was kinda fun and I was somewhat interested what the people would think of our characters and how we played them. I enjoyed working with them on this project.

After I got out of the trailer, I locked it with the key they always gave me for the shooting day, then I turned around and discovered that Mila was still waiting for me to show her the pictures of my son.

I showed her a few of them, humbly smiling about all the "awwws" and congratulations, and then I wished her a nice weekend as well, finally being done here for today.

Now there was just one thing left to do: Return the key of the Trailer, drive home and enjoy a nice evening with my friends and family.

POV Anita

Juno looked just so pretty when she opened the door for us about an hour ago. I was so glad to finally see her again. She was full of life and looked just as cute and fluffy as ever.

She had told me how scared she was of the delivery in a phone call, just a few hours before it happened, but a day later I got a text from Legoshi that everything went well, even though it must have been really nerve-wrecking and painful.

The pregnancy had suited her really well though, and now as a fresh mommy her well-shaped body looked even more feminine and attractive in my opinion. She owned it, and I was so proud of her for that.

She told us to come in and get ourselves comfortable until Legoshi came home from work, but the time just flew by with everything that was going on around us anyway. Just when Jack quickly wanted to bring our suitcase into the bedroom to get it out of the way for now, we already got acquainted with the new member of their little family.

The little pup was just the fluffiest little bundle of joy I´ve ever seen, and Jack and I both immediately fell in love with him. We just couldn´t help ourselves and immediately fawn over the cute little wolf.

His fur had almost the same colours as his dads, his eyes and the fluffiness of his ears reminded more of his mothers.

He crawled around all across the room very active- and excitedly when we first spotted him, but he also let Jack take him into his arms when he tried to lift him up.

We all stood around the little man and watched in great delight when he snuggled himself into Jack´s chest like he had already accepted him as his uncle or something like that.

"My, my" I chuckled towards Juno with a little giggle, "…he´ll look really handsome once he´s gonna be a teenager, won´t he? "

"Yeah" Jack agreed with a little grin, "He´s gonna cause a lot of trouble with the ladies."

"Oh, we all know who he will have inherited that from then" Juno commented in amusement.

"What, the good looks or the troublemaking?" Haru asked.

"Haha, both I guess" Jack commented.

"Oh, I think that applies to both of them as well, doesn't it?" Haru asked Juno, playfully pushing her a little bit.

"Yeah, yeah" Juno chuckled with a little smirk, "Speak for yourself, bunny."

Jack now lifted the pup onto his shoulders and showed him how to stay up there without falling off. Then he started walking around the room with him.

"Anita I think we should keep him" he said jokingly, and although he obviously wasn't serious about that, I could tell that he actually seemed a little jealous right now.

I was a little jealous as well if I was totally honest with myself, and I would want nothing more than to have kids with Jack as well, but I at least wanted to graduate before making that decision.

"Oh, you´re just seeing one side of the medal right now" Juno commented with a light hearted smirk, "…he´s doing a great job of keeping us awake at night sometimes, believe me."

"Just like his daddy" Jack said with a big grin, "He´s good at that as well."

"Speak of the devil" Haru pointed out in that moment, as a black car outside slowed down and turned in to the ramp of the underground carpark.

"Come on, Leo" the golden retriever told him excitedly, gripping the pups legs a little tighter so he wouldn't fall off his shoulders, "Let´s go say hi to daddy!"

The pup gurgled excitedly when Jack started moving towards the hallway and slowly carried him towards the entrance door.

We followed them and patiently waited until Legoshi had made it up the stairs and unlocked the door with his keys.

"Hey guys" he greeted us, immediately having a smile on his face from the greeting committee in his hallway.

Leon stretched his arms after him with a happy little chortle when Jack chummily hugged his old dorm-mate, Legoshi then lifted him up from Jack´s shoulders and took him into his arms as well.

We all just smiled at the spectacle happily, this whole moment was so wholesome to watch.

With all the hugging and the greeting over, we all slowly but surely started moving towards the living room where Haru had set the big table for all of us already.

When the delivery boy from the Italian Restaurant down the road arrived, Legoshi gave him a rather generous tip and carried the huge paper bag into the living room for us, putting it down onto the table for a moment.

"Sorry we didn´t have time to cook ourselves tonight…" Juno apologized with a little smirk towards us, watching Legoshi as he now put Leon into his high-seat so he could sit at the dinner table with us.

"Oh that´s fine" I waved it off, "I´m so glad you have time for us in the first place!"

"So good to see you guys again" Legoshi told us, now quickly walking off towards their kitchen, "It´s been a while since the summer break started!"

"Yeah" Haru agreed, "How have your holidays been?"

"Oh we´ve had so much fun" I told her excitedly, eyeballing the very delicious smelling bag of food in the middle of the table.

The rabbit was already at it to unbox all the different foods she had ordered for us and spread the paper boxes all over the table. There were different sorts of pasta, three different large pizzas and two bottles of wine on the table shortly afterwards, and I just noticed how hungry I was in the meanwhile.

"Help yourselves everybody!" Haru chuckled, "It´s not getting any fresher."

While we all did so, Legoshi joined us in the living room again. He had a glass of peach pudding and a spoon with him, and he carried both items right over towards his son, who was already waving his arms in anticipation. The fork of noodles I´ve had in my hand stopped on its way from my plate to my mouth as I watched in great amusement how the tall wolf opened up the lid of the baby-food glass and Leon opened his mouth to receive the first spoon of the sweet and tasty treat.

Spoon after spoon the little wolf consumed the entire glass in just a matter of moments, and when he was all done, Legoshi contentedly took a seat at the table and helped himself to some pasta as well.

Leon seemed content with his situation too, now excitedly watching us eat like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

"How was the shooting today?" Juno casually asked Legoshi, who seemed to be quite hungry himself.

"Oh I had a good time" he told her with a little smirk, taking another fork full of pasta, "I got to push a girl into a pool today."

We all immediately started laughing loudly, Juno almost spat out the pasta she just put in her mouth.

Legoshi just smiled in amusement, but he didn´t stop eating. He had anticipated we would enjoy to hear that, but he kept eating nevertheless.

"Did you know she´s dating a wolf now?" Juno asked with a little grin towards me, "A dorm-mate of mine had seen her in a restaurant lately…"

"What, Samantha?" I asked in slight surprise.

She nodded affirmingly.

"Seems like you´ve turned her head quite a lot, huh Legoshi?" Jack asked him teasingly, obviously having fun with that topic as well.

Just like anticipated, Legoshi just shrugged his shoulders with an unbothered expression about that and continued eating contentedly. It was not easy to bring him out of his calm anymore in the meanwhile.

"…what else did you do on set today?" Juno asked, still in amusement though.

He thought about it for a moment. "…I pushed a few guys into the pool as well" he said with a little chuckle, "…and I got to make out with one."

"Aww what?" I chuckled ironically, "You made out with a guy and didn´t call me for that?"

He just winked his old friend with a little smirk, then he continued munching on his pasta again. There was literally nothing that could bring him out of his cool anymore. Apart from his son, probably.

"…when do you get to making dents into some lockers?" Jack continued ironically, "Is that in the script as well?"

"No" he said while shaking his head, "That´s the only thing missing really."

"Ah dammit" Jack chuckled.

"But he told us there would be a sex scene later" Haru mentioned with a dirty little smile, "Isn´t that so, Romeo?"

Legoshi nodded once more, flashing another little smile but still more bothered about his food than our bantering as it seemed like.

"Just look at you" Jack commented with an amused shake of his head, "…just about a year ago, they wanted you to play on stage for a school-drama club play…and now…you´re playing a serious role in a TV-show! And you´re a dad now!"

"Yeah, seriously" he agreed with a little smile, "Had you told me about that back then I probably would have told you you´re completely nuts…"

POV Durham

Miguno and his band just went completely nuts on the stage today. Just their first number over-shadowed all the other bands taking part in this contest today. The very first song they played, a new one, which the hyena had very thoughtfully named "The Wolf", already degraded all the other contestants down to just some little side acts.

The crowd just immediately started rocking out with them. It appeared that a lot of people in the audience already knew them a little as well, because they got loud just when they entered the stage already.

A little did it feel like Miguno didn´t really need the pre-show stress-relief blowjob in the end, but I didn´t mind fooling around with him anyway. This was his world, and not being the one on top for once was totally fine for me. I was just glad to see him happy.

By the rules his band was allowed to play a total of three songs on the stage today, and the first two ones were really well received already, but just when they started the first few notes of "Little Lion Man", the audience around me went completely berserk all over sudden. It seemed like they have been waiting just for that song the whole evening. My song.

While they were on stage, I took pictures of them from all sides, as many as I could. One of Miguno´s band members had organised this really professional looking camera I was now wearing around my neck, and I had permission to walk around everywhere, even on the stage, to get the best possible shots of them.

This turned out to be not that easy of a task with the short time they had on stage, but it felt like I got a few usable shots after all.

I was so proud of him for doing this. They truly deserved all the attention they were getting.

After they were done with their last song, I quickly helped them getting all their equipment off the stage and then the most exciting part of the night was over already. Now it was just relaxing and enjoying the rest of the show.

When the last band went off the stage after their performance, and the DJ for the after-party took over the speakers, we finally found Collot and Voss in the crowd, who had promised they would be here as well for Miguno´s band´s performance.

As usual, the tall sheep-dog carried the little fennec around on his shoulders, both of them had a beer in their hands, wherever they got those from, and their mood was just as ecstatic as ours.

"Hey, aren't you that guy from that Little Lion Song?" Collot asked the hyena with a chummy little wink, just when he already got approached by some of his fans again as it seemed.

"An autograph is 500yen" Miguno told him with an ironic grin, "…or you could get me a beer too! That´ll do as well..."

Soon later he was completely engaged with the flirty girls who wanted to do selfies with him and the rest of us just stood there while shaking our heads in slight disbelief.

"He´s gonna be a world-famous Rockstar soon" I commented with a proud smile, "You´ll see. They´ll all be running after him!"

"Oh, no doubt about it" Voss commented from on top of Collot´s shoulders, "…but I´m gonna get drunk and end up in some thick girl´s bed tonight, that´s something you´re all going to see!"

"Alright then, little perv" I commented with an ironic grin at him, "Let me know in case you get beaten up again."

"Oh please" he waved it off, "The ladies like me so much, I get away with anything."

"Man" Collot chuckled, looking up towards him with a sheepish grin, "I wish I was as adorable as you!"

"Oh shut up" he growled in slight annoyance about that comment.

We all couldn´t help but smile a little about this. He just was the cutest and also the cockiest guy I´ve ever met, and it just wasn´t getting old teasing him with it.

"Go nuts man" I chuckled, waving it off now and offering him a little fist bump, "Let´s get a little crazy before school starts again!"

"That´s what I mean!" the fennec agreed excitedly, "We don't have to wait until Halloween for something crazy to happen, do we?"

"Quick! Does anybody have any Viagra on them?" Collot asked ironically, "I might know a story that could give you a bit of inspiration…"

"Hahaha I dare you" I laughed, giving Collot a short fist bump as well.

In that moment Miguno joined us again. "What are you guys talking about here?"

"Oh nothing" I grinned at him, "…want me to get a drink for you as well?"

"As if you need to give this guy Viagra to get him excited" Voss commented with a big smirk.

"Ah, that´s what´s up" Miguno laughed, now understanding the stupid grins on our faces.

"There is plenty of beer backstage though" he pointed out with an innocent smirk, "I was gonna ask you if you want to follow me there anyway."

"Let´s go!" Voss commented with an excited chuckle, probably assuming there would be a lot of pretty girls backstage waiting for us, "What are you keeping us waiting for?"

"Come with me you dorks" he chuckled, "Not sure I can stand you guys any longer being sober…"

With that he turned around, got one of his arms around my neck and led us through the crowd towards the backstage area. I was a happy man tonight.

I had anticipated for this evening ever since I´ve first heard about it, and I already had the fun of my life here. I loved hanging out with my friends like this and I wanted to enjoy it as much as I could while it lasted. What a fantastic way to spend the rest of the summer break.

POV Legoshi

After Juno and I had brought Leon to bed, I threw myself onto the big couch in the living room exhaustedly and relaxed for a moment. It had been a hard day of work after all.

While Jack and the girls were browsing Petflix for a movie we could watch tonight, I finally had the time to take a look at my phone, which has been blowing up all day long once again. I usually had it on silent in the meanwhile, and therefore there was a whole flood of new messages I had to check out every night.

Aoba sent me a video he must have taken with his new head-camera he had been talking about. It showed his perspective when he was flying above some really pretty mountains in the slowly disappearing evening sun. Jack looked equally jealous as I when I showed him the video on my phone for a moment.

Durham sent me a series of pictures capturing Miguno and his band rocking out on a stage somewhere. In the short text below he explained that it was a band-contest they´ve played at tonight and that it must have been an absolute blast. I had heard about this before, Miguno invited us to join it as well of course, but I rather wanted to do something relaxing after work today.

I showed those pictures to Jack as well and he nodded with a little smirk.

"Man…" he commented ironically, "…and we´re here sitting on the couch."

"For real" I chuckled, "…we´re so boring, aren't we?"

I opened the next chat with new messages, and it was from Collot, asking where the hell we were and why we haven't seen Miguno´s concert. He sent me a selfie he had taken while Voss was sitting on his shoulders, holding out one of his hands showing a peace-sign. The place they were at looked really crowded and excited, I assumed they have taken it during the show.

In one line I excused myself and wished them a lot of fun for the rest of their night, then I went on to the next chats.

"What do you do with Leon while you´re in class?" Anita suddenly asked us, "Did you organize a babysitter or something like that?"

Juno nodded to that question. "My mom and my grandma will stay here with him while I´m at school. Or they take him to my parent´s house during the week. We haven´t quite figured that out yet."

"I could help out too if you want" she immediately offered, "When I´m not busy in the garden that is…" she added with a chuckle.

"Oh that´s so nice of you!" Juno told her, "I was hoping I could ask you about that sometimes…"

"Of course I will help out! No need to ask twice!"

Jack nodded to that statement as well, it seemed like they´ve both had this discussed in advance already.

"That´s really nice to hear" I told them as well, giving them a grateful little smile before my attention went back to my phone again.

An unknown number had begun a chat with me and started off with quite a big wall of text. I already wanted to remove the chat and block the number from my contacts, thinking it was probably just some spam message or scam-attempt anyway, but then I read the first sentence and it caught my interest:

"Ten sent me pictures of your little boy. He´s so cute and precious, I wish I could hold him in my arms right now! I hope he grows up to be just as great of a man as his father" it said.

My breath suddenly became a little heavier. I continued reading with great anticipation.

"I´m alive and healthy, I hope the same goes for you!"

My heart suddenly skipped a beat while reading. I scrolled down a little further and it revealed a few more sentences:

"Greet Boris for me if you see him, give a hug to Haru and Juno in my name, I wish you guys all the happiness in the world!"

I felt a little tear of joys rolling down my face, I just couldn´t help myself. I finally got a sign of life from her. That was all I wanted for such a long time. It made me feel so warm and happy on the inside, I wasn´t sure I could completely hide it from my friends right now.

"Some people say you always meet twice in life, some say that´s bullshit. I´d say let´s just hope for the best."

I quickly scrolled down, there were two more lines to this message.

"…I know you´re going to be a great dad and I know your family can always depend on you! Keep your head up and keep on making me proud, Legoshi!"

Even after all this time that has passed since I last saw her, ever since she left me just like that to save me from the grief and revenge of the other clans, those words still meant quite a lot to me coming from her.

I was glad she texted me, even though I would have preferred a face to face-conversation. I was glad she was alive and well and I was glad there was no grief between us because of the long silence.

In my head I was thinking about replying something to her message right now, but as I wanted to give most of my attention to my friends and not to my phone while they were here, I postponed that for now. She had left me waiting for over half a year, I figured I could leave her waiting for a few hours until I replied.

As Juno was sitting on the comfortable rug before the couch, conveniently resting her head between my knees, I now gently started massaging her shoulders from behind, feeling very content while doing so. She looked up towards me with a happy and really cute little smile, seemingly really enjoying the attention I gave her. I gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead from above, then she turned her attention to Anita again.

Jack now quickly leaned in towards me with a little smirk on his face, whispering: "I like those vibes already."

Anita was resting her head between his knees just like Juno did it with mine I just noticed, and would lie if I said I didn´t understand what he meant.

"Remember just about a year ago?" I asked him with a little smirk, "…talking like you wouldn´t ever find out what it would feel like?"

He couldn´t help but smile widely about that comment. "I always knew you were bad influence" he grinned ironically, now starting to massage Anita´s foxy ears from above now.

"The worst influence of them all" Haru dryly commented with a little chuckle, obviously having heard all that since she was sitting right besides us, "I just hope his son doesn´t grow up to be such a silly wolf."

"Oh don't worry" Juno assured with a grin towards her, "I´ll make sure to prevent that!"

"Come on" I chuckled ironically, "Who is the silly one here? At least I always make sure we have peach pudding in stock!"

"You eat more of that stuff than Leon" Juno commented in amusement, "You silly wolf."

I just remained smiling to that. I wouldn't even argue with her about that accusation if I was totally honest with myself. I have made a lot of silly or at least questionable decisions within the last year, but nevertheless, I was contented with how it was right now. I had my own little family, I had a job I really enjoyed doing, I had great friends and had at least a dozen glasses full of peach pudding left in the kitchen-drawer.

"…well, it seems like my son has really good taste!" I told her with an ironic little smirk, "And who am I to ignore that?"

"Yeah, yeah" Haru chuckled, "Can we now shut up about the baby food for once and decide on a movie?"

"Right!" Anita agreed, apparently having found a few options she was interested in in the meanwhile, "What do you think of…"

I listened to her suggestions shortly, but then I decided I´d let them surprise me and went back to the screen of my phone that just had buzzed again.

I opened up the messenger app once more and it appeared Skye had sent me one more text.

At first I wasn´t quite sure if I shouldn´t keep it for later, but then my curiosity overpowered me and I read it anyway. It wasn´t as long this time, and in the end, I didn´t at all regret reading it right now.

"I am really grateful I was allowed to meet you in my life. I´m sorry it took me this long to find the guts to tell you. You helped me through a really tough time, you helped me find the peace and forgiveness I so desperately needed. It hurt to just leave you like that, but I was not given another choice. I hope you´ll be able to forgive me for it one day."

This made me smile even a little more. I had forgiven her for that a long time ago already. I knew why she did it and I wouldn´t ever blame her for that decision. I really was glad she contacted me again, I was glad she was doing well.

"…You´re a good guy, Legoshi, never let anyone tell you otherwise. And no matter if we ever meet each other again or not, there is one more thing I really want to say."

"Thank you for everything."

Yes! Thank you for everything indeed!

Thank you all for taking this journey with me. This is the first time I´ve ever properly ended a story, and I´d be glad to hear about your over-all thoughts.

Very special thanks go to:

-RedLiteAlexi (AO3), who contributed a whole lot of amazing, beautiful and really inspirational content to some of the latest chapters, helped me a lot with corrections and kept my lazy ass going when I couldn´t motivate myself to do it. A true friend and a real lyrical genius.

-Dekra (AO3), who blessed us with some really exquisite smut- and Christmas-special-chapters, had been a really good friend as well and followed my stories since Springtime Circumstances already!

-MrShurukan, who´s always been there for me, even way before I´ve first published on AO3! He helped a lot with corrections as well, helped me set up a discord-server and even sent me some Russian Matryoshka dolls for Christmas once. You may haven´t been around a whole lot lately, but I´ll still never forget about my friend ;)

Last but not least, thanks to all of you guys for sticking with this story and supporting me with your nice words and constructive criticism in the comments! It´s been an honour writing for you!

~furrwolf