Oscar stretched and yawned as he woke up. He got out of bed, a mundane feat that had slowly become easier to do as he shed his weight and built up muscle. Over the past few months, his gut had seriously diminished in size. But he knew he was far from being considered skinny and that he had more work ahead of him. Still, he was proud of what he accomplished with the aid of his athletic, equine friend.
Once he was out of the bunk he jumped when he heard a loud sneeze and somebody sniffling. He looked up at the bunk above his to see Lee the wolf-rabbit under the covers. "Oh, Lee-kun. You're back."
"Uuungnnnhhhnnn…"
Oscar winced. "Oof. You sound like shit. Catch a cold?"
"Mmmnnmmmnnn…"
The harlequin rabbit chuckled. "Alright, I'll leave you to it. Call me if you need anything."
"Mmmhhhmmmm…"
Oscar got into his uniform, which had started to feel much looser than it used to. He'll probably have to ask for a smaller one soon. Maybe after winter break, assuming he doesn't gain any weight back during the holidays.
He grabbed his book bag, deciding he should probably head to the library and get some studying done.
When he left his dorm and entered the main building, he found people largely ignoring his existence. He was frequently picked on for his weight when he first came to school. But it seemed even bullies were too distracted by upcoming exams.
He rounded the corner and felt somebody slam into him. "Oof!"
A female voice spoke to him. "I'm sorry! I- oh…"
Oscar looked up and his heart skipped a beat. It was that pretty dwarf rabbit he had a crush on. Suddenly, he was starting to sweat.
She looked at him with concern. "Oh. Your eye is still black."
The harlequin rabbit forgot for a second that he even had a black eye. The swelling had gone away, but it seemed the discoloration did not. He laughed nervously. "I-it's no big deal. It's getting better. Just a little at a time."
The dwarf rabbit looked ashamed. "I'm sorry. If I just ran away or something you wouldn't have gotten beat up."
Oscar shook his head. "Nah. I was dumb for charging in and not getting a teacher." His ears perked up as he just realized he never introduced himself. "I-I'm Oscar, by the way."
She smiled. "I'm Marie."
The harlequin rabbit blushed and chuckled nervously. "Th-that's a really pretty name."
Marie giggled. "I need to get going. But it was nice meeting you, Oscar-san."
Oscar nodded. "Nice meeting you too."
The dwarf rabbit walked away and Oscar sighed wistfully. If only she was a harlequin rabbit.
Jiro leaned against the wall of the main building with a sketchpad in hand. It was a brand new one that he recently purchased. The vulpine artist had become concerned about being busted by teachers for having his more disturbing drawings. Besides, he was waiting for somebody important and didn't want her to see that side of him yet.
He quietly sketched a new image. An armored man with a creepy hood, wielding a menacing-looking, dark-colored scythe. He always liked scythes. They probably weren't great weapons since they're supposed to be farming equipment, but they looked cool.
His ears twitched as he heard very nearby footsteps. "So you're Jiro, huh?"
The fox looked up to see a very attractive female black panther smiling at him. She looked a lot like a female version of Fen from Drama Club, so it didn't take him long to figure out who she was. He pulled out his notepad and flipped to the big smile. "You're Lin, then."
The panther grinned. "Yup! Nice to meet you face-to-face." She glanced at the notepad. "So I guess what Fen said was true."
Jiro flipped to a drawing of himself awkwardly smiling. "Y-yeah. My face isn't quite as functional as other people."
Lin chuckled. "I like the notepad thing though. It's cool that you find expressing yourself to be important enough to warrant the extra effort."
The fox flipped to the small smile. "I kinda haveto do it. If I don't, people think I'm cranky or that I'm not interested in what they're saying." He sighed. "It sucks that such a bored-looking face is my default."
The panther noticed his sketchpad. "Fen said you make really good art. Can I see?"
He flipped back to the awkward smile. "Sorry. It's brand new. I only have one sketch on it and it's the one I started a couple of minutes ago. My old sketchpad is in my dorm."
Lin looked slightly disappointed. "Aw. Well, make sure you bring it sometime. I reallywant to see it."
Jiro started to feel incredibly nervous. "I… don't know if you want to see them."
She tilted her head. "What do you mean?"
The fox sighed and switched to a depressed face. "Some of the drawings are very personal. Y'know, private things most people don't like seeing."
Lin looked contemplative. Then she had a look of realization. "Ooh! You're one of those guys that draws really weird fetish porn."
Jiro blushed, jumped, and dropped both the sketchpad and notepad. "Wh-what?!"
The panther held up her hands. "Hey, calm down. I'm not kink-shaming or anything. You're into what you're into."
The fox was incredibly flustered as he picked up his sketchpad and notepad. "It's not like that! I don't draw that kind of thing!"
She tilted her head curiously. "No? Well, what doyou draw?"
Jiro sighed. "I draw… violent stuff. Blood, gore, dark things. Otherwise, I have nightmares and can't stop thinking about them. Some of 'em are reallymessed up."
Lin's expression was neutral. "Oh." Then, she broke out into a big grin. "Now I reallygotta see 'em!"
Jiro stared at her for a bit, trying to process the situation. Then he snorted and broke out into a laugh. "Alright. Maybe next time. For now, I think we should be heading to lunch."
Lin nodded. "Fine by me."
At lunch, Esther sat across from Olivia. She was in the middle of eating her soy patty. She looked up at her girlfriend. "Ceci-chan is doing better. Her leg'll be all healed up way before the next play."
The lab gave a sigh of relief. "Thank God. It was humiliating having to be replaced by Pina-san at the last second." She looked sad. "I guess Viola and Sebastian knew I was going to fail."
Esther shrugged. "They care a lotabout Drama Club. They just wanted to make sure nothing went wrong. Andthey got to see their pops. It doesn't mean they think you're dumb or anything."
Olivia still looked concerned. "Are you sure they don't?"
The tiger nodded. "It's just how they are. They can be supportive, but they don't really care about hurt feelings if it causes problems." She smiled. "'Sides, nobodycan think you'redumb, Liv. You're waymore than just a pretty face."
The lab blushed. "Th-thanks."
Esther reached out her right hand and placed it on her girlfriend's left. The tiger didn't say anything. All she did was look into the lab's eyes and smile.
Olivia's blush grew more intense, but she smiled back and looked to be in a better mood.
Suddenly, Meredith appeared as if from nowhere and glared at them. "No touching! Public displays of affection are not permitted on campus."
Esther grunted in annoyance and gave the cat a dirty look. "Dude, all we're doing is touching hands. Are you cr-"
Olivia shushed her.
Meredith sneered. "Go on, Esther-san. Finish that sentence."
The white tiger trembled with rage. Her eyes became slits, her fur bristled, and a vein appeared on her forehead.
Olivia smiled at the calico cat. "By the way, Meredith-san. We found your son's social media. I reallylike his fashion sense! You've raised a very trendy and stylish young man!"
Meredith's smirk disappeared and she glared at the lab. "That degenerateis not my son."
Esther smirked. "Are you sure? He looks so much like you though!"
The calico cat gritted her teeth. "He chose a life of sexual depravity! It's not myfault he became what he is!"
Olivia put on a fake sad expression. "Is he reallyso bad though? I've read that he and his husband donate to charities fairly often. There's a good percentage of his annual income that he's put into cancer research andhe helps out at the homeless shelter." She sneered. "Just out of curiosity, Meredith-san. How often do youdonate to charity?"
Meredith looked at them with intensely hateful eyes as her own fur started to bristle. "Hmph!" She stormed off angrily.
As soon as she was out of earshot, the two girls began to wildly cackle.
Esther cleared the tears of laughter out of her eyes. "By the way. Do you think they'll show up again soon?"
Olivia shrugged. "I certainly hope so. If they don't, we'll have to come up with a plan B."
The tiger sighed. "Whatever. Let's talk about her later."
The canine smiled. "Sounds good to me."
Lee had taken a nap but woke up again, sneezing. He cursed himself for being dumb enough to run out in the rain like he did. If only he knew it was just a broken arm. He wouldn't have bothered running to the hospital and would've just called his father.
He sighed and tried to go back to sleep.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
The wolf-rabbit snorted and jolted up from his bed. "Huh?"
Knock! Knock! Knock!
Lee tilted his head. It was knocking, but it didn't sound like the door. It sounded like the window. He got up, walked over, and spotted a brown-furred hand just outside.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
The chimera walked over and opened the window. Immediately, he was able to smell an incredibly familiar musk.
The hand put itself on the windowsill, then a second hand did the same. A pair of antlers appeared as a familiar lupine/cervid crossbreed crawled his way up and through the window. For some reason, he had a gym bag slung over his shoulder.
Lee took a step back as Ibuki jumped through and landed on his feet on the floor.
The deer-wolf smiled. "Hey, hun!"
The wolf-rabbit stared in disbelief. "D-did you just climb up six floors?"
Ibuki nodded. "How couldn't I? I can't just leave my boyfriend alone when he's sick."
Lee looked baffled. "How did you know I was sick?"
The deer-wolf chuckled. "I ran into a certain hefty rabbit friend of yours in the hall and he told me about it. So I came over."
Lee tried to respond but just wound up sneezing and shivering.
Ibuki smirked and raised an eyebrow. "You got the shivers?"
The wolf-rabbit just nodded and sniffled.
The deer-wolf smiled. "Why don't you just get back in bed and I'll keep you company?"
Lee looked uncertain. "Wh-what if I get you sick?"
Ibuki shook his head. "As long as we don't kiss, we should be good." He grabbed his boyfriend by the shoulders and lightly pushed him over to the bed.
The wolf-rabbit was still somewhat concerned but got in the bed anyway.
The deer-wolf turned around and unzipped the gym bag he carried in, pulling out his sleepwear.
Lee blushed. "A-are you gonna…?"
Ibuki scoffed. "Well, I'm not going to wear my uniform." He smirked at the wolf-rabbit. "Unless you'd like me to just be in my underwear… or even nude."
Lee's face turned even redder. "N-nevermind."
The deer-wolf chuckled and started removing his clothes.
Despite being his boyfriend, Lee looked away while Ibuki changed. He still wasn't quite comfortable with looking at him naked.
He heard and felt Ibuki crawling into the bed with him. The deer-wolf got under the covers and wrapped his arms around his boyfriend from behind.
Lee found himself blushing again from the intimacy of the moment. He felt Ibuki's heat and heartbeat as the deer-wolf tightly cuddled with him.
The wolf-rabbit was tense at first, but relaxed and started feeling incredibly comfortable. His heart was fluttering. "Th-thanks, Ibuki."
The deer-wolf silently nodded. Lee couldn't see him, but could feel the nod.
Lee smiled and chuckled. "So… If we ever got married, we'd be doing this every night, huh?"
Ibuki snorted. "As long as you don't piss me off. Thenyou get to sleep on the couch."
Lee chuckled and shifted around a bit, getting more comfortable. "It still feels surreal to me. Like, I'm dating Louis-san's son."
"And Bill-san's daughter is dating Jack-san's."
Lee smiled wryly. "What a mess. Not that I'm complaining. Holiday parties are just gonna be weird."
"How have you been getting along with Haru-san's family, anyway?"
The wolf-rabbit sighed. "I can go over to grandma and grandpa's house. But Hideki and his kids never show up. They think I'm going to eat them."
"I see. I guess I shouldn't be surprised."
"What about you? How do Juno-san's family treat you?"
"They make fun of my antlers. They think it's funny to hang their coats on them."
Lee scoffed. "Figures."
"And then there was the time I shed them at a party." The deer-wolf lightly trembled. "When they were bandaging my head, my cousin, Laura grabbed the shed antlers and was supposed to toss them out. But instead, she started licking the blood off in front of me. Even though I'm a wolf, she looked at me like I was prey. It was terrifying."
The wolf-rabbit's ears drooped. "We don't need to keep talking about it if it makes you uncomfortable."
Ibuki fell silent for a second. "...Okay."
Lee covered his mouth as he sneezed. "For now let's just… enjoy the moment." He yawned as he started to feel drowsy. Soon enough, he fell asleep in his boyfriend's arms.