Chapter 78 - It's Us

Returning back from his day with Nori and Pina, Louis didn't play around when he came home this time, immediately opening the door and seeking his husband.

The wolf was on the couch with his laptop and tablet once again, head-turning once Louis came in. He offered a kind smile and a whapping tail. "Hey!"

The buck smiled. "Hello, my dear husband."

Legosi laughed. "Aren't you the deer husband?"

Louis paused. "Oh, sheesh," he snorted.

Legosi stuck his tongue out as he set his things aside, after which he started to wiggle a bit, anticipating Louis' embrace.

The buck stepped forward and leaned down, wrapping his arms around him. "I missed you today."

Legosi hugged back. "Me too. Nothing really happened at work. How were things for you?"

"Good...They were good. I went to dinner with Nori and Pina."

"Dinner? Sounds pretty normal. How is Nori?" Legosi pulled Louis down gently to sit next to him.

Instead, Louis sat on his lap. "He's...still troubled. I'm worried about him, but he's in the hands of Pina which means he's in very good hands."

Legosi nodded. "It really does seem like Pina watches out for the whole group, huh? Even though he's the youngest."

"Besides Hachi," Louis chuckled, his eye meeting Legosi's lizard ones.

"I meant our group," Legosi said with a lick to Louis' nose.

He snorted again. "Oh is Nori a part of our group now?~"

"That would be...interesting. Me, you, Pina, Bill, Kai, Dom, and...Nori."

"And yet you've never met him," he continued to smile.

Legosi shook his head. "I feel like if I met any of them I'd be a nervous wreck. Be it from them hating me or..." His mind flicked to Hachi as his ears wiggled.

"Well, Hachi said some nice things about me and you know how I am with praise." Legosi rubbed the back of his neck.

"It's just so obvious that everyone sees how adorable you are." He rubbed his cheeks with his palms back and forth. "Good boy~"

The wolf's tail waved back and forth, quickly. "W-well, remember you have to think of some of my flaws for Monday."

"Ugh," Louis rolled his eyes. "Well, I don't care about flaws right now. I'm on a cute wolf's lap, after all, and where's the flaw in that?"

"Guess it's like school all over again and I'll just procrastinate for that assignment." Legosi leaned in for a kiss while his stomach growled, unsurprisingly.

The deer moved his hands down and rubbed circles on his stomach, kissing him once more, their cold noses touching.

"Mmm, should we get more comfortable? It's getting warmer, after all," Legosi suggested.

"What did you have in mind?" Louis tilted his head, in a rather cute way.

The wolf reached up and tugged the deer's eyepatch off, softly. "Take our clothes off," he said, bluntly.

Louis blushed a bit. "You don't even need to continue."

"We can get our aprons on too and cook something together. When's the last time we've done that..." Legosi mused with a hum.

The buck sighed. "Ugh...I don't want to think about it." He pulled his own shirt off, stretching the collar over his budding antlers.

Legosi grinned. "Tonight would be a good night...It would help me be less anxious about tomorrow."

"Good night, huh? I'll make sure it is." The deer stood up off of his lap, unbuckling his belt. "Unless you were wanting to help me with this?"

Legosi's large hands were immediately to his waist, pulling down his pants and underwear. He looked up into Louis' eye, next to which was the uncovered scar he saw so little of. It really was beautiful in its own way.

The herbivore's grin never left his face. "That was fast..."

"Haven't undressed you in a while." Legosi brought his hands down to Louis' socks, pulling them off with ease. After that, he stood up, presenting his lounging clothes for the deer to strip from him.

Louis brought his hands to his chest, giving a little hip cock. "What if I just want you to appreciate my body for a moment?~" God, Legosi made it so easy to forget all his problems.

His husband's fangs poked slightly from his mouth as he grinned. He leaned down and smelled Louis, pulling his body against his with his hands on the small of his back. "Lots of smells today...Pina...that musty smell from the tower...the food you ate...meat...from the black market, I guess."

The deer let out a huff, feeling some excitement already. "Y-yeah...Sorry if I don't smell so good right now."

"Your natural scent is still the strongest." Legosi pulled back, still unable to stop smiling. "Smell is definitely not one of your flaws."

The deer put his hands to his cheek, still blushing. "I like your hands there. So big and warm..."

Legosi whined as his stomach growled again. "Can I get naked now?"

"Eager~" Louis grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pulled it off over his head. "Can you turn around for me?"

Legosi did so, hitting the deer with his tail many times.

Louis let it happen, reaching his fingers up and tracing Legosi's scars, lightly. "Hmm...No flaws here. Even if you do get any more..."

"Maybe the Shishigumi will use me as a scratching post," Legosi joked, yet with anxiety tinging his voice.

"If they want to lose a few members..." Louis muttered, still rubbing his scars, then sliding his hands down to his pants waist, pulling them down his legs along with his underwear. "Step out."

Legosi does so, already barefoot and therefore rendering him naked alongside Louis.

The deer looked up at his partner's round butt. "Definitely no flaws down here."

Legosi turned around, eyeing up the deer in return. "You look...stronger."

"Stronger?" He looked at his arms, instinctually.

"Yeah. And healthier. At least this ordeal hasn't taken your health from you."

"No. I still eat like a normal animal. Do I look any better?" He smiled.

"Yeah! Yeah like, yeah." Legosi, ever sputtering and awkward, even if he was getting more confident. "You were always handsome and beautiful but you really do look better..."

The deer kissed his lips again. "You flatter me, wolf."

"I love to, deer," Legosi teased.

"Alright, let's get you fed, then," Louis said, turning to go find his apron.

Legosi followed along, locating his own as well, mostly just so they could match.

The deer turned to him. "So...what would you like? I've already eaten..."

"Oh! Of course...well...anything with eggs...in the mood for eggs like usual."

"Eggs, eggs, eggs," Louis nodded, going over to the fridge and opening it, his tail twitching over his cute rear.

"Carnivores love eggs. Only natural." Legosi went over to hover over him.

"What kind of egg dish? Eggs with cheese? Omelet? Egg sandwich?"

"Oh! Maybe like the omelet you made for grandpa!" Legosi suggested.

"Wow. You remember? That was so long ago..." Louis looked off, as if thinking.

Legosi rested his head on Louis' shoulder. "It was one of my favorite moments together with you. We should go see him again soon."

"How soon?"

"Uh, whenever our schedules are clear, I suppose."

"Yeah...Mmm..." Louis made a face, pulling the egg carton out of the fridge and setting them on the counter.

Legosi stood by diligently as his husband prepared his food. He had gotten quite good at cooking by his self, but he still loved watching the deer work. There was an elegance to it that Legosi still lacked.

Even with all that was going on, Louis still cooked with love and care, and of course, humming. He stirred the eggs in the skillet, diligently.

"Things seem weirdly calm, don't they?" Legosi asked after a few minutes.

"Weird? Why?"

"Well, when this all started I was scared it would uproot our lives more..."

"From the beginning, I made it clear that I still needed to see you."

"Yeah, but for me, it's like almost nothing has changed. Of course, you're the one that has to leave and go do all that...Ichi stuff." Legosi wiped his nose and continued. "I guess tomorrow, I start my side of things with Melon-san."

"I'm nervous about that..."

"I know, I am too. Did you find anything out with Pina, by the way? Something I can tell Melon?"

"Oh...uh. Yeah. He gave me this notebook. We mapped out the tower and the area around it."

"Oh, it's in your bag, then? I'll bring it with me tomorrow. Anything noteworthy?"

"Not really," Louis whispered.

"Hm...probably for the best if the other members are as nice under the surface. I just hope Melon-san understands..."

"...Yeah." That was all Louis had to say about it. "Sorry, I feel like we failed you."

Legosi shook his head. "No, you haven't. I'm sure Melon-san will understand. You mentioned Pina being with Nori now? So he got close to him too?"

"Yeah. But I think Nori clawed his way to us. Heh."

"Yeah, he seemed a bit desperate. Poor guy." Legosi sniffed the air. "Smells good, hon."

"Why, thank you. I like to make meals the best I can for you."

"I bet even if you made something bad I'd eat it and love it," Legosi joked with a lick of the cheek.

"Have I?"

"The first muffins you ever made," Legosi reminded.

"Wow. Low blow."

"I know, that was unfair of me. Better than the burnt rice I made that one time."

"Hey! It wasn't that bad, actually!" Louis poked him.

"I think we're just lucky we never started any fires," Legosi chuckled.

The buck laughed. "Yet."

Not much later, the food was finished and Legosi dug in, Louis watching with appreciation. "Sho," Legosi spoke through his last bite. "I actually thought about something while you were gone."

"What was that?"

Legosi swallowed and pushed the empty plate away. "We haven't done that, uh, training in a while. Y'know, with the..." he proceeded to open his mouth wide, showing his sharp fangs and remains of his dinner.

"Eugh. The instinct training?"

"Yeah. We haven't done it since we were back at Cherryton, and we had that scary moment the first night we moved in..."

"When you were on top..."

Legosi nodded. "Yeah. I was just...curious to see where we're at now."

Louis moved closer. "What brought this up?"

"I was thinking about the conversation we had after..." He made a vague hand motion. "When you said...if you were to run away again and I chased you...I might eat you."

"Wait, when was this?"

"At that cafe, the day after I came home from the hospital."

"Oh...yeah..." Louis rubbed his arm. "But because of your body's attachment to me. How did this come up?"

"It was on my mind," Legosi said, staring out the window into the evening. "Same with the night we moved in. And that night at the fountain. I guess my anxiety about tomorrow brought up other ones..."

"Aww, poor puppy..." He put his forehead to his. "I guess we could do some."

"Aww, hon..." He put his forehead to his. "I guess we could do some."

"Mhm..." Legosi cast his eyes down. "I just...I want us to be good. I want us to work. It hasn't even been a year and we've had some really scary moments...and I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Will we have less and less as time goes on or will they just pile up?"

"Wow, I didn't know you were thinking about all this..." Louis mumbled. "I think we are working though."

"Yeah, plus we're doing therapy. I just...want to be with you." He traced up and down the scars on his arm. "And...I want it to be because I want to be with you, not because my mind thinks I need to be..."

"Don't you think that the will is enough for it to mean you want to?"

"Yeah, but it's hard to know what's what, in my head." Legosi sighed and stood up, slowly. "But really, I can't wait for all this shit to be over so we can just live."

"You and me both," Louis came close and hugged him again.

Legosi hugged back. "So, do you wanna try that now?"

"Yeah. I mean, I'm sure it will be fine."

The two made it over to the couch, sitting next to each other while still holding each other.

Louis let go of him and pulled back, meeting his gaze. "Ready?"

Legosi nodded, and then slowly opened his maw.

The deer leaned his muzzle closer, peering inside the pink cavern, filled with white stalagmites and stalactites.

Legosi's eyes flicked down, trying to gauge if the deer would do anything drastic. His tongue moved slightly as he tried to swallow back some saliva. He kept his arms around Louis.

Louis kept staring inside, sub-consciously finding himself counting each fang.

Legosi let out a small vocalization to try and break the silence.

"Hm?"

"Uuuuuuuuhn..."

"Mmmm?"

"Uhn uhn uhn." Legosi ended the series of grunts with a cute little laugh, wondering if Louis actually thought he was saying anything.

"What are you talking about, silly wolf?" the deer's brows furrowed.

Legosi smiled or at least smiled as much as he could with his mouth wide open. He moved forward slightly to bump their noses together.

Louis had no complaints about this, though he did get hit with some dog breath. He smiled now, as well.

Legosi wiggled his nose and mushed them together, trying to resist the urge to just kiss him.

The deer pushed against his snout as well, squeezing tighter.

Carefully, Legosi wrapped his jaws around Louis' smaller snout, keeping focused on his lucid state of mind and trying to damper the sudden confidence he felt.

The buck's eyes widened but he stayed frozen.

Legosi noted this and pulled back. "Ah, sorry, I wasn't trying to do anything. I should have told you what I was about to do."

"So tell me."

"Well, did you have any urges to do anything?" Legosi asked first.

"Make out with you."

Legosi giggled. "I guess that's the only thing I was thinking of, too." He sighed, looking longingly at his husband. "Do you think we should keep doing the training or just kiss?"

"Wait, but what were you doing? With your mouth?"

"Getting confident, I guess. I knew I wasn't going to eat you so I wanted to take it farther, I guess."

"Well, you can continue that. It might be...the next step? Or am I just being an idiot by giving you such easy access?"

"Depends on if you trust me. No offense but you were always more in danger of trying to get yourself eaten than me doing anything," Legosi said with a smirk.

Louis let out a laugh from his chest. "Do you trust me then?"

"Do you have an idea?" Legosi countered.

"What, no? I meant trust me to not try and get devoured."

"Yes, because...you want to live now, right?"

"Of course I do."

Legosi chuckled. "Well, there's this thing canines do with their lovers, sometimes...They don't do it in public because it's kind of scary, but I've seen it in...stuff. They wrap their whole mouth around the other's muzzle, kind of like what I did with you, only deeper. I've thought about it before but it always seemed risky with you..."

Louis blinked. "I think we could try it."

Legosi held Louis closer, opening his mouth and slotting his muzzle in once more.

The deer had a quick moment where he wished Legosi brushed his teeth and he also had to admit that this was...strange.

Legosi pulled back after a few moments, chuckling. "Well, I think kissing feels a bit better. You could try doing it with me, though."

"The mouth thing?" Louis blinked.

"Yeah. I know yours is smaller but we might as well try. Only fair."

"Haha, okay," Louis blinked, then came forward, their lips brushing together. "Uh...so I just..." He opened his maw. "Lah dis?"

Legosi moved forward, sliding his nose in and not much else. "Uh, yeah."

Louis shifted a bit and wrapped around Legosi's muzzle as much as he could. This felt very strange and...pointless? Maybe.

Legosi started to laugh deep in his throat. Anyone watching would have been completely perplexed.

The buck blinked, and then pulled back. "Okay, I can't do that anymore. It's extremely weird."

Legosi laughed more. "I love when you eat me in other ways, though."

This immediately got Louis blushing. "Mph...Hush, wolf." He laid back.

Legosi leaned in and rested his head on the deer's chest, curling up on the couch. "Mm, love you."

Louis rubbed his back, softly. "And I love you." He sighed. "But I don't love that I can't find flaws for you. Is bad breath one of them?"

"Might as well list it," Legosi suggested. "Yours was nice."

"My...breath?"

"Yeah."

"Not surprised. Dogs like sniffing butts," he shrugged.

"Only yours," Legosi mumbled into his chest.

"Mmm..." he kissed between his ears. "Remember when we first dropped out and did this all the time?"

"Mhmmm." Legosi moved up more so his nose was against Louis' neck.

"I miss days like that...but that was before Riz, too..."

"Yeah, and I was still going to school. It was only you that dropped out," Legosi reminded. "Of course, I wasn't doing well in my classes at all. Glad that it didn't matter in the end."

"You weren't doing well because you had a deer distracting you."

"Exactly. Can't believe Gon-san even let us have that setup."

"Lucky lovers..." he kissed his head three more times. "We'll have an even better life than that after all of this."

"In the town where everyone knows who we are," Legosi repeated, as he so often did.

Louis moved a bit and bent his knees so Legosi was in-between his legs.

Legosi used that opportunity to move his body even closer. "Your antlers are coming in nicely," he observed, reaching up to grace one with a claw.

His husband gleamed at this. "I bet this will be the most beautiful pair."

"Until the next one." Legosi reached up with his other hand and held them, gently.

"And the one after that." Louis kissed his nose.

"They only get bigger as you get older, right? That'll be hard to cuddle with..."

"But we'll always figure out." Louis squeezed one of his cheeks. "It's us."

"And I've gotten really good at dodging them, anyway. I'll just get better." Legosi's hands ran down Louis' face, his claws gently grazing his skin.

The cervid shuddered. "I like that confidence..."

Those large hands moved down to cup his chin, rubbing it with his thumbs. "You're the one that helped me with that."

"Mm?" You think so? Louis' eye moved to the claws on his fingers.

"Of course! I never did anything to stand out before meeting you."

"You had never even been with anyone."

"Nope." He stared up at the deer, once again in awe of all the events that had happened that past year. In fact...

"The meteor festival is soon. That means...it's been a year since our fountain meetings...and almost a year since..." he reached up and felt the scar where the buck's left eye used to be.

Louis' smile never left, but it saddened. "It feels like that was a dream. But every morning I see this and am reminded otherwise."

"Does it still bother you a lot?"

"Not really. What if I did lose both of my eyes, though...? What would you do?"

"I'd help you get used to your new life. And I'd let you touch my fur all you wanted." Legosi planted a kiss on his chest.

Louis sighed, grabbing his hand and looking at his claws. "I bet these would feel different against my skin, too."

Legosi watched as Louis handled him. "Yeah. I hear all other senses get heightened even more when one is removed."

"Everyone's heard that." He kissed his hand and fingers gently. "But you already know I love your claws."

"Of course. You've learned to be careful of them just as I've learned to be careful of your antlers..."

"Mhmmm..." He kept kissing his hand. "But they always look good with the rest of you...Plus, it's one of my favorite canine features."

"And you looooove canine features," Legosi teased.

"Mhm..." And just like that, Louis found himself sucking on Legosi's sharp claws once more, making sure to do it carefully.

"Mmm, I bet you're the only herbivore who likes doing that," Legosi mused, relaxing his hands so Louis had full control.

"I bet I'm not." Louis hummed, using his tongue, diligently. "There are some freaky animals out there."

"To most of society we'd be pretty freaky, probably." Legosi started to lick his chest. "But we know so many people who are fine with us..."

"But a lot of people aren't too. You see those looks and hear them talk when we go out together."

"I know," Legosi whispered. "Maybe one day animals won't be so cruel or ignorant."

"At least only a few have actually confronted us...Then again, Ichi hates you."

"Yeah, well, screw him!" Legosi said with a mischievous smirk.

"Ni already does."

Legosi snorted, and they laid there together. The warm, early summer air drifted in, as did the lively sounds outside, which only grew with each passing day. Some music started to play.

Louis' ears twitched. "Mm...I wonder who's playing that? They have good taste."

"Yeah. You'll have to go out there and find your fellow jazz-lover." Legosi shook his hips slightly back and forth to the tune, his tail waving with it.

Louis moved a bit as well, nodding his head. "Not when I'm in here naked and comfortable with a cute wolf."

Some laughs came in from outside, and the music turned up louder. "Wonder if it's a party, "Legosi wondered.

"Mm...jazz party?"

Legosi's body started to sway more dramatically, threatening to throw them both off the couch. He started to hum to the music.

"You know this song?" Louis asked.

"No. I'm just kinda guessing."

Louis smiled more and tried hum guessing as well.

Legosi scooted up so they were nose to nose, bobbing their heads in sync as they hummed, syncing up at some points but going in drastically different directions other times.

Louis grabbed his hand. "We should dance."

Legosi's eyes went wide. "Oh, we should! It's been so long..."

"Get up, then."

They both did and faced each other.

"So, how should we start?" Legosi asked.

"Mmm...how do we usually start?" Louis smirked.

Louis squeezed. "Oh? What about our clothes?"

"Hm? We're not wearing any." Legosi cocked his head and his ear flicked.

"Should we put them on?"

"Why?"

"I wasn't sure how you felt about dancing around with our junk waggling around."

"Well, it's not like anyone will see. Aside from Juu, maybe."

Louis blinked, then went over and shut the blinds. "Now no one will."

Legosi walked over to hold Louis again by the waist. "Now, let's give this a try again."

The buck began moving his hips and tapping his feet. "Mhmhm~"

"I'll try not to step on your feet," the wolf promised.

"Please do," Louis chuckled as they began moving with another around the room to the beat.

They stepped back and forth, side to side, akin to some weird ballroom dance. They maneuvered around the room as much as they could, at one point Legosi's rear bumping into the table.

This was followed by a laugh from Louis, spinning around him and sliding Legosi's big fluffy tail through his hand as he moved away, then tugging it lightly to pull himself back to the wolf.

"Smooth!" Legosi complimented. "We should make our own dance and master it!"

"Oh really?" Louis continued to move. "To what song?"

"We'd have to find one, but that tail move was pretty cool! Then we could like, perform it for the other residents here, and Pina and Bill and Kai and Dom. Maybe even at the Meteor Festival!" Legosi's tail was wagging now at the prospect.

Louis blushed. "We wouldn't be naked!"

"No, of course not!" Legosi laughed.

"...Maybe."

Legosi laughed harder. "What do you mean, 'maybe'? Could you imagine! I think Kai would kill us, personally!"

"Haha! Who said we had to do it around him!"

"I can't imagine anyone else really liking it either!"

"Hahaha!" He kept moving around the room and the wolf, panting. It struck him as fascinating that they could be dancing and the animals who were providing the music would never even know.

Soon, the track changed to the next one, which was a bit slower paced. Legosi looked to Louis, waiting for him to make the first move.

The buck pulled him close and grabbed his hand, resting his head on his shoulder and swaying, not caring if their lengths were touching.

They moved in a small circle, relaxed, but with that tinge of sexual content keeping it tantalizing. Legosi started to hum again.

Louis squeezed him tighter. Couldn't they just stay in this moment forever? It was comfortable, after all. And he was with his husband. No flaws here.

As the song came to its end, Legosi held onto Louis and dipped him down gently, albeit a bit clumsily.

Nonetheless, Louis stared into his eyes. "Beautiful..."

"Beautiful," the wolf repeated.

Once again, Louis leaned up and kissed him deeply.

And Legosi kissed back. At that moment, nothing was on their minds except for each other. No murderous herbivores, dangerous carnivore gangs, or bigoted animals. Just them in their tiny apartment that was just enough for them and their love.