This week was a rough writing week!

I had written out about 1000 words when I realized, "You know what? This would be GREAT for a different chapter."

Thus is the curse of the author.

So I had about four days to write this new set of words, so I hope it doesn't seem rushed! I would like to clarify that I'm not the kind of author to rush a chapter because it's late for the weekly upload.

Instead of a new chapter next week, I will be posting a one-shot for a friend! I saw a fan art and IMMEDIATELY knew I had to write it. But after that, you might get an early chapter, depending if I use the 1000 words I wrote for it. Thanks again! Feedback is welcome.

Follow my AO3 account at Cober_1!

Chapter 3: Bombshells Without The Bomb

It wasn't warm. It wasn't very comfortable. But Gosha's old home, where Legosi had spent his latter years in town before moving to Cherryton, held a quality of peace to it that he never noticed before. Or perhaps it never had that air to when he was younger, and it came after Legosi left.

After several moments of desperately clinging to Gosha, he remembered where he was, suddenly. He shot himself back away from Gosha, whipping his head around and flinching when he saw passerbys either staring or quickly looking away from the small scene his outburst had caused.

"Um, I'm sorry," Legosi apologized to Gosha, pupils dilating. "I-I didn't think I'd react… that way..."

Gosha only smiled, gesturing through the door with his hand. "Come on in, then," he prompted, "You said you had a lot on your mind."

Now, Legosi sat upon the black leather couch of his grandpa's living room, crossing his fingers as his ears drooped at the tips. Gosha had seated him there while insisting on doing something in the kitchen - Legosi didn't catch the latter bit. What should I say? he wrestled with himself, uncharacteristically biting his lip. Would he believe me if I said I'd gone back to the mask party with Yafya again?

Without warning, the door to the kitchen behind Legosi busted open, Gosha emerging from the doorway. He donned hideous looking oven mitts, which held an expensive looking tray, a small olive green teapot centering it and petite black teacups surrounding the tea vessel.

"I thought this might help cool you down," Gosha laughed lightly, setting the tray on the ornate brown coffee table in front of Legosi. "Tea always calms me when I'm upset over something." He picked up the handle of the kettle, tipping it gingerly into Legosi's cup first. "I hope you like chamomile. So, what's been on your mind? I was surprised to get your messages."

Legosi picked up the cup gratefully with both hands, muttering his thanks as he sipped from the delicate cup. The taste struck Legosi as odd, making his ears perk - it was nothing like he'd ever tasted before at Cherryton or his apartment. He'd always wanted to try tea, but now that he'd tasted it, he wasn't sure if he was missing out on much. Still, the tea's calming effect kicked in almost immediately, the clouds in his mind clearing out a bit and giving Legosi a sense of clarity.

"Yafya took me to the mask party again."

Gosha's head snapped to Legosi, his pouring hand tipping more than he needed to, disrupting the perfect balance he had and accidentally overfilling his cup, the extra dripping on the table. Gosha broke out of his trance-like state and growled, setting the pot down and pouring some of the tea in the cup back into it. "Why would you go back there when you got shot last time?" he inquired, sitting himself down across from Legosi and shakily taking a sip. He took a deep breath and let it out. "Was he trying to capture whoever that criminal was?"

Legosi nodded, taking another, slightly obligatory sip. "I… asked him. If I could. Even after messing up and letting the criminal shoot me, he let me try it again."

Gosha blinked, leaning back into his seat and huffing out his breath. "When did you become affiliated with Yafya in the first place?" he asked, not looking at anything in particular as he took a lazy sip from his cup.

Legosi sighed, swallowing another gulp of tea, leaning forward and setting his cup down. "I fought off some animals who were trying to sell me a drug," he explained, lacing his fingers together again. "They were advertising it as an energy drink, when… I could smell the meat-intoxicating smell to it. The police awarded me a box of rice-cakes and a letter from Yafya. I met with him up in his tower-office." He lowered his eyes, focusing on the dark color of the bitter tea in front of him. I won't tell him about the part where he tried to kill me yet. "He then offered to erase my record if I find Melon - that's the criminal, by the way," he added, looking up to meet Gosha's eyes. "So I can marry Haru, my… girlfriend." He honestly wasn't sure what they were, at this point - they barely saw each other, and when they did meet up, something traumatizing or stressful typically happened - Haru had made him take her to the back-alley market, and one night he thought he'd eaten her in his sleep. It usually wasn't their fault, Legosi thought - but it didn't change the fact that their relationship was effectively on pause. Nothing getting better, nothing getting worse.

Gosha's eyes widened, and his posture had leaned forward significantly. "...Record?" he said, a slight hiss edging the end of his question.

Legosi gaped, closing his jaw eventually with a click. "Uh-uh… yeah." His eyes darted around the room momentarily, swallowing a lump in his throat. "I ate my red deer friend's leg becau-"

"What?" Gosha interjected, setting his small cup down, minding its frailness and not shattering it. "You've eaten meat?"

"Wait, let me finish, at least, grandpa!" Legosi shouted before Gosha could continue, silencing the older animal. He downed the last of the tea in one gulp and rubbed his temples. "Let me start from the beginning…"

Legosi recapped the entirety of last year, starting from Tem's murder, when he first met Haru and how he almost ate her, the second day of the Adler performance where he fought Bill, the Shishigumi and saving Haru when the kidnapped her, Rokume the serpent tasking Legosi with finding Tem's killer, training with Gouhin to not desire meat (and also his work with Gouhin and his training to fight Riz), befriending the Shishigumi after Louis joined, how he had to eat Louis' leg when Riz had nearly beaten Legosi to death, Pina calling the police, and his life after dropping school, including the Zaguan and the time he'd talked his way about of being eaten alive by a whale. He didn't include the part with Miyagi - it wasn't quite the time for him to hear that yet.

"And now I ran into... something else. Which is why I'm here."

Gosha listened to Legosi in full, face slowly distorting into an unexplainable mixture of confusion, worry and horror. When he finished, Gosha took the sleeve of his navy blue polo shirt and wiped his mouth, which had begun excreting his komodo dragon poison in the beginning of Legosi's spiel. "You've…" He stood up and turned, wiping his mouth again and letting out a long breath. "You're kidding me, right? How have you skirted the edge of death for so long?" he lamented. Gosha's eyes met Legosi's. "...You really have gone thug, haven't you?"

"Wha- no!" Legosi defended, leaping out his own seat and spreading his arms out. "I really wish that none of this had to happen, but it turned out that way, and I couldn't just sit there and watch everything happen." He put his arms down and sighed, casting his vision down. "I did that long enough when my mom locked herself away," he added more delicately. "And when…" he swallowed again, shutting his eyes as more emotion balled itself within Legosi and threatened to ignite. "When he left me with you."

Gosha's facial features slackened, and he took his hand away from his mouth.

He let out a slow breath, expelling the air as if it had been trapped in his lungs; he shook his head and stepped toward Legosi, wrapping his arms around the wolf. "You're still young," he told him, closing his own eyes. "You have your entire life ahead of you to take action about things and injustices you see." He pulled away, smiling lightly. "I'm just a concerned grandpa, Legosi. Could you do me a favor and not put yourself through so much worry? If only for me, if not yourself. Let me be selfish here."

Legosi's mouth gaped slightly at the sudden embrace, and when Gosha pulled back, he chuckled sheepishly. "I'll try," Legosi promised, a crooked grin creeping up his muzzle.

Gosha took his hands off the younger wolf's shoulders, reaching down to pick up the tray. "I'll put this up," he said, walking through the kitchen door and to the living room when he put the tray down. "So what did you want to talk about, anyway? We got sidetracked when you mentioned your... record."

Legosi didn't respond at first, staring at Gosha stupidly, mouth slightly ajar at the question. I'm not ready for this. He's not ready for this. Oh, why did I come here, he's just going to get more worried when I promised not to! You weak liar.

"Uh-I-um," he stuttered, nose pointing to the ground and ears drooping again as he balled his fists. "I needed to come here to avoid any other conflict and so my wounds could heal. It-it was about the mask party. He…" He shut his eyes, steadying himself and clearing his mind and heart of any emotion that threatened to overpower his speech. Gosha needed to at least hear Legosi be calm right now.

"He was at the mask party. The bartender. I guess he got fired from his acting and modeling career for being a carnivore and resorted to the back-alley market's options to make his living."

Gosha blinked and tilted his head, momentarily confused. The realization came on slowly, the lizard's face once again expanding into something along horror as he inclined his neck towards his grandson.

"No…"

"I jeopardized the mission by letting my anger rise when I put two and two together," Legosi continued, ears flattening against his skull and tail tucking under his legs. He refused to open his eyes, to see Gosha's face, but somehow knowing what it looked like anyway. "I hit him in the face, and then we fought - right there in the middle of the floor. We would have kept going if Yafya didn't break it up." Legosi took a wavering breath, letting it out shakily. "And now Yafya isn't going to give me another chance at my record." He opened his eyes, downcast at the carpet floor. "I'm… a little taller than him, now, heh."

Legosi continued looking down, still unable to meet Gosha's eyes after dropping such a bombshell. A cool sensation grazed across Legosi's skin, making him look up - Gosha's hand was lightly caressing his hurt eye. What concerned Legosi, however, wasn't that he was touching him.

Gosha's eyes had widened more than he thought possible. His pupils were smaller than normal, as if they were searing through anything its field of vision reached. His jaw was set in a firm line, and his nostrils flared.

"He did this to you?"

Legosi blinked, eyes slowly looking at anything besides Gosha's face. This new side of his grandfather perplexed Legosi - he'd seen his typical, doting grandpa side and the side where he was defending Legosi. This third side left Legosi fearful - even though he logically knew nothing was going to happen to him, and Gosha's seething anger wasn't directed at him, but… being in the presence of it was terrifying, and strikingly resembled looking into his own reflection.

"Y-yes. But - don't worry!" he assured, lifting his hands to face level, "I had other wounds, but those healed fast, so this should go away in no time! Uh-uh, and I did a pretty good number on him too." When he didn't get an immediate response, he broke out in a sweat. "What? I-I'm fine now- hurp!"

Gosha had enveloped Legosi into another hug, though this time, it didn't feel as relaxed, but rather as if he was being protected from an invisible enemy.

"Legosi."

"Yes?"

Gosha paused before he replied. "I'm sorry I keep hugging you. But, this... I… I can't believe you're already this strong." His tone morphed from its hard, frosty edge to a milder, meeker muse. "Yesterday, you were my six year old grandson, who was perfectly content with hugging my hand because it made you happy. And…" Legosi felt something wet drop on his neck. "Now you're an adult with a job, a place to live, with so many things you want to do." He pulled back, surprising Legosi with the poison slowly dripping like molasses out of his eye. "It really makes a grandpa proud, you know."

Legosi's stomach turned at this sudden outbreak. Another side? Who was his grandpa, really? Legosi had found a much more four-dimensional polygon of an animal in the past two hours than he'd ever had before. Even so, Legosi smiled, tail wagging slowly at the surprisingly fulfilling praise.

"Who said your hand doesn't make me happy anymore?"