After his visit to his former teacher, Brian returned to the Thursday student council meeting with some shocking news.

All members of the student council stare at him incredulously.

"Blackmail?" Desmond repeats.

"Yeah." The rock dove nods, nervously swinging side to side in his office desk. "Ezekiel said to find a way to start discriminatory policies or else."

"Or else what?" Hafsa asks.

"He'll tell everyone about Humbert. Including my parents."

The serval tilts her head. "Humbert? Who's Humbert?"

Brian ducks his head into his shoulder bashfully. "My b-boyfriend."

Hafsa's jaw hits the floor.

"The penguin who drove us that one time…! He's your boyfriend?!"

The bird nods.

Her expression changes from astonished to giddy. "Oh my god, I've never met an actual homosexual before! You're my first homosexual friend! We can go… get our nails done together! I'm such an ally…"

Desmond shoots her a look. "Now's not the time."

"Oh, right. Sorry." Another realization strikes her, which causes her tail to flair up in annoyance. "Wait, did you two already know about this?!"

She points to the sheep and the caracal next to her. The look off in opposite directions, unable to give a straight answer.

"Unbelievable! Does my title of gossipmonger mean nothing?"

Solomon places a hand on her shoulder, silencing her immediately. She looks up to him in surprise, but finds his face frozen solid in a dangerously serious scowl. "Let's return to the matter at hand. This rhinoceros, he threatened you?"

"Y-yup." Brian shrinks into himself in shame.

"When was this?"

"Lupercalia night."

"You waited this long to tell us?"

"I just… it's a hard thing to admit. I'd be roping you into all this."

Desmond butts in. "Don't be stupid. This is serious, you should have come to us sooner."

"We're your friends, Brian," Hafsa adds on with a cheerful smile. "We can fix this together."

The pigeon looks up at his friends, his eyes glossy with tears. "Th-thanks, everyone."

"The question is how to solve this." Desmond brings a pensive hand to his chin. "If there was a way to guarantee he wouldn't squeal…"

"Seems like we need some blackmail of our own."

Everyone turns to Solomon.

Hafsa chuckles nervously. "Isn't that… kind of shady?"

"An animal like him won't be persuaded by any emotional appeal. We need to make it so revealing Brian's secret becomes a net negative for him."

A chill runs down the female feline's spine. She always forgets that Solomon has a much scarier side to him.

"So we blackmail him." Desmond plays along. "With what dirt? We don't know anything about this guy besides that he's in DAVID."

"Well, he was smoking when he caught me and Humbert together…" Brian offers. "That's grounds for suspension."

The serval shakes her head. "That's no good. We have no proof, and even if we did, he still has the upper hand. He may get suspended for a week or two, but he'll reveal your secret. That's way worse for you."

"So no good, huh…" The rock dove sighs.

"Not so fast." Solomon's interrupts. "This could work if there's another element at play."

"Another element?" Desmond eyes him suspiciously.

"Indeed. I'll need to dig through some of his personal files, however. I ask that you leave the rest to me."

"Trying to steal all the glory for yourself again?"

"Thoughtless comments like that are unneeded." The taller male snaps with uncharacteristic force. "This Ezekiel threatened my friend with blackmail. It's unforgivable. I will do everything in my power to see he receives his just desserts."

Nobody has any reply to this.

"I don't know what to say…" Brian pipes up. "It means so much that you guys wanna help me. But seriously, don't put yourselves in any danger. If something bad happened to you because of me, I wouldn't know what to do."

Solomon bends down to give his feathered friend a hug, a far more shocking occurrence than Brian's confession.

"Then I will make sure that doesn't happen either."

Solomon watches as his classmate, a wrinkly bloodhound, gets up from all fours. Something is caught in between his fingers. Brushing away the gravel dust from his school trousers, he waves the caracal to him with a triumphant expression.

"Did you find it, Buster?" Solomon asks.

"I'm pretty sure this is it." The dog nods, causing his dangling ears and jowls to jiggle delightfully. "Lemme get a sniff of that napkin again."

The other male obliges and hands him a soiled napkin. He had fished out the crumpled up paper from the cafeteria trashcan shortly after Ezekiel threw it away after yesterday's lunch. Though Solomon could only detect the scent of old food and garbage, he knew a bloodhound could identify the smell of the minuscule amount of rhinoceros saliva with ease.

Buster takes a deep whiff of the rag, impressing the cat with his lack of disgust. After a short moment of deliberation, the bloodhound gives one final nod. "This is it. For sure."

He holds up a bent, dusty cigarette stub. It had clearly been buried in the parking lot dirt for a couple of days. If Buster is to be trusted, this is the cigarette Ezekiel had smoked Sunday night.

"Excellent work." Solomon extends his palm out, allowing Buster to drop the stub onto it. "Thank you very much for your help. Our campus has a strict no-smoking policy. I simply cannot allow students to get away with this filth."

"I get you." The hound grins, and all of his facial wrinkles curve upwards as well. "My dad smoked for years. Poor guy can barely howl nowadays. Dangerous stuff."

"Well, you've been a tremendous help. I will be sure to notify the school board of your altruism, they will be sure to give you a proper reward."

"Oh boy!" Buster wags his tail. "It was nothing. Call me again if you ever need my sense of smell. It's like my dad always said: 'my nose knows!'"

Solomon chuckles politely and with a parting wave, begins to saunter off. His suave smile, however, instantly disappears as soon as his back is turned.

He's going to pay a visit to that rhinoceros.

From the empty hallways of the Noah building's first floors, little grunts can be heard echoing from the open art room classroom.

Inside, a koala hops helplessly in front of a formidable metal storage shed. He backs up on his tiptoes, hoping to spot the bottle of red acrylic paint he needs, a good meter or so out of reach. His clubmates gather round to assess the problem.

"I keep telling the janitor to leave the stepstool here…" The hedgehog teacher, Ms. Potter, sighs into her coffee. "I'll try to find someone who can reach."

The koala gives up on his jumping, turning to his friends in resignation. "Why isn't there a single tall member of the art club?"

"Beats me." A similarly sized capybara shrugs. "But half of our material is constantly out of reach."

A sudden knocking on the door redirects their attention. A proud white horn peeks through, followed by the smiling face of a rhino. The advent of the towering herbie causes an uproar of delight amongst the artists.

"Hey, guys! Smells like some real good art in here! Oof, that's mighty pungent." He waves the invisible paint fumes away from his nose, causing a chain of laughter to spread throughout the classroom.

"Oh, Ezekiel!" The hedgehog squeaks. "Perfect timing!"

"Hm, I reckoned you needed some help." The rhino trots up to the cabinet. "That's why I like checking up on ya. You need to invest in hiring a giraffe or something!"

"Thanks again, Zeke." The koala says. "You're always looking out for us."

"Course, least I could do." Ezekiel sniffs nonchalantly. "We herbies gotta look out for each other, ya know?"

With a smirk he lifts his koala friend by the arm. Instinctively, the small marsupial clings onto the rhino's beefy arm with all four limbs. He then lifts his arm with a soft grunt all the way tup towards the top of the supply cabinet.

"Up we go!"

Now safely cradled around the arm, the koala reaches for the red paint bottle and grabs it with ease. With a final chortle, Ezekiel lowers his friend down gently until he feels safe enough to unwrap himself from the rhino's bicep and land on the floor.

"Didja like the view?" The rhino jokes.

"I always do! Thanks a million, Zeke. Say, why don't you stick around and draw something?"

The ungulate blows a raspberry sheepishly. "Aw, you don't wanna see that. Ms. Potter over there will ban me for life if she saw how bad I suck at drawing."

The hedgehog giggles from her desk. "You're underestimating yourself, dear. You're a solid C+ student."

"Aw, Ms. P, you know you only gave me a C+ 'cuz of my good looks."

The room of herbies laughs once more. Their fun is all of a sudden cut short by another knock at the door.

"Sorry to interrupt." Solomon's reserved voice rings out. "But I'm afraid I must speak to Ezekiel about an urgent matter."

The mood suddenly tenses. As the small worried animals murmur to themselves about what could possibly be wrong, Ezekiel's expression immediately embitters.

"No problem. I'll see y'all around." He says in a dangerously casual drawl. Sauntering out of the room with a smile, he follows the cat outside of the Noah building.

The two males engage in a silent staredown for a few moments. Ezekiel's dark eyes challenge him to make the first move, his pupils abuzz like a bee hovering a flower. Solomon simply blinks, unimpressed as he shifts his gaze to the downhill lawn of the campus.

"Quite a precious scene I walked into back there."

"What can I say… I'm just a big ol' softie."

"It's quite amusing. One second, you're laughing and playing with your classmates, and the very next, you're blackmailing them. I've yet to understand you."

"So the little queer sang, huh? Well, doesn't matter. My demands are still the same whether you know or not."

"Your demands…?" Solomon repeats sardonically with a snicker. "I'm afraid you're not in a position to demand anything."

Ezekiel snickers back. "Oh no? Don't tell me the little birdie is ready to come out and wave that rainbow flag."

"He won't have to. Neither you nor he will be telling a soul."

"That's rich."

"Very. You see, I found this in the parking lot." The caracal holds up a filthy cigarette stub.

The rhino scrutinizes the piece of junk until he makes out what it is. "So you found trash in the parking lot. Your detective work is unparalleled."

"This is in fact, your cigarette stub. A quick phone call to the authorities can confirm that to the school board, which is enough grounds to have you suspended."

The rhino belts out an uproarious laughter, slapping his knee gleefully. "You wanna call the cops on me?! Over some random piece of junk you found?! Wow, how the mighty have fallen! I honestly expected better from you, Mr. Secretary."

Solomon is not moved. "If this random piece of junk does not belong to you, then you are correct. But if it does, which I know it does, then you will be suspended for at least two weeks."

Ezekiel lets out a mocking overdramatic gasp. "Well you sure got me trembling in my boots! Say it ain't so! It's not like I can return to school two weeks later and tell everyone about your little friend's secret."

"Yes, but you won't be doing that."

"And why is that?"

"Once a student gets suspended, their scholarship is automatically and permanently revoked."

Ezekiel freezes. His smile slowly fades from his face, instead replaced with an inscrutable grimace.

"We both know your mother cannot afford even a sixth of the tuition. Not after your 'pop' left. Once your suspension is lifted, you will not be able to return. So I suppose you could say it's actually an expulsion."

For the first time of the evening, Ezekiel stays silent.

"Did you truly believe I would not have called your bluff? Your 'master plan' is so ridiculously flimsy it's pitiful."

"I never told nobody I was here on scholarship."

"Of course, it must be so shameful for you. Burdening your mother with your education costs, abandoned by your father, saddled with debt… It's absolutely mortifying for a proud beast such as yourself."

Ezekiel lets out a long, violent exhale. "I get it."

"I truly think you don't."

In a flash, Solomon grabs the rhino's nose septum and clutches hard with his clawed fingers. Two fingers in either nostril, he can feel his nails digging into the soft cartilage of Ezekiel's nose. The rhino cries out in pain, almost buckling at the sensation immediately.

"I have been exceptionally patient towards you and your little posse of protestors, but now my patience is wearing thin." Solomon growls over the ungulate's whines. "Do not forget that you are only still able to step foot in this academy because I allow it. Never forget that."

He squeezes harder. Blood begins to pour out of Ezekiel's nostrils, running down the feline's wrists in uneven streams.

"If you ever dare to threaten or manipulate any other student in this academy I shall make your life a living hell."

Solomon finally relents his grip. Removing his fingers from Ezekiel's septum and once more sheathing his claws, he flicks his wrists to remove excess blood. The crimson liquid splatters on the ground, resembling a tasteful modern drip painting. Ezekiel lets out a trembling exhale, covering his nose with his enormous palms.

"Have you ever seen your own blood before?" Solomon asks in a frigid tone. "I hear rhinos hardly ever bleed."

He extends his hand out to show the herbivore the mess stained in uneven splotches all around his fingers and wrists. "See how red it is? I find it to be a lovely color, don't you?"

The carnivore brings is hand towards his mouth and licks his fingers one by one with satisfaction. "Your blood is quite marvelous indeed."

The rhinoceros can only look on wordlessly, still clutching at his nose as the feline walks off into the sunset the same color as his blood.

The following morning, Hafsa, Desmond and Brian meet Solomon outside of the male carnie dorm. The protestors of DAVID seem to have skipped out on their morning picketing.

Hafsa jogs over to him eagerly. "Well? How did it go yesterday?"

Solomon's smile is tender and reassuring. "He will not be bothering us for a while. I suspect DAVID will lie low as well."

Even Desmond could not contain a holler of excitement. After the quad of animals do a little celebratory dance, Brian bounds up to the caracal and smothers his torso in a tight hug. "You're the best, Sol!"

"Nice work." Desmond concedes, furious over his admiration towards the caracal.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves now." Solomon advises. "Ezekiel must be furious that his plan failed. It's likely he will try to attack from another angle some time in the future."

"But we'll be ready for him!" Hafsa jokingly flexes her arm, proudly gripping a bicep in a pose that just seems to scream 'we can do it!'.

Solomon brings his hand, now cleaned of blood, to his mouth, concealing a laugh. "We most certainly will be. Now we can relax and focus on more pleasant things."

The glint in his eye is unmistakable to her. She looks away, suddenly embarrassed. For once, Desmond is inclined to agree with Solomon as well. He has other things to prepare for now. As much as he hates to admit it, Leslie helped him snap out of his funk.

He received quite the earful yesterday night. As if he didn't have enough to worry about with Brian's crisis, but the urial insisted on video calling him to let him have it.

"I can't believe Elmer snitched on me…" The ram muttered.

"Some captain you are." Leslie reprimanded from his solitary dorm room. "Your teammates are scared of you! Didn't we go through this last time?"

"What's the point, Les?" Desmond heaved. "The secretary is gonna make his move and Hafsa won't say no. And besides, what could I even offer her? She's smart, and funny, and beautiful, and I'm just—"

"Ew, just stop. Why are you telling me this? Tell her all of this mushy stuff, dumbass."

"I… I don't stand a chance against the secretary. That frilly-eared bastard is in her league at least."

Leslie raised a brow. "So she likes him?"

"I… I guess."

"And she doesn't like you?"

" I mean… at one point… I could have sworn she felt something towards me."

The urial ground his head into his hands, uttering a sigh so loud it clipped his mic. "You're hopeless. Tell. Her. How. You. Feel."

"But—! I don't wanna ruin our friendship."

"Isn't your friendship going to be ruined anyways if she dates the secretary?"

"…Fair point."

"So stop being an asshole and man up."

Leslie hung up shortly thereafter, leaving the piebald ram with his words ringing in his head like a bell.

Tell her how you feel.

If he has to, then we will. And he will make it count.

AN: Thanks for reading. So I lied, no prom. The chapter would have been too clunky so I had to do some restructuring. Next chapter, though, I promise.

I'd like to thank the individual who described Solomon as 'the only one of the four who's got their shit together'. I'd argue he is the most deeply fucked up out of the four. Speaking of, thank you to everyone who comments on each chapter. I get nervous about responding to comments but they are greatly appreciated.

Take it easy and stay safe.