Edited to fix typos and add/remove some lines
JC sat next to Legoshi outside the drama club, getting up to speed with everything he had missed the previous day, having been out of action due to his PTSD, he stared at Legoshi as he told him that he caught Louis in the gardening club and smelt something familiar on him, then having been told by Louis to show some love to his own species, shocking JC when he elaborated that it was Juno he was referring to, and that he should talk to her more, then finally an unexpected rendezvous in the drama club with her while he fixed up some spotlight mounts so that she could get help with her dance routine,
"so basically, Louis is trying to set you up with Juno to keep you away from Haru" JC said, before quickly adding "for some reason"
"yeah, I don't understand why Louis would suggest that" Legoshi replied "but that's not all that happened yesterday, remember that magazine I was given?" JC looked at him, remembering the porno mag that the panda had given him
"yeah?" he questioned "what about it?"
"Jack found it by accident" JC frowned at this "but he promised not to breathe a word"
"well that's good" JC stared at his hands, remembering how they were shaking violently when they returned that night, they looked up as Kawa approached,
"ah, here you are JC, I stopped by your cabin just now looking for you, you've been given consent to join the drama club members from props and lighting" she said with a smile
"that's great" JC said, standing "I've been meaning to sell some of my physical sketches, and I've heard that sketches of the festival would be perfect"
"so" Kawa started, looking a bit concerned "who do you want to keep an eye on you in case…...you know"
"Legoshi" JC responded, looking down at him "he knows about my PTSD but not the reason why, I trust him with my life" Legoshi's eyes widened when JC said this, Kawa nodded,
"very well, I'll make the arrangements with Sanu" Kawa said before heading into the drama club,
"so, looks like you'll be joining us to set up the display" Legoshi said, looking towards the back of the drama club building, JC followed his gaze, seeing the various members of the drama club's teams, including Riz, Bill and Dolph the hippo helping to roll the T-Rex model out, being 3 of the physically strongest members of the drama club,
"think we should go help?" JC asked, Legoshi nodded and approached them, JC following him.
Some time later, Legoshi and Kai were at work on painting the T-Rex, JC quickly snapped a photo to work on later before heading onto the scaffold near the mouth, looking over the grounds of the festival started sketching, mapping out where the various tents and displays were, he glanced down as Legoshi walked off to the taps to get water for the paint,
'it's very interesting that Louis wants Legoshi to be with Juno, maybe because he wants Haru all to himself, nah, that can't be, if it were true, then Louis wouldn't want me anywhere near her, and he wouldn't want any of the other males to be with her'
JC silently sketched then paused, watching Haru mess with Legoshi before he crouched to talk with her,
'then again, maybe Louis doesn't want her around carnivores, after all, none of Haru's "flings" are carnivores, maybe I'm just over thinking it'
Afterwards, just as Legoshi had started work on the head of the T-Rex, JC sat on the platform, looking over the sketch of the grounds, adding in random figures to make it look as if the festival was already happening, glancing up to see Louis,
"what the?" he muttered as he watched
"are they rehearsing for the lighting ceremony?" he heard Legoshi ask Kai, JC glanced up as Kai responded,
"huh? There shouldn't be any rehearsals going on today" JC saw Legoshi watching Louis intently as he walked towards the stall where Haru was set up, JC returned to his sketching, only stopping when he saw a drip of paint land on his hand, looking up again, he saw Legoshi holding a cluster of busted paint tubes, the various colours going everywhere as that hand reached up to rub his cheek,
"hey Legoshi, watch were your dripping paint" JC said, standing to move away, Legoshi glanced down at him,
"o-oh, sorry JC" he responded as JC checked himself, only finding paint on his hat,
"I'm going to go clean up and find a cleaner place to sketch" JC said, trying not to sound too annoyed, heading off to the taps to rinse his handkerchief in order to remove the paint, lucky that some of it was watered down earlier, making it easy to properly clean
'what the hell is wrong with him? Wait, why is Louis here in the first place? Kai mentioned that the acting team didn't have rehearsals on, so that doesn't make sense, unless...'
he looked over to where Haru's stall was and his eyes widened,
'so basically, Louis is here to check on Haru mainly, he's here for selfish reasons, I get it now, and it riled up Legoshi to the point of anger'
JC shook his head and headed over to the stage, spotting Dom and Kibi setting up a few things with Bill and Riz moving the speakers and spotlights around, he put his hat back on and headed over
"how go the preps gents?" JC asked as he approached,
"things are going well here JC" Kibi replied "we should have everything finished by sunset"
"why are you over here?" Dom questioned, squatting down and lowering his head to look at him "weren't you sticking with Legoshi for the day?" JC frowned and turned
"Legoshi is having some minor personal issues, I'd rather not get involved, indirectly or not"
"i understand, he seemed to be the same way when he found one of Tem's costumes before the production this year" Dom told him, JC just stared, Tem was one of the words he wanted to avoid, he glanced at his hands, not feeling a negative reaction
"i see" JC said, looking back at Legoshi "guess he's a lot deeper then I realised" he put his satchel bag down and climbed onto the stage "I'll help out if you need it"
For the rest of the day, JC assisted the stage crew in getting everything set up, even going back to the T-Rex to help with the lights in it, keeping his distance from Legoshi for now, he took every opportunity to snap pictures of the festival grounds to make sure he had enough material for sketches, he also knew that between then and the day of the festival, little over 96 hours from then, he'll need to sketch and print enough of his work to sell that approaching night.
After another day of set up, painting and overall work, it was now time to see how the T-Rex looked with the lights on as the sun started setting that day, nearly everyone present reacted in awe, except for Legoshi who looked depressed,
"did he get into a fight with Juno or something?" Dom questioned as he looked at Legoshi,
"unknown" JC replied, not wanting to reveal what he knew
"he's so easy to read" Kibi added,
"hey, everyone, listen up" Dom called to the group "we're done here for the day, lets go back to school"
"but it's only 5" Kibi protested
"the mayor wants us to leave" Dom retorted, JC knew why and chose not to listen, knowing that listening would trigger an episode, but he followed the group as they all headed to the station to head back to school, not noticing anything out of the ordinary for the moment, getting on the train, he, Dom, Dolph and Fudge the red panda looked over the pictures he took that day, debating on which to keep and sketch, knowing that he still had a workload back at school,
"hey Legoshi, what do you-" JC turned and notice that Legoshi is absent "Legoshi?" the others looked around for him
"you don't think he stayed behind, do you?" Kibi questioned
"maybe" JC said "maybe whatever was on his mind was so deep, it cut him off from reality so he didn't notice us leaving" he looked at them "but this is Legoshi, I'm sure he'll be fine" JC did a quick sweep of the students with them, noticing another absent face,
'wait, where's Haru? No, I cannot worry about her, she'll be fine, she knows how to take care of herself, but still'
"did any of you notice that rabbit from the gardening club get on board with us?" he asked
"not that I saw" Dom replied, JC frowned gently
"so that's 2 of our group unaccounted for" Fudge said
"I'll check in with Jack later tonight to see if Legoshi gets back" JC said, thinking about how the 2 of them were.
JC silently sketched the photos he picked for the festival, making sure that he did them quickly, but flawlessly, which was easier said then done, knowing he only had a few days to finish everything, he glanced at the time, it was nearly 8, and he skipped drama club that day for these sketches with Sanu's blessing, he groaned and leaned back in his chair, just staring at the ceiling, feeling drained, he hardly reacted as there was a knock at the door,
"come in, it's open" he said, not really concerned about who'd be visiting him at this time at night, he sighed and leaned forward to resume his sketching,
"wow, your work is as good as their saying, I'm impressed" JC's eyes widened, that voice was the last one he was expecting that night, he spun around to face Juno, who looked over the sketch of the festival mock-up he started the day before, she looked at him with a smile, causing him to blush more,
"j-Juno" JC managed to get out before composing himself "uh, why are you here?"
"sorry for coming late" she said "but I wanted to ask you something earlier, but noticed that you weren't at the club, Louis told me that you were working on these sketches" JC inhaled and sighed,
"OK Juno, what can I do for you"
"well, I'd like to ask you about Legoshi" JC stared at her
"OK, but what about Legoshi?"
"i want to try and get him to notice me, but every time I do, he seems to get embarrassed and shies away" she explained
"do you love him, or something?"
"i guess you could say that" JC heard the sound of glass cracking in his mind
"OK then, but that's how Legoshi is normally" he explained "but honestly, I don't know him that well, so I couldn't say for certain how you'd be able to win his heart, but I'd like to ask something"
"OK?"
"this is only hypothetical, if Legoshi didn't want to be with you and found someone else, and someone else offered to be your girlfriend because they had a crush on you, how would you react?"
"well, first I'd be frustrated with Legoshi, and then I'd have to see if this other male fit a certain criteria"
"what criteria?"
"they have to be a wolf" the cracking sound became a shattering of glass as JC stared at Juno
"a-a wolf?"
"yes, I feel that all species should stick with their own species for mating" Juno concluded, JC just stared at her, feeling his heart shattering
"i-i see" was all he managed to say on the matter, Juno's eyes widened a bit
"d-don't get the wrong idea, Louis thinks that me and Legoshi should be together" she quickly said, JC staring blankly, unsure how to process all of this "i-I'll get out of your f-fur" she quickly said, not seeming to pick up on how JC was feeling then, he hoisted himself from the chair and flopped on the bed, closing his eyes, at this point, not caring if he had the nightmares or not.
The following night, everyone from the drama club was attending the rehearsals for the festival, JC only went to get a good perspective of the lights, while avoiding Juno while noticing her watching Legoshi like a hawk
"oh Legoshi" Kibi said, seeing something "you have a split-end on your tail"
"don't pull it out, that'll hurt" Legoshi replied,
"quit whining" Kibi retorted, JC glanced around, everything seemed normal that night
"alright, lets go back to school" Dom called out, approaching them "shoot, it's so late, Louis is already gone"
"Dom, how do you have so much energy?" Fudge questioned, this caused JC to smile, forgetting the interaction he had with Juno the previous night,
"excuse me art department friends" came Juno's voice as she approached, JC silently turned away, closing his eyes to filter out anything negative, he opened his eyes and followed the rest of the art department, just as the lights went out, causing many to panic, he closed his eyes again, for another reason, hearing Legoshi and Juno approaching the group,
"hey, is everyone OK?" Legoshi called out,
"Legoshi, where are you" came Dom's voice, the fear in his voice was understandable, many herbivores were useless when it came to seeing in the dark,
"..don't worry, us nocturnals will protect you" he heard Legoshi say
"Els, are you OK?" Bill asked
"yes I'm fine" she replied, the fear in her voice was obvious,
"Lets gather everyone into one area for now" Legoshi suggested "alright, everyone come into the circle" JC stood in place, his eyes still shut "JC, are you OK?"
"I'm fine Legoshi" he replied, sounding calm "there's one thing about us humans that you should know, we know how to quickly adapt, we might not be nocturnals" he opened his eyes, seeing the group clearly "but given enough time in the dark, we can see, not as good as the rest of you" he added approaching Legoshi
"hey, how many of us were here today" Aoba questioned, JC swept a look over the group, he noticed that one of their number was missing, and the gasp from Legoshi meant that he realised it too,
"Aoba, sorry, I need to go somewhere else, so, can you take over" Legoshi said before he ran off, JC following him "JC, go back to the group"
"no can do Legoshi, I care about Haru as well, I wont forgive myself if she's hurt, or worse"
they ran over to the flower stall, looking for her
"i can't find her" JC said "if only we had a way to track her and….track, Legoshi, you know her scent, right" Legoshi's eyes widened, realising what JC was suggesting, he started sniffing, managing to pick up and follow the scent to a tree a short distance away from the grounds, they approached her, Legoshi getting close, Haru getting up, running to hug his leg and saying something that slightly shocked him,
"Louis, you came for me" JC stared as a second later, the lights came back on, temporarily blinding and disorienting him, he blinked several times, not focusing on what Legoshi and Haru were saying, as soon as his vision cleared he glanced at them before spotting Juno watching from nearby, they locked eyes for a moment before JC turned away,
"I'm heading back to the others Legoshi, and let them know why we headed off" he said walking off, glancing at Juno again who watched him leave before turning back to look at Legoshi and Haru again, JC stared at the ground as he walked,
'i don't care what says Louis to make you think what you said, I'm going to find a way to win your heart Juno, I don't care how long it takes, I will show you how I feel about you without you thinking of Legoshi'