Chapter Text
‘What am I doing?! I bared my fangs to a herbivore! Even if it was to stop her punching someone, I could still get suspended just for that! ’ Legoshi thinks in a panic that finally cuts through the fog of rage and fear that had been covering his eyes until very recently. A small sizzle reaches the hybrid’s ears from the ground, and he looks down briefly to see his venom melting small pits in the linoleum flooring. Closing his mouth suddenly, Legoshi wipes his mouth hurriedly. ‘What do I even say after that? She’s covered in dirty water, and Tem looked like he was about to get pummeled by those girls.’
In lieu of explaining even the first thread in the long, complicated tapestry of his appearance, Legoshi holds out his handkerchief to Haru. “Do you need this?” he asks.
“Oh…” Haru says, looking up at him. “It’s you.”
Legoshi looks from Haru to Tem as the rabbit takes his handkerchief and begins to dry her head and ears with it. He hasn’t seen the alpaca since the performance of Adler, and the sunlight catching in his wool catches his attention. ‘Oh yeah, that’s how I got here,’ he thinks.
“How did you find us?” Tem asks, voice strangely soft.
“I was walking with the stage crew outside, and I smelled you and Haru, and then when I got closer I heard people shouting,” Legoshi rambles, eyes darting between the herbivores in anxious panic. “Then I heard that harlequin rabbit saying all those horrible things about you, Haru, and then I saw her about to hit you, Tem, and I don’t know what came over me.”
A giggle from Haru cuts him off, and she looks at Legoshi with a teasing glint in her eye as she dries off one ear with his handkerchief. “You came looking for us because you smelled us?” She asks.
“Not just that!” Legoshi protests.
“Why do you have scales?” Tem asks, and the hybrid’s chest tightens once again as he internally kicks himself for being so impulsive in seeking the herbivores out.
“I, uh, I’m a hybrid. My grandpa is a reptile,” Legoshi explains out of the corner of his mouth as he tries not to let any more venom drip out. He digs in his pocket for an anti-venom tablet and slumps as his hand closes on a near-empty packet. ‘I’m almost out, I’ll have to find some way of getting more,’ he thinks glumly.
“Is that why you ditched the stage crew? Were they bullying you?” Tem asks, surprising Legoshi with the insightful question.
“Well, actually, Fudge kept making noise saying how the stage crew shouldn’t get too much work this year for the meteor festival because I’ll ‘rage out’ apparently.” The hybrid looks away and rubs the back of his head as he speaks, a habit he’s picked up from Riz. “Lots of people keep thinking I’m going to try and fight them after my Adler performance,” he adds in a mumble that trails off into silence.
“Well, you did punch a guy on stage,” Haru says in a matter of fact tone of voice as she bends down to pick up the ruined vase and flowers. “Ah, I’m sorry little guys,” she adds, partially to herself. “I was trying to help and I ended up killing you.”
Legoshi looks at Tem over the top of Haru’s crouched form, and immediately finds himself pinned in place by the alpaca’s gaze. Expressions are hard enough for Legoshi to discern at the best of times, but this one is full of so many conflicting emotions that he can’t even begin to untangle them. The hybrid shifts his gaze to Haru, but that’s somehow worse. ‘Why is it that I keep getting myself into these situations when I can never find the right words to say? I’m such an idiot. Were they bullying you? Do they bully you often?’ Legoshi thinks, and the idea of those horrible girls picking on Haru and Tem stirs some part of him that he wishes he could bury and never think about again like that dingo. Although, he’d be kidding himself if he said he didn’t constantly think about that dingo. ‘I still can’t get him out of my head, his taste, the feeling of his flesh in my mouth.’
Legoshi feels his mouth begin to flood with saliva once again, and he gulps it down before pulling something else out of his pocket with a flash of pink. As the mask clips over his muzzle, it blocks out the scent of the two herbivores and brings blessed relief to his already buzzing brain, and he can feel his fur relaxing.
“Legoshi,” Tem says, getting both his and Haru’s attention. The alpaca shares a look with Haru, and then looks back up at Legoshi. “We need to have a talk. Let’s go get dinner.”
~~ Tem ~~
“So is this going to be it? You’re finally going to ask him?” Haru asks while she and Tem wait in line at the cafeteria. Tem shifts uncomfortably and steals another glance over at Legoshi waiting in the carnivore line. He’s still wearing the bright pink mask, and a few people have already given him strange looks, although the wolf hasn’t seemed to notice.
‘I guess I should stop thinking of him as a wolf, although maybe he sees himself as a wolf with some komodo dragon heritage,’ Tem ponders, trying to figure out how that even happened in the first place. ‘I never realised how much taller than other grey wolves he is until now, and his eyes have always been pinpricks in comparison to other canines. I wonder if his fangs are different, he definitely has venom.’
“Tem!” Haru says louder, making the alpaca come back to the present with a start.
“What?” He asks, shaking his head to banish any more thoughts about Legoshi’s fangs and the potential danger therein.
“I said, are you going to ask him about, you know,” Haru repeats and points to the patches on her forehead where the fur is minutely thinner from coming in contact with Legoshi’s venom.
“Yes,” Tem replies with more confidence than he feels. “Ignoring him clearly isn’t going to work.”
“Yeah, and it’s dumb,” Haru says flippantly before stepping up and ordering her food before Tem can complain.
Eventually, all three converge on a table, and Tem notices how Legoshi carefully puts his tray down while endeavouring to hide his claws the whole time. ‘They really are like talons now with how curved they are,’ he thinks to himself. ‘He told me that they grow back each day. Must be hard to live with something that marks you out as dangerous to everyone.’
After Legoshi removes his mask and the trio begins to eat in silence, Tem can hear people talking around them. Some whisper, some murmur, but the majority are talking loudly enough that they must be trying to be heard.
“Hey! Check it out! That wolf totally grabbed those herbivores for his dinner! ”
“Neither of them look nervous, weird way to hunt…”
“I’ve heard wolves have big appetites, I guess the rabbit is for dessert.”
“That’s not a wolf, dude, he’s got scales, he must be that hybrid I heard about, they say he’s a faggot too.”
“Eeeww, what a freak, haha.”
Tem flinches slightly at the foul language, and looks up at Legoshi’s stiffening posture. The hybrid is clearly trying to ignore the comments, but his ears keep flicking towards their source. ‘If someone starts something, he’s going to lose it just like he did on stage, and just like it was when those carnivores started fighting in the cafeteria,’ Tem thinks to himself. “So how are preparations for the meteor festival going?” He asks aloud, trying to bring Legoshi’s attention away from the muttering around them.
“It’s going well, I guess,” Legoshi replies, grateful for distraction. “We’re going to be making a tyrannosaurus rex this year, although I really wanted to make a horseshoe crab.”
“But horseshoe crabs are still around,” Haru says. “Isn’t the meteor festival about the dinosaurs?”
“Well yes,” Legoshi begins, and his face lights up with enthusiasm as if all the negative feelings from before have been banished to the far corners of the world. “But their body plans and general biology haven’t really changed since the Triassic era, and I’ve heard they have really amazing oral histories! They also look kind of like bugs, which is interesting, since it means that morphology has been useful for millions of years!”
Tem can’t help but smile at the way that Legoshi’s ears begin to dance back and forth as he gets more excited at the topic. Tem knows he won’t be able to get a word in edgewise, but he doesn’t find himself wanting to, either. Something about seeing the hybrid so animated fills him with a warmth. Suddenly, Legoshi snaps his mouth shut and looks down, his whole body doing an impression of the flowers that Haru had been trying to save.
“Sorry, I got carried away,” Legoshi says, eating another forkful of his food.
As his jaws close around the mouthful, his mismatched fangs flash for an instant, and Tem feels his legs tug involuntarily, much to his shock. Every time the hybrid chews or picks up his glass, a brief moment of panic runs through Tem’s body, as if it’s telling him to run for his life. ‘I’m so sorry, Legoshi,’ he thinks to himself. ‘I’m trying to work through it, but my instincts are still scared of you since that fight.’
“That’s okay! It’s cool how you know so much about some things,” Haru replies, and Tem notices her legs doing the same thing under the table.
“Yeah!” Tem adds. “Are you taking Seaspeak classes? Maybe you can ask a horseshoe crab about this stuff some time.”
“Yeah, but I find studying really difficult sometimes, I guess I get distracted easily,” Legoshi says, looking up from his food cautiously, as if Haru and Tem are about to play a cruel joke on him. “You said that we needed to talk, Tem,” he adds awkwardly. “What did you–”
A large hand smacks into the table between them, causing Legoshi to freeze, and Haru to yelp in surprise. Tem looks up the accompanying arm to the face of a huge male bison, about as tall as Legoshi, but much thicker-bodied and more well muscled. Flanking him are an unfortunately familiar horse and antelope. Almost immediately, Tem begins to count down the seconds to Legoshi flipping the table.
“Hey freak, you shouldn’t be on this side of the cafeteria, especially not with smaller herbivores,” the bison says, leaning into Legoshi’s personal space. “This isn’t your hunting grounds, psycho.”
Tem watches in stunned silence, once again rooted to the spot by surprise and fear, although this time he can’t exactly slap the offending herbivore to get them to shut up. To his even greater surprise, however, is the fact that Legoshi is leaning away from the bison, ears pinned back and posture wilting.
“Yeah, we’re looking out for our fellow herbivores, and we don’t like some meat-eating hybrid like you coming over here and pretending to be friends with people,” the antelope says. “You’re probably just sniffing out who’s vulnerable.”
‘Why aren’t you DOING anything Legoshi?! ’ Tem thinks. ‘You decked Bill on stage, you almost strangled that fox right here in the cafeteria, why are you just rolling over and taking it from this guy?! ’
The bison stares at Legoshi right in his eyes as he very slowly and deliberately starts to push the hybrid’s tray towards the edge of the bench. Tem watches as Legoshi’s eyes follow his half-eaten meal on its way to being wasted, and something clicks in the alpaca’s head. ‘That expression, it’s like he thinks he deserves it. He grabbed that fox because I was scared, but he’s never going to stand up for himself, is he? ’
“You’re the ones who should fuck off,” Tem says confidently, and several nearby animals audibly gasp at the comment. Unperturbed, he puts a hand out to grab the tray before it can be pushed onto the ground and looks at the bison. “Legoshi is a real friend, he always looks out for me, and you’re the second asshole herbivore who’s bullied a friend of mine. There is no ‘herbivore side’ of the cafeteria, and I don’t need some loser and his groupies telling me who to have dinner with.”
Legoshi’s eyes widen as Tem speaks, and all three standing herbivores turn their glares onto the alpaca.
“You’re that alpaca who’s always hanging around carnivores, aren’t you?” The antelope asks, glowering. “Of course you’d be easy prey for this freak.”
“Maybe I should kick both of your asses,” the bison muses. “We don’t want perverts like you bringing the meat-eaters into our dorm, maybe I need to teach you a lesson as well.”
“Xavier?” Haru asks, speaking for the first time since the bison showed up. As she does, however, the large herbivore’s expression changes into one of confusion and fear. “Do your friends know you like getting your nipples pinched?” Haru continues, smiling beatifically as Tem and Legoshi begin to gawp. “Or maybe you’d like me to talk about some other things you like getting done to you in bed?”
“Y-you–” the bison stammers, going red in the face with anger. “You slut ,” he rumbles.
“Your choice,” Haru says.
Tem looks between Haru and the bison. The bison looks at his flunkies and Legoshi. Legoshi looks at the bison with a feral glint in his eye that lit up when the bison insulted Haru. The bison looks down at the tray and Tem’s hand.
Then Xavier shoves the tray against Tem’s fingers so hard that he feels something inside his hand break.
~~ Riz ~~
“Did you have to get into a fight?” Riz asks, looking sidelong at his boyfriend as they walk to the Drama club. Legoshi shrugs, and Riz rolls his eyes. The hybrid came into class this morning sporting a black eye and several gaps in his teeth where some fangs had been knocked out, although new ones are already growing in. Now is the first time since seeing each other in class that they’ve gotten a chance to talk properly, and Legoshi’s avoidant behaviour is aggravating Riz. ‘He’s probably quiet given the news of that Devouring nearby this morning,’ he thinks to himself, trying not to get too frustrated.
“It doesn’t help you seem non-threatening,” Riz adds aloud.
“I know!” Legoshi replies irritably. “I just couldn’t help it, he broke Tem’s fingers right in front of me!”
Riz frowns at that. “Okay, I understand then,” he concedes. “But still, what did principal Gon say?”
“He said that, since the bison started it, I was being let off with a warning, but I needed to stay out of trouble.” Legoshi sighs, taking Riz’s hand and leaning against his shoulder. “I just wish people would stop making trouble for me. I’m starting to think that maybe I should just quit school if this keeps happening.”
Riz’s eyes widen with shock and concern at the hybrid’s gloomy tone of voice. “What?” He exclaims. “Don’t do that, that’s just letting the bullies win!”
“I guess,” Legoshi mumbles.
Riz is about to say something more when they both look up at the sound of jeering. A vulture and a racoon, are harassing another student around a corner, one pulling at their hands and one waving a phone screen around.
“Hey Juno! The news said the leader of that Devouring gang was a grey wolf, sound familiar?” The vulture says, and Riz stiffens.
‘They’re bullying another grey wolf, I’d recognise that scent anywhere at this point,’ Riz thinks and both him and Legoshi stop a few metres away, neither of the bullies paying enough attention. ‘They can’t be older than first years. Should I say something? Legoshi’s already been through so much today, it wouldn’t be fair to let him take this on as well.’
Before his boyfriend can do anything, Riz lets go of his hand and steps forward, folding his arms and creasing his usually affable expression into a frown. Legoshi does the same, and both large breed carnivores let their bulks cast a shadow over the smaller students. Riz suppresses the urge to smile at the looks of fear that the first years turn on them. “What are you doing?” He asks in an even tone of voice
“None of your business,” the vulture squeaks, trying to seem tough despite the threat.
“Carnivores need to stick together when things like Devourings happen, you know,” Riz says, still with the same cadence that indicates that, while the end of the rope is far away, it is still approaching. “It’s hard enough when herbivores bully us carnivores, but it doesn’t mean that we should follow their example.”
“Uh, Michael, we should go,” the racoon says, tugging at the vulture’s shirt.
Riz takes grim satisfaction when both males run down the corridor. When he turns to the side, Legoshi is already crouching down on his haunches beside the student that was being bullied in the first place. The grey wolf turns out to be a female, and a very attractive one at that, if Riz had been straight.
“Are you okay?” Legoshi asks gently. “Sorry for scaring those guys away, probably doesn’t help the reputation that large carnivores like us have.”
“That’s okay, thank you for saving me,” Juno says, still looking down at her hands as she clutches her knees.
“I guess I couldn’t just leave another grey wolf to get bullied like that, we tend to get bullied a lot after Devourings,” Legoshi says, and Riz lowers himself to sit cross-legged by the hybrid’s side. “You’ll get used to it by your second year,” he adds.
As Legoshi speaks, Riz puts one hand on Legoshi’s back to comfort him, thinking about the honey he used to have to consume in vast quantities just to deal with his migraines. The side-effects from his medication have gotten so much better since being open about them and being with Legoshi, but they’ve never gone away. Suddenly, a slight sob escapes Juno, and Riz can feel Legoshi’s body stiffen in slight panic as tears begin to fall into the wolf’s lap.
“I don’t want to get used to it! I don’t want to get used to being bullied,” she sobs. As she continues speaking, Juno curls her hands into tight fists, and her voice becomes tinged with frustration. “It’s so much worse than my previous school, and it’s not fair! The worst part is that, when I get angry, I just start crying, and that makes it worse! I just let it get to me so much!”
“I think it’s good that you get upset,” Legoshi says. As Juno looks up with a questioning gaze, Riz sees the hybrid look down, likely to avoid eye-contact. “I used to really hate myself for how much I let the bullying get to me and my grandpa, but it was so tiring that I just started to pretend that I don’t care. You still care enough to get upset, that means you’re still strong.”
Riz watches Juno’s eyes widen at the sight of Legoshi’s black eye, and he can see them settle on the scales on his muzzle before widening further. “I wasn’t kidding with what I said to those guys, by the way,” Riz says, trying to head off the inevitable follow-up question. “Carnivores need to stick together, and it’s good that you wouldn’t bully other carnivores.”
The wolf’s expression shifts to a thoughtful one, and quiet falls on them. Eventually, Legoshi stands, followed by Riz. When Juno gets to her feet, her gaze falls on the way that Riz puts an arm around Legoshi’s shoulders to give him a gentle squeeze of comfort.
“You’re Legoshi, right?” Juno asks, completely blanking Riz. “My name’s Juno, I joined the Drama club recently, I’ve heard about you.”
“Ey? You’ve heard about me?” Legoshi asks in an awkward panic. “Sorry, I don’t know the names of the first years yet!”
“It’s okay! Sheila told me that there was a grey wolf second year in the club, and that he was kind,” Juno reassures, but her voice turns unsure and conflicted as she runs her gaze over the hybrid once more. “I guess she was wrong about one thing, but I’m glad that she was right about you being kind,” she adds.
The look she gives Legoshi is sweet, hopeful, and makes the hair on the back of Riz’s neck prickle. Something about the way Juno smiles and stands just too close to Legoshi makes the bear feel the stirring of something territorial, and he pulls his boyfriend closer to himself. “Well, nice to meet you, Juno,” Riz says with a smile that only Legoshi would be able to tell is forced. “We need to get to Drama club, I’m sure you know that it’s second years only,” he adds, with just a hint of sour with to add to her sweetness.
“Oh yeah!” Legoshi says, and his tail begins wagging behind him. “We should get there soon Riz, I don’t want to be late.”
“Oh, okay,” Juno falters, shooting Riz a loathsome glare when Legoshi isn’t looking. “Well, bye Legoshi! I hope to see you again soon!”
“Bye!” Legoshi replies as he turns to go.
“Bye, Juno,” Riz says.
~~~
“Okay then, last thing,” Louis says, squinting at a sheet of paper in his hand.
‘He looks tired. I wonder if he’s getting enough sleep,’ Riz thinks to himself. All of the second years are sitting in a semicircle facing Louis and Sanu, and Riz can tell that Legoshi is struggling to pay attention with how much the hybrid’s ears flick idly.
“Riz, Tao, Aoba, Bill, and Legoshi are all going to go into town tomorrow after school and attend a meeting to coordinate with the mayoral office for the meteor festival,” the buck continues.
“Hey, you only picked carnivores,” Ellen pipes up, echoed by another second year herbivore. “We want to go as well!”
Louis brings one hand up to rub his eyebrows to hide his frown before answering. “You can’t have missed the news this morning about the Devouring, Ellen, all herbivores are barred from leaving campus until the culprits are arrested,” he says with a clipped tone of voice.
‘Yeah, definitely tired,’ Riz thinks. ‘He’s not usually that short with other herbivores.’
As if reading Riz’s mind, Louis turns his gaze towards him, more specifically eyeing Legoshi and Bill.
“Here we go again,” Bill mutters under his breath from Legoshi’s other side.
“We’ve all seen what happens when carnivores give in to their violent natures,” Louis says, prompting a wave of shuffling and not-quite-grumbles from the carnivore students. “And it seems that it’s something that they find hard to resist,” he adds, looking at Legoshi’s black eye.
Riz purses his lips and resists the urge to wrinkle his nose. Anything close to a snarl would go badly, especially with the comment just made by Louis, but the buck’s constant reference to what happened is getting on Riz’s nerves.
“Will he ever drop it? ” Bill asks in a whisper as Louis stands and walks to the door.
“Oh, and one last thing,” the deer says, turning a proper glare at all of the carnivores he named. “Do not, under any circumstance, go to the Black Market.”
After Louis slams the door behind him, a shocked silence falls over the room. He had just mentioned one of the most taboo subjects in the world to discuss with carnivores, and in the presence of other herbivores no less.
“The Black Market?! ” Ellen shouts, standing up and rounding on the carnivores. “That exists?! I thought that was an urban legend! Isn’t that where carnivores go to buy herbivore meat and blood? I’ve heard all sorts of rumours about it!”
Riz feels his scalp tingle as suddenly all herbivore eyes gaze upon him and the others with suspicion. He feels several pin-pricks press into his palm and Legoshi grabs his hand a little too hard, causing his curved claws to dig into Riz’s skin.
“What? Only back in the old days!” Bill lies dismissively, cutting off the rising panic in the room. “The Black Market’s just where there’s loads of strippers and brothels! Louis was just saying that since we’re all guys going into town and carnivores appreciate that kind of thing, although Legoshi and Riz are probably safe from getting corrupted.” Bill jokes, nudging Legoshi in a teasing manner. “Hey, actually Ellen, since we both like stripes, maybe I can get you some porn mags there for you!”
“What?! Ew! You’re such a creep Bill!” The zebra replies, shooing him away, all thoughts of herbivore meat-selling purged from her brain with the thought of Bill going to a stripper.
“Hey,” Aoba says from Riz’s side. “Let’s get out of here before people start asking us.”
Nodding, both Riz and Legoshi follow Aoba out of the Drama club room and into the hallways, none of them talking until they get far enough away from prying ears.
“Phew! That was tense for a moment there,” Aoba says.
“Yeah, I’m glad we’re getting to go into town again,” Riz replies, half of his attention focused on the way that Legoshi is still clutching his hand.
“Hey, uh,” the hybrid begins, hesitating slightly. “Have you ever gone to the Black Market, Aoba?”
“Oh, you’ve never been?” Aoba asks, noticeably avoiding the question. “Most carnivores go by the time we’re adults. Riz, you ever been?”
“No, he hasn’t,” Legoshi says.
“Yeah, my uncle-in-law lives there,” Riz replies at the same time.
Riz feels Legoshi immediately drop his hand as the hybrid stops moving, and Riz turns to see him staring at him with his mouth slightly open and face pulled into a shocked expression.
“You what? ” Legoshi asks, a tone of betrayal in his voice.