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Louis/Legosi
SAFE
Challenge B.A.G.N.O. - prompt: il tè delle cinque
Wordcount: 2227
“You are late,” Louis doesn’t fail to point out, like he always does even if the times Legosi had actually been on time could be counted on the hand of a three-toed sloth.
“Yes, I know, I’m sorry,” the wolf falls on the chair the deer has left for him and bangs his head on the table.
He has a reason for being late - again - Louis doesn’t doubt it. Legosi always has a reason.
“I ordered your tea made, the bamboo one,” the deer smiles murder and Legosi sighs.
It’s not that he doesn’t like bamboo tea, it’s just that he drinks it every single day at the clinic and Louis always has that Darjeeling supply that has him salivating at the mere thought of - and that he withdraws when he’s upset with him. Just like now.
“I’ve spoilt you,” Louis tilts his head, his expression impenetrable. Not a question nor an accusation, he acknowledges the fact as he would the weather conditions, as if he had nothing to do with it, but there’s the hint of a smirk in the way the corner of his lips turns imperceptibly upward, as if he were somehow proud of it.
“No no, bamboo tea is perfectly fine! I really like it, really,” Legosi waves his hand in front of himself - almost breaking the flowery centerpiece in the process - as if he could wave away the slight Louis has just implied he has done him. Beggars can’t be choosers, and honestly if it weren’t for Louis he would be still stuck at coffee - the normal watery one, thanks, not Kopi Luwak.
On cue the new butler - a lion, but Legosi doesn’t even have to ask, just takes a look at the guy to realize he’s not a new member of the Shishigumi - brings out two cups of tea, both Darjeeling.
Legosi told himself he would behave, but his eyes light up as if it was Rexmas and his tail just can’t stop wagging.
“But this is -?”
“I was just teasing you,” Louis shakes his head, with a fond chuckle. “So, why are you late for our weekly afternoon tea this time?” The ‘it’s not like it’s every Friday at five p.m. so that you couldn’t get the dates wrong’ hangs heavily implied in the air.
“Gadot had a relapse. Almost ate a zebra two roads out of the new Back Alley Market,” Legosi sad tone clashes with the enthusiasm he has in putting sugar in his cup, “I interrupted him before he could down more than a hand but then I had to run after him and you know how fast are cheetahs. I would have thought one that hadn’t exercised in months wouldn’t have that much muscle mass. I had to find him before the police,” he counts on his fingers, not even realizing he’s practically shoving his claws on a herbivore’s face, and Louis has to hide a smile in his cup at the thought of how comfortable the wolf has become with him, “cover up his traces and convince him I was actually taking him to the clinic and not to prison. He was convinced that Gohin wouldn’t have him back since he was a repeat offender.”
Louis just sips his tea and doesn’t comment on it. Legosi already knows how little faith he has in carnivores who relapse and the deer doesn’t want another trifling discussion, not when they had decided that the wolf would be the one to take care of maintaining the peace in the Back Alley Market.
“At least you didn’t get hurt.”
Legosi has the decency to look sheepishly away, as he gulps down half his tea in just a single swallow.
“Where?”
“It’s nothing, Louis, really! Just a scratch!”
“I asked where?”
Legosi pulls up the sleeve of his jumper, revealing a white bandage on his forearm. “See, nothing to worry about.”
Louis unfastens the gauze without hesitation and true, it’s barely a scratch, nothing that would scar. It doesn’t make the deer any less mad about it, doesn’t make him less eager to gauge the eyes out of that damn cheetah with his antlers.
“You need to be more careful,” he says instead, tracing with his fingertips the three scabs that have already stopped bleeding. Legosi shivers, his wounded skin oversensitive under his touch. He should have already got used to Louis tending his wounds - even when Gohin fixes him up, Louis always wants to check, as if he could do better than the panda that actually has a medical degree - but somehow, even after knowing each other for years, even after being friends and being in each other proxemic bubble for the most part of those years, Legosi still blushes and shivers and feels his whole midsection tighten - chest and belly, stomach and heart.
“Uhm, yes, well, and… how did it go with that random attacks?” Legosi tries to divert the attention to something different and Louis lets him, sparing him any further scolding on his ability to always get hurt, but leaves his hand resting on the wolf’s forearm.
“I was able to narrow it down, but just because we got a hyena. One attacked a goat in a supermarket, completely out of the blue, in front of witnesses and cameras.”
“It looks like my type of criminals.”
“Yes, and I would have called you when police apprehended her, except…” Louis trailed, petting the wolf’s forearm absentmindedly.
“Except?”
“The hyena died.”
“Cops killed her?” It wouldn’t have been a first.
“No, there weren’t signs of brutality. She was… sick? When I went to question her she was in a manic state, she was shaking and couldn’t talk, she wasn’t orientated to time and place, she didn’t even recall attacking anyone.”
“Another drug we don’t know of?”
“We’re still waiting for the tox screen and the autopsy, but it seems probable. She didn’t have any criminal record and her family is clean as a whistle, they don’t know what could have gotten into her to do such a thing.”
“I’ll keep my ears perked, but there’s no rumor in the Market about it, yet.”
“Do you think they could keep such a thing from you?”
“No,” Legosi answers and it isn’t just boasting, not when he does have the newly founded Black Market under his thumb. After the turf war against Melon, the wolf had practically become the impartial judge everyone went to, the impersonation of the legendary King Salmon - and how could he not, when he was the only Beastar that actually tried to help and understand instead of just wishing them burnt to the ground? Louis may have been the one that the papers put on the front page when need arise, but Legosi was the one that had to fend off daily the leader of the Dokugumi trying to recruit him as his successor or Ten proposing him marriage, if not with her at least with one of the other Inarigumi. And while the Shishigumi would never put anyone else in place of Louis, they still respected him, if anything because Legosi was their boss’ partner.
“What about the Madaragumi? One of their branches was behind the Bloodbone drug, after all. Melon killed their leader, but they can always regroup.”
“Nah, they’re not enough and the few that still miss the old gang are not organized enough to put up a stunt like this. Another drug requires resources they don’t have.”
Louis nods, because it makes sense, of course, his fingers still rubbing Legosi’s fur. The Madaragumi haven’t really been a threat, the ones that had a little brain are now running errands under the Shishigumi, because better stick with a fellow feline than die alone out there, and clearly, Legosi knows it too, because he’s the damn unofficial ruler of the market.
Louis laughs at the thought.
“What?”
“Nothing,” the deer shakes his head. “I just remembered how you were in the drama club. Always trying to be inconspicuous, never starting a fight.”
Legosi chuckles too, slightly embarrassed, “Yeah, well, those were other times, right?”
“Right.”
Louis retires his hand to take the cup of already cooling tea and leans on the chair as he sips it in content silence, watching as Legosi dresses up his arm again. Yes, barely a scratch indeed, Louis didn’t even feel it in his gut when it happened.
“I heard from Juno this week,” the wolf says without looking up from the bandage he’s still fixing even if it’s already perfectly fine.
“Yes, and?” Louis doesn’t miss a beat.
“Nothing. She’s started University in the same course as Haru. I just thought you would want to know.”
“I’m happy for her,” Louis says with too much nonchalance, “And how’s Haru? How is this whole long-distance relationship thing working?”
“Haru is fine,” Legosi shrugs, “She’s not very happy with how little we manage to talk to each other, but I haven’t replaced my cell phone yet, so I can only get her on the landline and you know I’m not home a lot these days.”
“And yet you managed to hear from Juno…”
“She was with Haru when I called her!” Legosi sputters, but whether it’s because he thinks Louis is accusing him of being unfaithful or accusing him of trying to play cupid, the deer doesn’t know, for he cuts him short.
“I’ll never understand why you insist on living in the Hidden Condo when you could live here in the Beastars’ accommodation,” Louis rolls his eyes, and changes the topic. He already sees where that train wreck is going - Haru and Juno together, goodness, that smells of heartbreaking for someone from here, despite all the miles between them - , but if Legosi doesn’t, it would be better to not poke that particular hive.
“It’s closer to the Market and it’s… a little bit more down-to-earth? This is…”
“A little too much.”
“Yeah.”
“But you could have access to infinite supplies of this tea,” the deer waves his empty cup under Legosi nose, as he could ever tempt him.
“Yes, but then it wouldn’t be so special to drink it with you on Friday afternoons.”
And Louis almost drops the cup.
It’s a good thing he’s always been a good actor. Mostly he appreciates his own talent when dealing with the press or with other members of the Horn Conglomerate - or with Azumi - but it has his perks even in his private life - after all that is what saves him from breaking some good china. Legosi is one of the few animals that manage to surprise him (and, statistically, he’s also the one that does it the most,) but to say something like this… well, that is on another whole level.
It’s just a simple sentence and yet it implies so much - that the wolf really cherishes those moments of personal recap; that, for how much he’s always late, Legosi really looks forward to those afternoons where they are just friends, and not colleagues, where they will talk about work, yes, but that’s only because work makes up the entirety of their lives, not because they’re required to be in the same room by external pressures.
And yes, of course Louis feels the same way, but he could never tell him, not like this, not without teasing or hiding behind mockery or at least blushing, - surely not with Legosi’s straight face.
“You know, Legosi,” he says instead, carefully placing the porcelain cup on the table, without betraying any emotion, but a slight teasing, “you always manage to say the sappiest things…”
“Just because they’re sappy doesn’t mean they aren’t true,” Legosi smiles and downs the last remnants of his tea.
“See, what did I tell you? Sappy.”
“Oh, you love it.”
Yes, well, I love you.
“Yes, well, debatable.”
“Do you really want me to debate this point?” Legosi tilts his head, both perfectly knowing where an argument like that would go. “Because if it’s a challenge, I can keep declaming the key point of our friendship and how much we care for each other as main proof.”
And uh, Louis would almost be praise him for learning to leave behind - at least in part - his edgy seriousness, except he know that behind the teasing, Legosi still means what he’s saying and if he lets him, the wolf would really start on how much their friendship means, beginning from that infamous Adler performance where the deer stepped up for him with a broken foot right to the current teatime. Louis should want to scoff, instead he finds it just endearing.
Which, honestly, just proves Legosi’s point.
Ah, what has become of his life.
“Please do. And when you’re done, know that I’m gonna withdraw tea ‘till the end of times.”
“Even if I’ll bring you those bark cake you love next Friday?”
“Well, I could be bribed.”
* TBC*
Notes:
Was there someone out there thinking chapter 196 wasn’t one of the most rush ending ever written? Here’s a fix-it!
+ My goodness, I can’t believe I’ve actually done the King Salomon/King Salmon joke (pun?). I’ll be in the corner if you need me.
+ I have no idea if the Madagarumi were behind the Bloodbone Drug,, but in chapter 114 (when the drug is offered to Legosi) the dealers were leopards/cheetahs so I don’t think it’s that much of a stretch to put it on that gumi
+ Apparently deers eat bark because it contains a lot of calcium that they need for the development of their antlers.
