Love is not my Forté (LegoshixOMC)

Chapter 5 - Introductions

Rounding the corner to the cafeteria, Forté looked around. The room was about half full of people, carnivores and herbivores alike. Forté got his food, a simple salad, before looking for a place to sit.

Forté saw an empty table towards the side of his room and decided to make his way towards it. As Forté walked through the room, he heard a shout from his right, "Hey! Come sit over here!" Looking towards the voice, the deer saw the dog from the day before, Jack, looking at him with a big smile. 

Forté looked around, expecting to see somebody else whose attention the dog wanted, but only came to the conclusion that the dog was calling out to him. With a shrug, Forté decided to take the dog up on his offer, making his way over to the table. As he walked, Forté took note of who was sitting at the table. All of them were canines, besides Jack there was a large English sheep dog, a coyote, a hyena, a fennec fox and a tall wolf staring right at Forte with wide, almost panicked, eyes.

As the herbivore neared the table, Jack seemed to get more excited, his tail wagging faster. "This the deer you told us about last night Jack?" the sheep dog asked the labrador, "Yep! Guys, this is Forté! Forté, this is Collot, the coyote is Durham, the hyena is Miguno, the little guy is Voss and this is Legoshi!" Jack finished his introductions by wrapping his arm around the tall wolf's shoulders with a grin. Forté noticed how the wolf flinched at the sudden touch from the smaller dog, suddenly snapping out of whatever trance he seemed to be in.

Now staring down at his plate, Legoshi felt the panic swirl around him, the words of what if he recognizes me from last night? repeating in his head like a panicked mantra.

Forté quickly averted his eyes from the piercing gaze of the wolf and looked between all of the other newly introduced canines. "Uh, yeah. I'm Forté, nice to meet you all," Legoshi's heart couldn't help but melt at the shy smile and small wave the deer expressed. The wolf however, ignored the heat in his cheeks, instead opting in for repeating the deer's name in his head over and over, loving the way it sounded.

Forté.  Forté. Forté. Forté. Forté. For-

A slight nudge from Jack was all it took for Legoshi to snap out of his stupor, as he quickly noticed that Jack had invited the deer to sit on the other side of the large wolf than himself. Legoshi steeled himself, determining that Forte seemed not to remember the.. events of the night prior. 

Legoshi quietly ate and listened as the other canines at the table made small talk with the deer. Looking to his right, he saw the deer looking deep in thought while staring at the wolf's face, "Have we met?" At this question, Legoshi felt his eyes widen and what felt like a metal ball forming in the pit of his stomach as sweat trickled down the back of his neck.

Suddenly Forté snapped his fingers, a small smile coming across his face, "That's right! We saw each other in the hallway yesterday, you went off with my brother while I went to check in to my dorm!" the deer spoke happily. Legoshi felt relief flood his body, So he doesn't remember me from last night at least, that's good.

Legoshi shyly smiled back at the happy deer, "Yeah, you walked away before I could ask for your name." Just as the deer was about to respond, two medium sized carnivores started yelling at each other. Apparently one had stepped on the others tail.

Forté flinched at the sudden shouting match sparked between the two carnivores, averting his eyes from the wolf and looking worriedly towards the quickly brewing fight. Legoshi watched as the deer's smile - which he adored so much - disappeared, quickly replaced by large eyes and a worried, fearful expression. The deer's ears almost immediately plastered themselves flat against his head, small tears gathered in his eyes as his shoulder burned with the memory of last night.

Legoshi wasn't faring well himself. The moment he saw how afraid the young deer looked, he felt anger and hunger burn deep within himself. He felt anger towards the two smaller carnivores for making someone so kind feel such fear, but that anger was quickly dwarfed by the hunger he felt watching as his prey's shoulders rose and his head sank low. He was suddenly bombarded by memories of last night, every instinct within him telling him to pounce, reminding him of how amazing the herbivore's blood tasted as he ran his tongue up the young deer's neck.

Legoshi shook his head to snap himself out of the stupor he was in, staring at the small herbivore beside him. 

The sounds of the fight, though loud, had faded away to Legoshi, instead replaced by his thoughts.
His instincts.

You enjoyed it last night.
That's not-
You can't hide it, you want to kill him.
No! I don-
Just do it, grab him by the antlers, and rip out his throat!
No, I don't want that! I don't want to hurt him!
You're stronger than he is, he can't fight back. So just. Do. It!

"SHUT UP!"

Legoshi opened his eyes, them having been screwed shut before, only to notice all the eyes in the cafeteria on him. He certainly hadn't meant to say that out loud. 

The wolf looked down to his right, to see Forté gazing back up at him. The deer was obviously still frightened, but Legoshi was relieved that the deer looked up at him with a face of concern and confusion, rather than the one of horror that Legoshi remembers so vividly from the night before.

Legoshi, suddenly remembering the eyes on him, looked back towards the previously fighting carnivores, slapping his hands over his mouth as one of the carnivores angrily stomped towards him.