Jack picked out his books from his bag along with his writing utensils.
"Studying at the library again?" asked Legosi when he noticed his friend busy with his bag.
"Mhm," Jack hummed in response
Legosi's hand on the controller stopped as he looked at Jack, "Why don't you ever do that here?"
Jack looked up from his bag to the wolf, "I mean.. With how nois-"
"-HA! Got ya!" Collot shouted as he KO'd Legosi's character off the stage. Voss almost fell over from Collot's head because of the big dog's excited and rapid movements, but he thankfully held on.
Legosi turned his head to the monitor, "H-hey, that's not fair! I wasn't looking!"
"Ain't no reason for me to stop attacking," Collot stuck out his tongue, followed by Voss doing the same thing.
"You.." Legosi squinted hard at Collot as if he was trying to burn him with his stares.
While the two canines were bickering, Durham and Miguno were having their own share of fun at the other side of the room, tackling each other down in whatever game they were playing and being a bit too close than normal.
"C'mere Migs!"
"-Oof!"
Durham pinned the hyena down to the ground with a grin on, "Gotcha!" his hands went down Miguno's side.
"A-ah, heh- no! Hehe.. S-stop!" Miguno couldn't do anything but struggle under him, going into a laughing fit because of the coyote's unrelenting tickling hand.
Jack sighed, "See, this is why. You guys are way too noisy for me to study here. besides, the library just gives a nice atmosphere to study to anyway."
"Oh.." Legosi's ears drooped along with his tail. "Sorry.."
Jack gave the wolf a reassuring smile, "It's okay Legosi, you guys are just having fun." The labrador stood up and headed toward the door, "Well, I'll be going now. Later!"
Jack exited the noisy dorm room, sighing as he closed the door, "Curse you homework, I want to play with them too.." He shook his head and mumbled, "Stop it, me. If I can finish these fast, then I won't even have to stay away for long."
The labrador made his way to the school's library with renewed resolve, and it didn't take him long to arrive. Once he entered the library he quickly went to his favorite corner of the place. It was a nice and quiet spot hidden behind the bookshelves, so most of the time there're not many animals around. Though the "Most of the time" part has recently changed to "Sometimes" because of one animal...
Jack turned around the corner to his favorite spot, only to find a red deer already occupying it yet again, looking like he was deep in whatever he was studying. The labrador's ears and tails drooped, his mouth turning into a frown, "Aw... Louis's already here.."
Not too long ago, Louis had started to use this secret spot to study as well. Yet despite sharing this spot for weeks, they never talked to each other at all. Jack only knew the deer's name because of his popularity, the head of the Drama Club and the to-be beastar.
It was pretty daunting to study next to such a big-name at first, but at least Louis was always quiet and never made any ruckus whenever he was here, so it was as if no one was there to begin with anyway.
Jack walked over and sat at a separate table, not too far from the other animal. He opened his books and started on his mountains of homework. Louis only spared him a glance when he noticed him before returning to his current task.
It didn't take Jack too long before he was almost finished with his work. Guess he had his dog traits to thank for that..
Along the way, Jack made a mistake and reached for his eraser, except instead of grabbing it he accidentally knocked it off the table, sending it down to the floor "-Ah, shoot." Jack stood up from his chair to search where his eraser had landed.
"Hm?"
Jack heard a hum from the deer and turned to his direction.
Louis was bending down, picking up what seemed to be Jack's eraser. He sat back up and inspected it for a brief moment before turning his head to the labrador, "Is this yours?"
Jack nodded, "Y-yes."
"Here, catch," Louis lightly threw the eraser at Jack from his seat.
"...!!" Jack's tails stood up as his eyes locked on to the eraser flying in the air. He lunged forward and caught it before it touched the floor.
Louis could only watch what was unfolding before him in confusion, "What the-" before he could even comprehend what was happening Jack ran toward him, his tail behind him wagging excitedly. "W-what are you-!"
Jack shoved the eraser in his hand to Louis', "Here!"
Louis looked down at the eraser in his hand, up at the excited labrador, then back down to his hand, "Uhhh.."
Jack stood in front of Louis impatiently, as if waiting for the deer to do something.
It took another moment before Louis finally realized what Jack wanted. He read about this before once out of curiosity, "Um.. Good job..?"
As soon as the praise(?) came out of his mouth Jack beamed, his grin becoming wider while his tail wagged harder.
Even Louis can't resist but be infected by the labrador's joyous state, it caused his heart to feel light and warm. He even almost smiled.. almost.
It didn't last much longer though as Jack shook his head, snapping himself out of his current state. He gingerly took his eraser back from Louis' hand, "I-I'm so sorry! I.. I don't know what came over me and I just.. Sorry.." Jack's ears drooped as he apologized.
"No no, It's fine," Louis shook his hand dismissively. "It was my fault for saying catch and throwing that eraser anyway."
"Mm.." Jack nodded. "It's nice to finally talk to you."
"Huh, I guess this is our first time talking to each other.." Louis gave a small smile. "Well, the feeling's mutual." He said before turning back to his books, ending the conversation between them.
Jack walked back to his seat and sat down. He glanced back at the deer one last time before focusing back on his assignments.
...
"Another week and another batch of homework.." Jack sighed.
Legosi let Kabu climb to his other arm before speaking, "Another library visit then?"
Jack groaned, "Yup, it's becoming a habit... Compiling all my work into one giant pile to do at the weekend in the morning."
"Do it little by little then."
"Pfft, I'm too lazy to do that."
"Heh, you are," Legosi put his pet beetle back into his cage. "But knowing you, you'll probably finish those in an hour or so anyway."
"Maybe, but I'm not that smart, Legosi," despite what Jack said, his tail still wagged from the praise. He stood up and made his way to the dorm room's door. "Well, I'll be going now. Be back soon!"
As Jack walked to the school's library, his mind wandered to his last visit there and to Louis. Their first interaction was certainly interesting, to say the least. Maybe he would be there again today.
Jack turned around the corner to his spot and.. yup, the deer was there again.
"Hey Louis." he quietly greeted Louis.
The sudden noise startled him but Louis tried to hide it, "..Hey."
Jack sat down on a seat, still on a different table but this time a bit closer to the deer than usual, "Studying as usual?"
Louis fidgeted, a bit taken aback by Jack's sudden friendliness when they've never ever talked before until yesterday's little incident. He didn't even know the labrador's name, "..I guess you can say that."
"Well good luck!" Jack grinned at Louis before starting his homework.
Louis would've found these uninvited approaches irritating if the animal doing it wasn't someone so innocent beaming with such a positive aura, "Same to you." Maybe he could start appreciating the labrador's company now.
The two fell into a comfortable silence as they each focused on their task.
Jack, just as Legosi had said, blazed through his work without much effort. He leaned back on his chair and stretched when he finished, taking a quick glance at Louis. He looked quite frustrated, to say the least.
Jack walked over without making any sound and peered over the deer's shoulder. Louis was a year ahead of him, but Jack still understood the questions he was working on, thanks to him studying ahead. "Why don't you use that here?" He pointed at one point of the notebook, then to another part below it.
"Huh?" Louis looked over his shoulder to see Jack peering above him.
Jack cocked his head, "That should work, right?"
Louis looked back down to his notes and tried out what Jack had suggested, "Huh, it does.."
"See?" Jack continued what he did before, pointing to another part of the book. "Then you can use this formula next."
Louis followed the labrador's instruction again and ended up finding the answer he couldn't before, "Wow, you're a lot smarter than I thought.."
Jack rubbed his nape and shyly laughed, his mouth turning into a smile while his tail started wagging.
"..I guess that's natural, you being a dog and all."
"Oh.." The smile on Jack's face disappeared, his ears drooping. Louis was right, he was only smart because of what he is after all. Why should he be happy from praises like that? "Yeah, you're right.."
Shoot... Maybe he shouldn't have said that. Seeing the poor labrador hurt hit harder than Louis thought and he couldn't handle it, "I-I don't think it's a bad thing.. You're naturally smart, sure, and you should use that. But you also studied a lot.. I mean, I always see you here doing that." Louis averted his gaze. "So, um.. There's no need to be upset."
"O-oh, thank you." Jack's face lit back up, his usual peppiness slowly coming back. "You're a nice guy, Louis. You know that?"
"You're just bringing out my good side," Louis scoffed. "I don't want to see you upset, you're way too cute for-" Louis shut his mouth up before he finished. His eyes widened at what had just come out from his mouth. "I-I just meant I don't want to see you upset, that's all."
Jack stared blankly at Louis, his cheeks slowly becoming red as seconds passed by, "That's.. That's the first time someone ever calls me cute.." The labrador chuckled at himself.
Louis groaned as he palmed his face, "Of course you heard that.." He looked at Jack right in his eyes, "Just so you know, I did not mean anything by that, okay?"
Doesn't denying it so strongly means it's the opposite? Jack wanted to say it but decided not to, not wanting to embarrass or anger the deer even more, "S-sure, if you say so."
"Good. Now, I'm still not finished with what I was doing, so if you excuse me," Louis turned back around to his books.
Jack stood still, watching Louis for a few moments before peering over his shoulder again.
"I can do fine without your help, don't want to keep you busy from your own work."
Jack shrugged in response, "Eh, I already finished."
"Really?" Louis glanced at the spot Jack seated on. " That mountain of books and papers? That fast?"
"Hey, you did say I was smart," Jack grinned. "Anyway, maybe I can help again? I have time to kill."
Louis would've declined if it was any other animal, daring to think that he needed their help, thinking it would get them to his good side and whatnot. But he didn't feel anything like that from Jack, it didn't feel like he was looking down at the deer at all.
"Sure."
"Great!" Jack took the seat next to Louis, leaning in close to better see what he was working on, causing their arms and shoulders to touch.
"Oh no, you're so soft and fluffy too.."
"What did you say?"
"N-no, nothing." Louis waved his hand dismissively. "Anyway, now that you're here. This part here.."
...
"Phew.." Jack breathed a long breath as he walked back to his dorm room.
Their little impromptu study session went a bit longer than expected. Louis asked about almost everything, guess he wanted to make the most out of Jack's help while he was there. Not like Jack minded, of course. He was always happy to help.
It was almost lunchtime when Jack arrived. The room inside was quite since the others, excluding Legosi, have gone outside to the city. He must've been bored being all by himself today...
Jack opened the door to see Legosi sprawled out lazily on the floor in front of a small TV, boxes of DVDs laying next to it. Legosi's ears perked when he heard the door open. He turned his head to the door, "You're later than usual."
Jack set his bag down on his bed, "Sorry, didn't mean to take so long."
"Did you get some extra hard homework or something?"
Jack shook his head as he sat down next to Legosi, crossing his leg, "No, just had a little study session with someone."
"Oh?" Legosi raised an eyebrow. "That's new. With whom?"
Jack took some of the chips from the bag next to Legosi, "Louis." He took the chips to his mouth and started watching along with Legosi.
"Ah, okay."
"..."
"Wait, Louis?"
Jack nodded, his eyes never leaving the TV, "Mhm. He's the head of your Drama Club right?"
"Y-yeah, but.." Legosi sat up. "He wasn't being.. Hard on you or anything, was he?."
The labrador tilted his head to the side, "No? He's been really nice actually."
"Hm.." Legosi looked down on the floor, his ears flickering nervously. "Okay.."
"Why are you so worried? I know you told me stories of how scary he can be, but he's not that bad."
Legosi sighed, "Guess I'll have to take your word for it."
Jack chuckled, " Don't worry so much, Legosi. It's not like we're getting together or something."