You had no idea that silence could be so deafening. You could drop a feather and the sound of its impact with the ground would rival that of a canon. Not to mention how awkward this entire situation is.

The panda, Gouhin, sits across from you on a stale white bed, anxiously avoiding your prominent glare. Valentina sits beside him with a glass of Whiskey in her hands, as gleeful and elegant as ever. You lost count after her sixth one but goddamn, that woman could probably drink Dionysos himself into the ground. It's been exactly twenty minutes since you nearly tackled your idiotic wolf out of worry and you have no idea where she even got the whiskey from.

It just appeared, like every inconvenience in your life.

You're unaware that Legoshi, who's sitting on a chair beside your own, is just as uncomfortable as the panda, although for very different reasons. Naturally, he feels guilty for leaving you behind with bloodthirsty carnivores and running off into the great unknown in the Black Market of all places. Another part of him, the one controlled by testosterone and other teenage hormones, is as flustered as can be and trying everything he can to avoid unnecessary blood rush to certain places.

To do that, he keeps reminding himself of the mangled and blind antelope, which brings him back to feeling guilty about leaving you and so on. It's a devilish cycle that he's trapped himself in.

Despite all of that, he's happy.

He's happy to see you, to know that you're safe and unharmed. He's happy that you care enough about him to search for him, even if it means possibly putting yourself in harm's way. And with every smile you send his way, every touch you grace him with, his joy grows even more and he doesn't even care that his tail begins to wag gently behind him.

You're holding an ice pack to his cheek, trying to lessen the pain and the swelling of the huge bruise. It is the reason why you keep glancing between Legoshi and Gouhin, eying the former with kindness and the latter with an astonishingly intimidating I know you hit him and I'm going to go full Gordon Ramsey on your ass look.

To be fair, the panda and you have not spoken one word to each other. Valentina was the one who brought the ice to you after you noticed the bruise and you're guessing it's where she got the whiskey from. You're not sure if you even want to speak to him. Right now, you're fine with ignoring that kung fu panda turned military dad with anger issues replica.

"Does it still hurt?" you ask softly, your voice merely a whisper but you know he can hear you.

"A little bit," is your answer, "but we don't have to wait here until it stops. We can go now if you want, I'm okay."

He takes note of your disbelieving look. "Really, I'm fine. You shouldn't worry about me."

"Well I do, which means we'll stay here until I say you're good to go, you Lego-head. We're already late, so another fifteen minutes or so won't kill us, " you give him a bittersweet smile and lift the icepack a little to take a look at the bruise, "Well, at least the swelling's gone down a bit."

"Lego-head?" The chuckle that vibrates in his throat is like music to your ears and you can't help the heat in your cheeks when you spot the gentle, amused gleam in his eyes.

"What?" you reply, fully intending to keep the nickname, "It fits, seeing as you keep getting yourself into these stupid situations. I think Lego-head describes you perfectly."

And again, his face darkens with guilt and he scoots a little closer to you. "I'm sorry, Y/n. I keep dragging you into my messes."

"Meh, it's alright," you boop his noise playfully, not knowing how much that little gesture excited the young wolf, "Friends stand by each other, through the bad and the good. That doesn't mean that I won't go through with buying you a collar and a leash if you don't stop getting yourself hurt."

The (mostly) playful threat tickles another chuckle out of him and when you make the mistake of glancing over at Valentina, she wiggles her eyebrows and nods in the direction of the wolf. Immediately, you blush and go back to staring at Legoshi.

A gravelly voice ruins the peace as its owner clears his throat and leans forward with his elbows against his legs.

"So, you're name's Y/n?" He asks, his tone almost suspiciously neutral, "And you're the human I've heard so much about?"

"Yes, I'm Y/n," you reply, having learnt that apparently, no one here has a surname," and it depends on what you've heard about me. But I'm human and as far as I know, I'm the only one that is currently a part of society. Why do you ask?"

You see no sense in hiding your obvious distaste and suspicion towards the man. Hell, when you catch Valentina's silently snicker into her glass, you even feel a slight surge of pride. You don't know enough about Gouhin to have any reason to be kind to him. Sure, he found Legoshi but he's also the one that hit him and for all you know, he's the reason why you couldn't find him in the first place. A glance around his living room, particularly his bookshelves, tells you that he's very passionate about psychology and medicine. Valentina had told you that he's a doctor, as well as the guard of the Black Market. She also told you that he likes to help carnivores fight against their instincts and to treat those that he deems at risk.

Although you'd like to believe in the good aspects of a person, you don't know what kind of psychologist Gouhin is, except that he seemingly has a tendency to punch people. Maybe it's just you but that does not sound like someone, who could help you get mentally stable.

You've seen enough psychologists that say, that they want to help people, when in reality, they're just the exorcists and witch hunters of the modern times. They claim to help, to care and to know the answers to your suffering but in the end, they just make everything worse and then you have to find another psychologist or therapist to treat whatever the first one did to you.

So despite your gut telling you that the panda isn't a terrible person, your brain has established that he should probably visit a therapist himself.

He's also a big fan of porn, apparently. There are quite a lot of magazines, just lying around the room. There's a bunny one, a panda one, a canine one and most surprisingly, a porn magazine about whales. So now, you're mentally screaming.

Your gaze settles onto the panda with a hefty glare and truthfully, you are not sure if his eyes are even open.

"Oh, I'm just curious," he chuckles, "I've never seen a real one before."

"That's what I said too," Valentina joins in, her velvety voice indicating that she is not affected by the alcohol at all, "Should've seen her reaction when I told her about the porn magazines."

Legoshi tenses up as he hears that but you write it off as him being embarrassed by the topic. Little do you know, that he has one of those dreadful magazines in his backpack, thanks to the panda.

Gouhin sighs as Valentina swings an arm over his shoulder and the feline snickers, "That girl is a real sugarcube, I tell you. Ran through the entire Black Market just to save her friend, so sweet, isn't it? Remember when you did that for me once or twice, pal?"

"That's because you stole my wallet and ran off to spend it all," the panda deadpans.

"Ah," Valentina sighs contently, "Good times, ey?"

You can't help but snicker at the interaction. Still, you didn't forget that Valentina somehow knew that you're dead and that apparently, you're not the first one.

Whatever the hell that means.

"How have your interactions with carnivores been so far?" Gouhin asks, his tone serious as he completely ignores his feline friend, "Any trouble or something like that?"

You ponder over your answer for a moment, wondering if you should really indulge in his racist standpoint. You decide to go for it because what do you have to lose? Nothing, exactly.

"Besides the occasional near heart attacks from this big dufus right here," you point to Legoshi," and another asshole of a tiger, carnivores have actually been rather kind to me. Frankly, it's the herbivores that act like absolute pricks because they don't have any boundaries."

You stare straight at him and can only hope that you're staring into his eyes, your tone neutral but seasoned with a teaspoon of sass. "If I told you that I got assaulted by an herbivore just because he thought I was a carnivore, would you believe me? Or would you take the side of the herbivore, simply because he's an herbivore and I'm not?"

You don't miss how Legoshi tenses up once more, seeing as you never told him about your first interaction with Louis.

"But humans are herbivo-"

"Actually, they're not," you interrupt him, shaking your head," we're omnivores, like pigs, red pandas and maned wolfs. We can survive with and without meat, although we can't even digest most raw meat without risking our health but the same goes for a lot of vegetables as well. Though some vegetables just taste nasty when they're raw, like onions or potatoes. Ever tried raw onions before?"

He shakes his head.

"It's painful, let me tell you that much. Definitely not good."

You ignore the strange look Legoshi sends you and instead focus your attention back on the stunned Panda. "If I were you, I'd start to expand my horizon a little, buddy. Not every carnivore's a beast and not every herbivore is as innocent as society makes them believe they are. Growing up, I learnt that everyone has the potential to be a monster. It's a lesson I'll never forget and I recommend you learn it, Gouhin."

Once more, you lift the icepack and examine the reddish bruise. "The swelling's almost gone now. How are you feeling?"

"Good...it doesn't hurt anymore," he admits and you narrow your eyes at him, "Really, I promise that I'm fine."

"Are you sure? Did you get hurt anywhere else?"

He sighs with a smile," No, I'm okay. I promise. Can we please go now? I don't want you to get into even more trouble because of me."

Contemplating whether or not he's fine enough to go back into the big, bad outside world, you furrow your brows and stare at him. Then, you give in with a sigh and a quiet "alright".

Standing up, you grab your bag and pull it over your shoulder before making sure you wouldn't accidentally leave anything behind. After that's cleared, your eyes meet Valentina's, who's own chocolate brown orbs glow with sultry mischief. Unsurprisingly, she downs the rest of her whiskey in one go and strides over to you before engulfing you in a tight hug.

"Until next time, sweetie. Watch out for yourself out there, okay?" She whispers into your ear and you nod, responding with a quiet, "Bye, Valentina. Thank you for helping me."

She releases you and Gouhin stands up as well, though thankfully, not to give you a hug. Instead, you nod at him and he opens the door for you and Legoshi.

When the door closes behind you, it's just the two of you in dark of the night. It's not as peaceful as in Cherryton, not even the stars refuse to shine as bright over the city. The lights that you spot in between the buildings are pretty but they cannot erase the mess this entire day has put you through.

You exhale a tired sigh and begin to walk, following the trail that Valentina had described to you when you had asked her about the way back to the subway station.

"Come on, Lego-head. Let's get going. I'm tired as fuck."

And steadily, the wolf and you fall into a comfortable pace. The conversation's dead, at least for now. The wolf has no idea what to say and you want to give the wolf time to sort out his mind; not to mention that the weight of today now settles onto your shoulders. The many spurts of adrenaline had done their job and successfully dried you out.

Legoshi's hands are buried in his pockets, his brows slowly furrowing in anger as he goes over the panda's words once more.

Tch, try it and see for yourself. Keep the magazine. This is ridiculous!

Without thinking, he grabs your hand and starts running again, pulling you with him. You squeak in surprise at this but put all your energy into your legs to try and not trip over your own feet like squidward. But you have to hand it to the wolf, he's fast as fuck.

Legoshi go zoom! Haha...
I'm so fucking tired.

It feels liberating to run. It's like you're running off all the frustration and panic, all the fears that you've encountered today; you can't help the small grin as you pant heavily. Legoshi feels the same way as he follows his natural instinct to run.

What I heard today, I want to forget it all! I want to pretend it never happened! All of it!

Slowly, he feels his anger slip away and he begins to become aware of your skin on his fur, of your hand in his. That's when he realizes that maybe, he doesn't want to forget everything that happened today.

Because despite everything, despite all of the pain I caused you...you still came looking for me. You stayed by my side.

I...I don't want to forget everything....because it brought me closer to you! I get to feel your hand in mine!

He glances back at you, your face glistening with sweat and in the rainbow of the colourful lights around you.

Y/n....I want to keep you safe. I don't want to hurt you anymore.

It doesn't take long for the two of you to arrive at the station, we could have probably beat Sonic at that speed, and you're surprised to see a familiar figure waiting there, holding a bag.

Finally, you and Legoshi come to a stop and both of you hunch over as you pant heavily and try to get air back into your lungs.

Lungs, meet Air. Air, meet Lungs. Please get along and don't fight over who gets to keep the lawnmower. My red blood cells need you, guys.

"Legoshi! Y/n!" Aoba calls out as he makes his way over to you guys, your bag in hand, "Hey."

"Aoba," Legoshi greets the Eagle and you nod, still unable to form words because shit, I'm about to throw up, " Why are you here?"

"First off, I still got your things, Y/n," He hands you your bag and you wheeze in gratitude. Then, he turns back to the wolf. "Yeah, I had to get out of there. I couldn't actually bring myself to eat that old man's finger."

Legoshi's jaws drop slightly in awe at his friend. You're still wheezing and violently huffing and puffing. But you manage to send the eagle a proud thumps up.

"When I thought about the president and Louis and all the herbivore friends that I have, I just started feeling nauseous." Ay congratulations, that is called a conscience, my guy.

Legoshi stares at his friend, seeing the effect that incident had on the other boy.

Aoba... Right now that beak of yours as a carnivore looks so sharp and beautiful.

He couldn't help the tears that begin to well up in his eyes. He tries to wipe them away while Aoba continues to apologize but only more keep coming. Meanwhile, you've finally caught your breath.

"Hey listen, sorry about earlier. Sorry to you too, Y/n. I know we've frightened you quite a bit and...you have every right to be angry at us, at me. Let's go back. Huh?" finally, he notices that the wolf is crying," Legoshi, are you-? Shoot, I don't have a Handkerchief. Are you okay?"

Of course, seeing your favourite, usually so stoic wolf cry catches you off guard but you rub his back in an attempt to comfort him. Although you figure, he just needs to let it out.

Everybody has to cry sometimes and you think, that after the day that he had today, it would've been surprising if he hadn't began to cry.

And when you hug his side, even though he's crying, Legoshi's tail begins to wag and gently hit your spine every once in a while. He wouldn't say it out loud but he's grateful that you're here with him and he's grateful for Aoba.

He's grateful, that he's not alone.

We want to stand firm on our own. On our feet, with our own claws, in this world.

Both Aoba, Y/n and I. That's all.

Just to stand firm on our own feet. 

****

Heyho! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Personally, I think it was a nice way to end episode six, especially because I got to call Legoshi Lego-head Ꮚ˘ ꈊ ˘ Ꮚ It doth filleth my soul with warmth.

I put some personal experiences in there because that is part of my humour. Sharing my very stupid decisions and actions.

Story goes as such: I had a really bad cold, which meant that I was constantly coughing and such. The kind of cold and cough that makes you feel like you have the bubonic plague. So I researched a bit and found out that onion juice (cause that exists ⊙.☉) helps with that, and it did. I also read about eating onions. And dumbass me thought "hey, let's try to eat raw onion to get healthy again".

Not a good idea.

Also, I hope y'all are pronouncing it like the Onion meme.

It burnt, it tasted awful, it made me cry. Wouldn't recommend. But I was about halfway done with the Onion (how did I survive that? no one knows) when my mom caught me and asked me what the hell I was doing. Found out you're not supposed to eat raw onion.

Now, I'm at that stage in life where I'm thinking "Hey, I could eat a lot of raw onions to build a tolerance for that. Then, when I'm at public gatherings or if I want to scare people, I just whip out an onion and take a bite out of it".

You can see that, if natural selection still existed for humans, I'd be dead because I would be that person to try to touch a sleeping Grizzly JUST BECAUSE I CAN.

Fun fact, I got Disney plus now because I wanted to watch the Hamilton Musical movie. Loved it, cried a lot. Now, I spend the last 24 hours watching 4 out of 5 Pirates of the Carribean movies (●__●)

I'm 18 and clearly, I have no self control. I am unable to adult.

Anyways, It'll be interesting to write the next episode because first off, Legom🐔, second off Jealousy.

So it'll be fun.

I hope y'all are healthy and safe in this shitshow of a year!

See you in chapter 24!