Louis and Legosi are at a furniture store for a little bit of last-minute Rexmas shopping. What could possibly go wrong?

**** Please note - This story is set post-canon and will contain (slight) spoilers for the end of the manga and future seasons of the anime! ****

Just a little piece of fluff for Christmas. Not much to this one, honestly. This might have been a bit of "this is an emotion not a plot" but I really wanted to put Louis in a pillow fort at an IKEA, so I did.

It's been a rough couple of years for everyone, and I hope everyone is doing well. I'm glad that things I've written have touched some people, and I've definitely read lots of great fics that have touched me.

As Jonah Scott finishes his livestreams with: Be excellent to everyone you meet, because everyone is fighting a hard battle and sometimes you can't see it.

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As if the traffic hadn’t been bad enough, the parking lot was pure chaos. Animals were arguing over parking spaces, and sniping parking spots out from under one another. Last minute holiday shoppers with frayed nerves and short tempers were honking at each other and driving as aggressively as they could in the crowded parking lot.

Louis the red deer could feel his temper flaring, but he took a deep breath and tried to let it go. Raging wouldn’t get him anywhere. Besides, he had a trump card for all of this hanging from his rearview mirror.

His handicapped parking permit.

He frequently got a side eye when he got out of his car and seemed to be walking normally, but no one said anything when he revealed that everything below the knee on his right leg was metal and plastic. The huge hulking battle-scarred wolf that frequently got out of the car with him usually quelled any disagreements, too.

Louis didn’t like using the handicapped spaces, but this was an unusual situation. Not only was the parking lot complete pandemonium, but it had started to snow, and the forecast said more snow was coming. Louis and Legosi just needed to grab a couple of things and then get out as quick as they could.

Louis looked at the big grey wolf in the passenger seat. He looked anxious. Legosi always looked anxious, but right now he was all tensed up. The wolf usually liked to ride in the car, but right now that was being overridden by his intense nervousness around crowds. Louis gently put his hand on Legosi’s knee, and the wolf’s shoulders dropped an inch.

Louis looked at his lovely wolf. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. I’ll just grab one of the handicap spots, and we’ll be in and out quick.”

Legosi nodded and grinned softly. “Okay, Louis. I mean, it’s my fault for leaving it to the last minute.”

Louis spotted a gap in the traffic and pulled into one of the two remaining handicapped spots. “We’ll get you planning things one day, Legosi. I promise.” The car rumbled to a stop, and Louis turned the key, looking out at the crowds and the snow. “Ugh. What a miserable day.”

Legosi’s tail swished a couple of times behind him. “I dunno. The snow’s kind of pretty, don’t you think? I’ve always loved the snow. Maybe it’s a wolf thing.”

Louis looked fondly at the wolf. That expression of quiet wonder as those sharp focused eyes watched the snowflakes drifting down against the windshield. As long as they had been together, Louis always found new ways to look at the world through Legosi’s eyes. “I’m guessing it’s more of a wolf thing than a komodo thing.”

Legosi nodded. “Oh for sure. That’s why I want to get grandpa one of those fancy space heaters with the humidifier and stuff. His heater broke and he’s been really uncomfortable.”

Louis took a deep breath and steeled himself before opening his door. “Okay. You ready? We just need a couple of things, and then we can go home and have some mulled cider by the fire.”

Legosi nodded and grabbed the door handle. “Ready.”

They’d fought in gang wars together, but facing a heavy crowd of angry holiday shoppers still stressed them out. Louis had to chuckle. He pushed open his door at the same time as Legosi and they stood up into the cold winter air.

“You don’t look very handicapped to me, asshole!” yelled an angry beaver from his car window. He shut up immediately when Louis pulled up his pant leg to show off his prosthetic. He drove off quickly when faced with a scowling, quietly growling giant wolf.

The snow was starting to really come down. It was just below freezing, so the air was thick with those giant fluffy flakes. Legosi’s ear flicked and his tail swished softly back and forth as he watched the snow drifting through the air.

Louis grabbed Legosi’s hand and tugged him towards the doors, navigating them both through the constant stream of animals flowing in and out of the store. Bumping elbows and shoulders, some light pushing and shoving as the deer and wolf shouldered their way through the crowd and into the warmth of the building.

Frankly, it was a little too warm. Louis and Legosi quickly opened their jackets in the press of animals on all sides. They struggled their way into the building until they found a little space near the customer service desks, and were able to catch their breath.

A store greeter with obviously frayed nerves, an exhausted looking ferret, waved at Louis and Legosi as they looked around.

She started to say “Welcome to-” but was cut off by Louis.

“Okay, look,” he paused to read her name tag, “Steph. You have obviously been fighting with this crowd for hours. I just need to know, is it as crazy in there as it is out here?”

Steph’s laugh had an edge of mania to it, “Haha! Well, you’re lucky you weren’t here about an hour ago! HAHA! Yeah, it’s been a lot!” She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a second, trying to calm herself a little. “It’s fine. Everything’s fine.” She looked up at Louis and Legosi and continued, “It’s not quite as wild in there as out here. The big rush has already passed through, and it seems like more animals are leaving than coming in.”

Legosi crouched down next to the ferret. “Do you need anything? A bottle of water or something?”

Steph turned to Legosi, looking like she might cry. “Th-thank you, but I’m not allowed to leave the door area, and…”

Legosi stood up quickly and stalked away around the corner.

Louis chuckled a little as Steph’s eyes followed him in confusion. “He’ll be right back. I think he’s just going to the vending machines.”

Sure enough, Legosi appeared back around the corner in a moment, and crouched down next to the frazzled ferret presenting her with a bottle of water and snack bar. “Here, gotta keep that blood sugar up and stay hydrated.”

Steph’s eyes glistened.

Legosi put his big hand on the little ferret’s shoulder. “You’re doing a great job, okay?”

The little ferret leapt to hug Legosi around the neck, mumbling thank yous into his fluff.

After a moment, wolf and deer walked away from the refreshed ferret and into the furnished labyrinth of the furniture store. Louis elbowed Legosi gently and grinned. “No wonder everyone ends up loving you, you absurd wolf.”

Legosi shrugged a little, awkwardly. “I uh, I wouldn’t say everyone. Anyway, I know what it’s like to have to work through a rush. We had them at the noodle shop often enough.”

Louis laughed and hooked his arm around Legosi’s elbow. “Okay, so not everyone, just everyone you meet. Anyway, she was right, it’s much less crushing in here than it was out there. Let’s find what we need and get going.”

It wasn’t quite that simple, of course. You had to wend your way through the little furnished bedroom and living room set-ups. The entire place was designed to encourage an impulse buy. Wouldn’t that lovely vase look great on the kitchen island like that? Wouldn’t that shark plush make an adorable throw pillow? Oh, that little area rug is just the right colour for our living room!

Louis was having none of it. Legosi was easily distracted, but Louis made sure he didn’t stare too long at some cute little side table in a clever shape. “No, Legosi, we don’t need that. C’mon, we’re on a mission!”

Legosi’s tail was swishing softly behind him the whole time. As much as crowds made him nervous, something about the warm domesticity of the bedroom sets and assembled living rooms while holding Louis’s hand just made him feel content and warm.

He also knew that Louis struggled a lot at this time of year. His childhood hadn’t exactly been full of warmth and joy and love. He’d also lost both his adoptive father and the closest he’d ever had to a dad at around this time of year.

Legosi saw those two golden strands of mane on Louis’s nightstand every day.

Sometimes Legosi felt like he needed to give a little bit of Louis’s childhood back to him to make up for those carnivores that had taken it away from him.

The wolf caught a glimpse of the heater they wanted in the adjacent room. “Louis! Over there!”

Just before they got there, three staff members came walking quickly through the display area talking between themselves. A tall male fox asked, “What, again?”

“Yeah,” replied a female rhino. “It’s totally blocked. Everyone’s going to have to go out the front again tonight.”

The fox replied, “Where did that jerk learn how to drive a snow plow? Ugh.”

A male chameleon shrugged. “It happened a few times last year. Dude completely blocked the back exits with drifts of snow. They’ll get it cleared up tomorrow.”

Legosi watched them walk past, catching their little snippet of conversation. He plucked at Louis’s sleeve. “Sounds like the snow’s getting serious out there. Let’s get this settled up and leave.”

Louis finished writing down the item number so they would be able to grab it from the warehouse. “Yeah, let’s get going. Is there anything else we need?”

Legosi’s eyes wandered around the room and Louis gave his hand a squeeze.

“Need, Legosi. Not want.” The deer chuckled fondly.

Legosi’s ear flicked. “No, I think we’re good. Let’s get moving.”

There were far fewer shoppers walking through the maze of bedroom and living room sets, and the wolf and deer managed to get through the next few with a minimum of shoving and crowding. It was practically pleasant until they got to the warehouse.

Pandemonium.

Louis and Legosi looked over the sea of animals pushing, shoving, shouting, and crowding around the stacks of boxes of flat pack furniture.

Legosi shuffled his feet. “Um, let’s just hang back for a bit, I think.”

Louis leaned a little against Legosi. “Yeah, we have no need to rush or anything. Let’s go back to that last living room set.”

They both turned away and returned to the nicely manicured living room sets decorated with twinkling lights for Rexmas. Legosi’s eyes followed the dancing lights and his tail swished softly back and forth. “Do we need any more lights at home?”

Louis laughed. “No, Legosi, we’ve got lots of lights at home. There are still two boxes we haven’t deployed yet. Do you want to put them up in the bedroom? Or just more in the living room.

Legosi grinned. “The bedroom! I could stare at them forever.” His tail swished softly back and forth.

Louis looked up at the wolf’s calm and serene face bathed in the flashing colour shifting LED lights. He could stare at Legosi’s face forever.

Louis’s reverie was interrupted by a loud thump, followed by complete darkness. He felt Legosi’s arms wrap around him, the movement instinctively protective. Louis pulled out his smartphone and turned on the flashlight just as some emergency lights turned on high above them.

Legosi’s ears were swiveling and he sniffed the air. “What’s going on? It’s a blackout!”

Louis shone the phone’s flashlight around the room they were in. “I don’t know. There was a loud noise, maybe that plow driver they were talking about hit a pole or something?”

Legosi shrugged. “Let’s head out towards the exit. Hopefully it’s not a warzone over there.”

Between the dim glow of the emergency lights, the staff carrying flashlights, and the dozens of smartphone flashlights, the path through the warehouse to the exit was decently illuminated. With the power out, everyone was just abandoning their prospective purchases, since they couldn’t scan anything and the tills weren’t operating. Most animals didn’t pay cash for furniture purchases, so without any way to make payment, animals were leaving disappointed.

Louis and Legosi were towards the back of the crowd leaving the area, a little group of stragglers trying to hang back a little to avoid being elbowed and jostled too much in the rush to reach the bottleneck of the exit doors.

There was another loud thunk, and the lights flickered back on. Everyone paused for a moment as they flickered a couple of times and a few shoppers tried to re-enter the store. The staff continued to urge everyone to leave as the lights flickered ominously again.

Legosi pointed to the door. “Well, that’s disappointing, but we’ll be home soon, I guess.”

Louis replied, “I can’t wait. This whole thing has been unpleasant.”

Legosi’s tail drooped, and his ears fell flat against his head. “Sorry, Louis. I didn’t mean to put you through all of this.”

Louis patted Legosi’s arm and leaned up to kiss him on the cheek. “It’s not your fault, hon. Your grandpa’s heater just broke last week, didn’t it? It would have been this busy any time we tried to do this before Rexmas.”

Legosi shrugged. “I guess, but still-”

He was cut off by a panicked scream from the doorway. “Look out!”

Louis didn’t get a good view of what was happening. There was a mad dash for the door by the animals already close to the exit, then a loud and shattering crash. “What the hell just happened?”

Legosi was standing up on his toes to try and see more clearly what was going on. “I think the plow just rammed the front door of the store! The big gate came crashing down!”

Louis felt a prickle of panic run down his spine. “Was anyone hurt? Can you tell?”

Legosi’s head tilted up and he sniffed at the air in long draughts. “I don’t smell any blood or anything. But it looks like they’re trying to raise the gate and they can’t.”

A couple of store staff came jogging up to the small crowd of animals who hadn’t managed to get out of the big box shop. One of them, a tiger about Louis’s height, started to explain, “Hey everyone! Sorry about all of this, it looks like there’s a bit of an accident at the front of the store, but we’re all going to have to sit tight while we get some technicians to repair the gate!” He finished a little breathlessly, his tail twitching nervously behind him.

The tall lanky great dane who was with him waved towards the furnished displays. “Everyone, please go take a seat. There’s lots of comfortable rooms to sit and relax. We’ll have everyone out as soon as possible!”

Someone in the small crowd of shoppers asked, “Isn’t there an emergency exit or something?”

The great dane replied, “There is, but the snow plow driver blocked it with a great big snow drift, and then it all froze, and we’re still trying to get that sorted, too! Don’t worry, everyone just relax and we’ll get things taken care of!”

There was some general murmuring, and Louis and Legosi wandered back into the pleasantly furnished labyrinth.

Louis chuckled to himself, and Legosi asked, “What’s up?”

“I’m living in a bad sitcom plot, Legosi. Trapped in a furniture store at Rexmas?” the deer tilted his head back and laughed.

Legosi chuckled a little and gently tugged Louis to the bedroom set display they had liked the most a few minutes before. “Guess we should make ourselves comfortable?” the big wolf said softly, sitting gingerly on the edge of one of the sofas.

Louis looked around the fake room, kicked off his shoes, and flopped onto the display bed, holding his arms out to invite Legosi to join him.

Legosi’s tail wagged a couple of times, and a grin curled at the edges of his lips as he tugged his own shoes off and climbed into the bed next to Louis.

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(Louis) – It’s been three days. Food supplies are low. Legosi may have to eat my other leg.

(Haru) – Legosi just texted me. You’ve been there for 20 minutes.

(Louis) – I don’t remember your face. I miss the sunlight, the warm touch of the wind on my cheek.

(Haru) – You are an unbelievable drama queen.

(Louis) – If we don’t make it, bury Legosi and I together in the family plot. Our bones will intertwine for eternity.

(Haru) – How the actual fuck did we not figure out you were gay back in high school?

(Louis) – The darkness approaches. Do not mourn me too long, Haru.

(Haru) – I just sprained something rolling my eyes.

(Louis) – At last I bid farewell to this world.

(Haru) – I just showed this to Juno and she sprained something rolling her eyes, too.

Louis was interrupted by Legosi slipping back into the bedroom set with a couple plates of food from the in-store diner.

Legosi’s tail was waving awkwardly. “Here, I picked you up something. It’s not mulled cider, but I thought you might be hungry.”

Louis took the plate with the little fried vegetable patties in a thick mushroom gravy. He arched his eyebrow at Legosi. “You look nervous. What’s going on?”

“N-nothing!” lied Legosi, badly. “But h-hey, we made it onto the news! Look!” The wolf pulled out his phone and flashed a news story to Louis before he started explaining, “After all that snow, the temperature took a sudden nosedive. So, when we heard the staff talking about blocking the back doors to the building, that whole snowdrift froze solid, and then the guy managed to skid the plow into the front of the building. Looks like he may have been intoxicated or something.”

“Ugh!” groaned Louis. “How annoying. No one hurt, I hope?”

Legosi scanned the article and popped one of the patties into his mouth. “Well, looks like some minor injuries at the door when the truck crashed through. Some bumps and scrapes, but mostly everyone got out of the way. There’s some pictures of the door. Looks like the plow actually bent the frame of the gate, so they can’t get it raised again. So they’re trying to get the back doors of the place de-iced, while at the same time they’re waiting for some workers to be able to cut the big gate open again.”

Louis groaned and flopped back onto the bed.

Legosi gently put his hand on Louis’s stomach, rubbing gently, and Louis closed his eyes.

Legosi’s phone buzzed, and Louis could hear the wolf chuckle.

“What’s so funny?” asked Louis.

Legosi covered his muzzle with one hand trying to stifle his laughter. “Oh. Um. Haru sent me a screenshot of your conversation.”

Louis draped his arm across his forehead. “That little traitor.”

Legosi snorted and patted Louis’s belly softly. “At least we’ve got power. It could be-”

Louis sat up and grabbed Legosi’s muzzle with his hand, holding it shut. “Do. Not. Finish. That. Sentence.”

Legosi’s eyes went wide and he nodded, mutely.

Louis sighed and released the wolf’s muzzle and flopped back onto the bed, only to hear a familiar voice saying, “Excuse me, sir. Please don’t climb on the bedding sets.”

Legosi and Louis turned to see Steph standing at the entry to the fake bedroom. She perked when she realized who it was. “Oh! It’s you! Thank you so much for, um… earlier. I’m… um… supposed to make sure no one’s on the bedding sets, but, um… well…” she trailed off for a moment before she continued, “Listen, just don’t tell anyone, okay?”

Legosi tilted his head at the little ferret, and asked, “Maybe if we hid? We… um, we could make a pillow fort or something.”

Louis held up his credit card. “I’m the CEO of Horns. What if I just bought this bedroom set, then could we put our feet up on it?”

Steph made a small strangled noise, then cleared her throat. “Oh! Um. Yes, I mean, that’s fine. You, um… really don’t have to do that.” She looked furtively around. “Tell you what, I’ll close off this room with the little retractable belt thingies, and you guys can stay here, but if you hid a little behind some pillows, it might make it a little easier.”

Legosi’s tail wagged. “Okay, Steph. That sounds like fun. Um, can I ask you just one more favour?”

Louis sat up and watched Legosi whisper something to the ferret who nodded. She closed off the bedroom set with the retractable belts, then scurried off.

Legosi grabbed all of the cushions from the sofa on one side of the room and stacked them on the bed before heading to the loveseat. “Pull some blankets out, Louis. We’ll make a fort to sit in!”

Louis couldn’t help but grin fondly at the big wolf eager to make a pillow fort, his tail whipping back and forth behind him.

He stood up from the bed and tugged the duvet and the top sheet off. “Okay, how does this work? I’ve never made a blanket fort before.”

“Never?” asked Legosi, aghast.

“It can’t be that hard, right?” laughed Louis. “You can teach me.”

“Of course, Louis! You’ll love it!”

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Louis did have to admit it was comfortable. Though he was not entirely impressed that Legosi had managed to drape a string of the colour changing LED Rexmas lights over and around his antlers in a sparkling halo. “Is this really necessary?”

Legosi nodded. “We need some light in here, right?”

Louis rolled his eyes and leaned back against the cushions behind him, petting Legosi’s head in his lap. The wolf’s legs were sticking out of the fort because he was getting a little too warm all bundled up in pillows and blankets.

Louis found it very comfortable.

Legosi rumbled softly, relaxed. “You never made one of these growing up?”

Louis shrugged. “I never had any friends my own age. And Oguma wasn’t exactly the pillow fort type.”

“No, that makes sense, I guess. That’s a little sad.”

Louis smirked. “You’re absurdly sentimental, you know that? Anyway, what other favour were you getting Steph to do for you?”

Legosi’s ears flicked up sharply. “Oh, um, nothing, really. I just um… wanted… her to… set aside one of those heaters for grandpa!”

Louis ran his hands over the wolf’s ears. “There’s no one shopping right now, Legosi. No one’s going to take the last one when we can’t even get out of the store.”

“I was just making sure!” said Legosi, defensively.

Louis decided to drop it. It was Rexmas, and the wolf’s lie made it perfectly clear that he was trying to get something for Louis. He had told the wolf over and over that he neither wanted nor needed anything, but if he was so determined, he wouldn’t get in the wolf’s way.

They heard someone clearing their throat outside of their warm fortress. “Hello?” asked Steph.

Legosi slipped out and greeted the little ferret. “A-are we hidden well enough?”

Both Steph’s and Legosi’s voices dropped to whispers, and Louis rolled his eyes. He couldn’t quite make out what they were saying due to the muffling effects of the blankets, and then Legosi slipped back into the pillow fort.

Legosi’s ears were flat against his head. “Um, so, good news! The crew just started working on the gate! Looks like we’ll be out of here soon.”

“And why did she have to whisper that information to you?” asked Louis.

Legosi cleared his throat. “Oh. Um. No reason. Just didn’t want to start a stampede to um… to the door? In case someone overheard?”

Louis shook his head just a little, the motion throwing multi-coloured shadows across the inside of the blankets and pillows surrounding them.

Legosi’s eyes were instantly captivated by the motion. He murmured, “Can we get a set of these lights for you at home?”

“Absolutely not!” shot back Louis. “I look ridiculous.”

Legosi looked up into Louis’s face and smiled that guileless, loving smile. He lifted one of his big hands to softly cup Louis’s cheek. “No, you look beautiful. Wreathed in light. You look like an angel.”

Louis’s ear flicked. He sighed softly and leaned down to gently kiss Legosi’s nose tip. “I don’t think I’ll ever quite see myself the way you look at me, my dear.”

Legosi’s tail whapped against the bed.

A loud screech made them both jump. The squeal of metal on metal made both of them cover their ears, even protected as they were by all the cushions.

Legosi looked up at Louis and half-yelled, “I guess they’re finally cutting the gate open!”

They stayed hidden in their soft fortress for a few minutes until the loud grinding died away, and they heard Steph approaching. “Good news, they say they’re about to get the gate open! We’re really sorry for all of the inconvenience!”

Legosi pulled himself upright in the bed, dramatically pulling apart the blanket fort, and getting himself tangled in the sheets in the process. Steph and Louis took a few minutes to extract the wolf from the cocoon, and he emerged, laughing and wagging.

Louis couldn’t help but grin. He leaned in to kiss the wolf’s cheek and turned to Steph. He pointed at his halo of Rexmas lights and asked, “Do you have these in just white instead of multicoloured?”

“Absolutely!” she chirped. “I’ll grab them for you and you can pick them up on your way out. Our tills are working again, so anything you were here to purchase, you’ll be able to buy on your way out.”

Louis pointedly ignored the exaggerated wink that the ferret gave Legosi.

The wolf stammered a little, “Um, yeah… we uh… just need that heater. The one with the humidifier.”

Steph nodded. “Easy! It’ll all be ready for you on your way out. Thanks again, Legosi! It was my pleasure meeting you and…?”

Louis extended his hand to Steph. “Louis. The pleasure was ours.”

Steph giggled a little and scampered off towards the warehouse to assemble their parcels for their exit.

Louis hooked his elbow in Legosi’s and they strolled towards the exit along with all of the few remaining shoppers.

A middle-aged fox couple was bickering and seemed about to lash out at one of the staff, but decided not to press their luck when Legosi showed his teeth and grumbled at them, “They’re doing their best in a bad situation, you know.”

They found Steph with their cart of items, including a mysterious parcel that Legosi quickly slipped behind his back before Louis could see what it was. The ferret thanked them once again and guided them over to the tills with the heater and two packs of the white lights.

Legosi nuzzled softly at Louis’s ear. “Are you going to let me put those in your antlers again?”

Louis smirked. “Only if you show me what’s behind your back, you naughty dog.”

Legosi’s tail stopped wagging and his ears drooped. “I was just trying to surprise you.”

“It wasn’t the best atmosphere for a surprise, we spent the whole time together,” laughed Louis.

Legosi pouted. “At least let me show you in the car.”

“Okay, okay. Don’t give me the puppy dog eyes, you know I’m helpless against them.”

Legosi’s tail swished a few times as he paid for his grandpa’s Rexmas gift, and then waited until Louis had pushed the cart a little way away to pay for the mystery gift.

Legosi caught up to Louis and took control of the cart, pushing it towards the big sliding exit doors, the mangled remains of the metal security grate still being cut away by the workers.

The temperature had dropped considerably, and the icy blast from the doors made Louis shiver from head to toe.

Outside of the doors, a couple of local news camera crews were trying to get statements from anyone who had been trapped inside the store. Louis and Legosi skirted around them as gracefully as they could, anxious to be on their way.

Once the humidifier was loaded into the car, and Louis and Legosi were safely in their seats, Louis started the car, then turned to Legosi as heat started to blast through the vents. “So?”

Legosi sighed softly. “So… I know this time of year is rough on you, Louis. And, you said not to get you anything, but I saw this when I went and got the food earlier, and I mean… I only met him that one time, but it sort of reminded me…” the wolf pulled out a little plush lion toy wearing little square glasses. “And… I mean, I know you miss those guys while they’re still serving time and everything, and I just thought…”

Louis’s eyes were swimming. He reached out and gently took the lion toy from Legosi, and looked into its eyes through those little square glasses.

Legosi watched Louis for a little while. The deer hadn’t said anything, and was just staring at the little toy. Legosi cleared his throat and said softly, “I’m sorry for being so sentimental, but I just thought…”

Louis sobbed.

That whole night played out in Louis’s head again. The car, the tunnel, the shot, then the bridge, the fight, his leg. Louis squeezed his burning eyes closed for just a moment. He sniffed and wiped his nose on his sleeve, rubbing the tears from his cheeks.

“Louis? Are you okay?”

The red deer squeezed the little toy against his chest and leaned across to wrap his other arm around Legosi’s shoulder, hugging him as tightly as he could in the car. Louis buried his muzzle into the thick fluff of Legosi’s neck and sighed softly. “You can be as sentimental as you want, you ridiculous wolf. I love you so much.”

Legosi slipped his arm around Louis to squeeze him back softly. “I love you too, Louis. I’m glad you like it.” The sound of the wolf’s tail thumping against the car door made Louis chuckle.

Louis pulled away from the hug and looked down at the little plush lion again. He ran his hand gently over the fluffy mane and gave it another little squeeze. “So… to your grandpa’s place next, then home?”

Legosi nodded and leaned in to softly kiss Louis on the cheek. “Yeah. And I’m going to put those lights in your antlers again.”

Louis laughed and started to pull out of the parking lot. “You’re not going to embarrass me again by sending pictures of me like that to Haru and Juno, are you?”

“I absolutely am!” replied Legosi with a giggle. “Merry Rexmas, Louis.”

“Merry Rexmas, Legosi.” Louis smiled.

Legosi’s tail thumped against the car door again. He felt like he could look at Louis’s smile forever.