Love Bites Ch.2 - Fate's sense of humor

Love Bites chapter 2
Fate has a cruel sense of humor

He couldn’t believe it; what were the chances? Leo sensed his jaw hanging agape, and so quickly turned his attention back to his book, sorting his thoughts as he randomly flipped through the pages, keeping half and ear open to try and listen to their fast paced conversation.

She was real? And he dreamt about her? He really, honestly dreamt of this wolfess here? And now she was in his first class? Had the ring of Divination to it, but Leo had never been interested in it… could it have been a gift? An undiscovered talent? No… perhaps it was just chance.

Still… he couldn’t let something like this pass by, it could be a sign or something from one of the gods, Lady Khass most likely. But how could he just approach her? He never really liked the way the ‘jocks’ waltzed up to a girl and immediately asked them out… but he could think of no other way to do it now. He didn’t know her, or any of her friends.

“Rasir!” Syria called, calling Leo back from his thoughts. He looked back up from his book, just in time to see Syria dash past him. He turned his head to follow her trajectory, not being subtle in any way.

Syria was running to another wolf, a male wolf. Leo’s heart sank as he watched them embrace each other.

No way, no way could he dream about her, and then meet her, and then find out she had a guy already. Well, who said he was her boyfriend? It could be a brother. It could definitely be a brother… except siblings don’t hug that long… or that way… Leo was an only child, but he was sure brothers didn’t lick their sisters noses either.

Then they began whispering, and Leo strained to hear what was going on…. But he couldn’t make it out. Then the male wolf glanced over at him, causing Leo to quickly look back down at his book, no doubt arousing suspicion, especially because he then heard Syria laugh. Leo cursed himself and fate silently. By the gods, Fate had a cruel sense of humor…

* * * * *

Thaumaturgy passed by way too slow. Syria and the male sat together, of course, and Leo had a perfect vantage point in his corner. He tried to pay attention in class, for once, but every now and then the male would mutter something to Syria, often resulting in her giggling or some other action that just furthered Leo’s frustration and despair.

Finally, the class ended, and the two left. Gloomily Leo filed out of the room with the rest of his classmates and headed back towards his locker.

His day was ruined; actually, every Flameday (Monday) and Shockday (Wednesday) was ruined, as he would have to see them together in the class. Seating was final, so it wasn’t like he could sit in the front of the class either. And, unlike the ‘jocks’, Leo wasn’t the type of guy to tear a couple apart just to keep a piece for himself, no matter how much he wanted to; it just wasn’t him.

And so, he was trapped. Every Thaumaturgy class he’d have to sit and watch, waiting for something to happen that would split them up, like some relationship vulture. Of course, there was always the chance, albeit small, that they would never split up, that they would be together always… and there was also the chance that they were siblings who…

Oh yeah, there was an image he needed.

Leo sighed heavily as he deposited his Thaumaturgy textbook into his locker, keeping with him the Transmuter’s Field guide, as that was his next class. He eyed the Evoker’s Compendium, but decided against taking that as well, nabbing instead, the Abjurist’s Manual, since Abjuration was his third class after Transmutation (don’t you love all these big words?)

At least he could vent in Transmutation; Korin would be there. He never talked to the dragon about relationships, as they had completely different interests in the matter, but today… today he just needed someone to listen. Korin would give advice, undoubtedly, but any advice given would have to be gruesomely translated to woo the appropriate gender.

Leo padded into the classroom and immediately spotted Korin, as he was sitting in the middle of the classroom. It was set up so that the students would be sitting in pairs, nine tables set up in square with two chairs each. Of course that over-friendly dragon would sit in the absolute center.

“What’s wrong?” Korin asked, tilting his head slightly as Leo sat next to him. How did he know something was wrong before Leo even said “hi”? Was it that evident on him that he was crushed?

“Why do you ask?” Leo tested; he wouldn’t put it past the Earth Drake to randomly ask, in hopes of unearthing something to bug Leo about.

“Your ears are flat.” Korin pointed out, lightly tapping his own horns.

Crap. Leo had completely forgot about those… they just shifted so naturally… he didn’t even notice.

Leo forced his lupine ears up to a natural position.

“And your tail is tucked pretty tight.” Korin laughed.

Leo groaned, grabbing his cloth-wrapped tail and holding it on his lap. How many people had noticed that in the hall?

“There go your ears again.”

“ARGH!” Leo slammed his forehead down onto the table, painfully nicking his nose on the edge. Leo whined quietly. This was not helpful at all…

“Seriously now, what’s wrong?” Korin asked, placing a comforting arm around Leo.

Leo yelped, spazzing slightly and quickly scooting his chair away from Korin, obviously a bit paranoid about being touched by the dragon fag.

Korin chuckled, mildly amused by Leo’s paranoia, but slightly hurt as well. All he wanted to do was to help… he really didn’t want Leo to feel that way about him… whether Leo liked it or not, Korin really liked him. He wasn’t sure if he had any sexual feelings yet… but where Leo’s reactions to him had once been humorous… they started to hurt.

Korin held up his hands apologetically before motioning for Leo to answer his question and tell what had caused him to seem so depressed. Leo couldn’t help but notice the hurt look on the dragon’s face, and thought, perhaps, that he had overexagerated a little too much. He was by no means homophobic; he just liked to tease Korin the same way Korin liked to tease him- so long as it remained play…

Hesitantly, Leo relayed the events of his first class, from the time he entered the room, to the time he left it. Even including his sibling theory. He paused at random intervals, searching his friends face for signs that this was humoring him. Korin seemed genuinely intrigued though: there was no smirk, he didn’t interrupt, motioning for Leo to continue when he paused, and most importantly, his eyes weren’t straying places…

Leo had a hard time concentrating though; Korin was wearing his chains. Leo was, by no means, attracted to Korin in any way- although he had to admit, Korin had good tone- but he looked good in his chain and ring outfit. He had a large metal ring sitting in the center of his chest, held in place by six chains that went around his neck, waist, and so forth. Leo was fascinated by it, and had repeatedly told himself to get up the courage and ask Korin were he had gotten it from. But, naturally, he felt awkward going to a queer for fashion info.

After Leo finished, Korin sat there, quietly nodding to himself. Leo was positive he was doing it just to spite him, probably was going to laugh soon anyway.

But he didn’t. “You want my advice?” Korin offered instead.

Leo was slightly shocked, so his answer came out hesitantly. “Uh… sure?”

Korin was barely able to keep a straight face. “Go for the guy.”

Leo hit Korin in the arm as he started laughing. It didn’t really make Leo feel better, even though he knew this was going to happen, it hurt slightly to have Korin make fun of him at a time like this. He was sure he hurt his hand more than he had hurt Korin with his strike as well. Darn those hard muscles…

“Seriously now, stop hurting over this. Just watch them; they may not necessarily be dating. They could simply be old friends. They didn’t kiss, right?”

“Well… he licked her nose…”

Korin Pshawed. “That means nothing, watch.” Without warning, he dived in towards Leo, his tongue hanging out in preparation for a lick identical to the one Leo had seen between the two wolves.

“NO!” Leo cried out, almost falling backwards in his chair as he tried to scoot back again, but Korin had grabbed hold oh his chair leg with his tail, so the whole thing had begun to topple over. Leo had managed to catch himself, grabbing onto the table with one of his paws, but couldn’t pull himself back up because Korin was hovering over him.

They remained in that position, to where if Korin came down a little he’d effectively be laying on Leo, since Leo couldn’t move. Korin was blocking his way up, and he couldn’t fall the rest of the way down because Korin had managed to catch him, one had behind his back, which Leo’s free hand had instinctively grabbed hold of for support, and the other pinning Leo’s other hand to the table.

Leo lay there, staring into Korin’s face, which was currently shaped into an odd looking grin with his tongue still hanging out. Korin didn’t move, didn’t even change his facial expression, which was causing Leo to feel very uncomfortable. Praise Mother there was no one else in the classroom.

Ah… but he thought too soon. For at that moment, the door opened.

And at that moment, Korin dropped him.

Leo fell to the ground with a soft thud. Luckily, Korin had let go of his hand after his back, so he didn’t land on his wings. That would have been painful. Not that he would’ve cared, as long as Korin let go of him he was happy. Fortunately, the person who opened the door did not come in immediately, perhaps they were talking with friends, and so they could not witness the awkward drop.

Why did Korin drop him so fast? Leo was sure it wasn’t for his sake alone, then Korin wouldn’t have done the lick thing in the first place. Could Korin of been embarrassed, not wanting to be found that way? Why? Korin never got embarrassed…

Next time, on Love Bites!

Voice of Leo: Why? I don’t get it… don’t get me wrong. I hated being in that position… it was awkward and… gay. But why would Korin be freaking out about it? Korin never freaks about anything! He couldn’t… he couldn’t be developing… feelings for me… could he…?