TITLE: OLD SCAR
SUBTITLE: a BEASTARS fan work

OPENING

Blue city silhouette at night, full moon. The moon is shining over a still bay, reflecting a double moon. Pull back to show we are at rooftop height. A lean, strong-limbed grey wolf figure is handstanding on the rooftop of a shitty apartment. Below him, a hellish red glow contrasts with the blue night: he is in an apartment above the bustling Black Market. Chest heaving, an older Legoshi finishes his exercise, muscles bulging as he stares down at the market. He lights a cigarette and relaxes, smoking under the moon. The heat of his steaming body blends with the smoke of the cigarette.

Once the cigarette is out, he slips into a loose shirt and opens the rooftop door of the apartment, and goes down to his unit. It's a crummy place; water damage and loose tiles, a few older residents lounging on the stairwell, drinking and smoking. They stare at the huge wolf as he sidles past, bowing slightly. They bow back. He goes into his apartment.

Legoshi's apartment resembles Gohin's. We see the therapy chair setup, the bamboo styling, the photographs of clients. Legoshi is clearly following in Gohin's footsteps, using his own experience to help other young carnivores. He makes bamboo tea in his small kitchen, the hulking grey wolf's ears brushing the ceiling. Legoshi seems pensive, and his hands fumble slightly as he sets out two cups. He checks the time.

MAIN

Legoshi is sitting in his chair sipping tea when there's a knock on the door. He starts, spilling his tea on his pants. He scrubs at it in irritation and gets up heavily, and opens the door. Louis is there staring back at him, in his high school suit and tie.

Legoshi blinks, and Louis is replaced by a young deer man in a hoodie is staring back at him, with short antlers and glasses and intense dark eyes, faintly angry. This is Renault, Louis' son.

L, stunned: "...you were supposed to use the intercom."

R, defiantly: "Someone let me in. He said it was dangerous for an herbivore to stand around outside."

Legoshi stares at him, still taken aback by the resemblence to Louis. Renault stares back.

L, after a moment: "Come in."

Ren brushes past Legoshi, leaving his shoes in the foyer. We see how small his shoes are compared to Legoshi's. Ren wanders into the apartment without asking, confident as a king. He looks around, examining the photos, the chair, the whole space. He notices a small refrigerator in the corner, with incense and prayer papers on it, but makes no comment.

L watches him, in wonder: "You really look just like him."

R, still looking around: "Well, it stands to reason, doesn't it?"

L, awkwardly clasping his hands: "Sit down. I'll bring tea."

Ren sits primly. He watches the big wolf go to the kitchen, notes the scars on his back, the corded forearms, the scuffed fur. Is this the demon wolf his father held in such high regard? He seems so subdued, shy.

Legoshi returns with the tea, tiny cups in his big hands. He hands one cup carefully to Ren, meeting his eyes. A pause, then he sits across from Ren, chair creaking. Ren looks at the cup in those huge hands, a tiny bamboo leaf floating in the water.

L, eyes down: "When you called, I forgot to ask... how did you know where to find me?"

Ren, sipping delicately: "My father told me stories about you, you know. As a kid, I always heard about the hero wolf, the one who fought to protect his classmates, who protected my father. When I grew older, it sounded... well, I knew my father believed it, but I came to understand... the wolf wounded him, took his leg, and something more. He had this look in his eye, when he talked about you, and I started to see that look when he saw something about carnivores on the news, or when I talked about a carnivore classmate... I didn't realize until I was older, how much he still thought about you."

Legoshi lets out a deep breath. He swirls his tea absently, big nails clinking on the porcelain. Ren stares at him intently, looking at the scars on Legoshi's arms. Legoshi raises his gaze, staring back.

R, continuing: "When I was a kid, I always asked him, 'Can we go see Legoshi?', and he always said he didn't know where you were." R shrugs. "But I knew he could have found you. He just didn't want to try. I didn't understand, then."

R puts down his tea, and stands up. He walks to the photographs of Legoshi's patients on the wall. He gestures at them, then looks back at Legoshi. "Then, a year or two ago, there were rumors of a scarred wolf who beat up young predators who were losing their minds in the black market. When I told my father, he got that look in his eye... and I knew, I knew it was YOU. The great grey wolf."

Legoshi puts down his tea, and stands behind Ren. His big feet make the floor creak. Together, they stare at the photographs of young predators. Legoshi sniffs; he smells the old smell of Louis, mixed with the new tones. He puts a hand on Ren's shoulder and guides him back to the chair.

L, gruffly: "Drink your tea."

Legoshi sits back across from him, and Ren silently gulps it down. They stare at each other. 

Legoshi, speaking slowly, twisting his hands: "I don't know what you want from me. Why tell me these things? Louis wouldn't want you to be here."

Ren, quietly: "I don't give a damn what he wants. I wanted to see for myself, what fixated him. After all those stories, my whole life. I had to see you." He crosses his legs, slim in red pants. Legoshi's eyes follow the right foot, clad in its slender black sock. "Ever since he told me you took his foot, I made up my mind to see you."

Legoshi breaths in, deep in his chest. He looks down as Ren's eyes search his face.

L, spreading his hands, showing his great reach: "...so? What do you think?"

R, considering: "...I think I see it. When you look me in the eye, and stop slouching."

L, looking at him: "See what?"

R, leaning back, slim and elegant in the chair: "The way you must have looked at him. The reason he gave you his foot." His dark eyes glitter with a hint of a smile.

Legoshi sniffs, and lurches up. He goes to the kitchen and returns with a bottle of sake and two cups. His brow furrows, and he pours for himself and Ren, who leans forward to take the saucer gingerly from Legoshi.

Legoshi drains his saucer in one gulp, then sweeps an arm out, gesturing toward the photographs on his wall: "Desire can't be willed away. It must be sublimated. I will dedicate the rest of my life to helping young people who struggle with sublimating their desire, as Gohin helped me, as Louis helped me."

R, sipping delicately on his sake: "Out of guilt?"

L, taken aback: "What? No. Out of --" He pauses, licks his lips uncertainly, meeting Ren's gaze.

Ren laughs. He pours another sake shot for both of them. He drinks. "I thought I would come here to accuse you of taking a piece of my father from me. But he also took a piece of you. I understand now."

Legoshi groans, gets up, paces the room. Ren watches the big wolf, admiring the kinetic sureness of his movement, the deft swing of powerful limbs. Ren reaches out, catches Legoshi's hand. Legoshi swings around, looking down from his great height at the smaller man, surprised.

R, wryly: "My father has spent a lot of his life controlling his desires. He holds himself rigidly upright, proud of his control, perhaps rightfully so. He is very rational." Ren lets go of Legoshi's hand, gazing up at him, fingertips grazing Legoshi's pant leg. "But I am not my father."

Legoshi's nose flares, and he inhales deeply of Ren's scent. With a tentative hand, he reaches down and caresses Ren's cheek. The young man doesn't flinch or pull back. 

Legoshi steps back heavily, gathers up the tea things, takes them to the kitchen. He takes another shot of sake, stares into the sink. There's a noise, and he glances into the living room. Renault has taken off his shirt, his lean brown body gleaming in the soft light of the paper lamp. 

CLOSING

After increasingly frenzied lovemaking, Legoshi letting loose, blooding Renault and drawing scars on his chest with his nails at the latter's request, they clean up. Legoshi stitches up Ren's scars, remarking that being intimate with another person involves opening up borders between individuals, merging, then pulling back. Tomorrow, Legoshi will take Ren to the train station; tonight, Ren stays here, but prefers to sleep in the living room. Legoshi goes to his bed, and his dream is of a memory of himself and Louis dancing together, under a watery reflection of a moon