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And so a new year began, in a new country, with new people to meet.

It is 8:30 am, Leo was leaning on the window as usual, staring outside with his shining blue eyes when Chris entered his room.

"Leo ! Are you okay?" The Shiba smiled encouragingly while putting a hand on the wolf's shoulder.

"I hope it doesn't start again like in France. Even though i know there is no reason for it, it scares me a bit." Leo sighed, turning around.

"You said it all yourself, there is no reason. And don't forget I'm here" Chris smiled at him "Come on, the new student meeting starts in thirty minutes, you better not be late."

The two left the dormitory and headed for the amphitheater where the meeting was to take place. They knew it would not be difficult to find the room, as they had scoped out the campus yesterday.

The meeting lasted almost an hour and forty-five minutes, which gave new students just fifteen minutes to get to their first class of the year at 11 am. Leo and Christophe, following different programs, found they would have very few classes together. The two friends planned to meet to eat together just after their first class in front of the university dining hall.

As Leo walked towards his first class, he was shoved in the shoulder by a large dog that he didn't have a chance to identify. And the dog didn't take the time to stop either, though Leo could hear him apologize as he ran off.

"He could have been more careful..." He said quietly, lowering his head so no one would notice, then suddenly grabbing his shoulder with his right hand, "Shit, that hurts..."

A few minutes later, he finally arrived at his first commercial class which took place in a large lecture hall. Leo had chosen to follow the commercial branch, as he had had an introduction to commerce when he was in France and he liked it. Once in front of the lecture hall door, Leo paused and closed his eyes to breathe and release his stress and nervousness. He was startled by a female voice right behind him.

"If you don't mean to get in there, could you at least let me through, little wolf?" Her voice was calm as she idly kicked the ground in front of her.

"Uh... I... Yes of course, excuse me..." He replied in a trembling voice, turning his head to see a black panther who must be at least 1.72 meters, dressed in a black jeans and a black t-shirt.

Leo quickly opened the door and was impressed by the number of people inside. He could easily count eighty students in the arches arranged in a circle and the hall was only half full. He quickly spotted a bench where no one was seated yet and quickly moved to sit there before someone took it, only to arrive at the same time as the panther he had met earlier.

"You did not hesitate to come and sit here, unlike entering the amphitheater, little wolf ?" She asked calmly as she took out her supplies. No one had ever called him 'little wolf' and Leo blushed with shame as he took out his things in turn. This made the Panther laugh.

Quickly, a black wolf entered the stage below and introduced himself as Mr. Blake, their economics professor. He introduced the program to the first and second years in a clear voice for about forty minutes, before an additional group of students entered.

"Now that the third years are here I will be able to start the most important part. The second years you can leave if you wish."

Several students got up to leave, including the panther.

"See you soon, little wolf, I can't wait to see you again." She said to him, smiling. That made him blush again, causing the panther to laugh.

Once the second years was left, Mr. Blake resumed his speech.

"Well, as the third years know, the final will be with a presentation to be made in pairs. Your partner as well as your theme will be determined by myself one month from now. This exercise aims to teach you to work with a person who is both more experienced and less experienced than you. My subject is the most important in the program, if this presentation is not made, you will not pass. "

This last sentence caused a general panic on the face of the first years, and Leo was no exception. This promised to be much more difficult than he had expected.

After another twenty minutes, the students were allowed to leave the amphitheater. After tidying up his things, Leo went out to join Chris in front of the dining hall.

"You're late..." Chris told him amusedly.

"You know I have never been good with schedules." He answered smiling.

"So, did your first class go well ?"

"The program seems huge but nothing impossible, unlike this end of year presentation." He dragged his feet while explaining to him before changing the subject "And i think i have already been targeted... "

"What do you mean ?" Chris asked him quietly.

"A panther that seems to be in second year if i understand correctly. She keeps calling me 'little wolf'." He smiles stupidly while blushing, "But that's a lot nicer than any other nickname I've ever had."

Chris laughed "What a pity you are not interested in girls." He said, continuing to laugh, "I'm sure you'll find the perfect boy for you here anyway."

"Shhht, quieter please..." Leo prayed that no one heard that. The two quickly arrived at the dining hall.

Chris hissed softly as he saw the amount of students present. The room seemed to be completely full.

"I hope we can find two places together for us." Leo said worriedly.

"Don't stress. If we can't find it, I'll join you as soon as a seat is available at your table." He reassured him, putting a paw on his shoulder before each took a tray with their meals on it.

After quickly scanning the large room, neither of them found a table with two free seats. Leo sighed as the two heard a voice a few feet away speaking over the noise.

"Hey little wolf, over here!" He turned to see the panther from that morning waving her hand to beckon him closer. Chris burst out laughing and Leo blushed with shame, his white fur not helping to cover it up.

"I'll leave you with your first date, little wolf." Chris told him, continuing to laugh as he walked away to a vacant seat he had seen earlier.

"Asshole ! You will pay for this Chris..." He muttered to himself as he approached the table where the black panther was seated "C-can I sit h-here?" He asked hesitantly, looking down at his tray to avoid the panther's gaze.

"Of course, little wolf." She laughed to herself as Leo put his tray on the table and sat down on the last free chair right in front of the panther.

"Hey, it's you!" The person to his left turned quickly to Leo. "You're the one i ran into in the hall this morning. I was in a hurry and didn't have time to apologize, so sorry for that." The figure held out a paw to him.

"It doesn't matter." Leo said quickly. He turned to see a husky much taller than him, he was easily over 1.80 meters and dressed in black skinny jeans and a black and white top, coordinating perfectly with the white and black fur on his arms and head. Leo was immediately hypnotized by his eyes; one was an icy blue, and the other was a warm red, contrasting beautifully with each other.

"Damn Theo, can't you stop doing shit even on the first day?" said a tiger with white fur and orange stripes sitting directly in front of the husky. He had green eyes, was dressed simply in jeans and an orange T-shirt. He wore a thick gold chain and two rings, silver on one hand, gold on the other. He had a bigger build than the rest of the group.

Leo shook his head to snap out of his trance when he heard the tiger's deep voice, he looked down quickly when he realized that he had been staring at the husky for several seconds, noticed the offered paw, and finally accepted it. His grip was soft, causing the wolf to blush again and making the husky chuckle softly.

"My name is Leo, nice to meet you..." He said shyly.

"I'm Theo. And here is Sacha" He said pointing at the tiger "Don't pay too much attention to what he says, he rarely talks about interesting things" Theo said mockingly.

"Oh really? Oh, you'll see," Sacha said, raising his tone a little.

"That is only a return to sender my dear tiger." He continued to laugh at him which made Leo smile as the panther sighed.

"Don't mind them, they don't miss a chance to make fun of each other." She smiles at Leo "My name is Clara, nice to know you little wolf."

"I just said my name is Leo ..." He blushed slightly again.

"Oh I know, I heard. But that's now your official nickname for our group." Clara smiled at him again "And I see that doesn't seem to bother you." She chuckled a little while Theo and Sacha smiled at them both.

"But let's move on to more important things now. You're not from here, anybody can see that from several miles away. Where are you from ?"

"Does it show that much...?" Leo asked, looking a little uneasy as Clara waited for an answer.

"Your accent isn't very subtle to go unnoticed, but it sounds pretty good." the tiger chuckled.

"I come from France, I recently moved to this university with a friend who agreed to follow me here."

While Clara was surprised she continued with another question.

"Strange, I've always heard that France is a nice country with very good universities. Why come here? And why in business too? Your friend is the Shiba who was with you when you arrived? " Clara asked quickly as Leo still looked uneasy and stared at his now half-empty tray.

"You can see that you're embarrassing him with all your questions Clara. You're way too curious" Theo retorted before finishing his meal.

"Thank you for your support Theo, but i will answer it." He smiled to give himself courage "Regarding my friend, yes it is indeed the Shiba, his name is Christophe. I moved here because i needed to flee my country for personal reasons, and Chris refused to leave me alone so he followed me here. " He smiles.

"There are few people capable of such dedication to one another. It is a golden friend that you have there." Theo hissed as Sacha suddenly interrupted them.

"Damn I didn't see the time, sorry I have to go. See you as scheduled at 6:00 ?" He asked Theo and Clara, taking his tray and leaving quickly. The two nodded to say yes as Leo looked at the time, it was 12:40 pm However the sudden departure of the tiger did not go unnoticed by a certain Shiba.

"Yes, he's definitely been my best friend for a long time." Leo continued, looking surprised at Sacha's sudden disappearance.

"How long have you known each other?" Clara then asked. An unknown voice behind them answered for Leo.

"More than 10 years now." Christophe sat down where the tiger had been, in front of Theo and next to Clara.

"So here is the second Frenchman." Clara laughed to herself.

"You're Christophe ?" Theo asked, holding out his paw to greet him.

"Right, but just call me Chris, it'll be easier." He smiled as he took Theo's paw firmly in his.

"So Chris, tell us everything. Why did you decide to follow Leo here ? It's far from a simple trip." Clara asked, apparently excited to have two new Frenchmen in college.

"Clara !" Theo sighed "You didn't even introduce yourself. Where are your manners?"

"Oops, excuse me. My name is Clara, I'm a business student starting my second year" Clara said in her calm voice.

"And you're already pestering my best friend by calling him little wolf." Chris laughed with Clara and Theo, while Leo blushed once more.

"Oh, he already told you about it..." She answered him.

"Yeah, that kinda surprised him. He's not used to having that kind of nickname."

Clara turned to Leo. "And what's the kind of nickname you had before ?"

Leo's face froze when he heard the question, remembering all the bad nicknames he had. His eyes reflected nothing but emptiness, his mouth slightly open and completely still. Chris moved quickly to his friend, placing his hands on his shoulders.

"There, calm down Leo, it's okay." Chris said softly and Leo came to himself after a few seconds, panting quietly.

"Shit, sorry. I didn't think that would do that to you..." Clara apologized, looking genuinely sorry as Chris walked back to his seat.

"It's okay, you couldn't have known." He huffed to calm himself down and smiled at Clara as Theo ran his paw through the fur on his head. Surprised, Leo smiled at the touch of Theo's warm paw.

"How many times have i told you that curiosity is a bad thing." Theo sighed and looked at Leo "I'd rather see you like this buddy" He smiled at him and received a smile in return, as Leo's tail wagged instinctively.

They continued to talk a bit. When they finally put their dirty trays on the conveyor, it was already 1:15. Theo turned to Leo and Chris.

"We should meet up with Sacha at the end of the afternoon to have a drink and eat together. Do you want to come with us?"

The two looked at each other for a moment and nodded in confirmation.

"In that case we will meet at the entrance of the university at 5:45 pm. Does that work ?"

"Perfect." Chris replied as the husky and panther started to walk away. Chris spoke quickly.

"See, there was no need to worry. They seem very kind."

"Yes, especially Theo ..." He smiled stupidly while wagging his tail.

"By the way." Chris whispered. "Try to be more discreet the next time you look at him like you did throughout the meal. Even I could see you staring at him, and I was a good fifteen yards away. So I don't doubt Theo, Clara, and the tiger who was there with you" he said to him, laughing out loud.

"Sacha... The tiger's name is Sacha..." He answered him in shame, not knowing what else to say.

"Very well, the tiger's name is Sacha, that's a good thing to know" He said with a smirk, before bursting out laughing again.