Archive of Our Own

In his wolf form, Changbin ran along with his friends in the desert made of stone, dusty soil and trees that had become dry as winter drew near. He was a black wolf with thick fur and a stronger build that compensated for his smaller size, and just like his friends, he needed his daily run through the wind.

He hopped over a hill where the cold grass was covered with dead leaves; his heavy front paws almost slipped on them, but he thankfully regained his balance before falling and likely colliding against the wolves behind him.

He couldn’t afford a tumble, not in front of the beautiful nine-tailed fox who was running alongside the wolves… Hwang Hyunjin. Changbin stared at his white fur gleaming under the orange rays of the twilight, at his long and elegant paws, at his beautiful eyes shining like black marbles, and tripped over the root of an oaktree, violently falling face first on the ground. 

It immediately turned him into his human form, now naked and covered with soil and leaves.

He internally cursed as the other wolves snickered when they ran past him. 

Wolves, especially alpha ones, shouldn’t trip.

They were capable, powerful, and unassailable beings. However, wolves were weak in the face of pretty gumihos; these beautiful nine-tailed foxes. Changbin was especially weak once Hwang Hyunjin filled his thoughts. He suddenly became as competent as a newborn cat, blind and tripping all the time on his uncoordinated paws.

Changbin shifted back into his wolf form and dashed until he reached his pack. With ego bruised and adrenaline pulsing through his veins, he focused his mind on the alphas he wanted to outrun, just in case the nine-tailed fox was watching him.

☽

Near the J.Y.P Art Academy, where the shapeshifters were studying, stood an empty depot students claimed as theirs for their free time. They had decorated and stuffed the depot to make it as comfortable and as welcoming as they could, with bicycles, couches, regular and ping-pong tables, drinks, costumes, dressing rooms for when they were shifting, and other innumerable things Changbin hadn’t partaked in yet.

He flopped on a couch in the sandy area outside of the depot and replayed his earlier fall in his mind.

He had accidentally cut open his skin. The wounds on his elbows and the one on his chin had now scabs covering them, which meant that, although he could heal faster than the regular human, these wounds would still leave scars; scars caused by his daydream and not because he had protected a princess from evil or something.

Scars were still cool, at least. 

He was scratching the dry blood of his left elbow when a basketball knocked against his knee.

“Sorry,” a smiley Hyunjin shouted from afar, jogging towards him and squatting down to take the ball between his hands. “Jisung always throws the ball too far.”

“It’s fine,” Changbin absentmindedly replied as his eyes darted down to the younger’s shorts that revealed his long, bare legs.

Nine-tailed foxes, commonly called gumihos, usually covered their skin. A stigma against them existed since the beginning of the time, born from tales warning men that these foxes were so beautiful they could lure them into doing anything.

Obviously, times changed, but what remained was the beauty of the rare gumihos gracing the surface of the earth… Of the one currently gracing Changbin of his long, beautiful legs.

Lost in another daydream in which he imagined himself touching the smooth skin of Hyunjin’s legs, he hadn’t noticed the latter sitting on the armrest of his couch. A familiar warmth spread within his chest as soon as his senses were swamped with Hyunjin’s soft scent; sweet almond oil and the plums he likely snacked on when they came back from their run.

“I’ve seen your fall,” Hyunjin softly spoke, his delicate fingers lifting Changbin’s chin where the wound and the skin around stung. “I was about to come check on you, but you got up. So tough.”

His gentle touch was like a feather against the wolf’s face, it tickled his skin like it tickled his heart.

“Of course I am,” Changbin bragged, playfully bumping his knee against the gumiho’s. “Sometimes I trip on purpose to harden myself.”

“Really? Minho and Jisung told me you were looking at someone…” Hyunjin tried to casually say, but his voice was laden with a tint of sadness. “Is it true? Were you looking at someone?”

“I told you I tripped on purpose...”

“I know you’re lying.” Hyunjin placed his hand over his chest, right above his heart, and leaned closer. “I can hear your lie through your heartbeats. Gumihos can read heartbeats too, you know?”

Shit, Changbin forgot about that part in his anthropology class. He was staring at the picture of a nine-tailed fox in his textbook instead of listening to his teacher… And he was thinking about Hyunjin; about his dainty fox body shielded behind Changbin’s big wolf’s one. 

Sigh, there was no point in lying anymore.

“I was looking at you,” Changbin admitted, offering the gumiho’s his most charming smirk. “I was counting your tails, making sure you had the nine of them.”

It was part of the truth, he did count Hyunjin’s flamboyant tails during his reverie, but the latter didn’t have to know everything. He made Changbin’s little heart burst whenever he was near, and he made Changbin’s little wolf, his inner wolf, howl at his loneliness as well.

Hyunjin let out a chuckle, tucking a strand of his long blonde hair behind his dainty ear.

Mesmerized, Changbin could only stare.

“So you were looking at my butt,” Hyunjin pointed out with a lopsided smile. “And then you fell, because of me,” he hummed the last three words, stroking the wolf’s chin with the pad of his thumb.

“It’s okay…” Changbin breathed, his eyes locked on Hyunjin’s plump lips near his face. He curiously felt appeased, drowning in the younger’s scent, his warmth a lulling coat around him.

His inner wolf was purring, he hoped the younger couldn’t hear him.

“No, it’s not okay. I must apologize for distracting you.” Hyunjin gently blew his fruity breath on his wound, on his mouth— Changbin’s eyes fluttered shut from the bliss he was currently experiencing, and then left a peck on his chin.

Changbin gasped, his cheeks flush and his giddy wolf running in a circle inside his chest. Hyunjin’s eyes sparked with mischief, a sweet smile adorned his face, and he leaned down to kiss his cheek this time.

“Should I trip whenever we run?” Changbin let out, the two kisses boosting his confidence to the maximum. “So I get more kisses.”

“Don’t get too greedy.” Hyunjin tapped his nose. He then stood up, stretching out his arms above his head. His black and purple sweater revealed the skin of his flat tummy, which had Changbin avert  his eyes because his wolf surely didn’t need this sight now. “I wanted to ask… Are you coming to the halloween party next week?”

Changbin’s gaze locked with Hyunjin’s curious face.

“Why? Do you want me to come?” Changbin crowed while folding his arms behind his head and crossing his feet on the small table in front of him. 

He would have come anyway, but the pretty gumiho solicited his presence? Likely to spend time together since they were friends, something Changbin would usually forget since he was too busy taming his inner wolf. Yet, he couldn’t help his mind from wandering in dangerous territory: having the fox on his lap, having his neck offered for Changbin to sink his canines in and having him marked as his.

No more alphas touching his omega, although he was convinced these assholes would still try to get in Hyunjin’s pants anyway.

“You should come if you want one more kiss,” Hyunjin playfully told him, cutely tilting his head to the side. “Also the girls need an extra hand to carry and serve the drinks. They need your big wolf biceps.”

Changbin blinked.

“Did they send you to seduce me so I would have no other choice than to agree?”

“Yes.”

“What about Chan?”

“Chan already does everything the girls say. They know they can use his hero complex against him.”

“I don’t get a kiss if I decline, right?”

“Exactly.”

“Fine,” Changbin muttered, pouting. 

Hyunjin leaned down to kiss his forehead this time and Changbin’s eyes fluttered shut once again, lulled by his scent.

“I knew I could count on you,” the gumiho whispered against the shell of his ear before leaving him, cold and alone, on his couch.

Changbin felt manipulated. Gumihos could just bat their eyelashes for wolves to devote their life to them, it wasn’t fair! Or was it just him with this particular nine-tailed fox?

☽

Changbin was fully engrossed in his youtube video, with a piece of fried chicken still stuffed in his cheek, when he heard knocks against the door of his dorm.

Chan, the leader of their pack who was working on his computer, got up to open the door, and Sana, dressed as a sexy angel, along with Momo, dressed as a sexy demon, entered the living room.

Hyunjin then appeared in his field of vision in a thin bathrobe, with his wet hair tied onto a bun atop his little head. Sana pinched his cheek, then kissed it, and they disappeared behind the door of the gumiho’s bedroom.

“You guys agree with this?” Changbin asked for the attention of his pack chilling in the living room.

“What?” Minho arched an eyebrow without looking at him since he was playing a game on his phone. His costume went as far as having cat ears as well as a fluffy cat tail tied to the back of his pants.

“Two alphas alone with Hyunjin, an omega?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” the cat boy said while nonchalantly typing on his phone screen. “They’re lesbians. What harm can they do to your precious omega?” He shot him a sly glance.

“They can convince Hyunjin that boys are a disappointment, that they aren’t worth it,” Jisung suggested in a teasing tone. “And ruin all your chances of dating him.”

Changbin wanted to throw his water bottle at him.

“I don’t want to date him,” he lied. “He is just pretty, is all.”

Although he was still processing his evident feelings for the gumiho, it didn’t mean he liked it when his pack pointed it out so casually. Can’t a wolf have his secrets be... secrets?

“See? That’s exactly what I’ve just said,” Jisung shrugged, a smug grin he couldn’t hide decorated his face. But upon seeing Changbin menacingly stand up from his chair, his grin dropped and he lifted his hands in surrender. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! C’mon man! I didn’t mean it! You know I don’t have any filter between my brain and my mouth, right?”

Changbin let out a defeated sigh before sitting back at the table.

During his evening meal, he watched his pack march in their halloween costumes. Vampire, Darth Vader, superheroes, only Jisung had been too lazy to fully dress up. He had simply put a horse mask over his head.

Changbin wondered why they didn’t all shift until only their wolf ears and tail would be shown. What was the point of being shapeshifters, then?

As he slowly revealed his big wolf ears and his thick tail, Hyunjin’s bedroom door opened. Sana and Momo got out with pleased smiles, followed by the gumiho whose sight had Changbin’s inner wolf hopping everywhere inside his chest.

“How do I look?” Hyunjin giddily asked his pack, swirling in the living room like the exquisite creature he was.

Of course, the pack showered the gumiho with sincere compliments, resulting in a dust of pink tinting his soft cheeks. 

He was dressed as Alice in Wonderland: a white and blue dress with a puffy skirt accentuated the lithe figure of his body, and a black headband topped by a ribbon decorated his tiny head. His long blonde hair framed his face delicately, his wrists were adorned by thin pearly bracelets and the white stockings covering his legs only reached below his knees.

He looked so pretty, so dainty… The smile blossoming on his face as he was swirling like a ballet dancer only highlighted his beauty and his innocence.

“What do you have under your skirt?” Jisung lifted the gumiho's puffy skirt, exposing the white boxer briefs that tightly hugged his firm butt. “Oh, no tails.”

Sana kicked Jisung’s small ass with her bony knee.

“Next time, I kick your little peanuts,” she playfully threatened him, hands on her hips.

Then, Hyunjin padded towards Changbin, swirling once again in front of the wolf’s enamored eyes. The puffy skirt, made for a girl smaller than Hyunjin’s tall body, barely covered his thighs, so the sweet fragrance of his skin filled the air around them. 

It drove Changbin’s wolf crazy, the sight, the scent… He wanted to touch, to bite, to lick, to claim the pretty gumiho for himself.

“Do you like it?” Hyunjin asked him, his smile radiant.

The gumiho was feeling pretty, he was happy. Changbin had to keep it that way. He gripped his tail that was wagging behind him to keep it still, tamed.

“You’re really pretty,” he breathed out, realizing now that he had stopped himself from breathing in the gumiho’s sweet almond oil scent. “But, isn’t the skirt too short?” He still said out loud, looking at Hyunjin’s bare thighs.

If his attraction was violently pulling at his muscles and sanity like unbreakable wires, what about all the other alphas who chose to misbehave? Changbin thought about their hands straying under Hyunjin’s skirt and his pupils dilated until they were pitch black.

Hyunjin took his question and his reaction the wrong way, given how his pretty smile withered like a flower.

“You don’t like it,” he murmured, the joyful spark in his eyes vanishing. “It’s okay, you don’t have to.”

But before Changbin could say anything, Hyunjin left him alone in the kitchen to join his friends.

He wanted to run after him, to tell him he was sorry, that he was just worried about assholes getting inappropriate with him, until he realized that he had nurtured inappropriate thoughts about the pretty gumiho all this time. How was he any different from the other wolves? 

☽

The halloween party took place in the same depot behind the academy. Changbin had followed Sana and Momo in the backroom to carry all the drinks they would be serving at the newly installed bar. Chan was on a stage to mix eerie and EDM music, with the crowd before him happily dancing on the dance floor.

In the dim light, Changbin couldn’t make out the shapes of the people around him. So, he switched to his wolf eyesight with only one thing in mind: find Hyunjin and apologize. He hadn’t had the opportunity on the way here, given Jisung’s and Felix’s dark looks levelled at him.

Yes, he knew! He had made Hyunjin sad! 

“Changbin, I need to use the bathroom. Cover my side of the bar, please,” a friend of his, Chaeryeong, told him before disappearing and leaving Changbin alone with more people waiting for their cocktails.

From this side of the bar, he had a better view of the room.

He prepared the cocktails while eyeing the dance floor where he knew he would find his pack. They loved dancing, the gumiho especially loved dancing. In fact, everyone loved dancing… Which was why he found his gumiho happily swinging his hips— his puffy skirt was flying around him, with charmed alphas trying to get his attention, to dance with him.

Changbin’s wolf growled inside him, but at least, they weren’t touching Hyunjin. It didn’t hurt to look… Changbin couldn’t blame them, Hyunjin was just too beautiful, too alluring. Alphas couldn’t resist him.

Tales never lied.

He decided to protect himself from his own misery made of jealousy and possessiveness, and focused on his task behind the bar.

At some point, one of his teachers ordered three cocktails.

“Hey, kiddo. Two Red Eclipse, one Haven please,” Im Jaebom, his piano teacher, told him with a slight smile as he casually leaned sideways on the counter.

He had unbuttoned his black shirt, so Changbin could easily smell his spicy cologne.

Among that smell though, swam his husband’s scent, a photography teacher named Park Jinyoung— Hyunjin’s favorite, along a familiar tint of almond. 

Almond?

His teachers never smelled like almonds, that was for sure. Changbin’s olfactory sense had never failed him before. Teachers smelled like books, coffee and their eau de toilette. Jaebum and Jinyoung smelled like each other. None of them smelled like almonds.

And then, while he was preparing the Haven cocktail, it clicked.

Haven was Hyunjin’s favorite cocktail: made of coconut milk, fruits and decorated with animal shaped jellies— the gumiho really had the taste buds of a child.

That explained why his teacher had Hyunjin’s smell on him.

The question was… What was Hyunjin doing with his two alpha teachers? Why was his scent on Jaebum? Did they touch each other? His mind wandered into dangerous territory again: Hyunjin naked and trapped between their strong bodies, their canines sinking in each side of his neck, their hands pulling his legs apart…

Driven by his irrational jealousy, Changbin’s wolf ears flopped backwards atop his head as his eyes followed Jaebum walking away with his drinks. He watched his piano teacher join his husband sitting on a stool next to Hyunjin who was standing. 

The gumiho thanked his teacher before bringing his cocktail to his face and popping the wooden straw in his rosy mouth. A strand of his blonde hair fell over his cheek, so Jinyoung gently tucked it back behind his little ear.

Hyunjin had this beaming smile and those shiny eyes that made Changbin’s heart flutter. He looked happy, animatedly talking with his kind teachers.

Too kind. Why was Jinyoung’s hand sliding down Hyunjin’s back?

Did Hyunjin just stagger?

Was he already tipsy?

Changbin saw Jaebum offering his stool for the pretty gumiho to sit on, and he felt stupid for letting his jealousy have the upper hand over him. He trusted his teachers, they were only taking care of who they likely considered a child.

If he was entirely honest with himself, his jealousy had less to do with alphas touching his gumiho, and more to do with the fact that he was unable to make the pretty omega giddy like the rest of the wolf population did.

At this point, he didn’t know what he was waiting for to apologize and confess. Being with Hyunjin was what would end his uncertainties and bring him happiness, he had to take action. Wouldn’t it be better to tell him now, even if the timing was wrong, even if he was afraid to have read the gumiho’s signals wrong, than to never tell him at all?

So, he waited until Chaeryeong came back to tell her he had something important to do.

“More important than helping me?” She said, her arms crossed over the red corset on her chest; she was disguised as Wonder Woman.

“Powerful women don’t need my help,” he solemnly replied before taking off the black apron he had put on earlier.

“Don’t try to trick me with meaningless words.” She pinched his fluffy ear, earning a painful whine. “Where are you going, exactly?”

“They’re not meaningless. You are powerful!” Changbin said, his face contorted in pain. She raised a quizzical eyebrow, not letting go until she had her answer, so he lifted his hands in surrender. “I need to apologize to someone.”

“Who? I will let you go only if I deem your matter relevant enough.”

“Hyunjin,” Changbin muttered with a pout. He was convinced his poor ear would end up hairless given how tight her pinch was.

“Oh... I see,” she exclaimed, her frown disappearing upon hearing the gumiho’s name. She let go of his ear and petted the top of his head. “My little Binnie will finally become a man.”

They had been neighbors since kindergarten, so she knew why Changbin was tripping all the time whenever Hyunjin was around.

“I’m older than you,” he reminded her, although she had always acted like an older sister with him. He had to admit that she was more capable and independent than him.

“Excuse you, the drinks won’t be served alone,” another girl who was working behind the bar interrupted them, hands on her hips.

“Don’t worry. I’m on it,” Chaeryeong assured, spinning on her heels to put her own hands on the girl’s shoulders. She winked at her, making her blush.

Changbin seized his opportunity to disappear in the backroom. He threw his apron over a box full of empty bottles and went back to the main room in order to find Hyunjin and apologize. And maybe more, like take his hand and kiss him under the moonlight.

Changbin could only hope at this point.

In the room, his ears stood straight atop his head. He sniffled the air to get a grasp of Hyunjin’s scent and followed the trail to the dance floor where he found his pack dancing.

Jealousy flooded in his veins at the sight of Jisung grinding on the gumiho’s butt while twirling his horse mask around like he had won the lottery. 

Howerer, since he chose not to give in to his most basic instinct anymore, he quickly tamed down this intrusive green-eyed monster called jealousy. The two boys were friends, they were allowed to have fun.

Still, he wished he was the one entertaining Hyunjin.

Soon, he had to apologize first. He took a deep breath that relaxed his body and approached.

Upon seeing him, Hyunjin slowed down his graceful movements— he always danced like he was a swan, until he completely stood still in front of him. The joyful spark in his eyes twisted into a weak, sad glow.

“I came to apologize,” Changbin yelled over the music, reaching to hold Hyunjin’s delicate hands. “If you agree, maybe we can talk somewhere else?”

Hyunjin nodded, the nooks of his rosy mouth slightly curling up.

Changbin clutched his hand tighter to lead him through the crowd until they reached the entrance of the depot.

Outside, the full moon shone in the black sky. No clouds in sight, only stars, the moon that lit the dusty area as well as the people gathered on the couches in animated chats. 

Changbin took Hyunjin to a hill for privacy, he knew people would tease him if they saw the gumiho alone with him. He had to prevent Hyunjin from hearing their locker room talks, like yo Changbin, finally getting into your omega’s pants?

Obviously, such words would have sent Changbin into a pit of rage, and Hyunjin was the type to ignore instead of confront, unlike Changbin.

“Is it fine, here?” Changbin still asked in case the place made Hyunjin uncomfortable.

“It is.” Hyunjin offered him a smile, then looked down at the grass to delicately turn on himself like animals did before laying down.

(He looked like the tiny fairies spinning in music boxes.)

Immediately, Changbin unzipped his black hoodie and laid it open on the grass where both of them could sit. He took Hyunjin’s hand and pulled him down next to him. The gumiho sat with his arms around his knees and looked at him expectantly.

His soft sweet almond oil scent was spiced with the alcohol of the cocktail he had previously drunk.

“Hyunjinnie, I’m sorry for my reaction earlier. I shouldn’t have said that your skirt was too short,” Changbin began explaining, his ears flopped down on each side of his head. His tail was limp on the grass while his fingers kept fidgeting with the hem of his t-shirt. “It was my jealousy talking… I didn’t want other boys to be inappropriate with you because of that. I think you’re beautiful as Alice,” he sincerely admitted, his cheeks heating up. “Like, more than super beautiful.”

“Gorgeous?” Hyunjin smiled.

“Yes, gorgeous.” 

“Thank you,” the gumiho whispered, although his tone remained sad.

“What’s wrong?” Changbin’s fingers froze, his mind replaying his day to see if he had said another thing that could have hurt his pretty friend. “Did I say something?”

Hyunjin nodded, which had the wolf starting to panic; his tail curled around him, slightly shaking.

“You said boys would be inappropriate because I’m wearing a skirt. Is it because I’m a gumiho?”

There was a long pause in which Hyunjin looked at him expectantly with his shiny eyes.

“Um… They are attracted to you…” Changbin had suddenly lost his ability to explain himself. “I am too…”

Hyunjin placed his chin atop his knees, head tilted and pretty.

“So you think I’ve enchanted all of you? Because I’m a gumiho and that’s what we have been accused of for centuries.”

“No, that’s not what I think.” Changbin frowned. His stomach churned weirdly, his confession at the rim of his lips. And then he stared at the gumiho’s shiny, hopeful eyes, and said: “I’m jealous because I want you to be mine only. I’m in love with you.”

Hyunjin let out a gasp, reaching to clutch one of the wolf’s still frozen hands.

At the touch though, Changbin’s body warmed and relaxed.

“Really?” The gumiho spoke softly, lips parted.

“Yes.”

“But… What if you’re right? What if I bewitch alphas with my scent and with the way I look?”

Changbin followed Hyunjin’s gaze slowly roaming his lithe body and stopped at his bare legs; his eyes lost their usual glow and all Changbin could read was shame. The gumiho squeezed his legs shut and tried to pull his short skirt over his knees to hide them.

Because of him, of what he had said, Hyunjin was ashamed of himself.

Changbin’s ears twitched, his chest constricting as his heart was overflowing with guilt. He felt terrible.

“Hyunjin, I’m so sorry. This isn’t what I meant!” He blurted out, holding both of the gumiho’s hands so he would stop tugging at his skirt. “There’s nothing wrong with you. I promise!”

“But—”

“Wait. I’ll prove it wrong!” Changbin faced him, pinching his nose and closing his eyes. “If I’m still in love with you without seeing and scenting you, it means that there’s nothing wrong with you!” He explained in a funny voice that, at least, made the pretty gumiho chuckle.

Changbin’s ears and tail were straight, an extension of his determination.

“Is it working?” Hyunjin asked softly, his hand tentatively touching the wolf’s thigh. “Are you still in love with me?”

“I think so?”

“What do you mean, you think so?” The gumiho pouted, tapping his thigh with the tip of his forefinger. “You don’t know if you love me?”

“I do!”

Changbin felt his friend’s warmth enveloping him as he was sitting closer.

“Are you sure?” 

He felt Hyunjin’s breath ghost over the hand that was currently pinching his nose, then over his left cheek.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m helping you,” the gumiho replied against his cheek.

Changbin felt the soft push of his plump lips this time, as Hyunjin was gently kissing his cheek. His tail began wagging behind him and his ears were twitching in joy. The soft peck had his heart swelling to the point he didn’t know if he could survive more. Like a kiss on the lips.

“I love you,” Changbin let out in a sigh after removing his hand. He stared at Hyunjin’s eyes twinkling with fondness and carefully tucked a wild strand of blonde hair behind his little ear. “Do you believe me?”

Hyunjin nodded, wrapping his arms around his neck and straddling his thighs.

“I love you too,” he confessed before brushing their noses together.

“Really?”

“Oh, maybe your alpha muscles bewitched me?” The gumiho tilted his head, a mischievous smile blooming on his face.

“I don’t know. Close your eyes?” Changbin asked.

He looked at the gumiho’s face, eyes closed and lips slightly parted. He was so pretty, so cute, especially with the bow atop his head.

Compelled by his feelings, he tightened his hold around Hyunjin whose eyebrows knitted into a frown.

“Does it count since I can feel your muscles?”

“I hope you do,” Changbin asserted. “You must know who is protecting you.”

“Protecting me from what? Gumihos are faster than big, strong wolves who have to carry their weight,” Hyunjin playfully said, his eyes still shut. “I can escape everything.”

“But can you escape me?” Changbin flirted, bumping the tip of his nose against the dip between Hyunjin’s collarbones.

“I can, but I don’t want to,” the gumiho quipped with a kittenish smile.

“In that case…” Changbin lifted his head and captured his rosy lips, resulting in Hyunjin melting in his arms.

They shared shy, but lingering kisses. Hyunjin’s curious tongue tasted like the jellies from his cocktail. His warm body was pressed against him to the point it set the low of his belly on fire; added to his pretty mewls, it only made Changbin’s dick twitch with interest. He was now swimming in a pool of Hyunjin’s scent, warmth and taste, hooked, delighted, aroused.

His inner wolf was violently scratching his chest in order to get out.

Changbin unconsciously rutted up, which had Hyunjin breaking the kiss in a gasp.

“You want to mate me again.”

“Again?” Changbin wondered out loud, blinking his haze away.

“You always smell like warm chestnuts when you want to mate me,” the gumiho casually explained, his sweet breath against the wolf’s mouth. “Also… I can feel it under my butt right now.”

“Oh, sorry,” Changbin apologized, although he didn’t know how to make his dick deflated at the moment. 

“It’s okay,” Hyunjin murmured, petting his fluffy ears. “If my cute little wolf wasn’t reacting that way, I would have been sad.”

“I’m not little,” Changbin whined, hiding his face in the gumiho’s neck where it smelled like he was in heaven. It slightly calmed the fire still burning within him. It calmed his inner wolf too; he was now obediently sitting with his tail wagging behind him— just like Changbin’s.

Changbin nuzzled the line of Hyunjin’s throat, then the crook of his neck, trailing kisses on the soft skin beneath which his mating glands were pulsating.

His gumiho, his omega… His senses came back full force, his wolf snatched his reason with his fangs. Changbin’s canines drew out by instinct, about to claim.

“Changbin,” Hyunjin firmly called as he fisted the wolf’s black hair to pull him away.

“Mmm?” Changbin hummed, still in his bliss with his fangs drawn out.

“Look at me.”

So Changbin fluttered his eyes open, mesmerized by the sight befalling him: Hyunjin’s sumptuous nine tails were deployed behind him, capturing the moonlight in their white fur. Their glow formed an opaline crown around the gumiho’s head.

No more fire flooding in the wolf’s veins, it was like cool water had replaced it.

“You’re beautiful,” he  breathed out, gawking.

“Thank you.” Hyunjin pecked his mouth. “I think my magic is working.”

“Your magic?”

Hyunjin nodded, swaying his tails from side to side, like they were dancing.

“Your body temperature lowered and your heartbeats slowed down. You should feel more… like yourself now,” he elaborated while gently petting his ears.

“I am,” Changbin confirmed, looking up at his pretty gumiho with his pretty white ears and his pretty tails. “Is it normal? Am I going to lose myself whenever we kiss? I’m not comfortable with that idea. Don’t want to hurt you.” His ears fell flat on his head.

“Aw,” Hyunjin cooed, his lips twisting into a pout. “My mom says the stronger the feelings, the strongest the reaction.” He leaned to carefully kiss each of the wolf’s droopy ears before kissing his mouth.

“But I could have…”

“You can’t mark me without my consent, though?” Hyunjin told him softly. “Haven’t you been paying attention in class?”

Changbin blinked slowly.

“Probably not,” he admitted with a blush.

“I’m telling you now, so don’t worry. Okay?” He asked, head tilted and cute.

Changbin nodded and they kissed some more, or rather tried. Hyunjin couldn’t stop smiling during the kiss, which made Changbin smile too. So, in the end, they simply cuddled atop the hill with Hyunjin’s nine tails shielding them from the cold night breeze.

At midnight, an eerie sound blasted from the depot, and then, another one: wolves howling from the depths of the forest near their hill.

“It’s like we are in a horror movie,” Hyunjin whined with a pout. His arms tightened around Changbin’s neck where he hid his face.

“Are you scared?”

“I don’t like these scary sounds. They always trigger my nightmares.”

“You can still sleep with me,” Changbin suggested, grinning. “I’ll protect you.”

He kissed the gumiho’s forehead for emphasis.

“Are you sure that’s the only reason?” Hyunjin asked, mischief glinting in his dark eyes.

Changbin, on the other hand, averted his gaze as a blush spread over his cheeks.

“I mean… You’re my boyfriend now, and I want to sleep with my boyfriend.”

“I’d love that,” the gumiho whispered against his mouth before leaving a soft peck on it. “Shall we go back? I want to dance with my boyfriend.”

Changbin took Hyunjin down the hill while holding his hand. He felt like he was the knight escorting the princess he devoted himself to; said princess shifted back into his human form with his ears and nine-tails popping off in sparkles.

Inside, Changbin was the only one allowed to dance with the pretty gumiho in a close embrace. 

Alphas around could only look and growl in envy.

☽

Days later, while teacher Jinyoung was explaining the importance of light in pictures, Changbin felt the usual neutral air thickening with the sweet scent of almond oil. 

It was a big classroom, students of all years reunited for their photography class, so he wondered how could the smell be that strong, especially when the windows were open. What was happening to his precious gumiho? Why was his body temperature slowly increasing?

He turned around, because Hyunjin was sitting a few rows behind, and found his boyfriend laying on Seungmin’s shoulder with half-lidded eyes. He was breathing slowly, warm puffs of air kept loading the room of his scent, and he let out a whine of discomfort.

“Sir, Hyunjin is...” Seungmin tried to say, frozen in his seat. “I think he’s starting his heat.”

Never had anyone witnessed an omega in heat before. 

Since unmated omegas took pills to regulate their heats and always slept in the academy’s infirmary whenever their heats hit, they weren’t in contact with the other wolves.

“I’ll take him to the nurses!” An alpha exclaimed, ready to stand up once he had the teacher’s green light.

“I can help too!” Another said.

Changbin felt his blood boil. He cracked his pencil upon hearing another alpha offering their help and stood up, about to fight them all.

Jinyoung, who was now crouching next to Hyunjin, calmed everyone with a heavy glance.

“Seungmin, you’re in charge of the class until I come back,” he instructed his student while slipping his arm around the gumiho’s waist. “Hyunjin, come with me.”

The gumiho let out a painful whine, triggering Changbin’s instincts to protect, to save, to make the pain go away. So, he left his chair, his inner wolf growling, but once again, Jinyoung calmed him with a glance. 

He went to sit back on his chair, frustrated.

The teacher was the real alpha wolf, they were only cubs next to him, they would always obey.

“When I return, I expect you to know the subject on the next two pages,” Jinyoung instructed them while holding Hyunjin against his chest.

The class focused on their textbox then. Changbin’s inner wolf was whining inside his chest, hurt that his omega was taken away.

Driven by sadness, Changbin flopped against Minho who comfortingly petted his head.

He spent the rest of the day worrying about his boyfriend. Was he in pain? Would this sudden heat cause him any harm? What if Hyunjin needed him? Changbin had to know.

So, he went to the infirmary, on the ground floor of the academy. At the reception, a nurse stopped him before he could go any further and follow the trail of the scent Hyunjin had left behind.

“You’re not allowed here, young man,” she scolded him.

“But my boyfriend is here! I need to see him,” Changbin insisted stubbornly. “He needs me!”

She was unimpressed, most likely had experienced this situation countless times before.

But as she was about to make him leave, Jinyoung stepped in the corridor.

“He can come,” the teacher said in a composed voice.

Changbin hastily ran after the teacher who entered a dim room only lit by a lamp on the bedside table. 

The gumiho was in bed, tucked beneath a thin blanket, with rosy cheeks and a puffy mouth. His long blonde hair was damp and tucked behind his little ears— their teacher’s doing, as his hands were limp on each side of his body. He was heavily breathing, letting out painful whines every now and then.

“Hyunjin,” Changbin whispered.

But before he could get closer, Jinyoung gripped his shoulder to keep him still and gave him a nose clip.

“You can hold his hands. He’d love that,” the teacher told him before leaving them alone.

Changbin walked closer and sat on the edge of the bed, reaching to cup the gumiho’s warm face.

“Binnie?” Hyunjin’s eyes fluttered open, moist and shiny. He offered him a small smile laden with exhaustion. “I’m so happy you’re here.” 

“What happened?” Changbin asked, gently stroking his boyfriend’s cheek. “Why are you in heat?”

Hyunjin’s eyebrows knitted into a frown.

“Isn’t that obvious?”

“What is?”

“You triggered my heat. Because you want to mate me and I want to mate you,” he explained while panting. His weak hands gripped the wolf’s forearm above his head, and he leaned into the wolf’s palm still cupping his cheek, purring.

Changbin’s cheeks flushed.

“Oh… Is there something I can do? Should I… put it inside you?” He unashamedly asked. His inner wolf was getting excited at the thought.

“I’m not opposed to the idea,” Hyunjin breathed softly, his lashes fluttering and casting shadows over his cheeks. “But I’m not ready yet.”

“I understand.” Changbin leaned down to kiss his forehead, the touch had Hyunjin trapping him in his arms into a hug to nuzzle his neck.

“You smell so good. Like warm chestnuts, I love warm chestnuts,” the gumiho murmured in a warm breath that tickled the wolf’s neck. “Reminds me of winter, I love winter…”

Changbin made himself comfortable in the bed. With Hyunjin purring in his arms, it made his heart swell again.

“Don’t I smell like chestnuts only when I want to mate you?” Changbin frowned, trying to make sense of everything.

“Uh?” Hyunjin tilted his head cutely, looking up at him with surprised eyes. “But you always want to mate me.”