Archive of Our Own

It was a late shift at the shelter and Kyoutani was so tired. Most of the dogs had gone to bed, but the shelter he worked at required someone to stay during the nights just in case something happened. And tonight was his night. 

Night shifts weren’t his favorite by a long shot. He liked to spend his nights watching shitty movies with Yahaba and eating take-out for dinner. Those were his favorite nights, nights where he didn’t have to worry about anything except if they were going to find just one more movie to watch. 

Kyoutani stared out the front door, watching as the clouds parted and moonlight filtered down. He sighed and turned to go do another lap around the building. Before he could get far, he heard a loud thump coming from outside the medical center. He slowly made his way over, grabbing a broomstick for safety. He tried looking out the glass door, but couldn’t see anything. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door.

He looked around the parking lot, but there was nothing. It was dark, and for some reason the street lights were off. He squinted, not really knowing if it helped or not, but still couldn’t figure out where the loud noise came from. 

He was about to go back inside, and hoped that his anxiety would let him forget about the whole thing, when he heard something in the bushes next to him.

“Hello?” He said quietly. Maybe it was just the wind, or some little birds.

Before he could process what was happening, a huge animal jumped out from the bushes and latched onto his arm. Kyoutani yelled from the pain of sharp, canine teeth digging into his arm. He hit the dog, well he thought it was a dog, on the head with his broom a couple times until it let go. Once it did, it scampered back out into the night. 

Kyoutani rushed back into the medical center and dropped the broom. He searched the room for a first aid kit and grabbed some of the gauze made for the animals just in case. Then, he quickly got to work wrapping up the wound. He’d have to get it checked tomorrow just in case the dog got too deep. Or it had rabies. 

Shit.

-----

Right after his shift was over, he went and got checked to make sure he didn’t have rabies. Luckily, he was all good. The bite on his arm was massive and quite deep, but other than making sure it heals well, he was all good. 

Kyoutani would never forget the look on Yahaba’s face when he saw it though. His mouth dropped open and it seemed that his brown eyes were popping out of his head. Kyoutani would have laughed, but Yahaba went to question him before he could even get a word in. 

Questions like “what happened” to “how the fuck did a dog do that” were thrown at him all at once. He tried answering, but Yahaba kept interrupting him with new questions. It was sweet, if not a little annoying. 

Once Kyoutani was able to calm Yahaba down and assure him that everything was fine, the two went to the bathroom to disinfect it again. An infected bite like that would not be fun.

In the weeks following the attack, Kyoutani started to act a little strange. Yahaba knew Kyoutani had always been strange, but this was different. Now, Kyoutani would literally perk up whenever his name was called, going on walks to the grocery store made him extremely happy, and Yahaba swore he was being cuddlier than before. Kyoutani never left his side while he was home, always following him around. Once he even tried to follow Yahaba to the bathroom. He was kicked out, of course.

Yahaba wasn’t sure what was going on, but for the most part it didn't bother him. If Kyoutani wanted to cuddle more often, who was he to disagree? Yeah, seeing Kyoutani want to chase after a bird one day was a little odd, but whatever, the both of them had always been odd. 

Then one night, Kyoutani was weirdly restless. Usually, Kyoutani was the one who knocked out first, a routine of falling asleep early stuck with him since high school, but tonight was different. Yahaba felt himself drift off before Kyoutani even put his phone down.

“Hey, Kyou?” Yahaba asks. Kyoutani grunted in response. “You good? It's time for bed.”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just not tired,” Kyoutani replied. His voice sounded a little deeper, but Yahaba just brushed it off. 

“Mkay. Goodnight.”

“Night.”

Yahaba drifted off to a deep, dreamless sleep. It was nice until he felt a kick in his side that quickly woke him up. 

He attempted to ignore it, Kyoutani was probably just moving in his sleep, but then it happened again. And again. And this time it didn’t feel like a human foot that kicked him. He turned around and slowly opened his eyes, only to be greeted with a massive dog laying in his bed. The kicking came from it trying to run away from whatever dream it was having. 

It may sound odd, but having random animals show up in his bed was not uncommon. Kyoutani would sometimes find one after a late shift and just bring it back with him. But they were never this big. Where was Kyoutani anyways?

“Ken? You in the bathroom or something?” Yahaba whisper-shouted. He didn’t want to wake the massive dog, but there was no answer. “Ken?” He called louder this time, hoping Kyoutani was somewhere close by.

However, instead of getting Kyoutani’s attention, the dog started to wake up. Its ears had shifted towards him as he was calling for Kyoutani and now his eyes were blinking open. Yahaba stayed silent, not wanting to spook the huge animal, but he couldn’t hold in his gasp when the dog looked at him. 

Its eyes were bright yellow and the pupils were extremely skinny. He hadn’t noticed it before, but the dog’s fur was golden blonde, but the ears were both black. It was an odd pattern for any dog breed to have, but it did remind him of-

“Ken?” This time, Kyoutani did respond. His head and ears both shifted to look directly at him, giving Yahaba his full attention. 

Kyoutani had been turned into a dog?

Yahaba shook his head. No, not a dog. He was fine earlier in the day, but for some reason he was now a huge animal. Yahaba thought about it for a moment. Any event that could have happened or something that might have changed in the past month. Everything had been relatively normal. College sucked, Yahaba almost got into an argument with his professor for the third time, and Kyoutani’s job was going great. He did get bit by that huge dog a while ago, but-

Oh, the huge dog and the resulting bite. That definitely could’ve caused this. 

“Ken, that wasn’t a normal dog, was it,” Yahaba asked. The dog didn’t respond, but it continued to look at him, almost staring through his soul. Yahaba sighed and laid back down in bed. The both of them could figure this out in the morning. 

----

The next morning, Kyoutani was back to normal. When Yahaba asked him if he remembered anything, Kyoutani took a moment to think. It only took a second for his face to completely turn red. They discussed it over coffee and slightly burnt hash browns.

It seemed that the dog that bit Kyoutani a month ago was a werewolf, one that had lost all sense of control during the full moon. Neither of them had even believed that supernatural creatures existed, and knowing that they do, they didn’t really have any idea what to do.

Well, they would figure it out together

----

Yahaba and Kyoutani were on their weekly facetime call with their old volleyball team, and as always, it was slightly chaotic. 

“So when Oikawa got his first girlfriend, Iwaizumi was so jealous that he started spiking balls into the back of Oikawa’s head. Oikawa was then turn his attention to Iwaizumi, and that's how their weird pinning, yet violent tension started.”

“Awww, Hajime, you were jealous?” Oikawa teased. The two of them had gotten together not long after graduation. It seemed that the tension between both of them was so obvious to their parents that they sent them on a “bonding” trip together. It thankfully worked when they came back with deep blushes and holding hands. 

“Shut up, Tooru,” Iwaizumi grumbled, but did not push away the head that was resting on his shoulder.

Yahaba was just smiling listening to his old upperclassmen bicker. He didn’t like to admit that he missed high school, but it really was one of the best parts of his life. Kyoutani was next to him scrolling through his phone, when his head suddenly popped up and turned to the left. Yahaba followed his gaze to see a squirrel outside, sitting on their balcony railing. Kyoutani’s attention was wholly captivated by it. He slowly got up and started to stalk it, making his movements small as not to scare the squirrel away. It seemed that his odd behavior was noticed by their friends.

“Uhh, Yaha-chan? What the fuck is Mad Dog doing?” OIkawa asked, very much confused as to why someone like Kyoutani was creeping around slowly. 

“He actually looks like a dog like this. It's weird,” Watari pointed out, and Yahaba tried not to flinch. If only he knew. 

Well, actually...

Turning back towards the computer, Yahaba weighed his options. He could tell their friends the truth and have them not believe him, or he could lie and just say that Kyoutani was always weird. He turned back to Kyoutani and watched as his face dropped when the squirrel ran away.

“Kyou, you wanna tell them?” Yahaba asked, making sure Kyoutani had his full attention. 

“Hm?”

“You know, about that .” He tried to be discreet about it, but Kyoutani caught on pretty quickly. 

“Oh, uh,” he looked between the computer and Yahaba a few times, probably debating the same options Yahaba had. Finally, he sighed and nodded to let Yahaba do it.

“Okay, so we have something to tell you guys, and you totally don’t have to believe us, but,” he took a quick, deep breath before continuing, “Kyoutani was recently bit by a giant dog that we later found out was a werewolf so now he is a werewolf and he sometimes act like a dog even when he isn’t transformed.”

Yahaba felt better after spilling all of that information. A weight had definitely been lifted off of his shoulders. 

A silence had taken over the call. Yahaba searched his friends' faces for signs of disgust or hatred, but all he found was confusion. 

“Wait, so you’re saying that Mad Dog, just turned into a werewolf?” Oikawa asked, clearly confused.

“Yeah? Why?” Yahaba was confused. What did they mean by ‘just’?

“He wasn’t one before??” Hanamaki joined in, sounding as if Yahaba was speaking another language and he was trying to understand. 

“No? Why did you think that?”

“Because everyone here is supernatural?” Oikawa said as if it was the most obvious thing ever. 

“Plus he already acted like one anyways,” Matsukawa muttered, not trying to hide his amusement. 

“I’m a human?”

“YOU’RE A WHAT?” They all yelled, even more confused than before. 

“You have white hair ,” Kindachi pointed out and everyone else nodded, agreeing with how odd natural white, or silver as Yahaba insisted, was. 

“It's genetic!”

After they had settled that issue, Yahaba and Kyoutani learned that, yes, their entire friend group was supernatural. Oikawa was a kitsune, Hanamaki was a witch, Matsukawa was from a long line of grim reapers, Watari was a tengu, Kunimi was a twin-tailed cat, and Kindiachi had a weird Jekyll and Hyde thing going on. It turned out that Iwaizumi was also a werewolf. No wonder Kyoutani always stuck to him.

----

They were both lying in bed after a long and tiring day of college lectures. They were exhausted and the thought of getting up tomorrow sounded dreadful. Yahaba was enjoying basking in each other's silence when Kyoutani spoke up.

“Shige, doesn’t this mean I’m an alpha?” Kyoutani suddenly said, voice entirely serious. 

Pause. Yahaba had to figure out what he meant for a moment. Alpha? What does-

Yahaba groaned as it clicked. “Kyou, shut the fuck up, I will strangle you.”

“No listen, it's been bothering me.” Kyoutani sat up, using his elbows as support. Yahaha could see it in his eyes, Kyoutani was spiraling into these thoughts and he had to put a stop to them.

“I will not be listening to your weird omegaverse thoughts,” he said, trying to make his voice stern because he really did not want to have this conversation. 

Kyoutani huffed and flopped back down onto the bed. “You’re my boyfriend, you have to listen to me.”

“Not gonna be your boyfriend much longer if you keep talking about it,” Yahaba mumbled, glad that the topic was coming to a close. 

“Fine.”

“Good.”

Silence took over again, and Yahaba willed those thoughts away from his brain, trying to latch onto a new thought. 

“What about Iwaizumi and Oikawa?”

“I WILL BUILD YOU A DOG HOUSE STOP TALKING.”

----

Yahaba was pissed and Kyoutani knew he had every right to be. Last night was another full moon and Kyoutani could admit that his wolf-self went a little crazy. He had a lot of pent up energy since he didn’t go to practice, and he ended up breaking an important vase that had belonged to Yahaba’s mother. 

Kyoutani had spent the morning after shifting attempting to apologize, but Yahaba wasn't going to accept something that easily. He was heartbroken having the most treasured thing his mother had left him destroyed. He knew he was in the wrong, and yet, he argued about it. Curse his terrible personality. 

While trying to apologize for the vase, Yahaba just kept yelling at him and interrupting him that Kyoutani got slightly pissed and said some not very nice things that he really wished he could take back. And so, he got kicked out.

Kyoutani sighed and he sat alone at a park. He had fucked up twice in one morining and now he had no fucking idea on what to do. He had thought about going to ask Iwaizumi for help. Both of them had to have done similar things when they were transformed. Hopefully. 

He rang Iwaizumi but the call almost immediately went to voicemail. Odd, but not unusual for someone as busy as him. Kyoutani sighed, guess he had to figure this out by himself this time. 

He stood up and stretched his arms. Sitting around on a random park bench wasn’t gonna help him much, but walking around might. He headed into the closest shopping center to just wander. Maybe there was a store there that sold apology gifts. ‘I’m sorry my werewolf form destroyed an extremely precious gift’ might be too specific though. 

Kyoutani continued to walk around and window shop. He was debating on a box of chocolates and a bouquet of flowers when something caught his eye. He hesitated. 

It was a good idea, great even, but it would be absolutely humiliating. Yahaba would love it though, and Kyoutani was a fucking sap. He would do anything to see Yahaba smile. He wasn’t religious, but if he could be devoted to Yahaba’s smile for the rest of his life, he would. It healed him after long days of practice and college and made him feel like he could do anything. 

Wow, maybe the weird wolf obsessiveness was getting to his head. 

~

Kyoutani knew Yahaba was still mad the moment he walked into their apartment, a gift bag gripped tightly in his hand. The apartment was silent, which was usually a bad sign. Yahaab hated being alone without some sort of noise in the background. So the silence just made this whole situation more worrisome. 

“Hello? Babe, are you home?”

There was no answer for a few seconds. Kyoutani actually thought for a moment that Yahaba had gone out. Maybe he had seeked out Oikawa or Watari for some comfort. He ventured further into the apartment, heavy footsteps in a quiet room put Kyoutani on edge a little. What if Yahaba hadn’t just gone out for a day, what if he actually left. They did argue a lot, but they were usually petty arguments over AC temperature or a certain brand of chips. But maybe, just maybe, this last incident was enough to push Yahaba over the edge. The possibility of Yahaba bottling everything up, all the anger, disappointment, and sadness, all bottled up until he exploded was something he had done before. . 

Kyoutani shook his head. No, Yahaba wouldn’t do that. They had always practiced good communication, it was something they prided themselves on. 

“Babe? Shige, I’m home?” Kyoutani called out again, this time down the hallway toward their bedroom. 

A quiet voice, just over a whisper. “Welcome home.”

Kyoutani felt a wave of relief wash over him. He was still here. They would still be okay. He pushed open the door to their bedroom and saw Yahaba curled up underneath his weighted blanket. Kyoutani sighed, Time to fix this he thought. 

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Kyoutani placed a hand on what he thought was Yahaba’s head before speaking. “Hey, I got you something. You wanna come out from under the blankets?”

A beat of silence before Yahaba shifted. “Is it food?”

Kyoutani huffed, he knew the Yahaba would ask that. “It's food, but also a surprise.” Kyoutani could tell that Yahaba thought about it for a moment. 

“Okay fine. But could you get your hand off my ass first?” Yahaba said, amusement clearing lacing his voice, a smile most likely on his face. 

Kyoutani felt himself flush very quickly as he removed his hand from the lump on the bed. Yahaba then sat up a little, the blanket falling down to rest by his feet. 

“Do I even want to know why you were curled up like a rock with your nasty feet by the pillows?”

“Hey! You can’t be mean to me right now. I’m heartbroken. Devastated,” Yahaba stated, his face pulling into a sad expression; but his eyes still shined with mirth. 

Kyoutani sighed at the reminder that Yahaba most likely was still sad, but was covering it up with jokes. 

“Shut up and open it,” Kyoutani said, tossing the gift bag into Yahaba’s hands. He fumbled with it for a moment before opening it. His eyes went wide as he saw what was hidden beneath the tissue paper. 

Kyoutani knows that he might have gone slightly overboard, but he really wanted to make it up to Yahaba, and if this was how he was gonna do it, he wouldn’t even hesitate. Inside the massive gift bag was a couple packages of gum, way too much mint chocolate, a box of horror movie DVD’s, and of course, dog toys. Kyoutani was so fucking embarrassed, but he knew that Yahaba would absolutely eat it up.

And he was right. As soon as Yahaba spotted it, his jaw dropped before quickly shifting into a grin. He turned the bag upside down and let everything spill out. The dog toys fell out last and spread all over the floor. There were almost a dozen different toys, ranging from glow in the dark balls to rope toys for tug-a-war. If Kyoutani added a couple squeaky ones in because he was curious, no one needed to know. 

“Ken…” Yahaba started, eyes not moving from the dog toys on the floor. Now he was worried. Maybe Kyoutani had gone about this wrong. Maybe all he wanted was an apology and a good meal? What if he just wanted to be away from him for a while? Kyoutani wasn’t sure if he would be able to do that. 

Kyoutani's mind was still racing when he felt himself being knocked over. “Ugh-”

Yahaba had jumped right on top of him, face tucked into his neck and arms wrapped tightly around his middle. Kyoutani was sure that he was trying to squeeze the life out of him, but when he felt that smile press into his shoulder, he relaxed. 

“You’re such an idiot, ya know that?”

“Yeah, yeah. It's embarrassing enough, so shut it.” Kyoutani pressed a few kisses to his temple, glad that this whole thing had ended well. 

Yahaba giggled, and Kyoutani marveled at the sound of it. It was precious, something he was desperate to hear for the rest of his life. They laid there together for a while, just soaking in the words and feelings that hadn't been discussed yet. They would get to it, they always did, but they just needed time first to heal the wounds earlier words had caused. 

“You have to tell my mom, because I sure as hell ain’t gonna do that,” Yahaba smugly stated. 

Kyoutani sighed, knowing that it was only fair. “Fine, but if she kills me, you better try and stop her.”

----

Their apartment was way too small. Especially for a werewolf. Kyoutani had been trying to behave during full moons, but the last incident was obvious enough that they needed a bigger space. An apartment wasn’t gonna work anymore. Maybe something with a backyard, or near the woods. 

The hard part was that they were two college students, and even with their jobs, they were nothing close to rich enough to buy a house. 

Yahaba sighed as he stopped scrolling through a website, knowing that buying a big house was a goal for the future. Maybe a first floor apartment would be better…

The clock hit 8:15 pm and he heard the lock click and turned to see Kyoutani walk in and toe his shoes off.

“I’m home!” Kyoutani called, walking into the kitchen and wrapping his arms around Yahaba’s waist and sticking his face into the corner of his shoulder and neck. Yahaba stopped washing the dishes from last night and leaned back against the embrace. It felt nice to have both of them home at the same time since their schedules have been so crazy recently. 

“Welcome back. Everything good with Iwaizumi?” Yahaba asked as Kyoutani nuzzled his nose deeper into his shoulder. Yahaba turned his head to give Kyoutani’s hair a kiss, and felt one being reciprocated on his neck. 

Kyoutani didn’t move his head even as he continued to talk. “Yeah, we spent a lot of time talking about me playing for the Sendai Frogs soon.”

“That sounds nice. Any new updates on Oikawa?”

He groaned at the mention of their old captain (and friend), but answered nonetheless. “He seems to be doing fine. He’s loving his new team too.”

“I’m glad.” Yahaba laughed to himself. Kyoutani could try to hide it, but everyone knew he had a soft spot for Oikawa. Who wouldn't if someone gave you a second chance at something you left behind?

“Oh, there was one more thing,” Kyoutani said as his head popped up. Kyoutani looked over his shoulder to see Kyoutani with a nervous smile on his face. 

“What is it?” Yahaba asked as Kyoutani’s arms slipped from his waist. He turned around completely, and the expression on Kyoutani’s face became more nervous. “Why are you acting so nervous? Is everything alright, Ken?”

“Yeah, it's just” Kyoutani hesitated for a moment before just spilling everything. “Iwaizumi brought up how Oikawa’s family was selling their second house right outside of Sendai, and since he knew we were looking, he was wondering if we wanted it. Oikawa was even willing to give us a discount since we are his ‘precious underclassmen’ or whatever.”

It took a moment for Yahaba to process the word vomit that Kyoutani threw at him, and once he did, he couldn’t help the grin that spread on his face. “Wait, really? Ken! That’s perfect! I’ve been there before and it's exactly what we need!”

“Why have you been there before?” Kyoutani asked, obviously confused and curious. 

Yahaba quickly brushed him off before turning out of the kitchen to go grab his computer. “That's a conversation for another time.”

“Fine, but don’t think I’m gonna forget.” Kyoutani grumbled, following behind like a lost puppy. 

~

Three months and a whole lotta paper work later, Yahaba was happy that they had been able to settle in nicely. Their house felt warm and welcoming, and Yahaba couldn’t have been happier with it. The backyard definitely had to be the best part. It was spacious and had a little path in the corner leading to the woods behind it. It was perfect.

Yahaba sighed and he replaced the batteries in his flashlight before checking to make sure it worked. He grabbed two coats and a pair of gloves. It was a full moon tonight.

He stepped outside and was immediately hit with a mass of golden and black fur. 

Yahaba grunted at the weight of the wolf and started to scratch between his ears. “Yeah, yeah. I know. You’re not the only one who is excited. C’mon, get up.” He patted Kyoutani’s side to signal the wolf to get off of him. Kyoutani happily agreed, licked a wet tongue up his cheek, and bounded off to loyally stand by Yahaba’s side. Patting his head, Yahaba checked all of his pockets to make sure he had what he needed. 

“Okay, Ken, let's get going.” Kyoutani ran toward the woods at Yahaba’s words, leaving the other behind to stand by the house. Yahaba shook his head with a small laugh, knowing the Kyoutani’s wolf-self was way too excited. It was cute.

Yahaba followed him deeper into the woods. He was a little scared, but knowing that his flashlight was fully charged and that he had an overprotective werewolf boyfriend who would kill anyone who tried to hurt him, he definitely felt safer. 

Soon, Kyoutani had led them to a little clearing in the woods. The trees parted to let moonlight in and Yahaba took a moment to once again admire how beautiful the werewolf was in front of him. His oddly dyed hair should have made his coat look unnatural, but somehow it worked. His fur was silky smooth - from an hour long bath they did last time - and he looked just as soft as one of those pillows in magazines. 

Yahaba came back to reality as he felt a nose nudge his stomach repeatedly. Seemed like he couldn’t even zone out for a minute around a clingy wolf. 

“Okay, okay. I brought it with me this time, you ready?” Yahaba asked, reaching into his pocket. Kyoutani bounded up and down, his excitement clearly getting the better of him. Yahaba laughed and brought out the tennis ball from his jacket pocket. The wolf’s excitement grew tenfold, and now he was running circles around Yahaba. 

“Okay! Go get it!” Yahaba threw the ball as hard as he could into the forest and watched as Kyoutani followed it into the darkness. HIs boyfriend may now turn into a wolf once a month, but they had figured this all out, together.

----

Bonus:

Iconic Cryptids

Wawa: I still can’t believe kyou /just/ turned

Wawa: i mean, c’mon

Wawa: he acted so much like a werewolf in hs

Maaaaki: ikr! 

Maaaaki: didnt he used to go up to yahaba and just

Maaaaki: bite him???

Iwa: that was before they were together too, right?

Mat: yeah, i remember that

Mat: he would just walk up and grab yahaba’s arm and bite it

Maaaaki: yahaba never reacted either…

Wawa: ....

Wawa: guess its just a kyoutani thing