Chapter Text
It happened far too fast.
One second, Hyunjin is cornered. The wolf has its teeth bared, stalking forward, hackles raised. He’s backed against the wall. He can’t think.
There’s a yell, he remembers that.
There are heavy footsteps as someone- Chan, Jisung and Changbin - bolts around the corner. He can’t think straight. He watches as Jisung and Changbin freeze too. Hyunjin blinks and, suddenly, the man in front of him isn’t a man anymore.
The next second, there’s another. Another wolf somehow. It’s smaller. Blonde fur, teeth bared, golden eyes blazing. It’s… it’s protecting him? He stares, paralysed, as the wolves snarl at each other. They circle a few times and growl low in their throats. The larger wolf lunges. He swears he sees Chan jolt forwards.
Jisung and Changbin yell out. It happens far too quickly. Before he knows it, there’s a massive black wolf with curly fur colliding with it. It practically roars at the other wolves like a threat, a warning, something intense and dangerous until it isn’t.
Where the wolves were are three people, knelt on the ground, teeth bared and eyes glowing an inhuman yellow. Hyunjin remembers the feeling of his breath catching in his throat as, slowly, Chan and Felix stand up. He remembers the unfamiliar other man rise to his feet too. Felix must’ve tried apologising to him frantically, but all he remembers is the look of terror deep in his friend’s eyes. He remembers Jisung screaming out, shouting loud and wild and Changbin having to hold him back. He remembers Chan apologising with shaking hands.
That was two weeks ago now, and for all Hyunjin understands, he knows everything has changed.
Jisung hasn’t been seen since that night. Changbin said he couldn't believe he'd hidden such a massive thing from them, and that's why he won’t speak to them, apparently. Changbin himself doesn’t know what to do about the whole “my friends are werewolves” situation.
Hyunjin shakes his head. No, not werewolves . They’re wolfbloods. That’s what Chan said, he does remember that.
Still, regardless of what they are, they’re his friends. Sure, it’s a bit jarring that they can just… turn into wolves. They’re still Chan and Felix. They aren’t monsters.
Which is exactly what leads him to now. He’s hovering in the doorway of Chan’s apartment, fidgeting with the lining of his coat sleeves as he hypes himself up to knock on the door. He knows what he needs to say. That doesn’t make it easy, of course. He frowns and glances away when the realisation hits. They can probably hear him. Or they’ve already picked up his scent… unless they’re asleep, maybe?
He’s pulled out of his thoughts when Chan opens the door abruptly. His blonde hair is a mess. The bags under his eyes are darker than usual and there’s a tight, grim expression on his face. Hyunjin blinks. He’s never seen him this bad before.
“Hi.” He whispers. Chan offers him a small smile. Weak, nervous. He opens the door some more and steps aside, welcoming him in. Hyunjin accepts.
He steps inside and slips off his boots by the door. Chan doesn’t move from his spot, not even as the taller boy takes a seat on his heavily blanketed sofa. Hyunjin frowns for a moment, twiddling his thumbs. He glances around.
“Thanks for letting me in.” He murmurs. “I wasn’t sure if you were going to.”
“Recognised your scent.”
“Ah. That makes sense.” Chan nods in reply.
“Is Felix home?” He goes silent, gaze never meeting his own.
“No. No, he’s… He’s staying with his aunt for a bit.”
“Oh.” There’s a tension in the room as obvious as the bags under Chan’s eyes or the way Hyunjin’s leg bounces anxiously.
He opens his mouth after a few moments of silence. Chan gets there first.
“I understand if you don’t want to be friends anymore, Hyunjinnie. Really, I do. But you can’t tell anyone.” He faces him, expression firm. “Please. Humans aren’t supposed to know.”
He blinks. Oh. Of course. “Is that why you think I’m here?”
Chan nods. He runs a hand through those white-blonde curls. “Well, yeah. I’ve been mentally preparing myself for this conversation for years. My worst nightmare came to life, y’know?”
Hyunjin understands. Really, he does. He stands up slowly, fist balled in the soft fabric of his sleeve. “Then stop. Because that’s not why I’m here.”
The wolfblood frowns, watches him hype himself up and then close the distance between them in three quick strides. Before he lets him have even a moment to react, Hyunjin fully closes the gap.
He kisses Chan abruptly, eyes shut tight and one hand on his cheek. It stops as soon as it starts. He watches the blonde stare back and blink owlishly. Hyunjin clears his throat and it all comes out at once.
“I think you’re beautiful. I think you’re amazing and… and I think what you are is amazing. Yeah, I don’t understand it, but just because you don’t get something doesn’t mean it can’t be something wonderful. It’s like art; just because you can’t grasp the meaning doesn’t make it ugly, you know what I mean? Even if you were human, just regular old human Christopher Bang who couldn’t transform into a wolf, I would still think the world of you. I adore you. Don’t you ever suggest otherwise. Okay? And one more thing–”
Chan cuts him off. He presses those soft pillowy lips to Hyunjin’s and shuts him up. They stay that way a while; conjoined in a gentle embrace, one of Hyunjin’s hands cupping the back of Chan’s neck and one of Chan’s against his cheek. When they part, Chan pulls him close.
“You were talking too much.” He mumbles, breathing warm against Hyunjin’s throat as he rests his face there.
“Maybe. You have that effect on people.” The boy replies, still a bit shell-shocked. He kissed Chan. And Chan kissed back. Huh. “You make me want to spill every thought I’ve ever had to you.”
The blonde is quiet for a good few minutes, just holding Hyunjin. Hyunjin holds him tight and traces patterns into his back ever so delicately. Artist hands, he thinks.
“We’ll have to talk about this, though.” Chan whispers, chipping away at the quiet. “About what this means. Us. Me. The wolfblood thing.”
“I know. But this is nice for now, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.” He sighs softly. He lets go of that dread, that doglike fear of abandonment that seeps into his bones and weighs them down. “Yeah, it’s nice.”
Hyunjin smiles. There’s a lot to discuss, to work through and understand. He knows that as well as Chan does. It isn’t just them either; there’s Changbin- that unmovable force that loves him unconditionally- who he hasn’t seen since the incident, there’s Jisung- who he knows hasn’t left his room or even his house since then- and there’s Felix too… and that other wolf that he doesn’t know.
But for now, that can wait.
For now, it’s just Chan and Hyunjin comfortable in each other’s arms in Chan’s living room. Wolfblood and human. Human and wolfblood.
Really, honestly, truthfully, Hyunjin wouldn’t want it any other way.