Chapter Text
Summer was always Choi Yeonjun’s favourite time of the year, especially since beginning university. Finding peace amongst the chaos that was his Bachelor of Science degree in biology had always revitalised him. It rejuvenated his interest in the degree for just long enough, right before it sucked the soul out of him once more. Though, this summer was a challenge, namely due to reuniting with his dear childhood best friend, Choi Beomgyu.
Beomgyu himself was not the problem, no, he could never blame the younger for the move. In fact, he had welcomed Beomgyu with open arms after hearing about his terrible experience in shared accommodation following his first year. It was the small things that caught him off guard; his surroundings changed, bookshelves full of second-hand biology textbooks and dance awards making room for Beomgyu’s soccer trophies and coding awards. His once clean bedroom, now packed with spare clothing which made him fully confront his hoarding problem.
The move itself had been a tiresome task, the younger had sworn he didn’t have that much luggage, but under the sweltering summer heat and the fact that the elevator was broken, it had taken them both longer than they had imagined. There were still untouched boxes littered around the kitchen island. But none of this could compare to chores. Perhaps it was because Yeonjun had grown up an only child, but adjusting to Beomgyu’s chore schedule was the cause of one too many petty arguments between the two.
Though, he’s fairly certain that going for “groceries” at midnight was not “a reasonable time” as Beomgyu had claimed, and he’s fairly sure that going to the convenience store also didn’t count as groceries. There was also no reason in particular for Yeonjun to join him on the venture because it wasn’t truly as dire as Beomgyu had bemoaned about it being. But one pout and a strategic whine was all it took for Yeonjun to put on a hoodie in desperate need of a wash, and grab his keys from the little pink ceramic bowl Beomgyu had brought as a house warming present just two weeks ago when they had just finalised the move.
It’s always been like that with Beomgyu; over the years shy tugs on the sleeves of his cardigan had turned into rapid fire protests accompanied with big sparkly eyes, and Yeonjun, despite any annoyance he may have felt in the moment, has never really minded. Especially now, walking side by side with Beomgyu between streetlights and shadows, he realises it has been far too long since he had seen the younger, even with short summer trips over the years. Yet, without too much difficulty, Beomgyu slid himself back into Yeonjun’s life as if no time had passed, despite the missing pieces of Beomgyu that Yeonjun had yet to figure out — at his core, Choi Beomgyu was the same as ever.
“Hyung, does your lease let us paint the walls?” Beomgyu suddenly looks up from his phone, and Yeonjun can see a multitude of shades of off-white paint pulled up on the cracked screen.
“I’m not sure, probably not? Why?”
“I want to repaint them white,” he declares with a huff.
Yeonjun can’t help but let out an exasperated sigh, “But they’re already white?”
Beomgyu has always had an eye for the artistic, literature and music being some of his best subjects in high school. So when the younger had texted him that he had gotten into SNU — just like hyung — for computer science of all things, Yeonjun had felt like he had missed some kind of important milestone in Beomgyu’s life, if the unfamiliar coding awards were to indicate anything. At the time, it had felt disorienting; Beomgyu would come to him with anything and everything, from the smallest passing thought to crushing secrets. To not understand the younger’s thought process because he had missed a mere two years of his life… Well, Yeonjun knew that moving Beomgyu into his apartment would be the best solution for his bruised ego.
“Well first of all, no, they aren’t just white, they’re like scary I-just-bought-this-house-white, but I think the overall feng shui of the house would be better with a warmer white, ” Beomgyu begins, his pronunciation of feng shui not exactly correct, clicking on one of the shades and shoving his phone in Yeonjun’s face. “The apartment is too bright, too new… we need to make it more home-like.”
“I think my apartment is already very home-like, thank you very much,” He pushes the phone out of the way, stopping at the side of the road to jay walk across to the convenience store. “And it’s pronounced feng shui.”
Beomgyu blinks back in surprise, “Really? I don’t believe you, hyung.”
Yeonjun’s arm hovers behind Beomgyu’s back as they cross, picking up the pace so as to not draw the attention of any dodgy strangers as they enter – Yeonjun was exhausted, he was not in the mood to deal with anything out of the ordinary.
“I’d say you should ask an architecture student about it, but I’m pretty sure you guys are, like, sworn enemies, so just trust me.” He digs into his pockets to bring out a crumpled sticky note, beige and bear shaped. Beomgyu had thrust it into his hands before running off to find a pair of socks to wear with his trainers.
It was simple enough – eggs, bread, and ‘cold stuff to snack on’. He can’t help but snort reading the list. He has half the mind to buy two big bags of ice for 5000 won and feign ignorance that Beomgyu should have been more specific with his list. Though, considering the state of summer this year, it didn’t seem like too bad of an idea.
Beomgyu parts with Yeonjun, immediately heading over to the selection of ramen, already pulling down their favourites. “Hyung, just because I’m on a team with mostly engineers doesn’t mean I automatically am one.” There’s a pout in his voice that Yeonjun can hear despite not being able to see him and he can’t help but chuckle to himself.
“You’re right, you’re somehow worse,” he teases, trying to spot Beomgyu from over the top of the aisles.
There’s a beat before Beomgyu speaks again, tone even. “Do you want an egg with your ramen, Yeonjunnie hyung?” He’s about 90% sure Beomgyu had rolled his eyes just then, and the thought causes another fit of giggles.
Under the quiet buzz of LED lighting and gentle tapping of fingers on a phone screen from the clerk at the register, Yeonjun is able to find peace in these mundane moments with Beomgyu. They fill him with a nostalgia he hadn’t realised he was even missing in between the whirlwind of an experience that university has been for him. Groceries with Beomgyu quickly becomes a late night snack with Beomgyu as the clock turns over to 1am. They sit in comfortable silence, sharing short anecdotes between mouthfuls of ramen and Yeonjun lets himself bask in the convenience store air conditioning and Beomgyu’s company. He can already feel the temptation to succumb to cheap coffee to guide him back home, but in the middle of Beomgyu’s sudden rant about an upcoming assignment, the younger suddenly cuts himself off and begs Yeonjun to try a slurpee with him.
“Hyung, the sour grape one looks scary,” Beomgyu whispers, holding the empty cup in his hand gingerly, “Should I just get a normal cola one?” Though, as he says it, Beomgyu already has his hand on the machine, trying to turn the handle gently.
Yeonjun sighs, “Whatever you get, you aren’t allowed to come to me when you don’t like it, ok?”
“Of course Hyung, what do you take me for?” Despite his earlier hesitance, Beomgyu fills the entire cup with the unfamiliar flavour, quickly taking his phone out and snapping a picture of it before tapping away at his phone. There’s a small v-shaped smile on his face, and Yeonjun can barely contain his eye roll when he realises exactly what Beomgyu was doing.
“And now you’re texting your little boyfriend about it?”
Beomgyu snaps his head up, a faint red dusting the tips of his ears, clutching his phone and slurpee a little closer to his chest as he walks past Yeonjun to the register.
“Hyung,” Beomgyu whines, “I’m just being silly, can’t a man be silly with his boyfriend?”
As Yeonjun walks up to the register, he spots the freezer, quickly pivoting and spying the ice cream selection inside. Without much thought, he sticks his hand inside and grabs the first few desserts inside and feels satisfied when he spots a singular Melona bar amongst the mix.
“You can be silly with Hyunseo, I just didn’t think he was capable of being silly back ,” Yeonjun quips.
Beomgyu’s relationship was an interesting one to say the least, though Yeonjun can’t exactly judge it because it’s not like he has a problem with Kim Hyunseo, it’s just that he was surprised that he could pull Beomgyu of all people. He was nice, but Yeonjun is convinced that he was surgically attached to his laptop and that he would explode into a million pieces if he was taken away from whatever program he was working on. Though if he were to mention this to Beomgyu, the younger would whine and call him a bully. But, once again, Yeonjun could not judge; Hyunseo was the reason Beomgyu could slack off from meetings with the university’s robotics team to spend his summer moving out in the first place, despite having joined in the middle of his first year as a new member— ‘pretty privilege’, the younger had claimed.
Beomgyu huffs out in annoyance, walking right out the door, leaving Yeonjun to pay for the total of their midnight ventures.
He’d asked Beomgyu once what he had seen in the other engineer, and Beomgyu had simply answered with a, he’s nice and a, you wouldn’t understand how hard it is to find a cute and decent guy in this faculty , averting his eyes and shrugging his shoulders. Another irrefutable fact Yeonjun could not deny, yet it comes back around to him and makes him wonder why Beomgyu was amongst their company that often, especially since he didn’t even take engineering itself.
In any other circumstance, he would shake the other by the shoulders and beg for him to look for something better, but when it came to Beomgyu, Yeonjun had always found it harder to criticise him directly. Besides, it was amusing watching their relationship unfold, especially when it was doomed to fail. Soobin had placed a bet on it lasting six months, however Yeonjun was a staunch believer that the relationship had maybe one more month remaining.
When he walks out of the store after paying, Beomgyu’s face is scrunched up in disgust, and without another word, the sour slurpee is thrust into his face. Yeonjun simply sighs and swaps their drinks as they begin their trek home. Some things truly never change.
Beomgyu takes a hold of the plastic bag full of groceries, taking a peak inside.“Yeonjunnie hyung, what the fuck did you buy?” Beomgyu asks, scandalised. “Why are there like three bars of sweet corn ice cream?”
Weird. He didn’t even know they made sweet corn ice cream. Knowing Beomgyu’s palette however, he’s praying that it tastes good enough that he can eat three of them, lest they go untouched in the freezer.
“I mean, there’s a Melona Bar in there so that feels good enough for cold stuff to snack on,” Yeonjun says, a smile already curling on his lips, “If it mattered what you wanted, you should’ve picked out the ice cream yourself instead of texting your boyfriend,” Yeonjun giggles, taking another slip of the slurpee which he immediately regrets, face scrunching up involuntarily from the sourness.
As they turn the corner, he expects another quip from Beomgyu. Yet all that comes out as a response from the younger is a strangled gasp. When he looks to the younger, he sees him looking straight ahead, eyes wide in fear. He hears it before he sees it — a low growl cutting through the silence of the night.
Standing before them, alarmingly close was a large dog, teeth bared and bright green eyes glowing in the light of the near full moon. Its fur was darker than the pavement it stood on, near pitch black and matted with sticks and mud. For a second, Yeonjun wants to believe it was looking at something else, perhaps a stray cat, but when he steps in front of Beomgyu, eyes still trained on the dog, its growls grow louder even louder than before, pressing down against the pavement.
Yeonjun has never owned a dog before, and hasn't really encountered one himself either. The closest thing he has to animal handling experience was cat-sitting Taehyun’s Hobak last winter — a rabid dog was far beyond his capabilities.
“Beomgyu-yah, we need to walk backwards as slowly as possible,” he whispers over his shoulder, eyes still locked onto the threat before them. In his periphery, he can see Beomgyu nod, and the rustle of the plastic bag in his hands signals Yeonjun to take a step back with him.
“Hyung, it’s coming closer.” Beomgyu sounds breathless, voice shaky as they continue to step back. The dog before them begins to stalk closer and closer, and Yeonjun’s heart sinks.
“I know, just stay behind hyung ok?” He slowly raises an arm behind him, trying to nudge Beomgyu directly behind him. And yet, it seems the universe wants to traumatise the idea of ever getting a pet dog for him.
There’s a deafening silence that follows the hollow sound of the can by Yeonjun’s foot, the calm before the storm. Of course, in a moment of actual danger, it would be Yeonjun who kicks the can — literally. His own body reacts before he can, the hair on his nape rising, the hitched breath he takes as he presses his back against Beomgyu, fully shielding him, bracing them for impact. When the dog lunges, it’s with a bark that rivals the snap of thunder.
Yeonjun has never had a moment in his life where his fight or flight had come into play, he’s truly grateful for it. But he had never expected for his response to be to freeze . He’s able to bring his arms up in front of his face before he realises his legs are locked into place and his jaw is clenched tight. It’s as if it all happens in slow motion — the jaws of the dog unhinge, sharp teeth pulling saliva taut as it draws closer and closer.
But before it can make contact, he feels himself get pushed backwards. In the blink of an eye, it’s Beomgyu standing in front of him, the dog hanging off wildly from his arm. It’s Beomgyu’s blood that spills on the pavement at their feet, his bones that Yeonjun can hear the sickening crunch of and his gasp he hears before the onslaught of tears stream down his face. But as quickly as it happens, it ends, the stray dog releasing him and bolting right past them, knocking Yeonjun down onto his ass and straight into a puddle.
“Beomgyu!” Yeonjun scrambles up, ignoring his completely soaked through sweats and the dull ache at his tail bone. Beomgyu is visibly shaking, hiccuping over tears as he holds the base of his elbow tightly, staring down at the wound. Yeonjun has never been afraid of blood, but at the sight of the injury on Beomgyu, he feels himself go lightheaded. The wound isn’t particularly deep, the blood oozing out much slower than he had expected. “Talk to hyung, how do you feel?”
Beomgyu lifts his head to look Yeonjun in the eyes, mouth gaping open and shut, as if he can’t find the words, but his responsiveness is enough to spur Yeonjun into action.
Perhaps Yeonjun should have called for an ambulance, but their apartment was right beyond the alley they’d been attacked in, and in a moment of panic, his three years of biology and his extensive first aid kit back at the apartment felt good enough – Beomgyu needed immediate attention .
He scoops up the younger into his arms, their most-likely ruined groceries hanging in the crook of his elbow and leaves their spilled slurpees behind, running to their apartment as fast as he could.
He runs past the elevator in the lobby and rushes to the stairs as fast as he can. Beomgyu was hurt because of him , because he froze up, because he couldn’t keep his wits about him, kicking over a can during the key seconds that could’ve gotten them out of the situation. Which meant Yeonjun had to at the very least dress his wound; it was vital that he could do this, pushing his regrets to not call an ambulance down to the back of his mind.
Beomgyu whimpers when he accidentally jostles him as he flies up the stairs, two at a time. The younger has buried his head in the crook between Yeonjun’s neck and shoulder, and every shaky breath he feels against his skin spurs him onwards.
When they finally reach their apartment, Yeonjun lets their groceries fall to the floor, the tell-tale crack of an egg making him wince slightly. But it hardly mattered, Beomgyu’s injury was yet to be attended to. Yeonjun had taken first aid courses multiple times throughout his lifetime, he may not be studying medicine, but the adjacency to biology made him feel obligated to do so. That and Kang Taehyun’s insistence that he needed someone to do these courses with because everything was better with a friend. Thank God for Kang Taehyun, truly.
He sets Beomgyu down in front of the bathroom sink, guiding his arm under the sink, trying not to crumble when he hears Beomgyu hiss when the edges of the wound make contact with the running water. “I know it hurts Beoms, but just keep it in the water and wash the blood away whilst I get the first-aid kit, ok?” Before he can get a response from Beomgyu, he runs out the bathroom door, nearly ramming his shoulder into the door frame as he rushes to the closet by their front door, taking out the nearly untouched first-aid kit.
When he comes back in, he works fast, trying not to let his shaking hands interfere as he gently dabs the bite mark with disinfectant. Without the blood, Beomgyu’s wound looks surprisingly shallow for how deep he could’ve sworn the dog had bitten him. “It’s a lot smaller than what it felt like,” Beomgyu remarks, as if reading his mind. “It hurt so much and it felt so deep, I thought its teeth hit my bones but…” His sentence trails off, frown deepening as he stares at the wound.
When Yeonjun squeezes the wound to try and let more blood out, only a couple beads of blood find their way to the divots left behind and Beomgyu hardly flinches. “Sorry, wait, did that hurt much Beomgyu-yah?” Yeonjun asks.
Beomgyu’s frown deepens, “No, it didn’t really feel like anything…” he mumbles.
Yeonjun has never treated an animal bite, but from what he had been taught, he was fairly certain that something that looked that deep should’ve done more damage. Maybe it was the trauma of watching his best friend get nearly mauled to death, influencing his memory. Instead of letting it cloud his thoughts, Yeonjun scoffs, “Maybe its teeth were all worn down, it looked old.”
“Hyung, I think it was just starving, not old.” Beomgyu pauses for a second, taking a piece of pre-cut gauze out of the first-aid kit and testing out its size in comparison to the wound. It’s bigger than what Yeonjun had expected, but then again, he had never seen a stray dog of that size before in his life. “But of course I shouldn’t question an old man like you, you have a sixth sense for old things,” Beomgyu teases, voice light.
Banter with Beomgyu is always so easy, and he so desperately wants to fall back into that rhythm with the younger after their horrific encounter, but he holds his tongue. “Beoms, why did you jump in front of me like that? You could’ve– well, you did get seriously injured.”
He cuts a bigger piece of gauze, applying it to Beomgyu’s arm. And honestly? After doing a once over of the now bandaged wound, he’s pretty proud of himself considering the adrenaline had started to wear off as soon as he was faced with the plethora of first-aid supplies and the fear and panic from earlier was finally starting to set in. They would have to go to a clinic first thing in the morning tomorrow, bright and early, right before Beomgyu has to go to soccer practice with Taehyun at SNU.
Beomgyu simply places a hand on top of his, shooting him a warm smile amongst dried tear tracks, “What else could I have done?”
What else could I have done?
Beomgyu has always been selfless. So selfless, Yeonjun would call it a vice over a virtue. All he feels as he gazes into Beomgyu’s eyes is an overwhelming guilt that it should’ve been him — he’s Beomgyu’s hyung. Ever since they met at seven and five years old , it had been drilled into his brain that he was to look after Beomgyu, a philosophy he upholds to this day and extends to his other dongsaengs, Taehyun, Kai and Soobin. His friendship with Beomgyu had always been a push and pull, in every sense of it, he just so desperately wishes that he had won just this once.
But as much as it upset him, Yeonjun could hardly argue, because it was for that very same reason he had stepped in front of Beomgyu in the first place. He racks his head for a response, determined to chastise the younger for being reckless, but is left speechless when Beomgyu breaks the silence, tilting his head and pleading softly. “Hyung, please. I’ll be ok, we’ll go to the clinic and everything will be ok. Let’s just go to bed, it’s been a weird night.”
And once more, who was he to argue? He’s done the best he could, even if the guilt screams he could’ve done more. He tries to give Beomgyu a reassuring smile, but he can feel its shakiness at the corner of his lips. “Alright, let’s go to bed,” he pats Beomgyu on the shoulder, taking his place at the sink to brush his teeth. Beomgyu joins him and there’s a pleasant domesticity to the moment. If Yeonjun doesn’t look down, he can almost pretend like nothing was wrong, that they had a normal night, that the eggs weren’t broken and the ice cream wasn’t melting.
When Beomgyu bids him a good night, he notices the younger barely touches his phone, turning the lights off and falling face first into his bed as Yeonjun watches from his open door directly across the corridor.
⋆.˚🐺🌔⋆.˚
Yeonjun wakes up before the alarms he had set. 7:30am and he doesn’t think he’s woken up from pure stress like this since his disaster of a semester all the way back in the second half of first year. It’s as if all of the panic and anxiety from the night before had come back in full force, a constant buzz underneath his skin surging him forward out of his bedroom. Looking back, maybe he was an idiot. He should’ve just called the ambulance, should’ve called the Animal Welfare Association to deal with the mutt that had attacked them, should’ve done more than try to act like a hero.
Getting ready is a blur, his mind plagued by one simple simple question: how was he meant to explain to the hospital why he didn’t just take Beomgyu to urgent care immediately? But he knew there was a greater matter at hand — checking if Beomgyu’s wound was infected. He knocks on the younger’s door, it’s more of a courtesy than anything, he’s well aware that he sleeps like a log. Beomgyu doesn’t stir, and he takes it as a sign to approach his bed.
From where he can see Beomgyu’s head peeking out from the covers, he can at least verify that Beomgyu hasn’t developed a fever overnight. That at the very least crosses rabies off of the list of worries Yeonjun has. Oh, that’s right , Beomgyu was also going to need to get shots for rabies and tetanus, God he really should’ve just taken him to the hospital. His face is also full of colour, his lips pursed into a gentle smile. When Beomgyu is asleep, he reminds Yeonjun of a Disney princess in a way — though he’d never admit it to Beomgyu’s face.
“Beoms, Beoms. Come on,” he mumbles, shaking Beomgyu by the shoulder “We need to get up now, we still have to go to the hospital, or like, a clinic.”
Beomgyu whines in response, turning away from Yeonjun and pulling the blankets with him. Waking up Beomgyu was also a chore within itself, one that Yeonjun had decided early on wouldn’t be one he'd undertake. Not because of its difficulty, but because Yeonjun generally felt bad disturbing his sleep. But, whether or not Beomgyu had rabies from the wolf bite was more important, and so he pulls the covers right off of Beomgyu, eliciting a cry from him.
“Hyung,” he whines, “Just five more minutes please… It’s still the holidays,” Beomgyu says, his whining turning into muttering as he begins to drift back to sleep.
“Beomgyu-yah, I need to check your arm again, we need to go to the hospital,” he urges.
It seems the mention of his wound wakes him up, sitting up lazily. Beomgyu doesn’t even look at Yeonjun as he sticks out his bandaged arm. Ah, this was how sleepy Beomgyu was going to be , he should’ve known. He quickly rushes to get the first-aid kit they had left in the bathroom, and as he comes back, he sees Beomgyu hasn’t moved from his position, save for his head having slumped over.
Yeonjun takes Beomgyu’s arm gently, “Well, if you wake up when I rip off the gauze, you can’t exactly be mad at hyung,” he mutters, well aware that Beomgyu was most likely listening to him despite trying to sleep upright. The gauze is already bloody, and Yeonjun mentally prepares himself for the oozing blood that will greet him once again. His anxiety tries to help him prepare for the yellow pus that might also accompany it.
But when he pulls back the gauze, all he is met with is the smooth expanse of Beomgyu’s skin, untouched and unblemished.
“What the fuck.”
“Hm? What’s wrong, hyung? Is it bad?” Beomgyu asks, squinting through his eyes.
“Beomgyu, it’s… you’re…” The words are caught in Yeonjun’s throat. He runs a shaky thumb along where he remembers the divots of the bite mark were, but there are no indents in Beomgyu’s skin. It was as if nothing had happened the night before.
“Hyung, where’s the bite mark?” Beomgyu sounds more alert this time, shuffling himself over to the curtains and pulling them open, letting the morning sunlight bear witness to his undamaged arm. “Wait, no, what the fuck?” Beomgyu squawks, running his other hand across his arm roughly. There was only really one explanation.
“Beomgyu I think we’re experiencing folie à deux ,” Yeonjun says gravely.
“Folie a what? Why the fuck are you speaking french, my arm just magically healed!”
“Like, a shared hallucination. We’re hallucinating together.” He’s sure of it. Because how on earth would Beomgyu’s arm have healed so fast? Unless his true calling was somehow actually medicine and not biology… if that were the case then he would be eligible for a nobel prize at the ripe age of twenty two, which is somehow more unbelievable than Beomgyu’s magic arm right now.
“Hyung, I know Taehyun-ah likes to call us delusional, but I don’t think we both hallucinated a stray dog attacking us at 1am in the morning, especially because I can still feel the phantom pain of the bite.” Beomgyu pushes past him to get out of bed, stretching his arms over his head. “Unless the dog was way weaker than we had originally thought, and the blood was its teeth just hitting like, random surface vein or whatever.”
Yeonjun frowns, “But if that was the case there should at least be scabs. And besides, that’s not how veins work.” Yeonjun pulls out his phone as Beomgyu makes his way to the bathroom, there had to be some kind of clever explanation for what had happened. And yet as he looks down at his phone, thumbs hovering over the screen the blinking cursor taunts him.
What was he even meant to search?
What to do if a dog bite rapidly heals?
Rapidly healing animal bites?
Symptoms of shared delusion?
In all of his years of studying, no, simply living, he had never encountered such a strange phenomena in medicine. He quickly types in Symptoms of Rabies into the search bar and begins reading. Even if the wound had magically healed and they both hadn’t hallucinated anything, making sure Beomgyu didn’t suddenly contract rabies would be the smart thing to do right now.
“Well, at least we didn’t end up going to the hospital,” he mutters under his breath. Had they gone, who knows what would have happened the moment Beomgyu’s wound had healed — his best friend could have been taken by the government for secret testing. Or worse, they could have both been placed under watch for experiencing some kind of a shared psychotic break.
“Hyung, can you come help me?” Beomgyu yells from the bathroom, “I can’t seem to get my contacts out.”
“Why did you sleep with your contacts in ?” Yeonjun asks and he can’t help that judgement that seeps into his tone. When he thinks back to the night before he swears Beomgyu had been wearing his glasses. Though, the only thing that comes to mind when he tries to visualise that night were Beomgyu’s blood and tears hitting the pavement floor, and the mere seconds before he had become a victim to the stray dog himself.
Beomgyu whines, “I don’t know, hyung but I just can’t get them out!” When Beomgyu turns to face him, he really stares at the younger’s eyes. Normally, when Beomgyu wears contacts, he can see a faint blue ring circling his dark brown iris, but right now he is certain the only thing that circles Beomgyu’s irises is the redness from being awoken so abruptly this morning. Which makes him wonder…
“Beomgyu are you sure you’re wearing contacts?”
“Hyung, obviously I have to be wearing contacts, I can read your stupid shampoo bottle from all the way over here,” he grumbles. Beomgyu plunges his fingers into his eye without a second thought, more aggressive than necessary, hissing a little when he makes contact with his eyeball. “This is so stupid,” he hears Beomgyu mutter under his breath.
Before Yeonjun can say anything else, Beomgyu steps closer, “Ok, Yeonjunnje hyung I know this is weird but can you fish out my contact lens?”
“What? Beomgyu, no, that’s gross as fuck!”
Beomgyu groans, throwing his head back. “Hyung, please! You’ve been partially blind for two whole years more than me, I need your expertise right now.”
“Beomgyu you couldn’t keep your eyes open whenever we fucked around with eyeliner in high school, how are you going to deal with my finger in your eyeball?”
“Just try it!”
“Ok! Fine!” Without hesitating, Yeonjun grabs Beomgyu’s chin, steadying his face and bringing his fingers to the younger’s eyeball. This was stupid, what they were doing was stupid, he was probably going to poke out Beomgyu’s eye—
“Don’t poke out my eye? And no, this isn’t stupid, hyung please. I already feel crazy enough,” Beomgyu says and oh, he was mumbling all of that out loud. Though who could blame him? The situation at hand was traumatic at worst and ridiculous at best.
Yeonjun’s fingers hover right above Beomgyu’s eyeball, poised and ready to try and fish the contact out. But when he makes a pinching motion to fish the lens out, he realises very quickly that there was nothing in Beomgyu’s eye, and the younger recoils back with a yelp, bringing his hands up to his face as if to shield him away from it.
“Hyung! That fucking hurt!” Beomgyu yells. It was too early in the morning for this.
“Oh my God, I told you, you don’t have contacts in!” Yeonjun groans, sliding his hands through his hair.
“Then why—“
He takes a step forward, placing his hands on Beomgyu’s shoulders, interrupting the younger’s line of thought. “Ok, you know what we need? We’ve had a weird morning, we deserve to go eat some cereal, go and say hi to our friends, play some soccer and then maybe go get hot pot afterwards, ok?” Yeonjun rushes out, taking a moment to breathe when Beomgyu gives him a small nod. “Let’s just stop worrying about this for a second, I think we’re both overwhelmed.”
Beomgyu hesitates for a moment before nodding again, “Ok, hyung. Let me just get ready.”
Exiting the bathroom, the first thing Yeonjun does is pull up his phone again, looking at the tab he had left open, Symptoms of Rabies . He skims the list before noticing delusions and hallucinations amongst the dot point list — is it possible to hallucinate better eyesight? He doesn’t know, and he doesn’t think he wants to know right now. That will be a problem for Yeonjun in a couple of hours. For now, he just wants something to go ordinarily today.
When they sit down for breakfast he tries to ignore the look of disgust that crosses Beomgyu’s face as he stares down at the cereal bowl he had prepared for the younger. But he can’t hold back his questions once he notices Beomgyu gag when he tries to forcibly take a bite.
“Beoms, is there something wrong?” Yeonjun asks, taking a bite of cereal for himself. Nothing tastes off, which means he’s certain it hadn’t suddenly expired, though it wouldn’t have surprised him at this point.
Beomgyu hesitates, staring at the untouched glass of water Yeonjun had gotten for him. “I just don’t think I can eat this morning, I feel… sick.”
Yeonjun gives him a reassuring smile, “That’s ok, it doesn’t bother me at all.” And it’s the truth.
Until it’s not.
Because as Yeonjun drives them to SNU, Yeonjun can’t help but go over the full list of symptoms for rabies in his head, one symptom jumping out at him amongst the others.
Hydrophobia.
Maybe he was overthinking it. Beomgyu not drinking a singular glass of water did not mean he had rabies. But Yeonjun’s brain was itching for an answer and perhaps his best friend had contracted rabies and their decision not to go to the hospital may have sealed the deal. But when he had grabbed Beomgyu’s face earlier, he was certain there was no fever. It felt like he was running in circles.
To some extent, Choi Yeonjun truly felt like he was making all of the wrong choices with his best friend’s life. And yet, somehow, all of the right choices as well.
There was a headache building at his temples as he let himself mull over the events of last night and this morning, but he couldn’t even begin to comprehend anything that had happened. Did this make him a bad hyung? The only thing staving that spiral of thoughts was the content smile on Beomgyu’s face as he stared out the car window; Yeonjun knows the younger was always good at hiding his emotions and true feelings, but in this moment, he decides for his own sanity to take Beomgyu’s demeanor at face value.
They pull up into the parking lot just outside the field, and as always, Yeonjun pulls out the first ever parking ticket he received on campus, sticking it on his windshield.
“Hyung, what are you doing?”
“Well I’m not paying 25,000 won for a parking ticket and I don’t want to pay 100,000 won if I get caught again, duh.” He takes a look at Beomgyu, who is staring at him with a raised eyebrow. “What? It’s worked for me before!”
Beomgyu purses his lips, suppressing a laugh, “Uh huh, whatever you say hyung.”
When he takes his place in the bleachers, he tries to ignore the feelings of impending doom in favour of entertaining Choi Soobin, one of the first friends he had made coming to SNU — a fellow science major who had been bouncing from major to major over the last few years. He’s pretty sure Soobin has decided to remain in chemistry but he wouldn’t be surprised if he had completely left behind science to pursue journalism. Though what does surprise him is the presence of Kang Taehyun sitting next to him.
“Taehyun-ah, shouldn’t you be on the field?” Yeonjun asks, coming to stand in front of his two friends.
Taehyun looks up at him and shrugs, “They benched me. How have you been hyung?”
I’ve been just fine Taehyun, I think Beomgyu has rabies and I think we’re both actively hallucinating, just peachy! If Taehyun were to find out how Yeonjun had handled the dog bite situation, his dongsaeng would probably revoke is first-aid certificate himself.
“Uh. Yeah. I’m fine…” Yeonjun looks off to the side, trying not to make eye contact with either of them. He can already feel Soobin’s narrowed eyes on him, but Taehyun’s blank stare is somehow more scrutinising. Soobin is judgemental in a way that Yeonjun can easily deflect him because he’s simply too nosy for his own good. Taehyun however, had a stare that could turn his soul inside out and he wasn’t exactly in the mood to be chastised by the younger. Especially considering his poor medical procedure yesterday.
“Wait, why did they bench you?”
“They didn’t bench him, he just doesn’t want to play and the coach doesn’t care because he’s their star player,” Soobin interjects with a drawl.
Taehyun rolls his eyes. “You make it sound like I’m abusing my power.”
“That’s because you are abusing your power.”
Yeonjun frowns, “Does a soccer player have that much power?”
“Well yeah, since Taehyun’s abusing it.”
“Since when did you care enough about sports that my abuse of power as the MVP is bothering you?”
“Since you dragged me here to watch you play, only to just sit here with me!” Soobin exclaims, throwing his hands in the air.
“What? And you don’t want to watch Beomgyu hyung play?” Taehyun asks, raising an eyebrow with a smirk.
Yeonjun decides to take a seat on the set of bleachers just below them, spotting a peculiar scene out of the corner of his eye on the same row of seats — their dear friend Huening Kai trying to speak to the infamous boyfriend Kim Hyunseo.
He’s surprised that Hyunseo is even there, he was convinced their entire robotics team was confined to the 5x5 square room that Beomgyu had claimed was an actual workshop, though Yeonjun would liken it more to a man den of some sorts. “What’s Hyunseo doing here?” he asks, interrupting his friends’ bickering.
“I don’t know, boyfriend things? Though, I don’t know why Kai’s trying to talk to him,” Soobin says with a scoff.
As if on cue, Kai gets up from where he was, turning to look at the trio, a blank look on his face. Kai was probably the sweetest person Yeonjun has ever met in his life, but the youngest member of their friend group was always difficult to read. Which is why even the bright smile and little wave he sends them as he approaches created a pit in Yeonjun’s stomach — something was off. Or maybe nothing was off and Hyunseo was capable of holding a conversation that would have the other person leaving feeling something positive instead of slightly awkward and confused.
“Good morning!” Kai sing-songs, cheery expression unwavering. “How are we all doing? Are we ready to watch Beomgyu hyung and Taehyunnie play today?”
Soobin doesn’t miss a beat, standing up and holding Kai by the shoulders. “What did you talk to Hyunseo about?” He had always been Hyunseo’s biggest hater, though it was all behind Beomgyu’s back.
Kai’s expression neutralises, his hands coming to grab Soobin’s shoulders, both of them staring into each others’ eyes for just a second. “I want to join the bet.”
“What’s your bet?” Taehyun whips out his phone, opening up the notes app.
“Two weeks, 100,000 won.”
Yeonjun’s mouth falls agape in shock, “ That bad?” he asks, his hand coming to cover his mouth. Look, it wasn’t that Yeonjun was surprised that Hyunseo had given someone a bad impression, he’s just surprised it was the man Yeonjun had thought could be friends with anyone. “What did you talk about?”
Kai sighs, “I just think Beomgyu deserves someone who’ll pay attention to him, and he’s also incredibly pretentious about his coding. I think it’ll piss hyung off.”
Kai was also doing computer science, he shared many of the same classes as Beomgyu which was how they had become friends. Kai was also the one who had brought up the robotics club to Beomgyu, so he thinks at the very least Kai should be upping his bet to 200,000 won as compensation for subjecting them to the man.
“Like, I was trying to tell him a shortcut to a line or two he was writing and he basically mansplained the code to me, like yeah. I already know that,” Kai deadpans.
It’s a shame really, he feels a little bad for Beomgyu – to be in a situation where all of your friends disliked who you were dating was always unfortunate, but once again, they were all confident it would come to an end naturally so there’s no need to interfere. Besides, when they had the initial conversation about the bets, he remembers Taehyun’s question: Ok, if all of us have a bad feeling about the guy, who's going to tell Beomgyu hyung to his face? To which all four of them had sat in silence because realistically none of them had the guts to criticise Beomgyu, lest they upset him.
He remembers how they had all looked at him — Hyung, Beomgyu would get over it faster if you said something to him , and Beomgyu hyung would take it the best if it had come from you which lead to Yeonjun’s thinly veiled criticisms directed at Beomgyu through the form of hypotheticals and rhetorical questions. Though he could never truly be direct, he could only wait until Beomgyu came to his senses.
Beomgyu was always open to new experiences, and dating was no exception for this, perhaps it was a result of his romantic outlook on life. Yeonjun saw Beomgyu as the type to see where every path leads in the world of romance, leaving every stone unturned when trying to find love. Even if things ended in heartbreak, Beomgyu would be the type to cherish it. He wonders if it’ll be the same with Hyunseo.
They settle down when practice begins, the large roster of the team split into two as they warm up and begin a practice match against each other. It goes on for most of their afternoon, golden hour approaching as they begin the final practice match of the day. Yeonjun wasn’t surprised to hear that Beomgyu had taken up soccer right alongside Taehyun once more. The three of them had grown up together, with Yeonjun on the sidelines watching the two friends play for years to the point where they had begun to accumulate awards at a local level. Although he’d never say it to his face, Taehyun had always been the star player between the two.
Which is why when watching today’s practice, Yeonjun’s jaw dropped watching Beomgyu play amongst his teammates. It’s not that Beomgyu was bad , but the two of them knew more than well that Beomgyu wouldn’t be scouted for anything higher than playing the sport as a hobby. But today, Beomgyu weaves through the other plays as if they were nothing, and he was running faster than Yeonjun has ever seen, the ball an extension of himself.
“Taehyun, has Beomgyu always been this good?” Yeonjun can’t help but find himself asking, words trailing off into a mumble as he watches the scene unfold before him. Beomgyu, his sweet best friend, rams his shoulder into another player, sending them flying a good three metres away from the impact. Beomgyu has never been that strong, and he distinctly remembers the younger talking about liking soccer because it wasn’t a full on contact sport. So to see Beomgyu knock the wind out of a teammate that was almost double his size…
When he tries to catch a glance of Taehyun behind him, he can see the other boy with a hand on his chin, gaze narrowed and lips pursed in thought. Before he can repeat his question, he hears Kai yelp out, causing him to turn back to the field just in time to spot Beomgyu shooting a goal from halfway across the field with a precision Yeonjun has only seen from professional players.
He’s up on his feet in an instant, hands poised together ready to cheer as loudly as he could for Beomgyu, but he couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of confusion. First, it was the magically healed arm, and now it was an agility and speed he’d never thought Beomgyu would be capable of. Come to think of it, that morning and the instance with his contacts – was Beomgyu even wearing any contacts right now? Or could he see just as well as he had claimed to this morning.
Was this all a side effect of rabies? Wasn’t hyperactivity and excitability one of the symptoms? Does being inhumanly good at soccer count as excitability?
He doesn’t realise how long he’s been zoned out for until Beomgyu’s calling out to him and the rest of their friends, running up to the bleachers.
“Guys! Do you want to go to the new steakhouse that opened up last week? I’m starving!” Beomgyu says, panting from exhaustion. When he looks at the younger, he notices his hair is still dry, which is odd.
“Wait, did you just run straight here? Did you even take a shower, you're probably all sweaty and gross,” Yeonjun whines, scrunching his nose up.
“I barely broke a sweat out there, hyung!” Beomgyu says, stepping into Yeonjun’s space. Though, surprisingly, observing Beomgyu up this close, it’s as if the younger hadn’t been doing anything beforehand, there’s not a single trace of sweat on him. But all he could think about was how Beomgyu was avoiding water again. “Anyway please, can we go? And can Hyunseo come as well?”
Soobin looks over his shoulder to the spot where Hyunseo had been sitting just a few hours ago, “I mean he can come if he was still here.”
“What?” A look of surprise flashes across Beomgyu’s face as he whips his head around trying to spot Hyunseo, his hair bouncing with the motions. “Oh, do you know where he went?” Beomgyu deflates, some of his prior enthusiasm gone as he fishes his bag for his phone.
“It was probably something really important—”
“He probably needed a charger and then forgot to come back—”
Kai and Taehyun speak at the same time, and Yeonjun has to stop himself from grimacing when he notices the flash of hurt across Beomgyu’s face. Though as quickly as it comes, it goes again, Beomgyu coming up and swinging his arms across Soobin and Yeonjun’s shoulders, bringing them close together with a breathy laugh, “It’s fine, let’s go before the place fills up!”
From the corner of his eye, he sees a couple of unread notifications from Hyunseo’s discord account from a few hours ago.
⋆.˚🐺🌔⋆.˚
Dinner with his friends felt like a blur, namely because he’s seriously trying to figure out the best way to tell Beomgyu that he is pretty sure the strange events from today all come back to the fact that the stray dog had most definitely given him rabies. The fact that Beomgyu had forgone a shower after practice just felt like an obvious sign of hydrophobia, and the fact that Beomgyu had gotten the rawest steak possible. Well, that wasn’t a traditional sign of rabies but the dots were starting to connect in Yeonjun’s brain.
Not only that, but something in the back of his mind was telling him that Beomgyu’s eating habits were not a piece of evidence to be put aside. He doesn’t want to stress Beomgyu out with his brand new revelation, though, he’s fairly certain that Beomgyu must at least realise by now that Yeonjun had handled the situation incredibly poorly and they probably should have gone to the hospital regardless of Yeonjun’s unfounded fears, magic-arm-healing aside.
The car ride back to their apartment is quiet, and Yeonjun feels like he’s suffocating in his thoughts. The reality of the situation could not be ignored, he had to tell Beomgyu — it was for the best.
When they enter the apartment, Beomgyu walks past him as Yeonjun locks the door behind him. He presses his forehead against the door as he tries to get his thoughts together. He doesn’t notice the way Beomgyu staggers, hand reaching out blindly to the wall for support.
Beomgyu, I think you have rabies. And I know it’s hyung’s fault, and you can blame me all you like, but we need to go get you your shots. How do I know you have rabies? Well, you didn’t shower today… Beomgyu, hydrophobia is a key symptom of rabies, no I am not trying to say you smell bad therefore you have rabies. And that steak you got, you basically ate raw meat and—
A loud crash startles Yeonjun out of his thoughts. He whips around, hurriedly walking further into the apartment. “Beomgyu?” He calls out as he turns the corner.
He can feel the panic coursing through his veins — it’s electrifying, propelling him forward when he doesn’t hear an immediate response from his best friend. He should’ve said something sooner, should’ve pushed the weirdness aside and just have done the normal thing instead of letting his instinct falter his decision making.
“Beomgyu—”
The sight that greets him is Beomgyu hunched over, standing in the middle of the living room. He’s breathing hard, sweat beading down his face. The coffee table is broken, wood splintered, most likely the cause of the crash. But before he can approach Beomgyu further, he hears a groan from the younger as he slips to the ground in pain.
Without thinking, Yeonjun begins to rush over but halts when he hears the sound of bones cracking. From behind the sofa, all Yeonjun can see is Beomgyu’s hand as his nails begin to extend, blood gushing from the nail beds and hair beginning to grow across his hand. And for once, Yeonjun backs away.
Something was wrong. In the murky reflection of their balcony window, the shadow of Choi Beomgyu convulses in a way that isn’t human. His reflection twists and turns, changing, shifting and bleeding out. Yeonjun can hardly look, can’t look, when he hears Beomgyu’s soft cries accompany the scene before him. He looks up for a moment, trying to steady his breathing, but it’s difficult when the smell of blood begins to permeate the air.
He’s frozen in place as he tries to regain his composure, but he doesn’t have the luxury of time because Beomgyu is writhing in pain, and something is severely wrong. When he dares to look again, next to the yellowed reflection of the ceiling light sits an unexpected twin — the moon, golden and in full phase.
And, where Beomgyu once was now stands a large, hairy creature, ears perked and tail swishing gently as its amber eyes meet Yeonjun’s through the glass.
No, not just any creature — a wolf .
Like the falling of dominos, his racing mind strings the pieces together to draw one conclusion: Werewolf . His best friend was a werewolf.
But before he can do anything with his revelation, the breath is knocked out of his chest —literally. His head hits the floor boards with a thump, pain blossoming at the crown as he tries to reorient himself, but he’s pinned down in place. Above him stands the wolf — No, Beomgyu , teeth bared, muzzle scrunched in anger as he growls down at Yeonjun with blazing eyes. A sense of deja vu washes over him amidst the rising fear. It feels as if time slows down.
Lying as still as possible is his only option. Even if the creature above him is his best friend, he knows better than to try anything. His and Beomgyu’s lives are at stake at this moment — something has changed and he doesn’t understand it, so all he can do now is remain frozen and hope Beomgyu will come to his senses. But his brain and his body are disconnected at this moment; he can’t calm his racing heart as Beomgyu’s jaws unhinge slowly, sharp teeth positioning themselves above his neck, ready to rip it out.
In a final bout of desperation, despite the fear that clamps his throat shut, he opens his mouth, voice coming out in a rasp, his lips not quite grasping the ‘b’ as he calls out to Beomgyu.
“It’s me, Yeonjun hyung. Beomgyu-yah, please.”
The rumbling growl stops abruptly, and Yeonjun watches as the creature hesitates, pupils expanding as it stares down at him. There’s something Yeonjun can only describe as a glimmer of recognition before it abruptly jumps off of him, and Yeonjun can finally breathe.
Everything comes back into motion so fast; when Beomgyu jumps off of him, his back hits the sofa, eliciting a yelp out of him before he twists around, trying to scramble over the top of it. Ignoring the ache of his body, Yeonjun sits up just as fast. “Beomgyu, wait!” Though his cries fall on deaf ears, Beomgyu’s moment of clarity is gone as he scrambles around the living room.
It’s as if Beomgyu had lost control of his limbs, flailing wildly around the room. As a wolf, Beomgyu is huge — when he was pinning Yeonjun down, he swore the wolf was as tall as he is, maybe even a little taller. It would impress Yeonjun if it weren’t for the fact that Beomgyu’s body is smashing into the walls as he —Well, Yeonjun isn’t sure what he was doing. But whether intentional or not for the wolf, he’s knocking books off the shelves, and almost damages their small television when he runs head first into it. Yeonjun realises when a souvenir plate from his mother’s trip to France is knocked to the ground that he should probably intervene and try to salvage some of their valuables. However, his instincts tell him to give Beomgyu space, even if the younger seems distressed, he doesn't want to accidentally make things worse.
He also doesn’t want his throat to get ripped out due to carelessness, though that isn’t his priority right now. Before he could regret his decision however, Beomgyu almost rams into the sliding door to their balcony, skidding to a halt. There’s a moment of silence where the wolf seems to stare at his own reflection, and Yeonjun uses it to try and reach out to Beomgyu.
“Beomgyu—”
A distressed howl pierces through the tense air, louder than Yeonjun had expected, his hands coming to cover his ears. In the blink of an eye, he feels a gust of wind as Beomgyu shoots past him, slamming into the door frame of his bedroom before disappearing inside.
Shit , the living room being a mess was fine, it was something Yeonjun could fix without any issues, but Beomgyu’s own room? Guilt would eat him alive if Beomgyu destroyed his own belongings whilst out of his mind. That thought alone springs him into action, running into the room expecting the worst.
Instead, he’s met by the sight of an untouched room, save for the glowing golden eyes coming from the shadows underneath Beomgyu’s bed. They’re accompanied by the softest of whines and are occasionally shadowed by paws that come to sit on his muzzle. They pierce Yeonjun’s heart with just as much pain as they would if they were human cries. As Yeonjun crouches down to meet Beomgyu’s eyes, he notices the bed is lifted above the ground, tilted at an angle as it balances on Beomgyu’s back, the gap underneath the bed seemingly too small for him to hide under.
Getting on his hands and knees, Yeonjun tries to approach Beomgyu. He wants so badly to make things better, stop the high pitched whines, hold him close and whisper assurances into his ear. He takes it slowly, crawling towards Beomgyu, until he hears the whines cease, which causes him to stop.
“Beoms?” he whispers, trying to remain as still as possible. His piercing eyes meet Yeonjun’s, no longer obstructed, waiting for him to make the next move. “It’s me, it’s hyung, I’m here,” he breathes out, reaching out to Beomgyu with a shaking hand, “Let me help, please Beomgyu.”
But all he’s met with is that too familiar growl rumbling between them and narrowed eyes that lack any kind of recognition. Yeonjun scoots backwards immediately towards the door frame, and Beomgyu’s growls cease once more, replaced by sorrowful whines.
There was nothing he could do, Yeonjun concludes. Not right now at least, not whilst Beomgyu was still transformed. Would he have to wait until sunrise to talk to Beomgyu properly?. That was, if Beomgyu transformed back.
Could he even go to sleep right now to wait for sunrise? It was only 9:30pm, but he can’t help but feel uneasy at the thought of turning his back to Beomgyu.
He trusted Beomgyu with his life, and would do so countless times over, much like he had almost 24 hours ago. But after the last few minutes together? It pains him to let doubt for the younger settle in, but he couldn’t trust to let his guard down with Beomgyu still volatile. And so he leans against the doorframe, Beomgyu still visible to him. If there was one thing Yeonjun could do, it was pull an all-nighter.
Werewolves, what does he even know about them?
He’s fairly certain he can cross off anything about werewolves he knew from any piece of media with them portrayed as bipedal wolf men. Which means he can’t turn to his gay awakening Derek Hale for any advice — though it’s not like he can remember anything from Teen Wolf . And when it came to Twilight he’s pretty sure both him and Beomgyu zoned out in the middle of watching New Moon. Besides that? He felt completely at a loss.
Was Beomgyu a regular wolf when he was in this form? He looked bigger than what he thought a wolf would be. Though Yeonjun has never seen a wolf before, he’s just going off of a large german shepherd his uncle owned when he was a toddler. He’s pretty sure they were related.
Are wolves even native to Korea? Is Beomgyu a descendent of one of those? Is he now a part of a pack because he was turned? Will he leave once he realises he has a destiny with a pack in his new wolfy life?
Are wolves native to the Korean Peninsula?
The wolves that inhabited in the Korean Peninsula were species with their own unique characteristic. It had dark brown hair compared to other wild wolves. Again, about 3,000 of them were hunted by hunters during the same period of time. Unlike other species, the wild wolves existed in Korean Peninsula eventually went extinct in the wild. Restoration effects are currently being undertaken by geneticists.
He looks up at Beomgyu who has taken his paw into his jaws — Oh, that can’t be a good sign . Unless that’s some kind of self soothing method… He’s not entirely sure but it doesn’t seem like Beomgyu is harming himself so he takes that as an okay sign. Decent, even.
Beomgyu’s pelt isn’t brown like the pictures are describing, but he doesn’t look exactly like a Grey Wolf either. If anything, his pelt is a similar colour to his hair, a deep, chocolate brown. Does hair colour determine werewolf pelt? If Beomgyu bleached his hair would he be a blond wolf?
Yeonjun slaps himself lightly on the cheek — that isn’t relevant and his best friend is still hiding under the bed, distressed and upset. He needs to learn more so he can begin to craft the perfect werewolf care plan for Beomgyu; anything to alleviate how fucked up their situation was right now. And so he turns to the only place he knows that could help him.
r/werewolves - posted by crazy4wolves 3 years ago
What are werewolf tropes you can’t stand to read anymore?
I’ve honestly been really wanting to write my own werewolf book, but I’m wondering what kind of tropes werewolf enjoyers are sick of reading.
fairysong313 3y ago
I cannot do bipedal, half human looking werewolves. They’re gross, I don’t care if it’s in a book I do NOT want to imagine that shit. Ugly ass motherfuckers.
WackyOwl 3y ago
Say it louder for the people in the back!!
fakecoconut68 3y ago
Alpha Beta Omega pack dynamics. It drives me crazy, it’s not even realistic and honestly I need people to keep that omegaverse shit away. This may be controversial, but omegaverse has its place. It does not have to be bleeding into werewolf fiction as often as it does especially because scientifically wolves just do not function like this at all.
13gyul 3y ago
Woah. Not too much on all omegaverse… love me a good werewolf knot.
staylonely 3y ago
Exactly what I’ve been saying! I’m so sick of the way alphas are characterised as being dominant and incredibly aggressive and basically shitty men, it’s so limiting! Why can’t we have pathetic alphas who yearn?
wistfulpersona32 3y ago
I feel like so many people don’t even know the idea of alphas come from like, chickens. Have we not all heard of the pecking order? Like when did this become about wolves this is my biggest pet peeve.
nuclearbomb 3y ago
BOOOOO TOMATO TOMATO YOU’VE NEVER SEEN GOOD ALPHA X ALPHA WEREWOLVES BEFORE :DROOL:
rough_iniquity 3y ago
Honestly I hate the inner wolf voice that some books do! It’s just really goofy and I get that it’s a way to describe one’s own instinct but it just makes me cringe. Like no werewolf is going around with an inner wolf guiding them.
obviousmover 3y ago
It’s so boring when werewolves turn into actual wolves, like what happened to the 8ft tall behemoths?
HorribleAircraft 3y ago
This is what I've been saying!
And now Yeonjun feels like he’s going in circles trying to read threads on werewolf fiction. His gut instinct tells him that looking up ‘omegaverse’ and ‘knot’ is just going to take him down a rabbit hole that won’t help Beomgyu in any way, shape or form. Traditional stories about werewolves weren’t particularly helpful either, especially since Beomgyu hasn’t recently participated in cannibalism. Perhaps they will need to take a trip to the libraries on campus to find specific books on Korean mythology — Yeonjun refused to believe they can’t trace the source of the mysterious werewolf that had attacked them.
10pm turns to midnight, turns to 3am, and Yeonjun is fairly certain Beomgyu is asleep, if the lack of whines and gentle cries were to indicate anything. Page after page on wolf behaviour and werewolf mythology in Asia begins to blur together and Yeonjun feels like he’s lost more information than gained any – he is exhausted and as time goes on, he’s becoming more and more increasingly anxious about his best friend.
What would he do when Beomgyu woke up? A lot of what he’s read in the last few hours suggest that Beomgyu will most likely have no recollection of the night he’s spent as a wolf — that is if he even turns back . Though, Yeonjun is fairly certain the last few days have progressed exactly like many pieces of werewolf media do, so he clings onto the hope regardless.
When his phone warns him of it’s impending death at 10%, he decides to get up and move to the kitchen — if he can’t have all the answers for Beomgyu when he wakes up, he can at the very least have some tteokbokki ready as a comfort after their ordeal.
Beomgyu had always been strong, he never doubted this. But Beomgyu has always been prone to guilt tenfold what Yeonjun could even begin to imagine. And if Beomgyu remembered even an inkling of what had transpired that night, he knew that he had to show Beomgyu that he had forgiven him beyond just simple words. Moreover, a simple meal was the least that he deserved. As he picks out a frozen packet of tteokbokki from their freezer, and starts up their oven, Yeonjun broods on what more he could do for his best friend.
⋆.˚🐺🌔⋆.˚
A dull thud wakes Yeonjun up from his spot by the doorframe. He hadn’t even realised he’d fallen asleep, but looking into Beomgyu’s room, there are slivers of daylight pushing through the curtains, signifying the morning.
Beomgyu’s bed has evened out, and is most likely the source of the dull thud. That could only mean two things: his Beomgyu was back, or there was a rabid wolf loose in the streets of Seoul. Yeonjun is quick to press himself against the floor, head level with the ground, and breathes out a sigh of relief when he spots a familiar expanse of pale skin and dark brown hair; except now Beomgyu is shaking.
Now more alert, Yeonjun can hear the heavy breaths of the younger, as if he’s struggling to breathe with what sounds like choked back sobs. As fast as lightning, Yeonjun is army crawling over to Beomgyu’s bed — this, he can help with. Beomgyu may be a werewolf, but he’s as human as ever in the early hours of the morning.
“Beomgyu,” he says, reaching his hand underneath the bed, fingertips meeting Beomgyu’s, “Beomgyu, it’s me, it’s Yeonjunnie hyung. It’s ok, I’m right here.” Beomgyu’s hand flinches slightly before his fingers slide between Yeonjun’s, gripping onto him much tighter than Yeonjun expected.
Beomgyu looks up at him through his bangs, his deep brown eyes, red rimmed and glassy widen, taking in Yeonjun’s presence.
“Hyung?” he mutters, almost disbelieving, but before Yeonjun can reassure him, he begins shaking, eyes overflowing with tears. “Hyung, hyung I almost hurt— I almost hurt you, hyung, I— I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry hyung ,” he stammers, pulling his head down as if to bow to Yeonjun in apology.
“Beomgyu-yah, it’s ok, hyung forgives you. Hyung will always forgive you,” Yeonjun whispers, but his forgiveness falls on deaf ears. Heavy sobs drown out his soft attempts to soothe the younger, and the shaking of his shoulders is now accompanied by short breaths that become more ragged as seconds pass.
“Beomgyu? Beomgyu!” He says louder, but he gets nothing in response.
His first response to what he believes is a panic attack is to let go — Beomgyu hasn’t had a panic attack in his presence before, he’s unsure if Beomgyu has ever had one before, but when he tries to slip his fingers away, Beomgyu’s hand holds on with a death grip, tugging him closer, until his forehead hits the footboard.
His mind is racing, trying to figure out what to do. He feels like he’s drowning, out of breath and overwhelmed from the gravity of the situation that befelling them. Beomgyu’s panic devolves right before his eyes and his mind continues to draw blanks as he asks himself what do I do?
He’s been marinating in the mistakes he’s made over the last day and realises that they are so damn lucky that he had somehow made all of the right choices that kept Beomgyu safe from something unknown before it was too late. Even then, he hesitates — he just wants to make the right decision for once , especially with comforting Beomgyu since that is something he has always taken pride in. But when he feels Beomgyu’s nails growing against the back of his hand, he realises searching for a perfect solution would never be possible. So, he dives under the bed, crawling closer to Beomgyu.
Even in the dark, he can see the way Beomgyu’s hair grows at an unnatural pace, wolf ears protruding from his head, flattening against the underside of the bed. Yeonjun grabs Beomgyu’s free hand, pulling it towards him and laying the palm flat against his chest.
“Beomgyu, Beoms just focus on the way I breathe and try to match it ok?” he rushes out, trying to slow his panicking heart and evening out his own breaths — he needs to calm down, Beomgyu needs him now more than ever.
Peering down, Yeonjun watches as Beomgyu’s hand twists in the fabric of his shirt, claws poking into the skin just above his heart. He doesn’t know how long they’re under there, but Yeonjun stays as still as possible, breathing slowly as Beomgyu holds on. Eventually, his breathing evens out, the wolf ears retract, and his claws grow shorter and shorter, no longer threatening to draw blood at the wrong move.
“Gyu,” he whispers gently, “I’m going to pull you out from under here and take you to go for a bath, does that sound ok?” All he’s met with are a couple of stray sniffles and a weak nod from Beomgyu. It lifts a weight off of his chest, relief flooding in when he realises that Beomgyu is actually responsive.
Yeonjun crawls out from under the bed, tugging Beomgyu with him as gently as he can. When he gets Beomgyu up, the younger stands on shaky legs, like a newborn foal. He’s quick to grab a blanket, covering Beomgyu up — the transformation had destroyed his clothes leaving him naked when the morning came. He doesn’t address it though, doesn’t say anything else, he can’t imagine what was going through Beomgyu’s mind, especially with the stormy look in his far away gaze.
What he does say to Beomgyu, are small reassurances that he’s doing well, as they make their way to the bathroom, Yeonjun’s hand in Beomgyu’s, leading him slowly. He tells him again that everything is okay whilst he fills the bathtub with warm water, throwing in a random bath bomb that he got for free over a year ago — Beomgyu deserved the height of luxury of all that Yeonjun can provide. He tells Beomgyu that he isn't going to leave him, as he sits on the bathroom floor and begins doom-scrolling to let Beomgyu soak in silence.
They will have a lot to talk about, more than they’ve ever had before, but he is more than content to wait until Beomgyu is ready to speak. For now, he waits, humming idly as they sit in a calm silence. In a few minutes, he will go and reheat the tteokbokki he had made just hours before, and make sure that at the very least, that Beomgyu feels human even if he no longer is. Yeonjun knows for a fact that he’s ready to do everything in his power to help Beomgyu, whatever that may entail.