Work Text:
Initially, there’s nothing odd or special about Donghyun’s coming back home from work. He unlocks their apartment as he pushes his bag off his shoulder to drop in the hallway like usual, halfly expecting Hyunwoo to have dinner ready as he walks further into their apartment because he was free all day, and halfly expecting him to be dialing a food service for takeout instead.
What he finds when he stumbles into the kitchen is neither Hyunwoo’s cooking nor him on his phone. Instead, there’s a big bowl that he supposes is meant for large dogs like those Bernese mountain dogs that lap up everything in one go. Why it’s there, empty but with traces of saliva still there, he notices when he examines closely, he’s unsure.
So he calls Hyunwoo from the kitchen to ask about it. He gets an excited shrill back that leads him towards the living area, Hyunwoo’s head popping up from behind on their couch.
“Hyung,” Hyunwoo goes, smile stretching wide as Donghyun walks towards him, his own mouth falling open in confusion and many other things. Like fear and excitement and more confusion. “Look.”
But Donghyun is looking. At the moving wolf in Hyunwoo’s lap. The wolf that Donghyun faintly recognizes until he sees the bullet wounds in its neck and clearly recognizes the wolf. Categorized as the wolf they found bleeding in front of their building after what must have been an encounter with someone with a gun, somehow, and a grudge or immense fear of the little guy. With the sharp teeth and fierce gaze he must’ve had before getting shot and that hasn’t returned after his death.
Because Donghyun definitely knows for sure that he watched the wolf die. Hyunwoo and he both did, with trembling, bloody hands pushed to its neck, trying to keep him alive until an animal ambulance could come upon their urgent call. Donghyun remembers how Hyunwoo didn’t sleep for days, and how he had to share his bed with Hyunwoo during most of those nights, all cozy and warm—too warm, the middle of summer.
The wolf was right here with them now. A little more transparent than he used to be and breathing better than how they left him. Donghyun has many questions and barely any answers. How does one go from being dead to alive? And did Hyunwoo really buy a dog bowl for it?
“I’m going to need you to explain a lot,” he says, hesitating to sit down next to Hyunwoo. The wolf’s gaze follows him as he moves but the eyes trained on him stand soft with recognition and gratitude rather than malice. The way it’s in Hyunwoo’s lap, occasionally allowing Hyunwoo to pet it on its head, gives the appearance that maybe the care they put into the little wolf wasn’t for nothing after all.
“He just showed up on our doorstep. I was going out to get some groceries for dinner and there he was.” Hyunwoo gives the wolf another headpat and it moves quietly in Hyunwoo's lap. Content. Loved. Somehow. “I couldn’t turn him down. Not after everything we tried for him.”
Donghyun sighs. Long and low because he doesn’t know what to do with this. “And even though it’s a ghost, you bought it a bowl to eat out of? Does it even need food?”
Hyunwoo grins at that. “It still loves food, actually. I got us some meat and it tried to steal most of it when I was taking it out the fridge. That’s why there’s no food ready for us for dinner yet. He ate all of it in one go. It was really cute.”
“Right…” the wolf looks Donghyun way then, turning his head towards him to look him in the eye with his big, droopy eyes.
“Come on,” Hyunwoo says. “He likes it when you scratch his neck. He’s like a big dog.”
“A scary dog.”
“Barely.” He puts Donghyun’s hand in his and guides him towards the ghostly wolf in his lap. The pile of grey and brown hair in his lap. “Come on.”
This time, Donghyun listens. He places his fingers on the wolf’s neck at first, just letting them sit there. He’s as soft as he must’ve been when he was still alive, and he feels awfully similar to the dog Donghyun used to have as a pet when he was a kid. He opens his mouth in excitement and contentment as Donghyun starts moving his fingers to lightly pet him the same, too.
“What are you planning on doing with him?”
“Oh,” Hyunwoo replies, looking away, down to his fidgety feet. “I hadn’t really thought about that yet.”
“You bought a food bowl. Did you not think about the longterm commitment of that.”
“It’s just a bowl.” He bites his lip and drives his fingers deep into the wolf’s fur, thinking deeply. They’ve never had a pet before, together, but it would be nice. Even if the wolf isn’t alive anymore. And they know him a little already… “We can take care of it right? He’s been with me for a while now and hasn’t needed to pee so maybe he only needs food! That’s manageable…”
Donghyun smiles a soft smile, because there was no other outcome than Hyunwoo trying to convince Donghyun that it was not only totally normal but also encouraged to raise a ghostly pet, let alone a wolf. Besides, it’s been pretty lonely on the days he’s free because that’s when Hyunwoo has to go to work. It would be nice to have a furry friend to idly give head pats while watching a show or two.
“We can’t buy all the expensive meat,” is what Donghyun says, fingers still around the wolf’s ears, rubbing and getting all the content sounds back from the ghost. Donghyun makes sure not to go near the wound he’s got there, because even though he’s unsure if the wolf still feels pain, he doesn’t want it to be reminded of it. Or remind himself of their massive failure to keep a living thing alive.
This is their chance to right their wrong. Even if they weren’t at fault for the shooting or the death it resulted in. It’s always a perfect day to choose to do something good.
“So that means our household is one richer, huh?” Hyunwoo grins and takes Donghyun’s hand in his again to shake him really excitedly, which Donghyun will just have to allow because he likes seeing Hyunwoo happy and really, this makes him happy too. Even if it’s weird. That’s fine. They’re both a little weird too. It’s fine.