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When asked, Chan likes to tell people that he and Seungmin have known each other their whole lives.
“The first time I saw him,” he says, “it’s like my soul recognized him instantly. I just immediately knew who he was to me.”
Seungmin subsequently tells people that Chan is both a hopeless romantic and a musician, so his words should be taken with many grains of salt.
To which Chan pouts that he’s also a werewolf and, “Werewolves have mates, Seungminnie. You know that!”
❣❣❣
In reality, Chan and Seungmin meet in college.
During the first semester of Seungmin’s first year, he does all of the things you’re supposed to do when you’re a freshman in college: he tries his best to make friends with his roommates; joins every club that catches his eye; and makes the most of his unlimited meal plan. He also attends class, albeit begrudgingly.
During the second semester of Seungmin’s first year, he reads a study that says exercise is good for your brain, so he signs up for a session with a personal trainer at the university’s fitness center. Also, though all-you-can-eat, soft serve ice cream is a godsend when it’s 2am and you’re pulling yet another all-nighter, if Seungmin keeps eating his meals like they really are unlimited, he isn’t going to survive.
So he joins the gym.
To Seungmin’s surprise, his personal trainer is a fellow student; unlike Seungmin, however, Changbin is not human.
“I’m part of the Bang pack,” Changbin tells Seungmin upon introduction. “Sophomore studying exercise science. I wanted to be a nutritionist, but I can’t cook.”
“I’m Seungmin, pre-law freshman.”
Changbin nods. “I was guessing pre-med based on how tense your shoulders are, but pre-law makes sense too. What’s your area of interest?”
Seungmin shrugs. “Dunno yet,” he says non-committally. “It’s all pretty interesting.”
Changbin pats his shoulder kindly. “Your path will find you,” he encourages Seungmin. “Give it time.”
Changbin, Seungmin learns over the course of the semester, is kind to a fault. Though all his muscles look scary, he’s actually an incredibly gentle and good-natured person who Seungmin really enjoys spending time with. Conveniently, Changbin also happens to know Felix, who lives on Seungmin’s floor, and Jisung, Felix’s boyfriend who is a werewolf from the same pack as Changbin.
“What a short king,” Felix says admiringly, when Seungmin asks him about Changbin. “Very hot. Very dateable.”
“Hey!” Jisung calls a complaint from across the room. “I’m right here!”
“And you’re also incredibly hot and dateable!” Felix yells back. To Seungmin, almost under his breath, he says, “Werewolves and their super hearing, bro.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” Seungmin tells him. “Jisung and Changbin are the only werewolves I know.”
“Impossible,” Jisung argues, coming up behind Felix to drape himself across his boyfriend’s back. “Two in five students are wolves here.” He pauses, then looks at Seungmin consideringly. “You want to date Changbin?”
Seungmin makes a face. “I do not want to date Changbin. I just heard that he knew you guys, and I was curious, that’s all.”
Jisung hums consideringly. “He’s pretty dateable,” he admits, much to Felix’s delight.
“Not interested,” Seungmin reiterates. “Besides, I’ve got too much on my plate to even consider dating right now. Did I tell you guys that my dad wants me to get a job next year? As if I’m not busy enough.”
Jisung’s lucky to have his educational aspirations fully funded by his pack but Felix, an international student on scholarship, commiserates with Seungmin’s plight.
“He should ask Chan for help,” Felix tells Jisung. “He found me that job at the careers office. Maybe he can find something for Seungmin?”
“I’m not sure, babe,” Jisung says skeptically. “Chan’s not really one to involve himself in other peoples’ business.”
Seungming assumes Jisung means that Chan doesn’t involve himself with humans, but Seungmin’s kind enough not to call Jisung out on it. Besides, Seungmin doesn’t even know anyone named Chan.
Instead, Seungmin asks Changbin.
“Actually, yeah,” Changbin says, when Seungmin asks him if he knows of anywhere on campus with job openings for the fall. “How good are you at walking backward?”
❣❣❣
During the first semester of Seungmin’s second year of college, he averages 11,230 steps a day as a campus ambassador and tour guide. He also meets Chan.
In an attempt to appear welcoming and inclusive of all students, the university pairs two ambassadors together for every tour—one human, one werewolf. Seungmin, of course, gets paired with Chan almost exclusively.
The first time they meet, Chan seems largely uninterested in Seungmin. As a senior and one of the co-captains of the ambassadors, Chan is standing at the front of the auditorium when Seungmin arrives for orientation training. He waves at Seungmin and the other new ambassadors that Seungmin walks in with, and that’s that.
The second time they meet, Seungmin barely has a chance to put his bag down before Chan’s wrapping his arms around him and enveloping Seungmin in a hug.
“Wha—?” Seungmin makes an incoherent noise of confusion.
“You’re Seungmin,” Chan mumbles into Seungmin’s shoulder. “I’m Chan.”
“Okay…” Seungmin says slowly, still confused. Chan is very warm and his arms look extremely appealing in the muscle tee he’s wearing, but Seungmin doesn’t actually know him, so he carefully extricates himself from Chan’s hold.
“I don’t know you,” he tells Chan.
“I’m Chan,” Chan repeats. At Seungmin’s unimpressed look, he elaborates. “You know some of my pack members: Jisung and Changbin?”
“Oh!” Seungmin exclaims. “You’re that Chan.” Then, remembering how Jisung had uncomfortably side-stepped what Seungmin assumes is Chan’s apparent disinterest in humans, Seungmin frowns and says icily, “Next time, try keeping your hands to yourself.”
Chan shrugs, seemingly unbothered by Seungmin’s cool demeanor. “No promises.”
To Seungmin’s surprise, the third time they meet, Chan apologizes.
“I’m sorry for overstepping your boundaries,” he says contritely. “Changbin yelled at me for touching you without permission, and Felix said that if you stop hanging out with him and Jisung because of me, he’ll cut my balls off and make me eat them.” He shudders. “I think he’s been spending too much time with Minho.”
Seungmin raises an eyebrow, and Chan refocuses.
“Anyway,” Chan says, “I’m sorry. Not just because of them, but yeah. Sorry.” He hangs his head dejectedly and Seungmin takes pity on him.
“Thank you,” Seungmin tells him. “I accept your apology.” Chan perks up at this, but still looks a little sad, so Seungmin adds, “And I don’t mind if you touch me. Not really. I was just surprised.”
It’s not strictly true—Seungmin had been a little irritated to have his space so suddenly invaded, and by someone who he’d assumed didn’t like him on principle. But it’s not not true either. Chan had been pleasantly warm, after all.
Plus, he’s hot. Seungmin’s just a man!
When Seungmin tells Changbin this, he gets laughed at.
“You need to meet Hyunjin,” Changbin insists. “He’s got the biggest boner for Chan.”
“Platonic boner,” Hyunjin clarifies when Seungmin meets him. “Sure he’s hot, but who needs Chan when I’ve got my pookie?”
“Call me that again and I’ll murder you,” Minho, Hyunjin’s something, says without looking up from his phone.
The two of them, along with Seungmin and Changbin, are seated at a table along the windows of Hyunjin’s favorite on-campus coffee shop.
Hyunjin grimaces at Minho’s threat, and Seungmin’s really confused by them. For his own mental health though, he decides that their relationship is not his business.
“So anyway,” Seungmin says to get the conversation back on track, “I was telling Changbin how I met Chan through the ambassadors program, and Changbin said that I should meet you.”
“No,” Changbin corrects teasingly, “you were telling me how annoying it is that you find Chan hot. I already knew that you and Chan work together; I got you the job with him, remember?”
Until that moment, Seungmin had, in fact, not remembered that Changbin had been the one to suggest that Seungmin apply to be an ambassador.
“You should have warned me,” Seungmin pouts.
Changbin opens his mouth, likely to continue teasing Seungmin, when he’s interrupted by a knock on the glass. Through the window, Seungmin sees Chan waving excitedly and pointing to himself, then pointing inside the cafe.
Minho, Hyunjin, and Changbin turn to look at Seungmin who sighs, but nods. Chan pumps his fist—”like a loser,” Seungmin thinks, then “ugh, he’s so cute though”—and heads inside.
A minute or two later, Chan is pulling up a chair and joining the four of them at the table. There’s an odd moment where Changbin, Hyunjin, and Minho all tilt their heads to the side, and Chan brushes his wrist over each of their necks. Having never witnessed something like that before, Seungmin can only assume it’s a werewolf thing. According to his research, they’re very tactile with the right people.
Once he has greeted his packmates, Chan turns to Seungmin and looks at him pleadingly.
“Fine, fine,” Seungmin agrees, waving his hand at Chan. Immediately Chan all but falls into Seungmin’s lap, draping his upper body across Seungmin’s thighs and wrapping his arms around Seungmin’s torso.
“Missed you,” Chan whispers into Seungmin’s belly. Seungmin, unsure what to do with his hands, awkwardly pats the top of Chan’s head until Chan lets go and sits up.
Seungmin catches Minho looking at him from across the table and raises an eyebrow at him. “What?” he mouths silently, irritated when Minho merely shrugs.
“I didn’t know you knew Minho and Hyunjin, Seungminnie,” Chan says, pulling Seungmin’s attention away from his and Minho’s stare-off.
“Why would you?” Seungmin asks drily. “We don’t know each other.”
Chan clutches dramatically at his chest. “You wound me, Seungminnie! We’re tour partners, aren’t we?”
“I know that you’re a senior studying music production, and that you’re a werewolf in the Bang pack. That’s about it.”
“He doesn’t know?” Hyunjin cries in amazement. “How does he not know?”
“Know what?” Seungmin asks warily. “What don’t I know?”
“Chan’s not just part of the Bang pack,” Minho explains. “Chan is the Bang pack. Or, well, his parents are. But he’s supposed to take over, one day.”
Seungmin turns to look at Chan who nods sheepishly.
“Sorry for not telling you, Seungminnie,” Chan apologizes. “I don’t know that much about humans, so I didn’t know if you’d care about all the pack politics.”
Seungmin reaches out and links his pinky to Chan’s. “I guess I do now,” he says.
During the second semester of Seungmin’s second year of college, he officially declares his pre-law track: Marriage and Family Law, with a focus on inter-species familial rights.
He tells an overly enthusiastic Chan not to read anything into it. Chan promptly tackles Seungmin into the ambassadors office couch and doesn’t let him go until they both have to get up to lead a tour.
That May, Chan graduates with full honors. His whole pack shows up to support him at the university’s massive general graduation ceremony. For the smaller, music-school-specific ceremony, Chan only gives a ticket to Seungmin.
“Won’t your parents want to be there?” Seungmin frets. “What if they get mad at me for taking their spot?”
“Why do you care so much about what my parents think of you, huh, Seungminnie?” Chan asks teasingly.
Seungmin smacks Chan’s bicep and gets his hand caught in Chan’s grip for a good 30 minutes. Though he tries half-heartedly to escape, Seungmin finds that he doesn’t really want to.
❣❣❣
During the first semester of Seungmin’s third year of college, he realizes how much he’s come to expect Chan’s presence. He’s gotten so used to being manhandled by Chan—grabbed randomly around the waist; tucked under Chan’s arm despite Seungmin being taller; picked up and hung over Chan’s shoulder on a few particularly memorable occasions; and so on—that Seungmin doesn’t quite know how to live without those things.
“So what I’m hearing is that you miss me,” Chan says smugly during one of their bi-weekly facetime calls.
“You wish,” Seungmin scoffs. The conversation moves on. When they hang up, Seungmin puts his face into his pillow and cries.
During the second semester of Seungmin’s third year of college, he meets Jeongin.
“He’s my baby,” Seungmin tells his friends very seriously the first time he takes them to meet Jeongin. “Don’t scare him away.”
“Seungmin,” Changbin stage whispers to Seungmin nervously as soon as Jeongin is introduced. “Why didn’t you warn me that your “baby” is a whole ass man?”
“I can hear you,” Jeongin laughs. “But thank you. I think.”
“You’re welcome,” Changbin says dreamily. “Please date me.”
Jeongin, also a werewolf though not from the same pack, thinks for a moment, sniffs once, then shrugs. “You smell good,” he decides. “Why not?”
Seungmin spends a lot of the rest of that semester seventh-wheeling his friends.
“Just go without me,” he tells them, waving them off when they invite him to dinner or out for the weekend.
“I’ve got too much work to do,” he tells Chan, when he can’t facetime for the third week in a row. “Sorry.”
It’s not like he’s intentionally distancing himself—he really is busy—but it definitely is easier to strive alone than to surround himself with other peoples’ support systems.
He tries not to let himself miss Chan. He’s not very successful.
Chan comes back for Changbin’s graduation and is all smiles when he meets Jeongin. He even offers Jeongin a place in the Bang pack, if he wants it.
With Seungmin, Chan acts like he never left. There’s never a moment in which some part of him is not touching some part of Seungmin, but for the first time, Seungmin thinks that Chan’s not as warm as he used to be. For the first time, Seungmin says, “Don’t touch me,” and actually means it.
“Seriously,” he tells Chan as they stand side-by-side at Changbin’s graduation party. “I’ll fucking punch you.”
“Aw Seungminnie,” Chan whines playfully, “don’t be like that.”
Irritated, Seungmin walks away. Chan doesn’t follow.
Seungmin ends up making his excuses to Changbin and leaving the party early, so he misses the big announcement: Chan is coming back to the university for a one-year-long music production mastery program. Changbin, who got a permanent placement at the campus fitness center managing the personal trainers, will also be sticking around.
When Seungmin finds out the next day, he immediately calls Changbin and offers his congratulations. He doesn’t reach out to Chan.
❣❣❣
During the first semester of Seungmin’s final year of college, he finally manages to score a single-occupancy unit. Chan, who is technically renting Minho and Hyunjin’s spare room but is actually much more interested in being around Seungmin, is thrilled.
“If you don’t keep your hands to yourself, I’ll kick you out,” Seungmin threatens when Chan shows up at his door.
“I’ll be good,” Chan promises as he settles himself on the floor in front of Seungmin’s couch. “Scout’s honor.”
Seungmin follows Chan to the couch and rolls his eyes. “We both know you were never a boy scout.”
Chan looks up at Seungmin with his eyebrows raised. “I would have made an excellent boy scout,” he declares confidently.
“Sure,” Seungmin agrees, turning his focus back to the essay he’s writing on his laptop. It’s not like either of them actually know what being a boy scout entails. Camping, maybe?
Chan lasts all of 30 minutes before he’s leaning against Seungmin’s calves and wrapping a hand around Seungmin’s ankle.
Seungmin ignores it as best he can, but as it gets later and Seungmin gets sleepier, he finds himself sinking into the familiar warmth of Chan’s touch.
At some point in the middle of the night, Seungmin wakes to find himself in bed, lying on his side with Chan’s body tucked comfortably against his back. Seungmin turns to lie on his back and Chan, still asleep, shifts so his arms and legs are wrapped around Seungmin like a koala and his face is pressed into Seungmin’s neck.
“Oh, Chan,” Seungmin sighs, soft and sad, into Chan’s hair. “What do you want from me?”
❣❣❣
During Seungmin’s final semester of college, he’s so busy that he barely has any time to sleep, let alone hang out with his friends.
“We never see you anymore,” Jisung whines to Seungmin over facetime. “I forgot what you smell like.”
“I’m trying to get into law school,” Seungmin reminds his friend. “Don’t guilt-trip me with your werewolf bullshit.”
He looks up from his laptop at the sound of the apartment door opening and closing.
“Chan’s here,” he tells Jisung. “Gotta go.”
“Not until you promise to come out this weekend,” Jisung pleads. “We don’t even have to go drinking. Just barbecue or ramen or something would be enough!”
When Chan comes into the room, Seungmin straightens up from where he’s leaning against his adjustable standing desk, and tries not to look too guilty for talking to Jisung when he’s supposed to be studying.
Chan steps up behind Seungmin and leans forward, pressing Seungmin into the table. He tilts his head down to drop a kiss onto the spot just under Seungmin’s ear, then smirks into Seungmin’s skin when Jisung shrieks.
Jisung yells, “My eyes!” and immediately hangs up.
“It’s not nice to tease people like that,” Seungmin chides.
“It’s just Jisung,” Chan says casually, still wrapped around Seungmin. “He’ll be fine.”
“What if he misunderstands?” Seungmin asks, his voice rising as he pulls himself out of Chan’s arms. “It’s bad enough that you practically live with me. Our friends are going to get the wrong idea about us if you keep acting like this.”
“Acting like what exactly?” Chan asks, his voice sharp. “I’m acting like I always act. You’re the one suddenly being weird about everything.”
“Me?” Seungmin exclaims, indignant. “I’m not the one who moved away for a year then came back like it was nothing.” He pauses, taking a deep breath as his voice breaks and he tries not to cry. “You had to graduate, Chan, I get it. But then I was all by myself, and you left me.”
Chan’s hands come up to cup Seungmin’s face and his whole demeanor softens, instantly apologetic. “Oh, Seungminnie, no. Don’t cry, baby. I’m sorry. It’s all my fault; don’t cry.”
“I don’t even know why I’m crying!” Seungmin complains through his tears. “I just…you’re one of my best friends. I really care about you a lot. But I don’t always know how to tell you what I’m feeling, and it feels like it’s so easy for you. You just reach out and I’m there and I let you. But for me, once you were gone, I didn’t know how to talk to you anymore.”
Chan hums in understanding. “So you bottled it up, huh?”
Seungmin nods once, sharply. “You’re the oldest, and everyone looks up to you, even me. And I know that I will know you for the rest of my life. I know that. But how do I express that to you in a way that means something different? I didn’t know how to say those things…”
“So you stopped saying anything?” Chan finishes, gently questioning. Seungmin nods again. “Are you uncomfortable around me?” Chan asks.
“Never,” Seungmin says, nearly interrupting.
Chan sighs, relieved. “Then I’ll do better,” he decides. “So you never feel like that again.”
“It’s not you,” Seungmin starts to say.
“If you follow that up with ‘it’s me,’ I’ll bite you,” Chan warns. “It’s not just you. I forget sometimes that you’re not like me—that you’re not a werewolf—and that there are some things that you just won’t understand, unless I explain them to you.”
Seungmin puts Chan’s arm around his shoulders and leans into Chan’s side. “Tell me.”
“I knew from the moment I first saw you that I would love you forever.”
Seungmin scoffs.
“No, really!” Chan protests. “You walked into the orientation room and it took everything in me to stay professional and not immediately attach myself to your side.”
“You never told me that,” Seungmin says. “I didn’t even know you noticed me that time.”
“I notice you every time, Seungminnie,” Chan assures him. “But for werewolves, once really is enough. I saw you: Bam! Done. Soulmates. So I can’t not touch you. It’s like breathing for me.”
Seungmin considers this. “I just thought you liked to cuddle.”
Chan laughs. “Who else am I like this with except for you?”
“You’re always rubbing Hyunjin’s, Minho’s, Jisung’s, and Changbin’s necks! Even Jeongin’s one time; I saw you!”
“Werewolf, Seungminnie,” Chan reminds Seungmin teasingly. “But I don’t sleep with them, now do I? I don’t kiss them and lean on them and touch them like I do you, do I?”
“You don’t kiss me,” Seungmin complains. “Not technically.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Chan mock apologizes, turning to press his lips to Seungmin’s hair. “Is this not a kiss?” He tilts his head down to drop a kiss on Seungmin’s forehead, then a kiss to the tip of Seungmin’s nose. “How about this? Or this?”
Seungmin’s laughing now, squirming away from Chan as he continues to pepper kisses all over Seungmin’s face.
Then, Chan pauses, his expression serious as he focuses on Seungmin. “Can I kiss you, Seungminnie?”
Seungmin’s breath catches. He nods. “If you want,” he says, nonchalant to the end.
Chan laughs, and his mouth is so close to Seungmin’s that Seungmin can feel the warmth of Chan’s breath against his lips.
“Never change, my Seungminnie,” Chan whispers. And then they’re kissing.
❣❣❣
When asked, Seungmin likes to tell people the truth: that he and Chan met in college; that they immediately knew what they would be to each other; but also that they were both sort of idiots about it.
“I dunno,” Seungmin says. “I just like him, despite all that.”