Chapter Text
Something stands in the doorway, covered with mud and dripping on their wooden floors. Except it's not his roommate, who he was expecting back home a few hours ago. No, the creature standing in his door is a wolf. Large, much larger than a normal wolf, the creature stands as still as a statue, its black fur shining from the dingy lamp in the hallway and the moonlight outside.
Teruki screams. Flailing about like a startled horse, his hip bumps hard into the corner of a dresser and makes his knees buckle in pain. He breathes heavily on the floor, tensed in preparation for a sudden pounce, sharp teeth shutting on him while he’s still down. However, it simply stands and watches. If anything, it looks like it’s jumped back at the sudden noise.
Something in its eyes reminds him of the kind boy he lives with, his black eyes mirrored by the beast… and that’s when he sees the tattered clothing hanging off its back. The same clothing that Shigeo was wearing this morning, before leaving the apartment with an umbrella in hand.
“...Shigeo?” His voice sounds weak and unsure in the quiet room. Despite his urge to run away, he stays seated on the floor.
The wolf’s head tilts. It whines.
Well, shit. When his roommate told him he had some problems when he was moving in, he hadn’t expected this. Sure, he’s heard of werewolves before. Supernatural creatures, like vampires or werewolves, have been slowly integrating into society after their discovery a few decades ago, but they’re not exactly common. And he’s certainly never seen one in person before.
Hesitantly, he moves to stand and takes a step towards the wolf– his roommate, apparently.
“You’re… dripping.”
Shigeo's head drops down, staring at the puddles of mud he’s formed.
Teruki’s unsure of what to do. He and his roommate have been getting closer– thankfully, since Teruki has a sorta-maybe crush on him– but they aren't close enough for Shigeo to have told him the complete truth about his “problems”. So… why is he suddenly showing himself now, in the middle of the night?
“You should wash off.” Teruki suggests, hoping he’s not overstepping.
Shigeo doesn’t move, but he sways back and forth. His eyes droop. Teruki's worried that he might fall over.
“...Can you turn back, or are you stuck like this?”
Shigeo’s head moves up and down at the end of his sentence, before stopping– oh, he’s nodding. Teruki glances out the window, at the full moon in the night sky. So when werewolves have to transform, they stay like that for the night? Perhaps that’s why Shigeo’s here now: he doesn’t have a choice but to reveal himself to his roommate he barely knows.
How exactly does Shigeo’s brain work when he’s a wolf? Teruki has read some stories– mostly fiction– about many different creatures, including werewolves. Many claim that being a wolf overrides your brain, making you crazed and violent, but times are changing. New stories, ones written by werewolves themselves, contrast that old viewpoint.
What is Shigeo thinking right now? How does he feel? Did it hurt to transform?
Wait. If he can’t turn back, how will Shigeo clean the mud off?
“Do you need help?”
Shigeo finally looks up from the floor. He nods slowly.
“Alright.” Teruki grins. “Let’s get you, uh… wait here a minute!” He rushes into the bathroom, grabbing as many towels as he can carry. He lays them out on the floor as a trail to the tiled bathroom, a barrier from the mud. Shigeo seems to understand, since he follows, careful not to step anywhere but the towels.
Shigeo’s unblinking eyes look up at him as the bath fills. It’s eerie how similar his eyes look to his regular, human form.
When the water reaches the top and Teruki turns off the tap, he awkwardly steps in, nails clacking against the porcelain.
“Well, I’ll just go now…” Teruki chuckles awkwardly, taking a few steps back.
Shigeo stares at him, unmoving. Oh, right. Shigeo’s a wolf. He can’t clean himself.
“Do you want me to, uh, help?”
Teruki worries his lip between his teeth when Shigeo just continues staring. “Ok..” What’s the best, least-mortifying way to go about this? Should he use shampoo, or bodywash? Does Shigeo want him to use conditioner, after? If Teruki does something wrong, makes him uncomfortable, he could ruin their slowly blossoming friendship.
So, instead of making a decision, he holds up the shampoo in one hand and the body wash in another.
“Which one?”
Shigeo looks unsure himself, the whites of his eyes visible with how hard he’s trying not to look at Teruki. Eventually, he raises his snout to nose the shampoo. It’s cute how much he looks like a dog right now. If Teruki has to be honest, he’s always imagined Shigeo more as a cat, with his quiet and sometimes judgmental mannerisms, but now Teruki’s reminded of his dog back home, who he’d take care since his parents gave as much attention to it as they gave him, and smiles.
He lathers the shampoo between his hands and pushes them into Shigeo’s fur. It’s soft. Way softer than he’d expect from any dog, and especially not a werewolf. It feels like he’s moving his hands through fine-woven silk.
He can’t help but just marvel at it for a moment, his hands smoothing over his flank. He only remembers that he’s supposed to be washing him when he sees the bubbles that follow behind his palms.
“Er, sorry.” He can’t normally tell what Shigeo’s thinking, but his canine face is even more elusive. He doesn’t look upset, though.
His hands scrub through the soft fur, focusing only on the mud he’s washing away. It’s hard not to shy away from the eyes tracking his every move, but he manages.
By the time Teruki’s hand begins to prune, suds cover almost all of his fur. He picks up a small pail to the side of the bath, dunks it under, and uses the water to slowly wash away the soap. He retraces his hand's path, now with water instead of soap. When it seems like all the mud is gone, mixed with the opaque water around Shigeo, he pulls the drain at the bottom of the tub.
“All done!” Teruki huffs with pride, the hands on his hips soaking through his shirt. “Now, we just need to dry you off!”
The wolf stares at him for a moment before shaking wildly, like a slithering snake, splashing water everywhere.
“Hey, hey!” Teruki squeaks, covering his face with his arms. His shirt is now completely soaked. At least Shigeo has the decency to look ashamed, head bowed in submission.
Teruki grabs for his hairdryer on the sink. He’s already dirtied up all of the towels, and if he lets Shigeo air dry, his fur could get matted. But he hesitates, remembering his roommate's tendency to flinch away from loud sounds. “This’ll be loud…” He warns Shigeo, who looks up at him with sad eyes.
Teruki can’t look away, and guilt claws at his chest.
“Alright.” he sighs “I’ll find something to cover your ears.” It won’t do much, but the plush elastic he uses to push back his hair when washing his face will help at least a little. The pink bow looks cute around Shigeo’s head, pinning down his ears, and his shoulders look a little less tense. It almost makes him forget about how the fabric will smell like dog now.
Shigeo startles when the blow-dryer starts. His paws slip against the bath, and he falls back onto his bottom, with Teruki reaching after him. His teeth snap at the offending tool, and Teruki yelps in turn. Like Shigeo did, he falls back. Suddenly, the creature before him no longer looks like a dog; the large, imposing beast looks more like what it is– a wild thing capable of hurting him. He turns the blow-dryer off quickly.
“It– it’s okay, Shigeo.” Teruki extends a quivering hand with it. The wolf leans forward, sniffing it while growling. Slowly, the growls fade out, and he stands back up, his tail between his legs and ears pinned back. His tongue jumps out to lick Teruki’s fingers.
“I’m okay too.” Teruki smiles. He pets the top of Shigeo’s head, the sad ears popping back up.
After that, he makes sure to dry Shigeo off as quickly as possible, and stops when he’s just dry enough not to drip water everywhere. Shigeo trots out of the bath with a shake of his fur, this time not splashing him. Teruki can’t hold back his smile. He slides the bow off of his head and tosses it on the floor, leaving it for his future self to clean later, alongside the towels.
Shigeo's paws clack on the tiled floor as he walks closer to the door, but instead of leaving, he looks back at Teruki.
“Oh! Uh, do you need something else?” Teruki tries to parse his needs from his eyes alone, but there's not many clues there. “Are you hungry?”
His canine head shakes from side to side minutely.
“Do you need water?”
Another shake.
Teruki sighs, holding his forehead in a still-wet hand. His lack of sleep is slowly affecting him: his head feels foggy, and his eyes droop by themselves. “How about I just follow you, and you lead me to whatever you need?”
He trots forward, and Teruki assumes that means he agrees. He trails behind the wolf, who moves swiftly down the hall and to Teruki’s bedroom. Not his own. No, he stops in front of his door.
“What do you want in there?”
Of course, he doesn't answer verbally, but he nudges the door with his wet nose.
Teruki watches incredulously as he turns the doorknob and pushes it open. Shigeo walks in, swivels his head around, and suddenly jumps onto Teruki's bed.
“Uh.” Teruki mumbles as he watches the canine, fur still mildly wet, spin around on his blanket. His paws leave wet marks on the fabric. “Shigeo, that's– I need to sleep there.”
His small eyes look up at him like he's a dense idiot.
“I guess…” his face grows red. “I guess there's enough room for both of us.” He shrugs like it means nothing, but his brain is falling into his typical overthinking as even his ears heat up with blush.
He's already in his pajamas, since he was trying to sleep before a scratching sounded at their door. But now his shirt is soaked through, so he removes it fast like a bandaid. It’s better to be embarrassed that Shigeo’s seeing him shirtless than to try to sleep half-wet. So instead of pinching himself or screaming into a pillow, he calmly lays on the bed, stiff as a board.
Shigeo finally finds a spot suitable for him, at the edge of the bed, and lays down as well.
Honestly, it's less awkward than he thought. At first he was embarrassed sleeping in the same bed as his crush, but that fact is easy to forget when all he sees is a wolf. And when Shigeo falls asleep, his snores fill the room, creating a calming ambiance.
Teruki falls asleep quickly.
-
He wakes up slowly. First, he recognizes the rays of sunlight that peek over the side of his curtains, shining on his stubbornly closed eyelids; next, he feels the blankets surrounding him; a throb on the side of his hip alerts his consciousness that something is wrong. What makes him fully wake up and open his eyes is the shifting of an unfamiliar weight leaning on his side, and the subtle weight of an arm around his chest.
“Wha..?”
He looks down at his roommate, wrapped in his arms. Only his head peeks out of the blanket covering both of them, but under the lifted blanket he can see a sliver of his bare shoulders and collarbone.
“Shi-Shigeo?!”
The boy murmurs, eyes flickering open. “Oh.” His body tenses.
Teruki does the smartest thing he can think of at the moment and flings himself off of the bed. He grunts as his head hits the floor. His legs still overhang the bed, so that he almost looks like he’s sitting down– just tilted to the side. He groans again, holding his throbbing head.
Shigeo peeks over the side of his bed, clutching the blanket over his shoulders.
“You, um. You know now. My secret.” He mumbles with a shy voice, hands tightening further on the fabric as his shoulders hunch. If he still had his wolf ears, they'd be tight against the top of his head.
“Yeah.” Teruki croaks.
“Please don’t tell anyone. I don't want to kill you.” Tears begin to form in his eyes.
“Of course I wouldn’t– wait, you would-?” Teruki gapes. “But– you don’t want to kill me?”
“No.” He shakes his head, and a tear drops down his cheek. “I like you.”
Maybe it’s the short sleep he’s got, or maybe hitting his head gave him a concussion, but he blushes. He thought they were acquaintances, sure, but the fact that Shigeo doesn’t want to hurt him, that he likes him makes his heart warm.
“I, uh, like you too.” Teruki whispers, gazing up at the other boy, whose face gradually relaxes.
“...Are you going to get off the floor?”
“Yup!” Teruki jumps up, then sways as the pain in his head and hip makes itself known. He falls forward, but doesn’t feel the hardness of the floor. Instead, arms wrap around his chest, supporting him. His hands grasp at Shigeo’s shoulders. His very naked shoulders, and naked chest, which is now visible, the blanket having fallen in the commotion.
They’re both matching shades of red. “Thanks” Teruki mumbles, looking off to the side. “I should probably, uh, go… and let you change.”
“Mhm.” Shigeo’s voice sounds strained.
He stumbles to the door, pointedly not looking at Shigeo’s chest– which is hairless– and he points to the dresser. “You can borrow some of my clothes, they should be your size, but you don't have to, or whatever. I could bring some of yours.”
“Yours are fine.” Shigeo brings the blanket up, covering his face.
“Ok.” Teruki squeaks, “I’ll just, get out of your hair, now. Or fur. Ha.”
He shuts the door and slides down it. Groaning into his hands, he tries to will his blush away. It doesn’t, because nothing in his life listens to him, and everything has gone into chaos. But he can accept this chaos, if it means talking to Shigeo more. After all, he likes him.