Chapter Text
“Maki? Are you okay?”
Maki turns to find Harua standing in the doorway of Line Studios, staring at him. “Oh, yeah, I’m okay. I’ve just been kind of under the weather this week.”
Harua’s frown deepens. “How on earth is this going to help you feel better?”
To Harua’s credit, Maki is currently standing in the fine May rain, arms wide, facing the grey sky. His shirt is clinging to his chest, and his hair is plastered across his forehead, but it feels amazing.
“It was too stuffy in there. I was so hot. Weren’t you hot?”
“No,” Harua says, like he’s insane. “Come inside, we’re waiting for you.”
“Oh, you are?”
Maki steps back inside the building, and Harua presses a hand against his forehead. “You are hot.”
“Thanks.”
Harua slaps his arm. “Shouldn’t you go home if you’re not well?”
“Nah, it’s okay. I’ve been like this all week.”
“Have you got worms or something?”
“Worms? What—”
“You were eating like a bear in the break room just now. It was disgusting.”
“You’re disgusting,” Maki shoots back, and Harua sticks his tongue out at him. “Can’t a boy be hungry after hard-carrying the first episode of season two?”
“You’re the main character, it’s your job,” Harua shoots back. “But I don’t think they’ll let you keep your spot for long if you keep everyone at the table read waiting.”
“I’m coming, I’m coming!”
He follows Harua down the corridor and back into the large meeting room where they’re holding the table read. The department leads and producers are seated along the back wall to observe, while the tables running through the room sit all his castmates, their showrunner Kei and the series director Fuma, who all turn to look at him as they re-enter.
“You’re like a dog,” Nico comments, looking Maki up and down with raised brows and a stupid grin. He’s not quite the main antagonist of season two like he was last season, but he sure does love to antagonise Maki nonetheless. “Have fun playing in the rain?”
“You’re so young. Finding joy in getting soaking wet,” Kei sighs wistfully. Then he leans over to Fuma, who has his nose stuck in his notes, in the same position as when Maki left the room fifteen minutes ago. “Hey, maybe that should be a scene in episode two, after Luka asks Crystal to come camping and she says yes…”
“Haven’t you still got that bug?” Taki asks as Maki sits down beside him, shaking his hair in Nico’s direction just to make him shout in annoyance. “Shouldn’t you be more careful?”
“I’ll be fine,” Maki says, but he’s already overwhelmed just from sitting down at this long table full of people. He’s not sure what it is, exactly, but everything just seems to be so much more lately. Sounds louder, smells stronger. And yeah, Harua was right, he’s been starving all goddamn week.
He doesn’t feel unwell, though, not really. He’s overstimulated and bursting with energy, if anything. It’s just been a weird week. Maybe he’s nervous for season two filming to kick off soon—it’s his first time being on a show successful enough to get a second season. Dark Moon has like, an actual fanbase. He needs to lock in and do this table read.
“Just say you don’t want to read our sexy-camping-in-the-woods scene,” Maya says, her chin on her fist. “It’s okay, you can admit it.”
“I would never leave you sexily camping in the woods on your own,” Maki says, hand over his heart. “I was just practicing for when I get wet and half-naked in this episode.”
“How did you know?” Kei says, looking up with surprise.
“There’s no way sexy camping can happen without someone getting wet,” Maki says, picking up his script. “Where are we starting from?”
🌑
By the end of the table read, Maki is feeling pretty rough. Maybe his sickness thing is starting to catch up to him.
It’s not a far drive from the studio to his house, but he’s antsy all the way, tapping on the steering wheel and looking up at the city lights.
The weirdest thing is this heavy anxiety that sits in his chest. He doesn’t get anxious, not really badly like this, and there’s nothing that happened today to make him worry so much. Maybe it’s just another side effect of his weird sickness, but he’s almost gasping for air when he steps out of the car.
The good news is he has plenty of time to recover before season two starts filming. He’ll get called in for fittings and prosthetic tests, but most of pre-production will happen without him; all he has to do over the next few weeks is learn his lines. He can afford a few days to rest and recover in bed.
The sky is dark overhead; the sun disappeared less than an hour ago, so it’s still a sort of grey-blue rather than black. His eyes trail along the smudge of the clouds until he finds himself looking at the forest a short walk away from his home. Somehow, he just can’t stand the idea of going inside yet, despite the fact he’s pretty sure it’s going to rain again soon, and somehow he’s still ravenous.
A walk. Maybe a walk will help.
He slams the door of the car closed, and the whole frame shakes. He stares at it for a second, then walks away, shaking his head clear.
As the forest draws nearer, he gains a skip in his step—somehow, nothing sounds better than a run right now. There’s a restless, burning, itching feeling under his skin, like he’s skipped the gym four days in a row and now he needs to wrestle a bear or something to feel normal again.
At the same time, his stomach is swooping like he’s on a roller coaster. God, maybe he should’ve gone for a checkup like Taki said.
When he sets foot in the forest, the feeling only heightens. The adrenaline is as high as if he were being chased by something large and deadly, but there’s no good reason for him to be feeling such a rush.
He begins to run. He knows this forest well enough—they film Dark Moon here often, because it’s quiet and flat and not far from the studio. He can circle back home from here, he just needs to run first, burn all this weird energy off, get rid of this foreign sensation that’s like fire under his skin.
He runs and runs, gaining speed, trees flashing by, twigs snapping underfoot. He almost loses his balance on an uneven patch of earth—almost can’t keep up with his own legs to move between the trees fast enough.
Raising his head to the sky, he spots the moon rising between the clouds, and abruptly stops.
The moon is mesmerisingly red.
His heartbeat thuds in his chest, hammering in his ears. A sharp pain spikes down his spine, and he cries out, falling to his knees, body shaking.
“Help!” he cries out, because there is something really fucking wrong with him and he doesn’t know what else to do. He can’t stand; he can’t understand what’s causing him such sudden pain. He left his phone in the car, so he can’t call anyone. He can’t even hear anything anymore, blood rushing in his ears too loudly.
But he’s out in the middle of the woods. No one is around to help.
The shooting pain travels up his arms now, down each of his legs, and he digs his fingers into the earth, trying to brace himself. He cries out again, and it feels as though his skin is about to split open, like something inside of him is growing bigger and bigger.
He looks up to the red moon again. His vision is more lopsided than before. The moon becomes a red smear against a dark sky, and Maki crashes into the earth.
🌑
Maki wakes up confused and disoriented.
He’s lying on his side on something scratchy and cold, his head heavy and vision hazy. His whole body feels sore, like he’d run a marathon in his sleep.
When he goes to sit up, he’s sharply roused by the feeling that his legs are stuck together.
His eyes fly open. He’s lying on a rug laid out on a stone floor. Beside his head, a fireplace is lit, but the room is mostly dark otherwise. A light blanket lies over him.
A guy is sitting opposite him, arms wrapped around his knees, eyes wide and watching Maki.
“Hello?” Maki says, and tries to raise his arms. When he pulls them out from under the blanket, he realises why he can’t—because they’ve been bound together with several layers of rope. “What the hell?”
“Hello,” the guy says in a very soft, very unsure voice. He seems more scared than Maki, despite Maki being the one tied up on the floor.
It feels like his ankles are bound too, but he can’t see for sure, hidden under the blanket laid over him. The blanket isn’t his, and the room isn’t his either, though it does seem vaguely familiar.
“I’m sorry,” the guy says. “You didn’t have any clothes, I was too scared to try and put some of mine on you.”
“I didn’t—what?”
Now that it’s been pointed out, yeah, he’s absolutely not wearing anything under the blanket. He’s lying bound and naked across from a stranger in an unfamiliar place, with no memory of how he got here.
What the hell happened to him last night?
The boy releases his knees to sit forward, and his face comes into better view in light of the fire. For a potential kidnapper, he looks young and scared, and very concerned for Maki. And extremely pretty. “Do you know where you are?”
“No,” Maki says. “Would you please tell me how the hell I got here, and why I’m tied up?”
“I’m sorry, so sorry about that. I wasn’t sure if you would hurt me, I was afraid you might not be happy that I saw you transform… but I didn’t want to leave you alone. I’ll untie you.”
The boy sets to work on Maki’s wrist bindings, slim fingers working deftly, frowning as he focuses on unbinding the knots without tugging at Maki’s wrists.
Maybe he’s still groggy from sleep, but the boy’s explanation doesn’t actually explain anything. “How did I get here? Who are you?”
“I’m Jo,” he says. “I was staying here overnight, I rented the house out for a few days. You broke in through that window last night.”
Jo finishes untying his wrists, and Maki sits up to look at the window Jo nods at.
There’s a tablecloth duct taped over it, but he can tell from the faint sunrise outside and the slight rustle of the material that it’s certainly covering a broken window.
“I broke in through the window?”
“It was more like, you jumped through the window headfirst.”
“I jumped through the window headfirst? Last night?”
“Yes,” Jo says, watching him. “You don’t remember?”
What the hell is wrong with him? No wonder Jo tied him up. Maki would be afraid if someone jumped headfirst through his window in the middle of the night too. “Then what did I do? Come to sleep by the fire? Naked?”
“Yes,” Jo says. “Do you want me to…?” He gestures to Maki’s ankles.
“No, I got it.” He pulls up the blanket so he can pick at the knotted rope. “Hey, uh, I’m really sorry about that. I don’t remember that at all. I’ve been sick this week, so I wonder if I had a delirious episode or something. I’ll sort everything out with the owner about the broken window. Thanks for the blanket and stuff.”
“That’s okay,” Jo says softly. He seems to say everything softly. “I promise I won’t tell anyone.”
“Ah. You know who I am?” he asks as he finally gets the first knot untied. He still has three more knots to go. “Man, you’re a bit too good at this. I won’t ask what you’re into, don’t worry.”
Jo looks down at the rope, the joke soaring over his head. “I can do it.”
Maki sequesters the unknotting to him. “I don’t usually do things like this. I swear I wasn’t on drugs or anything, I was really just unwell. But I really appreciate you being discreet, that’s good of you. Do you watch Dark Moon?”
Jo has already picked through two of the remaining knots. “Yes. That’s why I was staying here tonight, because you guys film here. I thought it would be fun to rent out and sleep over for a weekend, see the forest at night, all the set rooms…”
“Oh, right, we’re in Najak’s house.” That’s why the room seemed familiar. His ankles are freed, and he stretches out. His body is so fucking sore—what the hell did he get up to last night? “Big fan then. I’m sorry we had to meet like this.”
“It’s okay. This is just like when Tahel found out that Luka was a werewolf for the first time, and he had to come to terms with the fact that werewolves are real at the same time as helping him recover from the fight at Decalis.” He takes a quick breath in, and places a hand over his heart, like it’s beating too fast for him to breathe properly. “I understand how he feels now. Do you want something to eat? I don’t have much, but…”
Jo stands up on wobbly legs and crosses the room to fetch a plastic bag. Maki can’t quite shake the concern that maybe he’s been kidnapped by a crazy Dark Moon fan, and he doesn’t remember anything from last night for more nefarious reasons.
He tries his best to mentally retrace last night’s steps while Jo wordlessly places some packets of sweets and snacks (and a single packet of plain rice) beside him.
He was at the table read all day, anxious to leave by the time it was over. He drove home and wanted to walk in the woods. Then he came out here and started running…
Then what? A red moon, he remembers. A sharp pain.
A memory flashes. He was on all fours on the earth. His vision was as sharp as if it were daytime.
And he howled to the fucking moon.
Maybe he was on drugs.
“Is it usually like this?” Jo asks, sitting quietly beside him. He’s curled in on himself, like he’s afraid of making Maki uncomfortable by being too close. “That you can’t remember anything after a full moon night? Or is it because you’ve been unwell?”
“A full moon night?” Maki asks. He’s gripping his knees over the blanket. “Last night was a full moon?”
Jo nods, cocking his head curiously. “You didn’t know?”
Maki shakes his head. “No.”
Something changes on Jo’s face then, and he sits back, blinking at Maki. “Wait… was it your first time?”
“My first time?” Maki asks, panic rising now. “My first time doing what?”
“Transforming into a werewolf,” Jo says.
The two of them sit in silence for a long moment, staring at each other.
“Werewolves aren’t real,” Maki says, but he doesn’t sound convincing even to himself. His mind is playing the memory on a loop—the feeling of standing on four paws and howling to a deep red moon.
Four paws.
“Oh,” Jo says, and they sit there for an even longer moment, unspeaking.
More memories are coming back now. He was running through the forest for ages—no wonder his body is so sore. After a while, he felt unsafe, too far from home without a pack. His mind went to this house, which was the set of Najak’s house in season one. He came running straight through the window, not expecting anyone to be home. Then he curled up by the lit fire.
Curled up. Because in these memories, he was a wolf.
“I think they are real,” Jo says eventually, and Maki can feel himself rocking slightly where he sits.
“How—how can they be real?” he stammers. “How can I be a werewolf? It doesn’t make sense. My, my family are normal, I’ve always been normal, it’s just a show—a TV show, I play a werewolf, I’m not an actual werewolf—”
“Last night was a super flower blood moon,” Jo says, like that explains everything.
“There’s no way that’s a real thing, whatever that means—it’s all just made up—”
“It is real, but it doesn’t happen often. According to the web comic spin-off of episode eight, the super flower blood moon can trigger a dormant gene in a werewolf—if you had a werewolf in the family a few generations ago, and if a super flower blood moon lines up with the end of puberty, it can trigger your first transformation.”
“I–I’m twenty years old! I’m done with puberty!”
“You said in the Cosmopolitan interview that you were still growing over the shooting of season one, and your outfits didn’t fit you by the end. Filming was only wrapped a few months ago.”
Maki feels like he’s going to throw up. “Okay, you know your shit. Oh, Jesus, okay. God. What? What the fuck.”
“That’s why I was staying here tonight. I rented it out to see the super flower blood moon.”
“It’s not, it can’t be real, how can—how can I—” he cries out in pain and grips his arm. The shooting pain is back.
“Woah,” Jo says, putting his hands out towards him. “Maki…?”
The pain shoots down his back, and Maki throws off the blanket to brace himself on his knees as his body goes stiff.
Something pushes under his skin. It feels as though his body is about to turn itself inside out. Fur bursts from his arms. His body stretches and bends unnaturally.
It happens fast. One second, he’s wracked with hot pain—the next, he’s standing on the four paws from his memory.
I’M A FUCKING WEREWOLF, he wants to shout, but it only comes out as AWOOOOO!
Jo ducks for cover as Maki crashes into the couch next to the fireplace, knocking it across the room with his sudden strength and size. His powerful tail knocks into the table behind him as his paws take him around the room at speed. His vision is startlingly clear, and everything sounds different; even Jo’s breathing sounds loud.
He can smell so much that it’s overwhelming. He can’t even pick out what any of the things are right now, just that he can smell a thousand things at once.
“Maki, Maki!”
Maki can hear Jo’s soft voice loud and clear with his wolf ears, but it’s hard to stop dashing around the room. If he stands in place, he’ll have to confront a truth that is making his brain break.
Jo tries anyway. “It’s okay, the full moon is over now. You can control it. Just stay calm, please.”
Maki whines pitifully, contemplating running all the way back to his home and pretending none of this ever happened. But it’s daytime now. What if someone sees him?
Oh, God. How can he go back to set like this? His career is over. His life is over.
“Maki!”
He’s caught by hands on either side of his head, and the sudden pressure captures his attention.
“You have to calm down. Take a deep breath in.”
The hands move up over his ears. Distantly, he recognises the gesture from a scene in Dark Moon. After Taki’s character found out Maki’s character was a werewolf, he did this to try and help him regulate his senses, so he wouldn’t be so overwhelmed.
It helps now, blocking out all the new sounds that signal the very wrongness of his being. He stays put so that Jo can keep his hands there, and closes his eyes, trying to take a deep breath in, as instructed.
Though his other senses are now blocked, the smells are still far too strong. He can smell each of Jo’s snack packets distinctly. The couch has a smell of its own, as does the fire.
There are other things, too foreign for him to decipher easily. Undoubtedly, a lot of it is coming from Jo. Easy ones, like sweat and faint cologne. The smell of dried meat, something like beef that he must’ve eaten recently. Some other scents he can’t quite understand.
Focusing on them helps. Trying to decode the unknown smells gives him something else to think about, something that doesn’t freak him out so much.
Suddenly, there’s a weird sensation like he’s shrinking. When he opens his eyes again, his vision is normal, and he’s braced on his knees on the floor, Jo’s hands cupping his head.
He’s breathing heavily as he meets Jo’s eyes, who studies him for a moment to make sure he won’t freak out again. Then he leans away to grab the blanket from the floor and throws it over Maki’s shoulders.
“I’ll get you some clothes,” he says, and stands, politely averting his eyes.
Maki pulls the blanket around himself, breathing heavily. “Werewolves are real,” he says to himself. “I’m a werewolf. Oh my God.”
Jo returns quickly, placing some cargo pants and a hoodie in front of him. “I’ll just…” He turns his back to Maki, picking up his phone.
Though the clothes are thankfully big enough to fit him, they don’t do much to help him settle back into his own skin, the sense of wrongness lingering along with Jo’s scent on the clothes. He pulls the blanket back over his shoulders once he’s dressed, trying to ground himself with it, pulling it tight around himself.
“Thank you,” he says when he’s done, voice rough and distant to his own ears. “I don’t know what happened.”
“It’s because you were stressed out,” Jo says, looking up from his phone. “It can happen to any werewolf, but especially a new werewolf.”
“You mean it could happen at any time, now?” Maki croaks. “I could just randomly turn into a fucking wolf?”
“Yes,” Jo says, eyes round and earnest. “Only if you’re triggered by something, though.”
“What are the other triggers?”
“Strong emotion, like anger, fear, adrenaline. Being really hungry, or really cold, or really overstimulated. A sudden surprise, or pain. Anything that makes your wolf want to protect you, or makes you lose control of your wolf.”
“My wolf,” Maki says. “Right.”
“If this is your first transformation, you need to get some sleep. Eat a lot, and rest. You’ll feel better in a few days.”
“A few days,” Maki repeats. “But this could still happen at any time, right?”
“Yes.”
“For the rest of my life?”
“You’ll be a lot better at controlling it once you adjust.”
“Once I adjust, right.” He feels like he’s hardly tethered to his own body. “This is not happening. I’m going to lose my job. My life is over.”
“You can control it,” Jo says kindly. “You just have to learn how.”
“I need you to help me,” Maki says, feeling delirious. “I only have a few weeks until I’m back on set. I can’t let this happen there. You need to teach me, like how you helped me just now.”
“Me?” Jo says, stunned. “Teach you?”
“Yes. Please.”
“Oh,” Jo says. “Okay. Of course.”
“Oh thank God,” Maki says, listing to the side until he topples over onto the carpet again. “Thank you.”
“Do you want to sleep here?” Jo offers. “And when you wake up, I can take you back home?”
“Yeah,” Maki says, eyes shutting of their own accord. “Sounds good.”
“I mean, on a bed?”
“Nah,” he says, pulling the blanket around himself. “This is fine. Everything is fine.”
“Oh,” Jo says. “Okay.”
🌑
Jojo
Can i call you jojo
Yes
Thanks
I need your help
You’re all I have now Jojo
Ok
It’s been three days and I’ve transformed into a werewolf like four times
Ironically, it happens every time I get too stressed about being a werewolf
I don’t think your techniques are working
Are you sure they’re right
I got them all from the Dark Moon Companion Guide
If the show is right about everything else, it must be right about this
Maki lies on his bedroom floor, script in one hand, phone in the other, staring at the ceiling.
This is something he’s been puzzling over for days. There are thousands of stories about werewolves told around the world, in different media and across history. Everyone knows what a werewolf is. Everyone also knows that werewolves are not actually real.
He looked into this dormant gene thing Jo talked about, and it’s lore unique to Dark Moon. And the super flower moon whatever bullshit is also a real thing that happened on that night, so it can’t be a coincidence. Though how an astrological phenomenon was able to trigger a dormant gene that turned him into a creature of the night is beyond him.
So not only are werewolves real, and not only is Maki a werewolf, but he’s starring in the one show that has lore-accurate werewolves.
He can only come to one conclusion. Kei is their head showrunner and oversees the plot for everything, even when they bring in guest writers for individual episodes. Kei must be a werewolf, or somehow know about real werewolves.
Jojo
Is there a way to tell if someone is a werewolf?
No
Werewolves can learn to smell each other once they have control over their wolf side
But there is no way for humans to tell
And werewolves would never reveal themselves, to stay hidden from hunters
Maki’s heart sinks. That’s his main concern with going to Kei about all this—that maybe Kei isn’t a werewolf. Maybe he’s from a family of hunters.
He can’t believe he’s even considering it. Friendly, silly Kei, a werewolf hunter? But if werewolves are real, anything is possible.
The only thing he’s sure of is that no one in his immediate family is a werewolf. There is no way he could grow up with them and not know, and there’s no reason to hide it from him. Besides, Jo told him that the dormant gene can be carried for hundreds of years before the timing lines up to activate it.
So the only links he has to this new secret world are Jo and Kei. While Kei is the source of all knowledge, Jo is his safest bet.
This makes the potential of randomly bursting out his furry side on set even scarier. Not only would he expose the supernatural world that has been kept secret for presumably thousands of years, get himself fired and blacklisted from the industry, and generally scare away some of his closest friends and colleagues, but he could also put himself in danger of being hunted and killed.
The thought makes pain shoot through his back.
“No, no no no no,” Maki mutters, abandoning the script and his phone to lift himself onto his knees and try to lessen the pain. He takes in a deep breath, the way Jo had told him to, but the panic keeps rising. He has a matter of weeks to get a hold of this, otherwise it’s more than just his career at risk. He could end up on the run, in hiding, on the news, in the bad books of every other werewolf out there, public knowledge about his family exposed to hunters—
His body stiffens as his wolf takes over, and he gnashes his teeth, dashing from his bedroom to the kitchen to the living room and back again.
It’s a small relief that he lives alone.
He can’t go on like this. He can’t focus on learning his lines if he can’t even stay Maki long enough to deliver them.
First, he needs to learn how to be a werewolf.
He comes back to his bedroom, slumping down next to his phone, waiting for the transformation to wear off. It could take minutes, it could take hours. He needs Jo to teach him how to do this properly. Not just to calm down and shift back, but to stop it from happening in the first place.
When his fur melts away and opposable thumbs return, the first thing he does is text Jo.
Do you live in the city
I live a little way out of it
Can we meet up. I need your help
It’s dire
We could meet in the house in the woods again
Or I could come to you
I’m easy
Please help me
I can help you
Do you want to stay over this weekend?
Give me an address and time and I’ll be there
Thank you so much Jojo
Funnily enough, the season two shoot starts only a day after the next full moon. He has a little over three weeks to get it together.
🌑
Maki packs for an overnight stay at Jo’s and texts his sister the address, just in case this is an elaborate long con to kidnap Maki and keep him in the basement or something. Like, he’s definitely a werewolf. And yeah, he thinks Jo might be the loveliest person he’s ever met, from meeting him one time on the weirdest night of his life. But those things can still be true and Jo might also want to kidnap him and keep him in the basement.
He’s relieved that Jo offered up his place for their training session. Not only does Jo live in a beautiful house on a quiet street—yeah, he searched it up already, he had to make sure it wasn’t a sketchy abandoned warehouse—but he’s also showing Maki a lot of trust by giving him his address and inviting him over for the night. Even though Jo knows much more about Maki than Maki knows about Jo, they still only met a week ago. Hopefully Jo also texted someone about hosting a near-stranger for the night, though.
He pulls up bright and early Saturday morning, a new spring in his step at the prospect of finally making progress on his whole werewolf situation. He hasn’t had much luck on his own when it comes to controlling his transformations, but he had this to look forward to, at least.
Jo answers the door with a soft smile, opening it for Maki to come in. The hallway is spacious and clean, and there’s a surprising amount of artwork covering the walls. The place smells nice, too. There must be some fields or a park close by, because the whole place is airy and fresh and smells of flowers.
Honing in on his sense of smell is the one thing Maki has been trying to get a handle on this week. The smell of Jo reminds him how far he’s come with that alone, how overwhelming it was a week ago compared to how he can parse through it now.
There’s the distinctly human smells of coffee on his tongue and the chemical smells of his deodorant and fabric wash. Then there are the other smells, the ones he couldn’t quite understand before, though they seem different now—something sweet and almost fruity, and something soothing. Under it all, a slightly sour scent that mingles with the sweet.
“Your place is so nice, Jojo,” he says as he takes off his shoes. “Do you live with anyone?”
“I have a housemate, but he’s at his girlfriend’s place this weekend,” Jo answers, watching him carefully place his bags aside.
“Nice. You must have a pretty nice job to pay for this place?”
“Not really. I’m just a librarian. I inherited the house from my grandma.”
“A librarian!” That’s so fucking cute, Maki can’t contain himself for a moment. “Oh my God, that’s so perfect. Is that why you speak so softly all the time?”
Jo goes red in the cheeks, and it spreads to the tips of his ears. Maki is obsessed. “More like, I became a librarian because I speak quietly.”
“Makes sense,” Maki grins, and Jo leads them into the living room.
“I’ve been making notes based on things you told me,” he starts, as Maki catches sight of the pinboard up on the wall.
“Oh wow,” he says, walking up to inspect it.
There are several neatly written lists pinned up, along with annotated sticky notes, photocopies of what looks like the Dark Moon Companion Guide, and a few screenshots from the show of blurry ‘ancient texts’ and symbols.
“Your triggers so far line up with the show’s lore perfectly. It makes sense that the methods for keeping calm should work for you, too. We just need to practice.”
One of the points on the board catches his eye. “Other people’s emotions could trigger my wolf to come out?”
“Yes. You can smell emotions now, so if someone has strong aggression or fear, that could also trigger you.”
“Smell emotions? What do emotions smell like?”
“I don’t know,” Jo says slowly. “In episode four, Najak says that Luka’s fear smells like an open wound.”
“What does that even mean?”
He remembers Nico delivering that line to him. At the time, he’d thought it was way too dramatic. Now he thinks about the unidentifiable smells that linger around Jo. The fruity smell, and the soothing one. If they were emotions, what would they be?
The fruity smell is kind of like… excitement. That makes sense, Maki being here is like Jo’s favourite show come to life. He would be excited, even if he seems reserved and shy in person. The soothing scent is maybe… happiness? That’s nice, that Jo is genuinely happy he is here.
The slightly sour scent is the easiest, once he’s figured those two out. Jo is a little bit nervous.
Cute.
“Never mind, actually, I think I figured it out.”
“Oh?” Jo says, perking up. “What do you smell?”
“I can smell some of your emotions, I think. I mean, I don’t know if I’m right, I’m just guessing. But to me, you smell excited, and kinda nervous.”
Jo looks shocked, in a delighted kind of way. “You’re right. What do they smell like?”
“Excitement smells like fruit, but like, the sweet part mostly. Fruit candy, maybe. And the nervousness is a bit sour under that, so I guess you smell like sour candy right now. And your happiness is… I don’t know how to describe that one. It smells like something familiar. Like coming home after a trip away. You know?”
Jo nods reverently. “Wow. One second.” He opens up his phone and starts typing quickly, and Maki cocks his head.
“Are you taking notes for scientific purposes, or…?”
Jo looks up like he’s been caught, eyes wide and shiny, and Maki bites down on his lip to stop himself from cooing out loud. He needs to get a grip. Still a potential kidnapper.
“Um. For my friend.”
“Your friend?”
“My friend, Seeun—she writes fanfiction, I think she would like to hear about those emotion smells. I haven’t told her anything about you, though, I promise. Sorry, I probably should’ve asked…”
“No, it’s fine. You can take notes. Might as well make your fanfiction accurate. What else is the benefit of all this?”
Jo ducks his head to finish what he’s typing. “Not my fanfiction. And there are a lot of benefits of being a werewolf.”
“Oh yeah? Like what?”
“You’re strong and fast now. You’ll stay young for a long time. Eventually, you’ll find more wolves, and you’ll have a second family. Wolf packs are close.”
“What if the first werewolf I meet is like Najak?”
Jo seems amused at that. “You befriended Najak in the show.”
“Yeah, because Luka is an idiot. I’m not doing that. And ‘friends’ is a loose word for those two.”
Jo looks down at the floor, smiling. “That’s what makes their dynamic so good.”
“Don’t tell me you’re one of those people who want Luka and Najak to get together. They hate each other!”
“No, not me. Seeun thinks so, though. All my friends do, really.”
“Yeah, it’s popular, right?” he grumbles. It’s not that he minds the fans having favourites. He just doesn’t want Kei to get any ideas about putting him and Nico in an on-screen relationship. “What do you ship, then?”
Jo is becoming steadily redder in the face. “I like lots of ships…”
“Yeah, yeah. You definitely have a favourite. Come on, tell me!”
“I like… Luka and Tahel…”
“What?” He’s not heard of that one before. People ship him and Taki? “But they’re best friends!”
“I know.”
“Aw, man. That’s crazy. Does anyone actually want me to get with Crystal?”
Jo shrugs. “It’s too easy.”
“Is shipping only fun when it’s unlikely?”
“Most of the time, yeah.”
“Who do you think Crystal should be with if Luka gets with Tahel?”
“Sooha.”
“Sooha? But she’s totally evil! Is that because she’s the only other girl on the show?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“Damn. Can’t argue with that.”
Jo tucks away his phone, quiet delight on his face. “Fans think Ruslan is getting a more major role this season to become Najak’s love interest. Everyone in the fandom is debating about it. I hope it’s true.”
Maki’s smile grows. “Is this how you’re requesting payment? Insider tips about season two?”
“You don’t owe me anything. I’m just excited. I like Ruslan.”
“Everyone likes Ruslan. It was the fan demand to see him again that got him a bigger role, I’ll tell you that much.” Harua has the kind of face everyone likes. Plus, they are totally hinting at Ruslan and Najak being a thing this season, even if Kei isn’t sure whether the network will let them commit to it yet. Fine by Maki. Saves him from having to kiss Nico.
“Really?”
“Yeah, really.”
Jo is beaming at the knowledge. “Wow. You guys see what the fandom is saying?”
“You bet. We see everything. Harua has probably read your friend’s fanfics before, he’s always on Twitter and shit. Anyway. I’ve given you an insider tip, is that enough down payment for you?”
Jo blushes again, but looks giddy about the news. “Yes, let’s start. I was thinking we could practice the calming methods first, and then try to trigger you, and see if they work?”
“Okay. Lead the way, Jojo.”
🌑
To kick them off, Jo talks him through all the lifestyle changes he needs to make to adapt to his new wolfy biology.
First, he needs to eat more. He’s been hungrier lately, so he’s been doing this naturally anyway, but Jo has drawn him up a meal plan and everything. More red meats, bigger portions, and exercise every day if he can. This will be the easiest bit—Maki is a regular gym goer anyway, and eating plenty has never been a problem.
Secondly, he needs time to adjust to the new bodily developments. Tank tops all summer, because he’s now running hotter than usual. Shifting into a werewolf at least once a month—usually on the full moon—to keep in harmony with his wolf side. Preparing in advance for events or circumstances that now might be overstimulating for him, with his new enhanced senses—Jo even gives him a pair of earplugs for such occasions.
“Hopefully doing all this stuff will make me less stressed about being all werewolfy, too,” Maki says, examining the earplugs. That’s his main trigger, right now, stress. But over the course of the week, he’s come around to accepting that he’s not quite human anymore. Or maybe it’s just being here with Jo that makes everything feel better. “But how will this help me when it comes to the other triggers? If I suddenly get really angry, won’t my wolf come out anyway?”
“If you can do all this, you’ll be better connected with your inner wolf. That’s what it all comes down to. You have to prepare for and avoid known triggers, while also learning how to control your wolf side if you suddenly get surprised or upset. For now, I can teach you some techniques to help you shift back whenever you get upset.”
“Yeah, perfect, that’s just what I need.”
Jo gestures to his sofa, and they sit together, Jo perched on the edge and turned to face Maki.
“Sit back comfortably.”
“Yes, sir.” He settles back into the couch and releases a breath of air.
“The most important thing to do is try and control your heart rate. Your transformation will happen when your heart rate reaches a certain point, so as long as you can stay calm, your transformation won’t happen. The stronger you get, the easier this will be. The most important thing is to control your breathing and empty your mind.”
“Hey, I remember this scene.” Najak taught Luka how to control his wolf side in episode four or five of season one, and they did some cheesy shit where Najak picked a fight with him in the woods just to try and make him turn, and Luka controlled it for the first time despite Najak shoving him around.
Now he thinks about it, he did get pinned to the ground by Nico a lot on that day. It’s no wonder there are so many believers in their sexual tension. Kei knows what he’s doing. “You’re much nicer than Najak, though.”
Jo ducks his head shyly. “I hope so. Do you remember the breathing techniques?”
“Yeah, yeah. In through my nose, out through my mouth.”
“That’s right. If you’re triggered by something, you should try to remove yourself from whatever is causing you stress, if possible. If it’s not possible, there are some other things you can try to stop your transformation. I have a list…”
He pulls out his phone, and Maki closes his eyes, practicing his breathing.
“There are some tricks you can use to tell your brain to slow your heart rate. They’re called vagal maneuvers."
“What manoeuvres?”
“One is to cough really hard, or activate your gag reflex.”
Maki cracks his eyes open to squint at Jo. “Erm. Not sure about that one.”
“You can also tense your abdominal muscles like you are pooping, or do a handstand for thirty seconds.”
“Are you fucking with me?”
Jo looks up from his phone, expression like a wounded puppy. “Why would I do that?”
“Right, sorry,” he says, reaching out to pat Jo’s arm. “Are those really my best options? I think I’ll stick with the breathing.”
“We can try it,” Jo says neutrally.
Jo talks him through some common breathing techniques for a few minutes, how he should count to five to keep it steady. It’s easy peasy.
“I think you need to trigger me. How do we know that it works without testing it properly?”
“Okay,” Jo says, uncertainly. “But how can we recreate your stress trigger?”
“I don’t know. What were the other triggers, again?”
“Fear or overexcitement. Hunger or cold. Pain.”
“Right,” Maki muses. “I suppose you’d better hit me, then.”
Jo blanches, aghast. “Hit you?”
“What else can we do? Unless you want to start vigorously making out, I don’t think we can stimulate any of the other triggers.”
Jo blinks a few times. “Um…”
“So hit me. It’s okay, you have my permission to hit me as hard as you can.”
“I can’t do that.”
“You can, Jojo. For my sake, you have to.” Maki takes Jo’s hand between his own and pats it. “It’s okay. I really don’t mind.”
“Maki…”
“Just think of it like we’re doing a stunt, and you hit me, yeah? It’s easy to get hit by accident while doing a stunt. If I’m on set, I need to make sure I don’t wolf out if I get hurt, right?”
“Right,” Jo says. He still seems unsure, but he’s repositioning himself now, back straightened. “Um… where should I hit you?”
“Wherever you want. I should probably be a bit surprised, right? So you pick.”
“Okay.” Jo steels himself, looking Maki up and down.
Then, without warning, he smacks Maki across the face.
He honestly wasn’t expecting Jo to hit him so hard. And when he said hit, he expected a punch. Not a slap.
He groans, dazed, and his jeans suddenly feel tighter, but it’s hard to say whether it’s because his wolf is about to burst out or because a beautiful man just slapped him across the face.
“I’m so sorry,” Jo says, looking horrified.
Maki tries to relax back into the couch, but he finds himself on his feet and across the room somehow, right before the pain shoots down his back. And not the fun kind of pain. This pain sucks.
He’s on all fours before he can blink, and all the smells are sharper, Jo’s elevated heart rate thudding in his ears, his claws digging into Jo’s plush rug.
“Maki, I’m sorry.” Jo comes down onto his knees to be eye level with Maki.
Why are you apologising? he wants to ask. He did his job a little too well.
“Stay still, you need to breathe. See if you can turn back.”
Maki does his best, but he’s antsy and overstimulated. In this form, it’s impossible to ignore Jo’s sweet scent, or the sound of his neighbours talking through the walls. He also can’t ignore the ripped clothing on Jo’s floor, and the fact that he will be stark naked in front of Jo again if he’s able to turn back.
Trust him to develop a crush on his werewolfing 101 teacher and make everything harder for himself.
“Maki, stay grounded,” Jo instructs, and he places his hands over Maki’s ears.
The touch is incredibly soothing—the combination of the pressure against his head, the suppression of his hearing, and simply being touched by someone he likes. The low rumble of Jo’s soft voice speaking to him helps him catch his breath and hone his focus.
He lies down on the rug and tries to empty his mind like Jo had instructed him earlier. Jo’s hands move away, and just like before, a blanket is laid over him. Maki breathes steadily, and somewhere along the line, his body shrinks and melts back into a more familiar form.
“Are you alright?”
Maki pulls the blanket further around himself so he can sit up. “This is hard.”
“Yeah,” Jo says softly. “I’m sorry I hit you so hard. I could tell you were surprised.”
“Um, yeah. But that’s good! I need to be prepared for anything. Maybe I can find other pain stimulants, though. I don’t wanna force you to do that all afternoon.”
“You still want to do this?”
“I need to. If this is how I learn discipline, so be it. Do you still want to help me?”
“Of course,” Jo nods. “Let me make some lunch, then we can find another way to trigger your transformations.”
“Thanks, Jojo. I’ll put some clothes back on.”
“Oh, right.” Jo scurries from the room to fetch his bag, and Maki runs a hand down his face before slumping back onto the floor.
🌑
They spend the afternoon testing Maki with random stimulants that Jo comes up with. He’s surprisingly creative with it, from dropping cold water over Maki’s head to waxing his armpits to shooting him with a paintball gun. It’s all kind of embarrassing to endure, but he’s not a quitter, and he asked for Jo’s help for a reason.
He does make progress, too. By the time evening rolls around, he’s containing his instinctual reaction to every pinch, prod, and surprise that comes his way. It’s hard to say whether he’s just getting used to the random attacks or if the techniques are really helping, but he feels good about it either way. He’s a little bit more prepared than he was before, and any progress is good progress.
Maki orders dinner for them, which they take to eat in the field behind Jo’s house. It’s a beautiful spot, as the field rolls into a sloping hill, with a view of the village beyond it. After they’ve finished the food they lie out with drinks until the sun goes down, enjoying the view of the orange sunset over the village of softly glowing lights.
“This must be so weird for you. Last week you discovered werewolves were real. This week you’ve got a guy in your house that you need to slap the shit out of all day.”
Jo chuckles. “It doesn’t feel real. I keep thinking I will wake up and it will all be a dream.”
“I bet,” Maki says softly. He’s lying on his back, watching the clouds drift along, but he shifts to look over at Jo. “I’m really grateful, I hope you know that. I don’t know what I would do if I had to go through this alone.”
Jo looks back at him. His eyes shine in the dim light, face fully earnest. “I want to help however I can. I’m just happy all my knowledge about Dark Moon actually came in useful.”
Maki hums, considering. “Yeah, it’s a real lifesaver. But even if we hadn’t met, that doesn’t mean it’s not worth anything. If you love the show and it makes you happy, that’s all you need.”
“It does make me really happy. All my current friends I’ve met through the show, I think. Except Yuma, but he watches it with me when we are both home, so he’s become one of my Dark Moon friends too.”
“That’s cool,” Maki says softly. “You found your people.”
“It’s still hard to find friends who ship Luka and Tahel,” Jo says, and he sounds so serious it makes Maki laugh. “But I do love the friends I have. I love being a Dark Moon fan. I’m glad you found me on the full moon.”
“You and me both. It was kind of fate, wasn’t it?”
Jo chews on his lip, nodding. “I think so.”
Maki watches his lip pull under his teeth. Jo looks so good right now, with his hair splayed out on the picnic blanket, features softly lit by the dying light.
“Am I gonna be your favourite character now?”
Jo looks surprised at the question, meeting Maki’s eyes. “You’re already my favourite.”
“Nah, I have a feeling Tahel is more your favourite. Right?”
Adorably, Jo blushes and looks back to the sky. “You’re both my favourites.”
“Damn. I can’t believe giving you the one-on-one werewolf experience didn’t even bump me up.”
Jo squirms a little. “Technically, you gave me the experience of being Tahel.”
Maki pauses. “I suppose you’re right. Damn. Maybe that will make you start shipping you and me, instead.”
Jo’s ears are getting steadily redder the more Maki teases, and he props himself up on one elbow to get a better view.
“No…”
“No?”
“No,” Jo says, blushing, and doesn’t elaborate further.
“Okay,” he grins, settling back down on the blanket.
They lie in comfortable silence for a while, and watch as the stars begin to appear in the sky. Jo won’t break a silence unless he needs to, but Maki is chill with that. He likes how relaxing it is to be around Jo.
“How come you ended up as a librarian, Jojo? Is that what you always wanted to be?”
“Not really. I fell into it by accident. I was just going to do the job for a little while after I graduated, to build my confidence speaking to people. But I love it. I like putting things in their right place, so sorting the books and the database never gets boring to me. And I like organising things like the children’s fairs and book sales. So I just never left.”
“I love that. You go, Jojo. Is that where you got all the knowledge from the companion guide?”
Jo smiles bashfully. “I have my own copy. I did make sure the library had some copies, though. We’ve got the graphic novel, as well.”
“I think your promo is single-handedly keeping me in a job, not gonna lie.”
Jo laughs at that. “That’s not true. I’ve talked to so many people from around the world who love Dark Moon. It’s loved because it’s good.”
“Yeah?” That’s sweet. It’s objectively not that good, but Maki can’t deny that he loves it too. There’s a charm in something silly and fun that so many people can enjoy together. “I am really grateful for it. The fanbase having so much love for the show is what makes me want to do it for like, ten seasons.”
“I hope so,” Jo gushes. “I think the fanbase will always be here as long as you keep making it.”
“Will you always be here?”
“Definitely,” Jo answers, and it’s the most certain he’s sounded about anything all day.
“Then I guess we will keep making it. Any predictions for season two?”
“Ohhh,” Jo says, like he doesn’t know where to begin. “The whole fandom wants to know about Najak’s backstory, if Ruslan will have something to do with it. I’m nervous they’re going to introduce a love interest for Tahel. There’s definitely going to be a new supernatural creature introduced, probably something to do with Ruslan. I’m excited to see what unique weapon Crystal will get from her family, too.”
Jo picks up his phone, and Maki watches him in wonder. The way Jo lights up when talking about this show is beautiful. Even Kei isn’t this besotted with his own show, and he puts everything into the production of Dark Moon.
“I drew these sketches, I think it will definitely be a bow of some kind, but I did a sketch with a sword just for fun. This bow here is my favourite, it would be so thematic if it had the nemeton on it, since that’s where Luka first turned, and where Crystal will finally graduate into her hunter family…”
“Wait a second,” Maki says, scrolling over the digital sketches of Maya in various poses with different weapons. “You drew these?”
“Yeah,” Jo says, looking up at him.
“What? Oh my God, you’re so good! What the hell?”
Jo presses his face into the blanket. “Thanks.”
“Do you draw a lot? Wait, is the art on your walls all yours?”
“Some of them. I mostly draw Dark Moon these days.”
“Really? Have you done drawings of me?”
“Of course,” Jo says bashfully, and Maki hands back his phone.
“Show me, show me!”
Jo scrolls without saying a word. Cheeks pink, he hands Maki back the phone with an Instagram account pulled up, a stunning watercolour of himself on the first slide.
“Oh my God. Wow.”
He scrolls through the posts for a while, just looking. Jo is an amazing artist. He has done full portraits of the entire cast multiple times over, in vivid colour, in action scenes and intimate scenes and…
“Oh.”
“Um,” Jo says, reaching out to pull the phone from his hands, but Maki rolls over to pull it away from him.
He recognises the scene immediately. It was when Luka ran to Tahel for help, half-dead after fighting some rogue vampires, and Tahel had first found out his best friend was a werewolf. He’s sitting in Tahel’s bed, banged up and bloody and miserable. The key difference to the actual scene they shot is that here, Tahel is tenderly reaching out to cup his face.
Maki slides across to the next image, where they’re meeting in a kiss.
“Hey, this has over a hundred likes. I thought you said no one ships this?”
“Look at how many likes my other art has,” Jo mumbles, still half-heartedly trying to reach for the phone.
Maki scrolls to the next post. A portrait of Najak has over four thousand likes. “Oh, yeah, damn. You’re popular, Jojo. But why wouldn’t they like that last one too? Your drawing was so warm and lovely. I kinda get that ship now.”
“Stop,” Jo says weakly.
“I’m serious!” Maki says, and he rolls back over to put the phone back in Jo’s reach again. “It’s really nice. You’re so good at drawing.”
“Thanks,” Jo says, and he seems to have given up on trying to snatch the phone back, his hand resting on Maki’s wrist instead.
Then Maki scrolls to the next post, a portrait of him shirtless, sitting on Tahel’s bed again.
“Um,” Jo says, actually snatching the phone this time, and even Maki feels a little pink in the cheeks.
“Sexy,” he says, and watches as Jo ducks his head, going bright red. “I really do like it. You’re so good, Jojo. You could sell your art, if you wanted.”
“I’m thinking about putting some prints up for sale,” Jo mumbles, staring down at his phone screen, now out of Maki’s view.
“I’d buy one. I’d buy ten.”
Jo finally raises his eyes again. It’s dark enough now it’s hard to see him well, but Maki can make out that small, shy smile. “Really?”
“Really. I think you should slip me that last one for free, though.”
Jo turns away to bury his face in the blanket, and Maki just laughs, resisting the urge to cuddle up behind him and coo.