+ Jimseungdol (2/2) [2PM]
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Taec wakes up with a headache and without any pants.
He doesn't realise either of those things at first, because consciousness comes incredibly slowly. It takes him a long time to adjust to being awake, even longer than usual, and he spends an indeterminate amount of time silent, still, willing his brain to function enough to let him move.
Eyes first, he decides. He needs to know where he is, what he is, how he is. Assess the damage, go from there.
Right.
Slowly, carefully, he opens his eyes.
It's not bright. The sun hasn't risen yet, although it must be close, so while it takes a few seconds for his eyes to adjust, this is when he comprehends his lack of pants. Or shoes. Or shirt. Thankfully, he still has his Calvin Klein boxers, as filthy as they are, and for a moment he's struck with the almost-amusing thought that he was probably the best-dressed werewolf in Seoul last night. Assuming there are more. Which there most likely are. Along who god knows what other supernatural creatures hungering for human flesh...
Which are thoughts to repress until another time.
He levers himself up, gently, into a sitting position, leaning against a wall, and tries to figure out where he is. It doesn't take long for him to recognise that it's the alleyway he was dragged into when he was first bitten.
Which is really, really creepy.
Taec shivers. Why would he ever come back here? Maybe his wolf-self had just been driven by instinct. Maybe it went to the last place it saw its maker, its, well, Alpha, in the hope of seeing it again. He's pretty sure he read that wolves are supposed to be very pack-oriented, very hierarchy-bound, and while he doesn't know how much crossover there is with werewolves their basic drives are surely similar.
Which apparently also applies to hunting, because he looks down at himself and there's… that's blood, blood all over his hands, caked and dried under his fingernails. For a moment he's frozen, images playing on horrifying repeat in his mind: his claws ripping into human flesh, easier than slicing through butter; his teeth tearing muscle and fat apart in strips; his tongue tingling, savouring the tang of-
But then he notices a pile of carcasses next to him, tiny bones, too small to be anything but rodents or birds. His stomach churns. He's not going to look close enough to find out which.
He takes a breath.
He really needs to get away from here. He needs to go home, now.
Stretching his legs out in front of him, he wiggles his toes, testing sensation, before levering himself up, once more using the dumpster as support. They're a little unsteady, but workable. He shakes them out and glances around, hoping there's some kind of material, anything he could use to cover himself for the trip back to the dorms. He'll have to chance it and go back on foot-he hasn't got a phone, and even if he did call someone, how would he explain this? He'd be drawing far too much attention to himself.
So something to cover himself up. There's nothing useful in the dumpster itself, but there are several promising-looking bulging plastic bags stacked beside it. Further inspection proves that it's a bunch of ladies' wear, but amongst the skirts and dresses are a stripy hoodie and neon pink sweatpants. They're way too small but they cover all the necessary parts, and the hood comes down far enough over his eyes so that he even has some sort of a disguise happening.
He hobbles back towards the dorm, shoeless and nervous.
There aren't many people around yet though, and he looks so strange that people are avoiding him on purpose (Fashion Terrorist Ok Taecyeon, he can't help but think), so his journey is uneventful and relatively quick.
It's an effort trying to convince dorm security that he is who he says he is, but the guard on duty is the one whose daughter is his fan, who he signed a selca for as a Christmas gift last year, so even that is easier than it could've been. Which he's beyond grateful for, because his head feels like it's going to explode, his joints feel like they're going to shatter with each movement, and when he finally gets inside he goes directly into his room so he can collapse on his bed and-
There's someone in his bed.
The covers are pulled around their head but he can see a tuft of blond peeking out.
"Wooyoung-ah," Taec tries to say, but his throat burns and his words crack. He moves closer, leaning over the bed, speaking directly into Wooyoung's ear. "Wooyoung-ah."
Wooyoung's eyes fly open and his head jerks back. "Oh my God!" Wooyoung exclaims, in cute but heavily-accented English, before switching back to Korean. "Yah, where were you? You smell terrible, what happened?" Taec opens his mouth to answer, his breath fanning over Wooyoung's face, and Wooyoung pulls an exaggerated expression of pain, scrabbling up Taec's bed and pointing to the other side of the room. "Aish, just tell me from over there, what were you doing?"
Taec doesn't move away or tell Wooyoung anything. Instead, he does what he planned on in the first place and throws himself on the bed, on Wooyoung, landing with an "Oof!" from both of them.
"Yah, Ok Taecyeon, move your ass!" Wooyoung whines, kicking his legs out in a tantrum, but Taec just ignores him, pressing him deeper into the bed and nuzzling into his neck. Wooyoung immediately stills.
They're quiet for a few moments.
"I hate this," Taecyeon says quietly. He doesn't know what he's looking for exactly, what he wants from Wooyoung, but Wooyoung seems to, and Taec is unreasonably comforted by the way Wooyoung manoeuvres an arm out to awkwardly pat him on the hip.
"Me too," Wooyoung tells him.
"Maybe it's good I'm going to Italy," Taec muses. "I can get away from all this a while. I can figure everything out."
"You're still going?"
"I have to, it'll be weird if I don't."
There's another silence, and Taec focuses on Wooyoung's breathing, on the steady beat of his heart, allowing himself to completely relax for the first time in days.
Wooyoung finally breaks the moment. "Okay seriously, Hyung, go and shower. This is really disgusting."
When Taec rolls off him he makes sure to dig his elbows in.
+
Being on a plane is like experiencing a massive sensory overload.
First class is something that he will never take for granted, but right now it makes no difference to his comfort, and the thousands of scents and sounds of the passengers, not to mention the plane itself, are screwing with him. He feels light-headed. He feels strung out, stretched thin. Like his brain is going to vibrate out of his skull.
A torturous hour after take off, he can tell his manager is getting worried, he's just about ready ready ready to punch himself in the face in the name of finally getting a rest. Instead he plugs in his headphones, slides an eyemask on and tries, once again, to calm himself down, not sure if his new physiology will just allow him to let his guard down in public but tired enough to try.
When he's shaken awake 12 hours later in Italy, Wooyoung's mini album still looping in his ears, he's thankful that apparently, that is one thing that hasn't changed.
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It gets easier.
Taec doesn't just spend his time in Rome eating ice cream, taking tours and indulging fans. He tests himself, he works on controlling his senses and his Change. He learns to adjust to this, this thing inside him, this wolf. The way it wants things, needs things. The way it's like its a separate part of him, but the same being all at once.
After some experimentation he figures out that he's most susceptible to Changing when his heartrate is elevated-which might cause a problems considering he makes a living performing on stage-but the more he Changes, the better he becomes at controlling it, and he's actually pretty pleased with his progress.
Of course, it's really hard to be away from Wooyoung after he's spent so much of this whole ordeal relying on him, and he misses all the familiar smells of Korea, of home and the people he loves. Disappointingly, he discovers he can't get drunk anymore either, but he figures that's cool, he'll just tell Khun he's given up to show his solidarity or something, and Khun will get all weepy and promise him a million favours.
Which he might actually need to take advantage of on soon enough, considering the fact that when he gets back, he shows the members that he's a werewolf.
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Junsu faints like an ahjumma. Chansung grabs Jeonggam's carrier and is out of the dorm before Junho can stop gaping. Khun complains that the video uplink is too dark and asks if Taec went to the dentist.
All in all, it's about as successful as Taec had envisaged.
+
Taec waits in his room. He's been through a lot with the members, never does he once really believe that they won't accept him, but it's still tough to wait it out and give them space to come to him in their own time. All he really wants to do is run after them and show them that it's okay, he's the same in all the ways that matter and he won't be able to adjust to the differences without their help, but he forces himself to stay put and breathe and be patient.
Wooyoung slips inside after a few minutes, sitting next to him on the bed, and they wait together.
+
Surely enough, one by one, they come back to him-still shocked, disbelieving and unsettled, but they do come. He Changes in front of each of them again, teeth and claws and facial fur and amber eyes, and while they're shocked and frightened and confused, none of them run away.
"How come you always get the cool stuff," Junho complains, pretending he's not scared even though Taec can hear his rapid heartbeat.
"You're literally a beastly idol," Junsu breathes, hiding behind Wooyoung.
"Biting is supposed to be my thing," Chansung says, eyes wide and looking for the changes that aren't visible now that he's shifted back to his human form.
"You should have told us," Khun scolds him, looking frustrated and disappointed on his computer screen, although Taec knows it's mostly with himself. "We might have been able to help you."
None of them leave him, and Wooyoung-Wooyoung stays with him all night, helping him stay grounded, helping him explain, even helping bear their anger when they inevitably all wonder why he kept this from them. And at the end of the night-it's morning now, surely-Wooyoung is the only one who's left.
Wooyoung. Wooyoung who has been with him through this whole thing, Wooyoung who has always been there with him, Wooyoung who gets him and Wooyoung who grounds him and Wooyoung who always smells so good he just-
Taec doesn't know what he's doing.
He knows one thing though, and it's kind of weird but also kind of right and it's scary and it's exciting and it's not just the… the werewolf inside talking, it's more like pieces finally slipping into place when he realises-
He wants Wooyoung.
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Nothing changes.
Not between him and Wooyoung, anyway. He doesn't say or do anything about how he feels, and Wooyoung seems fine with how things are, so he leaves it at that. It gets a bit harder when the Awesome Scent is around, but his control is so much better than it was only a few weeks ago, and he's since come to the decision that if using Wooyoung's heartbeat helps him keep calm, well, he's just going to keep doing it. It's weird, and it says a lot about him, but no-one has to know.
It does take him a little while to settle back in with the other members, though. For them to get used to him, to stop being so scared of him. There are ups and downs, as usual, but they're trying, which makes him love them all the more.
They help to cover for him if he slips up (including one almost-catastrophic time involving a television interview directly after a performance, while he's still hyped up and quite possibly growling and howling a little, and Junsu distracts everyone by doing an impression of Audrey), and Khun even helps him with some training. Junho makes him about twenty playlists of calming music, and Chansung, his thoughtful maknae Chansung, offers him a room in his gym to use on nights of the full moon.
"It isn't suspicious that you'd be there," he says, dropping a key onto Taec's palm, "and the walls are strong and soundproofed. You'll be safe there."
In fact, everything is going really well, and he doesn't even accidentally Change once until, on the night before the next full moon, Wooyoung gets hurt.
Taec smells the blood from a block away, and as soon as Wooyoung steps into the dorm his senses go crazy. He grabs Wooyoung's uninjured arm, yanks him away from their manager, away from Chansung's worrying, hovering hands and into the bathroom. He locks the door and rips the arm off Wooyoung's shirt, flinging it, and the tissues he'd been using to stem the blood flow, aside.
It's not bad, long but not deep along the inside of his forearm, but it hurts Wooyoung enough to make him wince and that's enough for Taec. He washes the wound carefully at the sink.
"What happened?" he asks, trying not to sound too growly or else Wooyoung will tease him for it.
"Deja vu," Wooyoung says pointedly, indicating to Taec's hip.
Taec grunts and pats his arm dry, fishing out the same materials Wooyoung used on his bite and applying the antiseptic.
"It was nothing," Wooyoung says finally. "It's just a scrape. Okay?"
Taec looks up at him, mid-bandage application, to find Wooyoung watching him with raised eyebrows, and he knows. He's knows he's overreacting, he's being weird, but he has to go with it, he can't deny himself being upset about anything bad that happens to Wooyoung. Not Wooyoung.
Finally, Taec finishes and leads Wooyoung to his room (if anyone says anything, he'll just claim Wooyoung's bed was too far away or something). He settles him gently on the bed, climbing on carefully after him. Wooyoung huffs indignantly but lets him do it, lets Taec lay down next to him and curl around him.
They're quiet for a few moments, and Taec can't help but revel in Wooyoung's scent (another ridiculous thing he never saw himself doing, just add it to the list).
"You smell really good," he murmurs, pressing his face into Wooyoung's neck.
"It's the full moon," Wooyoung says slowly, a realisation.
"Yes," Taec says, daring to look up at him. Wooyoung's face is carefully blank, like it is every time he's feeling an emotion he knows he shouldn't show. It's an expression Taec hates.
"You're upset," Wooyoung adds. His voice is a monotone, and he shifts back so that he's not touching Taec at all, even though Taec can-he can smell Wooyoung's arousal. It's that same smell from before, from all those other befores, it's the Amazing Scent and now that he can finally recognise it it's so intoxicating that he can barely stop from launching himself at Wooyoung and sniffing and rubbing all over him. Which actually happen to be two of the more innocent urges he's feeling right now.
"Only a little bit." He pushes closer again, mindlessly, slipping a hand under Wooyoung's t-shirt, just wanting Wooyoung's touch, needing to feel a little skin on skin. "Because it's you."
"Hyung," Wooyoung says sharply, and his tone cuts through the haze of Taec's lust, but it's not enough to make him let go. "What does that mean?"
"Yah, Wooyoung-ah," Taec murmurs, reaching up, hand settling on Wooyoung's neck, thumb stroking over his collarbone. "Why do you think I'm doing this?"
Wooyoung's lips purse. He stares silently at Taec for a few moments. Taec looks right back. "It's the full moon," Wooyoung repeats eventually.
"Do you think this isn't me?"
"Last time you... weren't yourself. What am I supposed to think?"
"There's a reason I keep coming back to you, Wooyoung-ah."
Wooyoung's eyes narrow but his body loosens and he sinks into the mattress, slotting him so perfectly underneath Taec, and that's more than enough of an answer for Taec. He surges up and presses his lips to Wooyoung's, straddling his thighs and rolling their hips together. Wooyoung grunts, his eyes going wide, and Taec uses that moment to slice through Wooyoung's shirt from the inside with a single claw, down the middle and then through the armholes before pulling it out from under him and tossing it aside.
"That was much easier with claws," he says, waggling his fingers and bobbing his eyebrows up and down, and Wooyoung's eyeroll becomes one of pleasure, not exasperation, when Taec leans down to lick over his right nipple.
"Taec," Wooyoung gasps, arching up into his mouth, and Taec immediately considers it his duty to conduct an experiment to see if he'll get the same reaction with the other one, and maybe with all of the other sensitive parts of Wooyoung's body.
He does.
+
"You make me better," he tells Wooyoung afterwards, as Wooyoung's warm, soft hand combs absently through his hair. Wooyoung stops for a moment, fingers curling, almost spasming, digging into Taec's scalp. Taec lets out an embarrassing little whine and nuzzles closer and that seems to be the key-Wooyoung's bones unlock and he shakes Taec's hair from his fingers before he slides down the bed. Their bodies no longer touch but Wooyoung isn't leaving him, he's still here, frowning as he finally looks Taec in the eye.
"This is really no joke," he says. Taec's not quite sure what he's referring to. It feels like his entire life is a joke lately, like one big supernatural comedy of errors, like he's somehow the butt of a cruel, terrible joke played by God Himself.
But that's okay, he thinks as Wooyoung takes another moment before he shifts closer again, aligning their bodies perfectly, because he's not alone. He has the members, who will help him and cover for him and who will love him anyway. He has Wooyoung, the only person who can calm him, his anchor. And he knows that they can tame the beast together.
So to speak.
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Notes 2: I've wanted to write something supernatural-esque for a while now, and since I may have accidentally fallen in like with Teen Wolf (just so you know, I don't regret it all. Except how I do, every day)... I actually started this with the idea that it was going to be an action/adventure/supernatural romp, but… that didn't happen. Maybe next time?
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