Baekhyun presented his idea to the Alpha the very next day, before the envoy group went out to greet the new pack in the area. The Alpha was very pleased by the idea and believed it would be a good change for both Baekhyun and Sehun. He planned to arrange a ceremony of sorts as soon as the envoy mission returned. Baekhyun bounced all the way to Sehun’s tent in order to give him the good news.

“Come here, pup!” Baekhyun shouted obnoxiously at the boy he was sure was sleeping, rushing into the tent.

“S’ too early.” Sehun groaned. His whole body felt sore and puffy from all the emotion he let out yesterday.

“The sun’s been up, and the Alpha said you can be my pup.” Baekhyun snuggled up next to Sehun, and nuzzled his face caringly.

“You’re barely older than me. Everyone’s gonna think you’re so weird.” Sehun grumbled, but scooted ever closer to the warm male. Baekhyun just hummed in response and let the boy wake up slowly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“As your new guardian, I demand we go bathing today.” Baekhyun commanded once Sehun finally decided to get up from his sleeping position some time in midmorning. Sehun crinkled his nose at the thought.

“Well that’s too bad because since you're my pup I get to make you do whatever I want.” Baekhyun stuck his tongue out to finish off the sentiment. Sehun simply shrugged, and hid his smile with his hand.

The river was freezing cold, parts of it frozen over, but Baekhyun seemed not to mind at all. Sehun glared at him as he shivered, waist deep in the freezing cold water.

“You couldn’t have waited until summer or even spring to do this?”  Sehun complained. Baekhyun shook his head, giving him a dopey look of happiness.

“It’s so nice to see you outside again.”

“I’m already regretting it.”

“Yeah but you’re doing it.”

Sehun didn’t have anything to counter that so he simply took a handful of snow off the bank and threw it at his guardian. Baekhyun dodged easily and gracefully before following Sehun into the numbing water. He placed his hand on Sehun’s bare shoulder, steadying himself on the rocks. They had left their tunics on the shoreline, knowing the dangers of being in cold wet clothes all day.

“Hey when was the last time you shifted? I feel like I haven’t seen your wolf since you were actually a pup.” Baekhyun asked curiously, secretly hoping to wash out his new pup’s fur.

“Transforming just takes so much energy and it’s not like I need it anyway.” Sehun looked off in the distance, hoping Baekhyun wouldn’t ask him to transform. He hadn’t let his wolf take control of his mind in a long time, and hadn’t shifted in just as long. The last time he shifted was to run through the woods back to his pack after being in the doctor’s office. His wolf fur was probably matted and full of twigs from the run.

“Well let’s go closer to the bank and I’ll wash off your fur.” Baekhyun finally suggested. Sehun shook his head lightly, unable to come up with a good reason to say no.

“Come on, I just want to clean you up, you won’t even have to move, we’ll go really close to the bank so you can lay down and your paws will be in the water still. I’ll even carry you back to camp.” Baekhyun soothed, gently guiding Sehun to the shallower water. Sehun felt slightly panicked about transforming, not that it was painful or harmful, he just hadn’t done it in so long it felt unnatural. Baekhyun continued to use a soothing voice to coax him almost unconsciously to the shallow water and to sit down.

“See? You’re sitting down and relaxed. You just have to let your wolf come out a little and I’ll take over from there.” Baekhyun’s voice was silky and calm. Sehun wondered if that quality of Baekhyun's voice would sound seductive to an Alpha or a Beta. To him, it simply sounded like a lullaby, lulling him to sleep. Sehun nodded before taking a deep breath and reaching deep inside himself for the ashamed wolf that waited restlessly.

The transformation process is a quick one, and with a quick glittering, almost a flash, a large wolf was sitting almost in Baekhyun’s lap. Baekhyun was aware that there could be a danger in releasing someone’s wolf that hadn’t been out in awhile. Wolves got restless, and as more time passed, they got more so, and thus more dangerous. It not only let Baekhyun see if he could tame Sehun’s wolf side as well as the human, but it allowed Baekhyun to start some of Sehun’s healing into becoming one whole piece with himself again.

“Hello Sehun’s wolf. I do not know your given name, so I will address you as ‘Sehun’s wolf’ until you provide me with something better. My name is Baekhyun and I am your new guardian. You are my pup.” Baekhyun introduced with as much of a commanding voice as he could muster. The wolf looked at him curiously, and sloshed his tail in the water uncomfortably.

“I’m going to clean you, so you need to stay still.” Baekhyun said firmly. While there was a large, threatening, confused, broad, wild animal in front of him, Baekhyun could only really see the small puppy he used to be. He cupped some of the water in his hands and poured it over the wolf. The wolf growled at the cold, but made no moves towards the currently defenseless Baekhyun. Baekhyun began to calmly and thoroughly brush out the wolf’s fur with his fingers, removing the dirt and twigs snuggled deeply in the matts, using the freezing water as a kind of detangler.

“You’ve been away for a long time. I’ve missed seeing you around. You’ve always had the prettiest coat.” Baekhyun cooed, keeping the wolf sedated and comfortable. The wolf eyed Baekhyun as though suspicious, but was visibly soothed by his voice. This made pride swell up in Baekhyun’s chest, Sehun didn’t know it and most likely neither did the wolf, but this was the effect of a parent on their child. When children or pups get upset, the sound of a parent's voice helps to calm them, and make them docile. He was already being recognized as guardian.

Once the coat was cleaned, Baekhyun began mindlessly petting the large wolf ignoring his own shivers as he hummed a familiar tune from an old traditional song. Sehun’s wolf noticed Baekhyun shivers, and pushed his waist with his nose to signal they should get out of the cold water. Baekhyun nodded and got out to put on his tunic.

“Would you like Sehun to come back now? He can put his tunic back on and we can go back to camp. “ Baekhyun reasoned. The wolf shook his head and whined at the idea of being sent back to the back of Sehun’s consciousness for who knows how long. Baekhyun pet his snout, which reached up to almost his neck.

“I promise I will bring you back out soon, and we could even go for a run if you’d like.” Baekhyun tapped his nose playfully. The wolf gave a kind of sigh, and then a stripe up Baekhyun’s face in a puppy-like way to show his appreciation and their newfound bond. Baekhyun nuzzled his head next to the wolf’s before feeling the wolf shift away.

Sehun seemed winded to say the least. He was breathing pretty hard, and reached for his dry tunic. Slipping it on quickly, he leaned on Baekhyun for support.

“Seems like he was friendly.” He breathed.

“He was a pleasure. I hope to see him again soon. He’s all cleaned up too. Now, I’ll carry you back, so hop on.” Baekhyun transformed into his wolf, the shifting process passing quickly.

“Hello Boxian." Sehun greeted, softly petting the well-groomed coat. Boxian looked back at Sehun with loving eyes and shook his fur slightly to single that he was ready to go. 

"Let’s get to camp.” Sehun smiled, and clamored awkwardly onto Boxian's back grabbing onto the long hairs for security. The fur was so warm, Sehun felt himself almost melt into the warmth, his body still cold from the freezing river. Boxian waited for Sehun to get settled before taking off quickly, already familiar with the route back to Sehun's tent.