Seunghyun's mouth moved, probably in an attempt to form words. Jiyong couldn't wrap his head around the situation. Daesung had peed on Seunghyun's hand, peed!! He knew he thought he was a wolf, but somehow Jiyong never imagined it would be to this extent. You don't pee on other people! Everyone knows that! Well, apparently he had been peeing on the tennis ball, but since the ball was in Seunghyun's hand it was inevitable that half of it went on Seunghyun. Jiyong was terrified. Daesung had finished peeing and without even pulling his boxers up properly, he just casually strolled into the living room like what he had done was completely normal. His boxers still on backwards. Ah, Jiyong felt like a failure. Granted it had only been a couple of days, but he had managed to accomplish nothing. Daesung was still a wild animal, doing whatever he wanted when he wanted. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea. Maybe he was robbing Daesung of proper care by trying to care for him himself. He had no experience with caring for anyone, he could barely care for himself. Maybe if he got professional care, they would be able to rehabilitate him and reinstate him into society.

On the other hand, this was who he was. Did they have any right to mess with that? Shouldn't he be given the chance to evolve on his own terms, his own pace? Deciding for himself if he liked the human condition or not. But was there any other choice than to civilize him? He couldn't very well be left like this, half human, half wolf, roaming the forest without a clue to what lay beyond it, could he? Jiyong's common sense told him that was ridiculous, that of course Daesung had to be brought into the human world on human terms, but his gut told another story. His gut couldn't help but put himself in that same situation. If it were him, he wouldn't like it one bit if some strange people came and took over his life, deciding what was good for him, deciding who he should be. He had been there before and that place was no different from a prison, taking away everything that made you you. He had spent his whole life fighting it. He had always gone down his own path in life, wary of outside interference more than anything. How was Daesung any different?

Jiyong's thoughts were distracted by a deep 'ho-ho-ho' sound. The breath Jiyong had just taken stopped midway in his throat. Seunghyun was... laughing?! He started out with a low santa-ish laughter, watching his wet hand incredulously. But then it progressed into a full on laughing fit, tears sprouting at the corner of his eyes. Jiyong had no idea how to react. Should he laugh along with him? Should he be worried about him?

“Seriously dude! You're just going to stand there staring at me?!” Seunghyun's words were like a knife cutting through Jiyong's stupor. “Oh, sorry! Ehm... towel? Yeah? ..ehm... hang on!” confused and flustered Jiyong ran inside for something to dry Seunghyun with. Where had Daesung gone to? It was too quiet somehow. But he didn't have time to worry about that right now. He grabbed a towel, thankful that it wasn't his own towel but the cabin's towel, and ran back.

As he was heading back from the bedroom with his arms full of towels, as well as a bottle of sanitizer, Daesung appeared from behind the sofa. “Oh hey boy, what were you doing back there? You did a very bad thing, do you know that?” Jiyong scolded him in a kind voice. He didn't think it would do any good to be too hard on him, Daesung would never be able to grasp what it was he did wrong. As Jiyong hurried over the living room floor, he kicked something. It was an empty container. “Really?! You ate it ALL?!” Jiyong exclaimed in surprise, the container had been full of food and it wasn't small either. Poor thing, had he been that hungry? How did he fit it all in his stomach, had his stomach become some sort of a weird hybrid human-wolf-stomach that could eat a whole deer at a time? Or was that only lions? Jiyong really had to take the time to do some research on wolfs, but right now he had more pressing matters.

Seunghyun hadn't moved, still holding out his hand with the drenched tennis ball in it, which was still dripping into the puddle of pee on the floor. This was some situation.

Seunghyun was strangely calm while Jiyong tried to reverse the damage. Seunghyun survived, but there was one fatality. There was nothing Jiyong could do about his shoes, they had coded and even with CPR, they were just too far gone. They were gone, forever. After a moment of silence, he dried Seunghyun enough so that he could go to the bathroom for a shower. Jiyong brought extra towels for him, screeching to a halt at the bathroom door. It was half open and he could see Seunghyun taking off his clothes. The light reflected off his bare chest, making Jiyong's mouth water. The hours he had spent fantasizing over that chest, they weren't few. Jiyong cleared his throat, sticking his hand through the gap while looking the other way. “Oh just come in you idiot, you need to do something about my clothes, they smell something fierce.” Seunghyun commanded as he started ing his trousers.

Jiyong's heart panicked, pounding hard on his ribcage, trying to manufacture an escape route. It was clever, Jiyong too wanted to get the hell out of there. He took a deep breath and opened the door wider, slipping in. Seunghyun threw him his shirt, the wet sleeve stunk. He wished Seunghyun would hurry up so he could leave under the pretense of having to put his clothes in the washing machine, knowing full well that they would probably be ruined by a normal wash. They needed to be dry cleaned, only a fool would put an expensive custom made suit in the washing machine. Still he was going to do it, he needed not to be here. He couldn't handle being here. He would rather have Seunghyun be pissed off, biting his head off for ruining his clothes, than accidentally giving in to his feelings for Seunghyun, kissing him against his will.

Jiyong's eyes disobeyed his direct orders, following Seunghyun's fingers as they undid the last button. And there went the trousers. Jiyong swallowed a gasp. He had seen him a million times, but it had been a while since last time. Seunghyun had recently stepped up his game, starting the gym and getting himself in shape. Jiyong knew because he couldn't stop complaining about it. Apparently his girlfriend had started some 'new life, new body' program and had blackmailed him into participating. That crap wasn't for Seunghyun, he hated this kind of stuff. She didn't know him, she didn't care about him. Not like Jiyong did.

Aaa, he needed to get a grip. Focus on the overpowering smell of pee, he told himself. 'Seunghyun is covered in pee. He's covered in pee' he repeated over and over in his mind. But it did nothing. Seunghyun was still attractive as ever, pulling him in like the moon manipulating the tides. Jiyong couldn't help himself. Before he knew it, he was standing right in front of Seunghyun, breathing in his smell as he pretended to dry him with a towel. A completely pointless act since Seunghyun was about to take a shower anyway. He was just wasting a perfectly good towel. Jiyong was getting lightheaded, making it harder to cling on to rational thought. His feet edged closer to Seunghyun's without even asking Jiyong's permission. Those eyes, those almond shaped diamond windows into Seunghyun's soul. Jiyong could look through them for hours on end. And those lips, those sneaky gate keepers of utopia, stubbornly barring him entry.

Jiyong was intoxicated, he felt like he was drunk. He was going to do it, he was just going to go for it. He was going to kiss him, screw the consequences. So he would destroy their lifetime of friendship and make them estranged forever, losing the only family he had ever had. His hazy brain didn't care anymore. It just wanted to taste those lips and discover what lay beyond them, to hell with everything else. Just a few more inches and he would be in heaven.

Daesung burst into the bathroom in a frenzy, whining at the top of his lungs. Not now, not nooow. But it was already too late. The moment was ruined and Jiyong couldn't ignore Daesung's panicking whimper. Annoyed, he looked at him, but the only thing he saw was gum. There was gum all over. He had only given him one packet, how could there be so much gum? It was in his hair, on his face, sticking to his fingers and chest. There was even some on his boxers. Jiyong was left flabbergasted at the sight of him. He just wanted to give up. It was too much work. He wasn't cut out for this. He wanted to rewind time, go back to when he found him. Then he would call the police and let them take care of it, let Daesung be their problem. Or better yet, rewind further back and not go hiking in the forest at all.

Jiyong got a pang in his heart. He didn't mean it. If he hadn't gone on the hike, Daesung would've died out there. Jiyong got chest pains just thinking about it. No, he did the right thing. Why did the right thing always have to be so difficult? Why couldn't he just be a proper bad guy, not caring about anything or anyone?

While Seunghyun showered, Jiyong de-gum-ified Daesung who was surprisingly patient, sitting quietly and letting Jiyong do his thing. A feeling of pride snuck itself into his heart. Daesung was such a good boy. He really was.

Jiyong wanted to throw that disgusting tennis ball away, but Seunghyun wouldn't hear of it. They put it in a bath of soap and sanitizer, hair drying it afterwards. Seunghyun was convinced it was the key to Daesung's heart and he wasn't willing to give it up. When the ball was dry, he taught Daesung to fetch. It was utterly humiliating. Every time Seunghyun threw the ball, Daesung would dart away after it. He was a human being!

“Careful! Watch his leg!” Jiyong insisted, but Seunghyun just waved his concerns away. “Oh, come on. He's fine! Look at him, he's as happy as a puppy on his first outing.” Seunghyun chuckled. Jiyong hated that he didn't see him as a person, treating him like an animal. But at least they were getting along.

The twentieth time Seunghyun threw the ball, Daesung started limping. His leg was not fine. Oh, he should have never let them do this. Jiyong blamed himself as he checked the leg out. It was swollen and red, the wound had started bleeding again. He had failed Daesung. He was supposed to be the grown up, watching his back. Instead he had just watched it happen, right before his very eyes. He sent Seunghyun a death stare as he helped Daesung to the couch, trying to figure out how he was going to get him to stay there. Daesung was not one to stay in the same place for too long at a time.

In the end Jiyong was forced to sit with him, to make sure he didn't put any weight on the leg and to try and make him keep it elevated. He kept him calm by his hair relentlessly, Daesung liked that.

“I need to go to the store. You have to watch him until I get back.” Jiyong told Seunghyun, pointing with his eyes at Daesung. Seunghyun's face turned white, “Wait, what?! No. No way. No friggin' way!”. Seunghyun looked furtively around, like he was looking for something.

“I'll go to the store!” he finally concluded. “You at going to the store. Even with a list, you never know what to buy and always come home with the wrong stuff.” Jiyong complained. “Well, then we'll just all have to go.” Seunghyun said stubbornly, crossing his arms. “With Daesung... to the store?!” Jiyong commented incredulously, “...yeah, that's not a good idea.”.

“I'm not going to be left here alone with him, with a wild ferocious animal! I'm really not.. not a chance...” Seunghyun put his foot down, clearly he wasn't going to budge.