Daesung was still the floor. Jiyong tried not to think about the amount of germs that were probably on Daesung's tongue by now. Daesung's tongue that not long ago had his face. Jiyong shuddered out of disgust, a shower would be a heaven's send, but he couldn't leave Daesung by himself even if it was just for a moment. Besides, Daesung needed a shower even worse than he did. How to lure him to the bathroom was the problem. The kitchen had food, the bathroom had nothing. This was a conundrum.

Jiyong taped a sausage he found in the fridge to a ladle, so that when he held out the ladle, the sausage dangled from it rather unappetizingly. “Here boy!” Jiyong jiggled it a bit, getting Daesung's attention. Daesung responded quickly, rushing ahead without concern for his injured leg. As he put his full weight on it, he yelped loudly. The hairs on Jiyong's arms rose, giving him goose bumps. Poor Daesung sat on the floor nursing his leg, whining sorrowfully. As Jiyong approached him he started growling. “I'm sorry boy, I didn't think..” Jiyong looked him regretfully in the eyes, trying to express his apology without words. Daesung let him get close, but maintained a steady undercurrent of growls.

What now? Jiyong thought long and hard as he gently Daesung's uninjured calf. It calmed Daesung down, but he was still shook up and obviously hurting a whole lot. Maybe the wound wasn't in as good a condition as Jiyong had wanted to believe. Jiyong bit his lip worriedly. Suddenly he got an idea. “Stay boy, I'll be right back” he whispered quickly and dashed into the living room. He grabbed the blanket that was on the sofa and ran right back into the kitchen. Daesung hadn't moved. Jiyong spread the blanket out on the kitchen floor, cringing as it stuck to the squished ham on the floor. The things he didn't do for this mysterious wolf boy. Jiyong felt like he was a character in some weird novel. Nobody would believe him if he ever told another soul about this adventure of theirs.

“Come on wolfie, on the blanket you go.” Jiyong tugged gingerly on Daesung's arm, trying to get him to move onto the blanket. “Aaa, see how soft..” Jiyong the blanket with his other hand. Daesung was still wary. “Mmm nice.” Jiyong said, theatrically closing his eyes as he rubbed his cheek against the blanket. In the end Daesung had gotten so curious he cautiously crawled on top of the blanket, it with great interest. “Aha! Gotcha!” Jiyong took two corners of the blanket in each hand, making a sort of a cradle for Daesung, pulling him towards the kitchen door. Daesung wasn't light as a feather, that was for sure. Sweat sprouted on Jiyong's forehead, his face crimson from the effort. When they had cleared the sticky part on the floor, things went a lot smoother. The blanket was so slippery that it easily glided along the tiles on the floor. Jiyong picked up the pace. Daesung was one big smile, squeaking like a happy newborn, having forgotten all about his bad leg.

Out of breath, Jiyong came to a stillstand on the middle of the bathroom floor. It wasn't the biggest of bathrooms so it was quite cramped with the two of them there. He rummaged around in the cabinet under the sink, readying some gauze, disinfectant and a plastic bag. Daesung complained as he unwrapped the bandages on his leg. “It's aaall going to be aaalright.” Jiyong sang soothingly. The wound actually didn't look that bad, he thought. He was no doctor, but there was definite improvement from yesterday. The swelling had gone down and it didn't look as life threatening. He took out the phone to message Youngbae, but realized that he would be busted if he told him about it. “Phew, that was close, huh, Daesung-ah?” Jiyong giggled and put his phone in the pocket of his jeans.

After redressing the wound without incident, he taped the plastic bag over it so as not to get it wet. Now came the hard part, how to get him into the bathtub?

Jiyong started filling the bathtub, trying to get Daesung interested in the water. Daesung watched him skeptically. Jiyong put his hand into the water, “See, fun!” he said while splashing around. Daesung's eyes started sparkling, he was interested but still too wary to dare putting his hand in the water. Jiyong splashed a tiny bit of water in his face, leaving him momentarily stunned. Jiyong was going to regret this. Excited, Daesung stuck his hand in the water, repaying Jiyong with a tidal wave, that not only slapped him in the face but went on to flood the bathroom floor. Jiyong was one beat away from a heart attack. This was going to take every ounce of strength Jiyong had in him. After a few slow breaths he fetched some towels to put on the now liquid floor. Daesung was slowly bringing the house down, brick by brick. What kept Jiyong afloat was that it thankfully wasn't his house, he could just pay for the damages when he returned the keys to the cabin. He hadn't decided yet how much longer he was going to stay, but he had it for another month at least.

Jiyong reached for the poor dead animal that was hanging around Daesung's waist, who knew how old that was or what kind of animal it had originally been. The skin was extremely filthy and it smelled something awful. That thing would go straight into the trash, Jiyong didn't care if he had to give up his life in the process. To lay that creature to rest, no matter what the cost, was a favor he was willing to do the universe. It was tied around Daesung's waist pretty tight with some kind of thread. Jiyong was taken aback. This was not the work of an ignorant wolf, Jiyong got the feeling he was underestimating Daesung's cognitive abilities. Not that he thought wolves were stupid, he had always believed animals were smarter than they got credit for. However, no wolf could have taught Daesung how to tie a knot and use it to make clothes, or well, the prehistoric version of clothes. He looked into Daesung's eyes, wanting to meet the person that was locked up in there.

Jiyong managed to untie the knot and remove the loincloth, leaving Daesung completely exposed. Jiyong blushed. He reminded himself never to enter a length contest if Daesung was participating. Daesung didn't show any signs of embarrassment even though he was in front of a complete stranger. Why would he though? Being embarrassed about our bodies was something modern society had taught us, making us feel shame for something that was as natural as breathing. After all, we all had one. Spending time with Daesung was making Jiyong look at the world differently. Daesung didn't care about all the superficial crap the rest of the industrialized world continuously obsessed over. Jiyong almost felt silly thinking about the person he had become. Fame and fortune were all he cared about. His fancy things and the attention and prestige that went with it, what good was it anyway? The accident had made him face the reality of his situation. He had no real friends, except for Seunghyun. He had never fallen in love, except with Seunghyun. He was an empty shell living a robot's life.

Jiyong's patience was running out, it was proving impossible to get Daesung into the water. Jiyong gave up on the good cop act, grabbing the lower part of Daesung's body after distracting him with a floating hairbrush and throwing him into the bathtub. Daesung screamed at the top of his lungs, water splashing everywhere as he fought to get out. As Daesung came flying out of the tub, aiming right for him, he realized his mistake. What had he been thinking, pushing him in like that? Daesung's drenched body clenched onto him, refusing to let go even for a second. Jiyong had been worried he'd turn against him, an eye for an eye, but instead Daesung took refuge in Jiyong's arms, burying himself into his embrace. Jiyong could feel his ironclad heart thawing slightly. He felt strange, vulnerable. It was a feeling he had long forgotten. He didn't like it one bit and tried to wish it away, throwing it into the locked vault inside his heart, joining the rest of his imprisoned feelings.

There was no way Daesung was going to go back into the tub. They were sitting in the middle of a newly created puddle on the floor, Jiyong's underwear slowly getting soaked. He was going to have to wash him right then and there, it was the only way. He stared at the giant bird's nest on Daesung's head. He wasn't sure he had enough shampoo to be able to reach the inner layer of this weird bush of hair. Only heaven knew what was hiding in there.