five ;

“Are you sleeping?” These three simple words abruptly pulled Donghae out of an agitated daze he didn’t know he had fell in. His primal instincts still anxiously on the lookout after the prior accident, he stiffened and snapped his eyes open upon hearing the soft sounds of a voice breaking the heavy silence. His sharp stare almost instantly landing on the ceiling of an unfamiliar room, the raven-haired boy automatically tensed in alarm as his mind struggled to remember where he was.

“Donghae?” The boy’s voice was soft and barely above a whisper, but in the dark room where he didn’t belong, it sounded like a shout. Even the silence that quickly fell back in place a second later seemed to ring too loudly in his ears and made him feel even more alert and wary. Then, little by little, his senses started to clear off the sleepy glaze that had took him. With a small groan, blood harshly thumping in his temples, he began to vaguely recognize his surroundings, remembering when the boy had quickly showed him his bedroom. His brain quickly caught up with the present, reminding him that he was safe where he was –hopefully. Shifting cautiously, he glanced up in the bed’s direction at his right, where he knew Hyukjae was lying in. The movement made a blast of air brush past his sensitive nostrils, hitting him with a strong puff of this delicious fragrance he couldn’t get enough of. Briefly fluttering his eyes shut, he inhaled deeply, restraining himself from groaning in pure pleasure.

Everything within Hyukjae’s bedroom smelled too much like him. Wherever he moved to, the delightful scent seemed to follow and tightly envelop him within its woody and subtly sweet tones, keeping him as a willing hostage. It was close to driving him mad, the fragrance pleasantly dizzying him and making dire need flare within his chest. It played with Donghae’s brain, caressing his instincts and invading his mind with a disconcerting facility. He could feel himself being lured to a false sense of security, while a gentle voice sinfully whispered in his ear to relax and simply enjoy.

Even the nest of fresh blankets and white pillows he was laying on smelled overwhelmingly too good, making his pulse flutter faster. He could feel heat spread through his body as he immersed himself within the fascinating scents his nostrils could distinguish.

He should have been cautious and prudent – he knew he should have. But it was simply impossible with the way the boy’s fragrance, smelling so strong when he was this close to him, soothed his agitation and wariness. And yet, Donghae clearly wasn’t trying to fight against it in the slightest; it felt so heavenly, and he wouldn’t have been able to do anything about it even if he tried.

As he continued to let himself be bathed in the peacefulness the fragrance always brought him, he started to hear the sounds of a slow breathing and the flutters of a heart next to him. Opening his eyes into a half-opened gaze, he glanced at the bed one more time, not seeing Hyukjae but knowing that he was there. His presence, so close yet so far, was strange and seemed to fill up the whole room. As he curled under the blankets, the floor still hard beneath him despite the duvets he was laying on, he felt it pressing against him.

It took him a while to remember that Hyukjae asked him a question, and another one to find an adequate answer. Feeling as if he was stuck somewhere in between, Donghae wasn’t sure whether he was sleeping or not. He could feel himself being at the edge of falling in a quick slumber, but the intoxicating fragrance strongly floating in the air kept him awake enough to be confused about it.

Finally, he rolled on his back and put his forearms over his eyes, trying hard to sort his thoughts out. Sighing tiredly, he opened his mouth and hoarsely replied “No.”

The blue-eyed boy felt rather than heard the way Hyukjae’s breathe itched in his throat with something akin to anticipation. Then, as he quietly waited for the other boy to say something, he saw him shifting closer to the edge of the bed until he was able to see him. He could only see the top of his head starting from the tip of his nose, while single-lidded eyes curiously peered at him.

Time seemed to slow for a bit when their eyes met for a brief instant, and Donghae felt his heart beat slightly faster as need abruptly flared up within his chest once again. Hyukjae then softly spoke up, pulling him out of his thoughts for the second time that night.

“Can I ask you a question?”

Fluttering his eyes close for a second before reopening them, Donghae willed himself to relax and forget about his sinful thoughts with a soft sigh. He shifted on the warm blankets until he was mostly comfortable, before drawling out “You already have.”

Hyukjae paused, considering. “Can I ask you two questions, then?”

“You already have.”

Groaning in exasperation, the boy gave him a halfhearted glare and threw a small pillow in his direction. It sharply arced through the moonlit room before harmlessly falling on Donghae’s chest. The latter smirked slightly as he wrapped his arms around the pillow and snuggled into its soft fabric.

“Stop being such a smartass,” Hyukaje grumbled moodily as he propped himself up on his elbows. The blanket that were covering his shoulders then dropped slightly down his back, revealing a small patch of skin around his collarbone. Seemingly unconcerned about it, the boy shifted some more on the mattress until Donghae could see most of his upper body. He crossed his arms on the edge of the bed and rested his head on them, looking at him with single-lidded orbs darkly sparkling within the night and apparently gauging whether he could ask his question or not. Unwilling to break his silent train of thoughts, Donghae intently gazed at him, easily distinguishing the sharp features of his face even through darkness; he looked thoughtful and widely awake.

“Why does winter affect you so much?” The question eventually came out in a whisper and sounding merely curious, but the raven-haired boy could hear the blatant interest in his voice, and sense the tension in his body, even across the room. Donghae blinked and frowned, sparing him a glance as he replayed the words in his mind until he fully grasped their meanings. It brought up memories of white days and cold snow, reminding him of the many times he had asked the very same question to the elders of the pack.

Not giving out an answer – simply because he knew none –, Donghae stared at the dark square of night through the window without a word. He could hear the distant sounds of his packmates running around in the woods with tense steps, most probably feeling alert and defensive after the hunting. The thought immediately bringing a wave of rage course through his body, but feeling too tired to do anything about it, Donghae gave out a low, furious growl that startled Hyukjae. It was easy to sense his mates’ agitation and distress, forced to be on their guards but tired of doing so for so long, and it affected his own mood, which was already pretty gloomy.

A low, keening howl then rose up outside, quickly followed by another one. Donghae sharply sat up in concentration, perking his ears up. Next to him, he heard Hyukjae’s heart quicken in daze as the night chorus of his mates faintly reached them. Tensing in longing, the blue-eyed boy whimpered almost imperceptibly, the miserable sound caught somewhere between human and wolf. His primal instincts tore at his senses, telling him to respond to this familiar call.

It seemed to distract Hyukjae from his own thoughts as he tilted his head around to gaze at him.

“Do you miss them?”

Suddenly feeling agitated, Donghae only granted him an irritated look before he hastily got up and moved to the window, while his whole body tensed with the instinctive longing to join his packmates. He didn’t know whether it was his inner wolf or his human sanity that craved to go back in the reassuring shadows of the trees and run wildly without having to care about anything but his own safety – but it was there, akin to an ache that constantly tugged at his heart. Outside, a strong wind made snow twirl in the backyard.

“No. Maybe. I don’t know,” he eventually grunted darkly before he turned around and fixed deep, blue eyes on Hyukjae. “Why do you ask so many questions?”

Hyukjae frowned at him with a puzzled expression, straightening up until he sat on the bed. His single-lidded eyes were gazing at him without an ounce of fear behind them, albeit a certain prudence, staring right back at the raven-haired boy. The latter slowly turned around until he was properly facing him, his own orbs glowing within the night under the glistening light of the moon. Amazement and fascination briefly crossed Hyukjae’s face, before he blinked and started to twist his fingers together in something Donghae recognized as discomfort. “I’m just curious,” he mumbled under his breath, before adding louder. “You look like you miss them, though.”

Glancing back at the window behind him, Donghae watched the way tree branches swayed under the strong wind’s influence. He felt tired all of a sudden, the tension of his body vanishing in a short instant. “I don’t know,” he repeated quietly.

With a curt shrug, he slowly walked back to his makeshift bed on the floor. Sighing lowly, he flopped down on it and inhaled deeply the delicious fragrance that almost instantly reached his nostrils, relaxing languidly as he immersed himself into it. Above him, Hyukjae gave him a curious look and laid down on his own bed.

“Stop talking now,” he mumbled into the pillow. “I’m tired. Go to sleep.”

There was a brief pause upon which Donghae felt his body slowly getting numb with sleepiness, his mind carefully edging closer to a deep slumber, while he heard Hyukjae move back to the center of his bed. Silence prevailed for a short moment, until the boy hissed out in indignation “Don’t tell me what to do in my own bedroom!”

=

It took Hyukjae a whole nine hours and thirty-seven minutes to realize the actual significance of everything that happened the previous night. Because he had spent half of that time worrying about Donghae’s life, and the other part sleeping away the exhaustion his emotions had brought up, it had been impossible for him to keep up with the events and truly understand what was happening to him.

He woke up all in a rush, gasping without a sound while his eyes snapped open. Panting slightly, he laid still for a moment, blankly staring at the ceiling as blood loudly thumped in his temples. While he confusedly tried to determine what had awoken him, his mind was suddenly bombarded with memories and sensations of the previous night. They rushed back to him, almost knocking the air out of him with their abrupt intensity, as he felt his heart quicken in his chest with alarm. Not daring to move, Hyukjae closed his eyes for a second before reopening them, trying hard to sort his thoughts out and calm himself a little bit. Everything were stumbling one upon another in his mind, increasing his anxiety. For a brief second, the student wondered if his memories of the past night weren’t simply a complicated trick of his imagination, something his brain had came up with on its own.

That is, until he felt a warm body laid next to him. Stiffening almost instantly, Hyukjae started to take notice of the comfortable warmth curved around his side, while a strong arm was wrapped around his waist. As a low, peaceful breathing echoed his own alarmed one and softly hit the side of his face, he realized that it wasn’t a sound that had woken him, but a sensation; an arm laying across his stomach. Hyukjae closed his eyes, biting back the panic that was quickly rushing up his throat, and tried to remember when Donghae had come up to sleep next to him. But he couldn’t, which meant that the raven-haired boy had probably climbed up the bed when he was already sleeping, and without his permission.

The truth of it all then struck him. Here he was, with a shape-shifting boy in his bed. But not just any shape-shifting boy; his blue-eyed wolf. His pulse fluttering so fast again he was scared he wouldn’t be able to keep up with it, his mind kept reliving the memory of Donghae laying on the cold road, when he was revealed to him for the very first time. An odd combination of excitement and violent panic then rushed through him, urging him to get up and take his distances for a while. His heart hammering, he scrambled off the bed as soundlessly as possible.

What the hell is going on? It wasn’t supposed to be like this – it shouldn’t be like this. Shape-shifting persons, or werewolves, or whatever Donghae was – they weren’t supposed to be real. Hyukjae’s alarmed agitation ratcheted up to an even higher pitch as he looked down at the raven-haired boy. Despite his prompt exit of the bed, he was still fast asleep and comfortably curled up under the blankets, looking so real and normal that he didn’t know what to think about the whole situation anymore.

With a last glance in Donghae’s direction, Hyukjae quietly backed out of his bedroom, grabbing a sweater on his way and shutting the door behind him.

The house was still quiet and plunged in the dark when Hyukjae reached the end of the staircase. Outside, the bravest birds were softly twittering while he could notice the sky slowly clearing off the night clouds and the fog. Moving with nervous steps, he glanced up at the wall-clock hanging in the corridor and read that it was barely seven in the morning. He groaned in frustration and tiredness before he stepped in the kitchen, hissing when his bare feet came in contact with the cold, tiled floor. With a low yawn, he flopped down on the nearest stool and propped his elbows on the main counter, putting his face in his hands.

Although he had just woken up, Hyukjae still felt exhausted as if he hadn’t slept at all. The numbness his body was still tingling with after the short night of sleep he got wasn’t enough to make him forget about the slight agitation that thoroughly kept him wide awake. As much as he tried to calm himself, at least so his headache would stop thumping that harshly in his temples, his brain continued to struggle just so it could find a suitable answer to all this madness. Images of both Donghae and the blue-eyed wolf repeatedly flashed in front of his eyes, fuelling the thousand questions popping up in his head.

His eyebrows furrowing in deep concentration, he unconsciously started to twist his fingers with unease. Now that adrenaline and fascination had vanished off his