After dinner, Yugyeom walked Eunkyung home.

The trees sheltered the from the sun as the walked along the path between each other’s house together. The leaves filtered the light and cast a warm glow over them. Yugyeom walks slowly to match Eunkyung’s pace and looked down to watch her hum mindlessly. She twisted a strand of hair around her fingers as she looked around the familiar forest. The first leaves of autumn had begun to fall and there was a crunch with every step the pair took. It was peaceful.

“You guys are always so lively.” Eunkyung spoke suddenly. “I always love going to your house.”

“Yeah, we can get pretty rowdy sometimes. But I love my pack.” The words fell from his mouth carelessly but Eunkyung didn’t even flinch. She knew everything about him now and he didn’t have to hid who he really was around her any more. “They’re my brothers.”

“They take really good care of you,” She agreed. “They practically took me in too, even though I’m a stranger.”

“You never were a stranger, Eunkyung, we’ve all wanted to be your friend ever since we moved here.”

“Really?” Eunkyung turned and looked at him.

Yugyeom nodded and smiled down at her. “Yeah, we use to watch you run around and play with your friends when we were little.”

“I don’t remember ever seeing you though.” She furrowed her brow.

“Because we were in our werewolf form.” He explained. “You wouldn’t have thought anything about seeing a wild animal run past you or hiding in the bushes.”

Eunkyung giggled. “I bet you were a cute wolf when you were little.”

He laughed with her. “I was pretty cute. But, man, I would sit for hours and try to get up the courage to go talk to you. I was a shy kid though so I never could.”

“That’s a shame. I would have loved to be your friend.”

They stopped in front of Eunkyung path and lingered for a moment, neither wanting the other to leave.

Yugyeom seemed to debate over either or not he should say something before straightening up and looking her in the eye.

“Do you remember that wolf that was shot on your property?” He asked.

“Yes, were they a werewolf? Do you know them?”

He let out a shy little laugh and hunched his shoulders slightly. “It was me.”

“Seriously?” She looked alarmed. “Are you okay?”

He nodded. “Thanks to you, I only have a scar. If you hadn’t found me and taken care of me so well, it could have been very serious.”

“Wait, you said earlier that wolves regenerate quickly. It took you a while to heal though.”

“That’s because it was a silver bullet shot from an enchanted gun intended to hurt werewolves.”

Eunkyung’s blood ran cold.

“So who ever shot you, intended to harm you. And knew that you were a werewolf.”

“Yes, it was definitely a werewolf hunter. I just don’t know who it is.”

Eunkyung ran her fingers through her hair worriedly before wrapping her arms around her waist.

“Hey,” Yugyeom saw how concerned she was and stooped down slightly to get on her level. “Don’t worry about it. We have a treaty with the nearby hunters so they won’t hurt us. They won’t attack unless they have a good reason to.”

“… Then why did I find you with a bullet in your side?” She tightened her hands into fists.

Yugyeom hesitantly put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “That wasn’t suppose to happen. It was probably just a random hunter coming through our land and no realizing I was harmless.”

Eunkyung didn’t look convinced so he brought his hands down to hers and gently treaded his fingers through hers so they weren’t in a fist anymore. Eunkyung flushed slightly at the feeling of his warm hands engulfing her own so completely.

“Look,” Yugyeom started, not looking up from their hands as he soothingly rubbed hers with his thumb. “Being a humaniod, in general, isn’t very safe. There’s always a chance of danger and always the risk of getting found out and killed. I know for humans the thought of a violent death is scary and something that rarely happened. I grew up with the knowledge that were was a good chance I would get caught by a hunter one day. While I’m trying my damn hardest not to, I know the risk that come with being who I am.

“I don’t want you to ever worry about me, because you know what?”

He waited from a moment before she let out a soft, “What?”

“I think I’m pretty darn lucky, because I don’t only have my pack looking after me, I have you.”

“You’re just saying that.” Eunkyung mumbled. 

Yugyeom just laughed is disbelief and squeezed her hands.”Are you hearing yourself? Oh Eunkyung, the girl who single handedly carried a full grown werewolf to her cabin and nursed it back to health from a bullet wound, doesn’t think she can be a source of protection as good as my own pack.”

Eunkyung smiled sheepishly. “It sounds a lot cooler that it really was when you say it like that.”

“That’s because that is how cool it really was. You’re pretty darn badass, Eunkyung. Give yourself more credit. I know that if I’m ever in trouble, I just have to shout and you and my pack will come running.”

Eunkyung gave his hand a quick squeeze before changing the subject. “May I see you in your wolf form again? Just to, you know, make sure this is really happening.”

Yugyeom gave her a startled look, but nodded and shifted.

It was almost like a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it sort of thing. One moment Yugyeom was in front of her, the next her wolf was.

She ran her fingers through his soft fur and smiled. Now that she knew both her wolf and Yugyeom were one and the same, she could see the similarities between them. 

A thought occurred to her.

“Wait, so a while back, when Jungkook came to my house, that was you on my door step.” He let out a growl that told her she was right and shivered. Jungkook had almost killed Yugyeom that night. “I am never inviting him over again. I’m so glad you’re safe.”

A few minutes passed. Eunkyung pet Yugyeom and he nuzzled into her touch. She would scratch the place behind his ear that she knew he liked and he would push his ear further into her hand and let out a little grunt of content.

“You know what, Yugyeom?” She spoke up. “I’m glad you were the wolf I looked after. It’s nice to know that I was friends with you all along.”

Eunkyung leaned forward and gave the wolf a peck on the head before standing up and going inside her cottage. Yugyeom watching he go with his tongue lulling out of his mouth and his tail wagging happily.

A/N: nnnnNNNNNNGGGGG LOOK AT THOSE CUTE BABIES BONDING