It started in the early morning.

Baekhyun was walking to the river by himself, because he felt quite hot despite the gloomy and windy weather. Chanyeol wanted to accompany him but Baekhyun refused, exclaiming that he could go there alone, that he had been there for so many times. He won’t get lost.

He sighed in relief when he saw the river but his mood dampened when he saw Sehun. He ignored him and walked closer to the riverside, (a bit further from the older wolf) bowed his head to gulp some water. But no matter how much he drank, he still felt overheated. He really wanted to throw himself into the river, so maybe his body would cool down.

This part of the river was deep, though. He might drown and he wanted to live long.

He remembered the shallow part of the river he used to go to when he was younger and with his family. If he followed the river up north, he’d find it. Maybe he could dip for a while then.

 Baekhyun started to make his way to the north, but he surprisingly got stopped by Sehun’s voice.

 “Where are you going?” Sehun asked with a nonchalant tone.

 The pup turned halfway to face him. The older was lying on a big rock, head propped up by front paws and side-eyeing him. “Somewhere not far.”

 “Don’t go out of the territory. We don’t need another problem.” Sehun warned.

 Baekhyun whimpered, both at Sehun’s words and the aching all over his tiny body. “I won’t be a bother…”

 “Where are you going anyway? Call Chanyeol hyung to go with you.”

 “It’s not far, and I’ll be back soon. I’m big enough to go by myself,” Baekhyun huffed.

 Sehun scoffed and facing the other way, “Go, then.”

 Baekhyun decided not to let Sehun ruin his mood and strode near the river, easily distracted by the little fishes and small animals in the forest.

 It took some time, because he couldn’t really remember the place. He was so young at the time and didn’t pay attention to his surroundings, only cared about getting there as soon as possible.

 After walking for what seemed like miles from where he started, he noticed the familiar view. He looked down the river and he could clearly see the soil underneath with the water flowing calmly. He jumped into it happily, the clear fluid splashed and reached his neck, wetting his white fur.

 Baekhyun calmed down a bit at the cool sensation, and dipped his head inside the water. It felt nice and fresh, it made Baekhyun satisfied when he surfaced.

 He shook the water out of his fur and looked up, facing a large tree and he was hit with a nostalgic feeling. He remembered that he and his pup-friends used to play here, hiding behind the tree roots and play-fight with each other after bathing. He could even see the tiny scratch marks on the tree barks. Baekhyun wondered if they even missed him or if they forgot him already, then sighed at the thought.

 He came closer and rested his head on the big tree, suddenly he missed his family. Yes, he had a new family now, but he couldn’t deny that he longed to know how they were doing. They must be far away already anyway, since Baekhyun’s old pack was the travelling type. Every now and then Baekhyun wondered if they were ever thinking about searching for him, or why they didn’t come back for him.

 Baekhyun walked a bit, pieces of happy memories when he was smaller came into his mind. He just walked in a daze and without realizing it, he reached his old den where his former pack lived before they left him. He approached the one under the roots, where he used to sleep with his mother. He tried to go in but it was hard since the entrance was buried with dirt so he dug it out until he could peek inside, but found nothing, only some little space with damp smell.

 Baekhyun sagged in disappointment and laid down next to the pile of dirt he dug out earlier, not caring if it dirtied his white fur. The pup frowned, eyes scanning the abandoned dens, a tiny part of him hoping they left a clue to where they were headed, but of course there was nothing.

 Baekhyun was about to get up and go back home but dropped down at the sudden pain throughout his body. The pain and heat he had all morning came back tenfold. He howled loudly for the first time because it really hurt, his body felt like it was on fire, his bones aching and feeling like they were melting. He rolled around and rubbed his side over the grass, which felt cool compared to his body, confused and not knowing what to do.

 He heard something came closer and light brown fur was the first thing to come to his blurry sight because there were tears in his eyes. He couldn’t identify who it was (he was too distracted to smell their scent, which was a bit alarming when he thought about it later on, like, what if that was a big big bear? They could eat him easily…) until the wolf said something that went unheard. He recognized that deep voice, he knew it was Sehun, but it felt really weird to hear Sehun worried about him.

 “What happened? Something attacked you?”

 “No,” Baekhyun sobbed, squirming helplessly. “My body feels like it's on fire. Everything hurts.”

 Sehun frowned. “It can’t be your first heat, right?” He came closer to sniff, “No, you don’t smell weird.” He looked at the pup again, and something clicked into his mind. “Maybe you’re about to change into your human form. It can be quite painful. Can you walk back to the den?”

 Baekhyun tried to stand up but he trembled all over and fell down again, “No.”

 Sehun grumbled unhappily, wondering why nobody came yet and sighed before he came closer to the pup, “Stop moving. I’m going to carry you back.”

 The light brown wolf bit the scruff and started to move his long legs as fast as possible to the den, Baekhyun whimpered in pain once in a while. The pup apparently walked quite far so that it took them some time to reach the clearing.

 Halfway there they met Wufan, who felt that something was wrong with his pack member. Sehun didn’t stop to give him an explanation though, he just kept running and Wufan ran alongside him.

 Sehun barged into the clearing and all attention was on him. Something must’ve happened if Sehun suddenly carried Baekhyun out of the blue. He dropped the pup inside the den where he stayed with Chanyeol, Jongdae and Kyungsoo, and the pup rolled around, messing the bed-of-leaves, whimpering and breathing harshly.

 In no time, half of the pack gathered on the mouth of the den, peeking inside worriedly. Sehun wasn’t sure if he should leave or stay because s were on the way out.

 Chanyeol came closer and asked Sehun, “What happened? Is he sick?”

 “No, I think he’s about to shift.”

 The wolves winced since well they’ve experienced it and it would be one of the most exciting events in their lives if not for the pain they had to go through.

 Wufan came closer and brought the pup close to him, hoping his presence could soothe him a bit. “Baekhyun, can you hear me?”

 The white pup whimpered as an answer and looked Wufan in the eyes. Although his body felt hot and the Alpha’s body heat made him want to squirm away, he felt oddly calmed down a bit.

 “Okay, we all know this is going to hurt, but we believe you can do it. We are here with you, don’t be afraid. It will be over soon.” Wufan continued with encouraging comments, and petted him. Although Baekhyun just heari bits of it (because he was distracted of course), he could feel the concern and it made him felt better.

~

 His body didn’t calm down even when it was dark though, much to Baekhyun’s disappointment. It kept getting worse and his whimpers turned into agonizing howls, making his packmates wince through dinner. His bones grew rapidly –it felt like there were dislocated bones everywhere—, and his muscles shifted and ripped, his fur disappeared, leaving him with vulnerable skin, also, his face felt deformed. It was weird and sickening and Baekhyun hoped he won’t experience this again.

 By the dawn, the pained howl turned into a shrill scream, one would think there was a murder. The pack was half relieved (since they couldn’t sleep, and decided to stay awake all night, hunting, strolling and patrolling) and happy for Baekhyun. One by one they rushed to the new little boy and Yixing and Chanyeol who stayed with him, and all of them gasped in awe.

 There were tears in his eyes and on his cheek after he successfully turned into a human, and wow did he look beautiful. Baekhyun’s human form was around 11 years old. He had messy but fluffy brown hair, a small face with droopy eyes, cute nose and thin pouty lips. His sweaty skin was a bit pinkish, most likely because his new raw skin and the burning feeling of changing bones and skin exposed to the air for the first time. The boy couldn’t stop sobbing, hugging himself and refused to eat when Yixing offered his share for dinner. His stomach felt uneasy, like he would throw up soon.

 The next day Baekhyun slept from morning until late afternoon, feeling sleepy and tired, so he stayed inside the den for a few days, resting his sore limbs. His packmates occasionally visited him and Yixing accompanied him most of the time, making sure he ate and drank enough fluids, and taught him human language. His den’s residents were back too, and Chanyeol wrapped himself around Baekhyun at night to shield him from cold air.

 When he felt better and sick of staying inside, he finally he came out, crawling awkwardly on his hands and knees because he still felt weak and couldn’t walk with two feet yet. Chanyeol, who was enjoying the morning sun near the den straightened up and changed into his human form. He approached Baekhyun and crouched down in front of him.

 “Hey, Baekhyunnie… Are you okay now?”

 Baekhyun looked up and gave him a small smile, “Um, not really, hyung. It feels weird with all this long limbs and it is cold without fur.”

 “Yeah, it’s always like that in the beginning, but you’ll get used to it soon. And… you should learn to walk with your feet. Look, your hands are dirty now.”

 Baekhyun frowned down at his feet and hands, dirty with dirt, “I don’t know how to do it... I don’t understand why you would want to be in a human form… it’s uncomfortable.”

 “But still, you have to learn. Being human is nice too, it’s easier to grip something with your hand and many other things. Here, hold me,” Chanyeol grabbed both of Baekhyun’s smaller hands, not caring about the dirt, and pulled him up. Baekhyun gasped at the sudden movement and tightened his hold on Chanyeol’s big hand. He felt dizzy for it was the first time seeing things in higher perspective, and instantly held onto Chanyeol’s side when the older move his hand into his small back and hugging him. The little boy’s knees buckled and he leaned his head into Chanyeol’s upper stomach.

 Chanyeol felt awkward because his lower part was touching Baekhyun’s body so he held his shoulder, “Uh, can you stand by yourself now?” Baekhyun bit his lips and shook his head. “I will move my hand, okay? You can still hold on to me and try to tighten the muscles on your legs.” The older moved his hands off one by one, and the boy immediately gripped harder on Chanyeol’s side, body hunched forward. The brown haired boy shut his eyes tightly, toes curled and did what Chanyeol told him. Chanyeol slowly peeled Baekhyun’s fingers off his body one by one.

 Baekhyun gasped and extended his arms to his sides to gain balance but he fell down. By that time, a few of their packmates were already watching them in interest and rushed to the boy’s side, making sure he was okay before continuing the lesson. After a few tries, Baekhyun could finally stand without holding anything and he felt really proud of himself.

 “Now, try to walk!” Jongin suggested.

 “Ehhhh? Now? Can’t I do it later?” Baekhyun huffed and sat down.

 “I think the sooner you can do it, the better.” Wufan said suddenly and Baekhyun’s eyes lit up, wanting to impress Alpha.

 “Okay, then… Please help me…”

 Joonmyun stepped up and instructed him to move his feet in front of each other, Baekhyun nodded and watched Joonmyun demonstrated it.

 He took a breath and moved his right foot first, stopping to make sure he won’t fall then moved another and another. When he felt confident enough he fastened his steps but his feet tangled and he gasped loudly when he fell to the ground. His hyungs approached him, but he just laughed.

 Now Baekhyun could walk for a few steps but his legs were still shaky, and he would fall every once in a while. His skin was already full of dirt and little scratches from his previous fall, but he felt happy. Then they all headed to the river, Baekhyun was hanging onto Chanyeol, and then they cleaned themselves.

 Baekhyun noticed Sehun at the side with Jongin and walked to him shyly, “Um, hi. Hyung. Thank you. For the other day. For carrying me back. If you didn't come, I might be dying in pain out there.”

 Sehun jerked from where he was, and just mumbled, “It was just an instinct. Because you howled. And you are our packmate now. Don’t think too much about it.” Before running off.

 Baekhyun couldn’t be happier, since Sehun finally admitted him as his family.

~

  2,351 words ;;

crappy update after monthsss ;;;; but I want to update since today is my birthday hehe ;D

i wonder if anyone still interested in reading this...

Thank you to cyndicyn22 unnie who’s been with me nowadays and makes me wanna write again ;;;;;

Thank you to bubbletea94, MiszOceanJasper and markkson who came to me and asked for an update, huhu I need that sometimes TTTT

Also, please greet my beta endboss <33

Tell me what you think!! (^^)