Kyuhyun stared at the entwined bodies of Donghae and Eunhyuk, sleeping cozily in Donghae's tent. Eunhyuk had his own, but sometime during the night, he must have gotten up and made his way to Donghae's.

So Kyuhyun was doing the wakeup call to find his boss and new teammate curled up together in the same tent. He coughed discreetly, causing both to start stirring awake. Kyuhyun stifled a laugh as Eunhyuk tried to bolt away from Donghae, once he realized where he was, which would have worked if Eunhyuk wasn't inside Donghae's sleeping bag. The jarring movement was enough to bring Donghae fully awake and glaring at Eunhyuk.

"Rise and shine, hyungs. Breakfast's ready in case you want to eat." Kyuhyun decided to leave the two and get back to his own breakfast.

A day's march yesterday yielded nothing for their search in the sector Kyuhyun indicated. By nightfall, they had pitched camp in the hopes the next day's search would prove more fruitful. Kyuhyun had watched Eunhyuk work, occasionally going on all fours to examine the grounds for possible tracks made by the Predators, or climbing trees to get a better view of the lay of the land. So far, Eunhyuk hadn't contradicted the direction Kyuhyun kept pointing them to.

They set out shortly after breakfast, trudging through more jungle. Hyukjae only briefly wondered where the aliens could have possibly headed, as the direction to population centers would have at least put one on their path. But there were none. Or if some were heading to the creche ship, Jungsoo would have given word by now.

It didn’t help that the aliens are hunters, more than capable of covering their tracks sans any stealth technology. And for all of Hyukjae’s complaints about them being smelly, their scent would still dissipate in this environment, get lost amidst the other scents in the dense jungle.

Hyukjae still had an ace up his sleeve, one he put to good use last night after he handed off the camp watch to Ryeowook. He doesn’t know what kind of training the younger guy had, but Hyukjae was only slightly disgruntled when Ryeowook fell asleep moments after the start of his watch.

Which gave Hyukjae the chance to quietly creep out of camp without alerting anyone. Once he was some way out of camp, he stripped out of his gear and clothes, dropped on all fours, and started to transform.

Hands and feet turned to paws, human limbs shrunk and his body reconfigured to a husky. Hyukjae muffled a whimper as his face turned into a snout, and his hair faded and blended into the grey-white fur that covered his husky form.

An involuntary shiver went through the husky, as he alternately pawed the ground using all four limbs, stretching out his other form. He stretched his neck to the sky, then snapped powerful jaws before lowering his head and started sniffing the ground. He briefly growled low, before scampering further away from camp.

Earlier in the day, his sensitive human nose had already picked up a faint scent of one of the aliens. But everything he could detect about it was overwhelmed by his proximity to Donghae’s delicious scent. He had tried scouting up ahead during the day’s march, but Donghae kept tailing after him, instead of staying back with the other men. Hyukjae then spent much of the day using tracking and climbing trees as an excuse to get away from the brunet. Otherwise he’d find himself draped all over the guy just so he could bask in all that deliciousness.

So last night was supposed to be a reprieve, Hyukjae hoping his more sensitive husky nose will better pick up the aliens’ faintly lingering smell. How could he forget Donghae’s scent would be more overwhelming when he’s in husky form. He did manage to pick up a trail, once he was far enough away from camp, doggedly following it for a distance before he needed to get back to camp before Ryeowook changed watch with Shindong.

He had managed to get back to camp and his tent, in his human form and dressed back in his gear, just as Ryeowook was stirring awake. Hyukjae was sure it was his tent he ducked into, and he surely didn’t have someone else sharing his sleeping bag. So it befuddled him how he ended up in Donghae’s tent and sleeping bag. Sure, he has a period of disorientation after transforming but he has perfect control of his mental faculties this far side of the full moon.

Hyukjae was jarred back to the present, his musings cut off with Donghae’s approach, what with that delicious smell wafting ahead of the brunet. A mix of hazelnut, with a hint of cinnamon, maybe? He blanked out for a moment, wondering if he was missing his coffee fix that much to finally associate Donghae’s smell with his favorite coffee. Because he doesn’t smell other humans as food, not unless their diet was overwhelmed with spices, or if he had a hankering for blood.

“Yo, Eunhyuk,” Donghae called out as he approached the blonde. Eunhyuk only paused briefly to let the brunet catch up before they continued through the jungle.

“You had watch right before Ryeowook, right?” Donghae asked. “Happen to notice if some animal was slinking around camp that time?”

Hyukjae almost froze, almost, wondering if he had been found out. He had been so sure that the rest were sound asleep, before he did any “slinking”. He decided to go for a chagrined response instead.

“Eh, ah, sorry boss, maybe that was me? I had just changed watch with Ryeowook, I might have been rather noisy preparing for bed that time.” He sent off an apologetic look on Donghae’s way, unnerved that the brunet just stared at him, maybe trying to weigh Eunhyuk’s reply. He hurriedly added, “And I didn’t really notice anything suspicious. Besides, anything disturbing camp would have triggered the proximity sensors Kyuhyun put up, right?”

Donghae finally nodded, as if accepting Eunhyuk’s response at face value. “Yeah... or I must be hearing things... after all, I didn’t even notice you had sneaked into my sleeping bag... I mean, that should have woken me or something.” He was fascinated by the way Eunhyuk’s face suddenly blushed, a pale red tinging his cheeks, nose, and most specifically the ears. It was the second time today he had seen it.

Eunhyuk did stop this time, a helpless droop to his shoulders. “Look, boss, I’m really sorry about that. I swear I didn’t deliberately do that. Last I remember was going into my own tent, in my own sleeping bag, and there was no one around me.” Of course he’d remember carefully going back to camp after “slinking” around. He huffed. “I promise it won’t happen again.”

Donghae only had on a pensive look, at least Hyukjae thought of it that way. “Tendency to sleepwalk?” the brunet suddenly asked, and Hyukjae was offended at the thought.

“I don’t think so,” he hurriedly replied. “I mean, ranger training would have noted it.” He refrained from volunteering the information about his loony period on the night of a full moon. Because last night wasn’t anywhere near a full moon. And nobody could know about his were-husky tendencies.

Donghae nodded this time, and started walking ahead of the blonde. He did turn around to look at Eunhyuk. “Well, anytime you need a cuddle, my sleeping bag’s always open.”

The brunet chuckled as he continued walking, amused at the way Eunhyuk’s face flamed again.

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