Zico took slow steps down the hallway, his bare feet making soft taps on the wooden floor. He dried his hair with a towel and the wood creaked softly at every step he took. He walked deliberately slower, making sure to mask the sound he was making. He peeked into the living room as he passed by the entryway. The fireplace was lit, the sound of the light cackling of the wood burning filled the room. He expected to see a body laying on the sofa, a head of hair all that was visible. Instead, he found that the person on the sofa was sitting up.

You hadn’t gone to sleep yet. Your legs were pulled close to your chest as you stared at the glass of water in front of you, your half-lidded eyes in a daze as you looked on. He hung his towel on his shoulder and leaned onto the frame of the entrance, watching you in silence. He was there for a few moments before he decided to call out to you, the urge to do so had built up in him to the point where he couldn't not do so.

“Hey.” He called out to you from the doorway. You turned your head slowly, your cheek resting on your knees as you locked eyes with him. He froze in place, unable to take even one step into the living room. As though there was something that would change if he did, he stayed rooted in his spot. What would change though? He didn’t understand.

“Hey.” You said in reply. A simple word. A simple word and he didn’t care if something would change. He pushed himself to take one shuffled step into the living room. It took everything inside of him to do so but when he did, he felt a wave of relief hit him. It wasn’t long until he was at your side on the sofa, sitting back on it in his usual comfortable position. You laughed, causing him to look towards you. The fireplace was the only thing lighting up the living room. It casted shadows across your face, emphasizing your features.

“Can’t sleep?” He asked, his eyes glued to your profile.

You sighed and slipped your legs from the couch, stretching them out as you groaned, “Yeah.”

"I can help with that." He offered, a smile on his face as he continued to watch you. The slow turn of your face towards his, the tightening of your jawline as your teeth clenched, the concaving shape of your eyebrows as you looked on at him in disbelief. He laughed and looked away. If only you knew the effect you had on him, you definitely wouldn't have allowed him to sit so close to you, not that you could ever get him to move away if you did, "Just saying. One, swift punch to the stomach would do it."

You faked a laugh and scooted away from him, laying out your legs, albeit you had to bend them slightly, as you laid back on the couch’s armrest. He let his eyes glaze over the shape of your legs and a frown formed on his face, "You need to eat better."

You sat up and looked at him, your eyes showing him how confused you were that such a topic came up out of nowhere. But it wasn't out of nowhere, not to Zico. He grabbed onto your leg just below the knee and you flinched out of surprise, "What are you doing?" Your hands went to his quickly as you tried to pry him off of your bare leg.

His frown didn't fade, his playful expression nowhere to be found, "Your legs are soft. Squishy. Seriously, all that running and you're still like this? You need to eat better." He finished up by saying that same line again.

"I get it, I will." You said in reply as you tried to no avail to get him to let go of your leg, which he was still looking at intently as though he were dissatisfied with it. "Now let go." You grunted as you tried to push his hand away again.

He saw you squirming and his frown faded. He would tease you now, as he always had. Each time with as much seriousness as the last despite you being unable to tell, "You promise?" He asked, letting his hand slide down your leg to your ankle. You shivered from the motion and nodded fervently, your eyes not locking with his at all. "I didn't hear you." He said, coaxing out of you an annoyed expression as you looked back up at him.

"I promise." You meekly whispered and his what you called "cocky" smirk appeared on his face. He let his fingers slip from your ankle and he leaned back on the couch once more, satisfied with himself. You drew your legs back to your chest, not giving him a chance to get at you again but not before kicking his arm softly. His smile got wider due to your small way of reprimanding him.

There was a period of time where it was silent. The two of you sitting there without saying a word to each other. Your eyes drifted to the glass on the coffee table you were previously looking at. "You need to eat better too."

Zico peeked at you through his peripheral. You were staring at the glass of water on the coffee table. He was about to dismiss your thoughts when he realized something. The water. The water was discolored. He sat up immediately, his voice cutting through you like a knife, "Why the hell are you drinking this?" He reached forward and clutched onto the glass. You thought it would break in his palm any second.

"I wanted to see what it tasted like."

You answered without flinching. He was about to yell at you again but you cut him off, your calm voice in spite of his own rage filled one took control of the situation.

"But I couldn't."

His voice lost its way. He stared at you, waiting for you to continue.

"Because it hurt. Even though I didn't drink it, it hurt. Because I've seen what you all look like when you drink it. Because I know it hurts you to have to drink it. Even if its a dull pain, its still there. So why do it? I don't want you to hold back anymore. You don't want you to hold back anymore. Just be you, Zico. Because you need to eat better too."

His eyes snapped open. His eyes took in the color above him, the color of the ceiling. He was laying in bed. He could tell from the red sheets he caught a glimpse of as he shifted onto his right side. He squinted as he tried to read the time off of his phone on the nightstand, his arm had to stretch out just to reach it. Four in the morning.

He had had a dream. A dream about something that happened the night before he went into the Containment Zone, as he now knows it to be called, with you and the others. But it was different. That's not what really happened. You hadn't known they were werewolves then after all. Up the point of you saying he had to eat better too was all true. That's when it started to become twisted.

In reality, the conversation ended there and the two of you had a quiet argument about whether he should crash on the couch with you since he was already there or if he should go back up to his room. You won that one. The latter of the choices being your suggestion.

But this dream of his, in this dream of his you knew that he was a werewolf.

You wanted him to be just that.

Was this some kind of subliminal message you had been sending to him through your actions all along? Or was this what his subconscious really wanted? For you to tell him to be a werewolf. To be himself. For you to want him to be himself.

Either way, he was more sure of his answer to Sunggyu just yesterday morning now more than ever.

The answer he gave in response to Sunggyu being,

"Why the hell not?" 

It was quiet. Too quiet. You knew you three had gotten away from the man, all thanks to Woohyun’s quick thinking in shutting a door behind him, locking it into place. If that door had not been there, you three would still be running. All it did was buy you time, time the three of you were using to recoup. Yet it was silent. Even when it was just you and Myungsoo, you at least had questions to bother him with. Questions he would answer. So at the very least it wasn’t as bad as this tension filled silence.

You didn’t know what to say. The two had fought over you, more like over the idea of you in general, just moments ago. The argument had been cut short by the man in black but it wasn’t resolved. You didn’t know what to say. Didn’t know what to do. Once more, the thought of leaving crossed your mind only to be put down quickly by the recommencement of the argument from earlier.

“Let go.” Woohyun muttered beneath his breath. It was different from how he usually sounded and it was obviously directed towards Myungsoo. He sounded angry. Woohyun sounded angry. You thought you would be surprised by such a tone but for some reason, you weren’t. Probably because you knew that even the sweetest of people got angry. You mom went from happy-go-lucky mom to stoic mother in less than three months after all.

You looked to Myungsoo who was not faltering in the least as he stared back at Woohyun. Then you felt something slip through your fingers. You had almost forgotten.

Earlier, Woohyun and Myungsoo were dragging you down the hall. Woohyun had closed the door, blocking the man in black and in the process releasing you from his grip on your hand. Myungsoo on the other hand continued to drag you forward. When the three of you stopped, you practically fell to your knees as you caught your breath and Woohyun and Myungsoo did the same though not because they were tired as well but rather from shock.

And all this time, as silence engulfed the three of you for who knows how long, Myungsoo had held tight onto your hand. Only when you felt his palm slip from yours and his warm, insulated werewolf skin skim past your fingertips did you realize he had.

Myungsoo sneered as he scooted back, away from you and Woohyun. He slid backwards till his shoulders touched the hallway’s cement wall. “Happy?” He asked Woohyun, his tone practically oozing with annoyance. Anger. Frustration. All of these emotions.

Yet at the same time, he didn’t seem any of them at all. Again, he seemed to be something else. Something hidden behind the stage curtain.

“I could be happier but for now, yes, I am happy.” Woohyun answered as he too slid till his back touched the opposite wall of the hallway.

Even if you didn’t know what was best to say right now, you had to say something. The two of them surely weren’t going to say anything at this point to try to fix the situation that you somehow created. You positioned yourself towards Myungsoo and took one deep breath. His eyes went to you from his peripheral. He waited, knowing you were going to say something.

“I get that you hate me-”

Myungsoo snapped back quickly before you could even get another word out, his tone reproaching, “I already told you a long time ago. I don’t hate you.” You didn’t see Woohyun who had straightened up at this point, his eyes boring holes into Myungsoo.

You waved your hand in the air dismissively, “I know, you hate what I’m doing to you guys. I get it.”

“If you get it then why haven’t you left yet? Why do you still continue to hang around us like you are.” As soon as he finished his own statement, one you were used to hearing at this point, he was pummeled. Not by the man in black but by his close friend. Woohyun.

Woohyun moved quickly, dragging him to stand up by his shirt. You quickly moved to a kneel in response though Woohyun was too fast for you to in any way intervene. Still, your mind reeled with ways to stop him as you watched on.

“I told you to let go didn’t I?” He growled, almost nose to nose with Myungsoo, “And you did it. You let go didn’t you? If you’re only going to grab on again after this then don’t let go at all. Make your choice now.” He lowered his fist, drawing it away from Myungsoo as he breathed out. Myungsoo’s downcast eyes provided no insight as to what his feelings were, as though you would somehow be able to tell what they were anyway. Beneath the dim light, you only saw the form of his lips and jaw beneath the shadow casted on his face. Woohyun continued on, not done yet, “You’ll make it a whole lot easier for those of us who’ve already decided to hang on.”

Myungsoo lifted his head, his eyes looking at Woohyun but not really seeing Woohyun. “And I’ll make it even easier by telling you I never grabbed on in the first place.” He answered back. He words were more for him than for Woohyun. Woohyun scoffed in response and moved away from Myungsoo again, leaning down over you as he outstretched his hand.

“Come on, let’s get moving. We’ve stayed here for too long.”

You glanced towards Myungsoo who refused to meet your eyes before focusing on Woohyun. The argument seemed to be once more drawn to a stalemate. You lifted your hand, giving up on trying to reconcile the two this time. They would work it out even if you didn’t try to stop them sooner or later. Hopefully sooner rather than later. But how did you know? Because the two were both werewolves. In the same pack. They had lived together for years. They were friends. Best friends.

Your mind drifted once more over what you could possibly do to somehow aid in stopping the bickering and again you came across only one option.

Your fingers had almost grasped onto Woohyun’s when you heard a crack and in an instant, everything went black. Your body fell limp to the floor like a rag doll.

And the only option you had left was taken.

You were separated from Myungsoo and Woohyun.

--------

A/N:

So to clarify in case there was confusion, Zico really did talk to Hyunjoo that night and everything was real up until she said "You need to eat better too." Then it was a dream after that. Just making sure there was no confusion. So Myungsoo and Woohyun are still arguing. But what did Woohyun mean by his words? Well in case you didn't get it, it will be explained in the next chapter so no worries. And Hyunjoo was separated from them? What happened? Going to have to wait until next time. Again, no worries because the next chapter is not far off.

Also, I replied to a few comments over the past week. Only when there were questions or things I addressed and/or fixed. Would you guys like for me to respond more often? It's totally feasible on my part, just wondering if you all would enjoy that every so often.

Also also, I can't believe Springfield has so many votes (the little arrow beside the title). You guys are magically delicious. Like lucky charms without the non-marshmallow pieces. 

I'm in the zone right now writing the next chapter. Nothing can disturb my flow~