Areum woke with a wheeze when she felt something heavy on her chest, suffocating her.

Her eyes shot up in a panic, only to be greeted by two warm purple eyes.

Wolf eyes, to be exact.

She groaned and tried to push Jackson off of her, turning her back to him, "I thought I told you that you're not allowed on the bed when you're a wolf. You don't wash your fur nearly as often as you should."

Jackson shifted some of his weight off of her but remained sprawled across her body and barked out loudly. His tail was wagging furiously, slapping her toes with each swish. He had fallen asleep with her tucked comfortably under his chin, but it had been a while since he relaxed in wolf form.

Before he met Areum, he'd spend nights lazily wandering in the forest as a wolf and sometimes after late night runs, he's just go for a stroll, but after Areum, he found himself wanting to spend nights with her instead.

But that didn't mean that he could do both.

He rested his face on the curve of her side and blinked at her. She lifted the arm that was thrown over her face and peeked at him, only to pout when he was watching her expectantly.

She groaned again but she still reached a hand out and his face with the same softness and love that had his eyes glazing over with a satisfied rumble in his chest.

It astounded him sometimes, when he thought about how far the two of them had come and how much Areum had accepted on his behalf for the sake of their love.

He her wrist, making her nose scrunch up with her eyes closed. When she made no attempt to wake up, he stretched his limbs out obnoxiously and began rolling around, knowing it would piss her off.

"Stooopppp!" She whined, kicking her legs at him.

Jackson just barked happily and jumped up and down on her bed, making it creak worryingly before slamming his large body on top of her.

She hated when he messed up her newly washed sheets.

"Fine! God." She snapped wiggling her legs under his weight.

He let out a huff that almost sounded like a mocking laugh as he gave her space to roll out of bed and stumble to the bathroom.

He nimbly hopped out of her bed and stared at her back as she stood in front of her sink. He felt a unconscious purr echo in his throat as he watched her tie her hair up.

She was entrancing.

Areum felt shivers run through her body when she heard the deep buzzing sound and turned and glanced at the wolf behind her who just had his eyes pinned intensly on her.

His eyes were so warm and gentle that it shocked her how vicious he could be in the presence of an enemy.  

She clucked her tongue and beckoned Jackson over. He trotted over and she scratched behind his ear, his eyes dropping shut as he tilted his head to give her more access.  It felt like heaven because she always knew the best spots that he couldn't reach on his own.

"If you weren't cute, I would've been so annoyed that you got me out of bed this early." She muttered.

Jackson opened his eyes, just as her face blanked out, "Alright, get out, now."

Areum turned around rubbed her eyes and pulled her toothbrush out before grumpily squirting toothpaste on it and shoving in . She heard him jumping around in her room, most likely knocking everything over and making a mess.

She hated waking up earlier than she had to. She still had a few days left until she had to get back to school and she wanted to spend it all sleeping in.

She grunted when she felt something nudge her lower back and spat out the foam in . She turned, her face falling when Jackson blinked up at her with a set of her clothes in his mouth.

She scowled and pulled them out of his mouth and shooed him out of the bathroom, "You're worse than Cinderella and her ing mice."

-----

Jackson and Areum walked side by side as they ventured through the forest, near her house. Although Areum was still shaking off her sleepiness, there was something so wonderful about being up right before the sun rose.

It was like the rest of the world was asleep and on mute except for her and Jackson. It was what she imagine it would feel like to be the only two people alive.

Sometimes, Jackson's tail would absentmindedly wrap around her calf right before he would bound off and race away in front of her.

She would just continue at her pace, but she could see him leap around and thread his way through the trees before coming back to her.

"What are we even doing here so early?" She asked as they trekked uphill.

Jackson barked and Areum just rolled her eyes, "Right."

She bumped her hip against his sturdy body, "Why can't you just be human? I can't talk to you when all you do is bark."

He turned his head but she just held her palm out, "Don't worry, it was rhetorical."

He snorted and nuzzled her palm. She moved her hand away from his face  and his ear. "I love you."

His eyes snapped open and he gave her a long look, a purring ripping through his throat as his eyes blazed.

He would never get enough of hearing her say that.

Suddenly Jackson started nudging her from behind with his nose, making her look at him in confusion. He growled with a mischievous look and continued to poke her until her steps got fast and she was breaking out in a full out run.

He chased her joyfully, his body elating when she glanced over her shoulder, her hair flowing behind her with the setting moon glistening over her head.

Jackson picked up his pace and launched into the air, while tackling her to the ground, rolling over so that he landed on his back and she fell on top of him.

Areum had a wide smile as she panted, staring at her wolf. Jackson leaned his head up and bumped their noses together before her cheek.

She made a face and rolled off of him, allowing him to jump up. "Was that your way of saying that you love me back?"

He nodded before trotting away, leaving her in the middle of the forest. He came back a few seconds later with a ratty old ball and dropped it at her feet.

"Where did you get this?" She asked while staring at the red ball with a weird face.

He huffed and nudged the ball closer to her.

Areum stared at him incredulously, "You want to play catch?"

She used to tease Jackson about being a little puppy all the time, just to rile him up but she never thought that he actually had normal pet tendencies.

He nodded and took a few steps back, waiting for her to pick it up. Areum stared at him, still stunned, before her heart warmed.

He was trying to make her relate to him in wolf form.

He knew that out of everything in his world, she was the outsider. She was the only human and had to adapt to a world where she was the 'freak'.

He wanted to remind her that he would always be on her side.

She gingerly picked up the dirty ball before pulling her arm back and sending the ball flying over his head. Jackson leaped after it before coming back a few seconds later and dropping it at her feet.

The two of them played like that for a few turns as the sun slowly came up, however, after one exceptionally strong throw, that few further away than any of the others, Jackson hadn't come back as soon as he normally did.

He normally would return within a few seconds but it was a full five minutes before she heard him coming back.

She turned and blinked as Jackson who was making weird sounds that almost sounded like hiccups as he swayed on all fours, the normally agile creature stumbling on his feet.

His eyes were dazed and unfocused as he came back with something red in his mouth.

This time, instead of the red ball, Jackson dropped a half eaten apple at her feet before passing out.

-----

"I'm sorry, he's what?" Areum balked as she held her phone up to her ear.

Jaebum laughed nervously, "He's drunk. Eating a fermented apple to wolves is like drinking a full bottle of absinthe to humans. Just a few bites can get a wolf plastered."

"Well, what am I supposed to do? He's being so weird!" Areum complained, exasperatedly into the phone.

Areum had panicked when Jackson first passed out and almost bursted out into tears when he wouldn't wake up. She didn't know if apples were poisonous to wolves like chocolate was to dogs and a hundred worst-case scenarios raced through her mind.

She managed to drag his massive body a few feet before he stirred and woke up. When she realized that he was okay, she tried to lead him back to her place, but it was the worst because he wouldn't be able to walk in a straight line.

When they finally made it home, she called Jaebum, hoping he'd have answers.

And boy, did he.  

Jackson had shifted back into his human with a lot of cajoling on Areum's part and was now swaying back and forth, hiccupping, while hugging a couch cushion with glassy eyes that were zoning out on the fireplace.

"I don't know." Jaebum said pathetically, "Do what you would normally do if you had a drunk friend that you were trying to sober up."

"Ugh, you're no help. You ." She huffed.

Jaebum laughed, "Have fun, oh mighty princess."

Areum grunted and hung up, unamused with the Alpha's jab and turned to her drunk mate. "Alright, let's get you sober."

Jackson jumped at her voice and turned to her before his face broke out into a blinding beam, his eyes turning up in crescents and his lips wide with his straight teeth gleaming at her.

He looked like a kid.

"Baaaabbbbbbyyyyy." He called with his hands out stretched, the pillow tumbling out of his lap.

Areum made a face at the new nickname and ignored the warmth in her stomach. There was something strangely endearing about how innocent and childish he was being. There was no mischief or teasing that normally hid behind his eyes and was just rainbows and sunshine.

She wondered if she could get him to act like this when he was sober too.  

"I'll get you coffee, can you manage to get yourself upstairs?" She asked while making her way to the kitchen.

"I don't want coffee. I want my baby." He slurred.

Areum scrunched her face up, "And who's your baby?"

Jackson scoffed dramatically and stumbled off the couch before staggering past her, "You don't know her."

Areum tilted her head and followed him curiously into the kitchen to see him splayed out on the ground, his cheek pressed against her cool tiles.

She switched on the kettle before lean