FIC- A drastic change [2/?]
Title: A drastic change [2/?] Pairing: Eunhyuk/Donghae (Eunhae) maybe more in future chapters.
Rating: PG-13 in this chapter
Summary: There is a mystery surrounding a monster that's turning people into werewolves and murdering them after their first shift, Eunhyuk is asked to investigate the issue with the help of the only victim that could be saved and brought into a pack. Too bad that Eunhyuk hates packs and Donghae has very bad instincts. AU of course
Warnings: Some violence, werewolves, bad words.
Beta: My boo wookism
A/N: Second chapter!!! I told this one is eating my brain, right? I've been writing nonstop, so maybe you'll have the third chapter sooner than expected! Enjoy!~
Donghae used to have a routine.
He used to wake up at nine and curl up in bed just as he did when he was a little kid. Ten minutes later, the covers started to get annoying and he would kick them away from his body. When the bed started to get cold again, he would finally get out of it and drag himself to the bathroom. There, Donghae would brush his teeth while still feeling the faint touch of the pillow on his cheek. He then would shower, trying to scare away the sleep from his body and give some sort of shape to his hair.
In the middle of his shower, he would curse loudly because of course, he was too sleepy to remember to get his clothes ready; and now he would have to get his ass frozen for an abnormal amount of time in the quest for a pair of clean underwear.
One would think that a naked Donghae running around his small apartment was a rare occurrence.
One would be very wrong.
It was a little before ten when he sat on his bed, finally fully clothed and with a cup of coffee in his hand, that he would call his mother.
They would talk about anything. To him, talking to his mother was more about listening to her voice, than about telling her something. She would tell him to be careful, to keep up the good work, and that “a call to your brother wouldn't hurt you, Donghae.” He would laugh and tell her, that they actually get to talk from time to time, and he shouldn't be the son she was scolding for not calling.
After the call he would feel happy, and ready to get to work.
Donghae wasn't a guy that liked to have a stable life. He couldn't imagine himself in a office and a suit, working eight hours a day in front of a desk for a mediocre pay. He was made for an irregular lifestyle; small works and a somehow wide variation of salaries just appropriate to his wide variation of activities that would let him survive, and even live well on random months.
He liked his life, because no matter how bad things could look, he was, in a very elemental way, free and satisfied with what he had.
All of those disappeared when some freak decided to attack him and turn him into a monster.
The only thing he was able to hold onto, was the daily call to his mother, but he wasn't sure he would be able to talk to her normally.
He only called her once after the attack.
He told her that he was okay, just a little busy. Maybe he would have to take a trip for a few days, that he loved her but wouldn't be able to call her as much as he did before, she shouldn't worry of course, he was fine, and to please say hello to his brother.
Donghae decided to end every part of his old routine, and it was killing him.
~*~*~*~
“The others told me a little about you.”
It was the day after Hyukjae and Donghae's first meeting. This time, the first was alone, dressed in black as always and looking at Donghae with some sort of amused interest.
“They did?” said Donghae, trying to give Hyukjae a cold look while trying to ignore the uneasiness he felt around the other.
Hyukjae entered Donghae's room without asking for permission and started walking around.
“They told me you cut your family out of your life after you had the enough force to pick up the phone.”
“Are you going to tell me that it was stupid of me? That I shouldn't have done that? Because, hey, I can always fake being okay over the phone.”
Hyukjae's eyes rose from the book he was looking at, to stare directly at Donghae., expression indecipherable.
“I was going to tell you that if you're going to die for your loved ones, you should at least change phone numbers.”
“...I was just going to throw away my phone, or something like that.”
Hyukjae looked at Donghae like he was stupid, and something inside him was really pissed off for ending things like an idiot in front of him.
He wasn't sure he wanted to know why.
“Do that, and you would be kind of stupid. We may be half animals but that doesn't mean we aren't humans in our routines and lifestyles.”
And as if to prove that, Hyukjae showed Donghae his own cellphone.
“I would need to call you from time to time while I'm working on your case anyways. I'm not going to howl at the moon in hopes that you listen to me.”
Donghae smiled, “You have a terrible sense of humor.”
Hyukjae smiled too, “Hangeng-hyung is not the best public to practice getting better at entertaining with, you know.”
“Is it...when you...”
“It is, I would love to lie to you, Donghae,” the way Hyukjae said his name made him (and that terrified Donghae a lot) feel warm, “but I find lying about the shift, stupid, even if everyone else does it. It hurts, because your body will change, of course you have changed from what you were, but your first shift will be something entirely different.”
“How was it for you?” he heard himself ask before he could stop, and cursed mentally, stupid curiosity.
“Horrible, painful, traumatic, and the perfect excuse to run away.”
“...You sure know how to make people feel better, Hyukjae.”
Hyukjae smiled at him, a gummy and bright smile that made Donghae dizzy for a while.
“I try my best.”
~*~*~*~
To Hyukjae, bad luck was tripping and falling. Bad luck was getting cut with a knife, hell, bad luck was almost getting eaten by a liama because you're too drunk to notice.
But this, this wasn't bad luck. This was different. This was a whole new kind of conspiracy to make his life a living hell.
Wolves had a quite good censorial memory. They could remember sounds, feelings and scents; those would linger more than words in a wolf's memory. He was no exception, and right now, he was cursing that ability with all his soul.
He couldn't forget that Donghae guy's smell.
And he knew the reason, and hated it, and wanted to break everything around him in sheer frustration, because it was just his luck to have a traumatized guy that was turned by force, as a mate.
His mate.
He was in desperate need of a walk, but that, of course, had to wait because, of course, Jungsoo, the pacific alpha wanted to talk about the case.
The only thing Hyukjae wanted to do to the case was stab it, burn it and forget everything about it.
Too bad there was some sort of sense of duty in him.
Two days with the pack and he could already recognize each of them by smell. He could sense their mistrust towards him, their animosity.
The first one that decided to talk to him was named Sungmin, and behind that cute face was the strength to crush Hyukjae's skull. He could sense it, and was kind of glad that other found in him something to like.
After Sungmin, he met Youngwoon, and somehow, the big guy decided to like him. Apparently, in the pack, they used to like and try to trust quickly, Hyukjae was glad; he was sure most of them could kill him in a fair fight.
The trust of the others let Hyukjae focus on other things. Like the wolf that was hunting humans, to turn them and kill them, and Donghae, the only survivor and Hyukjae's worst menace at the moment.
He wasn't sure if he could be a good detective while feeling permanently horny for the guy he was trying to protect.
Hyukjae decided to take it as a challenge. He was used to contain his instincts. But this would be a horrible, awful and scarring challenge, but at the same time, it was his job, and he was getting paid. And he had a (disturbing whiteness aside) nice room, and good food, and bearable company.
Jungsoo was sitting in the living room, alone flipping through the pages of a magazine distractedly, while drinking some coffee that was awfully dark even by Hyukjae's standards. Anyone could say that the alpha was the epitome of calmness.
Hyukjae was not anyone.
The first thing he noticed was the way that Jungsoo flipped the pages, rapidly, without delicacy or interest. He wasn't reading. His eyes were glued to the middle of the page, not moving, and unfocused and his legs were crossed almost like trying to keep him from moving. Jungsoo was stressed.
“Are you going to stare at me all day, or are we going to talk?”
He hated alphas.
“I'm sorry,” he wasn't sorry, “What do you need me for?”
Jungsoo finally stopped his magazine fiasco and looked at Hyukjae.
“Hangeng told me you can't do much right now. I am aware of that, but I want to ask if you can do anything as things are right now.”
That was the question he was expecting, was he going to be useful? What good would his presence in the pack do? Hyukjae felt a headache coming.
“I'm not sure about what can I do yet. I work by the things I'm given, and all I've gotten...”
“Is a traumatized puppy,” the alpha smiled sweetly, “Hyukjae, I know you don't trust me...us... I don't know if you trust anyone besides yourself and Hangeng. But you need to understand that we aren't the enemy. I could have made you come in a week, but my beta adores you and I've grown to like you in these few days.
Jungsoo sure did talk a lot.
“You asked me...”
“You have selective hearing, Hyukjae. I'm not questioning your place in here. I just want to know if this week is relevant or if I can relax. Because, I mean it, I'm getting older by the minute.”
Hyukjae stared at Jungsoo for a while.
The only thought in his head came as a phrase that made the other laugh in a way that almost made Hyukjae laugh too.
“You are the weirdest alpha I've ever seen in my life.”
~*~*~*~
The orders from Jungsoo were to keep Donghae company and to try to make him remember something, anything.
The orders from Hangeng were to keep Donghae company and avoid raping him even if that meant biting his own arm off.
One order was easier to follow than the other, that's for sure.
Hangeng could be such an asshole when he wanted to be.
Hyukjae decided to take a walk in the forest before doing anything. He was exhausted, and the smell of the leaves, the small animals, the water running that was probably a small river (how big was this place, anyway), was making him eager to leave everything behind, at least for a little while.
He walked barefoot and dressed with some loose pants and a shirt to go to the forest. He let his human self relax too. His body finally received some very missed nature, and when his inner wolf was finally desperate to run free, he stripped and left his clothes folded next to a tree close to the house.
Shifting was liberating.
He stretched his paws lazily, flexed his muscles and tested his senses.
He heard and smelled a rabbit running a few meters ahead, a nest of birds four trees ahead. The grass smelled wonderfully, natural, beautiful.
He ran with his four legs, and almost could taste the happiness. This freedom wasn't possible as a human. He ran and ran until he was panting in front of a beautiful river with clean water that was asking to be drank.
Hyukjae happily obliged.
After a few hours of running, jumping, and having general wolf fun, he decided to come back. He was hungry, and not too willing to hunt at that moment. Very tired, but also happier, he trotted back to the place he left his clothes.
He started running when he smelled his mate ('Donghae' his human part would say, the wolf didn't care at all) near the place where he left his clothes.
He walked quietly towards Donghae, who had his shirt in his hands, looking at it with attention, as if trying to imagine what could happen for it to be there.
And then he saw Hyukjae.
The first thing the wolf smelled was fear, and he didn't like that smell on his mate. The human decided to have some sort of control, even if the wolf wasn't easy to contain when in that body. Slowly, he walked towards the other, ignoring the smell of fear, as the human he knew it was normal, as a wolf he was profoundly offended.
“...Hy...Hyuk...Hyukjae?”
He emitted a little sound that he hoped could be understood as affirmative. Apparently it was, because Donghae started walking slowly closer to him.
“You're Hyukjae, right? I've seen the others around from time to time. But those are your clothes and none of them actually get to fold what they wear that neatly, so I was thinking I would see you as a wolf...” Donghae looked around “can you understand me at all?”
The wolf growled offended, and the human chuckled.
“Oh, I'm sorry, did you have fun then?”
Hyukjae emitted a low affirmative growl before sitting next to a tree, cluing Donghae to do the same.
They sat together in silence, until the wolf (that fucking wolf, Hyukjae would think) decided that Donghae's lap was a more comfortable place to lay down. He just laid his head and stretched his front legs on the other.
Donghae chuckled, “You're like a big puppy.”
Hyukjae growled offended again.
“Ok, ok, I'm sorry.”
They sat there for a while, Donghae starting, without noticing, to stroke Hyukjae's light brown fur, the wolf started to fall asleep on the other's lap.
That was until he smelled it.
Fear, hate, pain, blood.
He felt, more than heard, a scream, and the overwhelming smell of more blood that was normal from a wound.
Then death.
Hyukjae stood up, took his clothes and disappeared in the forest, to come out as human.
“What...” was the only thing Donghae managed to say before Hyukjae took his hand and dragged him to the main house, “Wait! Hyuk... Hyukjae! I can't go in there!”
“Yes you can,” was the only answer he got from Hyukjae. In the hurry, he only had his pants on and the shirt apparently was forgotten in the forest. He reached the door that was open before Hyukjae even had to knock. Hangeng and Jungsoo were there.
“Hyukjae...” Hangeng started, seriously. Whatever it was, in the house, they didn't feel it.
“There's another. I smelled death. It's too close. You need to hide him, now,” Hyukjae pushed Donghae towards Jungsoo and turned to the forest again.
“Where the hell do you think you're going?”
The wolf whimpered at the commanding tone of the alpha.
Too bad he didn't give a shit about his instincts when it came to authority.
“I need to go, alone,” and he looked at Hangeng who was already giving him very angry and disapproving looks. He decided to ignore those too.
Hyukjae had a really bad feeling about this. And not even when he shifted again and ran towards the smell of death could he scratch that feeling from him, if anything, it became worse.
He didn't smell a new shift before the murder.
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