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fic: lost and found (eric & juyeon, werewolf au) [drabble september]
pairing: eric & juyeon
rating: T (warning for some mildly disturbing descriptions?)
wordcount: 900 words
tags: genfic, werewolf au, huddling for warmth
a/n: could be read as canon compliant, could be read as non-famous au, could be read as preslash... I wasn't even gonna write anything for this day because I find werewolves just #ok but then I kept thinking about this scene... @_@
“No matter what you hear, don’t look.”
“Ok. Sure.”
Eric turned his back to Juyeon as instructed, hugging himself. His teeth were chattering, the wet clothes clinging to his body and weighing him down. He was drenched to the bone, and Juyeon wasn’t much better.
The rain wasn’t as bad as it could be, but even that much drizzling was enough to have them soaking wet when they had no real cover. And the temperature dropping the higher the moon rose in the sky didn’t exactly make things easier, either.
Great idea, hiking had been. Connecting with nature. Just brilliant. Traveling light, too, because the original idea hadn’t been bad enough for him, apparently.
Eric was still cursing himself in his head when he heard the first snap. His first instinct was to turn around to look, thinking it must be an animal coming to attack them in the small clearing they had found themselves in, but stopped when he remembered Juyeon’s instructions.
He heard another series of small snaps following that first one, then a loud crack. And then another, and another, like twigs breaking under feet, only ten times louder, or like—
Like bones breaking.
A shiver ran down Eric’s spine. He wanted to look, but forced himself to stay put, staring into the nearest tree.
The horrible noise stopped after a minute; still, Eric didn’t budge. Not until something cold and wet touched his elbow. He jumped in place and turned around with a shriek, heart nearly stopping when he found himself facing a big black wolf.
There was no sign of Juyeon, and Eric had a second to irrationally think the wolf had somehow eaten his friend before the animal took a tentative step closer, hanging its head low, caramel brown eyes on him.
Eric tried to take a step back but ended up falling on his butt, his legs betraying him at the worst moment. He expected the wolf to pounce on him, even raised his hands in a futile attempt to protect himself, certain that that was it. He was done. Death by mauling.
Instead, the wolf nosed at his ankle. Much like an oversized dog asking for attention. Almost… harmless.
Harmless. That’s what made it click for Eric.
“Juyeon hyung?”
The wolf wagged its tail, nudged Eric’s foot again.
“No fucking way,” Eric whispered. He stood up on still shaky legs, slowly, watching for the animal’s reaction. There wasn’t one. The wolf watched him with eyes that should probably not look that intelligent. Not that he would know—he had never seen a wolf from that up close.
Eric reached out with trembling fingers, and the wolf immediately tucked its big head underneath his palm. Asking for pets, no doubt, which Eric granted him right away, surprised at the silk-like texture of its black fur. Eric let out a disbelieving laugh.
“When you said you knew a way to keep us warm I thought you meant you knew how to start a fire in the rain, or something.”
The wolf—or, well, Juyeon—guided him to the trunk of a shorter tree, where Eric spotted Juyeon’s backpack carefully propped up against it. Juyeon circled the spot a few times before pawing at the dirt a couple of times in a way that Eric interpreted as Juyeon asking him to sit down.
He did, and felt the fur tickle his neck as Juyeon slotted himself between him and the tree, effectively acting like the softest, warmest pillow Eric had ever rested against.
They were still in the rain, and the night was still chilly, but the shared warmth was infinitely better than what Eric thought they would have to deal with until sunrise, when they’d be able to find the trail again.
For the first time since they first got lost, Eric let himself relax.
“Can’t believe I had to almost get both of us killed for you to share that with me,” he said.
The wolf let out a small whine, and Eric laughed, unsure if that meant Juyeon was chiding him or arguing with him.
It felt pretty absurd to be talking to a wolf, but then again, Eric wasn’t about to complain. He was warm, he was as safe as he could get that night, probably, and he hadn’t inadvertently killed Juyeon thanks to his terrible sequence of stupid ideas, which had been his most pressing concern for the last three or so hours.
Before he knew it, he was falling asleep, the exhaustion that comes after an adrenaline rush crashing down onto him rather fast.
He woke up to birds chirping and a slightly sore neck. Last night felt like such a distant dream, he almost wondered if it hadn’t been just that—a dream.
Juyeon was there again, putting his shirt on. He turned around when Eric sat up with a groan. “Hey. How are you feeling?”
“Like I slept on the ground,” Eric said. He squinted at Juyeon. “And I had this really weird dream…”
“The wolf thing? Not a dream.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“Wow.” Eric stared at him. Juyeon looked… very human. Just Juyeon. Not a wolf. Not a werewolf. “How does that even happen?”
“What? The transformation?”
“All of it.”
Juyeon came over to help him up, chuckling. “That’s a long story.”
“We have at least a two-hour trek back. And that’s if we can find the trail.”
“We can,” Juyeon said simply. “The rain threw me off last night but it should be easy now.”
Eric could only stare, bewildered at the implication.
“You can smell our way back?”
“Sort of,” Juyeon said. Then he added, catching on a little too late to Eric’s grin. “Don’t—“
“Man, good thing I’m not allergic to dogs.”
He had to steel himself not to stumble when Juyeon shouldered him in response, but it was worth it. Juyeon was smiling.
“Next time I’ll just let you freeze your ass off.”
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reveal!juyeon was too powerful, he left a mark on all of us LOL he really DOES have wolfish features!!! and AHHHHH you're too kind, that means the world to me T_T both because I think voices and characterization in particular are some of my favorite things in fic, and because I have so much fun writing eric sdfldksmfdkjf he's such a joy to write! seriously, thank you so much! ;; <3