Chapter Text
"Sangwoo is very affectionate towards me, Max. We eat and watch movies and sleep together. But I wish we did more fun and interesting things on our dates." Yunho nuzzled into Changmin's coat.
"Max, you know I really love bowling, bike-riding, long-walks, ping-pong...you and I should go on walks together sometime! Although, I fear you'll have people pissing in their pants at the sight of you, haha!" Yunho encircled Changmin's neck with his arms, and hid his face in the wolf's thick fur.
"Max, what do I do when Sangwoo isn't interested in doing more stuff with me? We never really have any deep conversations either. He's so focused on acting...I can't fault him for it, I suppose." Yunho reclined against the goal post, sighing contently when Changmin licked his cheeks. "Are those kisses? Do you love me, Max?" The wolf bobbed his head, making Yunho giddy with chuckles.
Changmin strummed on the guitar strings, and closed his eyes as he recalled the past few nights he'd spent with Yunho in his wolf form. Yes, he loved that boy who, Changmin quickly discovered, was beautiful both inside and out.
Spotting Yunho entering the band room and sitting down at the drums, Changmin decided to approach before the boy got swarmed with attention from others. "Hey, Yunho, do you want to go bowling with me sometime?"
Yunho looked up from the drums with a taken-aback, wide-eyed expression. "I didn't know you liked bowling."
"Truthfully, I don't go often since I'm not that great at it...kinda hoped you'd teach me the proper way to bowl."
"Sure, I'd love that!" Yunho nodded vigorously.
They had a blast bowling. Changmin embarrassed himself on more than one occasion by slipping as he reeled back to throw the bowling ball. Yunho valiantly held in a laugh and patiently showed Changmin a few techniques that helped.
"You are really good at bowling, Yunho!" He praised the other boy on their way out of the bowling alley.
"Thanks! God, it felt so good to bowl again." Yunho nudged Changmin on the shoulder. "Thank you for suggesting this...you're so fun to be with."
Changmin - one, Sangwoo - zero, on the friendship-bonding scale. He refused to give Sangwoo starter points for being the current boyfriend, since the senior was lacking in making Yunho this happy.
The next time he approached Yunho was a few days later outside of class. Yunho was sitting alone on a bench, studying, occasionally wistfully gazing up at the sky, then lowering back to the textbook.
Snapping himself out of staring like a doofus, Changmin strolled up to the boy and asked, "Hey, Yunho, wanna go bike-riding with me this weekend?"
That pink head lifted, crescent dark-brown eyes shining and teeth flashing, "Wow, sure!"
On Saturday morning, Changmin rented them two bikes from a local shop, and they spent a couple of hours riding around the large university campus, over sidewalks, as well as, the small grassy plains underneath a canopy of trees. It was great exercise and they rode side-by-side so they could also talk about whatever topic took their fancy.
"You must be hungry. Wanna grab a bite?" Changmin suggested as they skidded to a halt near the university café. This place served mouth-watering burgers...Mmmmm, meat.
"Famished, actually!" Yunho wiped his sweaty brow and offered a grateful smile.
Once they had settled on a table and ordered, Yunho gave Changmin a bashful glance as he said, "You are really thoughtful. This is wonderful..."
Changmin - two, Sangwoo - zero.
The be-friends-and-woo-Yunho plan went on for weeks. One some days, Changmin invited Yunho to a ping-pong match in one of the dorm game rooms.
"I won!" He announced smugly. "And you suck."
Eyes sparkling with good humor, Yunho put on a big pout and smacked Changmin's arm. "You're mean!"
Unable to help himself, Changmin ruffled Yunho's pink hair. "You can keep beating me at bowling, though, I don't mind."
On other days, he invited Yunho on long-walks around the community park and talked about the future. Changmin found out that he and Yunho shared the same life principles, which sparked lots of musing over the other boy joining his wolf pack.
They also enjoyed many more snow-cones and lunches together. Changmin itched to hold Yunho's hand on those walks (or anytime, really), but was skittish about overstepping his bounds.
Changmin's score was at least ten by now, and he couldn't be happier.
He became privy to the best part of Yunho during their time alone; the playful, goofy, open-hearted side. While Sangwoo immersed himself with acting classes and did nothing more than charm his way through his relationship with Yunho, Changmin swooped in and claimed the empty territory in Yunho's life. Changmin may not be as suave and mature as Sangwoo, but he was perfectly aware of Yunho's growing feelings for him, since Yunho had started politely blowing Jaejoong and Junsu off to hang out with Changmin.
After soccer practice one day, Yunho appeared on the sidelines of the basketball court, watching Changmin practice with his team. He whooped loudly when Changmin scored a point.
Dripping in sweat and breathing shallow, he strolled up to Yunho, stopping at a close distance and staring down into the other boy's eyes. Yunho didn't hold his stare for long, looking away and complimenting Changmin on his basketball skills.
Yunho took a short step back. "Your skin is radiating heat. Do you have a fever?"
Smiling cryptically, Changmin moved forward. "No, I'm just warm. Come closer and feel."
Lifting a hand to Changmin's face and running it along a cheek, Yunho inhaled a sharp breath. With a low whine, Changmin tilted his head toward Yunho's fingers and whispered, "Rub behind my ear...I love that."
The fingers tracing his ear froze as Yunho surveyed him, bemused and panicky. Although his wolf senses were dulled by his human form, Changmin still caught the hint of arousal from the other male's pale skin.
In that moment, he wanted to kiss Yunho, and make him his. Not as a wolf but as a human capable of taking this adorable creature under the bleachers and fucking him into oblivion.
Yunho's fingers twitched and inched back to stroke the tiny space behind Changmin's ear.
Changmin - fifty, Sangwoo - negative ten!
~*~
Something was terribly wrong.
Sangwoo was around more during the day and strutting around with Yunho latched to his arm. The senior immediately became tight-lipped and tense-faced when he spied Changmin watching them.
Over the course of the next several weeks, there had been much more that caused him to worry...
Walking into class, Yunho headed straight to his desk and turned to Junsu, laughing about a particular episode during soccer practice. While Jaejoong and Yoochun made kissy faces at each other, Changmin sat stone-faced in his chair, waiting for some sort of acknowledgement that never came.
In the band hall, Yunho hopped from person-to-person, swapping stories and learning more about the other instruments. Yunho even introduced himself to Baekhyun and Joonmyeon, and the pups nearly wet themselves.
Unbeknownst to Yunho, Changmin followed his human to the choir room, where the boy met up with Minho, Key, and Jonghyun - three felines from Junsu's pack - and discussed typical vocal techniques with them.
Changmin promptly glowered in the corner.
The stalking recommenced and Changmin found himself in the dance hall, where Yunho met with Taemin - the youngest of the felines in Junsu's pack - and Changmin grew suspicious of that hairball's physical proximity with his human.
By the end of the third week, Changmin had had enough of being ignored. He strode up to Yunho, who was kicking around a soccer ball by himself one cloudy evening, and demanded to know what was going on. "Why have you been avoiding me? We haven't hung out alone in weeks, and you won't even talk to me!"
When Yunho simply tilted his head to the side and replied, voice lacking in its usual chipper cadence, "I don't know what you're talking about," Changmin's nostrils flared, "You know exactly what I'm talking about. You're starting to like me and it's scaring you!"
That last, presumptuous statement escaped his mouth without his consent but it was too late to take them back. They certainly had an effect on Yunho, who went crimson with embarrassment and kicked the soccer ball hard into the goal. "I'm in a relationship, Changmin. You can't just barge into my life and confuse me this way. I've been with Sangwoo for almost two years!"
"Confuse you?" Changmin stood in Yunho's way. "I shouldn't have confused you at all if you had a happy and fulfilling relationship with Sangwoo."
"And what makes you think I don't?"
"Because he doesn't give you what I give you!" Changmin burst with conviction. "Did he tell you stop seeing me, is that it?"
Yunho didn't deny it, but wondered aloud, "Tell me what you give me that he doesn't then?"
"A true friendship, fun, enjoyment of life! You two never do anything fun together, you don't even have deep conversations!"
Eyes rounding, Yunho sputtered, "I - I never told you that...how did you know that? I told Max, but you left..."
Changmin bit his tongue, waiting to see if the boy could piece it together.
Gazing into Changmin's eyes, Yunho whispered, "Impossible. You listened in...you had to have listened in!"
Heart beating loudly in his chest, Changmin opted to remain silent. How did one go about divulging to a human that werewolves exist?
Taking a cautious step forward, Yunho requested, "May I see Max right now?"
"Of course, I'll go get him." Changmin's relief that Yunho wanted the wolf was short-lived because the next part of the request had his body stiffening.
"I want you to come back here, with him by your side."
Nerves tingling, Changmin muttered, "I can't do that."
"Why not?" Trepidation creeping up in Yunho's tone.
There's no point denying it. He had to tell the truth. "Because I am Max."
Yunho shook his head and spun away. Changmin fought the urge to physically reach out and beg the boy not to leave him.
"If that's true," Yunho started faintly, "then you've been deceiving me all this time."
What? Changmin dashed forward. "No, you've got it all wrong, I was trying - "
"It was all a lie."
Changmin came to an abrupt halt as Yunho spun back around, face pinched with betrayal. "It's unbelievable how you could be Changmin and Max at the same time, like some science-fiction fairytale. It doesn't matter to me, though...there have been stranger things in this world. What matters is you used Max to get to me, acting like perfect boyfriend material, and making me believe it would be better if I was with you. Now I'm not sure who you really are."
How did good intentions and love land me in such deep shit?!
"Who am I, really?" Throwing caution to the wind, Changmin declared boldly, "I'm your friend. And I'm in love with you. Everything I did was because I believe you belong with me."
"Then you shouldn't have tricked me, I trusted you," Yunho stated plainly. "I told Max personal things...my God, I even talked about my sex life!" Cheeks as pink as his hair, Yunho's fingers curled into his palms.
"I've always had very tame, sweet sex with my boyfriends, Max...I wonder what intense passion feels like...Sangwoo does this thing sometimes that..."
"I don't want to see you again, Changmin...Max...whoever you are."
I've lost him...!
Changmin's eyes stung. In one last desperate attempt as Yunho furiously walked away, he shouted, "But you're my destined mate...mine, not Sangwoo's!"
Almost half-way across the field, Yunho turned, face screwed up with a multitude of emotions. "I am no one's - not Sangwoo's - and, least of all, yours!"
Thunder had rolled in and rain was falling lightly. Changmin paid it no mind and stayed right where Yunho had left him. He heard Yoochun's disparaging howl in the distance, and it seemed to echo his wolf's own despair.