Can you feel the moon || Woosan

Chapter 7

That was also how San realized Wooyoung had given up before he knew about San's curse. He had been letting himself die, not searching for a way to break his own curse and accepting his sorrowful fate.

San remembered breaking down crying in Yeosang's arms one night, realizing that if he hadn't been cursed too, Wooyoung would have never tried staying alive.

–

"But why is it only during the full moon ?" San asked one day as they worked in the kitchen, Wooyoung with a pile of grimoires by his side, and San with his laptop. "If the curse is based on the moonlight, why is it not hurting all the time ?"

Wooyoung shrugged, sliding a hand through his hair. His ponytail was an absolute mess today, the strands supposed to fall on his forehead now sticking up in weird directions, but he was still unfairly endearing San was having a hard time working instead of staring at his pretty face.

"I don't know San," Wooyoung answered. He turned a page of his grimoire, then another. "Why do werewolves only turn into werewolves under the full moon ?"

"Werewolves don't exist."

"But witches do ?"

"Oh my god, werewolves exist ?"

Wooyoung chuckled, the sound too strained to really reach Mili and load the house with its usual warmth, but enough to make his eyes crinkle cutely.

"I don't know San," Wooyoung murmured, but his smile slowly faded, turning sad for a moment, until it vanished. "I really don't."

He turned another page of his grimoire and San didn't try to keep the conversation going, because there was a knot in his throat, preventing him from talking.

This had been the first smile he had seen on Wooyoung's face this week.

And just like that, it was gone.

–––

As soon as San touched the doorknob of Wooyoung's house, he knew something wasn't right. Mili's warmth didn't reach him when he turned his key inside the lock, which wasn't that surprising considering Wooyoung's current state, but this didn't feel like an ordinary bad Wooyoung day.

It felt empty. Agonizingly empty.

San's heart beat a bit faster as he pushed the door open, but it dropped when San stepped inside the house and took in the sight welcoming him.

Wooyoung was on the ground, motionless, his eyes closed and his head tilted to the side.

San dropped the grocery bags he had brought with him and ran to Wooyoung, ignoring the circle of salt traced around him and the grimoire discarded on the side. The candles were switched off anyway.

"Woo. Woo, hey." He patted his cheek, gently at first, then with more strength when Wooyoung didn't stir. "Hey, wake up... Wooyoung !"

Panic raised in the pit of his stomach as Wooyoung remained listless on the floor. San bolted upward and ran to the nearest wall.

"Mili. Mili I need your help," he begged, desperately tapping on the wall... only to retreat his hand in horror when he noticed how dead it felt.

No. No no no this couldn't be happening. Not his Wooyoung, not now, not... No...

San threw his hands in his hair, tugging at it as tears started to clog his throat. He needed to think, he needed to breathe, to act thoughtfully, he needed to-

A plant wiggled wildly on one of the shelves, so much that its pot fell and shattered with a loud crash. Soil and pieces of terra cotta were scattered on the floor but the plant kept wiggling, and San's eyes widened when he finally understood why.