The apartment is clean, but smells of sex.
"Have you never heard of febreze?", I ask Hyunjin. He laughs.
"Says the guy who comes home smelling of coffee"
"I'm a barista. I don't have a choice."
"And I have someone as sexy as Seungmin as my boyfriend. I don't have a choice either."
I shake my head and grab the febreze, pressing the spray nozzle so it sprats all over Hyunjin.
"Ya nasty"
"Oww fuck. It's in my eye"
"Language", I warn.
"You sprayed fucking air freshener into my eye! I'm allowed to curse, thank you very much!"
Indeed, his eye is red and tearing up.
"Whatever"
I spray the couch and Hyunjin's room, then the kitchen for good measure. Everything smells overpoweringly of Febreze Whispering woods tm, but it's better than having to smell my roommate's sex life.
I fix my hair and put on the green polo shirt with the company's logo on it.
Then, I realize the febreze did not just get on Hyunjin.
"Can I use your cologne?"
"Sure, whatever"
Satisfied with the answer, I spray some, and grab my phone.
Then I put on my jacket and walk to the coffee shop, which is 5 minutes away from campus.
It's small, and not very wide, but pretty long. High tables have bar stools standing beneath them, and the countertop is mahagony wood. It's pretty old fashioned, and not very well known outside of the local circles.
The coffee is the best though, even better than Starbucks's, and I get an employee discount.
The first customer enters, a man whose been coming here since before I started working here.
"A simple latte with a shot of caramel"
I grin roguishly.
"Same as always, huh? How are the kids?"
Mr. Smith smiles.
"They're growing up, all right. Soon enough, I'll be able to show my oldest the shop."
"I could make a small coffee of the type I liked when I was 15, if you want me to"
"Sure"
Mr. Smith lights up at the thought of having something to share with his son.
I finish the coffees.
"Here"
He pays and leaves, and I connect my phone to put on some music. I select my favorite songs playlist and let wow play in the background as I clean some things.
I really hope no one else is coming in, to be honest. I've dealt with enough humans for today.
"Hi?"
I look up and there's a cute guy standing in front of me.
"Hi. What would you like to order?", I chirp.
"I'm not sure, I just moved here at the start of the semester, so I don't know what tastes good."
"Are you studying at the university?"
"Yeah. You too?"
"Yep"
"I'm Felix"
The guy sticks out his hand. I take it.
"Jeongin"
I give him a finger heart and he laughs.
"So, Jeongin. Which coffee can you recommend?"
"I like the caffe mocha, which is pretty sweet, and is basically chocolate and coffee, but it depends on your taste. The one thing I will never make though is a whipped coffee, because while it looks aesthetic, it tastes awful."
Felix grins.
"I know what you mean. My brother made me one once, as a birthday gift. It tastes terrible, but I had to drink the whole thing to not upset him!"
I cackle.
"You poor, poor soul."
A new customer comes in, one I recognize.
"Can I get a moment to think about it?",, Felix asks.
"Sure, just let me give Sungie here his coffee"
Jisung's order is already finished. He always shows up at the same time, and gives the same order. He pays hastily, glances at Felix, then runs back out the door.
I glance at Felix, and shrug. He looks lost in thought, but then seems to snap back to the moment.
"I think I'd like a mocha coffee"
"Of course"
I turn around to make it, but don't miss the telltale ding of the ancient bell that rings whenever the door opens.
I make the coffee quickly and turn again to take care of the next customer while Felix pays.
"Thanks, Jeongin", he calls, waves, and slips back out into the late afternoon sun.
Hours later, the owner finally shows up to close the shop.
"Thank goodness", I mutter, and walk out into the brisk night air.
It's colder than it was in the afternoon, and I'm exhausted from getting way to little sleep, so I don't pay especially good attention to where I'm going, when my middle finger starts throbbing.
I assume it's because I'm cold, but there is a distinct pull I can feel while it throbs.
Then I remember Chan and the wolf whirl.
I'm not sure what happened, but I know there's something wrong with Chan.
The fact settles in my stomach unpleasantly, and the next thing I know, I'm running toward the woods, texting Hyunjin I'll be home late again.
My feet pound the rough dirt as I follow the pull. I don't think, instead following my instincts like a compass, guiding me.
I reach Chan's apartment complex.
I have to get in.
I have to get in.
I have to get in.
The door opens, and one of Chan's neighbors exits the building.
I sprint past her, frantically pressing the elevator door.
When that proves to be to slow, I run up the stairs.
Finally, I reach the apartment, and hammer in on the door.
I'm about to try to kick it down when it opens.
Changbin stands there, white as a sheet.
"Don't...", he starts, but I ignore him, and the claw marks on his upper arm, and open the door to a room I haven't been in.
It has a lot of music equipment, and a wolf ripping a ginormous plushie to shreds in it.
"Chris?"
The wolf lifts his head, baring his teeth, which seem to be covered in some plush filling. It's actually kind of adorable.
I'm here now, but I have no clue what to do.
"Get out of there", Jisung runs up next to me.
The wolf snarls and bares his teeth when Jisung gets close to me.
"Channie", I coax.
The wolf focuses on me again, and huffs.
I smile.
"It's going to be ok. Just... let me take the plushie, ok? And don't attack anyone"
I slowly walk to him and reach towards his head.
He leans into my touch, letting me scratch his ears and pet his big, fluffy head.
It's weird, but I can feel the difference between the wolf, reacting on instinct, and Chan in the form of a wolf.
Once I'm sure this is him and not his instincts, I stop petting him, and he walks out of the room. I follow, and watch as he jumps onto the couch, Changbin and Jisung standing behind me with fearful eyes.
"C'mon, he's Chan now."
I sit down next to the wolf. They follow hesitantly, sitting down on the couch. Changbin closes a laptop that peaks out from behind the sofa. A bubble of nervous laughter escapes Jisung. The events seem to have caught up with him.
"He's a wolf", he brings out hysterically,"he's a wolf"
"Since when?", the other man wants to know.
I look at the wolf. He bows his head in a nod.
"Since yesterday. He wasn't sick, he was mauled by an animal. Then, when I was taking care of him, he changed"
"Shit"
"Language. And what happened here?"
"Jisung mentioned he'd seen Chan's ex in a coffee shop. There's some bad blood there, and-"
"I poked fun at him. Like we do often. But this time, it kind of ended... explosively."
You could say that.
"What's the exes name?"
"... Felix"
"Oh... He seemed so nice"
Chan rears up, and I can feel him coming close to letting instinct take over again.
Soothingly, I run my hands over his fur coat.
"Yeah, well, he ghosted Chan. The plushy you saw? That was something they won on a date together. He's kept it all these years."
I feel a slight sting in my heart at that information, but I push it away.
Chan's mind is clouding over, I can tell, so I do something I'm definitely going to regret later.
I walk back into the other room, and grab the plush. Then, I wave it teasingly above Chan's head.
He pounces on it, and I play with him, rather like one would with a large dog, to keep him calm.
"Does he remember what happens in wolf form?", Changbin asks, biting back a smile.
"Last time, he did."
"He's going to hate you after this", Jisung cackles as Chan plays tug of war with me.
"It's better than him going off on me."
Plus, seeing him rip apart the stupid plushy gives me a feeling of immense satisfaction.
I check the time on my phone. It's 11, and I need to get home.
"I'm going to go now", I say, letting go of the plushy,"I need to get to the dorms."
Chan rears up and bounds to the exit, keeping me from leaving.
"Chan"
He growls.
"Let me through."
This sends him into a whining fit, pawing at my legs.
"Fine. Does Chan have a second bedroom or something? I'm not sleeping on the floor again. Plus, I need to get home to get my stuff. And tell Hyunjin I'm sleeping here again."
"He doesn't have one, but if you want, I can get your stuff. I know Hyunjin from my boyfriend", Jisung says.
"Thanks"
I force a smile and walk back to the living room.
I'm a bit pissed at Chan, but it's not like he has this stuff figured out, so it's not really his fault, is it.
Jisung puts on his jacket, and I give him my keys and text Hyunjin.
Changbin shows me the bedroom, which is huge and has a bed I can only describe as something that looks like a fluffy black cloud, and leaves, leaving me alone with the wolf.
I sit on the bed and Chan hops up onto it, next to me.
"Do you have a device of some sort to try to look up your condition?"
He nuzzles me and runs off. I follow him, and grab the laptop to sit back down on the bed, which is soft and feels amazing to sit on.
He lays down next to me, resting his head on my chest while I look up 'werewolf condition', skimming through all the fiction I can find to find the citation sources.
Jisung opens up and yells he's put my bag onto the countertop, but I ignore him, continuing to look up the sources, until finally, I find a work of fiction, deep in the Internet.
'Weirdly wolffish', is the book title, and even though there are parts that are obviously fiction, the underlying similarity between the book werewolf and Chan's condition is too exact to be ignored when I read the way the werewolf is described in the book.
I search for the author, and, after a bit more research, find an email address.
Hastily, I fire off an email to her.
Dear Mrs. Patterson,
I read parts of your description of certain people in the book, and they remind me of someone close to me who has just gotten a condition akin to those.
Could we please meet up to discuss these similarities? If not, I understand completely of course:)
Yang Jeongin.
Then go to the bathroom to change. I lay next to Chan on the big bed, cuddling into his soft fur.
Sleep comes easily.