Chapter Text
Mingi’s lungs burn as he runs through the forest, the light of the full moon casting small pools of light through the branches of the large pine trees. He’s panting, sweat dripping and he really can’t see as he crashes through the trees at full speed. His foot catches a root, which sends him flying face first into the dirt narrowly missing a large rock, behind him the sound of something large huffs and puffs, its large feet thundering as it crashes through the same path Mingi just took.
Mingi hoists himself up and realizes he’s hurt his ankle, but he can’t stop, he has to find Yunho. Whatever this creature is, whatever is in the forest, it’s coming for both of them. He winces as he puts weight on his ankle and continues to move, his hands sting and his knees burn from the cuts and scrapes. The thundering of the beast is getting louder as he tries to outrun it, he’s on the verge of tears when he hears it. A loud howl cuts through the trees and that’s when he realizes what’s been giving chase, the werewolf…
Two Days Prior…
Yunho stands looking at the sky. A third quarter moon hangs in the inky dark sky above the cabin, the forest stretches from their front garden out into the vastness of the small town he and Mingi had moved to a few years ago. The clouds cover the moon and he feels Mingi behind him “Come inside it’s getting cold” Mingi says, he’s wrapped in one of Yunho’s sweaters as he wanders over to their modest kitchen. Yunho watches before he turns back to the moon and sees it peeking out one last time “Soon…” the voice blows through the trees like a whisper and he walks inside, slamming the heavy wooden door shut behind him.
Mingi is finishing up in the kitchen and Yunho comes up behind him, wrapping his arms around Mingi, he plants a small kiss to his neck and Mingi sighs “We’re eating first before you drag me to bed” Mingi hums and slides out of Yunho’s grip to continue through the same dinner ritual they’ve done for years. “But I leave in two days” Yunho says with a small smile on his face and Mingi stops “I know, but I just want some normalcy for now” and he goes back to plating food.
For the last five years, Yunho has disappeared right around the full moon, he returns the following day and then sleeps for a week, the cycle repeats every month. Mingi was growing tired of it, on the nights of the full moon Yunho repeatedly tells Mingi to stay indoors, to not go out into the forest, to lock the door and wait, and to Mingi’s credit he always has. Yunho’s strange behavior brought the pair from Korea to an undisclosed village somewhere in Eastern Europe, which got them a lot of eyebrow raises. A pair of gay foreigners living in this small town in a cabin far away from the village, but the rumors of a werewolf roaming the mountain kept most people away from the pair who decided to isolate themselves on the cursed mountain. As dinner makes it onto the table, Yunho grabs Mingi’s wrist and looks at him “Promise me you’ll stay inside when I leave…Please” it sounds urgent and Mingi raises an eyebrow “Of course, I always do, you know I do” he moves his hand and interlaces their fingers. “You’re suddenly so jumpy this month, why?” Mingi says and sits down in his usual place at the table “I don’t know…” Yunho trails off looking at the front windows of the cabin, he can feel the moon behind the door, the vastness in the woods and there is just something about this cycle that has him so worried.
Mingi lets go of his hand which snaps him back into the moment, he watches as Mingi grabs a plate and serves himself, before joining him in the spot he left moments prior. “It’ll be fine, I’m sure nothing will happen like always…”
Early morning, day of the full moon…
Yunho watches Mingi sleep, he’s turned away from him, his back rising and falling slowly as he breathes, he’s relaxed, calm, the early morning light enters their small bedroom through a small opening in their curtains, Yunho’s eyes shifting to the dust particles dancing in the small sliver of light. His eyes return to Mingi’s form, comfortable, unaware, so calm, and Yunho feels the bile rising in his throat. He kicks off the blankets and leaves the bed, aiming for the small bathroom across the hall from their room. It's cold this morning, it would normally bother him especially considering he’s naked, but instead he feels heat radiating from his body, he’s nervous, jittery, he wants to peel his skin off. Today was going to be a very bad day. He could feel it.
His own face greets him in the bathroom mirror, his hair is messy, his eyes look tired and there’s a small bite mark turning purple near his collarbone, his fingers brush the mark from the night before.
The memory comes flooding back…Yunho holds Mingi close as he moves in and out of him, Mingi shakes below him, his orgasm so close, the light of the moon filters through their bedroom as Yunho rocks his hips and grips Mingi’s erection getting him to bliss… the thought exits Yunho’s head as the church bells signal the start of the day, the loud ringing reaching their mountain top home.
Mingi moves in their room and Yunho is hyper aware of everything in and outside of their home, he’s so uncomfortable. Mingi doesn’t wake yet, just stirs and turns over continuing to breathe softly, Yunho brings his eyes back to his own face before he turns on the faucet and splashes water on his face. Turning off the water, he pees, washes his hands, and re-enters their shared space to dress himself, his bag near the bedroom door taunts him. It’s a small reminder of what this day will hold, as he buttons his pants he heads downstairs, nothing wrong with letting Mingi sleep a little longer.
Down in the kitchen the coffee peroculates in the old metal pot on top of their stove, outside the birds sing unaware of the danger, the sunlight is bright in their home, he wishes it could stay daylight forever. His thoughts are interrupted as he hears Mingi coming down the stairs, once again wrapped in one of Yunho’s sweaters, a pair of sweatpants covering his legs, his hand rubbing at his eye trying to wipe the sleep away. Yunho says nothing and Mingi walks up behind him, his arms making their way around Yunho’s middle and slotting his head in between Yunho’s shoulder blades. It’s quiet, it’s domestic, it’s normal… Yunho says nothing and lets the moment sit as Mingi rubs his face on Yunho’s shirt “Why didn’t you wake me?” Mingi says into Yunho’s back, his fingers finding the hem of Yunho’s shirt and touching the skin beneath it “Nothing wrong with letting you sleep a bit longer” Yunho replies, his eyes on the coffee pot. He was trying to remain calm, but the tension that had been building over the last two days was ready to snap as the coffee finished brewing. “Breakfast?” Yunho offers and Mingi nods before shuffling to the table, sleep still weighing him down.
****
The day progresses as normal, Mingi tends their garden, Yunho prepares the cabin for the evening and the pair work in silence through the day, a comfortable silence that’s taken years to build. As the sun makes its way across the sky, as it nears the mountains, the night is coming, a beautiful evening was painted across the mountains, pinks and oranges signaling the day was coming to an end. Yunho can see the light through the bedroom window as he grabs his bag, he pulls the curtains shut with way more force than needed and heads down. Mingi is on the couch, eyes watching the flames in the fireplace. Yunho pulls his bag tighter and continues down the stairs before stopping in front of Mingi, and dropping his bag. He kneels down in front of Mingi, hands coming to his partner’s thighs and looks up at him “Please swear to me you won’t leave the cabin” he’s pleading at this point and Mingi nods “I won’t, I’ll be right here when you come home in the morning” Mingi reassures him, his hands coming to rest on top of Yunho’s. The stare at each other for a beat before Yunho lets out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding “No matter what happens you stay in here, curtains drawn, go to bed early, I’ll be back in the morning” Yunho pleads again and Mingi nods before coming down to kiss Yunho softly on the lips. It’s a chaste short kiss and Mingi puts his forehead on Yunho’s “I promise, I love you” it’s hardly above a whisper.
The room grows slightly darker and Yunho has to lift himself up off the floor and he grabs the bag, Mingi stands and the pair walk to the door. The sky now showing the purples of the night as the last of the light really begins to dim just behind the mountains, Yunho pulls Mingi into him and kisses his cheek before kissing him on the lips “Promise me” he says, barely above a whisper and Mingi kisses him once more before pulling back and kissing the corner of Yunho’s mouth “I promise…” Yunho pulls away and makes his way down the steps and out into the garden before he opens their gate “Go inside” he urges Mingi, who smiles as Yunho latches the gate and walks off into the growing darkness of the day.
Mingi enters, latching the door behind him.
3 a.m. the moon is at its fullest…
Mingi bolts up in bed, a frantic scream pierces the air near the cabin, the room is pitch black, the curtains drawn so tight no light can get in. His eyes shift to the clock on the nightstand, its green glowing hands show 3 a.m., the minute hand ticks loudly in the quiet of the night. He sits there listening, the night is so quiet, which is unusual, usually he can hear the crickets outside and other animals in the forest. The scream comes again, more frantic, it sounds closer, he panics, a cold sweat starts to cover his brow, the screaming is getting closer. He sits in the bed, clutching the comforter and he waits, he hopes whatever it is wanders away from their cabin. Normally under a new moon when the night is the darkest the cabin is hidden, but tonight the full moon burned so bright in the sky their home and everything around it was visible, Mingi had seen the moon before he turned in for the evening, it was so bright he could see the edge of the trees clearly, it was unusual.
It’s the loud THUMP on the front door that scares him further, then more screaming. The person found his home. Mingi was home alone with Yunho away, and now there was someone pounding on their door. “HELP ME PLEASE HELP ME!” The voice carried up to their bedroom, it was shrill, panicked, and absolutely terrified, Mingi was panicking now. Another loud THUMP echoes through their home, then he hears it, the sound of glass shattering, whoever was out there was so desperate to get in, Mingi kicks off the covers and bolts down the stairs. A hand is gripping the broken glass, dripping blood down the wall and Mingi swallows his own scream. Yunho said not to leave, but now someone was trying to get in, he could hear the man crying and more blood dripped, the stranger’s hand was torn to shreds as he tried to pull himself inside.
Mingi stands frozen in terror as he hears growling, the person wasn’t alone. He runs down the last set of steps and tears open the door, the man was bleeding all over the front of their house, his eyes followed the bloody arm and he sees a red bloody stain stretching across his open shirt, no not shirt, chest, the man’s skin hangs in ribbons, something shiny pokes out from under what was left of the man’s shirt tatters, and that’s when Mingi realizes he’s looking at the man’s guts, they spilled out like the inside of a smashed piñata on his bush. The guy was shaking, his eyes looking past Mingi who was standing in terror as he realizes the guy is dying. The light of the moon casts an eerie glow on the man’s eyes, and that’s when it hits Mingi he is still outside, the growling was coming from somewhere in front of him, and he freezes, the feeling of terror crawls up his spine, all he has to do is slip inside. The window was broken, but he could still lock the door. Mingi wrestled with himself as the growling grew louder, then in the distance a shot rings out and whatever was out in the clearing took off with a loud thump.
Mingi doesn’t relax, he tracks the movement into the trees and then he sees the muzzle fire of a gun, as he hears more screaming. He’s frozen in fear, the screaming grows louder, more desperate and he doesn’t dare move. Another man runs from the forest into the clearing “SAVE ME PLEASE!” He shrieks and before Mingi could speak a dark form tackles the man, his body flies through the air like a ragdoll and hits the ground with a sickening thud.
The man screams as he hits the ground, the dark mass descends on the body and Mingi hears it all. The sound of something wet being ripped from the body, a loud crunch of bone, he’s frozen in fear as the sound of destruction continues just steps from his front gate. Mingi watches as another man sneaks up on the dark form and discharges his weapon. The large thing lunges at the man, blood sprays onto Mingi’s flower bushes, the creature starts tearing at the man, blood spraying up like a mist and Mingi suddenly realizes the creature is looking at him. He watches it stand to its full height, long limbs at its sides and then it stalks towards the house. It moves slowly and Mingi feels his lizard brain kick in and he bolts for the side gate and he runs for the tree line.
The forest is dark, it swallows Mingi, he’s crying, he can feel tears running down his face as he runs. Yunho would be so mad at him. He could hear the thundering footfalls of the creature as it gives chase. Mingi feels like a terrified rabbit, his heart thudding in his chest as he ran through the trees, branches smacking him, he wished he’d thought to throw on shoes the ground was cutting his feet.
Mingi’s lungs burn as he runs through the forest, the light of the full moon casting small pools of light through the branches of the large pine trees. He’s panting, sweat dripping and he really can’t see as he crashes through the trees at full speed. His foot catches a root, which sends him flying face first into the dirt narrowly missing a large rock, behind him the sound of something large huffs and puffs, its large feet thundering as it crashes through the same path Mingi just took.
Mingi hoists himself up and realizes he’s hurt his ankle, but he can’t stop, he has to find Yunho. Whatever this creature is, whatever is in the forest, it’s coming for both of them. He winces as he puts weight on his ankle and continues to move, his hands sting and his knees burn from the cuts and scrapes. The thundering of the beast is getting louder as he tries to outrun it, he’s on the verge of tears when he hears it. A loud howl cuts through the trees and that’s when he realizes what’s been giving chase, the werewolf…
Mingi hobbles slowly, the terror and adrenaline pushing him forward, he’s sobbing now as the werewolf howls again. The werewolf knows Mingi is hurt and scared, Mingi uses a tree to pull himself forward as he enters a clearing. The moon is so bright here, he can see the sky as the milky white face of the moon hovers above looking down at him. He’s done for, this is how he dies, under the light of the moon alone and scared, Yunho won’t even know what happened to him. Mingi lets out a strangled cry as the werewolf circles the clearing, he can hear it, jaws snapping, panting, the sound sends a chill up his spine.
Finally, the werewolf enters the clearing, it’s on all fours and snapping its jaws as it comes into full view, its fur and tatters of clothing are stained crimson, sticky blood mats the werewolf’s fur. Mingi is sobbing, he’s shaking, the feeling of fear is so strong his knees give out and he drops to the grass.
The werewolf moves slowly, and Mingi watches, tears coming down his face. He realizes the clothing looks familiar, at least what’s left of it. As the werewolf gets closer, he can finally see its face and that’s when he realizes he recognizes the werewolf.
It’s Yunho…