Hyunjin's seven pet wolves (SKZ werewolf AU)- OT8

Hyunjin's charcoal painting dosn't go as planned

"He's going to what?" Minho nearly shouted, the book he had been reading falling from his lap as he stood up from the chair. His reading glasses were askew on his face, but Changbin couldn't reach out to fix them because Minho was already pacing the room.

"Hesgoingtoavampireparty," Jisung spat out, so fast that not even Changbin could hear him even if he knew what he was going to say.

"I know," Minho nearly growled, causing them to flinch back, and when he noticed their reaction, he immediately softened. "I'm sorry, it's just-" he sighed, frustrated, "he's going to a vampire party? And you're letting him?"

Jisung shrugged guiltily, "he was pretty adamant about it. Said he needed to paint there or something. And you know Hyunjin- once he has his mind is made up..."

"It's hard to change it," Minho finished, "I know. Look, we need to-"

"-Good afternoon, I'm home!" Chan announced as he returned from his forest excursion, baskets in hand, but when he noticed the tension hanging in the air like a thick cloud, his face fell. "...Not so good afternoon?"

-

The location was, frankly, not what Hyunjin had been expecting.

Sure; he had heard Jisung describe the area before, urging him not to go, but Hyunjin really needed to get a good grade on this project, and Ajax was going to help him.

The sun had already set below the sea of trees, making the outside even darker than it should have been for the time it was. The lack of sun also meant plunging temperatures, and the ground was frosty under Hyunjin's boots. It only snowed when it rained, and that was often, but not yet enough to cover the ground completely.

Hyunjin bundled up the best he could, even wearing the light blue mittens that Felix gave him and the fuzzy scarf courtesy of Jeongin. Thankfully, their fashion senses didn't clash with his completely.

Hyunjin hadn't traveled to the south of the town yet- mostly because he didn't have time and everytime he went past the paved road that split the town, he got a pulsing feeling of anxiety in his gut. He steered clear of it most of the time, but now he really didn't have a choice but to ignore the sinking feeling as he reached the edge of the south towards the forest.

There were three warehouses lined up, located just past a patch of trees, and they all looked decrepit and like they were prone to collapse at any moment. From the middle one, there was loud music with bass that shook the ground underneath Hyunjin's feet as he haltingly approached the building.

Hyunjin just thought that it would be a gathering with a few people, but the moment he poked his head past the slightly ajar garage door, he could see the absolute mosh pit of bodies that danced with the pumping bass, sweating all over each other and jumping up and down.

Hyunjin thought that every single one of the teenagers and young adults in this town were probably all collected in this single warehouse.

Living in the city, Hyunjin had seen more crowded parties, but in this town he had never seen a gathering to this extent.

"Hyunjin! You came!" Ajax squeezed between a few bodies to make his way to Hyunjin at the entrance. Almost immediately, he pulled Hyunjin even closer to the mob of people, making his skin prickle with unease.

"I thought we were going to paint?" He found himself yelling over the thrum of the music, leaning in close to Ajax's ear so that he could hear him better.

Ajax leaned even closer, his lips brushing against the base of Hyunjin's neck as he spoke. "We were, but..." he could smell the alcohol on his breath, "I'm a little inebriated right now."