COUNT 2: TROUBLESOME PUP

Along the way, the man kept groaning underneath his breath as Shu moved to his destination, unintentionally rocketing the wounded body despite his best effort with his hind legs swaying.

He was walking with extra weight. 

Right when he could see his little wooden hut in a distance, the man sprung up awake with an agonised cry, gripping onto his fur that alerted him of his returning consciousness. He also felt wiggling from behind him, swallowing an uncomfortable grunt.

"Let me get off, you're hurting me," the other spoke in his native language, which was not English, in a strangled voice. 

Listening to the man's supposedly very deep voice, Shu didn't stop as he heard the other speaking his native language, not understanding at all. 

He figured it didn't matter though. 

After all, they were already in such proximity so he just continued as he did earlier. What forced him to stop in place was the sudden lightness on his back, followed by the sound of the man falling off him after much squirming.

"Gah!"

Ah, Shu understood that cry of pain.

Furry ears perked up slightly, he glanced back over his back, letting a small sound of displeasure when he found the idiot shaking on the ground. The man only scooted backwards, clearly frightened out of his bones. Despite so, he was still given a weak attempt of an intimidating growl, causing Shu to openly roll his eyes. 

As the gesture earned him a pause of silence, he fully turned his body to study the fallen dynamic. In his wolf form, he couldn't speak, unfortunately, so he wasn't sure what to do. Grumbling, he weighed his options in his head. 

His home was just a few minutes away though if they walked.

In the end, he had to shift quickly mid-way to his mixed form to be able to speak, which was relatively smaller than his wolf form and closer to his normal human size. His fluffy partly ripped-up ears shrunk, relocating to where human ears should be, whilst his thin, yet bushy tail swung calmly behind him from side to side.

Growling back, he took a chance in communication with a slight glare, "Are you adequate in English?"

Upon seeing his new form, Shu watched silently as the man gawked at him for a solid moment. He felt and observed as those baby blue eyes trailed from his dismantled ears, his narrowed ruby eyes hiding under long eyelashes, his ebony dark locks, to the gentle slope of his high cheekbones, his small button of his nose, the sharp line of his chiselled jaw, following the outlines of his scowling lips, down his deep collarbones, the v-line of his bare chest, the curves of his hips until locking the sight to his package in the south between his thighs for a while. 

Shu clicked his tongue out loud to snap the man out of his stare.

'Subtlety isn't his forte,' Shu scoffed to himself in thought.

The stranger then flushed a dark scarlet red before mustering up his lost and scattered courage, rising with his wobbly legs. Whether it came as an actual shock or not to them both, the man towered over Shu far more than just a couple mere few inches. 

He was tall, to put it simply.

Shu quickly noticed how visibly how muscled and toned the other was, which was not much of discovery though since he felt the weight of the buff man on his back earlier. His muscles were pulsing from adrenaline, outlining the curves of his veins. As if knowing the man was being studied, his chest puffed out to widen his already broad shoulders and show off his could-be-better pecs. Eyes were a light blue coloured, somewhat dulled with exhaustion and petrification. The man's cheeks were hollow, whilst his jaw was sharp enough for fingers to slide down effortlessly. Covering the man's appendage was a dirty, worn-out rag, but it did not hide the thick thighs that could probably crush a skull if trained properly.

While the man could pass off as a buff male, Shu was a feeling this wasn't the dynamic's true potential. Most likely due to the diet restrictions from the trafficking incident and the obvious lack of skill in general. 

Regardless of a supposedly impressive appearance, the man was much weaker though that Shu only saw the other as pathetic.

Shu sighed when he noticed the man's lost look slipping onto the chiselled face as if attempting to register his words. He looked on without much of a comment, noting the slight shake in the other's footing, as the taller hesitantly walked closer. 

When they were almost an arm's length away from each other, the wounded dynamic decided that it was a brilliant idea to touch his back.

Hearing as the pup yelped excruciatingly rather loudly, Shu grumbled with an unamused shake of his head as his lips were pressed onto a thin line. Releasing a huff, he walked closer to the other, grabbed him by the side gently and took the other's arm to wrap his shoulders. The man flinched at the touch, but Shu didn't put much thought into it as he didn't bother himself with small useless details. 

Without such a word, seeing as communication was pretty futile at this point, he lead the nervous male to his small little hut, which was more of a makeshift treehouse. He tried to be careful to lessen the pain, but he also made sure to be a little quick. It earned an occasional hiss of agony because of his not so gentle tugging, yet Shu didn't slow down. 

Upon reaching the small hut after climbing up an incline wooden slop, he kicked open the front door with his heel, depriving another startled yelp of the taller male before bringing them both in. 

Shu would have scoffed if the other wasn't clear on the verge of unconsciousness.

The hut was simple, handmade from wood. Years worth of dedication, placed into this craftmanship. Its furniture consisted of the basics, to a minimalistic living style. However, it was nowhere close to modern minimalism. What made this place special for Shu was the view outside his hut, one that was like that of a magical garden. 

Since he preferred being outside anyway, the humble home was sufficient. 

He sat the unexpected, drained guest down on the nearest large wooden chair, fluffed with his collection of feathers and soft objects, with a bit too much force on accident. The guest hissed out before breaking into whines. 

Without caring to ask if he was fine since again communication was useless and that he honestly found the fact a bit irritating, he immediately disappeared into a room at the very end for a few minutes. Despite so, he held back a growl when he felt curious eyes still drinking the features of his body up behind his back.

  'Such a troublesome pup,'  he decided and sighed to himself in exasperation.