Chapter Text
Thanks to their appearance on Kingdom, the general public of South Korea finally began to realize what a special group ATEEZ is. In their first album comeback after Kingdom and with Mingi fully recovered, they are doing so much better in music charts and their record sale just skyrockets. They are appearing in magazines ad variety shows much more often, they are getting TV drama offers, and there are more and more brands inviting them to do endorsement.
The impact isn’t just for their group activity, but also popularity of individual members.
“Oh my god, Wooyoung hyung again?”
“What… Ahh, why am I not surprised?”
In their dorm’s living room, Hongjoong looks over Jongho’s shoulder to see what Jongho is reading on his phone and chuckles.
“What about Wooyoung?”
Yunho asks as he walks toward the living room from the kitchen. Jongho grins and holds up his phone for Seonghwa to see and reads out loud:
[Top 5 Male Idols You Want To Enjoy A Christmas Date At Amusement Park]
“Seriously?” Mingi is still chewing on his chips while he talks.
“These girls have no idea,” Yeosang sighs . “I’m sure it will only take them one day to change their mind, if they know how childish Wooyoungie is in real life.”
“Hey! There’s nothing wrong with choosing me~~~~”
Wooyoung pouts at his fellow 99line friends. Although he never really pay attentions to these rankings, he will just gladly accept the love.
The living room is filled with laughter when San walks out of his room, and doesn’t seems to be too interested in the fuss.
“San ah, are you going somewhere?” Seonghwa asks, noticing San’s comfortable outfit and the gym bag he is carrying on his shoulder.
“Yeah, I’m going to the office building for practice, maybe some workout exercise too.”
“Hyung but you also practiced for hours yesterday,” says Jongho, now grabbing some chips from Mingi as he watches San putting on his shoes.
“But I still don’t have the routine down ^_^ Bye guys!”
“Bye hyung!”
“Bye Sannie, don’t be too late!”
And then he’s out the door. Wooyoung’s eyes linger at the door a bit longer before turning back to his members.
“I think San is avoiding me,” Wooyoung frowns, a clear hint of disappointment in his voice. “He only interacts with me when the camera is on.”
“No he’s not. I think he’s just stressed about the new dance variety show, the one with other sunbaenims,” Hongjoong reassures Wooyoung. “You know how much responsibility San is taking to himself in this opportunity.”
Seonghwa reaches over the ruffle Wooyoung’s hair.
“Don’t worry, San would never do that to you.
—————————
Hongjoong and Seonghwa get half of it right. San is definitely feeling the responsibility and excitement of representing ATEEZ in a dance variety show when he’s not even the team’s main dancer. But more than anything he just needs to get away for a while, away from Wooyoung.
Not because he envies Wooyoung’s rising popularity — in fact, quite the opposite. San is in love with Wooyoung, he’s not sure when did he start to have more-than-just-friends feeling for his best friend but it doesn’t matter. They have worked and suffered so hard to reach where they are today, and San won’t allow himself to disturb their group’s unity and success.
Therefore, San doesn’t plan to let Wooyoung or any of his members know about his feeling. He will probably hate to see Wooyoung feeling sorry and trying hard to make him feel better — for something they both have no control over. He will also most likely hate to see his teammates acting normal when they may not be comfortable living in a shared space with him every day because he likes a guy. San will remain as one of Wooyoung’s favorite friends/brothers and slowly let go of his feeling. It will probably takes lots of time, or even another person, but either way San believes it’s for the best.
However, it’s getting harder and harder. San is really happy for Wooyoung’s success in gradually proving himself to be not just a goofball or social butterfly, his singing, dancing and overall performance have all improved significantly. But sometimes San feels like Wooyoung is getting out of his reach. It’s not just Atiny that he’s sharing Wooyoung with anymore, but then again — San knows that Wooyoung deserves the world.
Letting out a loud sigh, San drops off his bag and begins to warm up — hoping to get away from it all for a while.
—————————
No one notices anything odd before tonight.
Yunho and Mingi return to their dorm after a late-night VLIVE at their company building. San is already asleep so Yunho is trying his best to get ready for shower without disturbing his roommate. That’s when he begins to hear San’s heavy breathing while mumbling something in his mouth as he turns uncomfortably in his sleep.
Thinking San is probably just sleep talking, Yunho isn’t too bothered and he is just about to leave the room when he hears it.
“…I’m sorry Wooyoungie…”
Yunho freezes at his spot, as San’s half-talking-and-half-screaming is getting loud enough to wake up Seonghwa who was taking a quick nap in the living room while waiting for the workaholic Hongjoong to come home.
“What’s going on?”
“I— I don’t know!”
Yunho turns on the light and they see San in a curled-up position like a baby with his eyes tightly shut, still murmuring nonsense and bunch of apologies featuring Wooyoung’s name.
“NO!!!!! NO NO NO!!!!!!!!!!”
“SANNIE!! CHOI SAN WAKE UP!!!!”
In the darkness, San feels someone shaking his body almost violently. He snaps open his eyes, unable to immediately adjust to the light before he sees two very worried and blurry faces staring at him. Yunho reaches over to grab the tissue box and Seonghwa carefully helps San to sit up and puts his arm around San’s trembling shoulder.
“What…”
“Shhh it’s okay, you just had a bad dream.” Seonghwa softly says, drying San’s tears with tissue.
This is when the door is slightly pushed open, showing the neighboring room’s Mingi.
“What’s the noise?… Sannie?”
Mingi has never seen San this distraught looking.
“Sannie had a nightmare… did we wake you up?”
“Oh no I was just playing around my phone and we have tomorrow off anyways,” Mingi quickly walks over to his friend. “You alright man? I’ve never seen you this pale before.”
“I… I’m okay, just a bit tired now.” San replies with a weak, choking voice before turning to Yunho and Seonghwa.
“Sorry guys, I must have been really loud. Did I say anything?”
“Nah, you were just making noises like those scary exorcism movies. Yunho was pretty scared that he nearly froze at his spot.”
Seonghwa jumps in before Yunho has a chance to say anything, shooting a knowing glance at the younger.
“…Yeah, dude please don’t do this again,” says Yunho. “You know what, let’s watch movie or play game tomorrow, anything. I think you’re working yourself way too much.”
“It’s not a big deal for you to skip one day of practice because you are already really good. If you keep having bad dreams like this, I can refer you to my doctor too just in case,” says Mingi.
San smiles at his friends.
“Okay, let's do that. Thanks guys.”
“If this happens again I think you should tell manager hyung and maybe see a doctor like Mingi suggested,” Seonghwa says, freeing San from his embrace. “But in the meantime, you should go back to sleep.”
Mingi turn off the light and leave the room after saying their goodnights. After tucking San in bed, Seonghwa quietly leaves the room to catch Yunho outside the bathroom before the younger boy goes in for his unfinished business of taking a shower.
“You got my cue, right?”
Yunho nods, he understands why Seonghwa doesn’t want to spill too much information in the presence of Mingi just yet, not when San has no memory of what happened.
They need to figure out what’s happening to San, and what Wooyoung has to do with it.