Archive of Our Own ^beta

1. Temperature

The sun was already up when Seonghwa woke up.

The city below them was already in full motion since early morning before the sun peeked its way through hours ago.

Seonghwa furrowed deeper into his sheets, not worrying about being late since he knew they only had a schedule in the late afternoon, making him relax further into his oh so comfortable bed.

It was inevitable though, Seonghwa thought to himself as his stomach grumbled, making him sigh and lazily drag himself out of his bed and into the kitchen.

Seonghwa heard no noise as he exited his room, making him conclude that the rest of the members were still asleep, probably due to them being exhausted and he honestly couldn’t blame them one bit.

The schedules have been so packed lately, with nonstop interviews, photo shootings and promotion overall had made them desperate for any kind of rest for a while, which only made Seonghwa extra careful as to make less noise.

Just as he was about to go and grab some coffee of the counter, Seonghwa’s ears perked as he heard footsteps coming from one of the rooms.

Specifically, his shared room with Hongjoong, concluding that another member was about to join him for breakfast.

And surprise, surprise, the said captain came into the living room, laying back on the couch along with the blanket he had seemingly dragged from their shared room, tightly secured around his shoulders, seemingly shivering, making Seonghwa feel worried but not surprised.

During these intense schedules, it wouldn’t surprise anyone if the members got sick, which in it on itself wasn’t unusual but the effects can wary.

You see, hybrids feel most safe and secure when they’re in their animal forms and in a space that feels safe for them to be comfortable enough to transform, but if they’re not able to do that for a longer period of time?

Then it turns into chaos.

Some start to grow more feral and rebellious, refusing to listen to others, some grow sick and scratch their entire bodies, feathers and fur falling off, making them have bald spots when they’re finally able to transform into their animal forms and some just shut down completely.

Seonghwa had seen it before, be it his fellow members or himself, he knows the process of how this goes when something like this happens.

But that’s the thing, those are hybrid traits.

The human ones?

Seonghwa hadn’t been taught how humans reacted to stress despite most of the hybrids being… well hybrids.

The only clues he (and their entire group) had were… well, through Hongjoong.

Because, while Hongjoong wasn’t spending his first time with hybrids, it was their first-time meeting and getting to know a human.

So, every time Seonghwa would see Hongjoong doing something he hadn’t seen the rest of the members do, he made sure to ask about it later, half curious and half worried about the captain.

Like right now, when Seonghwa sat down next to Hongjoong, putting two coffee mugs on the coasters on their living room table, offering him a small smile as Hongjoong returned it with his tight lipped one, grabbing one of the coffee mugs of the table.

Seonghwa watched as Hongjoong got himself into a more of a upright position, careful as not to spill the drink he was currently holding in his hands, carefully blowing it and slowly sipping it as both of them sat in silence.

Eventually, they decided to turn the TV on, lowering the volume so that it was set to a muted hum, basically running as background noise as they enjoyed each other’s presence, a comfortable silence between them.

However, Seonghwa couldn’t help and throw worried glances at Hongjoong, who was still tightly huddled up in the blanket he had brought with him, covering it all over his body like a shield.

After some time of just being in complete silence, Seonghwa spoke up “Hongjoong, are you ok? You’ve been shivering nonstop since you came into the living room.”

“Y-yeah, I’m f-fine.” Hongjoong answered back, voice quiet, furrowing his eyebrows and further curling into himself, bringing his knees more to himself, putting his chin on them.

“No, you’re not Hongjoong.” Seonghwa said, his eyebrows furrowed, staring at his younger member “Hiding that you’re sick isn’t going to pass this time.” Seonghwa spoke sternly.

“I’m not sick, I’m j-just cold. It’s like the heating had been put out.” Hongjoong spat out, trying and failing to make his words sound less like he was sick, which he wasn’t.

“Cold? It’s not cold.” Seonghwa pointed out, displaying to himself as he was only wearing sweatpants and a thin t-shirt, while Hongjoong was in full fluffy pyjamas.

“It is! The fact that you’re a vampire isn’t my problem.” Hongjoong declared, sticking his tongue out as Seonghwa just rolled his eyes.

Wanting to put an end to this, Seonghwa got up and went to check the thermostat, waiting to prove to Hongjoong that it wasn’t even that cold.

“It says it currently… 10 degrees Celsius in the dorm. So no, it’s not cold.” Seonghwa corrected as he sat down back on the couch.

“You’re joking?” Hongjoong asked, disbelief present in his voice.

“Do I look like I am?” Seonghwa questioned back, looking at Hongjoong with raised eyebrows.

Hongjoong seemingly wasn’t satisfied with that answer, getting up from the living room couch, wanting to make sure that Seonghwa wasn’t lying.

As he got near the thermostat, Seonghwa moved out of the way, making room for the other member who was currently fumbling with the thermostat much to Seonghwa’s dismay.

“What are exactly trying to do?” Seonghwa asked curiously, watching from the side.

“I’m turning the heating up, so we don’t freeze to death.” Hongjoong said, face focused on the device.

“It’s not cold though?” Seonghwa asked, confusion all over his face, making Hongjoong stop and turn around to face Seonghwa.

“Are you sure you’re not the one sick?” Hongjoong asked as he put his palm on Seonghwa’s forehead, startling the older.

“You’re asking if I'm sick when your hand is freezing cold.” Seonghwa told Hongjoong, taking his hands and putting them between his own as to prove him he was right.

“Stop spewing nonsense, your temperature is literally like 40 degrees Celsius.” Hongjoong said, his eyebrows furrowed, still looking at their hands.

“Yeah so? That’s a normal body temperature. Everybody’s body heat is like that.” Seonghwa corrected

Hongjoong snorted “Yeah right and mine is 36,5 degrees Celsius.”

“Don’t say that, hybrids with that temperature are either sick or have hypothermia.” Seonghwa gently scolded, staring at their hands along with Hongjoong.

A good three seconds of silence passed before Hongjoong spoke up again.

“Seonghwa, I’m not a hybrid, remember?” Hongjoong corrected, raising one of his eyebrows while looking at the older one.

Seonghwa felt a little bit dumb.

“Ah…” he simply said, silence overtaking them once again.

“You know I’m not like you guys and that I function differently from pretty much everyone, so I guess you would’ve been surprised.” Hongjoong said casually, not looking at Seonghwa but not moving from his position.

“Hongjoong…” Seonghwa started saying, unsure how to answer him.

Luckily, he didn’t have to as Hongjoong simply smirked  and looked at him through his lashes.

“Don’t worry about it Seonghwa-yah! I know how my body functions and how to take care of myself, so you don’t have to worry about it.” Hongjoong said playfully, making Seonghwa laugh quietly and let go of his hands.

“I agree on everything except on ‘I can take care of myself’ part.” Seonghwa said back, smirking as he dodged Hongjoong’ s hand that almost swatted him, making the younger simply poke his tongue out at the older.

With both of them calming down, they walked back to the couch and sat back on it, watching whatever show was currently on, content with just being next to one another.

“Wait, so your normal temperature is about 36 degrees Celsius? How do you get hypothermia then?” Seonghwa questioned, turning his head to look at Hongjoong.

“Yeah, pretty much, mostly 36 to 37 degrees Celsius. You get hypothermia when your body temperature is basically below 35.” Hongjoong answered, watching the TV.

“That’s good to know, don’t want anyone freezing soon.” Seonghwa said

“Seonghwa, you could go outside in 0 degrees Celsius in your pyjamas and literally have the time of your life. Meanwhile, I go out like that for 10 minutes and get hypothermia.” Hongjoong deadpanned, looking back at the oldest member.

“So me telling you to wear warmer clothes wasn’t for nothing, was it?” Seonghwa responded, offering Hongjoong a sheepish smile which made the younger laugh

Note: humans freeze easily, make sure to keep them warm

2. Sound

Now, just so we’re clear, Mingi wasn’t a genius.

But he also wasn’t dumb.

And yet… he didn’t quite get it.

“All right, we’re done for today, you guys are free to go.” Hongjoong said whilst sitting in the chair, looking at the members inside the recording room.

Almost all the vocal line members had been with them for almost the entire afternoon, recording backtracks and fixing any mistakes during previous recordings with Hongjoong and Mingi being the ones watching them along with Eden.

After deeming that everything was done for the night, half of the members left to go back to the dorms, with Hongjoong and Mingi staying back to finish up a bit, the others reminding them not to stay too late.

Eden made a comment about going to a convenience store to pick out something to eat, asking the remaining two if they wanted to eat something, which they declined.

And now they sat in silence, both of them working on their respective songs, a comfortable silence between them.

“Hyung,” Mingi said suddenly, making Hongjoong look up from his laptop  “why didn’t you keep that high note from the recording when everyone else said it sounded good?”

Look, Mingi usually didn’t any questions like this out of nowhere but the thing that was bothering him wasn’t the high note itself but rather the reactions.

During one of the recordings, Jongho managed to hit one of the highest notes that they had heard, impressing everyone in the room except one… Hongjoong.

Mingi saw that in the corner of his eye that while everyone was looking at Jongho with an admiring and surprised look on their face, Hongjoong looked at him without any reaction on his face which then quickly morphed into confusion and then into the mimicked version of everyone else’s surprised reaction.

Which wouldn’t have been weird if it weren’t the first time it had happened.

Even before that specific moment, Mingi (and probably the others) had noticed that whenever they were recording tracks and B-sides that most of the tones used while singing were on the lower side.

Ok, maybe not all of them were low but Mingi along with others knew that they could hit much higher notes than the ones that they were deciding to keep.

Another thing that Mingi also noticed that whenever they did keep those high notes in the said songs, Hongjoong was never present in the studio or he was but didn’t add any comment about it, letting the rest of Edenary do it instead, which they gladly did, offering further advice to the members on how to make them better and even higher.

So why was Hongjoong the only one to say that the lower notes might be more suitable?

“Well… it’s not necessarily that they were bad from the way you described it.” Hongjoong spoke slowly, looking anywhere else but Mingi.

“So, you thought they were good?” Mingi suddenly spoke, maybe a bit too soon considering how Hongjoong’s face cringed slightly at the question.

“It’s not that either…” Hongjoong replied, looking down at his lap, his eyebrows furrowed and lips pressed together.

“Then what is it?” Mingi question, looking at him with only confusion, not wanting to make it seem that he was aggressive at his hyung.

Silence overtook the studio as both of the rappers sat beside each other, both of them not daring to look at the other.

Mingi was about ready to drop the subject entirely, not wanting them to start fighting over such thing, opening his mouth when he heard Hongjoong mumbling something.

“I can’t …ar …hem.” Hongjoong mumbled under his breath, fiddling with the sleaves of his hoodie.

“What did you say hyung?” Mingi questioned, not hearing what Hongjoong had said.

“When the members sing them, I can’t hear them.” Hongjoong spoke loudly, making Mingi flinch slightly as Hongjoong increased his voice volume.

“You can’t… hear them?” Mingi asked again, trying to confirm if this was what Hongjoong had said.

“No, I can’t. Every time you guys do them I simply can’t hear them, so whenever I do get the chance to be with you I let the others do their judgement of it.” Hongjoong admitted, spilling all of the information in quick breath, quieting down once he was done.

Mingi continued staring at the floor of the studio, his brain slowly processing the information he was given.

Once he was sure he had understood what Hongjoong had just told him, he tried sorting out the words in his head, trying to come up with an answer, taking a deep breath and eventually saying…

“Oh.”

“’Oh.’ “ Hongjoong snorted “That’s all you have to say?”

“No, wait, I didn’t mean it like that.” Mingi quickly corrected himself, but it was already too late as Hongjoong continued looking at him with that dumb smirk on his face.

“Don’t look at me like that!” Mingi complained, making Hongjoong burst out laughing, the latter somehow starting to laugh himself.

Laughing together for another minute or so, the once uncomfortable silence was dissolved and quickly replaced with the heavy breathings of two rappers who were trying to calm their breaths.

“Mingi-ah, please don’t stress about it.” Hongjoong said after both of them had calmed down a bit “It’s not a big deal and the other producers are more than willing to listen and help with the recordings considering that they’re the ones making the songs alongside us.” Hongjoong added, not wanting the younger male to worry about something so irrelevant.

“…But you’re literally missing out on a whole different experience when they sing like that. It’s like… a whole new world.” Mingi expressed, looking down at his shoes.

“I’m human Mingi, I’m used to missing out stuff.” Hongjoong casually pointed out, seeing Mingi’s head snap up towards him with his eyes wide in his peripheral vision.

Hongjoong turned towards the younger member, trying and failing to ignore the kicked puppy face the younger had made wanting to say something to him but the older had beat him to it.

“How about this…” Hongjoong started saying, intriguing the other “We can just ask others what they think is the best tone that they’re comfortable with in their vocal range and after that…”

“Hyung” Mingi said, blatantly cutting the elder off “do others even know how you can’t hear that high?”

“No, they don’t.” Hongjoong answered, “That’s part of the reason why you guys say I sleep like stone, I can’t hear you guys screeching with voices that high in the dorm.”

“Oh, that… makes a lot of sense.” Mingi mumbled to himself before shaking his head “Hyung, you should definitely tell them, so that we could come up with an answer together.” Mingi suggested, already standing and ready to drag himself and Hongjoong back to the dorms.

“Like now?” Hongjoong asked, looking back at the time on his phone and putting it back into his pocket.

“Fine, I don’t want to stall it no longer, so we should probably go to the dorm soon before I change my mind.” Hongjoong sighed, picking their stuff from the studio.

Once they made sure everything was taken and locked, they were both walking down the street when Mingi had a sudden though.

“Hyung, does Edenary know you can’t hear that high, right?”

“…”

“You’re joking? Please say yes.” he asked, pleading him to say ’yes’.

“I’ll tell them after-“

Mingi felt like he was about to cry.

Or scream.

…Maybe both actually.

3. Communication

Wooyoung was furious, like the heat of a thousand suns.

Well, more like annoyed but still…

Furious like the heat of a thousand suns.

“Jongho, give it back!” he yelled at the maknae with an annoyed face, standing in front of the youngest’s bedroom.

“I don’t have anything to give back!?” Jongho answered, still not coming out of his bedroom.

“Uh, yes, you do?” Wooyoung questioned back “The leftovers I had in the refrigerator might be ringing you some bells?”

For those unaware, yesterday, after finishing the schedules and recordings of the day, the members had gone out to treat themselves to a nice restaurant.

Maybe it was due to their exhaustion or them not going out for a while, either way, the food at the restaurant had been amazing.

It was so good that Wooyoung had asked for their leftovers to be packed so that he could take them back to the dorms so that he could eat them again tonight.

But to his surprise, the leftovers had seemingly gone missing, which made Wooyoung suspicious.

Would he normally snoop around like this?

No.

Would he normally just complain about the rest of the day and berate others for eating them?

In most cases, yes.

Did he maybe forget to write his name on the leftovers, so it was just free real-estate?

…Probably maybe.

Was that going to stop him from finding out the real perpetrator?

Absolutely no.

The door suddenly swung open, reviling the youngest member who was currently in his pyjamas.

“Hyung, I literally got here with you at the same time. Don’t you remember we had the same schedule today?

Wooyoung may have forgotten that.

He also told as much to Jongho, who in return just slammed the door to his face.

Ok, that was rude.

Still feeling hungry from still not eating, he decided to just quickly make himself something before going to bed.

Whilst walking towards the kitchen, he noticed there was another person present in their dorm, well the only other person who lived in it.

“Hyung, I thought you were done for today? Didn’t Eden hyung kick you out of the studio?” Wooyoung questioned, staring at the older member.

The said member was covered in at least two different blankets and a sweater, hunched over as he continued staring at the bright laptop screen, glasses almost slipping from his nose.

Hongjoong didn’t apparently hear what Wooyoung had said, too focused staring at the computer screen.

And that’s when Wooyoung saw it.

The leftovers.

How dare the captain eat something he knew belonged to Wooyoung?! They had gone to the same restaurant, and he saw Wooyoung asking to take the leftovers.

The part of Wooyoung marking his leftovers had been long forgotten.

No, Wooyoung was out for revenge.

That gave him an idea which made him smile mischievously.

The idea he had wasn’t an original one but the one the members used to do way back when they were younger.

During their days as trainees and during the early days of their career, there used to be a fun game that the members would play with their captain.

The rules of this game were relatively easy.

Go to the studio and scare him with some ‘ungodly’ sound coming out of their mouth.

The ungodly part was described by the said victim.

The game wasn’t meant to be scary or anything (for some), it was mostly just members screwing with Hongjoong after he had stayed in the studio too much or if they thought they should just give him a good scare.

Seeing how everyone enjoyed it (even Seonghwa had joined it) just made the game more fun to play.

Which is why Wooyoung decided to play it one more time.

Kneeling down behind the couch, Wooyoung quickly made sure that everything remained quiet and undisturbed.

Peeking around the corner, he could see Hongjoong completely ignoring him, eyes focused on the device on his lap, giving him the perfect opportunity-

The bedroom doors have opened.

Quickly looking behind him, he could see the youngest member walking out of his room and suddenly stopping to look at him and their captain.

Not wanting to ruin the prank, Wooyoung signalled Jongho to come and kneel besides himself, careful not to make any noise.

Before Jongho could ask anything, Wooyoung already beat him to it.

“Quick summary: Hongjoong had taken my leftovers, which made me annoyed and now I’m planning to scare him off like the good old days. You in?”

Thinking about it carefully for thirty seconds, Jongho decided to join the elder, nodding his head in defeat, making the older cheer quietly.

Peeking again, Wooyoung turned back to Jongho and held up three of his fingers.

“On a count of three.” He whispered.

“One, two…

…THREE!”

Wooyoung shouted , jumping over the couch along with Jongho, fake growling with him, looking like he was truly mad.

Turning his head in the exact same moment, Hongjoong screamed as the two bodies collided with his, terrifying him in the process as all three of them fell down on the floor.

Hitting the floor wasn’t exactly a part of Wooyoung’s plan but it didn’t matter as it had seemingly worked, their older member staring at them with terrified eyes, his headphones awkwardly slumped on his shoulder, laptop clutched to his chest in a vice-like grip.

“That’s for stealing my leftovers hyung!” Wooyoung jokingly shouted from his kneeling position, looking at the captain who was half sat half laying on his back.

Glancing over at the younger member, Wooyoung saw that he was also in a similar position like him, looking down at his hyung, only in his case he also had a giant blanket on top of his head, blocking his vision and making him less threatening.

Letting a couple of moments to pass, the members slowly got up from their floor positions, looking around to make sure that they didn’t break anything as there had been damage done before.

While the two hybrids sat down on the sofa, relaxed as always, their leader seemed a bit wary of them, putting a bit of a distance between them when he finally got up and sat on the same sofa as them.

“What is wrong with both of you?! What makes you think you can scare me to death like that?!” Hongjoong yelled as he looked at them, anger evident in his tone.

“You stole my leftovers!” Wooyoung yelled accusingly in return, pointing his finger at Hongjoong.

“Aish Wooyoung, it’s literally food.” Hongjoong said as he stared at him with furrowed eyebrows.

“But it was my food!” Wooyoung argued, losing all sense of anger, making the older roll his eyes.

“You didn’t mark it in the fridge…”

“I was going to!”

“You two are annoying.” Jongho complained, speaking for the first time in this conversation, which effectively shut up both of the older members.

Breathing deeply in and out, Hongjoong lowered his laptop onto the coffee table and pinched the bridge of his nose, letting it go and turning his attention to the younger members.

“If I buy you the same order from the restaurant…” A hand was raised. " and YES, I’m including you Jongho,” A hand was put down. “ will you two no longer scare me to death?” he asked honestly, looking at the members.

Both of them glanced at each other for a second before looking over at their captain and nodding, the captain visibly relaxing at their conformation.

“Can we order it tomorrow ?” Jongho asked, glancing over at Wooyoung.

“That’s a good idea.” Wooyoung answered agreeing.

“I don’t see why not.” Hongjoong added nonchalantly.

Wooyoung was about to jokingly say something but growled instead when he saw Jongho reaching out for some of the food on the table, the latter putting his hands up and rolling his eyes in annoyance.

“Also,” Hongjoong started with his eyebrows furrowed “don’t do that.”

“Aw, come on, we were just joking! I wasn’t even growling in a threatening way!” Wooyoung whined, the youngest member staring at him like he wanted to punch him.

“Still, don’t.” Hongjoong reminded quickly, adverting his gaze from Wooyoung to his laptop.

“What’s the big thing, we joke like that. You out of all of us should know that. Fox hybrids alone can make over forty different sounds!”

“Ah yes, forty different ways to annoy us, perfect.” Jongho corrected, resulting in a pillow getting thrown to his face.

“When you guys get into your weird fights with territory and stuff…” Hongjoong started, the younger members shifting their attention to him “I’m always worried that something bad doesn’t happen. I know it’s a stupid thing to worry about since you’re all adults but still… better safe than sorry.”

“We kind of assumed you knew when things got heated and when we were joking.” Jongho said after a couple of moments, breaking the silence that overtook the dorms “We also come to you if there’s any worries, so there’s that too.”

Hongjoong huffed “I know that because now we know each other better and how to act, but before…” he started pointing out but quieted at the ‘before’ part, mostly mumbling it to himself but the members still heard it.

Before they knew what to do, situations in their dorms could get… heated, for a lack of a better word.

Because what are you supposed to do when you bring one human and seven hybrids in the same house, telling them that they’ll have to live together from now on and understand each other’s species and needs?

No one knew really, thankfully the members figured it out, with a couple of bumps on the road and initial scratches on their faces, some bigger than others.

But practice makes perfect.

“Ok then, we’ll try to be quieter when squaring with each other.”

“I was thinking of something more of ‘patience’ than quietness…”

“Can’t do what you didn’t have in the first place, I mean look at you two.”

This time, two pillows were thrown at Jongho’s face. 

4. Self-care

Yunho was feeling great.

Why was Yunho feeling great?

Because it was bath time.

Usually, hybrids wouldn’t really need baths and showers while in their animal forms because most were either self-cleaning or rarely needed to clean.

However, that didn’t stop Ateez members from having self-care every one to three months, the rule enforced by a certain older member (who was usually clean) and a certain short captain (who before wasn’t really used to their odour).

Normally, none of them would have taken an entire day dedicated to having baths and being groomed but since they started living together, the rule was basically put in stone.

Some of the members enjoyed taking baths (like Yunho himself) and others not so much.

Just like the other hybrid next to Yunho waiting in line for the bath.

“Yeosang, don’t you dare think of escaping through the bathroom door again.” Hongjoong warned, glaring at the cat who was currently sitting as far away as he could from the bath.

And then, there was Yunho, basically vibrating on the spot as he waited to just jump into it.

During these self-care days, one or two members would bathe and groom other members in order to check that there weren’t any parasites or bugs like ticks or flees.

Before, when they were younger, the members would get taken care of by the oldest members of the group.

Nowadays, they would switch up members every month or so when doing these days but only one member was continuously helping every time.

Hongjoong, their captain, who had been so lost the first time he had had to help in these situations that some of the moments still made Yunho laugh today.

Now he is a total pro at it, gloves along with protective glasses on his eyes, old long-sleeved shirt and pants that might be completely ruined by the end of the day.

Sounds really exciting, right?

Returning back to the ongoing scene…

“The bath is ready.” Hongjoong said as he closed the tap and added special shampoo into it, mixing it with water to create bubbles in it which the members always enjoyed.

“Alright,” Hongjoong exclaimed clapping his hands, standing up from his sitting position “you may come in no-“

Before Hongjoong could even finish his sentence, Yunho was already jumping inside and splashing about half of the water that was inside all over the towel covered floor (Seonghwa’s idea).

Distracted by the bubbles in the bath, Yunho hadn’t noticed Hongjoong going towards the other black and furry companion, picking him up and quickly depositing him in the bath.

Yunho did notice him when he started meowing nonstop, looking straight into Hongjoong with wide eyes while Hongjoong continued washing his body with no eye contact.

‘Pleaseeeeee, stoooooop.’ Yeosang meowed miserably while Hongjoong continued to wash his fur, careful not to get it in his eye area.

Seeing that the bottle of the shampoo was empty, Hongjoong turned around to get another on from the sink, leaving Yunho and Yeosang unsupervised, the latter seeing a chance to escape.

Yunho watched as Yeosang quickly glanced at Hongjoong and got into his jumping  position, kneeling before he jumped over the bath, into freedom…

…which was then quickly ruined with Hongjoong catching Yeosang with one hand while the other was holding the now opened shampoo, setting on  the edge of the bath while putting the cat hybrid back into it, the latter sulking in the water.

“Nice try Yeosang-ah, same as last year I see.” Hongjoong explained, the cat hybrid trying and failing to bite Hongjoong through his glove while punching him with his paws.

Which then lead him to scratch him a bit under his forearm, not enough to bleed but enough to scar for some time, resulting in Hongjoong scolding him and putting even more water onto him.

“Yunho-ah, close your eyes please.” Hongjoong told and Yunho obeyed, the older washing his lukewarm water and shampoo.

“Paws up.” Hongjoong said, Yunho barking in response, lifting up each of his paws as Hongjoong continued to wash them one by one.

Eventually, both of the hybrids were put down on the floor, each wrapped in their own special towels while Hongjoong cleaned the bath as best as he could, knowing that the eldest Ateez member would clean it ten time better than him.

After aggressively drying Yunho and Yeosang (“I’m not aggressive!” yelled Hongjoong last time they had mentioned that), Hongjoongunlocked the bathroom door and let them out into the living room.

The said living room had been accommodated to their self-care days, the rest of the members laying down on one another in a handmade nest, made by the members themselves in the late afternoon.

Now came the best part.

While taking baths and drying was always a fifty-fifty with members, this part was the highlight of it.

The highlight of the day was their captain petting them.

Not only that but they also got to be in his lap.

Was Hongjoong normally not prone to skinship? No.

Did the members kind of lie to tell him that petting them was an essential part of this whole ordeal because Wooyoung had mentioned it to him one time and that they were all greatly surprised and confused by it when it first happened? Yes.

Would they ever tell him the truth? NO.

So now they got to relax and enjoy without a care in the world.

‘Well, some before then others.’ Yunho thought to himself as he watched Yeosang cleaning himself of the side while Hongjoong’s fingers carded through his fur, lulling him to sleep.

Yunho was almost fully asleep by the time Hongjoong was finished petting him, the older trying and failing to get him to move, making the older to simply pick him up and put him in the nest along with other, another member already squishing themselves next to him, making him relax, his eyes closing slowly as he breathed in and out deeply.

“Yeosang, come on.” Hongjoong gestured with his hands, the cat hybrid looking up from his sitting position and jumping into the centre of Hongjoong’s crossed legs, some parts of them covered in the hair and fur from other members.

Yeosang didn’t mind honestly, mind relaxing as soon as Hongjoong’s hands started carding through his fur, causing him to purr and for the older to cackle slightly, the cat hybrid laying down with his head on one of Hongjoong’s calves.

They continued this routine longer than the others since they had extra time (Yeosang knew they would be jealous, he didn’t care), simply enjoying the quiet dorm, everyone in it relaxed without a care in the world.

With eyes closed and body fully relaxed, Yeosang still noted a sudden movement beneath him as a pair of arms slowly picked him up and within a couple of seconds deposited him into the nest next to sleeping Yunho.

Opening one of his eyes, Yeosang could see their captain looking at them with a faint smile on his face, his arms still half enclosed over Yeosang.

As he was looking at him, Yeosang suddenly saw the scar he had left on Hongjoong’s arm, not big but certainly noticeable, marked in such a position as if it were mocking him, making him feel worse than he already felt.

Without thinking, Yeosang slowly got closer to it and started licking it, earning a surprised sound from his captain whose attention was now turned to him, the human petting him slightly as he continued to lick at it until he was satisfied that it would heal nicely.

That wasn’t even a big scar now that Yeosang was looking at it, considering some past experiences (there had been so much worse).

So much scars but they were earned through trust and learning from the previous mistakes that they weren’t going to talk abou-

But they weren’t going to focus on that now.

Right now, they were going to focus on the peacefulness of the dorm, nothing but the relaxed hybrids and their human captain in it.

5. Eyesight/vision

The dorm was completely dark, nothing but the faint light of the city’s nightlife being the only thing that was shining from the outside into the dorms.

San didn’t mind though.

He enjoyed the quietness once in a while, being able to relax and to do what he wanted at what time he wanted.

Well, the time being the one that was during the free time of their schedule.

Most of the members had arrived back to their dorms right after the schedule was finished, all of them ecstatic that they got extra free time since they finished early, giving them access to do whatever they wanted until tomorrow afternoon when the schedule had to restart.

They all agreed that they were going to order in and then split off to do their own thing, which is exactly what they did.

They ordered food from one of their frequent take-out restaurant and ate it in silence while watching a movie the members had picked earlier.

After cleaning out what was left of the food and storing it in the refrigerator, all of them had already planned what their next activity was going to be, which in conclusion made them split up into pairs.

San, along with Seonghwa and Jongho, had just decided to stay in the dorms and chill for a bit, Seonghwa with cleaning, Jongho with just sleeping and San playing some games on his laptop. Wooyoung and Yeosang had decided to go to the gym together while Yunho and Mingi went out to go somewhere together.

With all of that in mind, something that wasn’t planned was the power going.

“Oh, you have to be kidding me!” San yelled in frustration, his laptop shutting at the same time as the lights of the dorm.

Getting up from his chair, San walked into the living room and saw Seonghwa lighting a couple of candles and setting them on the coffee table, greeting San when as he entered the room.

“So, the power went out?” San asked sitting down onto the living room couch, careful not to shake the coffee table.

“Yeah, about 2 minutes ago. It was said it should come back soon though.” Seonghwa answered, lighting the final candle and putting the lighter away, taking two candles to put them in their kitchen as well.

“That’s a lot of candles.” Jongho pointed out, walking into the living room, “We’re burning the dorm?” 

“No, we’re not, anytime soon.” Seonghwa said scolding Jongho, who promptly ignored him, sitting down next to San.

“Why don’t you just use your phone then?” Jongho questioned, waiving his own phone as an example.

“Mine’s empty.” Seonghwa said, walking towards the Choi brothers who were both sitting on the couch.

“Mine too, but I don’t need it. Cat vision.” San continued, proudly stating the last sentence.

“Me neither. Bear vision.” Jongho added, looking at nothing in particular.

“I do. Rabbit vision.” Seonghwa grumbled back.

“I thought you could see in the dark well enough though?” San questioned Seonghwa, bending over to look at him as he arranged the various candles on the small table.

“I can but just not as well as you guys. I can orient myself well enough, I just can’t really see the details well.” Seonghwa explained

“So what you’re saying is…you have bad resolution.” Jongho concluded, standing up and running to his room, Seonghwa chasing after him as San laughed at Jongho’s statement.

Just as he was about to go to his own room, San heard someone knocking at the front door.

Remember when he said most of them went back to the dorms?

Well, guess who just came back from the studio.

“Oh, hi hyung.” San answered as he opened the door, a hand grasping his own immediately as Hongjoong stumbled in.

Instinctually, San caught Hongjoong before he could face plant onto the entrance hallway, the latter thanking him after stabilizing himself.

"I'm guessing the power went out.” Hongjoong said as he walked into the living room, still holding onto San.

“Yeah, but they said that it should return soon.” San answered, sitting down with Hongjoong on the living room couch, the latter raising his eyebrows at the amount of candles surrounding them.

“Seonghwa hyung lighted them, saying it should help and that he could finally use them.” San explained, Hongjoong nodding at his words.

“How none of you set anything on fire yet is beyond me.” Hongjoong mumbled, glancing around as if he was looking for something.

“Have any of you got your phones so you could shine some light into the dorms?”

“Seonghwa hyung and me don’t but Jongho might. But hyung, you can see well enough in the dark, right?” asked San, confused as to why Hongjoong would need so much light since all of the could more or less see in the dark.

“I can’t see well in the dark San.” Hongjoong mentioned

“Neither can’t Seonghwa hyung.” San equipped

“Not like that San.” Hongjoong corrected

“Ok, wait. How many fingers am I holding up?” San asked, holding up five fingers next to the right side of Hongjoong’s face.

“San, I literally can’t-“

“Hyung, that’s the wrong side.” Interjected San, making Hongjoong roll his eyes and turn his head to the other side.

“That’s the left side.” San complained, making Hongjoong take a deep breath and turn his head to the right side.

“Ok, how many?” San asked anew

“I don’t see them San.”

“Stop joking-“

“I’m not San.” Hongjoong grinded out, making San shut his lips shut.

“I’m pretty sure if it weren’t for your voice, I wouldn’t have been able to recognize you. My eyesight is not good because I’m human. Understood?” Hongjoong explained calmly, which terrified San more than when he wasn’t.

“Yes Captain!” San answered quickly with a squeak, fortunately missing a hand that had almost smacked him in the head.

“Good. Now help me get into my room.” Hongjoong added, standing up and grabbing his bag of the floor.

“Fineee.” San said also standing up, grabbing Hongjoong’s hand and leading him into his room, telling him when to be careful so he wouldn’t hurt himself, the latter thanking him with a bit of a blush on his face which San noticed, making him smile a bit.

Both of them entered the room at the same time as Jongho extracted himself out of Seonghwa’s hug, the oldest pouting at the youngest.

“What are you two doing?” San asked

Before any of them could answer, Hongjoong spoke up.

“There’s some in there?” Hongjoong asked confusingly, not seeing or hearing anyone.

“Of course there is, don’t joke with us.” Jongho shouted back offendedly, Seonghwa coming to them and putting his hand on Hongjoong’s shoulder, making the shortest jump about a meter in the air.

“Don’t scare me like that!” Hongjoong yelled, staring into nothing.

“Ahh, I forgot you can’t see in the dark.” Seonghwa confessed, sounding apologetic.

“It’s fine, just say when you’re coming near.” Hongjoong answered, still holding, currently gripping San’s hand, the younger squeezing it as a sign of support.

“Soooo… not like this?” Jongho whispered straight into Hongjoong’s ear, making the others laugh as the captain chased down the maknae, trying to navigate the completely dark dorm, making Seonghwa and San laugh listening to their antics.

It was all fun and games until they heard something break and stopped laughing, running into the living room to check on the other two members.

(No one was hurt, but boy did Hongjoong and Jongho get a scolding from Seonghwa hyung.)

+1 Safety

‘Why are there so many of them here?’ Hongjoong kept asking himself as he and the members posed for the paparazzi at the airport.

Hongjoong and other Ateez members knew that they had a loving and supporting fanbase, the one they were proud of, seeing it grow and expand, just looking at them bringing them joy.

But sometimes Hongjoong wondered if there were… too much of them.

Like now, a giant crowd of their fans cheering and trying to get to them, screaming their names at the back.

Hongjoong didn’t necessarily like that part.

Getting back from the overseas schedule back to Korea after a couple of hours on a flight left all of them exhausted and just about ready to collapse into their beds.

But first they had to get through them then to their van which would take them all to their separate dorms.

It was easier said than done.

Making sure all of them were there and ready move to go, Hongjoong did a one final head count, glancing at all of the members and offering them a small smile, hoping it will raise their spirits up a bit.

Looking back at the manager, he nodded at him, the latter acknowledging him and turning back to their security, signalling that they were ready to go.

Four or five steps into the airport and they were already swarmed by them, their ears filled with screams of their names and others uncomprehensive words they couldn’t, and frankly, didn’t want to understand.

Glancing around, Hongjoong could see the security struggling to get them through the crowd, pushing to make room and to get out as quickly as possible.

They continued to push through it for longer than anyone would’ve wanted, making Hongjoong grow more nervous on the inside, looking at other members to see that they weren’t better off than he was, some looking physically sick or that they might collapse immediately.

The exit seemed so close yet so far away was a thought Hongjoong had as he looked down to the floor, his steps practically automatic as he just followed the security team, trying to ignore how close they were to them, silently begging for this to end soon-

They surrounded them completely, making the entire security and the group stop and close into themselves, feeling their hands trying to grasp them, failing by just a couple of centimetres.

Hongjoong could see it, in the way Yunho held Mingi’s hand in a tight grip, the way Jongho was clenching his fists and grinding his teeth, the way San stood behind Yeosang and Wooyoung almost as if he were shielding them, the way Seonghwa glanced at him with nervous eyes, his hands inside his hoodie gripping the fabric.

And Hongjoong felt so useless in those moments, when he just couldn’t comfort any of them and had to- no, needed to act strong, like the captain they trusted him to be.

The one who led his members and the one who wasn’t afraid to speak up if it was for the sake of his team.

Hongjoong knew who he was and where he stood.

But now… he was scared himself.

Especially when Hongjoong heard growling and roaring coming from the crowd, making him freeze and for the other members to turn on autopilot, attempting to locate where the sound had come from.

It was told that it rarely happened when fans started acting by their animal instinct in front of people they didn’t even know.

The group had sat down once in a meeting discussing what exactly it meant.

‘It’s basically a primal urge, a prey behaviour of others like you’ one of the employees gestured towards the hybrid members, ‘that can happen if a being is expressing massive focus and want onto a thing, or unfortunately in your case a person, that they seemingly go wild. It happens very rarely though, so you shouldn’t worry about it.’

While Hongjoong was stuck in his thoughts and the members had stopped paying attention, a seeming wave of fans was able to cut off half of the security in half, with half of the members being taken back alongside them.

Hongjoong, along with Jongho, Wooyoung and San was taken back while Mingi, Seonghwa, Yeosang and Yunho went ahead without them, causing both of the now separated sides to panic immensely.

The fans continued to push through the security, who was desperately trying to fight them off, the members pressing themselves close enough, looking like they were never going to let go off of one another.

There were hands pulling at them and trying to get them away from each other, sweaty with sharp nails.

Their cold breaths felt on members’ necks, sending shivers down their spine.

The animalistic sounds and growls making their ears almost bleed, as if their point were for them to remember them forever.

Hongjoong could see it, how the crowd was grabbing them and how there wasn’t a way out unless they did something.

Hongjoong felt it, how they tried to separate them even further, the younger members starting to push alongside him even more, fighting off hands that grasped them only for more to come at them.

In his peripheral, Hongjoong saw a hand about to grasp one of the members and decided that he wasn’t going to let it happen.

Getting behind all of the members, there was a sudden push in the crowd which led their end of the group to be pushed forward towards the members that had already made it to the entrance, the members glad it was finally going to be over.

The relief was short lived though.

Because, while most of the members got pushed, one had slipped through the cracks of their only remaining safety, falling into the greedy and awaiting hands of the predator that suddenly found itself a new prey.

The crowd was the predator and Hongjoong the prey.

Hongjoong curled on himself as he was suddenly pushed through the crowd of their fans, all of the trying to touch him or have some taste of him, to which they were referring to Hongjoong didn’t want to know.

Hands digging into his sides, leaving touches and scratches that were sure to bruise later, breaths mixing with his own so much Hongjoong couldn’t even hear himself or think or know wherehewas, whatwhatwhat, whatisgoingon, whereandwhy-

‘Has it always been that difficult to breath?’ Hongjoong found himself questioning, his lungs burning with every intake and almost choking him with every exhale, feeling like his lungs would explode every second, his chest hurting.

Hongjoong’s body was shaking, barely supporting him not to collapse right onto the floor, head downwards with his hood over it, trying and failing not to cry because of anger?, fear?, frustration?, uncomfortableness?

Hongjoong didn’t know and he currently didn’t want to, his only goal to get out of here right now, fast.

He tried turning in every direction but was only met with more and more resistance each time.

He tripped (he shouldn’t have, oh no-) and felt onto the floor, his knees contacting the ground as he clutched his shirt and bowed his head down.

There was blood, he could feel it running down his arm, staining what was left of his jacket which was torn to shreds, some pieces still hanging onto it.

‘Please, make it end. End in any way I beg.’ who Hongjoong was begging to, he didn’t know, he only begged for it to end.

Darkness seemed so appealing now that Hongjoong thought about it, his entire body lurching forward, preparing himself with the contact he was about to make with the floor-                                                        

It never came.

Instead, an inhumane growl was heard through the airport with several others following suit, the crowd dissolving as they were pushed back, giving Hongjoong room to breathe.

Hongjoong realised there was someone talking to him, a pair of hands grasping both of his shoulder tightly as Wooyoung, Hongjoong now realised, was talking to him in hushed whispers.

“Hyung, are you ok, we need to go, can you walk, hyung please…” he kept repeating like a mantra, Hongjoong’s head becoming dizzy trying to process any of the information.

Hongjoong, not wanting to worry the others and just leave, mustered what leftover strength he had and out his head on Wooyoung’s shoulder, the younger quieting at the sudden action.

“Please, let’s just leave, now.” He whispered, hoping the younger had understood what he said.

Wooyoung nodded, at least Hongjoong thought so and called someone, quickly talking to them as the person answered as there was suddenly a new pair of hands on him, one grabbing his waist while the other slid under his knees, picking him up without any difficulty.

Their maknae was quite strong.

Hongjoong hid his face in Jongho’s shoulder, too tired from this entire thing, tension leaving his body as they marched through the airport without no difficulties.

Hongjoong tried to fight off sleep, but he simply couldn’t, breathing deeply as all of the entered the van, Hongjoong himself being placed in the middle, hearing the engine start as they drove off.

There were others touching him, but he didn’t mind, knowing it was his members doing it, taking off his jacket and communicating with one another.

They were trying to keep him awake, gently nudging his shoulder, probably still worried about this situation.

Opening his eyes, Hongjoong saw Seonghwa staring at him with nothing but worry, now sensing he was inspecting his arm, gentle as not to try to aggravate any more wounds on it.

“Stay awake, just until they check you over.” Seonghwa pleaded, smiling as to encourage him further.

Hongjoong simply nodded in return, too tired to do anything else.

He could someone’s hand petting his hair, but he was too tired to turn his head and see who was doing it, simply enjoying the small comfort it brought him.

The van was quiet as the group continued to travel back to their dorms, Hongjoong’s head on Seonghwa’s shoulder, both of their hands clasped together on the eldest’s lap.

They all arrived at the company first, quickly getting inside with the help of staff, Hongjoong being supported from both sides by Yeosang and Seonghwa.

There appeared to be medical professionals waiting for them at the company, presumably being summoned by the company itself.

Hongjoong was checked over while the other members waited outside one of the conference rooms, basically telling him to rest and to take it easy, his arms bandaged from his shoulder to forearm.

‘The gauze is supposed to be changed every couple of hours and you should apply ointments in order for the skin to heal.’ the medical professionals told him, confirming he was free to go.

Hongjoong was too tired to remember all of that but still shared the information with his members since they said he shouldn’t try and bandage himself alone.

Going back to the van, Hongjoong immediately passed out the next second his head touched whoever’s shoulder he leaned onto to, which he normally wouldn’t do but didn’t care at that moment.

He just wanted to rest.

…

It was around 7 pm when Hongjoong woke up.

That and the fact that he wasn’t alone.

He was laying in some kind of amalgamation of at least ten different blankets and pillows surrounding him, which were all clearly neatly made on the floor, not at all uncomfortable and actually felling cosy, making Hongjoong snuggle even more into them.

There were also several bodies surrounding him but not laying like he was, mostly sitting on the edge of the blankets or outside of it on what Hongjoong assumed to be a couch.

They were talking, Hongjoong concluded, seeing their mouths move and hand gestures being thrown, animatedly talking to one another.

Hongjoong tried to strain his ears in order to try and hear what they were talking about, trying not to move much from his position.

“Do we really need to wake him up?” a deep voice whispered softly, San “I mean, look at him.”

“Yes we do, we need to change his bandages.” Another voice answered, Yeosang “No matter how much we hate to do it, we need to. Seonghwa hyung told us as much.”

“Well, I don’t want to do it.” San declared, looking at the other two.

“Me neither.” Added Yeosang, both he and San turning to look at the third member of their conversation

“Don’t look at me like that, I don’t want to either.” Wooyoung argued back.

This back and forth lasted about ten minutes before it evolved into rock-paper-scissors between the three, trying to see which of them would eventually do it, making Hongjoong bite back a smile that was starting to show.

Eventually, Seonghwa and the others entered the room and was about to scold them before they pointed back at Hongjoong, who they thought was still asleep, making Seonghwa close his mouth and for the younger members to mock him for it.

That however triggered Seonghwa to scold them in a sound no higher than a whisper but in a tone that was threatening enough that they sheepishly apologised to him, the oldest forgiving them and supposedly looking at what time it was.

He then realized what they were originally supposed to do and stood up from his position to ask the members to get him bandages and ointments and while at it, wake up Hongjoong.

Hongjoong momentarily blocked what Seonghwa was saying to the members to enjoy the warm and cosy blankets before he supposedly ‘woke up’, furrowing deeper into them until he felt he could suffocate in them.

‘This is nice.’ Hongjoong thought to himself ‘This is… really nice... and safe.’

Hongjoong felt safe.

Comfortable, safe and he wanted to stay, preferably with all of his members alongside him.

And what more could he ask for?