FOR YOU ; ATEEZ 9th member

2021.02.27 🍓lets go home

2021.02.27

aislinn huffed as she messed up the dance again. she had been practising this new dance for hours on end, having taken only one 10-minute break about five hours ago because eden needed her to re-record some backing vocals for this new song.
she looked at her reflection in the mirror and shook her head. she was wearing a thin grey tank top that she stolw from yunho and a pair of black shorts, both items soaked in sweat.
aislinn walked to the computer and skipped the song back to the beginning, going through the choreo again and again and again.
her phone rang constantly which led to her silencing it. she knew it was the boys contacting her, trying to get her to come home - she locked the practise room door so no-one could distract her unless necessary, and none of the members had thought of using the spare key. or so she thought.

✁✃✁✃✁✃

"hyung, she still wont pick up my calls," san called to hongjoong who had been pacing around the dorm for the last hour or so.

"same here," seonghwa sighed out, placing his phone down on the coffee table.

"woo, tell the others that me and hwa are going to collect her ourselves," hongjoong said, putting on his jacket and mask. wooyoung nodded before heading to the kitchen where the other four members sat stress eating. you cant blame them, though - they were worried that she wasnt answering their calls because she injured herself or she was taken whilst walking back to the dorm. the latter was very likely since it was dark out - it had just gone twenty minutes past two in the morning - and yet it was very unlikely - aislinn had a black belt in karate and tai chi, and a yellow belt in kung fu so she could easily defend herself against a kidnapper or sasaeng. "alright, come on, hyung, lets go."
the oldest two of the group left the dorm, arriving at the front desk of the kq building within twenty minutes.

"hello, boys," the man at the front desk greeted. "how can i help you?"

"have you got the spare key for our practise room?" seonghwa asked as he nervously tapped his fingers on the shining marble desk-top.

"yes i do," he replied with a smile, reaching into the draw to his left and placing a set of keys next to seonghwas hand. "came to get eun-ssi?"

"yeah, she isnt answering our calls. im assuming she hasnt left the building, you would have seen her. well, we should go," hongjoong spoke quickly, bowing to the man before grabbing the keys and dragging seonghwa to their practise room on the third floor. their new song was blasting through the speakers, both boys hearing it clearly through the walls.

"hold on, dont make a sound," seonghwa turned his head and pushed his ear against the door, subconsciously frowning a little when he heard something over the music.

"alright, aislinn, listen here, you arent as good as the boys but that is no excuse to give up. hmph, i wish. i am exhausted! eww, and im so sweaty. thats icky! come on, though; from the to- from the top make it drop thats a wap. hmm... i wonder what wap means..? hwa might know! but, anyway, i should probably keep going! ive got a lot to work on and even after this, i still will only be not even half as good as hyungs."

"alright, can i open the door now?" hongjoong asked seonghwa with a frown before the older moved away from the door. seonghwa nodded, hongjoong immediately opening the door.

"oh, hey, hyungs," aislinn dipped her head to a bow when she turned around after spying her members in the large mirror.

"eun, you need to come home now," hongjoong huffed out, turning the music off.

"joong, be more gentle with her," seonghwa elbowed his friend in the side before walking to the sweat-covered girl who now stood hunched over, hands rested on her knees as she attempted to get her breath back. "linlin, why dont we go home? youve worked extra hard today and i think you deserve a nice long break. i can cook you something when we get back, if you want. how does that sound, hmm?"

"sure," she replied quietly, standing up straight and limping her way to the corner of the room where she left her bag. she grabbed the bag and slung it over her shoulder before proceeding to the door with a limp in her step that didnt go unnoticed by the older two.

"eun- actually, it doesnt matter," aislinn shrugged at hongjoongs words, opening the door and leaving with the others trailing behind. when they left the building, aislinn headed inside the 7-eleven and bought herself and the older two a small ice-pop.

"its on me," she smiled, unwrapping hers and putting it in her mouth. the walk back to the dorm was quiet, only an occasional word or two from aislinn as she spoke to herself, reminding herself of a few things she needed to do. the second the dorms door opened, aislinn ran straight to the restroom to shower.

[...]

"shes been at the practise room this whole time?" wooyoung asked as the leader explained everything.

"woo, please let me speak!" hongjoong shouted playfully, giving the younger boy a light hit on the knee.

"yeah, woo, let the old man speak," aislinn teased, walking out of her bedroom after putting on a hoodie she stole from sans closet and a pair of pyjama shorts.

"youre only a year younger so be quiet," hongjoong glared at the girl with a smile before aislinn giggled, something the boys hadnt heard in a while.

"actually, grandpa, im two years younger," she poked her tongue out, blowing a raspberry.

"youre so cute, noona," jongho smiled, earning a light push from the older girl.

"i am a dinosaur thats eaten too many potatoes. a dino thats eaten too many potatoes is not cute. a dino like that is big and scary and not very thin but they work their way around it," she smiled with a small shrug as she sat on the couch and rested her head on mingis shoulder, falling asleep a few minutes after he wrapped his arm around her.