ateez family au

160

Tw|transphobia|bullying|violence|blood|implied burn-out|

~

Yunho rubbed over his face and groaned internally. His body felt like falling apart; any moment he would collapse, lay boneless somewhere. But he couldn't allow himself to, there was so much work to do, he couldn't dare take a break when the clock was ticking. Oh how much he regretted his suggestion for the event, how much he wished to just have shut his mouth that day.

"Okay, we need to distribute this diffrently," he called and returned to his fellow trainees. Not that they took him very seriously. Yunho looked over his paper and scratched the back of his head, "fitting with the track, we will start with contemporary, I think two dancers and three vocalists are enough here," he said and noted his suggestion on the paper.

"We should focus more on the performance."

Yunho looked up to Kyungmin, a boy his age. He had auditioned the same day as him; he was slim and almost as tall as him, not to speak of his handsome face and outgoing character. He could recall looking at him enter the room with a sure smirk and leave with the same expression. "Three people will be too much for the track we have been given, I don't think it would fit."

The boy tilted his head, the corner of his mouth twitched. "Who are you to decide that?" he asked, mock very much prominent in his words.

"I was given the position to lead this. Sure, we can try out your idea," Yunho gave back, left cold by the comment. "Consider we have a ticking time, a duo is always faster, but sure, I'm sure you would gladly take over the practice then, hm?"
A breath was stuck in Kyungmin's throat, the reply remained silent. The tension around the other tightened as they lowered their gaze to the ground, the walls, everywhere but Yunho who kept on pulling through the tight schedule with an iron fist. "We need more people for the hip-hop performance, we are short on rappers... "

"I have a question," a small and thin voice asked from behind all the tall trainees. They moved aside and their youngest trainee came to view. Lee Nayeong, a girl from farther away. Her dialect was still present, it was cute to play a game of guess what she's trying to say now and then. Yunho sometimes felt sad for her; so far away from home at such a young age. "It's all good and so... but what will you do? You're assigning us parts, but what is yours?" she asked shyly. By the slight shake in her thin voice, Yunho could tell it was pure curiosity.

"Teach you the choreos, lyrics, and take on wherever we need more people," Yunho replied with his lips pressed in a line and spread in a tired smile. He had been up for days on end to develop and plan the whole performance, he would take whatever role was missing in the end. "What kind of leader would I be, if I let you all figure things out on your own? We only need to learn it together now." His eyelids felt heavy as he looked at the group of around twenty people, maybe less. All so talented; he felt sorry to be the one they depended on. It was all in his hands now; they all would be judged by how well he had thought this through.

~

Hongjoong knocked at the door to the practice room, then slowly took a step into the room. The lights were on, the music still playing.

"Three, four, five and tam-tam ta-" the last count got stuck in Yunho's throat when his father came into his view from the side. He stopped, his small group behind him turning to bow respectfully and shyly. Yunho followed suit; inside this building, they were strangers, not father and son.

"I see you're all still practicing hard," Hongjoong commented and threw his son a questioning look, switching between him and the clock.

"We are... we are practicing the contemporary part of our performance for the event," Yunho explained and looked to his fellow trainees, "we are just perfecting small mistakes."