ᴀɴꜱᴡᴇʀ » Woosan

Chapter 19 ○ Take Me Home

𝔹𝕒𝕔𝕜𝕘𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕕 𝕄𝕦𝕤𝕚𝕔: Utopia

𝕎𝕠𝕠𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕘

Days went by since the awkward yet funny "oh" at the KQ; me and San has been seeing each other daily, both with the others and alone, both romantically and as friends. We've danced, sung, made love. And it's been the best time of my life all around, with the most awesome group of tight friends I have ever had the luck of hanging out with, and the sweetest and most caring man I ever had at my side. Everything is going so well I have a hard time believing it myself. And it's only going to get better. We've seen some apartments, but none has been "the one" up until now. But Jongho seems to have an ace up his sleeve.

"Guys. A friend of my mom works in real estate, and has another friend in the business here in Seoul. She tipped me off about this place, not too distant from here, and get this, it's over an old, now empty gym! We could rent that too for a steal and have a place to train all together whenever we feel like it. Apparently, it was a students' dormitory, so it's big enough for the eight of us, it has a kitchen and three bathrooms. This could be it."

"When can we see it?" Hongjoong seems impatient.

"I already told her we wanted to visit it, she said she would call me back with a time and date. I'll keep you posted when she does."

"Perfect. I have a good vibe about this."

And two days later this vibe turns out to be more than that. Although it needs to be refreshed and painted, the dorm is exactly what we are looking for and the gym is big enough to hold our dancing and singing sessions. The rent isn't going to be cheap, but this is Seoul, and it's less than renting eight different places anyway. It's a go. We really are going to be living together, after all. I'm going to live with San. He's growing to be my closest friend before anything else, and I love our relationship. He's learning the smallest tiny things about me and cares about all of them, no matter how little or seemingly stupid. He just does. It's who he is. 

I'm also going to have a lot of fun with the others. Cooking for them, taking pictures of them, filming them when they least expect it. I love shooting videos, impressing moments forever on digital. It's my way of treasuring time. With eight people, the blast is assured. I can't wait to live all this. I wish we could move tomorrow, and yet I have to wait weeks - we will have to clean and paint everything, then bring all our stuff and only then move in.

Can we just fast forward?

***

𝕊𝕒𝕟

If searching for an apartment was tiring, moving is draining. I hate painting and cleaning took a lot of time, the place was nastier than it initially looked. Now we're in the furniture process and I thank myself for the time I spent at the gym. We gambled the rooms at jenga and I'm in the biggest one with Mingi. He's going to be the coolest roommate, I know already. Wooyoung is with Jongho, Hongjoong with Seonghwa and Yeosang with Yunho. We estabilished turns for laundry, trash and cooking, although Wooyoung volunteered for the latter, of course.

Once we're finished with the furniture, we're going to bring in our stuff. This includes my plushie collection, about which Mingi is better off not complaining. Shiber is definitely coming with me on this new adventure. 

I'm assembling my new bed when Mr Tall Guy comes at me with his deep voice.

"Hey, San-hyung. I was thinking, you're not mad because I'm your roommate, right?"

"Why would I be? I'm sure we're going to have a great time together."

"No, I mean... I know you'd rather it be Wooyoung."

I stop doing what I'm doing and look him in the eyes. I smile at him. "I don't want to be his roommate. That way, we'd be losing the opportunity to know all the others better and live our friendship the way it deserves. We can make time for ourselves if we need it. Don't worry about that. We already talked about it and we agreed we would be apart."

"I see. It makes sense. But if you ever need the room to yourself, please tell me and I'll be out of your hair. OK?"

"Okay, Mingi. Thank you."

He smiles and walks away to another room, where apparently Yunho assembled the nightstand upside down. Big laughs come from there. I love how everyone sincerely takes care of one another here in this group. No one has to, we simply do because we feel like it. It's like we're brothers. Yes, they're my brothers and I will protect them any way I can, even though some of them are older than me.

The beauty of a large group like ours is getting to know everyone in it, growing attached to them, loving them as family and in the end, all the hard work you do with them is a challenge, but one you're willing to face with a smile and a heart full of devotion and courage. My mind may change in a month, or two or six, but this is what Ateez is to me right now.

This is Ateez.

***

Author's note: slight design change in the fanfic title and chapter titles because I felt like that. I am amazed by San's cover, his voice is mesmerising and comforting and so sweet, yet powerful. I wish we got to hear it solo more often, he deserves more vocal spotlight. He's an amazing singer. Is there anything this man can't do? Today no gif, just the cover video because yes.