ateez - in his mind

one

San stared out the window, watching as the rain drops made pretty patterns on the glass. The couch he sat on was slightly uncomfortable for him, all because of the cat the brothers recently decided to adopt. They hadn't bought anything for it to scratch on, so the obvious first choice was the couch.

Watching the rain was the only thing that could possibly shut his mind off for a while. The only time where he didn't have to listen to thoughts that weren't his own. The pitter-patter sounds of the rain were relaxing for San, almost hypnotic in a way, and very quickly he began to grow tired. Just as his eyes were about to fully close, he heard Seonghwa come into the living room.

"Hey, I'm going to my doctor's appointment," he said. Ever since Seonghwa came back from Mingi's house, he had taken it upon himself to get the help that he needed. San was extremely proud of him, and he made sure to remind him both verbally and telepathically as much as possible. San smiled to him as he walked out the door.

Not too long after, the rain stopped and San grew bored since he didn't have anything to do. His brothers were all out of the house and he didn't have any friends outside of them three. So, he decided to do his favorite activity ever since he found out how to read other people's thoughts from a far distance.

San quickly jumped off the couch, causing him to almost fall into the cat's water bowl. Thankfully, he caught himself on the wall and he sprinted over to his room. Once he was inside, he snatched his pastel green notebook from under his bed. San was extremely thankful they were able to move out of their old house, mostly because he had the privacy of his own room.

He opened the notebook to the next clean page and closed his eyes, willing himself to think about his brothers. Yunho and Wooyoung were both working summer jobs and Seonghwa was currently biking to his doctor appointment. It didn't take long for him to begin reading their thoughts.

Will this awful shift ever end? The people here are crazy and don't know how to act civilized. This sucks. San could hear Wooyoung complaining about his job, he was laughing and writing down every word he could in his notebook. He was totally going to use this against him later.

Aww... these kids are so cute... and disgusting. At this point, San was rolling on the floor from laughter. Yunho worked at a daycare center because he loved being around kids, but it could get a bit too much for him at times. San could picture Yunho's face in the moment, and he was laughing even harder than before. Once again, he wrote down everything he could about what Yunho was thinking.

San turned to the next page as he moved on to Seonghwa's thoughts. He usually felt the most guilty about reading his mind, since most of his thoughts weren't entirely positive and fun to listen to. Nevertheless, his laughter died down and he began to listen to his oldest brother's thoughts.

I wonder if Mingi will show up today... It's always much more bearable when he comes to these appointments.

Ever since Seonghwa started going to the appointments weekly, sometimes even twice per week, Mingi would show up to some of them. After all, he never was able to work out certain issues in his past. It greatly benefitted both of them, Seonghwa had Mingi's support and Mingi was able to finally let go of his own burdens.

As San was writing down what Seonghwa was thinking, he came to a realization. It was as though a lightbulb went off on his head and he felt stupid for not thinking of the idea earlier.

"Why don't I just talk to Mingi about this?" San said to himself. If Mingi had powers at some point, wouldn't it only make sense to talk to him about his own abilities? He also thought that Mingi might have some insight as to what or who may have given him these powers.

What? San?

"Shit!" San yelled, not realizing that he was still in Seonghwa's mind. He jumped away from his notebook and off his bed, hoping that Seonghwa wouldn't ask him about this later. He quickly picked up his notebook and shoved it back underneath his bed. San's mind was running a million miles per minute, now involuntarily hearing the thoughts of his next door neighbor. The poor boy just sighed loudly before covering the notebook with blankets. He just hoped Seonghwa wouldn't notice.

After putting the notebook away, San went over to the living room once again, thankful that it was drizzling rain once again. He sat back down on the couch and allowed his mind to shut off, the voices of his neighbors dying down. The cat jumped on the couch as well, taking a seat right next to San. He shook his head and smiled at the cuteness before bringing his attention back to the rain which was slowly growing louder.

Eventually, he was able to fall asleep in the comfortable position. He slept for a bit longer than he wanted to, mostly because he didn't want to be asleep when his brothers got home. However, it had been a mentally exhausting day for him.

"San? It's time for dinner now," Yunho said, gently shaking him in order to wake him up. San was still tired, but the thought of eating food was too enticing to pass up. He rubbed his eyes and yawned loudly before getting up to the table where home cooked food was waiting for him.

Their dinner was silent for the most part, since the food was too delicious for them to make room for conversation. San did notice Seonghwa giving him some odd stares, but nothing was said about the events earlier that day. Thankfully, dinner wasn't too awkward and San was able to get through the rest of the day with no one questioning his odd behavior.

As San laid in his bed, trying hard to fall asleep, he kept thinking about how to talk to Mingi about his current situation. Not only would Mingi likely freak out, but there was a high chance he could tell other people. That was something San wanted to avoid at all costs. He went through countless scenarios in his mind, trying to find one that resulted in the best outcome.

This went on for quite a while, until soon he began to hear the thoughts of his neighbors and he gave a quiet yell of frustration. He wasn't sure how to control this, and it had bothered him for years. San shook his head, grabbing his phone and earbuds from on top of his nightstand. He put the earbuds in and turned on his usual rain sounds in order to stop the unwanted voices.

It took some time, but he eventually grew tired once again, and he drifted off into sleep, still thinking about how to tell Mingi about his long-running secret.