ateez - in his mind

four

Yunho's mouth remained agape for an awkwardly long period of time. He remained unmoving, not fully being able to process what it is he just heard. It was when his hazelnut coffee almost fell from his shaky hand that San decided to speak up.

"Are you going to be okay, Yunho?" he asked, now concerned that his brother was going to have an enormous, attention-grabbing reaction. Upon hearing this, he seemed to regain control of his body once more, closing his mouth and setting the cup of coffee down. He was still unsure as to what he should say, especially since it was clear San didn't want anyone hearing about this.

"I know that this is a lot to handle..." San said carefully, his voice falling off at the end. Yunho nodded slowly while he thought about how to respond. He stayed looking at the design on the mug, thinking about how San could probably hear his mind going crazy.

"Yeah... It is..." he eventually whispered. San smiled, finding Yunho's reaction quite humorous. Yunho smiled too once he truly understood that San was, in fact, not lying. It was a bizarre situation and all they could do was laugh.

---

"So, you can actually read people's minds?" Yunho asked as they walked back to their apartment. It was a nice day out, even though San continued to wish for it to rain. This was the only thing Yunho seemed to be able to say, like a record on repeat, and he smiled while looking down at the pavement they walked on.

"Yes, I can. I've told you this ten times already," he said. Yunho looked around at the people around them and a brilliant idea came to his head.

"Prove it! What are these people all thinking?"

San let out a loud laugh, gaining attention from those around him. His face grew red out of embarrassment, some continuing to give him confused looks. When he realized that his brother was actually being serious, he figured that there couldn't be any harm.

"That guy is thinking about his kids, that girl hopes she gets the job she wants, and the person behind you is considering asking you about the coffee you got," San whispered, discretely pointing at each person he mentioned. Yunho looked at his brother in awe, impressed at the fact that his brother didn't seem to be lying. Not even ten seconds later, Yunho felt a tap on the shoulder from the person San mentioned. He really wasn't lying.

Later that evening, all four brothers sat around the table eating dinner made by Wooyoung. It was dead silent while they ate, just like any other dinner. However, while San was eating, he heard Yunho's thoughts loud and clear from across the table.

Can you hear my thoughts, San? When he slowly looked up from his food, he saw his older brother staring at him with a small smile on his face. Thankfully, his other two brothers didn't notice and San went back to eating his food.

Yes, you know that I can.

Surprised, Yunho choked on his food for a moment and San had to try his best to not laugh at his brother. On the other hand, Seonghwa and Wooyoung were making sure Yunho was okay, but he just brushed it off as quickly as possible. After a few minutes, dinner resumed as normal with San and Yunho exchanging knowing glances every once in a while.

Even after dinner, Seonghwa and Wooyoung continued to check in on Yunho while San finished the dishes. He smiled to himself, listening in to Yunho lying about why he choked momentarily. He could hardly believe that Yunho hadn't given him away yet, but San figured that it was only because he was still unsure how he should handle the news. San was still grateful nonetheless. He finished the dishes wordlessly and walked straight to his own cozy bedroom.

San heard a knock on the door about ten minutes later, and it was none other than Yunho's smiling face peaking inside. He quietly let himself in before taking a seat on San's bed across from him. San watched as he set down countless bags of chips and other snacks, not knowing why Yunho seemed so excited.

"What is all of this for, exactly?" San asked, removing his headphones and sitting up straight. Once Yunho was done organizing the snacks on San's bed, he clapped his hands together and announced his reasoning for disturbing San at eight PM.

"I figured that we could spy on random people for fun! You know, since you can read their thoughts and such!"

San stared at Yunho blankly whereas the latter's smile never faltered. He couldn't understand where his brother got the idea from. He already felt uncomfortable reading the thoughts of his peers unwillingly (minus his brothers, of course) so he wasn't sure that this was a good idea. However, after a few moments of awkward silence, San gave in.

They spent the next few hours listening in to pretty much anyone they could think of: friends, family, strangers from across the country. It wasn't until four AM that San and Yunho got tired.

"Okay, one more," Yunho said before yawning loudly. San smiled at his brother and thought about who they should spy on last. Their list of options was quite thin, and choosing the last person was more difficult than they expected. Just as Yunho was about to call it a night, San had the perfect idea.

"How about the farthest person possible!" San exclaimed, suddenly feeling less tired at the thought. Yunho nodded enthusiastically and grabbed the last remaining chips in San's room.

"That's a good idea!" he said, listening intently to his brother. San closed his eyes, sitting cross-legged on his bed across from Yunho. He willed himself to think of the furthest person away from him, since he never tried to test how far he could go with reading others' thoughts. It took around two minutes, but eventually he heard the voice he was searching for. However, it wasn't the voice he was expecting.

The voice was incredibly deep to the point of it sounding unearthly. It didn't sound human to San, and the question of who he found grew more apparent in his head. The smile on San's face disappeared while his brother sat patiently across from him, waiting for San to tell him what was happening.

"Well? What do you hear?" Yunho asked, beginning to grow impatient. San opened his eyes with a jump, still scared of the voice he heard. Yunho was now very concerned since his brother hadn't acted like this all night. He continued to ask San what was wrong and who he heard.

"The voice... all I heard was a bunch of random numbers," San eventually got out. "It didn't even sound human." For the rest of the night, Yunho remained with San in order to comfort him. He reassured San that everything would be alright, and that what he heard was just a mistake. San just wasn't sure if he could believe him. Deep down, he knew that he wasn't supposed to hear what he did. And San would be right.

---

A/N: I created a TikTok account with the same username, so if you want to follow me on there, that would be great!! I mostly made it to promote my stories but I'm going to make other content over there as well :) Hope you enjoyed the update!