ateez - in his mind

five

"Bye, Jongho! I'll see you later!" Mingi yelled to his friend from across the house. He wasn't sure if Jongho was even awake until he heard the sound of his frantic footsteps from around the corner.

"Where are you going? Especially at this time of day?" Jongho asked once he came into view. Mingi laughed to himself at Jongho's sleepy appearance across the room. He never understood how Jongho could sleep in so late, since it was already ten in the morning.

"I'm going to meet a new friend! He lives a quite a bit away, so I wanted to leave early to meet him on time," Mingi responded. Jongho remained unmoving, clearly confused on multiple levels. Mingi wasn't sure if it was because he was still tired or because he didn't know how he made a new friend. Either way, he was in a hurry, so he said another quick goodbye to Jongho before leaving.

The ride to the cafe San suggested was around an hour on the subway. Mingi felt both nervous and excited to meet him, since he didn't have much of a chance to meet other people too often. Having spent years in isolation, meeting someone new was like winning the lottery to Mingi. It didn't happen often, but it was still a big deal to him.

When Mingi arrived, San was already waiting for him at a small table in the corner of the cafe. San waved to him, and Mingi strolled over to the table with his usual bright smile.

"Hi, San!" he said, sitting down on the empty chair. Once he finished situating all of his things, he noticed the iced americano that was placed right in front of him.

"Oh, yeah, I ordered that for you," San said, taking a sip of his own drink.

"How did you know that's my favorite drink?" Mingi asked. San just laughed to himself while Mingi sat there unknowingly.

"Who doesn't love iced americano?" San said, Mingi now joining in and laughing with him. The following half-hour was spent with them talking about everything they couldn't say via text. Overall, they were having a terrific time together.

However, in the back of San's mind, he couldn't help but think about how to tell Mingi about his odd abilities. They were having a nice time together and San certainly didn't want to ruin that. He could hear how Mingi really needed this, since he didn't have anyone besides Jongho and Seonghwa. As he was being caught up in his thoughts, Mingi could tell that something was off with his new friend.

"Are you okay, San?" he asked. San felt a wave of déjà vu to the previous day where Yunho noticed he was distracted as well. In that split second, he decided to tell Mingi.

"Mingi, I can read minds and I need your help."

The words came out faster than San could think them. He felt incredibly idiotic for merely blurting the words out, but he blamed that on his nerves. Mingi sat there, iced americano in hand, unmoving while he tried to process what San just said. The silence seemed to last an eternity for both of them, with the only noise coming from the surrounding customers.

"You... can read minds?" Mingi finally asked, breaking the long and awkward quietness. San gave a small nod, visibly nervous as he waited for Mingi's response. He thought of every possible scenario where Mingi would freak out or become scared of him. Except, Mingi's actual response was entirely opposite of San's crazy prediction.

"That's so cool!" he exclaimed, leaning in closer to San due to his curiosity. Needless to say, San was surprised by this reaction, fully expecting to hear the absolute worst.

"Really? I thought you were going to freak out if I told you," San said with a growing smile. The wave of relief San felt was like a giant weight had been physically lifted off of his shoulders. It was almost exhilarating, telling people about this secret that he hid for so long. San couldn't remember a time where he didn't have to lie to everyone around him, and it especially hurt when it came to his three brothers. The feeling of relief was so nice San thought he might cry.

"Of course not! I'm sure Seonghwa has told you by now that I used to have special abilities as well," Mingi said. "Even though I can't use them anymore, I understand what you're going through."

San couldn't have been happier to gain a friend like Mingi. From the moment he met him, San was able to tell how nice and sweet of a person he was, yet that didn't stop the doubt that was clouding the back of his mind. Besides, reading the thoughts of others didn't always show their true colors, as San learned.

Mingi and San's conversation led into the early afternoon and they decided it would be best to go back to Mingi's place. After all, San wasn't entirely comfortable talking about his abilities in public. Mingi was understanding and was happy to offer talking more back at his place. So, here they were, walking in the front door of the house.

"Jongho?" Mingi called out, entirely expecting his friend to be waiting for him at the front door. However, no sound could be heard from anywhere in the house. While Mingi was somewhat upset, he figured that Jongho left to go study for his own enjoyment. He threw his backpack down on the ground and went with San to the living room. Knowing now that San loved video games, he was excited to show him his Nintendo collection.

Halfway into their first race in Mario Kart, faint noise could be heard coming from Jongho's room. Mingi paused the game and they both went to go check it out. The sight was something neither of them expected.

"Wait... Jongho? You were here this whole time?!" Mingi exclaimed. A messy-looking Jongho could be seen, sitting at his equally messy desk, staring intently at his laptop screen as though his life depended on it. San stood behind Mingi, standing on his toes to give himself more height, waving in Jongho's direction even though it was obvious the younger wasn't paying attention.

"Yeah... You didn't hear me?" Jongho mumbled without sparing a glance. Mingi and San stood in his doorway with looks of confusion as if they were both telling each other what is up with him...

"What are you looking at?" San asked Jongho. Only at the voice of his newest guest did Jongho look up from his laptop screen, not realizing he was there. He pushed his glasses up his nose and ruffled his hair so he could look remotely presentable, and he felt embarrassed due to his crazy appearance.

"You both might want to read this."

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A/N: I added playlists to both of my stories, they're at the end of the prologues! Also, if you're here from my new TikTok account: hello! Great to see you here! (￣▽￣)ノ