fever | ateez lore story

CH 1

•the watcher•

3 months later

"Beautiful. Wanna try that again?" Hongjoong's voice praises lovingly, playing the track back and San sings along again, trying to find a perfect flow for the melody.

"I don't know about having a full, from-the-chest kind of voice for this. Since it's the start of the song, wouldn't it be nicer to have it soft? To like, fit the RnB vibe?" San explains, motioning his hands around to help support his explanation. He looks over at his captain and panics, dropping his hands slowly. Hongjoong's face is serious, his eyebrows furrowed to the centre of his face and his eyes darkening slightly. San clears his throat, adjusting his headphones.

"It's okay, n-never mind. Sorry, cap." San apologises, preparing to record again.

"No, sorry! Sorry, I was thinking haha. It sounds like a good idea. You wanna try it?" Hongjoong laughs, suddenly realising his seriousness. When Hongjoong thinks, he falls into a little hole where no one can get through to him. When he thinks, he thinks hard.

San's laughter erupts too, clutching his chest to relax from his little panic episode.

"Sure, hyung!" He laughs, rocking side-to-side to prepare him for the verse.

"Okay, San, verse 1. 2, 3." Hongjoong counts him in, and San begins.

No need to, for me, it's okay
I'm sober, only my heart heats up more

"Aye, I like it! The soft vibe fits really well! Good idea, San." Hongjoong praises, giggling as San punches the air in achievement.

"I wonder why the song is called 'Fireworks'. Jongho ponders, reading over his lines.

"Maybe because our songs explode with passion." Mingi jokes, laughing silly. He feels slight threat when Jongho's head slowly turns, presenting sheer disappointment in the terrible joke. Mingi's smile fades, and he turns back to practice his rap, silence coming in between the two of them. Suddenly, Jongho wraps and arm around Mingi's shoulders, patting lightly like a father.

-"One day. One day, your jokes will be funny."

Hongjoong calls Jongho over to record his bit of the song, leaving a slightly offended, yet, giggling Mingi on the couch rehearsing. Mingi whispers as he practises the flow of his lines, so deep in concentration that he yells when a sudden Wooyoung flies onto the couch next to him.

"Mingi-ah! Can I hear your verse?" he asks, leaning to read over Mingi's sheet.

"Oi! Can you guys please keep it down? You can be heard in the background." Hongjoong scolds, his voice soft, yet strict. Hongjoong doesn't like to yell. Sure, he is the captain and their producer, but he feels no obligation to be bossy. He wants to be, what he calls, the 'gentle dad', alongside Seonghwa, who is the 'strict, scary mom'. When the boys misbehave, Seonghwa's motherly instincts come to play, and he goes from being their friend to their parent.

"Make it an ad-lib! You said you wanted more ad-libs, right?" Wooyoung jokes, intense eye-contact between them two. Hongjoong waits a moment before jumping out his seat and chasing after Wooyoung, circling around the couch and the warehouse. Wooyoung's contagious screaming-laughter fills the place, and soon, everyone's laughter fills the room after.

---

"I gotta skip ahead, guys! I promised my grandmother I'll help cook dinner. See you tomorrow!" San says, waving and heading out the warehouse, everyone waving back. Once San disappears out the gates, Hongjoong stands and turns around to the rest of the group, who congregate around the couch.

"Okay, now he's gone, guess what's happening next week." Hongjoong says, eyeing everyone to see if they have an answer. Everyone switches glances to each other, their faces mirroring the same perplexed expression. Hongjoong sighs in sheer disappointment.

-"No one?"

No one responds, a few of them shrugging.

"It's San's birthday next week, and I have an idea for a present." Hongjoong closes the track for their current project and opens a new one, a new formation of beats presenting itself to the boys, but this time, with new instruments.

"This is called 'Celebrate', and I was thinking of recording this song for San's birthday. It's a simple idea, but it will have an element of everyone in the song." Hongjoong explains, playing the track before anyone says anything.

The song is unlike anything Hongjoong has created or recorded with the boys in the past couple months. They've recorded multiple tech-y and upbeat tracks, such as their favourites like 'Say My Name' and 'Wonderland', but this was very different. It has 'soul' written all over it, the vibe of the song feeling like a warm hug and a birthday cake. The occasional piano chords playing and the hints of brass in the background sounds like a perfect way to celebrate a happy birthday.

"This sounds cute." Yeosang points out, head swaying left and right, everyone mimicking the same action.

"I worked on this all of last night. I don't even think I got a wink of sleep in." Hongjoong explains, pausing it once the track finished.

-"Right team, we have 7 days to work on this. Think we can do it?"

The boys nod without a second thought, all of their faces written with adamance. San's birthday is about to be one he will never forget.