fever | ateez lore story

CH 16

the watcher

The students congregate in the classroom, everyone somehow unconsciously divided up in groups around the room. Hongjoong and the others crowd around near the bookshelves, Yunho stealing glances towards Min-J and his group positioned next to window who make rude and unnecessary comments about the football below. Yeosang looks down at his watch, his foot tapping nervously against the wooden floorboards. Mingi hasn't turned up yet, and they're all thinking about what could've happened - he's usually earlier than this.

Suddenly, the class door slides open with a bang, the attention in the room shifting over to a fuming Mingi, steaming with anger. The chatter dies down as he walks in slowly, his eyes glued to Min-J and Min-J only, as if he was the only one in the room. His heels thud, the suspense in his presence increasing with every step. Instead of heading over to Hongjoong and the others, he makes a B-line to his enemy and the group, Mingi towering over the other one.

"You pussied away from me and thought it was a good idea to target my friends, eh? Bold decision." He mumbles, not loud enough for the class to hear, but for Min-J to know exactly what he's saying. With that, Min-J lets out a breathy laugh, wiping his nose with his thumb.

"I wanted to find out other ways to mess with you, Song. I never pussied away from you, I just wanted to know you." he responds with a smug smile on his face. Mingi glances towards his friends, and leans into Min-J until his lips park next to his ear.

-"If you're that desperate to know me; abandoned warehouse, after school today. I'll show you who you really messed with."

He straightens up and walks off, his broad, hard shoulder purposely bumping against Min-Js in passing, and he makes his way over to his friends who stare at him with either utter worry or confusion. Wooyoung quickly turns to glance at Min-J and slowly leans into Mingi.

"What did you say to him?" usually Wooyoung would have a twang of amusement in his voice, trying to lighten whatever situation he found himself in. However, Wooyoungs voice was deep with concern, his eyes hoping that Mingi didnt pull a stupid move that could get him in trouble.

Mingi doesnt even look at Wooyoung as he responds; "nothing important."

Yunho feels his hands ball into fists, his head swarming the possibility that Mingi is doing the one thing he asked him not to do. Hongjoong is thinking that same thing, too. No matter how many times they try to talk Mingi out of doing stupid shit, it'll enter one ear and exit the other. There is no way to get through to the mind of someone who values revenge.

---

Yunho and Mingi leave the room after math class, Yunho being his casual, golden-retriever self, whilst Mingi is lost in thought, his face dead with no expression.

"You wanna crash Jonghos basketball practice after school today? I've been trying to get him to teach me how to play after his teammates have been gushing to me about my height." Yunho suggests, skipping lightly as his hair bounces on his head. He looks over at his sullen friend, knowing for a fact Mingi did not listen to a word he said. Mingi's eyes are glued to his shoes as they take slow steps, one hesitant foot in front of the other. Yunho sighs, lightly bumping his shoulder against Mingi's.

"You're ugly if you sulk like that." he comments, watching as his friend whips his head up and stares at him with a dead-pan expression. Yunho's smile falls, and silence comes between them. Not once has he made a silly joke and Mingi hasn't at least small-smiled at it. This whole situation with Min-J really must have pulled the wrong string in him.

"Mingi, I dont know what you're thinking right now, but whatever it is needs to stop. You'll gain nothing from trying to get revenge. What does it mean in the end, anyway? You'll just get yourself expelled." Yunho tries to convince Mingi, knowing full well what storms inside his best friends mind.

"Mm." Mingi hums, completely neglecting Yunhos advice. Yunho's eyes scan Mingi's face for any sign of acknowledgement, and when he doesn't find any, he sighs, face falling into annoyance.

Hes never going to get through to him, is he?

-"Yunho! Mingi!"

A distant voice calls from the end of the hallway, and Mingi and Yunho look up to see San, their chemistry buddy, making his way over. He weaves his way through the crowd of students, before hitting shoulders with the one and only person he wished not to interact with.

"Watch where youre going, village boy." Min-J says, shoving San into a group of girls who were trying to innocently walk to their next class. They gasp, eyeing San as they pass by before chatting amongst themselves.

"S-sorry."San mumbles, fixing his backpack, his face flushing red with embarrassment. Before he knows it, his tie is grabbed and undone, all within a split second to which he doesn't even register.

"Lay off him you little shit." Mingi suddenly breaks in and pushes Min-J into the wall behind, the smug smile growing on his face.

-"Well, look who it is. Got a soft spot for the outlier here, Song? Hey buddy," Min-J turns to San; "This is the city, and its not place for a simple home-hopper like yo-" his sentence is cut-off by a large blow to his stomach, Min-J stumbling back into the wall he fell into not long ago.

"Don't make me stitch you lips shut." Mingi threatens, grabbing a fistful of his school shirt in his hand. An eruption of gasps and exclamations echo across the hallway, everyone stopping and watching the scene unfold.

"Mingi!" Yunho yells, prying his friend off the enemy. When he manages to release the angry boy from his prey, he pulls him and San away, and before Mingi could clamber over back to Min-J, Yunho's strength prevents him from doing so.

"See you there later, Song!" he calls after them, Yunho dragging them away like children. Once they get far enough, Yunho helps San straighten out his uniform, his eyes dart to Mingi, a tint of resentment behind them.

-"See you there later, Song?' What is he talking about?"

The interrogative makes Mingi nervous - he was intending for none of them to find out what he and Min-J were going to do. His lips press together like magnets, not a single response to Yunho's question. Yunho rolls his eyes and sighs, fixing up the last bit of San's tie before all of them head to chemistry, not a word of what happened exchanged.