Paradigm | ATEEZ x Reader

CHAPTER ONE | BEGIN

The sky rests grey above as if it can't decide if it should snow or not. It's your senior year, and excitement and fear hum throughout the school as midterms and Christmas draw close. One week until Christmas break. One week until freedom. You smile at your feet, picking up the pace, hoping it would somehow make time move faster. You round the corner, stopping abruptly as you come face to face with the door to the AV room. You swing it open, and Wooyoung smiles, jogging over to you. He pulls you into a half hug, his other arm occupied by an entanglement of cords. "Just finishing up, Shortie. Did you still wanna come over later?" He says pulling away, heading back toward the studio stage.

"I already told you I was planning on going." Yeosang says, slightly agitated. "Oh, you were talking to her, weren't you..." He laughs awkwardly, realizing his mistake. Scooching over, he pats the stage step he's sitting on.

"So, what do ya got for me now?" You ask, taking a seat beside him. You'd been trying to get him to work on his editing skills, and you, as head editor, are his mentor of sorts. "Dang, he's pulling out the big stops, I mean look at that CG explosion! Not to mention the Comic Sans captioning...and is that Word Art?" You laugh, twinging slightly when you see him look down. "Hey, at least you didn't use Curlz MT."

"I knew I shouldn't have put so much in it, but I–"

"I'm just messing with you. Lighten up a bit. Editing should be fun, a ton of work, but fun work." You reassure him and hit play on the video again.

"Yeah...I know... I just...get stressed, that's all."

"Yes, Yeo, we are all aware of that stick you've got up that ass of yours." Wooyoung chimes in as the door opens once again. In comes the beloved anchors of the Edgewater morning announcements, Yunho and Jongho.

"Whose ass are you going on about now?" Yunho says, shaking his head, throwing his backpack on an empty desk before sliding into a chair.

"Wouldn't you like to know. Hos, so nice of you to join us." Wooyoung replies with a smile. He leans over Yunho's desk, along with Jongho, the three of them reading the script for their recording.

"I told you to stop calling us that." Jongho says, making a face.

"It's okay to have impostor syndrome. One day you might actually be a real ho." Wooyoung retorts, cocking his head with a smirk.

"Wooyoung, stop poking the bear. Jongho, we all respect your fear of women...but we have a broadcast to record, so let's get to it." Yunho says, standing up and heading for the desk on the stage. Jongho rolls his eyes, following after reluctantly. Wooyoung positions himself behind the camera while you and Yeosang mess around with the mics and lighting. Once perfected, Yeosang walks in front of the camera, clapperboard in hand.

"Morning announcements, Tuesday, December nineteenth. Action." Yeosang says, snapping the top down.

"Good morning, Edgewater High. We got a lot of news incoming as we head into winter break. As always, I'm your host, Yunho."

"And I'm Jongho."

"And we are here to bring you the latest and greatest in Edgewater High news." Yunho smiles, folding his fingers, leaning towards Jongho slightly.

"As many of you know, Mrs. Thompson has been missing from everyone's favorite English class for the past few days. We are happy to announce that her leave of absence has been due to the much anticipated birth of her fifth child, Radley Thompson. So, a big congratulations from Edgewater High to you Mrs. Thompson." Jongho concludes, shifting his attention to Yunho.

"Next on this morning's news, I know I'm excited about this one. You'll be happy to hear that strawberry milk is back for the rest of this week in the cafeteria. It can be purchased–" Yunho is cut off abruptly by the shutting of the AV room door. Not expecting any more of the crew to be there, you all turn your gaze to the culprit. There, with an apologetic look on his face, stands a small boy.