fever | ateez lore story

PART III: ONE DAY AT A TIME

the watcher

Mingi steps out his house in the morning, expecting to see a familiar face. To his disappointment, Yunho's still nowhere to be found - looks like he's on his own, again. Ever since his brother's death, Yunho's been MIA, like he's dropped from the face of the Earth.

Mingi takes the usual route to school, expecting to see Min-J and them lot just around the corner. To his relief, the rails they dominated before remain empty, giving Mingi the continuing freedom to walk without feeling provoked. He has not seen Min-J on his way to school, or on school grounds since the incident, and he doesnt know whether to feel relieved or guilty. After all, he did mess with the wrong person.

---

Hongjoong joins the rest at the lunch table, doing his little headcount and still finding one missing.

"Nothing from Yunho?" he asks sullen. Everyone pulls out their phones, shaking their heads. Each of them messaged Yunho, whether it was condolences or a check-up. He has not responded, nor read any of them. The boys eat their lunch in silence, not one of them finding anything to discuss. So much has happened the past couple of weeks, and it has not passed them yet.

Being so induced in their food, they dont realise Min-J approaching (his first appearance to them in a while), all on his own, his fingers picking at his cuticles. He hesitates to speak upon seeing Mingi, but he does so anyway.

-"Hey."

Everyones head rises, so in sync, it makes Min-J flinch. He clears his throat as their eyes settle on him, staring at him like a predator to its prey, ready to tear him up if he makes the wrong move.

"I-I just wanna ask about Yunho." he begins. Most of the boys turn back, nothing being said, but Mingi says exactly what they want to say.

-"What's it to you? Didn't you lay you hands on him not long ago?"

Min-J can't help but feel the guilt rise to his cheeks, the situation now more awkward than before.

"I apologised for it already...personally. Besides, I know what it's like to lose a brother. I just...wanted to see if I could help." he offers, this side of him so foreign, it throws all of them off guard. Mingi parts his lips to speak, but Hongjoong is one step ahead of him.

-"He hasn't responded to us, yet, but we appreciate your offer, Min-J."

Min-J nods shortly, pressing his lips into a thin line and returning to his table. Mingi's eyes dart to them, analysing the situation. Strangely enough, all of them look worried.

"It's so strange seeing that douchebag being nice." Wooyoung grumbles, watching as Min-J and his group discuss quietly with concerned expressions on their faces, before a few of their eyes look over at Wooyoung for a second. He creases when San's elbow digs into his ribs, causing him to almost choke on his food.

"They can hear you, you know?" San whispers urgently, Seonghwa patting Wooyoung's back gently as he calms down. Yeosang only laughs at the pair of them.

"That was the plan~" Wooyoung sings.

"Stop being so grudgy about it before you become their next target." Jongho warns, throwing bits of corn into the collar of Wooyoung school shirt. He shakes his shirt with panic, feeling those bits of corn cold against his stomach.

"Yah! You got it in my shirt!" he whines, frantically untucking the shirt and standing, shaking it around until the bits of corn drop to the floor.

"That was the plan~" Jongho parrots, singing it in the same way Wooyoung did not a minute ago. The joke causes the rest of the table to burst into a fit of laughter, something they haven't done in a while.

---

Yunho's footsteps echo as he enters the empty garage holding all of him and his brothers memories; a drum set, a piano, a couple of guitars mounted on the wall, a single mic in its stand and noise isolation tiles plastered on random places of the walls (Gunho couldn't be bothered to do it properly). As he enters further, the setting sun beams through the unopened windows, casting a sad, yet, beautiful, golden glow that lights up the room, hitting Yunho perfectly in the face. He looks towards it, his tears catching the light.

"Can't leave me alone, can you?" he chuckles weakily, watching as the sun darkens into a deep sleep. He circles the musical equipment, repeating the same, yet, untrue sentence in his head; "it's all my fault. "

Since his brother's passing, Yunho can't help but blame himself. The more he thought about it, the more his encouragement and his brother's death started to connect. He thinks that, should he of not encouraged his brother to move companies across the city, the crash wouldn't of happened. Should be of answered his phone when his brother called, and be home before his brother left, even just that second of an interaction would've prevented the train from hitting Gunho's car. At one point, he blamed Mingi for causing such a racket, which led to him missing his brother's call, but he can't bring himself to be mad at someone who didn't know the future would look like this.

He approaches a guitar laying lifeless on the floor, still connected to the amp, but not on. He can suddenly picture his brother sitting on the amp, strumming the strings so effortlessly, like a born musician. He was rarely envious of his brothers talent in music, he only wished to be like him one day.

Be like him...one day.

"I'll never replace you. But I will finish the dream you began." He insists, picking up the guitar and switching on the amp. He sits atop of it, the same way his brother did, and begins playing, his fingers picking naturally at the strings. He sings a familiar melody; the song his brother sang to him when he had his first stress episode;

When it's, overwhelming, hold on tight,

I'll be here, dont forget it

Cause in life sometimes we, need a, helping hand

You'll be alright, just, take it slow..

His tears come in hot and consistent, drenching the strings of the guitar and the carpet below. He can hear his brother singing with him, his voice golden like a sleeping sun outside. He thinks about the lyrics; "you'll be alright, just, take it slow..." He doesn't think he will be. He just wants this pain to go, to end. He wants to become successful immediately, to finally succeed in his brothers dream. "Face it." he thinks. This dream-catching stage of him will take a while.

"Just take it slow..." he sings once more, feeling a wave of calmness come over him. The first he's felt in a little long while.

"One day at a time."