Unexpected: Before Ateez

Chapter 4: News Articles and panic attacks

What was going on? And why now?

"Seonghwa? What's going on?" Yunho had come out of his room; his phone in hand with a worried look on his face. Slowly everyone else came out of their room, everyone but Hongjoong who was still sleeping soundly in his and Seonghwa's shared bedroom. The members all held similar looks on their faces; worry, concern, confusion. Who was targeting the young couple? And why?

"Is Hongjoong awake? Does he know?"

Seonghwa shook his head slowly, "no he doesn't know. And I want to keep it that way for as long as possible. Being pregnant shouldn't be stressful for him it's bad for the baby." Wooyoung; who sat on San's lap decided to speak up, "but someone is targeting us, specifically you and Hongjoong. So what he's trans? That doesn't mean we love him any less! He's still our captain." San nodded in agreement, "that's true, we'll have to tell the-" there was a knock at the door. "Uhm I got it." Mingi moved over to the door opening it, and in the doorway stood two staff members. "We need you all in the meeting hall, as soon as possible. Wake up Hongjoong."

Seonghwa nodded, "you guys go ahead. I'm gonna go wake up Hongjoong." As soon as Seonghwa turned he was met face to face with the boy in question, his eyes wide and full of tears. "What's going on?" His long hair was messy, sticking out from tossing and turning. "There's an emergency meeting, we all need to attend." Hongjoong only nodded, combing out his hair with his fingers. "Okay...let's go then?" The couple held hands as they walked down the hallway behind everyone else. Seonghwa had noticed Hongjoong's hands were a bit sweaty, and his face was a bit pale as well. Did he know? Had he known the whole time? "Are you-" , "I'm gonna be sick." Seonghwa quickly guided his boyfriend to the bathroom, pushing him over to the sink since they wouldn't make it to a stall.

Hongjoong gripped the sink as he dry heaved, clearly nothing in his stomach to bring up. Saliva dripped into the sink below; his hands were shaking, he was crying now. "What do they want?" So he did know, his panicked expression showed that. "Hey..breathe baby you gotta breathe..." Hongjoong breathed in, although it was shaky and a sob came with it, at least he was breathing and not fully panicking. "I just don't understand who would do this." , "that's what we're going to find out baby. I promise you no one will hurt you or our baby okay?" Hongjoong turned to look at Seonghwa, letting him pat his lips dry with a paper towel. "Okay, okay...I'm okay. I'll be okay. Let's go." Seonghwa pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead before they left the restroom, rejoining the others in the van.

•

At the company building Hongjoong felt the nerves bubbling up in his chest again. His breath caught in his throat; the atmosphere felt so tense and thick, even the other members had noticed the tension in the air. "Hongjoongie, are you okay?" Wooyoung asked with a worried look, their leader was pale. Very pale. "Just..fuck I'm so scared." Seonghwa rubbed his shoulder, trying to keep the boy as calm as possible. "Relax baby, you've got this relax." Hongjoong started to cry fully now, curse the pregnancy hormones. "I just want to keep our baby safe." Seonghwa had decided to carry him now, there was no way Hongjoong would walk into the meeting room in his condition. "I know, but stressing yourself out isn't good either baby." He frowned slightly, his eyes soft and laced with concern.

"He's right, you're gonna have a panic attack if you don't relax and calm down." Jongho looked just as worried, squeezing Yeosang's hand every few second to relieve his own stress. "I'm trying, I promise." Hongjoong mumbled into Seonghwa's shoulder, his hands shaking as he held onto his boyfriend tightly. Entering the meeting room wasn't easy for anyone. It was obvious the air was thick and laced with both disappointment and concern. "You all know why you're here yes?" Their CEO, Kyuwook had a blank expression. "Yes we do." Seonghwa swallowed hard, squeezing Hongjoong's had to keep the boy from panicking suddenly. "We all saw the articles; and we decided the best course of action is to of course take legal action. But there's one more thing, in regards to Hongjoong being transgender...we all already knew of course. We'd just like your permission to make that info public." Hongjoong only tensed more, the other members quickly chiming in. "He's already been outed, why confirm now? Shouldn't it have been made public before!?" It was Yeosang who'd spoken first, much to everyone's surprise. "He's right, in fact if Hongjoong has to be outed we all might as well be!"Mingi stood knocking over his chair, "Ateez, first openly queer male idol group!" Yunho nodded in agreement. All the members following suit made Hongjoong relax significantly, he had a whole group supporting him.

Kyuwook nodded; clearing his throat, "alright, that's settled then. I am very proud of you boys for supporting your leader like this." A few staff members shared disgusted looks, though most clapped showing their support. "Thank you so much." Seonghwa smiled widely, his eyes shining. Hongjoong couldn't help but blush, he couldn't believe he'd met the love of his life and father of his child at such a young age, but he couldn't be happier. "You boys are dismissed. Remember, dance practice tomorrow and then you boys are free for the weekend. Why don't you spend a weekend out of Seoul? Relax a little. We rented a home for you in the valley, you'll be staying there until Tuesday." The boys all shouted excitedly, a vacation to get away from all the stress. Especially after today they'd need it, after all..once their album was done they'd be a lot more busy preparing for its release. Leaving the building a few staff members asked to treat the boys to lunch, who would deny free food? Surely not Ateez.

Lunch went smoothly, Hongjoong eating a bit more than everyone else since he hadn't had an appetite. They'd order take out for dinner; Mingi and Yunho offering to pay since everyone else was saving up their money for their vacation. As soon as all eight boys were home San and Wooyoung collapsed to the couch; exhausted from the day they'd had, Jongho carried a sleeping Yeosang on his back, retiring to their room for a few hours, Seonghwa held Hongjoong's waist as they headed to the bathroom for a shower. "You feel better?" Seonghwa kissed the top of his head as he went to start the bath, his shirtless back to the younger.

"Yeah I'm okay. I'm feeling much better actually." Hongjoong removed his shirt, tossing it to the floor along with the pajama pants he'd already stripped off. "I'm proud of us, already leaving our mark before we even debut." Seonghwa nodded in agreement, taking off the rest of his clothes and sinking into the bath. "Indeed we are, and it's all thanks to you." Hongjoong removed his boxers, stepping into the bath between Seonghwa's legs and sinking down. "Yeah? I'm just a trans dude that's having a baby. No big deal." Seonghwa chuckled, rubbing the others stomach and kissing his shoulder. "It's a big deal to me."

The two relaxed in each others embrace, having a well deserved relaxing evening.

AN//: next chapter will be significantly longer as it's gonna be their trip in the valley! Please look forward to it.