Wanted ||| Ateez

8

May was right. Joe had managed to give her one of the worst looking bruises she had ever had. It hurt too. She wondered if he had managed to sprain it a little... She did her best to cover it, but thankfully she had the morning off, so she just hid in her room, trying to come up with ways to finish her mission quickly.

Why is it so hard to get him alone? ... Because if you're the last person they see him with they will automatically suspect you, so you can't just waltz up to him and say 'Hey! Let's go for a walk!'

May slapped her hand to her face. And now you're having conversations with yourself. Great. You're losing it May.

She sifted through her paperwork again, always hoping to find something, but by now she knew she wouldn't. She had all of their profiles memorized. It was just becoming a habit and a time waster going through them.

When early afternoon came, there was a knock on her door. Hongjoong was standing outside bouncing on the balls of his feet. "It's time to head to the venue! Are you ready?"

"Yup!" May said, feigning excitement. She followed him to the front of the hotel and onto the buses. She sat up front, by herself, staring out the window. Why do I have a feeling something bad is going to happen? ... Stop being so stupid, of course something bad is going to happen. You're supposed to MAKE something happen.

May groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger.

"Alice! Alice!" She heard San's voice calling from behind her. She turned in her seat and smiled as he waved at her. "It's our first concert in your home!" He was so happy as he bounced up and down, she felt her smile go from forced to genuine. "Do you think a lot of people will be there?"

"I'm not sure. It is LA though, so I'd be surprised if there wasn't."

Everyone exchanged excited looks.

When they arrived, everyone was ushered to the back rooms to start getting ready. May made sure she looked presentable, but her arm was so noticeable she had to wear her jacket. She kept fussing with it and cursing under her breath.

Then she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to see Wooyoung smiling and tilting his head slightly. "Here." He took her arm and pushed up her jacket sleeve. Then he pulled out some foundation and rubbed it gently over the bruise. When he was done, it was hardly even noticeable.

"Thank you." May said quietly.

He beamed and then skipped over to wrap his arms around San's stomach. The taller patted his arms and smiled at him in the mirror.

May watched them for a long moment, then made a note in her book. Wooyoung/San – Couple?

She watched as Seonghwa walked around with a camera, asking the others what they were feeling right now. May ducked to the side whenever he got close to her, not wanting to be filmed.

Then, it was showtime.

May couldn't help but be impressed by their powerful moves on stage. Their expressions were icing on the cake too. The screaming girls were another story... but she eventually learned to block them out.

She found herself moving to the beat of the songs, if she could even call it that, seeing as she couldn't dance to save her life. Their passion was so contagious. They really love what they do... Idiot, stop it. No, no, no, no.

Sighing, she let her head fall back to stare at the ceiling while they went through two more songs. The lights went out, then came back on, lighting up the room with bright white lights.

May sat up and turned on her microphone. She stared at the stage and waited. The boys did the best they could to introduce themselves in English, but when it came to longer statements, May did the best she could to translate for them. They were very patient, and so was the audience, as May spoke.

She could feel herself blushing a little if there was a personal story or if the boys said something 'gushy' to the fans, and she had to keep herself from shaking her head when the girls screamed.

She had to admit though, she thought it was really cool that they took a large chunk out of their performance to interact with the fans. She found herself smiling when they would play with each other and she laughed quietly when they teased Seonghwa and Yeosang when they got shy.

At the very end, they surprised her again. After their bows they thanked their crew, their manager, and then they said a special thank you to her. They all turned and waved, beaming. May felt herself going red again as she went to stand and bow quickly.

When they left the stage, she stood and followed the other crew members to the back of the building. The energy was at an all-time high as they celebrated the success of their first concert of their first tour.

Hongjoong ran over to May when he saw her and pulled her into the center, "Alice! We couldn't have done this without you!"

She squealed when Yunho and Mingi picked her up to sit on their shoulders. "Oh, put me down you big oafs!" she cried out, but started laughing at the same time.

They celebrated the entire ride back to the hotel, and even took it into Wooyoung and Jongho's room. Since they had the entire floor to themselves, they could still be a little crazy.

May took advantage of the chaos food arriving brought to slip into her room to report in. She had to work really hard to keep her tone under control. She could still feel the adrenaline coursing through her body.

After her call, she slipped back into the other room and was mobbed by San and Wooyoung, both trying to get her to eat what they had ordered. San won, causing the younger to cry out and swing May away from them so he could be sure to feed her next.

She had to be careful not to choke from laughing so hard. She felt a hand pat her back and saw Jongho watching Yunho waving his arms in circles.

She couldn't remember the last time she had fun like this. In fact, she didn't think she had ever had this much fun...

---

The next few cities in the States passed in very much the same way. They didn't have a lot of time to site-see, but they took a lot of pictures from their bus.

When they reached New York, May was finally able to show off some of her knowledge. It was one of the few cities she had been able to visit, even though it was for a mission, she still knew some things about it.

The night after their concert, they made a point to visit Time Square. She loved the look of wonder that crossed their faces and she got a lot of pictures of them staring up at all the lights.

"What is your favorite thing about New York?" Seonghwa said, coming to stand next to her.

May hummed. "I don't know if I really have one. I guess I like the fact that you could get lost here if you wanted to. Disappear. Become a new person..."

"Is that what you want?" He looked down at her.

"Huh?" Stupid, stupid, stupid... "Oh, no. I'm actually quite content right now." She smiled at him and walked away. Well, that wasn't a total lie. I am happy, being here with them. May smiled as she looked down at the ground.

"Tick tock." A deep voice said next to her.

May spun in a circle, looking for the source, but there were so many people moving around her she became disoriented.

"Times running out."

Someone pushed her to the side, knocking her into a stream of people.

"I hope you're ready."

May tried to get out of the crowd. She felt her chest tightening.

"He's not happy."

I can't break free. Where am I? Where are they?

"Tick tock."