ATEEZ 9th Member AU

Gang

Yeosang, Wooyoung, San and Jongho have Nari's back

Ever since the company had posted about legal action, a swarm of positive and inspiring comments had been pouring in on all of ATTEZ's social media. Most of them were directed towards Nari. She felt like she could breathe a little bit easier now.

They were running on only a few hours of sleep, bouncing from one schedule to another. They were waiting to perform on tonight's music show before having to jet over and film for Kingdom. Their performance ended and Nari and Wooyoung ran to grab drinks before they left for the next filming.

"I'm so tired. Maybe we should get energy drinks," Wooyoung whined. Nari sighed. She was exhausted too and honestly, chugging an energy drink or five right now would be a godsend. "We're almost done and then we can sleep," she hummed. That seemed to do nothing to silence his whining.

"C'mon, we gotta run back if we don't want them leaving without us. Don't drop anything." The two took off—without dropping anything—and were being rushed into the cars. At the filming site for Kingdom, Nari could tell her members were ready to drop. She jumped a little as someone wrapped their arm around her shoulders. She relaxed when she saw the mop of pink hair.

"Hey, you," she said with a tired smile. San only smiled back at her, eyes barely open. Her, San, Wooyoung, Yeosang and Jongho were in the back of the hallway, out of site and going over the choreography to make sure their tired brains would remember it all. Nari could feel stares on her but she ignored them. She was probably imaging things because she was so tired.

"Hold on," Yeosang's frustrated voice sounded. Nari glanced over at him and saw him glaring down the hallway. She followed the gaze to see a few staff members whispering about something. Maybe she wasn't imaging things at all. "Is there an issue?" Yeosang called out to the people who quickly apologized and scurried away.

"They were staring at you," he said to Nari and she only sighed, patting his shoulder. "It's fine, Yeo. I'm used to it. The stuff online hasn't exactly died down yet." He only shrugged. "That doesn't matter. You're not a damn animal. What happened to professionalism? I'm going to go talk to manager."

He walked away but Nari mustered up her energy to pounce on his back. "No! Stop! It's alright. Let's just focus on this." Yeosang shook her off and grumbled to himself but listened to her. 10 minutes later they were going through camera rehearsal. As they were watching the playback, Nari could feel San moving closer to her and Jongho stepping in front of her.

"Uh, guys? Can't really see." Jongho only slightly moved enough for her to see, but San stayed rooted to her side. "Let's run it one more time," a staff called out. They all went back to their positions when Wooyoung called out. "PD-nim, can you make sure the staff know where their eyes are supposed to be?"

Nari's mouth dropped and she noticed a few staff members shifting uncomfortably. They did their last run through, returning to their waiting room. "Why did you say that?!" Hongjoong scolded Wooyoung. "I don't know if any of you noticed but everyone seems to be looking Nari up and down like she's a damn piece of candy. It's not right. Someone needed to say something."

Nari groaned, sinking into her seat. She was really wishing she would have just kept her worries to herself. "Noona?" She opened her eyes to see Jongho holding out a water bottle. She took it and he sat next to her. "Is that why you were standing in front of me?" She asked.

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure one of them was trying to see down your shirt." Nari laid her head on his shoulder. "I wish you all would leave it alone. It's fine." Jongho snorted, shaking his head. "It's really not fine. I wish you'd stop saying that. You shouldn't have to walk around feeling like everyone's eyes are on you all the time. Let alone when we're working."

She sighed but stayed quiet. Jongho was right; she didn't like the feeling of being watched every where they went, but the damage was done. The outfit had been worn, people had said things and some people were just downright rude. "You know Hongjoong told manager the other day if he didn't switch the outfit and do something about the hate, we wouldn't come to the schedules?"

Jongho hummed, "kind of wishing he wouldn't have so we could be home sleeping. But good. I'm glad he did because after today, I was going to. I'm surprised Yeosang didn't explode. No sleep plus and angry Yeosang equals a volcano."

Nari chuckled, closing her eyes. "You're all crazy. Like a damn gang. Did you see how uncomfortable the staff was after Wooyoung called them out?" Jongho chuckled, "it was great. And we are a gang and you're a part of it. So, someone messes with you we mess with them. Without hands if possible. But hand use was close today." Nari laughed and closed her eyes. "Thank you all."

Jongho smiled, resting hishead on hers. "We have your back,noona. Always."