ATEEZ 9th Member AU

Kingdom: Legendary War: Elated

Nari and the rest are surprised by the results

"I think we murdered that," Nari said in between breaths. Their manager laughed at her as he handed her some water and went to unhook her mic pack. "You guys did amazing, I was blown away," he agreed and Nari smiled brightly, giving him a thumbs up.

"You did great, m'lady!" Wooyoung cheered, picking her up and spinning her around. Nari giggled and wiggled for him to put her down. "I hope it was enough to get at least fourth place,' she said and Wooyoung scoffed at her. "First place, easily." Nari rolled her eyes at him. Sometimes she truly didn't understand where he got all this confidence from.

"We gotta shoot for the stars," he said and she rolled her eyes again. "C'mon, let's go watch your best friend," she pushed him towards their waiting room. "Jealous that I like someone more than you?" He teased and she shook her head, ruffling his hair. "Yah!' He glared and she stuck her tongue out at him.

Settling comfortably in between Seonghwa's legs on the floor, he absentmindedly started to undo the braids in her hair. She leaned back a little more, closing her eyes. She loved when Seonghwa played with her hair. It was so relaxing. "You can't sleep yet! There's still 2 more performances!" Yeosang chided and Seonghwa told him to shut up.

Watching Stray Kids stage, she was truly entrapped in the whole storyline and everything that was going on. She could follow it easily and she even jumped a few times when Felix had come out with his deep voice and beating on the bell. "That's my friend!" Wooyoung cheered when Changbin popped on the TV screen and Nari snorted. Maybe she was a tad jealous that Wooyoung liked Changbin more.

Once everyone had finished, they were again holding their breath and waiting for the expert and group votes to be announced. They had gone through all of them and only the top two spots were left. Nari was astonished that they hadn't been called yet for any of the lower rankings. She gripped Yeosang's hand and he was squeezing hers back just as tight. She would have been happy just moving one spot ahead, but three or four? She didn't think that was possible.

"I'll announce first and second place at the same time," the host said and she again started chewing on her bottom lip. It was between them and Stray Kids and she didn't think there was anyway that they would outrank Stray Kids. Their performance had been powerful and had a clear storyline. Not that their's didn't, but she felt like the others had flowed more smoothly.

The results were on the screen and Nari gasped as she saw they were currently ranked number one out of all the six groups. Everyone clapped and she felt Hongjoong gently squeeze her shoulder before doing it for the other members. She felt so happy and wanted to just jump for joy and hug everyone for all the hard work they've been doing, but she had to contain herself for right now.

Back in the waiting room, she did jump on everyone. "We're first! We did it! We did it!" San chuckled as he wrapped an arm around her waist. "We did, but please stop jumping around. It's crowded in here and if you fall Hongjoong hyung is gonna have a fit." She smiled at him and patted his chest. "I'm just so happy!" San chuckled and nodded his head in agreement. "We did do really good."

She turned towards their manager. "Manager-nim!" She shouted and their manager cringed a little at how loud her voice was before turning around and facing her. "I told you we murdered that stage!" She winked and he chuckled. "I told you that you did amazing. There was no way you wouldn't have placed high."

Curled in her bunk that night, she still had the excitement flowing through her veins and she kept tossing and turning. The smile hadn't left her face since they had gotten the results and now her cheeks were sore but she didn't care. For the first time in a while she felt like their hard work had paid off.

"Can you stop moving you little worm!" Hongjoong hissed in the darkness and Nari rolled her eyes even though he couldn't see her. "We have an early day and I'd like to sleep." She mumbled a sorry into the darkness and willed herself to stay still. Closing her eyes, she silently prayed to thank whatever higher power there was for being on their side today.

She only hoped they could keep this momentum going for the next round.