Burnt Skies | Stray Kids 9th Member (Hwang Minaki)

Naki Asking For Hugs (Chan)

A/N: So, like I said, I'm indecisive. That's why I'm doing this series. Don't worry, the best moments will be on the way too.

Keep in mind that Naki absolutely HATES unannounced physical contact, and she doesn't like feeling like a burden, so asking for what most people consider a simple thing (by that I mean a hug) is really hard for her (and me ;-;).

Naki was NOT having a good day. Or a good week. Or maybe even a good month.

When she was in dance practice, she kept getting distracted and messing up, which had resulted in a harsh scolding from the teacher. When she was practicing vocals, her voice cracked on the same note three times in a row, which was incredibly annoying above all else. Then, she was practicing her rap in one of their songs and just couldn't get the timing right no matter how hard she tried! And this had all been happening for the past few days!

The worst part was that these were all things she was supposed to be good at.

Leave alone Stray Kids and JYPE, Minaki was widely known as one of the best dancers in the entire Kpop industry. She was also known as the Vocal Queen of Kpop. Her rap was like the female counterpart of Changbin's (which made sense because Changbin was the one who mostly ended up teaching her). She was supposed to be THE ACE. She was meant to be perfect.

It was a lot of pressure when you thought about it.

But that pressure didn't matter. Minaki had been under pressure before. When she was constantly beaten while living with her uncle, when she was struggling with her Korean in the survival show, when she was being harassed by netizens, other trainees, and JYP himself about being the only girl in the group, when she was eliminated, when she was brought back with Minho, and countless other times as well.

The last straw was today, when Minaki lost a game of Mario Kart to Felix.

She never lost Mario Kart. Never.

Forget Mario Kart, she never lost any game whatsoever. What was happening to her?

Now, Minaki was dragging her feet through the halls, doing her best not to cry. She was on a quest to find Chan just because she wanted to. She didn't have a real reason to find him. At the moment, she was looking for his studio. He would obviously be there, since he wasn't in the twelve other places that Minaki checked.

It was kind of funny, honestly. Six years in a place and Naki still couldn't find her way around easily.

Finally, when she reached the studio, she sighed and knocked on the door. When Chan opened it, she forced a smile and waved.

"Hey, Minnie," Chan said, smiling at the younger girl. "What do you need?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to see you. Can I come in?" Naki asked.

Chan nodded and moved back to his seat. Naki closed the door and sat down on the couch behind him with a small huff. She stared at Chan's screen, watching as he worked. Minaki wouldn't have understood a second of what he was doing if it weren't for him and Jisung. Of course, Changbin helped too, but she only really became friends with him after she proved that not all girls were total softies that were only fit to sing about flowers and high school crushes and puppies.

She finally realized that Chan could see her dejected face and attempted to brighten up a little bit. That was the last sign Chan needed to realize something was wrong. He spun around in his chair.

"You okay, darling?" Chan questioned. "You don't seem like you're feeling very good. And you were messing up a lot with your dance earlier. And your vocals. And your rap... pretty much everything. Are you okay?"

Minaki mustered the best, most convincing smile she could. "I'm completely fine! Why would you think anything's wrong?"

"I can see right through you, Mikaela."

"Okay, maybe I've been having a bad week. Maybe I have a headache, maybe I tripped over my own feet, maybe my voice cracked, maybe my rapping isn't perfect. Maybe I feel pressured, but it's nothing I haven't felt before. I can handle it," Minaki argued, on the verge of ranting. The tears that she had been pushing down for over a week now threatened to spill over.

"Sweetheart, it's okay," Chan said gently. "You'll be fine."

A tear slipped out. "Can I-" she choked out. She was about to give up on what she was trying to say, but Chan was looking at her so sweetly that it felt wrong not to ask. "Can I have a hug, oppa?"

Chan looked pretty shocked. Minaki was the kind of person to jump away if you tapped her shoulder. She rarely asked for hugs.

"You don't have to, it's fine, I-"

"I'm gonna hug you, okay?" Chan said, giving her a simple warning before wrapping his arms around the younger female and pulling her into his lap. Naki was hesitant for a split second, but hugged back almost immediately. "I'm so sorry you had to go through all this alone, love." Naki sniffled slightly. "It's okay, baby. I'm here for you."