Toy | Ateez

twelve: reflection

You sat solemnly in the living room, staring up at the ceiling and spacing out. The sound of chatting was heard from the kitchen across the room. Hongjoong and Mingi had been down here all day talking about their plans for a new song together. They both switched between checking each other's lyrics to laughing at stupid jokes. But as much as you felt they paid you no mind, you couldn't help but notice Hongjoong's eye shifting to you every so often.

Every time it happened you would just brush it off, continuing to look at every crease in the painted ceiling. There was a lot to think about, from re-evaluating your job to dwelling on your interaction with Wooyoung earlier that day. This was going to be hard for you to pull off. Especially since you weren't sure if you would feel guilty towards Yunho.

He was one of your closest friends, inseparable in every way. When you two met, you never really had feelings towards one another, only a mutual trust. You were both similar in your personalities, bright and cheery but serious when you needed to be. Yunho knew every part of your life as if it was his own. That fact had gotten you into a lot of trouble...cough cough.

After that night, things became weird. Yunho was more sweet to you than he had been in the past. He would bring you snacks and gifts from time to time. You didn't mind it, though. When you said you wanted ice cream, he would bring you a pint. When you said you wanted to buy a specific bracelet, he would buy it and give it to you.

These actions continued for maybe a month or two before you eventually yelled at him for spending too much money. But as cute as he was, you were always brought back to that night. Yunho was so gentle, so caring. He handled you like if he misplaced a finger you would chip. It made you blush every time you thought of it.

A few months passed and Yunho and you had hooked up again. You had decided to hang out at his dorm for the night when his roommate was out of town. The atmosphere eventually became heavy and your lips were drawn towards his. It was a very different experience, though. He was less gentle than he was before, grabbing you a bit more roughly and kissing you in ways that you knew would leave bruises. And that's how you eventually came to find out this was fun. Screwing your best friend would have been difficult in any other circumstance, but you two continued like this for the next couple of years.

As much as you thought it would affect your relationship, it barely made a dent. Yunho was still very playful and always bullied you whenever he could. But now, whenever he asked you to "come over and chill at his apartment" you never knew what would happen.

A smile drew across your lips as you dwelled on your past with Yunho. Your eyes were still transfixed on the ceiling, barely noticing when mingi began walking towards you. He stopped and stood over you in the chair, drawing your attention to him.

"Joong and I are gonna go drop by the studio and run some errands. Do you wanna tag along?" There was little emotion in his voice. His eyes peered down at you causing you to look away in order to avoid his strong gaze. You pretended to think for a moment before uttering a small "sure".

You saw Mingi hold back a smile then quickly return back to his cold facade. From the distance you heard Hongjoong hiss the word "yes" excitedly.

"We're gonna head out in a minute or two so grab whatever you need." He said, turning and making his way back to his seat beside Hongjoong. So with that, you proceeded to rise from your chair and look around the kitchen for your phone and wallet. Your eventually found them on the coffee table near the couch.

"It's a bit cold, so you might want to grab a jacket." Hongjoong flashed you a smile before throwing on a leather jacket. You nodded to him before realizing. You hadn't brought a jacket when you came yesterday. Crap. Yunho wouldn't mind if you borrowed one of his, so you quickly ran to his room and opened the door. He was lying on his bed and looked up at you as you entered.

"What's up?" He said, a puzzled look splaid on his face. You explained the situation to him and he sighed before looking back down at the phone in his hand. "At this point you should just take one of my jackets permanently, Y/N." You rolled her eyes and made your way to his closet. The door slid to the side as you were faced with one of the messiest closets you've ever seen. Everything had been shoved in hastily with clothes in every nook and cranny. So this is why his room always looks so clean.

You took a second to dig through all of the clothes, both hanging and thrown about, desperately trying to find a jacket that would look cute with your outfit. There was barely anything that wasn't a foul-smelling sweater or hoodie. Which meant you had to look harder if you wanted anything that was even slightly acceptable to wear outside. On the top shelf of his closet, you saw a few nicely folded jackets, but since the closet was Yunho sized, it meant that your fingers barely reached the edge.

"Your gonna make the self break off if you keep trying to hang on it."  and suddenly, two strong arms were latched around your waist. Before you could even process his actions, you were swiftly lifted into the air by the tallboy. You tried to work quickly in finding the jacket in order to make Yunho not strain himself by lifting another person. Though, in the back of your mind, you knew he was more than strong enough. Your eyes spotted the jacket then snatched it off of the self. Your feet hit the ground again as Yunho carefully brought you down. His arms didn't let go of your waist, though. He let out a deep sigh then rested his chin on the top of your head. "It's good to have you in the house, Y/N."

A rush of blood ran straight to your cheeks at his words. His warmth spread over you, almost lulling you to sleep in his arms. He then let his arms fall back to his sides and head lift off of yours. You turned back to him with an affectionate smile, holding the leather jacket tightly in your arms. He returned the smile and nodded his head towards the door, reminding you of the two boys patiently waiting downstairs.

You ran down the stairs, throwing your coat on in the process, and were met with both Hongjoong and Mingi waiting silently at the front door. Mingi has decided to change his outfit while you were upstairs and was now dressed in plaid pants, a black turtleneck, and a brown leather jacket. God, he looked gorgeous in anything he wore.

"You ready to go?" Mingi said. You nodded in reply. Hongjoong opened the door and ushered both of you out to the driveway. You all walked out to one of the cars and got in; Hongjoong in the driver's seat with you beside him, and Mingi sitting comfortably in the back.

During the ride to the first location, you talked quite a bit to the two boys. About their childhoods, their hobbies, how they met, honestly anything that would seem normal in polite conversation. Both the boys were quite talkative which helped to avoid awkward silence when an odd comment was made. They seemed very close, which seemed like a given due to the fact they had to spend a lot of time together writing lyrics, producing music, and helping each other to get better.

Eventually the topic shifted to how they started living in the house. They both had different reasons for living there. Mingi has been kicked out of his house after his second year of college and needed a place to stay that was close enough to the school and far enough from his family. Hongjoong, on the other hand, had moved their from out of town hoping to launch his career in music, which ended up being a lot harder than he had expected. Their stories gave you a taste for the different kinds of people that lived inside the house. It felt nice to finally get some sort of background to the house, besides the history of Yunho.

After that you all continued to chat about random topics until you made your way to a large shopping mall just a few miles from your house.