Mists of Celeste - an Ateez Fanfic

act one ➻ part 10.5

"Watch your step," Seonghwa says as you follow him through tall double doors. Despite his warning, you still manage to catch your foot on the edge of the threshold. You don't fall to the ground – a miracle honestly – but the embarrassment still causes heat to rise in your cheeks. Seonghwa doesn't make matters any better by turning to smirk at your clumsy actions out the corner of his eye. "I said watch your step."

"And I said no," you bite back through the embarrassment. Seonghwa laughs through his nose, waiting for you to pass him before tapping away at the keypad beside the door. It slides shut, and you glare down at the offending piece of threshold that caused you to stumble.

"Are you gonna shoot it for offending you, princess?"

"Might shoot you for the hell of it, pretty boy." You shift your glare to the tall Lieutenant, who maintains the cheeky grin on his lips even as you bore daggers into his head with your eyes. "Where are we anyway?"

"This is our training room. Shooting range, punching bags, sparring court." Seonghwa motions around the room, pointing to each thing as he mentions them, and you follow the line of his fingers.

"And we're here because...?"

"You're so impatient, princess. At least let a man finish before you interrupt."

"Your mouth wasn't even open," you retort through a scoff.

"I was thinking about what to say."

"That doesn't count."

"Well be quiet so I can explain."

You purse your lips, tongue darting out to run over the front of your teeth. Seonghwa seems pleased by your silence though, and a satisfied smile covers his lips before he continues to speak.

"We're here to spar."

"Oh, is that your definition of a good time?"

"If we were going by my definition of a good time, we'd be in my room."

"I-I – we-well. Right. Yea. R-Right." His less than wholesome remark comes out of left field, and you certainly weren't expecting it in the slightest. You can't stop yourself from getting flustered. Seonghwa chuckles again, letting his tongue toy at the corner of his lips before he speaks again.

"Sparring, because you need to work on your strength if you wanna use that pretty little trigger arm again. Yunho said physical therapy. Have you been doing it?"

"I've been doing stretches and stuff..." You trail off. You avoid Seonghwa's gaze, but it betrays the fact that you have not actually been doing much to strengthen your arm. For which you blame no one but yourself, because, in all honesty, you would have gone to Yunho sooner if not for the lingering awkwardness of your slight argument not too long ago. Which no one knows about as far as you know, but you certainly aren't planning on making it table talk.

"Right, mhm, stretches – or lack thereof – aren't going to cut it." Seonghwa moves away from you and prompts you to follow him, which you do albeit with no shortage of hesitance. He guides you over to one of the walls, opening a small cabinet to pull out a small roll of white gauze. "Wrap your palms and wrists. We'll start on the punching bags before I kick your ass."

"Kick my ass? Those are fighting words, Lieutenant."

"I guess you'll just have to prove me wrong then, no?" He tosses the roll of gauze over to you, one brow raised high. You catch it with ease but keep your glare on the man as you wrap the material around your palms and wrists. "have you ever done anything like this?"

"Of course I have. You think they just teach us to shoot in the military?"

"You never know. I was looking forward to teaching you a thing or two though. Damn, maybe we can do that if we ever get to try out my definition of a good time. I'm sure I can teach you a lot of things there."