You're the One

-12- The Party

It wasn't a long drive before they came to the apartment building owned by KQ Entertainment, where Ateez where hosting tonight's party.

House parties were tolerated by the record labels in the k-pop industry. They preferred them to band members going unsupervised out to clubs and bars, worried about scandals or rumors. Ideally they would like to see the house parties be held with just people from the same record label, but different competitions, game shows and collaborations led to friendships forming regardless of which company the youngsters belonged to. The managers pretended to not know about the private socialization, and the artists kept their part of the bargain, by not talking about such events in front of them.

"How does it feel to enter the enemy's headquarters? Wooyoung greeted them as they entered Ateez' apartment. Changbin just scoffed at his friend. "Enemy? You guys aren't even competition. Remember Kingdom?" Wooyong grabbed hit chest like he was mortally wounded. "Auch! That hurts, man." Bang Chan put his hand on Chanbin's shoulder and addressed the black and white haired boy in front om him. "We're very happy to be here. Where is your captain?"

Before Wooyoung could answer, Hongjoong appeared out of no where. "Chan hyeong! You're finally here. We're so happy you could make it tonight." Chan hugged the leader of Ateez with a big grin on his face. "Thank you for inviting us, Hongjoong. But let's drop the honorifics. Chan is just fine." Hongjoong waved for them all to come inside. "If you insist, Chan. But we have some of our trainees here tonight – don't let them get away with anything! They are mischievous enough as it is." Chan could definite sympathize with the struggles of holding kids in line, so he chuckled at the other's request. "You can teach them good manners another day. Tonight we'll teach them how to party, yeah?" With that they spread out, hugging their friends from EQ Entertainment and greeting the new faces.

Soon everyone was offered beverages and Chan started on his first beer of the evening. The music was good, and he appreciated catching up with Hongjoong and Yunho especially. From time to time he would get a glimpse of Felix. When the young Aussie had emerged from his pre-party with the other three in their apartment, Chan had thought Felix looked good. But it was a polished, nearly professional look. He had covered up his freckles, witch Chan simply loved. The outfit however was not at all professional, and Chan was secretly very happy about that. The see-trough shirt was tormenting Chan whenever he saw Felix, letting him se nearly everything. He wanted to bite one of those nipples. Chan shook his head and tried to concentrate on the conversation again.

After a while Changbin and Wooyong went over to the improvised dance floor at the other end of the big living room. Hongjoong had explained that the trainees had agreed to store some of the apartment's furniture in their dorm rooms, so they had more room for the evening's main event.

Changbin took the microphone connected to the sound system, while Wooyong grinned a devilish grin. "OK, people. We are going to have a dance competition tonight! I'm Lovey..." the short king said. "And I'm Dovey!" Wooyong continued. Half the people in the living room groaned and the other half snickered.

"The winning team of the dance competition will get honor and bragging rights for the rest of the year. The losers will have to clean up after the party tomorrow at noon. The rules are simple:" Changbin turned to his partner in crime with a cute face. "We have made a mix track of Ateez and Stray Kids songs. We begin with a Stray Kids song, since they are our honored guests, and a member of Stray Kids will show the correct choreography. Then the music will loop and a challenger from Ateez will not only copy, but slay the dance moves." This was met with a lot of cheers and trash talk. Everyone was getting excited and a few people were already a bit tipsy from drinking.

"Ey! Ey! Ey!" Changbin's loud voice pierced trough the noise and everyone settled down a bit. He continued: "Then we will continue with a Ateez song and so on, until we have a winner. Choosing a winner will be a group decision, so play nice. When a dancer finishes, he can choose the next competitor for the other team." Wooyong leaned over and took Cangbin's microphone from him. "And you won't be needing this anymore, because as MC Dovey I choose you as the first contestant from Stray Kids." Everyone knew Changbin was a good dancer, but laughter erupted at his shocked look of betrayal. "So that's how it's going to be, huh? Then good luck with doing Double Knot after me, because you're next." And like that the grin was wiped off the taller's face.