The compass that guides - Ateez spanking stories

thoughts for days: 2019 (eden & hongjoong)

Written for day 7 of Spanktember 2023. I decided to use an alternative prompt - "Warning swats".

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Eden called him in to record his rap verse late that afternoon, Hongjoong was already feeling like a very old computer trying to run too many programs at once. There were a few dozen things he had to remember to ask one or other member of staff, the suggestions for their first series of stage outfits that their manager wanted the groups' feedback on by this evening, the new choreography they'd learnt this afternoon which he had to keep running over in his mind every half an hour or so in fear of forgetting something. Not to mention the heated argument at least two thirds of his members had gotten in, at lunch, which Hongjoong still hadn't quite gotten to the bottom of and which meant a long family meeting tonight at the dorm. A hundred and one things, all of them pressing and important, squeezing themselves into every corner of Hongjoong's brain until he felt like a metro train at rush hour.

It should have been no surprise, therefore, that he made Eden very irritated very quickly.

"Hongjoong-ah, you're behind the beat. Try again, from the top."

Hongjoong bowed at the observation window, squeezing his hands over the large headphones in an attempt to get himself to focus. The instrumentals started up again, giving him about two bars of an intro. He managed to finish his verse this time, but Eden still looked unsatisfied.

"You stayed on the beat, but now you sound like you're reading the morning newspaper. Put some pizzazz into it, for goodness' sake. Like this."

He did a few bars of Hongjoong's verse, pausing to emphasis the parts he wanted Hongjoong to do differently.

Hongjoong nodded along, but at the back of his mind he was making a mental note that he had to tell the stylist about getting Yeosang pants that wouldn't chafe his sensitive skin.

"Understand?" Eden asked.

"Yes, seonsaengnim," Hongjoong said, instinctively. His ears were starting to sweat, and he absent-mindedly pushed a finger beneath the earphones to scratch at the damp hair around his left ear.

"Good. Let's try again. I'll give you a bit of a longer intro, this time."

Hongjoong leaned closer to the mic, moving his head in time with the beat. The fight this afternoon had something to do with Wooyoung saying something to Mingi at dance practice and Yunho taking offence to that, although Hongjoong hadn't yet been able to persuade anyone to tell him exactly what was said. Something horrible likely, as poor Wooyoung tended to get exceedingly waspish the more nervous he got.

"Hongjoong-ah," an irritated voice said in his ear, "come out."

Hongjoong realised belatedly that he had completely missed his queue, this time, and that Eden was glaring daggers at him through the observation window. Swallowing dryly, he hung up the headphones. He exited the recording booth, shuffled around to the door that led to the producing room and entered there hesitantly.

Eden had rolled back from the desk on his wheeled chair, and he beckoned Hongjoong closer with an impatient gesture. "Come here."

Hongjoong rushed forward to stand in front of him, his head bowed and his hands clasped together. Eden didn't seem to be mollified by his respectful posture.

"You're wasting my time," he said sternly. "You're wasting your own time and your wasting the time of everybody else whose recording schedule we'll have to change if you don't finish within your own schedule. I'm not asking a lot of you, Hongjoong-ah. You just need to concentrate for ten freaking minutes and then we'll be done."