Ateez - The Idol Fantasy

Getting to know each other

"Do you know a lot of dance genres? Because you mixed a lot in here" Yunho asked the girl, as the choreo had piqued his interest. "Hmm, I really like mixing different genres...it makes something unique and fresh in my opinion. I do know ballet, modern, and hip-hop dance. But I might also use a random move from another genre because it just matches the music. For example, I learned to do some shuffling, which might seem random, but I loved doing it, it was so much fun!" MJ responded. "Show us pleaaaase!" Wooyoung asked in a cute voice and everyone agreed enthusiastically. "Ok ok, I will try to do it for you" she agreed and stood up from the floor, heading for the computer. "Do you remember Teen Top's "Rockin"?" she asked the boys and they all nodded yes. " I learned the shuffling moves from this song's choreo, so here it goes", she said and pressed play. 

The song started and she walked around the room, trying to hype up her crowd of 8 boys. Then, when the beat dropped, she started shuffling. Her feet moved quickly and it seemed as if they  barely touched the ground. The boys were ecstatic, yelling things like "yeahhh", "this is crazy", and "dancing machine for real". After dancing for a minute or so, she stopped and paused the music. "See, this is why I am not in a very good condition, I just danced for a minute and I'm already dead", she spoke out of breath and half-laughing. The boys clapped for her as they stood up and patted her back. "So cool!" Seonghwa said with a bright smile on his face. "You are really cool noona!" Wooyoung exclaimed.

She bowed and thanked everyone but hearing that word, she turned and looked at him in disbelief. "Am I already...a noona?" she said, a puzzled expression written all over her face. Hongjoong smacked Wooyoung on his arm "Yah, Wooyoung, be respectful." he scolded the younger one. Wooyoung bowed quickly "I'm so sorry, it just slipped!" he apologised in a hurry. MJ smiled, a small warm feeling starting to flicker inside her chest. "No, it's totally ok! Don't scold him, captain...I want all of us to be comfortable around each other! If noona was the first thing that came to your mind, then it means it was sincere, I really appreciate it Wooyoung!" she responded smiling at him. Jongho looked at her, raising an eyebrow "But you are still talking to us formally, even though we are younger..." he stated.

Speaking formally was almost like second nature to MJ, as she was afraid that Koreans might perceive her as rude, but also that was what her previous company taught her, to be formal with everyone because she was a foreigner. She didn't want to insult anyone by speaking informally, so it just stuck with her. However, seeing the maknae's adorable pout, she couldn't ignore his statement. "Well, I will stop using it if you all stop using it with me too." she simply stated.

The boys looked over at her, curiosity in their eyes. "Don't look at me like that! You know I'm not from here, so the whole Korean age thing is not something that I really understand. I mean, of course, you should be respectful to your elders, your teachers, your employers, and strangers, but it just feels weird if someone a year younger than me is treating me like an "elder". Like, what are our differences? I'm as dumb as you are, I have no wisdom or supremacy over you." she said, looking at their faces for any kind of reaction. 

(English speech)

Mingi was the one that spoke first "Oh, so like Western style! Yo, what's up my man?". Everyone laughed at the tall boy's goofiness. "Yo, bro wassup!  Also, back home in Greece when I was working, almost everyone talked to me informally, seniors, juniors, employers, even the customers, only a few were formal and polite. So yeah, it feels weird for me to talk formally to my friends" she further explained. "I understand what you mean" Hongjoong said with his hand on his chin as if he was analyzing what she said. "I really like it" Seonghwa said informally. "Ayyy Seonghwa good job" MJ praised him and high fived him. "Thank you noona!" Wooyoung followed up informally as well. "Nice Wooyoung-i!" she smiled at the boy and high fived him as well. "What the fuck is this..." San said whispering loud enough for her to hear it. She turned to look at the boy, her face a mixture of surprise and hurt upon hearing his words, but San had already averted his gaze, his back turned towards her and seemingly walking away.

Before this could escalate any further, Yunho suddenly yelled "I'm so hungry! Who's hungry?". She felt her stomach growling loudly. "I certainly am! Let's go eat some lunch!" MJ suggested. "Yeah, I'm hungry too!" Jongho quickly agreed. "Let's all go to the restaurant around the corner then, shall we?" Hongjoong looked around to see if everyone agreed. "Yeah, it really has some good food! But, MJ, can you handle spicy food?" Mingi said, a bit of worry evident in his voice. "Yeah, I think I can handle some spiciness" she reassured him. "Let's gooo!" Wooyoung shouted excitedly.

Arriving at the restaurant, MJ settled for whatever the boys suggested on the menu, finding it easier to just try a little bit of everything. While having a good time eating and chatting, getting to know each other more, she felt a knot forming in her stomach, along with a dark feeling inside her head. Starting to dissociate from the ongoing conversations, she abruptly stood up. "I'm going to the bathroom" she announced and left quickly from the table, as tears had already started to form in her eyes. Thankfully, the women's bathroom was empty and she went inside the furthest stall. 

"I hope I don't screw things up with them...they seem like really nice guys - well, maybe except San - but I don't want to get too attached, that's when all the shitty things happen..." she thought to herself and the tears started rolling down her cheeks. She cried, covering her mouth to not make any noise, the hot tears wetting her hands. "Why are you crying you dumb fuck?! Nothing is wrong, you were having a good time...Did that guy mess with your head, why are you acting like this now..." she scolded herself as she tried to suppress her crying and her feelings with logic. "You are having a good time with your nice co-workers, nothing wrong with that...you will keep your distance from them and nothing will happen. Nothing can happen". She wiped her tears and went outside the stall, towards the washbasins. Looking at herself in the mirror, she mouthed "You're pathetic" feeling the words stab her as if she deserved them. Washing her hands and face carefully, she took a few deep breaths and forced a smile on her face. 

Walking back to the table, MJ sat at her seat next to Yeosang and opposite San. Yeosang kept eating and she felt relieved, thinking that no one would notice her post-crying puffy eyes. Little did she know though, that San was staring at her and the moment she lifted her head from her food, their eyes met. Quickly looking away, she pretended to take a sip from her drink and continued eating.

"I hope he didn't see anything..."

A/N

:)