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You can ask any staff member at KQ-entertainment, whether they deal directly with Ateez or not, they’d be able to tell you one thing: wooyoung is intense.
Not necessarily in the intimidating way. More in a way that he proves his presence in the room.
A lot of the staff would describe him as loud, assertive, intense, outgoing, energetic, funny, even a social butterfly.
But one thing they can all agree on? His possessiveness towards his members.
The surprising part is that it’s not even in a romantic sense!
The staff who work closely with Ateez know firsthand how protective the boy gets, especially over the shy members.
Nine years of friendship with yeosang really shows. Anyone who meets them even for a split second realizes how much of yeosang’s voice is translated through wooyoung.
What all that information leads to, is the amount of times Ateez dealt with some assholes and wooyoung was their loud presence.
An instance where he protected all of them, Unsurprisingly starts with yeosang.
He was timid, shy, and reserved. For heaven’s sake even he doesn’t know how he befriended wooyoung!
Sometimes when he really thinks about it, he thinks it must be one of those extroverts who adopt introverts trope he sometimes reads about.
They were just starting their ‘bouncy’ comeback training when protective wooyoung showed up.
With a new song, comes new choreography. And with new choreography comes a new substitute choreographer.
The moment the man entered the room, yeosang knew there was something off. With the way Wooyoung’s eyes narrowed? He must’ve felt it too.
“Good morning Ateez.” The man inclined his head towards them. Hongjoong stepped forward with seonghwa a step behind.
“Good morning, I’m ateez’s captain, Hongjoong” their captain bent at the waist out of respect. “Please take care of us.”
Standing so close to wooyoung he heard the quiet whispered scoff the younger let out. Glancing at him he could see the annoyance and discomfort radiating off him.
“It’s nice to meet you Hongjoong-ssi, I’m Kim chul, you can call me chul-nim” the creep extended his arm for a handshake. Yeosang could’ve sworn he saw Hongjoong hesitate. “Let's work well together, chul-nim. Please allow me to introduce the members” he dropped his hand and turned towards his kids and partner.
“This seonghwa, our oldest and the co-captain, our youngests Jongho, wooyoung ,and mingi” he gestured towards them. wooyoung, known for not being able to control his facial expressions, pursed his lips in distaste. Jongho, and Seonghwa bowed, while Mingi waved at the man.
The man’s eyes hardened when his eye met Wooyoung’s.
Yeosang took a deep breath to calm his nerves.
We are going to be fine. Why the hell am I stressing?
I’m blaming you wooyoung! Please behave.
“Next are, yunho our main dancer, San our lead vocalist, and yeosang our vocalist, rapper, performer, and visual.” The man’s eyes glistened weirdly. His fingers combing around his goatee.
The man hummed, before turning towards wooyoung. “What’s your position?”
Wooyoung’s eyes narrowed, “main dancer”.
“You submitted some dance ideas to your old choreographer, right?”
He crossed his arms “I did, I was told they were approved.”
“By your old choreographer, sure. By me? Not yet. Yeosang” he snapped his fingers toward him. Yeosang straightened before walking towards him.
“Show me the choreography.”
Yeosang gulped, okay voice please work “u-h we haven’t learned it yet chul-nim”
The man’s eyes narrowed, his mouth opened, but he’s interrupted,
“Well obviously we haven’t.” Wooyoung rolls his eyes, “I literally submitted it after the song was approved for the comeback, we are supposed to learn it these upcoming weeks” he waves his wrist nonchalantly.
Chul-nim looks appalled at the fact that he was interrupted in the first place. “Wooyoung-ssi, I don’t appreciate being interrupted”
“You were going to scold yeosang, and by extension us for something we are literally supposed to learn” he raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow.
The choreographer flushes, “I- I expect respect!”
“I don’t see how I was disrespectful, sir.” Wooyoung stands as poised as ever.
The man, flabbergasted, turns to the manager sitting near the speaker, “play the music” he gestures towards the members to stand in front of each other. “Th- the concept of your music video is a boxing match, isn’t it?”
They chorus a yes, mhm, and a yes, chul-nim.
“Excellent.” The man explains what they were supposed to do, and while the steps are not as complicated as yeosang expected, his nervousness causes him to stumble in his steps, multiple times. They’ve been at it for six hours straight already, the moment they ask for a five minute water break the man keeps huffing and scoffing. The members were not faring much better, they all kept messing up. Their heads jumbled with their shit schedules and training,
“Oh for god's sake! Are you sure you debuted with the right group?” The man yells towards one of the managers before turning towards yeosang.
His breath hitches in his throat.
Fuck, I keep messing up they should do the dance without me, I’m gonna ruin it for-
“And you!” He turns to Jongho “fucking coordinate with the other members!” He turns towards mingi “the fuck do you have your long ass legs for? Fucking work them right!” He turns to yunho “stop flailing your arms around, get the fucking choreography right for fucks sake!” towards seonghwa “it’s fucking enough you look like a girl, try not to fucking act like it” San was next “fucking be more aggressive! I don’t need a fucking teddy bear on stage”
He turns to Hongjoong “you call yourself a captain? Your members are fucking useless!”
“Hey! Who the hell do you think you’re yelling at?” Wooyoung was held back by Mingi, arms around his waist preventing him from pouncing onto the man, with Hongjoong and Seonghwa standing beside them, hands on Wooyoung’s shoulder.
“Young-ah” Seonghwa's voice warns the kid. Wooyoung shrugs his shoulders, effectively removing their hands.
“Youngie-ah '' diffuse, diffuse yeosang before the man loses his life.
Wooyoung’s eyes meet yeosang, and slightly calm down. “The disrespect” the creep shakes his head. Wooyoung’s snaps towards him, eyes narrowed. Then suddenly, he relaxes.
“Huh, I guess you are in a position to criticize.” The man freezes in his tracks.
“What?” He glares at wooyoung.
Said boy lifts his palm, and checks out his nails “well, you’re old, and gnarly. So obviously you can’t move the way we move, you’re bound to be jealous of our skill and talent”
The man’s face is bright red with either embarrassment, or rage. Yeosang is not so sure right now.
“You disrespectful little bitch! You and your mouth need to be put in their place! How dare you speak like that to your elder! You’re all useless! Talentless! How in the world you all debuted I can’t figure it out!” The man stalks towards Wooyoung, he’s slightly taller, so he towers over Wooyoung.
In reality, his height only fueled Wooyoung’s fire further, he stands on his tippy toes and nearly shoves his face into the man’s.
“Nah you’re just a sleazy old man with no talent, how the fuck you got the job as a choreographer beats me! You can barely control your emotions, I don’t think they took into account that you can’t control your limbs either.”
It was obvious to the members what he was doing. Goading him into getting physical.
The man’s arm raised and his palm met Wooyoung’s cheek with the most unforgiving sound. Gasps filled the dance room.
Wooyoung’s head snaps to the side.
Seonghwa rushes to Wooyoung, taking his head into his own palms and checking his face over. Eyes blazing as he glares at the man.
The man startles back when wooyoung starts to laugh. Turning towards him, his face colored with the widest grins.
“The next time you insult my members, you’ll do well to remember not to fuck around and find out, see you in court motherfucker” his middle finger raised in the man’s direction.
The manager, who left somewhere while it was getting heated, returns with two security guards. And they escort him out.
Wooyoung, obviously not done, turns to the manager “I’m taking him to court on assault charges, please let our manager and the CEO know.” The manager nods and fleets the room.
He heaves a deep sigh before turning towards the members.
They are all staring at him with awe. He blushes and scruffs his shoe against the floor. “Quit looking at me like that” he mumbles.
Hongjoong barks a laugh his arms uncrossing “ you’re so full of shit, how do you manage to be a demon and then a flustered mess in the span of five minutes?”
Wooyoung cheekily grins.” It’s a gift”
Yeosang can finally feel his legs moving, he falls against the shorter, “thank you” he whispers, “fuck, thank you wooyoung-ah”. His arms wrap around yeosang.
“Never thank me. Not for shit like this” yeosang’s eyes are not watering. Nope he shall deny it til his last breath.
“That was so brave youngie” Mingi's voice filtered through, everyone nodding in agreement. “And hot” San winks at him.
“Well I couldn’t just let him shit talk about our hard work. Only I get to do that, in secret, where Hongjoong isn’t listening.” He grins at them.
“No it’s not that, you protected us while putting yourself at risk.” Seonghwa shakes his head. “I don’t like that. Never do that again, I know why it was necessary. I’d rather you didn’t get hurt though” he thumbed at the forming bruise on his cheek.
“You’re such a mom” Wooyoung giggled, “I don’t care what they do or say about me, the second they get near you guys? It’s over for them.”
Hongjoongs firm voice breaks through. “Not at the expense of your health.” He stares intensely at wooyoung.
“Yeah wooyoung-hyung! We need you on this team” Jongho pretends to wrestle the air.
Yunho chuckles “Ateez has one protector, wooyoungie.” He ruffles said boy’s hair “in turn wooyoungie has seven protectors.”
“Nooooo, I protect all of you, I don't need protection” he flexes his bicep, trying to hide the blush coloring his cheeks.
San wraps him in a headlock, and they dive into a wrestling match.
Yeah they’ll be okay. They got each other.