WE NEVER DATED ! — e. martin ᝰ.ᐟ
OO1. may zeus strike me down—
synopsis ; You and Martin were inseparable as kids. but ever since he got a girlfriend, you decide to put your feelings aside and cut him off, focusing on your own idol career.
But now that he's also debuted—meaning that you'll be seeing him often in the building, Martin refuses to stop bugging you he finally finds out why you ghosted him in the first place.
ss count ; 15 pictures
word count ; 1.17k+ words
warnings ; jokes about suicide and throwing up
MASTERLIST | PROLOGUE. | OO1. | OO2.
"You'll be fine, babe," Danielle soothes you as you walk with her to the practice room, her hand on the small of your back. "it'll just be like meeting an old friend."
Hanni suddenly scoffs as she walked in front of you two, turning away from her chat with the other two members to say, "Yeah, if that old friend had started prioritizing a girl they for only a few months rather than their friend since preschool."
You kicked her knee, making her legs buckle mid-walk. All the girls giggled as she looked back at you with pettiness.
The conversation ended there as you got close to the designated practice room, with your group's de facto leader, Minji, going in first.
"Hello, good morning!" is what you hear as she fully entered the mirror-covered room.
You went in 1 by 1, each of you bowing in respect. As the last in line, you hear the distant 'hi's' and 'hello's' of the boys you were expected to collab with getting louder as you make it to the door.
Once you make it into the practice room, you quickly scan the room, before quickly greeting them like your members did. You make eye contact with the eldest (the only reason you know being from Tik Tok), the boy bowing back as you smile back, before grazing your eyes at all of them, until you meet his.
You've only ever seen glimpses of him through the building, never wanting to see him one on one, it'd be too awkward for you. He was shorter last time you met him in person, but as you quickly give him a once-over, you notice how much he's changed, yet remained himself.
How much he's remained your Martin. The one you knew before. . . yeah.
You hold eye contact for only a few milliseconds before you break it, quickly eyeing your members, the girls giving you a smile of mischief.
The awkward tension of first meeting another group quickly breaks when one of the managers (presumably CORTIS') speaks, saying that they'd be doing a dance challenge as a whole first, then would split into duos and one trio.
You didn't complain, merely nodding in understanding as you whisper to Hyein's ear next to you, "I hope we get a trio together," with the girl grinning at you, showing you how her fingers were crossed in hope.
Being in your own world, it was unbeknownst to you that he'd been staring at you the entire time. Well, only until his boys had started chatting about who they wanted to pair up with, that was when he blinked away from your figure.
The dance challenge with both of the groups in one video was easy, more importantly, it was super exhilarating. The dance was a little tedious enough to break a small sweat, but it was fun nonetheless, all of the boys' screaming spurring your group to also enjoy and make noise.
You were all having fun, even after it finished, you guys were intermingling with one another and chatting while you watched the replay of the Tik Tok.
It was more fun that you thought.
Until it came to duo dance challenges.
That was when all the fun you were having quickly turned into unease.
Because when the managers decided that your groups had enough socializing with one another and decided to do the trio and duo challenges now, you were paired up with the one member you were actively hoping (AND PASSIVELY MANIFESTING) not trying to get paired with.
Martin.
The girls didn't want to seem obvious to the boy group (that being code word for MARTIN) like they knew something, so they just gave you a reserved smile, with Minji just shrugging and giving you a 'welp, you're on your own, babe' look.
Not wanting to cause a scene and say you want to switch partners, you swallow the complaint on your tongue and suck it up.
Each member walked up to their respective partner, with Martin walking up to you first.
"Hey," he smiled, almost taking another step closer, before catching himself, taking a step back, his hand taking refuge on the nape of his neck from the awkwardness. "Nice to meet you, er- again."
You knew what he was going to do.
A hug.
You always did that back then when you guys saw each other.
Back then.
"I— yeah. You too. . ." you say, bouncing on the balls of your feet, "So, are we going to do your guys' dance or my groups'?"
"Ours, I think?" he pulled out his phone, opening Tik Tok. "Do you need me to teach you how to do it or—"
"No, I think I got it, just a few tweaks, I think. The girls and I dance a lot to your songs."
"Oh, really?" the corner of his lips tug up, still trying to find their audio on the app. "We listen to your guys' songs too."
"Cool." you simply state. He doesn't reply, pausing his search on Tik Tok to look at you.
There it was again. The awkward silence.
That's what made you both laugh. And that was what made the weird wall of unfamiliarity melt, but only by a little.
When you guys practiced, you were satisfied to know that you could just turn your brain off and turn on your professional Idol mode, lasered in on getting the dance right.
"You've gotten better at dancing." he compliments when you both finish practicing, looking at Keonho and Hyein who were paired up together.
"And you've gotten taller."
"You did too, like a few inches. . . not really noticeable for me though, but I guess if you're next to others—"
The way you suddenly punch his arm cuts his insult off before he can even finish, the boy scoffing out a laugh, looking at the staff who didn't see it, before gazing back at you.
You gave him a look that showed that you weren't entirely offended, bur still pissed off. Then you huffed a laugh, a smirk trying to make its way to your face, turning your head away.
Martin rubbed at the spot where you had hit. Not to soothe the pain, but to try and feel the lingering touch where you had hit. Because it had meant you were comfortable.
Comfortable enough to do that.
Just like old times.
When it was your guys' time, it only took one take. But that one take consisted of something you didn't expect he'd do.
The timer counted down, the sound beeping in your ears as you ready yourself, until you were snapped out of it, Martin calling your name next to you.
"Do you remember our handshake?" he asks.
That caught you off-guard, but you knew what he was talking about.
The old one you guys had created when you were in sixth grade.
"Yeah," you nod, before tilting your head. "Why?"
"Perfect." is all he replies.
The phone starts recording before you can process what he says, your body instinctively going into Idol mode.
i wonder how many kpop idols be going thru the most heart wrenching situationships then have to go do 'i'm your puppy uwu' fanservice the next day. . . idk just a thought
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