cam🧘🏼‍♀️ (a.k.a park woojoo’s sock)

finger joint egg roll :)

[camsahamnidaa]

Hello, this is…𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐬𝐚𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐧𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐚!

CORTIS stan, the strongest there is :)

English is NAWT my 1st language, y’all see it coming? Fics boutta be good :)

MY FICS/ MASTERLIST : • EDWARDS MARTIN — HEART IS YOURS, DESPITE THE BLUES. mostly written + a bit of smau! ennemies to best friends to lovers! angst! fluff! crack! slowburn! reader’s and martin are a bit bitchy in the beginning! cursing! over 50k potential words!

REQUESTS : • Y’all can ask me anything, I’ll probably make a fic about it :) Be it one shots, social media aus, or multi chapter stories, I’m in for anything ! 💓

[camsahamnidaa]

— EDWARDS MARTIN HEART IS YOURS, DESPITE THE BLUES.

CHAPTER 5!

TAGS: idol!martin x nonidol!reader | ennemies to bestfriends to lovers | slowburn I pure angst | lots of humor! | reader is bsf with Cortis! | fluff I kissing, cuddling, crying in each others arms DOWNBAD!Martin!

IN WHICH... Blackmailing a K-pop idol was never part of the plan. Neither was spending weeks hanging around his studio, arguing over sneakers, or accidentally becoming friends with all of his members. It was supposed to be simple: keep his secret, admire his sneaker collection, steal a tiny comeback spoiler, and leave.

Alas, Y/N finds herself caught between Martin and the secrets he refuses to share. As their friendship deepens, so do the cracks beneath the surface- late-night arguments, quieter confessions, and feelings that absolutely weren't part of the deal progressively mish-mash their bond. They might definitely just be in way over their heads...

— Y’all they’re almost done dissing eo everytime Y/N speaks 🧘🏼‍♀️

< PREVIOUS PART | NEXT PART →

Those were the words she’d woken up to. A great beginning of the day, if you’d ask her.

Now, once she was indeed, in Dongmyo, she didn’t have the slightest idea where she was supposed to go.

It’s that, firstly, she still had difficulties believing what was happening to her in the first place. She’d secured free access to every CORTIS event in one afternoon, and she couldn’t fathom it. Never, in the world, would she have imagined her flea in Korea to begin like this.

She was beyond grateful. She knew she probably didn’t deserve it, but hey, these boys seemed to like her for some reason, and even their manager found himself forced to be nice to her. It contented her, though the exception of Martin still bothered her.

Because here was the thing: she was okay with mostly everything. He’d also been a real piece of shit to her the day before, but she’d let it slide. Since she’d been overly disrespectful some days ago, she just let it go. Except he’d decided to ruin the slightest peace of introspection she’d worked to pursue during this horrible week that was the last.

He’d insulted her on the spot, and she profoundly didn’t understand why. Because, sure, she could be provocative, but not so suddenly, not so aggravatingly. Perhaps the guy was tormented by something already, and he just caught the slightest bit of aggression and turned it into a championship of who insulted the best to ease his mind? That, she would’ve wanted to know, because now, she found herself despising Martin even more.

Anyway, now, with all of these thoughts going in her head, and the lack of clearer information as to where exactly she was supposed to head in Dongmyo, she was genuinely lost.

She’d just have to wander in the street, she guessed, since there was no way she’d text this hell of a Martin again, if he was this aggressive to her.

This time, she wasn’t wearing Isabel Marants anymore. She’d changed her style into a cute little outfit, a white cardigan with a bow and a dangly skirt loosing on her legs. She’d opted for boots today, because one little gold belt loop was sprawled on her left foot, and it matched the tons of jewelry she’d decided to wear for the occasion. She’d might as well take advantage of it.

As she wandered in the streets, her phone vibrated in her pocket, and she immediately opened it, briefly hoping it’d be more information from Martin, as to where the fuck their van and equipment for the performance was.

Instead, she found a Weverse notification.

At that, she laughed.

Of course, they wouldn’t have said he’d been the jackiest jackass in history, and that’s what had made him react this violently.

A bee? Seriously?

It was ridiculous. Would’ve been much more realistic to just admit that Martin had been accidentally aggressive towards one of his fan, because he was tired or something. Though she perhaps believed the second justification, she’d never accept it being somewhat accidental. He’d clearly bashed on her for a minute, just like she did in that alleyway.

And the explanation for Y/N being dragged into this bloody waiting room? A panic attack?

That was even more ridiculous.

She grimaced as she kept waking, when she suddenly heard whispers on the street corner.

And there they were.

She’d thanked the gods for finding them, when it looked objectively mildly impossible. She’d even had troubles believing Dongmyo appeared to be this small.

From a distance, she could only see Seonghyeon and Martin laughing together, while throwing pocky balls at each other in some sort of a game, which Martin definitely seemed to be losing at. James and Juhoon were sprawled inside of a car’s trunk, playing with some basketball and talking calmly to each other. Keonho was busy being fed by some girl from the staff, as it was pretty obvious his hands weren’t really apt enough for him to feed himself alone.

Seeing these five made her smile. Not that she’d admit it, because she’d never declare to herself that she’d grinned at the sight of Martin finally glimpsing a smile. Well, she’d seen him smile a lot, but it was only online, and she’d never actually witnessed its impact in real life.

Not that it had some sort of an impact, though.

It just felt comfortable to see these boys, acting exactly the same as how they did during vlogs. For some reason, it felt new, fresh, human.

Everyone was used to idols being fake. Maybe not in their will, mostly the companies’, she’d say. But nowadays, they always seemed too energetic, or their bond didn’t look that strong, and you could feel their media training right on the spot.

That, she didn’t feel when she saw them from this distance. And for that she felt somewhat relieved. Comforted. Maybe even on the same page as them, as if they weren’t idols.

So she stepped forward, without the slightest doubt in mind. Her boots squeaked on the ground, leather ruffling against her skin, and the noise immediately attracted the staff’s eyes.

The whole CORTIS staff had settled in this little street, which looked very much non-inhabited, therefore perfect for an international-wide known group to prepare for their surprise performance. About four vans were parked around a walkable area, where chairs and transportable tables were scattered for makeup. Racks of clothes were already stacked in front of some trunks, already half empty, since the members were already dressed.

Every time Y/N took a step forward, she’d hear a bit more of their voices overlapping. She could mostly hear Seonghyeon’s grave, low voice, accompanied by Martin’s bubbly and childish laugh. When she looked at them, they were both smiling, so hard that their eyes were no longer visible.

Those two are true best friends, she’d thought, after remembering how they’d dreamed of entering the same group since they were twelve.

When she finally took her last step and settled between the two boys, she immediately saw Martin’s smile disappear in the span of a fraction of a second.

“You could’ve given me more information, damn.” She muttered, addressing to the blonde. “I almost got lost because of your bullshit “come to Dongmyo”. Ugh, so unnecessary.”

“Well I didn’t want you here, you douchebag.” He immediately responded. “Is that enough of an explanation?”

She sighed profoundly, while they eyed each other hesitantly for a second. She then turned to his friend with a grin.

“Hello, Seonghyeon. You look nice!” She smiled fondly.

“Ahhh, thank you!” He laughed shyly, as Juhoon, James and Keonho appeared. “I really like your outfit.”

“Hey, Y/N! You’re here already?” James asked as he bowed slightly, which she immediately returned as another bow.

“Nah, remember when manager-nim told us he wanted her to know our attendances? He insisted that she could be backstage whenever she wanted.” Juhoon stated, while looking very intently at his friends, on the exception of Martin. “You know, thought she could know more about the group…” He made his eyes even bigger to make his members get the thing.

Well, duh, obviously, he was referencing to the UNhate operation.

“Ooohhh… Right! Right…” Keonho replied as he thought slowly.

“Hey, Y/N. Are you interested in like… seeing our sneakers like, today?” James suddenly asked, with a big smile on his face.

At that, Y/N gasped. It was so unexpected.

“Uh… Isn’t it early? Don’t you have a full schedule?” She demanded with a shy smile.

Not that she didn’t want it, but doing this technically meant entering in their dorm, and she didn’t really know if she’d allow herself to do something this intrusive, after knowing them for a day? Sure, she’d been privileged ever since their manager’s proposal, but that went far.

“Schedule’s in the studio anyway! And our shoes are ALLL in the studio…” Juhoon muttered, clearly dragging the word studio.

“What, you’d let me barge into your studio?” She exclaimed in disbelief. “Man, are you guys serious? Stop playing with me.”

“Yeah. Exactly. Stop playing with her.” Martin interrupted in a serious tone. “She is NOT going into my studio. EVER.”

“It’s our studio, dumbass. Not yours.” Seonghyeon murmured.

“Yes it IS! The fuck. I bought it with my own money—”

“Is it the money you get for your fanservice?” Y/N asked innocently.

“You better shut the fuck up right now, you scumbag.” He immediately jolted back.

“Why does every insult you ever try to say end with bag—”

“Martin, just because you’re a beat genius or whatever doesn’t mean the studio’s only yours.” James admitted. “Not everything belongs to little Martin.”

“Whatever.” He contented himself to respond, and started playing with his dangling bracelet.

“Anyway…” Keonho kept going. “We could even like… Make you listen to some of our songs—“

“No, THAT! I WILL NOT ACCEPT IT! NO! Who the fuck is she to take this much space compared to me, bro?”

“Martin, it’s this or you’re fired, what do you like better?”

“Whatever. I won’t go.” He grumbled.

“I don’t think so. We’re scheduled to be in the studio all afternoon after the surprise concert. You can’t not go.” Seonghyeon declared.

“I’ll just sit outside the door and take my laptop, then.”

“Okay. Now you’re just being dramatic.”

“Dramatic? EXCUSE ME?!” He exclaimed in disbelief. “You weren’t there when she INSULTED my whole generational tree! You did NOT witness when she accused me of having the HOOKS onto her when she’s beyond ANNOYING and UGLY! And you certainly didn’t see how PROVOCATIVE she sounded when we were in that fansign—”

“What’s happening here— Hey! Hey, hey.” A voice suddenly came from Y/N’s shoulder. “Calm down, little Martin. What’s going on?”

Martin stared at his manager with desperation, preparing what he wanted to complain about, but Juhoon talked before he could speak.

“Well. We were just proposing to Y/N if she perhaps… Wanted to visit our studio.” He declared, looking at his manager with extreme attention, trying to catch a glimpse of realization in his eyes. “We’d like to show her our shoes.”

Fact was, they did not have any pairs of shoes in the studio. Of course not, who even would? Well, except for Martin, who practically lived back there. But even so, the manager caught the flick, and he immediately saw a great opportunity for Martin and Y/N to be alone.

“Yeah, what’s the problem? Isn’t it good? You could even play her some songs.” He replied, entirely conscious of how everyone in the room, apart from the two bickery-duo, had an idea in mind.

“Except I don’t want her to hear MY songs.” Martin then declared with a grumpy-ish tone. “I don’t want her to see MY shoes. And certainly not MY studio.”

“C’mon, my Martin. You’re gonna have to make an effort if you want the girl to keep your job safe.”

“Well, then, she might as well get me cancelled? I don’t care. I don’t wanna speak to her.”

“Wow. You really ARE an asshole.” Y/N proclaimed, stunned by his childish behavior. “Acting like everything’s owed by you, and everyone owes you everything.”

Well, moments like this made her remember how, after all, he was an eighteen year old kid. Dumb and loud, and egoistical. And surprisingly handsome, though she’d never, even in her brightest dreams, admit such a statement.

“And you’re annoying.” He replied blankly.

“What a great sense of retort, Martin! Really, totally on the spot.”

“Okay, stop. You two shut it. You guys shouldn’t even be talking about things like this when we’re performing in less than an hour.” The manager finally declared seriously, turning the conversation back into what really mattered : the surprise public concert.

“Right, yeah.” Keonho muttered, a bit disappointed to stop this endless fight, which he found pretty entertaining.

“I’ll need you guys to go get your makeup done. And then just hair real quick, doesn’t have to be fancy. We’re CORTIS, not some prince looking group or something.”

“Okay, but.” James cut out, still processing. “Can we just plan what we do after that? With Y/N, I mean.”

“Oh, yeah.”

“Well, do I go to you studio or not?” She asked, hesitantly. “Look, I really don’t wanna disturb, and I know it sounds weird for me to go—”

“Hey, we’re literally the ones who proposed. C’mon.” Seonghyeon smiled fondly.

“Who’s we again? Bruh.” Martin sighed.

“Okay, then, what do you say, you just come back here when the show’s done?” The manager demanded to Y/N. “We won’t move from here anyway. After this ends, we’ll head straight back to the studio.”

“Okay, sure! I’ll do that!”

“And then we’ll talk sneakers. Wait, your boots are amazing today too—”

“James, I’m sorry, but we don’t have time for this right now.” The man declared. “You’ll talk about this in the van, okay?”

“Well, then. Good luck, guys!” Y/N exclaimed with a proud smile. “I’ll be watching!” She opened her bag and waved her ticket paper in hand.

“See you!” They all said in unison, before scattering on the makeup establishments a few meters away.

Now, there was only Martin left, still playing with his annoying bracelet. He was preparing himself to get makeup on, when she suddenly interrupted him.

“What’s the exact location of the concert?”

He looked briefly at her, avoiding her gaze and trying to act as nonchalantly and indifferent as possible.

“Don’t know. Don’t wanna tell u anyway.”

“Pff, you’re genuinely such a pain in the ass, Martin.”

“Too bad. I don’t give a fuck.” And he started walking, his back facing her as he rolled his eyes.

“Try not to make the bee sting swell too much when you perform!” She then screamed at a distance, referencing to this ridiculous notice she’d read before.

He simply offered her the sluttiest middle finger she’d seen, without even looking at her.

Now, she hated him even, even more.

•••

The performance turned out to be, in fact, very good. A bunch of oldies in their sixties, adults leaving work or teenagers passing by were watching, to the biggest surprise of Y/N.

The stage was located right in front of a huge gorilla building, and she genuinely didn’t really understand why.

She’d followed the group’s staff to find their location, yet it was practically impossible the ignore their presence and attraction from other people. As soon as she started walking with them, other people were drawn into the movement, and what started as a simple line because a tsunami of people following the team, waiting for them to stop and perform.

The performance itself was really good. What got into Y/N’s mind is how the members interacted with the people on the street. Despite them not being ultimate fans, as the performance occurred in the street, they’d give them presents and play with their hands for fun. One toddler even got a plushie from Keonho, and he looked as delighted as when his mother saw him born.

The song was also really good. It felt new, refreshing, not even kpop-like. She’d hated to admit it, but Martin’s long verse had given her a reaction. Not that the other members’ weren’t good, she just thought the lyrics matched CORTIS very well in the second verse.

They’d played it two or three times, before performing REDRED, since the crowd requested it. They’d ended their show by bowing, all smiles and giggles, and now was the time to go back to their sort of backstage establishment.

That, Y/N thought, was going to be difficult.

Because here’s the thing : a regular fan doesn’t care as to where they stand in a crowd for an artist. And the artist can’t properly go if they don’t swim underneath that wave of people. Put in a hundred of fans, and it really wasn’t that big for CORTIS, and it was practically impossible for them to even step a foot inside of that crowd.

“What do you say, we hold all of your hands to pass through that crowd?” Martin screamed into the mic, a big smile on his face.

Y/N was in front of that crowd too, at the far corner, and she rolled her eyes as much as she could after what he said. A nearby fan saw her and glared at her, and she immediately turned around from the embarrassment.

Well, yes. She was the only one here who knew. She’d seen how much of a different person he really was. At least, he was with her.

Of course, a regular fan didn’t know he was capable of insulting someone hard like he did with her. Of screaming until his lungs were out of breath. And yet, he’d done it, with her only. That, she didn’t understand why.

The group passed with difficulty through the crowd, all smiles and laughter, as some fans were screaming their name and practically crying from the adrenaline. At that, Y/N immediately started walking too, and followed the group from behind.

Wow, she looked like a real creep right now, she thought.

A few bodyguards were down the street, surely to avoid fans to get in the way and followed CORTIS. She immediately opened her eyes, wondering how she’d manage to confirm her identity. Surely these bodyguards didn’t know of her… Privilege?

She still couldn’t imagine. How privileged she was.

At this point, I can even be a piece of shit again, if the staff is this afraid and gives me this much access. She thought.

Well, obviously, she’d never voluntarily do it. She genuinely adored the group and their music, and the manager seemed to be very admirable too. She wouldn’t do that.

She kept walking, seeing the group from a distance, but blocked by this wall of bodyguards.

“CORTISui jig-won-isingayo?” A bodyguard asked.

Well, obviously, they had to be Koreans.

“Huh…” She muttered ignorantly.

“I don’t think you’re allowed to go this way.” One of them stated, in English this time.

“It is strictly unauthorized for people who aren’t part of CORTIS’ staff.” Another declared.

“I know… It’s just that—”

“MYUNG-JAE-YA!” A voice cut out her explanation. “SHE’S WITH US, LET HER COME!”

She lifted her eyes behind these body guards and saw, to her biggest surprise, Martin.

Well, considering his height, he wasn’t really difficult to notice, even when three enormous men blocked the path. In fact, they were smaller than he was, and it made the whole situation somewhat enjoyable.

“Thank you, I guess.” She murmured so he wouldn’t hear, and kept walking, this time past the bodyguards.

It’s that, it may have been the first time he’d actually been somewhat nice to her. Somewhat, for this gesture was definitely not something to be awarded for.

When she arrived at a short distance from the staff and their vans, Keonho and James immediately startled her, by running to her.

“Noona! How was the performance?”

“Loved it. You guys should do this more often!” She exclaimed with a smile.

“Did you notice I did Juicy J’s verse?”!

“Keonho, she was there. Of course she noticed.” James muttered.

Juhoon and Seonghyeon arrived in a haste, after briefly exchanging glances with their manager, who observed the interaction from a distance.

“AYO!” Seonghyeon said while jogging. “Isn’t it time for sneakers?”

“Wow, so fast in the day? You guys are still out of breath from the performance!” She laughed and looked briefly at her left for a moment.

She didn’t mean to look. Obviously.

But there he was, when her gaze drifted from the conversation.

He was on a camping chair, seeming way too small for his silhouette and genuinely uncomfortable. His laptop’s light reflected his hazel eyes, and she genuinely wished she didn’t find them incredibly attractive at the moment. Time to time, he’d close them for a second, and open his eyes again with difficulty. He looked exhausted, yet, he kept working on his music directly after performing.

A staff member arrived at his side, carrying a bottle of water. He didn’t see her, way too focused on his work, and she gently taped his shoulder for him to notice her. At that, he lightly jolted before smiling deeply at her, little crinkles forming under his tired eyes. He bowed politely before taking the bottle, taking her hands in his in a grateful gesture.

Why doesn’t he smile at me like that? She thought.

But then, she quickly realized he had every reason to hate her, and she had absolutely no reason to envy this staff woman.

Not that she’d envied her. Obviously.

“Third album.” James muttered, looking at Y/N.

She drifted her gaze back to the group in less than a second.

“Excuse me?”

“He’s working on the third album.” He repeated.

“Ahh, yeah. Figured.”

“Do you wanna hear the first song of the album?” The manager suddenly asked with a grin on his face.

A sudden noise came from Y/N’s mouth as she gently wiped sweat from her forehead.

“WHAT THE FUCK?! ARE YOU GUYS CRAZY?!”

“Yo, if you’re gonna be here backstage and during our events, you might as well just know everything on the spot.” Juhoon laughed, extremely satisfied that their operation seemed to be going well.

They had everything planned. Last night, during dinner, they’d discuss about it. Without Martin, obviously.

They’d decided on inviting her to their studio, on the very first day, since it was an impeccable occasion. Their code word was, as expected, studio. If one of the boys said it, then everyone had to convince Y/N to come to HYBE, and eventually get a spoiler.

Great plan, wasn’t it?

“But that’s CRAZY?! Y’all cannot be serious…” She whispered to herself, still trying to process the statement. “What the fuck?! I wouldn’t even allow myself to get to know such a thing! As a coer, I mean.”

“Except now, you’re not really a coer anymore, are you?” The manager asked.

“What? Because of Martin?”

“Well, yes… But I’m counting you as part of the staff right now. Now that we’re at it, you could even help us.”

“What are you implying here, sir?”

“I don’t know. My kids seem to like your style a lot, don’t you, boys?”

“Yes! Yes!” James exclaimed. “Where are your shoes from, by the way?”

“Huhhh… It’s from Number (N)ine, I think.”

“See?” The manager smiled. “Honestly, we wouldn’t mind another hand in the styling team.”

“Man, I’m eighteen. I won’t work for you.” She laughed bitterly.

“No, no. But… You could just help if you’re there.” Seonghyeon proclaimed, hands in the air.

“Whatever I guess. I could help.” She shrugged, with a big smile on her face. “Oh, but I’m NOT getting a spoiler. That’s for sure.”

“Oh… C’mon…” The manager muttered.

“Plus, Martin doesn’t want to. He might be a butthole, he’s still your leader.” She declared. “He decides, right?”

At that, James and Juhoon stared at each other for a second.

We’re definitely spoiling her. They thought at the same time. Maybe not today, but we are.

Which is why they both responded :

“Sure.”

“Sure!”

“Anyway, what matters is that you guys all get along! I love that energy.” The manager exclaimed, very aware of what was to come too.

“Anyway… Let’s go?” Keonho suddenly asked. “To the studio, I mean.”

“Right, the shoeeesss!” Y/N laughed at Keonho with a mischievous grin, which he automatically gave back.

“MARTIN! ILI WA!” Seonghyeon then shouted in Korean over Y/N’s shoulder. “Uri studiolo gal geoya!”

At that, Martin rose from his chair and immediately closed his laptop, putting his stuff into his pocket and under his shoulder.

“Comin’.” He muttered under his breath with a shy smile.

And that is how Y/N ended up entering CORTIS’ private van, right to their studio.

Did she know, she’d be falling asleep on her brand new enemy’s chest?

Surely she didn’t, otherwise she’d have just gotten him cancelled.

[camsahamnidaa]

OKAY NOW IM DEFENDING MARTIN 💔💔 I PROMISE YALL, HES GONNA IMPROVE TOO 💔💔💔 HES JUST NERVOUS BECAUSE HE LIKES HER

[camsahamnidaa]

CHAP 3 AND 4 OF —MARTIN EDWARDS, HEART IS YOURS, DESPITE THE BLUES ARE OUT YAAAALL 💓💓💓 AND MY GIRL Y/N IS NOT A BITCH ANYMORE

[camsahamnidaa]

— EDWARDS MARTIN HEART IS YOURS, DESPITE THE BLUES.

CHAPTER 4!

TAGS: idol!martin x nonidol!reader | ennemies to bestfriends to lovers | slowburn | pure angst | lots of humor! | reader is bsf with Cortis! | fluff I kissing, cuddling, crying in each others arms DOWNBAD!Martin!

IN WHICH... Blackmailing a K-pop idol was never part of the plan. Neither was spending weeks hanging around his studio, arguing over sneakers, or accidentally becoming friends with all of his members. It was supposed to be simple: keep his secret, admire his sneaker collection, steal a tiny comeback spoiler, and leave.

Alas, Y/N finds herself caught between Martin and the secrets he refuses to share. As their friendship deepens, so do the cracks beneath the surface- late-night arguments, quieter confessions, and feelings that absolutely weren't part of the deal progressively mish-mash their bond. They might definitely just be in way over their heads...

— YALL I COOKED WITH THIS CHAPTER! I LIKE IT SO MUCH, YOU ARE SOOO GONNA LOVE IT! 💓💓

< PREVIOUS PART I NEXT PART →

She must’ve waited for about an hour before they’d finally arrived. She’d played on her phone, still both disappointed in herself, and upset about Martin being so aggressive to her for whatever reason there existed.

Well, she’d admit, she hadn’t been much of a good one, when she sat on that table. Neither was she nice to him in that small alleyway, the week before.

But, seriously, didn’t she have every right to?

Not really, she’d admit. She’d been a real piece of shit.

She’d felt betrayed. Deeply compromised. She’d known Martin online as the ray of sunshine of his group, except now he smoked — did he? was it important? — and turned into the evilest snake when he was near Y/N.

To be honest, the vape itself wasn’t even that big of a deal, she thought. She’d always been against it for some reason, maybe because of her dad, her mom, whatever. She’d always hated it, hated them. Technically speaking, she’d been more of a bitch towards her parents than him, when she spit on Martin earlier, and last week. Seeing that vape in his hand wasn’t that deep, but it was seeing her family at his place that upset her.

Because she’d seen a lot of her acquaintances holding such things in their hands, putting them into their mouth, and suffering for life because of them. Maybe that’s why she’d fled.

She hadn’t packed anything, except for a toothbrush, hair-rollers, and her a few pairs of her favorite sneakers. She’d closed her home’s front door — was it? Her home? — while screaming at her parents to go fuck themselves for consuming those drugs, and how she’d never take a step again in their house.

Maybe that’s why she became this virulent, that night.

Still, Martin had been really aggressive. He had every reason to, for she’d been pretty much of a crappy person to him, but hey, she was tired, traumatized, and had very much ran away from her home two days earlier.

Maybe she shouldn’t have spoken this loud, and reacted this violently. Or maybe even played with his tendency to fan-serve, when he was just trying to do his job properly, although she’d been wondering if he was ever exaggerating the thing. But that didn’t give him the right to act this spiteful around her as well.

Now, the way he’d outburst on that table had also upset her. For someone who desperately wanted to avoid getting canceled, he surely made a mess of himself on occasions. That’s what she thought.

When the curtains of the waiting room finally opened, she was sat on the couch. She immediately stood up at the sight of a man in his thirties, who definitely wasn’t the type to laugh too much.

“Your name, please ?” He asked, and his voice felt calmer, softer than what she’d thought it’d sound like. Strangely enough, Y/N didn’t even sense animosity from him whatsoever, while this man probably was a staff member, if not a secret Chinese spy, and she’d practically altered his subordinate’s remaining aura an hour earlier.

Just when she was about to respond, the curtains opened again, and the sound of hands clapping and fans screaming overlapped the shrill noise of the curtain rod. Y/N almost audibly gasped when she recognized James, Juhoon, Seonghyeon and Keonho. Followed by Martin, ultimately…

Her breath almost hitched. They were right in front of her. They were real. They were them.

“It’s her, yeah?” The manager thoroughly looked at Martin, waiting for a response.

“I guess so.” He shrugged, occasionally glancing towards Y/N.

Immediately, Y/N contented herself to bowing, pushing her upper body as low as she could, in a sign of salute to the prodigy CORTIS.

“Ah! You don’t have to bow! You don’t have to bow!” James automatically responded, his two hands joining together in a namaste-shape.

“It’s an honor, really. I enjoy your music and style a lot.” She declared, her face still towards the ground, and her voice as solemn as she could, trying to hide her drowning admiration to not sound like a groupie. “I am so sorry for the trouble I’ve put you in today, and with Martin and the vape, really, it wasn’t my intention— well, it was— but not anymore—”

“Yeah, I guess you’re here for that.” Keonho responded seriously.

“Wait, you’ve got great style, though.” Seonghyeon added without context, his voice a bit hesitant, perhaps due to the language barrier.

Well, she wasn’t much of an absolute rocket in Korean either. She knew the basics, and a few sentences from kdramas, but it stopped there. She’d eventually have to learn it, though, considering how she didn’t know how long her stay in Korea would last.

“Ahh… No, no! You guys are so swagged, I can’t compete!” She stood up again, the briefest awkward smile slipping up from her mouth.

She caught Martin’s eye for a second, and offered him a disgusted face, which he reluctantly gave back. God, how she’d like him to just fuck off right now.

As opposed to his members, he’d decided to sit on a nearby couch next to his manager, and shut out. As in, he’s completely blanked, again.

This time, he perhaps just needed to sleep, Y/N thought. She knew that already, since she’d seen multiple vlogs of the group where he’d doze off time to time, if not every single time.

“Where are your shoes from, can I ask that—“ Juhoon asked with a shy smile.

“Sorry, kiddo, I’m just interrupting you real quick. What’s your name, please, kid?” The manager cut out, while putting his hand on Martin’s stiff shoulder, who immediately upped his eyes again. If this reaction was due to this physical contact or to know her name, she didn’t know. Didn’t care either, if you’d ask her.

“Y/N. My name is Y/N.”

He nodded, then wrote something on a piece of paper, amongst lists of elements she didn’t know the context nor constitution of.

“They’re Isabel Marant, no?” Keonho asked, with the biggest smile on earth, though she didn’t really get why. “Hehe.”

“Ahhhh! Keurokuna…” Seonghyeon muttered in Korean, hiding a laugh too. “Isabel Marant girl?”

“Hajima.” Martin then stated in Korean too, though every word ever said was so basic now that she could understand most of it.

“Wait…” James paused for a second, letting his mind travel to who knows. “Geu…” He started, and his eyes briefly darted from Martin’s to yours while pointing at you with his finger. “Isabel Marant girl… Saram-I-ya ?”

What do they know that I don’t? She thought.

Keonho and Seonghyeon suddenly burst out laughing, to the biggest confusion of Y/N, who definitely didn’t get the inside joke. Well, no one asked her to.

“Wait, what’s with the Isabel Marant girl thing ?” Juhoon asked yet another question, in English, to Y/N’s biggest surprise.

“Stop, guys. Please—“ Martin interrupted, but we all know he was officiously, and obviously not the commander of his group.

“You know…” James whispered, barely enough for Y/N to hear properly. “Martinseu… Kapee issneun geu… yeppeun yeoja.”

“Ani— Aniya! Hajima-al-la-go!” Martin stood up to stop James from speaking some more and muttered again, his face going visibly red.

Okay, that, she did understand.

Well, I’m pretty, I guess. She concluded in her head, as a slight smile appeared on her face.

Well, not that she liked being called beautiful by Martin, obvi. But, hey, doesn’t every eighteen -year-old teenager want to be called good-looking by an internationally known kpop idol?

“Martin, you’d better think to shut up after what you just did on stage, if you don’t want another outburst.” The manager said, looking at my flushed face at the same time.

The young man muttered something in Korean, and sat on the couch again, next to his members.

He was the angriest he’d ever been. She’d provoked him, and he’d reacted on the spot without thinking. He despised her more than anyone else ever could, he thought. Now, he couldn’t imagine the thousands of posts turning him into this ridiculous idol that he wasn’t, this uncontrollable young man who couldn’t deal with his emotions properly, because that bitch of a girl had played with his anger and dragged him to react.

Fact was, he knew. He always knew how to control his anger. He’d already been upset, as everyone should, but he’d always been more of the defensive type. When the members would get upset, for whatever food they’d eat, however long they’d stay in the studio, or wherever they’d go to shoot music videos and wouldn’t like it, he’d get mad and defend his point of view. He was never the type to get angry first, because it wasn’t him. He’d just shut down, go completely silent, and isolate himself until the anger had cooled down.

Then why did his whole emotional system differ with Y/N? That, he would’ve wanted to know. Because he’d made a mess of himself when she fairly wanted to apologize.

“Okay, so.” The manager started, and everyone in the room waited for his verdict. “First of all, I’d like to say. Sorry on behalf of Martin for reacting this way, but you surely did provoke him, did you not?”

“Yeah, it’d be cool if you just admitted the thing, because we really wanna keep good relations with our fans.” James replied, and bowed slowly, to invite his members to do the same.

At the sight of his four best friends bowing to the person he resented the most, Martin sighed even more.

“Why are y’all acting like I’m not here?” He asked, looking vulnerable and genuinely pitiful. “Look, I don’t want problems. I’m not like that. You know that, no ?”

“I know what I see, my Martin.” The manager said, in a low voice. “We’ll speak together later, kid. Just the two of us.”

At that. Martin closed his eyes. Of fear, of fatigue? Maybe both, Y/N thought.

“Anyway, Y/N.” The manager continued, this time addressing to the young woman. “From what I know, you’ve seen Martin with a vape, yes?”

“Yes, that’s it.” I nodded.

“And you feel disrespected by him. For the vape, or because of his reaction?”

“Don’t care about the vape. I apologized for this. He just shouldn’t have walked around with a thing like this in the first place, since it’s obviously stupid as an idol— and he shouldn’t have been such a freaking hole in the butt that day, as well as today.”

“Hey, come on, maybe not so aggressive—”

“Nah, Seonghyeon.” Keonho cut his friend out. “You weren’t there that night. I saw it, he was like a drunk jaguar or something. Kept insulting her. Well, you haven’t been the nicest with him, Isabel. To me, he definitely reacted violently, but he was NOT the one who started it.”

“I know. I’ve apologized, and I deeply regret doing it, genuinely.” Y/N stated with sincerity. “Like, I thought about it for the whole week, and I was really starting to wonder what the fuck was wrong with me.”

“Oh.” The manager replied, a bit overwhelmed, while looking at Martin who was terribly trying to make his ears go no-sound.

“But, hey, just so you know, Isabel Marant.” Keonho started again, this time seeming very serious. “He can be all insulting and stuff, could’ve said a lot of crappy things. But this vape wasn’t his. Never had been.”

“This is not the problem, here.” Y/N replied in a calm tone. “Look, I know it’s not his, I don’t even care if it’s his. Be it, whatever. But a saesang or some paparazzi doesn’t know, and a picture of him with this in his hand could genuinely ruin his career, and you guys know it. As Korean citizens, I mean.”

“She’s right.” The manager nodded in approval. “Why’d you carry something like that in your hand anyway?” He looked at Martin, who seemed very, very focused in the pursuit of ignoring this whole conversation.

“It was just some empty vape you gave me when we were like, trainees.” Keonho responded at his friends’ place, sensing the incapacity. “Thought it looked cool— and I wanted to pee, so I just gave it to him for when I’d press the bamboo stick, you see—”

“What the heck, Keonho?” Juhoon replied calmly. “This is dumb.”

“Yeah well, it happened anyway. I apologized for my behavior to Martin. I was disrespectful, and it wasn’t my place to say such things. But as for today? I just didn’t expect to be treated like literal garbage afterwards.” Y/N stated as she shrugged.

“What? Bro! You’re acting as if you didn’t provoke me during the fansign! God damnit!” Martin exclaimed, his eyes suddenly opened, seeming nothing but calm. “You sure know how to act damn dumb when you wanna make yourself the nice guy, don’t you?”

“Martin, that’s enough! I’m cool with you, so stop engraving your cause right now!” The manager declared with an authoritarian tone. “Okay, Y/N, I have a proposition for you.”

At that, every eye turned to him. Nobody knew what it was really about, only that it definitely was a way to stop Y/N and Martin from bickering again.

“What do you say— in exchange for your silence…” He started, and she still looked confused. “Which is… You don’t speak of this vape, nor do you mention Martin’s behavior…”

Wow. she thought. So it is that serious when it comes to idols. Didn’t know their lives could get any worse.

“And we’ll obviously find something to explain Martin’s… sudden reaction earlier. I don’t know, a bug biting him or something…” He continued, not very sure of himself either.

“We give you free access to every CORTIS events? So like, concerts, tours, workshops, things like that? When you’re in Korea. How long are you staying in Korea? You’re foreign, aren’t you?”

Everyone in the room practically gasped in surprise.

“Hold on…” Juhoon whispered in chock.

“Yah… For real, man?” Seonghyeon asked in disbelief.

“You’d do that? I don’t know how long I’m staying, though. As long as I can, I guess.” Y/N then demanded, suddenly very aware of how much this meant.

“Well, I’d do that if you don’t say anything discrediting about my little Martin. But you have to promise, to vow, even, that you won’t say a thing. Otherwise, we’d just file you to trial, I’m being totally honest.” He shrugged, both relaxed and slightly aggressive. “We wouldn’t like another scandal about him, you see. He’s already hated enough, don’t you think?”

Ah, that is for sure, he was hated. Over the past few months, he’d receive more death threats than compliments, been dissed and criticized by his own favorite artists, and accused of whatever appropriation people said he was doing.

“Okay, I wanna throw up.” He said, after realizing that he was utterly vulnerable in front of the person he despised the most.

“But, look, I don’t wanna disturb you. It’s way too inconvenient for CORTIS’ staff, isn’t it?”

“Well, it’d even be more inconvenient if rumors about Martin acting the way he did were spread, or if we’d heard about some fan getting trialed to court because she didn’t respect an artist’s privacy.” He replied, while patting Martin’s head with his right hand. “I won’t risk Martin being any more depressed than what he already is.”

Martin sighed at that, clearly uncomfortable after such a confession. The other members looked at him briefly, avoiding his gaze whenever he’d look in their direction.

“What! Hyung…” He screamed, practically on the verge of tears from all the anger. “You think I’m like a five year old kid?”

“I think you’ve gone through enough. That’s it. You need to rest.”

“Okay, but when we’re at it…” Juhoon suddenly turned to Y/N. “If you get to see us regularly… You might as well show us your sneakers collection. You must have more than Isabel Marant, no?”

Huh?

Was she that much of a fashionista, for Kim Juhoon to ask her such a thing?

“Wait, really? Sure, if I can. But can I see your collections too, then? Because Martin had Helmut Lang’s the other day and they were lit. I bet yours are also dripped up.”

“Sure! Hell yeah, we’d love that!” James responded with a big smile.

“Who’s we, exactly? I don’t want to.” Martin said nonchalantly. “Whatever this… bonding… you guys are starting, I don’t approve of it.”

“Except you’re no one, Martin.” Keonho laughed. “Grow some authority and we’ll see.”

“Okay, whatever. You kids do what you wanna do anyway. We just need to find a way to give you the access to the events.” The manager declared while thinking. “Martin, gimme your phone.”

The young man immediately responded to the command and gave his device to the manager, glancing at Y/N for the occasion. An annoying little smile was plastered on her face like paint, and he hated it. More than anyone would ever imagine. Her damn camo cap was still hanging on her head, slightly ajar, and he wished he’d ripped it open right on the spot.

“What are you doing, exactly?” He asked, looking at his manager suspiciously.

“I’m adding her in your contacts.” He announced like a bomb. “What’s your contact number, kid?” He then asked to Y/N.

“Wait—” she started.

“Okay, I did NOT sign for this!” Martin cut her off in disbelief. “There is NO way this girl’s on my phone!”

“I don’t want it either! Please, let it be another member, or you, since you’re the manager…” She mumbled, acting as annoyed as Martin looked. “Why can’t it be you instead, huh?”

“Because it’s Martin’s problem. He’s gotta fix it. It’s his deal now, isn’t it, dongsaeng?” He explained, and, well, he was pretty right. “It’d be strict exchange of tickets and QR codes, though. You probably know idols aren’t allowed to communicate about anything else.”

“Please. Just please, hyung.” Martin practically begged. “Please. I don’t wanna speak to her.”

“Martin, it’s your problem, you fix it. Point blank.”

“You two better get along too, if you want this deal to keep going.” James added, and he wasn’t wrong either.

“Whatever, I’ll do it.” Y/N declared, trying to ease the situation. “It’s only about sending venues anyway. It’s not like we’re gonna send each other death threats or something.”

She could at least cooperate for once, she thought.

“Martin. Jaebal.” The manager said, in Korean this time. “Gibun sanghaehaji malgo, geunyang haeso.”

That, she did not understand.

After a minute of Martin thinking, the young man placed his hands on his eyes and started murmuring.

“Okay, okay. I’ll do it. But don’t expect me to do more than the minimum.”

“Me neither.” She replied, and she looked surprised to approve of something he said for the first time.

And just like that, their numbers were exchanged in the span of a minute, and she’d been added as “Eisebal Marron”. At that, she kind of smiled, both surprised that Martin still didn’t know a world-wide famous brand, and amused by the fact he still didn’t pronounce or spell it right. On her phone, she’d just named him “M”, for she thought his name was completely insignificant, as he probably was the last person she’d want to text with.

“Okay, is it over now?” Martin then asked, once everything was settled. “I wanna work on music.”

“Just go in another room and take your laptop, I guess.” The manager replied.

“Okay. See ya, then.” He took a glance at Y/N and glared, before putting his hand on Seonghyeon’s shoulder and leaving.

Just like that, he’d disappeared from the room and left his gloomy attitude for another place.

“Excuse him. He’s tired. Never acted like this with anybody else before.” Juhoon declared on behalf of his friend.

“I wasn’t nice either.” Y/N briefly laughed.

“He’ll change, don’t worry. Maybe he just didn’t have his morning pee, something like that.” Keonho smirked with excitement.

“Anyway, I wanna see your sneakers collection.” James announced, sounding as energetic as a puppy.

“I wanna see yours! We could meet up before a performance or something. And like…” She hesitated for a moment, before finally asking. “Sharing— the shoes?”

At that, the four boys stared intently, with no words to come.

“Oh wow, that sounded weird. Damn.” She laughed awkwardly, and the young men followed. “I mean, if y’all find one of my pairs cool, and there’s one of yours that I really like, we could totally like, exchange shoes, if you know what I mean? Ugh, this sounds sus as fuck.”

“Oh! Okay! Yeah! Totally! I was kinda confused at first, but…” James exclaimed in surprise.

“Me… I want your… Isabel Marant” Seonghyeon whispered, and the little group exchanged a few laughs, under the eyes of the manager.

“Can we do that, Sunbae?” Keonho asked to his manager.

“Well, anything that can make great connexion between Y/N and the group is good.” He declared, sounding serious and amused at the same time. “It’s better than spreading rumors on twitter, I guess. Be it, you could totally do it.”

“YAYYY!” Keonho exclaimed, to the biggest surprise of Y/N. “Wait, wait, Isabel.”

“Haha! What, Keonho?” She laughed softly, endeared by this nickname he’d put on.

“We’re gonna meet each other regularly from now on, right?” He asked, and she didn’t really sense where this was going. She nodded as her eyes squinted, confused. “Does that mean I can call you noona?”

“Bro what the fuck.” Juhoon sighed, annoyed and amused at the same time.

“Ahhhhh, HELL nah!” James shouted while he grimaced.

“Yah, bro… Neo jinjja noonae munjega jom issne!” Seonghyeon muttered between two laughs at Keonho, though she, again, didn’t understand a single thing.

“I mean, I don’t care.” She simply replied. “Just don’t do it if Martin’s there, if you don’t want him to kill you.”

“Except he’s never really aggressive towards us.” James stated.

“Yeah.” The manager replied in approval. “Don’t know what’s got through him. Sorry again.”

“It’s okay, you guys are cool. I’m a fan!” She smiled with admiration.

Everyone in the room smiled. Well, was it rather contentment or politeness, who knows. It was agreeable. Very much, even so.

“Anyway, I’ll head off now.” She finally proclaimed, with a gesture of the hand towards the curtains. “I’ll see you soon, yeah?”

“Well, tomorrow, then ? If I remember correctly, we’re hosting a public concert in Hongdae tomorrow, nobody knows yet. To perform Motion.” James responded calmly.

“Ahh! The new song. Its release was so unexpected. I really like it!”

“Yes. We’re tryna… Make people ignore the mess of the tour, kinda.” Juhoon muttered, a bit ashamed.

“Wait, what for? Was it that bad? I thought the videos looked great.” She squinted her eyebrows in confusion. “Was it this dancing problem?”

“Yeah, well. We’ve been pretty much accused of paying dancers to hype our concert up.” He revealed solemnly. “Which is— obviously not true, right.”

“And also, fans weren’t that into it. Don’t know why, actually. We’ve hyped them up as much as we could.” James kept going, seeming visibly disappointed. “They just kept recording the whole stuff, but like, didn’t dance and stuff. So now we’re kind of getting flamed on social media.”

“Honestly, staff should’ve dealt with it better.” The manager surprisingly declared. “Like, we’ve only got thirteen songs, we should’ve thought of making covers and games instead of just singing every song five times.”

“Ahh, right. That kinda sucks, guys. But hey, I bet a lot of people have fond memories of it.” She whispered, trying to sound as supportive as she could.

“Yeahhh.” Keonho nodded. “And also, people on twitter are like… twisting Martin’s words in our live…”

“What are they saying?” Y/N asked.

“Well, mostly that he’s very pretentious, pretending to like… Create a new concert culture, by putting the phone down, basically.” Juhoon informed with a confused face.

“I mean, he is pretentious, though.”

“Well, kinda.” James replied with a grin. “But still, it was out of context, and people are saying real shit about him now.”

“That’s why another scandal with him is what I’m trying to avoid. So please, just cooperate, will you?” The manager asked, with pleading eyes.

“Yeah, yeah. Sure. Just don’t expect me to be all goofy-laughy and all with him.”

At that, a silence settled again. It was rather comfortable, Y/N’d say. Almost like she wasn’t speaking to artists she deeply admired.

She hadn’t known of all these polemics in CORTIS. In fact, she only knew of what people used to bash on them : how their style and music seemed to be a bit appropriating towards black culture. Which, in her opinion, wasn’t completely false, but was demonized.

Sure, they’d take a lot of inspiration from this culture, and she admired that. But they’d always make it known that they were grateful and that they worked with people from the culture. They’d never ignore those credits or deny the influence this culture had on their music.

Well, she was surely wrong, she didn’t know, and at the moment, she didn’t really care.

Because she was more of the type to listen solely to the music of the artists she’d like, rather than watching their videos or learning about their personalities. Not that she hated doing it, it just wasn’t her priority when discovering a new artist, hence she’d never really think about doing it.

“Anyway, I’m off.” She then notified. “For good, this time.”

The five people laughed at that, and started waving at her as she walked towards the curtains.

“Pleasure to meet you.” James smiled.

“See you tomorrow, I guess?” She asked.

“Bye, noona!”

“Ugh. Gotta get used to this.” Seonghyeon sighed.

“See you tomorrow.” Juhoon and the manager said at the same time.

In just ten seconds, she was gone too. And as soon as she was out of sight, the manager let out the biggest sigh he’d ever been holding. He practically pushed his shoes deep into the soil, as he prepared himself for what he’d been prepared to speak about for the past ten minutes.

“Okay. Boys. We are absolutely not ending this conversation. We have a SERIOUS problem.” He announced, and the four teenagers turned their head to him, looking utterly confused.

“What’s wrong, sunbae?” Keonho whispered, deeply perplexed. “She seemed just fine to me.”

“That’s not it. We need her to BEFRIEND Martin. As soon as possible.”

“What for?” James asked.

“Because there is no way Martin keeps acting like this around her. This is BAD. For his reputation. For the group.”

“Right, but Martin would never approve of it.” Seonghyeon claimed between several reflections.

“Not if he’s forced to approach her.” The manager said with certainty.

“What are you thinking?” Juhoon demanded.

“We need them to spend time together. Because at this race, they’ll hate each other to the point where she’ll leak what he did or whatever happened with the vape and her. And he’ll have no choice but to admit it.” He announced, utterly persuaded of his idea. “And we don’t want this for the group. He could be fired. Such a scandal is way too big for HYBE not to try anything tricky.”

“Okay. Yeah, I get it.” James nodded as he thought.

“Then, what do we plan?” Seonghyeon immediately asked.

“I’d say, we might as well just invite her to his studio, or something. Tell her we give her a spoiler for the third EP.”

“Wait, are you sure you wanna do such a thing? She’s a coer after all. She could leak it as well.”

“Yeah, isn’t a SPOILER a bit too much?”

“I don’t think spoiling her’s the best idea…” Seonghyeon muttered at his turn.

“Except she made a deal with us. Anything she does that is related to us is secret from now on, or we’d put her to trial. And it could actually bring them together, since he’s always in his studio and he made most of the songs.”

“Right.” Seonghyeon nodded.

“Wait, but, do you think it’s realistic though? There’s a possibility that she ends up not wanting to attend our shows anymore, and then nothing prevents her from leaking anything.” James claimed ultimately.

“She won’t do it. You’ve seen her, no? And I trust Martin, I know he’ll deal with it properly if he knows how to… interact with her normally at some point.” The manager quickly reacted pragmatically. “We just need them to be alone. Just the two of them. And we let them bond. Hence, we make her go to the studio and give her spoilers.”

A silence came after that, probably to let thoughts arrange themselves in everyone’s head.

What exactly could they possibly invent, as a ruse to attract the two of them in their studio? Would Martin really approve it, or would they have to force him into that room?

“Okay, but what if it becomes more?” James suddenly declared.

“More?”

“What do you mean, more?” Keonho asked.

“C’mon. Don’t tell me you didn’t notice the way he was looking at her.”

“Oh—”

“Oh—”

“Oh.” They all said in unison, after that realization.

“And he was talking about her for a week after he met her in that cafe. Saying how beautiful she looked and shit.” He turned to his manager. “Hyung, don’t tell me you didn’t see it coming. He was all over about this damn Isabel Marant girl.”

“Thinking of it, it’s also weird that he’s this aggressive with her.” Juhoon added. “He’s gotta hide something, or maybe he just doesn’t know how to deal with this attraction or something.”

“It’s just obvious. I knew it from the start. You just gotta look at how he can’t even stop himself from looking at her, bro.” James continued. “Sunbae, you seriously didn’t see it too?”

“Well, I did.” He looked briefly at the ceiling above him. “But I’m thinking it wouldn’t be bad for Martin to have someone. I mean, I’m just saying, I’m not completely against it.

“But doesn’t HYBE forbid dating?”

“Well, officiously yes. Not on the paper though. Idols just have to stay secret.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“Yeah, well. It’s mostly to prevent idols from dating. It’s thanks to these beliefs and rumors that they don’t.”

“Right.”

“And besides, I really, really want my Martin to be better. He’s going through a lot these days.”

“Hm.” James contended to murmure.

“If they become more, it’s not the best scenario, but he’d be happy. If they stick to just being friends, and I hope they will become friends, then it’s perfect. He’d be stable.”

“Well then, okay!” Keonho exclaimed. “Let’s just bring her to the studio tomorrow! After the performance.”

“Sure. Let’s do that. There’s an empty place in the van anyway.” Seonghyeon approved.

Operation “UNhate” it was, then.

[camsahamnidaa]

— EDWARDS MARTIN HEART IS YOURS, DESPITE THE BLUES.

CHAPTER 3!

TAGS : idol!martin x nonidol!reader | ennemies to bestfriends to lovers | slowburn | pure angst | lots of humor! | reader is bsf with Cortis! | fluff | kissing, cuddling, crying in each others arms! | DOWNBAD!Martin!

IN WHICH... Blackmailing a K-pop idol was never part of the plan. Neither was spending weeks hanging around his studio, arguing over sneakers, or accidentally becoming friends with his members. It was supposed to be simple: keep his secret, admire his sneaker collection, steal a tiny comeback spoiler, and leave.

Alas, Y/N finds herself caught between Martin and the secrets he refuses to share. As their friendship deepens, so do the cracks beneath the surface- late-night arguments, quieter confessions, and feelings that absolutely weren't part of the deal progressively mish-mash their bond. They might definitely just be in way over their heads...

— Y’all Y/N’s was indeed a bitch but I PROMISE, she’ll get better as the story keeps going 💔 TRUST!!

<- PREVIOUS PART | NEXT PART ->

Martin loved fan-signing events.

It was a profound delightful experience, he’d say, although he’d sometimes wished there weren’t only oldies there. Because there were. Well they were all nice, surely, but the boy is eighteen, you see.

So there he was, grinning like an idiot, at the sight of this crowd in front of him, composed of merely a hundred people of his age, coming here just to speak with him for a minute.

Juhoon, James, Seonghyeon, Keonho and himself were sprawled right in front of a long table, where they’d surely sign autographs later. Now was their time to make a little speech, to welcome the fans and remind them to eat well.

“Coer, let’s be productive today!” Keonho shouted, James holding his mic for him, for his pinkies were in fact, not up and not functioning correctly after a fall.

“We can’t wait to exchange with all of you guys!” Juhoon smiled, while the other members nodded in agreement.

Martin smiled with excitement and looked at the crowd again, his eyes searching for anything that wasn’t the panic he’d be in for the past week.

Well, obviously, he was afraid.

No news of him in a possession of a vape had been leaked yet, but he could feel the tension coming, he could sense it. He’d thought about it again and had realized that this girl who spotted him the other night didn’t have any compromising picture. But a single repost was enough. One single sentence, like “I just saw Martin Edwards vaping” could easily be the death of him.

Tell him his surprise, when his eyes landed on two eyes who looked slightly familiar in the crowd.

His heart stopped beating for a second.

She was there.

It was her.

The real her.

What was she doing here? Is that what she meant by “see you next week”?

Was she going to scream what she had seen to the crowd? Because technically, she had every right to. She also seemed to have a pretty big mouth, from what he’d experienced the other night, that is to say, she’d been the bitchiest person he’d even met.

She was even more beautiful than the last time he’d seen her. Back then, in this alleyway in the middle of the night, her hair was all a mess, and she clearly looked frustrated by something, yet he couldn’t take his eyes off of her. Now, it was different.

She was wearing a cap, a beautiful camo imprinted one. Without knowing why, this simple accessory shaped his whole new blood circuit. Maybe he resented her so much, that she put him in his discomfort zone.

Yeah, that was probably it.

For a moment, his breath hitched and his brain went blank again, without really knowing why. No words could come from his mouth without sounding like a mishy mash of rubbish, he’d say, though he wouldn’t dare try to even say the simplest “hello”.

Damn, why such a reaction every time I see her. He thought, and he was genuinely confused.

“Huh…” He stuttered at the sight of her, who was intently staring at Juhoon. “Er… We— We’re…”

Did he realize that he was stuttering for no known reason in front of hundreds of teenage girls ? Well yes. Obviously.

“Uh… I’d want—“ He kept going, not seeming to abandon.

But did they know that he was burning from the inside, after seeing this girl? Point is, he didn’t even know her name, her age, her bloody origin, speaking of, which was definitely not Korean, but he knew one thing.

He despised her to the heart, to the mind, to the core. She’d ruined his perspective of fans.

Which is why, he glanced at his members from above his shoulder and internally screamed for help. His eyebrows twitched as if he was pleading the gods, and James immediately caught the signal.

“It’d be super cool if you guys moved in a line, like way easier. Don’t forget to eat properly, and drink well, even if it’s in front of us, Coer !” He exclaimed with ease, not seeming the least upset about Martin ruining his image yet another time.

I’m definitely getting scolded by James after that. He thought to himself, because he knew his member. God, what a leader I am.

His eyes landed back to her face, some sort of a reflex, he’d thought, and this time, her eyes met his. It felt abhorring. Practically suicidal. Martin hated every single second of it.

To know that she had the power to ruin him was what scared him the most. It had scared him from that night on, when she practically barked to him about how reckless of an idol he was and how pretentious he seemed to be, and it had never stopped since. Now, seeing her face, her expression of disgust as she looked at him, he knew with a force, that she’d not let this vape incident go so easily.

Who was this girl ?Why did she burst out so suddenly, that night? What for? Sure, a vape and an idol is no good thing, as these two elements certainly don’t match. But even so, was it necessary to insult him? To put him down? To be this bitchy?

He hated her so much.

Mostly, he hated how he’d reacted. Because now, she really did have a valid reason to get him cancelled. He’d been insulting too, he’d burst out too, and he definitely didn’t show a great example of what an idol should be like.

Being cancelled wasn’t his biggest problem. Losing the job wasn’t what scared him. He was exhausted. He was tired of the industry, of kpop, of idols, of staff and of performances. He hadn’t eaten properly in months, hadn’t slept more than four hours in weeks, hadn’t seen his family in years. Sure, he loved music and he’d always love it, that wasn’t a problem. He’d just keep going as a solo artist, and he was already famous so he didn’t mind being put on no-label. He’d just do the music that he loved, and pursue the dream of a lifetime.

What made him reluctant about getting cancelled was the members.

Because he loved them. Because being a leader was something he adored, and his four friends relied entirely on them to keep going. He couldn’t just leave without them. He couldn’t leave them behind, for complaints that they probably had to go through as well, as idols. He’d rather live his dream in a poor state, than be happy without his friends.

Because who else would share their philosophical ideas and concepts with Juhoon and James before performances? And who else would confess their feelings and struggles late at night in the dorm, with Seonghyeon and Keonho?

He couldn’t get cancelled. Not again. He couldn’t abandon them. He couldn’t cut the thread that connected them to him.

And this girl in the crowd, was the one holding the thread.

“Okay, we’ll come back in a minute, for the albums to be ready, and then we’ll start, guys !” Juhoon announced, and he briefly put a hand on Martin’s shoulder to bring him back to earth.

Martin then searched for Keonho’s eyes, for he was the only person who knew what had happened with this girl. He found them to be as worried as he was. Keonho urgently walked back behind curtains to enter backstage, with such haste it felt panicked.

The whole group followed, and once Martin had closed the curtains and music overlapped their voice, he rose.

“What the fuck is she doing here?!” He burst out to Keonho, who looked just as concerned.

“I didn’t know she was this much of a fan!” He shouted back, his voice filled with worry.

“What’s going on—“ Seonghyeon asked, only his voice got cut out by Martin.

“Does she even understand any shit? We’re in fuckass Korea, and trust me, her accent is ass! She probably doesn’t understand anything!”He stated.

“Who are you talking about—“ Juhoon tried to interrupt.

“Wait, you guys don’t know? There is NO way you didn’t speak to manager-nim about it?” Martin asked, seeming visibly upset. “What! Keonho, no! We’re in deep shit!”

“Can somebody tell me what the bloody shit’s going on, PLEASE!” James finally shouted, and everyone immediately stopped talking.

Perks of being the dad of a group, I guess.

“Ask Martin.” Keonho announced, while pointing at his friend.

“What? Bro, this whole thing literally happened because of you—“

“What happened? Is there something I should know?” A voice cut through, and this time, it wasn’t any of the members’.

Manager-nim stood between the two curtains and had just entered the small waiting room. He seemed utterly confused, as he completely should have, though it’s opinions based.

“Tell him.” Martin said in an authoritarian voice, looking blankly in the eyes of Keonho.

A sigh escaped the young man’s mouth, as he mentally prepared himself to be exterminated by his manager.

“Sunbae, please, don’t be mad…” He first started, his voice cracking.

“Keonho, tell me. Either this or I find it myself, and you know you wouldn’t like it.”

For about ten seconds, it’s as if Keonho was mentally preparing his speech. He was holding his breath like a kid in the pool, collecting the right words to seem like this whole situation wasn’t partially his fault.

“A fan saw Martin with my empty vape and she’s like, super angry at him and she’s threatening to leak the information.” He finally declared, and even held his breath while saying it. Perhaps it’d be less humiliating, who knows.

“Oh.”

“Oh.” Martin repeated after his manager. “And also, I might… Have called her a dickhead and told her to, basically shut her bitch ass up if she kept insulting me.” He scrapped his temple, embarrassed.

“Martin. Come on…” Manager-nim sighed, deeply upset. He looked visibly disappointed, and this hurt Martin more than he’d admit.

“Look, she was AGGRAVATING, okay ? I promise, I’ve never been the type to get angry, but she was just…”

At that, well, he didn’t have words.

Was she, really? Insulting? Did he exaggerate?

If so, why was he getting so uncontrollably aggressive?

“No, but she really was a bitch, though.” Keonho nodded in approval.

He was the smiliest, bubbliest, goofiest, happiest person in the universe. He’d never get angry. He’d never get insulting. He’d never even scream. He was just like this, it wasn’t part of who he was, it wasn’t what he was composed of.

Then why?

“Okay, you know what, I don’t even need to know.” Manager-nim declared, and prepared himself to reveal what was to come. “You’re gonna bring her in this waiting room after the event, okay? Convince her when she’s speaking to you, or whatever.” He spoke as his hands explicated his words. “Do NOT get angry, under any circumstances.”

“Sunbae, it’s not even my vape! And the sole SIGHT of her makes me wanna vomit, please…” He complained, and a much more childish voice came out of his throat.

“I don’t care, Martin… You’re the one who nourished her anger. Now, you deal with it.”

•••

And so there he was.

On that miserable wooden chair, right in front of a desk filled with tons of albums, he stood awkwardly, his feet occasionally touching the back of the table because of their large frame.

Fans came one by one, and he’d smile and bow politely, occasionally playing with one’s hands or eyes. But on the inside, he wasn’t mentally here. He wasn’t actively listening, nor particularly interested in his fans’ next concerts.

His mind was located, three rows ahead, right next to this foreign girl he still didn’t know the name of. She was exactly six fans away from him, and he’d been apprehending the moment she’d sit next to him since the first one arrived, out of hundreds of fans.

He was at the very beginning of the long table where the members were scattered, so he’d have to face her first, which made him even more over his head.

What could he possibly say for her to calm down? He couldn’t just flash her disappointment away. To think that all of this started of as a pure misunderstanding is certainly the shittiest of all, he’d say.

He’d just have to find a way to make her drift into the waiting room, without other fans knowing. He didn’t even know if she’d want it, because she probably hated him to the core as of now. Well, their heated conversation of the latter week wasn’t particularly welcoming, that is to say.

Which is why, when she finally pushed the chair in front of him and sat, her expression devoid of any admiration, he immediately said :

“I wanted to apo—”

“No, I’m so sorry. I’m the one who should say it.” She cut him off to his biggest surprise.

It just got off of his mouth without him really controlling it. Maybe it was his way to admit that he did, in fact, have pretty much of a big ego and a slight tendency to delusion, like she so-said the week before.

From up close and under bright light, she looked like a literal doll. Freckles, big and small, honored the curves of her cheekbones and the edge of her nose. Her eyes, way bigger than he thought, shined just like a luminary, in that weird way eyes sometimes do. For some whimsical reason, or something like that. He didn’t know, he didn’t care. He hated that she looked this good.

“Couldn’t not come.” She announced, looking at his hands instead of his face. “I may not like you a lot, and think you’re annoying or shit, but what I said the other night was mean.”

Her eyes lifted from his chest, buff and fragile at the same time, and landed on his pupils, which appeared to be strangely, overly dilated. Y/N could see the creases under his eyes, probably due to makeup. She immediately knew it covered almost-purple under-eyes, and the lingering memory of a difficult sleep schedule.

He was not going to accept her apology.

She’d been the meanest person he’d met. Her warning about him vaping, though it genuinely sounded caring and worried in the first place, had turned into her, scolding him for being an idol.

“I was a bitch. I admit it. I know I sounded dramatic and parasocial as fuck, but hey, you weren’t really nice with me either. I’m sorry, I was just worried in the moment, maybe because of your job, because of hate trains, Korea, I don’t know—”

“Look.” He declared, trying to seem as calm and quiet as possible, to not attract any of the fans next to him’s sight. “I need you to come to the waiting room after the fansign.”

“What for?” She immediately responded. “Why would I?”

“Because we need to discuss. To find a solution.”

“A solution to what exactly, Martin? Us, not liking each other?” She asked rhetorically. “We both know there is nothing to say about that. I’m sorry about what I said, but it doesn’t mean you’re my favorite idol. I’m not gonna barge backstage if we’ve both apologized to each other. ”

“God, I don’t wanna do this either, trust me on that one.” He sighed as he rolled his eyes. “But hey, look, you don’t wanna have this bad reputation, right ? Like, she’s the one who exposed Martin’s real personality type shit. No?”

“I think it’s rather you, who doesn’t wanna be perceived as a bad person to your little groupies, yeah.”

“Please. Just come to the waiting room.”

He stared intently at her eyes, immediately switching on his puppy eyes mode. It lasted for about three seconds, before his eyebrows twitched in a plead.

“Are you hitting on me, Martin, is that it?”

“What the fuck? No— Okay, now you’re just making shit up! YOU’RE the one being delusional as fuck, you damn paranoid!”

“It was a serious question! I’m not trying to upset you! But seriously, man, you need to get a grip of yourself. Again, I’m really trying to be nice here. But you gotta stop with this fan-service.”

“That’s NOT the fucking matter, damn! Are you aware of how weird you sound right now?”

“What, because I discovered how you’re not who you pretend to be? And honestly, considering your behavior with the fans, I wouldn’t say it’s particularly unrealistic.” She declared, trying to seem as less provocative as she could. “Martin, I really don’t wanna keep saying a bunch of crap about you and act like the other night again, but you’re really not giving me any chance to—”

“Shut up— Stop! You ARE being disrespectful right now! Damnit, do you ever stop being such piece of shit?! My fan-service has nothing to do with this! Fuck! You goddamn idiot!” His voice rose, uncontrolled and unexpected. The staff behind exchanged glances, wondering if they should intervene, but nobody seemed willing enough to confront this absolute menace of a girl Y/N seemed to be.

Well, she was indeed a hell of a girl.

“What’s your name? Can you tell me your name?” Martin suddenly asked.

“You don’t need to know my name to hit on me. What, you wanna make a poem for me or something ? Didn’t you do it with twenty other girls, this morning already?”

“I want you to go to that waiting room after the event. That’s it. My manager wants to speak with you.” His voice got steadier, though it was obvious he was trying to keep all of his anger inside.

“Wait, your manager knows about this whole thing and still lets you smoke?”

“Bro, I’ve been repeating this to you over and over again, the vape wasn’t mine. Are you fucking dumb, or what?” He grumbled.

“Guess what? I don’t even care— because you genuinely seemed like a good person online, and now you’re the shittiest person I’ve encountered. The vape itself isn’t even a problem. I made a mistake, I admit it. I’m sorry, okay? But you? You are a problem. You’re aggressive, and violent. I’m trying to be nice here. To repent from the pain I’ve probably put you in—”

“I don’t give a fuck! I don’t owe you ANY apology. You’ve insulted me, when it wasn’t any of your business. You’re on about being sorry, but YOU are the one who keeps saying she doesn’t like me!”

“Because I don’t! Look how you react!” She whisper-shouted. “It was very, very, very valid the other night, and I’m sorry for it. But right now, you’re just being a dumbass for free, Martin!”

“You’re seriously getting on my nerves.” He whispered, using the last amount of self control he’d tried to save for the interaction. “Look, i tried to be nice. I tried to be professional. That night, I mean. I really was trying, hard. Now if you’re on about me hitting on you, me being delusional or pretentious, me being a smoker, fuck yeah, I’m gonna diss you! Heck yes, I’m not gonna be NICE?! Do you even HEAR yourself?”

“Except I’m not a freaking kpop idol.” She announced. “Martin, I know it’s not fair and I’m sorry for it, but people ARE watching. People ARE judging what you say and scrutinizing your every words. They don’t care about me, what I say to you and how I look like.”

“No shit. I don’t give a fuck. If I don’t like you, I can say it. You’re the most bitchy, paranoid, annoying, delusional and SLUTTY person I’ve met!”

“And you’re being a pain in the ass right now, Martin! I wanted to apologize—”

“YAAAHH!” Martin suddenly shouted, and his body responded as well.

In the span of a second, he was standing. His chair was pushed back behind him after he’d urgently lifted his knees and press his knuckles to the albums-filled table. He was out of breath, and it’s almost as if Y/N could see smoke coming out of his ears from the anger.

“I MICCHINNYEON-A! GASEO CHILYONA BAD-A! DODAECHE MWOGA MUNJEYA?!?” He screamed in Korean, and she just listened and pretended to understand, while objectively admitting that this sudden outburst was, indeed, a bit frightening.

The staff, the fans, the members. Everyone watched. Everyone witnessed Martin’s crashout, in what felt like a stop on the clock. The whole room, although filled with hundreds of people, went completely silent.

Which is why, a pair of arms took possession of Y/N’s in less than thirty seconds, and she was dragged behind those bloody curtains, in the eyes of every. single. fan, in what felt like a literal humiliation ritual.

God, she hated him even more now.

[camsahamnidaa]

i need that chapter 3 bad bro

Its out in less than 2 hours 😈😈 maybe even chap4 who knows if I have time to finish it hehe

YOURE GONNA LIKE Y/N A BIT MORE 🧍🏼‍♂️🧍🏼‍♂️

[cinemevbr]

[camsahamnidaa]

Yall Y/N’s gonna IMPROVE I promise she’s not a bitch 💔💔💔 she’ll grow into you, no worries :)

Plus, you’ll find out a bit about her past in like chap3 or 4, and you’ll understand a bit more why she’s like this :) BUT SHE WON’T BE BITCHY LIKE THIS NO MORE PROMISE

[camsahamnidaa]

If yall want a MARTIN EDWARDS fic (slowburn, x reader, over 50k potential words, ennemies to best friends to lovers, angst, fluff, crack, reader’s lowkey a bitch in the beginning)

Check my account! 💓💓💓

[camsahamnidaa]

CHAP 2 IS POSTED! I COOKED WITH THIS ONE HEHE!

[camsahamnidaa]

- EDWARDS MARTIN

HEART IS YOURS, DESPITE THE BLUES.

CHAPTER 2!

TAGS: idol!martin x nonidol!reader | ennemies to bestfriends to lovers | slowburn | pure angst | lots of humor! | reader is bsf with Cortis! | fluff I kissing, cuddling, crying in each others arms DOWNBAD!Martin!

IN WHICH... Blackmailing a K-pop idol was never part of the plan. Neither was spending weeks hanging around his studio, arguing over sneakers, or accidentally becoming friends with all of his members. It was supposed to be simple: keep his secret, admire his sneaker collection, steal a tiny comeback spoiler, and leave.

Alas, Y/N finds herself caught between Martin and the secrets he refuses to share. As their friendship deepens, so do the cracks beneath the surface- late-night arguments, quieter confessions, and feelings that absolutely weren't part of the deal progressively mish-mash their bond. They might definitely just be in way over their heads...

<- PREVIOUS PART | NEXT PART ->

Y/N needed to take the piss so. freaking. bad.

Tell her, why was South Korea this deprived when it came to shitting ? Why weren’t there any public toilets, anywhere ?

She’d been in the country for three days now, and she’d never imagined her little trip to be starting with her, having to buy a bottle of water at three in the morning, to empty her bladder out!

I mean, not that it was a real trip, because it definitely wasn’t, but still. Was it more of a flea ? Whatever. Family business was for later.

Now was the time to pee.

Somehow, she’d managed to walk for three hours straight into the city, drifting from Hongdae to Dongmyo in what felt like a minute. Without realizing it, she’d visited more than just two neighborhoods. And now, she hadn’t had the opportunity to take the piss in a really long time.

She dragged herself into a nearby convenience store, trying to maintain a normal look while being absolutely paralyzed by the simple idea of flooding this poor’s store soil. One bottle in hand, she quickly paid her article and briefly smiled at the old cashier, attempting to look as natural as possible.

It’s fine, girl. You’re not gonna shit yourself in front of that woman. The little voice in her head echoed, and she desperately tried to ignore it as much as she could.

As soon as the bip of the payment terminal squeaked, her legs gave up instantly and began a long, hard and painful race to the first hidden place or alleyway in sight.

What started as a little run became the marathon of a life when Y/N realized the slightest drop had already threatened to give up. Oh and that! She was not going to accept it!

Hallelujah, right when she thought about it, she noticed a space between two buildings. Without really seeing what was there yet, she knew already that she’d found a nice place for her affair.

She ran as fast as she could, as rapid as a hungry predator, except a mild inconvenience stopped her in her march.

She bumped right into someone’s rigid chest, and as hard as a rock even so, so really, not helping the case.

“Ah! I’m so sorry!” She screamed in reflex, after the disturbing sound of objects falling down to the ground due to the collision of two people.

“Yah! Mianhaeyo! Wait, sorry!” A masculine, low pitched voice shrieked at the same time, mixing both Korean and English after hearing the way she sounded.

Y/N immediately crouched to the ground and collected every item on the floor, including a weird punk bracelet she thought was very dripped up, a little vinyl-shaped key ring and an electric vape.

“I’m so sorry, really” She mumbled, standing up again, now unbothered by her previous sudden urge to pee.

Her gaze slowly made its direction to the stranger’s face. Well, you see, he was tall. Abnormally so. When her eyes reached his, her eyes grew even wider than they were before.

“You…” He said, looking as delighted as he seemed disgusted, or confused, who knows? He had such a weird face. “You’re the aurghsebell moron girl.”

You did know him. Of course you did.

Who else didn’t know this guy, honestly? Y/N did know him, in fact, she’d met him already in that cafe, and she’d watched every single one of CORTIS’ performances before. Obviously.

It just didn’t felt right that day. At the cafe, I mean.

How could it ? He looked visibly drained, clearly tired and probably had his first day off in months. She’d never ruin such a moment by imposing herself as his biggest fan and then glaze him for however long it’d take. Nah.

Instead, she’d just hinted that she listened to his music, without making a big deal out of it, and for that, she’d admit, she felt pretty proud.

Anyway, she didn’t wanna pee anymore.

Y/N broke off this never ending eye contact and briefly looked behind Martin, noticing a familiar silhouette.

Right next to him, was the face of Ahn Keonho.

Wow, he’s tall too. She thought.

He too, looked pretty confused. His eyes darted from her to Martin, trying to recall when and how the two of them could’ve met, as it was now obvious they knew each other already.

“The Isabel Marant girl, huh?” He repeated after Martin, and a slight smirk appeared on the corner of his lips without Y/N really knowing why.

Actually, Y/N didn’t know herself, how Martin had recognized her. Well, she had great style, she’d admit it, but no other aspect of her would make her memorable. And her outfit that day was straight up from the airport, which, in her philosophical mind, screamed : actually, I did have a pee this morning, but I just had to run away from my home, so I didn’t pack anything.

She also didn’t know what the fuck these two were doing in an alleyway, next to a convenience store, let alone at three in the morning.

“Huh… For you.” She whispered with hesitation, putting her arms forward and offering the items, which were previously scattered on the floor due to the impact.

She took a very long look at each one of them, making sure that not any of these objects were damaged by the fall. She’d have to pay them again, and she was lowkey much more than broke.

“Wait, I think your vape’s a little broken…” She said softly, entirely focused on the little crack forming in the left corner of the object.

“Oh.” Martin whispered, his Adam’s apple visibly throbbing as he swallowed hard.

“I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay, girl.” He smiled.

Suddenly, her eyes squinted as she thought some more.

“Hold on.”

“Yes?” He asked, curious.

“Wait… Wait… Hold on.” She reiterated, trying to process what she was seeing at the moment.

Why did Martin Edwards possess a vape ?

Because there it clearly was : an electric vape sitting comfortably on her hand.

“Wait, what?” Her voice rise, genuinely trying to find a reasonable explanation for such an appartenance. “Are you even allowed to walk around with something like that ?”

“Huh…” He managed to say, looking perplexed.

“I know who you are. You definitely can’t walk around with something like that, dude.”

“Look, it sounds weird, but it’s not mine.” He responded defensively, and he was telling the truth.

“Whose is it, then? Stop playing with me.” She laughed bitterly at that.

“Hey, just calm down, okay?” He sensed the tension growing progressively.

“I can’t calm down, knowing you’re wandering around with a vape, when you are who you are, man.” She smiled with no emotion. “Do you know what you’re risking, right now?”

“Of course I know, god. But I’m telling you it’s not mine, so please, calm down—“

“People don’t care if it’s yours, Martin. They will ruin your life. They will come to you and call you an addict!” She protested, deeply worried and disappointed at the same time. “They will come to you, and rip your life away from you. This is what they do, here!”

“Look, we’re in an alleyway. The vape is not mine. Do you seriously think paparazzis or sasaengs would come here, honestly?”

“Well, I’m here? I’m not a saesang or a paparazzi, but I know you.” She stated the obvious.

“What, are you stalking me, is that it?”

Damn.

“You seemed weird in that cafe too, the other day. I knew you were staring at me for way too long not to flirt with me after.” He continued, though he’d never admit short circuiting at the sight of her face that day. “Ugh! These fans! I swear, if you dare touch, even the slightest bit of my shirt or my skin, or whatever part—”

“What the fuck ? Where’s this conversation even going?” She blurted out, genuinely confused.

“You tell me, oisoiball maroon girl. You’re the one following me on the streets, aren’t you ? Is that why you’re in this alleyway?”

“Wow, really? Im not here to feed your pretentious dumbass, man, I wanna take a piss! A goddamn piss !”

“Pretentious ass? Are you kidding me—“

“What’s getting on MY nerves is seeing one of my favorite celebrity being this reckless and ignorant!” She shouted without a care. “I am SO disappointed right now, Martin! Damn!”

Witnessing the volume of her voice increasing, Keonho immediately stepped up and declared with pure intensity:

“Look, it’s not what he meant—“

“Even so, man. Do you have any idea of the consequences of such a thing ? The vape, I mean.” She cut him out, suddenly very disappointed in the blond, who carefully listened to what she had to share. “You wanna get cancelled again ? For actual valid reasons, this time ?”

“Wait, me getting canceled has nothing to do with this, what ? What the fuck are you talking about ?” He tried to respond, but her sudden anger was far from easily controlled.

“Y’know what, Martin ? I really like your music, I told you already. But, right now, man—“ She took a deep breath and swallowed, hard enough for her expression to shift and her eyes to squint. “I’m really thinking you have no sense of responsibility at all.”

“What? Bro, stop right there—“

“Otherwise, you’d be intelligent and you’d take care of your group! What are you doing, strolling around in the streets late at night with a vape! You’re a freaking SCRUTINIZED person! The fuck…” She continued.

“I TOLD you already it wasn’t mine, damnit—“

“I don’t CARE! It’s still a vape, and you’re still the most famous rising star in the country, and, can I even remind you that you’re not even an adult?”

“Let me finish my words for once! God, let me explain—“

“You know what, I have no respect for you anymore, really.” She then stated, utterly convinced she was right.

“Bro, what ? You don’t even let me finish my sentences and you’re on about me losing your respect?” He suddenly burst out. “Shut up, girl, you’re the one who should feel exposed for being such a dickhead !” His anger grew wider, and he immediately regretted.

It’s how it went. He’d never been disrespected like this. By a fan, let alone. It just slipped, and he knew it was another bad thing to add, in his list of cancel-worthy elements. His eyes shut in disappointment of himself, trying to process what he’d just said.

“Do you hear what you’re saying! Fuck, man! I’m not a fucking smoker, and even if I was, it’s absolutely none of your darn business!” He kept going, entirely regretful at every new word, but it just came naturally.

He heard Keonho sighing behind him, and he knew he’d disappointed his friend too.

This hurt a lot more.

“Great of you to talk like this to a fan.”

“You’re acting as if you didn’t disrespect me in the first place.” He stated, and he wasn’t wrong, to be honest.

“Except I’m not the one who owes you respect. You are. And right now, there’s nothing preventing me from disrespecting you anymore.”

To Martin, it felt like a wave destroying his idol pride. I mean, obviously, he didn’t like to disappoint people, especially his fans. He’d always been the kindest to them, always at their disposition and really trying to make his image sort of positive, under every aspects there were.

Seeing how this little vape, which wasn’t even his, apparently so, had changed Y/N’s vision of him in a second, felt just like a reminder, of how fake he’d acted towards his fans at times.

Not that he was hypocritical with them, or that he loved them less than he pretended too. But he’d always have to hide something from them, his problems or even the slightest argument with another member, sometimes what he’d drank for dinner. It felt tiring, honestly.

Idol life, it seems, wasn’t that easy.

“No, but seriously, Martin.” She kept going, this time much calmer. “See, what happens if I take a picture right now and post it online ?” Her eyes searched for his, she seemed deeply upset. “I could do it right on the spot and you’d be caught. It’d ruin your life.”

“You wouldn’t do that. You said you liked my music.” He stopped her in her tracks, suddenly very disturbed by what this conversation was starting to sound.

“Boy, I might like your music but I’m not obliged to like you.” She declared with certainty. “God, why do people think you have to like an artist to listen to their songs ? I’m not some creepy fan, Damn.”

“Whatever. It’s not the point. Will you leak it, or not ?”

“Well, I’m not the type to ruin lives. But I could do it, as a coer. I could tell the whole fandom of how much danger you’re putting yourself into.” She continued, her voice almost imperceptible. “Of how much of a liar you really are.”

Seriously? Martin thought and rolled his eyes. All of this, over a freaking vape?

“Now, you’re seriously OVERLY dramatic and I certainly don’t appreciate it.”

“No, but it is that serious.” Y/N declared after his reaction. “Bro, you’re like one of the most famous people in here. You’re not allowed to have a vape.”

“What am I allowed to do, really, huh ? As an idol, I mean ?” He asked, and she thought for a moment.

One thing she realized at that moment, was that he didn’t have the slightest remorse. Otherwise, why would he respond and defend himself instead of simply apologizing ?

He didn’t think of the impact of what a simple picture of him smoking could have. He didn’t even fathom the thought, that maybe, he’d be receiving hate trains, get fired from his company, get excluded from CORTIS, and maybe even have to flea from the country because of the scandal.

Didn’t he have media training and scandal gestion lessons or meetings, as an idol? Shouldn’t he know of all these risks ?

And he didn’t give a fuck, Y/N thought.

“Ew.” She managed to reply in fair disgust, before turning on her heels and starting to walk.

At that, he immediately called her out.

“Wait!” He screamed, while Keonho gently took the objects in his hand back. “You have to promise that you won’t tell anything.”

“Boy, I don’t think you’re in the rightest position to ask such a thing. Tell yourself where you’re wrong, and take a shit or something. You’re hella weird for not seeing where there’s a problem.”

And on those words, she slowly began to walk, her eyes glued to the ground and her expression devoid of any left-over admiration for the young man after the atrocities he’d just let out.

Is he actually that much of a piece of shit? Or did I just not see it before ?

“See you next week.” She muttered, and only then she began to walk a bit faster, disappearing from his sight.

Martin’s eyes narrowed, trying to process all of the crap she’d just said, as well as what was planned next week for her to see him again. He did not want to see her.

He just had let slip the most compromising news ever, and she had every reason to leak it to the world. To Korea.

Korea scared him. He knew what the fans were like. He knew every risk. But in the moment, his senses just screamed defense instead of surrender, and his pride spoke for him.

“Bro, what the fuck just happened?” Keonho suddenly declared, and Martin turned around to face him. “Why’d you scream this hard, man! This is bad.”

“That’s what happens when you need to piss, bro. You could’ve just put that in your pocket while you took your broski out or something.” He complained, now very upset of what a mere misunderstanding could possibly do to them. “Why do you carry a vape anyway, dang? You don’t smoke.”

“It’s for the style. Manager-nim gave it to me. It’s empty.”

“Well, thanks to your style, we’re screwed. Okay ?” He burst anxiously. “It’s the end of my career. You see how angry she was ? And fuck, how I REACTED ! I am RUINED. I’m genuinely fucked, Keonho. What the fuck. Bro.” He mumbled, his voice becoming quieter and quieter as he spoke.

“But we’ll see her next week. Let’s just talk to manager-nim. He’ll find a solution.” Keonho declared, seeming rather calm.

Well, in reality, he was just as scared. He knew the risks too. He knew, how shitty of a situation this was now. But he’d prefer to search for solutions rather than act like a desperate puppy, like Martin did. He’d really thought of punching his friend in the face during this whole interaction with this random pretty girl, but it’d be too much of an inconvenience, so he let go.

A part of him also took responsibility for this incident. After all, it was his vape. He could’ve just peed later. This alleyway just seemed particularly welcoming for people in desperate need to free their bladder from the hell of a piss.

“What if I’m like… Ending up like T.O.P ? Huh, because I could, really. It’s literally the same situation.”

“But you’re not a drug addict, Martin. C’mon, we’ll speak to manager-nim, it’s his vape anyway.”

“I don’t think the truth is that important. It’s a scandal anyway…” He whispered, deeply concerned.

Martin sighed for what seemed like hours, letting out a breath he’d waited for so long to take out. His fists clenched as hard as he could, and he looked at the vape.

“Anyway, we’re cooked. Let’s just hope she doesn’t leak anything this week. Cause she hates me now, doesn’t she ?”

“Is that a real question?” Keonho laughed bitterly. “Dayum, you’re slow.”

And the two went back to their van on the end of the road, feeling very humiliated and anxious at the same time.

Well, for a simple out going, because one of the members desperately needed to pee, a sure lot did happen.

[camsahamnidaa]

I MIGHT POST CHAPTER 2 TONIGHT! AND ITS GETTING INTERESTINGGG, TRUST ME…

[camsahamnidaa]

CHAP1 is ass, BUT trust me yall💓 it’s gonna get HEATED

[camsahamnidaa]

CHAP 1 IS OUT, Y’ALL!! HOPE YOU’LL LIKE IT, but just know their enemy arc is COMING

[camsahamnidaa]

— EDWARDS MARTIN HEART IS YOURS, DESPITE THE BLUES.

CHAPTER 1!

TAGS: idol!martin x nonidol!reader | ennemies to bestfriends to lovers | slowburn | pure angst | lots of humor! | reader is bsf with Cortis! | fluff I kissing, cuddling, crying in each others arms DOWNBAD!Martin!

IN WHICH... Blackmailing a K-pop idol was never part of the plan. Neither was spending weeks hanging around his studio, arguing over sneakers, or accidentally becoming friends with all of his members. It was supposed to be simple: keep his secret, admire his sneaker collection, steal a tiny comeback spoiler, and leave.

Alas, Y/N finds herself caught between Martin and the secrets he refuses to share. As their friendship deepens, so do the cracks beneath the surface- late-night arguments, quieter confessions, and feelings that absolutely weren't part of the deal progressively mish-mash their bond. They might definitely just be in way over their heads...

<- PREVIOUS PART | NEXT PART ->

Martin’s cap was pulled low over his head, so low that you couldn’t even see the curve of his prominent nose. He was slumped over a couch and leaned over this modern wooden table, which, to his personal opinion, looked terribly miserable and devoid of any sense of style whatsoever.

Well, he liked things to be stylish. He always had. Appearance, under every aspects there were, was something important to Martin. Essential even so. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be hiding his face from people.

Er, too handsome, ya know? He told himself.

There weren’t that many people in this cafe. It was rather outskirts to the crowded neighborhood of Seoul, so there only seemed to be tired regulars. Well, they had to be tired, to come to such a boring and gloomy place.

Still, it felt fine to Martin. These days, he’d been pretty tired. That is to say, he hadn’t gone out of the dorms in weeks, outside of purely professional purposes. Manager Nim — Da Man, to Martin, had granted the young man and his friends a full day of rest. A poor award, if you’d ask me, but Martin was content. He’d dreamed of resting every night since the beginning of their GREENGREEN promotion. One day could maybe fill the fatigue, he thought.

So this place, as emotionally devoid as it was, felt just fine, because for once, he’d have actual silence. No fans, nor staff, nor members. He could just enjoy his drink, well — it wasn’t that good, didn’t even know what it was, but still, and think of something that wasn’t CORTIS related.

There were plenty of things that he would have loved to think about. For example, his next shopping day in thrift stores, how he hadn’t seen his friends in a long time, or how badly he missed his home. However, his mind didn’t wander very much, as a little voice interrupted its progression.

“Jeo— Jeogyo…” A young woman’s voice echoed from his right ear.

His cap still on to not be recognized, Martin tried to identify who was speaking to him. Surely this woman wasn’t Korean, as her prononciation was, he’d say, absolute shit.

From where he sat and where he looked, which wasn’t higher than above his head, so, technically, mere cafe soil, he could only see a pair of sneakers that looked highly expensive.

They look geeked! He thought to himself, but his eyes spoke for him as their volume grew in surprise, practically in awe of such beauty. They were white wedges filled with yellow details in denim. He’d never seen denim on shoes!

“Joesonamida…” The girl whispered again hesitantly.

God, what an awfully shitty accent. He thought again.

Only then did he lift his eyes and meet hers.

Her breath hitched for a second, without him really noticing. Perhaps he was the one distracted, while she seemed completely oblivious to the reaction she’d caused to his brain. Oh, because there was a reaction, obviously.

She looked ravishing.

Well, no other words came in Martin’s head, to be honest, but that’s a part of what he thought. To be honest, there isn’t much to testify, as he just zoned out while thoroughly observing her face.

It’s like his brain short-circuited, or something.

Oh yeah, she’s hot.

“Uh, English ?” She asked in a shy tone, staring down at his confused face, his mouth slightly opened in admiration.

Martin wasn’t really the type to be attracted to girls. Obviously, he’d play about his fanservice and hit on his fans because he felt proud and it gave him confidence, but everybody knows a guy to every girl is a guy to no girl, right ? Well, that was him.

He’d do it for fun, play with fans’ smiles and eyes, calling them nicknames, singing them love songs, proposing to marry them, only because he didn’t have any real girl with who he’d do such things.

I mean, he’s eighteen, duh, he’s not obliged to care about girls anyway. Well, that is acted, he doesn’t really care.

Now, I see the vision. He told to himself, after what seemed like an eternity of complete silence in his mind.

“Boy ?” The girl reiterated, after a couple of seconds, seeing no response.

“Uh…Uh. Yes. Can I help you ?” He responded with difficulty, seeming visibly uncomfortable.

Well, she kind of looked the same. She looked pretty awkward, somewhat nervous, to Martin’s eye. Her fingers were practically killing each other, throwing almost-punches to one another, making her skin go white from the lack of blood.

He was hoping very, very hard that she wasn’t a fan. If she was one, he’d be uncomfortable even by the thought of this weird interaction. He’d actually bury himself to the grave.

“Can you tell me…” She started, as her gaze drifted from Martin’s face to his lap. He followed her stare with intent, deeply confused. “Where are your shoes from, if that’s okay ?”

Martin blinked for a moment, processing the thought. Oh, and he was not going blank this time, not again!

“Oh! Uh… I think it’s Helmut Lang, like a vintage archive, yeah…” He rambled with the deepest voice he could use, trying to brush off his clear unease.

Well, it felt more like he was trying to rizz her up, and didn’t know how to do it. Which is why the tiniest squeak of a laugh escaped her mouth, but she quietly ran her hand over her face to cover it up.

“They’re sick!” She exclaimed, and she really was sincere. “Can I— like, take a picture of it, maybe ? I wanna google it, maybe.”

And that’s how he ended up holding his feet up for her.

Most. Fucking. Humbling. Experience. Ever.

Never again.

After the little click sound, she smiled to herself as he watched, both dazed and entirely embarrassed at the same time.

“Thanks, mate!” She laughed while saying it, aware of how ridiculous he felt.

“Also, love your—“

“Hey, where are your shoes from, please ?” He interrupts her without thinking.

“Oh, they’re Isabel Marant.”

His eyebrows squinted as he tried to understand exactly which brand this rubbish of a name was.

“Huh?” He blurted out, looking up at her in confusion.

“Wait, you don’t know it?” She grimaced in amusement, and it genuinely sounded like a melody. “Boy, it’s like super famous. Like… ASAP Rocky… D’you know ASAP Rocky ?”

“What! HELL YEAH!” Martin gasped, suddenly hyper aware of how loud he had screamed. Heads turned in his direction in the cafe, and he immediately turned his gaze back to his horrendous beverage, avoiding people’s gaze to not be recognized.

Girl, ASAP’s the secret member of my group, stop playing with me.

“Yeah well, the Fashion Killa song.” She started, and Martin immediately tried to remember any potential correlation with Aysebal Moron or type shit. “Y’know, like the…Goyard by the trunk… Her Isabel Marant… lyrics. C’mon mate, not that hard.” She sang for a bit, and it’s as if God himself had blessed Martin’s ears.

“Ahh… Yeahh. I got it, man.”

He didn’t have it, obvi. But hey, he’s the one who produced songs in ASAP’s studio, no ?

Duh.

“Anyway, thanks! I’ll let you drink your… liquid.” She then stated, and Martin watched slowly take a new direction.

To his biggest surprise, she stopped in her track and glanced back at him for the last time, before quietly slipping these words.

“Love your music, by the way.” She smiled and left just as fast.

That’s what it took for Martin to finally glimpse a smirk, while watching this unfinished damn disgusting drink.

[camsahamnidaa]

— EDWARDS MARTIN HEART IS YOURS, DESPITE THE BLUES.

MASTERLIST!

TAGS : idol!martin x nonidol!reader | ennemies to bestfriends to lovers | slowburn | pure angst | lots of humor! | reader is bsf with Cortis! | fluff | kissing, cuddling, crying in each others arms! | DOWNBAD!Martin!

IN WHICH… Blackmailing a K-pop idol was never part of the plan. Neither was spending weeks hanging around his studio, arguing over sneakers, or accidentally becoming friends with his members. It was supposed to be simple: keep his secret, admire his sneaker collection, steal a tiny comeback spoiler, and leave.

Alas, Y/N finds herself caught between Martin and the secrets he refuses to share. As their friendship deepens, so do the cracks beneath the surface— late-night arguments, quieter confessions, and feelings that absolutely weren’t part of the deal progressively mish-mash their bond. They might definitely just be in way over their heads…

TEASER!

CHAP1!

CHAP2!

CHAP3!

CHAP4!

CHAP5!

and more to come, obviously…