La Artista Roja

†ðÐ𧠆êñêmð§ mïêÐð, þêrð ꧆á ßïêñ þðrqµê †ê †êñgð å †ï ᓚ₍⑅^..^₎♡

[laartistaroja]

𝔰𝔥𝔢/𝔥𝔢𝔯/𝔢𝔩𝔩𝔞 🇺🇸🇲🇽 𝔪𝔲𝔩𝔱𝔦-𝔰𝔱𝔞𝔫 𝔴𝔯𝔦𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔞𝔯𝔱𝔦𝔰𝔱 ♥I♥N♥F♥P♥ 𝔓𝔯𝔬-𝔭𝔯𝔬𝔠𝔯𝔞𝔰𝔱𝔦𝔫𝔞𝔱𝔬𝔯 𝔱𝔬𝔬 𝔪𝔞𝔫𝔶 𝔦𝔡𝔢𝔞𝔰, 𝔱𝔬𝔬 𝔩𝔦𝔱𝔱𝔩𝔢 𝔪𝔬𝔱𝔦𝔳𝔞𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫

‿̩͙⊱༒︎༻♱༺༒︎⊰‿̩͙ ❤︎⁠𝔴𝔞𝔦𝔱𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔣𝔬𝔯𝔢𝔳𝔢𝔯 𝔞𝔣𝔱𝔢𝔯 ❤︎⁠ ❤︎⁠ 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔍𝔢𝔴𝔢𝔯𝔩𝔶 𝔅𝔬𝔵 ❤︎⁠ ❤︎⁠𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔖𝔠𝔥𝔢𝔡𝔲𝔩𝔢 ❤︎⁠

𝒯𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓀 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒻𝑜𝓇 being 𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒! ¡𝒢𝓇𝒶𝒸𝒾𝒶𝓈 𝓅𝑜𝓇 𝑒𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓇 𝔞𝔮𝔲í! ≽(•⩊ •マ≼

(banner made by @dollywons)

[laartistaroja]

Guys I swear that I saw Drew from Santos Bravos heading to Mexico today🫪!!!

Te juro que vi a Drew de Santos Bravos yendo a México hoy🫪!!!

I was too shy to say hi😔💔might never see him again

Era demasiado tímido para saludarlo😔💔 puede que nunca lo vuelva a ver

[laartistaroja]

banners: @dollywons

inspo: @coerbnz

[laartistaroja]

im a dummy🫩💔

[laartistaroja]

💈 ✂ℂ𝕠𝕣𝕥𝕚𝕤 𝔹𝕗 ℝ𝕖𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕔𝕦𝕥𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 ℍ𝕒𝕚𝕣 𝕊𝕙𝕠𝕣𝕥💈 ✂

Sticky notes: I recently got my hair cut short and wondered how the members would react to their gf randomly cutting their hair short lol. Hope u like it :P!

Genre: Fluff, Romance, lowercase, not really proofread sorry if it's cringe lol

ᯓ‎♪𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝓈𝒶𝒾𝒹 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝓂𝓎 𝒽𝒶𝒾𝓇 𝓈𝑜 𝑔𝑜 𝒶𝒽𝑒𝒶𝒹 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝑜𝓊𝒸𝒽 𝒾𝓉ᯓ‎𝄞 ˎˊ˗

♡James♡

⟢you were going to surprise James by showing up in the practice room

⟢ the last time he saw you was a week ago since he was so busy on the music shows promoting the comeback

⟢ you opened the doors only a bit to James re-running some choreo

⟢you fully open the door and hold up the food you got for him

⟢James sees your reflection in the mirror but it doesn't register to him that you have an obvious change

⟢he walks towards you but pauses when he sees your hair

⟢"you got your hair cut short?" he simply asks

⟢"yeah. do you like it?"

⟢ he doesn't respond at first but instead plays with your hair

⟢"hey!" you playfully punch his shoulder

⟢ "i really do like it." he would softly admit

⟢ he lets you join him while running through the choreography but he keeps looking at you in the mirror

⟢ he stares at how your hair now bounces with each step

⟢ he thinks it fits you

⟢ after a while, you two sit in a corner of the practice room and eat

⟢ he lays your head on his lap and continues to admire your hair

⟢ he curls little pieces of your hair while you stare at him

⟢ "you've been so quiet all day." you point out

⟢ "i just think that you look really beautiful." James pokes your cheek and ruffled your hair

⟢ Overall Reaction 🦅: Really likes it, quiet devotion, secretly planning on matching hairstyles

♡Juhoon♡

⟢ you show up to his dorm room and knock

⟢ you didn't tell him about your haircut because you wanted to get a funny reaction from him

⟢ Juhoon opens the door, expecting another one of Keonho's questions

⟢ what he does not expect is to see his girlfriend rocking short hair

⟢ "surprise!" you exclaim

⟢ Juhoon pauses, wondering if you're who he thinks you are

⟢ "y/n? is that you?"

⟢"wow. do i really look that different?" you playfully scoff

⟢ Juhoon steps aside to let you into his room but doesn't stop looking at you

⟢ "what happened to your hair?" he simply asks

⟢ "i got my hair cut short. do you like it?" you tilt your head, asking him

⟢ "why?" he simply asks

⟢ "because i wanted to...?" why is he asking you this??? "it feels much lighter and it's easier to wash now!"

⟢ he nods and sits down beside you

⟢ "do you not like it?" you quietly ask. he hasn't said much so far so you're scared that he secretly doesn't think it looks nice

⟢ "N-no." Juhoon quickly shakes his head and hold your hand "it's just so different. but it looks very nice on you."

⟢"really?"

⟢ "of course. you always look pretty. long hair or short hair."

⟢ "even bald?" you tease him

⟢ he giggles, "yes, even bald."

⟢ he stays cuddled up with you while watching a movie on Jame's computer (shhhh🤫)

⟢ every couple of minutes he redirects his attention to his girlfriend with the new haircut

⟢ he thinks that you look stunning

⟢ Overall Reaction 🐢: Silent admiration, actions louder than words, will get used to your hair soon, finds you even cuter

♡Martin♡

⟢ you were shocked when you managed to score concert tickets and decided to surprise Martin by showing up to one of the first shows

⟢ you felt bad every time you lied to him about the tickets but you knew that it would be worth it at the end

⟢ you decided to cut your hair cut short during the same time since the summer heat was becoming unbareable

⟢ that was another part of the surprise too

⟢ excitement filled you as the first song began to play and you saw all the members onstage

⟢ you sang along and danced throughout each song, as well as watching your boyfriend put his all into his performance

⟢ he soon began to interact with the coers, coming closer to where you were

⟢ he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw you and smiled so bright

⟢ he wished that he could come up and hug you but that would have to wait until after the show

⟢ throughout the whole show, all he can think about is his pretty girlfriend in the crowd, showcasing a new style

⟢ after the concert, you were escorted backstage to see him

⟢ once you spotted him, you ran into his arms

⟢ "Martin! congrats! you guys were amazing!"

⟢ "you got your hair cut short!" Martin squealed when he turned to look at you

⟢ "i did! do you like it?" you do a small dramatic hair toss

⟢ "like it? i love it! you look soooo pretty!" he gushed as he cupped your cheeks

⟢ "wait, do a 360! let me see the full cut!" Martin spun you around which you laughed at

⟢ "you look so gorgeous!" martin cooed, holding your head and gave you a cheek kiss

⟢ Martin can't wait to try hairstyles and accessories with you. he would go to the mall and let you buy whatever hair accessories that you want

⟢ he loves that he's basically matching with you!

⟢ will show you off to the others and on his private online account

⟢ Overall Reaction 🦒: Excited, amazed, loveeees this, now wants to be matching 24/7

♡Seonghyeon♡ ⟢ Seonghyeon was meeting up with you at an açai bowl restaurant whatever it's called 😔

⟢ you saw him waiting outside at a table, eating some of his açai bowl

⟢ "SEONGHYEON!" you ran towards him and called out his name

⟢ Seonghyeon smiled and looked up but then his expression was changed for a shocked looked

⟢ "hi!" you tucked a strand of hair behind your ear, "sorry i'm late. the teacher kept us in to turn in that one assignment."

⟢ you grabbed the extra açai bowl in front of you and scooped up a bunch

⟢ Seonghyeon sat there, silently watching you eat

⟢ "um? are you okay?" you asked, confused why he stopped eating

⟢ "you look different." he simply said

⟢ "oh yeah, i got my hair cut short yesterday. how does it look? it's different so i'm still getting used to it." you smiled

⟢ Seonghyeon looked down, avoiding your gaze, "i think that you look nice."

⟢ "but you aren't even looking at me!" you narrowed your eyes

⟢ Seonghyeon didn't respond but you noticed his flushed face

⟢ "you going to eat that açai?" you started to reach for his bowl

⟢ "HEY!" Seonghyeon snatched his bowl as fast as he could and held it close to his heart, "THAT'S MINE!"

⟢ "now you look at me!" you scolded, "i came out of my way from school and you don't even want to look at me! come on, do i really look that bad?"

⟢ "of course you don't!" Seonghyeon quickly blurted out, "you never do. i-just- this is very new."

⟢ "good new or bad new?"

⟢ "definietly good new. you look so pretty right now." he confessed

⟢ now it was your turn for your face to flush

⟢ Seonghyeon casually went back to eating as if he hadn't made your brain malfunction

⟢ "hmm? what's wrong? why are you so quiet?" Seonghyeon teased

⟢"shut up." you looked down in your bowl, although you couldn't help your smile

⟢"whatever, pretty." Seonghyeon smirked

⟢"stoppp!" you groaned

⟢ Overall Reaction 🦊: Flustered, nervous, thinks you look amazing, a bit taken back but will get used to it

♡Keonho♡

⟢Keonho swam towards the edge of the pool, exhausted from practicing his laps

⟢"Keonho!" you called out, holding a spare towel for him

⟢ Keonho beamed and turned to look at you, only to gasp when he saw that your hair looked different from the last time he saw you

⟢"YOU GOT YOUR HAIR CUT SHORT!" he exclaimed as he scrambled out of the pool

⟢"slow down, Keonho! you're going to hurt yourself!" you shuffled towards him and tried to wrap him around the towel

⟢Keonho dodged the towel and gave you a big hug, with a kiss on the top of your head

⟢"you look soooo pretty!" Keonho gushed, squishing your cheeks together

⟢"Keonho!" you giggled, "you're getting my clothes wet! you have to dry off!" you ruffled his hair with a towel, trying to make his hair tidy

⟢his curls peeked out as he smiled at you I LIVE FOR CURLY HAIR KEONHO SUPREMACY PLZ LET HIM SHOW HIS CURLS

⟢"when did you get your hair cut short?"

⟢"yesterday." you smiled

⟢"you got a haircut and didn't tell me before?" Keonho pouted

⟢"ummm...i'm telling you now..?" you shrugged

⟢"you look so nice." Keonho held you closer

⟢"Keonho, you literally got out of the pool a minute ago." you struggled aganist his hold

⟢"i need to see this hair up close!"

⟢Keonho started to play with your hair, trying out different hairstyles, and brushing his fingers through your hair

⟢"it's really not all that impressive." you laughed

⟢"shhh, let me have this."

⟢He'll totally want to buy matching bows with you to put on with you

⟢will go out in public wearing little bows

⟢ if friends or family ask him about why he's wearing a bow, he'll proudly mention his lovely girlfriend with awesome hair

⟢Overall Reaction 🐶: Excited, going to show you off, will admire you for hours, acts like he's the one with the haircut, amazed every time he looks at you

you made it to the end! tysm for reading!

shout out to my short hair queens/kings/monarchs! <333

credits for divider: @omi-resources

i'm still new to tags so idk if i put too much lol

[that1nerd-20]

You guys know how when you stay up all night reading fanfics and imagining having a soft romance while you fall asleep, pretending you're falling asleep with your favorite character and then the next morning you wake up and feel super lonely and empty.

Oh...just me? 😐😐

[laartistaroja]

Where are the cameras?🤨🫪

[irkkii]

⠀漪思钰‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎❤︎⠀‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎NEIGHBOR NEXTDOOR ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

⠀⠀⠀𝗍𝗎𝗋𝗇𝗌 𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝗒𝗈𝗎𝗋 𝗇𝖾𝗑𝗍-𝖽𝗈𝗈𝗋 𝗇𝖾𝗂𝗀𝗁𝖻𝗈𝗋 𝗂𝗌 𝖺 𝖿𝗅𝗂𝗋𝗍?

𝟐𝟏𝟏𝟒────────𝒊 ⠀flirty! y.jw x f! rea ⠀ 是毒药❤︎ ƒlirting 𝑚aking out

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 💭馃槀馃槀

it’s been spreading around the apartment complex that a new person is moving in.

which is actually big news, this building is ancient and when new people do show up, it’s usually some older tenant. so when you heard the newcomer was young, your curiosity instantly spiked.

the older lady next door—basically your second mom at this point—had moved out last week. she was heading to live with her family because of health stuff. it made you a little sad; she’d been the sweetest neighbor for a whole year. still, you were glad she was with people who could take care of her properly.

it was mid-evening when you heard the commotion next door. you got up from your tiny couch, cracked open your front door, and peeked out. there he was—your new neighbor—hauling boxes in and out. average height, short hair, definitely young. so this was him.

you decided to be the nice neighbor you are. "need some help?" you asked sweetly.

jungwon looked up and flashed a quick smile. "uh, nope, i'm good," he said, already grabbing two boxes like they weighed nothing.

'oh… okay. i'm ___ by the way." you started to offer your hand but realized his were full, so you awkwardly slipped it back into your pocket.

he set the boxes down inside and walked back out. "i’m jungwon!" he called, finally extending his hand. "nice to meet you."

"nice to meet you too," you replied, shaking it.

you glanced at your door right beside his. "i live right next door," you said, pointing.

"oh?" he raised an eyebrow, a little smile tugging at his lips. "so you’re my neighbor then."

"yep."

"nice to know i've got a cute one," he added casually, like it was the most normal observation in the world.

you went silent for a second, caught off guard. before you could respond, he cut in again.

"see you later, ___," he said with a little wave, already heading back inside.

"see you…?" you muttered, half confused.

little did you know he was going to do flirty stuff like that every time you see him.

you were in the old stinky laundromat trying to get the washing machines to work. you had washing machines in your apartment complex, but first they were tiny and second they didn't work—you learned that the second day of living here. apparently jungwon noticed that as well.

you noticed jungwon walking in. it was almost impossible not to spot him; he was like the only youthful person here besides you. the second he saw you, his eyes lit up. he walked over, basket in hand, and squatted down right next to your washing machine.

"who would've thought the washing machines were just for display."

you laughed a bit at that. you kept trying to get the machine to work—you'd tried pushing every button, rearranging your clothes, putting in less clothes, even hitting it. jungwon noticed it all.

"need help?" he asked after throwing his clothes into his machine, moving closer to yours.

"yes please," you said, scooting away so he could get in front of your washer.

you sat up on the bench, thinking it would take jungwon a few minutes, but the second you sat down the machine kicked up.

"what," you said, lowkey in shock. you'd been trying to get these washing machines to work for days and jungwon did it in seconds?

"special touch," he said, turning around and smiling at you.

if you weren't in such complete shock, you would've noticed how he said it almost like he was flirting (cause he was) and how he was looking at you when he said it.

"thank you so much!" you got up quickly. jungwon thought you were going to give him a hug or something, so he opened his arms slightly, only for you to instantly look at your clothes spinning in the washer, leaving him hanging.

he just rocked back and forth on his feet, hands in his pockets. "okkkk..." he said under his breath.

it wasn't like you wanted to deny his hug offer. it was just that you hadn't seen your clothes in a working washer in like a week.

jungwon sat on the bench right in front of his washing machine (one down from yours) and just looked at you, a small smile on his face. seeing someone excited over washing machines was a first, but even then, right there and then he knew he wanted you. and he knew he would get you, because he always got what he wanted.

the only problem? his go-to move was flirting, and you seemed completely oblivious to it.

your apartment complex did this wednesday breakfast thing where everyone got free breakfast. you were like 100% sure half of it was leftovers from previous wednesdays and stuff, but hey, you could never turn down free breakfast!

you walked to the waffle area making your waffle, until you felt jungwon behind you, putting his arm around your shoulder. you could practically hear his smile. "you like waffles?" he said, moving his face towards yours so you could see him.

"yeah."

"do you?" you asked, taking your waffle out of the maker.

"nooo, i like pancakes more."

you giggled under your breath.

"what, it's funny?" he said, smiling and following you around like a puppy as you went to the toppings section.

"never thought you'd like pancakes. you look like a waffles type of guy."

"i like both, honestly, but pancakes more."

"there's a pancake section right over there," you said, pointing.

he turned his attention over there. "okay thanks, pretty," he said, walking away.

pretty? you thought for a second. wow, nice compliment. you were too focused on making your waffles to really process everything.

you walked to a table and saw jungwon walking around, looking for a place to sit. in his hand was a plate of maybe at least five or six pancakes.

until his eyes found you, and he walked over.

"can i sit here?" he asked politely.

"yeah, of course!" you said, scooting over.

you noticed the stack of pancakes again. "why so many?" you asked, pointing with your fork at the stack.

"i wasn't lying when i said i like pancakes, you know."

"i can see that," you said, smiling.

"it's fine," you added, "i'm probably going to make like three other waffles after this one." you shrugged.

he let out a laugh and immediately went in on his pancakes.

this was your first proper talk and doing "neighborly" things together, and you had to admit—it was really nice.

at night, all of jungwon's flirting finally hit you (about time lowk).

you were taking a shower when all of jungwon's words crossed your mind—when he called you cute, the special touch thing, calling you pretty. you were literally zoned out all night thinking about it. did your neighbor like you? or did you like him and were just imagining him flirting when in reality he was just being friendly and you were overthinking it?

next thing you knew it was morning and you heard someone knocking on your door.

you got up slowly and slid your feet into your (tuff) koala slippers. you didn't really care how you looked—it was probably one of the older tenants asking something, you thought, until you opened the door to see jungwon holding a cup of coffee.

you instantly froze. "oh.. uh hi," you said, trying to hide behind the door due to your embarrassing appearance at the moment.

"heyy!" he said, face slightly confused on why you were even hiding. you looked fine, at least in his opinion.

"i bought you some coffee."

"oh thank you!" you said as he handed it to you.

"i was downstairs and noticed a coffee stand. i noticed at breakfast the other day drinking coffee so i thought you'd like it."

"thank you so much jungwon, that's sweet of you," you said kindly.

"no problem, see you later!" jungwon said, waving bye.

the second you closed the door he was cheesing, almost skipping back to his apartment. you called him sweet???—oh yeah, progress 💯.

he continued doing sweet things like that for you, buying you little things whenever he saw something—from the bakery near the complex, boba, whatever he got he got you one too.

you guys got even more comfortable with each other. sometimes you invited him into your apartment just to hang and talk, and the same went for his.

then your birthday came around. you decided to celebrate with jungwon since all your family was away. you were lowkey sad about it and 👀👀 totally wasn't crying about it. you used to spend it with your family, then you moved, and last year you spent it with the older lady, so yeah, you were a bit torn up—eyes still red when you knocked on his door.

he opened it and his smile instantly turned into a caring look.

"you okay?" he asked.

"yeah i'm fine. do i not look okay?" you said, already on the brink of tears again.

"i mean, uh," jungwon said.

and you instantly burst out in tears all of a sudden.

"okay okayy," jungwon said, bringing you into his apartment.

you put your head on jungwon's shoulder, cake with foil on top still in your hand.

"i-i don't even know why i'm crying."

"it's just that i have no one to spend my birthday with."

"and the older lady—sniffle—the older lady is gone and she's with her family and is getting really well taken care of."

"an-and she was the sweetest person ever."

"and that's why i brought this cake."

"so we can share," you said, fully crying now.

jungwon took the cake you offered and put it on the counter.

"it's okayyy," he said sweetly.

"you can spend it with me."

"thank you," you said, finally calming down.

"it's chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting by the way," you said, wiping away your tears.

you were both sitting together on the couch eating cake and watching a movie you recommended to him.

he had to be one of the sweetest neighbors ever. besides the older lady—nothing topped her.

he let you spend your night with him, let you cry and put your boogers on his shoulder, and now here you were sitting eating cake on his couch under a blanket.

near the middle of the movie jungwon was no longer paying attention to it and now he was paying full attention to you.

you looked at him for a split second to see if he was even still awake, only to see him looking at you.

"yeah?" you said, quieter than you thought.

"nothing," he said, but still looking at you.

he moved first, slowly, face coming closer, and you followed. then you finally kissed, (everyone cheer).

it was soft, slow, and then you both pulled away smiling at each other.

jungwon kissed you again, the kiss lasting longer and forming into multiple kisses. his hand cupped your jaw, his free hand grabbing your waist and pulling you closer. you sighed into his mouth as he changed the angle, then he broke the kiss again, slowly crawling on top of you. he came to kiss your neck, then your jaw, then around your ear—literally everywhere on your face, making you giggle.

"happy birthday hmm?" he said voice low in your ear, smiling and kissing your neck.

you were about to respond until the loud ass fire alarm went off...

you both quickly pulled apart from each other.

"margret must've started cooking again..." you sighed.

"margret?" jungwon asked.

"one of the tenants," you said. "she was a chef when she was younger and even though she's told not to cook she does it anyway. but she forgets that she leaves things cooking and then her fire alarm goes off."

"sad really," you added.

jungwon hummed in response, confused why someone would be cooking at around 12am anyways, but ready to just ignore the alarm and go back to what you were both doing—until you got up and got ready to put your shoes on.

"where are you going?"

"we have to go to the main lobby to make sure everyone's alright, like roll call thing."

jungwon sank into his couch and groaned.

"c'mon," you said, grabbing his wrist gently.

he got up and got his shoes. (you practically had to drag him).

before you both left the door you gave him a small kiss on the cheek and looked at him.

"cute," you said, smiling, and continued walking.

now you're the one being the flirt.. and jungwon loved every second of it!

𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 ❤︎ to be added comment

[laartistaroja]

🫪

[eu4mi]

➪ you disappear hours after a concert, your family reports you missing but the company states that you left voluntarily. nothing makes sense. all anyone can ask is, where are you ?

➪ “i fucking hate how people talk about you, acting like you weren't our best friend” - e.m. part one.

i. IT’S JUST A SHAME, THAT'S ALL

you disappear hours after a concert, your family reports you missing but the company states that you left voluntarily. cctv shows differently. nothing makes sense, especially with everyone moving on so fast.

ii. IT’S JUST A SHAME, THAT’S ALL — THROUGH THE LENS OF MARTIN

martin's seen you time and time again get smart with staff, it's no wonder that something was bound to happen, at least in his opinion.

iii. IT’S JUST A SHAME, THAT’S ALL — THROUGH THE LENS OF CORTIS

continuation to part one and part two. cortis tries their best to continue living normal lives without the core part of their group. can they manage without you ?

ijasta taglist one : @httpsbarsbymars @skyeincc @leehansglubblub @elmistay @oribby @2bamgyu @trsh-kitty @janjoonty @kabekusa @vanilladictator @kozumekenma55-blog @anglheartz @sillypicklepastaperson-blog @hironosushiis @autumnbellflower @snow0-0fairy @mrssuna @bakupakuu @lazyloverblaze @cortisen5 @justwanttoreadfics @joannakoll @yvalrik @azywhwa @pantone-12-1310 @abbyyprofenn @evaflms @seonghwabb @ghostgirlgone27 @mmspaghetti @pearthesimp @jixcd @samsung-67 @mokkicchi @mikauraurr @kallistaki12 @sunshine-sun42 @biscuitjuice @lilbieberr @eiannie @dedlexte @kanieknowsball @prongsisdaddy @chaosbunn1 @skyeincc @coconhovr @narcissanarcissa @ranlys @amouriities @snowflakemoon3

ijasta taglist two : @amouriities @snowflakemoon3 @wonheeloves @x0621 @reahwritesletters @stxr-lilac @sapphireserpens @lilbieberr @gxwon-ddxrori @jene11 @pxronbeat1 @ri-eveowe @ijustchokeonacaii @naomisaikko @soobieboobiee553 @wovenjinxterminus @ssaniyaa @tinybitofhope @kismetute @zooweemimi @msarbuz @laartistaroja @rikiswaifuu @nafnaiden000

taglist is open. i didn’t include my general taglist and cortis taglist because then it’d be like four different lists but trust, you guys WILL be tagged too, don’t worry.

[laartistaroja]

Jolly gee whizz I sure do love this😛

[strawberrysseok]

she’s mine

part one - part two - part three - part four - five

synopsis: martin and seonghyeon both have a fat crush on you but they might not be the only two..

pairing: non-idol!cortis x reader

warnings: none?

a/n: next chapter will be better but i barely started it 😍

keonho wasn’t like martin or seonghyeon because well.. he didn’t like you.

keonho is like a little brother to you and james so he’s always around just watching the two boys trip over you.

“you don’t get tired of your friends obsessing over your sister?” keonho sighs as him and james are at dinner together.

james just shrugs looking up from the menu“they’ve been like this since we were kids i just gave up.”

“which one would you want her to pick?” keonho asks casually sipping his soda while looking over at james.

“honestly-“ before james can even reply his phone goes off “hello?”

“is keonho with you?” you ask through video call as you’re outside walking.

“yeah?” he hums.

“okay me and juhoon are coming” you smile showing juhoon who leans closer to get in the frame waving.

james didn’t even question it as you’re always watching his location.

when you both arrive the food is already there and you casually slide in sitting beside them “how’s dinner going?”

“good but i’m assuming you want me to buy you dinner?” james sighs and you smile.

“i could buy your dinner” juhoon hums and you shake your head “it’s fine jju you don’t have to.”

“how do you have all of my friends falling to their knees for you and you still always want me to pay and drive you?” james questioned “juhoon literally knows how to drive..”

“but jju probably wouldn’t want to drive me everywhere and you’re my brother” you hum.

“i wouldn’t mind picking you up for school” juhoon shrugs.

“do you have a crush on y/n too??” keonho jokes and juhoon laughs “i don’t know.. we would look better together than the other two.”

you nudge him for teasing “see he has his moments where he’s so cocky” you scoff as he laughs in your face.

“not you too jju” james jokes and juhoon waves him off speaking playfully “i think martin and seonghyeon are enough.”

“more than enough” keonho sighs.

“me and jju planned on getting a sweet treat do you guys wanna come?” you ask after you guys finish eating and pay.

“just bring me something home” james shrugs and you guys split ways.

right when you and juhoon leave james can already tell keonho is about to say something stupid “don’t even..”

“what if i dated her?” keonho jokes and james actually laughs at that “good joke.”

taglist!! (if you asked to be on the taglist and you’re not tagged it doesn’t let me tag you 💔) @blossomxie @moniiontop @officialthradera

[laartistaroja]

Wait they do want me 😛😛😛

[katsukisser]

GROW SOME BALLS, MARTIN !

in which ᭄᭡ martin discovers that you, his all time favourite artist, want to collab with... him?!

warnings + tags ᭄᭡ idol!martin x underground artist!reader, shy!martin, down bad!martin, gn!reader, electric guitarist!reader, bold!reader, reader lives in seoul, idiots in love, fluff, crack, author as cortis's manager, author x james, some swearing

author's notes ᭄᭡ im sick of underground artists hating on cortis so this appeared in my head at 5pm on a wednesday. this is my first fic so sorry for any mischaracterisation!

word count ᭄᭡ 6.3k the album

imagine this: waking up to your group member bombarding you with hoards of messages at the ass crack of dawn. that was the situation martin found himself in at six in the fucking morning. groaning, he reached for his phone to silence all notifications. it was their day off, so why the hell was the crew (keonho specifically) awake at such an ungodly hour? however, martin ended up dropping his phone on his face as his lockscreen blinded him, and pressed ‘call’ on the group’s chat instead of ‘mute’.

“DUDE, YOU’RE FINALLY AWAKE. YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS!” keonho yelled into his phone while dashing into their dorm room. he shoved his phone in martin’s half-asleep, bedhead-unbrushed face, forcing him to read whatever was on the screen. ‘singer-songwriter [stage name] shares that they would love to collaborate with cortis, especially martin’, the tweet read. now this had martin wide eyed and jaw dropped.

if there was one thing other than acai that cortis could agree on, it was that they all liked your music. they had spent countless nights sitting in front of martin’s laptop watching your performances for inspiration, having late night talks with your more peaceful music playing in the background and even blasting your more hype songs in the living room while screaming your lyrics. they all liked your music a lot. but martin, liked you. there was just something about you, something that he felt the others didn’t get. something about the way you strummed your guitar, the way you ran your fingers through your hair after a performance, that enchanted him completely. he was a big fan, keeping up with all your interviews and performances. he could lose track counting the number of times he listened to your music when he reached a block in his creative path, or the number of times he watched this specific video where you were teaching the viewers how to play your song on the guitar.

to put it shortly, you were his celebrity crush.

and the rest of the group knew about it.

so when keonho's loud yelling about martin finally having a love life was heard by everyone around the dorm, they immediately came into the room to start devising a plan to help push martin into growing some balls.

phase one: get that collab locked down.

keonho's mischievous self immediately logged into the official cortis account, searching up your username to dm. he furiously typed into the screen, hitting send before anyone could stop him. 'hi! this is keonho from cortis and we saw in your interview that you'd be down for a collab with us? we also love your music and would love to collab with you! we already checked with our manager and got approval from him.' read keonho's message. (they did not get approval yet btw.)

“KEONHO. YOU— oh my god. did you seriously just—” martin was speechless. but before he could say another word, a notification dinged from keonho’s phone. keonho rushed to unlock his phone, checking what the notification was about. to everyone’s surprise, you had replied not even 5 minutes after keonho had dmed you.

‘hi keonho, thanks for the offer, i’m so excited to get this started! i understand we’re all busy here, so is there any time you’d like me to come down so we can start discussing the collab?’ read your message. keonho quickly threw his phone at martin, forcing him to type something out and talk to you. but martin raised his hands up immediately, refusing to touch the phone like it was some new virus species that would kill him if he got infected. rolling his eyes at martin, keonho quickly picked the phone back up, replying to you in place of martin. with that, the collab was settled. now all they had to do was get permission from their manager, aka the hard part.

their manager, yves, was generally a nice person, allowing the boys much more freedom than other managers gave their idols. but to suddenly push the idea of a collab on him with no prior notice and already having the other artist accept the deal? that would get his blood boiling. the boys quickly huddled around, cooking up a plan to get yves to accept this deal and speak with upper management to get this whole collab thing locked and loaded.

step uno — buy him his favourite treat: macarons.

"hey... manager-nim. we got you macarons as thanks for taking such good care of us." seonghyeon whispered to nobody in particular, dropping off the box of macarons on his desk and leaving before anyone could spot him.

when yves came in, he was surprised to find a box of macarons just lying on his table. who’s this from? he wondered, popping a piece into his mouth. it seemed to bring a satisfied look to his face as he took a seat at his desk, continuing to munch on the different flavours of macarons.

seeing that it seemed to work, the boys spying outside cheered silently, hurriedly returning to their rooms before yves realised they were watching.

step 1, success.

step dos — don't cause any trouble for a day.

"you guys are awfully quiet today... did you fight or something?" yves wondered, realising they hadn't spoken the entirety of the meeting. instead, they all had their glasses on and paper and pens in front of them, sitting upright with elbows off the table and listening intently to every word yves said. they were even taking notes, for some reason… they never take notes during meetings.

yves shrugged, thinking they were playing a prank on him as he continued with the meeting. however, the newfound silence seemed to be enjoyed by yves. therefore...

step two, success.

step tres — get james to take him out on a date

now this was the most important step of all, and also the riskiest. the plan was for james to take yves on a picnic date where they’d play some games and watch the sunset together. the boys spent a good 10 minutes looking for a park where the foot traffic was minimal and there weren't many young people living nearby. after that, they went to the supermarket to buy ingredients to help james cook up food for the picnic date. james ensured that yves knew absolutely nothing about what was going on except the location and to dress cutely, helping the boys with the food as well. 

everything had gone well, meaning step 3 was a success. now that all the side quests to raise yves's happiness had been completed, they could move on to the hardest task by far: popping the question.

ִֶָ. ..𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ ʚଓ་༘࿐

"...fine. only because you worked so hard just to ask me." yves reluctantly agreed. at his words, the boys immediately broke out into cheers, jumping for joy at the realisation that their collab was going to pull through, and that project 'help fartin grow some balls' was slowly but surely starting to be accomplished.

phase one: complete.

now on to phase two: get them alone together.

"oh yeah, martin hyung. go wear something nicer, [stage name]'s coming any minute now. i told them to come to the building at 2pm saturday." keonho added, suddenly remembering the last message he had shot you.

panicked, martin hurried back to his shared room, digging through his wardrobe to find his favourite outfit and accessories. he spent a good 20 minutes in the room freshening himself up before coming out in a new outfit, styled hair and refreshed makeup. just in time, the door to the hybe building opened, and you walked in.

martin was starstruck, if that could even describe it.

he could feel his face reddening, his palms getting clammy as you walked towards the boys with a bright smile. he smiled sheepishly, trying to cool himself and act nonchalant. but then again, nonchalance was never really his thing.

"hi, it's so great to meet you guys!" you shook hands with each one of them, ending with martin. martin quickly wiped his hands on his pants, shaking yours with a firm grip. he glanced into your eyes quickly before looking somewhere else, too shy to even look you in the face. keonho whispered something about tomartin, earning a 'tsk' from martin and a small giggle from you.

you all headed into the studio, discussing what kind of song you wanted it to be. you had brought your guitar, plugging it into the amp and resting it on your lap as you strummed a few chords to warm up. martin was absolutely mesmerised at the sight.

"wish i was an electric guitar." martin whispered to juhoon which only got him a side eye and a gag. after some discussion, you experimented with the beats with martin beside you, pressing random stuff and seeing what felt right and worked.

as you reached for the cymbal button, martin tried to reach for his water bottle, causing your hands to brush against each other. you quickly pulled your hand back, reaching for your hair to mess with it as you sheepishly giggled. martin's face got red as hell again, as he quickly looked away and rested his hand behind his neck.

a series of ‘ooh’s and ‘aah’s came from behind you both, most of them coming from keonho trying to tease his leader.

"tomartin is back!" keonho giggled, poking fun at martin once more.

martin's face got even redder at keonho's words. wasn't he supposed to be helping you two get together instead of constantly poking fun at him?! but at the sound of your laughter, martin immediately froze and his anger dissipated. just your laugh was enough to calm him down and cause him to melt into a puddle of pining.

he tried to calm himself by drinking some water, only to accidentally bump into your hand again while reaching for his bottle.

"s- sorry! didn't mean to touch your hand, [stage name]." (he didn't, but he did like the feeling of your hand.)

"don't worry about it, i get it. studios are small, so some accidents tend to happen. by the way, just call me [name] and i'll call you martin, 'kay?" you winked at him playfully, going back to cooking up some beats for the song you guys had decided to make.

by now martin was really as red as a tomato.

first, you guys had bumped hands twice, you gave him permission to call you by your real name, and now he was close enough to smell your shampoo. god, he was a lost cause. the next few hours of making beats, composing melodies, and writing lyrics felt like hell for martin. he could feel his face get hot whenever you came to ask him for something, and the way you were so focused on the project, the way you weren't afraid to ask for help, all of it just made the butterflies in his stomach grow.

he noticed your hair getting in your face while you concentrated on the laptop, shifting some of the bars around and adjusting the timing of them. without thinking, his hand seemed to act on its own. he reached for your hair, brushing it aside for you. wide eyed, you looked up, blush creeping up on your face. was martin trying to kill you?! did he know that you liked him romantically, ever since you saw his mama 2025 performance? what was he trying to get out of this? so many questions ran through your mind as his fingers brushed against your temple.

now both of you were red in the face as you slowly realised what had just happened. martin furiously apologised to you, embarrassed at his actions. he had no idea what came over him. the other boys at the back weren’t helping the situation either, giggling and ‘ooh’ing and ‘aah’ing instead of working on the song.

soon, james and juhoon had devised a small plan to help you two bond a little more. they quickly let you guys know that they were going to buy dinner and acai, beckoning keonho and seonghyeon to follow along with them so that you both could be alone. too focused on making music, you guys didn't even realise that you were alone until a good ten minutes later.

martin’s thoughts sounded a little something like this when he realised: fuck fuck fuck shit oh my god what do i do now? the boys gave me an opportunity to be alone with them. i CANNOT fumble this dude. holyyyy shit… why did no one tell me crushing is so stressful, oh my goodness gracious golly gosh.

you weren’t faring much better than he was, hiding your face behind the screen as you continued to try (keyword: try) and work on the song. you reviewed the lyrics you guys had written, singing it out quietly to try and visualise what the song would sound like. when martin heard your voice in the quiet of the studio, his shoulders immediately relaxed. this was the same voice he spent countless nights falling asleep to. whether it was a great day or a terrible one, he played your music, and it soothed him like a lullaby. he clapped immediately when you finished humming the lyrics, to your surprise.

confessing his feelings, martin admitted something you never would’ve expected, “y’know, i’m– me and the boys, i mean. we’re really big fans of your music, seriously. i love– there’s just something about your music that’s so… raw. like you pour all of your emotions into it. and i absolutely love… that, [name]. i seriously hope you’ll continue writing and composing new music, i really do. you’re my favourite artist, [name]...”

his words left you speechless. this was the first time anyone had said something so emotionally charged to you. his words hit close to home, sending a sort of bittersweet feeling through you. you could feel it in your heart, your veins, your stomach, even the tips of your fingers and toes.

the tension in the room was becoming unbearable, so thick that not even a knife could cut through it, and there was something in your gut telling you to break it now. 

and so you did.

you set the laptop on the nearest surface, uncrossing your legs and pushing yourself off the chair. taking slow steps towards him, you stopped when there was barely inches between the two of you. you reached for his shoulders, one hand brushing away a lock of hair blocking his face. you looked him in the eye, muttering a quiet ‘can i?’ before slowly closing the gap between the two of you when he nodded. martin was stunned at your sudden actions, but he didn’t object, instead leaning in as well. he looked even more handsome in the ambient lighting of the studio, and his face screamed of desperation, practically begging you to do this. oh my god, is this really happening?

just before your lips could touch, the door suddenly swung open, revealing the four who had gone out to get food. you both quickly separated like a guillotine was about to come flying down in between both of you, facing the door. you were both still red-faced, looking at the ground like naughty kids who had been caught causing trouble.

“WE’RE BACK! WE GOT ACAI AND–” keonho shouted, not realising he had just barged in on a very personal moment.

“are we interrupting something…?” juhoon asked, ready to make fun of martin.

“obviously something happened, they’re both tomartins right now.” seonghyeon teased, eyeing keonho and making kissy faces towards him. keonho made kissy faces back, causing martin to scold them for not knocking on the door before entering.

you all gathered around the central table of the studio, laying out the food one by one. the boys had gotten chinese takeout and acai for dessert. james, noticing the tension in the room, tried to break it by letting you know that they had bought you food too.

“feel free to dig in, [stage name]. we weren’t too sure of your tastes, so we just got whatever. we’ve got instant noodles and other snacks in our dorm if you don’t like chinese.”

you nodded, awkwardly taking a seat beside martin. it felt a bit weird to be beside him after what (almost) happened. martin also felt the same way, hands shaking slightly as he reached for two pairs of chopsticks, handing one to you. unintentionally, your fingers brushed against his as you grabbed it from him, making martin pull his hand back like he’d been zapped. he didn’t mean to, immediately regretting it and worrying that you might be upset that he suddenly pulled his hand away. he wanted to touch your hands, feeling your palms against his, but you both were nothing more than work partners. but honestly, you weren’t sure what the two of you were now, but you both knew that you wanted something much, much more than what you currently have.

throughout dinner, you rested your hand on your lap closer to martin’s, pinky reaching out to occasionally touch his, messing with his head the whole time. martin blamed the redness of his face on the spice of the food, hoping no one would see what was happening under the table.

ִֶָ. ..𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ ʚଓ་༘࿐

after dinner, you packed your things, waving goodbye to the boys. you left martin a final knowing glance before leaving the building, your cab arriving just in time as you stepped out. after shutting the door, you waved goodbye to martin one more time, giving him a mischievous wink. at the sight, martin immediately turned away in embarrassment, leading to the other members poking fun at him for being so easily flustered. he couldn’t help it after all. having his long-time celebrity crush suddenly try to kiss him and then play around with him throughout dinner was absolutely terrible for his heart.

then martin realised: you never told james or the rest of the crew that they could call you by your real name, only him.

oh, and also. he forgot to get your number.

“i’m such a chud…” martin grumbled, falling to his knees and holding his face in despair at his realisations, “i completely forgot to get their number ‘cuz i was so nervous.”

“tell us something we don’t know yet, hyung.” keonho added, patting martin on the back.

martin’s mourning was interrupted by the sound of a ‘ding!’ coming from his phone, a text from an unknown number.

010-xxxx xxxx hii is this martin?

martin who’s this?

010-xxxx xxxx [name]! juhoon gave me your number lol

martin whipped his head to face juhoon, pouncing on him with all 6’4 of him, hugging him so tight juhoon felt he could suffocate on the spot. martin immediately picked juhoon up bridal style and started running around the lobby excitedly, screaming at the top of his lungs. the other boys started laughing as martin darted around the lobby of the building, almost earning them a scolding from the receptionist until they ran away quickly.

phase two: complete.

next up was phase three; build up their relationship.

this phase was the easiest one by far, since you naturally stuck closer to martin compared to the other boys, both of you constantly making each other laugh. your interactions together seemed more like an old married couple who never stopped loving each other rather than two work partners who’d met barely a week ago. since both of you were producers and songwriters who played the guitar, you had much in common and to talk about. from the difficulties of having an obstacle in your creative road to simple things like how much sauce you put in your buldak, the conversations between the two of you went on and on forever. none of you even realised how much time had passed when you were together, or whether the other four left to leave you guys alone together. little did the other boys know, their plan was progressing much faster than they knew.

what you’d been hiding from them was that the second time you came over and the boys had gone out once again, you and martin decided that you wanted to finish what you’d started. one of your hands reached for his jaw, the other resting on his shoulder, and you shortened the distance between your lips. martin let you take the lead, his left hand clasping the one you kept on his jaw and his right going to your waist. you quickly went for it, your lips resting on his inexperienced ones. when you pulled away to catch your breath, you realised how red and warm he felt. blood couldn’t stop circulating to his face, causing him to be extremely flushed. you snickered at him, understanding why keonho found him so easy to tease.

“soo… what are we now, [name]?” he looked up bashfully, wishing the kiss had lasted longer.

“i don’t know, martin. what do you want to be?” you moved closer, elbows resting on his shoulders as his hands held your arms. you grinned, going in for a quick peck just to see him turn red again.

ever since that little incident, you’d give martin a little peck on the corner of his lips everytime the boys stepped out to get food or do something else to leave you alone. and martin had no intention of telling them so that he could drag the whole plan out longer, which meant spending more time with you like this. but also because he wasn’t sure if you were ready for a relationship.

but of course, both of you were selfish and greedy like any teenager in love, and you always wanted more. more than just stolen, quick kisses when the boys weren’t around, more than no labels, more than this.

you and martin started keeping sundays free in order to hang out (date or hangout? who knows). the boys knew something fishy was happening, but they didn’t know what exactly. it was martin’s personal business after all, so they chose not to pry too much into it.

they did eventually figure it out though, about a month after phase three started. they had grown sick of martin’s sneaking around, and needed to know what was happening in order to continue their plan. so they cornered him one night while he was texting you, oblivious to the incoming danger. seonghyeon covered his mouth from behind, juhoon jumped on him, james held him down and keonho turned off all the lights just to shine his phone’s flashlight in martin’s face, badly mimicking an interrogation room.

the four of them brought martin to the couch, tying one of their spare shoelaces on his wrists behind his back as pretend handcuffs, as james made sure he stayed in place and keonho continued to shine his flashlight at martin, checking his script on his notes app to interrogate martin.

“now… suspect martin jonathan edwards, aka park woojoo. suspect is 18, male and currently pursuing [stage name]. first question! what is your current relationship with them?!” keonho slammed his papers (that had nothing on them) on the coffee table, demanding an answer from martin.

“f- friends? i don’t know.” martin stumbled on his words, still trying to hide the fact that you were more than that.

“i don’t believe it, and THIS is my proof.” he shoved his phone in martin’s face, a picture of you and martin on the screen. martin was holding your guitar, and your hands were holding his, guiding him as he strummed. martin remembered the time well enough; you were teaching him how to play one of your unreleased songs that you had shown nobody except for him. both of you had sheepish but lovesick grins, and martin’s gaze seemed softer than usual.

“hey, delete that! that’s private stuff!”

“so you are guilty. we knew it!” keonho pointed an accusatory finger, almost like he was in ace attorney.

“fineeee, whatever. we’re like… a situationship, if that’s what you call it? i don’t know, honestly. they’re just so… so cool. and don’t get me wrong, i do wanna ask them out, but i don’t know if they see me that way, or if they’re ready for a relationship, you know what i mean?” martin purposely avoided mentioning the whole kiss thing too early on, not wanting to freak them out.

keonho just stared at martin dumbfoundedly, his face screaming ‘ain’t no fucking way my stupid chud of a leader thinks you don’t like him’. juhoon felt like hitting martin for saying something so stupid, but he controlled himself, instead sighing into his hands. james rubbed his temples, deciding it was time to give some words of advice as the eldest.

“martin… be serious for a second, please. [stage name] has such a lovesick look in that pic, they’re always by your side when we’re producing, and they were literally holding your hands while teaching you to play their song on the guitar, and you think there’s no way they like you? please be serious.”

“twin, i love you, but i’m so close to slapping you.” juhoon added, sighing into his palms once more. he was sick of martin’s bullshit by now.

“i also forgot to add… we kissed.” martin grinned sheepishly, adding on to the chaos with his words.

this left the whole room momentarily silent, before roars of overlapping voices from all four other boys surrounded him.

“YOU WHAT???”

“NO FUCKING WAY DUDE.”

“WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?”

“GIVE US THE DETAILS.”

“ladies… one at a time, ladies. we kissed the second time they came over to work on production. actually, we were going to kiss the first time, but then keonho suddenly barged in, so…” martin explained, shaking his nonexistent dreads even though everyone knows he doesn’t have an ounce of nonchalance in his body.

all eyes turned to keonho, who looked like a child in trouble for doing something he wasn’t supposed to. keonho sheepishly turned away as fast as everyone whipped their heads to him, bowing a deep 90 degree angle towards martin and apologising for ruining his personal moment with you.

the interrogation continued throughout the night, eventually just going on to different topics like how the song was going, how far martin had progressed in his relationship with you, how your next performance was in a month and so on. despite all the different topics, there was one thing in common: they all revolved around you. mainly because martin was the one changing topics, but that wasn’t the point here.

suddenly, martin’s phone dinged, interrupting seonghyeon’s speech on why they should order some acai right now.

[name] 💌 hi martin! i got something for you and the crew

martin ❣️ heyyy

what’d you get us?

[name] 💌 guess 👀

hint: 🎤

martin ❣️ new microphones??

[name] 💌 close enough tbh

i got you guys tix to a festival in seoul i’ll be performing in!!

martin ❣️ WYHAT

WHAT

WHATTTTTTTTT

YOU GOT US TICKETS TO YOUR PERFORMANCE????

[name] 💌 front row too :p 

pleaseee tell me you like it

martin ❣️ OF COURSE I DO?? IM TELLING THE CREW NOW

“guys. guess what.” martin started, pausing for suspense to let the crew think.

“you’re confessing?”

“you’re dying?”

“you’re gonna make a new song?”

“you’re treating us to lunch tomorrow?”

“wrong, wrong, wrong and no,” he paused again, adding even more suspense to his words, “[name] invited us to their concert. front row tickets too.”

right as martin finished, everyone started screaming and jumping despite the fact that it was midnight, hysterically dashing around the dorms and dancing even, earning them a terrible scolding from their manager who was woken up by the noise. but then again, how could they hide their excitement when you had just given them front row tickets to your seoul festival performance?! they were always too busy to ever go have fun despite just being rookies, and now you had given them the perfect opportunity to request a special day off to attend your concert. and also gave martin the perfect opportunity to plan a confession. it was about time he did so anyway, seeing as you had been stealing quick kisses from each other for just over a month now. both of your feelings for each other were plenty and obvious, all martin had to do was make the first move.

the crew huddled up, drafting out their plan on a piece of paper. the first step was new clothes for martin, seeing as you had seen every outfit of his over this past month. next up was figuring out your favourite flowers, then buying you your favourite snack as a coaxing. then, martin had to figure out what to say and/or do to confess. the crew, unfortunately, couldn’t help martin with this part, seeing as it had to be from the heart.

now, here’s the issue. martin can write songs, raps and much more. but that was completely different from planning a confession. so being the ever-so-smart leader he was, he decided on something else. that something else would be a secret, for now.

he immediately got to work, locking himself in his room during his days off to work on this personal project, not even letting the other members know what he was up to. he spent his training hours thinking of you and the project, his breaktimes cooking up new ideas to use in the project, and his day offs actually working on it. his whole life seemed to revolve around you for a good month, and the only thing he could think of was your answer to his confession.

phase three was basically complete now, and now it was time for the confession, aka phase four.

ִֶָ. ..𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ ʚଓ་༘࿐

the day of the concert soon arrived, and martin made sure to dress up in his new clothes bought specifically for this day. he had even made a checklist of things he needed to bring and do so he wouldn’t forget anything and panic at the last second.

martin looked through the checklist he made one last time before leaving for the cab: your favourite flowers, check. your favourite snack, check. his personal project for this confession, check. his phone, wallet, airpods, everything else, check.

you immediately invited them backstage when they arrived, giving them access passes so security wouldn’t escort them out unknowingly. you gave the other members side hugs, but martin got a full on arms-around-the-waist-and-everything hug, making the others snicker at your affectionate actions. martin hugged you back with shaky hands, still unsure if he was ready to confess or not. he needed more time, not just to mentally prepare, but just in case you didn’t accept his confession and that ruined your concert.

the other boys went to their seats first, letting you and martin chat a little longer before you had to go on stage.

“soo… good luck later, [name].”

“thanks martin, i’ve never had such a big crowd before, i’m kinda nervous…” you parted the curtain slightly to reveal a small crowd of roughly three hundred people. you had gained popularity ever since paparazzi caught you leaving the hybe building once, your crowds almost doubling in size ever since, “i’m sure this is a small crowd to you though, isn’t it? you guys are insanely popular, after all.”

“n- not really, y’know. when we first debuted, our first few ‘colour outside the lines’ performances didn’t have this many people watching either, so i get how you feel. crowds aside, i believe in you, [name]. i know you’ve got this.” martin clasped your hands tightly but not suffocatingly, putting your right hand to his lips and giving it a kiss of encouragement. that flustered you immediately, causing you to jump a little at his sudden actions. it had always been you initiating everything up to now, after all. you’d never seen martin act so boldly before. your saviour was the stage manager calling you up, letting you know you had two minutes left before you had to be on stage.

“gue- guess i’ll see you later! after my performance. bye, martin!” you quickly pulled your hand away, giving him a wave goodbye and a kiss on the cheek before running off to find the stage manager. martin slowly lifted his hand to hold his cheek where you had kissed him, his other hand waving you goodbye. he was rather bummed out that you had to go so soon, and reluctantly left the backstage to find the rest of the crew, taking his seat in the center. the flowers and gifts he had bought for you had been left with security to ensure you didn’t see them so soon and figure out what he was planning.

your performance went smoothly, fantastic even. martin knew you were built for the stage, you were just so good at everything you did on it. from singing to having fun with the crowd, you did everything so naturally. it was really some kind of force of nature that was stopping you from getting more famous even though you had great music and great stage presence. martin was the first one to start the standing ovation, even screaming ‘encore’ and hoping you’d perform his favourite song. to his surprise though, you ended up announcing a currently unreleased song.

“tonight has been extremely fun, and i hope you all have enjoyed it too. unfortunately, we’ve reached the last song of the night. but… guess what? this last song is a new song i wrote recently, for someone very close to my heart and very special to me. i won’t leak the title, but it’ll be released in a few weeks. thank you so much for supporting me!” you gave a short but deep bow, placing the mic back on the stand and slinging your guitar strap over your shoulder. you tested out a few chords first just to ensure that the sound was working, causing the fans to cheer loudly. giving the stage manager a wave, you signalled for the backing track to start playing.

the song you had written was called ‘love.’ (by wave to earth), and it was beautiful, if words could even describe it. it was roughly 5 minutes long, and had three guitar solo parts. the lyrics spoke about how you loved martin, how with love and him by your side, you felt you could accomplish anything. they spoke about how you wanted him by your side for eternity, wanting to grow old together, die together, and reincarnate into the same world together. about how love completes people, how it helps you through hardships and such.*

it was heavenly. from the melody to the lyrics to the beats, everything about it was heavenly. just knowing that this song was dedicated to him had martin in near tears in his seat, and he was reminded of why he loved you so much. 

as soon as your performance of your new song finished and the applause died down, martin immediately grabbed the gifts, heading backstage to find you. he knew he needed to act fast after you had pulled such a wonderful stunt on him. but it seemed you found him first.

“martin! what are you doing back here? i was just about to go and look for you.”

“[name], please– please listen to me.” martin panicked, causing him to stumble over his words. this wasn’t good enough, this can’t be good enough when it came to you. he took a deep breath, handing you the flowers and the snacks first. he then passed you a thumbdrive, explaining its contents.

“guess we had the same idea… ‘cuz i wrote a song for you too, [name]. i– i want you to know that i have loved you since i first heard your music when i was 16, and that i hope you reciprocate my feelings. [name], will you be mine, for eternity?”

without another word, you threw yourself at him, hugging him tightly. you teared up with your face pressed into the crook of his neck, muttering a silent ‘mhm’ before kissing him on the cheek and continuing to cry some more. his confession was so cute, so well thought out that you couldn’t help but weep tears of joy at the thought of him being in love with you. you accepted all his gifts without hesitation, immediately sharing one of the snacks he had bought for you with him. that was your first snack together as lovers. and now, martin could hold your hands whenever he wanted to, feel your palms against his and kiss your hands.

later that night, you facetimed him and plugged the thumbdrive into your laptop, opening up the file that contained the song. there was a short video included for you to watch before you listened to the song, starting with martin confessing his feelings again and explaining the meaning of the song to the camera. the title of the song was called ‘snow’ (by kim daniel), and it was just perfect to you. you could easily tell he had put in lots of effort and spent much time working on this song, and all of that effort was just for you. you enjoyed every single moment of listening to the song, even falling asleep to it on facetime with him. 

love of my life ❣️ hey love, i know you’re asleep but i have important things to say

i love you so much, and i hope we stay together for eternity

sleep well, sweet dreams 😴🫰

with that, phase four was complete, and operation ‘help fartin grow some balls’ was a complete and utter success.

*thank you genius contributors on the english translation for ‘love.’ for all the analysis on the lyrics of the song

tags (˶˃ ᵕ ˂˶) @hyuneskkami @ceuxnoirst

© katsukisser 2026 all rights reserved ノ do not translate, copy, or feed my works into ai. this is my only blog on tumblr

[laartistaroja]

This was us in another lifetime I swear😍😍😍❤️❤️❤️

[laartistaroja]

𝔐𝔞𝔯𝔱𝔦𝔫 𝔞𝔰 𝔞 ℌ𝔬𝔱 𝔗𝔬𝔭𝔦𝔠 𝔈𝔪𝔭𝔩𝔬𝔶𝔢𝔢 ℌ𝔢𝔞𝔡𝔠𝔞𝔫𝔬𝔫𝔰

Sticky Notes: Headcanons of Martin as Hot Topic employee cuz I love that store. And him, amen 😛Btw, Megan (from KATSEYE) and Martin are still in high school in these headcanons, fluff, romance, plz martin one chance im begging you😭

Genre: fluff, romance, silly little ideas

Martin x gender neutral reader

🖤▶︎•၊၊||၊|။|||||။၊|။• ⛓️▶︎ •ıı||ı|ıı| ⛓️▶︎ •ıı||ı|ıı|🖤

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ didn't even want a job to begin with. But his parents were tired of him locking himself in his room all day, so here he was.

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ reluctantly applies for a job after another employee approached him at the mall (Martin looked the part)

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ is surprised that he even got the job since he had no interest in it at all tbh

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ ,at the start, works mainly in the back, unpacking boxes, & laying out clothes. He doesn't get to work at the front desk...yet

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ gets to befriend his co-workers, Megan & James. They're often there when it's his shift and help him whenever he needs it

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ goes to the good court during his lunch break with his friends & roams the mall

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ rides on his skateboard after school, heading to the mall to go work

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ is jealous that James is a legal adult that can do whatever he want. Martin wants freedom too!

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ slowly gets better at his job, day by day. Until the point that he's finally able to work the front desk!

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ fumbles the first couple of times while working at the cash register, spamming random buttons and hoping for the best

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ was helping Megan reach the box on the top shelf when James called him to the cashier

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ didn’t notice you and your group of friends roaming the store and was too busy learning how to properly use the cash register

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ freezes when you approach him, asking him were the shirts your size are

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ trips over his words and literally trips over nothing whenever he feels that you’re watching him while he’s searching

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ finally finds the shirt in your size and walks away, assuming that it’s the end of the interaction

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ sees you walk up to the register. And just his luck, James sends Martin to work at the register to show what he’s learned

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ gets nervous, knowing that both you and James are watching him. James is making sure that he’s doing everything right. You…he doesn’t actually know why you’re watching him

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ accidentally brushes your hand while handing you your purchase and thinks about it for the rest of the day

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ displays the new arrivals and can’t help but think of you whenever he unpacks something that he thinks you would like

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ thinks about how you’re going to style the shirt you bought (we love a fashion king 😍😛)

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ hopes to see you again and asked James if he can work the cash register more often

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ gets teased by Megan and James every time somebody walks past the door

“wait, it might be mystery customer!”

“don’t fall down this time!”

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ lucks out and sees you again, coming in this time for a jacket

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ “accidentally” bumps into you while you’re looking through the aisles

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ you do remember from that one day. You think that he’s pretty cute and really tall 😭

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ recommends clothing and accessories that he likes and uses . He also mentions his favorite bands, just for u to give them a listen ;P

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ urges you to come more often so he can see you more often

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ finally gets your name, (he will be repeating this over and over again in his head)

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ is now excited when he goes to work, hoping that today will be the day that he sees you again

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ likes to talk and flirt with you whenever you come to the store

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ begs James to talk to the boss to let Martin give you discounts (it doesn’t work but at least he tried)

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ doesn’t know it but Megan and James have been talking to you, wanting you to spend time with Martin outside of the store

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ is surprised when he sees you sitting in the food court when he’s going to eat there for his break

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ asks if he can sit with you and is surprised that you said yes

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ eats with you and talks about his day. He asks about you too and you guys have a lot in common ❤️!

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ finally gets the courage to ask you out and is super shocked when you say yes

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ learns about your habits and what you’re interested in (he will remember this for reference!)

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ loves to spend his money on you. Buying you things you wanted, buying you food, and overall treating you

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօse favorite dates involve going places like the record store or thrift shopping

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ lights up when you show up to his job and hands him his lunch

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ Loves to show you off to James and Megan

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ will definitely suggest matching outfits and show it off for all to see

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ Loves to buy matching jewelry for you and him

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ still tries to get you discounts (still doesn’t work)

ཐི ྐ❤︎ ཋྀ ɦօȶ ȶօքɨƈ ɛʍքʟօʏɛɛ!ʍǟʀȶɨռ աɦօ is forever glad that having this job let him meet a baddie like you❤️

[jjudawn]

WHY YOU GOTTA BE SO RUDE?

synopsis: your father absolutely refuses to give martin his blessing for him to marry you, but fails to consider that martin just might marry you anyway.

word count: 3.0k

info+warnings: inspired by Rude, delinquent!martin, fluff, mild angst?, young marriage, sneaking around, climbing through windows, strict father, defiance, kissing

Martin should have known better than to believe that the man who hated his entire existence would suddenly change his mind.

"You must be out of your damn mind if you think I'd let you marry my daughter."

The words still rang in his ears as he walked away from your porch, the door slamming shut between him and your father's scowling face.

He couldn't blame the man, really. Martin knew what kind of person he was: a teenage delinquent that only gets himself into trouble, and would likely drag you straight into it sooner or later.

He himself still couldn't quite understand what about him had actually managed to win you over initially. You were everything he was not: a rule follower, an academic, someone with a much more promising future than the one Martin possessed. So how you found him to be anything other than a walking red flag was a mystery that kept him up at night.

He remembered the first time you'd spoken to him behind the gym in your second year of high school, his knuckles were bloody and his temper was still running hot. You'd appeared out of nowhere, holding out a crumpled napkin from the cafeteria.

"You're bleeding," you'd said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Not your problem," he'd muttered, trying to brush past you.

But you'd grabbed his wrist before he could fully turn the corner and pressed the napkin into his palm. "Just clean it up," you'd said. "You'll get blood on your shirt."

You then walked away, leaving him standing there with a bloody napkin and a strange feeling in his chest that he'd never quite managed to shake.

Martin had tried to push you away at first. He knew what people said about him: the troublemaker, the burnout, the kid who'd end up in juvie before graduation. He'd heard your father's warnings from across the street, loud enough to carry, "Stay away from that boy, Y/N. He's nothing but trouble."

Despite all of that you kept appearing.

You showed up at the diner where he worked, sitting in his section and ordering coffee you barely touched, just so you could talk to him during his break. You showed up at the auto shop, claiming your car needed an oil change, even though it was perfectly fine. You showed up at his apartment after he got suspended the second time, bringing takeout and a stubborn expression that said you wouldn’t leave under any circumstance.

"Why?" He’d finally asked you, exhausted and confused. "Why do you keep doing this? You know what I am. You've heard what everyone says."

You'd looked at him then, really looked, and said, "I see something they don't."

"What?"

"Someone who's trying."

And that was it. That was the moment Martin knew he was a goner.

It hadn't taken long for your father to work out that you had ignored all his prior warnings, though truly he should have realised it sooner.

You had been staying out much later than before, coming home with an almost lovesick grin. Your father knew you were in love—that wasn't hard to tell. Just in his own mind, the thought of you falling in love with the one boy he had forbidden you from even talking to was a concept so foreign, so utterly incomprehensible, that he simply refused to entertain it.

But the signs were all there. You'd rush through dinner just to get to your room and stare at your phone, waiting for a message whilst also deflecting his questions about your day with vague answers and quick subject changes.

It was only when your father found the crumpled napkin in your laundry with Martin's name scrawled on it in your handwriting, surrounded by tiny hearts, that the truth finally crashed down on him.

He'd confronted you that night, voice shaking with barely contained fury.

"Are you seeing that Martin boy?"

You'd looked at him, and for a moment, he only saw defiance in your gaze. "Yes," you'd said quietly. "I am."

The argument that followed was the worst you'd ever had. Your father had shouted until his voice went hoarse, listing every reason why Martin was wrong for you: his record, his reputation, his lack of prospects. You'd shouted back, defending him with a passion that only made your father angrier.

"He's not who you think he is, Dad. He's trying so hard. He's working two jobs, he's studying for school as best he can, he's—"

"He's a delinquent, Y/N. He's always been a delinquent, and he always will be. I won't let you throw your life away for someone like him."

"He's not a delinquent. He's just... he's just someone who never had anyone believe in him. Until me."

Your father had gone silent at that. Not because he agreed, but because he realised something crucial: you were in too deep. No amount of arguing would change your mind.

So he'd done the only thing he could think of. He'd banned you from seeing Martin, forbade you from leaving the house except for school and work, and took your phone, your laptop, everything that connected you to the outside world.

For a few weeks, it seemed to work. You and Martin had never shared a class at school, so he didn’t need to worry about that. Additionally, with so much surveillance surrounding you, you had practically given up even thinking of trying to find a way around it.

That was until one night a few weeks later when you were laying under the covers of your bed, staring at the ceiling with not a thought on your mind when the sound of something knocking on your window echoed through the room.

You sat up, heart pounding, and stared at the window. The blinds were drawn, but through the slats, you could make out a familiar silhouette you knew all too well crouched on the fire escape.

You scrambled out of bed, nearly tripping over the blanket tangled around your ankles, and yanked the blinds open. There he was—grinning like an idiot, dirt smudged on his cheek, a small bag of takeout dangling from one hand. He was wearing that worn leather jacket you loved with the torn sleeve he refused to sew back together.

"Hey, princess," he whispered through the glass. "You miss me?"

You fumbled with the lock, pushing the window open as quietly as you could. Cold night air rushed in, carrying the scent of rain and city streets.

"What are you doing here?" You hissed. "My dad could hear you!"

"Your dad's probably knocked out asleep right now." He climbed through the window with practiced ease, landing silently on your bedroom floor. 

You threw your arms around him, burying your face in his jacket. "I thought I'd never see you again," you whispered, your voice cracking.

"Hey." He pulled back, cupping your face in his hands. "I told you. Nothing's keeping me away from you. Not your dad, not the cops, not anyone."

"Martin—"

"Three weeks, Y/N. I spent three weeks without you and I was going insane." He pressed his forehead against yours, his voice dropping to something raw and vulnerable. "I thought about calling your house, but I knew your dad would just make it worse. I had to wait until I could figure out a way to see you."

"You figured out the fire escape."

"I figured out the fire escape." He grinned, but there was something softer underneath it. "Took me two days to find the right route. Nearly fell off the third-floor landing, but hey—" He shrugged. "Worth it."

You laughed, a wet, shaky sound. "You're insane."

"Only for you." He pressed a kiss to your forehead, then pulled back to hold up the takeout bag. "I brought food. Your favourite dumpling place with the spicy sauce you like. Figured you probably haven't been eating much."

You hadn't. The past three weeks had been a blur of forced dinners and silent meals, your father's disapproving gaze boring into you from across the table. You'd lost weight, and Martin had noticed it the moment he climbed through your window. 

"You're too good to me," you said.

"Not possible." He set the bag on your desk and pulled you over to sit on the bed. "Now eat. I'll keep watch."

You sat together in the darkness, sharing dumplings and whispered conversations. 

"One day," he said, "I'm going to have a real place with a good job and be something your dad can't complain about."

"I don't care about any of that."

"I know." He smiled, but there was something serious in his eyes. "That's why I want to give it to you anyway. You deserve the world, Y/N. I'm going to figure out how to give it to you."

"I just want you," you said softly.

"Good." He leaned in, his lips brushing yours. "Because you've got me. For as long as you want me."

It was reckless and dangerous and every time you heard a floorboard creak, your heart stopped. But as you sat there in the dark, wrapped in Martin's arms, you couldn't bring yourself to care.

Your father never caught the two of you, and gradually he granted you back your privileges, though that also stemmed from your absolute refusal to even look at him until he did so.

A part of you secretly knew that your father had probably worked out you were still seeing Martin. He wasn't stupid—he'd raised you, after all. He knew the stubborn set of your jaw, the defiant glint in your eyes when you were hiding something. He'd seen the way you'd started leaving your window unlocked again, the way you'd come downstairs with pillow creases on your cheek and a sleepy smile that had nothing to do with a good night's rest.

But he never said anything and you remained in this strange stalemate situation for the following couple of years.

It was an unspoken agreement, really. Your father pretended not to notice the faint smell of motor oil that sometimes clung to your clothes in the morning. He pretended not to hear the soft thud of footsteps on the fire escape at midnight. He pretended not to see the way your eyes lit up whenever your phone buzzed. And you, in turn, pretended not to notice the way your father started leaving the back door unlocked, or the way he'd conveniently be in the living room with the TV turned up too loud whenever Martin was climbing the fire escape.

It was a strange kind of peace. Fragile, particularly tenuous. But it was peace nonetheless.

Then, finally, graduation day arrived.

You walked across the stage in your cap and gown, your father watching from the front row with a carefully neutral expression. Martin was a few students behind you, wearing his best clothes underneath the gown that you had bought for his birthday, his grin so wide it looked like it might split his face.

After the ceremony, you found him in the parking lot, still in your gown, your diploma clutched in your hands.

"We did it," you said, laughing. "We actually did it."

"We did." He pulled you into his arms, spinning you around. "High school graduates. Can you believe it?"

"I can't believe you didn't drop out."

"Me neither." He set you down, his hands still on your waist. "But I had a good reason to stay."

"And what was that?"

He leaned in, his lips brushing your ear. "You."

You and Martin had separated before your father emerged between the cars with the promise of seeing each other tomorrow, however you failed to fully notice the strange glint in Martin’s eyes as he parted with you

The next morning, Martin showed up at your door, his hands shaking as he knocked.

You answered, still in your pajamas, your hair a mess. "Martin? What are you—"

"I'm here to ask your father for permission to marry you."

You stared at him for a few seconds. "Now? At eight in the morning?"

"Time's ticking." He tried to smile, but it came out nervous. "I've waited long enough. Three years. I'm not waiting anymore."

Your father appeared behind you, coffee mug in hand. He looked at Martin, then at the suit, then at the determined set of Martin's jaw.

"Y/N, go to your room," he said, his voice flat as you gave Martin a wary look before retreating, "you again."

"Yes, sir." Martin straightened his spine, watching you disappear into the background. "I'm here to ask for your daughter's hand in marriage."

Your father set down his coffee mug, and for a long moment he just looked at Martin. "You must be out of your damn mind," he said slowly, "if you think I'd let you marry my daughter."

"Sir, I know I'm not what you wanted for her. I know I've made mistakes. I know I don't have much—"

"You've barely got a diploma, an unsecure job at an auto shop, and a reputation that makes me want to lock my daughter in her room until she's thirty-five."

"I know, sir. But I love her. I've loved her since I was fifteen, and I'm going to spend the rest of my life taking care of her."

"You think that's enough?" Your father's voice was rising. "You think love is enough? You have no future, no prospects, no—"

"I'm going to marry her anyway."

Your father stopped mid-sentence. "What?"

"I said I'm going to marry her anyway." Martin lifted his chin, his voice steady. "With or without your blessing. With or without your approval. I love her, and she loves me, and we're getting married. I'm just sorry you won't be there to see it."

"Get out." Your father's voice was ice. "Get out of my house before I call the cops."

Martin nodded slowly. He'd expected this. He'd prepared for this. It still stung. He turned and walked down the steps, the door slamming behind him.

Five hours later, Martin stood in front of you at the courthouse, him having snuck you out of your room through the very window he had spent years crawling through.

You'd changed into a simple white dress that you had worn a few times in the summer. Martin was in his navy suit from the graduation, his eyes bright with unshed tears.

"Dearly beloved," the officiant droned, "we are gathered here today to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony..."

Martin barely heard the words. He was too busy memorising the way you were looking at him like he was the only person in the world.

"Martin," you whispered, "you're crying."

"Am not."

"You totally are."

"It's allergies."

"You're such a liar."

He laughed, wiping at his eyes with the back of his hand. "Fine, maybe I'm a little emotional. You're marrying me, Y/N. Me. The guy who couldn't even pass English without your help."

"I think you're pretty great," you said softly. "I always have."

The officiant cleared his throat. "The rings?"

Martin fumbled in his pocket, pulling out the simple silver bands he'd saved up for. He slid one onto your finger—it was a little too big, but you didn't seem to care, you just stared at it like it was the most expensive piece of jewelry in the world.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Martin’s lips were on yours before you could fully process the words.

He kissed you like he was drowning and you were air. He was savouring the reality of this, you in his arms finally calling yourself his. Gradually it deepened, the years of longing and wanting pouring into every second your mouth remained on his.

When he pulled back, you were both breathless and grinning like idiots.

"I love you," he whispered, his voice rough and cracking. "I know I don't say it enough, but I do. I love you more than anything. More than I ever thought I could love anyone."

You cupped his face in your hands, your thumbs tracing the sharp lines of his jaw. "I love you too. Even though you're insane."

A wet laugh escaped him, his shoulders shaking. "Especially because I'm insane?"

"Especially then." You smiled, soft and radiant. 

He kissed you again, softer this time, because he felt he had all the time in the world, and, really, he did. Nothing else mattered to him except the way your lips moved against his, the way your fingers tangled in his hair, the way your heartbeat matched his own.

When he finally pulled back, he was grinning like an idiot, tears still tracking down his cheeks. "Mrs. Edwards," he said, testing the words. "That has a nice ring to it."

You laughed, bright and beautiful. "Mr. L/N. That would have an even nicer ring to it."

"Hey." He poked your side. "I proposed first, that means you take my name."

"Fine." You rolled your eyes, but you were smiling. "But only because I love you."

"That's the only reason I need."

The courthouse was small and dingy, the officiant was already shuffling papers, clearly eager to leave, the neon sign outside flickered and buzzed. It wasn't the wedding either of you had dreamed of. There were no flowers, no guests, no white dress with a long train.

But it was yours.

And as Martin pulled you into his arms, his lips pressed against your temple, he knew he'd never regret a single moment of it. "I'm going to give you everything," he whispered against your skin. "I don't have much now, but I will. A home, a future, a life you can be proud of. I promise."

"I already have everything I need," you whispered back. "I have you."

He pulled back, just enough to look at you. His eyes were red-rimmed, his smile shaky, his heart laid bare on his sleeve. "You really mean that?"

"Every word."

He kissed you one last time: deep, slow, full of all the promises he'd spend the rest of his life keeping.

Your father was going to be absolutely livid when he found out, though Martin didn't care.

He'd married you anyway.

[laartistaroja]

It’s just beautiful ❤️

[laartistaroja]

ʏօʊ ƈօʊʟɖ ɮɛ ʍʏ ʟɨȶȶʟɛ քʀɨռƈɛֆֆ քɛǟƈɦ

𝕤𝕦𝕞𝕞𝕒𝕣𝕪: 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕘𝕖𝕥 𝕥𝕒𝕜𝕖𝕟 𝕓𝕪 𝕄𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕚𝕟 𝕥𝕠 𝕓𝕖𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕢𝕦𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕠𝕗 𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕜𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕕𝕠𝕞. ℕ𝕠𝕨 𝕚𝕥'𝕤 𝕦𝕡 𝕥𝕠 𝕂𝕖𝕠𝕟𝕙𝕠 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕊𝕖𝕠𝕟𝕘𝕙𝕪𝕖𝕠𝕟 𝕥𝕠 𝕤𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕣𝕖𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕟 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕙𝕠𝕞𝕖 𝕤𝕒𝕗𝕖𝕝𝕪. 𝔹𝕒𝕕 𝕟𝕖𝕨𝕤, 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕪'𝕧𝕖 𝕟𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣 𝕞𝕖𝕥 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕓𝕖𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕖 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕟𝕠 𝕚𝕕𝕖𝕒 𝕨𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕥𝕠 𝕖𝕩𝕡𝕖𝕔𝕥. ℍ𝕠𝕨 𝕕𝕠 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕪 𝕤𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕡𝕣𝕖𝕥𝕥𝕪 𝕡𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕔𝕖𝕤𝕤 𝕗𝕣𝕠𝕞 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕥𝕪𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕥 𝕤𝕠 𝕕𝕖𝕤𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕒𝕥𝕖 𝕥𝕠 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕙𝕖𝕣? ~6.7𝕜 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕕𝕤

𝕀𝕟𝕘𝕣𝕖𝕕𝕚𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕤: 1 𝕓𝕦𝕔𝕜𝕖𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕖𝕔𝕙𝕟𝕚𝕔𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕪 𝕞𝕪 𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕤𝕥 𝕗𝕚𝕔 𝕤𝕠 𝕔𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕖!, 1 𝕘𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕠𝕟 𝕠𝕗 ℕ𝕚𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕟𝕕𝕠/𝕄𝕒𝕣𝕚𝕠 𝕓𝕣𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕤 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕝𝕕, 3 𝕔𝕦𝕡𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕔𝕣𝕦𝕤𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘, 1 𝕢𝕦𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝕤𝕢𝕦𝕒𝕓𝕓𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕘, 2 𝕔𝕦𝕡𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕣𝕚𝕧𝕒𝕣𝕝𝕪 (𝕚𝕜 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕂𝕖𝕠𝕟𝕙𝕠 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕄𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕚𝕟 𝕣 𝕗𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕟𝕕𝕤 𝕚𝕣𝕝 𝕓𝕦𝕥 𝕚𝕥𝕤 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕡𝕝𝕠𝕥 :ℙ), 2 𝕔𝕦𝕡𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕄𝕖𝕒𝕟-𝕚𝕤𝕙 𝕄𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕚𝕟 (𝕤𝕠𝕣𝕣𝕪 𝕄𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕚𝕟 😔), 3 𝕥𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕡𝕠𝕠𝕟𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕝𝕠𝕧𝕖 𝕔𝕠𝕣𝕟𝕖𝕣 (𝕓𝕠𝕥𝕙 𝕓𝕠𝕪𝕤 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕖𝕣), 1 𝕔𝕦𝕡 𝕠𝕗 𝕗𝕝𝕦𝕗𝕗, 3/4 𝕔𝕦𝕡 𝕠𝕗 𝕧𝕚𝕠𝕝𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 (𝕟𝕠𝕥 𝕥𝕠𝕠 𝕧𝕚𝕠𝕝𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕀 𝕤𝕨𝕖𝕒𝕣), 𝕣𝕠𝕞𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕖

𝕊𝕥𝕚𝕔𝕜𝕪 ℕ𝕠𝕥𝕖𝕤: 𝕀 𝕙𝕠𝕡𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕚𝕤 𝕕𝕖𝕔𝕖𝕟𝕥. ℝ𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕖𝕣 𝕚𝕤 𝕕𝕖𝕤𝕔𝕣𝕚𝕓𝕖𝕕 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕓𝕝𝕠𝕟𝕕𝕖 𝕙𝕒𝕚𝕣 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕚𝕤 ℙ𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕔𝕖𝕤𝕤 ℙ𝕖𝕒𝕔𝕙 𝕓𝕦𝕥 𝕔𝕒𝕟 𝕓𝕖 𝕒𝕟𝕪 𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕖! 𝔹𝕥𝕨 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕚𝕤 𝕟𝕠𝕥 𝕒 𝕝𝕠𝕧𝕖 𝕥𝕣𝕚𝕒𝕟𝕘𝕝𝕖, 𝕀'𝕞 𝕒 𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕞 𝕓𝕖𝕝𝕚𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕝𝕠𝕧𝕖 𝕥𝕣𝕚𝕒𝕟𝕘𝕝𝕖𝕤 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕥𝕠 𝕘𝕠 𝕒𝕝𝕝 𝕥𝕙𝕣𝕖𝕖 𝕨𝕒𝕪𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕓𝕖 𝕒 𝕥𝕣𝕚𝕒𝕟𝕘𝕝𝕖. 𝕀𝕥'𝕤 𝕒 𝕝𝕠𝕧𝕖 𝕔𝕠𝕣𝕟𝕖𝕣 :ℙ. 𝕀 𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕖𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕀𝕟 𝕄𝔸𝕐 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕙𝕒𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕚𝕕𝕖𝕒 𝕨𝕙𝕚𝕝𝕖 𝕨𝕒𝕥𝕔𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕟𝕖𝕨 𝕊𝕦𝕡𝕖𝕣 𝕄𝕒𝕣𝕚𝕠 𝔾𝕒𝕝𝕒𝕩𝕪 𝕄𝕠𝕧𝕚𝕖 𝕨𝕙𝕚𝕔𝕙 𝕣𝕖𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕖𝕕 𝕀𝕟 𝔸ℙℝ𝕀𝕃. 𝕀 𝕟𝕖𝕖𝕕 𝕥𝕠 𝕘𝕖𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕠𝕦𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝕞𝕪 𝕕𝕠𝕔𝕤 𝕚𝕥𝕤 𝕓𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕤𝕚𝕥𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕚𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕄𝕆ℕ𝕋ℍ𝕊. ℍ𝔼𝕃ℙ. 𝔸𝕟𝕪𝕨𝕒𝕪𝕤, 𝕀 𝕙𝕠𝕡𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕦 𝕖𝕟𝕛𝕠𝕪! :𝔻

ℂ𝕒𝕤𝕥: 𝕄𝕒𝕣𝕚𝕠!𝕂𝕖𝕠𝕟𝕙𝕠 𝕩 ℙ𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕔𝕖𝕤𝕤 ℙ𝕖𝕒𝕔𝕙!ℝ𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕖𝕣 𝕩 𝕃𝕦𝕚𝕘𝕚!𝕊𝕖𝕠𝕟𝕘𝕙𝕪𝕖𝕠𝕟, 𝔹𝕠𝕨𝕤𝕖𝕣!𝕄𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕚𝕟, 𝕋𝕠𝕒𝕕!𝕁𝕒𝕞𝕖𝕤, 𝕊𝕙𝕪𝔾𝕦𝕪!𝕁𝕦𝕙𝕠𝕠𝕟, 𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕔𝕒𝕞𝕖𝕠𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕤 :3

🍄▶︎•၊၊||၊|။|||||။၊|။• 🍄 ▶︎ •ıı||ı|ıı| 🍄 ▶︎•၊၊||၊|။||||။၊|။•

How did you get into this situation? Your stomach churned as you saw your kingdom get smaller and smaller from your view up in the sky. Sadly, Martin had taken you hostage and was now taking you back to his kingdom. Earlier today, you were peacefully talking with the toad council, discussing new ways to improve their lives. 

All of a sudden, one of the highest ranking toads, James, ran into the room, panting and freaking out. 

“Your highness! We need your immediate attendance outside!”

“James, what’s going on?”

“Martin! He’s outside, waiting for you!”

This wasn’t good. Martin had a reputation for invading and destroying kingdoms. You couldn’t just stand by and watch yours be ruined. 

“Lead me to him.” 

Martin stood at the balcony, his large airship looming behind him. 

Every step you made towards him made you queasy. Martin had much more power and influence than you. What would happen if he raged a war on you? How will your toads defend the kingdom? Will other neighboring kingdoms help you out?

“Good day, Princess.” Martin smirked. 

“Martin.” You glared. 

“A little welcome would be appreciated. I did come a long way to see you. Aren’t you known for your kindness?”

“I’m not welcoming your visit Martin.”

"Ouch. You wound me.” “You weren’t invited! Now why are you here?”

Martin beamed and then pulled out a bouquet of piranha plants wrapped in a pink bow. Then, he got down on one knee. 

“Princess Peach, will you make me the happiest ruler in the galaxy and marry me?”

…

what.

Was THE Martin asking you to marry him? 

Who did he think he was????

“E-excuse me?”

“Yes, you heard me.” “Dude, I don’t even know you. I literally met you today!”

“Yeah but you’re really pretty and I think that you’ll be a great queen to my kingdom.” “But I already have my own!” “But we could rule the galaxy together! Think of how powerful we could be!” “Ewww, no I’ll pass. You’re a horrible ruler anyways.”

Martin froze, the bouquet of piranha plants drooping from his hand. 

“So it’s a no?” His eyes turned dark, staring at you. 

“Yeah it’s a definite no. You’re a terrible person that does terrible things!”

Well okay Princess Peach, you go off queen! 

Martin seemed heartbroken to say the least. He turned his back to you. 

“Guess you leave me no choice.”

“What-”

Suddenly, a dozen of Koopa Troopas ran over to you, spears in hand, and took you hostage. 

“H-HEY! WAIT!”

“You choose this for yourself. All you had to do was comply.” Martin glared.

“You can’t take me away! OW that hurts!” One of the Koopas pointed their spear too closely to your neck. 

“You’ll be my queen one way or another” Martin began to walk to the entrance of his airship, the Koopas not far behind, taking you with them. 

“HELP! JAMES HELP ME!”

James ran out onto the balcony, seeing that you were already inside of the airship. 

“WAIT! NO BRING HER BACK! LET HER GO!” He ran as fast as he could to you, but the doors closed, and the airship flew away. 

James stood in silence for a while, slowly realizing that the Princess of his kingdom had just gotten kidnapped. 

Quickly, he ran inside and pulled grabbed the palace phone. 

“Keonho? Seonghyeon?”

In a different kingdom, Keohno had been hopping along the stone, jumping on green pipes. 

“Hey Seonghyeon?” Keonho called out.

“Yeah?” 

“I’m hungry. What do you want to eat?”

“I chose earlier. You can choose this time.”

“Yeah but I don’t know what to get!”

“Well what are you craving?”

“I don’t know.” “Super Mushroom Soup?” Seonhygeon asked. 

“Nah, that sounds too filling.”

“Garlic knots?”

“Not in the mood for garlic.” Keonho stepped on a Goomba. 

“Yoshi’s fettuccine alfredo?”

“Could be too messy. I just cleaned my hat today.” Keonho adjusted his red cap sitting proudly on his curly hair. curlyhairkeonhosupremacy

“How would food get onto your hat?” Seonghyeon smirked. 

“Anything could happen, man.”

“Not even some chicken salad?” “I think I’ll pass on that one.”

“What could you possibly want then?” Seonghyeon scoffed, “I practically just went through the whole menu!”

“I dunno. Maybe something spicy?” “No way. Your spice tolerance is so low.”

“Not true!” Keonho pouted, running away from Seonghyeon.

“It’s so true!” Seonghyeon rolled his eyes, running to catch up with the speeding Keonho. 

A ring from Seonghyeon’s phone pulled them out of their conversation. 

“Hello?” Seonghyeon answered. 

“Seonghyeon,” James breathed out, “I need your and Keonho’s help. The Mushroom Kingdom is in danger!”

“Woah, what? Are you guys okay? What’s going on?”

“Princess Peach! She’s been kidnapped!”

Keonho, who was eavesdropping listening intently, quickly grabbed Seonghyeon’s phone from his hand. 

“WHAT? THE PRINCESS PEACH? KIDNAPPED?” “YEAH!”

“BY WHO?”

“MARTIN!”

Ugh, Martin. Keonho had an infamous rivalry with Martin. Martin, who was constantly keeping Keonho on his toes. Invading worlds, scaring civilians, and even racing him on his go-kart. And Keonho, with the help of his brother, Seonghyeon, always had to step in and stop him. Beating him in races, restoring kingdoms, and taking down millions of his minions. 

But kidnapping a Princess? Martin had taken it too far!

But why would he do this? Did he have connections with the Princess? 

Or worse, what if he was trying to kill her off? Maybe take over her kingdom? Or destroy it?

No, Keonho couldn’t let this happen! Sure, he knew absolutely nothing about you. He hadn’t even seen you. But that didn’t matter. He would rescue you, bring you back to your kingdom, and hopefully get some rewards. Maybe a house in your kingdom? Get to live in your palace? Or better yet, FREE FOOD!

Seonghyeon had to snap Keonho out of his daydreams, shaking him. 

“KEONHO! KEEP IT TOGETHER! WE HAVE A PRINCESS TO SAVE!”

“Martin….” Keonho seethed, his stomach twisting, just by saying his name. “Don’t worry, James. We’ll have your Princess in your kingdom soon!”

“Please do! I’ll tell you all the details about it if you come to the palace right now!”

“Come on Seonghyeon.” Keonho gave Seonghyeon back his phone and began to storm off. “We’ve got a princess to save.”

And that's how you wound up here, somewhere random in space, floating towards wherever you were headed towards.

“Are we almost there yet?” You asked, again,  growing impatient in your cage. 

“NO! GOD, ARE YOU ALWAYS THIS-” Martin swiftly turned, stomping over to your cage. 

He realized that he was lashing out on his future queen and stopped. He smoothed his hair, trying to calm himself down. 

“No sweets. Sorry about that. I’ve been on edge all day, waiting for your answer to my proposal. Now that you’re finally here, I can barely contain my excitement!” Martin beamed, which was weird to see an evil conquer just melting by mentioning you. 

You sighed and rubbed your eyes. “Where are we headed again?”

“To my kingdom.” Martin’s eyes shone with pride. “I can’t wait to show you how nice it is! It’ll be your new home afterall!”

It’s now your turn to freeze. 

“N-new home? What do you mean?” “Don’t you understand? You didn’t think I’d just propose and let you live alone in your kingdom, didn’t you? You’re living with me now forever, silly!” 

Oh god you felt sick. It didn’t even matter that you didn’t eat, you felt like you could hurl at the thought of living forever with him. 

“Aww, don’t frown, Peach.” Martin cooed, reaching his hands through the bar and caressing your face, “Dont. Touch. Me.” You glared at him. 

“You shouldn’t keep resisting me. You know that we’re destined to be together, one way or another.”

“I’d rather sit down and listen to Donkey Kong rant about how difficult his life is and how hard it was to rescue his son, for multiple days straight in a row.” 

Martin tsked. 

“We’re already here so there’s no need to hear your whining anymore.”

“Wait wha-”

The dark planet came into your view, looking menacingly. 

“Get ready in a couple of hours. You have a wedding later on in the evening today.” Martin smiled and walked off, into his castle.  

…..WHAT…?

“WAIT WHAT? A WEDDING? TODAY? LIKE SOON?” You screamed, visibly panicking. 

“Yes, now go get ready. The Koopas have everything ready for you.” Martin smiled and took your hand, pressing a kiss to your knuckles. 

“See you soon my queen.”

“Are you sure this is the right place, Keonho?” Seonghyeon looked at the tall dark castle, assuming that this was most likely where Martin lived. Still, he was far too scared to go inside. 

“From the description of James, yeah, this is the place.” Keonho gulped. Even he was intimidated. 

“So we just go inside and find the princess then bring her back?” 

“Apparently. She’s probably inside.”

Keonho turned to face Seonghyeon. 

“You ready for this?”

Seonghyeon sighed. “As long as you don’t abandon me or anything.” He muttered. 

Keonho smiled, patting Seonghyeon’s green hat. 

“You’re the only one that remembers the way back. Of course I wouldn’t leave you.” He said as he started to walk inside the castle. 

“H-hey! Keonho wait!” Seonghyeon ran after Keonho, who was already speeding in the hallways. 

Soon, a group of Koopas who were guarding multiple doors spotted the boys. 

“Oop.” Keonho stood still when he made eye contact with a Koopa. Then, a group of Koopas ran towards both Keonho and Seonghyeon. 

“Keonho? What’s wrong?” Seonghyeon stood and saw how Keonho was not moving a muscle. 

“RUN!” Keonho exclaimed, bolting towards the opposite direction of the Koopas, scrambling with Seonghyeon, trying to find a room to hide in. 

The Koopas were hot on their trail and Keonho was panicking. He wasn’t prepared to attack anyone yet! He hadn’t even found you!

The pair of the boys made a left turn, only to run straight towards a dead end. The Koopas were catching up, their footsteps becoming louder and louder. 

“QUICK! IN HERE!” Keonho spotted a random door and dragged Seonghyeon inside. They slammed the door quickly behind themselves and caught their breath. 

“Remind me to never trust you again.” Seonghyeon breathed out. 

“Oh relax, I just saved us.”

“After you literally put us in danger!” Seonghyeon whisper-shouted. 

Keonho rolled his eyes and searched around in the room, looking for an exit or a possible clue where you might be. The walls in this room were tall, with chandeliers dangling from them. The colors were all sad and gloomy, yet sophisticated, like someone with taste designed the room. The floors were marble. Accents of gold everywhere. Keonho had to admit, Martin had taste. Even the furniture was fancy. “We gotta find the Princess.” Keonho declared, all of a sudden remembering his objective. 

They walked from room to room, searching for any trace of a door. Suddenly, they turned to a bedroom. 

A bed with beautiful flower sheets, and canopies draped on top. But what Keonho noticed was at the vanity mirror.

A girl with blonde hair was sitting there, dressed in white and with a veil, a little crown placed in the middle. She seemed to be brushing her hair, looking at herself in the mirror. She stopped dead when she made eye contact with the teen in the red hat. 

That must be her. That must be Princess Peach. Keonho thought. He didn’t expect her to be this pretty though. She must’ve been close to his age. Close enough for him to at least flustered by making eye contact.

But she broke eye contact when she sharply turned to Keonho and Seonghyeon, her defence up, clutching a pink parasol in her hands.

“WHO ARE YOU GUYS?” She shrieked. 

Even Seonghyeon seemed to be in a trance, just by her looks. Still, he composed himself and spoke. 

“We’re here to save you, Princess Peach.”

“You didn’t even answer my question.”

“I’m Seonghyeon and he’s Keonho,” Seonghyeon pointed to Keonho. “We were sent by James to retrieve you and to bring you back to your kingdom.”

You seemed a bit relieved. Still, you didn’t fully believe these guys.

“What? So I just have to believe you guys and go wherever you guys are headed?”

“We’re really here to help you!” Keonho spoke up. “I love the Mushroom Kingdom, I swear! I know the pledge and everything! Please just let us bring you home safety!”

You really had no choice. How were you able to return back by yourself? These guys seemed trustworthy. As trustworthy as two random, baseball hat wearing, random teens could be.

Seonghyeon had been staring at you throughout all this time. You turned and looked at him, which made him quickly look away. 

Wait, aren’t I supposed to do some kind of bow since she's royalty or smth? Seonghyeon suddenly realized. 

He got down on his knees and bowed his head down. 

“It is a pleasure to meet you….your…umm…highness?” He hesitated. 

Keonho stood there, watching Seonghyeon. What are you doing??? He thought. 

Seonghyeon poked at his shoe, ushering him to do the same. Keonho scrambled to get down and bow as well. 

“It’s nice to meet you too….Princess…?” Keonho faltered.

You stood there, watching these two fumble, unsure how to address you. It was almost unbelievable to watch. You snorted. 

“Thanks, but you guys don’t really have to do all that. You guys can relax.”

They hesitated, but stood up to see you amused at their antics. 

“Well, what’s your grand plan to get me out of here?” You asked. 

Oh right. The plan to escape. Truth be told, Keonho didn’t have a very organized plan. Or any plan at all. He didn’t expect the job to be this hard. Or for the Princess to be this pretty

“Right, we’re gonna leave this room and run out to the green pipe outside.” Keonho explained. 

“How are we gonna do that though? There’s koopas all around!” Seonghyeon exclaimed.

Behind the vanity, you pulled out several yellow boxes with question marks on them. 

“I found these earlier. Maybe, we could all use them?”

You randomly chose a yellow box, not really caring for what power you get, as long as you could leave this planet and avoid being stuck with Martin. You punched your yellow box, a red rose dropped down to your hands. Meanwhile, Keonho and Seonghyeon were arguing about which yellow box to claim. 

“I do not want to transform into an animal!” Keonho pouted. 

“Well neither do I! Just pick that box already!” Seonghyeon was getting fed up with Keonho’s behavior. 

“Hurry up and choose a box.” You rolled your eyes. 

Keonho and Seonghyeon froze at your tone of voice, irritation. They grumbled, but stopped fighting. 

You punched your box, a single red rose dropping. 

“Oh nice. What’s this?” You touched your rose, and your clothes transformed. Your dress got replaced with a white pants, a pair of blue boots, a red vest, your blue coat, and a fancy musketeer with a rose and feather on top. Your rose bouquet was now replaced with a silver musketeer sword.

Keohno’s jaw dropped. There’s no way you got a cool sword. He wanted one too! It wasn’t fair how pretty cool you looked now. He pulled away the box from Seonghyeon’s hands. He quickly punched this box, revealing a striped leaf. He quickly tried to transform, wanting to show you how cool his outfit would be. 

The first thing he saw was Seonghyeon trying to hold in his laughter. 

“What’s so funny?” Keonho raised an eyebrow.

“Your outfit. You have to look in the mirror.” Seonghyeon wheezed. 

Keonho quickly ran to the mirror, only to see himself in a brown raccoon outfit.

“WHAT IS THIS? WHY AM I AN ANIMAL?” 

You and Seonghyeon were doubling over with laughter. Keonho felt so embarrassed to be standing in front of a princess, wearing an animal costume.

“How about you transform, Seonghyeon. Let’s see how better your costume is!” Keonho flushed, hoping that Seonghyeon looked as ridiculous as he did. 

“Gladly.” Seonghyeon smirked. He turned to you. 

“Watch this, Princess.” He punched his box and a yellow and brown striped toad head appeared. 

Seonghyeon transformed, wearing a little cap with bee antennas on top, a pair of little wings, and yellow overalls with a bee stinger. 

It was so silent, until Keonho bursted into laughter. 

“Why are you a bee?” Keonho giggled. 

Seonghyeon stared at the ground, too scared to look up to see your reaction. 

You were laughing, of course. 

A knock came from the doors, making you all freeze. 

“Princess, you have 5 minutes to get ready for the ceremony.” A Koopa outside shouted. 

After he left, you all realised that you had a dire situation at hand. 

“We gotta find a way to escape.” You paced, back and forth, impatiently. 

Oh right. That’s what I came here for. Keonho remembered. 

“Don’t worry, Princess! We shall save you!” Keonho stood proudly in his raccoon costume. 

“How are we going to do that?”

How was Keonho going to do that? He was too embarrassed to go outside, looking like this. But he did want to finally beat Martin, once and for all. 

“We should probably leave this room.” Seonghyeon suggested. 

“We’ll escape this room, and bring you home safely.” Keonho announced. 

“How will we not get caught?” You asked. 

“We’ve got powers now so we should be able to defend ourselves.” Seonghyeon faintly smiled, trying to make the situation better. 

“Get behind me, Peach. I’ll protect you.” Keonho puffed out his chest. 

You looked down at his raccoon tail and looked up to his raccoon ears. Keoho felt embarrassed under your gaze. 

“Sureeee..” You drew out. 

You all walked towards the door, all waiting for the worse to happen. As soon as you all stepped out of the room, multiple koopa soldiers turned to look. 

“oh no.” Seonghyeon whispered under his breath. 

The soldiers ran towards you three at full speed. You pulled out your sword and began to slash some soldiers. 

“What are you waiting for?!” You called out. “Do something!”

Keonho ran up to one of the Koopas, who drew their spear. He threw a successful punch, but fell afterwards. 

Seonghyeon was still in place. When he saw a koopa run up to him, he jumped up, activating his ability to fly. 

“WHAT’S GOING ON?” Seonghyeon shrieked as he flew out of control. 

Keonho started to laugh as he saw Seonghyeon panic in the air, but quickly turned his attention towards you.

You seemed to be doing okay, fighting-wise at least. You were stunning Koopas with your sword, speeding left and right. You were basically carrying the team.

Keonho has never worked with someone so skilled before. It had been mostly just him and Seonghyeon, trying to figure out whatever was thrown their way. They mostly succeeded, barely with plenty of scratches. You at least seemed to know what you were doing. You seemed cool. Cooler than Keonho would like to admit to himself. 

A Koopa lunged at Keonho and Keonho turned and whacked the koopa with his tail, sending the koopa flying across the room. 

You kept on fighting the Koopas, until the hallways were filled with shells. 

“Help me!” Seonghyeon cried out, flying backwards in a circle. 

“Get down!” You called out. 

“I can’t!”

Behind the corner of a wall, Juhoon, Martin’s trusted shy guy, had watched the defeat. He ran out into the hallways, running towards Martin’s door. 

Martin was seated on his throne, his koopas showing him hangers of suits to wear to his wedding. 

“That’s too bold.”

“That’s too basic.”

“What is this,Shein?”

Honestly, Martin was very nervous about his wedding. He was going to be with you forever. The thought of it made him flustered. How did he bag you? literally, cuz he kidnapped you. He had to be the luckiest leader out in the galaxy!

After the koopas found a worthy suit for him, a white suit with studs, he glanced in the mirror and slicked back his hair. 

“Look at this handsome gentleman. What a lucky princess she is.”

Finally dripped out, Martin sat at his piano and started to play. Images of you, smiling and laughing, flooded his mind. You were going to be all his. You were going to be his wife soon. He was so happy to have you. His song that he composed for you, he began to play.

A long time ago, he sent his trusted shy guy, Juhoon to travel and to look at the different kingdoms. To see which ones that Martin might potentially be interested in. Juhoon had visited your kingdom, disguised as a foreigner. He took many pictures, including pictures of you. He showed Martin these photos. 

When Martin saw you, he knew that you were special. Perhaps the most beautiful Princess that he has ever seen. He knew that he had to make you his. You would be happy here. He’s here. He has power. He has looks. He has charm. What else could a man have? 

Juhoon burst through the doors, panting and stressed out. 

“Your majesty! The princess-she’s-she-”

“EEEK!” Martin shrieked. He quickly jumped up from the piano and threw himself on his throne. “W-What’s going on, Juhoon?” Martin was worried. What happened to you? You couldn’t possibly be leaving on the day of the wedding, could you?

“She’s escaped your highness! She has some kind of power-up! Keonho and Seonghyeon are here too!” 

Keonho. Martin hated Keonho. Keonho was always defeating Martin, no matter how powerful or destructive Martin tried to be. No matter how elaborate or complex his plans, Keonho and Seonghyeon had always found a way to stop him. 

But not today. Today, Martin would stop them, once and for all. that’s lowkey cringe bro

Still, Martin was sure that you wouldn’t want to leave. Why would you leave him anyways? He swears that would provide for you, buy you things, and overall treat you. Yeah, you were pretty upset about leaving your kingdom and being seen with him, but he would be able to rule your kingdom as well. Both would unite under one. (awww he’s a romantic). 

“Get him to me right now.” Martin spat. He was not going to let Keonho get in the way of having his bride. 

“We gotta find the exit.” Seonghyeon panicked, even though he was still flying in the sky. 

The castle doors were straight ahead, a ray of sunshine shining through. 

The noise of footstops stopped all 3 of you. The noise became louder and louder, causing Keonho to get worried. He knew that they had to get you out of there before Martin caught you. 

“Get the Princess out of here, Seonghyeon.” Keonho pushed you towards the door. 

“W-what? Keonho, are you crazy? What if Martin catches you?” Seonghyeon flew down towards Keonho, now being able to control his flying. 

“I’ll be fine. The priority is to get her to safety.”

“But we’ve always fought Martin together! How will you fight him alone?” 

Keonho turned to Seonghyeon, who was hovering near Keonho. 

“I care about you too much to put you in danger.” Keonho confessed. 

Throughout all of Keonho and Seonghyeon’s life, they’ve always joked around and gotten along easily. They almost never talked about their past, about their origin, how the weight of being the heroes or how heavy their bodies felt after taking multiple punches and attacks from enemies. They’ve always hid it under jokes and smiles, not remembering that they’ve been fighting a battle together, and secretly care about each other. 

“Keonho….” Seonghyeon trailed off, not knowing what to say. 

You felt like you were interrupting something. You stood awkwardly, in front of them, swaying your arms awkwardly. 

“Please, Seonghyeon. Let me finish what I started.”

Seonghyeon paused, but then, reluctantly agreed.

He turned to the door, flying a couple of steps before turning back.

“I’ll come back for you.”

Keonho smiled.

“Thanks, Seonghyeon. See you soon.”

After Seonghyeon ran out with the Princess, Keonho ventured back into the castle, looking for Martin. He saw a shy guy and tall figure coming ahead, their shadow looming closer. Keonho didn’t know where to hide. All the doors seemed to be locked!

Keonho stood still, activating his statue ability, and blended into the decorations around him. He couldn’t move his body, but could only look around with his eyes. 

Martin and Juhoon both stopped and stood in front of him. 

“We’ve got to find my bride and find the brothers. I want them as the sacrifice for the wedding.” Martin glanced around, hoping to find the two that he wanted, to capture them. 

Keonho could feel himself panicking. He was going to have to defeat Martin. How could he just leave you to live in the castle if Martin were to keep capturing you?

“We’ll find him your highness.” Juhoon reassured. “We’ve got surveillance cameras everywhere.”

Oh no. 

Martin and Juhoon continued to discuss how to capture Keonho, Seonghyeon, and the Princess. After they walked off, Keonho removed his disguise and started to walk to the other side of the hallway. 

“THERE HE IS!” Martin shouted. 

The last thing Keonho saw was Martin lunging towards him until Keonho started to run. He didn’t exactly know the layout of the castle, so he was running around aimlessly. Martin and Juhoon were trailing behind him. Keonho turned to see what was behind him again, but only saw Juhoon running after him. 

Where’s Marti-???

Martin pulled Keonho up by the collar. 

“Now I’ve got you.” He smiled. 

“Martin…” Keonho scowled. 

“What are you doing here?” Martin stared at Keonho, waiting for an answer. 

“I’m here to save the life that you endangered!”

“And whose life would that be?”

“Princess Peach’s of course!” Keonho couldn’t believe what Martin was asking. 

“Her life wasn’t in danger! She was gonna be just fine living with me!”

“She didn’t consent to be kidnapped!” Keonho argued. 

“How do you know what’s good for her?” 

“THAT’S MY OPINION!" Keonho yelled.

Juhoon and Martin froze, both staring at Keonho. 

“I’m getting rid of you once and for all.” Martin declared, walking towards the castle doors. 

“Wait, no!” 

Keonho tried to get out of Martin’s clasp, but struggled. 

“I should’ve gotten rid of you ever since you first defeated me.” 

Martin brought Keonho to the entrance, with the walkway of the castle looking over hot lava. 

“Let’s see if Seonghyeon comes in time to save you.”

After Keonho told Seonghyeon that he would deal with Martin, Seonghyeon knew that he would already have to return to save Keonho. Keonho always got himself into unnecessary trouble and usually Seonghyeon got him out of it. 

Seonghyeon couldn’t just go back inside. He had to explain the situation to you.

“Um, Princess?”

You looked up towards him. You were honestly confused about the whole situation. Keonho was staying behind to fight Martin? Was Seonghyeon just going to drop you off back in your kingdom? What about Keonho? Is Keonho okay?

“Yes?” 

“Keonho is still in the castle.”

“Wait, why? Is he fighting Martin?”

“I mean that’s his plan but I’m going back. I’ll drop you off-”

“Why are you dropping me off?”

Seonghyeon paused.

“Because James wants you back at the palace…? Because you have a kingdom to rule over..?”

“Well we got to get him back!”

“But you can return!”

“I’m not leaving without him.” True, you didn’t know much about him, but he seemed like he was trying to help you. The least you could do was to make sure he wasn’t killed off by Martin or was endangered. 

Seonghyeon did admire you for how persistent, although he did think you were a bit stubborn and irrational for caring about a stranger’s life. He hadn’t met any princesses who were this outspoken or cared for people who were not their subjects, as much as you had. You were a great asset to their tiny team. 

Wow, he was already gushing about you. Did you like her, Seonghyeon? 

“N-no.”

“Huh? Did you say something?” You asked. 

“Oh-uh-no.” Seonghyeon barely sputtered out. 

“Come on! Let’s go save Keonho!” You ran out towards the entrance. 

You and Seonghyeon were shocked when you both saw Martin dangling Keonho, by the collar, over the sizzling lava. 

“Wait! We can talk about this!” Keonho pleaded. 

“Where is she, Keonho?!” Martin shouted out. 

“I-i don’t know..?” Keonho nervously mumbled out.

“You definitely know where she is!” Martin swayed Keonho over the lava.

“No-seriously! I told Seonghyeon to take her away! I don’t know where she is right now!” Keonho screeched out, “PLEASE LET ME DOWN!” 

“I’M RIGHT HERE!” Your voice called out. 

Martin turned to see you in your swordfighter attire. 

“Princess Peach?” Martin was thrilled to see you, so thrilled that he forgot about Keonho. 

“Don’t hurt Keonho!” You drew out your spear, welding it towards Martin. 

“But he’s trying to keep me away from you!” Martin reasoned. He lowered his hand, closer to the lava. 

You darted towards Martin and swiftly attacked him on his side, causing him to drop Keonho. 

“AUGHHHHHHH HELP ME!” Keonho failed his arms helplessly. Why couldn’t he fly? Didn’t this power-up have the ability to fly?

He closed his eyes, waiting for the extreme heat to engulf him. 

But it never came.

He opened his eyes to see Seonghyeon holding him, flying to the bridge. 

“Seonghyeon? You’re here?”

“I’d never leave you Keonho.” Seonghyeon landed on the bridge. “Wait! I stopped flying!” 

“We got to go help Peach!” Keonho ran off to Martin. 

You were busy fighting Martin, using your sword to slash wounds and dodging him quickly.

“I don’t understand why you’re doing this!” Martin called out.

Seonghyeon ran towards Martin, trying to attack him. Martin saw Seonghyeon approaching and pushed him out of the way. Seonghyeon went flying and landed further along the bridge, losing his power-up. 

“SEONGHYEON!” Keonho called out. 

While distracted, Martin pulled you and Keonho towards him.

“I’m getting this wedding, one way or another.” 

You tried to escape Martin’s grasp, but his grip was too strong. You tried attacking him with your spear, but it was useless. His grip was crushing you. Your powers from your powerup were weakening. You would for sure lose your powers now. You’re already losing your power-up for sure. 

A figure was seen from the sky, getting closer to you all. 

“What is that?” Keonho panicked, afraid that one of Martin’s followers is ready to take them out.

But instead, a green little dinosaur ran up to Keonho, licking him with their tongue. 

“YOSHI!” Keonho exclaimed. Yoshi bit Martin’s fingers,then he dropped Keonho. Keonho hugged Yoshi until he realized that there was a larger problem at hand. “We’ve got to go save the Princess, Yoshi! Martin has got her captive!”

Keonho jumped on Yoshi and ran towards Martin. You were no longer in your swordfighter outfit and were very weak. It felt like Martin was crushing your bones!

“Ow! That hurts Martin!”

“This is the only way I’ll have your attention?! If I’m harming you?! So be it-!”

Yoshi stuck this tongue out, hitting Martin directly in the eye. 

“AUGH! WHAT WAS THAT?”

“Let her go!” Keonho yelled at Martin. 

“Get back here, Keonho! I’ll end you!” Martin swatted at Keonho, who dodged him quickly. 

Meanwhile, Seonghyeon was trying to find a way to get Martin to let you go, preferably not into the hot sizzling lava. He tried to punch and kick Martin, but nothing was working. Not when the villain is 6’3!

Yoshi threw an egg at Martin, causing him to stumble backwards. He still wouldn’t let you go!

You have had enough. You rummaged through your pink dress pockets, finding your parasol that the toads from your village had gifted you. This would have to do. 

You whacked Martin on his head, hard, with the parasol, making him yelp. You poked him in his eye. Martin shrieked and let you go. You fell towards the lava, feeling the emitted heat get hotter and hotter as you got closer. 

Seonghyeon grabbed you and pulled you to the side. 

“Are you okay?!” He frantically asked. 

“Omg, y-yeah. I just-oh my gosh-help we need to get out of here!”

Seonghyeon sighed. “Martin’s not going down without a fight.”

You both turned to see Yoshi ducking and jumping with Keonho on his back. Martin was throwing punches and kicks aimlessly, while covering his right eye. “GET BACK HERE, KEONHO! I’LL KILL YOU!” Martin barked out. 

“Only if you catch me!” Keonho stuck his tongue out. 

Martin took Keonho by the collar and raised his fist. 

“I SWEAR TO GOD-!”

Seonghyeon swung his fist and punched Martin across his face. Martin spat blood and glared at Seonghyeon. 

“Are you kidding me?! Where did you come from?!”

Keonho jumped off Yoshi and locked Martin in a chokehold. Seonghyeon grabbed Martin by his wrists and you kicked him in the stomach, causing him to crouch down. 

“We’re better people than you, so we’re not going to kill you.” Keonho smirked at Martin. 

“W-what do you want?” Martin barely was able to sputter out. 

“First, you’ll have to leave Princess Peach alone.” Seonghyeon stated. 

Martin paused. 

“Promise her.” Seonghyeon pointed to you.

Martin hesitated but rose his eyes to you. 

“I promise. I’m sorry. I’ll never bother you again.”

“Now,” Keonho smiled, “I have some requests aswell.”

“What do you want Keonho?” Martin rolled his eyes. 

“I have no problem punching you.” Keonho tightened his grip on Martin's hair, pulling Martin’s face towards. 

“W-wait! What do you want? I’ll do anything!” 

“You’ll never take over another kingdom or world again, got it?” 

“....fine..” Martin huffed. 

“Never hurt anyone again.”

“Sure. Fine. I’ll do that.”

“Oh and never ever try to hurt me or my brother again. I’ll find you. I swear.”

Martin froze. Then awkwardly smiled. 

“Yes, of course!”

“You promise?”

“YES I PROMISE! Please leave me alone! I never want to do anything again! I swear I can’t feel my face!” Martin started tearing up. 

You all froze and stared at him. The three of you burst into laughter. 

“Look at his face, Keonho!” Keonho pointed at Martin, who was flushing in embarrassment. 

They let go of Martin and watched him scramble back into the place. 

After they made sure that Martin had left, Keonho and Seonghyeon turned to you.

“Are you ready to go?” “Y-yeah.” You said a little breathlessly, all the previous events catching up to you. 

You all walked out, looking for the green pipe to bring you back to your kingdom. 

“Sooooo..” Keonho drew out, “Which one of us was more heroic?” He smirked and leaned towards you. 

“Dude, we literally just fought against the evilest ruler in this galaxy. Chill dude.”

“No, but seriously. Who saved you more times, me or Sean?”

“You guys both helped me!” “Okay, but then who’s handsomer?” Seonghyeon grinned.

“That’s not even a word!”

“Be honest. It’s me, right?”

You groaned and stepped on top of the pipe.

“Let’s go back to my kingdom. We’ll discuss what’s next.”

Keonho and Seonghyeon squealed behind you and jumped into the pipe, after you. 

James was running around the palace, trying to control the situation. It had been hours since he had last heard from Keonho and Seonghyeon. Are you okay? Did they find you? Or the worst possible outcome, what has Martin done to you?

The thought of Martin taking you and James not being there made his stomach twist. He was your most trusted toad. And he let you down. 

The palace doors opened and you appeared.

YOU’RE ALIVE!

James ran towards you and hugged the Princess. 

“Princess Peach! You’re safe!”

“Of course, thanks to you calling Keonho and Seonghyeon.”

James raised his head to see Seonghyeon and Keonho awkwardly standing behind you, unfamiliar to this kingdom. 

“Please come in. Let’s all sit down to have tea.” You lead the boys to your cafeteria. 

The table was filled with delicious sweets and native foods from your kingdom. The brothers dug into the food, taking everything and eating loudly. Saving princesses worked up an appetite. 

“So what did Martin do to you?” James asked you. 

“He took me to his kingdom and planned a whole wedding for us.” You rolled your eyes.

“What?” Jame’s jaw dropped dramatically.

“I know right!? Luckily, these two found me.” You pointed at Seonghyeon and Keonho. 

Seonghyeon sheepishly blushed while Keonho beamed. 

“That’s right! All thanks to me!” Keonho turned to James.

“Hey! I helped too, you know!” Seonghyeon elbowed Keonho. 

“That’s true. You did.” Keonho patted Seonghyeon on his back. “But the princess does like me better, right Peach?”

“What happened to Princess Peach?” You raised your eyebrow.

“We’re so close that we don’t need honorifics anymore!” 

“That’s not true. We also spent some time together.” Seonghyeon smiled at you. “Isn’t that true, Princess Peach?”

“Hey, she was talking to me first.” Keonho glared at Seonghyeon. 

“I’m at least respectful to royalty!”

“Guys, calm down!” You pushed Keonho and Seonghyeon apart, distancing them. 

“Be honest, Princess.” Keonho got closer to your face. “Did you miss me when I was gone?”

“W-what?”

“It was pretty heroic, fighting Martin and saving you from him.”

“Bro, Seonghyeon and I literally had to come and save you.”

“Yeah, she’s pretty heroic.” Seonghyeon winked at you.

“Wait, so who do you like more?” Keonho asked.

They’re acting like kids. You thought to yourself. 

“Don’t you guys want a reward or something?” You tried to change the subject. 

“Ooohh yes!” Keonho fist bumped Seonghyeon. “Can we live in the palace?”

The thought of waking up to see Seonghyeon and Keonho running around scared you. You don’t love the idea of living your life peacefully in the palace, while constantly getting interrupted with Keonho and Seonghyeon’s squabbling made you freeze in place. 

“Umm..well I was actually thinking of knighting you two instead.”

The boys squealed in delight. 

“Really?” Seonghyeon beamed.

James retrieved your sword and gave it to you. Seonghyeon kneeled down first, much to Keonho’s dismay. 

“Seonghyeon, it is my honor to knight you for your bravery today and for saving me today.” You placed the sword at his right and left. 

“It was an honor, Princess.” 

“My turn!” Keonho flared his arms around. He kneeled down and you began again. 

“Keonho, it is my honor to knight you for your courage and for saving me today.” You knighted him as well. 

James brought the medals and placed them on the new knights. 

“I feel so fancy.” Seonghyeon admired his gold medal with your flower symbol in the middle. 

“So you sure that we can’t live here?” Keonho asked again. 

And that is why those two live in your kingdom now. Whenever they had to complete missions, they would leave their little mushroom house and see your castle. Sometimes they would come over and hang out much to your dismay. Still, they offered humor to your somewhat boring life. Keonho and Seonghyeon still fought for your attention though. weird, right?

No matter how many times they bothered you, you still are thankful for their help. You learned that Seonghyeon likes to watch the plays that the local toad performance center puts on. Keonho likes to go swimming at the local toad pool. 

They really were amazing at what they did. 

And today you were inviting them over to the castle. 

James opens the doors, revealing…no one?!

Keonho and Seonghyeon are standing on top of the green pipe. 

“Where are you going?!” You run out towards them. 

“We got news! Martin is taking over another kingdom!” Keonho calls out. 

“Yeah! Do you want to come with us?” Seonghyeon asks. 

The princess and her two heroes jumped into the green pipe, starting off their new adventure.

boarders by @thecutestgrotto, @decoden-decor, and @coco-coquette

i put a lot of tags lol XD

[laartistaroja]

IT HURTS THAT I CANT ACTUALLY BAG HIM IRL AUGHH I NEED MARTIN😭

IM TOO CHOPPED THERES NO ONE LIKE HIM PLZZZ MARTIN😭😭😭💔💔💔💔

[laartistaroja]

close enough ig 😭🥀

[laartistaroja]

I just watched obsession nobody talk to me 😔💔

Let’s see if I can go to bed tonight😍🥰❤️

[laartistaroja]

𝓗𝓮𝓻 𝓻𝓮𝓭 𝓬𝓾𝓻𝓵𝓼

𝗌𝗎𝗆𝗆𝖺𝗋𝗒: 𝖬𝖺𝗋𝗍𝗂𝗇 𝗁𝖺𝗌 𝖺 𝗇𝖾𝗐 𝗇𝖾𝗂𝗀𝗁𝖻𝗈𝗋. 𝖲𝗁𝖾’𝗌 𝖺 𝗉𝗋𝖾𝗍𝗍𝗒 𝗀𝗂𝗋𝗅 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁 𝗋𝖾𝖽 𝖼𝗎𝗋𝗅𝗒 𝗁𝖺𝗂𝗋 𝖻𝗎𝗍 𝗁𝖾’𝗌 𝖺 𝗅𝗈𝗌𝖾𝗋 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗈𝖽𝖽𝗅𝗒 𝗐𝖾𝖺𝗋𝗌 𝗒𝖾𝗅𝗅𝗈𝗐 𝖾𝗏𝖾𝗋𝗒𝖽𝖺𝗒 (𝗒𝗈 𝗐𝗁𝖺𝗍)? 𝖶𝗁𝗒 𝗐𝗈𝗎𝗅𝖽 𝗌𝗁𝖾 𝗌𝗎𝖽𝖽𝖾𝗇𝗅𝗒 𝗐𝖺𝗇𝗍 𝗍𝗈 𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗀 𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁 𝗁𝗂𝗆?~5.8𝗄 𝗐𝗈𝗋𝖽𝗌

𝗂𝗇𝗀𝗋𝖾𝖽𝗂𝖾𝗇𝗍𝗌: 1 𝖼𝗎𝗉 𝗈𝖿 𝖼𝗈𝗆𝖾𝖽𝗒, 2 𝖼𝗎𝗉𝗌 𝗈𝖿 𝗋𝗈𝗆𝖺𝗇𝖼𝖾, 1 𝖻𝗎𝖼𝗄𝖾𝗍 𝗈𝖿 1𝗌𝗍 𝗍𝗂𝗆𝖾 𝗉𝗎𝖻𝗅𝗂𝗌𝗁𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗐𝗋𝗂𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗌𝗈 𝗌𝗈𝗋𝗋𝗒 𝗂𝖿 𝗂𝗍𝗌 𝖻𝗎𝗇𝗌, 3 𝗍𝖺𝖻𝗅𝖾𝗌𝗉𝗈𝗈𝗇𝗌 𝗈𝖿 𝖺𝗇𝗀𝗌𝗍, 1 𝗊𝗎𝖺𝗋𝗍 𝗈𝖿 𝗋𝖾𝗍𝗋𝗈 (𝗍𝖺𝗄𝖾𝗌 𝗉𝗅𝖺𝖼𝖾 𝗂𝗇 𝗍𝗁𝖾 1950𝗌 𝗂𝖽𝗄 𝗁𝗈𝗐 𝖺𝖼𝖼𝗎𝗋𝖺𝗍𝖾 𝗂𝗍 𝗂𝗌 𝗍𝗁𝗈), 1 𝗀𝖺𝗅𝗅𝗈𝗇 𝗈𝖿 𝗒𝖾𝖺𝗋𝗇𝖾𝗋 𝖬𝖺𝗋𝗍𝗂𝗇 (𝖯𝖫𝖹 𝖮𝖭𝖤 𝖢𝖧𝖠𝖭𝖢𝖤) (╥ ᴗ ╥), 2𝗇𝖽 𝗉𝖾𝗋𝗌𝗈𝗇

𝖢𝖺𝗌𝗍: 𝖢𝗁𝖺𝗋𝗅𝗂𝖾 𝖡𝗋𝗈𝗐𝗇!𝖬𝖺𝗋𝗍𝗂𝗇 𝗑 𝖱𝖾𝖽 𝖧𝖺𝗂𝗋𝖾𝖽 𝖦𝗂𝗋𝗅!𝖱𝖾𝖺𝖽𝖾𝗋, 𝖫𝗂𝗇𝗎𝗌!𝖲𝖾𝗈𝗇𝗀𝗁𝗒𝖾𝗈𝗇, 𝖫𝗎𝖼𝗒!𝖧𝗒𝖾𝗂𝗇 (𝖭𝖾𝗐𝖩𝖾𝖺𝗇𝗌), 𝖻𝗋𝗂𝖾𝖿 𝖼𝖺𝗆𝖾𝗈 𝗈𝖿 𝗌𝗇𝗈𝗈𝗉𝗒

𝖲𝗍𝗂𝖼𝗄𝗒 𝗇𝗈𝗍𝖾𝗌: 𝖧𝗂𝗂𝗂𝗂𝗂! 𝖳𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝗂𝗌 𝗆𝗒 𝖿𝗂𝗋𝗌𝗍 𝗍𝗂𝗆𝖾 𝗉𝗈𝗌𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗌𝗆𝗍𝗁 𝗅𝗂𝗄𝖾 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝗂'𝗆 𝗇𝖾𝗐 𝗍𝗈 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖿𝖺𝗇𝖿𝗂𝖼 𝖼𝗈𝗆𝗆𝗎𝗇𝗂𝗍𝗒 (˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶) 𝗂𝖿 𝖺𝗇𝗒𝖻𝗈𝖽𝗒 𝗁𝖺𝗌 𝖺𝗇𝗒 𝖿𝖾𝖾𝖽𝖻𝖺𝖼𝗄 𝗈𝗋 𝗌𝗎𝗀𝗀𝖾𝗌𝗍𝗂𝗈𝗇𝗌, 𝖨'𝗆 𝖽𝖾𝖿𝗂𝗇𝗂𝗍𝖾𝗅𝗒 𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗉𝗒 𝗍𝗈 𝗁𝖾𝖺𝗋 𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗆! 𝖧𝗈𝗉𝖾𝖿𝗎𝗅𝗅𝗒 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝗂𝗌𝗇'𝗍 𝗍𝗈𝗈 𝖼𝗋𝗂𝗇𝗀𝖾 𝗈𝗋 𝗌𝗍𝗋𝖺𝗂𝗀𝗁𝗍 𝗎𝗉 𝖻𝗎𝗇𝗌 (◞‸ ◟)💧 𝖻𝗎𝗍 𝖺𝗇𝗒𝗐𝖺𝗒𝗌, 𝖨 𝗁𝗈𝗉𝖾 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝖾𝗇𝗃𝗈𝗒 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌! 𝖡𝗍𝗐 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽𝖾𝗋 𝗂𝗌 𝖽𝖾𝗌𝖼𝗋𝗂𝖻𝖾𝖽 𝖺𝗌 𝗁𝖺𝗏𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖼𝗎𝗋𝗅𝗒 𝗁𝖺𝗂𝗋 𝖻𝗎𝗍 𝗂𝗌 𝗇𝗈𝗍 𝗌𝖺𝗂𝖽 𝗍𝗈 𝖻𝖾 𝖺𝗇𝗒 𝗋𝖺𝖼𝖾, 𝗂𝗍 𝖼𝖺𝗇 𝖻𝖾 𝗎𝗋 𝗈𝗐𝗇 𝗋𝖺𝖼𝖾! (𝖩𝗎𝗌𝗍 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗁𝖺𝗂𝗋 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗀𝖾𝖽 𝗅𝗈𝗅) 𝖨 𝗒𝖺𝗉𝗉𝖾𝖽 𝖺 𝗅𝗈𝗍 (⸝⸝> ᴗ•⸝⸝)

♡▶︎•၊၊||၊|။|||||။၊|။• ♡ ▶︎ •၊၊||၊|။|||| |♡ ▶︎ •ıı||ı|ıı|♡

Martin knew that he was a loser. Not in a self-degrading way, but more like he was self-aware of who he actually was. He didn’t really have many friends, his younger sister had a more social life than him. 

He often wondered what made him an outsider. Was it his yellow shirts that he would consistently wear? But he didn’t wear the same shade of yellow everyday! And he didn’t just wear yellow shirts, he wore yellow sweaters, jackets, tank tops, and more! He just really liked the color. 

Maybe people didn’t talk to him because he looked intimidating. He was pretty tall, taller than most kids his age. If he did have a present social life, it would just be known as grabbing objects from the top shelves of the classroom. Even when he did help the others, he still got hated on. Why did they not like him?

Well this year, he decided that he had enough. He was gonna change. He was going to be more sociable  and approachable than before and have a bunch of friends. He hoped that one day he’d be enough. Not the coolest kid at school, but at least a bit more known.

Luckily, it was the weekend so Martin wouldn’t have to worry about these problems. His thoughts were interrupted by the multiple trucks being visible from his window. The moving trucks seemed to be multiplying from his view in the living room. The sunlight seeped in, making it hard for Martin to see exactly what else was happening. 

He vaguely saw a small car drive into the driveway from the house across the street. A couple stepped out. After them, a smaller figure appeared to exit the car as well. A girl carrying a calico cat. She looked like she was around Martin’s age even though he couldn’t see her face. All he could see was her red curls and her outfit. A fuzzy sweater paired with a plaid skirt. Red hair is rare, was all Martin thought. Yeah, he did look like a creep right now, staring at the house and people across from him, through the window,  but it wasn’t everyday that you see new neighbors moving in. Or even one his age. 

The red haired girl turned towards Martin’s direction, causing him to quickly duck underneath. Crap, I almost got caught! Martin thought, hoping that you were gone.

After a couple minutes (which felt like an eternity), he poked his head up. The new neighbors were now gone, most likely inside, admiring their new home.

Will I ever see her again? He wondered. He did want to see you but knowing him, he would mess up the whole interaction.  Maybe he would say something awkward or spill a drink on you? Either way, it was probably the best that he would never have to see you again.

Martin didn’t like going to school. That’s where he hears all the things being said about him. He wished that he shared at least one of his classes with Seonghyeon, but he was in a grade below him, so no luck.

Martin sat in his seat, gazing outside. Nothing really interesting happening. Hey, that reminds him about seeing his new neighbors. Especially his younger neighbor. I wonder  what school she’s going to? Where did she move from?

“Class, we have a new student.” The teacher announced.

Wait, it can’t be-

“Please welcome ……” Wait, he didn’t catch the name! “She’ll be joining this class for the rest of the school year.”

Lo and behold, it was you. You were wearing a little blue sweater, with your collar poking out and a bow clipped in front. A white shirt tucked into your long blue and white plaid skirt. You had neat shoes with your socks folded. Your little pearl earrings. What was most noticeable was that your red curly hair was now in a ponytail, with a white bow to complete the outfit.

You are really pretty.

“Would you like to introduce yourself to the class?” The teacher glanced toward you. 

You froze. It was already bad that you had to say goodbye to everything you have known and those who you loved, only to move to a new state, but now you had to introduce yourself in front of the whole class?!

“Yeah-Um-I’m from a different state. I moved here because my dad got transferred to a different area for his job. Hopefully, I’ll make some friends here.”

Oh god why did I say that? You thought that you sounded like a total loser.

Not Martin though. Martin was interested. In this small town, hardly anyone new moved in. Not many people even knew that this place existed. Apparently your family did though. And boy was Martin glad. 

“Thank you for sharing! Let’s see where you’ll sit.” The teacher wrote on her paper, clipped to her clipboard. “Oh, we have an open seat next to Martin.”

NO, WAIT.

“How about you sit next to him?”

“Um..?” You had no idea who this Martin guy was.

“The tallest boy over there,” And the teacher just had to point at Martin, making everyone look at him. “Go sit in the empty seat next to him.”

Oh god. Martin wished he could disappear at this moment. He dropped his head down on the desk. He could hear the footsteps. You were getting closer. How could he not mess up this opportunity and make it awkward? 

He heard the chair squeak and turned his head towards you, risking a glance. 

You placed your bag down and turned to look at him.

You both froze.

Then you smiled at him. 

Martin’s face flushed, before he quickly turned away. 

I’m already a goner. 

“How was school?” Mr. Edwards asked. 

Martin paused from eating his food, glaring at his dad. His answer was always going to be the same, so Martin didn’t understand why his dad kept on asking. 

“Nothing much.”

“No exciting news?”

Should he tell his dad about the new student? But then it would look like Martin is making it a big deal. It kinda was, since he was literally shaking throughout the entire class, fully aware that one peek to your left and you could see him. 

Screw it. 

“Well, this new student just joined one of my classes.”

“New student?”

“Yeah. I don’t know where she’s from exactly or what's her name, but she seems pretty cool….I guess.”

No, not I guess, Martin! You were literally staring at her all class!

“Well what a coincidence! We just invited the new neighbors to our house this week for dinner. Maybe the new girl is our new neighbor?” Mrs. Edwards chimed in. 

WAIT WHAT?!

“WHAT? Why is this happening?!” Martin fretted.

“I ran into one of the neighbors at the store today and invited her and her family over. We should be hospitable and welcome them into the community.” Mrs. Edwards raised an eyebrow. “Why? Is there a problem?”

“NO, NOT AT ALL!” Martin flared his hands around. 

“Good, because I expect you to be on your best behavior.”

If Martin could barely handle sitting next to you, how was he supposed to act with you in his house eating on his dining table?

“And then she said that we were inviting them over to our house!” Martin groaned, slumping down next to Seonghyeon. 

“Maybe this is good? You’ll talk to that girl you were talking to me about earlier. What was her name again?” Seonghyeon asked. 

“That’s the problem! I don’t know her name!”

“Wow, that’s about to be awkward.”

“I know, right?!”

“Well, maybe she’ll try to talk to you.”

“She barely even notices me during our class.” “How can she not notice you if you’re literally right next to her?”

“I DON’T KNOW!” Martin threw his hands in the air, stressed out.

“Calm down.” Seonghyeon patted Martin’s back. “She’s just a girl. Why are you stressed out anyways?”

How could Martin explain to Seonghyeon that you make him unreasonably nervous? It felt a bit stupid to him, since you seemed to pay no attention to him. Still, that didn’t make him disinterested. He had never wanted to know somebody more than you before. When he knew that you were near, he always tried to make himself seem more composed, more “normal” (whatever that meant for him). He was more invested in his appearance lately, trying out more colors and styles.

“By the way,” Seonghyeon pulled Martin out of his thoughts. “What’s with the new shoes and jacket? I’ve never seen you wear them before.”

“Ummm, I-I forgot that I had these.” Martin stuttered out an excuse. “I barely put them in the wash yesterday. Anyways, I should really be going to class now. Don’t want to be late again!” 

Martin ran off, leaving Seonghyeon even more confused. 

Martin arrived in the classroom, just as the late bell rang and searched for his seat. Sure enough, you were already sitting in the seat next to him. 

It’s okay. I’ll just walk up to my seat and sit down like normal. Pretend that she’s not there. Pretend that she is not there. 

As soon as Martin sat down, you peeked to your left, watching him. 

He froze, midway sitting down on his seat. 

Why is she looking at me? What did I do? Did I dress too differently? Maybe Seonghyeon was right? 

You gave him a small smile and turned your attention towards the board. 

Martin literally felt his heart doing a full aerobic routine. He quickly sat down, accidentally banging his knee underneath the table. 

“OW!” Martin yelped. 

“Mr. Edwards, are you okay?” The teacher asked. 

“Y-yes. Sorry.” Martin shrunk down in his seat, hoping to disappear. 

Before he knew it, it was the night of the dinner. Any moment now, you would enter his house and he would have to sit through the entire time, trying to act normal, knowing that you would be right there.

 Would you sit closer to him tonight? Would you totally ignore him? Do you know that you’re going to his house tonight?

He stood in front of his closet, trying to choose an outfit that was more presentable than what he normally wears, but nothing that said that he was trying too hard. After he chose his clothes, a pair of jeans with a simple striped shirt with his belt, he stood in front of the mirror, trying to fix his hair. 

Martin’s little sister walked into his room. 

“H-HEY! Don’t you know how to knock?!” Martin quickly dropped his brush and hid the mirror behind him.

“What are you doing?” Sally asked. 

“Nothing! Get out.” Martin pushed Sally towards his door.

“Why are you getting all dressed up for dinner?”

“No reason whatsoever. Now, you should probably leave.”

“Is Seonghyeon coming?”

Martin sighed. His sister has had a crush on Seonghyeon since forever. 

“No. Now get out.” Martin closed the door.

He did feel bad, but he needed to get ready. This dinner mattered to him.

Why did it though?

He and Sally were setting up the dinner table when the doorbell rang. 

“I’LL GET IT!” Sally ran towards the door, yanking it wide open.

You wore a striped pink dress with a sweater over your shoulders. Your curly hair was now pulled to the side, with a little pink bow. 

Your mom smiled. “We brought Rumaki and Cheese Curds!”

“Welcome! Please come in!” Mrs. Edwards led the family to the table. 

Your family sat down and you decided to sit right next to Martin.

WHAT THE HECK. WHY IS SHE SITTING THIS CLOSE. 

Even the desks at school weren’t this close. 

“Hi.” You smiled at him.

Martin froze between panic and a smile, looking totally awkward. 

“Um, Hi.”

“You’re Martin, right?”

“Yeah.”

What else do I say? I should ask for her name, right?

“What’s your nam-”

“Martin, help me bring the food from the kitchen onto the table, please?” Mrs. Edwards called out. 

That’s okay. Martin will ask later. 

“So Mrs. Y/n, where did you all move from?” Mr. Edwards asked. 

“We’re from Appleton, a city in Wisconsin. We moved here because my husband got transferred for his job.”

“And what do you do for work, Mr. Y/n?”

Martin began to tune out the rest of the conversation. His focus was on you. You sat there, silently, eating the rest of your meal. When you changed your focus to your parents, you saw Martin staring at you. 

Why does he always get caught?

He was about to look away when you started to talk.

“How long have you lived in Minnesota?”

“Oh. Um, I’ve lived here my whole life. I was born here.”

“Wow, really?”

“Yeah.” “What’s there to do here?”

What was there to do in this small little town in Minnesota? Not much, really. Nothing that Martin would consider very exciting since he has done it all. But you would find anything to be probably interesting, since you’re new to this area. 

“Well, there’s a dinner a couple blocks down. And the convenience store isn’t too bad.”

“Is that really all?” You were shocked at how little there was to do here. 

“There’s a pond where people skate when it ices over. A plaza where there's a few good stores. A Puppy farm where I got my dog.”

“You have a dog?”

“Yeah, his name is Snoopy.”

“I have a cat.” Martin knows that. He remembers you carrying that calico cat. 

“What’s their name?”

“Shirley. Maybe Shirley will like Snoopy.”

Martin doubts that, but if it means you coming over again to have the pets meet, he’ll agree. 

“Sure, Snoopy needs more friends.”

You laughed at that. 

Your laugh made Martin blush. 

“I need more friends in the neighborhood. I think both of my neighbors next door are elderly people. Not that there’s anything wrong with that of course.” You chuckled. “Can I be your friend?”

Can I be your friend? Like it was a privilege to be Martin’s friend? He felt really special. Would you take it back if you knew how awkward he could be? He was barely able to register the words before it hit him. 

You want to be his friend. Get to know him. To hang out.

How could Martin ever refuse you?

“Of course.”

That night, dinner had gone great. You and Martin kept on chatting. Sally pouted whenever Martin smiled at you or laughed at your jokes, not understanding why his attention was on you and not her.

You started to talk to Martin during class. Little mundane topics about your life or interests that you both shared. Maybe to you, it was just little chit chat with your neighbor. For Martin, it was everything. 

However, Martin assumed that after the diner, that you would ignore him. Forget that you talked to him during school hours, to ignore him in the real world. It was embarrassing to be seen with him in public anyways, he thought. 

“How did the dinner go?” Seonghyeon asked, sitting down next to Martin, resting his arms on the brick wall.

“Good, I gues-” 

“MARTIN!” A familiar voice called out. 

There you were, running towards him, books in hand. Why were you wanting to talk to him? Did you want something?

“Wow, you walked really fast after school. And your hangout spot is really far.” You wheezed out, very much out of breath.

“W-what are you doing here?” Martin was totally fumbling right in front of Seonghyeon right now. 

“Hi!” You introduced yourself to Seonghyeon as Martin got lost in his thoughts. What were you doing here? He made sure to be at a place far from school. How did you find him?

You spun towards Martin.

“I saw a record store downtown. Can I go with you?”

There it was again. Asking Martin a question like it was an honor to hang out with him. He really wanted to hang out with you, but what if Seonghyeon?-

“Go ahead Martin. I’m sure my family is waiting for me at home anyways.” Seonghyeon smirked at Martin, causing him to groan. “Nice meeting you.” He smiled at you.

As Seonghyeon walked off, Martin waved. Then he remembered about his cute neighbor his age still standing next to him, waiting. 

“Let's go!” You grabbed his hand, and ran off, like you knew where you were going. 

“Wait! I should lead the way since I’ve actually lived here longer than a week!” He laughed. 

You both spent hours in the record store, rummaging through records and comparing artists. You liked Elvis (like every other girl) and shared that you had a poster of him in your room. Martin liked jazz and smaller artists that you have never heard of. He he still liked some of the classics. He grabbed some Cliff Richards and Nat “King” Cole records. You shared that your cat, Shirley, was named after Shirley Bassey.

“I love Ella Fitzgerald too!” You placed a record in your basket. 

Martin gave you a Nat “King” Cole record. 

“You have to own this.” He smiled, which was so different from what you saw when he was at school. His expression and posture was always like he wanted to not be noticed. 

“Thank you Martin.”

You both went to the diner down the street, to order some milkshakes.

“I had a really fun time with you, Martin.” You smiled while drinking your strawberry (or whatever flavor you like best) milkshake. rip if you’re lactose-intolerant.

“I had a fun time too.” Martin grinned. 

The setting sun really brought out your eyes and your hair. Your red hair had a halo around it, making the color even more red. Gosh, you were so pretty. 

“Martin?” “Hm?”

“You weren’t answering when I was calling your name earlier. Are you okay?”

“Oh yeah, I’m fine.”

“I was asking you why it seems like you don’t have a lot of friends.”

Crap, he knew that this conversation would be brought up someday. Might as well be honest. 

“I’m a bit of a loner.” Martin confessed. He couldn’t even look at you right now. It was too embarrassing. He chose to gaze out the window, the night sky turning darker. “I don’t really have a lot of friends. I’ve been bullied because of my appearance and height. They kind of called me weird. I gave up trying to make new friends a long time ago. At least Seonghyeon was understanding. His sister doesn’t like me very much, but at least her views don’t affect him. He’s pretty stubborn.”

Martin built up his courage and focused on you.

“You want to be my friend, which is shocking. I don’t know why you would force yourself to do that-”

Martin froze when he felt your presence right next to him. Why aren’t you sitting across from him anymore?

Then you hugged him. As tightly as you could. Yes, you were partially suffocating Martin, but it was fine. It was you. 

Wait, why were you hugging him?

“I’m sorry that you don’t have that many friends.” You began. “People who can't see how funny and kind you are, they’re honestly missing out. You’ve been so welcoming to me these past days.” You looked up at him. “I do want to be your friend. You deserve more friends.”

That was the kindest thing Martin has heard in a while. He hugged you back tightly. 

You both sat in the diner for a while, just hugging each other. Martin watched the clock, then at the night sky.

“It’s late. I should get you back home.”

The walk was silent but Martin’s thoughts were loud. He couldn’t stop thinking about your kind words and how you went out of your way today to want to hang out with him. Not because you felt obliged to, but because you wanted to. Something that was foreign to him from strangers. 

You’re not a stranger. What are you to Martin?

A friend seems like the right term. But Seonghyeon didn’t make Martin this nervous or make him this giddy as you did. 

What are you to Martin? 

You both arrived at your house. 

“Thanks for dropping me off.” You finally broke the silence. 

“Of course.”

Silence. 

Martin decided that it was time to go so he turned to leave. 

“Wait!” You called out.

He stared at you.

“Seriously, Martin. You’re a great person. Please don’t forget that.” You paused, like you wanted to say more. But you didn’t.

“Thank you.” Martin stood there a little longer, until he started to walk towards his house. 

Martin went over to feed Snoopy. He and Sally usually took turns and today was his day. He saw his dog happily eating the food. He didn’t know if he could talk to Seonghyeon about this, would he understand? Should Martin try talking to his dog? lol crazy boy

“I just don’t know what to do Snoopy. Why do I feel really nervous whenever she’s around?”

Snoopy glared at Martin. Because you like her, dummy! He thought to himself, rolling his dog eyes. 

Did my dog just roll his eyes? Martin swore that he was seeing stuff. 

That night, he couldn’t sleep. As he could think about was you. How your eyes lit up when you found a record that you loved. Your smile when your milkshake was just the flavor you loved. Your height compared to his. Your neat clothes. Your laugh. Your smile. What you said about him today.

You had to mean it, right? Martin didn’t want to believe in false hope, he had done it before and it ended badly. But there was no reason that you would lie to him. Still, he had to be careful. 

He couldn’t be hurt again. 

He knew that he needed advice. And there was only one really opinionated person that he knew that could help him.

Hyein sat at her stand, adjusting her blue dress and her hair.

Martin didn’t really want to ask for Hyein’s help to be honest, but if you’re offering Psychiatric help at only 5 cents? It was a steal that he had to take advantage of.

Here goes nothing.

He slowly walked towards Hyein’s stand. For someone being 6’3, Hyein didn’t notice Martin approaching. 

Martin slowly sat down on the chair. 

“Oh.” Hyein was shocked that Martin was there. 

“Hi Hyein. I just needed some advice.”

“First, you have to pay up.” Hyein shoved the tin can in Martin’s face, rattling the coins. Martin pulled out a nickel and placed it inside. 

“Good. Now, what do you want?”

Martin sighed. “I need you to give me some advice but don’t judge me too harshly.”

“That’s going to be hard. You’re literally the word weirdo taken form into a human.” Hyein was nothing like her brother, Seonghyeon.

“Haha, very funny. Now could you help me with my dilemma?”

“That depends. What’s the problem?”

Martin took a deep breath.

“I have a friend..? I guess she’s a friend?”

“Oh it’s a she.” Hyein smirked.

“Shut up. Anyways, she was saying stuff about how I matter and I’m important. She sounds so sincere about it all too. But I’m scared that she’s lying and that she’ll leave me like the others.”

Hyein was quiet.

“I see. And why does she matter to you so much?”

Good question.

“I-i don’t know.” Martin muttered, glancing down. 

“How did this friendship start?”

“We met in class technically, but we didn’t start talking until she was invited to my house for dinner.”

“Woah, did you invite her?”

“N-NO! I wouldn’t jus-” “Hmm, I see. Continue.” “She came up to me the other day, while I was talking to Seonghyeon. We went to the record store and the diner. It was really fun hanging out with her. She’s funny and very sweet. She seems to know how to comfort others. She sure did comfort me, at least.”

Hyein stayed mostly silent while listening to Martin. She would occasionally grimace or raise an eyebrow at Martin explaining his situation.

“Okay. I have my diagnosis.”

“Great!” Martin smiled.

“You have a crush on her.”

“WHAT? NO I DON’T!” Martin flared his arms around. 

“Yes you do. The exact description you gave me was the same dialog of a poet yearning for someone.”

“N-no I can’t like her!”

“Why not?”

“She couldn’t possibly be interested in a guy like me!”

“A ‘guy like you’?”

“Yeah! A ‘weirdo’. That’s what you called me.”

“Okay, first of all, I was joking. You’re not that weird. Sure, you’re abnormally tall for your age, but personality wise, you’re fine. We’re all a bit weird in our own ways though, so you’re not the only one.”

“But-”

“You’re not a bad person. You, only you, convince yourself that you’re really all that bad. Sure, people have maybe teased you in the past. The best thing you can do? Ignore them. Whoever this girl is, she’s right. You have flaws but you also have traits that make you unique. You’re a good person, Martin. Don’t let a couple of insecure people get to you.”

That was probably the nicest thing that Hyein has said to him ever. He was even tearing up.

“Wait, why are you being nice to me all of a sudden? I thought that you didn’t like me.”

“I think it’s fun to mess with you sometimes. You have the best reactions.”

“HEY!”

Hyein giggled.

“Anyways..about this girl..”

“Hey, no!”

“What’s her name anyways? Maybe I know her.”

“Well…that’s kind of a problem too. I don’t really know her name.”

“MARTIN!” Hyein flicked his forehead.

“OW!” 

“Martin, how do you interact and like someone, and not even know their name?!”

“Look I’m sorry! Everytime I tried to ask, I was always interrupted!”

“What do you even refer to her as?”

Martin blushed. 

“Don’t worry about it.” “No, what do you call her Martin?” Hyein was finding this too funny.

Martin paused.

“Red haired girl.” Martin weakly admitted. 

Hyein burst into laughter. 

“NO WAY YOU CALL HER THAT!”

“Keep it down will you?!” Martin covered Hyein’s mouth.

After her laughter quieted down, her bossy tone returned. 

“I’m serious, Martin. Learn her name.”

“Wait, what do you suggest I do?”

“Number one, show yourself some more respect and love. If this girl is anything like how you described her, she’s definitely not going to leave you because of rumours. Secondly, if you’re really interested in her, you should just go for it. Ask her out or something.”

“What makes you think that she’ll want to go out with me? What if she doesn’t feel the same way?”

“You’re an interesting guy. You’ll find a way.”

“What do you mean ‘interesting’?”

“And that’s the end of our session.” Hyein clasped her hands together. “Seriously, Martin. I wish you luck. You’re a great guy. You got it.”

“Thank you for your help, Hyein.”

And with that, Martin took off to the store.

“Martin, what are you even doing?” Seonghyeon ran after Martin, who was strangely carrying a bouquet of flowers?

“I’m on a mission. I have to confess to the red haired girl.”

“Wait, what? Where is this even coming from?”

“I need to before I lose her forever!”

“Okay, slow down. You won’t lose her forever. Chill. WAIT SLOW DOWN!” Seonghyeon chased after Martin. 

“I really need to do this Seonghyeon. All these feelings have been piling up. I have a crush on her, it turns out!’

“But you’ve only known her for a week?!”

“Anything can work, in the power of love!” 

All of Martin’s confidence disappeared as soon as he stood in front of your doorway. 

“Well then, go on loverboy. Ring the doorbell.”

“Shut up, it was your sister who convinced me to do this.” Martin hissed.

“Wait, what-”

“Don’t be here when I do it. It’ll make me more nervous to have an audience. I’ll meet up with you later to let you know how it goes.”

“Okay. Good luck Martin. You got it!” “Thanks Seonghyeon.”

After Seonghyeon left, Martin paused. 

Oh god am I really about to do this?

Martin rang the bell, before he could convince himself not to. The silence after was deafening. He hoped that he looked at least a little bit put together. 

The door opened and just his luck. Your dad opened the door. 

“Uh, hello? Can I help you?”

“Um…Hi. I’m here to see your daugh-”

“Wait, aren’t you that Edwards boy?”

“Huh?”

“Yeah, you’re our neighbor’s son!” “Well, yes I am, but-”

“Why are you holding a bouquet?” 

“Please, sir. I need to speak with your daughter.” “Mr. Edward, why would you need to speak with my daughter with a bouquet in your hands? Are you attempting something here?”

“Well I-”

“Honey, what’s going on over there?” Mrs. L/n called out. She glanced over her husband’s shoulder to see Martin holding a bouquet of flowers?

“Sweetie, I’m talking to him right now. I’m trying to get him to leave.”

“What is he doing that is so bothersome?”

“He’s-”

“Hey, what’s going on?” You called out. 

You were walking down the stairs, then froze when you saw Martin. 

“H-hi.”

“Hey! What are you doing here?” You seemed so excited to see him. 

You pushed through your parents to stand outside in the front with Martin. 

“Sorry guys. Let me just talk to him.” You started to close your front door.

“WAIT! WHAT’S YOUR INTENTIONS WITH MY DAUGHT-” The door closed before your dad could even finish. 

“Sorry about them.” You sheepishly tucked a strand of hair behind your ear. 

“No worries. I’m sorry for coming over unannounced.”

“That’s okay. We’re neighbors. You can come over whenever you like.”

I would love that.

That little sentence meant so much to Martin.

“I wanted to ask. What’s your name?” Wow Martin. Way to ruin the mood. 

“What? You don’t know my name? And we’ve talked numerous times?!”

“I-I’m sorry!” Martin sputtered out the apology quickly. 

Your angry façade ended when you broke into laughter. 

“I’m just kidding Martin! You have the best reactions.”

Martin laughed awkwardly. 

“I’m y/n.” You smiled. 

Martin could get used to seeing that smile forever.

“What’s with the flowers by the way? Are you apologizing to your mom or something?” 

“N-no. These are actually for you.”

Your face flushed. 

“W-wait. I don’t understand. Why is it for me?”

Martin took a deep breath, and started to spill his guts. 

“Okay y/n. So I do have a crush on you. And I know that I’ve known you less for a month. Like a week and a couple days tops. But, I really do like you. You’ve helped me see my value. I like you for your kindness, how funny you are, and your brain. And yeah, you’re also pretty. Like really pretty. Your red curly hair is all I can think about. It makes you so you and so different from the others. Your outfits are always neat and pretty. Your eyes, I wish I could stare at them forever. I love your laugh, which is always genuine when something funny is said. Your smile is the brightest thing I’ve ever seen. I know that I don’t have much to offer you, but please, give me a chance?”

Silence. 

Then a sniffle. 

Martin looked up to see your eyes tearing. 

“Martin, that was so sweet.”

You ran toward him to give him a hug, causing him to awkwardly throw his hands into the air. He hugged you back, still holding onto the flowers. 

“Of course I’ll go out with you, Martin.”

“What? Really?!”

“You’re an amazing person Martin. You’re so funny and sweet. Really pretty too. I’d be so lucky that you’ll let me have you. I honestly didn’t think that you felt the same way.”

“What? Are you kidding?” Martin laughed. “How could I not?”

You and Martin stayed there, hugging each other and swaying. 

“I should probably give you this.” Martin handed you the bouquet.

“This is so lovely. Seriously, these are my favorite flowers.” You smiled at him. 

The moment was ruined when there were noises coming from your house. You both turned to see your parents by the window, watching you two. Your dad had anger in his eyes, your mom trying to talk to him. As soon as they were caught, they covered themselves with the curtains.

“Oh my god.” You covered your face. 

“I should probably head home now.” Martin shyly smiled. 

“Don’t you want to come inside?” You asked. 

Martin paused. He didn’t know that he could go inside.

“Yeah, I want to meet Shirley.”

You giggled and opened the door. As you were placing the flowers into a vase, Martin was playing with Shirley, near the couch. 

Your parents were gone. They most likely went upstairs. 

“I’ll be back.” You called out to Martin. You went upstairs to place the vase in your room, so that every morning you wake up, you’ll see his flowers, greeting you good morning.

You came downstairs to see Martin shuffling through your collection of records. He stopped dead when he saw you. How does he keep on getting caught?

“I don’t mind you looking through the records. How’s our music taste?”

“Hmmm..well you’re lacking some classic jazz singers. I would rate it about a 6/10.”

“HEY!” You ran up to give him a few light punches. 

You two ended up play fighting until something caught Martin’s eye. 

“The record I gave you.” He picked up the record.

“Yeah, I listened to it. I really do like it. You have nice taste.” 

“Let’s listen to it again, together this time.” Martin brought the record to the record player and started the song. 

You and Martin sat down, listening to the song together, until you stood up. 

“Let’s dance.”

“What?! I’m not that great of a dancer though!”

“It’s okay. I’ll teach you.” 

You pulled Martin up and held his hands. You began to sway and Martin copied you. 

“See, you aren’t so bad.”

“It’s the teacher that makes me motivated.”

You laughed. 

You listened to the music and stared at his face. He really did have pretty eyes. It was funny how he was slightly bending his knees though, trying to match your height. You rested your head on his shoulder. 

He went still until he started to move again. He was getting the hang of the slow dance. 

If you would’ve told Martin that he could be with someone like you, he would laugh in their face. But now it was reality. He really was being accepted for who he was. Willingly too. 

He didn’t need to be liked by everyone or change himself. You liked him for himself. And that was enough. 

He didn’t want to say that he loved you yet, but this feeling sure was strong. He really did like you. 

He watched as the yellow-ish lights from your lamp danced on your red curls. Those red curls he did love. 

Martin liked the red haired girl and he wasn’t afraid to show it anymore.

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I hope you liked it! Thank you for reading :3!