still into you - m.edwards smau
⋆˚꩜。ex!bf!martin x fem!reader .✦ ݁˖ a 90s trope smau ۶ৎ in which your ex boyfriend martin tries to win over your heart again ಄fluff! slight angst! language! fight scene! faint blood implied! ಇ. listen to the recommended songs while reading for a better experience! ⋆˚࿔ enjoy!🫶🏻
chapter four: under the stage lights: previously, next
every few months there was this stupid battle of the bands fundraiser that was everything but a fundraiser. the real attraction was watching teenagers embarrass themselves publicly. or actually thirsting over the members.
the school hallways were filled with students putting up flyers of the event on each locker. as you were walking down the stairs, your best friend held up the flyer in her hand like it was a 7 million dollars lottery ticket, begging you to go with her.
when you and martin were together, you wouldn’t miss an event like this. always cheering him on, proudly saying that he was your boyfriend. but now, none of that seemed fun anymore. not really catching your attention. which was a lie, by the way.
you loved bands. loved having fun. music. all of that artsy stuff. you just didn’t wanna go, because if you go, that means your ego and pride would be screwed over. why would you want martin to feed off the delusion that you went to the event just to “see him preform”?
“but please, please, please!” your best friend was begging her heart out to you, chasing you down the stairs.
“i don’t wanna go! i told you!”
she scoffed, obviously bothered by your statement, “you don’t wanna go because martin will be there!” she said that a little too loud.
you turned around quickly to shush her as she muttered an apology under her breath.
“you don’t wanna go because martin will be there!” she repeated it in a whisper this time.
you groaned loudly, “that’s not true! i don’t wanna go because i just don’t like bands.”
your best friend just blinked at you. then she laughed. “yeah, yeah, right. my two year old sister can lie better than you.”
you shrugged your shoulder and continued walking down the stairs, “believe what you want. i’m not explaining myself again.”
your best friend rushed after you, “alright, sorry!” she said as she caught you by your arm. “c’mon, you know that keonho will be there… i wanna see him…”
you smiled knowingly, “oh so this play was actually about you and not me, yeah? terrorizing me about martin, but you won’t admit your crush about keonho.”
“hey now! do not change the subject!” she said, running after you.
when you got home that night, you thought that you would be more at peace from constant begging. but unfortunately, not.
you were leaned on the wall where the phone was. phone in hand, eyes closed, ear hurting from the irritating tone from the other side. you were half focused on whatever your best friend was saying. half because you heard most of those words over a hundred times today, and half because your eleven year old brother kept nagging you to get off the phone because he wanted to use it to call his crush that didn’t even like him back.
“i’m just asking you to come this one time! i don’t understand what’s so scary about that!”
“and i don’t understand what don’t you understand? i don’t want to go.” you said calmly.
your best friend sighed at the other end, “if you admit that you don’t want to go because of martin, i’ll shut up forever.”
you paused for a second. thought about it. and answered, “it is because of martin.”
“i knew it!! i knew it! i was right! oh you loser! you are supposed to show him that you are better off without him! not retract forever!” your best friend said excitedly.
“i am better off without him! that’s why i don’t want to have any connection with him, therefore i don’t want to go to that stupid band fundraiser.” you said as you almost hung up the phone.
“what if you make him jealous?” your best friend said in the last second.
you paused and returned the phone to your ear, “what?”
you huffed, “how am i supposed to do that? and why would i do that? i don’t even care abo-“
“yeah, yeah. spare me please. but i don’t know, just get flirty with a guy near him.”
you blinked and sighed, “this was your big idea?”
“well what? would you it rather be with a girl?”
“goodnight.” you said as you hung up the phone, going back to your room.
you tried to sleep. you really did. but your mind kept replaying the words. if you make him jealous, will he finally leave you alone? was it actually a good idea?
you stood near the gym entrance with your arms crossed while students flooded into the auditorium carrying cups of soda and bags of chips from the fundraiser stands.
the place looked ridiculous. crepe paper. cheap decorations. hand painted banners.
“you know” your best friend all dolled up, adjusting her lip gloss beside you, said, “there’s still time to admit you’re excited.”
you gave her a look. “i would rather eat drywall.”
“see, that’s the kind of thing people say when they’re excited.”
“that’s the kind of thing people say when they’re being held hostage.”
you rolled your eyes, but you kept thinking about your best friends’ words from last night.
backstage, martin was having a terrible time. he was constantly peeking from behind the curtain.
“stop looking for her” james said.
“i’m not looking for her.”
“you literally just looked.”
“i was checking the crowd. hm, we have a big crowd… i can count them. 10, 20, 30-“
“you checked the same section seven times.”
martin ignored him. mostly because james was right. then, he spotted you. and immediately forgot what he was saying. you were standing near the side aisle. wearing a pretty white top. arms crossed. looking bored.
which somehow made everything worse. because bored meant unimpressed. and martin desperately wanted to impress you.
cortis performed fourth. the crowd actually cheered when they walked onstage. not because they were that famous. but they were the closest thing the school had to local celebrities.
martin stepped up to the microphone. the lights hit his face. the crowd screamed. mostly girls. you nearly rolled your eyes into another dimension.
“he loves this” you muttered.
“he absolutely does” your best friend agreed.
the music started. and annoyingly they were good. really good. you hated that. the audience loved them. students crowded closer to the stage. people danced in the aisles. someone nearly slipped. it was chaos.
then halfway through their third song everything went wrong. or maybe right. depending on who you asked. because martin looked out into the crowd. and saw you. but not alone.
you were listening to the songs when sudden movement near the aisle caught your attention.
a boy from your history class smiled. ethan. nice enough. funny sometimes. you worked on a project together last month.
he stepped beside you. “you coming to mrs. walters’ review session tomorrow?”
you groaned, “yeah, unfortunately.”
you laughed. because mrs. walters gave enough homework to qualify as a crime. ethan laughed too. you two started talking. nothing serious. nothing romantic. until… you felt a little goblin on your right shoulder, repeating your best friends’ words ‘make him jealous’.
you sighed and turned to ethan, touching his arm delicately, “oh my god, do you work out?”
ethan turned to you, slightly caught off guard, “oh, uh… not really-“
“oh my god, you’re hilarious!” you started laughing over the music manically. your best friend, who was enchanted by keonho on stage, heard your laughter and looked at you. her smile falling off. “what are you doing?!” she whisper shouted to you.
unfortunately, martin wasn’t having it. at first he tried to ignore it. but his eyes kept turning to you and your hand touching his stupid arm. martin didn’t understand what was so funny. he was way funnier than him. suddenly he forgot how to function.
“oh shit…” james muttered, because he saw it too.
martin’s eyes stayed fixed on you. on the guy beside you. on the fact that you seemed completely unaffected by his existence.
the next lyric approached. martin opened his mouth. and sang the wrong line. a very wrong line. the original lyrics were, ‘i don’t think about you anymore’ and what came out was ‘i think about you every day.’
silence. but not from the audience. they didn’t notice anyway. but the band noticed. james almost missed a note. sean visibly got confused. keonho looked like he was witnessing a car accident. juhoon completely stopped singing.
from the crowd, your head snapped toward the stage. martin was already looking directly at you.
oh. you thought. you idiot. your best friend looked between you and the stage.
martin wasn’t feeling particularly rational. ethan leaned closer to hear you over the music. you smiled. and martin finally snapped.
before anyone could stop him, martin handed off his guitar and jumped off the stage. the music screeched to a confused stop. the crowd gasped.
but it was too late. martin pushed through the students gathered near the front. straight toward ethan. everybody immediately started moving out of the way. because nobody knew what was happening. least of all ethan.
“what the hell is your problem?” ethan asked as martin reached him.
martin wasn’t completely sure. which somehow made it worse.
“you think you’re so funny, huh?” martin shot back.
“martin, just stop.” your voice was sharp and warning. but martin chose to ignore it. which was a huge mistake.
ethan straightened up, now irritated, “i’m literally just talking to her.”
“yeah, i noticed that. why? you think you’re better?”
students had started gathering around them. teachers were already trying to push through the crowd.
ethan laughed once. a short, disbelieving laugh. and that was martin’s last straw. martin shoved him. ethan shoved him back immediately, harder.
the crowd exploded. people shouting. someone yelling “fight!” someone else climbing onto a chair for a better view.
martin swung at him first. it wasn’t a good punch. mostly because martin had never actually been in a fight before, but it landed on ethan anyway. enough to leave him with a bloody nose.
ethan hit him back. hard. martin stumbled back with a little blood on his lip. the crowd collectively lost its mind.
then suddenly hands grabbed martin from behind. it was his bandmates.
“are you insane?!” james shouted.
sean had somehow appeared on ethan’s side trying, and failing to act like a responsible student.
teachers finally arrived, students scattered instantly. like cockroaches when someone turns on a light.
you stood frozen a few feet away. absolutely speechless. martin looked at you. split lip, messy hair, breathing hard, and immediately realized what he’d done. because you weren’t impressed. you weren’t touched. you weren’t secretly happy he cared. you looked disappointed. which somehow felt worse than getting punched. much worse.
james dragged him backward toward the stage.
“congratulations” james said. “you’ve officially become the dumbest person i’ve ever met.”
martin didn’t answer. because you were still looking at him. and for the first time all night he wished you weren’t.
.⟢play every breath you take!˘
the event was stopped. students went home. ethan was taken away. the bands packed their stuff.
you and your best friend were going as well.
“i can’t believe he actually did that.” your best friend said.
you sighed, “i told you it wasn’t a good idea for me to come.”
“yeah… maybe. but look, that just means that’s he’s still head over heels for you.”
you stopped and shot her a look.
you were halfway toward the exit when someone grabbed your wrist lightly. you turned.
martin. still sweaty from everything. still looking at you. “can we talk?”
your immediate instinct was to say ‘no’.
“please. please. i just want to explain. please, baby…” martin pleaded.
he looked like a desperate little puppy with those pleading eyes. unfortunately those were the eyes you once fell for. the eyes you couldn’t say no to. you looked at your best friend then back at him.
“five minutes.” you said.
backstage was crowded. amps. cables. people everywhere. yet somehow martin managed to find a corner where nobody could hear.
even though james, sean, keonho, and juhoon poorly tried to eavesdrop from nearby.
you looked at him for a few seconds. then you laughed once. but not because it was funny. because it was unbelievable.
martin crossed his arms, already defensive, “i’m just asking.”
“and i’m asking if you’re serious.”
“you seemed pretty busy tonight. touching his arms and laughing at his poor jokes.”
your expression hardened immediately.
“he’s in my history class.”
“looked like more than history.”
martin rubbed the back of his neck. “that’s not what i meant.”
“because it sounds exactly like what you meant.” you took a step back. annoyance flashing across your face.
“you don’t get to do this.”
“this.” you gestured vaguely between the two of you.
“you don’t get to leave me.”
his face fell. “i didn’t-“
“and then spend weeks trying to get me back just to pull this possessive bullshit.” you continued.
“i wasn’t being possessive!”
“oh, so what, we’re blind now?”
“no.” your voice sharpened. “you were checking. checking if i’m still the soft hearted fool to get back with you.”
martin opened his mouth. closed it. opened it again, but nothing useful came out.
you shook your head. angrier now. hurt underneath it. “you don’t get to act like my boyfriend anymore.”
for a tiny second you almost felt bad. then you remembered the breakup. remembered the hurt. remembered how hard you’d worked to put yourself back together.
your expression cooled again. “goodnight, martin. don’t try to pull your bullshit anymore.”
he looked desperate suddenly, “wait.”
you stopped. didn’t turn around. “what?”
martin swallowed. nothing came out. because what was he supposed to say? don’t talk to other guys? i miss you? i love you? please don’t walk away again? all of them sounded pathetic. but all of them were true.
when he didn’t answer you just left. just like that. gone.
the backstage door slammed shut behind you.
outside, the night air felt cold against your face. you blinked rapidly. annoyed with yourself. annoyed with him. annoyed with everything.
your mascara had smudged slightly beneath your eyes. you rubbed at it angrily. then kept walking.
and inside the gym, martin stood frozen. he stared at the closed door. james appeared beside him silently.
for a moment neither spoke.
martin laughed once, “yeah.”
the door remained closed. you didn’t come back. martin felt something cold settle in his chest. maybe he actually screwed this up. maybe dinosaurs and notes and stupid mixtapes weren’t enough.
after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, martin sighed and then turned to james, “what about serenading her?”
james just groaned and walked away.
— ᨳଓ . a/n: chapter 4 guys! hope yall liked it💗🫶🏻 spoiler alert: chapter six opens two aspects of how the story’s gonna end!😼 official masterlist here
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