in which, botanica gets their very first win on inkigayo!
mentioned : @inkigayokoc , @star-offi , @inter-stellar-jyp , @lcveydays , @viewspov !
“and the winner is home by botanica! congratulations, boys!” star cheers with a little ‘woop!’ and confetti canons blow at her announcement.
immediately, all the boys broke out into huge smiles. except for peach, who stood in place motionless for a few seconds longer than, was probably normal with a pure dumbfounded expression. it wasn’t until eli not so gently jabbed him with his elbow and leaned into his ear to whisper a hushed, “dude, we won,” that his ears stopped ringing and he could see the numbers on screen again. he looked down to see summer approaching him with the trophy.
he took the trophy, obviously, and bowed gratefully to summer, who smiled brightly in return. he watched as she ran over to the other members, giving each of them a high-five and noting how ren in particular laughed loudly at the difference between their hand sizes.
to say they were all overwhelmed would he an understatement. to be frank, they were all expecting third place, and would’ve graciously taken it. but they were first, their first win, during their debut no less! even with the mcs and other groups cheering around them and confetti raining down on them, it still didn’t quite feel real.
clover, who had managed to snatch the microphone away from peach without him noticing, brought it to his mouth and simply said, “woah.” causing eli, who was standing behind him, to snicker a little too loudly.
“okay, before i say anything,” he continued, making his way back over to peach, “i think our leader should talk first.”
peach quickly shook his head, but clover insisted with a quite whisper of, “c’mon!” so reluctantly, peach took the mic.
“i am not physically capable of doing a speech right now,” he said, still staring wide eyed, “it hasn’t hit me yet, but it will soon, someone else please take this while they have the chance.”
a few of the members and other people on stage laughed at that, and jaeyi was the first to take the microphone away from peach.
“wow, um, okay!” he started, with pink cheeks and a smile still as bright as the second the win had been announced plastered on his face, “um... thank you! where do i start, oh my goodness, this is crazy. we just debuted, so- okay, wow i did not think this would ever? happen? i’m bad at speeches someone else take this!” jaeyi held the microphone at arm’s length like he was dealing with something particularly smelly, and clover snatched it out of his hand again at an almost impressive speed.
“since i’m the only one here that can keep my composure-“ jaeyi playfully shoved him in the shoulder, “first of all, thank you! all of you! especially interstellar and view, who we got to share the stage with, and star and summer and taeji too!”
“not to mention our whole staff team!” tian added, who was now standing by clover’s side, “this wouldn’t be possible without them, and that includes our managers, production team, stylists, all of you!”
“okay, now, c’mon baek, you’ve gotta say something,” clover insisted, holding out the microphone in peach’s direction, who was now, hiding behind jaeyi with his hands over his face.
“did it hit him yet?” clover whispered, to which jaeyi quickly nodded.
“can you just say something super quick?” jaeyi nudged him, and got a loud sniffle in response. but finally, peach wiped his eyes and grabbed the microphone.
“...we did it!” was all he said before tearing up again. “but i think the most important people to thank are our fans. thank you to our blossoms for always supporting us, and i promise we’ll work harder from now on. it means the world to me, truly, and i hope you know that,” is all he got out before ducking behind jaeyi again, who went in for a hug.
“i’ll deal with this!” ren proclaimed, putting an arm around peach, “if you see him cry anymore you’ll start crying, and it’ll be a mess.”
“no i won’t!” jaeyi protested, his eyes obviously already glossy.
“keep it together for the encore stage, yeah?” ren said quietly, looking down at peach, who nodded quickly. the instrumental for home began playing, causing all the boys to look up, including eli and tian who were busy throwing handfuls of confetti at each other. peach looked down at the audience with wet eyes, smiling brightly for the first of many times that night before he began singing.
