he had braces for most of his trainee years, and got them removed a few months after debut. people were sad about this for some reason.
has an older sister, jaeeun, who’s an influencer and often models under smk’s subsidiary.
while minjae was a trainee, he was a part of a small dance group that would go out and do busking performances, milo was also in this dance group, along with other notable trainees like clover from botanica.
he’ll often let the other girls do his makeup for fun, he says they do it differently from the stylists and it makes him feel pretty.
minjae is close to the members of botanica, most notably eli. they appear on each other’s social media a lot. (they’ve actually been dating for a few months but the fans don’t need to know that)
summary : eli gathers the courage to ask the question he’s been wanting to for a while.
characters : elliot martin , daniel seo , cho minjae , rest of solar / botanica ensemble mentioned
genre : PURE fluff omg it’s so sweet
warnings : like usual just some swearing but other than that not much ? it’s a pretty sweet piece so idk
words : 2.9k
notes : if u want you can listen to the song i mentioned in that one line here ! i was listening to it on repeat while writing this hfjhb
[ august 2020 , 9:34 am , botanica dorms ]
“why are you so giddy this early in the morning?” daniel, who still looked half asleep, glared at elliot over his coffee cup from his place at the table, watching elliot bounce around the kitchen at a way earlier time than was probably socially acceptable. especially in their dorm on a day with no schedules.
elliot shrugged, “i’m just in a good mood,” he replied, smiling like an absolute dork.
daniel took a sip of his coffee, “you’re seeing minjae today, aren’t you?”
a few beats passed before elliot quietly replied, “...maybe,” turning away from daniel to hide the fact that he was blushing like an idiot. it was no secret that elliot and minjae had been hanging out almost every day since the time he nearly accidentally killed the shorter boy by putting his phone number in a piece of his cake, which minjae then ate and choked on (elliot had apologized profusely countless times for that). it didn’t take an idiot to realize that there was clearly something more going on, or something more about to start soon enough.
“you finally gonna ask him out?” daniel asked, still drinking his coffee.
“you know what? i think i am,” elliot said excitedly, bouncing up and down as his way of hyping himself up, “i think i’m gonna do it, whew, this is a lot of pressure.”
daniel laughed, “you’ll be fine, there’s no way he’s gonna say no.”
“how do you know?”
“have you seen the way he looks at you? come on, that tiny boy is whipped,” daniel said matter-o-factly.
elliot laughed through his nose, still blushing, “if that’s what you think... but how should i, like, ask him?”
daniel tilted his head, “you’ve dated people before, weren’t you like, an absolute stud in high school or something?”
“well- yeah,” elliot snorted, “but that was high school, this is different.”
“you’ll be fiiiiine,” daniel said, reaching his arm out in a motion meant to imitate him patting elliot on the shoulder, even though they were on opposite sides of the room and daniel was just patting the air in front of him. elliot appreciated the reassurance either way.
“can we change this music by the way,” elliot crinkled his nose in the direction of daniel’s tiny speaker on the table hooked up to his phone, “please, it makes me feel old. put on tame impala or something.”
looking extremely offended, daniel turned his music up instead, “don’t you dare talk about the greatest band ever like that, the beatles would surpass whatever cringey rappers you’re listening to today in literally anything.”
“at least the singers i listen to are still alive,” elliot retorted, and daniel gasped.
“whatever, i need to get ready anyways!”
“already? go back to bed or something,” daniel said, “it’s too early.”
“but i have so much i gotta do,” elliot started pacing again, “i gotta shower, get ready, gotta find my money so i can buy us food-“
“i’ve never seen you this excited about anything,” daniel laughed with an amused expression, “ever.”
“fuck off,” elliot grumbled, trying and failing to hide his flushed cheeks, only making daniel laugh even more.
[ 9:21 pm , a street corner ]
“it’s cold,” minjae shivered, looking up at elliot walking next to him, “can i hold the pizza?”
elliot might’ve bought an entire pizza just so minjae and him could have a late night picnic on a particular grassy hill next to their dorm building. which, admittedly was probably a strange sight for the other people walking around at that time of night, but neither of the boys cared.
“oh- yeah, here,” elliot handed the pizza box to minjae, who immediately sighed in relief at the feeling of warmth against his cold hands, “do you want my sweater too?” elliot asked, already hurriedly taking it off.
“no it’s-“ minjae was cut off by the sudden feeling of warmth around his shoulders, and when he looked up again elliot had taken his sweater off and draped it around minjae’s shoulders (what minjae didn’t know was that elliot had specifically picked out that sweater because he knew minjae liked it and he was excitedly anticipating this exact moment). “...fine,” minjae finished quietly, the small gesture lining the inside of his stomach with butterflies.
“right here, this hill!” elliot excitedly pointed to the hill ahead, “that’s where i was thinking we could sit and eat.”
minjae nodded, “sounds good.”
“well- i mean if you’re cold we can go in i just thought it’d be fun to have a late night picnic-“
“i like the idea too!” minjae quickly said.
elliot sighed in relief, he didn’t have a backup plan, and he really didn’t wanna eat an entire pizza with the boy he had a crush on in either of their dorms. “alright, come on!” he grabbed minjae’s hand and pulled him towards the hill. the shorter boy clutched the pizza box against his chest for dear life in an attempt not to drop it all over the grass as he let himself get dragged up the hill by elliot, jogging and laughing with him the whole time.
they finally reached a good spot on the hill to sit, and elliot collapsed on his back, followed closely behind by minjae, who carefully placed the pizza box on the ground before joining elliot in the grass sprawled on his back. for a second, minjae just stared up at the deep blue night sky, reaching out his hand and pointing out random stars to himself.
“what are you looking for up there?” elliot asked, staring at minjae with complete admiration in his eyes while minjae was focused on the sky.
“trying to find the big dipper,” minjae said quietly.
“can we even see it this time of year?”
“no clue, i just like looking at the stars sometimes.”
elliot, completely unaware of the huge smile on his face, whispered, “me too.”
“ALRIGHT,” minjae suddenly sat up, “let’s eat this damn pizza, i’m starving, i didn’t eat dinner because i knew we were getting this.” he ripped open the box and immediately dove for a slice, and elliot couldn’t help but laugh at how frantic the shorter boy was.
“do you wanna listen to music?” elliot suggested, “i just like listening to music sometimes, i dunno we don’t have to-“
“i like music,” minjae said confidently, “well, i mean, obviously,” he lost all his joking confidence in a second as he smiled sheepishly, “how about your music?”
elliot shrugged and took out his phone, “yeah, you can pick a playlist,” he said as he opened his phone and handed it to minjae to scroll through his playlists.
“this one looks interesting...” minjae mumbled as he clicked on a playlist called, ‘a wild fuckin party i went to once in highschool’ (the titles were all in english, so he couldn’t understand). elliot’s eyes widened when he realized that the first song that came on was deep throat by cupcakke. he seized his phone out of minjae’s hand and hit pause just before the song could finish its first recital of ‘HUMP ME, FUCK ME-‘
“how about something a little more... not explicit?” elliot suggested, laughing nervously. he gave his phone back to minjae, who instead picked out another playlist called, ‘songs to cry over my crush to’ (elliot thanked the heavens that minjae couldn’t understand that title). he breather a sigh of relief when 1980s horror film by wallows came on, a significantly less explicit song.
“i like this one,” minjae said after listening for a few seconds, “let’s keep it on.”
elliot shrugged, grabbing another piece of pizza. he’d almost forgotten what he was planning on telling minjae that night. oh well, he’d find a time. hopefully soon.
“damn it, i almost forgot,” minjae groaned, “curfew. i have to be back by ten.”
“we’re right here already, it’s fine,” elliot said, “what’s the harm in staying out a few minutes later?”
“i guess so,” minjae replied quietly, picking at the grass by his legs with his free hand, “i mean... who’s gonna find out, anyway?”
elliot nodded, staring off into the distance at some buildings down the street. unbeknownst to minjae, elliot was trying to plan out a way to confess to him right then, and then, if things went right, subsequently ask him out. he was never nervous like this before, even with being in countless short term relationships throughout middle school and high school, but in the grand scheme of things, those didn’t matter much. this felt way more serious than asking out the kinda cute girl that sat next to you in chemistry in the ninth grade because your friend dared you to (only for her to break up with you two weeks later. nice going, emily).
“hey... earth to yeollie,” elliot was shaken out of his daze by minjae waving his hand in front of his eyes. “i can’t eat this entire pizza by myself.”
elliot scoffed, “weak.”
“hey!” minjae pouted, “i’m- OH FUCK-“ he suddenly screamed, pointing frantically at elliot’s head.
“what- WHAT WRONG WHAT HAPPENED?”
“THERE’S A BIG GROSS BUG IN YOUR HAIR!” minjae slapped the top of elliot’s head repeatedly until elliot himself reached up and grabbed his hand.
“WHERE IS IT, I’LL GET IT.”
“I KILLED IT I THINK.”
“EUCGH IT’S PROBABLY ALL IN MY HAIR NOW!”
“STAY STILL!” minjae yelled as he reached again up to get the slightly squished bug out of elliot’s hair. “i said stay still dude,” he mumbled, scooting closer so he could see better in the dim light. because of the fact that minjae was basically legally blind even with his glasses on, their faces were inches away from each other while he struggled to fix elliot’s hair. the latter silently prayed that minjae couldn’t see how red his face had gotten in the dim light. but in return, elliot couldn’t see how hard minjae was blushing as well.
but just as elliot got the confidence to lean in and pucker his lips for a kiss, minjae turned around to flick the bug off his hand and scoot back to his original sitting position. “now that that’s done with...” minjae grabbed another piece of pizza and turned back around to face elliot while the latter felt a bit of his soul leave his body.
elliot picked up his phone off the ground, and when he saw that there were only a few minutes left until it turned 10pm (a.k.a. a couple minutes until minjae would start insisting going back inside because he was worried about getting in trouble for staying out too late), it felt like now or never, even though it obviously wasn’t.
minjae looked down at the time on elliot’s phone when he set it back down, “oh, it’s almost 10, we should really head back soon-“
fuck it.
“before we do that, can i just- tell you something?”
minjae quickly snapped his head up to look at elliot and nodded quickly, “yeah, of course.”
the brunette let out a shaky breath before he started, “so- remember that time i gave you my number?”
“you mean when you put it in my cake and i almost died because i choked on it?”
“i- okay, that’s a little dramatic.” he forced a laugh (which he immediately regretted).
“but, yeah, anyways?”
“right,” elliot continued, “so... fuck, how do i- fuck it- i like you, okay?”
a beat of silence passed with minjae looking at him, wide eyed, making elliot extremely aware of his own burning face in the process. “like... like, like?”
“yeah. like, like, like. a lot,” elliot didn’t think his face could get any redder.
“oh,” minjae said quietly. elliot thought he’d die of embarrassment, was that it? just oh? but then to elliot’s surprise, the redhead spoke again.
“well... me too.”
oh.
“oh,” elliot echoed minjae’s first response despite the fact that he was momentarily stressing over that single syllabled response seconds earlier. “okay, cool.” he internally cringed at his nonchalant response.
“so...” minjae began after a few more beats of extremely awkward silence, “what now?”
“well, what would you do if i asked you out, right here, right now?”
“i-“ minjae broke eye contact with elliot for just a second before looking back at him, “what?”
“okay,” elliot exhaled for the first time in what felt like an hour, “i meant- like, be my boyfriend, basically?”
“oh, wow,” minjae breathed out, and it didn’t take him that long to think about it before he replied, “okay.”
“okay, nice, cool,” elliot barely managed to hoarse out, “that went better than i expected.”
the redhead laughed awkwardly, “i thought it was kinda obvious that i liked you. i mean, everyone else knew. every time i said i was going to hang out with you jihoon would smile funny at me.”
“oh, i’m pretty sure daniel knew,” elliot said, remembering what the older had said to him that morning, although half asleep and fuelled only by a coffee that had more milk and sugar than actual coffee, elliot took it to heart.
“have you seen the way he looks at you? come on, that tiny boy is whipped.”
“alright... so what do we do now?” minjae asked, “are we supposed to like, kiss or something?”
“i mean...” elliot couldn’t help the huge dorky smile that spread across his bright red face, “if you want to.”
minjae reciprocated an equally huge and dorky smile as he scooted closer to elliot, even closer than when his blind ass was trying to get the bug out of elliot’s hair.
“ok so- how do i-“
“just like-“
“like this?”
“no, you’ve gotta-“
their noses bumped together while the two boys fumbled around, giggling awkwardly.
“whoops-“
“it’s okay, just-“
their lips finally met, but it’s more of an awkward peck on the lips than a proper kiss.
“have you ever kissed someone before?” elliot asked after whatever they had just tried to do.
minjae shook his head and answered, “nope,” honestly.
“okay, here, how about i just-“ elliot reached out his hands to gently cup minjae’s face, and pulled him in for a better, slightly more coordinated kiss. minjae’s stomach did a weird flip as be realized that the last thing he was expecting to happen that night was to be kissing his crush- or boyfriend now- on the side of a hill with a half eaten pizza box next to them.
as the two pulled away, minjae letting his eyes linger on elliot’s own for a few seconds, he wondered what the others would think when he got back, because he obviously wouldn’t be able to keep the secret that long. he’d probably get an excited, “aah! finally!” from elizabeth or yongmi, a significantly less enthusiastic, “i thought you two were already dating?” from either minjung, yeonwoo, or honghui, and probably a feigning disgust response of “keep your sappy shit out of this room,” from hyesoo or jihoon. he’d face that soon enough, anyway.
“ah, almost forgot,” minjae groaned, “curfew.”
“right,” as much as elliot wanted minjae to stay out there with him the entire night if they could, he knew the redhead wouldn’t want to risk getting in trouble due to breaking curfew, so instead, he said, “want me to walk you to your room?”
minjae nodded, pouting, “yes please.”
[ 10:04 pm, smk dorm building ]
“do you want the rest of the pizza?” minjae asked, holding out the box in elliot’s direction, “i had, like, four pieces, i think i’m good.”
elliot shrugged, “i won’t eat it, but tian probably will, or something.”
they’d reached the door to solar’s dorm, but both minjae and elliot were obviously trying to stall saying bye for the night. they’d been standing outside the door for a few minutes.
“i really should get inside...” minjae mumbled, the statement faltering towards the end like he was unsure.
elliot pouted, “oookay...”
“bye-bye,” minjae said quickly, standing on the tips of his toes to kiss elliot on the cheek. elliot immediately leaned down to press another soft kiss to minjae’s lips this time, and minjae’s stomach twisted in the same way it did the first time they’d kissed. he wondered if he’d get over that feeling of nervousness and excitement anytime soon.
“bye-bye,” elliot mimicked as minjae finally opened the door to his dorm at stepping inside, giving the taller boy one last smile before shutting the door behind him.
elliot made sure the door was closed, and then made his way down the hallway to his own room, but not before pumping his fist in the air and cheering out an almost inaudible “fuck yeah!”. completely unaware of minjae on the other side of the wall, leaning and then sinking down the wall into a sitting position, with a sigh of content and a huge grin on his bright pink face.
once he’d made it to his dorm, elliot opened the door rather loudly with a, “YO!” nearly scaring daniel to death, who was on the couch watching tv.
once daniel realized it was elliot and not someone breaking in, he asked, “so... how did it go?” but judging by the expression on elliot’s face, daniel was pretty sure he had his answer already. “he said yes?”
elliot nodded excitedly while taking off his shoes and placing the leftover pizza on the kitchen counter, and then immediately ran over to daniel’s spot on the couch and gave him a rather rough high-five.
he likes to draw faces on any fruit left in the kitchen just to fuck w the other members . it’s usually the fruit that you don’t eat the skin of anyways (bananas oranges etc) some of them think it’s funny and some of them are real tired of this bc he’s been doing it for like a year . it’s one of the many reasons he’s not allowed in the kitchen unsupervised
