kintsugi

"'Cause, I need your help." He whispers, voice dropping the smallest bit to something more deep.

Your cheeks flush the smallest bit before you push yourself off the rolling chair and step towards the booth. You open the door and walk to Martin. He immediately wraps an arm around your shoulders, pulling you into his chest.

See, the thing is, no one knew about Martin and you. Being the co-producer for CORTIS, you knew to keep a professional attitude. Though, Martin had found a way to slide through those barriers. With reluctance, you melted into his grasp and rested your head down on him.

Martin slides the headphones off his head and down onto his neck instead, this way he could hear you better.

"You look so pretty today," He whispers and you slap his arm, telling him to shut up.

"You're so annoying, the boys will be coming in here in literally ten minutes." You grumble.

Martin laughs at that and reaches to your chin, tilting your head up so his eyes can meet yours properly. His eyes drift down to your lips and his face sobers.

"No, Martin, not now." You scold him as his gaze comes back up to your eyes.

"Just one, c'mon, I couldn't earlier because we were too busy on the new song." His lips form a small pout, and you can't pretend you don't want this too anymore.

You huff, "Fine. But just one!"

Martin immediately shoots forward, connecting your lips with eager. The kiss is soft, one with an underlying emotion fizzing between both of your lips. His mouth quickens against yours and you start to pull back.

"Not yet," he whispers against your mouth as he pulls you back in.

You soften, letting the kiss take you in and bask in his presence. Your hand comes up and cups his cheek. His one hand that was on your shoulder drifts down to your waist while the other leaves your chin.

After a moment, you feel his hand leave your waist too. You then feel a tune playing and pressure on both sides of your head. The realization dawns when you recognize the beat to be the one that you had just finished working on.

He hums quietly into your mouth when he feels your kiss falter for a second as you lose focus from being distracted. After what feels like only a minute, he pulls back, chuckling after you chase his lips.

"Thought you didn't want to kiss?" He teases.

"Shut up.." You mumble back, hiding your face in his neck.

Martin lets out another laugh, but then quickly steps back when he sees the door handle of the studio room twisting.

"Shit, they're here" He mumbles.

Your eyes widen and hands lift up to yank the headphones off. You step back as well just as the other four boys enter the room. James brows furrow when he sees you and Martin in the booth by yourselves.

Martin steps out of the booth and you follow. Seonghyeon and Keonho crash down onto the couch and Juhoon stands with James, giving us weird looks.

"Just came in early to help create the beat." Martin explains as both boys suspicious nod.

You and Martin both make eye contact after the boys walk away, he leans down and whisper in your ear, "What they don't know won't hurt them."

You smirk and start explaining the parts to the boys. In the corner of your eye you see Martin standing with them, but he's wiping some light pink gloss from his lips as he stares right at you.

You blush, wondering how many times you'll see the action moving forward since secret studio kisses have now been added to your relationship.

They’d only just arrived at the park, waiting for the guy Martin had found on Instagram. There was a post from a guy saying his younger sister’s cat had five-month-old kittens, and they were trying to give them away because there were too many to keep. They were looking for people to give them a new home. You’d been so down lately, and Martin wanted to surprise you with something that would hopefully cheer his beautiful girl up. You sent him cat reels all month, and in his mind, he saw that as a bunch of hints about what you wanted.

With that, what kind of boyfriend would he be if he didn’t get you the cutest cat you could ever imagine and raise it together? 

A shitty one. 

Martin would rather die than be a shitty boyfriend to you. He and the guy had been texting back and forth for a few weeks before finally deciding to meet at a park close to where he lived. 

Juhoon zoomed in on Martin’s nose. “He’s so ugly,” he whispered, though only the viewers could hear him.

“What’chu say?” Martin called out. Juhoon shook his head as if to say nothing before pointing at the camera and gesturing for him to continue the video. He’s not slick, Martin thought, but continued speaking anyway. “Today’s a special day because I’m going to give my beautiful girlfriend something she’s been wanting. She hasn’t been feeling too good lately, and I want to give her something that’ll make her happy. Which is a cat.” Juhoon shook the camera. Martin continued, “I want to do this for her because I want the cat to be with her when I’m not there, you know what I mean? Like, it’s giving her a little piece of my love through a cat that’ll love her when I can’t. Does that make sense?”

Juhoon nodded, but Martin couldn’t tell if he actually agreed or if he was just doing it to get him to shut up. He shrugged. “Anyway, call me Daddy now.” He winked at the camera.

Juhoon scrunched up his nose and turned the camera toward himself, wanting to show everyone just how disgusted he was. “So cringe,” he said. He’s the cameraman, but once Juhoon shows his face for even a second, that’s all the comments will talk about. They’ll be dropping timestamps and making edits of the three seconds he was on screen. It’s funny as shit.

/ᐠ > ˕ <マ ₊˚⊹♡

“Cat’s hereeee.” Martin pointed toward the parking lot. The guy he was getting the cat from, Seonghyeon, had said his little sister was coming too because she wanted to see who her baby was going to. Seonghyeon stepped out of the backseat with the cat in his hands, his sister following right behind him.

In the YouTube video, it’d show him running over to the parking lot, his mic catching their conversation as they talked. Their faces would be blurred, and their voices would be messed with for privacy. “He looks stiff,” Juhoon said about Martin, zooming in on the way Seonghyeon slowly placed the cat into his arms. The cat scratched at whatever surface it could cling to, its little legs stretching in every direction. But once it steadied itself against Martin’s chest, it calmed down.

They talked for a little while longer before Martin said goodbye. Seonghyeon’s little sister said her goodbyes too, and then Martin jogged back over to the camera. He pointed at the cat cradled against his chest with his free hand. “She’s a girl.”

Juhoon moved closer, angling the camera so the cat’s eyes looked bigger. He held the camera with one hand while bringing the other up to gently scratch her small neck. “She cute.”

“Alright, guys, cat secured. Now we need to get all the supplies for her to eat, sleep, and all that before surprising my girl.” Martin kissed the top of the cat’s head and gestured for Juhoon to bring the camera closer. “The guy’s little sister said her goodbyes. I could tell she didn’t want to give her away, but she’s going to a good home.” He spoke to the camera. “Cool people. Cool people.” He gave a thumbs up, but Juhoon zoomed in on the cat instead. She looked so scared, but she was so cute.

/ᐠ > ˕ <マ ₊˚⊹♡

“This one’s cool.” Juhoon pointed the camera at a cat bed. He thought it was the best one in the entire aisle. It was a pink princess bed, way bigger than a normal cat bed. Considering the cat was only a few months old, it wasn’t exactly reasonable, but it did have a few little castles for her to climb on when she got older.

“For her tiny self?” Martin turned the cat toward the camera, still cradled against his chest in his arms. “Nah.”

Juhoon shrugged behind the camera, even if the viewers couldn’t see him. “I’ll buy it then.” She’d look too cute in it.

Martin gasped, looking between the camera and the cat that had started to drift off in his arms. “Awh, Uncle Juhoon coming in clutch?” Juhoon scrunched up his nose and muttered an ‘ew’ under his breath as Martin started talking to her in a baby voice.

/ᐠ > ˕ <マ ₊˚⊹♡

Martin yawned, waving lazily at the camera. “It’s been a few hours, even if it was only two seconds for you guys.” He glanced down at his phone, texting you that he’d come open the door in a minute. You’d just gotten home from taking care of your cousin, and it was only a few hours until midnight. After leaving PetSmart and feeding the cat, Martin had settled her into the cute princess bed Juhoon bought and then gone straight to his room to sleep. He’d only just woken up to your text telling him to open the door. “Juhoon went home, so I set the camera up myself.” He yawned again.

Every night, you always came over to Martin’s. You basically lived with him. When he woke up to your text telling him to open the door, he quickly set up the camera and grabbed the princess bed with your new cat snuggled up in the middle. He placed it right in the center of his bed. “Girlfriend’s here. Time to surprise her.” He typed something else to you before putting his phone down. “Let’s go.”

He had basically jogged to the front door in excitement, letting you in the second you arrived. You looked ready to pass out, but you still gave him a lazy smile when you saw him. “Hi, babe.” He bent down to hug you, making sure to lift you slightly so he could crack your back a little. Pulling away, he pressed a quick kiss to your lips. “I have a surprise for you.”

You yawned, and he pecked your cheek. “I’m sleepy.” You loved surprises, but your cousins were the craziest kids ever. They hadn’t given you a moment to breathe until you finally left. Taking care of them was quite literally a full-time job. But with everything going on in your family right now, you were doing your best to help.

“You’ll love it. Promise.” He played with the ends of your hair, twirling a strand around his finger. It was so soft and pretty.

“Mmmm. Okay.” You hummed, your eyelids heavy. You really did want to go to sleep, but you also wanted to see what the surprise was.

He led you to his room, and once you were standing in front of the door, he covered your eyes with his hands. “I need your full reaction.” He pressed a kiss to the back of your head as he carefully guided you inside. You held your hands out in front of you, making sure you didn’t bump into anything. “Okay, wait. Wait, don’t look yet.” He quickly adjusted the camera, making sure it was angled perfectly. When the cat started to stretch, he gently moved her back into place. She was so cute. He couldn’t wait to find out what you two were going to name her.

He climbed onto the bed, immediately hitting the Justin Bieber pose and trying not to laugh. “Okay, open now.”

When you opened your eyes, they immediately went to Martin, but it didn’t last long because the giant bed in front of him stole your attention. The tiny ball of fur sat in the middle of the huge pink princess bed, staring back at you with her cute little sparkly eyes.

Martin’s grin slowly started to falter when you didn’t say anything. “…Babe?” To be fair, you were really tired.

Your hands flew to your mouth. “No.” Those were the first words out of your mouth. Martin immediately started smiling again. Your delayed reaction somehow made it even funnier because a second later you started repeating, ‘Oh my God. Oh my God.’ Over and over again.

“Martin.”

“Yeah?”

“Martin.”

“Yes?” He didn’t know who was cuter, you or the cat. You looked between him and the kitten. Never had Martin seen you sit down so fast. The mattress bounced beneath you. Before reaching for the cat, you leaned over and gave Martin a sweet kiss, smiling into it before pulling away with a small “mmcht.” Then you immediately reached for the cat.

“She’s so cute. Oh my God!” It was like you’d suddenly woken up and were fully energized again. You scooped the cat up into your arms. “Oh, my God.” You couldn’t stop saying it.

“You like her?” Martin crawled closer, unable to stop smiling.

You looked at him like he’d just asked the dumbest question imaginable. He kind of had. Anyone would be crazy not to like this little cutie. “Do I like her?”

“Yeah.”

“I do, but - no, it’s because...” You pursed your lips. You didn’t know if it was because you were sleep-deprived or not, but your eyes began to water. “Martin, are you serious? This is so sweet of you.”

“M’guessing that’s a yes.” Martin smiled with his teeth, kissing the little tears from your cheeks. He even pecked the sides of your mouth as he moved your hair out of your face. “She’s a girl.”

Your fingers scratched under the cat’s chin. “She’s so cute. Oh my God.” Martin was sure you’d said that at least a thousand times already, and he’d listen to it another million times just to see that happy smile on your face again and again.

His chest felt warm. This was good. This was exactly the reaction he’d hoped for. The last few weeks haven't been easy for you. As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t fix everything in your life the way he wished he could. If he had three wishes, he’d use all three on you. But life didn’t work like that. He couldn’t solve every problem for you. He couldn’t magically make everything okay. So if he couldn’t do that, then at least he could give you moments like this. Seeing you smile. Seeing your shoulders finally relax. It made every second worth it. “You’ve been sending me cat videos for like a month.”

You looked up, the glossiness in your eyes somehow making them look even prettier than they already were, at least in his opinion.

“I didn’t think you’d actually get me one.”

“Why not?”

“Girl, it’s a whole cat.”

“Girl, okay? And?” Martin shot back.

“Martin.”

“Baby, I’ve watched like a thousand cat reels from you this week.” He brushed more hair out of your face, the tips of his fingers grazing your chin. “I’ll get you anything you want or need. I don’t care what it is. I just want to see you happy.” He paused for a second. “Even if you needed to hide a dead body, I’d do it for you and take the blame.”

You chuckled, shaking your head. He was insane. If you told him how insane he sounded, he’d definitely say something like, ‘Insanely in love with you.’ Just thinking about it made you smile. How was your boyfriend just the best? He made you so happy. Your heart melted, and you leaned forward to press a few quick kisses to his lips. His thumb stroked your jaw before both of you turned your attention to the small cat, who had begun to meow.

He nodded toward the cat in your arms. “So, what are you gonna name her?”