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

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 xxxxhii is this martin?

martinwho’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