Chapter Text
—-----
—---
martin edwards park was glad that he could finally debut. it had been a crazy long journey, with a schedule so packed he sometimes found it hard to keep up. when he’d finally make it back to his dorm at night, he’d scroll through social media, carefully checking every popular comment, every tweet, every post made about cortis, about their music and about him. people generally were nicest on tiktok and instagram, everything was sunshine and rainbows on there, with the occasional hate comment being so obviously ragebait or written by someone who’s just a born hater. twitter was more scary, with people hating the music outright or calling members ugly or untalented or flops or weird or ……. best to stop thinking about this.
it kind of gets addicting to read people’s opinion on you? but martin was never the type to really care that much. he was confident in himself and knew what came with the traditional idol life. he rather felt it was important for him to take in proper criticism and push towards the future, so he could be better. martin liked and enjoyed his craft, and he truly did want to leave an impact on the music scene, and most importantly, his fans. he could shake it all of, because he had so much left to achieve and show. this was merely the beginning.
it was getting kind of late one night, but martin was kind of just lying on his bed and looking up at the ceiling while thinking hard. he had actually thought about his idol image before debut a lot. he tried a bunch of different angles, trying to see which would seem the most consistent or the most appealing to his fans. he ended up settling with his own original personality, but he had to dial it up sometimes in front of the camera even when he was’nt feeling well. he was perfectly cordial to the rest of the staff, with his fans he tried to be as open and respectful as possible. among his members, he generally found all of them great and hardworking, but he felt that he connected with juhoon the most out of all. he could suddenly feel tears coming out of his eyes, even though he couldn't explain to himself why he was feeling that way. he had been training for six years before he could debut, it just seemed all kind of unreal at times. it was a dream that came alive and he had worked tirelessly towards it, but he did’nt know what lay ahead in the future, what he would be doing, what sorts of life he’d lead and the sort of person he’d become. even though he’s generally not the type to get anxious, he was anxious with everything and especially about how he’d hold up in the future.
a few days had passed, and it was a sort of rainy day. the clouds were this gray shade, and it seemed like it could rain anytime. martin had his headphones in, he was let off early today so he kind of skipped happily to this nearby cafe that is not very well known but the vibes there always felt homey and comforting. he was listening to simulation swarm by big thief, and on the way there were not a lot of people so he could happily swing his arms around as he walked to the cafe. he was almost there as it started raining heavily and entered just in time. he went straight ahead to the counter, ran by this very innocent looking asian old man who always greeted him with a slight nod as he was a recurring customer. he got his order and waited, looking around when he saw someone looking at him nervously. it was a girl, with very dishevelled hair. she looked like she had’nt slept in days.
“with a warm gush now i wanna touch like we could never before”
he moves his neck forward to see her more clearly but she looks away and hides behind a menu.
“i’ll fly to you tomorrow i’m not fighting this war.”
she looks out at him peeking and martin smiles hugely at her, she seems to be enjoying this place as well.
“I wanna drop my arms and take your arms and walk you to the shore”
she does’nt seem to know what to do. she looks down and up and kind of smiles and lowers her head.
martin stops the music and looks outside. the rain will probably just keep getting worse on from here. with the loud sound of the rain outside, he takes his order, and sits in his original seat. he sips on his drink and decides that he wants to talk with the girl. it was’nt a smart or well thought out decision, it was just impulse and a gut feeling.
he makes his way towards her, not really sure what to say. wait, was this a bad decision? too late, i’m here. conversations with strangers after debut, he hoped she did’nt know who he was. he also corrected his train of thought, thinking he’s probably putting too much emphasis on their band, it had’nt been long till they debuted.
“Hey, can i sit here with you? Kinda wanna share my drink with someone today.” He said, and gave a awkward smile on purpose pointing with a thumbs up and the drink in one hand.
The girl just looks up at him this time, and stares for five whole seconds before nodding. Martin sits down in front of her in these little orange sofas, which coincidentally happens to be his favourite colour.
“This place is sort of empty at this time, and not many people know about it. The man running it though is super chill, how’d you find out about this place?” He sips from his drink and stares at the girl, hoping she does’nt ignore him.
“I just happened to walk in here to avoid the rain.”
after a pause, she says.
“Your hair makes you look like Nobu.”
Oh yeah, Martin thinks, he had seen this comparison online.
“I’m sorry, I did’nt happen to get your name…..?” she asks, stretching her arms out.
Martin stretches his arms out and nearly closes the gap between them.
“Woah, sorry. I’m Martin. I know who Nobu is, although i sorta have’nt watched Nana yet? Sorry to disappoint if you’re a Nana fan.”
She laughs and says it’s not a big deal.
—-------
Cont from chapter 2 which will be longer hopefully sorry guys i’m out of inspiration