Chapter Text
“ ‘kay, one last time guys.”
Keonho stands up to get into his position as James hypes them up. They are all a little out of breath from dancing for hours, but the DoorDash they decide to order to their dorm once they are done motivates them. James corrects a little mistake Juhoon made previously as Martin stands up and brushes his sweaty hair back. Seonghyeon who is still sitting next to where Martin is standing talks in a whiny tone: “Martin hyung, give me a hand!!”.
Maybe he was just staring blankly, or maybe it meant more than that to him in a way that Keonho didn’t want to explore right now; Keonho watched intently as Martin, that fuckass idiot, grabbed the extended hand and pulled him up.
He also, without a particular reason of course, didn’t stop staring when they started to joke about something which he couldn’t hear clearly. Not that he was tryna listen obviously.
Did Martin always laugh this sincerely? Or even if he did, would Keonho know since he usually interacted with Martin by messing with him and bickering? Whatever, pissing him off is a lot more fun than whatever’s going on there surely.
“You good bro?”
He was pulled out of his thoughts when Juhoon put his hand on his shoulder and spoke with a concerned voice. He drifted his attention to his hyung as he smiled, “Mhm, just thinking about the food we’re gonna order.” Juhoon was as enthusiastic as he was about the food so he didn’t question him much and backed him up as he got into position with others.
Keonho gave himself a reality check and turned into his jolly self as Juhoon pulled him out of his overthinking journal. They started doing their last choreography.
Martin made a minor mistake while they were doing the ending pose. Keonho laughed with no shame and pointed, “Skill issue”. Yes, this was supposed to happen, fuck those stupid thoughts. Make fun of Martin and bicker with him.
Juhoon went “Whoa” and Seonghyeon chuckled as Martin looked at him up and down half amused, the second Keonho was feeling hot from the eye contact Martin started abruptly running towards him.
Keonho screamed as he tripped tryna run and made the whole room laugh, Martin stopped running and put on a half smirk as he looked down and mocked the maknae, “Skill issue”
Keonho’s eyes opened slightly wider as Martin offered his hand out to pull him up but for some reason, he rolled his eyes and stood up by himself when the previous scene with Seonghyeon played in his head.
Real fucking mature Keonho, he thought to himself but still didn’t back down on his attitude.
The other ones didn’t pay much attention to the situation which they were used to but Juhoon’s observing gaze lingered on the two.
Martin looked at Keonho without saying anything, his gaze silent but sharp. He followed his movements with his eyes as Keonho rolled his eyes and stood up. His jaw clenched, a silent act that showed his patience slowly running out.
He didn’t mind bickering and messing around with the maknae but he was really getting enough of him crossing the line and taking sharp turns like that. He wasn’t gonna tolerate this shit, it wasn’t his fault that the little one hated him.
Or at least that’s how he interpreted it. It was painfully obvious that this was what Keonho thought of him.
What did Martin think about him though? He never dug into this topic for some unknown reason. He just felt on edge about him because of his “shitty and hateful” behavior. Yeah, that’s all.
Juhoon patted his back to snap him out as they walked out the studio and got in the van.
They all got in the van except Martin. Oh and Keonho who was too hurt to take a huge step up, also too stubborn to ask for help from his stupid hyung. He also had no concerns about blocking the way for Martin while he tried to make the pain go away (?) somehow.
Martin crossed his arms and leaned against the car, facing the struggling maknae. He wanted to see how long he was gonna take before he stopped caring about his stupid ass pride.
A lot apparently.
“Want me to carry you, princess? You seem to struggle a lil bit.” He said half-mocking half half-serious as he lifted his eyebrows slightly.
Oh
Oh…
Keonho’s breath hitched and he begged internally that Martin hadn’t heard it. His face turned a pretty shade of red.
He’s mocking you, stop slutting out. Oh?? Fuck that inner voice too. And that fuckass Martin and his fuckass smugness and deep voice and his arms that could definitely carry Keonho.
He drifted his eyes anywhere, everywhere other than Martin and mumbled, “Princess, my ass.”
Martin seemed more annoyed than amused at that moment as he supported his waist and helped him get in.
Keonho licked his lips nervously with the casual yet intimate touch as he sat in his spot, he couldn’t help but think about how well his palm fitted his waist… How big his hands felt, his waist wasn’t even that small. Or was it? He never thought about it. But Martin was surely big. Fuck, no, not like that. Or maybe like that too? WHY is he thinking about this? He was so thankful for the darkness of the van’s inside because he could physically feel how hot and red his face got.
The ride home was pretty silent if he leaves out the absolute crashout he is having in his head about the boy sitting at the back of the van.
They got out the van, it was chilly outside. Keonho was talking about how much they’ve been spending on clothes with James at the back, that was when Martin put his arm around Seonghyeon’s waist who was shivering from the cold.
And like that, all of the shit he felt when Martin put his arm around Keonho vanished. Why the fuck would it matter if it wasn’t special? It wouldn’t matter either way though, right.. All he had with Martin was an endless beef. Like it was fifty love-fifty hate. Actually maybe even sixty percent on the hate side.
He felt like his eyes stung but brushed it off as the cold weather’s doing. He wasn’t gonna be the weak crybaby his dad claimed him to be. He shut his eyes for a second and opened them as he reset himself.
~~~~~
The doorbell startled the tired boy, Juhoon and Seonghyeon got their order and they all gathered in the kitchen to devour it. Keonho was pensive, he mindlessly tucked a tender into his mouth as Juhoon passionately talked about something beside him.
His eyes caught Martin putting a wing on Seonghyeon’s plate. Yeah, right, like he couldn’t fucking just reach for it. Millionth time this day. Martin smiled at the boy next to him in a way that made Keonho’s day worse than it already was.
He was like a bomb ready to explode.
He lied to himself by saying this was just normal, Martin being annoying and pissing Keonho off.
Martin took a bite of his tender and dipped it in the sauce again.
Completely normal. Something they all do and never get grossed out.
Keonho exhaled and pushed the sauce towards Martin as he went, “Ain’t nobody has to taste your fuckass spit on the food.”
The whole table went quiet, James was alarmed just in case this stupid beef turned serious. Juhoon looked over to Martin.
Martin dropped the half-tender he was ‘bout to eat.
Okay, Keonho just accepted the little bickering session they were going to have. He thought so.
Martin started laughing like he couldn’t believe this was genuinely happening.
Keonho looked at him, weirded out, “The fuck is wrong with you?”
That’s when Martin’s sharp gaze was buried on him, never leaving his face, “You did not just say that, the fuck is wrong with me?” He let out a frustrated chuckle “The only thing wrong is you being a bitch and hating on every shit I do”
Keonho felt his eyes burn as the words kept coming. He tried to ignore the fact that Martin was right. He tried so hard to maintain a steady voice, “I’m just messing around, you’re being fucking weird here.”
His voice slightly cracked but it was still full of fury for some reason.
That’s when Martin stood up suddenly which made Keonho stand up too. Even though all he wanted to do right now was curl up in his bed and cry.
“Oh you’re not getting away by saying this”
He said as his eyes somehow looked darker, frustrated, fed up. He tried so hard to understand why the maknae hated him so much, putting him down even if he did nothing.
He reached out to Keonho’s arm and grabbed it, not firmly but not too loose either, Keonho’s breath hitched.
Keonho looked at him daringly with the last bit of attitude he had under his eyes that were slowly becoming red.
“I don’t give a fucking shit about you hating me.”
Martin was too frustrated to catch up on the mood switch on Keonho.
“But you are gonna explain why you act like I fucked your whole life up.”
Keonho felt nervousness crawl its way up his body as his eyes watered, there was nothing wrong with what Martin said, but still it hurt because someone thought that way about him.
It hurt because Martin thought that way about him.
He had to get out of there. He wanted his bed, he wanted to be comforted by the one person who was confronting him about his shitty behavior right now.
He looked up, trying to look as composed as possible, “Maybe because you’re that much of an insufferable person, fuck!”
He yelled that last word. Of course, his fucking voice fucking cracked.
He rushed out to his room he shut the door loudly and threw himself on his bed,
while the blonde-haired boy who was losing his mind rushed behind him.
Seonghyeon got up to follow them when they heard loud door banging noises but Juhoon grabbed his arm lightly.
“Let them be, they needed this.”