Stray Kids Oneshots

Going Public / Kim Seungmin

Originally Posted: January 25th, 2023 on Instagram

P.O.V Y/N
It was out. Dispatch released an article without warning, claiming that Kim Seungmin of Stray Kids is dating Lee Y/N of girl group Luminous. The evidence was undeniable, both of our faces were clear as day in the picture. We had tried to be as cautious as we could but apparently it wasn't enough. The article has been put for less than an hour and it was already gaining traction and spreading like wildfire. My members tried to comfort me as I panicked. What would my company say? What would his company say? What would Luminaries and Stays say? What would Seungmin say?

Seungmin. I needed to call Seungmin. 

As soon as the thought popped into my head, my phone rang, my boyfriend's name and picture appearing on my screen. My heart crawled into my throat and my hands were shaking as I answered.

"Y/N? Did you know about this?" He was panicking just as much as I was. Even though he couldn't see it, I still shook my head furiously.

"No, I swear, I had no idea."

"My manager said you need to meet us at the company building with manger. We need to figure out what we're going to say."

I didn't have time to respond before he hung up the phone. I couldn't tell how he was feeling about all this, the way he reacted was so blunt but that wasn't out of the ordinary, I couldn't tell if he was upset with me or not.

My manager and I left within the hour and made it to the JYP building, there was a swarm of fans and paparazzi outside the building, making it nearly impossible to get in undetected. We had to wait a couple hours for security to clear the area, but finally we were able to get inside.

We were escorted to a conference room where Seungmin was sitting with his manager. Seungmin's eyes met mine as soon as the door opened. I could see a bunch of emotions in them: anger, fear, confusion, love, and guilt. My manager and I sat down at the table across from them and all of us were silent for a few minutes before finally Seungmin's manager, Sungjin, broke the silence.

"Be honest, did either of you know, or have any indication that you had been caught?" Both of us mumbled forms of no and that we had always tried to be extremely careful and never went out to very popular areas. I brought up the idea that a stalker could have followed us without being noticed and snuck the pictures.

"Regardless, this is spreading fast. Fans are expecting both of you to either confirm or deny the rumors. It's gonna be hard to believe if you deny it because of how clear the photos are but it's your call. Do what you feel comfortable with." My manager, Yunjin, instructed us. The room fell silent as they awaited our response. Seungmin and I exchanged a look, we had previously talked to each other about the possibility of revealing our relationship to the public, at the time we decided against it but that was almost a year ago, if we didn't do it now we may never do it.

"They're right, there's no use in denying it, we should just come clean." I spoke softly. Seungmin nodded, more to himself than anything.

"Okay," he agreed, "we'll confirm it." 

"We'll get the statements made, hopefully this goes smoothly and there isn't much backlash from netizens." Sungjin tried to give us a reassuring smile but it didn't work, we both still felt so uneasy. Both of our managers left us alone in the conference room while they made the arrangements with the media teams to have the statements put out. 

Seungmin and I sat in dreadful silence for a few moments before he finally broke it:

"I'm sorry."

I looked at him, confused, but he just stared at his hands that were folded on the table. At my lack of a response he looked up, I could see it for the first time all afternoon, that he had been crying. My heart ached at his puffy, red eyes and I reached out to put my hand over his.

"This wasn't your fault Seungmin, you couldn't have known this was going to happen."

"But it was my idea to go out that night, if I hadn't of suggested it we wouldn't have gotten caught. It's one thing for me to get caught in a dating scandal but you? The media is going to eat you alive, I don't want you to hurt." He voice was cracking and his eyes started watering as went through his thought process.

He wasn't wrong.

For him, a dating scandal wasn't that big of a deal, the media wouldn't care as much and make him out to be some sort of villain just because he's happy. Sure there would be some delusional fans that get upset, but not with him, they would be upset with me. I would be painted as the villain in this situation, an evil seductress solely responsible for taking away 'their Seungmin', it happens all the time when a female and male idol reveal their relationship.
Of course it was bullshit, the whole idea that they were being personally wronged, but that's what the parasocial relationship made them feel. 

"Min, I don't blame you for what happened and I'm not going to blame you for whatever happens. We knew this was going to be difficult to navigate when the time came, it's just sooner than we wanted it to be. But we're in this together, no matter what happens." 

The statements from both of our companies were out within a few hours and then it was just a waiting game to see the responses. Seungmin and I both decided it was best to stay off of social media for a while, just until the worst of it was over. A couple of days after the statements were out, we had another meeting to go over the response. 

"Overall, the response to the news was positive. There were a few upset responses but it was a very small percentage. This went a lot better than most idol dating scandals." Sungjin gave us the breakdown and Yunjin clapped her hands excitedly and cheered. Seungmin and I shared smiles with each other and he grabbed my hand under the table. Stays and Luminaries were happy, it was like a breathe of fresh air after being trapped in a confined space. 

In that moment I saw Seungmin physically relax and all worry melted from his eyes as he looked at me. No matter what happened, we were going to be okay, we were always going to be okay, because no matter what we always had each other.