(Y/N) POV:

I run my hands under the water, cleaning the bristles of the large paintbrushes, setting them aside to dry before scrubbing at the dried stains on my fingers, pumping out soap to work it into a lather- humming as I pat my hands dry.

"Done for the day?" Ryan oppa asks at my ear, head bent forward towards me.

I turn, nodding.

"I managed to finish two pieces today. Besides...the next exhibition is soon. It all needs to be done anyways." I say, walking with him out of the large painting space.

His arm comes to wrap around my shoulders, drawing me into his side as he walks with me to his and Deok-Mi unnie's shared office.

"Have the boys not wheedled or tried to get hints? I'd have thought as Amparo's biggest fans they would've tried something by now." Ryan oppa muses aloud as we walk in, Deok-Mi unnie patting the space eagerly beside her, eyes flashing red with interest and curiosity as she draws me close.

I laugh as I take the proffered mug from her, fingers curling around it as I nod, taking a sip to prolong answering, just to see the look of impatience flash across their features as well as understanding of my tactics.

And it's after the third or fourth prolonged sip that Deok-mi unnie lets out a wounded noise as she lightly digs me in the ribs; still not fully accustomed and adjusted to the fact that she physically could use more force and it wouldn't hurt, it wouldn't bruise me as if it would've when I was human.

"Tell me~ Lion tell her!" she whines, pushing away the plate of snacks towards his end, eyes flashing with challenge as she moves the cake out of reach. And bats her lashes, leaning close.

"Please sweetheart? I wanna know! I haven't heard much romancing recently. Haven't had it either." She pouts, shooting a betrayed, wounded look towards Ryan oppa.

And then leans in conspiratorially.

"Romance is dead. No wooing, no running after me to fulfil each demand like the old days." She sighs, lamenting before she speaks.

"Keep what you have. Don't let any of them turn out like Lion. All work and no play." She murmurs.

But of course her words are caught. Of course they couldn't ever truly escape the enhanced hearing of a vampire.

And then she's squealing as she's suddenly tugged away, Ryan oppa having got up at some point to pluck her off the couch, sitting down resolutely with her on his lap as he grumbles.

But then she shoots me a wink.

He played right into it.

I hide my smile behind my mug, leaning in slowly, lips twitching when Ryan oppa distracts Deok-Mi unnie, allowing me to reach forward to swipe at the plate, laughing victoriously when it's safely in my clutch.

"They've been trying. Several times and in all sorts of ways." I confide with a smile.

Because they had tried. So hard. And so earnestly.

Trying to get me to spill hints by trying to catch me unawares, as I was drifting off to sleep or when I was so immersed in something; springing the questions on me in such soft, subtle ways that had I not know better I would've slipped up.

At other times outrageously and openly trying to bribe me, trying to lure me in with promises of dates and wide batted eyes at me as they clung on. Even if I never relented they still took me on the dates, though the dejected pouts were almost enough to make me melt.

And some times it was by playing dirty, by putting pressure on my mating marks through lips, teeth and tongue and at others, hands delving under fabric to try to get me to slip when my mind was all dazed with pheromones.

There had been plenty of chases too. Filling the hallways with shrieks and laughter and the sound of rushing footsteps, the house aiding me by turning surfaces into slippery, or hidden passages opening to hide me away as they rushed about trying to find me.

My mates were persistent, I had to give them that.

And it's clear that both Ryan oppa and Mi-sun unnie approve, given the bright satisfied gleam in their eyes and the way their laughter joins mine, the way they curve close with anticipation and exchange fond, meaningful glances- silent communication perfected to the finest art in the way that only such deeply bonded mates can achieve after centuries of being together.

"Have you not even told them what mode of art your work will be about? Not even the little teaser that the advertisement will have in a few weeks?" Deok-mi unnie asks with a head tilt, genuinely surprised when I give a small shake of my head and smile around a mouthful of cake.

She laughs, leaning into Ryan oppa. Raising her own mug in a toast.

"Atta girl. Keep them desperate to know. It'll make the reveal all the more exciting." She encourages.

I laugh and nod.

I can't wait for them to see the exhibition. Can't wait to share it with them.

This is the first exhibition after completing the mating with them.

This is the first exhibition of many that'll mark something new, something different in my art.

And this exhibition is just one piece out of many that my soul and life has been poured into.

-----

I throw the cushion at Tae and Minnie's advancing hands, ducking away with a laugh as I slide off the couch.

"No I will not tell! So stop trying to tag-team me! I'm still recovering from the last time!" I protest with widely stretched lips.

Lie. I wasn't recovering. But that experience, that memory had been imprinted and branded across my soul, had burned itself into my mind's eye.

And seeing the two of them approach with matching expressions of seductive mischief and slow, predatory gaits had my body shifting and preparing to flee- instincts whispering to make them chase me for it, to make them work hard to get even the slightest bit of information out of me.

They'd have to try much much harder than that.

Even if their last combined attempt had left me decorated with splodges of colour and body splayed across sheets, had left me unable to feel anything but that consuming sensation of their bodies, their love, their tenderness and want grazing across my body like flames licking across skin. A constant burning inferno that grew hotter and hotter, until I was a mess under their hands, writhing and trembling.

"But then why won't you tell us? Why won't you give even the teensiest hint?" Tae wheedles, eyes wide and beseeching, looking at me imploringly. As if he hadn't mere moments before been approaching me with a sensual look gleaming in crimson eyes.

I shake my head.

"Stay away Tae. The two of you are so sneaky! I can't trust what you'll do when you get close enough!" I say, grabbing another cushion to hold protectively in front of me, glaring at them to not approach. To not try anything.

And get surprised when they both come to a halt, eyes flashing as they take in the cushion, lips curled up.

Feel myself tensing and going alert, on-edge and wary of their sudden compliance.

The two of them never listened. Notorious for getting their way. So why stop now?

"Ahh sweetheart...why so surprised? Can't your mates just want to agree with their baby mate?" Minnie asks, plump lips quirked at the corners, eyes silently filled with teasing amusement.

Another thing that makes me wary, makes me reassess and examine the situation, their distance from me.

And then Tae's eyes flash. A deep rich crimson that melts away quickly. An instant of something happening, of a subtle yet blatant signal.

And then the ground moves away from my feet as a pair of broad arms wrap around me and pluck me off the ground, spinning me away.

I shriek, swinging the cushion wildly and getting a few solid hits in before those arms spin me and the cushion goes flying out of my grip, a blur of colour as the living room spins, a bright exuberant laugh ringing in my ears.

"Koo let me down!" I yell, hands flying out for purchase even if I know that he won't let me fall, his laughter ringing out as he joyfully replies a 'no', handling my struggling, my twisting with ease. His giggles infectious, coaxing Minnie and Tae's own laughter to quickly join his.

"You traitor! You're meant to be on my side! It's us two against those two Jungkook!" I exclaim, outraged at the sheer betrayal my fellow youngest mate is giving me, pushing at his shoulders to get him to let me go, head spinning with the sudden shift when I find myself sprawled across his shoulders, clinging onto the side of his shirt.

"Are you going to tell us then baby? Are you going to stop tormenting your fellow younger mate and give me a clue?" Kookie asks between laughter, hands cradling me carefully, completely at ease with supporting my weight, head tilted to peer at mine. The sight of an upside down Kookie greeting me.

I clench my teeth.

"You know I won't do that." I retort.

He gives a small shrug.

"Your choice. You're not going anywhere." He says with a set expression.

And then the three of them are laughing as he spins around, the floor seeming so much further away from this point. And even if I squeal, laugh as I tell him to let go. He doesn't.

Equally stubborn.

Then lips graze my ear.

"Give it up jagi~" Tae softly drawls, voice low, the deep timbre so, so potent.

"Never! It'll take more than a few spins to get me to spill!" I bite back, turning to snap my fangs at him, managing to graze the curve of his jaw, scraping against the skin.

He grins.

"Your words might just come back to bite you. I know I will." he murmurs, eyes dark as they graze over my mouth, over my face.

But before the heat can settle in my cheeks, Kookie is quickly spinning, the sudden quickness making me clench tightly onto him.

"Koo stop...Kookie don't. I'm getting dizzy!" I protest to no avail.

And as the spins turn alternatingly soft and sudden, the living room a constant blur.

The dizziness making me protest and tap at him.

Head spinning, eyes trying to blink away the blurred merged colours.

"Kook stop!" I yell.

And then my hands lose their grip on his shirt, protests cutting off and body going limp.

JIN POV:

I cross the threshold of the living room to see the maknaes in a giggly cluster, (Y/N) clinging on to Kookie's shirt as she yells at him to put her down.

Her tone, her words, everything about her doesn't give away that she's actually being harmed, that she's actually being bothered and discomforted by it. So I don't intervene.

I let the three of them laugh as (Y/N) yells at them between giggles.

Tells them she's not one to give up so quickly.

Atta girl. That's our baby mate.

But even as she complains she's getting dizzy, the boys don't let up.

Vertigo after all doesn't affect vampires. So I know that their spinning and laughing and jostling is in its own sense mates being playful.

But then she yells. Alarm and demand in it.

An order for Kookie to stop.

And then she goes limp, hands losing their purchase in his shirt, body sagging on him and protests cutting off.

All in one instant. One frightful instant that has me bolting across the room within a miniscule fraction of a moment, hands reaching out to stabilise her drooped body even if Kookie's been supporting and cradling her carefully.

Smiles and laughter freezing on their faces and eyes burning red with sudden vulnerability and fear- thick, heavy and suffocating that makes the bond burn with a raw agony.

Bodies stilling and then jerking forwards toward her.

Kookie's face is blanched as he sets her down, body stiff and hands trembling as he turns her over, her body easily moving with a nudge- unresponsive and limp.

"(Y/N)....jagi can you look at me? I'm sorry...was stupid. Come on (Y/N) open your eyes." Tae murmurs with a franticness, hands gently tapping her cheeks, head tilting forward towards her.

"We shouldn't have pushed. I should've gotten her off you when she said she was dizzy, when she was telling us to stop." Minnie says subduedly, staring at the sight of her, even as he leans towards her. Morose and blaming himself.

Because he was the eldest maknae. Because he felt a responsibility and duty over the three of them as his younger mates.

"Loves let me see her. Come on bun, she's fine." I murmur, gently nudging them away to bend over her, gently tilting her head to the side, my body separating her from the maknaes.

And then lean in to brush my lips to her ear.

"Good girl. Now...run!" I whisper.

The room exploding with chaotic motion as the maknaes jerk forward with wounded cries, distress melting away with sheer, panicked relief and then betrayal as she rolls away, getting to her feet and darting away, feet slipping on the edge of the doorway as she rushes away.

"Love you oppa! Knew I could trust you against traitors!" she yells as she dashes away, the maknaes scrabbling to their feet at the same time that I rise.

"Hyung how could you? We thought we'd hurt our mate!" Tae exclaims, trying to duck around me to get to her, my arm catching him around the middle to draw him back.

"Oh sweetheart. I'm all for teasing a mate. But three against one is rather a dirty tactic don't you think? Of course I was going to fight her corner. Of course I told her that Kookie would sneak up and spin her around." I say with a smile, looking at them with fondness and mischief.

Jiminie makes an indignant sound, wounded and Tae glares. Kookie...the sweet sensitive love just sighs, body sagging with relief, sheer profound relief that it was all fake. That she wasn't hurt at all.

Our sweet tender soul baby.

But even so I can't help but laugh at the startled looks on their faces, the comprehension dawning as they come to the conclusion that our baby mate has outsmarted the three of them combined.

And if the three of them cling even as the huff and complain about betrayal, it's to ease away that moment of panic that they'd hurt her, nosing along my mating marks to seek comfort.

My hands go to cradle them close.

My darlings. The loves I'd waited for. Had seen the world be destroyed and formed again as I sought them.

They'd gone through much worse. They'd survive being bested by our youngest.

Their bruised egos that thrived on being the cunning ones would heal....eventually.

------

Turns out bruised egos aren't hard to heal.

It takes a lot of coddling and apologetic pecks that turn quickly heated and needy as the maknaes cling to (Y/N) as they half-heartedly complain. But there's no mistaking the begrudging acknowledgement, no hiding the fierce delighted pride in their eyes at her learning tricks. At her tricking them and succeeding.

Tae, in particular, looks touched at the way she'd so effortlessly pulled it off. Mumbling how he'll need to teach her some more. Once his heart has stopped clenching sporadically with fear that is, nosing along her throat to nuzzle at the fresh claiming mark Hobi had left on her when she'd escaped the living room. Eyes dark and proud as they fall on the way her head falls back to provide access, at the way the deep red sticks out starkly. Thoroughly delighted at his handiwork.

But then she vanishes. After dinner, after wriggling around and settling when Yoongi had been feeding from her, as we're all heading into bed- splitting off in the cuddly clingy vertical piles that had formed as we'd headed from the living room to the bedrooms, she vanishes.

Melts away and continues to walk away to disappear into her special space, door shutting quietly behind her.

I watch her go with a niggling concern.

Vampires didn't show signs of strain and exhaustion as much as humans. But I could see them on her, that fact alone was alarming. That her eyes were beginning to shadow, tiredness clinging to her frame by the time night fell, or when she walked in later than everyone else- sometimes too tired to even join in dinner, curled up deeply asleep when one of us went to find her, unstirring even as we settled beside her.

She was working too hard. It was a flurry of lessons, assignments and rushing off to the gallery when she wasn't working shifts at the book-café. And I hadn't been the only one who'd noticed.

The others intentionally drawing her away from chores, from doing much more than relaxing, than being cuddled and cuddling. Everyone was trying to make her as relaxed as possible. Because whilst we all admired Amparo, had gone to each exhibition with a sort of reverence after stumbling on her first artwork when Ryan had first curated them. But this was the first time seeing the sheer effort that went into each exhibition, the draining, sheer investment of (Y/N) to become Amparo, to create and design each exhibit piece. It was seeing the behind the scenes of her work, of her pouring her soul into each artwork. And as she poured more and more of her into her work, I saw our baby mate become more and more drained, saw the restlessness when she wasn't working- harbouring a habitual need to be busily active and run dry.

But even then I let her go.

Because we'd talked about this. Because as I'd been setting the table, the others busy in the kitchen cooking, I'd gotten a flash of a vision. The image of (Y/N) entering my room whilst I was still awake and climbing in to sleep.

So I waited.

I waited for her to come to bed, leaning against the headboard and playing a game on my phone to wile away the time, but I beat my old records and still she didn't come.

It was mid game, of fingers flying across the scene to meet the rushed black tiles that the sound of the door opening alerted me to the presence of our baby mate. That and the small murmured 'Jinnie' as she entered, endearingly soft and tentative.

"Come in little one, I've been waiting for you." I say, eyes diverting from the screen even as my fingers moved to shoot her a soft smile, head tilting to the side to gesture to the bed.

And she smiles.

Nodding as she pads forward, a quick rush of steps as my eyes go to the screen, playing as she clambers into bed, carrying the scent of the bodywash Joon had customised for her, for us. A delicious mixed fragrance, of nature bottled up, still remembering the dimpled smile when (Y/N) had been the first to tackle him in hugs and pecks of gratitude.

She curls into my side, head resting against my shoulder as she watches me play, watching as I finish the level, allowing her to get comfortable in that time and draw the blankets over her lap too. Giving her any time she might need.

"Done for the night little one?" I ask, setting the phone aside to immediately draw her close, lips brushing against her temple as she nods, tucking herself in closer, as if trying to merge our bodies together.

"Yup...it's all beginning to come together." She murmurs, fingers tracing idly on my chest.

Skin tingling where her fingers brush and rove with a slow pace. A gradual warmth seeping out from where she touches me, body reacting under her touch, shifting to curve close, my own hand rubbing circles into the base of her back, sliding under fabric to brush my fingers across her skin.

She sighs, a loose smile on her lips as she shifts closer.

"You're exhausted sweet one." I say softly.

She nods.

Doesn't even argue or deny it.

"It's normal. The few weeks before exhibitions are always the busiest weeks of my life." she mumbles, lips brushing against the side of my chest. Heat sparking out where they graze my body. Soul soaring with the closeness to her, to the sweet intimacy of feeling our bodies gravitate closer and closer.

I sigh, lips moving to brush against her cheek, hand tilting her face up.

"Doesn't mean it bothers me less to see. All of us know you're running on sheer will and grit some days. But breathe. Rest." I say softly.

Her eyes soften.

"I just want it all to be perfect. I'm nervous...of what you all will think and make of it." She confesses.

My heart clenches at her admission.

"Little one you don't need to be nervous. We know how much of your life and soul is poured into each piece and we will cherish every single one of them." I say.

Her eyes burn with something raw.

"I just...just want to impress you all. You did and do so much, you did so much during courting, you still get me sweet gifts. This is my gift back. So I want to make it perfect for you all." She adds with a tentative expression.

I silently guide her face up before kissing her softly.

"Baby mate, we're already smitten. And we love your work because of what it means. You don't need to win over your biggest fans." I say, fingers lightly pinching her waist and laughing when she twists away from the touch with a startled yelp.

She giggles.

"My most favourite fans." She sweetly says.

And this time I dive for her lips, spinning to pin her to the bed, leaning over her as I take her lips with my own.

I loved her so much I felt her absence from the nest like a physical pang of longing, a hollowness that was only filled when she returned. And right now with her under me, with her lips responding just as eagerly- sweetness as she arched towards me and knew. Knew time and time again that I was so hopelessly and irrevocably in love with her.

That eternity was too short for this. For this sweetness, for this warmth, for this feeling of being whole and finally complete.

(TA DA! DONE! A BIT LATE- SO SORRY FOR THAT! BUT HERE IT IS! BABY MATE IS PREPARING FOR HER EXHIBITION AND THE BOYS ARE DESPERATE FOR ANY SORT OF HINT- USING ALL SORTS OF TRICKS TO MAKE IT HAPPEN! BUT BABY MATE ISN'T ANY LESS. SHE'S GOT A FEW UP HERS! SHE WON'T JUST GIVE AWAY CLUES! SHE MAKES THEM EARN IT! I DON'T KNOW IF FAINTING IS POSSIBLE FROM BEING TOO DIZZY AND NAUSEATED- BUT IT SOUNDS IT...NOT TO MENTION THE BOYS WOULDN'T BE TOO FOCUSED ON THE DETAILS WHEN SHE'S SUDDENLY GONE STILL! LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS- THIS CHAPTER WAS AN ODD MIX SO....REACTIONS?? WE'LL BE SEEING HER ABILITY COME THROUGH NEXT CHAPTER SO STAY ALERT FOR THAT! I WONDER IF ANY OF YOU WILL BE SURPRISED OR WHETHER YOU SAW IT COMING! STAY SAFE LOVES!)

Sometimes we find that we are cold, so awfully cold and no physical amount of heat can banish it. That this cold comes from within, is rooted inside us- formed by experiences, interactions, bad memories and bad people in our lives. And with each sadness, each grief and each rage it grows colder. But warmth can and will come. Warmth will come with the right people in your life, with good strong relationships and with love. Warmth will come from healing.

Borahae! 💜💜💜

PurpleQueenie <3