JOON POV:

It's a mixture of nerves and giddiness as I walk with (Y/N) hand in hand as head out towards where I've planned to have lunch with her. Excitement and eagerness that fuels my steps as I bring her towards a restaurant that has the most beautiful garden space behind it- available to rent out. I choose it because I feel one with nature, and for me (Y/N) is part of that nature- something beautiful, vibrant and full of life, someone that blossoms and grows. 

But that doesn't mean I don't wait anxiously for her verdict, waiting as she stops to take in our surroundings- the way that the trees and flower bushes form a circle around a clearing of grass, where I've had a picnic blanket set out under the large shadow of a tree. She turns to me with an awed look, a smile stretching across her face- wide and unrestrained.

"It's perfect." She gasps, hand squeezing mine before she turns to tug me alongside her as she marvels and goes forward to look at the flowers in full blossom despite it being winter, the way that the temperature is perfectly maintained at a nice ideal setting- she doesn't need to know that I was also late because I'd gone to ask for a favour, or that I'd hurried here first to leave instructions with the people who'd be making the food. Seeing her smile is more than worth it, the fuss it had been- every moment building to this wasn't in vain.

The restaurant belongs to Jin hyung's family and he had been nothing short of ecstatic to get in touch with brother even if it had been decades since he'd asked him for a favour and to secure the garden space for me and (Y/N)- in fact he'd looked proudly and warmly and sent me off to lessons after having pulled me into a quick, fiery kiss, patting my dazed face and looking at me with warm eyes.

I guide her over to the picnic blanket which has been adorned with large cushions and I notice the few throws that have been left out, the way hyung has managed to string up lights around the tree the blanket is set under- all intended for us.

The large wicker basket sits patiently for us and I know that it has been filled and kept there- informed by the text hyung had sent on our way over. (Y/N) sinks into the space beside me, curling into me with a content sigh as she stares at our intertwined fingers.

"You didn't need to go to all this trouble." She says after a while, voice warm as she tilts her head up to look at me, eyes wide with joy and lips settled into a smile.

"I wanted to." I reply.

And as I begin unpacking the basket, I'm surprised at the way I keep withdrawing food from it and yet the basket never seems to lessen, laden with a wide array of foods- ranging from hot and cold, snacks and mini bite-size desserts. I draw out the large glass bottle filled with a fruity sparkling drink- smile at the note hyung has left on it and realise that he's the one who ended up cooking for us. And that makes this date even more special, personal, and intimate.

(Y/N)'s eyes have grown wide as she takes in the way the blanket is now covered with platters of food. Eyes adorable quizzical and head tilted in confusion. 

And my heart threatens to burst with how it feels as if it's filled to the brim, overflowing with satisfied satiated instincts and tenderness towards her as she brings a sandwich to my lips, proffering food. My mouth parts automatically when she nudges the sandwich against them, allowing her to feed me, biting into it even as my eyes remain glued onto hers. And then the red that threatens to seep into my eyes when she smiles and then proceeds to take a bite from where I did, rosy lips closing around the mouthful and chewing, throat bobbing as she swallows. It's sheer happiness at seeing my mate eating- there doesn't even need to be a major reason, just seeing her doing something so normal is enough.

When we move onto the desserts- I eagerly go about picking bite-sized sweet treats that I hope she'll enjoy, fingers dithering over mini éclairs, cupcakes, macaroons until I cave in and go about feeding her a bit from each- eyes sparkling when she unhesitatingly and uncomplainingly parts her lips to allow me to feed her, to slide those morsels in- soul leaping when she only hums in pleasure and nods excitedly before reciprocating- fingers dancing over treats until she chooses one to feed me.

I hold up a strawberry to her lips, but she complains and pushes my hand away.

"Too full Joonie." She whines but I incessantly bring it back to those rosy lips.

"Last one. Please?" I wheedle and it works because she sighs resignedly and slowly opens her mouth, allowing me to slide the plump ripe strawberry between her lips, noting the burst of juice when she bites down, slightly splashing against my fingers and unconsciously her tongue slides out to wipe her lips and ever so slightly flicks across the pads of my fingers. Her eyes widen and cheeks flush and I feel my gaze become heated, narrowing down to the way her tongue retreats and her lips are left glistening, I watch as her throat bobs as she swallows and the pulse point on her neck pulses visibly- heartbeat thudding up.

The half-eaten strawberry sits forgotten in my hands as my gaze focuses solely on her.

"Sorry..." she says.

"Don't be love." I'm quick to reassure, placing the strawberry down before leaning over to cup her jaw, tilting her face up so she can meet my eyes- even though she trails them extremely slowly, her eyes feeling like they're burning a trail across my skin until they finally settle onto mine.

If my heart could beat, it would be thudding loudly in my ears- threatening to burst forth from my chest but even so it clenches and squeezes in anticipation as I ever so slightly lean forward to brush those glistening rosy lips against my own, careful, and slow.

I lean back, parting our lips- even though I want nothing more to delve back onto those soft plush lips and explore them, taste them, devour them. But when I lean back I meet her lowered eyes and suddenly there's too much distance between us. I gently grip her waist and lift her up onto my lap, her body straddling my lap and ever so slowly, she leans forward and presses our lips together again, a sigh leaving her when they meet.

I slowly kiss her, lips exploring hers in an unhurried, leisurely pace, feeling the soft plushness of them slide and move against my own, and tasting slightly of strawberries, sweet. I commit the shape of her lips against my own to memory, learn and familiarise myself with the curve of them, the dip of her cupid's bow, slowly moving against hers, licking across the seam of them and silently asking her to part them, to allow me access inside. She parts her mouth, tongue darting out teasingly to brush against my own, coaxing mine in as she entangles them. The hot cavern of her mouth is sweet, tongue dipping and tracing and learning the inside, roving around, and exploring in deep, slow strokes before going to intertwine with hers. Her hands clutch tightly at my shoulders, pulling me in further and I groan before relenting, chasing upwards to kiss further into her, and the hands that rove from my shoulders to cup my face, are heated and feverish as they clutch at me, whimpering into my mouth so sweetly that it threatens to shred the slow, languidness of our lips learning each other. Her lips slide over mine, a fiery trail left wherever they go, sparks shooting through my spine, soul leaning into hers to bind ourselves together, tightly. My teeth scrape across her lips, tugging them alternatively between them, barely even leaving the slightest sting but soothing over them with my tongue anyways.

I trail my lips off hers and across her jaw, tilting her head up to allow me unrestrained access to kiss along the creamy smooth expanse of her skin, marking a trail as I kiss upto her cheeks, across eyelids that flutter touch. I stop to look at her, the way her hands have bunched into the material of my shirt at my shoulders, head tilted back and neck arched enticingly- exposing the slender column of her throat, chest heaving for breath and throat bobbing as she swallows. My eyes wander up to those rosy lips now swollen, plumper and glistening even more, the way a flush has spread prettily across her cheeks and she looks at me from under lowered eyes- intense and captivating. And then she smiles at me, sweetly- parting to show her pearly teeth- leaning forward to press our foreheads together.

My hands go down to settle on her waist, pulling her in for an embrace, head nestling into the crook of her shoulder and breathing in freely the naturally sweet scent of hers.

She cradles my head, fingers darting through my hair to play with it, gently massaging my scalp as she leans down to press a small kiss there. I smile at the soft gesture.

"Thank you Joonie oppa." She breathes and the air in my throat becomes hitched and choked up with emotion- a step closer she took today and to hear those words rolling off her tongue easily and gently warms me more than her body heat can. She's accepting us, bit by bit- growing closer and closer.

And I wish that I could trap this moment and immortalise it, somehow capture it physically so I can always look back at it with the others and recall that this moment changed something for us.

(Y/N) POV:

At some point I wonder if Joonie oppa has fallen asleep, given the heavy comforting weight of his arms resting against me and pulling me into him and the deep, comfortable silence we've fallen into. His head hasn't shifted from where he's tucked into the crook of my neck but then he shifts slightly, turning to smile up at me, that same dimpled smile that always does things to my heart. I fail to resist the urge to kiss those dimples, pressing a butterfly kiss to both and brushing ever so slightly against his lips- my own lips tingling and sparking with the memory of our kiss, still feeling that phantom constant pressure of his against mine.

"I've always been intrigued by humans. Always curious about them, the way they live, their customs, traditions..." Joonie oppa says softly, as if sharing with me a secret. But I listen to him, because he's telling me in confidence- he's sharing a part of him with me.

"What did you find?" I ask, hands shifting to rest against the nape of his neck- and rather than stiffen, he melts into the touch, pressing the skin of his neck back into my hand, a silent urge to continue touching.

"I found that humans are poetically destructive. They run after things, chase them even if it means ruining themselves for it. I found that humans live so intensely, because they know their lives are mortal." He whispers, words brushing against my mind with a sweet caress.

I muse over his words. He's not wrong. But I'd never seen human actions as something to find beauty in- I saw their actions as sometimes desperate, frantic; I'd seen people live numbly, live wasting their lives away. But that was something people did- it wasn't specific to a race.

"I used to think that they also wasted what they had. Didn't cherish it. And then there's you." he breathes, looking at me with a wide searching gaze, as if he's trying to see me, learn more about me from his stare alone.

"What did you find about me?" I ask, voice slightly breathy because of the way his body is a firm, coiled muscular frame under mine and the way he leans forward next- lips a hair's breadth away and when he speaks they slightly brush against mine, touching in the barest possible way.

"I found that humans can live and love as wildly and fiercely as us. That their hearts and souls aren't mortal- that inside one I would find haven." He confesses. The closeness that he's talking to me with, the way his words fan across my skin with puffs of slightly cool air, travels across with the feeling of fingers trailing across my bare skin.

But his words make me smile and tears threaten to pool out of my eyes and course down. Because he said he'd found a respite in me. And me? I'd begun to find my home in them.

YOONGI POV:

I bolt awake, skin feeling clammy, tight and restricting- lungs feeling as if they'd cave into themselves, chest heaving with exertion- trying to force air in even though I didn't necessarily need it. I can feel my skin prickling, teeming with the sensation of unwanted eyes crawling across them- turning soft to malicious.

The ghosts of my past whispering in my ears.

"We won't hurt you if you stay still Yoongi...let us have fun." A soft voice croons- unwanted and despicable as they'd once whispered into the shell of my ear.

The voice of the male who'd torn my life apart and watched with cruel, unmoving eyes and a pleased smile as he watched me suffer over and over again. The hands that had teasingly tapped me awake- been there in my waking and my nightmares- had been a constant figure in both and his taunting grin had haunted me, made me confused and unable to differentiate the two. His low laughter had joined with my screams of pain, relished them and smiled as if he'd been given a toy, when tears would roll down. I can still feel that cruel smile on me, the burning intensity of his careful, beaded eyes. I swivel my head desperately, trying to assure myself that I'm fine, I'm safe- that the demons in my head will stay there, won't broach the barrier between my past and present. My fingers scrabble to grab my phone- see the time and date glaring up at me, alongside the text notification. I swipe it mindlessly and delete it when I see what it says.

Utter rubbish. People will send anyone anything these days.

And just as I throw the phone aside, watch it bounce and land on top of the blankets- the door gets flung open and Jin hyung hurries in and sinks down beside me, drawing my shaking figure into his arms.

"You'll be okay Yoongi-ah." He says, not promising me that things are fine, not telling I'm okay when I'm clearly not but speaking with certainty that he knows I'll get through this. Giving me the promise of comfort and ease in the long run. I sag into his hold, curling my hands around his arm and clutch at it desperately-allow the physical presence of him ground me, draw me out of the world of nightmares.

My breaths are coming out harsh and grating to my ears- raspy and rattling. Hyung doesn't force me to speak, he just gives me the comfort and reassurance by being there.

"Hyung...I don't think he'll let me go." I whisper brokenly to hyung's arm. His arms tighten around me, turning me and drawing me into his embrace- tilting my head up so he can wipe the tears away that have escaped without my noticing- eyes soft and understanding and empathetic.

"He has no choice. I won't let him keep his claws in you." hyung says, words a soft promise, even as it's laced with the anger and promise of hurt.

But I fear it might be too late. That somehow he's managed to worm his way into my life again, the phone sits there as a glaring reminder- the deleted message still fresh in my mind.

And the ever so sickeningly familiar words that somehow stir up memories of him.

Play time.

And I can only shiver with the memories those words stir up. And who sent them.

(THE DATE! I HOPE IT WAS SWEET TO READ AS MUCH AS IT WAS FOR ME TO WRITE IT! I HOPE YOU ENJOYED IT- THIS MOMENT OF BEING IN THIS PERFECT GARDEN JUST MADE FOR THE TWO OF THEM TO SPEND TIME IN. HOW WAS IT? LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS! AND NOW THIS...I WONDER WHAT'LL HAPPEN NEXT. AND WHERE THE PLOT WILL GO- I HOPE IT'S NOT BLATANT I'LL BE HONEST. I DON'T WANT MY SURPRISES TO BE RUINED T_T STAY SAFE LOVES!)

Life is a whirlwind of colour, memories, and experiences.

Borahae! 💜💜💜

PurpleQueenie <3