HOBI POV:

Despite how her face widens with a tired smile when she says she'll go anywhere, a part of me frets even as she tries to stand; shaking off our hands lightly as she straightens.

Showing that she's perfectly fine as she gives her feet a shake.

But my eyes still follow her out of the studio, watch as Kookie's arm around her waist is supportive as much as it is a loving touch. Holding her in case she needs help.

"I almost can't believe we found her like this." Jiminie murmurs beside me, fingers sliding to lace together with mine.

I nod.

Never had I thought that the very person occupying our thoughts would appear in front of our eyes like this. Never thought that after days of not seeing her that we suddenly and finally could.

"I can't believe she was dancing on bruised toes." I grouse.

Eyes flitting to her bandaged feet, steps spry and light despite how dark and discoloured her skin had become from pushing herself too much, from continuing to dance on them.

I hadn't said then but the bruises were dark enough that they were the product of days and not hours of dancing. I wondered how many times, how many hours she'd been holed up in here dancing, shut away from us, from the world and we hadn't even realised, we hadn't felt the tug to dance when she wasn't there.

"I can. She danced when she fell last time remember? She danced and she didn't use the salve or the ice. She's a stubborn one." Jiminie says from beside me, his gaze too is fixed on the sight of Kookie and (Y/N)'s close figures, at the way she ever so slightly leans against him as they walk.

Stubborn as she grit her teeth and walked even though all three of us had offered to help her, had offered her a piggyback.

It makes my own teeth grind.

Ahead of us slightly I hear light hushed bickering, playful and good-natured.

"Come on (Y/N)~ let me sweep you off your feet...you look exhausted standing up anyways." Kookie wheedles.

She shakes her head.

"I'm fine Kookie! And what a charmer...you know how to make a lady feel special." She gripes back but her voice is too fond, too exhausted to be truly insisting.

"My lady should feel special all the time. And she can do that perfectly fine as I'm carrying her." he says, suddenly stilling and dropping into a  couch onto the floor.

His hand that's holding hers tugs her behind him, peering over his shoulder to look at her, staring obstinately.

"Get on. If I see another wince I'm bringing out the big guns." He threatens.

(Y/N) leans forward, a small, resigned sigh as she winds her arms around him.

"Which is what exactly?" she mumbles.

His hands wrap around her legs as he stands, clutching her securely.

"I get Jin hyung." He says.

Ignoring the mock gasp she gives.

"You wouldn't!" she retorts but then leans her head closer, resting it against his.

Voice softer when she next speaks.

"Don't do that. I don't want to worry him. I didn't want to worry you three either." She confesses.

Her voice goes soft, dropping as if confessing.

It makes me wonder just why she's unable to let go of the thought that her pain is something to hide and disguise from us. Why she's apologising for hurting.

"We worry because we love you. We worry because we want to." I say, catching up to them, a hand squeezing her arm and face tilting to brush a kiss across her cheek.

"But still. Love isn't meant to hurt you..." she says.

And then Kookie stills.

And Jiminie's stepping close. A frown on his face.

"Love isn't easy angel. But it's because we want it that we're willing to take the bads just as much as we want the goods. Love is about being there for both." He says firmly but his tone is painstakingly soft and tender.

Not just our love. But love overall.

Love wasn't selfish because it meant sharing the pain as well as celebrating the happiness together. Love wasn't easy because it meant sharing your all, giving your all.

And it hurt to think that whatever love she had known, she had experienced hadn't been love at all. That the feelings and time and love she'd poured into her relationships weren't reciprocated, weren't given back.

That she'd gotten used to giving and giving and of showing the best part of herself that she'd never truly allowed for her own weakness to show.

Just how brave and battered was her soul?

"And that means helping our injured girl! By giving her lots of kisses and cuddles and Jin hyung and Yoongi hyung's cooking. You're looking a bit peaky love." I say.

A small sad smile appears on my face, at the way I can see that once more her cheeks have gotten thinner, the shadows bruising the soft skin under her eyes.

And what she needed was to be taken care of. Was to be reminded endlessly and continuously that she was so loved, so cherished. That when she was hurting we'd be there to help her as she healed.

"What will you and the others be doing?" she asks, a smile beginning to stretch across her face as she peers at me. Resting her head against Kookie's, arms wound around his neck securely.

"Doing the cuddling and kissing of course." I say easily.

"I can live with that. But I'm all sticky and gross, Kookie..." she begins.

He hitches her up higher, the sudden jostle cutting her words off.

"You're fine. Perfect. You can shower off at home." He says.

Home.

Because for quite some time, before perhaps we'd ever labelled it, our home was hers. She was home. She belonged. And without her, these past few days proved how empty and incomplete we'd felt.

--------

There's a ruckus as we enter the door. Courtesy of one Kookie and one Jiminie. Loud crows for the others as they step through, tugging off their shoes. My hands go to grip (Y/N)'s ankles, keeping her stable as I draw one shoe off and then the other.

"We come bearing gifts!" Jiminie calls into the hallway.

"You're going to love us for it." Kookie adds, grin stretching wide across his face.

The noise is a welcome burst, ecstatic and fond, wiping away the sombreness lingering in the air from the last time we'd seen her, had helped her trembling, paining body.

It's as if the sight of her, her presence wipes it all away.

It ceases to exist as if that trembling, uncertainty had never been.

"What's the noise for? You know how Joon gets when he's in the zone..." Jin hyung calls, voice growing louder as he steps out of the living room.

And then stills.

Body curving out past the doorway to peer at us before his eyes alight on the scooped-up girl on Kookie's back.

"(Y/N)." he breathes.

Rubbing his eyes and then blinking, quickly in succession, at the sight of her.

She gives a small wave, face sheepish and slightly shy.

"Hi Jinnie..." voice soft.

And it snaps him out of his stillness, rushing forward with wide eyes and lips that part in surprise.

His hands hover, reaching out as they flit nervously around her face, settling finally when they cup her cheeks. Thumbing across the top of her cheekbones.

"You're here. You're better." he observes.

She nods, head ducking to shyly brush a kiss to the inside of his palm.

"I'm here. I'm slowly getting better." she echoes.

There's a glossy sheen to his eyes when he smiles, a shaky sigh as he stands close, leaning to brush a chaste kiss across her lips.

"That's all I need then."

Treasuring the moments of her leaning into the touch and of his head coming to rest against hers.

Those moments shatter when there's thudding footsteps from upstairs, a bright call.

"It better be worth it Jimin-ah, Kook-ah...I'm not going to be happy unless...(Y/N)!" Tae's voice calls, turning elated as he rushes down the stairs, eyes burning and shining as he spots her, rushing forward and uncaring of how he stumbles, tripping slightly.

He ignores the way Jiminie's hand darts out to steady him, chest heaving as if he can't quite get enough air in.

"Unless it's (Y/N)." he finishes.

Then he's beaming. A wide boxy smile on his face.

"The best gift there is. Now my turn Kookie!"

JIMIN POV:

(Y/N) steps out of the bathroom, a smile on her face as she tugs at Jin hyung's jumper, glad at the way it hangs over her, hides her away. There's something content about the way she burrows into the fabric, plucks it from barely peeking fingertips as she steps out.

The bandages on her feet have been removed and the sight of her bruised skin has my heart clenching. So much pain, so much given to dance.

"Feeling better?" I ask.

She nods. But as she gets closer I see that her eyes are red, as if she's been crying but the evidence of any tearstains have been washed away. The thought that she might've been crying makes my heart ache.

"Much. I feel cleaner now." She says.

"Does the jumper help too?" I ask curiously.

She pauses in her fiddling, peeking at me past damp strands of hair.

Nodding.

"A long, long time back I realised that sometimes wearing large clothes lets me feel like I'm being held. Even when....even when there's no-one to hold me." she says. Voice resigned and weary and yet...tinged with nostalgia. Something soft and pained flitting through her eyes.

"And why was that? Why did you have to compensate for being held?" another voice asks.

And I turn to see Yoongi hyung stepping onto the landing.

Voice soft and expression light as he approaches.

Despite the slow steps he takes, despite the measured pace we knew he'd rushed back from Magic Shop, had hurried home the moment he knew that (Y/N) was here.

"Because the person leaving me left his clothes with that reason. Because he didn't want to be entirely forgotten."

The tone of her voice flickers with pain, a deeply rooted grief that has slowly healed with time but still evokes those once fresh feelings and memories.

"He's gone?" I ask. There's something about her slightly curved figure that's answer enough.

"He's gone. He left me a long time back." She says quietly.

"But his words remain. His soul remains. He remains sweetheart. He's never left you." Yoongi hyung says, low voice a soothing murmur as he walks over to her, carefully encases her in a hug.

So much restraint in how he holds her.

As if he hadn't been yearning and paining these few days.

The kiss he presses to her temple is light.

"Loved ones never leave us (Y/N). Our feelings, our hearts keep them alive." He says.

She smiles.

Leans in to press a kiss to the corner of his mouth.

"I know." She says simply.

Content to curl into his embrace for a few moments longer before her voice comes out muffled.

"I thought I was promised your cooking not cuddles." She says.

Yoongi hyung laughs, another kiss pressed to her head.

"What's to say you can't have both? Especially when it'll be my pleasure." He says.

Gaze meeting mine.

So so relieved. So thankful. So alive.

Because our missing piece is here.

Because what we feel now is completeness.

And when we walk down and Joon hyung spots her, the pages in front of him lie forgotten, ink-stained hands reaching out for her, something panicked and hurting and worried abating as he curls around her and hugs her tightly.

Hugs her fiercely as if he can't bear to let her go, muttering into her hair as he holds her. Whatever he says has her gripping at him just as tightly, murmuring quietly, her hands curled around his broad back, head tucked close to his neck.

"I'm so, so glad to see you again. I'm so glad you're not hurting. I'm so glad you're back." He murmurs, punctuating each word with a kiss pressed to skin. His dimples finally appear, finally smiling wide enough that the deep groves appear. Eyes sparkling.

"I'm glad too. I'm glad that you're glad." (Y/N) replies.

"You look better. Even though you've lost some of these... you look better." he says, poking her cheeks.

"It's been a trying few days. But I'm getting better bit by bit." She answers honestly.

Allowing herself to be tugged by him towards a sofa, immediately pounced upon by an awaiting Kookie, who goes to curve beside her, a hand settling on her lap. She immediately takes it between her hands and squeezes, eyes going soft and fond as she looks at him.

"You know...I've been thinking." Namjoon hyung begins.

I see Yoongi hyung's lips quirk as he hovers in the doorway, gaze still fixed on her.

"How attractive." He muses, lips twitching when Joon hyung blinks. Caught off guard.

"Not a lie hyung. Your brain is attractive, just like the rest of you." Kookie says with a wide grin.

Enjoying making him fluster. Completely distracting him from what he'd been about to say.

It makes (Y/N) relax, body sinking against Joon hyung's side even as he protests and splutters, an arm moving to wrap around her immediately.

"Not a lie Namjoon. You are very attractive. And I met you in a library..." she remarks.

"Which is very attractive... a handsome man working with Habaek oppa... who knew he'd mean everything to me?" she says softly, leaning up to pepper kisses across his jaw.

And this time. This time he flusters but falls silent, something bashful in his smile, something warm in his eyes.

"As I was saying...I've been thinking of ways to help you." Joon hyung starts again. Eyes flitting across the room, watching where Tae and I curl up at the base of the couch, bodies pressed together on the carpet.

"I know Habaek is some sort of...confidante and therapist figure for you but would you consider...me?" he asks carefully.

(Y/N)'s expression turns curious.

"What sort of role are you offering for?"

"Someone to talk things out with, someone to take walks with, someone to go on random dates on, someone to help find new ways of letting go of things." He says.

"But Joon you already do that. You're doing that as my boyfriend, you're doing that everytime we're together." (Y/N) explains with a soft smile. Smiling when Kookie's hand goes to wrap around her intertwined ones that cage his other.

"You all help. You have helped. You were the ones waiting for me on the other side...that gave me reason enough to push through."     (Y/N) insists.

Push through what? Will we ever quite know?

But Tae's musings snap the thought away.

"If that's boyfriend stuff...then you don't do that with Habaek do you?" he asks, leaning forward, dark eyes glittering. Serious and determined to get an answer.

This time it's her turn to splutter. Eyes widening.

"That's not...not that I don't...Habaek oppa is different!" she settles on, insistent and petulant even as four gazes cage her.

Head held high and unrelenting. Meeting each gaze head on.

"We don't have barriers, we don't have secrets. He's everything and the same as me...I just..." she begins.

"Like a twin flame." I say.

Her face lights up.

"Exactly like that! Except Mi-sun unnie is the same. Mirrored souls." She says.

Mirrored souls. Sharing the same soul. Cut from the same cloth.

That's how deeply their connection ran. That's how much they meant to each other. That's why they were fiercely protective over each other. Why their love and their touches were so familiar, so intimate and so knowing.

"Does that mean he's a superhero too?" Tae cuts in.

Her face creases with confusion.

"I come bearing food, two hyungs, kisses and a date!" Hobi hyung trills, cutting through the conversation and cleaving it. Sending it to an abrupt end.

Distracting us all.

Perking up the thought.

"A date?" I echo.

He nods, bearing a tray of food.

"A group date. Leave the organising to me." he says confidently.

"No boats?" (Y/N) asks, lips twitching.

It doesn't escape me that she's able to joke about it now. It doesn't escape me that her eyes glimmer happily as she straightens up.

"Not a single one." he promises.

(WELL....THIS WAS LIKE A FILLER? BUT I'M NOT FEELING CONFIDENT ABOUT THIS CHAPTER WHATSOEVER SO~ THAT'S THAT...CAN'T TAKE IT BACK AND I HOPE IT'S EVEN SOMEWHAT ENJOYABLE TO YOU ALL! WE HAD A REUNION! AND WE HAVE SMALL SNIPPETS OF HER PAST CONTINUING TO BE REVEALED! I WONDER WHICH LOVELY SOUL TOLD HER ABOUT THE CLOTHES, IT MADE MY HEART ACHE JUST THINKING ABOUT IT...COS WELL I KNOW! AND IT'S SAD! ANYWAYS! THOUGHTS? WHAT DATE DO YOU THINK IT'LL BE? WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL HAPPEN? AND YES...SHE IS GOING TO GET SO SCOLDED WHEN JINNIE SEES THOSE BRUISED FEET! NO WALKING AROUND FOR HER! HE'S JUST GONNA GO *SCOOP* AND PLUCK HER UP! LET ME KNOW WHETHER THE CHAPTER WAS OKAY OR NOT?? TAKE CARE AND STAY SAFE LOVELIES!)

QUESTION... IS THE BOOK'S PLOT LOSING ITSELF? IS IT GETTING BORING? BE HONEST!!

Borahae! 💜💜💜

PurpleQueenie <3