KOOK POV:

We don't expect the studio door to get flung wide open and a small whirl storm of motion to enter, I find my lips unconsciously stretching into a smile when I realise it's (Y/N) followed by the immediate plummeting of my stomach, sinking into dark unknown depths when her hair whips around her face- her beautiful, delicate face which is splotched with purple. Bruises.

It makes me feel both sick and angry seeing the bruise, one on her jaw and climbing up her cheek and her other cheek marred with splotches of both purple and red, because when Hobi hyung and Jin hyung had returned this morning they'd mentioned several stuff- but how on earth had they failed to mention that whatever had happened last night had led to this?

I shoot Hobi hyung a shocked and angry look, to find that Jiminie hyung's clenching his jaw tightly, anger simmering under the surface.

But Hobi hyung isn't even looking at us, he's looking with narrowed eyes at her, eyes visibly looking agitated and angry and hurting.

And I don't even realise I've moved, when     Mi-sun storms in moments after her and with a loud angry yell of '(Y/N)' darts for her, hand darting out to snag around her wrist and tugs her firmly backwards. My feet move just as my eyes widen with alarm, jerking forward because of the way her face twists in horror, shock and a bit of fear, feet stumbling almost as she's pulled into Mi-sun.

I get that they're friends, that they share this bond I don't want to imagine or indulge in thinking about given last night but the look on (Y/N)'s face had made me act without thinking, without realising that I'd moved to get to her.

But then I freeze when I see that despite her angry expression, the hands that turn her around and cup her cheeks are gentle, that the fire in her gaze is contrasted with the warmth of her touch as she peers down at (Y/N).

"This conversation is far from over. We are going to have a very long overdue chat when we get home." She says voice low and promising and slightly ominous sounding.

And given (Y/N)'s tentative nod, slightly fearful but also resigned- it makes me wonder just what sort of conversation is this scary, this daunting.

And the nod transforms Mi-sun's face into something softer, gentler and she coos before peppering her face with kisses, giggling happily at whatever expression (Y/N) makes.

"Later then sweetheart. No wandering off, I'll be the one picking you up." and with one final kiss pressed to the corner of her mouth she leaves, in a flurry and whirl of clothes and jingling accessories as if she hadn't entered in completely a different manner.

I get broken out of whatever stupor had halted me and rush to her, not caring for a single instant about anything except wanting to feel her safe in my arms, they wound automatically around her as I hug her close, feeling her smaller frame feel so soft, so delicate in my hold and I worried if I squeezed harder whether she'd shatter. But she surprises me when her arms wound around me to reciprocate the hug, sweet strength, and firmness in the way she shifts closer slightly, arms tight as she lets me hug her and gives some of that comfort back.

When I lean back to peer at her, my heart shatters with how much her face is bruised and can now see from closer that her bruised cheek also has red scratches in it, the majority and I assume the worst of them hidden from view by the cute plaster covering them- almost as if the sight of something sweet could hide the fact that she'd been struck.

"(Y/N)...oh god, who did this to you?" I say, hand hovering near her face before gently cupping her jaw- wincing myself when my finger brushes against the purpled skin- feeling both angry and shocked when I think of how much force had gone into hitting her, into making her carry the proof of last night.

"Hyung you never said..." I start, feeling a lump in my throat.

Hobi hyung sighs, deep and apologetic.

"We didn't want to share details of something we don't have the right to disclose Kook-ah, it wouldn't be fair or right to (Y/N)." he says.

But then he turns to face (Y/N), the slightly steely look in his eyes making her arms fall from around me and she takes a tentative, nervous step back- fiddling with her fingers, eyes dropping away from his.

I see his stance soften, see his eyes be flooded with concern and he moves past, gently nudging me aside to place his hands on her shoulders.

"When I said rest up I didn't mean for you to turn up to dance today. You're allowed to take breaks...you're only human sweetheart." He says.

She stiffens under his hands as he peers at her, his lips have twisted downwards and his voice is earnest and gentle and a mixture of that scolding worrying tone he uses on us.

But then he relents at the wide-eyed look she shoots him, lips turned downwards- expression downcast and sad as she gives him perhaps the most successful set of puppy eyes in the history of their existence.

"(Y/N)...you were drugged not 24 hours ago and you want to dance?" he asks slightly exasperated, trying to keep some sort of leverage.

I feel a sickening swoop, feet feeling unsteady at the thought.

She'd been drugged and none of us had realised. We'd gone to bed complaining at the lack of two more bodies to give warmth and kisses in our slightly tipsy states and hadn't for once considered it could be something like this. 

I remember Yoongi hyung's silently contemplative and tense face last night as he'd rounded us all up, remember how we'd all piled into one car instead, how he'd tucked us all in and how he kept shooting nervous almost periodic glances to his phone.

But the day seems to get worse and I feel Jiminie hyung stiffen from where he'd approached to my other side, shoulder firm against my own.

And when he steps back defeated and calls for us to get warmed up, we assume our normal positions- the other two slightly spaced away from us.

And as we bend down to stretch, arms inching downwards I freeze.

Because I am so, so sure my ears catch onto a slight, small hum of pleasure, of happiness. The sound sweet and happy and suppressed because it seems to vanish as soon as it comes, but I can't have imagined it. My head whips up staring disbelievingly at her bent head.

Surely not...but it could've only been her.

It feels like suddenly my heart thrums wildly in my chest, the feeling of butterflies fluttering in my stomach and eyes wide and trapped onto her.

It had been such a small sound, gone as quickly as it had come and surprised me and when she straightens up she just shoots me a silent look, head cocked as she peers at me, arms still stretching. As if the sound hadn't come from her.

But I know I didn't imagine it, that I couldn't just have created such a sweet soft sound from nowhere.

I don't know what coaxed it out of her, all I knew was I wanted to elicit more.

I wanted to hear her world and her feelings and her stories through small sounds.

JIMIN POV:

"Jimin-ah, you and (Y/N) should go over that contemporary piece of choreography for the dance break. Kookie and I will focus on our part that comes right after." Hobi hyung says, directing us to split off and practice the two styles of dance we'd be bringing together.

I watch as Kookie excitedly tugs Hobi hyung with him, the two of them giggling and talking animatedly as they try bounce ideas off each other, try improve the choreo they've already thought of to push it out further.

And I turn slowly, painfully slow almost, to face (Y/N)- feeling my heart skip a beat when I see her patiently waiting, see the soft smile on her lips, and then as my eyes automatically rove over her, the patter becomes a squeezing vice on my heart when I see the bruises marring her skin, feel anger begin to bubble once again.

But it's banished frighteningly quickly when she smiles again, making her cheeks bunch up- all flushed and rosy from dancing, hair pulled up high and away from her neck, disarming me of my worry and making me just lose myself in her relaxing and welcoming presence.

And when she begins executing the moves, the steps before she has to reach over to me- I find myself entranced, not for the first time definitely not for the last, at the way she controls her body so easily, so effortlessly- careful poise in her movements, and when according to the dance she reaches out her hand for me, taking it carefully into my own makes sparks fly, thoughts drifting and veering off into dangerous territory when I recall how those hands had felt looped around my neck, the sides of her fingers brushing against the ends of my hair.

I fight back the feeling of how perfect she'd felt in my hold, try to forget the searing memory when I'd spun her around to feel her back against my chest. Why had I done that?

Had I drunk so much that I'd acted without thinking, that I'd thrown caution to the wind and hadn't cared for anything except fulfilling that need to just dance with her, to just hold her and give into that feeling of searing discomfort and irrational anger when I'd seen her so intimately intertwined with Habaek.

Habaek.

Along with the memories of last night were also the ones of them intimately cradling each other close, of leaning into each other's space, hands seeming familiar and comfortable where they roved and explored, as if they had had an eternity to do so- nothing rushed in the way her hands ran over his shoulders, down his chest, to rest on his belted waist, to splay across his back.

Did that mean that the frighteningly dizzy impact she had on me as we'd danced had been one-sided? That she had felt nothing as I'd moved with her, bodies in sync.

But even now as my body spins and moves on muscle memory, guiding her with me I keep drifting back to what had been on my mind even as I'd slept- that gasp. That sweet light delicate gasp. That gasp swallowed by the crowd when I'd twisted her body. The gasp that I wish I could've seen as well as heard, seen the way her satin lips had parted.

But alongside all those memories come the memory of skin buzzing, head light and feeling lost in that moment, feeling the aftereffects of a few drinks.

And even as I'd nursed a slight headache this morning, grumbling as Tae moaned and draped himself over me I couldn't stop feeling a cocktail mix of shame, guilt, confusion as the events of last night replayed out in my head as I picked at the hangover stew Yoongi hyung had made.

I felt confused. And above all I felt like I was wrong. Wrong for feeling happy with her, longing for her when she wasn't there, wrong for enjoying myself so immensely it felt like the world had melted away, wrong that what I felt could be coming in between whatever deep, intimate bond and relationship she shared with Habaek and Mi-sun.

I wasn't just feeling things that could destroy what we had but also could destroy their bond.

And I felt horrible for still not wanting to suppress those feelings regardless.

I feel a small tug on my hand, realise that      (Y/N)'s staring at me with confusion- eyes soft and lips pouting slightly.

I look at her and see someone I want to hold and hide away from the horrors of the world, that someone so sweet shouldn't ever have to experience any pain.

I look at her and begin to regret ever giving in to those feelings.

Because fear begins to spread through my body, fear that I might've messed something up. And I don't want to lose what I already have.

(Y/N) POV:

There's a slightly distracted look today in all three of them. And I hate the fact that it's because of me. That Hobi keeps asking whether I need a break when I pause to mop my flushed sweaty face or when for an odd moment of silence and emptiness- it fills my mind with flashes of last night and makes me still and lose focus for a few moments and he seems to pounce on the vacant look. Or that Jimin seems to be lost deep in thought as he moves on autopilot, guiding me through the contemporary duet but with his mind elsewhere and none of that emotion that the song conveys. And I most definitely do not miss how Jungkook's jaw tightens everytime his eyes brush over my cheeks, transforming his sweet smile into something flinty and hardened.

I keep shaking my head but by the time Hobi announces a break I wonder if it's more for his sake, his mental state of wanting to keep me rested than me actually requiring one. But I still sit leaning against the mirror beside him, nudging his knee with mine when he shoots me a silently assessing look, making an okay gesture with my hand and pointedly staring at him.

"Have I been that obvious?" he asks sheepishly, pushing his hair away from his face, my eyes linger momentarily at the smooth strong look his face takes on with his forehead exposed, eyes dark and looking at me, lips parted as he breathes heavily.

I nod.

"Sorry, it's just I remember how out of it you seemed last night...ah early this morning." He amends face wry but I can still see the worry flickering about his dark inviting eyes.

It makes Jungkook on my other side shift, angling himself so he's sitting cross-legged facing me.

He fiddles with the water bottle in his hand.

"Hyung tell me you got back at whoever it was." he says, looking hopefully towards Hobi.

He shrugs.

"I only managed to land a punch, there was more I wanted to do but there were more pressing things to deal with." He starts, looking a mixture of apologetic, dismayed at his own actions and slightly regretful.

But then his eyes catch onto me and gleam with pride.

"Besides (Y/N) holds a lot of power, I'm sure the two won't be forgetting her in a hurry." He says.

Jimin starts from where he'd been sitting opposite me, finally meeting my eyes- wide and startled and amazed.

"What did you do to them?" he asks, voice chirping excitedly, as if he's not asking me to divulge what I did to harm them. But his eagerness and Jungkook's shining doe-eyes silently begging me to share make me feel warm as well as slightly shy, ducking my head down slightly.

I fidget with my hands. How do I mime that I'd hopefully and quite possibly damaged his ability to become a father, but I felt no regrets. And the elbow to the gut, I hoped viciously that it had left a bruise.

But even so I hadn't done much, my priority hadn't been inflicting hell but protecting oppa at the time and now that he was safe, I wouldn't mind indulging in the other too.

I just shrug, hiding a small smile when Jungkook whines and protests that I'm holding out on them.

"She can hold her own at the very least I'd say." Hobi says interrupting Jungkook's increasingly loud demands, even resorting to turning his wide soft brown eyes onto me in attempts to convince me.

Jimin on the other hand had fallen silent and there's a slightly fiery look in his eyes as he looks at me.

"Good. I hope you gave them pain (Y/N)." he says, voice slightly rough, words almost coming out as a growl. I shiver under the intensity of his eyes, that deep meaningful look and proud look he shoots me.

I give him a small nod. And this time when we perform the dance as a group, the feel of his hands on me during the contemporary portion are far more present and burning weights, searing into my hips, burning my palm with the fiery touch of his own hand that grips mine. It draws memories of fiery eyes and strong and firm body movements as we'd danced last night, felt the confidence of his dancing as he led me from one move to the other.

And the silent communication between us makes me think of how compatible Jimin is as a dance partner, not just to this style and dance but I could easily see him as someone I could perform duets with, that inexplicable trust I have as he lifts me and spins me, arms full of firm corded muscles- unwavering strength.

It makes me long to dance with him as just us, as the only two moving to the music. And shamefully it makes me want to bask and linger on that feeling of being lost in both the music and him as we move together.

And when he lets my hand go, I find myself missing the solid warmth of it even as I mentally berate myself for wanting that when he so clearly has someone else.

And so it remains, the beginning of my guilty secret- harboured within the deep dark depths of my mind.

(THERE YOU GO! I ACTUALLY WROTE MOST OF THIS LAST NIGHT BUT IT GOT TOO LATE AND I GOT TOO TIRED TO FINISH THE LAST POV SO I POSTPONED IT TO TODAY! BUT I HOPE THAT IT'S STILL ENJOYABLE TO READ, THAT WE CAN SEE THE BEGINNINGS OF CRUSHES FORMING LEFT RIGHT AND CENTRE AND THAT EVERYONE CAN SEE THE LONGING BEGIN TO SLIP INTO PLACE! LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS!! AND ANOTHER SOUND BUT THIS TIME HEARD BY KOOKIE!! I WONDER WHEN AND HOW AND WHAT SITUATION THE OTHERS WILL BEGIN TO HEAR SOUNDS IN AND IF THIS MARKS SOME SORT OF UNCONSCIOUS SHIFT OF COMFORT, OF TRUST IN THEIR RELATIONSHIPS. WHO KNOWS...MAYBE JINNIE WILL FINALLY GET AN AMUSED GIGGLE DURING BAKING LESSONS?? AHHHH! SO EXCITED TO WRITE MORE!! STAY SAFE AND TAKE CARE MY LOVES!!)

QUESTION...ONE OF THOSE BTS INTERACTION MOMENTS WITH EACH OTHER THAT JUST MAKE YOU SMILE- BETWEEN TWO MEMBERS OR SO?

Mine is...I don't know how many people note this but Jin has this adorable habit of rushing to Hobi for hugs when they're on set, and a lot of the time when they film things in the summer, Jin makes a point to go cling to Hobi who complains about body heat but lets him cuddle anyways! The 2Seok interaction is just so sweet and always makes me giggle! I always catch onto the moments when Hobi smiles as he sees Jin approaching, knowing he's coming to cling onto his brother. It's just so cute!!

Borahae! 💜💜💜

PurpleQueenie <3