HOBI POV:

There's the sound of the door bell ringing that has me tearing my eyes away from the game, pressing pause as I get up, eyes falling to the way Joon was too deeply engrossed in something, brows furrowed as he peered at the screen, completely shut off from the world with the headphones around his ears.

I pad towards the door, smiling when on opening it reveals (Y/N) standing there, face flushed and trying to detach herself from Tae who'd completely latched on, arms wound around her and refusing to let go.

And together they waddle into the house, Tae's lips constantly brushing across the back of her head, her nape even as she giggled and tried to wriggle away.

"No Tae. The answer is still a no." she says as she manages to detach herself to bend down and take her shoes off, my eyes catching the way Tae's eyes flash, darken with hunger before it vanished just as quick.

Dragging his feet as he clutched at her once more, eyes wide and batting his lashes.

It was a dangerous look.

It was a look that said he wanted something and would do anything to get it.

It made me wonder just what exactly had happened on their date. 

(Y/N) shoots me a silent look for help, smiling when I manage to extract her and twirl her away, body ducking down behind mine, laughing when he petulantly called out for her.

"Oh but (Y/N)~" he wheedles, following behind the two of us into the living room, watching as she moves towards Joon, still unaware and unsuspecting as she quietly pads forward and lifts his laptop away to plop down onto his lap.

There's confusion for less than an instant in his eyes at the sudden loss of the screen before he smiles, dimpled and fond as he easily wraps his arms around her, drawing her close and smiling into the greeting kiss she gives, leaning into him.

"Where's mine?" I ask as I walk over, eyes roving and drinking in the way Joon's fingers tilt her mouth to him, the way his finger rubs across her jaw, head tilting to her and sighing against her lips when her fingers curl around his wrist and hold on.

Their lips part and (Y/N) turns to me, smiling and falling into the kiss when I bend my head towards her, coaxing her forward, tilting her face up and lips pressing fiercely against hers, swallowing the small, muffled groan when my hand grips her chin, tugging her closer, the way her hand falls to my chest and curls into the fabric, drawing herself closer.

Tongue swiping across her lips and briefly sliding in, parting her mouth under mine before I move back, smiling down at her.

And then Tae's behind me.

"Now you didn't let me kiss you like that!" he complains.

And her eyes flash, something amused, incredulous and heated all at once.

"Stop comparing that to this! Where are the others?" she retorts playfully before her eyes drift to search for the others.

"Jiminie's teaching baby ballet, Yoongi hyung's at the shop and...Kookie and Jin hyung vanished some time ago." I list off.

Knowing full well that Joon had been too lost in his own world since the headphones had closed around his ears and that determined focused look had appeared in his eyes.

She nods, eyes drifting to the laptop.

Expression slightly shuttering as she sees what Joon was upto. A brief look of something flashing across her eyes before it disappeared. Vanished as if it hadn't ever been there.

If I hadn't been looking at her, I would've missed it too. Behind me Tae's hand stops drawing shapes and flattens on my back. Stilling too.

A look of confusion in her eyes. Blinking uncertainly at the screen.

"And you Namjoonie?" she asks.

He looks at her with a smile, not having seen her expression.

"I was reading up on ways that people choose to unburden themselves. And this seemed really cathartic." He says, leaning forward to tap at the keys, finger moving over the touchpad.

She leans too, head tilted as she reads what's on the screen.

Making a small sound of thoughtfulness.

"Writing letters doesn't sound bad. But who would it be sent to?" she asks.

He gives a small shrug.

"No-one. You write down everything you want to get off your chest and seal it in an envelope. It's not ever sent anywhere." He says.

She nods, eyes drifting to us, relaxing when she sees encouragement in ours.

"You've been researching this for how long?" she asks curiously.

And turns to see the way his cheeks pinken slightly, the way his throat bobs as he swallows.

Whether that's from having her so close and sharing the same breath, or whether it's at being asked how long he'd researched ways to help her.

Maybe it's both.

"Since...since the first date?" he trails off uncertainly.

My heart soars with pride at our thoughtful lover, at Joon who'd toiled away and silently researched countless ways.

That all this time he was helping her heal but also finding ways to help her dispel the thoughts she couldn't quite bring herself to voice.

"I love you." Is her response. So matter of fact, so light and sweet.

So blunt.

"You didn't have to waste so much time and you did. You didn't have to try help me but you are..." and she's cut off by his lips silencing hers, fierce and unrelenting, hand splayed across the low of her back and kissing away her words, swallowing up any gratitude with how he cups the back of her head and draws her impossibly closer.

"Not a waste of time. Never a waste of time, not when it comes to you." he breathes, voice ragged as if all the air has been punched out his lungs, as if her words had knocked it out of him. Eyes flashing with anger and hurt and fierce, fierce love.

And as much as it sends a jolt of arousal to shoot through me to see Joon so assertive, so fiercely protective, the crashing wave of love is stronger. Love and pride.

"He's right. We want to help however much we can and in whatever way we can." I say.

See her eyes trail over us, the look of unguarded vulnerability stuttering and melting away when a bright voice calls from behind us.

"I'm down to help! What for?" Kookie's voice appears, walking through the doorway and hastily tugging a shirt over his head, a brief, sinful glimpse of his toned abdomen and narrow waist vanishing under a white tee.

"Writing letters." Is all she says as he approaches, ducking around us to lean in for a kiss, a soft mwah against her lips that makes her giggle.

Makes the tension bleed out as she murmurs a hello against his lips.

He leans back, unaware of what conversation he walked into as his expression falls, looking apologetic and yet not all at once.

"That's not my speciality. That'll be Joon hyung and all those love letters that he's written." He says coyly, eyes looking teasingly at Joonie.

And Tae adds to it, draping himself more heavily into me as he looks at the two, something so hungry with the way his gaze drifts over her, lingering even as his voice remains light.

"You should ask when he'll send them darling. Seeing as they are meant for you." he adds.

Revelling in the silent panic in Joon's eyes, flustered when she turns to face him. Surprised and touched.

"You wrote me love letters?" she asks.

He nods, eyes slowly meeting hers.

She kisses the tip of his nose.

"That's so...." She ponders aloud.

"Old fashioned romantic?" I quip.

She nods. Eyes lighting up.

"I love it. There's something intimate about thinking about you sitting down, thinking of me and writing to me." she remarks. Fingers trailing and smoothening his shirt down.

Whatever plot the two maknaes had been plotting about putting him in the spotlight was backfiring in the most spectacular of ways.

Because (Y/N) looked taken away and so utterly enamoured.

Pressing soft kisses to his jaw.

"Will I ever get to read them?" she asks voice soft.

He crumbles. Giving in.

"Of course. They were for you. I've been writing them for some time now." He says softly.

There's something tender exchanged in their gazes, something so sweetly trusting and caring and gentle.

"I love letters. My parents always use to write me some whenever they went away." she confides.

Sharing another bit of herself with us.

And when I see how pain as well as affection flash in Kookie's eyes, in Joon's too, it's because of how much it means for her to open up, how much it means for her to share these snippets of herself.

And because whilst she doesn't have her family with her anymore, she clutches onto these beautiful tender snippets of memories.

Then her eyes drift to Tae, something unspoken in them as she looks at him. A head tilt as she wonders over something.

"There's always the surprise of receiving something too." She murmurs.

Not divulging more.

But Tae's other hand snakes around my stomach, clutching at me as he lets out a small, shuddered breath.

And I wonder what sort of surprise awaits us too.

------

It's a surprise that (Y/N) doesn't divulge on and makes Tae unbearably smug and preen, padding around the kitchen and avoiding Jiminie's draped over form and wheedling as the two walk together.

"You'll see when the time's right!" he insists, setting down the plates.

I tap (Y/N)'s thigh, seeing her gaze turn to me.

"Won't you be a good sport and tell me?" I ask, leaning in.

Turning my ear towards her so she can whisper it, share it to me.

She leans in, lips brushing against my ear.

"It's the mementos from today's date." She says.

I look at her, curious.

"What exactly did you do today?" I prompt.

She smiles.

"I took Tae to a historical dressing up space. And we took photos!" she beams.

It makes my own lips stretch wide. She'd captured everything he loved, captured his joy and passion in the date and made it something directly catered for him, suited entirely for him.

"And me? Do I get to take you on a date?" I ask.

She looks soft and shy. But nods.

"I'd like that."

And though I don't know what the photos will turn out to be, don't know what had happened at their date, I'm already too excited and thrilled with beginning to wonder where to take her, what to do with her.

And know that I want it to be a date to forever remain as a good memory, a date that she'll love. A date that'll imprint itself across her soul.

A date that spoke to her just as this one had for Tae. A date that was designed for her.

(Y/N) POV:

I don't forget how proud and smug Tae had been as he'd been teasing the boys, not revealing exactly went down at the date. And it's as I'm getting ready for bed, Mi-sun unnie beside me in the bathroom, stepping in after I'd finished showering that she makes a beeline for me.

Eyes widening as she poked my neck, the touch making a dull throb of pain pulse out from where her finger experimentally touched the juncture where my neck and shoulder met.

"What exactly did you do on your date? Your neck is darkening....and are they teeth marks?" she yells, leaning in closer, breath ghosting across my skin. I squirm away from her touch and the ticklish sensation, twisting to see the mirror for myself.

Groaning aloud when I saw the indents in my skin, saw the way the mark was a dark splodge of colour.

"Tae...." I sigh.

Mi-sun unnie cosies up to my side, dragging my hand away when I slap it over the mark to hide it away.

But the bright glint in her eyes show that it's already too late. That I've been caught out.

"First you come home doing the walk of honour, in one of your men's clothes and underwear....holding your costume. And now you're all marked up. It's barely been days between both." She crows delightedly.

I twist away, cheeks pink even if I meet her eyes steadily.

"And? Your point being?" I question.

Her lips quirk up wider, a flash of teeth.

"Point being nothing. Except I want to know what happened!" she says, latching onto my arm and dragging me beside her to the sink, hip bumping mine as we wash up.

Dragging me to bed with her, bypassing my bedroom for hers.

Habaek oppa watches us go, leaning against the doorway of her room to take in the way she drags me to her bed, hastily yanking the blankets away.

"Another kidnapping? Will you ever get tired of stealing cherub away Mi-sun?" he asks amusedly.

"Nope! And anyways...she has a lot to tell me." she says wriggling in the bed as she tugs me down, moving to straddle me, pinning me under her and shooting a look over her shoulder to Habaek oppa.

Whatever look she gives him has him backing away hurriedly even as he shoots me a sympathetic look.

"I'll leave you to it?" he trails off.

Eyes searching mine.

I sag against the headboard, wriggling to get comfortable.

I nod.

"I don't think for a second I'll be getting any sleep. Goodnight oppa." I call.

Watching him nod as he steps away, fingers uncurling from around the doorway and moving away. Calling a goodnight over his shoulder as he walks away.

And when he's gone, when he's left me to my demise, Mi-sun unnie's gaze, wicked and excited turns to me. Pins me there as if her hips weren't already keeping me there.

"Now you...sweet darling of mine. Tell me everything." She croons.

Eyes silently telling me that I wasn't going anywhere.

That my best interest lay in doing exactly as she so softly urged.

------

I step out into the hallway, smiling when Habaek oppa's hand brushes across my back as he passes me by, squeezing gently.

"Need a lift? I somehow don't think you'll be very comfortable lugging those around." He says.

I straighten up and face him, lips quirked wryly.

"I wasn't planning on trekking there by foot. I was going to drive." I say.

But he smiles, eyes flashing, caught out.

"Indulge me then? Can't I just get to go on a drive, however short it may be, with my darling cherub? It feels like I don't get to see you as much." He says.

My heart sinks. Wondering whether I'd made him feel ignored or shunned, pushed to the side lines.

But he's already reading whatever my eyes betray.

"Don't go down that route. I'm glad you've got people to occupy your time, that I don't have to drag you around with me." He says as he walks to pick up the other package, identical to the ones I'd kept aside for myself.

Double copies for the photos. Printed and on canvas. Though just imagining how they must look on a much bigger scale had my cheeks burning, unsure as to how the others would react.

And when we get into the car, I find myself smiling when Habaek oppa's habitually drift to me to make sure I'm belted in first before he starts the engine, reversing out the driveway.

"How's it been?" he suddenly asks as he drives.

Cutting through the music that had been playing.

My head turns from staring out the window to peer at him, seeing the way he was still facing the front, hand loosely curved around the steering wheel.

He flushes.

Cheeks tinting pink slightly.

"Being in love that is. How is it?" he asks. Part wistful, past longing but his eyes when they glance at me briefly are also full of happiness for me.

My head curves to rest against the seat as I face him.

"So new. So exciting. It's so fulfilling." I say softly.

Watch as his lips curve up wider.

"No regrets right?" he asks after a while.

And without him needing to clarify, I already know.

I nod.

"No regrets. Not when I finally feel like I have something to live for, live to protect. It's given me a new purpose. A newer reason to never forget that before I'm a siren, I'm (Y/N)." I confess.

His free hand reaches over to squeeze my knee, settling there comfortably when I intertwine our hand, squeezing his with mine.

Habaek oppa lets out a shaky breath.

"I'm glad. Sorry that it took you this long to see and realise what we always saw...but glad. So glad." He murmurs.

And though silence falls, silent and reflective, his hand never leaves mine.

Remains resting on my knee as we drive.

And something so deep and unspoken but always there between us.

A love that couldn't ever be named. A feeling that couldn't ever accurately be described.

Something so deeply engrained into the very essence of each other, for each other.

Something that bound him and me and Mi-sun unnie together.

One of the only few good things that the Ocean had allowed me to have.

Because it was only as a siren that I gained them in my life, gained the other two parts of our shared soul.

------

"Delivery for a Lord Kim" I call as I enter the living room, lips twitching at the sharp inhale of breath from behind me. Yoongi.

Eyes landing on him all tucked up on Jin's lap, who stares back with shock and bewilderment. Blinking in surprise.

But then Tae grins, a boxy smile as he looks at me, all swallowed up in large clothes and messy curls as he beams, eyes drifting to the package I'm carrying.

"That'll be I!" he answers grandly, sitting up straighter.

I laugh at the look of bewilderment on their faces, at eyes passing back and forth, at the slight confusion but intrigue.

"Umm...what exactly did you guys do yesterday?" Kookie asks, eyes wide and head tilted, having lifted up from Minnie's shoulder when I'd entered.

"We played dress up. Isn't that right Tae?" I ask, hiding my amusement at the way his eyes flash as I set down the packages on the table.

"All yours. They came through at breakfast." I explain, smiling when Yoongi tugs me with him to curl up one a lone armchair, drawing me to curl into him, peering at Tae wriggling off to sink to his knees, hands reaching to carefully open the packaging.

And when the photos are spread out, pictures of us in various states of dress.

I smile at the roaring 20s photo, at the rare few we'd taken together, Tae standing tall and imposing but head curved to peer at me and my eyes focused on the camera even as my body pressed against the lines of his.

My eyes drift to take in everyone's expressions as Tae's hands move to draw out the others, slowly unwrapping everything we'd gotten upto. And I can sense the tension in the photos, can see the frozen moments in time where Tae and I had been talking, where he'd been teasing and where I had been teasing. I see the crackling want between us in our poses, see the aftermath of it in the intertwined state of us on the bed, eyes hooded and lips swollen and mussed.

And then my eyes narrow onto the mark on my shoulder, cheeks heating as I realise that the photographer had seen it, had figured out what we were upto in the dressing room, or an inkling of it at the very least.

"Dressing up? Or dressing down?" Yoongi asks, voice low and soft, a deep murmur.

Watch as he reaches over for the smaller printed version, fingers brushing across the photo and tapping at it.

Making me realise that for all that me and Tae had tried to fix ourselves up that there was something hurried and dishevelled about our appearances. That his shirt wasn't quite tucked in, his breeches weren't laced properly. That my own dress was a bit untied at the top, the swells of my breasts on more display.

I drag a hand over my eyes, muttering how it was all my fault.

"What was that? I didn't quite catch that?" Yoongi prompts.

I can hear the smile in his face, can hear it even as he asks me again when I mumble intelligibly under my breath.

"I said it's my fault for inviting him into the dressing room and asking him to lace me up. Can't trust those hands." I say louder.

Hearing the hushed silence that falls.

See the way Tae's lips curve into a small smirk.

Unashamed and proud.

And then Yoongi murmurs more quietly.

"I mean you could've just said it was the theme...but...thanks for that info." He says, voice a bit ragged and lower. Rougher.

Fingers trailing over the photo, trailing over the image of debauchery we had made.

And see his lips quirk up silently.

Eyes deep dark pools, seductive and inviting.

And suddenly his arm around my waist feels as if it keeps me pinned against him, flush to him.

Suddenly feel as if there was no way that I'd have won this.

All because of wanting Tae to have something to remember that date by.

As if it wasn't burned across every inch of my body exactly what had happened.

As if I didn't bear a very bold mark from it.

And shuddered when Yoongi's fingers curled against the side of my throat, experimentally brushing across the bruise.

Eyes fluttering shut.

Trying to shut them out, cheeks burning but knowing that the hunger in their eyes wasn't ever going to erase itself from my mind either.

Not that I wanted it to either.

(THERE WE GO!! KINDA A FILLER CHAPTER?? ORIGINALLY IT WAS GOING TO TAKE A MUCH ROCKY, TENTATIVE ROUTE BUT WE GOT THIS INSTEAD!! THE LETTER WILL BE SOMETHING IMPORTANT SO KEEP EYES PEELED FOR THAT NEXT CHAPTER I GUESS? AND? TAE IS THE MOST SMUGGEST AND PREENIEST ONE THERE COS LORD KIM IS NOW HOW HE'LL REMEMBER THAT DATE!! AND POOR JOON AND JINNIE JUST WENT *WIDE EYES, BLINK BLINK...* AND EVERYONE WAS CONFUSED SAVE FOR TAE!! AND THEN~ THE ENDING WITH YOONGI....WE ALSO GOT A BIT OF MI-SUN AND HABAEK COS I DON'T WANT THEM TO VANISH AND BECAUSE THEY MEAN SO SO MUCH! HABAEK IS SO HAPPY FOR HER, IT'S NOT EXACTLY EASY TO LOVE AS A SIREN, TO KNOW YOU CAN'T HAVE A LOVE WHEN THEY'LL AGE AND THE SIRENS WON'T! BUT!! MORE TO COME ON EVERY ANGLE!! SO SO EXCITED WITH WHAT I'VE GOT PLANNED NEXT CHAPTER!! AHHHHHHH! LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THOUGHT, TAKE CARE, STAY SAFE AND ENJOY!)

QUESTION....mature content warnings? Yay or Nay?

Mine is....I prefer NOT to have them because I feel like it ruins the SURPRISE element of it being there because you're expecting it to happen and it gets rid of that build up. And I totally forgot with the last chapter ahhhh! I just feel it doesn't ruin the vibe of the chapter that way. Let me know anyways!

Borahae! 💜💜💜

PurpleQueenie <3