“Taehyung, you don’t understand, I almost exploded in there,” Jimin says as he takes a bite of his steak that Taehyung had neatly cut up into bite sized pieces and placed back on his plate.

Him and Taehyung were having their customary “date night”, eating out on a Friday evening after a long day of work. Today they went through session after session, cautiously navigating deeper and deeper into their patients’ minds and guiding them to healthier mental states. Both of them were vey used to their jobs by now, but there were always tough patients, and Jeon Jungkook was undoubtedly one of them.

The restaurant atmosphere was relaxing, and the mood lighting made the aura quite romantic. The voices of other couples sitting at adjacent tables were drowned out light piano music playing in the background.

“The way he just stares me down and mocks me like I’m not even licensed to practice medicine” Jimin shakes his head with a huff.

“He sounds like a douche” Taehyung says, picking up his wine glass, swirling it gently, and taking a sip of the red liquid.

“Yeah, but have you read up on his research?” Jimin says, eyes lighting up at the thought of Jungkook’s accomplishments in the field of science and medicine.

“I thought you didn’t like him,” Taehyung says, raising an eyebrow and setting his glass down.

“I don’t, but that doesn’t change the fact that his work is absolutely amazing. I mean, balancing neurosurgeries and lab research like it’s a piece of cake. Not many people can do that you know?” Jimin sighs, eyes looking like he’s in a daze.

“Are you sure it’s not because of his visuals?” Taehyung says, chewing on his bite of steak and staring at Jimin with an expressionless face.

“Tae, I told you, you are waaaaay better looking than him.” Jimin responds while reaching over and patting the back of Taehyung’s hand that was resting on the cloth covered surface of the table.

The light brown haired boy doesn’t look convinced, but smiles and continues eating. 

“Remember when we first met?” Jimin says, trying to change the topic and perhaps lighten the mood. 

“How could I not?” Taehyung smirks, recalling the first time he had met the boy he was destined to be with. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Some thousands of years ago...

“Arrrgh! Did you do this?!” The King was livid, sinister eye’s burning like torch flames as they land on the little boy peaking out from behind one of the large ivory pillars. His heavy steps shake the floor of the entire palace as he rushes up the steps of the throne hall, toward said young prince who was trembling in fear.

“Father, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-“ Before the prince could finish, the back of the king’s hand had already made contact with the boy’s tender, sun-kissed cheeks. The loud slap echoes through the empty palace, resonating against the walls and almost shattering the stain glass windows.

“You’re a disgrace! A waste of a life form!” The King’s booming voice cut through the ringing in the boy’s ear, and the strong stench of liquor carried by his warm breath spreads like wildfire through the room.

Ever since the Queen died giving birth to him ten years ago, the King had planted all the blame on the prince, never failing to use him as a punching bag, channeling all of his frustrations on the poor boy. Being at the receiving end of the King’s rage wasn’t an occasional thing, in fact, the young prince was so used to this kind of beating that it’s all he’s ever known in his short and lonely life.

Although he had seen the King in a drunken rage plenty of times, this was one of the worst. So before the king could land another hand or foot on him, the young prince makes a run for it, not even looking back to see if the king would even bother to chase him down. He’ll probably be dragged back to the palace by the guards later, upon the king’s order like always.

Tears are streaming down his eyes, blurring his vision and choking his helpless gasps for air, but the golden brown haired boy continues to run like his life depended on it because at that moment, it probably did.

The palace is fading in the background as his frail legs carry him as far away from the awful place as he can go, across the moat, past the fortress, and deep into the forbidden forest.

He slows down only because the dense vegetation wouldn't allow him to continue at the speed he was sprinting. He keeps going; despite the thorny bushes cutting gashes into his golden skin and tearing at his custom tailored silk robe. He doesn’t even let the darkness or the fear of getting lost prevent him from traveling deeper and deeper into the forest.

It was late, the sun was setting, and darkness was creeping in as the shadows of the trees grew longer and longer, until there was almost no light remaining. The prince looks around, panting and feeling a different source of fear travel up his back, sending shivers down his spine.

“Is anybody there?” He croaks, not knowing if he actually wanted someone or something to answer or if he would feel calmer just greeted by silence.

“Hello?” He tries again.

Eerie Silence.

The prince makes a feeble attempt to call out again, but collapses from utter exhaustion. He uses his last ounce of energy to wrap his robe around his fragile body shivering from the sudden drop in temperature.

Right before he falls asleep, he hears a ruffling sound come from a nearby bush. Normally this would trigger a fight or flight response, but he’s too drained to even worry for his life then; and the last thing he sees through the slits of his drooping eyelids is a blurry flash of something fluffy and pink.

Then he passes out.

…

When he wakes up upon the first signs of light at dawn, the air is damp and the forest is covered in morning dew.

Eyes groggy and trying to adjust to the morning sunlight peaking through the thick trees, he squints and blinks a couple of times before the surrounding environment comes into view. He scans the area and registers everything as normal…except-

“Ahhhhh!!!” the young prince screams when his eyes land on the strange creature sitting on the trunk of a fallen tree and staring at him, big round eyes beaming, and head resting in between his hands.

“Oh, Taehyung, sorry for startling you” The creature with flawless cool-toned skin and pale pink hair says. He was a small human looking boy with a pair of glistening pupils that had lavender hues and a kind, nurturing smile that the prince had never had the luxury of encountering in his depressing life.

“W-who a-are you? And h-how d-do you know my name?” The prince asks in a shaky voice, feeling the urge to, but too shy to approach the fairy-like boy.

“It’s me, Jimin,” The boy says, confused as to why the prince doesn’t recognize him.

“Have we met before?” The prince, Taehyung, asks, trying to recall if he’s ever seen this strange but beautiful person around the palace, perhaps he’s one of the servants? But no, his features are too distinct to not stand out and leave a lasting impression. And Taehyung didn’t have any friends, nor has he ever met a single soul outside the palace.

Jimin’s eyes are wide now, and he’s waiting for Taehyung to burst out laughing and tell him this was all a joke, but the prince stays silent, waiting for Jimin to answer.

“No, this can’t be….” Jimin whispers under his breath, alarmed voice barely audible. He’s finally realized the day has come, and it takes all the strength he has in his petite body to stay calm and composed.

“Ummm, I’m not sure if I remember you” Taehyung suddenly says. “But I promise I will after today.” The prince attempts to give a reassuring smile, not knowing why, but feeling a sort of need to console the little fairy boy who’s sparkling eyes have been tarnished with hints of sadness.

“I have a long story to tell you” Jimin says as Taehyung slowly maneuvers over and sits down beside him on the fallen tree trunk.

“Oooo, I love stories” Taehyung’s youthful eyes light up and a wide boxy smile appears on his face. Jimin returns the reaction by giving the little prince an endearing smile, his eyes his eyes disappearing into half moons. He begins with a soothing, musical voice…

“It’s called ‘Our first and Last’”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The people on the streets are bustling about with their day, continuously moving, their motion unaltered, unaffected by anything else, much like the flow of time itself. It was rush hour, and the streets were noisy, filled with the frequent honk of cars, the screech of sudden breaks, and the occasional shout from a driver consumed by road rage.

You had just come out of another session with Dr. Kim, and this time it was much more comfortable. He finally stopped asking you tedious questions and moved on to doing what he liked to call “experiments” with you, which just consisted of making you fall asleep in his office and observing you. Which yeah, sounds creepy as hell, but it was pretty much the only way to tackle your problem.

Third session down. You sigh as you walk into the supermarket.

You were tasked with the duty of picking up what Hoseok liked to call “study snacks” in preparation for the all-nighter you were about to pull right before your final. He liked sweet things, but he also requested salty snacks to balance out the sweetness.

The world is all about balance; it takes two halves to make a whole.

Hoseok’s voice rings in your head and you can’t help but roll your eyes at how you thought of him even when he wasn’t around.

You scan the aisle for his favorite brand of potato chips when you see the familiar outline of curly black hair that wasn’t too long but not short either.

“Yoongi?” You say as you walk up to the guy you haven’t seen since your first session at the Park&Kim psychology clinic.

“Oh, it’s you” Yoongi says as he turns around to see the smile plastered on your face.

“Grocery shopping?” You ask, curiously peeking at his shopping cart full of food.

“Yeah” Yoongi grunts before turning his attention back to looking for the last item on the list of groceries he was tasked to pick up.

“Big family, huh?” You eye the stacks of microwave dinners and boxes of energy bars.

“It’s not for me” Yoongi says. “It’s…uh….for a friend.” He sighs, looking at the cart like he’s done this a million times. There’s an unspoken tiredness in his eyes, but it speaks of caring concern rather than annoyance.

“So you changed you appointments?” You ask, wondering why you never saw him back at the clinic after that first awkward introduction.

“Oh yeah, that wasn’t for me either” Yoongi says.

“For the friend?”

Yoongi nods. “He finally agreed to go, so my work is done there.” The sound of relief in his voice is unmistakable.

“Oh, I see” You nod, not knowing what more you can say now that you know you probably won’t run into him as often.

“Well, I’d better get going.” Yoongi says, as he waves.

“Yeah, ok, ummm, see you around I guess.” You wave back and although it might just be your imagination, but you see his lips curve into a small smile before he turns around and is off on his way.

...

“Dr. Jeon, can you describe all the details of the dream you had last night?”

Junkook looks at Jimin. The pink haired psychologist stares back, un-phased by the intense look of despise in the neurosurgeon’s eyes.

“I was in a museum and it was raining outside” Jungkook huffs, not even bothering going into any more detail.

“Can you remember what was inside?” Jimin slowly begins to prod at Jungkook’s description, cautious not to get on the neurosurgeon’s bad side.

“Some random paintings, and this weird statue of an angel with black wings.” Jungkook says, crossing his arms as he leans back and closes his eyes. He had been in lab all night, and the sleepiness was finally catching up to him. He almost wanted to skip this session and just take a nap, but he knew Yoongi wouldn’t be happy if he did.

“Don’t tell me that’s supposed to be a sign of my pending death or something,” Jungkook says, ask he hears the scratch of pen on paper as Jimin begins to take notes.

“How did you feel when you were there?”

Jungkook furrows his eyebrows, eyes still closed. Jimin could tell he was actually taking his time to think before he said anything, which was a first.

“I was really happy, comfortable, but there’s a bit of nervousness accompanied by excitement.”

“Was anyone else there?”

Another long pause.

“It feels like I’m not alone. I know I’m not alone. But when I look around and there’s no one there.”

.......