Hoseok hummed when he watched Chris turn over in her spot, eyes opening slowly. He could have sworn he felt his soul blaze just then. All his life he'd known he was the type of person to spread warmth, both consciously and not. But here he was, on the receiving end for once.

"Hoseok," she let out, voice laced with exhaustion as it fell an octave lower than usual. He closed his eyes at the sound, snuggling in closer to her and burying his head in her neck.

"Good morning, beautiful," he mumbled into her skin, feeling it reverberate through her body.

"Beautiful?" Chris snorted, "Hardly."

"Hey," he pulled back, a frown pulling his mouth down, "Don't say that."

"Hoseok, I'm kidding—"

"No, no, don't try to get out of this one, Chris," with his index finger under her chin, he lifted it so that they could lock eyes, "My beautiful girlfriend."

And he wasn't lying. It left him in awe when she woke up looking like that. When she woke up with her hair as autumn leaves playing in the day shine, despite it being the middle of summer. With her eyes, just the most beautiful pool of tea, and her stunning tan skin bronze with the sun spilling through the room.

"Stop calling me that," she mumbled, turning around in her spot.

"What? My girlfriend?" grinning, he lowered his arms to hug her waist as he flipped her back.

"You know what I meant," her voice was muffled as she hid in his chest.

"Hey," Hoseok softened his voice, even if he couldn't stop his eyes gleaming with mischief. Fond mischief, helplessly fond, but still. "Look at me, will you?"

Hoseok leaned into where Chris covered her face, flustered and shy compared to his own confidence.

In the space of two heartbeats, Hoseok pressed kisses to the backs of her hand, like he was dotting kisses across her face. Shyness turned to a different type of hiding, playful, as he continued to try and coax Chris to meet his gaze.

"Look at me," he whispered once more, and she finally did, tearing her hands from her face, "There she is!"

The grin he gifted her was blinding, Chris had to close an eye as if to protect it, "Thank you, sunshine," she rubbed her nose with his before pecking him on the lips, "I love you."

"I love you too, Chrisoula."

He never missed the opportunity to call her that, and she had to admit she loved hearing him say it. Especially in this space, in the delicate moments of silence before he would press a kiss to her hair, as he drew a heart against her bare back, after intertwining their fingers and playing with them against his chest. The name felt so fragile, so much more beautiful than she had ever fathomed before.

The pair spent the next few minutes laying there, breaths mingling into one, foreheads pressed together, eyes tracing each other's faces so carefully as if they needed to memorise them.

"What's on your mind?" he hummed, softly kissing the bridge of her nose. To this, she closed her eyes with a smile.

Once upon a time she would have said nothing, but now she curls into the velvet of his neck to sigh about all the things she's lost and gained.

"And you," she traced butterfly kisses along the broad of his bare shoulders, "Have made me realise that moving to this small town was definitely worth it."

"Aren't I glad to hear that," letting go of a sigh when her lips reached his neck, he snuggled in closer, "I don't want to leave your bed," he groaned.

This led to her quiet chuckling, "I'm not going to tell the boys you said that."

It was Seokjin's idea to organise a small picnic for lunch that day, and Hoseok was much too excited to introduce Chris as his girlfriend officially.

"We don't have to go," she could hear his pout, "I don't wanna."

"We both know that's a lie," pulling back, she searched for his eyes, "Besides, we'll have all the time in the world afterwards, hmm?"

He gasped, "We need to make something for the picnic too; I totally forgot."

"Or," she smirked, "we could buy some muffins from the store and pack them in a couple of containers?"

"Mhm," he returned her cheeky smile, pulling her closer to him once again before kissing her swiftly, "I like the sound of that."

Her grin grew, and he liked how it fit so perfectly against his mouth. He loved how his bottom lip could fit into the curve of her smile. Her smile that's only his.

—

Everyone seemed to already be at the park by the time Hoseok and Chris got there. Jungkook and Jimin were running after each other unsurprisingly, followed by a little boy. Yoongi and Naileah were immersed in a conversation that had them both smiling at each other obliviously. The rest were chatting idly as they set up the picnic blanket, spreading out the food as they did so.

But when Seokjin looked up slowly, he did a double-take before beaming widely at the two walking up to them. "Hoseok! Chris! Hey!"

"Hi hyung," Hoseok clasped the older man's shoulder before waving at everyone else there, "Hey guys."

Chris smiled too, "Hope you all weren't having too much fun without us."

"Oh my goodness, this is Chris?" a feminine voice spoke, and she turned to see a member of the group who she hadn't seen before.

The woman quickly rose to her feet and sent her a gorgeous smile, "I'm Jaeyi, it's so nice to meet you finally."

Chris looked down at her hand before looking back up at her again, hesitating slightly. Without a second to spare, she felt Hoseok by her side, nudging her, "She's Seokjin hyung's best friend, I promise you'll love her."

"Seokjin hyung's best friend," she scoffed, teasing Hoseok, "Not by choice," she told Chris this time, squeezing her hand when she took it.

Chris grinned, "It's lovely to meet you, too. I'm..." suddenly self-conscious, she looked around to see if anyone was listening, "I'm..."

"We're our own people," Jaeyi assured her, "You don't have to introduce yourself to me as someone else's something, don't you worry."

Chris already loved her.

"You're right," she said, "I'm Chris. Just Chris."

"Hi, Just Chris."

A small smile sat on Chris's lips as her eyes travelled past Jaeyi's shoulder to another person whom she'd never seen before, sitting just on the edge of the picnic mat, notebook open on her lap as she scribbled at it relentlessly.

Scrunching her eyebrows, she threw a questioning glance at both Hoseok and Jaeyi but they only shrugged. "That's Tee," Hoseok mumbled and Chris nodded slowly, knowing he was about to elaborate, "She sometimes hangs out with us. She's cool."

Chris examined the girl's features, brown eyes hidden behind dark hair, she could still see the way a small smile sat on her lips as her gaze bounced from person to person. Seemingly, every time something came to mind, Tee would bury her nose back into her little notebook.

"Chris, Chris, Chris," Seokjin's voice interrupted Chris's thoughts, and she looked over to see him strolling over, the younger boy from before following behind him confidently.

"Here's someone else I wanted you to meet," looking down, he motioned for the child to speak, "Go ahead, say what we practised."

The small boy held his hands together before bowing down toward Chris, hair bobbing back and forth gingerly, "Hello," his voice was as delicate as cotton candy, "My name is Yeojin, it's nice to meet you!"

"Hi sweetheart," Chris crouched down to pinch his cheek, "It's nice to meet you too!"

"I've been meaning for you to meet my son for ages now, sorry it's taken so long."

"It's okay, the timing is perfect," looking at Yeojin, she asked, "Right?"

He nodded, "B-But Uncle Hoseok was meant to take me to the carnival this morning, but he cancelled, I hate him."

Chris's eyes widened, feeling her cheeks flush, "Oh, really?"

Turning to send a glare at her boyfriend, she saw he was sitting with Yoongi and Namjoon now, laughing about something so hard that his smile formed a heart shape and his eyes nearly disappeared.

How could she stay mad?

"I'll tell him off for you, okay?" she told Yeojin, and he nodded happily, finding something behind her fascinating as he started to sprint off in that direction, Jaeyi hurriedly following.

Chris then walked over to Hoseok, sitting next to him. As if on instinct, he reached out and took her hand in his, pulling it onto his lap.

She stiffened, not being used to showing any affection in public. But neither one of the boys seemed to be affected, which assured her. Not too long after, they fell into a conversation about music and Chris was too happy to listen to them talk about it as if they would have been musicians in another life.

—

After the picnic was over, they stayed around the park for a couple of hours before slowly leaving one by one. Hoseok and Chris, however, decided on extending their picnic to dinner as well.

"Your friends are absolute delights," she told him as they picked the daffodils off the ground.

"They are, aren't they?" she heard the frown in his voice, and when she looked up, she watched him stare at his attempt at a daisy crown. Failed attempt.

"Sunshine," she giggled, taking the flowers in her hands, "I told you that not everyone can do it; it's okay."

"You make it look so easy though," sticking out his bottom lip, he looked down.

But Chris caught his chin in the palm of her hand, lifting his face up again and sticking some flowers in the spaces above his ears, "This looks even better."

"Thank you, Chris," his voice darkened but she only shrugged.

"It's not a big deal, Hoseok," chuckling, she patted his head, "I'll make you a crown for your head."

"No," shaking his head, he took her hands in his, "Thank you for all you've done for me, for my dad. Because of you, we have more time with him and I couldn't have asked for a better gift."

"Oh," she blinked, trying to tear her gaze from him, "That's okay, Hoseok."

"You're the first person to really ever do something like that for me," she looked back to him and saw how the balls of his cheeks glowed as he smiled to himself, "I guess I've gotten so used to doing things for other people that it just feels so weird for me to receive it. But I'm so thankful that I've got you in my life, someone who seems to continue making me feel so special and so—"

Before he could finish his sentence, Chris had gotten up and placed a hand on either side of Hoseok's face before kissing him. Inching closer to him as she kneeled, she deepened the kiss, trying to keep a hold of reality while doing so.

Because she found that whenever she kissed this man, she forgot everything that was going on around her. She felt marigold, chrysanthemum, sunflowers, a whole meadow of gold shoot up in every corner of her mind and grounding herself was the last thing she wanted.

Slowly, his hands rested on her waist as she pulled back a little to find him blinking back at her, slightly dazed.

Letting out a small cough, a hand reached for his bottom lip, "What was that for?"

"You were being cute," she laughed and he shook his head. Then, in one swift movement, he tightened his hold around her waist as he hugged her and spun her around to sit in his lap, causing them both to dissolve into a fit of giggles.

"I have to admit," she breathed out, "you're quite smooth when you want to be, huh."

"Hmm," he hummed in agreement, "It's why you fell for me, isn't it?"

Turning her head, she let her hair fall over her other shoulder as she looked at him properly, "Well, of course. It has nothing to do with your gentleness, your warmth, your ability to make me feel like I'm coming home after a long, cold, blizzard..." she paused, "None of that."

She felt his smile as he pressed his lips to her shoulder and before she knew it, his fingers started etching doodles against her skin, dancing from freckle to freckle as he met her eyes, finding they were already on him.

"You know," she breathed, her voice barely above a whisper, "I think you're my world."

And he was. He reminded her that, no, she was not hard to love. No, she didn't have to be any different to be worthy of love.

He reminded her that every scar lining her skin, lining her soul, weren't memories of failure. They were moments of courage. They were moments of love.

For, while she didn't realise it, she had toted herself, her anxieties, her strengths, pieced herself together when she was too broken to smile. And she did not deserve to berate herself for it.

"I fall into pieces around you," she continued, "Struggling to pull myself together because you're just... my everything."

He would be lying if he said he didn't feel the chrysanthemum blooming in the bottom of his ribcage, bright red and vast.

She felt him shudder and lifted his fingers to trace the bow of her peach lip.

"I'll hold you together," he whispered too, "I can't have my world falling into pieces."

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and with that, marigold is over 🥺🥺🥺🥺

ahhhh thank you so much for reading this story 🥺🥺 check out the next few chapters for some extras! and also, *gasp* another story?