EMPTY SPACE ; yugbam [HIATUS]

-16-

"Alright, here we go."

Jinyoung held up the vial proudly. It was filled with a brownish-greenish liquid. The rest of the crew stared at it warily.

"Are you sure it'll work?", Yugyeom asked nervously. Jaebum glanced at him.

"Yugyeom's right. We shouldn't use it on Bambam if we're not completely sure that it will work", Jaebum said, hands on his hips.

Mark smiled at their captain comfortingly. "It'll work. Yugyeom was our test subject."

The crew looked at Yugyeom, who was standing by himself with his hands twisted together, a habit he had learned from Bambam.

"If Yugyeom's fine, then Bambam should be fine."

"This is different, though", Jaebum cut in. He looked nervous. "Yugyeom's was just a small cut. Bambam's is..."

They all looked down. Jinyoung shook his head.

"We have to try it, Captain. If we don't, well, I don't know if I can fix him."

Jaebum sighed. "This is a team decision. If you think we should try it, raise your hand."

Jinyoung, Jackson, Mark, and Youngjae raised their hands. They looked at Yugyeom expectantly.

Yugyeom looked down. He didn't want to worsen Bambam's condition, but he knew that they needed to try the mixture. It was their only chance.

He raised his hand slowly, and Jaebum looked down. "Alright, Jinyoung. You can do it."

Jinyoung paused, glancing at Jaebum. "Are you sure, Captain?"

Jaebum glanced at Bambam's still body laying in the operation table. The look in his eyes was despairing.

"Yes."

Jinyoung drew the mixture into a needle, moving over to Bambam's body. He looked up at Yugyeom who was still standing in the corner.

"Yugyeom, come here", he beckoned. Yugyeom's eyes widened and he obeyed, moving over to Bambam and Jinyoung. The doctor smiled comfortingly.

"I'm going to help him, Yugyeom. Do you trust me?"

Yugyeom nodded. He grabbed onto Bambam's hand, gripping it tightly. "Yes."

Jinyoung watched him for a couple more seconds, and then he put the needle into Bambam's arm.

Yugyeom had been expecting some sudden change, but instead Bambam stayed still. He gripped his hand tighter, sweat dripping down his back.

Jinyoung unwrapped the bandages that were around Bambam's upper body. The crew watched in silence as he neared Bambam's skin. Yugyeom took a shaky breath when he saw it.

The cut was still there, flaring red. His heart sunk.

Jinyoung gasped and smiled widely. "It's working."

Yugyeom looked up at him. "What do you mean? It's still there."

Jinyoung ran a hand through his hair, laughing quietly. "Yeah, but it's already much better than when I checked on him this morning."

Yugyeom looked back at the gash. With closer inspection, he could see slow changes happening on Bambam's body. The redness was fading and the swelling was going down, bit by bit.

"It must take longer on larger injuries", Mark observed, leaning around Jinyoung to look at Bambam.

"How much longer?", Yugyeom asked desperately. Jinyoung smiled at him.

He placed a hand on Yugyeom's shoulder. "It's okay, Yugyeom. Give him some time. Why don't you go help Youngjae and Jaebum with repairing the ship?"

Yugyeom glanced at Bambam, not wanting to leave him. He slowly let go of the sleeping boy's hand, moving to go with Youngjae and Jaebum. Jaebum rubbed his back comfortingly, leading him out the door.

He looked back at Bambam one more time before he went out the door, watching the way color slowly came back to his face.

---

"Yugyeom, hand me a chip."

Yugyeom rolled his eyes, throwing the bag of potato chips at Youngjae's head. Youngjae startled as it hit him, looking away from his tablet and staring at Yugyeom with wide eyes.

"I didn't come with you to be your personal slave", Yugyeom grumbled, leaning his elbows in his knees.

Youngjae opened his mouth to say something back but Jaebum stepped between the two, rubbing his grease covered hands on his work jumper.

"Stop arguing. Neither of you have been doing any work. Get off your asses already."

Youngjae stuck his tongue out at the captain as he turned away. Yugyeom rolled his eyes and followed Jaebum, grabbing a box of tools as he went.

They were desperately trying to repair the damage that had been done to the bottom floor of the ship. The engine was shot, half of their fuel storage had been dumped on impact, and several furnaces had been knocked out of place.

Youngjae had been trying to get the ship back online with NOVA all day, with no luck. They suspected that their satellite dish had been ruined in the fall. There was a spare dish somewhere in storage, but they couldn't get to it. The water tank had exploded, completely flooding one side of the ship, conveniently the side where the dish was being kept.

Jaebum bent down next to the furnace he was trying to repair. Yugyeom took one look at it and chuckled.

Jaebum looked up at him, raising an eyebrow. "What?"

Yugyeom leaned down and Jaebum moved to make room for him. "Sorry Captain, but you're doing it all wrong."

Jaebum rolled his eyes, standing up and moving away. "I'm an astrologist, how am I supposed to know how to fix spaceships?"

Yugyeom went to work on the furnace. It was a small repair, and it wouldn't take much to fix it. Fixing everything else in the ship was another thing.

"Yugyeom, you're doing good. I know it's been a tough two days for you, but I'm really proud of how you've been handling it. So...keep up the good work", Jaebum finished, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. Yugyeom looked up at him.

"You should just stick to planets."

Jaebum shook his head, laughing quietly. Yugyeom grinned, turning back to the furnace. He tightened the last screw and stood up.

"Good job." He felt Jaebum's hand on his shoulder and he turned around to face him. He had a serious expression on his face. "Really, Yugyeom. I'm proud of you."

Yugyeom looked down, gulping. He didn't feel like he'd been doing such a good job.

Jaebum patted his shoulder one last time, leaving him to go yell at Youngjae. Yugyeom's mind wandered back to the one person he couldn't stop thinking about.

Bambam.

---
why do i do these anymore