EMPTY SPACE ; yugbam [HIATUS]

-20-

Yugyeom was staring at the ceiling, unable to fall asleep. He had been laying in bed for hours now, and despite the fact that he had barely slept for two days, he was wide awake.

He startled as he heard a small knock on the door, sitting up in bed. He furrowed his brows and turned on his lamp light, glancing at the door.

He stood up, walking quietly across the ground. He opened the door, and looked down slightly to see a certain black-haired boy.

Bambam shuffled his feet nervously under Yugyeom's gaze. "Hey, I didn't mean to wake you up, I just was wondering if..." He trailed off, biting his lip.

"What?", Yugyeom asked softly, still gazing at Bambam's flushed face. The only light was coming from his lamp and it illuminated the other boy's features.

"If...If I could stay with you tonight?"

Yugyeom's heart thumped as Bambam's eyes met his own. He found himself nodding and stepping to make way for Bambam to come in, not thinking. Bambam nervously stepped inside the door, twisting his hands together.

Yugyeom's face was burning and he stared at the ground, embarrassed. "Where..."

Bambam shrugged. "I don't know. I just, I don't want to be alone right now, I guess."

Yugyeom gulped, finally looking up at the other boy. He took an uneasy breath as his eyes met Bambam's in the dim light.

"Come on."

He walked to his bed, laying down under the covers. Bambam hovered by the side desk for a second before getting in too. Yugyeom turned off the lamp and they were silent.

They were laying next to each other stiffly, both boys too nervous to move. Yugyeom was staring at the ceiling, still too wired to sleep.

"I'm sorry."

Yugyeom glanced over at the shorter boy. He was also staring at the ceiling, sadness in his dark eyes.

"What do you mean?", Yugyeom asked. Bambam bit his cheek.

"I'm...I'm sorry for what I said. I shouldn't have..."

Yugyeom shook his head, turning his body to face Bambam's. "Don't say that. You were just trying to be honest."

Yugyeom could see tears glinting in the corners of Bambam's eyes. "No, Yugyeom. I was out of line. I should have kept it to myself. I should have never had those feelings in the first place-"

"Bam, stop. You can't control that. It's not your fault", Yugyeom interuppted. Bambam sniffled and covered his face with a hand. Yugyeom touched his arm comfortingly. "Bam, it's okay."

Bambam shook his head. "I wish...I wish I wasn't so in love with you, Yugyeom. That would make all of this so much easier."

Yugyeom's heart ached. He stared at Bambam's face as tears slipped down his cheeks. "Come here."

He tugged on Bambam's arm, pulling the shorter boy into his chest. Bambam wrapped his arms around Yugyeom, burying his face in the taller boy's shirt. He sobbed, clutching Yugyeom's back.

Yugyeom hugged him back, silent tears falling down his own cheeks.

---

"Meeting in 30 minutes."

Yugyeom was awakened by Jaebum's announcement. He gazed around the room drowsily, his vision blurry. He looked down and saw Bambam snuggled into his chest.

His face burned as he watched Bambam's sleeping face, and he looked away quickly. He gently removed himself from the smaller boy's grasp, getting out of bed and moving to the closet. He searched through his lounge clothes to find his work jumper.

He startled as he heard the covers rustling. He turned around to see Bambam rubbing his face and stretching, tangled in the sheets of Yugyeom's bed.

The smaller boy sat up, meeting Yugyeom's gaze. "What's going on?"

Yugyeom looked back to his closet. "Meeting in 30 minutes. Do you want to borrow one of my jumpers?"

Bambam untangled himself from the sheets and got up, stretching his arms. "Sure."

Yugyeom threw him a jumper and the other boy caught it easily. He turned around to start getting undressed.

Yugyeom started to take off his shirt when he caught Bambam's reflection in the mirror he had in his closet. He watched as Bambam took off his shirt, staring at the other boy's defined back and tiny waist. He gulped as he watched.

Bambam looked down at the jumper. Yugyeom couldn't see his expression with his back turned. Then, Bambam spun around, looking at Yugyeom. The taller boy jumped as their gazes met in the mirror and he felt his face burn furiously.

Bambam cocked his head to the side, a small grin on his lips. "Uh, Yugyeom, I don't think this is gonna fit."

Yugyeom cleared his throat, finally mustering the courage to look over at Bambam. He opened his mouth to reply until he saw Bambam's bare stomach and his eyes widened.

Bambam looked at him confusedly, then looked down and covered his stomach in realization. "Oh, it's fine, it's just a scar..."

Yugyeom looked back up at Bambam's eyes. He was staring at the ground with a complicated expression.

"I thought that it was all healed?"

Bambam sat back on the bed, letting his hands fall down to reveal the large scar cutting down the length of his stomach once again. He twisted his hands together like he always did.

"Yeah, it is. But Jinyoung, I mean Dr. Park, said that no amount of the bark can make the scar go away."

Yugyeom moved sit next to him on the bed. "Does it...does it still hurt?"

Bambam stared at his hands. "Last night, when I was alone in my room...it hurt like crazy. Dr. Park said that that would probably happen, ghost pains or whatever. That's part of the reason I came to you, actually..."

Yugyeom nodded, moving his gaze from Bambam's face to his stomach. His hand hovered near Bambam's scar unsuredly. "Can...can I...?"

Bambam nodded. He gently grabbed Yugyeom's hand in his own and pressed it to his stomach. Yugyeom's heart thumped against his chest at the feeling of Bambam's skin against his hand.

He looked up to Bambam's eyes and realized how close their faces were to each other. They stared in each other's eyes. Bambam's hand slipped off of Yugyeom's and the taller boy leaned forward, just barely.

He could see Bambam's eyelashes fluttering as he started to close his eyes. He wanted to close the distance between them so bad...

"Hey kids, are you ready for the meeting yet?"

Yugyeom and Bambam jumped away from each other, faces burning. Jackson stared at them from the door in confusion.

"What were you two doing?"

Yugyeom stood up, heading to the door and pushing Jackson back. "Nothing. We'll be there soon. Please knock next time", he added threateningly. Jackson rolled his eyes at the younger boy as he shut the door. He leaned back against the wall, sighing heavily.

He glanced at Bambam. The other boy was still sitting on the bed, staring down at Yugyeom's jumper and biting his lip.

"We should get ready."

---
took long enough amirite