EMPTY SPACE ; yugbam [HIATUS]

-36-

"Mom, Dad, I need to tell you something."

His parents glanced up at the sound of his shaky voice. Their expressions immediately turned worried.

"What is it?", Yugyeom's mother asked, reaching her hand toward her son. Yugyeom took it shakily.

He glanced over at Bambam, his throat dry and starting to tighten up. Bambam brought a hand to his shoulder and rubbed it comfortingly, motivating him to continue.

"I, um...", Yugyeom trailed off, turning back to his parents. He stared down at the table, trying to put the words together in his head. "Lately, I've been...thinking about some things. And I came to a conclusion with it and I wanted to tell you before I left."

He glanced up at his parents, trying to read their expression. They seemed confused and worried. His mother nodded her head to continue.

"Okay, well. I, um, it's about..." His mind was blank. The fear of how they would react seemed to be keeping him from putting together a sentence. He couldn't think.

He felt a hand rubbing against his thigh and he glanced over at Bambam. He gave him a soft, encouraging smile, and suddenly Yugyeom felt much braver. He looked back to his parents, his eyes starting to water slightly.

"I...like boys."

His parents were frozen, staring at him. A wide variation of emotions seemed to flash across their faces before settling into two wide smiles.

"Oh honey...", his mother said, standing up and moving over to him. She grasped him tightly in her arms and Yugyeom snuggled his head into her collarbone, warm tears falling down his face. "You don't have to be afraid to tell us that."

Yugyeom sniffled, pulling back and wiping the tears off his chin. "I wasn't afraid."

"And you had no reason to be", his father assured him. For some reason, he glanced over at Bambam, a warm smile on his lips. "Bambam is a very nice young man and I'm happy for you two."

Both boys' eyes widened. Bambam choked on the sip of water he had been taking, and leaned over, coughing. Yugyeom flushed bright red and shook his head from side to side harshly.

"W-We're not-I don't like-it's not like that!", Yugyeom stuttered while Bambam tried to clear his throat of water. His father gave him a confused look.

"What?"

"Me and Bambam are just friends!", Yugyeom assured him. He mentally slapped himself for not being clearer and laughed uncomfortably. "I mean, he's gay and I'm gay, but we're not together!"

His parents shared a quick look and then smiled apologetically. "My mistake", his father corrected. Bambam's face was bright red and stared down at his lap.

"It's okay", Yugyeom mumbled, embarrassed. He sat back down in his seat and so did his mother. He cleared his throat and looked back at his parents shyly. "So, you're not mad?"

"Of course not", his mother replied. "We will support you no matter who you are. You are always our son first."

Yugyeom smiled at his mother, his heart beat slowing down knowing that everything was okay. "Thank you. I'm going to miss you guys when I'm gone."

His mother sniffled and nodded her head in agreement. His father wiped at the edge of his eye, coughing slightly. "You've still got a while until then", he replied, his voice full of emotion and cracking slightly.

Yugyeom nodded. He stood up and Bambam followed him, quickly picking up their dishes together. "We'll help you with the dishes."

His parents thanked them and they got to work.

—-

"Good job."

Yugyeom glanced over at his friend, watching the warm breeze blow over him, blowing his dark hair in different directions. He smiled softly and leaned his chin on his hand, gazing up at the other boy.

"For what?"

Bambam rolled his eyes, gazing down at Yugyeom. The two boys were painted orange as the sun set in front of them. They had gone up to the roof after finishing with the dishes.

"For coming out to your parents. I know it's not easy, even if you know they'll accept you."

Yugyeom tore his gaze from Bambam's, gazing out at the buildings in front of them. "How did your mom react when you came out?"

Bambam, too, looked down, the once nostalgic expression wiped off his face.

"She was really sick then, so she didn't really hear me. Like, she heard me, but she didn't hear me. When you're sick like she was, stuff like that doesn't really matter. She could barely remember other stuff, so she didn't really hold onto it."

Yugyeom listened in silence, both boys' eyes trained on the setting sun.

"She hugged me, though", Bambam recounted, his voice cracking as he started to choke up. Yugyeom glanced over at him in worry, surprised to see a sad smile and tears threatening to spill out. "She whispered something in my ear. I remember the exact words. 'You are my shining star'."

Yugyeom couldn't take his eyes off of his friend. The orange tinting his skin, the tears shining in his dark eyes, that soft angelic smile on his lips. He was stunning.

"You are", Yugyeom whispered. Bambam looked down at him, a puzzled expression on his face. Yugyeom's lips twitched into a smile, his own eyes starting to shine with tears. "You are a star. You belong up there with them."

Bambam met Yugyeom's gaze and the two boys stared at each other. The warm wind blew past them and the sun continued setting, the sky continually getting darker, but they didn't look away. Bambam gripped the edge of the railing, as if holding himself back from something.

"Yugyeom-"

The wind blew again, much harder this time, cutting Bambam off. Yugyeom's hair blew into his eyes and he reached up, aggressively trying to move it away. Flower petals from the plants on the roof blew around the two, sticking to their hoodies and flying off into the city. Yugyeom laughed softly as they got themselves situated again, pulling the petals off and fixing their hair.

"What were you going to say?", Yugyeom asked. Bambam pulled a petal out of his hair, avoiding the taller boy's gaze.

He glanced at Yugyeom for a second, smiling half-heartedly. "It's not important. We should go inside before it gets too dark."

"Oh, okay", Yugyeom replied, nodding. He followed Bambam back inside the building, a voice at the back of his head still wondering what the boy was going to tell him.

—-
yeah okay