Chapter 10: Fireworks.

It was on the plane on their way back home when Jackson asked Jaebum a question everyone else had been dying to ask, ever since Jinyoung found Youngjae and Jaebum sleeping together, all cuddled up.

"Jaebum hyung, did you break up with Max or?" - Jackson innocently wondered, while sitting next to Jaebum. Jaebum stopped dead in his tracks, slowly turning his gaze to Jackson, who still had the very innocent look on his face.

"Max, we need to talk." - Jaebum said through his phone.

"You don't contact in a week at all and then suddenly call me at 6 in the goddamn morning to talk?" - Max was furious. Jaebum would be too, if someone else did the exact thing to him, so he understood Max and her anger towards him.

"Look, I'm sorry. I just needed some time to figure something out." - Jaebum calmly explained.

"To figure out what?" - Max shouted through her phone.

"I think we need to break up, Max." - Jaebum was straightforward and very confident in these type of situations, which was one of his strengths.

"What?" - Max bitterly inquired.

"You're breaking up with me?" - Max hissed.

"Yeah. It's not you, though. A small situation came up and I have to break up with you." - Jaebum clarified.

"What the , JB?" - Max was pissed off.

"It's Jaebum. You know I don't like it when people close to me call me by my stage name." - Jaebum stated.

"I don't give a . Why the is a person like you breaking up with a person like me? Are you blind? Or are you gay?" - Max demanded. Her last question for some odd reason caused a sudden outburst of anger inside of Jaebum. Maybe it was that the process of accepting the fact he actually likes boys was still in progress. Maybe it was that someone had finally said it. No matter what it was, Jaebum was not happy.

"Max, off. I broke up with you. That's it. Just accept it and move on." - Jaebum spit, growing angrier by the passing second.

"You know what? I was actually using you for fame. Plus I liked Mark more, anyway." - Max declared, hanging up.

Frankly, the whole "I used you" speach didn't hurt Jaebum's feelings at all. Jaebum's feelings for Max were gone as soon as he realized that he in reality liked Youngjae and not her, and that Jaebum only liked her because she resembled Youngjae. So, her liking Mark more that him didn't matter to him. Jaebum was just happy that he finally ended things officially with Max and that things with Youngjae were fine again.

"Yeah." - Jaebum answered, loud enough for Youngjae to hear the good news. Although, Youngjae pretended not to hear his leader, he did hear him and he was doing a little happy dance inside his head.

"You shouldn't be this happy, Youngjae. Him breaking up with Max doesn't mean he likes you." - Youngjae quietly thought to himself. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop grinning. His heart was just too happy to hear that the devil Max was finally gone from Jaebum's life. So with happy thoughts, Youngjae closed his eyes and went to sleep.

When they arrived in Thailand, they straight went to the arena, they were going to perform at to check out the stage and make sure everything was okay and ready for the concert the next day.

"Wow, it is so huge!" - Youngjae exclaimed.

"I know, right?" - Jaebum agreed, who was walking by Youngjae's side, not taking his eyes off him.

"And there will be some fireworks during encore." - staff member, who was in charge of the stage decorations said. Mark and Jackson cheered, jumping up and down excitedly, the others just clapped their hands and smiled. Youngjae, who was now standing as far away from where the fireworks were placed, nervously laughed. Anxiety and uneainess could be easily spotted on his face.Youngjae quietly started to have a nervous breakdown, remembering the horrible accident that happened a while ago. 

Youngjae was happily running around the stage, singing one of his favorite Got7 songs "A". It was a sped up version of the song, so Youngjae loved it even more, as it gave him a reason to be hyper and weird. Youngjae stopped for a moment, to show love for the fans in the front, making a heart sign with his hands, when directly below a firework exploded. Youngjae for a moment didn't know what exactly to do, as the fireworks paralyzed. After regaining his composure, he quickly ran to the back of the stage. Some part of his left arm ached with a burning sensation. But Youngjae had to come back to the stage, as the concert wasn't over, yet. Mark quickly ran after him to check up on him and to make sure he was okay. Youngjae quickly smiled at Mark and went back to the front, smiling and singing along to the song, as if nothing happened. After a few minutes, the pain from the burn kicked in, making it harder to pretend to be fine.

Youngjae while being blocked from fans' view by the other members, checked his upper left arm. It was all red and itchy from the burn earlier. Youngjae tried to hide the red mark on his arm by pulling his shirt down, so the other members and fans wouldn't be worried. Later into the concert, while they were wrapping up, Jaebum came up to him asking if he was okay with his eyes. Youngjae just smiled and nodded, even though he wanted to hug him tightly and complain about the burn.

Later at the hotel, his manager checked up on Youngjae, making some doctor put on some type of ointment on the burn. Youngjae thanked his manager and went to his room to get some rest. To be honest, the weird ointment made the burning sensation go away, although it smelled really bad. 

Ever since that small incident, Youngjae started to fear those evil stage fireworks. Youngjae still to this day remembered exactly how much they hurt, and how really freaking loud they were. Frankly, Youngjae didn't even want to be close to that heinous invention.

"Manager hyung, can't we skip the fireworks?" - Youngjae suggested, tugging on his manager's arm.

"We can't. You'll be fine, Youngjae. Don't worry. Nothing's going to go wrong this time. we'll inform you all before shooting up the fireworks." - the manager assured poor little Youngjae, who was becoming more and more anxious.

"Okay.." - Youngjae hesitantly answered, trying his best not to worry.

Jaebum instantly noticed Youngjae's fear at the mention of fireworks. He understood Youngjae's fear, as he was also there with him when the accident happened. They were all there. One second you're standing there singing a song, another you're hunched over with a burnt arm. Of course, Youngjae would be scared, Jaebum would be too if it was him who was hit by fireworks. Jaebum wanted to go over to his main vocalist and hug him tightly, promising him that everything was going to be fine, but he couldn't as one of the directors needed him to check the microphones.

Jaebum pay attention to whatever he was supposed to do at the moment, thoughts about nervous and scared Youngjae filled his mind, making him worried for Youngjae. Youngjae was currently standing next to Yugyeom going over the tracklist and the games they were going to play with fans tomorrow. Although, Youngjae seemed normal and okay, Jaebum wasn't convinced. He had known Youngjae for almost 3 years now, he knew well enough to be able to freely tell when his smiles were fake and when genuine. And at the moment, the smile on Youngjae's face was the most fake thing in the entire universe. But Jaebum had no other choice but to wait until this was over and they were at the hotel.

Soon enough, Jaebum's wish came true and they were headed to the hotel they were going to stay at for 2 days.

Jaebum had to fight with Yugyeom to share a room with Youngjae, as Yugyeom's usual partner in crime was spending the night with his family. So by tradition, whenever Bambam's not there to share a room with Yugyeom, he shares with Youngjae, as they are pretty close. Normally, Jaebum just let's it be and shares a room with the one and only Jackson, but today was different. Today he had to spend the night with Youngjae.

"Ya, Kim Yugyeom, respect your elderlies!" - Jaebum shouted at his donsaeng,

"Hyung, it's just a room! Just let me share it with Youngjae hyung!" - Yugyeom shouted right back.

"Why don't you two share a room? I'll go sleep with Jackson hyung." - the very tired and annoyed Youngjae recommended, making his way towards Jackson, who was equally annoyed at the two for arguing over one room.

"Yugyeom, just give me the damn room!" - Jaebum said, his patience and niceness growing thin.

"What do I get in return?" - Yugyeom wasn't going to give up so soon.

"You get to keep your long legs." - Jaebum hissed, glaring at the innocent younger '97 liner.

"Jackson hyung, let's go sleep!" - Yugyeom immediately yelled, grabbing Jackson and going up their room.

"That's what I thought." - Jaebum cheerfully said, also grabbing Youngjae's hands and leading him to their room.

"Youngjae, are okay?" - Jaebum carefully asked the youngster entering their room.

"I'm just really tired." - Youngjae answered, falling on one of the beds, and shutting his eyes.

"I mean, are you okay with the fireworks? Do you think you will be fine?" - Jaebum asked, sitting down on Youngjae's bed. Youngjae quickly lifted up his head and put it on Jaebum's lap.

"I don't know, hyung. But I'm really scared." - Youngjae admitted, a bit embarrassed about the whole situation. Jaebum started to gently caress Youngjae's soft hair, trying calm him down. Youngjae smiled, intending that Jaebum's method of stress relief was working.

"Did it hurt when you hit by them the last time?" - Jaebum asked, still caressing Youngjae's hair.

"It's going to sound so selfish, but yeah. It hurt a lot." - Youngjae truthfully answered, lightly laughing at himself.

"Why didn't you tell me then? I saw you running around after getting hit, so I just assumed you were fine."

"You know what they say, hyung. The show must go on." - Youngjae said, laughed harder and earning a light slap on the chest from Jaebum.

"But, to be honest hyung, after getting hit and realizing I got a burn, I really wanted to run over to you and hug you." - Youngjae confessed. It sounded cheesy and false, but Youngjae didn't care, he felt like he could say everything to Jaebum at this exact moment.

"Well why didn't you, then?" - Jaebum questioned, intertwining his hands with Youngjae's.

"I thought you were going to think I was a wimp." - Youngjae said, earning another slap from Jaebum.

"Stupid kid." - Jaebum mumbled, slapping Youngjae's chest again. - "Why would I do that when I love you?"

Youngjae was confused. Did he just mishear something? What did just happen? Narrowing his eyebrows and getting up. Youngjae sat up straight, looking into Jaebum's eyes, to check if Jaebum was being serious or not.

"Hyung, what did you just say?" - Youngjae inquired, a bit scared to hear the wrong answer.

"I said I love you." - Jaebum declared, grinning from ear to ear.

"Wait, what?" - Youngjae was being awkward all of a sudden, unable to look into Jaebum's eyes, and unable to move as if he'd make one wrong move and Jaebum would unlove him.

"I love you." - Jaebum stated again, proudly.

"What is happening?" - Youngjae mumbled under his breath, having a small panic attack. As if noticing that, Jaebum stood up and brought the nervous wreck a glass of water. Youngjae thanked his leader and quickly gulped down the water under a second.

"Do you need me to repeat what I just said again or?" - Jaebum smirked.

"Okay, hyung, now you're just playing with me." - Youngjae shoot a glare towards the older boy.

"I know." - Jaebum laughed. - "Now the thing I said about my feelings for you were true, though."

"I know." - Youngjae responded, still calming down from the extreme situation that just happened. A few minutes of silence passed, making both Jaebum and Youngjae nervous. Jaebum was becoming more and more anxious, thinking that he shouldn't have confessed so suddenly and quickly. Youngjae was nervous because he was thinking of doing something unbelievable and weird, something he'd never doing with anyone other than a girl.

"Youngjae, if you don't have the same feelings for me, then just say it. You don't have to pity me and lie." - Jaebum broke the silence, kind of angry that Youngjae didn't accept his heart. While Jaebum was still babbling about how Youngjae shouldn't lie to him, even if it meant hurting his feelings and so on, Youngjae quickly grabbed Jaebum's face and kissed him.

Youngjae's sudden kiss left Jaebum speechless and paralyzed. He didn't know what to do for good 10 minutes and just stood there in shock and disbelief that this little ray of sunshine actually had the same feelings for him.

"Hyung.." - Youngjae started.

"No, call me Jaebum." - Jaebum insisted, crossing his arms, preparing to enjoy Youngjae's embarrassing confession.

"Oh hyung, it's going to be weird then. I've never called you that." - Youngjae whined,

"It's Jaebum or it won't count otherwise." - Jaebum stood his ground.

"That's unfair! I just kissed you!" - Youngjae whined some more.

"Okay, then make it Jaebum oppa." - Jaebum demanded. Youngjae stood there with his face in his palms for a second, mumbling something about how unfair life is.

"Jaebum-ah" - Youngjae started, cringing at himself, while Jaebum stood in front of him smirking.

"IIIIIII Looooove Youuuuuuu, Baby, IIIIIII IIIIIII Looove Youu." - Youngjae sang Got7's Confession Song, in order to make it less awkward and embarrassing. Jaebum stood there for a few seconds quietly, before bursting out with laughter.

"That was too cute." - Jaebum said, hugging the younger boy and kissing him on his forehead, which made Youngjae cringe some more.

"And about the fireworks, don't worry about them." - Jaebum stated, rubbing Youngjae's back while hugging him.

"I will be there right beside you ready to protect you." - Jaebum guaranteed, making Youngjae smile.

"I mean that's what people do when they're in love with someone, right? They protect them." - Jaebum happily declared his love for Youngjae once again.

Jaebum actually kept his promise and didn't take his eyes off Youngjae the whole night. And when it was time for the fireworks to explode, Jaebum very gently grabbed Youngjae's arm and pulled him closer to himself, protecting his boyfriend from danger. Not only that, just like newly weds, Jaebum and Youngjae kept glancing at each other, smiling and laughing. Jaebum even at some point sang his part of the 'Confession Song' looking at Youngjae, which Youngjae noticed. Youngjae kept shyly smiling and looking at his shoes, while Jaebum was serenading him with Got7's song.

And when the concert was finally over, Jaebum run over to Youngjae and hugged him from the back, asking if he was okay and how was he feeling. Kind of like declaring that Youngjae was now his and nobody else's.