It was still dark when Bambam opened his eyes and for a moment he thought that he had imagined it. But there it was again, that small creak on the floorboards and his hand whipped out from under the warm covers to flood the room with the flashlight app on his phone. Yugyeom froze in place, looking way to large and way to guilty for Bambam’s liking and he sat up in bed, blankets sliding down his bare arms.

“What are you doing.” Bambam asked, and it was more of a statement than a question because Bambam didn’t ask questions this late at night. Or early in the morning. He didn’t even want to look at the clock. 

“I can’t sleep—” Yugyeom muttered back, looking like a kicked puppy for being caught. 

“Where were you going.” Bambam scanned the room with the light, expecting some horrible prank set up for him— or a Jackson behind the closet door. It’s happened before. Yugyeom shuffled over to his bed and sat down, the sudden weight of his body making Bambam slip down the mattress towards him. He scowled and latched onto the bed post. 

“Can we watch a movie or something. Or go eat something. You want to go outside?” Yugyeom sounded dead tired and Bambam almost suggested that he just lie down right here, but that would put him in a compromising position in the morning and the last thing he wanted was Jinyoung walking in and ruining his life. More than he already had of course. 

“C’mon,” Bambam grunted, his feet hitting the floorboards with soft thumps, pulling the bigger, younger boy up with him as he stood. “I guess we can hit that twenty-four hour store for something—”

Yugyeom laughed nervously, “Actually, that was more of a joke, Jaebum hyung would kill us if he found out we left the dorm by ourselves at two in the morning.”

Dammit. It was two in the morning. 

Bambam muttered darkly to himself as he stood up on his tippy toes, reaching up high into the cupboard for the foreign, chocolatey cereal that Jackson had hidden away a few days ago. He filled a bowl for Yugyeom and haphazardly poured milk all over it, yawning while he did so. Yugyeom was sitting dejectedly at the table and the circles under his eyes seemed days old. It wasn’t like they got much sleep these days.

“Hey.” Bambam asked from across the table, chin propped on his hands. Yugyeom looked up from the chocolate mess he had made in his bowl. “Why can’t you sleep?” The boy shrugged, unstyled bangs falling into his eyes and he pushed them away. Bambam felt a sudden jolt of affection— even though he would never admit it to anyone but himself —and he got up from his seat, walking around the table to tug at the sleeve of Yugyeom’s sweatshirt.

“My legs hurt, my arms hurt… I’m going hoarse.” Yugyeom looked up with a small smile, but it was deceptive because Bambam saw the liquid pooling at the corners of his eyes. Sometimes Bambam forgot Yugyeom was younger than himself— only a few months difference but still —and these were the times that he remembered, when Yugyeom had to be stoic for his hyungs because that was what the maknae was supposed to do.  

There was heavy coughing down the hall and the sound of a door opening and closing. Bambam had his fingers on Yugyeom’s cheek and he was in the middle of wiping the liquid that was dripping down from his eyes— it was a secret, he would never tell —when the kitchen was flooded with light. 

“You guys aren’t kissing in here or anything right?” Jackson walked into the room, in only his boxers, scratching at his abdomen and yawning widely. His voice was deep from sleep and he coughed into the back of his hand, opening the refrigerator and taking out a water bottle. “For Mark—” As if he had to clarify the reasons for him being in the kitchen at two in the morning, “He’s coughing pretty bad— hey, where’d you find that!” He was pointing at the bowl in front of Yugyeom and Bambam turned his body so he was blocking it from Jackson’s vision. 

“Find what— hyung, I can hear Mark hyung coughing his lungs out, he’s probably dying.” 

Jackson narrowed his eyes— “I’ll deal with you two tomorrow…” —and he left with his water bottle, muttering threats all the way down the hall. Bambam rolled his eyes when Jackson was safely behind his bedroom door and Yugyeom sniffled in the silence.

They were sitting on the couch together, watching cartoons in the dark, Yugyeom had his long legs drawn up into himself, chin resting on his knees and hands in the fabric of his cotton pants. Bambam glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, yawning loudly— he hoped enticingly —and watched as Yugyeom yawned right afterwards. He sniffled again and Bambam fell over sideways on the couch, rolling onto his back and kicking at Yugyeom’s legs until he lowered them to let Bambam rest his own across his thighs. 

“Hey Yugyeom,” he waited until the boy made a soft sound of acknowledgment, “Hey, so, you shouldn’t worry about anything. I know it’s hard cause we just debuted and… honestly it , but, things will get better and before you know it we’ll be back in the van, sleeping with our makeup on and messing up our hair right before we go on stage— I wouldn’t worry about it.” He took a deep breath and waited, he was terrible at comforting anyone— that was Jaebum’s specialty —and he shut his eyes with embarrassment when Yugyeom said nothing, moving slightly under his legs. He rolled over so his back was facing the television, hoping the shadows covered the light heat that was spreading across his cheeks.

“Hey Bambam—” It had been a few minutes, and Bambam might have dozed off once or twice. He murmured something unintelligible and barely felt Yugyeom shift on the couch, “Thanks,” he paused, Bambam could feel his large palm lightly touching his hip, just hovering there and he wished Yugyeom would just— “I’m sorry for crying again.”

“No big deal.” Bambam replied thickly, muffled by the pillows. He could almost see the smile across Yugyeom’s face as his palm pressed down, the way his eyes crinkled and his jaw clenched because he was a teeth grinder. Yugyeom was massaging circles into Bambam’s hipbone, like he would when he was feeling affectionate or clingy and Bambam found himself drifting off; slightly aware that his tank top was riding up.

There was something poking him in the side and Bambam’s eyes opened to an eyeful of Jinyoung’s face and sunlight. He squeezed his eyes shut abruptly, swearing under his breath as the light almost blinded him— although that might have been the close proximity of Jinyoung’s face he wasn’t sure. Jinyoung’s hoarse cackle made him open his eyes again and he stared up at him, cocooned in a blanket so all that was showing was Jinyoung’s stupid face and then he was coughing, because the cackle from earlier had tickled his throat. 

“You guys looked really comfortable, I didn’t want to wake you up.” He peered slyly down at Bambam and the latter wanted to disappear in between the cushions of the couch because he belatedly realized that it was Yugyeom’s nose that was poking him in the side. His long limbs were everywhere, mostly wrapped around Bambam and he struggled to free himself while trying to think of a sufficient excuse because Jinyoung was giving him that look and—

“I caught them making out in the kitchen last night!” Jackson yelled obnoxiously from the hallway as he passed, running a towel over his bare shoulders and wet hair. He was on his way to the kitchen and he sidestepped Jaebum— hand quickly rising to cover his mouth and nose —as he passed by. The leader was wearing what looked like three layers and he gulped water from a large glass, wiping his mouth as he walked into the living room.  

“What’s going on?” His eyebrow quirked and Bambam felt himself become smaller and smaller as the older boy appraised him. Jinyoung shuffled from the room with one more hoarse cackle and Jaebum pursed his lips at him, turning back to the boys on the couch with a small grin, “You two slept out here the entire night? What’s wrong, your beds not comfortable enough?” 

“No—” Bambam was trying to dislodge the arms around his waist but Yugyeom grumbled like a bear and just held on tighter, his grip like a vice in his sleep. So much for being found in a compromising position. “Yugyeom couldn’t sleep so we came out here and watched—” he grunted when Yugyeom squeezed, “Stuff.”

“Hmm, ooo-kay then.” Jaebum nodded slowly, giving them one last grin before turning and disappearing around the corner towards the bedrooms. Bambam wanted to smack his forehead and he would have if Yugyeom wasn’t holding his arms against his side, so he smacked him hard on the thigh instead. He felt a small sliver of satisfaction when the boy jumped, but it was short-lived as the precarious position they were in became unbalanced and they both toppled off the couch.

Yugyeom stared up at him and Bambam’s eyes widened when he realized how little the distance was between their faces. He sat up abruptly, hands on Yugyeom’s stomach and then he blinked, slowly looking back down with blatant horror. 

“YUGYEOM.” He shrieked with mortification, scrambling off the other boy and running across the living room towards the hallway, socked feet slipping and sliding across the wooden floorboards. 

“I’m sorry!!” Yugyeom managed to wail after him as he flushed red all over, hands quickly covering his face, “I swear it’s just because it’s early—”  

Jackson’s head appeared from around the corner, hair still dripping and towel draped around his neck. “What’s going on—” he stopped mid-sentence as Yugyeom leaped to his feet, fire engine red as his hands quickly lowered to cover his crotch. Jackson grinned evilly at him and was about to say something else when the younger boy escaped down the hall, steamrolling past Mark, who had pressed himself up against the wall for safety. 

“What was that all about?” Mark asked hoarsely when the dust cleared, his hair sticking up at odd angles because he had slept with it wet. He watched suspiciously as Jackson brought a fist up to his mouth to stifle his creepy giggle, before turning and retreating back into the kitchen. Mark’s resigned sigh was heavy in the air and he was about to go in after Jackson when the latter’s sudden roar filled the quiet of the dorm. 

“LITTLE S ATE ALL MY COCO PUFFS.”