stargazed

four

"are you scared to start middle school?" bambam asked yugyeom as they walked down the sidewalk leading from their elementary school to yugyeom's house.

"not really. jae is there and says it isn't very bad."

bambam was still smaller than yugyeom despite being older. yugyeom was close to 5 feet tall while bambam was still only 4'5.

"what did you do in tutoring, today?" everyday while the rest of the class had korean, bambam had a tutoring session because he had always been behind him speaking and reading.

"she just had me do a worksheet. it was boring." bambam kicked at a rock on the sidewalk as he adjusted his grip on the straps of his backpack.

once they got to yugyeom's house, yugyeom and bambam were both wrapped in hugs.

"our boys just had their last day of elementary school!" jackson squealed, hugging his son while mark hugged bambam. "you guys are so amazing! we're so proud of you!"

bambam accepted the praise while yugyeom blushed and shook his head, claiming they were being dramatic.

"fine, i guess we'll just make bambam's favorite foods instead of food for both of you."

yugyeom whined even though he knew his dad was just joking. the two boys ran up to youngjae's room. they had been jealous because he was done with his school year a week before they were.

youngjae asked them about their last day of school. they hadn't done anything except watch movies and have a pizza party.

bambam stopped talking and shushed his friends as he tried to listen carefully before he was running downstairs at the sound of his name being shouted.

"dad!" bambam ran into jaebum's arms, shoving his face into his chest. "i missed you!"

jaebum cried along with his son as he ruffled the younger's hair. he leaned down and kissed the top of his head.

"where's dad?"

"he'll be in soon. i missed you so much, bambam."

jinyoung walked in the received an equally large hug from his son. suddenly, all red of them were crying. bambam had always disliked when both of his parents were gone (not that he didn't hate when only one of them were gone but at least he had one of his dad's there.).

"my baby," jinyoung cried, sitting on the floor and letting bambam lay on him as he kept crying. "i missed you and i'm so sorry."

jinyoung had left a week ago to work but it had been in the same place where jaebum was touring so he and jaebum had been together. he felt extremely bad because he had left his son alone while they were together.

"i'm so proud of you. you're going to go into middle school. you're getting so old, oh my goodness."

bambam cried harder, extremely comforted to see and be with his dad. jaebum pulled the two off the phone and over to the couch. he sat next to jinyoung and helped hold bambam.

neither youngjae nor yugyeom would admit that they teared up upon seeing their best friend cry, but they didn't hide their love, choosing to join the hug and none of them minded.

bambam was attached to his dads' hips all night. he was so glad to have them back nothing could tear him away from them.

even though bambam would usually spend the night at the wang-tuan household, he went home with his parents.

and he ended up regretting it. he was sat down on the couch and he could tell he wasn't good.

"bammie, i know you're on summer break now and i told you we'd get to spend lots of time together but something happened... i got another drama offer," jinyoung told him, the excitement he usually had in his voice when talking about a new drama was gone

"it's okay, me and dad can watch it," bambam said, trying as hard as he could to be optimistic.

jaebum winced to himself. "bam, i got another tour. i'll be gone."

"this isn't fair! everyone else in korea gets to spend more time with you than i do! you just got back," bambam faltered and sunk back into the couch. "it's not fair."

bambam didn't let either of them comfort him. he got up and ran to his room, slamming his face into his pillow as he started to cry.

it wasn't until a half hour later that he ran back downstairs and jumped into jinyoung's lap.

"daddy," he let out pitifully, "don't leave."

jinyoung held bambam under his chin so he didn't know his dad was crying too. jaebum embarked both of them, hating what their careers meant for their son.

but because they needed to provide for him, they didn't have other choices. jaebum had fans and jinyoung was in high demand.

jinyoung left a week before jaebum and it was okay because he would be home every other week until jaebum who would be gone for two months straight with some possibly time to visit his husband and son if he was lucky.

bambam held onto jinyoung as tight he could before jinyoung left the house to go to the airport.

when jaebum left, he dropped bambam off at the wang-tuan house, glad he would at least have his best friends with him.

yugyeom didn't mind when bambam asked to share his bed with him instead of sleeping alone. youngjae didn't mind that bambam followed him and yugyeom everywhere all summer. they were all best friends.