Chapter Text
Chapter Twenty One
Jaebeom and Yugyeom walked in complete silence for a significant amount of time, just enjoying the nice cool air that was typical of an evening in early May. Jaebeom decided that he wasn’t going to be the one to break the silence, Yugyeom was going to have to open up when he was ready. It took a little bit longer than Jaebeom expected, but Yugyeom did finally decide to start speaking.
“BamBam wants to hold off on joining the pack,” Yugyeom explained softly.
“Okay,” Jaebeom said slowly and with more than a little confusion. “That’s not incredibly unusual. The mandatory month waiting time really isn’t that long of a time. He deserves all the time he wants to pick a pack. He needs to be sure we are the right one.”
Yugyeom shook his head rapidly in reply, seemingly frustrated that Jaebeom wasn’t understanding what he was trying to say.
“No, you are misunderstanding,” Yugyeom whined. “BamBam knows already that you guys are the only pack for him. He has no doubts about that. As you said, he literally presented early because he is so sure that this is the pack for him.”
“Then I must admit confusion,” Jaebeom said softly, pulling Yugyeom over to sit on a bench in the park that they just stumbled upon. “What’s going on?”
“He wants to hold off joining the pack so that I don’t feel left out,” Yugyeom explained, his whine indicating that he thought this should have been obvious to Jaebeom. “But I refuse to be the reason that he holds off joining the pack! I don’t want to be blamed for making it so you guys aren’t together as soon as possible. I know Youngjae hyung especially can’t wait until BamBam is part of the pack. What if he hates me? What if he thinks I’m the reason that things are messed up? The reason that you all have to wait!”
Jaebeom took a few moments to process what Yugyeom had just informed him of.
“Gyeom,” Jaebeom said, grabbing Yugyeom’s hands in his own and turning so that they were facing one another on the bench. “I want one thing to be incredibly clear before we move on to any other part of this conversation.”
Yugyeom nodded shyly, looking at Jaebeom in question.
“Not a single member of this group hates you, nor will they ever hate you, especially over something so trivial as this,” Jaebeom said, keeping his tone even and his voice and his face as serious looking as possible–there had to be no room for doubt. “We love you so very much and only want the best for you, is that understood?”
“Yes, hyung,” Yugyeom said, choking up a little over his reply.
“Good,” Jaebeom said with a smile. “Now what has he said to you about why he wants to wait?”
“He said that he doesn’t want me to feel left out in the months until I can finally present,” Yugyeom explained. “I said that I have Jungkook though, since he doesn’t present until September. He won’t listen to me, no matter what I say! He insists he knows what I am thinking! I don’t want to come off like a baby who can’t handle being the only pup for a few months!”
Jaebeom nodded in understanding, smiling softly at his youngest member.
“He really cares for you Gyeom,” Jaebeom said softly, running a hand through Yugyeom’s hair. “You two have come a long way from the two who got into a fight in our kitchen.”
Yugyeom couldn’t help but chuckle at the memory of their massive blowout fight. Honestly, if you had told him that they would end up being best friends he wouldn’t have believed it at the time. They just seemed so polar opposite of each other that he didn’t see how it could work.
“All you can do is explain to him how you feel,” Jaebeom continued. “But ultimately Bam is the only one that can make the decision. I can’t force him to join the group any earlier than he wants to. It needs to be his choice. You are going to have to be okay with it if he decides to wait, even if you feel that you don’t need him to.”
“But what about…” Yugyeom began to protest.
“I repeat, not a single member of this group is going to have any ill thoughts towards you because of it,” Jaebeom cut him off. “And if they do, you best believe that I am going to have a talk with them, but I don’t foresee that happening. They are all going to understand.”
Yugyeom nodded, still not completely appeased, though.
“Gyeom,” Jaebeom said softly after a few more moments of silence. “Tell me honestly, just between the two of us, are you actually okay if he does join the pack many months before you can?”
“I–” Yugyeom began and then sighed and shook his head. “It shouldn’t matter.”
“But it does,” Jaebeom protested. “It matters because we all love you so much and care for your mental state.”
“Am I going to feel lonely and a little left out,” Yugyeom said so softly that Jaebeom had to strain to hear. “Of course, but isn’t that the nature of things? There are always going to be some downsides to being the maknae of a group. It’s a burden in many ways.”
“I really hope the rest of us go out of the way to lessen that burden,” Jaebeom said, his heart breaking a little to hear Yugyeom say that.
“You do, you do,” Yugyeom said, vehemently shaking his head. “You guys are seriously the greatest hyungs I could ever ask for. It’s just always going to suck to be the youngest at least a little. I’m sure it also sucks in many ways to be the leader.”
Jaebeom nodded, pondering Yugyeom’s statement.
“I think we would find that every member and every position of this group has its own hardships,” Jaebeom mused. “I think all the time of how hard it must be for our foreign members. The most important thing is that we have open communication about it.”
Yugyeom nodded, leaning his head against Jaebeom’s shoulder and staring off into the distance for a while.
“Thank you for coming out with me hyung,” Yugyeom said softly.
“Anytime you need to clear your head like this, just let me know,” Jaebeom replied, squeezing Yugyeom’s arm. “I will do my best to make sure you get the time and the space that you need. Are you ready to head back? I think we need to have a conversation with not only BamBam, but the rest of the group as well.”
“Yeah, I think I’m ready,” Yugyeom replied, but then added. “But can we take the long way home? It’s actually really nice out tonight.”
Jaebeom couldn’t help but smile fondly at the younger, before nodding his agreement.
–
Jinyoung had walked into the room to find a very upset omega. BamBam had begun angrily ‘organizing’ the room–more like throwing laundry in the basket and trash into the trash can, although half the time he missed because he was too emotional to aim well.
“Bam,” Jinyoung said with a sigh, sitting down on BamBam’s bed and patting the spot next to him. “Why don’t you sit down so that the two of us can talk.”
“I’m fine!” BamBam snapped. “Just because Yugyeom is actually nuts doesn’t mean that I’m not fine!”
“Even if you are perfectly fine, why don’t we sit down and talk about why you think Yugyeom is nuts,” Jinyoung suggested, trying to hold in a chuckle at how ridiculous the difference between BamBam’s words and BamBam’s demeanor and actions were. “It might help for you to talk about it.”
BamBam looked like he was going to protest, but ultimately chucked his dirty t-shirt towards the laundry basket—missing by several feet–and going to sit down next to Jinyoung.
“Tell hyung what’s going on,” Jinyoung prompted, placing an arm around BamBam and pulling him close to him.
“Yugyeom is a dick!” BamBam muttered bitterly.
Jinyoung held back an eye roll at that.
“Okay, I really don’t like you calling him that,” Jinyoung said, trying to remain calm. “But can you please elaborate.”
“I’m trying to do something nice for him!” BamBam explained. “I completely understand what he must be thinking and feeling, but he acts like I’m an idiot. He acts like I don’t know anything about my own best friend!”
Jinyoung ruminated over that for a few moments before ultimately deciding there weren’t really any clues in the statement. He was still as lost as ever.
“Erm–Bam,” Jinyoung said sheepishly. “Still gonna need you to elaborate.”
“I don’t want him to feel left out!” BamBam exclaimed. “I understand how hard it is to be upresented when the rest of the members are in a pack together. It was hard for us when Youngjae joined, and I know it’s going to be even harder for him now!”
Jinyoung finally felt like he had a leg to stand on in this conversation.
“Are you talking about holding off on joining the pack?” Jinyoung asked. “Waiting until Yugyeom has presented as well?”
“Yeah, but he says he doesn’t want my pity!” BamBam exclaimed once more. “It’s not pity, it’s understanding! I get it!”
“That’s a very sweet thing for you to do for him Bam,” Jinyoung said softly, a warm feeling growing in his heart at how truly selfless his second youngest is.
“Why doesn’t he think so?” BamBam asked, looking up at Jinyoung with very lost and heartbroken eyes.
“Well, I’m not going to say that I understand everything that goes on in his head,” Jinyoung began. “But I will say that if it were me, I would be afraid that others or even the person who was putting off joining would grow to resent me. You know how much Yugyeom hates to trouble anyone. Just think back to when we pulled that awful prank on him. The boy was heartbroken that he might have done something to justifiably anger us, when deep down he knew that he had done nothing wrong. That’s just who Yugyeom is, he has a heart of gold and an insane desire to please.”
BamBam pondered those words for a second, taking in the new perspective and beginning to admit that there were some things that he hadn’t taken into consideration.
“Would you guys resent him?” BamBam delicately asked. “Would you be mad that he is the reason that I want to wait to join the pack?”
“Not in the slightest Bam,” Jinyoung replied with conviction. “And I guarantee if you go out there and ask the others they would all give you the same answer.”
“But isn’t Youngjae dying to have me join the pack?” BamBam asked.
“We all are, Bam-ah,” Jinyoung refuted. “But that doesn’t mean that we would resent you or him for such a thoughtful and heartfelt decision. At the end of the day, we all just want you guys to be happy. I hope you never doubt that.”
BamBam smiled and laid his head on Jinyoung’s shoulder and allowed the older boy to cuddle him closer. They sat in silence for a while, each just lost in their own thoughts and processing their own feelings. The two were interrupted by the clearing of a throat, shaking them out of their thoughts. They looked up to see Jaebeom standing in the doorway.
“I’ve gathered the others in the living room,” Jaebeom said softly, smiling at the cute image of Jinyoung and BamBam cuddling so closely together. “I think we all need to have a nice long chat about this.”
Jinyoung and BamBam got up to follow Jaebeom into the living room. While doing so, BamBam couldn’t help but quip: “I swear all we ever do is have group chats anymore.”
Jinyoung chuckled, but couldn’t help but mentally agree. It was what allowed them to work as a team though, so he knew they wouldn’t be giving it up anytime soon.