Chapter Text
“We need to do something to apologize to Yumgyeommie.” Jackson says through a mouthful of rice.
The other five sitting around the table at the small restaurant nod in agreement, eyes flickering in the direction of the bathrooms where the maknae disappeared a minute ago. “Yeah, but how? We really hurt him, Jackson-hyung.” BamBam sighs, taking another bite of his food with a sad look on his face. “And he hasn’t been sleeping well since.”
All six men look crestfallen at the news. They didn’t realize that the supposedly harmless prank would effect Yugyeom so much. The table is silent for a moment, everyone staring into their bowls as if they hold the answers to the universe. “So we show him.” Mark speaks through the silence.
“What?”
“How?”
“None of us say anything about what we do at night. It doesn’t really need to be said. But I can personally attest to the fact that Yugyeom always sleeps better after, well, you know.” Mark admits, not missing the high flags of crimson that bloom across his bandmates cheeks. “He needs his rest, but he also needs to know how much we all care about him. So we show him.”
“I think that’s the most you’ve talked in a month, hyung.” Jackson jokes and the comment successfully breaks the tension and makes way for a friendlier atmosphere to settle over them.
“I think that sounds like the perfect plan.” Jaebum nods, eyes following Yugyeom’s frame as he makes his way back to their corner table. “We’ll talk about it tomorrow after he goes to dance practice.”
“Oh that’s right. We have individual practices this week which means we technically have most of the week off. Sweet.” Youngjae chuckles, a huge smile breaking out on his face.
“Yeah, we do. Which means one of us is gonna be too tired to do anything while the other six are gonna be fine for a week.” Jinyoung chuckles, already trying to plan a fun night for the maknae.
“Don’t worry about it, hyung. Tired or not we always figure out something to do.” Yugyeom’s smile is smaller than usual and there’s an edge of timidity to it that seems extremely out of place in the midst of friends.
GOT7 will do anything to make that haunted, closed-off look go away.
“So how about Saturday we all have a movie day? We can order take-out and cuddle up on the couch.” Jackson’s tone is conversational but his face is almost pleading with everyone to say ‘yes’ to his plan.
“Of course! We haven’t had a movie night in forever!” BamBam nods, high fiving the older man and returning to his food.
Jaebum sighs when his phone goes off where he has it resting beside his bowl. The minute he sees the caller ID he allows any thoughts of not answering the device to disappear. “Hello?”
He quickly excuses himself from the table with a simple “manager-hyung” to the other members and then he’s heading towards the side door that leads to the restaurant’s patio tables – which are currently empty due to the almost constant rain this time of year – so he can talk privately with their management. In his absence the others continue to eat and Jinyoung takes it upon himself to steal all but one piece of pork belly from their leader’s bowl. Jackson and Mark start a conversation in their blend of English, Chinese and Korean while the other four chat about the upcoming comeback and tour.
By the time JB gets back they’re all done with their food and are laughing about something stupid Jackson said. “Hey, who stole my meat?!” Jaebum asks indignantly, sending the members into another fit of laughs.
When none of them admit to the theft Jaebum resigns himself to finishing his food so they can go back to their dorm and get some sleep. “You’re all the worst.”
“We love you too, hyung!” They chorus right back at him.
“Whatever. The car will be here shortly. Get ready to go, you pabos.” He rolls his eyes, a smile growing on his face despite his words.
+++
By the time they get back to their dorm all seven of them are ready to call it a night. They didn’t realize how late it really was until they left the tiny restaurant and got into the company car that would take them home. The second they shut the door behind their manager they disperse for their individual rooms to get ready for bed.
Youngjae heads for the shower while Jaebum puts the leftovers in the fridge and Jinyoung makes himself a cup of hot tea. Yugyeom and BamBam fight over the remote for a bit, probably planning on watching some crappy TV before bed, but Yugyeom quickly gives up and just goes to bed with a quick “g’night, hyung” in Jaebum and Jinyoung’s general direction. BamBam lets out a frustrated sigh and rubs his hands through his hair in frustration.
“It’s gonna be alright, Bammie.” Jinyoung promises, taking his tea with him to his single room and closing the door for the night.
“If Mark-hyung’s plan works everything will be better than fine in no time.” JB assures the dongsaeng as he goes to stand by the door to the living room. “You should get some sleep.”
BamBam nods after a second of thought and pauses as he goes to pass the leader, obviously wanting to say something but not knowing how. Jaebum takes the words away by leaning forward with his thumb and forefinger, gently gripping the Thai boy’s jaw and kissing him chastely. When they pull apart they both look a little bit redder but the tense air around the younger is all but gone. “Good night, hyung.”
“Good night, BamBam.” Jaebum pinches his cheek before letting him past and shutting all of the lights off in the main parts of the dorm.
By the time he himself makes it back to his and Youngjae’s room the other is already sitting on their shared bed with a book in his lap, his hair mostly dry from his shower. He doesn’t look up when JB walks in but he does look up at the put upon sigh the older lets out as he sags back against the wood. “You should go take a shower. The hot water might do you some good, Jaebummie-hyung. Plus you still smell like that cat you insisted on petting this morning and I really don’t want to be up all night sneezing.”
“Sorry about that, Youngjae. I’ll go take one right now and just put my clothes in Jackson and Mark’s basket.” JB bows slightly in apology before bending further to grab his pajama pants and white tank top that he wears to bed.
Youngjae is right. The hot water does wonders for Jaebum’s tightly strung muscles and he relaxes a little bit, knowing that even though he has much to do and much to fix in the upcoming week the individual dance practices should allow him plenty of time to get everything done while still leaving time to relax.
“Feel better?” Youngjae asks quietly when JB comes back into their room and carefully shuts the door, knowing that the other five members are probably already asleep, or close to it.
“Yeah, thanks.” He nods, turning off the light and slipping into the bed beside Youngjae.
He tries to lay as close to the edge as possible, scared that he might still have some cat hairs on him despite thoroughly making sure that wasn’t the case. After about ten minutes Youngjae sighs and wraps an arm around JB’s bicep, knowing that the man is a cuddler and that neither of them is going to get any sleep whatsoever if he is trying to sleep on the very edge of the mattress. “Go to sleep, hyung.” He all but orders and it makes JB laugh and relax enough that he finally feels tired enough to sleep.
+++
“Text me or ask the manager-hyungs to call if you’re going to be home late, Yugyeommie. And make sure you drink more water than you think you need to.” Jaebum yawns, walking the youngest to the door and reminding him of the things that he already knows for what has to be the hundredth time. “And take care of yourself.”
“I will, hyung. I’ll see you tonight.”
JB just nods and shuts the door behind Yugyeom and the manager that is waiting there for him. He locks the deadbolt and yawns again, hoping that he can get at least another hour of sleep before he has to wake up the rest of his members. He knows that his hopes are pointless because once awake he can’t usually find his way back to sleep. That doesn’t stop him from crawling back into bed and curling into Youngjae’s side for warmth, though.
By the time everyone wakes up it is already 10:30 and JB regrets letting the morning go by unproductively. If the well-rested smiles on the other members’ faces are anything to go by, though, they don’t regret a single second of it. They all meet in the kitchen for breakfast, trying to decide if rice and milk or cereal is a better option since none of them feel like even putting in the effort to make some eggs or sausage. Finally after 20 minutes of debating the pros and cons of each dish they settle on cereal and fix their bowls before sitting around the table.
“Okay, so about this plan of yours.” JB starts once he’s about halfway through with his bowl because he can’t stand to have Yugyeom pull away from him like he did this morning when JB tried to rest his hand on the maknae’s shoulder.
“It’s simple, really. We all really care about Yugyeom, just like we all care about each other. So we each take a night between now and Saturday to show him.” Mark shrugs, eating a bite of cereal before looking right at JB.
The leader knows that there’s more Mark wants to say but won’t actually voice so he just nods and looks around the table for confirmation. Everyone seems to be in agreement so he finally admits to himself that he is more than on board with the idea, too. “Okay, so who wants what day?”
“I think you should take tonight, Bummie-hyung. I think he was hurt by you the most.” BamBam says and JB wonders briefly when his members became so wise and mature.
“Okay, what about tomorrow?” Now that he is in leader-mode the planner in him wants to schedule everything out so there is no room for error.
“I’ll take tomorrow. I’ve been meaning to take him to that new comic book store that just opened up and I think I scared the poor kid when I pushed you like I did.” Jackson speaks up, waving his spoon in a circle for emphasis before using it to point behind his shoulder in the general direction of the city outside.
“I’ll take Tuesday, then, if that’s okay.” Jinyoung shrugs, drinking the milk from his bowl before rising to put the dish in the sink.
“And I’m free Wednesday, so count me in for then.” Youngjae yawns, trying to hide the sound in Mark’s shoulder.
“Thursday that movie Yugyeom wanted to go see comes out so I can take him to that.” BamBam suggests and everyone nods in agreement.
“Which leaves Friday to me.” Mark says, a look in his eyes that JB can’t quite decipher.
“And then Saturday we have a movie marathon. Seems like the perfect end to a mostly-free week, no?” BamBam asks, stretching his arms over his head until he hears a pop.
“Sounds great to me. Do we have anything planned for today?” Youngjae asks and JB tries to wrack his brain for their schedule but he comes up empty.
“Not that I know of. Why?”
“Okay, good. I want to go to the library for a couple hours and just needed to know if I had the time.”
“Yeah, we don’t have anything planned until next Sunday. So feel free to go whenever. Just make sure you keep in touch with either me or the manager-hyungs.” JB nods, taking his bowl to the sink and sitting on the couch with an X-box controller in hand.
Youngjae nods and goes to get dressed while the others finish eating. When they get done Jackson and BamBam join JB on the couch but Jinyoung and Mark head to their rooms to read and enjoy the peace and quiet that seems to be so rare these days.