I can't live without you.. || Chanmin

The space between

The dim light of the studio hummed softly above them, the low glow casting long shadows across the room. It was late—past midnight, long after the rest of the members had turned in for the night—but Bang Chan and Seungmin remained, tucked away in the solitude of the small space that had always felt like their sanctuary.

The track they had been working on played quietly in the background, the repetitive loop of the instrumental filling the silence between them. Bang Chan's focus wavered, his fingers hovering over the keyboard but not quite moving. He could feel Seungmin's presence next to him, close enough to touch, the quiet warmth of the younger boy's body somehow more distracting than usual tonight.

Seungmin had always sat with him like this—late nights in the studio were their unspoken ritual—but there was something different about this moment. The air felt charged, heavy with the unspoken tension that had been lingering since their conversation earlier that day. It pressed in on them, growing thicker with every passing second, every stolen glance that neither of them seemed to acknowledge directly.

Bang Chan's eyes flicked to Seungmin's reflection in the computer screen, the subtle rise and fall of his chest as he sat back in the chair, watching him work—or at least pretending to. Seungmin wasn't saying much tonight, and for some reason, that silence felt heavier than usual. More loaded.

Bang Chan cleared his throat, his voice coming out rougher than he intended. "You okay? You've been quiet."

Seungmin's lips quirked into a small smile, though his eyes remained half-lidded, the light in them unreadable. "I'm fine. Just... thinking."

"About?"

Seungmin shrugged, his gaze shifting from the screen to Bang Chan, holding his eyes in a way that sent a strange jolt through him. "A lot of things."

Bang Chan blinked, his heart suddenly racing for reasons he couldn't quite put his finger on. There was something about the way Seungmin was looking at him—intense, yet teasing, like he knew exactly what was going on in Bang Chan's head but wasn't going to say it out loud.

Bang Chan leaned back in his chair, trying to shake off the feeling that the room had somehow grown smaller. He turned slightly to face Seungmin, forcing himself to keep things light. "You've got that look on your face."

Seungmin raised an eyebrow. "What look?"

"That look you get when you're about to mess with me," Bang Chan said with a chuckle, though it came out more nervous than he intended.

Seungmin's smile widened, and he leaned forward slightly, elbows resting on his knees, his face closer now. "What if I am?"

Bang Chan felt his pulse quicken, his skin buzzing with the proximity of Seungmin's gaze. He laughed it off, shaking his head. "You're always messing with me."

Seungmin didn't answer right away. Instead, he just watched him, his expression unreadable but undeniably intense. The silence stretched between them again, heavy and thick, until Seungmin's voice cut through the quiet, softer this time.

"Chan... do you ever wonder what this is?"

Bang Chan's breath caught in his throat. He knew exactly what Seungmin was asking, but hearing the words spoken aloud like that felt like crossing a line—a line that had been drawn between them for years but had always remained blurred. The connection they shared had always been more than friendship, but neither of them had ever dared to define it, to give it a name.

Bang Chan swallowed, his throat suddenly dry. "I... I think about it."

Seungmin leaned in closer, his face just inches from Bang Chan's now, his voice barely a whisper. "And?"

The question hung in the air, heavy and loaded with the weight of everything they had never said to each other. Bang Chan could feel Seungmin's breath on his skin, warm and steady, and suddenly, the space between them felt impossibly small, suffocating in its intimacy.

Bang Chan's heart was racing now, pounding in his chest as he searched Seungmin's eyes for some kind of answer—some kind of clue as to where this was going. But all he saw in Seungmin's gaze was that same quiet intensity, that same unspoken desire that had been simmering between them for months, if not years.

Without thinking, Bang Chan closed the gap between them.

His lips found Seungmin's in a tentative, almost hesitant kiss, but the moment their mouths met, it was like a spark igniting a flame. The tension that had been building between them for so long finally snapped, and suddenly, everything made sense. Seungmin's hand found the back of Bang Chan's neck, pulling him closer as he deepened the kiss, his lips soft but insistent, a quiet urgency in the way he moved.

Bang Chan's mind was spinning, but all he could focus on was Seungmin—how right this felt, how natural it was to be this close to him, to finally give in to the pull that had been drawing them together for so long. His hands found Seungmin's waist, gripping him tightly as he pulled him closer, their bodies pressed together now, the heat between them growing with every second.

Seungmin's fingers tangled in Bang Chan's hair, tugging slightly as their kiss deepened, their breaths mingling in the small space between them. There was a hunger in the way Seungmin kissed him, a quiet desperation that matched Bang Chan's own, as if they had both been waiting for this moment far longer than they realized.

When they finally broke apart, both of them were breathing hard, their foreheads resting against each other as they tried to catch their breath. Bang Chan's heart was still racing, his mind spinning with the realization of what had just happened, but he couldn't bring himself to regret it. Not for a second.

Seungmin's voice was soft when he spoke again, his breath warm against Bang Chan's lips. "So... what does this mean?"

Bang Chan smiled, his hand still resting on Seungmin's waist, the warmth of his skin beneath his fingertips grounding him in the reality of the moment. "I think... it means we stop pretending."

Seungmin's smile widened, and he leaned in, pressing a soft, lingering kiss to Bang Chan's lips. "Good. Because I'm tired of pretending."

Bang Chan's heart swelled at the words, the weight of the unspoken feelings between them finally lifting. They weren't just friends anymore, and whatever this was—whatever it was turning into—it felt right. Natural. Like they had been heading toward this moment all along.

They stayed like that for a while, wrapped in each other's warmth, the quiet hum of the studio their only company. The outside world felt distant, irrelevant, as if time had stopped just for them.

And for the first time in a long time, Bang Chan wasn't worried about what came next.

This was enough. They were enough.