secret; little jaebum

Frowning

When Jaebum woke up the next day, he was no longer in little space and Mark wasn't there. As the events of last night faded into his memory, he started to panic. He wanted to stay in Mark's room and loathe himself all day but he smelled food in the kitchen, meaning the other members were up and would not leave him alone at all. Jaebum left his things on Mark's bed, hoping to be able to come back and rest again. He contemplated if he should just stay but before he could even think about it, Mark opened the door.

"Bummie? Breakfast is ready." Mark popped his head in and smiled sweetly. Jaebum grimaced at the nickname.

"Don't call me that." Jaebum frowned.

Mark hesitated. "Okay, Jaebum, breakfast is ready." And with that, he left. Jaebum groaned and frowned, but he headed towards the noisy dining room. He wasn't in the best of moods. It didn't help that Youngjae and Bambam were actually yelling over whose eggs looked better. The only two normal ones in the bunch were Mark and Jinyoung, them both being their quiet selves. He decided sitting between them would give him the strength he needed to get through this damned breakfast.

Jaebum could feel Mark's eyes on him, to the point where he felt uncomfortable. He was talking to Jinyoung, pretending he didn't know Mark was staring at him. Maybe he caught on to what happened last night, maybe he knew, and Jaebum didn't want that.

But Mark knew, he wasn't blind. Jaebum was acting different lately. He was more clingy, not pushing Jackson away if he wanted a hug. He would let the members tease him and he wouldn't get mad. And the thing that happened last night; the plushie, Jaebum's cute expression, the way his face lit up when he saw the childish cartoon playing on the TV. The kicker was Jaebum actually falling asleep on Mark's chest with his thumb in his mouth. Mark knew.

Jaebum was a little.

Mark was always looking up random things and one day he came across this 'little space' tag. He found no problem in it, people relieve stress in different ways. But for Im Jaebum to be into this was just straight up shocking. Surely he would have to talk to him about it.

"So Jaebum, where did you go last night?" Yugyeom asked, mouth full of pancakes. He was Jaebum's roommate, of course he noticed when he wasn't in the room last night. Jaebum hesitated to answer, probably too embarrassed to say the truth, so Mark lied for him.

"He was in my room, needed help with lyrics." Mark lied so good Jaebum almost believed him.

"All night?" Yugyeom pushed. Jaebum was getting anxious. Why couldn't he drop it?

"Yep," was all Mark said. Just like that, the crisis was blown over. Jaebum sighed slightly. They ate breakfast with mild conversations, Jaebum even joined in.

But he was still not in the mood.

After breakfast, he begrudgingly went back to Mark's room to collect the god forsaken items that caused his head to go all fuzzy last night. To his surprise, his pillow, his blanket, and his Snorlax were all in a nice and neat pile on Mark's bed. Butterflies erupted in his stomach for some reason. He wanted to capture that feeling and keep it safe.

Of course they had a last minute schedule. An interview with some rookie MCs. Maybe Jaebum could make it through this shooting and go home and mope. He was already doing it in the van on the way to the recording place. Not to mention he was stressed. Stressed about music, stressed about this interview, but more importantly, stressed about Mark finding out his secret.

"Jaebum, you look more stressed than usual. Are you okay?" Jinyoung asked. He was usually very intuitive and this was no different. In other circumstances, Jaebum would spill his guts to Jinyoung, but how was he supposed to tell the younger about this? Not happening.