yedam's eyes slowly opened, the only thing being seen was darkness. he spent a couple minutes blinking and trying to get his vision to clear up, and looking around the room after his eyes were able to adjust to the dark, the second year university student was able to see the outlines of numerous figured scattered all over his room. yedam immediately recognized jihoon's back, which was facing towards him while the older was facing the back of the couch that was in the room.

the laying male looked over to his left to see a pitcher of water next to an empty glass and some painkillers, most likely brought to him by a nurse that was aiding him. although the second year university student couldn't exactly remember what happened, the rashes all over his arms that turned his pale, smooth skin red and bumpy said enough to yedam to know that he was bullied once again.

there was a pounding in yedam's head followed by pain that shot up to his head when he tried to reach for the water pitcher. the pain was small enough to where yedam could still function, but it was bad enough for him to be unable to move. the headache got more severe when the second year university student tried to reach for the water, causing him to return to his original laying position.

not only was his head hurting, but his throat was also dry. he needed to drink water, but how would he be able to if he can't even reach towards the beverage?

deciding to try once more, yedam propped himself on his left elbow, facing the direction of the bedside table that appeared to be taunting him at the moment. he used his right hand to try and reach for the pitcher, but the pain shot up to his brain once again, causing yedam to lose the strength in the arm that was holding him up and he fell backwards, returning to his original position.

shutting his eyes tightly, yedam let out a quiet groan, not wanting to disturb any of the sleeping males that were scattered all over the room. the second year university student felt hopeless in getting a drink of water at the moment, so he threw his head back, attempting to go back to sleep. although he didn't have a clock to look at, the laying male could feel that it was some kind of ungodly hour in the morning, the moonlight from outside shining through the closed curtain being the biggest hint for that.

about a minute after, the door to the hospital room opened up, catching the attention of yedam from the small amount of light that entered into the dark room from the hallway. the sudden light temporary blinded him, causing the second year university student to be unable to make out the figure of the person who walked in.

the male was only able to recognize who it was when the person was standing on his left side, the same side where the bedside table was. upon being met with the familiar face, yedam immediately tried to scoot back a little on his bed while placing his hands over his mouth, waiting for the smell of baby powder to suffocate him and cause him to hyperventilate since doyoung seemed to quite literally, be a walking bottle of baby powder.

however, the time never came. it had been about eight seconds of the two of them being less than four feet apart, yet nothing happened to yedam. his throat wasn't closing in on him, he wasn't feeling lightheaded, and he wasn't hyperventilating. at first, he had found it strange, thinking that somehow, his allergy had suddenly disappeared into thin air. but after taking a look at doyoung's condition - messy hair, sleepy eyes, pajamas - the older male was able to assume that the standing male had just gotten out of bed, either from sleeping and waking up or not being able to sleep at all.

the second option seemed more reasonable, since the way doyoung's eyes looked at the moment showed that he seemed to be restless, but for what reason? yedam didn't know. it would most likely be because of the younger male's mom, but it could also be something else, maybe stress from school? not wanting to take any chances and assume what the other was worried about, the second year university student just shook the thought out of his head and watched as doyoung poured some water from the pitcher into the empty glass, handing it over.

"t-thanks..." yedam cursed himself for stuttering. though he has stuttered before in front of doyoung, the second year university student hadn't stuttered in front of the younger in a while. after getting more comfortable with the other, there really was no reason to. it wasn't that yedam was uncomfortable with the younger; he was perfectly fine with the business management student since the very beginning. the older of the two was just shy at the time for being caught by doyoung for giving him strawberry milk.

in his current situation, the second year university student was dumbfound. he didn't know if he was hallucinating or dreaming, but doyoung was actually standing less than two feet away from him, and the older is able to be near the other without holding his breath or hyperventilating.

the first year university student handed yedam a pill of the pain reliever that was also on the bedside table and took a seat in the chair that was next to the bed, waiting for the older to finish taking the pill. yedam placed the pain reliever pill in his mouth before taking a sip of water, swallowing both of them at once and proceeding to drink more water until he finished the glass. the older handed the glass back to the business management student, who took the item from his hands and placed it back on the bedside table.

their hands accidentally brushed when yedam was passing doyoung the empty glass, and a tingling feeling went from the second year university student's fingertips to the entirety of his body. it was a small, light touch, but it has a big effect on yedam. images of their hug that one day at the park came back to the older, but he shook his head, not wanting to sidetrack, even though there wasn't anything going on at the moment.

"what brought you here?" yedam didn't want to sound rude. he only wanted to ease his curiosity. despite not having a clock, the older was already able to infer that it was very early in the morning, although not really knowing how early in the morning it actually was, but whether he knew the exact time or not, doyoung was still here.

the younger of the two turned away from looking at the bedside table and gave the other boy his attention. "i couldn't sleep because i was worried about you. i wanted to check your condition myself."

the hoarse voice of doyoung made yedam grow slightly worried, but he didn't let it bother him too much. after all, a time like this was not preferable for anyone to be awake, and even though the second year university student knew that the younger had problems sleeping at night, doyoung was no exception.

yedam could only nod his head as a response, not really knowing any other way for him to reply. silence drew a line between the two of them, as it always does when neither of them know what to talk about next. it wasn't an uncomfortable silence, but the older disliked it nonetheless. doyoung was the only person in yedam's life that he would have random bursts of silence like this in their conversations, but the older wasn't complaining.

"i have to go to the bathroom," yedam said, pulling the covers off from over his leg and hanging them down from the side of the bed. doyoung immediately stood up and helped yedam get off from the bed, grabbing his slippers and helping the older wear them. the older thanked the business management student, and while he was taking steps forward, the younger grabbed the IV pole and pushed it in front of him, following the second year university student from behind.

yedam was surprised to find out that the younger knew about having to bring his IV line with him wherever he went so as long as he's an in-patient at the hospital. but the second year university student was reminded of his mom and how she was in the hospital trying to fight lung cancer and concluded that doyoung must've helped her out a lot to have knowledge about these type of things.

making their way to the bathroom, the older of the two made his way inside, taking his IV line with him inside as doyoung stood outside and waited for the other to finish his business. when approaching the mirror placed above the sink in the hospital, yedam took a good look at himself. the bright red rash all over his arms and face were still very prominent, and the older had no idea how long it would take for them to go away. usually, the rashes that develop from his idiosyncrasy would disappear in about four days despite the severity of his allergy, but it seemed to be so much worse this time.

letting out a small sigh, yedam continued to finish up his business, not wanting to make the younger boy outside wait any longer, and he was out of the bathroom within the next five minutes. doyoung was leaning against the wall across the hall from the bathroom and looked at the floor, kicking the air slightly with his feet as his arms were crossed. hearing the opening of the bathroom door caught the younger's attention, and he swiftly made his way over to yedam, taking the IV pole from his hand.

"finished?" doyoung asked, tilting his head to the side as the older nodded as a response. the two headed back to the hospital room that yedam was occupying for the time being and the first year university student helped the patient get back into his bed, making sure the other was comfortable before pulling the covers above him.

"thank you," yedam said, looking towards doyoung, who was sitting in the chair next to the hospital bed. the older unconsciously placed his hand on top of the business management student's, which was resting lightly on the side of the bed. the younger only gave a slight nod as a response and placed his other hand on top of yedam's, his thumb rubbing circles on the back of the small hand that was incased in his.

the second year university student found himself slowly drifting off into sleep, the image of doyoung in mind and the want to be close to the younger again, exactly like he was just now.

"yedam... yedam..." the said male opened his eyes slightly, being met with the blinding light of the hospital room he was in. he turned towards his left to see jihoon sitting in the chair on the bedside, messy hair and looking as if he had just woken up.

"hyung..." yedam called out in a sleepy voice, letting out a small yawn as he stretched his arms above his head. the second year university student blinked his eyes a couple times, trying to adjust to the light and make sense of his surroundings. he looked around the room to see his other friends still sleeping, scattered all throughout the room with soft snores coming from some of them.

there was one person he didn't see, however, and that was doyoung. the second year university student had the memory of seeing doyoung last night, or rather, early this morning, and even remembered the younger helping eat the pain killers and going to the bathroom. the feeling of the younger's hand was still lingering on his own, making him feel certain that doyoung was with him, but where did he go?

"did... doyoung leave already?" yedam asked in a sleepy voice, rubbing his eye with the back of his hand. the confused look on jihoon's face said enough to the boy laying down in the bed and felt that he didn't need to hear the older's response, but he listened nonetheless.

"he was never here?" the third year university more questioned rather than replying to the other's question. the younger furrowed his eyebrows, confusion written in his face even after hearing jihoon's reply.

hadn't doyoung also fell asleep when yedam did? wasn't he sitting in that exact chair that the panda-looking male was currently sitting in and held his hand as they fell asleep? or was it just all in yedam's imagination and the first year university student never really did fall asleep? yedam didn't know. there were too many questions that were in the mind of the second year university student, and not enough answers to go around.

the feeling of the younger's hand in his was still there, and if everything was a dream, then the feeling wouldn't be there, would it? and if it was a dream, how could it feel so real?

looking over to the bedside table, yedam didn't see the packet of painkillers placed on top of it. the empty glass and the pitcher of water were still there, but the pills were nowhere to be found. this confused the second year university student because he could've sworn that he took a painkiller last night with doyoung's help.

"doctor choi came in earlier and said that you are okay to leave, so whenever you're ready, we can leave. i can wake the others as well. i packed up some extra clothes last night and came back with the others. i already packed up your clothes from yesterday as well as a few other things."

jihoon's somewhat lengthy explanation got yedam to wonder if the older had also packed up the painkillers, but couldn't find himself to ask. the more and more conscious the second year university student gets, the more and more he starts to believe that doyoung was never here early in the morning in the first place, leaving only one question for the male to ponder above all others.

was it all just a dream?

[YEDAM]