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As soon as they reach the Wolhaiksong resort, drinks and food are passed around, and the party flies into full swing. Bam’s completely occupied for a good hour or so, moving from person to person. He greets Team Sweet and Sour first—Prince and Miseng both chat with him cheerfully, and Ehwa begrudgingly murmurs something before she strides off, face flushed. Khun is listening to Isu ramble on about something while he takes small sips of sake, the other’s words turning into a monotone drone as his eyes follow Bam. He’s not particularly invested in the party—it’s nice and all, but he’s tired. The only reason he hadn’t left was in case Bam got himself drunk or something and needed help getting back to his room. From his observations, though, Bam seemed to be able to more or less handle his alcohol. It was probably okay to leave.
“Hey, Khun? Khun, are you listening?” Isu waves a hand in front of him.
Khun starts to respond, his default, Of course, keep going , on the tip of his tongue, right as Bam approaches them. “Isu!”
Not me? Khun is tempted to tease. But it makes sense. He and Bam had just fought an entire battle, naturally, Bam would be inclined towards the people he hadn’t seen in a while. Khun quickly tosses his cup in the trash and excuses himself from the conversation. “I’ll talk to you guys later.”
“Khun?” Bam starts, but Khun waves him off.
“You haven’t talked to your friends in a while, go have fun. We can catch up later.” They’re sharing a room, after all. He walks out to the balcony, a gentle breeze ruffling this hair. It would be nice, if not for the presence he feels behind him. “What do you want, gator?” This is a familiar scene.
“You’re still worrying, Blue Turtle.”’
“According to you, I’m always worrying,” Khun retorts. “Why are you surprised?”
“As if,” Rak snorts. “The Black Turtle’s back, Blue Turtle. Yet you still haven’t gotten better.”
“I’m fine.”
“You think you can trick a hunter that easily?” Rak hmphs. “Come on. The Black Turtle’s waiting for us.”
“He’s talking to—” But Rak drags him off anyways.
Bam is conversing with Endorsi when they return. He looks happy to see her, but Khun can read the fatigue in his stance, the slight weariness on his face. So he quickly walks over to them. “Hey, Bam, Rak and I are going to head to bed now.”
“Oh, I’ll come with you! I’m pretty tired too.” Bam turns to Endorsi. “Goodnight, Endorsi!”
“Yeah, yeah, don’t forget our date tomorrow,” she waves. Khun mentally notes down the fact.
Rak grabs Bam’s hand, and they walk towards their room.
The room honestly seems more like a lounge room than a bedroom, with couches, tables, and a television on one side. But there’s blankets and pillows stacked up in a pile on the other side, so Khun supposes it’ll do. Besides, the walls seem pretty soundproof, from the way the chaos outside sounds diminished, so it’s not all that bad. As nice as the celebration sounds, he’s far too exhausted to stay for long, and from the way Bam and Rak plop down on the blankets after he sets them up, he assumes they share the same sentiment.
It still seems surreal, having Bam back. The Irregular looks very different—long hair, and a leaner, more muscular body. He seems to be around Khun’s height now, too. Khun wonders if he’ll ever grow taller. But the part of Bam that really catches his attention are the golden eyes. Eyes that no longer gleamed with the bright innocence that they did on the Second Floor. There’s still a soft kindness in them, but the original spark is gone. It’s natural, it’s what happens to everyone that enters the Tower, Khun knows. But the fact that Bam had to learn the harsh reality in such a way…
“Khun?” Bam’s giving him a curious look, and oh, Khun’s probably been staring for a while now, hasn’t he?
“…You’ve changed,” is all he says in response.
“Uhh…?” Khun resists the urge to laugh. Even if Bam was no longer the naive boy he was on the Second Floor, even if his entire appearance was different, and his voice was more quiet and deep, he’s still undoubtedly Bam.
“Just say you’re happy to see him again, turtle,” Rak grumbles from next to him. “You spent long enough being a mopey turtle.”
“I was not mopey!” He denies just as quickly. He just has a lot to think about. After all, he was the one that led to Bam getting captured all the way back on the Second Floor. Was he supposed to apologize now? It wouldn’t even be worth anything.
Rak opens his mouth to fire back a response, but a quiet sound halts their argument before it can snowball out of control.
Bam’s laughing.
It’s a quiet, subdued sound, but it’s there nonetheless. It’s a solid reminder that Khun’s no longer living in his nightmare.
“I’m glad,” Bam says quietly. “You haven’t changed at all, Khun.”
“Is that an insult or a compliment?” Khun raises an eyebrow.
Bam doesn’t answer that question, instead just reaching for Khun’s hand and interlacing their fingers together. “I thought about you all the time.”
“Yeah?” Khun knows about how FUG threatened Bam with their lives. It leaves a disgustingly bitter taste in his mouth, the fact that Bam was forced into all of this because none of them were powerful enough to take on FUG. It takes him a moment to notice Bam’s slight wince at his death grip, and he slowly relaxes his hand.
“Yeah. I thought about all our friends, but…” Bam glances outside quickly. “You and Rak were always the first in my mind.”
“Oh.” That’s…interesting. What should he say? I thought about you a lot, too sounds kind of depressing. He doesn’t really know how to continue this conversation without making it awkward, so he changes the topic insead. “So have you figured out how that Thorn works?”
“Not exactly,” Bam sighs. “It boosts my strength a lot, but I think I also get tired faster when I use it…” As if to prove his point, he seems to sway a bit, even if he’s sitting.
Khun makes a decision and carefully pulls Bam closer, settling Bam’s head on his shoulder. Rak helps, leaning against Bam’s back to provide support. “You should rest. You’re back now.”
Bam hums a quiet agreement. “When I first found the Thorn, Beta trapped me in with it.”
“He what ?”
“Trapped me in. He had this rope wrapped around me, and I couldn’t use Shinsu.” Bam stares into nondescript space as he recalls the scene. “It was the thought of you all that helped me break free.”
Khun frowns. That sounds almost too much like something straight out of a fairytale. But he slowly nods. “I’m glad…we were able to reunite.”
“Yeah,” Bam hums. It’s followed by a stifled yawn.
“Let’s sleep,” Khun casts a side eye towards Rak, who already looks like he’s dozing off. He gently pulls Bam down, and the gator just topples over on his back, snoring. “Well, looks like the gator’s already on it.”
Bam smiles in font amusement. He lifts Khun’s hand and holds it close. “Thank you, Khun.”
Khun looks away. “It was still my fault for—”
“Don’t—” Bam interrupts. He caught on faster than Khun was expecting to. Another thing that’s changed. When Khun bites his lip and looks away, Bam squeezes his hand tighter. “It’s not your fault. They would’ve taken me either way.”
“But—”
“But nothing,” is the firm response. “Please, Khun.”
He doesn’t like having to drop a topic like this, but he relents. “Okay.”
“I’m back now. Isn’t that enough?”
“It is,” Khun agrees. “I just…” He remembers his nightmares. Bam falling into the darkness, out of reach. Bam screaming as he was chewed up by the Bull. Even after they found out Bam was alive, the nightmares remained. Bam begging for his help as FUG beat him to the ground. Bam being killed on an unknown floor, bleeding in a lonely heap. Bam, Bam, Bam, all because he couldn’t make a good enough plan for that test. “Yeah. It’s enough.”
Bam doesn’t seem to buy it, judging from the way he frowns, but he doesn’t say anything else, instead opting to tug Khun a little closer. Khun offers a hesitant smile, and he’s rewarded with Bam’s warm one. “I’m here. You can sleep.”
“…Yeah.” Khun acquiesces and closes his eyes.
He drifts off faster than he’s expecting.
He opens his eyes to see nothing but darkness.
He’s lying on his side. There’s something in his arms.
No, check that, some one . It’s a body.
Khun blinks and waits for his vision to clear. It doesn’t.
He tries to move, but there seems to be something restraining him. It takes Khun longer than he should to realize that the body he’s holding is…sickeningly wet. It feels like water, but there’s a familiar metallic smell that Khun discerns, his stomach twisting.
Blood.
Why is he clinging to a dead body?
This time, he manages to lift an arm. He tries to push himself away from the body, see who it is. After a moment, his vision finally clears into very blurry shapes. But he recognizes the person instantly.
Bam.
Bam, with something sharp sticking right through his chest. His clothes matted with blood. His eyes closed.
No, no, no this isn’t real.
But Bam doesn’t move. They're both trapped in a dark cave.
“Wake up,” he whispers. “Wake up. Please.”
His body is so, so cold.
“Wake up!”
His eyes snap open. There’s blankets and pillows around him.
There’s a warm body clutching him.
Shakily, Khun lightly grazes Bam’s back before lifting his hand up to see, letting out an unconscious sigh of relief when he just sees his palm. No blood. No weapon.
But when did Bam end up grabbing onto him in his sleep? Khun’s usually a light sleeper, so it’s a bit strange that someone managed to grab him without him waking up. He ends up attributing it to his growing list of “because it’s Bam” and focuses on steadying his breathing again.
A small whimper startles him out of his thoughts.
Bam’s trembling.
He hadn’t noticed it before, because he himself had been shaking. But he’s used to pulling himself out of his nightmares, and now that he has, it’s hard not to hear the quiet whimpers, it’s hard not to see the quivering in his form.
“Khun,” his name makes him jump slightly. Bam’s talking in his sleep, he realizes. “Khun, Khun, Khun.” His voice shakes. “No, please.”
“Bam.” Khun shakes him slightly. “Bam, wake up.”
The brunet keeps murmuring his name over and over. Khun pushes a little harder. “Bam.”
“…Khun?” That sounds like an awake murmur. Khun shifts himself so he’s face to face with bleary gold eyes.
“Bam.” He sees eyes widen, finally crossing the line to alertness. “It was just—”
He’s cut off as Bam grabs him in a tight hug.
His body tenses instinctively, but he relaxes a few seconds later. Bam clutches him tightly, no longer making a sound but still trembling. Khun ignores the wetness on his shirt for now and pulls Bam in, throwing an arm around him. “It’s okay. I’m here,” he repeats the same words Bam said to him before they slept.
“…You’re here,” Bam whispers, broken but relieved. Khun shoves down his murderous rage towards FUG. What did they do to make Bam like this?
He’s not good at comfort. He can give advice, sure, but comfort has never been his strong point. Still, he goes with whatever helps him and murmurs softly, “Breathe. Count to three. Inhale, exhale…” Bam nods shakily, trying to follow along. He hurriedly wipes the tears from his eyes and pulls away from Khun’s shirt. But his arms are still wrapped in a vice like grip around him. He looks a lot less like Jue Viole Grace, the Slayer Candidate, Khun notes. He looks more human now. Not like FUG’s god. Just Bam.
“Do you want to talk about it?” he offers tentatively.
Bam takes a deep breath, eyes clouding over as he hunches over. But he nods. “I didn’t make it to Wangnan in time. Nor Hwaryun. And then—”
“And then I woke up,” Bam whispers. “But you were dead. I saw your body fall to the ground, and it was my fault, my fault I was too late, too slow—“ His voice is starting to shake again— “It was just a nightmare. It shouldn’t have bothered me that much; they were fine in FUG. But I guess knowing we were so close this time…and I still wasn’t strong enough to protect you —”
“Bam,” Khun cuts him off. He knows how bad these trains of thoughts could lead. It should be something for him to deal with, though, not Bam. “You defeated Reflejo. You escaped. You’re here with us now.”
“……I am.” Bam starts to draw closer again, only to stop midway. “Can I hug you?”
“You already did,” Khun says dryly, but when Bam looks away, dejected, he pulls him back. “It’s okay. I’ll make an exception this time.”
I’ll always make one for you.
“…Thank you,” Bam mumbles into his shirt.
Khun just hums an acknowledgement. “Goodnight, Bam.”
This time, he sleeps free of nightmares.