#5 Rumors
Title: Rumors
Group(s): Big Bang/Infinite/Beast
Pairing: hinted!Sunggyu(Infinite)/Youngbae(Big Bang)
Rating: G
Word Count: 8,763
"What are the chances that we'd end up in the same high school with mostly the same classes? I'm tired of seeing your face everyday," Sunggyu says, playfully shoving at his best friend, Woohyun. Woohyun turns to give him a look of disbelief and shoves him back harder, almost making him crash into an open classroom door.
The pair is on their way to meet up with the rest of their friends. Dongwoo and Hoya insisted that they had something amazing to talk to them about.
As soon as they round the corner, they can hear Dongwoo's laughter echo out from an empty classroom and make a beeline for it.
"And the party has arrived!" Woohyun says, throwing his hands up triumphantly. Hoya throws a pencil at him, laughing as it bounces off of Woohyun's chin.
"What was so important that it couldn't wait until we were all procrastinating on AIM?" Sunggyu asks, settling down in an empty desk and leaning back in the chair.
"First things first. Where are Myungsoo, Sungyeol, and Sungjong?" Hoya asks, leaning back on his desk and grabbing at the edge when it started to tip.
"Oh. I heard Sungyeol and Myungsoo got detention for drawing stupid stuff on the blackboards in class again. Sungjong is probably-"
"Right here," the boy says as he slides into the classroom, taking a seat at the empty desk in front of Sunggyu.
"Well, now that most of us are here... Hey. Sungjong. Go close the door." Hoya nudges him with his foot, making the younger boy whine and bat his foot away.
"Why do I have to close the door?"
"Because you got here last, and you're the youngest. Now go." Sungjong scowls at Dongwoo before begrudgingly getting up and closing the door. It doesn't close all the way for some reason, squeaking as it opens again. Sungjong pushes it closed multiple times until he gives up and sits back down.
"Well anyway, I heard some funny rumors about Big Bang." Everyone in the room groans as Hoya looks around in disbelief.
"All the school talks about is Big Bang. I hear enough about them from the screaming fangirls around here."
"No, no, this is legit stuff," Hoya says, hopping off of the desk and moving to the front. "So you know, Youngbae? The short guy?"
"The one with the really nice body?" Sungjong asks, earning weird glances from everyone in the room.
"What? He does. You can't honestly tell me you haven't noticed." Everyone in the room murmurs in agreement before Hoya shakes his head in disbelief and moves on.
"Despite how into dancing he is, everyone says he's a total player. I've heard he keeps like this conquest book to keep up with all the girls he's banged." Sunggyu's eyebrows furrow. That didn't seem like him at all.
"Then that other guy, the leader. What's his name." Dongwoo rolls his eyes.
"You mean Jiyong? G-Dragon?"
"Yeah whatever. He's dating someone in college apparently." Woohyun's eyebrows go up as Sunggyu rolls his eyes. Did he really let Woohyun drag him here just to listen to random gossip?
Jiyong approaches the door as silently as possible. He stayed after school because a teacher called his parents, telling them that he had skipped out on his detention for some time. It's not like detention was anything really, he just had to sit in a classroom with no teacher meaning he could do anything, but that wasted a few hours of his life. As soon as he exits the class, empty except for him and two other students, he hears his name being called. It's from the math classroom down the hall where the door was cracked just a bit.
"And then that kid, Seungri? He's all talk apparently. Seems like he thinks he's better than he actually is at dance. I can totally take that kid on," Hoya says, showing off a few moves and yelping when he bumps into a desk.
Jiyong chuckles as quietly as possible, both at the supposed "rumors" and the kid that just bumped into desk. He recognizes him from dance club, and actually, he'd seen a lot of them around before.
"Yeah, you could totally take him," Dongwoo says, rolling his eyes.
"Really, Hoya? You called us here for this? This is retarded. I'm hungry, and I want to go home and eat," Sungjong whines, shaking his desk.
"Okay, just wait. This is the real kicker. Daesung? That quiet kid that's always with them? The ugly one?" There are noises of protest around the room. Jiyong pauses and tries to open the door a bit more.
"You're one to talk," Dongwoo says, shoving at Hoya. Hoya shrugs and shields his chest.
"I don't know what he looks like, I've never actually seen him before. But everyone says Jiyong let him into Big Bang just because he felt bad."
Jiyong clenches the door, hard. Surely, no one would believe this stupid of a rumor. Five out of the six should not be so dumb as to think that one of his best friend's since elementary school is just in the group because they felt bad.
"Whoa. What? Really?" Woohyun asks, leaning forward at his desk. Hoya nodded.
Jiyong's about a second away from slamming the door open and shoving those rumors where they belong.
"That's what the rumors say." Sunggyu rolls his eyes again before shoving at the desk and getting up.
"Okay. I don't really care. It's none of my business what Big Bang does. And honestly, you sound like an old woman with this gossip, Hoya. Shouldn't you be practicing or something?" Sunggyu heads towards the door and pulls it open to come face to face with a very pissed looking Jiyong.
Jiyong glares at all of them, seeing Hoya gulp he smiles, "Glad to see this group likes to balance the talented with the talentless." He turns back to the two in front of him and gives a slight wave, before turning and walking down the hall.
----
Jiyong is still fuming after he's called everyone to meet at their usual place. It's an abandoned building down by a club so people from school don't pop by, and the loud music next door keeps the police from hearing that they're there. He's glad today it's playing extra loud with all the annoyances and thoughts swarming in his head, because it vibrates his chest and calms him down, or at least until Seunghyun comes through the door all smirks and laughter.
"I was just next door when you called," he says. Jiyong stays put in his spot against the wall but gives a slight nod in greeting.
Next, as always, comes Youngbae, frown on his face as he enters, but it always washes away once he sees the others. "I was doing homework y'know."
"You're always doing homework," Jiyong mutters.
"That might explain my honor roll compared to your barely passing." Jiyong glares, and it seems to come out worse than he meant, because Youngbae pauses to stare at him, "I didn't mean it."
"I know you didn't," he sighs. "I'm kind of pissed-"
"Daesung is here," the man slams the door opens and gives a bow, "to make everything better." Seunghyun snorts and lays down on the concrete as Daesung makes his way over, smiling like he always does.
"What's the reason for this meeting, anyway," Daesung asks.
"Rumors." Jiyong stares straight across the room as Seunghyun chuckles, Youngbae sighs and Daesung stares at him. "What?"
"You always have to get yourself involved with drama , don't you? They're rumors, probably made by stupid people-"
"We know these stupid people," Jiyong clenches his hands, "actually, we invited them into the dance group. Or some of them."
"Ugh, highschool kids," Seunghyun sits up, "some friends are good, some are bad and yada yada. Can I go back to having fun now, I could probably sneak you in and get your mind off things." Youngbae glares at him. "I didn't say anything about you having to go."
"That's not the point. It's what they're spreading or creating or whatever."
"Can't be worse then what's already going around. Supposedly, I'm scared of girls, and Seunghyun's in a bicycle gang, and Daesung owns a flowershop or something," Youngbae looks behind him as the door slams open again.
"Youngbae's scared of girls? I knew that was true-"
"Hey, why don't you sit down and listen instead of making assumptions?"
"I get called here in the middle of a date just to be yelled at?" Seungri still comes over and plops down right next to Jiyong. "Why are we here?"
"Rumors," Seunghyun says, looking at the opposite wall with bored eyes.
"Something about us or juicy gossip?"
"All gossip seems to be about us."
"Then, can I go?"
"Guys, this isn't just the same old shit they make up. It's twice as bad because we know them and I just think, if you really don't care, stay away from them for a while at least. Appease me or something."
Youngbae stares at him straight in the eye with a look that he only uses to figure out the next measure of a song. It's the only thing that can make Jiyong squirm and fidget around. "That's kind of childish, don't you think?"
"They're being childish, spreading these rumors," Seunghyun says, "If that's the deal, it doesn't really affect me. So, can I go back to the club now?"
"Club? There must be some hot girls in there," Seungri grins.
"Even with those eyebags, you only look nineteen. Not going to try," Seunghyun says and winks at Youngbae, who shakes his head in annoyance.
"Then," Daesung stands up, "everything's better, and my service is done."
"You didn't do anything." Seunghyun slowly stands up and ruffles his hair. They all head out the door, with Seunghyun walking out first to look for the beat cops that always pass by, and go back to where they were moments ago. Youngbae grasps Seungri's shirt to make sure he gets on the bus with them, because he's eyeing the club like it's an oasis in the desert. When it's Jiyong's stop, Youngbae pats him on the back and gives a reassuring smile, but Jiyong can't help but feel like he owes something to Hyunseung.
----
Sunggyu enters his music class the next day with a heavy heart. He hated hearing the rumors about Big Bang, because they were all absolutely ridiculous. There was only so much he could believe from the mouth of kids his age.
As he sits down in his seat, he sees Youngbae walk into class, and suddenly remembers the rumor he heard from Hoya yesterday. He watches him sit down in a seat and somehow catches eyes with him. Sunggyu waves a small hello to him before dropping his eyes back down to his desk. He looks up again to see Youngbae staring at him in curiosity before offering a hesitant wave back. That certainly didn't seem like the wave of a player, Sunggyu thinks to himself.
While the music teacher drones on about something or another, and Youngbae knows he should be paying attention, but the issue from yesterday is clouding his head. The new group of members in the dance club included Sunggyu, and he never took him for one to spread rumors or even really care enough to be interested. It has him staring, and he realizes, but when Sunggyu points between himself and Youngbae, it startles him. He looks back to the teacher to find him at his desk and on the blackboard is "collab music project" that has people moving around the room to their friends.
Sunggyu hopes that Youngbae got his message. He doesn't really know anyone else in the class. He waits for a reply from Youngbae, hoping that yesterday's events wouldn't affect his decision. He looks over at Sunggyu, who is staring around the room while tapping his desk, and wonders if he should trust himself or listen to Jiyong. Taking a deep breath in, he stands up and walks over. Jiyong has always been known to be over emotional in the moment; nothing that happened could have been that bad. He grabs a chair from a desk in front and sits down with a smile.
"Hey, Youngbae," Sunggyu says with a smile back. He's secretly relieved in his mind. Now, he didn't have to go make awkward conversation with a complete stranger. He just had to make awkward conversation with someone he sort of knew instead.
"Any ideas for this collab music project?"
"Huh, oh well," Youngbae pauses, he didn't even really know anything about Sunggyu's musical talents. He knows the other boy can sing, but has only heard him once or twice for tests.
"Can you play any instruments?" Youngbae asks, keeping his eyes on everything but Sunggyu.
"Uh... Not really. I just do a lot of singing, that's all. It's what I'm best at." Sunggyu offers another awkward smile at Youngbae before looking off around the classroom too. Why was this so awkward? He sees him almost every day for dance practice, so why couldn't he keep a simple conversation with him?
"Well, I could play piano. That kind of depends on what you can sing though, I don't think he'll like us doing pop or anything like that."
"Alright then... We could... do a duet piano song?" Sunggyu suggests, squinting his eyes. Youngbae blinks at him a few times before raising an eyebrow.
"I thought you said you didn't know how to play any instruments." Sunggyu smiles at him sheepishly before rubbing the back of his head. So his idea wasn't that well thought out.
"You could teach me some basics, just enough for us to get through this project. It's not due for a few weeks, so we have some time. What do you think?"
He thinks that if Jiyong ever finds them, he'll be given glares everytime he sees him. "It's fine; piano isn't that hard."
---
The dance club wasn't exclusive nor was it hard to get into, just a quick audition, but Jiyong felt like he was responsible for everything that happened because he had been one of six to make it. Hyunseung, Youngbae, and Daesung had thought of it last year as an idea and Seungri kept pushing it until Seunghyun used his seniority to get the principal to agree. They tried to have everyone that was accepted into the group have at least a bit of experience and ones that they could get along with and trust. He feels like they broke that with the seven members dancing at the other side of the room.
"C'mon Jiyong," Seungri whines. "Whatever they said isn't enough for us to stop practicing. We only have a while until our competition."
"It's not like we have to dance with them, we agreed to do seperate things, and then come together for the last part." Daesung crouches down next to Jiyong, "besides, brooding over here will just give them sastisfaction."
Jiyong looks up and glares at Daeung's large smile that always looks the same and always manages to put him at ease. He shakes his head and looks across the room.
"He's staring, isn't he?" Hoya says, barely loud enough for the seven of them to hear over the music. Sunggyu feels more than one pair of eyes though, and manages to catch Yongbae's eyes in the mirror before the other boy looks away in embarrassment.
"By 'he', you wouldn't happen to mean Jiyong, would you?" Dongwoo asks as he passes by Hoya in the choreography.
"Who else would I be talking about?" Hoya loses his concentration and ends up bumping into Woohyun, who falls into Sunggyu, sending the both of them
tumbling onto the ground in a heap of flailing limbs.Sungyeol and Myungsoo sigh before helping their members up to their feet.
Youngbae stops when he sees them all fall on top of each other, causing a trainwreck on there side as well with Daesung stopping not to hit him, and then Seungri stepping on his foot. They don't fall, it just has them stop, and the other two start arguing about the choreography, which means they won't start again for a while. Jiyong looks up at him then rolls his eyes before going back to glaring across the room.
"Is this all because of what happened yesterday? What did you guys do, insult the man's mother or something?" Sungyeol asks, casting a glance towards the glaring Jiyong. They vaguely hear Jiyong yelling something about not slacking off before they hastily apologize and get back to practicing.
Jiyong smirks at Youngbae's glare then pops in his earbuds. The other sighs and stares back at the mirror to the other side, catching Sunggyu mess up and give a sheepish smile.
"What are you staring at?" Daesung walks over and Youngbae snaps out of his gazing off to see Seungri huffing next to Jiyong, complaining to deaf ears. "Or who?"
"Nothing and no one," he pushes Daesung a bit in jest, "we should get back to dancing."
"You're staring at that one kid-the oldest one."
"Sunggyu?" Seungri says and it's loud enough to startle Youngbae and for the others to hear. They all look over in question, and he tries to give a reassuring smile and wave them off to go back to dancing.
"Nice one," Daesung sighs, "You really have no tact."
"I can hook you up-"
"What," Youngbae sputters, "I'm looking at him cause he keeps messing up." They both simply stare back and he rolls his eyes before doing a particular section in the dance he hasn't figured out yet.
"I think he's actually one of the better ones," Jiyong says, he only heard bits and pieces of the conversation. The reason he heard even that much was because he took out one earbud when the others had all looked over so suddenly, then Youngbae sputtering over something alway catches his attention. "He's the oldest one, right?"
"So, you approve?" Seungri smiles.
"Approve-"
"Yeah, approve of what?" Youngbae pops over to Seungri and stares down at him.
"Sunggyu, I think they're talking about you," Woohyun says as he passes by him in the choreography.
"Really? I had no idea." Sunggyu's voice drips with sarcasm, but Woohyun seems to miss it as he nods at him in earnest. Sunggyu rolls his eyes and hopes that Woohyun's looks get him far in life. There's a loud exclamation on the other side of Jiyong standing up, saying something about never ever dating younger and that someone would make fun of him for the end of time.
--
Sunggyu isn't sure what he exepcts Youngbae's house to look like, but he for sure doesn't expect the neat, medium sized house with the small flower garden out front. He lets himself in the gates and looks around the kept yard before whistling.
"They do a pretty good job of keeping their yard nice." Sunggyu thinks back to the lawn at his house and how everything seems to be trying to grow over each other because he hasn't mowed the lawn in weeks. He hops up the steps and knocks a few times on the door, waiting for Youngbae to answer it.
The door swings open, and Sunggyu immediately bows.
"Oh, you must be Sunggyu. Youngbae said you'd be coming over. Please, come in. Are you hungry?" Sunggyu watches as Youngbae's mother makes her way into the kitchen and comes back with a tray of cookies. Not wanting to be rude, Sunggyu takes one and marvels at the way the cookie seems to melt in his mouth.
"He's out in the back yard right now pulling up some weeds. His room is down the hallway, second door on the left if you want to wait for him there. I'll go get him." Sunggyu thanks her again before sticking his head down the hallway and looking around. He takes a few stops here and there to admire some of the family portraits before he gingerly pushes the door open to Youngbae's room.
There are posters of R&B artists on his walls. A keyboard in the corner. For the most part, his room is neat and clean. Sunggyu blinks a few times before he drops his backpack onto the floor. This definitely didn't look like the room of someone who had girls over all of the time.
As Sunggyu sits down on Youngbae's bed, a small black book on his desk caught Sunggyu's eye. No way. That couldn't be the infamous little black book could it? The book that Youngbae was rumored to write down all of his conquests. Sunggyu bites his lip before lacing his fingers together and shaking his head. Those were just rumors. There was no way someone like Youngbae could do something like that. All the evidence in his house pointed away from it. But still, as Sunggyu waits for Youngbae, his curiosity gets the better of him, and he wanders over to the desk. Sunggyu steals one last glance towards the door before flipping it open.
Words are scrawled all over in pen. Some of them are scratched out, and there are even notes in the margins. Sunggyu can barely make out any words, but after flipping through a few pages, something dawns on him.
"These are lyrics."
"What are you reading," Youngbae stops at the door, seeing his notebook for unfinished lyrics and scribbled down melodies in the other's hand. Sunggyu hastily closes the notebook and avoids his gaze.
He walks over to Sunggyu and snatches the book away, throwing it on top of the bookshelf. "It's kind of rude to search around people's stuff."
"I know, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to- I just-" Sunggyu trips over his words some more until all he's doing is babbling. He catches the gaze on Youngbae's face and stops talking, staring at the ground in defeat.
"I got curious. You know, the rumor around school is that you write down the names, and dates, and notes on girls that you've... you know, with."
"What? I've never-" he stops himself and coughs, "Where are you getting these from? This is the first time I've heard this." Sunggyu rubs the back of his head sheepishly before looking at Youngbae again.
"They're all over the school. Stuff like how Jiyong is dating a college guy, Seungri is too full of himself without the skills to back it up, and..." Sunggyu hesitates on telling Youngbae the last rumor, because to him, it seems like the worst one.
"And... everyone says that Jiyong only let Daesung in because he felt sorry for him." Sunggyu shifts his weight on his feet uncomfortabley, not knowing where to look.
"That's just completely not true. At all," he feels like he's glaring, so he looks down at the desk. "Where did they come from? Did one of your gang make them up?" Sunggyu looks up in surprise, blinking a few times. Youngbae realizes now what Jiyong was talking about with it being much worse then normal. That rumor about Daesung has him thinking irrationally, but he can't blame the messenger.
"No! No way. I mean, Hoya likes to gossip, but he doesn't make this stuff up on his own. He likes to be on the 'inside'," Sunggyu makes two air quotes with his fingers, "but everything he says is just repeating what he hears in the school."
Youngbae stares at him hard, then gives a sigh, "Then this is just stupid. Let's just get to playing piano." So, Jiyong's whole speech and irritation with the others is for nothing. There's so much on his mind right now that he wants to play piano and make the music push everything out of the way like it always does.
"Okay, so what key is what note..."
----
“I was assigned to a project with Sunggyu,” Youngbae says. It’s a bit random, but they weren’t talking about anything much anyways. He’s been trying to bring it up for some time to Jiyong, though once the others are mentioned, he bristles up and gets angry. Trying to talk sense to an angry Jiyong never works.
“Oh, really?” the other smiles like he knows something. “Are you telling me cause you’re happy?”
Youngbae lets that slide and turns to face Jiyong instead of looking at the wall on the other side. “No, he told me something.”
Jiyong looks at him expectantly, and when he doesn’t continue, he rolls his eyes and says, “Is this one of your ‘I want to talk about it, but I don’t.’”
“He said that they only heard those rumors from somewhere, they didn’t make them up-”
“If you ask them, of course they’re going to lie.” There goes Jiyong’s mood as he starts to play with his iPod
“I know what they are, okay? I understand why you’re angry, but don’t blame people who talk about it. Seungri loves gossip too, and whenever he spreads it, you don’t say anything.”
“He means no harm,” Jiyong glances up, “I think you’re not looking straight with your heart filled eyes.”
Youngbae stands up, he’s sick of this. He knows the reason, “even if you fell for a rumor once, doesn’t mean everyone will. Some people might believe and some won’t; don’t blame others for your stupid mistake.” There’s no reaction, only the shaking of his head and a slight look up. Youngbae sighs and leaves.
----
"Okay, guys. This is Operation Make-Jiyong-Unpissed-At-Us. Or M. JUAU for short."
"You sound stupid and uneducated," Myungsoo says, reaching over and smacking Hoya in the back of the head. "And I don't see why me and Sungyeol have to do this, too. We weren't even there when you started spouting your mouth off on stupid nonsense."
"Guys, let's just do this, okay? I'm tired of feeling like he's drilling holes into the back of our heads every time he looks at us." Sunggyu sighs and hangs his head. He turns to see said person doing the exact same thing he just mentioned.
"Whatever. You just want to get on Jiyong's good side so you can hang out with Youngbae without him giving you the side eye. Yeah, don't think I didn't notice," Woohyun says with a grin on his face. Sunggyu throws his hands up in the air and shakes his head.
"He has nothing to do with this."
"Then why is he looking over here with a dreamy smile on his face?" Dongwoo points over to Youngbae in the corner, who just coughs a few times and looks away, scratching the back of his head.
"Oh look, they're even taking after each other's habits! Sunggyu does the same thing when he gets nervous too!" Sungjong exclaims, laughing and grabbing at Sunggyu's arm.
"Okay. This is not about my love life. We are going to get on Jiyong's good side, even if it kills us."
"It might kill us, that's for sure. If he doesn't kill us first." They all turn to glance at Jiyong, and turn away quickly when it looks like he might shoot lasers from his eyes.
--
"This is dumb. What the hell is he going to do with seven apples?" Dongwoo asks as he polishes his apple and sets it down on Jiyong's desk.
"I don't know. He likes apples though, so maybe he'll eat one and suddenly decide he's not mad at us anymore. I mean, it's free food," Hoya says, arranging them in the shape of a heart.
"You idiot, don't do that. He'll think it's from a secret admirer or something." Woohyun messes up the arrangement of apples and lines them all up in uneven rows.
"There. Now, let's get out of here before someone sees us."
----
Jiyong walks through the door and immediately everyone looks up at him. He's used to shy or hiding glances, not full blown out staring that carries with him as he walks over to his desk.
"Are apples your favorite fruit?" someone calls out.
"Uh," he raises an eyebrow, "I don't know?" They're pretty tasty, but it's not like he's dying for one and craves them everyday. As soon as he turns around everything finally clicks together. He counts. Seven apples on his desk arranged in some weird lines. He picks up the last one he counted and stares at it, making sure to check all of it before taking a bite. It's kind of weird, but it's free food, and he won't say no to that.
The rest he tosses in his bag to give to the others throughout the day, maybe even Seunghyun will eat one.
Hoya watches him through the window of the classroom before silently fist pumping and hurrying off to his class before the bell rings. Woohyun jabs him in the back as soon as he takes his seat in class and raises his eyebrows in question.
"He ate my apple and threw the rest of yours into his bag," he says triumphantly in a quiet voice. Woohyun rolls his eyes.
"But is he still mad?" Hoya just shrugs at him.
----
"He's still mad," Sunggyu says during lunch. He can still feel holes being drilled into the back of his head. "Why does he only glare at me? Hoya was the one running his mouth."
"I already told you why," Woohyun says in a sing song voice. Sunggyu rolls his eyes again before shoving at his best friend.
"So what do we do now?" Dongwoo asks, changing the subject before Sunggyu's ears turn a permanent shade of red.
"We could... clean out his locker? Every time he opens that thing, an avalanche of papers comes falling out. I think I saw something move around in there once."
"Good plan! But we don't know his combination." Everyone's heads turn slowly towards Sunggyu. He stares at them in confusion before his eyes go wide.
"Uh... what?"
"Well. Youngbae is pretty close with Jiyong, isn't he? So you think he would happen to know his locker combination?" Sunggyu gives them all a look of disbelief before letting his head fall down onto the table.
----
Sunggyu isn't concentrating on the keys; Youngbae can tell by the way he keeps messing up a song that he knows Sunggyu knows perfectly.
"What's wrong, you're usually pretty good at this?" Sunggyu sighs. Maybe he should just tell Youngbae what he and his friends have been trying to do. But then again, if Youngbae went and told Jiyong, it would probably make them lose face with Jiyong and make him think that they couldn't talk to him on their own.
"Jiyong... he's not the type to forgive easily, is he?"
Youngbae laughs, "Depends on how badly you screwed up? In this situation; no, he's not going to. With what I know of what's happened, you're not at fault. Jiyong will have to have some sense pushed into him in a bit, just wait a while."
"So... say I wanted to.. I dunno, clean out his locker or something. What do you think the combination would be?"
He stares, then chuckles a little, "I don't know. His birthday is the 18th and he'll be graduating this year and August is the 8th month. There's a bit of information to help you out, but I really don't know his locker combination." He smiles. Sunggyu makes a mental note in his head and turns to smile at Youngbae.
"Yeah, it's too bad you don't know his combination though... but I really need to get going. Thanks for the lesson, and I'll see you at school tomorrow!" Sunggyu says as he picks up his backpack.
"Hey, if you happen to open his locker through just sheer safe cracking skills, can you find my hat? It has a smiley face on it in yellow, and I've been missing it for a couple months now." Sunggyu turns around as he's walking down the path to the sidewalk and purses his lips.
"Sure, if by chance I manage to get into his locker, I'll look for it." Sunggyu smile at him and gives him a small, shy wave before disappearing down the street.
----
Everyone holds their breath as Sunggyu puts in the numbers that Youngbae hinted to him, smiling when he hears the click of the lock opening.
"Sunggyu, what did you have to do to get his combination?" Woohyun asks with a stupid grin on his face.
"Nothing of what you're thinking probably. I just promised I'd look for- Wow." Sunggyu yanks open the door, and a pile of papers and other things comes flooding out of his locker.
"You're kidding me. This is going to take hours to clean up!" Hoya whines, eyeing the locker apprehensively. Sunggyu takes a quick glance into the locker and sees the hat that Youngbae was talking about, buried underneath some books and stray papers. He reaches for it, and pulls it out apprehensively, trying not to disturb anything else.
"What're you doing? Everything else is on the floor already." Woohyun reaches out and pulls Sunggyu hand, sending everything else out of the locker, leaving the hat in his hands.
"We have an hour before he gets here. Hurry up!"
----
"You're okay, right?" Daesung says. Jiyong has been staring into his empty locker for a couple of minutes now. He isn't one to hurry and get ready for school, but he doesn't usually goof off by staring at nothing.
"My locker."
"Yeah, you cleaned it." Youngbae walks by, and Daesung grabs his arm because he's always the one to calm down Jiyong and with the silence the man is giving off, he might blow up.
"Oh, I see you cleaned up?" Youngbae smiles.
"I didn't clean it," Jiyong snaps, "if I would, then my homework would be here. It's not if you can see, actually nothing is here."
"There's your textbook you've been looking for and that library book from sophmore year," Daesung points out and recieves a glare, "Sorry."
"I actually do the homework, and it's taken from me. Who the fuck steals homework and trash!"
Youngbae shrugs and starts to walk away, having Jiyong notice the mark on the cap placed backwards on his head.
"Hey, when did you get that-"
"Bought it," he says entirely too fast, "You lost mine, so..."
Jiyong grins, making Youngbae fidget with the cap and stare everywhere else. "Hey." He hops over to the other and places a hand on his shoulder, "How about you lend me that homework of yours?"
Youngbae opens his mouth to protest, but it is kind of his fault in a way. Not entirely his fault, but it's enough that he wouldn't mind lending him his homework. He switches his backpack so it's in front of him, and then opens the bag, handing it over when he finally finds it.
"Thank you," Jiyong smiles larger and almost skips away. That homework was actually going to be graded on accuracy, so this is one of his best chances to get his math grade higher.
----
Hoya and Dongwoo watch from around the corner, inwardly wincing when they hear Jiyong complaining about lost homework.
"There was homework in that mess?" Hoya asks incredulously.
"Did Daesung say something about a lost book from his sophmore year?" Dongwoo shakes his head.
"Oh crap! I think he saw us! Run!" Hoya grabs Dongwoo's arm and drags him off down the hallway. Dongwoo gives Hoya an incredulous look. Maybe Jiyong's glares were finally getting to him.
----
"Okay, since our last plan didn't go so well, I thought of another one." Everyone groans at Hoya as he rolls his eyes up. "Come on! It's a good plan! We're gonna wash his car." Sungjong looks up, raising an eyebrow.
"I thought he didn't have a car."
"Yeah, but rumor has it that he takes his boyfriend's car sometimes. That college kid." Everyone groans again. Sunggyu buries his face into his hands.
"Hoya. Rumors are the reason we're stuck doing this in the first place, and the reason I can't go anywhere without feeling like someone's trying to laser the back of my head!" Sunggyu snaps at him.
"But come on! This is full proof! I even saw him driving up in it today at school. We'll just hurry up and wash it up nice during lunch, and no one will be the wiser!" Sunggyu sighs. This is going to be the last time he listens to Hoya.
----
"It's this one."
"Are you sure it's this one?" Dongwoo eyes the car. Of course, it would be the dirtiest car in the lot.
"I'm positive. Let's just finish cleaning it before lunch is over."
----
The lunch bell rings loudly and Jiyong groans, putting his head down on the table in annoyance. He hates going back to class, maybe he could skip today and go to the mall or something.
"Seungri," he says, muffled by the table.
"Huh, did you say something?" It's Youngbae's voice, and he doesn't want to ask him.
"Where's Seungri?" He gropes around the table, and he can hear Youngbae sigh as Daesung laughs loudly.
"Lift up your head. He left some time ago, saying that he was going to ask this girl out cause she was staring at him or something."
Jiyong groans again and lifts his head up, "Do you want to skip with me?"
"No," Youngbae's voice sounds exactly like he thought it would, loud and judging with every ounce of mother he could muster.
"What's the point of driving a car to school if I can't leave whenever I want."
"To leave early and whenever you want," Daesung grins, "after the bell rings."
Jiyong manages a tired glare and sits up straight, just as the door bursts open.
"Who cleaned my car!" Junsu yells, eyes searching everywhere in the room. Jiyong thinks he should be happy about that considering they have almost the same car, but his looks about two times older with all the dirt and grime. "You scratched it, right on the driver's door."
"Be glad they didn't get yours," Youngbae says, "they look almost the same."
"Those damn serial car cleaners, always up to no good," Daesung jokes. Jiyong chuckles, but still rolls his eyes and stands up.
"We should go, I guess." They pass by Junsu on the way back as talks with Taecyeon about it, Youngbae pats him on the shoulder to console him.
----
"No! Sunggyu! He'll kill you!" Hoya yells after him as Sunggyu marches towards the dance studio.
"With his laser eyes!" Dongwoo adds for emphasis.
Sunggyu ignores both of them and throws open the doors to the dance studio, making all of the occupants stop and stare at him. He makes a beeline for Jiyong on the other side. He notices Youngbae cast him a curious glance, but Sunggyu ignores him too and drops to his knees in front of Jiyong.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for spreading rumors that I knew probably weren't true. I didn't mean to, it just sort of happened. I hope you can forgive me." Then Sunggyu bows to him all the way to the ground. The others manage to run into the studio at the same time, and after seeing Sunggyu on the ground, hastily throw themselves into bowing positions beside him too.
"We're sorry! Please forgive us!"
"I thought you said they were assholes," Seungri says, staring at all of them.
Jiyong rolls his eyes and walks over to Sunggyu, "You're only saying this because you're scared of me and what I can do. There isn't any real emotion in the apology, is there? You think I'll create something about you to get back because an 'eye for an eye.' I'm not like you at all, don't think I'll even continue a rumor already started. All I want is for you to get out. Leave the club since obviously you don't belong here. This is a family, created so we could work together and trust each other and there's nothing of that sort between us. So, get up and get out."
"Jiyong!" Youngbae responds quickly and grabs his arm, "this is exactly like before. You're making a mistake."
Sunggyu stiffens as he hears Jiyong's cutting words. He expected him to be mad, but he didn't think that he was that mad.
"No, I'm not." Jiyong stares at him before looks around the room, "everyone get back to work, we need some catching up to do with one part of our routine getting cut."
Sunggyu looks up and sees Dongwoo and Hoya about to protest, but he gets up, effectively cutting them off as he bows curtly to Jiyong and leaves the studio.
"Sunggyu! Sunggyu!" The rest of the members run out after him.
"You're not just going to let him kick us out like that right? That's a stupid reason to get kicked out!" Hoya says, grabbing Sunggyu's shoulder. Sunggyu stops and lets out an angry sigh.
"We probably deserve it. Maybe that'll teach you to keep your mouth shut from now on about stupid stuff like this." Sunggyu turns on his heels and leaves behind the rest of his dumbstruck friends. He just wants some fresh air to clear his mind.
--
"Seriously, what the hell was that?" Youngbae pushes Jiyong to a spot away from Daesung's worried eyes and Seungri's surprised ones. "They were even apologizing."
"What's an apology if it doesn't mean anything?" Jiyong says, "let's go back to planning the routine."
"I refuse, not unless you tell them that you made a mistake."
Jiyong shrugs, "no use crying over spilled milk."
He can't believe him, that's his response. Six of the others seemed surprised and angry, ready to yell at Jiyong until his ears fall off, but Sunggyu just look defeated. He won't even give them a slight chance or take another look at what he just did. This is all just spilled milk to him. Youngbae knocks him back into the wall, he wants to punch him, but the only thing that will do is drive him back into his corner.
"This is all you overcompensating because of your own stupid mistake with rumors. It's not their fault, they are in no way related to Hyunseung. In fact, maybe you should go and talk to him."
"Why-"
"If you don't I might punch you in your face," he backs away, "God, Jiyong. I never knew you could be so emotional." They stare at each other for a while, until Jiyong looks away and Youngbae turns to run and find Sunggyu.
----
Jiyong bangs his head agaisnt the wall when the call actually connects, he wasn't expecting this. He's a classroom over because everyone in the room continued to stare at him until he yelled for them to get back to work and evern after that, they still gave him little glances. There's been silence for a while now in their conversation since Jiyong doesn't know what to say and Hyunseung probably doesn't want to talk to him.
"What?" His voice lacks anything other then anger and surprise.
"I'm calling because Youngbae told me too-"
"So, you only called me because Youngbae told you to," Hyunseung says, "Alright, okay."
Jiyong sighs, "Yes, but no. I've wanted to talk to you for a while, but never thought you'd accept and then Youngbae basically forces me too."
"What, why would he force-"
"Last year, before you left...you remember Seungri was out for a while?"
Hyunseung pauses and says slowly, "yeah, he was sick."
"That's not what I thought when he was gone. I was so fucking worried and then his friend, who I know loves gossip just as much as Seungri, told me you got him kicked out. He had so much detail and so many points of truth, like you were also missing the first day Seungri was, that I believed him. I didn't know what to do, though. You were my friend who I thought betrayed me and I didn't know how big of a deal I should take it as, but I was angry and just blasted at you. I kicked you out, then when Seungri came back I was too embarassed to do anything." There's silence on the other line and Jiyong takes a deep breath of air, "Then, you left. I regreted every single thing I did and how it all ended."
"I never knew you were such a gulliable asshole."
Jiyong laughs, because the other's tone is finally one that he remembers. "I didn't know I was either."
"I'm glad you told me this, though. It would have been better to tell me before, but it's good to at least been told. This had to have been brought on by something, no way Youngbae would force you just cause he finally decided this was an issue."
"No," Jiyong picks at his jeans, "There were these people we added to the dance club and well, they spread rumors and I got pissed and kicked them out after they apologized-"
"After they apologized! What the hell is wrong with you!"
"They only did it because they were scared of me."
"How do you know? This just shows how much of an asshole you are, kicking them out after they apologize. Jeez, you should have learned from the first time around."
"They said Daesung was a pity friend," Jiyong says quietly.
Hyunseung doesn't say anything for a while, just breathes unsteadily for a bit before taking one deep breath, "It doesn't matter what it is, not even a stupid one like that. Kicking someone out doesn't seem to do anything to improve the situation, so maybe you should go and do the same thing you did with me to them."
"Explain?"
He can almost hear Hyunseung roll his eyes and that has him smile, "No, apologize."
----
Sunggyu walks aimlessly as soon as he gets outside. The weather is nice today, with a light breeze blowing around. It cools him down slightly, making him a little bit less angry than he was before. He couldn't really understand why Jiyong would get so angry. He had a vague feeling that it had to do something with Hyunseung, someone he kicked out last year. He didn't know the full details about what happened, so he kept his mouth shut about it. And it's a good thing he did too, or else Jiyong might've kicked them out sooner.
Sunggyu sighs, letting his feet take him wherever they want to go. He crosses streets, cuts through the park, and ends up in a familiar neighborhood. His feet follow a familiar trail, and he ends up in front of Youngbae's house. Sunggyu stares at the front door before walking up to his porch and flopping down onto it, laying down and spreading his arms out.
Why did he come here of all places?
----
Jiyong sighs at the dance studio doors. It's not like he expected the seven guys to be waiting outside the door for him to return, but that would have made everything easier. He honestly feels the worst he has felt in his life, maybe, just second to kicking Hyunseung out. This might be worse considering how harsh the words he said were, the entire studio seemed to cool down twenty degrees. It's so goddamn stupid.
The only way to get through to all of them is through the oldest and he has no clue about him. There's the one fact that both Youngbae and Sunggyu act like they're so freaking in love. That's kind of a good thing to realize now. He flips open his phone and dials Youngbae's number.
"Hey," he's greeted with silence he knew to expect, "I called Hyunseung and...well, I want to apologize."
"Apologizing to me isn't going to help-"
"I meant Sunggyu," he sighs, "do you know where he is."
"We're in front of my house."
Jiyong smiles, "why would that be." He can pratically feel the glare over the phone. "Alright, I'm coming."
He arrives at the house around half an hour later. It was filled with talking to himself about how stupid this was and trying to find the best words to be used to apologize, considering he isn't the best at sounding nice and sincere. When he's about two houses away, he sees them on the steps and he freezes. What if he screws it up completely? They actually were all pretty amazing dancing and they would have definitely given them the possibility to win that upcoming competiton. It's not entirely about that either, they are kind of nice and funny. They're good people.
He sighs and walks over, greeting them with, "What's up?"
Youngbae glares, "You did this, you should know."
"I didn't mean to-or well- I didn't...I don't know." Sunggyu sits up and rubs at his eyes, casting a wary glance towards Jiyong.
"Did you have something else to say to me?"
"Well, yeah," Jiyong scratches the back of his head, "I guess...this was all stupid and I was over emotional because of something that happened that I never solved."
"I see," Sunggyu says. This is probably the closest to an apology he's going to get from Jiyong.
"Wait, what are you saying Jiyong?"
Jiyong sighs, Youngbae is going to force this out of him in someway. He walks over to stand straight in front of Sunggyu and bows at a ninety degree angle, "I'm sorry, and I'd love for you to help us out with dancing-"
"You need it," Youngbae mumbles.
Jiyong makes a mental note to accidentally step on his foot tomorrow, "It was stupid kicking you out, and I want you back in the club." Sunggyu nods.
"Thanks. I accept your apology. I'll probably let the others know later. Let them sweat it out a little bit," he says with a devious grin on his face.
Jiyong straightens up and gives a small smile; he's kind of glad Youngbae chose him out of all of them. Not to insult the rest or anything, but he's not sure the others would have been so quick to accept the apology.
"Well, it's cleared up now after about a month longer then it should have," Youngbae stands up, "want to come in for dinner, Sunggyu."
"What? I don't get to go-"
"Only eyesmiles are welcomed in at this point in time," Youngbae grins wide enough to show off his and Sunggyu does the same making Jiyong gag. He gags twice as hard when Youngbae takes Sunggyu’s hand and walks them to the door.
Group(s): Big Bang/Infinite/Beast
Pairing: hinted!Sunggyu(Infinite)/Youngbae(Big Bang)
Rating: G
Word Count: 8,763
"What are the chances that we'd end up in the same high school with mostly the same classes? I'm tired of seeing your face everyday," Sunggyu says, playfully shoving at his best friend, Woohyun. Woohyun turns to give him a look of disbelief and shoves him back harder, almost making him crash into an open classroom door.
The pair is on their way to meet up with the rest of their friends. Dongwoo and Hoya insisted that they had something amazing to talk to them about.
As soon as they round the corner, they can hear Dongwoo's laughter echo out from an empty classroom and make a beeline for it.
"And the party has arrived!" Woohyun says, throwing his hands up triumphantly. Hoya throws a pencil at him, laughing as it bounces off of Woohyun's chin.
"What was so important that it couldn't wait until we were all procrastinating on AIM?" Sunggyu asks, settling down in an empty desk and leaning back in the chair.
"First things first. Where are Myungsoo, Sungyeol, and Sungjong?" Hoya asks, leaning back on his desk and grabbing at the edge when it started to tip.
"Oh. I heard Sungyeol and Myungsoo got detention for drawing stupid stuff on the blackboards in class again. Sungjong is probably-"
"Right here," the boy says as he slides into the classroom, taking a seat at the empty desk in front of Sunggyu.
"Well, now that most of us are here... Hey. Sungjong. Go close the door." Hoya nudges him with his foot, making the younger boy whine and bat his foot away.
"Why do I have to close the door?"
"Because you got here last, and you're the youngest. Now go." Sungjong scowls at Dongwoo before begrudgingly getting up and closing the door. It doesn't close all the way for some reason, squeaking as it opens again. Sungjong pushes it closed multiple times until he gives up and sits back down.
"Well anyway, I heard some funny rumors about Big Bang." Everyone in the room groans as Hoya looks around in disbelief.
"All the school talks about is Big Bang. I hear enough about them from the screaming fangirls around here."
"No, no, this is legit stuff," Hoya says, hopping off of the desk and moving to the front. "So you know, Youngbae? The short guy?"
"The one with the really nice body?" Sungjong asks, earning weird glances from everyone in the room.
"What? He does. You can't honestly tell me you haven't noticed." Everyone in the room murmurs in agreement before Hoya shakes his head in disbelief and moves on.
"Despite how into dancing he is, everyone says he's a total player. I've heard he keeps like this conquest book to keep up with all the girls he's banged." Sunggyu's eyebrows furrow. That didn't seem like him at all.
"Then that other guy, the leader. What's his name." Dongwoo rolls his eyes.
"You mean Jiyong? G-Dragon?"
"Yeah whatever. He's dating someone in college apparently." Woohyun's eyebrows go up as Sunggyu rolls his eyes. Did he really let Woohyun drag him here just to listen to random gossip?
Jiyong approaches the door as silently as possible. He stayed after school because a teacher called his parents, telling them that he had skipped out on his detention for some time. It's not like detention was anything really, he just had to sit in a classroom with no teacher meaning he could do anything, but that wasted a few hours of his life. As soon as he exits the class, empty except for him and two other students, he hears his name being called. It's from the math classroom down the hall where the door was cracked just a bit.
"And then that kid, Seungri? He's all talk apparently. Seems like he thinks he's better than he actually is at dance. I can totally take that kid on," Hoya says, showing off a few moves and yelping when he bumps into a desk.
Jiyong chuckles as quietly as possible, both at the supposed "rumors" and the kid that just bumped into desk. He recognizes him from dance club, and actually, he'd seen a lot of them around before.
"Yeah, you could totally take him," Dongwoo says, rolling his eyes.
"Really, Hoya? You called us here for this? This is retarded. I'm hungry, and I want to go home and eat," Sungjong whines, shaking his desk.
"Okay, just wait. This is the real kicker. Daesung? That quiet kid that's always with them? The ugly one?" There are noises of protest around the room. Jiyong pauses and tries to open the door a bit more.
"You're one to talk," Dongwoo says, shoving at Hoya. Hoya shrugs and shields his chest.
"I don't know what he looks like, I've never actually seen him before. But everyone says Jiyong let him into Big Bang just because he felt bad."
Jiyong clenches the door, hard. Surely, no one would believe this stupid of a rumor. Five out of the six should not be so dumb as to think that one of his best friend's since elementary school is just in the group because they felt bad.
"Whoa. What? Really?" Woohyun asks, leaning forward at his desk. Hoya nodded.
Jiyong's about a second away from slamming the door open and shoving those rumors where they belong.
"That's what the rumors say." Sunggyu rolls his eyes again before shoving at the desk and getting up.
"Okay. I don't really care. It's none of my business what Big Bang does. And honestly, you sound like an old woman with this gossip, Hoya. Shouldn't you be practicing or something?" Sunggyu heads towards the door and pulls it open to come face to face with a very pissed looking Jiyong.
Jiyong glares at all of them, seeing Hoya gulp he smiles, "Glad to see this group likes to balance the talented with the talentless." He turns back to the two in front of him and gives a slight wave, before turning and walking down the hall.
----
Jiyong is still fuming after he's called everyone to meet at their usual place. It's an abandoned building down by a club so people from school don't pop by, and the loud music next door keeps the police from hearing that they're there. He's glad today it's playing extra loud with all the annoyances and thoughts swarming in his head, because it vibrates his chest and calms him down, or at least until Seunghyun comes through the door all smirks and laughter.
"I was just next door when you called," he says. Jiyong stays put in his spot against the wall but gives a slight nod in greeting.
Next, as always, comes Youngbae, frown on his face as he enters, but it always washes away once he sees the others. "I was doing homework y'know."
"You're always doing homework," Jiyong mutters.
"That might explain my honor roll compared to your barely passing." Jiyong glares, and it seems to come out worse than he meant, because Youngbae pauses to stare at him, "I didn't mean it."
"I know you didn't," he sighs. "I'm kind of pissed-"
"Daesung is here," the man slams the door opens and gives a bow, "to make everything better." Seunghyun snorts and lays down on the concrete as Daesung makes his way over, smiling like he always does.
"What's the reason for this meeting, anyway," Daesung asks.
"Rumors." Jiyong stares straight across the room as Seunghyun chuckles, Youngbae sighs and Daesung stares at him. "What?"
"You always have to get yourself involved with drama , don't you? They're rumors, probably made by stupid people-"
"We know these stupid people," Jiyong clenches his hands, "actually, we invited them into the dance group. Or some of them."
"Ugh, highschool kids," Seunghyun sits up, "some friends are good, some are bad and yada yada. Can I go back to having fun now, I could probably sneak you in and get your mind off things." Youngbae glares at him. "I didn't say anything about you having to go."
"That's not the point. It's what they're spreading or creating or whatever."
"Can't be worse then what's already going around. Supposedly, I'm scared of girls, and Seunghyun's in a bicycle gang, and Daesung owns a flowershop or something," Youngbae looks behind him as the door slams open again.
"Youngbae's scared of girls? I knew that was true-"
"Hey, why don't you sit down and listen instead of making assumptions?"
"I get called here in the middle of a date just to be yelled at?" Seungri still comes over and plops down right next to Jiyong. "Why are we here?"
"Rumors," Seunghyun says, looking at the opposite wall with bored eyes.
"Something about us or juicy gossip?"
"All gossip seems to be about us."
"Then, can I go?"
"Guys, this isn't just the same old shit they make up. It's twice as bad because we know them and I just think, if you really don't care, stay away from them for a while at least. Appease me or something."
Youngbae stares at him straight in the eye with a look that he only uses to figure out the next measure of a song. It's the only thing that can make Jiyong squirm and fidget around. "That's kind of childish, don't you think?"
"They're being childish, spreading these rumors," Seunghyun says, "If that's the deal, it doesn't really affect me. So, can I go back to the club now?"
"Club? There must be some hot girls in there," Seungri grins.
"Even with those eyebags, you only look nineteen. Not going to try," Seunghyun says and winks at Youngbae, who shakes his head in annoyance.
"Then," Daesung stands up, "everything's better, and my service is done."
"You didn't do anything." Seunghyun slowly stands up and ruffles his hair. They all head out the door, with Seunghyun walking out first to look for the beat cops that always pass by, and go back to where they were moments ago. Youngbae grasps Seungri's shirt to make sure he gets on the bus with them, because he's eyeing the club like it's an oasis in the desert. When it's Jiyong's stop, Youngbae pats him on the back and gives a reassuring smile, but Jiyong can't help but feel like he owes something to Hyunseung.
----
Sunggyu enters his music class the next day with a heavy heart. He hated hearing the rumors about Big Bang, because they were all absolutely ridiculous. There was only so much he could believe from the mouth of kids his age.
As he sits down in his seat, he sees Youngbae walk into class, and suddenly remembers the rumor he heard from Hoya yesterday. He watches him sit down in a seat and somehow catches eyes with him. Sunggyu waves a small hello to him before dropping his eyes back down to his desk. He looks up again to see Youngbae staring at him in curiosity before offering a hesitant wave back. That certainly didn't seem like the wave of a player, Sunggyu thinks to himself.
While the music teacher drones on about something or another, and Youngbae knows he should be paying attention, but the issue from yesterday is clouding his head. The new group of members in the dance club included Sunggyu, and he never took him for one to spread rumors or even really care enough to be interested. It has him staring, and he realizes, but when Sunggyu points between himself and Youngbae, it startles him. He looks back to the teacher to find him at his desk and on the blackboard is "collab music project" that has people moving around the room to their friends.
Sunggyu hopes that Youngbae got his message. He doesn't really know anyone else in the class. He waits for a reply from Youngbae, hoping that yesterday's events wouldn't affect his decision. He looks over at Sunggyu, who is staring around the room while tapping his desk, and wonders if he should trust himself or listen to Jiyong. Taking a deep breath in, he stands up and walks over. Jiyong has always been known to be over emotional in the moment; nothing that happened could have been that bad. He grabs a chair from a desk in front and sits down with a smile.
"Hey, Youngbae," Sunggyu says with a smile back. He's secretly relieved in his mind. Now, he didn't have to go make awkward conversation with a complete stranger. He just had to make awkward conversation with someone he sort of knew instead.
"Any ideas for this collab music project?"
"Huh, oh well," Youngbae pauses, he didn't even really know anything about Sunggyu's musical talents. He knows the other boy can sing, but has only heard him once or twice for tests.
"Can you play any instruments?" Youngbae asks, keeping his eyes on everything but Sunggyu.
"Uh... Not really. I just do a lot of singing, that's all. It's what I'm best at." Sunggyu offers another awkward smile at Youngbae before looking off around the classroom too. Why was this so awkward? He sees him almost every day for dance practice, so why couldn't he keep a simple conversation with him?
"Well, I could play piano. That kind of depends on what you can sing though, I don't think he'll like us doing pop or anything like that."
"Alright then... We could... do a duet piano song?" Sunggyu suggests, squinting his eyes. Youngbae blinks at him a few times before raising an eyebrow.
"I thought you said you didn't know how to play any instruments." Sunggyu smiles at him sheepishly before rubbing the back of his head. So his idea wasn't that well thought out.
"You could teach me some basics, just enough for us to get through this project. It's not due for a few weeks, so we have some time. What do you think?"
He thinks that if Jiyong ever finds them, he'll be given glares everytime he sees him. "It's fine; piano isn't that hard."
---
The dance club wasn't exclusive nor was it hard to get into, just a quick audition, but Jiyong felt like he was responsible for everything that happened because he had been one of six to make it. Hyunseung, Youngbae, and Daesung had thought of it last year as an idea and Seungri kept pushing it until Seunghyun used his seniority to get the principal to agree. They tried to have everyone that was accepted into the group have at least a bit of experience and ones that they could get along with and trust. He feels like they broke that with the seven members dancing at the other side of the room.
"C'mon Jiyong," Seungri whines. "Whatever they said isn't enough for us to stop practicing. We only have a while until our competition."
"It's not like we have to dance with them, we agreed to do seperate things, and then come together for the last part." Daesung crouches down next to Jiyong, "besides, brooding over here will just give them sastisfaction."
Jiyong looks up and glares at Daeung's large smile that always looks the same and always manages to put him at ease. He shakes his head and looks across the room.
"He's staring, isn't he?" Hoya says, barely loud enough for the seven of them to hear over the music. Sunggyu feels more than one pair of eyes though, and manages to catch Yongbae's eyes in the mirror before the other boy looks away in embarrassment.
"By 'he', you wouldn't happen to mean Jiyong, would you?" Dongwoo asks as he passes by Hoya in the choreography.
"Who else would I be talking about?" Hoya loses his concentration and ends up bumping into Woohyun, who falls into Sunggyu, sending the both of them
tumbling onto the ground in a heap of flailing limbs.Sungyeol and Myungsoo sigh before helping their members up to their feet.
Youngbae stops when he sees them all fall on top of each other, causing a trainwreck on there side as well with Daesung stopping not to hit him, and then Seungri stepping on his foot. They don't fall, it just has them stop, and the other two start arguing about the choreography, which means they won't start again for a while. Jiyong looks up at him then rolls his eyes before going back to glaring across the room.
"Is this all because of what happened yesterday? What did you guys do, insult the man's mother or something?" Sungyeol asks, casting a glance towards the glaring Jiyong. They vaguely hear Jiyong yelling something about not slacking off before they hastily apologize and get back to practicing.
Jiyong smirks at Youngbae's glare then pops in his earbuds. The other sighs and stares back at the mirror to the other side, catching Sunggyu mess up and give a sheepish smile.
"What are you staring at?" Daesung walks over and Youngbae snaps out of his gazing off to see Seungri huffing next to Jiyong, complaining to deaf ears. "Or who?"
"Nothing and no one," he pushes Daesung a bit in jest, "we should get back to dancing."
"You're staring at that one kid-the oldest one."
"Sunggyu?" Seungri says and it's loud enough to startle Youngbae and for the others to hear. They all look over in question, and he tries to give a reassuring smile and wave them off to go back to dancing.
"Nice one," Daesung sighs, "You really have no tact."
"I can hook you up-"
"What," Youngbae sputters, "I'm looking at him cause he keeps messing up." They both simply stare back and he rolls his eyes before doing a particular section in the dance he hasn't figured out yet.
"I think he's actually one of the better ones," Jiyong says, he only heard bits and pieces of the conversation. The reason he heard even that much was because he took out one earbud when the others had all looked over so suddenly, then Youngbae sputtering over something alway catches his attention. "He's the oldest one, right?"
"So, you approve?" Seungri smiles.
"Approve-"
"Yeah, approve of what?" Youngbae pops over to Seungri and stares down at him.
"Sunggyu, I think they're talking about you," Woohyun says as he passes by him in the choreography.
"Really? I had no idea." Sunggyu's voice drips with sarcasm, but Woohyun seems to miss it as he nods at him in earnest. Sunggyu rolls his eyes and hopes that Woohyun's looks get him far in life. There's a loud exclamation on the other side of Jiyong standing up, saying something about never ever dating younger and that someone would make fun of him for the end of time.
--
Sunggyu isn't sure what he exepcts Youngbae's house to look like, but he for sure doesn't expect the neat, medium sized house with the small flower garden out front. He lets himself in the gates and looks around the kept yard before whistling.
"They do a pretty good job of keeping their yard nice." Sunggyu thinks back to the lawn at his house and how everything seems to be trying to grow over each other because he hasn't mowed the lawn in weeks. He hops up the steps and knocks a few times on the door, waiting for Youngbae to answer it.
The door swings open, and Sunggyu immediately bows.
"Oh, you must be Sunggyu. Youngbae said you'd be coming over. Please, come in. Are you hungry?" Sunggyu watches as Youngbae's mother makes her way into the kitchen and comes back with a tray of cookies. Not wanting to be rude, Sunggyu takes one and marvels at the way the cookie seems to melt in his mouth.
"He's out in the back yard right now pulling up some weeds. His room is down the hallway, second door on the left if you want to wait for him there. I'll go get him." Sunggyu thanks her again before sticking his head down the hallway and looking around. He takes a few stops here and there to admire some of the family portraits before he gingerly pushes the door open to Youngbae's room.
There are posters of R&B artists on his walls. A keyboard in the corner. For the most part, his room is neat and clean. Sunggyu blinks a few times before he drops his backpack onto the floor. This definitely didn't look like the room of someone who had girls over all of the time.
As Sunggyu sits down on Youngbae's bed, a small black book on his desk caught Sunggyu's eye. No way. That couldn't be the infamous little black book could it? The book that Youngbae was rumored to write down all of his conquests. Sunggyu bites his lip before lacing his fingers together and shaking his head. Those were just rumors. There was no way someone like Youngbae could do something like that. All the evidence in his house pointed away from it. But still, as Sunggyu waits for Youngbae, his curiosity gets the better of him, and he wanders over to the desk. Sunggyu steals one last glance towards the door before flipping it open.
Words are scrawled all over in pen. Some of them are scratched out, and there are even notes in the margins. Sunggyu can barely make out any words, but after flipping through a few pages, something dawns on him.
"These are lyrics."
"What are you reading," Youngbae stops at the door, seeing his notebook for unfinished lyrics and scribbled down melodies in the other's hand. Sunggyu hastily closes the notebook and avoids his gaze.
He walks over to Sunggyu and snatches the book away, throwing it on top of the bookshelf. "It's kind of rude to search around people's stuff."
"I know, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to- I just-" Sunggyu trips over his words some more until all he's doing is babbling. He catches the gaze on Youngbae's face and stops talking, staring at the ground in defeat.
"I got curious. You know, the rumor around school is that you write down the names, and dates, and notes on girls that you've... you know, with."
"What? I've never-" he stops himself and coughs, "Where are you getting these from? This is the first time I've heard this." Sunggyu rubs the back of his head sheepishly before looking at Youngbae again.
"They're all over the school. Stuff like how Jiyong is dating a college guy, Seungri is too full of himself without the skills to back it up, and..." Sunggyu hesitates on telling Youngbae the last rumor, because to him, it seems like the worst one.
"And... everyone says that Jiyong only let Daesung in because he felt sorry for him." Sunggyu shifts his weight on his feet uncomfortabley, not knowing where to look.
"That's just completely not true. At all," he feels like he's glaring, so he looks down at the desk. "Where did they come from? Did one of your gang make them up?" Sunggyu looks up in surprise, blinking a few times. Youngbae realizes now what Jiyong was talking about with it being much worse then normal. That rumor about Daesung has him thinking irrationally, but he can't blame the messenger.
"No! No way. I mean, Hoya likes to gossip, but he doesn't make this stuff up on his own. He likes to be on the 'inside'," Sunggyu makes two air quotes with his fingers, "but everything he says is just repeating what he hears in the school."
Youngbae stares at him hard, then gives a sigh, "Then this is just stupid. Let's just get to playing piano." So, Jiyong's whole speech and irritation with the others is for nothing. There's so much on his mind right now that he wants to play piano and make the music push everything out of the way like it always does.
"Okay, so what key is what note..."
----
“I was assigned to a project with Sunggyu,” Youngbae says. It’s a bit random, but they weren’t talking about anything much anyways. He’s been trying to bring it up for some time to Jiyong, though once the others are mentioned, he bristles up and gets angry. Trying to talk sense to an angry Jiyong never works.
“Oh, really?” the other smiles like he knows something. “Are you telling me cause you’re happy?”
Youngbae lets that slide and turns to face Jiyong instead of looking at the wall on the other side. “No, he told me something.”
Jiyong looks at him expectantly, and when he doesn’t continue, he rolls his eyes and says, “Is this one of your ‘I want to talk about it, but I don’t.’”
“He said that they only heard those rumors from somewhere, they didn’t make them up-”
“If you ask them, of course they’re going to lie.” There goes Jiyong’s mood as he starts to play with his iPod
“I know what they are, okay? I understand why you’re angry, but don’t blame people who talk about it. Seungri loves gossip too, and whenever he spreads it, you don’t say anything.”
“He means no harm,” Jiyong glances up, “I think you’re not looking straight with your heart filled eyes.”
Youngbae stands up, he’s sick of this. He knows the reason, “even if you fell for a rumor once, doesn’t mean everyone will. Some people might believe and some won’t; don’t blame others for your stupid mistake.” There’s no reaction, only the shaking of his head and a slight look up. Youngbae sighs and leaves.
----
"Okay, guys. This is Operation Make-Jiyong-Unpissed-At-Us. Or M. JUAU for short."
"You sound stupid and uneducated," Myungsoo says, reaching over and smacking Hoya in the back of the head. "And I don't see why me and Sungyeol have to do this, too. We weren't even there when you started spouting your mouth off on stupid nonsense."
"Guys, let's just do this, okay? I'm tired of feeling like he's drilling holes into the back of our heads every time he looks at us." Sunggyu sighs and hangs his head. He turns to see said person doing the exact same thing he just mentioned.
"Whatever. You just want to get on Jiyong's good side so you can hang out with Youngbae without him giving you the side eye. Yeah, don't think I didn't notice," Woohyun says with a grin on his face. Sunggyu throws his hands up in the air and shakes his head.
"He has nothing to do with this."
"Then why is he looking over here with a dreamy smile on his face?" Dongwoo points over to Youngbae in the corner, who just coughs a few times and looks away, scratching the back of his head.
"Oh look, they're even taking after each other's habits! Sunggyu does the same thing when he gets nervous too!" Sungjong exclaims, laughing and grabbing at Sunggyu's arm.
"Okay. This is not about my love life. We are going to get on Jiyong's good side, even if it kills us."
"It might kill us, that's for sure. If he doesn't kill us first." They all turn to glance at Jiyong, and turn away quickly when it looks like he might shoot lasers from his eyes.
--
"This is dumb. What the hell is he going to do with seven apples?" Dongwoo asks as he polishes his apple and sets it down on Jiyong's desk.
"I don't know. He likes apples though, so maybe he'll eat one and suddenly decide he's not mad at us anymore. I mean, it's free food," Hoya says, arranging them in the shape of a heart.
"You idiot, don't do that. He'll think it's from a secret admirer or something." Woohyun messes up the arrangement of apples and lines them all up in uneven rows.
"There. Now, let's get out of here before someone sees us."
----
Jiyong walks through the door and immediately everyone looks up at him. He's used to shy or hiding glances, not full blown out staring that carries with him as he walks over to his desk.
"Are apples your favorite fruit?" someone calls out.
"Uh," he raises an eyebrow, "I don't know?" They're pretty tasty, but it's not like he's dying for one and craves them everyday. As soon as he turns around everything finally clicks together. He counts. Seven apples on his desk arranged in some weird lines. He picks up the last one he counted and stares at it, making sure to check all of it before taking a bite. It's kind of weird, but it's free food, and he won't say no to that.
The rest he tosses in his bag to give to the others throughout the day, maybe even Seunghyun will eat one.
Hoya watches him through the window of the classroom before silently fist pumping and hurrying off to his class before the bell rings. Woohyun jabs him in the back as soon as he takes his seat in class and raises his eyebrows in question.
"He ate my apple and threw the rest of yours into his bag," he says triumphantly in a quiet voice. Woohyun rolls his eyes.
"But is he still mad?" Hoya just shrugs at him.
----
"He's still mad," Sunggyu says during lunch. He can still feel holes being drilled into the back of his head. "Why does he only glare at me? Hoya was the one running his mouth."
"I already told you why," Woohyun says in a sing song voice. Sunggyu rolls his eyes again before shoving at his best friend.
"So what do we do now?" Dongwoo asks, changing the subject before Sunggyu's ears turn a permanent shade of red.
"We could... clean out his locker? Every time he opens that thing, an avalanche of papers comes falling out. I think I saw something move around in there once."
"Good plan! But we don't know his combination." Everyone's heads turn slowly towards Sunggyu. He stares at them in confusion before his eyes go wide.
"Uh... what?"
"Well. Youngbae is pretty close with Jiyong, isn't he? So you think he would happen to know his locker combination?" Sunggyu gives them all a look of disbelief before letting his head fall down onto the table.
----
Sunggyu isn't concentrating on the keys; Youngbae can tell by the way he keeps messing up a song that he knows Sunggyu knows perfectly.
"What's wrong, you're usually pretty good at this?" Sunggyu sighs. Maybe he should just tell Youngbae what he and his friends have been trying to do. But then again, if Youngbae went and told Jiyong, it would probably make them lose face with Jiyong and make him think that they couldn't talk to him on their own.
"Jiyong... he's not the type to forgive easily, is he?"
Youngbae laughs, "Depends on how badly you screwed up? In this situation; no, he's not going to. With what I know of what's happened, you're not at fault. Jiyong will have to have some sense pushed into him in a bit, just wait a while."
"So... say I wanted to.. I dunno, clean out his locker or something. What do you think the combination would be?"
He stares, then chuckles a little, "I don't know. His birthday is the 18th and he'll be graduating this year and August is the 8th month. There's a bit of information to help you out, but I really don't know his locker combination." He smiles. Sunggyu makes a mental note in his head and turns to smile at Youngbae.
"Yeah, it's too bad you don't know his combination though... but I really need to get going. Thanks for the lesson, and I'll see you at school tomorrow!" Sunggyu says as he picks up his backpack.
"Hey, if you happen to open his locker through just sheer safe cracking skills, can you find my hat? It has a smiley face on it in yellow, and I've been missing it for a couple months now." Sunggyu turns around as he's walking down the path to the sidewalk and purses his lips.
"Sure, if by chance I manage to get into his locker, I'll look for it." Sunggyu smile at him and gives him a small, shy wave before disappearing down the street.
----
Everyone holds their breath as Sunggyu puts in the numbers that Youngbae hinted to him, smiling when he hears the click of the lock opening.
"Sunggyu, what did you have to do to get his combination?" Woohyun asks with a stupid grin on his face.
"Nothing of what you're thinking probably. I just promised I'd look for- Wow." Sunggyu yanks open the door, and a pile of papers and other things comes flooding out of his locker.
"You're kidding me. This is going to take hours to clean up!" Hoya whines, eyeing the locker apprehensively. Sunggyu takes a quick glance into the locker and sees the hat that Youngbae was talking about, buried underneath some books and stray papers. He reaches for it, and pulls it out apprehensively, trying not to disturb anything else.
"What're you doing? Everything else is on the floor already." Woohyun reaches out and pulls Sunggyu hand, sending everything else out of the locker, leaving the hat in his hands.
"We have an hour before he gets here. Hurry up!"
----
"You're okay, right?" Daesung says. Jiyong has been staring into his empty locker for a couple of minutes now. He isn't one to hurry and get ready for school, but he doesn't usually goof off by staring at nothing.
"My locker."
"Yeah, you cleaned it." Youngbae walks by, and Daesung grabs his arm because he's always the one to calm down Jiyong and with the silence the man is giving off, he might blow up.
"Oh, I see you cleaned up?" Youngbae smiles.
"I didn't clean it," Jiyong snaps, "if I would, then my homework would be here. It's not if you can see, actually nothing is here."
"There's your textbook you've been looking for and that library book from sophmore year," Daesung points out and recieves a glare, "Sorry."
"I actually do the homework, and it's taken from me. Who the fuck steals homework and trash!"
Youngbae shrugs and starts to walk away, having Jiyong notice the mark on the cap placed backwards on his head.
"Hey, when did you get that-"
"Bought it," he says entirely too fast, "You lost mine, so..."
Jiyong grins, making Youngbae fidget with the cap and stare everywhere else. "Hey." He hops over to the other and places a hand on his shoulder, "How about you lend me that homework of yours?"
Youngbae opens his mouth to protest, but it is kind of his fault in a way. Not entirely his fault, but it's enough that he wouldn't mind lending him his homework. He switches his backpack so it's in front of him, and then opens the bag, handing it over when he finally finds it.
"Thank you," Jiyong smiles larger and almost skips away. That homework was actually going to be graded on accuracy, so this is one of his best chances to get his math grade higher.
----
Hoya and Dongwoo watch from around the corner, inwardly wincing when they hear Jiyong complaining about lost homework.
"There was homework in that mess?" Hoya asks incredulously.
"Did Daesung say something about a lost book from his sophmore year?" Dongwoo shakes his head.
"Oh crap! I think he saw us! Run!" Hoya grabs Dongwoo's arm and drags him off down the hallway. Dongwoo gives Hoya an incredulous look. Maybe Jiyong's glares were finally getting to him.
----
"Okay, since our last plan didn't go so well, I thought of another one." Everyone groans at Hoya as he rolls his eyes up. "Come on! It's a good plan! We're gonna wash his car." Sungjong looks up, raising an eyebrow.
"I thought he didn't have a car."
"Yeah, but rumor has it that he takes his boyfriend's car sometimes. That college kid." Everyone groans again. Sunggyu buries his face into his hands.
"Hoya. Rumors are the reason we're stuck doing this in the first place, and the reason I can't go anywhere without feeling like someone's trying to laser the back of my head!" Sunggyu snaps at him.
"But come on! This is full proof! I even saw him driving up in it today at school. We'll just hurry up and wash it up nice during lunch, and no one will be the wiser!" Sunggyu sighs. This is going to be the last time he listens to Hoya.
----
"It's this one."
"Are you sure it's this one?" Dongwoo eyes the car. Of course, it would be the dirtiest car in the lot.
"I'm positive. Let's just finish cleaning it before lunch is over."
----
The lunch bell rings loudly and Jiyong groans, putting his head down on the table in annoyance. He hates going back to class, maybe he could skip today and go to the mall or something.
"Seungri," he says, muffled by the table.
"Huh, did you say something?" It's Youngbae's voice, and he doesn't want to ask him.
"Where's Seungri?" He gropes around the table, and he can hear Youngbae sigh as Daesung laughs loudly.
"Lift up your head. He left some time ago, saying that he was going to ask this girl out cause she was staring at him or something."
Jiyong groans again and lifts his head up, "Do you want to skip with me?"
"No," Youngbae's voice sounds exactly like he thought it would, loud and judging with every ounce of mother he could muster.
"What's the point of driving a car to school if I can't leave whenever I want."
"To leave early and whenever you want," Daesung grins, "after the bell rings."
Jiyong manages a tired glare and sits up straight, just as the door bursts open.
"Who cleaned my car!" Junsu yells, eyes searching everywhere in the room. Jiyong thinks he should be happy about that considering they have almost the same car, but his looks about two times older with all the dirt and grime. "You scratched it, right on the driver's door."
"Be glad they didn't get yours," Youngbae says, "they look almost the same."
"Those damn serial car cleaners, always up to no good," Daesung jokes. Jiyong chuckles, but still rolls his eyes and stands up.
"We should go, I guess." They pass by Junsu on the way back as talks with Taecyeon about it, Youngbae pats him on the shoulder to console him.
----
"No! Sunggyu! He'll kill you!" Hoya yells after him as Sunggyu marches towards the dance studio.
"With his laser eyes!" Dongwoo adds for emphasis.
Sunggyu ignores both of them and throws open the doors to the dance studio, making all of the occupants stop and stare at him. He makes a beeline for Jiyong on the other side. He notices Youngbae cast him a curious glance, but Sunggyu ignores him too and drops to his knees in front of Jiyong.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for spreading rumors that I knew probably weren't true. I didn't mean to, it just sort of happened. I hope you can forgive me." Then Sunggyu bows to him all the way to the ground. The others manage to run into the studio at the same time, and after seeing Sunggyu on the ground, hastily throw themselves into bowing positions beside him too.
"We're sorry! Please forgive us!"
"I thought you said they were assholes," Seungri says, staring at all of them.
Jiyong rolls his eyes and walks over to Sunggyu, "You're only saying this because you're scared of me and what I can do. There isn't any real emotion in the apology, is there? You think I'll create something about you to get back because an 'eye for an eye.' I'm not like you at all, don't think I'll even continue a rumor already started. All I want is for you to get out. Leave the club since obviously you don't belong here. This is a family, created so we could work together and trust each other and there's nothing of that sort between us. So, get up and get out."
"Jiyong!" Youngbae responds quickly and grabs his arm, "this is exactly like before. You're making a mistake."
Sunggyu stiffens as he hears Jiyong's cutting words. He expected him to be mad, but he didn't think that he was that mad.
"No, I'm not." Jiyong stares at him before looks around the room, "everyone get back to work, we need some catching up to do with one part of our routine getting cut."
Sunggyu looks up and sees Dongwoo and Hoya about to protest, but he gets up, effectively cutting them off as he bows curtly to Jiyong and leaves the studio.
"Sunggyu! Sunggyu!" The rest of the members run out after him.
"You're not just going to let him kick us out like that right? That's a stupid reason to get kicked out!" Hoya says, grabbing Sunggyu's shoulder. Sunggyu stops and lets out an angry sigh.
"We probably deserve it. Maybe that'll teach you to keep your mouth shut from now on about stupid stuff like this." Sunggyu turns on his heels and leaves behind the rest of his dumbstruck friends. He just wants some fresh air to clear his mind.
--
"Seriously, what the hell was that?" Youngbae pushes Jiyong to a spot away from Daesung's worried eyes and Seungri's surprised ones. "They were even apologizing."
"What's an apology if it doesn't mean anything?" Jiyong says, "let's go back to planning the routine."
"I refuse, not unless you tell them that you made a mistake."
Jiyong shrugs, "no use crying over spilled milk."
He can't believe him, that's his response. Six of the others seemed surprised and angry, ready to yell at Jiyong until his ears fall off, but Sunggyu just look defeated. He won't even give them a slight chance or take another look at what he just did. This is all just spilled milk to him. Youngbae knocks him back into the wall, he wants to punch him, but the only thing that will do is drive him back into his corner.
"This is all you overcompensating because of your own stupid mistake with rumors. It's not their fault, they are in no way related to Hyunseung. In fact, maybe you should go and talk to him."
"Why-"
"If you don't I might punch you in your face," he backs away, "God, Jiyong. I never knew you could be so emotional." They stare at each other for a while, until Jiyong looks away and Youngbae turns to run and find Sunggyu.
----
Jiyong bangs his head agaisnt the wall when the call actually connects, he wasn't expecting this. He's a classroom over because everyone in the room continued to stare at him until he yelled for them to get back to work and evern after that, they still gave him little glances. There's been silence for a while now in their conversation since Jiyong doesn't know what to say and Hyunseung probably doesn't want to talk to him.
"What?" His voice lacks anything other then anger and surprise.
"I'm calling because Youngbae told me too-"
"So, you only called me because Youngbae told you to," Hyunseung says, "Alright, okay."
Jiyong sighs, "Yes, but no. I've wanted to talk to you for a while, but never thought you'd accept and then Youngbae basically forces me too."
"What, why would he force-"
"Last year, before you left...you remember Seungri was out for a while?"
Hyunseung pauses and says slowly, "yeah, he was sick."
"That's not what I thought when he was gone. I was so fucking worried and then his friend, who I know loves gossip just as much as Seungri, told me you got him kicked out. He had so much detail and so many points of truth, like you were also missing the first day Seungri was, that I believed him. I didn't know what to do, though. You were my friend who I thought betrayed me and I didn't know how big of a deal I should take it as, but I was angry and just blasted at you. I kicked you out, then when Seungri came back I was too embarassed to do anything." There's silence on the other line and Jiyong takes a deep breath of air, "Then, you left. I regreted every single thing I did and how it all ended."
"I never knew you were such a gulliable asshole."
Jiyong laughs, because the other's tone is finally one that he remembers. "I didn't know I was either."
"I'm glad you told me this, though. It would have been better to tell me before, but it's good to at least been told. This had to have been brought on by something, no way Youngbae would force you just cause he finally decided this was an issue."
"No," Jiyong picks at his jeans, "There were these people we added to the dance club and well, they spread rumors and I got pissed and kicked them out after they apologized-"
"After they apologized! What the hell is wrong with you!"
"They only did it because they were scared of me."
"How do you know? This just shows how much of an asshole you are, kicking them out after they apologize. Jeez, you should have learned from the first time around."
"They said Daesung was a pity friend," Jiyong says quietly.
Hyunseung doesn't say anything for a while, just breathes unsteadily for a bit before taking one deep breath, "It doesn't matter what it is, not even a stupid one like that. Kicking someone out doesn't seem to do anything to improve the situation, so maybe you should go and do the same thing you did with me to them."
"Explain?"
He can almost hear Hyunseung roll his eyes and that has him smile, "No, apologize."
----
Sunggyu walks aimlessly as soon as he gets outside. The weather is nice today, with a light breeze blowing around. It cools him down slightly, making him a little bit less angry than he was before. He couldn't really understand why Jiyong would get so angry. He had a vague feeling that it had to do something with Hyunseung, someone he kicked out last year. He didn't know the full details about what happened, so he kept his mouth shut about it. And it's a good thing he did too, or else Jiyong might've kicked them out sooner.
Sunggyu sighs, letting his feet take him wherever they want to go. He crosses streets, cuts through the park, and ends up in a familiar neighborhood. His feet follow a familiar trail, and he ends up in front of Youngbae's house. Sunggyu stares at the front door before walking up to his porch and flopping down onto it, laying down and spreading his arms out.
Why did he come here of all places?
----
Jiyong sighs at the dance studio doors. It's not like he expected the seven guys to be waiting outside the door for him to return, but that would have made everything easier. He honestly feels the worst he has felt in his life, maybe, just second to kicking Hyunseung out. This might be worse considering how harsh the words he said were, the entire studio seemed to cool down twenty degrees. It's so goddamn stupid.
The only way to get through to all of them is through the oldest and he has no clue about him. There's the one fact that both Youngbae and Sunggyu act like they're so freaking in love. That's kind of a good thing to realize now. He flips open his phone and dials Youngbae's number.
"Hey," he's greeted with silence he knew to expect, "I called Hyunseung and...well, I want to apologize."
"Apologizing to me isn't going to help-"
"I meant Sunggyu," he sighs, "do you know where he is."
"We're in front of my house."
Jiyong smiles, "why would that be." He can pratically feel the glare over the phone. "Alright, I'm coming."
He arrives at the house around half an hour later. It was filled with talking to himself about how stupid this was and trying to find the best words to be used to apologize, considering he isn't the best at sounding nice and sincere. When he's about two houses away, he sees them on the steps and he freezes. What if he screws it up completely? They actually were all pretty amazing dancing and they would have definitely given them the possibility to win that upcoming competiton. It's not entirely about that either, they are kind of nice and funny. They're good people.
He sighs and walks over, greeting them with, "What's up?"
Youngbae glares, "You did this, you should know."
"I didn't mean to-or well- I didn't...I don't know." Sunggyu sits up and rubs at his eyes, casting a wary glance towards Jiyong.
"Did you have something else to say to me?"
"Well, yeah," Jiyong scratches the back of his head, "I guess...this was all stupid and I was over emotional because of something that happened that I never solved."
"I see," Sunggyu says. This is probably the closest to an apology he's going to get from Jiyong.
"Wait, what are you saying Jiyong?"
Jiyong sighs, Youngbae is going to force this out of him in someway. He walks over to stand straight in front of Sunggyu and bows at a ninety degree angle, "I'm sorry, and I'd love for you to help us out with dancing-"
"You need it," Youngbae mumbles.
Jiyong makes a mental note to accidentally step on his foot tomorrow, "It was stupid kicking you out, and I want you back in the club." Sunggyu nods.
"Thanks. I accept your apology. I'll probably let the others know later. Let them sweat it out a little bit," he says with a devious grin on his face.
Jiyong straightens up and gives a small smile; he's kind of glad Youngbae chose him out of all of them. Not to insult the rest or anything, but he's not sure the others would have been so quick to accept the apology.
"Well, it's cleared up now after about a month longer then it should have," Youngbae stands up, "want to come in for dinner, Sunggyu."
"What? I don't get to go-"
"Only eyesmiles are welcomed in at this point in time," Youngbae grins wide enough to show off his and Sunggyu does the same making Jiyong gag. He gags twice as hard when Youngbae takes Sunggyu’s hand and walks them to the door.