{ chaptered } Hellos are old goodbyes ★ 5
Title: Hellos are old goodbyes [5/?]
Fandom: Big Bang
Pairing: GRi
Genre: Angst, fluff
Rating: PG
Summary: Ignorance is the best way. Really.
Warnings: FLUFF!
A/N: It took a while, huh? Yeah! I’m kind of dead. LMAO you know it’s bad when you write your fics on your iPod.
It has been only few weeks that Seungri settled into the shared house and the effects from it were showing already. A lot more girls knew him by name and winked him cute hellos in the hallways, guys gave him the high-five and actually called him ‘Seungri’ instead of his actual first name which was a nickname he got from winning a dance battle as a kid. His delivery work also got suddenly a lot busier than it used to be. It needed some getting used to.
"Oh god, pizza should be illegal so I don’t have to deliver it anymore." Seungri groaned as he entered the house, rubbing his thighs that bicycled too much as he brought his bright red pizza carrier bag to the table for the boys to reheat its content tomorrow. The house was silent and it scared him a notch but it was only normal since he finished his day at 1AM. He made a note to ask Youngbae if his car was fixed, because he was not able to take this bicycle delivery anymore.
He yawned and went up the stairs looking at the other doors where he guessed his roommates were sleeping soundly. First was Youngbae’s, who probably went to bed early, then Daesung who spent an eerie lot of time in it, big Seunghyun’s was empty since he was at work at this time and Jiyong’s... still had the light open. Curious about it, Seungri walked over to the door and peeked through the partly opened door to see what the guy was up to.
There, he found the blond man asleep on his desk with his glasses still on. Obviously, the guy worked himself until he fell asleep like Youngbae once told him about when they were doing the dishes last week. From what he got, Jiyong was a hard worker and would always push himself to his very limits and not feel satisfied until everything felt perfect, even if that was an obstacle to his health. The delivery boy thought that that this position could not be good for Jiyong to be seated like this so he walked over and pulled the sheets from the bed and put a blanket over Jiyong’s thin shoulders.
He was about to turn around and leave when the blanket slid right off. He put it back, it slid off again and he repeated three times before noticing that the fabric of the man’s shirt was the reason why this kept happening. He shook his head and decided he could try to get him to his bed, besides, he saw Jiyong do the same to Youngbae when he fell asleep praying. After snapping his fingers a few times to make sure he was asleep, he pushed him against the back of the chair gently and pulled his glasses off to put them on the desk. He rolled the chair carefully and brought it next to the bed.
"... Alright." He gave himself a little motivation and pulled Jiyong up from his chair. The guy was unusually light for someone his height and Seunghyun had absolutely no difficulty putting him in bed. He was about to go away when he felt the other’s hold keep him down against him which got him falling right against him.
OH SHIT.
A snore.
Jiyong was still far away in dreamland.
Just my luck...
The younger man did his best to pull the other’s arms from around his shoulders but the more he tried, the harder Jiyong held him and when he ultimately tried to shake the other awake, Jiyong rolled them over and ended up with his head on the younger man’s chest. Seungri started to think that maybe there was a curse following him after all. He stayed completely still, it had only been few weeks he was living here and he did his best to avoid being alone with Jiyong to avoid the awkwardness that kept following them but it appeared that his efforts were brought to nothing each time. He even managed to stop thinking about him all the time and now he just had no choice since he was all over him.
At least he smells nice... Seungri recognized the smell. It was that same smell from that one time in the bus when they had their first encounter. It was really nice cologne mixed with the smell of alcohol.
Alcohol?
Seungri looked over at the table and spotted the three and a half green glass bottles on it near the textbooks and pens - he understood that Jiyong was not sober. Well at least he feels warm... He sighed. After all his hard work, the tingly feeling from the first time they met was still in Seungri’s chest each time he saw the other guy, his smile could not stay hidden and his hands trembled when they were alone because he wanted to touch him again. This time only felt stronger than last time because he actually knew who this person with that warm smile and body was.
Was it wrong to find this comfortable? He could blame the other for being drunk again when he woke up anyways. He wrapped his arms around the slender body, closing his eyes, he was tired and his body was appreciating how the other man’s felt against his own. Was it not okay to feel this way about a man’s body? After all, there were too many lacking parts and too many extra ones to make this acceptable but Seungri told himself that if he was gone before Jiyong woke up, his secret would be safe. That was a good plan... Until he fell asleep!
Daylight came and tickled Seungri’s skin with its warmth and hit him right in the eyes when he tried to open his eyes, making him squint. Strangely, he did not feel the usual morning feeling. He felt nice, warm and at peace. He had absolutely no memory of a nightmare of any sort nor did he feel that crick in his neck that could make the rest of his day horrible. He was not even in his usual hurry to get started with his day so it would end faster, everything was just good.
The slow feeling of the morning eventually wore off when he heard the annoying sound of the neighbor’s car alarm going off in its annoying blare. It was about time the man got that old car fixed, Seungri told he could mention Youngbae being a mechanic to him very soon. He put the thought aside and yawned, looking up at the ceiling...
And now something was definitely wrong. First off, his room was normally blue with cubic movement-inspired black furniture and this room was the same, except all the blue was replaced with white that made everything even harder on the eyes. There were some writing on the walls but he could not read it all because it was in foreign languages that his mind did not even want to identify. The whiteness of the walls was playing with the brightness of the sun and making Seungri squint as he tried to sit up, which he could not even do because of the body on his own that held him back from doing so - holding quite literally.
He had the biggest double-take moments of his life: Jiyong was still asleep and moving to cuddle closer with his face snugly tucked into the crook of Seungri’s neck. His soft blond hair brushed the side of his face which got him grinning slowly and it was not only because he was ticklish... Those reasons were a bad thing! His roommate was still a man - no matter how strangely magnetic he could get. And cute. And funny. And basically amazing even when he is throwing the trash out and... He stopped thinking, just removed the other man’s arms from his body and slid him off of himself. It did take him another good five minutes before he realized that he was still staring at the guy.
He got up and stretched, looking at anything but the man in the bed as he tiptoed his way out. Of course, something had to distract him from his master escape plan: the papers on the table were still all splayed out on the table. he never even bothered asking Jiyong why he was up so late so often. His curiosity got the best of him again and he looked down at the drawings, skimming through the papers. He raised an eyebrow and looked up toward the corner of the room where a mannequin in a weird outfit was, Seungri almost thought it was someone but from the drawing in front of him, he could now see that the outfit on the mannequin was actually only halfway done and that this was what it was supposed to look like in the end. Seungri was impressed, not much because of the fashion designing, he already knew Jiyong was very creative in the way he did things. It was more that he found a certain touch in the drawing that just made him see how this work was Jiyong’s and no one else, it stood out somehow even if it looked like he started from plain things to make them different. Seungri could barely sew or match clothes together so there was a new respect growing in him.
Suddenly, he was taken aback by the sound of something falling on the floor. His eyes shot straight to Jiyong's sleeping figure before he looked down and spotted a few pictures he dropped accidentally. He picked them up, looked at them and was surprised by how they were not pictures of some funky piece of clothing... There were a few pictures in different locations and even different countries from how he could spot monuments from his 10th grade geography book. The thing in common all the pictures had was that they all featured Jiyong, interesting fashion or hair and this woman. Some pictures had other people; mainly tall foreigners with the same sort of fashion but those two were always together and within each other's arm's reach. He flipped through the pictures some more and ultimately found a picture of the two kissing and immediately, his heart sunk to find the floor. So Jiyong had a girlfriend? He seriously forgot to ask about this and finding out right after spending such a great night just made him feel like today was ruined already. He put the pictures back in when he reached the last page of the draft book, put it back where it belonged and headed for the door silently as he could.
"You sleep with me and then you walk out like that? Classy bro, no doubt."
Seungri turned around upon hearing a rather sleepy but still thoroughly amused laugh. Jiyong was awake, sitting up and scratching the back of his head.
"Ah... Good morning hyung." The younger man replied bashfully and ignoring the double nature this comment could have. He needed a quick way out. "I should start cooking breakfast. It's my turn."
"You mean lunch. It's almost noon." Jiyong commented and stretched his arms out while yawning softly. "Think it's my turn anyways..." He swung his legs to the side of the bed and observed his roommate's face. "What's wrong?"
Seungri quickly shook his head. "I'm not wearing glasses so I feel funny from not seeing anything."
"Bullshit." Jiyong snorted. "Did I do anything wrong? Not that I would." He looked at the younger man with concern. "Or did you see shit you didn't wanna see in my book here?" He pointed at the book, obviously aware that it was not where it originally was. He knew which page he was working on after all.
Seungri looked down at the table and sighed with a shrug. "Got a girlfriend, hyung?"
The fair-haired man just blinked at that. It had to be the quickest change of subject ever made by man. "Pretty personal question here. Why you asking?"
Seungri kept staring at the book, wishing it would speak for him.
Jiyong followed his mate's gaze with his own and ended up laughing. "Pictures of Kiko got you wondering?" He picked the book up and pulled those pictures Seungri saw from it. "Damn gorgeous, ain't she?"
"Very much so." the other commented back. He tried to get the attention off of this woman. "Is this in France?"
"It is." Jiyong nodded. "She lives in Tokyo or America now. I ain't too sure..." He mused. "I miss working with her. She became a famous model and Marc Jacobs stole her away from me..." Jiyong looked bitter with this. "Inspiration has been tough."
"I understand hyung." Seungri nodded but kept his head down. "I think she will come back for you. She probably misses you too."
"Oh, I know that." The blond man assured. "She'll be visiting by this weekend and bringing something important back to me."
"That's great hyung." Seungri wished his acting lessons would help him sound a little less disheartened than this. Why was he so disappointed in the first place? It was not like he was actually expecting anything from Jiyong and hoping was out of question. "I'll go shower now. Be downstairs in thirty minutes."
With that, Seungri left the room and went for a cold shower to get his reality back in gear.
He just should not have followed his little boy instincts and believed that the phone and the ad were signs of destiny... He already knew that he did not even understand the feelings he got each time he was thinking about Jiyong or when he was around him. All he knew was that it felt great and was a little similar to floating... He was mostly sure that those feelings were the result of his still too recent breakup and he felt bad about it. Anyways, Jiyong was a man and two straight men cannot possibly harbor something that crosses friendship - at least that's what he was raised to think.
He headed downstairs when he was done with his daily hygiene routine. The house was rather silent, it was Monday morning so Youngbae was at work, Daesung was in business management class, Seunghyun just came back from work and was surely going to sleep until he had to go to his evening classes. Jiyong did not work on Mondays but had an evening class which left Seungri alone today since he already missed his class.
When he got to the kitchen, he could smell then scent of something sweet. There was no way Jiyong was there since he could hear the shower running upstairs... And the food smelled like it was burning. He walked to the stove and was almost bowled over to find the elder of the house already up and cooking, he never even saw the guy awake before and much less preparing food. He looked sleepy and held an absolute poker face at his fry pan, like it said something to insult him.
"Good morning hyung!" Seungri greeted. "I didn't know you could cook... What are you making? How come you're awake this early?"
The poker face expression did not change one bit as he flipped what seemed to be a pancake and reached to the side to catch his cup. It was only after he swallowed half the cup of dark coffee that he spoke.
"Good morning, Seunghyun." It always amused Seungri how only the man who shared his name actually called him that. "I'm making... Pancakes."
"Tell me they're chocolate." Seungri said, pointing at the frypan.
"No." Seunghyun turned the stove temperature down. "Jiyong likes them with more crunch... If you’re not happy, you can have fruit yogurt. I made some too."
"Oh. I see." He nodded slowly and opened the dish cabinet. "Guess I'll set the table."
The Seunghyuns did not spend much time together, sometimes Seungri would pick the older up after work when he was too tired to ride his motorcycle but their conversations never went too far. Despite that fact, Seunghyun had been able to get a small grasp at the boy's personality since he was painfully easy to read and obviously unable to contain feelings. He put the last pancake in the plate and turned the heat off before heading to where the other had gone with the plates with his cup and the whole coffee decanter.
"Hey Seunghyun," The older called with his deep voice. "You really sound off. What's wrong?"
The younger paused as he put Jiyong's red cup down. "Nothing," He gave a small smile. "I realized I don't know you guys enough."
"What do you mean?" The older man asked. "If you wonder about stuff, you can ask. We're disturbingly open-minded."
That, he already knew. He did not feel particularly comfortable with the idea of invading privacy so much, he thought he should try it but he did not know what kind of image that would give since he was supposed to be respectful since he was the younger of the bunch.
"Am I the first one to ever think Jiyong hyung is that kind of guy?"
"What kind of guy?"
"You know. The kind who likes other men."
Seunghyun almost spat his coffee out but choked on it for a brief instant. Where did such frankness come from? The kid barely even spoke in his presence and now he asks about someone’s sexual orientation. That was more than unexpected for Seunghyun.
"You... Aren't." He admitted slowly.
"Knew it." Seungri shrugged.
"Knew what!"
"The 'be open-minded' part of the ad just had to mean something." The younger fiddled about with a fork. "Figured it would mean there is a homosexual under this roof. Not that I mind. I would have liked to be told about it if it was true but I guess it's not."
"... Even if it was true, how the heck would I plug that in? ‘Hey man. We might got a faggot, how's school’?" Top fixed the bear ears on his PJ’s hoodie. "And what if I was gay?"
The younger stared for a moment and gave another shrug. "I thought you were Jiyong hyung's boyfriend to be honest. You call each other ‘baby’ and make lewd sex jokes about pounding each other’s ass until you faint... and you kiss."
"We have a dirty sense of humor, you’re the only person I know who is faster than Jiyong on the that’s what she said button." The other blinked. "The kissing, I can explain. Jiyong is that kind of guy... who needs a whole lot of attention. Kissing to us is what a bro handshake is to you and your friends, we were raised together and no matter how weird it is to you, to me kissing Jiyong is really not a big deal. We’ve done it forever and everyone knows it. We’re Samantha Ronson and Lindsay Lohan but without problems with the press and more with our parents." He explained, "We do love each other. We could be dating, who knows?"
Seungri was confused. Was he just playing? Did he offend him? "Jiyong-hyung has a girlfriend, hyung." He stated. "She's coming this weekend."
Seunghyun looked about as confused as that one time when Seungri and Youngbae started to speak Japanese for study purposes. "I learn new shit every damn day. This weekend will be packed as fuck." He mused. "Bring a friend over too." He nodded to Seungri. "And eat; it’s your chore day so you need the energy... I gotta uh, talk to Jiyong. He didn't pay his share of the rent yet."
The younger thought something was up but he did not make comments on it and just started on his pancakes. Very edible. "It's good, hyung."
"Shut up." Seunghyun laughed and pushed the syrup bottle over to his housemate. "I know the only ways to survive my pancakes are to burn them or drown them in maple syrup."
They both laughed as Seungri lathered his pancakes in the sugary syrup. "Thanks."
With that, the older man left upstairs with a whole pancake halfway into his mouth, the coffee decanter and Jiyong's plate. It seemed like that talk they needed was going to be long.
Fandom: Big Bang
Pairing: GRi
Genre: Angst, fluff
Rating: PG
Summary: Ignorance is the best way. Really.
Warnings: FLUFF!
A/N: It took a while, huh? Yeah! I’m kind of dead. LMAO you know it’s bad when you write your fics on your iPod.
It has been only few weeks that Seungri settled into the shared house and the effects from it were showing already. A lot more girls knew him by name and winked him cute hellos in the hallways, guys gave him the high-five and actually called him ‘Seungri’ instead of his actual first name which was a nickname he got from winning a dance battle as a kid. His delivery work also got suddenly a lot busier than it used to be. It needed some getting used to.
"Oh god, pizza should be illegal so I don’t have to deliver it anymore." Seungri groaned as he entered the house, rubbing his thighs that bicycled too much as he brought his bright red pizza carrier bag to the table for the boys to reheat its content tomorrow. The house was silent and it scared him a notch but it was only normal since he finished his day at 1AM. He made a note to ask Youngbae if his car was fixed, because he was not able to take this bicycle delivery anymore.
He yawned and went up the stairs looking at the other doors where he guessed his roommates were sleeping soundly. First was Youngbae’s, who probably went to bed early, then Daesung who spent an eerie lot of time in it, big Seunghyun’s was empty since he was at work at this time and Jiyong’s... still had the light open. Curious about it, Seungri walked over to the door and peeked through the partly opened door to see what the guy was up to.
There, he found the blond man asleep on his desk with his glasses still on. Obviously, the guy worked himself until he fell asleep like Youngbae once told him about when they were doing the dishes last week. From what he got, Jiyong was a hard worker and would always push himself to his very limits and not feel satisfied until everything felt perfect, even if that was an obstacle to his health. The delivery boy thought that that this position could not be good for Jiyong to be seated like this so he walked over and pulled the sheets from the bed and put a blanket over Jiyong’s thin shoulders.
He was about to turn around and leave when the blanket slid right off. He put it back, it slid off again and he repeated three times before noticing that the fabric of the man’s shirt was the reason why this kept happening. He shook his head and decided he could try to get him to his bed, besides, he saw Jiyong do the same to Youngbae when he fell asleep praying. After snapping his fingers a few times to make sure he was asleep, he pushed him against the back of the chair gently and pulled his glasses off to put them on the desk. He rolled the chair carefully and brought it next to the bed.
"... Alright." He gave himself a little motivation and pulled Jiyong up from his chair. The guy was unusually light for someone his height and Seunghyun had absolutely no difficulty putting him in bed. He was about to go away when he felt the other’s hold keep him down against him which got him falling right against him.
OH SHIT.
A snore.
Jiyong was still far away in dreamland.
Just my luck...
The younger man did his best to pull the other’s arms from around his shoulders but the more he tried, the harder Jiyong held him and when he ultimately tried to shake the other awake, Jiyong rolled them over and ended up with his head on the younger man’s chest. Seungri started to think that maybe there was a curse following him after all. He stayed completely still, it had only been few weeks he was living here and he did his best to avoid being alone with Jiyong to avoid the awkwardness that kept following them but it appeared that his efforts were brought to nothing each time. He even managed to stop thinking about him all the time and now he just had no choice since he was all over him.
At least he smells nice... Seungri recognized the smell. It was that same smell from that one time in the bus when they had their first encounter. It was really nice cologne mixed with the smell of alcohol.
Alcohol?
Seungri looked over at the table and spotted the three and a half green glass bottles on it near the textbooks and pens - he understood that Jiyong was not sober. Well at least he feels warm... He sighed. After all his hard work, the tingly feeling from the first time they met was still in Seungri’s chest each time he saw the other guy, his smile could not stay hidden and his hands trembled when they were alone because he wanted to touch him again. This time only felt stronger than last time because he actually knew who this person with that warm smile and body was.
Was it wrong to find this comfortable? He could blame the other for being drunk again when he woke up anyways. He wrapped his arms around the slender body, closing his eyes, he was tired and his body was appreciating how the other man’s felt against his own. Was it not okay to feel this way about a man’s body? After all, there were too many lacking parts and too many extra ones to make this acceptable but Seungri told himself that if he was gone before Jiyong woke up, his secret would be safe. That was a good plan... Until he fell asleep!
Daylight came and tickled Seungri’s skin with its warmth and hit him right in the eyes when he tried to open his eyes, making him squint. Strangely, he did not feel the usual morning feeling. He felt nice, warm and at peace. He had absolutely no memory of a nightmare of any sort nor did he feel that crick in his neck that could make the rest of his day horrible. He was not even in his usual hurry to get started with his day so it would end faster, everything was just good.
The slow feeling of the morning eventually wore off when he heard the annoying sound of the neighbor’s car alarm going off in its annoying blare. It was about time the man got that old car fixed, Seungri told he could mention Youngbae being a mechanic to him very soon. He put the thought aside and yawned, looking up at the ceiling...
And now something was definitely wrong. First off, his room was normally blue with cubic movement-inspired black furniture and this room was the same, except all the blue was replaced with white that made everything even harder on the eyes. There were some writing on the walls but he could not read it all because it was in foreign languages that his mind did not even want to identify. The whiteness of the walls was playing with the brightness of the sun and making Seungri squint as he tried to sit up, which he could not even do because of the body on his own that held him back from doing so - holding quite literally.
He had the biggest double-take moments of his life: Jiyong was still asleep and moving to cuddle closer with his face snugly tucked into the crook of Seungri’s neck. His soft blond hair brushed the side of his face which got him grinning slowly and it was not only because he was ticklish... Those reasons were a bad thing! His roommate was still a man - no matter how strangely magnetic he could get. And cute. And funny. And basically amazing even when he is throwing the trash out and... He stopped thinking, just removed the other man’s arms from his body and slid him off of himself. It did take him another good five minutes before he realized that he was still staring at the guy.
He got up and stretched, looking at anything but the man in the bed as he tiptoed his way out. Of course, something had to distract him from his master escape plan: the papers on the table were still all splayed out on the table. he never even bothered asking Jiyong why he was up so late so often. His curiosity got the best of him again and he looked down at the drawings, skimming through the papers. He raised an eyebrow and looked up toward the corner of the room where a mannequin in a weird outfit was, Seungri almost thought it was someone but from the drawing in front of him, he could now see that the outfit on the mannequin was actually only halfway done and that this was what it was supposed to look like in the end. Seungri was impressed, not much because of the fashion designing, he already knew Jiyong was very creative in the way he did things. It was more that he found a certain touch in the drawing that just made him see how this work was Jiyong’s and no one else, it stood out somehow even if it looked like he started from plain things to make them different. Seungri could barely sew or match clothes together so there was a new respect growing in him.
Suddenly, he was taken aback by the sound of something falling on the floor. His eyes shot straight to Jiyong's sleeping figure before he looked down and spotted a few pictures he dropped accidentally. He picked them up, looked at them and was surprised by how they were not pictures of some funky piece of clothing... There were a few pictures in different locations and even different countries from how he could spot monuments from his 10th grade geography book. The thing in common all the pictures had was that they all featured Jiyong, interesting fashion or hair and this woman. Some pictures had other people; mainly tall foreigners with the same sort of fashion but those two were always together and within each other's arm's reach. He flipped through the pictures some more and ultimately found a picture of the two kissing and immediately, his heart sunk to find the floor. So Jiyong had a girlfriend? He seriously forgot to ask about this and finding out right after spending such a great night just made him feel like today was ruined already. He put the pictures back in when he reached the last page of the draft book, put it back where it belonged and headed for the door silently as he could.
"You sleep with me and then you walk out like that? Classy bro, no doubt."
Seungri turned around upon hearing a rather sleepy but still thoroughly amused laugh. Jiyong was awake, sitting up and scratching the back of his head.
"Ah... Good morning hyung." The younger man replied bashfully and ignoring the double nature this comment could have. He needed a quick way out. "I should start cooking breakfast. It's my turn."
"You mean lunch. It's almost noon." Jiyong commented and stretched his arms out while yawning softly. "Think it's my turn anyways..." He swung his legs to the side of the bed and observed his roommate's face. "What's wrong?"
Seungri quickly shook his head. "I'm not wearing glasses so I feel funny from not seeing anything."
"Bullshit." Jiyong snorted. "Did I do anything wrong? Not that I would." He looked at the younger man with concern. "Or did you see shit you didn't wanna see in my book here?" He pointed at the book, obviously aware that it was not where it originally was. He knew which page he was working on after all.
Seungri looked down at the table and sighed with a shrug. "Got a girlfriend, hyung?"
The fair-haired man just blinked at that. It had to be the quickest change of subject ever made by man. "Pretty personal question here. Why you asking?"
Seungri kept staring at the book, wishing it would speak for him.
Jiyong followed his mate's gaze with his own and ended up laughing. "Pictures of Kiko got you wondering?" He picked the book up and pulled those pictures Seungri saw from it. "Damn gorgeous, ain't she?"
"Very much so." the other commented back. He tried to get the attention off of this woman. "Is this in France?"
"It is." Jiyong nodded. "She lives in Tokyo or America now. I ain't too sure..." He mused. "I miss working with her. She became a famous model and Marc Jacobs stole her away from me..." Jiyong looked bitter with this. "Inspiration has been tough."
"I understand hyung." Seungri nodded but kept his head down. "I think she will come back for you. She probably misses you too."
"Oh, I know that." The blond man assured. "She'll be visiting by this weekend and bringing something important back to me."
"That's great hyung." Seungri wished his acting lessons would help him sound a little less disheartened than this. Why was he so disappointed in the first place? It was not like he was actually expecting anything from Jiyong and hoping was out of question. "I'll go shower now. Be downstairs in thirty minutes."
With that, Seungri left the room and went for a cold shower to get his reality back in gear.
He just should not have followed his little boy instincts and believed that the phone and the ad were signs of destiny... He already knew that he did not even understand the feelings he got each time he was thinking about Jiyong or when he was around him. All he knew was that it felt great and was a little similar to floating... He was mostly sure that those feelings were the result of his still too recent breakup and he felt bad about it. Anyways, Jiyong was a man and two straight men cannot possibly harbor something that crosses friendship - at least that's what he was raised to think.
He headed downstairs when he was done with his daily hygiene routine. The house was rather silent, it was Monday morning so Youngbae was at work, Daesung was in business management class, Seunghyun just came back from work and was surely going to sleep until he had to go to his evening classes. Jiyong did not work on Mondays but had an evening class which left Seungri alone today since he already missed his class.
When he got to the kitchen, he could smell then scent of something sweet. There was no way Jiyong was there since he could hear the shower running upstairs... And the food smelled like it was burning. He walked to the stove and was almost bowled over to find the elder of the house already up and cooking, he never even saw the guy awake before and much less preparing food. He looked sleepy and held an absolute poker face at his fry pan, like it said something to insult him.
"Good morning hyung!" Seungri greeted. "I didn't know you could cook... What are you making? How come you're awake this early?"
The poker face expression did not change one bit as he flipped what seemed to be a pancake and reached to the side to catch his cup. It was only after he swallowed half the cup of dark coffee that he spoke.
"Good morning, Seunghyun." It always amused Seungri how only the man who shared his name actually called him that. "I'm making... Pancakes."
"Tell me they're chocolate." Seungri said, pointing at the frypan.
"No." Seunghyun turned the stove temperature down. "Jiyong likes them with more crunch... If you’re not happy, you can have fruit yogurt. I made some too."
"Oh. I see." He nodded slowly and opened the dish cabinet. "Guess I'll set the table."
The Seunghyuns did not spend much time together, sometimes Seungri would pick the older up after work when he was too tired to ride his motorcycle but their conversations never went too far. Despite that fact, Seunghyun had been able to get a small grasp at the boy's personality since he was painfully easy to read and obviously unable to contain feelings. He put the last pancake in the plate and turned the heat off before heading to where the other had gone with the plates with his cup and the whole coffee decanter.
"Hey Seunghyun," The older called with his deep voice. "You really sound off. What's wrong?"
The younger paused as he put Jiyong's red cup down. "Nothing," He gave a small smile. "I realized I don't know you guys enough."
"What do you mean?" The older man asked. "If you wonder about stuff, you can ask. We're disturbingly open-minded."
That, he already knew. He did not feel particularly comfortable with the idea of invading privacy so much, he thought he should try it but he did not know what kind of image that would give since he was supposed to be respectful since he was the younger of the bunch.
"Am I the first one to ever think Jiyong hyung is that kind of guy?"
"What kind of guy?"
"You know. The kind who likes other men."
Seunghyun almost spat his coffee out but choked on it for a brief instant. Where did such frankness come from? The kid barely even spoke in his presence and now he asks about someone’s sexual orientation. That was more than unexpected for Seunghyun.
"You... Aren't." He admitted slowly.
"Knew it." Seungri shrugged.
"Knew what!"
"The 'be open-minded' part of the ad just had to mean something." The younger fiddled about with a fork. "Figured it would mean there is a homosexual under this roof. Not that I mind. I would have liked to be told about it if it was true but I guess it's not."
"... Even if it was true, how the heck would I plug that in? ‘Hey man. We might got a faggot, how's school’?" Top fixed the bear ears on his PJ’s hoodie. "And what if I was gay?"
The younger stared for a moment and gave another shrug. "I thought you were Jiyong hyung's boyfriend to be honest. You call each other ‘baby’ and make lewd sex jokes about pounding each other’s ass until you faint... and you kiss."
"We have a dirty sense of humor, you’re the only person I know who is faster than Jiyong on the that’s what she said button." The other blinked. "The kissing, I can explain. Jiyong is that kind of guy... who needs a whole lot of attention. Kissing to us is what a bro handshake is to you and your friends, we were raised together and no matter how weird it is to you, to me kissing Jiyong is really not a big deal. We’ve done it forever and everyone knows it. We’re Samantha Ronson and Lindsay Lohan but without problems with the press and more with our parents." He explained, "We do love each other. We could be dating, who knows?"
Seungri was confused. Was he just playing? Did he offend him? "Jiyong-hyung has a girlfriend, hyung." He stated. "She's coming this weekend."
Seunghyun looked about as confused as that one time when Seungri and Youngbae started to speak Japanese for study purposes. "I learn new shit every damn day. This weekend will be packed as fuck." He mused. "Bring a friend over too." He nodded to Seungri. "And eat; it’s your chore day so you need the energy... I gotta uh, talk to Jiyong. He didn't pay his share of the rent yet."
The younger thought something was up but he did not make comments on it and just started on his pancakes. Very edible. "It's good, hyung."
"Shut up." Seunghyun laughed and pushed the syrup bottle over to his housemate. "I know the only ways to survive my pancakes are to burn them or drown them in maple syrup."
They both laughed as Seungri lathered his pancakes in the sugary syrup. "Thanks."
With that, the older man left upstairs with a whole pancake halfway into his mouth, the coffee decanter and Jiyong's plate. It seemed like that talk they needed was going to be long.