A couple hours ago, Big Bang was having a little party.

It was just between themselves. A close-friends, comfortable party.

There was much to celebrate. The successful end of their MADE tour. The success of the MADE album. A late anniversary celebration of Big Bang's 9th year.

But it was also a farewell party to their charismatic rapper and oldest brother, Choi Seunghyun. It was time for him to fulfil the country's mandatory military service, for approximately two years.

Being the first out of the group to do his service, the younger members gave Seunghyun as much encouragement as they could. Seunghyun was grinning from ear to ear as he downed glass after glass of fine wine.

"Thanks, guys," he said. "Thanks."

They were in one of their favorite restaurants, sitting around a table together while filling themselves with meat and alcohol.

"I'll be going next, huh..." Youngbae muttered under his breath. "Years go by so fast."

"Get married first," Seunghyun teased.

Youngbae laughed, though his face grew a little red. "Hey, you're older than me. You should be the one worrying."

"I'm grilling the meat, hyung!" Seungri piped in. He was holding a poker in his hand, flipping over the slices of meat in front of him. "Look, hyung!"

"Yes, that's nice," Seunghyun answered, already used to the maknae's weird antics. Oh well. He was plenty weird himself.

The leader of Big Bang sipped at his drink before turning to look at his childhood friend.

"Seunghyun, I remember when you used to hate exercising so much," Jiyong said. "You'd always ditch psychical education class back at our middle school." He propped his chin on his hand, elbow on the table. For a second he was lost in his own thoughts. "Don't be lazy in the army, okay?"

Seunghyun chuckled. "Yes, Jiyongie."

Daesung smiled. He enjoyed spending time with his friends. But unfortunately, this time, his heart felt heavy. He laughed and talked with the others, but he felt his mind was floating away.

Seunghyun would look his way and Daesung would freeze. A funny feeling tugged at the younger man's gut. Then Daesung would do his eye-smile as usual, and Seunghyun would smile back and continue conversing with the others.

They spent a couple hours at that restaurant. Close to midnight, they decided to finish the party and return to their separate homes. They all climbed into the same car with Youngbae behind the wheel. It seemed that he was the only one sober enough to drive.

While driving, Youngbae talked with Jiyong who was in the passenger seat next to him. Squeezed in the back were Seunghyun and the two makae--- Daesung and Seungri. The oldest of the three were in the middle, with the two younger men leaning heavily against him. Soon Seungri's head dropped from Seunghyun's shoulder onto his lap. Daesung nuzzled his cheek against Seunghyun's arm, humming to himself.

Youngbae took a quick glance at them on the rear-view mirror. He laughed.

"Look at your kids, Ji," he said.

"Aaaakh, what the hell..." Jiyong himself was starting to doze off, but he took one glance at the seats behind him and burst out in a fit of giggles.

"Yep." Youngbae smiled. "You should go to sleep. I'll wake you up when we reach your house."

"Thanks, Youngbae, you're the best---" Jiyong managed to mumble before he slumped to the side and fell fast asleep.

Vision blurry and voices slurred in his ears, Daesung could barely make out anything. He didn't think he'd drink so much. He forgot what it felt like to be this drunk.

He lost his sense of time. It could have been seconds or hours when they reached his home. They had already dropped off Seungri at his apartment, so the youngest was nowhere to be found.

He could hardly make out the sound of Youngbae talking to him, and the feeling of thin but strong arms wrapping themselves around him. Those strong arms helped him out of the car. Soon he was leaning heavily on Seunghyun, taking step after step in the direction of the apartment.

"You're totally wasted, Daesungie," Seunghyun commented. "I can't remember tthe last time I've seen you this drunk."

"It'd be weird if I was the only one not drinking."

"Youngbae wasn't drinking, actually."

"Whaaaat?"

"He took couple of little sips but never finished even half a glass. He knew he'd drive us home, I guess."

Daesung smiled. "Good hyung."

"Yes....a very good hyung."

Finally after what felt like a long journey, they reached the door of Daesung's room. After fumbling for the keys, they went in. Seunghyun made sure that Daesung was tucked in his bed before leaving.

And that was how Daesung spent the rest of the night, before the weird urge tugged at his very being.

---

And now here he was, standing in front of Seunghyun in the practice room of the empty YG Building.

"You came to see me?" Seunghyun asked.

Daesung nodded vigorously.

"But how did you know I would be here?"

"I just knew," Daesung answered, blinking. Finally it seemed as if he had snapped out of his stupor. He blinked some more before he realized how weird he must be acting. "I don't know how I knew."

Then was another silence before Seunghyun burst out laughing.

"Aaah what the heck, Daesungie!" He walked over to his friend. Without any warning, he began ruffling up Daesung's hair.

"Hyung, stooop!" Daesung tried to escape, but the older man had grabbed ahold of his cheeks with both hands.

Seunghyun started to pinch, earning himself a squeal from Daesung. He laughed.

"Hyung, that hurts!"

"You're so cute, Daesungieeee~!"

"Hyuuung!"

"You came all the way here to see me? I'm touched!"

"Hyung!"

"Are you still drunk?"

"I'm not sure!"

"Ahahaha! I won't let you drink so much ever again then!"

Finally Seunghyun released his cheeks. Daesung stumbled back, rubbing his face.

"I'm glad you're here."

Daesung felt tears in his eyes from the pain of being pinched by Seunghyun's strong hands, and Seunghyun must have saw that.

"You're so touched that you're crying?" the taller man teased.

"Noo! This is because my cheeks hurt!"

"Liar~"

"Hyung!"

Seunghyun laughed some more before he stopped and pulled on a more calmer, serious face.

"But really, Daesungie. I'm glad you're here."

Daesung stared at him, seeing the sincerity in the older man's eyes.

I'm glad you're here.

Daesung smiled.

"I'm glad I'm here too, hyung. I felt that I needed to see you again."

"Even after our little party? That wasn't enough?"

“I guess not.”

“I see...”

“Hyung.”

“Hm?”

“Let’s sit down.”

Seunghyun blinked. He stared at Daesung, who was still sweating and panting. Then Seunghyun burst out into another fit of laughter.

“Of course, you must be so tired!” Seunghyun commented, holding onto his stomach. “You ran all the way here, after all.”

Daesung felt his face get even more red.

“Sure, sure, let’s sit down.” Without another word, Seunghyun walked over to the wall and plopped down, leaning against it. Daesung followed, sliding down next to him. They were both facing the mirror across the room from them. They stared at their reflections for a while before Seunghyun spoke.

“Here.” He handed Daesung a couple of tissues from his pocket. Daesung smiled gratefully and took them, wiping his face and neck while Seunghyun watched.

“Time goes fast, doesn’t it?” the older of the pair said suddenly.

After drying his face, Daesung crumpled up the tissues into a ball and tossed them into the nearby trash bin. “Yeah,” he answered, and he continued to stare at this reflection. “It’s been nine years since Big Bang debuted...”

“We’re now nearing our 30’s...” Seunghyun cut in.

“Wow, we’re old.”

“...and we all have to do our military duties.”

Daesung was silent, letting the words sink in. Then he opened his mouth. “I won’t be seeing you for some time after tonight, huh?”

Seunghyun had been staring at Daesung’s reflection in the mirror. Now he turned to look at the real Daesung, right next to him. “It’s only a few months.”

Daesung shook his head. “No. It’s not only a few months. It’s lots of months. So many months that it becomes years. Two years!” He didn’t realize that he was pouting.

Seunghyun smiled and gave Daesung a light pat on the cheek. “Daesungie can’t survive two years without me?”

“Don’t make it sound so embarassing, hyung.”

“Just admit it.”

“Hyung!”

It was that moment when Daesung tore his view away from the mirror. Seunghyun stopped joking when Daesung finally turned to him. Their eyes locked. One look into the younger’s eyes, and Seunghyun understood.

“All right.” Seunghyun wrapped an arm around Daesung’s shoulders. “I get it.”

Daesung brought his own knees to his chest and hugged them. He stared at the floor.

He had many things to say.

But what came out of his lips was, “Hyung, do you remember when...?"

And that was the start of their trip down memory lane.