Yongbae looked down at Daesung, hand over her bare shoulder. The sun was trying to crawl up into the sky, but only the barest of rays were making it through their apartment window, just enough to highlight her muscles, the shadow of her hair on her face and the breathtaking smoothness of her skin.

They had been close for a long time, confidants longer than that. He knew her greatest fears and her greatest worries. As such, it wasn't particularly news to him when she had told him her desire for their wedding the night before. He'd known for a long time that she wasn't comfortable in a feminine archetype, didn't feel beautiful or even just pretty enough to be worth a skirt or a dress. When they'd done parodies where she had to dress like a girl, she tried to keep to her style of flattering or something that would hide her figure. A loose schoolgirl outfit, a cream turtleneck paired with black slacks and a massive coat draped over her shoulders. She didn't like to dress feminine, didn't feel worthy of it, like she wasn't enough of a woman for it. She didn't even like women's pantsuits, didn't like how they clenched across her muscled shoulders and chest, how she had to size up all of her clothes to suit her body type, the lack of classic curves, round softness. So, no, he wasn't surprised by what she had to say, why she wanted his opinion on it. 

There was a soft knock on the front door and he extricated himself from her, trying his hardest not to disturb her. He was dressed quickly and with a kiss to her head, was out the door.

"Really?" Seungri gasped.

"Yeah." Yongbae replied, taking a sip from his coffee. "That's why she doesn't want to."

"I didn't realize she felt that way." Jiyong said, voice soft and tinged with self-resentment. He always took it badly when he found out something about s' emotions he wasn't privy to, like he had failed s by not being able to read their minds. 

"She didn't want anyone to know, and if she could have kept it to herself, I wouldn't have either." Yongbae assured. 

"What would you like us to do?" Seunghyun stepped in after being largely quiet.

"If she would let me go shopping with her, it wouldn't be a problem, but since I'm not supposed to see this until the wedding day, she won't let me come. I need you guys to help her."

"I'll get in touch with some of the designers I know." Jiyong replied immediately. "I'm not letting our girl look any less beautiful than she should feel."

"Just . . . don't pressure her. If she really doesn't want it, then don't back her into a corner with it." Yongbae pleaded.

"I won't let it happen." Seunghyun assured. "We'll take care of her."

"Thank you." He smiled and stood. "Unfortunately, I've got to scope out locations, so I'll see you guys later, okay?"

"Yeah, go on." Jiyong nodded. "We've got this."

"Are you sure you guys all want to be here?" Daesung asked, looking at the three men sitting with her in the store.

"Why not?" Seungri cocked his head. 

"Well, it's going to be long, for one thing. Plus . . . I'm hard to fit."

"Don't worry about that." Jiyong waved her argument away. "This is one of the top wedding dress stores in all of Korea. There are even a couple of designers visiting here today. And if you don't like anything even at the end of it all, there are a couple of other places. Plus, dresses aren't the only option."

She nodded, pursing her lips. "Lead the way then, hyung. You probably know what looks better on me than I do anyway."

"Nonsense." He took her hand and dragged her to a mirror, standing beside her as they looked her form up and down. She had worn tights and a close-fitting shirt at Jiyong's request. She was indeed muscular, but she wasn't V-shaped, not even close. 

"What do you like best in your clothing? In stage costume or just in general, tell me."

She cocked her head and looked at herself in the mirror, Seungri and Seunghyun peering into the mirror from the side curiously, like the other two could see something in it they were oblivious to. 

"Simple. I like my jeans and t-shirts. I like pull-over sweaters, loose tank tops, cotton dress shirts and men's low-button blazers, clean cut with only one or two solid colours."

"Hmm." He scrutinized her form further. The look in his eye made her feel like she should feel like a bug, but it felt almost no different than when he dressed-down a stage costume, or fixed her outfit when they were in public. It was nice not to feel judged when she was being inspected for once. "So, no lace, no exaggerated frills. What about straight-cuts?"

"In dresses?" She looked at herself. "It would make my shoulders look too broad. I've built up a lot of upper body strength but not as much lower body."

"I disagree, but I can see what you mean. You'd look tube-ish, even with your arms covered. And I doubt you want a corset."

"Well, no." She looked at herself sideways. "But I figured that was part of the package."

"Not necessarily." Jiyong moved to stand beside the mirror, looking her up and down with his own eyes. "Ballroom?"

"Highlights my muscles too much."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "There's nothing wrong with that, you know."

She winkled up her face. "I don't like it with dresses. I'd rather it compliment or hide."

He nodded the same kind of nod he had in his creative comas. "I can work with that. I need you to be patient, though."

She smiled ruefully. "I came with extra patience because there are dresses involved."

Jiyong recruited Seunghyun as his dress-holder as he disappeared into the racks on racks of white, leaving Seungri with Daesung. She was in a proper bra for once, but she had a cloth band over it anyway and boy-shorts. She was on the pedestal, waiting for Jiyong to return. It was useless at this point for her to go to the changerooms and come back to them, plus they changed in front of each other all the time and the sight of her body was absolutely nothing new.

Still, for Seungri, seeing her unashamed like this made Yongbae's words ring deep in his mind.

She doesn't feel beautiful enough for any dress, especially inferior around wedding dresses.

"Is it a little chilly?"

She looked down at him and smiled. "Nah. Warmer than backstage, for sure."

"It's nice."

"Hmm?" She looked at him so innocently, childishly curious. "What is?"

"The dresses. It's nice to see you in them. You look good."

She smiled at him. "You're getting funnier by the day, Seungri."

"Thanks, I guess, but I was being serious."

Her smile fell and she sighed. "Thank you, then."

"Normally people smile when they're complimented." He walked over and stood beneath her. "And they look more nervous in their underwear than when they're handed a beautiful dress."

"Well, let it never be said I was normal." She chuckled, but it was half-hearted. She sighed again and Seungri put a hand on her thigh, squeezing it in support. She took a moment, noticed that Seunghyun was standing across the room, and sat down on the pedestal, Seungri standing between her legs, one hand falling on either thigh. "I know Yongbae told you."

"About what?"

"That I'm not enough of a woman for these dresses."

"Yongbae didn't-"

"Neither you nor Seunghyun-hyung would ever come in here with me and stay for this long unless you were either forced to or felt you had to. If it wasn't my own wedding, I'd leave too. This is dreadfully boring." She gave him a crooked smile. "So I know he told you."

He squeezed her thighs and put his forehead to hers with a sigh. "Okay. Fine. He did. But I'm not here because he asked me to. I'm here because you won't see how stunning you look. You're beautiful in everything and nothing. You were just looking at yourself in the mirror, looking at the way your muscles flex in the sunlight, smiling at yourself. You're beautiful, Daesung, and you know it. Don't you think it's time you acknowledged it?"

She patted his cheek. "I'm really not. Sure, I'm proud of my body - I didn't put in all those hours just to cringe at it - and I like how I look when I'm dressed how I like to dress. But I'm just uncomfortable in dresses, in regular women's fashion. I don't like how it looks on me. I don't . . . fit the look."

Seungri raised an eyebrow at her and dropped onto the balls of his feet, elbows resting on her knees, looking up at her. "How do you know? I never see you wear it, never heard of you even trying it on. You certainly don't let the costume staff do it, and you politely decline all of the designers for photoshoots."

"Do you see a leather catsuit and just know you're not going to pull it off?"

"I think that's a little different."

"Women's fashion isn't as cut and dry as men's fashion. They're so much harder to fit, meant for girls like 2NE1 and SISTAR."

"I'd still try it on, even if I was dubious." Seungri replied pointedly. "Plus you know I'd rock it."

She giggled. "Well, duh."

"Is it all the media attention for so long?"

"Seungri, I don't know how else to explain it to you: I was mistaken for a man for four years after Bigbang's debut."

He flinched. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. I'm just not feminine. That's all there is to it. Jiyong wears dresses better than I do."

Seungri rubbed her thigh as they lapsed into silence.

"Well, isn't this just cute."

The two idols looked up to a man just taller than Yongbae. 

Seungri was on his feet immediately, placing himself between the man and Daesung. "And you are?"

"Doesn't matter who I am, so much as what you two were just up to."

Seungri rolled his eyes. "God forbid members of the same group talk."

"God forbid that the male member be between the female member's legs. Wouldn't it just be tragic if there were pictures of it?"

"And who do you think you are?" Seungri barked, giving the man a glare that should have set him on fire. 

"Well, I'm Kim Leewon, Seungri." He held up his cell phone, grinning wickedly. "A good friend of Yongbae's from the military."

Daesung pushed Seungri out of the way, her face neutral. "And?"

"How would you prefer he see these? Should I show them to him personally or give them to the magazines? They haven't given up on you yet, you faithless ."

She caught Seungri's arm before the maknae could launch himself at the larger male. "Go see if Ji or Seunghyun-hyung need any help."

"But, noona-"

"Now, Seunghyun."

The blonde was seething, moments from launching verbal venom Leewon's way, but did as she told him to, her blank stare fixed resolutely on the other man. "Fine."

Leewon smirked as soon as Seungri was gone. "Planning on bribing me? You could blow me to delete the pictures, but I might just have to take more since those pretty lips would look so good wrapped around my ."

"I'm not the kind of girl who will put into my mouth." She replied evenly, posture and sitting arrangement regal even with her clothing disadvantage. She'd been topless thousands of times on stage, all she was missing here was pants. It wasn't like she'd never been in shorts and topless. 

His smirk turned into a sharp grin, an angry one. "So, what? You only off the cross-dressers you call a group?"

"Run out of insults about me already?" She stood, walking towards him, stopping just within touching distance. 

His smirk returned. "Finally come to your senses?"

She gave him a dark smile. "Just keep in mind that I don't do this for just anyone. And I want those pictures gone first."

He opened his phone and deleted them, showing her his gallery afterwards with a smirk. "Get to it."

She looked around them, surveying for staff. Finding none, she moved him further into the relatively secluded, but spacious, area they'd chosen for the fittings. 

Hunshik had come over to their apartment a couple of times to see Yongbae. Yongbae hadn't been shy in introducing Daesung, nor convincing her to sing for him on more than one occasion. He really liked her, as a person as well as an idol: she was quiet, considerate and genuine. She didn't bull him, nor did she fake any of the enthusiasm she showed him and his stories about him and Yongbae's service. She even made comment on how Hunshik was in Yongbae's second year of service picture in the small album she'd sent him. In short, the small crush he'd had on her idol persona had disappated into the same kind of close friendship he had with Yongbae. She was like a younger sister, the woman his brother was madly in love with.

"How do you think they're doing with the fittings?"

Yongbae was still surveying the small park. "I'm not sure. Want to swing by?"

"May as well. They've been there for hours now and Jiyong still hasn't called you to report yet."

Yongbae shrugged. "Sure. I don't think I like this place anyway."

It didn't take very long, even in Seoul traffic to get to the store. 

"Ji said they were in the back left, whatever that means." Yongbae directed, navigating the blindingly white and silver store. In the back, there was a semi-circle wall of mirrors nestled against a changeroom.

"I wonder if she's out roaming the store with them." Hunshik queried.

"I don't know. If they're busy, we'll leave a note."

There was a surprised grunt from behind the wall, a masculine voice that didn't match the other members. Something heavy fit the floor and there was a faint moan and a little bit of panting that sounded like Daesung.