As Jiyong drove, he listened to his lover talk about a new art piece he had just purchased. He sounded overly excited, but Ji loved to hear him like that. The elder said something dorky, causing them both to laugh before they were silenced by Jiyong’s cell phone ringing. The younger rapper pressed a button on the dashboard, answering the call.

“Hello?”

“Jiyong.”

The men looked at each other, worry painted on their features.

“Sir. Is something wrong?”

“We need to talk. Come see me. And bring Seunghyun.”

“Yes, I’m on my way.”

The call ended. Ji felt his eyes burn and his chest tightened.

“Pull over.” Ji did and he started panicking, eyes welling with tears of fear.

“Oh my god, did he find out already? What if he did? What are we gonna do? What if we’re in trouble or worse--”

He was cut off by a gentle kiss and soft thumbs wiping away stray tears. “Breathe baby. How would he have found out? We’ve barely been out, and even then, it isn’t strange for you and I to hang out, so if someone took a picture, it wouldn’t look like anything. You just need to breathe, ok?”

Jiyong nodded, and took slow breaths. “But what if he did?”

“Then we wing it and tell him now. We still don’t know if he’ll be mad about it or not, we’ll just have to find out.”

“Hyung, I’m kind of scared.”

“It’ll be alright, I’ll be with you.”  

Ji smiled and looked just as nervous as the elder felt.

            ^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^

Jiyong’s nervousness only became worse as he drove towards the YG Entertainment building that held the office of the CEO. Yang Hyun Suk was a strict but caring man, but the younger rapper was still afraid. He didn’t think that, despite the respect YG had for him, there was a good outcome ahead of them if he’d found out somehow. As Ji pulled into a parking space, he felt his hands begin to shake.

After a moment, his hands were shaking so badly that Seunghyun had to release his seatbelt for him. The shorter man looked away, letting out a shaky breath as he watched people walk by.

“Ji, baby, look at me.”

Jiyong turned around and bit his lip as it quivered. “Hm?”

Seunghyun’s heart broke at the sight of his lover’s face. “Like I said before, I’ll be right there with you. If it’s about us, we’ll get through it.”

The small man gave a small nod. “We should get in there before he calls to ask what’s taking so long.”

They exited the car and walked into the building, dread building quickly.

^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^

The rappers were silent as the elevator forced them to defy gravity, delivering them to the doors of YG’s office. As they walked forward, the taller man finally let his apprehension show through. They shared a quick glance before Jiyong knocked three times.

“Come in.”

Jiyong slowly turned the doorknob and entered the room, followed closely by Seunghyun.

YG was sitting in a black leather armchair. He motioned for them to sit at the couch across the coffee table from him. The two rappers quickly moved to sit, bowing their heads quickly.

“So, I want you to tell me what’s going on.”

Jiyong looked at him. “Well, sir, what’s going on with what?”

“You two. Your driver the other day said you didn’t get a ride back. Then security at your dorm tells me that you two got in very late, despite having schedules. Are you two involved in something you shouldn’t be?”

“No, no of course not! We just wanted to hang out, since we don’t get to a lot anymore. All five of us went for lunch, but Youngbae and the others had stuff scheduled for the afternoon. Seunghyun and I didn’t, so we ate at the restaurant.”

YG nodded, though he didn’t look convinced. “And getting in late?”
 

The elder rapper leaned forward. “I dragged Jiyong to a butterfly exhibit. Then we kind of just walked around.”

YG placed a photo on the table between them. It was blurry, but both rappers felt their hearts stop as they realized it was a photo of them kissing in the park.

“I can explain--” YG raised his hand and cut Jiyong off.

“Is this new?”
 

Jiyong’s lips trembled and a tear fell as he nodded once. Seeing Ji on the verge of tears, the CEO’s face softened. “You aren’t in trouble, okay. Were you planning on telling me?”

Seunghyun sighed. “We were. We just wanted a few days to figure out what we would say. We know how much this could hurt you and us.”

Their elder nodded again. “Then kissing in public was for..?”

“It just kind of happened.” Ji’s voice was so small and scared that it broke the older rapper’s heart. “He thought I was going to leave. I don’t think that he meant to kiss me in public.”

“I wasn’t planning on it. I thought he was mad and we’d had a good day. I didn’t want my stupidity to ruin it.”

YG nodded in understanding. “I suppose I should’ve said that you weren’t in trouble when I called, so I am sorry that I worried you. Just, if this is going to be a thing, try to be a bit more careful, yeah?”

The rappers nodded and stood up as YG did. “I’ve got to get to another meeting, so I need to go.” The CEO walked to the door. “Stay here for a minute and collect yourself.” He opened the door and stepped into the hallway. “By the way, it’s about damn time.”
 

With that, he shut the door and left them standing speechless.

        ^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^

When Jiyong and Seunghyun returned to the dorm, they found their bandmates waiting for them.

“I tried to call you! Where were you?” Bae asked, sounding like he’d been worried.

“YG called us. We told him.”
 

The singers looked worried for a moment. “How did that go?” Daesung asked after a moment.

“He had a picture of us kissing. He, like you guys, told us it was about time.”

The vocalists all shared a look of relief. “So he’s letting you guys stay?” Ri asked.

Seunghyun nodded. “Sounds like it. He didn’t say we couldn’t be together and he didn’t say we were out. So, I think everything is alright.”

Bae brightened up. “We should go out to dinner then! To celebrate! We haven’t gone out together in a really long time either. What do you say?”

The rappers looked at each other, then back to the others. Jiyong smiled. “That sounds pretty damn great.”