Jiyong sighs. But all he sees… is the bottom of a bottomless pit that he’s falling into. He’s on his and Seunghyun’s shared bed, back against the bedrest. In the dim of the light, his eyes were glued to the screen of the MacBook which was placed on his la. 

  He clicks on the link of an article, and the title reads, “G-Dragon Tested Positive on the use of ” . He scrolled down quickly, skipping to the comments section. 

  “Copying songs and now drugs? Just disappear already.”

  “Pfft. I expected nothing better. Not unexpected that he’s even taking drugs.”

  “I’m so disappointed in him…”

  And he couldn’t take it anymore. He slammed the MacBook shut, ever so wanting to throw it across the room, to smash it into pieces. The only thing stopping him is the fact that all his songs were stored in it. And so, he roughly placed it on the bedside table. Jiyong had always thought that the hate during the Heartbreaker scandal was bad, unbearable. 
  
  But this, this was 10 times worse. He did say that he would, never, ever give up his career. But now, all he felt was despair. All he sees, are buts. All he knows, are doubts. He really wanted to just disappear from this world full of hate, he really wanted to just hide in a corner forever and ever and ever and never show himself to this oh-so-scary [big, bad] world. He wanted to give it all up. 

  But no, he has to be strong, he’s Kwon Leader. He has to persevere, he just has to. He can’t be so selfish.

  Jiyong wraps his thin arms around his legs, and huddles into a tiny ball, shifting to the corner of the bed. His back facing the window and his front facing the wall. He sighs again. At least this way he’s away from it all. At least for now. He closes his eyes, hiding them in his arms. And he tries his best to push all thoughts to the very back of his head. He wants to have a peaceful sleep.  And just as he was about to fall into a deep slumber…

  “Jiyong.” 

  A deep husky voice echoed in the room. 

  And he recognises it immediately. He could recognise it even in a crowd of thousands of voices. It was Seunghyun. 

Seunghyun must’ve sneaked into the room without him realizing.  Jiyong felt the bed shift a little and the mattress press down as Seunghyun climbed on the bed and lay down next to him.  Seunghyun wrapped his arms around the Jiyong’s small waist, hugging the tiny ball against his chest.  “Is there something wrong Ji?” his deep voice rumbled against Jiyong’s back.  Jiyong wanted to shake his head, his usual reply to any other person.

  But Seunghyun wasn’t just any other person. Seunghyun was someone he trusted. Someone he could hand even his life to. He slowly uncurled from his balled position and turned around to face Seunghyun.  The younger man opened his eyes, brown orbs looking up under his lashes, at dark, gentle ones.  “It’s just… I want to give up hyung. I really want to…” he trailed off in a soft voice, so much that Seunghyun could barely hear him.

  “Hmmm?” the larger man pushed him to continue, caressing his left cheek lightly.  “I… I… want to hide from all this bull. I want to run away… It hurts hyung, it really hurts. Everyone hates me, everyone. Everyone wants me to d-die, to dis…disa-ppe-pear…” Jiyong choked a sob, tears forming in his eyes, at those last words and streaming down his creamy cheeks soon after. 

  With his thumb, the taller gently wiped those tears away and rubbing Jiyong’s back soothingly. “I-I just want people to understand me, l-like me more… That’s all I ever wanted hyung…” Jiyong continued, in a mess of sobs.

  And Seunghyun felt his heart break, at those words. At the sight before him. Tears flowed down the smaller man’s cheeks continuously. He looked so fragile. Such a simple wish, such an innocent desire. Seunghyun felt like boxing that small, innocent, young man up and hiding him from this scary world, protecting him.

  Despite his feelings, Seunghyun continued to rub Jiyong’s back soothingly and wiped away his tears. Slowly, Jiyong calmed down enough to stop crying.  “Ji, you know I love you from the bottom of my heart. I would give away my life for you if I have to.”  Jiyong nodded his head.

  Seunghyun went on,   “I love you Jiyong. So much. I’ll protect you, support you, till the end. I’ll always be there when you need me. I’m your No. 1 fan Kwon Jiyong. And I’m the shell, you’re the turtle. Do you remember?” he pinched his cheek playfully, earning a slight smile from the younger. “So, don’t ever give up Jiyong! Not when you’ve gone this far. For yourself.  Like you said, “Where there’s an uphill, there’s a downhill.” Never give up Jiyong. Never. Prove them wrong. Show them.”  

  “And did you forget, you have VIPs there to support you Until Whenever. They care for you so much Jiyong. You should’ve seen their response to the hate from the public.”  Seunghyun placed a chaste kiss on Jiyong’s forehead and looke into Jiyong’s eyes. The other stared back intently. And he saw so much love, care, concern, how much Seunghyun meant it. Of course he could trust Seunghyun’s words, of course. 

  And he felt all his insecurities vanish. All his doubts gone. Just like that. That was the effect Seunghyun had on him. That was how much he loved the older.

  A little tired from all the thinking, Jiyong yawned cutely, arms stretching out like a feline cat.  Seeing this, Seunghyun chuckled,” Ah, tired eh? Now sleep, Ji. Sleep.” Seunghyun once again, the smaller’s cheeks.  With this, Jiyong was soon engulfed by the the black blanket of sleep. Free from all the worries, free from all the hate, free from all the despair; wrapped up in Seunghyun’s protective arms. 

The End ♥ 

A/N: This is my first ever fic so please be gentle. >_< And yeah, I didn't know what title to put so I'm sorry if the title didn't fit the story at all. /bows -__-"" Also, I'm not really satisfied(?) with this? Idk I mean, it didn't come out as I expectd it to? I wanted to catch that feeling ya' know? Anyways, enjoy reading and all comments and critiques are welcomed! :)

Edit: *(Also, if this happens to be similar to any other story that you've read; I'm so sorry! I've just wrote this based off Jiyong's ASIAE interview, and from the English subs of his songs. And, I've read tons of GTOP fanfics so I might have unconsciously wrote something really similar to what I've read. -.-" I'll be sure to remove it immediately if so!)