Seunghyun felt his heart drop and his eyes widen. “Is he okay?” He asked, suddenly feeling something close around his hand. He looked down, watching Seungri’s fingers intertwine with his own, then looked up at the maknae, who was staring straight ahead, tears already forming.

The doctor, however, slowly nodded, letting out a deep sigh of relief from Seunghyun.

But there was going to a ‘but’. These kind of situations always contained one of them – the destruction of a reassuring sentence.

“But... He won’t wake up. He’s in a coma – presumably his body’s gained enough strength. We don’t know how long it could take for that process to happen, I mean, it could take a week, a month, a year, maybe even a few minutes. So in that time, you can visit him. He can most likely hear you, so please give him your wishes. Would you like to see him?” The doctor mused, looking up at them.

“Please..” Jiyong replied, giving a small, sad grin. 

Nodding, the doctor stood up. “Then, follow me.”

Everyone got up and followed the doctor to Daesung’s room. Seunghyun vaguely knew the way, but opted on holding Youngbae’s hand tightly, walking behind everyone. This meant Youngbae had to almost drag him; which Seunghyun didn’t mind as his mind was someplace else.

Even though he’d already sort-of seen Daesung already, he still felt scared.

The word ‘coma’ reminded him of a story he’d read once when he’d been younger; it was about a small boy, hit by a car while trying to save his dog, and being in a coma for a few months. He could hear and feel, just couldn’t move.

Seunghyun hoped the same concept applied to Daesung. He wanted Daesung to hear his reassuring voice like in the story, and know everything would be okay. The boy in the book had this accident due to saving the others around him, so surely the same would happen with Daesung?

He needed Daesung. As cliché as it sounded, he couldn’t help but blink away a few small tears.

He needed to be strong for Daesung.

Snapping out of his thoughts, he realised he was almost at Daesung’s room. Somehow, without him realising, they’d been walking up all those flights of stairs. The doctor was whistling a slow tune, hands in his pockets. It seemed unprofessional, but no one had a right to complain about it.

Seungri looked over to Youngbae, who was basically dragging a deep-in-thought Seunghyun with him. It was so unlike the two that he let out a small smile. He walked over to Seunghyun and grabbed his other hand, helping Youngbae walk the other. He couldn’t help thinking about how this was like taking a child on a walk. With Youngbae. It was like a married couple with a child. He would’ve cursed himself to stop thinking like that as they were on their way to visit Daesung who was in a critical condition, but it really felt like it. Rubbing the back of Seunghyun’s hand gently with his thumb in a somewhat attempt to calm the other down, they approached the door to Daesung.

The doctor stood by the door, and bowed his head. After gesturing to the door, he simply walked away without explanation.

“That was helpful..” Jiyong sighed, grabbing the door handle only to have his wrist grabbed in mid-air. He saw Youngbae’s outstretched arm, and looked at Seunghyun. Letting out an ‘Ohh’ sound, he stood back, so Seunghyun – who had been pushed slightly by Youngbae, could open the door.

Seunghyun opened the door slowly, not wanting to see Daesung but also silent in excitement over the fact he’d get to hold, touch, see and talk to Daesung in what felt like a long time.

The door was halfway open when he sighed and pushed it the whole way.

The four paced to Daesung’s bedside, where, sure enough, he was resting.

Seunghyun looked at the sleeping man; and had he not have composed himself enough, he would’ve probably broken down like a baby. Instead, he put on a smile, and sat on a chair next to his bedside, some hair out of Daesung’s face. He winced for Daesung as he saw the bruises and scratches adorning his face, but then ruffled his hair slightly.

Jiyong almost threw up looking at Daesung. Luckily, he didn’t, but the sight of Daesung, and imagining what had happened.. It would make anyone sick. His sides were stripped of the poorly applied tape from Lee Soon, and were replaced with something much more hygienic.

Youngbae’s gaze rested on Daesung’s chest, on the bandages. “T-This is where..” He started, his voice shaky. He didn’t know how Daesung had survived it, but he was so glad he had. There were some chairs stacked in the corner, so he went to get some for him, Seungri and Jiyong.

While he did that, Seungri leaned closer, taking in Daesung’s limp, pale body. It was a lot worse than the other time, but even so...

“I’m sorry, Daesungie.” Seungri whispered, as if he didn’t want anyone else to hear how deeply regretful he was. He looked Daesung’s body up and down again. He didn’t want to think he’d caused this, but in a lot of ways; he had.

Youngbae set down 3 chairs and sat down, grabbing Seungri’s hand who sat next to him. He looked up at Seunghyun and Jiyong, who sat next to each other, Seunghyun’s head resting on Jiyong’s shoulder, a tear he didn’t know was falling rolled down his nose, dripping onto Jiyong’s hand. Surprised at the sudden contact of water to skin, Jiyong turned his head slightly and realised it came from Seunghyun’s eye, and put an arm around him, rubbing his shoulder. Seunghyun took in a shaky breath and nodded to himself.

Grabbing Daesung’s hand for support, Seunghyun rested his eyes on Daesung’s closed ones. Youngbae felt Seungri nuzzle his head against his own, and smiled slightly, squeezing tighter on his hand.

“Daesung..” He started, looking at the bandage on his chest.

“We found out the truth. We know what happened. If you think we’re mad, trust me, we’re not. We’re all so happy you’re okay. It must’ve been really hard to go through this by yourself... We’ll find a way to make it better again, okay?” He patted Daesung’s arm, resting his hand there.

“I didn’t mean to get angry.” Seungri chimed in. “I was just confused on what you were doing. Now that I-... Now that I realise why, and what you went through, I feel horrible. I wish I could turn back time and stop myself from saying those things. Then we’d be sitting at home right now, watching TV. Well anyway, when we get back home, you’re going to spending all your time with me, okay?”

Youngbae laughed slightly. “No Seungri, we’ll share Daesung together.”

Pouting, Seungri whined. “But that’s not faaaaair.........”

Youngbae raised his eyebrows. “So, it’s fair to keep him to yourself?” He questioned playfully.

Seungri nodded bluntly. “Well, yes.”

Smiling widely, Youngbae shook his head. “Stupid...” He muttered, earning another whine from Seungri.

“Daesung...” Jiyong croaked unusually, causing both Youngbae and Seungri to stop and stare at him, forming concerned expressions at him.

“I’ve been an idiot. A stupid, ed up idiot.” He crinkled his face in disgust at himself, heaving out a sigh. “I probably would give a lot to see you back again, and what you did... What you did, I-... I respect you for it. Don’t take that in the wrong way, no, you should’ve told us, but.. I have a lot more respect towards you. Sometimes, you’re like the hyung in this.. Family, we have.” He waved his arms to the other members to emphasize his point. “We need you, Daesung.” He finished awkwardly, before smiling and patting Daesung’s bleached hair appreciatively.

“You stole my line, Ji..” Seunghyun lamely joked, cheeks tingling a bit. He shook his head, sighing. “Yah, Daesung.” He stated briefly, trying to act as if it was the time of their debut, and he would treat Daesung like he was an annoying child. Nothing was wrong back then. Well, of course things were wrong.. But less life-concerning things. Seunghyun scratched the back of his neck. “I love you.” He didn’t know what else to say, so he hoped that summed it up. The pain. Blinking slowly, his smile slowly faded. “And I hope you never forget it.” He squeezed Daesung’s hand as hard as he could before loosening his grip almost immediately. Inside, he hoped there’d be a squeeze back.

Of course there wasn’t.

But the next hour consisted of Youngbae, Seungri, Seunghyun and Jiyong having light-hearted conversations with each other, Jiyong pretending to be annoyed with the maknae for lying about his ‘new single’, and Youngbae failing to defend Seungri, ending up with Seunghyun deciding that it be a duet with the maknae to make up for his lie.

To that, Seungri laughed in agreement, shrugging his shoulders up and down. Jiyong just smirked and rested a head onto Seunghyun’s loosening shoulder, whining about the maknae’s foolish actions some more, only to be pushed away. He then rested his head on Daesung’s knee which lay in front of him, complaining to the sleeping man about how annoying they were being. Seungri rested his head on Daesung’s other knee, complaining back that Jiyong was his hyung, and anyway, he was the maknae, so his actions were supposed to be automatically forgiven.

Youngbae just laughed at the ridiculous scene playing in front of him, draping an arm on Seungri’s deflated figure. “You two.. No wonder why all our fans see you two as a couple sometimes..” He joked, watching their heads bolt up and their expressions twist into disgusted scowls.

“With him? No way!!”

“That’s sick! Why would anyone believe me and... him, to be a couple?”

“’Him’ also has a name, Panda.”

“Panda is a nickname. And I’ve decided that so is ‘him’.”

“Your comebacks are horrible.. But Youngbae, Seriously... why?!”

“It’s because me and Youngbae are together, and not you!”

“But the fans don’t know that!! And.. Never will, will they, Panda?”

“Uh, no..”

Youngbae chuckled at their petty squabbling. “Maybe because you fight like the oldest married couple?” He suggested, the most obvious reason passing right in front of their faces.

Jiyong scoffed. “A married couple?”

Seungri pouted. “The oldest?!”

“Why are you complaining about the age? We don’t fight like a married couple!!”

“I’m the youngest!! If I seem old talking to you, I have no choice but to not talk to you at all! It’ll affect my reputation.”

“You’re always thinking about your reputation. MARRIED COUPLE?! That’d affect a LOT of your reputation!! Has it not clicked yet??!”

“They’d think I’m cheating on Baebae...”

“..Baebae?” Jiyong chewed out, before giving up with the playful argument and directing all anger to his stomach. “Hey, Bae, know where any snacks are? I’m starving...” Nodding, Youngbae stood up, motioning for Seungri and Seunghyun to stand up. They both stood up and Seungri clutched his stomach. “I want some Chocopies...” He grumbled, pouting at Youngbae while batting his eyes, in hopes it would allow Youngbae to buy the sugary snack for him.

Jiyong protested immediately. “No! I don’t like them, remember? Matdongsan is way better. You can’t buy Chocopies just because Panda’s your boyfriend. Think about the others, too, please!” He pleaded, grabbing onto Youngbae’s hand and lifting it to his lips, pretending to blow a kiss onto it.

“And he claims he’s not gay...” Seunghyun muttered from somewhere behind him. Turning around, Jiyong was about to react badly to that when a thought clicked into his head. “Oh yeah. I need to text Dara. My girlfriend.” He emphasized, raising his eyebrows to add more of an affect.

Youngbae nodded, turning to look at Seungri. “Ji’s right, Panda. I’ll just get some Matdongsan.” He watched Seungri’s expression, somehow grow even cuter than before, his cheeks puffing out slightly and his lower lip jutting out dangerously. “Fine, I’ll get one bag of Chocopies. Just one!!!” He repeated sternly, looking at Seungri with the most seriousness he could muster.

Shaking his head, Seunghyun put an arm around Jiyong, cocking his head towards the door, Youngbae nodding and taking the lead, pulling a begging Seungri with him.

They left, shutting the door silently behind them.

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE - END

A/N: See I'm not that evil :D who's relieved??!!