Seungri had already gotten out of bed, gotten dressed, eaten breakfast, brushed his teeth, and did his hair before he remembered that Jiyong was back.

In fact, he was following his mother out the door into the driveway, ready to drive to school, when it hit him.

Seungri froze.

Mrs. Lee was holding the door open and raised her eyebrow at him significantly. "Hello? Earth to Seungri?"

He shook his head to snap out of his daze and continued to walk. "Sorry, just tired."

The whole car ride he didn't talk to his mom. Two three-word sentences just kept repeating in his head. Jiyong is back. Jiyong kissed me. Jiyong is back. Jiyong kissed me.

Seungri climbed out of the car, said a quick goodbye to his mom, and started looking for his cousin immediately. Youngbae and Daesung weren't difficult to spot. They stood leaning against the school building, slurping smoothies. Daesung was laughing with his eyes crinkled and his mouth wide open, while Youngbae smirked coolly. Typical.

"Guys," Seungri said as soon as he was close enough. "Dragon's back."

Youngbae almost choked on his smoothie.

"Wait, really?" Daesung demanded. "Are you sure?"

"100%," Seungri replied. "He's staying with me, and he's not coming back to school."

Youngbae took another sip of slurpie. "Is he going to die or something?"

Seungri blinked. "Where did that come from?"

Youngbae looked expectantly at Daesung for help, but the smiling boy looked just as confused as the maknae. "I mean, if he plans on living out his life, wouldn't he go to school and like, interact with people? Get a job and get married and everything? No, I didn't think so."

"Shut up, Youngbae. You're exaggerating things. He's just skipping this year because he's already missed too many days to pass," Seungri said with forced calm. His cousin's words had actually punched quite the hole in his heart.

"Is he still mad at us?" Daesung asked.

"He never was. He was just mad at himself," Seungri objected.

A creepy expression suddenly spread across Daesung's face. "Are you happy to have your love back?"

"Oh, hell no," Seungri grumbled, starting to turn away.

Youngbae grabbed the bottom fo Seungri's jacket and pulled him back, chuckling.

"Did you give him a big sweet kiss?" Daesung crooned. "A welcome home present?"

Seungri glared at Daesung. "Shut up."

Daesung's expression immediately softened. "I'm just kidding, Seungri. Sorry."

Seungri rubbed his eyes with exasperation. "He knows I like him. And you two need to stop teasing. I'm not exactly thrilled about it either."

"Why?" asked Daesung.

"Because he's being freaking hunted by aliens," Seungri snapped, and immediately felt bad. It wasn't Daesung's fault that the maknae was crabby. "Sorry, that was harsh. I'm just gonna go to class."

Without another word he turned and trudged towards the school doors.

Seungri had no idea why he was in such a bad mood.

His life was golden right now. Other than the fact that he, Youngbae, and Daesung were getting a letter grade off for every day they didn't have their psychology project done (it was now down to a C), a lot of his dreams were coming true.

Jiyong was back.

Jiyong kissed him.

Jiyong would be waiting in his room when he got home.

That was not ual.

Not that he hadn't thought about that...

"You're just having a man period," Daesung said with a casual shrug during lunch. "Because all of your emotions are exploding in your face."

Seungri wheezed out a laugh and buried his face in his hands. "Ughh. I feel like crap."

"Menstrual cramps," Daesung said, rubbing Seungri's shoulders affectionately.

Youngbae snickered and then put down his chopsticks. "Seungri, do you think I could come by your house after school and talk to Dragon? To apologize to him and stuff?"

"Be my guest." Seungri took a sip of bubble tea. "I'll call him to make sure he's okay with it."

"Hello?"

"Hey, Dragon, it's me," Seungri said, suddenly self conscious about the sound of his own voice. "Is it okay if Youngbae comes over? He wants to talk to you."

"Ah." There was a small pause. "I'm, er, kind of not at your place. But I will be around eleven o'clock tonight..."

Seungri sighed and leaned against his locker as crowds of people pushed past him towards the doors. "You sure like to run off a lot, don't you?"

"Sorry. I'm on my way to Seunghyun's birthday party. He sent a car to your place and said it was for Lee Seungri, so I just kind of found your school ID on your desk and---"

"Don't lose that. And don't get drunk. Or attacked by any giant lizards."

Jiyong laughed into the phone, and Seungri grinned at the sound. "I won't. You should see me once I get home. I'm spiffy as hell."

Seungri frowned and tried to picture Jiyong wearing anything but a hoodie and worn out jeans. "I can't picture it."

"You'll see."