Jiyong was on his feet and springing like a frightened animal to the other side of the room in less than a second.

"First of all, he was sleeping," Seungri said coldly to his mother. "This is my...friend. Jiyong, meet my mom."

"Hi," Jiyong said with an innocent smile. "Sorry if I scared you."

Mrs. Lee didn't move to shake Jiyong's hand, she just stared at him like he had just asked her to solve a particularly difficult math problem.

"Seungri, baby," Mrs. Lee said, still staring at a now awkward-looking Jiyong. "Can I speak to you for a minute, please? Alone?"

Uh-oh. Maybe this was a bigger deal than Seungri thought it would be. He obediently followed his mom out into the living room, trying to figure out what possibly could be concerning her so much.

They sat down next to each other on the couch, and Mrs. Lee angled herself so that she was facing her son straight on. "Seungri. Who is that boy?"

"I told you," Seungri said with forced patience. "He's my friend Jiyong."

"Why were you...cuddling with him?"

Seungri struggled very, very hard not to blush. "He was sad because his uncle left him."

She narrowed her eyes. "He was sad, so he snuck into our house at night and fell asleep on top of you?"

"I know it looks bad, Mom," Seungri said quickly. "He's a friend. And he's been through a lot. So I just feel really protective over him and stuff."

"I'm driving him home," Mrs. Lee declared, getting to her feet and whipping out her keys like a sword. "What's his address?"

Seungri's face sank into his palms.

"Seungri. Where does he live?"

"His parents kicked him out," he replied flatly.

Neither of them spoke for a while.

"Has he been living here?" Mrs. Lee asked in a voice like ice. "Right under my nose?"

Seungri got to his feet suddenly, standing and taking his mom's hands. "Mom, please, please don't make him leave. He doesn't have anywhere else to go, I'm pretty sure he was abused, and he's such a sweet person, I swear--"

"Seungri," she interrupted. "He can stay. Calm down."

He blinked. "Really?"

She studied her son's face closely before her expertly glossed lips pulled up into a mischievous smirk. "You...like him, don't you?"

Seungri's jaw dropped. "What? I mean, what? I'm straight, mom..."

Her smile grew wider until it became freakishly similar to Seungri's victory face. "But you like him."

Seungri tried to deny it. He really tried. But he realized that would be blatantly lying. "Maybe a little bit."

She shook her head. "Baby, don't worry about it. He's very cute."

Seungri's face reddened. "Don't tell him I said that, Mom...he doesn't know or anything."

"Can I talk to him?"

"Um...I guess so," Seungri said, following his mom as she marched towards his bedroom without waiting for an answer. "But not about that!"

Jiyong was standing in the corner with his hands folded behind his back. It looked like he would feel bad if he touched any of Seungri's furniture. He looked up when the two of them arrived.

"Hi, Jiyong," Mrs. Lee said with a small smile. "Do you need anything?"

Jiyong's eyes widened. "No, no thank you."

Seungri almost burst into tears. He took a few strides over to his mom and pulled her into a hug, burying his face in her fluffy product-filled curls. "I love you, Mommy."

Mrs. Lee laughed out loud, but she sounded surprised as she patted her only son's back. "I love you too, baby."

"Okay, sorry." Seungri separated himself from his mom and moved to stand farther away from her.

"Seungri tells me a lot has happened to you," Mrs. Lee said gently, turning back to face the boy in the corner.

Jiyong's eyes flicked over to Seungri for just a second before returning to his mother. "Yeah, kind of."

Seungri rolled his eyes. So modest.

"What do you think about staying with us?" she asked. "That is, until you've straightened things out with your family?"

Jiyong grinned at her, showing his cutely crooked white teeth and crinkling up his eyes into closed slits. "Really?"

"Say yes, Dragon," Seungri whispered.

"Yes, yes, yes, please," he said quickly. "Thank you so much."

Mrs. Lee threw Seungri a significant smirk before turning on her heel. "I'm going to bed, you two. There's school tomorrow, remember."

"Yeah. Thanks, Mom," Seungri called after her as she disappeared into the hall.

Jiyong dashed over to Seungri and threw his arms around the maknae like there was no tomorrow.

"Oh, hey," Seungri laughed, returning the hug comfortably. He scratched his fingers through his hyung's hair. "How the hell is your hair still clean?"

"Oh...it probably isn't."

"Gross," Seungri whined, pushing him away and rubbing his fingers on Jiyong's shirt. "Take a shower."

"Okay," he laughed. "And Riri, thanks. For everything."

Seungri stared at his sweet face for a few seconds before cracking a small smile. "Don't mention it."

Thankfully, Youngbae was at school the next day. Seungri zoomed straight to his cousin and gave him a giant hug as soon as he saw him, and then he gave Daesung one too, just because he was that damn happy.

"You sure are a bundle of happiness today," Youngbae