The next few days pass by quickly.  The squeaking of sneakers, the pounding bass, and Woojin’s endless criticism, and also sometimes praise, all blur together in Jiyong’s head.  He scribbles down lyrics when he’s alone in his bed, with only his wild imagination and jittery fingers to distract him.  With no one around to judge.  The intro song is close to being completed- Jiyong’s tinkered with it a lot, perfecting it so that the lyrics, singing, and instrumental go together just right, like the puzzle pieces of a jigsaw puzzle; the only things left are the final recordings.  As the boy spends an increasing amount of time isolated in his room, testing out lines, humming pretty melodies, and tapping catchy rhythms on his notebook, he spends a decreasing amount of time outside of it, opting to work on music until Youngbae calls everyone for breakfast, staying late into the night in the recording studio until Dongwook kicks him out and demands he go back to the dorm because he’s still growing (and growing boys need their sleep).  Jiyong doesn’t see the other Big Bang members much at all, only during the early morning and dinner (he’s always late), and though he’s there, he’s not really acknowledged.  But he pushes it to the back of his mind since Jiyong knows it’s his fault for intruding, and he’s awkward and doesn’t talk either.  The only time he’s good with words is when there’s a pen in his hand and blank lines in front of him.

The others were excited whenever they got to record a few demo’s- or at least that’s what Dongwook told him.  “They’ve been training for a long time, Youngbae and Seungri especially, and they’re becoming increasingly aware that they’ll finally be debuting soon,” the man said, and Jiyong felt out of place again since he’s only here been training for a couple of days.

It’s Saturday now, and when Jiyong wakes up, he yawns and stretches, like every other morning, and walks a few circles to completely clear the sleep out of his body.  Then, he flops back onto his bed and grabs his notebook and pen from the little table right next to him.  Reading over last night’s work, Jiyong furrows his eyebrows when a particular line comes out a bit choppy.  ‘This won’t do,’ he reprimands himself.  ‘Nuh-uh.  It has to be pretty, like the white wall in the kitchen or Youngbae’s omelettes or Daesung’s big grin.’

Biting his lip, he thinks for a bit, swaps a few words for others that still get the point across, and breaks out into a large smile when it works, crossing out the old lines and jotting down the new ones.  Feeling accomplished, Jiyong is about to keep revising when a knock sounds in the room.  The boy freezes up, squeaks, and hurriedly hides the notebook under the covers of his bed.  

“C-come in!” he stammers in an embarrassingly high-pitched voice that makes Jiyong want to hide in shame.  ‘I can’t be a man like this!  C’mon, Jiyong, you’re a man, and men don’t talk like you do!  Men are like Youngbae and Seungri and Dongwook and Daesung and Seunghyun, who are all really cool and amazing and-and manly!’

The door swings open and Youngbae strides in, lifting an eyebrow when he sees Jiyong sitting on his bed and looking panicked.  ‘It looks like he’s hiding drugs…No, bad Youngbae, have some faith in your maknae.  Your leader.’  He clears his throat.  “Jiyong,” Youngbae begins.

“Y-yes!”

“Would you like to go shopping with me today?  I told you I would take you a few days ago, didn’t I?”  

“R-really?!  You’ll take me f-for shopping?” Jiyong squeals, unable to help himself, momentarily forgetting that it’s early morning and there are others sleeping (like Daesung, who is already scary enough with a full 9-10 hours of sleep) before Youngbae shushes him with a finger.  ‘He wants to go shopping with me!  He wants to spend time with me!’  Jiyong cheers, his joy not dying out in the least.

“Well, you need your own clothes, hm?  And don’t worry about your schedule- I’ve already asked YG and he agrees with me.  You’ve been working hard, Jiyong, so a little break is due.”  Youngbae’s tone is soft and comforting, and he really does feel like a mother.  ‘It’s okay- I’m manly.  Yes, yes, I’m manly,’ he internally reassures himself.

“O-okay!”  Jiyong tries to keep his voice quieter, calmer, though he’s quivering in barely-contained excitement, like a bottle of coke fizzing with mentos.  Rolling his eyes, the older smiles.

“Good.  You can borrow my clothes again for now, since you don’t have any.  I’ll go prepare a simple breakfast.”  Nodding, Jiyong bows hastily and immediately dashes to Youngbae’s closet, leaving the other to snort in amusement and head to the kitchen.  ‘Now, what shall I make for breakfast?  We have some leftover rice…’

Meanwhile, Jiyong is absolutely ecstatic as he chooses today’s outfit, oversized as always, and thinks about the prospect of wearing his very own clothes.  Practically skipping out of the room, he doesn’t pay attention to his surroundings and collides into a warm body.  

“Jiyong?”  At the sound of the deep voice, the boy stills for a brief moment in shock before jumping back hurriedly and spouting a thousand apologies.  He bows and bows and bows, clenching his eyes and blabbering endless “I’m so sorry’s” really fast.  Seunghyun lifts an elegant eyebrow, as charming as ever.  “It’s alright,” he says before turning around with seemingly-inhumane grace and moving towards the kitchen, leaving the boy to gape at the older.

He snaps out of his stupor when he remembers that Youngbae is waiting for him (and something smells delicious) and quickly scuttles to where Seunghyun headed towards.  There, he finds Youngbae filling a few bowls with rice and Seunghyun casually sipping a cup of coffee, looking utterly cool as he lazily reads the daily news.  

When the manly-mother notices Jiyong, he waves the rice spatula a bit. “We’ll go after we eat breakfast, ‘kay?”  Nodding enthusiastically, the latter timidly pulls out chair across from Seunghyun and sits down on it.  Youngbae brings the rice over, along with a few other side-dishes.  The three eat in relatively comfortable silence, and when Youngbae is done (Jiyong, since he doesn't eat much, always finishes first), he washes his and Jiyong’s bowls, patting his hands dry with a kitchen towel.  “Let’s go, Jiyong,” he says and walks to the front door, Jiyong jumping up and eagerly following the former closely.  They slip on their shoes, and open the door.  “We’ll be back later, Seunghyun!  Tell the other lazy idiots when the wake that we went shopping!”  The taller man gives no reply, but Youngbae and Jiyong head out.  

“W-Where are we going, Y-Youngbae-ssi?” Jiyong stutters as he scampers behind the older.  The sky is cloudy and the air rather cool, and the boy shivers a bit, though Youngbae seems to fare the weather perfectly fine in his white wife-beater.  

“There’s a market near here.”  Youngbae takes a sharp corner, walks briskly for a few minutes, and takes a left.  “We’re here,” he informs Jiyong, whose eyes widen adorably at the sight.  People are crowded among the streets, entering and leaving various stores, talking on their phones and chatting with friends.  The boy is suddenly hit with memories, but shakes himself out of it, again grateful for YG.  “What store do you want to go to, Jiyong?”  

“A-any is fine.”  Jiyong flushes, completely clueless, which Youngbae notices.  

“That one has some pretty good clothing at reasonable deals.  Let’s go check it out.”  Pointing at the one at the corner, Youngbae makes his way over, Jiyong husting behind him and trying not to bump into anyone.  The store’s interior is filled with racks of pants, shirts, and everything else you could ask for, and the wide selection leaves the younger sparkling in awe.  Helplessly, he follows the older as he scans the clothes, unsure of what to do.  

Youngbae picks out a few shirts, jackets, sweatshirts, and pants before ing them into Jiyong’s thin arms.  “Here, try this on.  The changing rooms are in the back,” he commands softly.  “I’m going to check out some for myself.”  Blinking and nodding slowly, Jiyong makes his way to the rooms, following the signs posted.  Hesitating, he pulls off Youngbae’s shirt and tries one of the ones picked out for him.  He proceeds to do the same with all the other clothes, satisfied that while they are still a bit loose, they fit much better than Youngbae’s.  His heart feels fuzzy and warm as he skips over to where the older is standing.

“Were they alright?” Youngbae asks, pausing and looking at Jiyong in the corner of his eyes.

“T-they were good!”  Nodding approvingly, the older bunches up the clothes along with a couple of jackets and shirts he picked out for himself before heading to the cashier.  Jiyong scrambles to catch up, gaping when Youngbae takes out his wallet and counts his money.  “Y-you don’t need to p-pay!”  the boy blabbers out, not registering his own words.  ‘He already brought me here on his own time!  He shouldn’t have to spend his own money too!’

The other eyes him strangely, though hands the bills over.  “Well, do you have money?”  Freezing up, Jiyong is left unable to reply.  Rolling his eyes, Youngbae takes the receipt with a smile.  ‘Such a good kid.’  “C’mon,” he calls, shaking Jiyong out of his stupor as he exits the building.

“T-thank you, Y-Youngbae-ssi!” he yelps as he catches up to the manly mother.

Merely humming, the older absentmindedly walks into a smaller store.  “Do you have shoes?”  Jiyong shakes his head, looking like an amazed kid at an amusement park, with mussed hair and innocent, widened eyes curiously peering at the racks of sneakers and Converses and sandals.  Scanning the pairs, Youngbae picks one out and hands it to Jiyong.  “Here, try this on.”

When the younger just frantically searches the area around him, the other rolls his eyes.  “Try them on here.  They’re just shoes, so you don’t need a room.”  Jiyong’s mouth falls open to a small ‘o’ and he begins to tug off his shoes.  After he ties his the laces, Youngbae inspects how they fit, gives a small bob of his head, and brings them to the cashier.  Again he takes out his wallet, leaving Jiyong feeling irrevocably guilty as he bows nonstop and splutters out a thousand ‘thank you’s’ and apologies, ducking his head shamefully.  The pair head back to the Big Bang dorms, with the older carrying the couple of bags despite Jiyong’s constant offers and begging.  

“You’re too thin,” is all Youngbae had said when he had scooped up all the purchases.  “Plus, I’m your hyung, right?”  Jiyong, left speechless, had blanked out for all but 4 seconds when Youngbae began to leave without giving a second explanation.  

“O-of course!” the boy had yelped, internally making a note to also begin calling Youngbae hyung as not to offend him in any sort of way.

Jiyong is shaken out of his thoughts with the jingle of the other’s keys.  “We’re back,” Youngbae says as he nudges the door open with his foot.  Seungri’s head pops out near the doorway suddenly, and the leader jumps up in fright and lets out an embarrassing little squeak.  Fortunately for him, the others don’t pay him any mind, carrying on with their conversation.  “Did any of you cook lunch yet?”  

Grinning proudly, Seungri gives an enthusiastic, “yup!” as he gives a cheesy thumbs-up.  Youngbae’s eye twitches.

“Is the kitchen burnt down yet?”  The panda scowls immediately, crossing his arms and huffing.

“We just made sandwiches, okay?  Gods, we aren’t that hopeless,” he defends in a scandalized tone.  

“Definitely.  After all, last time the rice was only slightly, just slightly, burnt and catching on fire,” Youngbae says calmly as he walks to the kitchen, leaving Seungri behind and Jiyong hurrying to catch up as he shoots awkward, worried glances at the fuming panda.  The other sets the bags down and sits down at the table, where 2 sandwiches were, surely enough, waiting.  It wasn’t much, just a few pieces of ham, cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes squished between 2 slices of white bread, but Jiyong’s mouth salivates none the less.  

The two begin to eat, as the other members were already finished, and, in Jiyong’s thoughts, it’s the best sandwich he’s ever eaten (though it’s probably just because it might be the only sandwich he’s ever eaten, and it was prepared for him).  Afterwards, the older washes the dishes and the younger heads up to his room, after saying a big “thank you” of course.  The rest of the day he spends holed up on his bed, a notebook in his lap, a pen in his skittish hand, and a thousand unspoken words in his head.  He isn’t sure what the others are doing, but it’s not on his mind as he works and writes and pours his thoughts into the waiting pages.

Soon enough, days blur into weeks as Jiyong practices, working as hard as he can to catch up.  He helps produce several songs, writes the lyrics of others, and secretly admires the talents of the other members, learning some of the others’ quirks and idiosyncrasies.  Seungri is a perfectionist, unafraid to be as hard with the recordings as Jiyong is with himself, who wouldn’t dream of having the guts to lecture them.  Because of it, though, the voices sound just right every time, matching the flow of the beats and mixing with the others so well that it’s as if it was made for it.  Also, the panda’s love for dancing almost matches the strength of his love for any sort of attention.  He’s also rather hilarious in an annoying way, but can switch to serious in the blink of an eye.  When singing, Seungri croons so softly and sweetly that it sounds like an angel’s.  Seunghyun barely speaks, and when he does, it’s a few words at a time in his oddly soothing voice.   As he raps, his low timbre gives an effortless depth to his words and compliments it beautifully, and his skill is so evolved in technique and lyrics and everything because he used to be an underground rapper..

Youngbae is joked of as being the group’s “mother hen”.  Put simply, he’s amazing at it.  He cooks and cleans very well and frets over Jiyong like an actual parent.  As proven by his toned muscles, Youngbae likes to exercise and dance, hitting the gym whenever he can in his busy schedule to keep up his fit shape.  His singing is kind of all-purpose, suiting everything rather well without sounding grating or boring on the ears in the least.  Youngbae also trained in rap before, but switched when he realized a new interest.  While he’s pretty quiet, he has a dry sense of humor and is really nice and gentle and everything, managing to be manly at the same as well somehow.  Daesung is officially the “smiling angel” since he pretty much laughs and smiles at everything, eyes crinkling even smaller and snowy white teeth flashing and all.  He’s very happy and bright and cheerful, and always looks on the positive.  Also, Daesung gets along with everyone and is even popular with the ladies for his warm heart.  Although his father and him don’t get along anymore due to his becoming a singer, he’s definitely made for it.  His voice is so beautiful that it’d be a shame to not use it- it’s deep (in a different way than Seunghyun’s), emotional, and so powerful that it’s sometimes hard to find a place for it to really shine like how he’s supposed to.  Jiyong’s working on it though, and he’s had some degree of success.

No one really knows about their leader, and maknae, though.  Jiyong prefers to keep to himself and gape in awe at the others because he doesn’t want to disappoint anyone and make them have an even poorer opinion of his talent.  In fact, they’ve never heard him sing or rap, or watch him dance.  Luckily, Dongwook hasn’t tired of him yet, and they mess around at times, though it occasionally improves a song in an unorthodox manner.  Jiyong has developed a new, even greater respect for the man, who is literally amazing at everything.  Dongwook dances, sings, performs, injects a few creative ideas for Jiyong’s songs, and knows a ton about music, doing it all with a suave smile, fiery passion, undeniable charm, and a fun, friendly personality.  Not only that, he’s the closest thing the boy has ever had as a father, while Youngbae is like his mother in a sense, but the latter rarely chats with him at all.

YG calls Jiyong to his office a few times a week to tell him his thoughts about how the boy has been improving.  He’s nice in a sarcastic way, and is the only one besides Dongwook who knows of the youngest’s producing and song-writing, and YG’s comments are, fortunately, mainly positive.  But Jiyong has never been retrieved 2 days in a row, especially not so early in the morning, which is why he’s fairly nervous at the moment.  Fidgeting anxiously, he mentally flails and runs over anything he could’ve done wrong in the past week as he hesitates in front of the door.  He’s unable to find something though, and so he in a deep breath and pushes it open.

YG is sitting at his desk working calmly, but looks up when he hears the closing of the door.  “Ah, Jiyong,” he says, clearing his throat when he notices the boy standing awkwardly.  “Come take a seat.”  Gesturing to the plush chair in front of the desk, he watches Jiyong shuffle over.  When the boy is sitting, YG continues, “it’s been a few weeks since you arrived, and I must say you’ve improved a lot, even more than what I had hoped.”  He pauses for effect and Jiyong nearly has a heart attack waiting, too scared at whatever bomb he would drop in his words to think about the compliment.  “I think you’re ready to start training with your group members.”

Oh my, it's so short....And late.....D:  Please forgive me (◞‸◟；)  I've been really busy for the past few weeks, and I still am I will be for a while sorry sorry sorry 

Still, despite my lameness and bad, slow writing, a huge thanks for reading and reviewing and subscribing! (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻  You guys are super awesome!  And I'm a horrible author for doing this kk