He hoped against hope that Seunghyun and Soonie hadn't been home to greet the criminals, afraid of what he would find as he ran room to room looking for them. The house seemed abandoned. Had they been kidnapped? Oh, no! The trouble her mom was in, did it have something to do with Soonie? Was she perhaps the daughter of the head of the Seoul mafia and her mom had been forced to hide her to save her from such a doomed fate? And now they had managed to track her down. His stomach churned painfully. His heart nervously shuddered. Would he ever see Soonie again? Except perhaps on a most wanted poster? And what about Seunghyun? Jiyong's throat tightened, making it impossible to breathe. The mafia never left loose ends. Please, please, please be alive, he prayed. His mind didn't dare set foot on 'what if' land, it was too terrifying. No, he was okay. He had to be okay.

He was about to call Seunghyun's phone when he stopped abruptly as he was coming back from Seunghyun's bedroom, frantically stretching his ears to catch the sound he thought he had heard. There it was again. A muffled screech. It was coming from the bathroom. As quiet as a cat on the prowl, he stealthily sneaked towards the bathroom door. He could hear swooshing sounds inside, the sound water made when somebody was struggling under it. No! He swung the door open and burst in with his fists held high, ready to fight. 

Seunghyun cracked up, laughing heartily at him while holding Soonie up in the air so only her feet touched the water, Soonie running in place like her life depended on it, splashing water in every direction. Her smile so wide it could light up the whole city. Jiyong jumped back to avoid an unwanted shower. They were safe, not a scratch on them, enjoying a bath together. 

“Jesus may have walked on water, but Soonie runs!” Seunghyun exclaimed, bursting into a fit of giggles as Soonie continued to redecorate the bathroom, going for the underwater feel. He was safe, he was really safe. Jiyong kept repeating it in his mind to convince himself that what he was seeing was true. When his insides finally started believing, they unclenched the tight knot that had held his body hostage, overwhelming relief washing over his body just as the water washed over the bathroom floor. He couldn't hold back any longer, he lunged forwards, kneeling at the side of the bathtub he wound his arms around Seunghyun's shoulders, squeezing tight, not caring that his clothes were getting wet. 'Thank you', Jiyong silently whispered to whatever force he had been praying. 

“Uhm, dude... I'm kind of here, if you hadn't noticed..” Seunghyun said softly. When he released him, Seunghyun looked into his eyes for a moment, like he was looking for something. It felt like he was looking right into his soul. It was uncomfortable how exposed he felt, even though he had nothing to hide. That appeared to be Seunghyun's verdict as well, turning his X-ray stare off, moving his focus back to Soonie. 

“Hard day?” Seunghyun asked without making eye contact, not so smoothly trying to figure out the reason for this out of the blue hug. 

“It was really good, actually. But what happened to the apartment? I thought someone had broken in!” he enquired incredulously. 

“Oh, heh.. no, it's crazy how one little nugget can bring down the whole chicken shed. I swear, she's like the Tasmanian Devil! Leaving a trail of destruction behind her wherever she goes.” Seunghyun chuckled fondly. 

“Tabi!” Soonie, who was now happily playing with a rubber duck, poked Seunghyun impatiently, not happy to have to share his attention with Jiyong. She had the cutest little voice, but she made sure it echoed through the bathroom. Jiyong turned to Seunghyun with surprise painted on his face. She knew his name? Or well, his stage name. 

“I know, right! It only took one try, how awesome is that!” Seunghyun guffawed, swelling with pride. 

“Oh, oh, let me try! Soonie, Soonie-ya. I'm Ji, can you say Ji for me? Ji.” he repeated it several times, anticipation tickling his gut. 

“Tabi.” she said decisively, and kept on playing. Seunghyun roared with laughter, finding Jiyong's humiliation absolutely hilarious. He tried over and over again, but she either ignored him or worse, called for Seunghyun. He sighed. Would he ever be able to win her affection? Seunghyun had gotten to spend the whole day with her, so now, more than ever, she idolized him and only him. He couldn't deny that it made him feel a little bit jealous. 

“Alright, I think we should get this one out before she turns into an actual raisin.” Seunghyun chuckled, handing Soonie over to Jiyong, who wrapped her into the towel that was hanging on the wall so she wouldn't get cold. Gently rubbing her hair dry, he turned around to face a stark Seunghyun. He did a double take. He had of course seen him before, many times, but it had been a long time since last time. Maybe it was because of the movies in which he had been acting  lately, but Seunghyun had stepped it up in the body building department, sporting ripped honey abs and muscles, everywhere. Jiyong realized he was staring, quickly taking his eyes off him, awkwardly fiddling with the end of Soonie's towel. 

Seunghyun didn't appear to have noticed anything. Making a crack about Soonie stealing his towel before walking outside in his birthday suit, totally comfortable. Jiyong wasn't going to, but he glanced at him on his way out. He was too curious to see if his backside was as good as his front. And it did not disappoint. Wow. He made a mental note to make more time for the gym. If this continued, he would end up stuck in the bottom place in Big Bang when it came to toned bodies. That was not acceptable. He was not bottom material. When Daesung and Youngbae transformed themselves into human gods, he had always been able to bank on that Seunghyun would at least bring up the rear in that department, and perhaps other rear-related departments as well, but that was a whole other story. Little had he known that Seunghyun was stealthily climbing the ranks, heading for the top without anyone being the wiser on account of Seunghyun's aversion to showing skin. The gym. Tomorrow. And the day after that. And the day after that. 

After putting Soonie into dead cute panda pajamas, borrowed from one of the big teddy bears their fans had been kind enough to send them, he brought her to Seunghyun's bedroom. They still didn't have everything figured out, so Soonie didn't have a bed of her own. He didn't feel comfortable leaving her alone in a bed without any precautions, so he thought at least one of them should sleep with her. The chance that they would roll over in their sleep and suffocate her did not go unnoticed by him, but the chance of her hurting herself if left alone was greater. Being a parent was terrifying, there were dangers in every corner. 

Seunghyun was already in bed, tucked under the covers. Was he just going to leave Soonie to him? How could he go to sleep without checking in with him? 

“Oh, you're already in bed?” he noted, careful to add an edge to his voice. “Here. Your own personal panda sleep buddy.” he grinned with a devilish undertone, laying Soonie down next to him. When he turned to leave, Seunghyun's hand locked itself around his wrist. 

“Stay.” he simply said, but it was all he needed to say for his pleading eyes spoke the rest. He could see he was just as nervous of spending the night with Soonie as he himself was. This was the perfect chance to get him back for last night. Now Seunghyun needed him, like he had needed Seunghyun yesterday. He should give him a taste of his own medicine and storm out without any explanation, leaving him alone with Soonie and a thousand unanswered questions. Yeah, it was the perfect revenge. He clenched his teeth, breathing out decidedly, but his legs refused to listen to reason, not budging, not even an inch. Silently cursing them, he got into bed instead. It would have been so cool, he sighed as he mourned his flawless plan for retaliation. 

Soonie was so exhausted after her bath adventure, that after a few minutes of stubbornly trying to pin her eyes open, her eyelids gave into gravity and put her on the boat headed for Dream Island. They were lying on either side of the bed, forming a protective wall with their bodies so she couldn't fall off. Jiyong placed his hand gently on her belly, as if to remind himself in his sleep not to roll over her. A few seconds later, probably following the same logic, Seunghyun laid his hand on top of his, his thumb ever so slightly the edge of his palm. It sent a tingle up his forearm, an invisible hand pinching his insides. 

He bit his lip, taking a deep breath to get rid of the feeling. It wasn't the first time he had had this reaction, but it hadn't happened in the longest while so he had thought it was gone for good. He didn't care for it. It had been the source of many a head-splitting thought marathons to try and determine the cause. He wasn't an idiot, he knew of what that kind of reaction could be an indicator, but was it necessarily so? They were really close friends and he cared very deeply about him, that was for certain. Couldn't it just be his body expressing his appreciation for him as a friend? Love came in a variety of forms and deep rooted friendship was one of them. 

There had been moments though, moments that had made him doubt everything. Seunghyun had a way of making him feel special, like he was unique and amazing, the best of the best. A knowing wink at the height of a concert, a hearty chuckle at a joke that wasn't even that funny, eyes full of pride and admiration when he let him be the first one to hear a song on which he was working, an infallible drinking buddy when he was blue, letting him save face by getting ten times as wasted. Seunghyun really was a true friend. Jiyong loved the power of a thousand fans' love and admiration coursing through his veins at concerts, making him feel like he not just owned the world, but ruled it too. It wasn't just love, he was addicted to it. But every so often, when he was ruling the world, Seunghyun would glance at him and suddenly those thousand fans cheering were just background noise to the one cheer that mattered. Seunghyun's cheer. 

He realized how this all sounded, it sounded like he was in love with him. And in a way he was. There was such a thing as being platonically in love, and that was probably all it was. Being the perfectionist that he was though, he had had to know for sure. Therefore he had embarked on a little experiment, putting himself in various situations that were certain to reveal the closet hiding in his heart, if in fact there was one. He had hoped there wasn't, for that would only put their friendship in jeopardy. He had gone so far as to attend a gay bar in disguise in a desperate attempt at finding the answer he was afraid of uncovering. But it had only confirmed what he already knew. He was straight. Beautiful girls were what got his engine going, the guys finding nothing but the off button. Yet Seunghyun's presence continued to ruffle his feathers, getting under his skin. It was then when he had decided to stop thinking about it. It didn't matter. Whatever the answer, the aftermath was the same. They were best friends, and best friends they would remain.