Now, let's talk about that hyung.

That hyung?

That hyung. The one you're awkward with.

Ah, that hyung. Well, we're not exactly awkward these days. Daesung hyung hardly talks. Well, he talks, but he doesn't talk talk, you know? Like, if we're all together and just talking about experience or what we did last week, he would just listen and react. He never offers his own stories to the table. So you don't really know what he's like as a kid. How his family is like. What kind of relationship he has with his sister. I mean, I didn't even know he's awkward with his own sister until we did Strong heart.

But I've also learned that what he can't say with words, he does it in action. And sometimes words, but not directly to you. I've learned more about what he thinks about me in interviews he did than I do with him in person. That's the way he expresses his thanks. He'll drop compliments here and there during interviews, and I'll catch it when I see on tv or read it on the papers.

He hates to be the center of attention. He likes to just blend with the wall and you'll hardly hear from him but you know he's there. That's why I think, even though we're somewhat awkward, we're actually perfect for each other.

Daesung hyung is like that constant reminder that sometimes, I need to slow down and watch where I'm going. And I'm his constant reminder, that sometimes, it is okay to loosen up and just go for it. i think we balance each other out.

-

You can tell a lot about a man by the contents of his wallet.

So that was exactly what Seungri did, one time.

Long time ago.

4 years to be exact.

A few days after Daesung had been in that traffic accident in 2009, to be really precise.

Manager hyung had come by the dorm to drop off the items that the hospital had found on Daesung when they brought him in.

The items were packed nicely in a large transparent zip lock bag and it had sat on the dining table for a few hours after Manager Hyung left.

Seungri wasn't sure what to do with them. If he should just dump the whole thing into Daesung's wardrobe, or wait for the three hyungs to come home and make the decision.

Curiosity got the better of him though, and he made the rash decision to just the bag and dump it's content on the kitchen table instead.

If he had died, this would be what he'd left behind. 

His white Nike shoes (they had obviously been cleaned by the hospital staff, but the laces still had tints of pink on them, and Seungri made himself believe that they were from the hot sauce from when Daesung were cooking dinner during filming. It's most definitely not his blood).

Seungri had an identical pair. Every member had one. It was a sponsored gift. It didn't say much about Daesung as a person, because it wasn't his choice to buy it. If he had been given the choice to run rampant in a Nike store, he might have picked a different pair.

Something that spells Daesung.

Well, the boring, stay at home Daesung might actually pick this white pair. Hassle-free. Simple. Clean. Fresh.

And then there was the yellow Baby-G watch. The screen riddled with spider-webbed cracks, the crevices of the wrist still had dried blood on them.

It was no longer working, as far as Seungri could tell. Dead.

The watch, too, was a sponsored gift. Seungri had an identical pair, except in blue. And Daesung had no choice in that matter too. Everyone had been quicker to pick a colour, and he was left with yellow.

He seemed quite content with it though, if Seungri recalled correctly. Then again, when has Daesung ever expressed discontent?

The final item was his wallet.

Seungri imagined the first paramedic to find the wreckage would have gone through his wallet, trying to figure out who he was, to relay as much information as he could to the attendee at the hospital later.

If that paramedic were hoping to find a lot, he or she would have been utterly disappointed.

There was about sixty thousand won in his wallet.

A few namecards - some looked worn out, a couple looked fairly new. Upon closer inspection, Seungri realised they were all from PDs and members of Family Outing.

There was also a familiar credit card - it belonged to YG. They were all given one, and only to be used in an emergency.

That credit card was totally useless for that kind of emergency though.

Nothing in that wallet defined Daesung.

What would a stranger learn from the contents of that wallet?

It said nothing about his age, his blood type, no medical history whatsoever that could help the paramedic.

Kang Daesung, late teens or early twenties, knows a lot of famous people and has a credit card that probably has too high a limit.

If Daesung had died, that would have been the impression he would give to a stranger.

And Seungri couldn't help thinking, what a total loss that would be, for a stranger's first impression of Daesung to be so...generic.

Daesung hyung might be a little cold towards him, but Seungri knew it did not define him.

He is kind. Shy. Funny. Respectful. Religious. Thoughtful. Loyal.

He is the hyung that Seungri knows the least but would defend the hardest if anyone were to have a go at him simply because Daesung hyung is not the type to defend for himself.

The maknae-line must always stand together, no matter what.

And what would that even mean, if Daesung hyung had not survived?

2013

seungri arrived moments before Daesung was due on stage. It wasn't due to tardiness that had caused his late arrival, but more a consideration for the older man.

It had been months since they last saw each other. Seungri wasn't sure if time had reverted them back to their awkwardness stage. It all depended on Daesung hyung, to be honest. Part of Seungri didn't really want to know the answer to that, so yeah, he had purposely timed his late arrival.

The minute he arrived, a cameraman started following him. Part of him felt relieved. If there was a camera, then both of them knew just what to do. Putting on a show is so much simpler than having a real conversation sometimes.

True to his predictions, Daesung was surrounded by a group of people in his dressing room. There was a mixture of Korean and Japanese being thrown left and right, and for a fleeting second, Seungri thought of Seunghyun hyung, and how lost he would be in this sort of situation.

"Hyung!"

Daesung was surprised. No one had informed him that Seungri would be coming that day.

There was panic in his eyes, Seungri could tell, that second of madness where his brain started wheeling, already looking for the exit sign on how to get away from this situation - and then it disappeared.

Because it's Seungri. It's his maknae. No matter how awkward the both of them could still be sometimes, they are family, and Daesung has learned to open up a little, to not be so uptight, that it is okay. It's just Seungri. His little brother.

"Seunghyun ah!" and then Daesung noticed the camera. "It's V.I.! He has come!"

Seungri moved to show the small paper bag in his hand. "This is for you."

"Woah, a present? For me?"

It was a wallet.

There weren't much time, so Seungri didn't bother explaining, and Daesung was too preoccupied with his show to comment further other than saying his thanks.

"You're staying for the show, right?"

"Of course," Seungri replied, one foot already out of the door. "I'll see you after, okay?"

"Okay."

-

After didn’t quite happen, because as expected, Daesung was escorted to various places the moment he got off the stage. The work of an artist is never quite done.

He quietly left the moment he knew he would never get to have any time with Daesung.

On his way back to the hotel, a message came through their group chat.

Dae: Maknae, are you staying at the same hotel as me?

Seung-chan: Ne.

Dae: I’ll be back in about…2 hours. Have dinner with hyung.

Seung-Chan: Of course. I will order room service.

Dae: What’s your room number.

Seung-Chan: 857.

Dae: Arasso.

Jiyong: I have tears in my eyes. I am crying. This is so beautiful.

Youngbae: Picture of your wet face or it didn’t happen.

Jiyong: I never lie.

Youngbae: A picture of you giving me the finger is not it.

TOP: Why is our chat always so vulgar?

Youngbae: Why are you in our chat even? You’re always missing. Stay missing.

Seungri decided he had no time for that kind of crap at that moment, and closed the chat. The hyungs can battle it out among themselves. Obviously President Yang did not give them enough projects.

He ordered a generous serving of sushi and sashimi – always the best bet where Daesung is concerned – and a healthy serving of mixed fruits and salad.

And a bottle of sake because why the hell not.

And then he waits.

-

He must have fallen asleep because he woke up to Daesung’s face hovering above him.

Seungri didn’t even bother to ask how he’d managed to get in to his room.

“What good deed have I done to deserve waking up to your face, hyung?”

Daesung snorted. “Mian.”

Seungri yawned and stretched his arms wide. He didn’t feel like getting up.

“Wae?”

Daesung pushed his legs off the sofa, forcing Seungri to abandon his very comfortable lie-down position.

Taking over the seat and letting a soft sigh, Daesung replied, “It’s too late for dinner now.”

“Hyung, it is never too late for dinner.”

Daesung slouched further into the sofa, his head leaning all the way back, eyes closed. “Do you even know what time it is right now?”

“It doesn’t matter, it’s never too late for dinner!” Seungri insisted. “The sushi might be cold but it should still be okay to eat.”

“It’s 3am.”

“I’m sure it’s still 9pm somewhere in the world,” Seungri replied. He wheeled their dinner closer to where the sofa was, and revealed the spread to his hyung.

Daesung snorted, but pushed himself upward at the sight of food. “Yah, this is not at all how I imagined tonight would be.”

Seungri shrugged and handed a chopstick to Daesung,”I tried getting last minute rose petals and sandalwood scented candles to get the mood going but they’re out of stock.”

Daesung laughed and then quickly sobered up. “Yah, I was supposed to barge in to your room all pissed off and spitting fire out of my nostrils.”

Seungri frowned, food halfway into his mouth. “Why?”

“Is that sake?”

“Maybe.”

“It’s either a yes or a no.”

“Tell me why you’re supposed to be angry.”

“I need a drink.”

“Fine drink it, it’s sake, I got it specially for you in hope that you’ll get pissed drunk and throw caution to the wind and finally make love to me right on this sofa, so please, for the sake of my ity, drink it.”

Seungri expected a lot of reactions from his outburst, but he definitely wasn’t expecting what comes next.

Daesung just shrugged and pretty much swallowed a full glass, and then he looked right at him and said, “ my as s.”

Which only made Seungri even more frustrated. “Hyung, now you’re making me mad.”

“Good,” Daesung replied, and then pulled out the new wallet from the back pocket of his jeans. “This is too much, Seunghyun.”

“Are you talking about the price or what’s in it?”

“The price,” Daesung replied. “It’s too expensive.”

“Hyung, we have money, I’m not frugal when it comes to buying gifts for family.”

“And I’m touched, I really am,” Daesung started. “But-”

“You really hate it when people spend money on you,” Seungri finished it for him.

Man, this wasn’t how he imagined a late night dinner with Kang Daesung to turn out.

“Something like that.”

“You think you don’t deserve good things unless it’s sponsored and we’re supposed to wear them so it can be seen and paparazzi will take pictures of us wearing them and suddenly whatever it is that we’re wearing starts selling like hot cakes and our sponsors will be happy and they’ll keep giving us new stuff and the cycle continues but God forbid someone buys you something nice for a change-”

“ – I’m just saying, you being here today is gift enough for me. I’m thankful. There’s no need to get me a present.”

Seungri rolled his eyes, although somewhere inside of him, that part of Seungri, was bouncing and pumping fist in the air because someone just told him that he is a gift. He, Lee Seunghyun, is a freakin gift.

“But don’t you think it’s my choice to decide if I want to give someone a present just because I feel like giving one?”

Daesung nodded while his fingers fiddle with the wallet in his hand. The strong smell of new leather mixing with the cold hard smell of sushi. The prawn tastes like rubber in his mouth.

“I know, just –“

“ – you wish it wasn’t for you.”

“Yeah.”

Seungri pulled the wallet from the back of his jeans and showed it to Daesung. “If it makes you feel any better, I bought one for myself too.”

That seemed to work, because now Daesung was laughing to the point of tears.

“What’s so funny?”

“Did you…yah, if you’re gonna get us a couple wallet, just say so from the beginning. Aigoo.”

Seungri smirked. “I don’t want to be too blunt about it. You know I’m shy when it comes to our love.”

“Seriously, look at you, just plain flirting with me right now. But if Jiyong hyung walks through that door, you’ll be all over him in a second.”

“Ah hyung, you’ll do the same if Seunghyun hyung were here too.”

Daesung snorted as he poured another glass of sake, and passed it to Seungri, signaling for him to drink up.

And then he poured another glass for himself, and gulped it down in one shot. Again.

“Please, hyung will be all over me, not the other way round.”

That was actually, very accurate.

“I will drink to that.”

And so Seungri did. A couple more times after that.

They fell into, what Seungri would confidently call, a comfortable silence. It’s rare, this type of silence, so when it happened, a part of him wished they could remain in that state forever.

But that’s what made this relationship with Daesung special. The others wouldn’t understand this kind of awkward brotherhood.

And then Seungri burped.

And Daesung followed.

They are quite the pair.

“Should we place a bet on whether we’ll end up with upset stomach tomorrow morning from this?”

Daesung swallowed yet another glass of sake. He was trying to satisfy some kind of thirst which the alcohol couldn’t get rid of, Seungri thought.

“I don’t gamble.”

“Because it’s a sin?”

“I guess.”

“Hyung. we’re not in Vegas. It’s just us both. No money involved. Just maybe, lost of pride, but since we hardly have any to begin with, why not?”

“Yah, I have A LOT of pride.”

“You’re not a proud person, how can you have a lot of pride?” Seungri scoffed. “You’re confusing pride with humility, hyung.”

Daesung groaned. “I am too drunk for this crap.”

“You’re supposed to make bad decisions while drunk. So let’s go for a bet. I think we’re gonna end up with a bad stomach tomorrow, I am so sorry in advance.”

“I have a show tomorrow.”

“I already said I’m sorry,” Seungri replied. He went back to his original position on the sofa, his legs landing carelessly on Daesung’s lap as if it was something natural between them.

For half a second, he wondered if he had gone too far, but realized he was too drunk to care. He didn’t feel any flinch from the older man, so that was a good sign.

“What about the 400,000 won you put in the wallet?”

“I borrowed that money like, back in 2010 or something, I can’t remember,” Seungri replied.

“Really? And I didn’t hound you to pay it back?”

“You never hound,” Seungri pointed out as he reached out for the bowl of fruits and placed it on his stomach. “You always make it sound like it's a big deal when we ask you for money, but really, if we forgot, you never bug us for it. It’s not your style.”

“But I’m frugal with money. I’m pretty sure I do my share of hounding.”

Seungri popped a grape. “What are you talking about? Jiyong hyung is frugal with money. Seriously, he’s the richest one here but God forbid I ask him to pay for my lunch.”

“You always take advantage of Jiyong hyung, don’t lie.”

“Whatever.”

 Daesung reached out and made a grab for a piece of watermelon before settling back. “Fine. What about that emergency contact card?”

“Ah hyung, that’s one of the basics you need to have in your wallet. Seriously, don’t you already have one?”

Daesung didn’t answer, choosing to savour the taste of the watermelon instead.

“Who do you suggest I should put as my emergency contact person?”

Seungri shrugged, and then chose a slice of peach and passed it to Daesung.

“Anyone but Mr TOP. You’ll be buried in your grave and he’ll probably still not answer the call.”

“I’ll probably put down some general number to YG.”

“Seriously?”

Now it was Daesung’s turn to shrug.

“I don’t want my parents to get the first call. That might upset them too much. So definitely not any of the members, cause I like to imagine you would all panic and cry over my unfortunate incident to do much. So someone at the office would be perfect. Ah, Kang Daesung ran into a cow you said? He broke his nose? Nice. Okay, we’ll get someone down to sign the papers. Done.”

“I think you might want to think it over for a bit, hyung.”

Daesung didn’t seem to be bothered much by the comment. He yawned instead. Loudly.

Seungri let it go for now.

“How about the free pass voucher I gave you for your birthday?” Daesung continued. “I thought you’ve lost it or threw it away long time ago. Why is it in the wallet? Are you giving it back to me?”

Seungri nodded.

“You have no idea just how many times I wanted to use that free pass on you.”

“Why didn’t you? I’ve lived the last five years in fear just wondering when you’ll suddenly pop out of nowhere and demand to redeem that free pass.”

Daesung had another glass of sake in his hand, and Seungri wasn’t quite sure how it got there.

“And then I figured, I really am not an interesting person in the first place, you probably just have nothing to ask me.”

“That’s not it,” Seungri replied. “I’ve wanted to use it so many times before. But I only have one chance, so I really want to use it for something really special.

But I also know you’re such a private person, hyung. It practically hurt you just to reveal something if you don’t feel like doing it. So I appreciate the gesture, but I really don’t want to put you in that position.

Also because I’ve grown to like what we have now. You know, I barely know much about you, and you don’t really know much about me. But I think what we know about each other is more than what most people have in their relationship. So I’m thankful. Maybe, one day you’ll be comfortable enough to tell me stuff. But if that never happen, I’m okay with this.”

Silence.

That was quite the speech, Seungri thought. Daesung hyung must feel very touched right now.

Seriously, sometimes Seungri surprises even himself.

And then he heard it.

The quiet snore drifting not far away.

“Ah seriously!”

Daesung haven't even ask about the old picture of the five of them that he had snuck into the wallet. Seungri had a really awesome reason for that one.

But Seungri didn’t bother waking him up. His brother has had a busy and tiring day. Unlike him, Daesung will have an early start tomorrow – well, looking at the time, he probably had less than two hours until wake up call.

He got off the sofa and slowly took the empty glass away from Daesung’s grab.

He went back to his room and took the duvet back to the sofa and covered him with it. He would probably wake up with a stiff neck, but that’s what he deserves for dozing off on his speech.

The bed looked inviting, but for some reason (he planned on blaming the alcohol), he liked how the sofa felt. So Seungri turned off the light, and went back to his sleeping position on the sofa.

The last thought before Seungri dosed off to slumber land was how sorry he felt for his hyung, cause this maknae most definitely kicks in his sleep.

- - -

A/N: My sincerest apologies for the very late update. Suddenly life happened, and I couldn't find any time to sit down and really write this properly.

This was supposed to be the last chapter, but I figured it would flow better separated. So 2014 next. Hopefully it won't take as long to be written.

Thank you for the comments, it really made me smile :D