Seungri jerks awake first thing in the morning, hands flying up to pat himself down.

.

He’s still in Seunghyun’s body.

He sits up in bed and scrubs his hands over his face.  Everything’s so messed up.  He can’t believe how big of a mess he’s made.

The only other person who’s up is Daesung.  He’s sprawled out in the middle of the living room floor, stretching his hamstrings while he hums his part to the new song they’ve been working on.  Seungri doesn’t talk much to Daesung even though they share a room and get pushed together a lot.  For whatever reason, they’ve never been that compatible. 

Daesung is just…nice.  He’s always smiling, and he keeps to himself, and he’s so ing nice.  He’s not petty like Seungri is.  He’s not jealous and greedy for the limelight.  He just wants to sing, that’s all.  Everything else is a nice bonus.

Seungri plops down on the floor next to him, and Daesung’s eyes disappear into his smile.  “Hey, Hyung.  You’re up early.”

“Did you sleep okay?”

“Yeah, Seungri asked me to sleep in Jiyong-hyung’s bed.  I’m not sure, but I think Jiyong-hyung was upset about something.”

Seungri’s shoulders droop at the reminder of last night.  “Well, it’s good that you got your own bed for once.  Get away from the maknae for a while.”

Daesung cracks a grin.  “Seungri’s not so bad.”

Seungri’s ears perk up at that.  “I thought you two didn’t get along that well.”

Daesung laughs a little.  “We’re just awkward with each other.  I don’t know why.  He’s actually kind of cool, though.”

Really?  Daesung thinks he’s cool?  “Why’s that?”

Daesung gently shrugs one shoulder.  “He’s just so bold, you know?  Nothing ever seems to faze him.  I wish I could be more like that.”

The words pierce through to the core of him, to that same insecure place that prompted him to make the wish that got him and Seunghyun into this whole mess.  “You really want to be more like me?  I mean him?”

Daesung ignores his slip of the tongue.  “Don’t tell him I told you.  I’m sure it would just go to his head.”

Seungri sits with him for a long time, watching as Daesung finishes his stretches and moves on to pushups.  He starts to stretch himself but then stops when he realizes his hyung’s body is even less limber than his own.

Maybe it’s because he feels like they’ve just now bonded somehow, or maybe Seungri’s just really tired of holding everything in, but once Daesung’s through with his next set, the words fall out of Seungri’s mouth.  “I did something bad.”

Daesung sits back up when he hears how solemn Seungri sounds.  “What did you do?”  There’s no judgment forming in his voice.  No accusation.  Just a willingness to hear more if Seungri wants to tell him.  The others always say Daesung’s a good listener, but Seungri’s never been close enough to him to find out for himself.

“I can’t tell you,” Seungri says.  “But I really hurt someone’s feelings.  I didn’t mean to, but I messed up, and now I don’t know what to do.”

Daesung presses his lips together and looks a little to the side, thinking.  Maybe Daesung will have some wise advice that can fix this whole thing.  “Well, have you tried apologizing?”

Apologizing.  Right.

Apologizing would be so much easier if Jiyong would stay in the same room with him long enough for him to do it.  Seungri tries to catch him on the way to the shower, but Jiyong turns his nose up and shuts the bathroom door in his face.  He tries again at breakfast, but Jiyong just smiles wide and jokes with Youngbae and pretends that Seungri isn’t even there.  And the whole time Seungri’s trying to get Jiyong’s attention, Seunghyun is looming in the background, glaring at him like an overprotective watchdog. 

Jiyong gives him the cold shoulder all morning.  It’s to the point that Youngbae and Daesung are tiptoeing around them and shooting them concerned looks.  They don’t say anything, though.  They know Jiyong’s in one of his moods so they give him a wide birth. 

When they get their first break after dance practice, Jiyong immediately darts out of the room, pausing just long enough to grab his pack of cigarettes on the way out.  Seungri goes to chase after him, but Seunghyun catches him before he can get too far.

“Just leave him alone,” Seunghyun orders.  “You’ve done enough.”

“I just want to apologize.”

“Just…don’t.  You’ll only make it worse.  I’ll talk to him once we switch back.”

“But Hyung, we don’t know how long that’ll take.  It could be days or weeks or who even knows how long.  Do you really want him to keep being upset while we wait?”

That makes Seunghyun pause.  His brows pull together, indecision written across his face.  Carefully, he asks, “What would you even tell him?”

Seungri doesn’t know.  He hasn’t thought much further than I’m sorry.  He should probably stick fairly close to the truth, though.  “I’ll tell him I’m sorry and that I’d been drinking, and the kiss obviously didn’t mean anything because I’m gay.”  Seungri smiles and nods, satisfied with his own brilliance, and then tries to pass by Seunghyun and put his plan into action.

Seunghyun yelps and drags Seungri into the relative privacy of the corner.  “I never said I was gay,” he whispers harshly.

Seungri frowns.  “But you like guys.  That’s what gay means.”

“I don’t like guys,” Seunghyun hisses.  “I like…I just like Jiyong, okay?”

Seungri rolls his eyes.  “So you’re gay for Jiyong.  Whatever.  Can I go tell him now?”

“No, you can’t go tell him.”

“What’s the big deal?  He likes you, and you like him.  Honestly, I don’t see why you guys aren’t together already.”

Seunghyun’s ears turn red.  “I didn’t even know for sure that he liked me like that until last night,” he mumbles.

Seungri almost asks him how he could possibly not know, but he bites his tongue once he remembers that he was even more clueless about it than Seunghyun.  But wait.  “You knew Jiyong liked guys, though.  You didn’t even suspect?”

Seunghyun shuffles a bit and shrugs.  “Jiyong flirts with everyone.  I didn’t know he was serious.  I mean, out of all the guys he could have, why would he want me?”

Seungri’s mouth falls open.  Is this guy for real?  He has girls falling all over themselves to get to him.  It was the easiest thing in the world to reel a few in last night.  How can he possibly be this insecure?  But then Seungri thinks about the diet Seunghyun’s on and the humiliated curve of his shoulders when he told Seungri about it.  Seungri’s realizing bit by bit that the world isn’t nearly as simple as he thought it was.

“Aww, I can think of a lot of reasons he’d want you, Hyung.  I mean, look at this face.”  Seungri turns his head to the side and presents the chiseled cut of Seunghyun’s jaw.  He pouts a little and does his best to smolder.

Seunghyun snickers and smacks his cheek.  “Stop doing that with my face.”

Seungri beams.  “See?  It’s a good face.  Of course Jiyong would want to make lovey eyes at it.” 

Seunghyun blushes, gaze falling down toward the floor, and Seungri grins at the way Seunghyun’s trying to hide how pleased he is.  Wow, his hyung’s a puppy.  A puppy who’s obviously in need of some help.

And who better to help than Seungri?  This whole time, he’s been petty and jealous and only in this for himself, but now he realizes that this is bigger than him.  His hyungs need him.  They’ll probably never get together if Seungri doesn’t push things along, and okay, yeah, he knows he ed up whatever slow progress they’d made, but really, that’s just all the more reason for him to fix this.

Daesung’s words from that morning come back to him.  Bold, he’d said.  Well, Seungri is bold.  And he thinks ‘bold’ is something his hyungs could use right now.  He can be like their fairy godmother.  He’ll just whisk in and get them together, and when he finally gets his own body back, Seunghyun will be so happy that he won’t even remember that Seungri’s the one who ed things up in the first place.  It’s a flawless plan.

Seungri slowly starts backing away.  “Okay, then.  Glad we talked.  I’m gonna go talk to Jiyong-hyung now.”

Seunghyun’s eyes widen in fear.  He latches onto Seungri again.  “Wait!  What are you gonna say?”

“Nothing you don’t want me to,” Seungri reassures.  “I’m just gonna apologize, that’s all.”  He crosses his fingers behind his back.  “Trust me.”

Seunghyun slowly releases him, though he still looks a little wary.  Whatever.  His hyung will thank him later.  It’s for his own good.

Jiyong’s sitting on the roof, cigarette caught between two fingers.  At the first sight of Seungri, his face hardens, and he redirects his gaze stubbornly in front of him.  Seungri sighs as he plops down beside him.  It’s not going to be easy getting Jiyong’s forgiveness; he tends to hold grudges.

“I’m sorry,” Seungri says, because that’s as good of a place to start as any.

Jiyong ignores him, though.  He brings his cigarette to his lips and takes a shallow drag.  Seungri can feel Seunghyun’s body reacting to the smell of tobacco.  Damn, he really wants one of those.  Now’s not the time, though.

“I was drunk,” Seungri tries.

“No, you weren’t,” Jiyong says, voice deceptively calm, eyes still focused squarely on the horizon.  “I’ve seen you down two full bottles of soju and still walk a straight line.  You were fine.”

Seungri feels the urge to pout.  This would be so much easier if he could just tell Jiyong the truth, but he knows there’s no way his hyung would ever believe him.  He’ll just have to come up with an explanation Jiyong can accept.

Hmmm.  He thinks about telling him that the girl kidnapped him and blackmailed him into kissing her, but he dismisses that ridiculous thought as soon as he has it.  Surely he can come up with something better than that.  Maybe he can say it was an accident?  Or that he has teaching her CPR?  Never mind that he doesn’t know CPR. 

He mentally rifles through every movie and drama he’s ever seen and finally comes up with this:  “I got scared.”

Jiyong still doesn’t look at him, but the hand holding his cigarette pauses on the way to his lips, and Seungri knows he’s listening.

“I got scared,” Seungri says again.  “You and me, we’ve been getting closer and closer, and you’re my best friend, and I didn’t even know I could like guys.”  Once he gets started, the words keep pouring out.  He should get an award for this performance.

Okay.  Bold, right?  Seungri takes Jiyong by the hand and gives him what he hopes is Seunghyun’s most dashing smile, but then he dials it back a bit because he’s pretty sure he overshot dashing and wound up somewhere in sleazy.  “I like you, Jiyong.”

Jiyong finally looks his way, and Seungri’s heart breaks at how much fragile hope there is in Jiyong’s eyes.  “What about those girls last night?  Are you sure you didn’t like them?”

“No, of course not,” he rushes to deny.  “Girls.  Yuck.”  He wrinkles up his nose.  “That’s gross.  s are gross.  They’re all squishy and round and…squishy.”

Jiyong raises one slender eyebrow at him.

“I’m serious.  I don’t like them.  At all.  I like….”  He waves one hand in the general direction of Jiyong’s crotch.  “I like your .  It’s my favorite.”  He smiles to emphasize his point.

Jiyong gives him a strange look, and Seungri holds his breath, afraid he’s bungled the whole thing, and then Jiyong bursts out laughing.  “You’re so weird.”  And god help him, Jiyong doesn’t sound upset about that in the slightest.

Seungri mentally breathes a sigh of relief.  He just knew he could fix this.  “So does this mean you forgive me?”

The smile on Jiyong’s face fades as he looks back ahead.  “You can’t just do this.  You can’t blow me off and then expect me to come running back.”

“I know.”

“I deserve better than that.”

“I know,” Seungri repeats.  “You deserve the best.  That’s why I think I should be your boyfriend.”

Jiyong laughs before shooting him a shrewd look.  “So you think you’re the best?”

“Yes,” Seungri says, dead serious.  He saw the way Seunghyun was with Jiyong last night; his hyung isn’t going to find anyone better.  “So what do you say?  Can I be your boyfriend?”

Jiyong pretends to mull that over, or at least, Seungri thinks he’s pretending from that coy little smile he’s wearing.  “I guess so,” he finally answers, as if it’s some huge burden.  Jiyong tightens his hand around Seungri’s and rests his head against his shoulder.  “You’re lucky you got to me when you did, though.  I was this close to developing a crush on Seungri.”  Jiyong shows Seungri the few short millimeters between the pads of his thumb and forefinger to illustrate just how close.

Seungri nearly chokes.  “What?”

“Yeah,” Jiyong teases.  “He was really sweet to me last night.  I was about to give up on you and go after him.”

Seungri tries to laugh, but it comes out all awkward.  Well, at least now he knows Jiyong doesn’t just like Hyung for his body.

“I’m glad you came around, though,” Jiyong whispers, and Seungri freezes when the words waft gently over his skin.  He turns his head minutely to the side to see Jiyong gazing up at him through hooded eyes, and then Jiyong’s gaze drops down to his mouth, and wait a minute, Seungri knows this mood.  This is the mood that happens right before a kiss.

Jiyong wets his lips and leans in, and , Seungri did not think this far ahead.  He quickly turns his head so Jiyong’s lips land on his cheek.  “It’s too soon for that!” he squawks.  “Much too soon!” 

Jiyong gives him a wide-eyed look, and damn it, Seungri has to hurry up and smooth this over before he wrecks everything all over again.  “Our first kiss should be special,” he reasons.  “I should at least take you out on a date first.”

Jiyong’s eyes shutter.  “Are you sure being with me is something you want?  If you don’t even want to kiss me…”

“I do,” Seungri cuts him off before that train of thought can get very far.  “I want to.  I want you.  I like your , remember?  I just…need a little bit of time.  Okay?”

Jiyong smiles softly at him and ruffles his hair.  “Okay.” 

Jiyong pulls himself back up to his feet and helps Seungri up to his, and then they head back down the stairs together, Seungri with an extra skip in his step.  Seunghyun’s gonna be so happy.  Seungri just got him a boyfriend.

Seunghyun is not happy. 

Jiyong has one arm looped around Seungri’s when they get back to the practice room, and Seungri waggles his eyebrows at Seunghyun and gives him a thumbs up.  Jiyong swats Seungri on the before taking his spot at the front of their formation.

Seunghyun’s eyes narrow.  “What did you do?” he hisses.

“Don’t worry, I fixed it.  You guys are a couple now.”  Seungri beams proudly.

Seunghyun’s face pales.  His head whips over to where Jiyong’s shooting coy looks at Seungri via the mirror.

”Maknae,” Seunghyun growls, yanking Seungri toward him so no one else will hear.  “You said you were just going to apologize.”

“I did apologize,” Seungri defends.  “And then I asked him if you could be his boyfriend.  You’re welcome.”  Seriously, Seungri doesn’t get why this is such an issue.  Seunghyun should be thanking him.  “It was really easy to get him to say yes.  I think he really likes you.”

Seunghyun’s ire rushes out of him.  “Really?”  He looks just as hopeful as Jiyong did up on the roof.

Seungri smiles at him.  His hyungs are hopeless.  It’s a good thing they have Seungri.  “Yes, really.”  He pats Seunghyun on the shoulder.  “Congratulations, Hyung, you just got your first boyfriend.  Now I just hope I can keep him from kissing me until we get you back in your body.”

Seungri yelps when Seunghyun seizes him by the collar and yanks him down to eye level.  “Don’t you dare kiss him.”

“I don’t want to,” Seungri hisses as he tries to pry Seunghyun’s fingers from his shirt.  “But he’s persistent.”

“No kissing,” Seunghyun growls.

“Okay,” Seungri huffs back.  God.  It’s not like it’s his fault Jiyong wants his body.  Seunghyun should blame himself for that. 

All at once, Seungri remembers where they are.  He peeks to the side and sees the other members and Jaewook staring at them.  Seungri forces out a laugh and pastes a wide smile across his face, smacking Seunghyun lightly on the shoulder to draw his attention over to their audience.

Seunghyun follows his gaze and freezes.  His hands fly away from Seungri as if he’s been burned.

“Everything okay?” Youngbae asks.

Seungri hooks his arm around Seunghyun’s shoulders and laughs off Youngbae’s concern.  “Everything’s fine,” he says, pinching Seunghyun’s cheek.  “Just playing with my dongsaeng.  Isn’t he cute?”

“Adorable,” Jaewook says, in a voice that says he thinks it’s anything but.  “Now quit messing around and show me what you got.”  He starts the music, and Seungri and Seunghyun shuffle over to their places.

Jiyong sneaks looks at him throughout the rest of practice.

When they get home that night, Jiyong seems awfully intent on getting him alone.  “Come on,” he says, tugging on Seungri’s hands and backing meaningfully toward the studio room.  “I want to show you how my new song’s coming along.”

Seungri’s pretty sure that’s not what Jiyong wants to show him.

He turns pleading eyes Seunghyun’s way.  Help.

Seunghyun’s eyes light in understanding.  “I want to hear it,” he pipes up.

“Yes!”  Seungri jumps on the life preserver Seunghyun’s just tossed him.  “Come listen.  It’s so good.”  Oh man, it’s probably that same beat from the other day that made Seungri want to bludgeon his brain.

Jiyong looks irritated about him inviting in a third wheel, but he doesn’t say anything.  They all crowd into the little room, and Jiyong takes a seat in his usual chair.  While he fires up the computer, Seungri and Seunghyun sit down on the small sofa behind him.

Jiyong starts the song, and it’s just as Seungri feared.  It is the same beat from last time.  “I added more bass,” Jiyong says, and Seungri smiles and pretends like he can tell.

Then Jiyong pulls his notebook in front of him and starts rapping the lyrics on the page.  Out of the corner of his eye, Seungri can see Seunghyun bobbing his head, listening intently. 

When Jiyong’s done, Seunghyun takes the notebook from him and grabs a pencil.  “What if you tried this?” 

Jiyong leans over to read the notes Seunghyun’s just made.  “Since when do you write lyrics?”

Seunghyun freezes, realizing the goof he’s just made.  “Since now, I guess.”

Jiyong starts the track again, and then he leans even closer to Seunghyun so he can read the new lyrics while he tries them out.  Seungri’s eyes narrow when Seunghyun brushes his arm against Jiyong’s.  The movement is subtle, so subtle that Seunghyun probably doesn’t even realize he did it, but it makes Seungri frown.  If his hyung isn’t careful, he’s going to steal his new boyfriend away from himself.

After a while, it starts getting late, and Seunghyun gets up to go use the bathroom.  The moment he’s gone, Seungri has a lapful of Jiyong.  “Finally,” Jiyong murmurs.  “I have you all to myself.”

Seungri looks frantically down to where Jiyong’s straddling him, groin pressed against his lower tummy.  “He’ll be right back!”

“So what?” Jiyong whispers huskily.  “I’m not doing anything.  I’m just sitting here.”

Yes.  Sitting.  With his on Seungri's – or Seunghyun’s – .  Seungri tries to subtly shift away.  “Are you sure you’re comfortable there?”  He pats the space beside him.  “I think the sofa’s softer.”

Jiyong grinds his down on Seungri’s lap.  “I don’t mind if it's hard.”

Seungri squeaks and shoves Jiyong to the other end of the sofa.  He keeps his hands braced on Jiyong’s shoulders so he can’t worm his way back over.  “Marriage!” he shouts, nonsensically.  “We have to wait till marriage!”

Jiyong’s eyes fly wide open.  “Marriage?”

Seungri nods his head rapidly up and down.  “Yes, marriage.  True love waits.”  Except he’s pretty sure Jiyong’s not going to buy that because Seunghyun had that one girlfriend for a year, and he’s fairly certain they had .

Seungri thinks he’s just about botched things when Jiyong gets a thoughtful look on his face and starts worrying at his bottom lip.  “What’s really going on?”

Seungri fumbles for some kind of explanation for his freak out.  “Um, you know I’ve never been with a guy, right?  And I heard it really hurts, so…”

Jiyong giggles.  Seungri watches warily as Jiyong slides back in close.  “It doesn’t hurt,” Jiyong says.  “Not if you do it right.  But you don’t need to worry about that.”  Jiyong presses his lips right against the shell of Seungri’s ear.  “I’d rather have you inside me.”

Seungri’s jaw drops.  Jiyong-hyung is filthy.  He has filthy thoughts and a filthy mouth, and Seungri sincerely hopes Seunghyun knows what he’s in for.

“Uh,” Seungri coughs.  “As nice as that sounds, that’s not the only problem.”

Jiyong sits back and peers at him curiously, waiting.  Seungri tries desperately to think of something else, anything else, but he’s got nothing.  He’s just about to blurt out the truth, that he’s not really Seunghyun at all, when Jiyong’s expression gentles.

“Is this about your body?”

His body?  Right.  Seunghyun is super weird about his body.

“We don’t have to do anything,” Jiyong says.  He brushes the hair back from Seungri’s face.  “Not until you’re ready.”

That’s how Seunghyun finds them.  Sitting together on the sofa with Jiyong’s hand in Seungri’s hair.  Seunghyun’s eyes narrow into suspicious slits.  An angry muscle slides along his jaw.

Seungri drops his head back onto the back of the sofa and groans.  He’s gonna die.  Jiyong’s gonna molest him, and Seunghyun’s gonna kill him for it.

He can’t win no matter whose body he’s in.