Author’s Note: I don’t own anything.

/own thoughts/
italics – past lives

Would you listen to me, even if what I said was the truth?
 

Bom glared into space, her arms crossed stubbornly at the chest. Chaerin sighed. She recognized the signs of an oncoming onslaught.

"Keep your stupid boy toy's stupid friends away from me!"

Chaerin winced slightly at the sheer volume of her sister's voice, raising an elegant eyebrow. "Oh? Who?"

"Don't you OH me, Chaerin," Bom huffed. "You know damn well who I'm talking about."

Shrugging, Chaerin ducked over her reading again. "You know, Seungri is my boyfriend. Not my slave. He does what he does. And if he wants to bring TOP around, there's really nothing I can do about it."

"Well, then...tell Seungri he can never come over again!" Chaerin leapt up, eyes flashing.

"BOM!"

Youngbae cheerfully waltzed into the room, took one look at the mutinous expressions on both of his sister's faces and tried to sneak back out again. No such luck.

"Youngbae, tell Chaerin that her stupid boyfriend is not wanted at the house!"

"Chaerin, Bom says..."

He trailed off helplessly as he received a glare from the girl.

"Youngbae, please inform your sister that it really is none of her business whether or not my boyfriend comes over. And furthermore, she shouldn't be mad at my Seungri for Choi's actions."

Youngbae cringed at the incredulous gasp that ripped out from his younger sister's mouth.

"Bom, Chaerin says that..."

"YOUNGBAE, SHUT UP!"

Youngbae gladly complied.

"How dare you!" Bom shrieked, causing both siblings to wince again. "It's stupid Seungri's fault that Choi even came to the house! Now he knows where we live!"

"Oh, no! Call the police! Radio the army! Someone knows where we live! He could have looked it up in the phone book, genius!"

"CHAERIN--"

Youngbae held up his hands in hopes of placating his two sisters. "Chae, Bom, why don't we sit down and...and have some tea?" Inspired, he picked up the teapot that his mother had left on the table.

Bom turned and fixed him with a killing stare. Youngbae could only blink as his sister's eyes deepened with what he could only hope was rage.

"I. Hate. Tea."

"You're acting like a baby, Bom. Stop snapping at Youngbae!"

"Thanks, Chae--"

"WAS I TALKING TO YOU?"

Youngbae laughed nervously, looking frantically for a way out.

Dara leaned against the doorway of the living room. "I'm sorry, is my studying getting in the way of your screaming match?"

"Dara, tell Chaerin to leave me alone!"

"Dara, tell Bom to grow up!"

"Youngbae, tell Chaerin to stop being a b--"

"BOM!"

"Chaerin, Bom says to stop..."

"SHUT UP, YOUNGBAE!"

Youngbae rolled his eyes to the heavens for mercy. His twin simply left the room.

Jiyong blinked, raising a hand to his throbbing head and trying to recount his steps.

/How did I get on the floor?/

You fainted.

"I did no such thing," he retorted, vaguely offended.

You did. After you screamed like a little girl.

Jiyong opened his mouth to fire a sharp response, but clamped it shut, his eyes growing impossibly wide. He was talking to himself. To a voice inside his head. He vaguely remembered a man in a pink shirt talking to him. He raised a shaking hand to rub at his tired eyes.

"Why are you doing this?" Jiyong whispered, letting his head fall back onto the cool wood of his floor. "Who are you?"

You.

Jiyong felt a sharp prick behind his eyes. And he screamed.

"Jiyong!" Her eyes were filled with laughter as she smoothed her dress. She had sakura petals in her hair. He loved her desperately.
Dara. Here was happiness. Peace. Love.

"G-Dragon!" Hyun Suk’s eyes blazed with fire. "Do you think you can defeat me so easily!" Here was annoyance, danger. A grudging respect.

"Yo! Jiyong!" Brown eyes were alight with mischief, and the boy ran a bandaged hand through his impossibly messy hair. Here was friendship. Seungri.

"Jiyong!" Dark eyes, filled with determination. "I'm not a child! I'm a fighter, like you!" Here was the little brother that he had lost. Daesung.

"Ji!" Bom.

"Jiyongie!" Chaerin.

"Jiyong!"

Black eyes were lifeless there, accusing as she stared up at him, a knife buried in her chest. A quick 'x' mark carved on her flawless skin.

"Jiyong!"

A dagger in her heart, mocking him. Blood on the floor. Blood on his hands. Her blood.

Here was failure.

"Jiyong!"

He screamed.

"Pabo."

Jiyong groaned as he felt the foot make contact with his side. He could vaguely make out the fact that he had his hands pressing against the sides of his head as if to keep his thoughts from spilling out onto the floor.

The foot nudged him again, insistent. "Pabo." The voice was creeping towards concern.

"Hyung?"

"What the hell are you doing, squealing like a little girl?" Lee Tablo raised a thick eyebrow as he studied his pupil. "I thought you were dying."

/So did I/

"Sorry," Jiyong mumbled, rubbing his head as he slowly sat up. The man merely grunted and turned, heading for the kitchen to root through the refrigerator.

"Oi, Pabo, what were you doing on the floor?" Tablo's voice boomed like thunder from the kitchen.

"I...I don't know," Jiyong muttered. "Uh...Sleeping?"

Tablo's only reply was a disbelieving snort.

The doorbell rang, causing Jiyong's throbbing head to shout in protest. , the Jiyong stumbled to the hallway and warily propping it open. Seungri's step brother eyed him, his gaze snapping with indignation.

"Jiyong."

Jiyong ran a hand through his hair, wondering why the boy had come all the way to his apartment. "Daesung? What are you doing here?"

Daesung ducked his head, letting his unruly hair fall into his eyes.

And punched Jiyong in the stomach.

"Yo, TOP." Seungri slurred the name around a soju bottle. "What happened at Chaerin’s house? You walked out like you had seen a ghost."

The quiet man shook his head and took another sip of tea. "I don't want to talk about it."

Seungri nodded, tipping dangerously in his chair. "S'all right, s'all right."

TOP viewed the intoxicated boy warily, judging mentally whether or not he should call a cab or drag the boy home. A cab would be expensive, he mused, and sticking a drunk Seungri with the bill would be simply unfair...

"Bom there, she's a firecracker, eh?" Seungri hiccuped, attempting to nudge his companion in the side with a knowing wink. He missed and nearly toppled forward, saving himself at the last instant by latching on to the table. It shook dangerously, and TOP grabbed his teacup before it shattered on the floor. Seungri laughed uproariously.

TOP felt his eye twitch.

/Then again.../

"Seungri, I don't want to talk about it," TOP murmured. Sighing, he rose and rolled his shoulders. Carrying an inebriated Seungri to the car was not going to be a fun task.

Seungri looked hazily around as TOP shouldered him, supporting his slack weight. "Eh? Whazzat?"

"Seungri, just faint or something," TOP grit out.

"Don't know what's got you and Kwon in a twist," Seungri mumbled, his head lolling forward. "Just because the girls aren't leaping into your arms doesn't mean that you two should be pathetic enough to give up so easily."

TOP froze, dropping Seungri to the ground in a heap.

"Hey!"

The other boy leaned down and gripped Seungri's arm. His eyes were sharp and to the point. "What did you just say?"

Seungri smiled lazily, letting his eyes flutter shut. Fighting frustration, TOP shook him, shouting his name.

Seungri opened his eyes, annoyance clear in their swirling depths. TOP nearly let the boy fall again in his shock.

"What, did you honestly think that it was going to be that easy?"

Sometimes the best advice comes from a fool.

Happy weekend, applers! Fighting!