If one thing is for sure, it's that Jiyong is completely and entirely smitten with Dong Youngbae. 

After that day, behind the school, they became inseperable. Youngbae pulled him up, wiped his tears away, told him that there was nothing wrong with him. For the first few weeks of their friendship all Youngbae did was take care of him. Shield him from the comments at school, the fists. He would walk Jiyong home, and show up every morning to walk him to school. 

Slowly, they got to know everything about each other. Jiyong had become some what of an outcast at school, and by association so had Youngbae. Neither of them really minded though, because they had each other and that's what was important. 

Youngbae was outgoing, and confident. He knew what he wanted, and he went after it. He was everything Jiyong lacked, and it's what made the balance between them so good. Ji was insecure, but driven and hard working. They kept each other grounded. Focused. And they had fun. All anyone could talk about was their friendship, how close they were, the interests that they shared. So, when they both auditioned to be YG trainees, no one was that surprised. 

What they were surprised about, was that both of them got in. 

Jiyong could hear them talking, they way they spoke about him, the quiet kid that desperately needed a nose job. In contrast Youngbae was much better, and what he lacked in looks he made up for in charisma. His dancing was already a lot more advanced than Ji's, and his vocals were better by a long shot but that didn't discourage Jiyong. He didn't care, what mattered was that they both got in. 

What mattered was that they wree trainees together. As long as they had each other, what did it matter what everyone else said?

They spent the first few months cleaning. Spending late nights scrubbing floors and picking up the trash other idols left behind. It didn't matter, though, because they did it together. They'd make games out of it, chasing each other around with mops and when they finished early Youngbae would help Jiyong with his dancing in the practice room they weren't allowed to use yet.

"Do you think we'll be famous one day?" The question throws Jiyong off, and he takes his eyes off the spot in the floor he's been mopping and re-mopping for the past 10 minutes. Youngbae isn't usually the one with questions like these, he's the ony telling Ji everyday that someday people will know their names. 

For the first time, he considers that maybe Youngbae needs him just as badly as he needs Youngbae. "Of course we will!" He drops the mop to run over to Youngbae, throwing his arm around the others shoulder, "We're gonna be so famous. The best hip-hop duo, ever. We'll have trainee's cleaning the practice room for us one day."

His eyes cut over to look at the other boy, and when he sees the small smile pulling at his features Jiyong breaks out into a grin, feeling like he was successful. Youngbae is staring at him now, too, and the warmth he feels in his heart spreads throughout his body. In that one moment, staring at his best friend in the entire world, he realizes that he is completely and utterly in love. 

Jiyong learns that he's really good at acting, because every day he pretends he's not in love with Youngbae. Every day, he acts like nothing has changed, except for now he notices the warmth in his chest and the flutter in his stomach whenever Youngbae's skin touches his own. Now, he finds himself staring at Youngbae's lips in his free time, wondering what they would feel like pressed against his own. 

Yeah, he's an extraoridnary actor, because everyone know's that Jiyong is not subtle, but somehow he forces himself to be for Youngbae. He knows that Youngbae is straight, he knows that he also never wants to lose Youngbae. It probably sounds co-dependent, but Youngbae was the one that was there for Ji when he needed it most, and now he was the only one that Jiyong wanted  to be there for him. 

They'd had so many experiences together, so much history. He couldn't lose that. 

So years passed, and they stayed exactly how they'd always been. Inseperable. Except, Jiyong had gotten more confident now, and everyone was starting to notice. His newfound confidence gained him more attention from Hyunsuk, and from the producers at YG. It gave him a better shot at debuting. It all happened rather quickly, really. One week he was talking about producing some songs and the next Hyunsuk was asking him to think about stage names. 

Shortly after that, G-Dragon was born. 

It was kind of amazing, how he'd been able to create a persona for G-Dragon. A more confident, more bold, individual that acted like hot and was hot . It was all kind of surreal, and he was so swept up in every bit of it that he didn't notice Youngbae shying away. He didn't notice how reserved the other had been, he didn't notice that he hardly came around his dorm in the middle of the night with snacks he'd smuggled from manager hyung's room. 

He didn't notice, and that's what hurt Youngbae most of all.

A/N: i knoww these chapters are so short, but soon they'll get longer! these are all sort of just filler, in a way? needed background. Hope you enjoy!