Youngbae opened his door just enough to poke his head out, and peered cautiously down the hall. He looked both ways twice before silently stepping out of his bedroom and shutting the door. He wasn’t ready to see anyone just yet, mentally or physically, which was why the singer was creeping out of his room in the wee hours of the morning, long before the sun -or anyone else- was up.

                Youngbae sighed softly, sadly, wearily. He hadn’t dreamed of Seungri the night before, hadn’t dreamed of anything. He’d merely sunk into the deep, dark, endless void of unconsciousness. When the conflicted man had awoken the next morning he’d made up his mind and had resolved to stick to his decision. Seungri was just a phase. The feeling that made his heart pound in his chest was just infatuation. He’d get over this crazy, stupid, wrong, attraction to his dongsaeng soon enough and that’d be that. It wasn’t worth shattering everything he knew for a temporary attraction, a temporary feeling, a temporary situation. Even if he acted on his insane feeling, nothing good would come of it. It wouldn’t work out. It couldn’t.

                The weary man ran a hand through his hair tiredly and took another step down the empty hallway before violently crashing to the floor, face first. He groaned and sat up before turning around grumpily to glare at whatever had tripped him. Youngbae's frustrated glare met Seungri’s wide-eyed, tear-stained gaze. The older man’s gaze immediately softened and guilt rose in his throat as he took in Seungri’s appearance. The dark circles under Seungri’s eyes had darkened and deepened, and dry tear tracks showed themselves against his clear skin.

                Seungri felt his eyes moisten and he silently cursed himself for being such a cry baby. The younger man hardly believed he wasn’t dreaming, wasn’t going to wake up to the disappointments of reality. Seungri threw his arms around his hyung’s neck and pressed his face into the space between the older man’s collarbone and neck, letting silent tears wet Youngbae’s shirt as his shoulders shook. Youngbae was taken aback, but gently rubbed soothing circles across Seungri’s back. “Youngbae-hyung,” sniffled Seungri piteously. The crying man drew back from Youngbae’s arms; as nice as it was to be held, he needed to make sure that his hyung was alright. Seungri took one look at Youngbae’s face and felt the guilt hit him. Youngbae’s lip had split when he’d face-planted after tripping over Seungri. “I’m sorry, Hyung,” Seungri said sadly.

                Youngbae stared at Seungri as though the younger man had grown an extra head and then told him he was perfectly normal. “For what?” He asked, confused. If anyone should be apologizing it should be him, especially considering Seungri’s reaction to his reappearance.

                “Hyung… your lip,” Seungri said reluctantly, staring at the floor.

                “My lip?” Youngbae asked stupidly.

                Seungri nodded mutely and stretched out a hand, gently placing one cool finger on the split in the older man’s lip. Youngbae struggled to stick to his decision as he looked into Seungri’s warm, worried eyes, but reminded himself of all the reasons not to act on his stupid feelings. There were so many reasons not to act on them, and so few to act. Youngbae caught his dongsaeng’s hand and drew it away from his face, doing his best not to look into the younger man’s guilt-filled gaze. “Hyung… What can I do?” Seungri asked, wanting to do everything he could to help his hyung, the man he had fallen in love with.

                Youngbae screwed up his courage and pushed his conscience to the back of his mind, once again reminding himself that it was for the best. The older man hardened his gaze and focused it on Seungri’s worried one. “Nothing. Leave me alone. This is your fault. You shouldn't have been on the floor where I could trip over you. ” he said coldly, and stood up quickly, walking down the hall and disappearing into the bathroom. Youngbae did his best to keep the moisture in his eyes from falling, but couldn’t. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t forget seeing Seungri’s confused eyes fill with tears once more and the concern in his them turn to hurt. He couldn’t forget seeing the younger sitting frozen on the floor in the hallway. He couldn't forget seeing Seungri hurt because of him.  The image was burned into his eyelids and his heart. 

A/N: Thank you all for your lovely comments, they make me smile. :D

Thank you especially to FishyHaeFishy, whose comment had exactly what I was looking for. :)