The conversation they had on the rooftop was nice, but it didn’t mean that everything’s a-okay now. There were some questions answered, there were some feelings being resolved, but that was just the tip of a large iceberg, now risking to sink Seungri’s Titanic of sanity. 

He’s back to work now but Seungri was still as anxious as ever. He functioned off caffeine the full week last week trying to stay on top of things, so much so he pretty sure Taehee was ready to gather everyone around to conduct an intervention for his recent yet severe caffeine-addiction.

Thanks to Jiyong, no one bugged him about his one-week leave. Jiyong had been kind enough to tell everyone that Seungri was facing some family matters that he’d rather not talk about. So, that’s one burden off his shoulder, because seriously, he wouldn’t know what or how to say to them that he’s actually freaking out about his co-host (and one of their teammates) being the actual thing they’re after this whole time. 

You know the joke about when you’re looking for a treasure but the treasure’s actually the friendship you made along the way? It’s kinda funny, because their situation was kinda like that. Seungri could actually say that all this while that they had been looking for a demon and never found one, it turned out that the demon is the friend they made along the way. 

It’s only kinda funny, though, so maybe that’s why Seungri wasn’t laughing. 

Jiyong was also giving out so much energy during the commentary shooting for Alcatraz, complimenting his lack thereof, and that’s why it turned okay. And that’s how their season premiere miraculously could still be launched as planned, exactly on the same night they’re leaving for Mexico.

“You look like .” Jiyong commented as Seungri took a seat beside him at the boarding gate. 

Seungri scoffed, running his hand through the unshaved stubble on his chin, uneven and now more thicker than it looked on the mirror earlier. “It’s my evil look. Trying to attract more entities with this one.”

“Here’s one.” Jiyong pointed at himself and Seungri sighed a laugh, couldn’t believe he would walk right into that one. “You okay?” Jiyong asked finally. 

“I’m sleeping like .”

“Is it... me? Is it this?” Seungri turned to Jiyong as he gestured ambiguously between them, diligently keeping his voice low to avoid any unwanted party to eavesdrop. 

Seungri shook his head. 

“—cause you don’t owe me anything, Ri. What I feel—“

Seungri shook his head even faster, putting his hand on Jiyong’s arm to stop that man from talking. He glanced around, no one’s from their team seemed to mind them, busy with their own gadgets and so did the rest of the people.

“I like you. And I still do.” And that’s nothing but the truth.

Jiyong’s expression softened. “Then, what is it?“

Seungri was considering to answer truthfully, and he did want to, but their setting now stopped him. “I’ll tell you— we’ll talk, but not here.”

Thus, Jiyong stopped pressing him on that matter. Jiyong stopped talking entirely, in fact, and they sat in silence for the rest of their wait. Seungri assumed Jiyong stayed quiet on the plane as well, because he never heard Jiyong’s voice from where he was sitting as they’re not sitting together this time, but it could also be because Seungri basically passed out as soon as he buckled his seatbelt on. 

There’s no nightmares in the sky, apparently, and although the lack of nightmares in his sleep was rather suspicious, he’s just grateful he was able to get at least a few hours of rest before landing on a foreign land. 

When they arrived the next morning in Mexico City, their tour guide took them for some meal and showed them around the city. In between that, he’s also discussing about their main trip and asked them to be prepared for not just the destination, but also the journey itself. 

If Seungri could be honest, he didn’t hear any of it. He was out of it the whole day, only following the steps of people in front of him without ever questioning anything like he’s in a trance state. He almost felt bad, the tour guide was kind and thoughtful, but the jet-lag was kicking in, and the never-really-woke-up Seungri just couldn’t wait to sleep again.

When they reached their airbnb apartment with three rooms and Jiyong called the medium-sized room for both of them, however, his sleepiness went away, replaced by something burning in his stomach, far too close to his groin area for comfort.

“What are you doing?” Seungri hissed at Jiyong when he closed the door behind them.

“Relax.” Jiyong lazily tossed his outer wear to the only bed in the room. “They won’t think anything. The more we avoid it, the more suspicious we’ll be.” Jiyong added before walking away to the ensuite bathroom, leaving him alone staring at the bed they’re gonna share later tonight.

They shared beds before, couple of times in fact. Seungri even invited Jiyong to his bed once back then, but somehow this time felt different. 

As Seungri was feeling the fabric of the duvet, lost in his own thought, Jiyong came out with a new set of outfits. 

“You’re not changing? We’re all having dinner, aren’t we?” When Seungri just raised his shoulder and didn’t move from the bed, Jiyong continued, “let’s get moving, Ri, or they’re actually gonna think we’re ing in here.”

That made Seungri dashed to his feet.

*****

After dinner, they all went back to the apartment. Taehee suggested them to have a drink but Teddy rejected that idea, reminding him of what the tour guide said that it’s gonna be a long day tomorrow. Jaeho, being the only person to get a room of his own, already disappeared and never came back out again. 

Seungri too decided to stay in his room after taking a shower. Under the comfort and warmth of the duvet, he took out his phone to check the comments on the newly posted video. 

Most of the comments were expected. Some mirrored his excitement for their international season, some commented on Jiyong’s jokes at some point, and there’s also quite a few who mentioned how homeless he looked in the video that made Seungri snorted. He rubbed his now cleanly shaven beard instinctively as he scrolled further down and that’s when Jiyong walked out of the shower, hair still wet, some ends still dripping water.

Does a demon not know how hair dryer works or...

“Before you say anything—“ Jiyong said as he put on a long-sleeved shirt to top his loose pants, “—this is the look I’m going for.”

“Drowned rat?”

“Ooh, baby, to me.”

Seungri let out another snort, watching Jiyong tried to dry his hair only using his towel but gave up halfway and quickly joined him on the bed.

“You watching something?” Jiyong pointed at the TV, which connected to his laptop because Seungri wanted to watch something on Netflix earlier.

“Yeah—“ Seungri squinted at the monitor, “—I was watching, um—“ , what’s the name of the movie he clicked on earlier again? He thought to himself but decided he couldn’t be bothered by such a trivial thing and gave up, “—something.” 

Jiyong hummed a low laugh but before he could follow it up with anything, Seungri asked him first, “was there actually nothing in Alcatraz?”

Jiyong rested his back on the head of the bed, mirroring Seungri, before he answered. “There’s a few, but nothing freaky.”

“They weren’t responding to us, though.”

The TV was still on and he still hadn’t lock his phone, but this conversation with Jiyong was far more interesting than any of them. 

“They were lost souls and they’re relatively new so they still don’t understand what’s going on—“

Line in Seungri’s forehead deepened. “What do you mean new?”

Jiyong pulled on a smile, rather too ominous for Seungri’s liking. “What you think it meant.”

“Alcatraz got shut down years ago, though, like in 1960s or something...”

“Ri, your definition of new is completely different than mine.”

Oh. “Right. You’re ing ancient.”

Jiyong laughed. He’s staring at Seungri now and when Seungri looked back, Jiyong raised his eyebrows only slightly, looking like he’s expecting more questions to come and at the same time giving Seungri permission to do so.

And Seungri took it bravely. “You’re saying the new ones don’t understand their surroundings yet, right?”

“I was, before you cut me off like a .”

Seungri ignored that, continuing on with his actual question. “So, like, the older ones, they do?”

Jiyong pursed his lips. “They’re... more intelligent, or, more intuitive, I guess. After all, they got centuries to figure things out.”

“You talked to them?”

“To a few, yes.” 

“How?”

Jiyong exhaled, and Seungri held his breath, expecting a serious answer. “I open my mouth and words come out.”

It took a whole lot of patience for Seungri to not sigh. “If I fake my laugh now, would you reflect on how bad your joke is when you get home?” 

“Probably.”

“You know what—no. I’m not gonna. You’re gonna be here and think about what you just did.”

Jiyong scrunched up his face while giggling. “Brutal.”

Seungri maintained his poker face. “You still talk to them?”

“Why would I?” Jiyong laced his brows together. “Nowadays I just bust into their places and insult the out of them.”

Seungri couldn’t help but cackle at that but he sighed at the end of it. Jiyong asked him what is it, but Seungri said nothing, only changing his position to sitting cross-legs facing Jiyong. 

“There’s definitely something in Yeongdeok, right?” Jiyong shifted in his seating, looking he’s about to say something back but Seungri wouldn’t grant him the chance just yet. “What was it anyway? Was it... demon?”

“You don’t wanna know—you’re not ready for that.”

“Try me.”

Jiyong stared at Seungri for an uncomfortable amount of time, probably trying to analyse Seungri’s expression but Seungri wasn’t backing down. He stared back, and apparently it was enough for Jiyong to spill the truth.

“There’s an old spirit— a soldier.”

A soldier? “That explained the boots.”

Jiyong didn’t address that. “He knew about me— and he’s mad. Because— well you already because of why.” Jiyong scoffed and looked to the TV, almost as if he’s watching it, but those eyes were empty. “But then you came in the door and he left.”

“Left where?”

“Elsewhere.”

“What does that mean?”

Jiyong just shrugged, leaving Seungri unsatisfied. “What about now? What about here? Is there anything here? Is there anything in this house? In this room?” 

“Yeah.”

Seungri’s eyes widened. “There is?”

“Me.” Jiyong said it with a pop at the end. 

“You .” Seungri hit Jiyong’s shoulder lightly while Jiyong beamed at him. 

“In all seriousness, though, babe, don’t do that yourself. You’re gonna lose your mind. You’re not gonna be able to even open your eyes if you keep thinking about it.”

As Jiyong’s smile faded and the room went quiet because no one was talking, Seungri was sent back to what Jiyong said about Yeongdeok.

Jiyong’s right. Seungri wasn’t ready for that. Seungri wasn’t ready for any of this, but this particular instance stood out to him. 

It’s bound to happen, Seungri guessed, for someone to get in the way between Jiyong and him. His family already kinda did, but they’ll for sure will be more upset if they knew the truth. And the uproar of the public when the news break out would be unimaginable, but Seungri was at least expecting them. 

While, this? Well, this was on another level.

Someone— wait, no, something was mad of Jiyong and him, and tried to warn him off about it. Seungri couldn’t help but wonder, whether that thing was trying to warn him about Jiyong’s being a deadly creature, or about he better be prepared to get his soul damned and locked in whatever section of Hell Jiyong came crawling from, forever.

Seungri gulped, suddenly feeling the urgent dryness on his throat. His head’s now at the maximum capacity of thoughts. Some confusing, others terrifying but almost all making his blood pressure at the all-time high.

“Smoke gonna come out of your ears if you keep thinking that hard.”

Seungri huffed out a tired laugh. “er.” He replied quietly.

“Ri.”

“Yeah?”

“Talk to me.”

They had been talking but Seungri guessed Jiyong knew that none of them was actually the thing that kept Seungri in agony. It’s unavoidable now, he supposed, and like it or not, he gotta talk about the thing that had been looming overhead for too long.

“What are we gonna do about the show?”
 

For weeks now, Seungri had been dreading about this. It should be one of the first things that he asked but he’s been too afraid to hear the answer.

Jiyong’s just being Jiyong, however, and he merely shrugged at it. “Unless you don’t wanna do it, I suggest we go on as usual.”

“But you could see everything.”

“I could see everything before.”

“Which explains why you’ve acted like a total jackass in some places,” Seungri blurted out.

“That, and you tend not to be as afraid when I give you and call spirits s.”

Seungri couldn’t contain the smile that followed Jiyong’s statement. “That’s... really weirdly sweet.”

“They do call me the sweetest demon, down below.” Jiyong grinned and received an eye-roll as a reply. 

“So... we can still—you still want to be on the show?”

“If you’re thinking about replacing me with any other person, I will find them and their souls out through their mouths and eat it,” Jiyong told him seriously.

Seungri laughed, loud and startled. “You are ing scary sometimes, you know?”

Jiyong sat up, looking at the Seungri’s hand, looking like he’s wanna hold it, but hesitated. He instead went for Seungri’s pillow and fluffed it out. “Maybe we should go to sleep,” he said, but it’s clear Seungri wasn’t gonna listen to him, instead only straightened his back more.

“Do you sleep?”

“You’ve seen me sleep. We’ve slept together.”

Seungr