XIII

          Dinner with everyone that night was just the slightest bit awkward.

                Youngbae must have had some idea of what was going on; he’d known Jiyong since forever. And he wasn’t stupid. Maybe that’s why he carefully evaluated Jiyong’s never-faltering grin of contentment, added it to the way Seunghyun couldn’t seem to peel his eyes off of his fellow rapper, and divided the whole equation by how they both didn’t complain once about how Seungri had burnt everything that was on the table to eat, slowly connecting the dots and finding the entire thing slightly off.

          He’d either finally reached the right conclusion or he’d gotten sick of the food himself, because he finally got up after Daesung and the terrible cook, leaving the new couple alone.

          The sound of his dishes thudding in the sink and his knees cracking faintly as he walked was oddly amplified in the hallway, and the two men left in the kitchen carefully avoided each other’s eyes until his door was shut.

          As soon as Seungri too was safely in the bathroom with the shower obscuring his hearing of the goings-on in the kitchen, Jiyong spoke up. “How are we going to tell the others?”

          Seunghyun blinked. “… We’re telling the others?”

          “Wouldn’t it be worse if we didn’t?”

          Seunghyun stayed silent, redirecting his attention to his plate, pushing around a blackened carrot with his fork.

          “Say we don’t tell them.” Jiyong put his own utensils down and leaned forward seriously, the look of being a leader who thought rationally overcoming him. “We get into a fight. It’s probably at least three times worse than any fight we’ve had before, because of… This.” The corner of his mouth twitched up as his eyes met Seunghyun’s, a soft blush creeping up from his neck, but he recomposed himself. “And it’s bad. Really bad. And neither of us can explain why it’s so bad, because – “

          “So basically this week all over again.” Seunghyun interrupted, grabbing Jiyong’s smaller hand under the table because he’d started feeling sick to his stomach.

          “Well yeah, but… I think it’d be worse.” Jiyong bit his lip and looked at his socks, not wanting to think about it himself but knowing that it was too important to ignore.

          There was a pause as both men thought carefully about what the consequences could be, gripping onto each other’s fingers for sanity and refusing to let any of their happiness slip away.

          “So… How are we telling them?” Seunghyun said slowly, and Jiyong couldn’t help smirking a little.

          “And I’d thought you’d take longer to convince.”

          “You’re right, though.”

          “Since when have I ever not been right?” Jiyong returned cheekily, resting his elbow on the table.

          At this point Seunghyun just couldn’t stand the look on Jiyong’s face paired with his airy voice and confident posture any longer. He hardly threw the hallway a backward glance before leaning forward and closing the space between him and his best friend, kissing him carefully and sending the clear message, “You’re always right, now shut up.”

***

          Youngbae looked up from his book at the sound of his door opening without any warning knock, originally preparing to bark at Seungri to leave him alone and do the dishes himself for the third time. But the somber looks on GD and TOP’s faces startled him immediately instead, and he didn’t even mark his place as he tossed the paperback on his nightstand quickly. “… What’s up?”

          Jiyong wasted no time in hopping onto his bed and curling up next to him. “We need to tell you something.”

          Seunghyun made a noise of agreement from his awkward post at the edge of the bed, gnawing at the inside of his right cheek.

          “Shoot.” Crossing his arms, Youngbae decided that they were at least in the room together, and really, what could have possibly gone wrong since dinner? It couldn’t be bad news. But he was still nervous.

          “See… Um…” Some of Jiyong’s purpose faded immediately as he started tracing a finger in a circle along the fabric of Youngbae’s comforter, growing nervous. “Seunghyun and I… We’re…”

          “Youngbae, I wouldn’t talk to Jiyong last week because he told me he loved me.” Seunghyun filled in bluntly, his expression blank; his limbs stock-still because of how much Jiyong was squirming. He decided that it was his turn to man up and confess. “And when I came to talk to you yesterday because everything was okay, it’s because…” He took a breath and let his eyes flick to Jiyong before watching Youngbae closely. “I told him that I love him, too.”

          There was hardly a pause of Youngbae nervously biting his lip in confusion before he broke out in a grin, throwing off his covers to encompass Jiyong in a tight bear-hug. “And you never told me?” He laughed, and Seunghyun heated up with confusion, looking at Jiyong again for confirmation that everything was okay before he finally relaxed, smiling himself.

          “I mean, I would’ve, but I didn’t…” Jiyong squirmed under Youngbae’s tight grip on him, beaming at his approval. “I didn’t know what you would have thought. So I never… I never said anything.”

          “Well, you won’t make that same mistake twice, will you?”

          “Evidently not.”

When Youngbae finally let go he reclined back onto his pillows, sizing up the pair before him and sighing. “That’s great, you guys… I mean… It’s weird, but… As long as you both stay dedicated and everything –“

“I could never hurt Ji.” Seunghyun said simply.

“Me either.” Jiyong met his hyung’s eyes and his lips parted slightly, a gentle expression at first glance, but packed with emotion at a closer look.

And because of this, Youngbae hid under the crook of his elbow. “Oh god, you two. Okay, okay, no one will be betraying the other, I got it. No need to look at each other like that, that’s just weird…”

Jiyong chuckled and swatted his elbow lightly, coaxing him out of hiding.

“Are you telling the maknaes?” Youngbae’s arm still rested on his forehead, just in case his friends decided to show affection again. “Have you told them already?”

“No, we haven’t…” Jiyong poked Youngbae in the stomach with a smirk, knowing he’d be heartbroken if they hadn’t confided in him first. “And I don’t know, we just agreed to tell you for now.”

Youngbae smirked smugly before sighing. “Well, I don’t know… I mean, you should tell them, eventually, but maybe you should wait awhile.”

“That’s what... Yeah, that’s what I was thinking.” Seunghyun offered.

Sticking his tongue in his cheek, Jiyong nodded. “Yeah, we’ll give it some time… But if they ask or anything… Yeah.”

All three nodded slowly, blank-eyed.

The silence that followed was actually silent; it didn’t roar in Seunghyun’s ears and it sure didn’t make him want to scream. It was nice.

“For the record… I knew.” Youngbae said suddenly, tucking his hands behind his head so his elbows stuck out, smirking triumphantly.

“What do you mean, you knew?” Jiyong crossed his arms.

“Well, I mean, I kind of knew. I was getting there.”

“You’re stupid.”

“I’m stupid?”

“You’re stupid.”

Youngbae just rolled his eyes and pushed Jiyong off of his bed, grabbing his book and fiddling through it to find his page with a long-suffering sigh. “You have fun, kids.” He winked.

Jiyong pushed himself off of the floor and snatched Seunghyun’s hand to get him to stand up, pulling him quickly out of Youngbae’s room, laughing witlessly.

He guessed these kinds of things just happened when you’ve known and have been constantly living with a person for the majority of your life. Things that were supposed to be weird just weren’t weird.

***

          A pair of arms constricted around Seunghyun’s waist and he woke up groggily, feeling the weight against his chest and remembering it as someone he wanted to be there before his woozy reflexes kicked in and he shoved them away from his body. He kept his eyes shut and tried to go back to sleep, but his companion was already very much awake and had started poking him and nuzzling him and kissing him and attempting to get him up.

          “Why are you awake?” Seunghyun managed to get out, rubbing the sleep out of his eye and returning the last kiss that had been pressed to his lips effortlessly.

          “Because it got light in here.”

          “It’s completely dark, Ji.”

          “Your eyes are closed!” Jiyong whined, poking his cheek lightly and squeezing his hip, forcing his hyung’s eyes open. “See?” Sitting on his knees, Jiyong pointed to (and traced) the single strip of sunlight that had snuck in past Seunghyun’s shades and angled across his chest, where Jiyong’s face had been moments before.

          “It does that every morning.” Seunghyun shrugged and pulled Jiyong back down to him in a fluid movement, turning sideways so their bodies were entirely pressed together.    “You get used to it.”

          Jiyong squirmed, laughing lightly. “Why don’t you just fix it?”

          Instead of answering, Seunghyun buried his face into Jiyong’s shoulder and kissed the soft skin under his ear gently, letting his eyes close again.

          This only distracted the perfectionist for a second, though he shivered and wove their fingers together and pressed himself closer. “I mean, hyung… You could just turn your bed around.”

A/N: IOHAUGSDYFTAIDSYGUIAHSODJFPKASDPOJIDHUGA.
And that doesn't properly describe my feelings right now because   o h  m y  g o d  this is done.
This is done. 32.113 words. It's done. I'm done. I can't.
And you guys stuck with me through all of it. And it's done.
I must say that I didn't know if I'd actually finish this. Once I realized that this was going to go on way longer than I had expected I wasn't sure if I could carry it through. But you guys have kept me so motivated and kept my GTOP feels so overpowering, that oh my god I wrote this in three months which compared to my other records before is PRETTY DAMN GREAT.
This is the third fic I've actually completed, and by far the longest. I'm so so so glad that you guys have enjoyed it, and I can not stress enough how much your feedback has meant to me over the past months.
I'm definitely coming back to GTOP in the future (maybe a sequel oneshot for this...?) and I have a Taoris gearing up to get started.
Thank you again so much for reading and I hope you'll come see me again soon~

... #dead