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Outside it’s cold but Jiyong’s sure his fingers are colder.

The heater’s broken, and the maintenance team’s apologies don’t mean anything because they said tomorrow, tomorrow everything will be warm and cosy but right now it is not. Jiyong rolls over fitfully under his four blankets and glares at the stupid, useless and most importantly, cold metal box, hoping he’s recently been blessed with the power to fix broken objects with his mind.

But apparently not.

He rolls over again, props himself up on his elbows and glances at Youngbae’s bed. The boy is sleeping like a baby, and he’s only got two blankets. Jiyong is jealous. “What’s Youngbae’s bed got that mine doesn’t?” he wonders. And the answer’s simple, really: Youngbae.

And if Youngbae can’t come to Jiyong’s bed…

“J-Jiyong…?!”

Youngbae feels Jiyong’s hideously cold hands around his waist and sharp chin on his shoulder, and is rudely awoken from his dream.

“Shh, Bae. Sleep.” Jiyong sighs in content, breath tickling Youngbae’s collar. He’s a little too short for Jiyong’s liking, but hey, beggars can’t be choosers.

Youngbae’s silent, and Jiyong is ready to finally get some sleep. Until –

“A-Ah, Ji… I’m so sorry… B-But I don’t swing that way.”

Jiyong sleeps alone that night.
 

-0-

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Jiyong fills in the months between with an over sized pillow with entirely too many lumps and not enough curves. It’s not cold anymore but Jiyong needs something – somebody to hug after the long hours full of lyrics and caffeine. The nameless, faceless pillow will just have to do.

Tonight Big Bang are sleeping in an unfamiliar hotel and the pillow wouldn’t fit in the van. Jiyong pouts under the cold sheets and hugs himself.

“Jiyong hyung, are you still awake?”

It’s Daesung, the always-smiling-nice boy with the big nose, small eyes and gorgeous voice. Jiyong likes the talented kid, but he supposes everybody would.

“Yeah.”

“Are you missing your pillow?”

Jiyong blinks.

“Yeah,” he says, softly.

Daesung flashes a smile, eyes crinkling to happy crescents. “It’s okay, hyung!” He pauses, abashed. “If you like, you can hug me.” Daesung’s smile is shyer this time round. “You work really hard for Big Bang, Jiyong hyung...”

Jiyong blinks. And then smiles.

Seconds later, he is snuggling comfortably into Daesung’s bed and the sheets seem a lot friendlier. A minute passes and Jiyong is already dropping off to sleep –

Snnnnnrk.

Jiyong’s eyes fly open.

Snnnnnrk.

Jiyong can’t believe his luck (or rather, lack thereof). He forces his eyelids closed but unfortunately there’s no option to force his eardrums to do the same.

For a kid who sang like an angel, Daesung really didn’t snore like one.

“Hyung! How did you sleep last night?”

“Uh, fine...”

“If you ever need someone to hug, I’m here, hyung.”

“Thanks, Daesung. Maybe some other time.”

Jiyong smiles and suddenly he’s glad his pillow doesn’t have a face, or then it might snore too.
 

-0-

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Jiyong doesn’t even try hugging Seunghyun. The look Jiyong gets after simply wrapping his fingers around the elder’s arm is enough to deter him from going any further.

Jiyong tells himself that Seunghyun is probably terribly uncomfortable to hug anyway.

-0-

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Jiyong’s new roommate is called Seungri and he’s unbearably cute, Jiyong thinks. He watches the maknae set up his “Lego” collection on the desk, and bounces up and down on the lonely bed in the middle of the room.

“Your eyebags are terrible,” Jiyong laughs as Seungri straightens up the last statue. “Like a... like a panda’s.”

Seungri offers him a dry smile. “So I’ve been told.”

“Problems sleeping?”

Seungri shrugs.

“Well, I think they’re cute.”

Jiyong thinks Seungri is cuter still when he watches the boy curl up on his side and fall asleep, blissfully snore-free and just the right size. He can’t stop grinning when he finally pulls Seungri close to his chest like this and fits his chin into the gap between Seungri’s shoulder and neck and he thinks it fits well.

It takes Seungri a long moment before he starts squirming. “Hyung! Hyung, I can’t breathe...”

Jiyong loosens his arms by the tiniest bit and Seungri calms down by the same amount. “Hyuuuung,” he whines.

“Shh, Seungri-yah,” Jiyong mumbles into the wriggling shoulder.

“But-”

“Just for tonight, okay? Just tonight, my Seungri.”

He didn’t expect it but Seungri stops his flailing and gives a long, exaggerated sigh. “Just this once?”

“Just this once.”

Jiyong lied but Seungri doesn’t seem to mind.

-end-