Jiyong gaped. He blinked a few times, trying to gather his thoughts, but they were all swirling about his brain like a flock of frightened birds. The maknae was mad at him? For what? Ensuring the continued existence of Big Bang in the only way he'd known how? For saving him from ever witnessing something like the shower incident ever again? For sparing Seunghyun from worse pain when they inevitably had to break up further down the line, when both of them were so entwined as to not even be separate people anymore?
"I had to do it, Seungri-yah. Like you said, what if Daesung had found us? Or Youngbae-hyung? If I hadn't made a clean break, we'd probably still be sneaking around behind everyone's backs."
"That's what you call a clean break?! Seunghyun is still in love with you, hyung."
"Seunghyun-hyung," Jiyong corrected. Seungri rolled his eyes again.
"Whatever. I talked to Youngbae-hyung about it-"
"-You did what?!"
"- and he said that I should tell you that I'm sorry, and that I support you guys. Being together, I mean. And I’m not stupid, you know. He doesn’t know I was talking about you and TOP-hyung."
Jiyong was silent then. He stared at his hands, unsure where this conversation was going.
"I wanted to talk to both of you about this, but since you can't give hyung the time of day, I'm going to say what I should have said in the first place. Look, I- I'm sorry. I'm really sorry for the way I acted when... well, you know. I just didn't know what to do, and I was shocked, hyung! I'm sorry, but it really freaked me out, walking in on two of my best friends doing... that."
The blond his lips and picked at his nails. "You at apologizing, maknae." He smiled, just a tight-lipped grin, but it belied the seriousness in his tone. His eyes sought his friend’s, and when they met, Jiyong's crinkled.
"Anyway, I'm sorry that I was such a jerk, and I want you to know that I'm okay with it; with you and Seunghyun-hyung. He loves you, you know? Like, really loves you. I know you love him too-”
"Seungri," Jiyong warned.