The blond didn’t open his eyes until the brunette was gone. When he did open them, the toilet bowl seemed to be opening up to swallow him whole, and the vertigo the image produced had him retching until there was nothing but bitter yellow bile left to expel. The snot and tears came faster then, and Jiyong wasn’t sure if he was crying because he pitied himself or Seunghyun more.
Five hours, six extra-strength Tylenol, and half a hamburger later found Jiyong with his head buried in Youngbae’s shoulder on the flight back to Korea. He’d thrown a blanket over his face to block out the lights in the cabin, but the older man seemed indifferent to his misery. And Jiyong was miserable. His stomach had settled, but his head continued to throb, and he was afraid to take more Tylenol lest he bleed out internally.
“Hyung, can you please close your shade? I’m dying here,” he whined. He pulled the blanket from his head and twisted his fingers in Youngbae’s sleeve, pouting in what he hoped was a cute way. His mohawked friend sighed, but slid the cover on his window down.
“You know you’re going to have to tell me what’s up with you and Seunghyun-hyung, right?” he asked, prodding his dongsaeng in the cheek he'd puffed out in his attempt to manipulate the older man.
Jiyong froze for a fraction of a second before he realized there was no way Youngbae meant what he thought he did. He was more or less positive that Seungri had kept what he knew about his hyungs on the hush-hush, if only out of sympathy for Seunghyun, or whatever it was that had caused him to be glued to the rapper's side for the last ten days.
"We're just on the outs. He's... I'm..." he sighed, collecting his thoughts. He had wanted to talk to Youngbae about Seunghyun, but not like this. "I guess you could say we're having a difference of opinion. We'll get over it."
The dancer looked down his nose at Jiyong and raised an eyebrow. "Wow. You're a terrible liar."
"Oh, whatever. It's not that big of a deal. People fight."
"But you and TOP-hyung were really getting along until this tour."
Jiyong groaned and pulled the blanket back up over his face.
"Can we not talk about this right now, please? I just want to drool on your shoulder for the next two hours."
Youngbae laughed and wrapped the blanket tight over Jiyong's face, successfully distracted from the conversation at hand. The younger man struggled briefly, but there was no heart in it. He gave up easily and let his head rest on his friend's muscled shoulder.
"I really do want to talk to you when we get home though, hyung," Jiyong murmured, subdued. "I need some advice, and things always seem to work out when I follow yours."
The older man leaned his head on top of Jiyong's fleece covered one and yawned. "Sure. We can talk about whatever you want when we get home, but now we sleep."
Both men closed their eyes and didn't open them again until the captain announced their arrival at Incheon 2 hours later.