Chapter Text
Omegas were shunned from the Korean music entertainment. In an industry where most idol groups were made of betas and alphas due to the high risk of omega idols' chances of being claimed and manipulated in heat, no company wanted to carry this risk.
Jiyong had always been convinced he would not present as an omega. It was impossible. He spent years training to become a performer, and nothing would stop him. But when the fated day came, and he found his second gender out, he had to create a solution to hide himself from everyone. This, however, did not turn out to be as easy as he had assumed.
*
Yang Hyun-suk gleamed with joy when he stared at his new creation. An idol group with young, talented boys who were currently practising their choreography for their concerts. BIGBANG was a group he had a lot of trust in. This was going to be their dream team, the group that would skyrocket his company. He could feel it in his blood. The boys were getting ready to release their first album soon, and there was a lot of prep to be done for upcoming concerts.
However, today seemed like a day when everything was wavering a bit. His lovely prodigy Jiyong was stumbling around with the steps, missing cues and forgetting lyrics, something that should have been trained out of the boy years ago. "What's going on, Jiyong? This seems very unlike you." Jiyong responded with a mumbled sorry, but Hyun-suk spotted the red cheeks. Could it be the nerves of it all? He knew that out of all the boys, Jiyong had wanted this the most. These past months have been filled with as many promotion opportunities as possible. The boys had been running from a TV appearance, to a radio show, to fan signings. Maybe they had been pushed a bit too much these past weeks. He looked over at Jiyong again. The kid looked slightly out of it, struggling to breathe, his cheeks flushed. It would not be good for them to become sick, especially this early on. The idol industry was unforgiving. It criticised loudly and moved on quickly. He needed to make sure that it was a group of healthy young alphas and their beta leader that were representing YG against the other entertainment companies, otherwise all dreams of BIGBANG would end before they even had a chance for a proper start. He cleared his throat and, with a wave of a hand, declared the end of the practice. "Enough. All of you, relax for the rest of the week. I want you to feel refreshed for next week, when the album comes out."
Everyone started to pick up their stuff once Hyun-suk walked out of the room. On their way out of the building back to their dorm, Daesung was almost bouncing with excitement. "We got the whole 4 days for ourselves! We should do something fun together." he grinned. Youngbae and Seunghuyn smiled back at him. "There's a new arcade just few blocks away? Should we do that? And then afterwards grab some food." The suggestion was met with happy cheer from Youngbae and a smile from Seunghuyn. Jiyong was walking slightly behind the trio, slowly shuffling his feet forward. Seunghuyn turned to glance at him. "You good Ji?" Their leader didn't look his best at the moment. "Just a bit sleepy, I think I need to sit this one out", Jiyong mumbled his response, but ended up stumbling on his steps. Seunghyun reached forward and grabbed his arm before he fell. "I think that might be quite a good idea." Jiyong blinked up at him while holding on to his arm, and Seunghuyn felt a sudden pang in his chest. Jiyong's eyes were gazing into his, lips slightly parted, and Seunghuyn could swear he smelt a hint of peaches creeping around in the air. He could sense his alpha side starting to react to something, but he had no idea to what. Jiyong quickly pulled himself out of Seunghyun's grip. "As you can see, I'm too tired to even walk straight. I will go have a nap, but you guys have fun, okay?" The rest of the guys nodded, while Seunghyun's eyes lingered on Jiyong for a moment. "It's okay, hyung, I will make the few meters it takes to get to my bed."
Jiyong let out a huge sigh when he couldn't sense the rest of his group anymore. He was always worried that his secret would be exposed.
When Jiyong was younger, he had cried easily. The producers and trainers in YG weren't always the softest with their critique of him. Though love and all that. He often ended up in tears, quickly being branded with the nickname Queen of Tears. They joked that all his tears were a clear sign of him being a future omega. It was after one of these moments, when he was silently crying his frustration out in one of the empty practice rooms, that Jiyong decided on his path.
The door of the practice room had creaked open. Perry had peered into the dimly lit room and looked over at the sniffling bundle in the corner next to the speakers. The man had always had a soft spot for Jiyong. He spent many hours coaching him, helping the kid find his flow. He wanted to nurture that potential. And he hated seeing him upset. Jiyong had really mastered that kicked puppy look.
"Jiongiee, you shouldn't be so upset." He handed some tissues to the sniffling boy while sliding along the wall next to Jiyong. They stayed silent, Perry breathing slowly, coaxing Jiyong to mimic the movement. Once Jiyong calmed down, he offered a chocolate bar to the kid. "Little treat to boost your mood" he smiled and Jiyong beamed back. Perry's heart melted a bit on the sight. He had heard the comments and the talk around the room. YG himself was stressed, stressed that the promised kid he had snatched a childhood from might not be capable of being his golden goose. Amidst all of this, Perry doubted that anyone had stopped to tell Jiyong why everyone seemed to push him to be more thick-skinned. Why did his tears frustrate a room full of adults so much. That didn't seem fair.
Perry sighed deeply before starting the talk. "Jiyong, you're going to be such a good songwriter and producer." "Thank you..... But I want to be good rapper too, a good performer. " I know that kiddo, but..... Being a performer is something that is for alphas and betas. And you haven't yet presented, so I just wanted to remind you that just in case you happen to present as an omega, you can still work with music. Producing and writing, I mean. They're really good ways to be involved." Perry rambled on, he didn't want to crush Jiyong's world but he felt like someone needed to tell the child the reality of the industry.
"No omega can be a performer?" "Not in this country, no. Not at least now. There needs to be quite a lot of changes before that can happen." Jiyong nodded while staring at his feet, a chocolate wrapper squeezed into a ball in his tiny hands. Perry felt a pang of guilt in his chest. But then Jiyong looked up at him and gave that gummy smile. "Then I just won't present as an omega"
Jiyong wasn't foolish. He knew that wasn't how second genders were decided. It was all biology, and he couldn't affect it with behavioural changes. But Jiyong also belived that if he just worked hard enough, he could make anything possible.
After that day, Jiyong no longer teared up on the criticism. He didn't let Youngbae hold his hand anymore when they were making their way back from one of their seniors' concerts. He started learning how to flirt, and soon was giving smirks that made the omegas and betas in his class giggle. Whatever it took to become a stereotypical strong alpha.
The next time Jiyong let himself cry was when he was told that he would be part of an idol group. The unfairness of it all clutched his chest. All the work. He slammed the doors in the dorm room and the rest of the boys tiptoed around him. They had backed this as a reaction that was acceptable if you were a young upset beta. See, where Jiyong might not have been able to rattle the course of fate enough to present as an alpha, he had pushed it enough to give himself the title of beta.
Youngbae had presented during the year he turned 15. No one was surprised he was an alpha; the protective nature of his had been established early when he fought those who bullied Jiyong. He was like a strong wall to lean on. Jiyong never had an announcement of his own, and with this, people made the assumption he was a beta. No one often made a noise if they presented as a beta. It was always a silent acceptance, a middle ground where you didn't receive the power of an alpha but avoided the worries of an omega. It made perfect sense as he wasn't as strong as Youngbae but he wasn't timid either. Something slightly softer but stubborn. Leader material they kept calling him. Especially when the rest of the group was formed. Both Daesung and Seunghyun joined later, already having presented as alphas before being part of the group. Perfect, the executives would declare, a beta leader to balance out the alphas. Harmony.
This harmony, however, was an illusion fully masterminded by Jiyong. Because he had moved mountains for this. Because at the age of 17, late bloomer that he was, he woke up with strong heat blossoming across his body, overpowering need of being claimed and a wetness between his thighs. The reality of his true gender had emerged. Before the morning sun had hit the streets, he ran away from the shared dorm and spent his first heat week at his sister's under the disguise of a family emergency.
This was a secret Jiyong would keep hidden as long as possible.
Jiyong quickly found that lying about his second gender wasn't too difficult. And in his mind, it wasn't even lying per se, he just never corrected anyone. And the more he repeated it the more he convinced himself too. Due to him presenting so much later and scent maskers having become cheap to access, the illusion of him being beta was easier to keep than he had thought. So far, in any interviews, the questions related to second genders were always circling around the alphas and how they found the balance of idol life and pheromones. No one was ever too curious about the betas.
Living with three alphas was surprisingly easy too. When Jiyong felt that his heat was going to start, he would go visit his family. His sister was the only one who knew. And in those moments, he was allowed to crash over at her place. Jiyong had even planned how all of this would work in the future. When their proper touring life started, he would get some heat blockers. It wasn't recommended to skip too many heats in a row, so this way Jiyong could be tactical when to use them. His sister was less convinced of his plans, but he was sure that as long as he stayed vigilant, there would be no issues. He had worked too hard on all of this to let his omegaself be an obstacle.
However, in the past months, Jiyong had been too focused on BIGBANG's future, writing new songs late into the night, to even have a moment to notice that he had not had his pre-heat symptoms for the past three months. This workaholic nature that had received a lot of praise for him was also going to be his mountain breaker. It was like time had slipped by faster than he realised. And now, in the middle of their practice, he had felt the heat creeping in. But something about it felt different, like it was trying to burst through his chest and swallow his whole body. It made him nervous and jittery. Jiyong bit his lips. This wouldn't be good for their group if he ended up having a heat episode in their dance practice.
When YG let them off the hook for the rest of the week, Jiyong was convinced someone above was looking out for him. He was eager to get back to the dorm, pack his stuff and leave for his sisters.
*
Seunghyun kicked his shoes off at the front of the flat and made his way into their kitchen. He just needed to drop all the weekend snacks they had bought and then head to the arcade to catch up with Daesung and Youngbae. He was planning to warm up the ready meal for Jiyong and bring it to the others' rooms. Their food intake was already very restricted, but Seunghyun had noticed that their leader would skip even the small allowance they got if he was being overworked. He didn't get far though, when a strong smell of an omega in heat from their living room hit him like a brick wall. He stopped dead in his tracks in the hallway, between their kitchen and living room doors. Had Jiyong brought an omega over? Had he just pretended to be sick so he could have someone over? Though that seened quite out of character of Jiyong. Seunghyun knew he should just walk to the kitchen and leave. To leave Jiyong and his companion alone. But something in him told to open the living room door.
Before he knew his body had moved on autopilot, he swung the door open. "Hi Jiyong, just wanted to say hi quickly and-" The smell was overwhelming. The sweetness of it made him feel dizzy. He squeezed the door handle for support. This was a bad idea; whoever Jiyong had over was going to drive his alpha instincts to the max. He had never felt this strong reaction to an omega's heat pheromones before. He needed to leave before he would end up insulting Jiyong by trying any moves on the omega he was with. But when he looked around, he could only see Jiyong sitting on the floor in front of the couch.
Seunghyun blinked, his eyes darting around, while his hand was still squeezing the handle. The sweet smell was floating around the room. Maybe the omega had just recently left? "You should probably open the window to air this room out Ji." Seunghyun muttered while crossing the room to get to the window. Jiyong probably had no idea what the aftermath of his visitor had caused, as betas lacked the pheromone senses. "You know, you didn't need to lie to us that you were sick, we would have let you and your omega friend be alone." Seunghyun could hear shuffling behind him. Jiyong was finally moving a bit from his slouched position on the floor. "Omega....." "Yes, yes, Jiyong. You're hooking up with some sweet ome-" For the second time in a short span of time, Seunghyun had lost his words. The Jiyong that he found when turning around was a Jiyong he had not seen before.The Jiyong he found, was a Jiyong who was staring right at him, face flushed and literally panting. The t-shirt he was wearing was actually one of Seunghyun's, one of the ones Jiyong liked to steal to sleep in. It was too big on his tinier frame, and it was slipping a bit past his left shoulder, showing glistening skin. Seunghyun's eyes lingered for a moment. Seunghyun swears it was a shirt he put in the laundry this morning, how had Jiyong already gotten it cleaned?
"Jiyong, sorry for saying you were lying. You do look feverish." Guess his omega company had just been here out of worry for Jiyong. Seunghyun walked to the other boy and crouched down to put his hand on his forehead. Jiyong responded with a contented sigh and closed his eyes. This didn't seem like a normal fever. Jiyong did feel a bit warm, but not warm enough to warrant these symptoms. The sweet smell of peaches was getting stronger for some reason, and - wait, was Jiyong purring?
Jiyong was pushing his head against Seunghyun's palm that was still on the other's forehead, like a cat seeking pets. Seunghyun was watching the display in fascination and amusement. Feverish Jiyong was desperate for some affection. It wasn't often he got to see this side of their leader.
Suddenly, Jiyong's eyes shot open, and Seunghyun was staring into the almost desperate look that took over Jiyong. With a surprisingly strong push, Jiyong had made Seunghyun fall backwards, landing on his ass, while Jiyong started to climb on his lap. "Alpha" was all he heard before he looked properly at the scene that was unfolding in front of him. Jiyong's eyes were hazy, while he started to rub his own pelvic area against Seunghuyn's knee. Jiyong's hands had flattened against Seunghyun's chest, while the erratic hip movements were looking for friction against the very erection he could feel being rubbed against him.
The realisation hit him like a brick. From the scent in the living room to the dance practice. Jiyong was in heat. And then, Jiyong was an omega. Jiyong was an omega in heat. After that, the sweet smell of peaches took a full assault on his senses. It was so clearly Jiyong now that he focused. And it was addicting, it made Seunghyung feel like he had been thirsty his whole life and only now found the fountain of water in the desert.
He started stupidly forward, too far in his own head, until a high-pitched whine pulled him back to reality. Jiyong kept grinding himself against his knee, and a wet patch was forming on his sweatpants from where he had rubbed. The omegas' inner thighs were glistening with slick that leaked past the shorts, which had now hiked up way too high. Jiyong's mouth was open in a slight o shape, and he kept grinding back and forth. It was like a scene from an obscene R-rated movie, and Seunghuyn's brain tried its best to function. He could feel all his senses start to go on overdrive, his imagination taking over. To have Jiyong make that face while taking his knot, having him ride him while desperately looking for an orgasm that only he could give to him. His arms reached out to steady Jiyong's hips. This pushed Jiyong's face to the crook of his neck, he could hear the soft whines leaving the other, with a soft alpha being muttered once in a while like a mantra. He needed to breed this omega.
But a rational voice far back in his brain was able to surface through. To remind him where he was and with who. Seunghyun pulled back from the temptation that was Kwon Jiyong. He stared down at where his knee and Jiyong's body were connecting. With the amount of slick the omega was producing, he had to be very far in an unmedicated heat.
That means he needed to move Jiyong away from the living room in case anyone entered. Seunghuyn used all his willpower to push the other boy off him. "Jiyong, we will go to my bedroom. Can't stay here. Can you get up?" Jiyong just blinked slowly back at him, a frustrated expression taking over from being pushed off the alpha. Never mind, Seunghuyn would have to carry the other boy. He swooped Jiyong up, the other's flushed face hiding in the nook of his neck again. The walk to his room had never felt this long and torturous to Seunghyun before.
When he finally reached the dorm room and dropped Jiyong on his bed, did he stop and wonder why he had even brought Jiyong here? It would have made more sense to take him into Jiyong's own room.
"Hyung... " Seunghuyn looked over at Jiyong, who was lying on his bed now. His one hand had pushed the shirt up to play with his nipple while the other was travelling past the waistband of the shorts, hips pushing upwards. How had he had time to do that already? The hair was messy, Jiyong's face flushed, his lips shiny. Seunghuyn was sure this was what sin must look like. He could feel how hard he himself was.
"Hyung, please"
He didn't want to take advantage of Jiyong. He was too far off in heat desperation to consent to anything. But Seunghyun could tell Jiyong had clearly been surprised by the heat itself. That would also mean Jiyong might not have anything with him to help himself get to the first orgasm to calm the heat wave down. "Jiyong, focus for a few seconds, please. You got anything at all in your room? Anything that I can get you?" Jiyong was wiggling free from his shorts during this moment. "I- I don't have anything here, only have you...... alpha"
Seunghyun could leave the room; he could go to the pharmacy that was around the block. But that meant leaving Jiyong alone in this state. He didn't want anyone else to find out about this. It was Jiyong's secret, one he had hidden for a reason, and it was his right to reveal it when he wanted to. But untreated heat can quickly turn dangerous to omegas. For omegas with no heat partner, heats will cause them pain if they don't get medication to lessen the strength of the symptoms to a level where they can satisfy those needs themself. The sight in front of Seunghuyn was clearly a case of Jiyong being past the limit of any pill being able to help him. The omega would be experiencing horrible pain soon unless he received some alpha pheromones and a knot to stretch on.
"I will help you out, to ease you, okay?" Seunghuyn would just give Jiyong some relief, nothing more. He could do that. This was his duty as a hyung. This would be easy. During the time he was trying to convince himself that whatever was about to happen was not going to change their friendship and alter Seunghyun's brain for the rest of his life, Jiyong had managed to fully undress himself. He had manoeuvred his cursed, flexible body in a position where his legs were spread wide open in front of Seunghyun. Presenting himself for taking.
Seunghyun was barely holding himself back at this point. He could feel is body slightly shaking with the anticipation and need. Jiyong was leaking precum from his red member. and his hole was visibly twitching. He still had one hand on his left nipple, pinching it. The right one was trying to push a finger into the slick leaking hole. Seunghyun could cum from the sight alone.
He carefully placed one of his hands on Jiyong’s chest. Even with the temptation and Jiyong’s need, he wanted to move slowly. This was him breaking all boundaries that their friendship had had. It was letting him see his childhood best friend in a whole new light. A light that Seunghyun was sure would never leave his future masturbation moments. Jiyong clearly had other plans regarding the slow approach. The moment Seunghyuns hand was on him, he pulled it up to his mouth and sucked on the long fingers. Eyes glued straight at Seunghuyn. “Okay, okay I get it. Speeding it up” Seumghyun murmured back, his voice dropping naturally lower.
He leaned over Jiyong so that he was pushing the other’s hip up with his, folding Jiyong slightly, while the legs that had been around him were now dangling in the air. His other hand roamed down, squeezing Jiyong’s thigh on the way. That deserved him a muffled yelp from the mouth that was still sucking on his fingers. Their size difference was making his heart and erection do cartwheels. Jiyong fitted fully underneath his frame, Seunghyun’s hand covering over half of his thigh.
His hand continued its journey, wrapping around Jiyong’s member for a few lazy strokes before continuing downwards. He collected some slick on his finger before pushing the first one slowly in. Jiyong finally dropped Seunghyun’s other hand from his mouth in favour of being able to make noise freely. Seunghyun’s finger moved around in the heat. He added another one soon, and with a hook motion found the bundle of nerves he had been looking for. Jiyong’s body reacted instantly. He arched toward Seunghyun, who was above him. Arms reaching to loop around his neck, “Yes, hyung, right there”. It had always been said he was a good listener, so Seunghyun kept his position. Jiyong was panting needily against his ear. And before he knew, Jiyong had an orgasm. His thighs were shaking, his cum covering both of their stomachs.
But this wasn’t enough to quell the symptoms of heat. Seunghyun knew this. There needed to be a wider stretch during the orgasm. So he continued, not giving any break to the omega. Jiyong mumbled a weak protest of equal tiredness and neediness into his ear. Seunghyun added a third finger. Jiyong stretched more around him, slick dripping down to Seunghyun’s wrist. He was tempted to give up on his plan, to sink himself into the wetness.
His fingers pistoned in and out of Jiyong. Once in a while, he angled them to hit that bundle of nerves inside Jiyong, but didn’t stay long enough for Jiyong to find a second release, much to the frustration of the other. But Seunghyun kept stretching Jiyong out more until he was finally satisfied.
Seunghyun had his three fingers in Jiyongs stretched hole, and finally he moved to the next step. He added his thumb and pinky finger to the entrance to join the rest of his fingers. He moved his hand slowly into Jiyong, who was moaning louder and louder, hands grabbing the sheets underneath him. The hole stretched around his hand. He stopped when he was knuckles deep in at the entrance.
Seunghyun closed his fingers into a fist. This would mimic the feeling of a knot pushing on Jiyong's rim. Slowly, he started to push the rest of the fist slowly in. Jiyong was openly in tears by now. "Please please" endlessly begging for a knot. Seunghuyn's eyes followed in fascination how Jiyongs body eagerly tried to suck his whole hand in. With each thrust of his hand, the hole would try suction the fist back in when he got close to the rim. Jiyong tried to move his hips to speed the process and push the fist in deeper, but Seunghuyn's other hand kept his waist down. Jiyong looked like he had never experienced stronger frustration regarding their size difference. Seunghuyn, on the other hand, felt something possessive curl in him with the sight of his larger hand on the other's small hip and the other large hand being pushed into Jiyong, his long fingers pushing deep and his fist looking far too large to fit in. The power of it all just intensified his lust. Seunghuyn groaned out loud as the vivid thought of how it would look to push his cock and knot into Jiyong flashed through his mind. How Jiyong's body would suck him in, he would be locked in place, and Jiyong would have to just take it, to stretch around his knot.
He needed the perfect moment to push Jiyong past the edge. He could see Jiyong's muscles tensing underneath him, breath coming out faster. Seunghuyn increased the speed unil at the perfect moment he stopped so that the widest part of the fist stayed stretching the rim, not pushing past it.
Jiyong's eyes rolled, head falling back, hips bucking upwards and his body clamping on Seungyung's hand. The omega kept shaking through his release, the orgasm lasting a good while.
Seunghuyn felt a wet patch growing in the front of his trousers. He felt like he was going to burst at any moment, it was teetering on the painful level of edging. Jiyong had passed out after his ordeal, and Seunghyun decided to finally have a moment to release himself from this suffering. He pulled his hand out of Jiyong and wrapped it around his own member, he was so close to the edge that he didn't need much to finish. While he increased the speed, he looked at Jiyong, who was dozing off. His nipples alert and puffy, and his legs were still spread out for him, giving him a clear view of the sticky, slick mess and gaping hole. His fingers moved on autopilot back into Jiyong. He moved them slowly in, and Jiyong whined softly at the contact.
He was imagining the same heat he could feel around his fingers being around his erection. How he would thrust into the warmth and lock in place. Seunghuyn finished with a groan, his cum covering his hand and landing on Jiyong's stomach. He pulled the fingers he had still in Jiyong and licked them. The taste of the omega was intoxicating. Just that taste was enough to start waking his dick up again. Nope, this was not the time for his personal round two.
He took a minute to catch his breath. The fog started to clear from his head, and the reality of what had taken place settled in. The boy dozing in front of him seemed so innocent; gone were the lust-crazed eyes. He looked at the mess in his own hands. He needed to clean himself up. And clean Jiyong. And then he needed to figure out how to get Jiyong somewhere safe for the rest of his heat.
After a quick sink clean-up, Seunghyun was back i hs bedroom. He softly wiped the mess off the other's stomach, pulled the shirt down and shorts up. Jiyong was like puddy in his arm, moving along with each movement. He needed the omega to get back to this world before anyone else entered the place. He had opened all the windows but he wasn't sure that was enough to clear the place of pheremones before Youngbae and Daesung came back. It wasn't enough that it smelled like an omega in heat, it now reeked of sexual activities. Part of him was dreading the rest of the group finding out, not just for the sake of Jiyong's secret, but also for his own safety. He was one hundred per cent sure that if Youngbae stumbled in right now while Jiyong was lying in Seunghyun’s bed and looking like he had been fucked out of his mind, that Seunghyun would have zero time for explaining before he would get punched in the face. Better get everything cleared so that Seunghyun's face could avoid the third-best fighter.
Jiyong started to stir, and Seunghyun's body tensed. As much as he wanted Jiyong to wake up, he had no idea what to say after everything. The boba eyes opened, and for a moment, the two stayed quiet, looking at each other. Hesitantly, Seunghyun asked, with slight panic and worry, "Do you feel okay? You're not hurting?". Jiyong mumbled a soft I'm okay, his face starting to take on a rouge colour that was clear embarrassment. The air around them was awkward. Seunghyun squirmed on his spot at the edge of the bed.
"Are you going to tell YG?" Jiyong's small voice broke the silence. "No, that's none of my business." Jiyong looked back at him in surprise. "But I do think you will need to tell them soon.” Jiyong was shaking his head. “Jiyong, something bad is going to happen - something bad already did happen!” Seunghyun motions his hand around the room, at them, “You live with 3 alphas and you went to heat, you get how bad that is? Imagine if we had all been here? It could have turned real ugly. What even made you think you should be living in a mixed dorm with alphas?” “Shut up!” Jiyong pushed Seumghyun in the chest hard. “This is exactly what I wanted to avoid! People telling me what to do and where to be just because I happen to get unlucky enough to be an omega. Do you think that if YG knew I was an omega, I would be kept as a leader? Do you think you, or the rest of the group for that matter, would have followed my lead? No, you would have been living in this dorm as a trio, and I would have been separated, like an outsider. Actually, scratch that. I wouldn’t have even debuted with you guys because omegas are not allowed to be in idol groups.” Jiyong was out of breath after his rant. His eyes were welling up out of frustration, and he balled his fists against his thighs. Seunghyun’s heart ached at the sight. “That’s not true. I would follow your lead anywhere, Jiyong.” Jiyong lifted his eyes up to look at Seunghyun. The sincerity in the other's face made him smile softly back. “Hyung, thank you for helping me out. Thank you for keeping my secret. But I have to do this my way, and all I ask is that you trust me. To keep this quiet for a bit longer. I will make it so smooth for you. It will be like this never happened. Like you never found out. Nothing will change between us, you’re still my best friend.” Jiyong was staring at him with eyes blazing with sincerity and desperation. With a need to know that who he truly was, had not broken them. “Please tell me nothing has changed. Please…” “ Nothing has changed.”
*
“I’m glad it was you who found me”, Jiyong stated sheepishly when they both were outside the dorm for the taxi that would take Jiyong to his sister's place. He turned to look at Senghyun. “I really mean it. I know you said earlier that something bad happened, but I disagree. I knew I would be safe with you no matter what.” Jiyong leaned quickly forward, planting a hasty kiss on Seunghyuns lips before disappearing as quickly into the backseat of the taxi. The sweet scent that had transfixed him earlier lingered again around. Seunghyun touched his lips. There was a feeling in his gut that even with all the convincing where they both promised nothing would change between them after tonight, something had in fact changed. Something fundamental.