Chapter Text
Jiyong awoke to a noisy beeping somewhere in his room. Vaguely, he could see his phone outline in his dark room and reached over to see why in the hell it was going off. When Seungri's name came across the screen he remembered and swiped to answer.
"Why do you always have to catch such early flights?" Jiyong grumbled into the phone as soon as he put it to his ear.
"In my defense, I tried to call you an hour ago, but you're impossible to wake." Seungri cheerfully responded.
Jiyong could hear the usual airport noise in the background. People talking, beeping intercoms, noisy children. He couldn't be fazed, he was too busy trying to find the time.
Jiyong sighs and sits up, running his hand through his black fringe. "Are you sure you wanna leave? It's not too late to come back.."
It wasn't hard to catch Seungri's sharp intake of offended breath. Jiyong mentally curses himself for even saying anything as he pulls himself out of bed, but it needed to be said.
"Why do you hate my friends?"
Jiyong holds the phone between his ear and shoulder as he pulls on yesterday's jeans and shoes before leaving his bedroom.
"I don't hate them, Seunghyun. You're my brother and I just want to look out for you... Why is that so hard to understand?"
Seungri sucks in another breath and lowers his voice. "They're not even bad."
"They influence you poorly, Seunghyun, that's all. I'm not saying they're horrible people, I just don't want anything bad to happen to you."
Jiyong leaned against the counter in his kitchen and pinched the bridge of his nose. He loved the maknae, but he tended to get on his nerves. It was far too early for an argument.
"All they've done is be there for me."
"Have I not been there for you?" He asked incredulously.
Seungri was silent on the other line, which was unlike him. Jiyong thought he may be thinking about his words for once instead of saying the first thing he thinks of. And then Jiyong can hear the roar of something in the background, and screaming.
"Seungri? Seunghyun!"
"Ji, I'm running, there's a plane~"
Jiyong can feel the panic rising up inside of him as he hears a clatter he can only imagine to be Seungri's phone falling on the floor. And then a much louder noise, and then silence when the line cuts off.
In his panic, he frantically pulls on a shirt while he desperately tries to call him back. When he gets nothing he calls Youngbae, and then YG, explaining that something has happened to Seungri and that he's on his way to the airport to find him.
Jiyong receives several text messages on the way there, mostly from Youngbae to say that he and Daesung will meet him there and that Seunghyun is also on his way.
When he arrives at the airport, he can feel his heart sinking. For the most part it looks normal, until your eyes land on the plane sticking straight out of the side of the building and the ruin lying around it.
The police were already in the process of closing the perimeter, but Jiyong desperately pushed his way through. "Please, my friend was in there! Please I have to get him, please!"
One officer looked to another, and then a third approached. Worried he was going to get arrested or worse, he stepped back before the third officer informed him that they were working on gathering a search party to find anyone and everyone trapped inside.
Jiyong desperately pleaded to let him and his friends to join when they arrived, and against what was probably policy and his better judgement, the officer agreed and Jiyong was allowed through the barricade.
He stood by himself for a long while, before he heard a chorus of people calling his name. To his left, over the barricade he'd come in from were his friends, waving to him.
The officer from before allowed them all inside and Daesung threw himself forward into Jiyong's arms.
"Do we know what happened? Is he okay?"
Sadly, all Jiyong could do was rub Daesung's back. "Apparently the plane's landing gear broke during touchdown and that caused it to curve sideways into the airport."
"Which gate did it hit?" Youngbae asked quickly.
Jiyong looked over his shoulder. "Someone from the airport said it probably impacted gates 9 through 18, why?"
Seunghyun spoke up and grabbed Youngbae's shoulder. "He was boarding from Gate 12 at 9:30."
The four of them all turned to look at the mangled building before them and despite doubting it, they were hoping their friend was still somehow okay in there.
It was almost an hour before they were finally all led carefully inside by the police.
The boys stayed in a group together and started the farthest away from the plane to work their way in. Nobody wanted Seunghyun to trip and fall and knock the whole place over.
As a group they found several people, but none of them could be saved. They were already gone. Every once in a while someone living would be found somewhere else, and they'd be freed and carried out to the paramedics.
In the process of checking the pulse of a woman and her child, someone across the way from them says they've found a man with a strong pulse.
After discovering the woman and her child are both gone, they make their way to the other group and Jiyong can't help but scream.
There, against a tall concrete pillar, seemingly untouched by the debris around him, is Seungri. There's dried blood in his hair and on his neck. The four of them help carry Seungri out and while Seunghyun rides with him to the hospital the rest follow behind.
By the time the group is allowed to be alone in the room, it's dark outside.
Jiyong looks up at the door when Youngbae enters and raises a brow. "Well?"
Youngbae sighs and leans against the wall near the door. "His family are on their way in. They should land in the morning."
"We're not going to leave him alone, are we?" Daesung asks quietly from the floor next to Jiyong.
Youngbae quickly assures him that no, they aren't leaving him no matter what. They all seem very content with the idea, despite this being a quiet hospital room.
Jiyong puts his foot on the edge of the bed and leans on his hand while looking at his phone. He bookmarks the article about the plane crash. He copies the link to YG's confession that Seungri was, in fact, hurt in the accident and is now hospitalized.
Jiyong pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath. His hands were starting to shake. He didn't want to cry here, he couldn't.
He couldn't be weak here. The boys needed him. Seungri needed him, although... they'd fought, and Jiyong knew it. He needed Seungri to wake so he could apologize.
Daesung watched Jiyong take in his shuddering breaths and took note of his trembling fingers and gently rested his hand on Jiyong's knee.
His hyung startled but then looked down at him with a soft smile and a nod. Daesung knew he wasn't okay, but he wasn't going to press. He removed his hand and rested his head there instead. He closed his eyes when Jiyong started carding his fingers through his hair.
Early in the morning, somewhere around 2, Jiyong is the only one still awake. He insisted on staying up in case something happened.
Seunghyun was curled up against the wall to his right. He didn't know how a man so big could make himself so small. Jiyong had covered him with his jacket about an hour ago.
Daesung and Youngbae were leaning against each other on the couch. It was the only way they managed to get comfortable enough to sleep.
When Jiyong finally stood to stretch, he heard rustling nearby and turned to see Seungri opening his eyes for the first time all night.
"Ji..." Seungri croaked out when he saw his hyung.
Jiyong, overwhelmed, sat on the edge of the bed and took Seungri's hand. "Get enough beauty sleep?"
Seungri laughed and smiled, and Jiyong felt a weight on his chest like he never had before.
"Seungri, I... You wouldn't believe just how so-"
"Seungri!"
Jiyong looked up to see Daesung jogging over. The noise startled Seunghyun awake and Jiyong stumbled backwards out of the way to let Daesung take his place and his chest felt even heavier as Youngbae approached him.
He felt Youngbae's hands on his shoulders and melted back into his touch. Youngbae squeezed Jiyong where his numeral tattoo was but said nothing. Whatever conversation they needed to have would be had outside of this room. Preferably outside of this building.
Glancing over his shoulder, he could see Youngbae's kind smile. He could tell how Jiyong was feeling. Youngbae always could. At times it could be both a blessing and a curse.
Daesung and Seunghyun were both sitting with Seungri now, and Jiyong began to feel the weight of their last conversation weighing on him finally. Daesung had cut off his apology, but luckily he'd get another chance.
There was a loud grumble and Youngbae laughed when he realized it'd come from Jiyong's stomach. He escorted Jiyong out into the hallway and handed him a bottle of water.
Maybe Jiyong needed to eat, but he also needed to calm the hell down, and being in that room all the time wasn't going to help him do that.
He watched, somewhat helplessly as Jiyong took the water and slid down to the floor with his back against the wall. He kept his feet tucked underneath him like he was in an upright fetal position.
Youngbae was worried, and rightfully so. Jiyong was obviously struggling with more than the fact that Seungri was in the hospital.
"Ji..."
The shaking man spoke quicker than Youngbae thought he would. "It was a goddamn plane, Bae. And he's fine. He has to be the luckiest person alive... All of those people..."
"Ji it was nobody's fault. There's nothing you could have done for any of those people. We did what we could for who we could. And we got Seungri and he's gonna be fine, okay?"
Jiyong nodded and sipped his water. He just kept nodding to himself all while ignoring his shaking body. He took deep breaths to try and correct the path that his lungs were on currently.
"Hey." Youngbae nudged Jiyong's leg with his foot, hands secured in his pockets. "I think Daesung and Seunghyun can handle Seungri for now. Let's get some sleep, how 'bout?"
Hesitantly, Jiyong nodded and pushed himself up before allowing Youngbae to lead him back into the room where their friends were.
Slowly, since he knew how Jiyong could be about sudden movements sometimes, Youngbae sat down in his previous spot on the couch and patted the spot next to him.
Gently, Jiyong sat down and shifted around enough to rest the back of his head on Youngbae's lap. Once he was comfortable, feet on the couch and arms crossed over his chest, he tilted his head enough that his face was against Youngbae's stomach and was out like a light.
When Youngbae woke, Seungri's parents were standing over their son with soft smiles. Quietly, he apologized that they were still there, although Seungri's mother assured him that they were no trouble.
The maknae, who enjoyed being in the middle, interrupted the end of his mother's sentence to inform Youngbae that the others had just left to get food but would be back shortly.
After asking why nobody woke them, Seungri smiled and simply stated that they thought it best not to disrupt Jiyong's sleep, lest he be angry with them.
Youngbae laughed just as Jiyong shifted and buried his face farther into his shirt. Youngbae says nothing, instead opting to rest his head once more on the back of the couch and casually card his fingers through Jiyong's dark hair.
When the others arrived, they were quiet, so as not to disturb Seungri's time with his family. Nobody wanted to say it, but they were all thinking that if something were to happen and he couldn't go home yet, they didn't want to be the guys to mess up their time together.
Daesung quietly sat on the floor in front of the couch and silently passed food to his hyungs. Gently, Seunghyun shook Jiyong back to consciousness. The tired boy didn't seem to mind, smiling instead at the older member.
Jiyong was careful not to knock into anyone as he sat up and tucked one of his feet underneath him. He thanked Daesung with a soft smile and a ruffle to his curtain of hair. Daesung tilted his head back and smiled in return.
"How's he been?" He quietly asks the boys around him.
Seunghyun paused. "He seems fine... He said he felt kinda dizzy earlier but the doctor said that's to be expected of the kind of trauma he suffered."
The group glances over to the maknae and his family. His father isn't saying much, instead just letting his wife take the lead on speaking to her son. They couldn't hear a whole lot but they could usually make out things like "I'm glad you're okay" and "we'll go home soon as you're better".
Seungri looked happier than they'd seen him in a couple of months. He was most likely just thankful that he managed to escape with his life. Most people weren't so lucky.
Youngbae didn't like thinking about the fact that Seungri could have easily been one of the corpses pulled from the debris of that airport, like so many others.
Sensing something off about Youngbae's feelings, Jiyong leaned against the older man but said nothing. He didn't need to say anything, Youngbae already knew.
Later in the evening, while Seungri's parents are searching for something to eat finally, all of the boys are sat around Seungri and his bed, joking and laughing and generally taking the piss.
However, they were doing so incredibly quietly. Not only to be respectful to the patients in the hospital, but also courteous to Seungri, who mentioned earlier he had a wicked headache.
Somehow, they managed to make Seungri laugh while still also being quiet. Jiyong thinks it was thanks to Daesung's Gwiomi. Daesung thinks it was Seunghyun's Gwiomi instead.
Seungri smiles, then slurs as if he'd been drinking, "You guys.... You're so.... Funny."
"Seungri," Daesung started. "Are you alright?"
The maknae nodded and rested his hand on Daesung's leg. "Just dizzy."
"You should probably rest." Seunghyun said softly.
Youngbae and Daesung agreed and promised him they'd come back tomorrow to hang out with him some more, and he was happy to hear that.
"My head still hurts, and I should sleep but... I love you guys and I'll see you all tomorrow."
Jiyong was the last out the door, turning the lights off behind him. He glanced back just long enough to see Seungri softly smiling as he closed his eyes.
Jiyong closed the door finally and stood in the hallway with the others.
"Should we all stay at mine, then?" Youngbae asked softly, Daesung leaning on his shoulder.
They all agreed and made their way there. Though little do they know they wouldn't be getting much sleep.