The Stars (GTOP)

Chapter Twenty Two: The Future

The drive to the house was full of animated conversations and laughter. Seunghyun couldn't believe that Jiyong was actually coming home, and he found himself pinching his thigh more than once, always realizing he was in fact awake. Seunghyun spent the whole drive back to the house just watching the others, feeling like he could fully breathe seeing Jiyong was still Jiyong and that he was really there with him.

"....then Jolie ran out the gate after him!"

Seunghyun shook his head, noticing that he hadn't been hearing anything, but had merely been reveling in the energy they all had. The elder laughed at the expression on his lover's face.

"I remember this story. That was quite the day."

Youngbae nodded. "Jolie bit his collar and started trying to drag him back to the house."

"Huh." Jiyong still looked confused. "Gaho doesn't usually act up like that."

"Well hyung, neither of your dogs, or your cats have really acted right while you were gone. They knew that something bad happened. Gaho probably wanted to find you."

The tattooed man smiled. "Well, he is my first fur baby." He leaned against Seunghyun. "Did they still sleep in the room with you?"

The rapper put his arm around Jiyong's shoulders. "When I actually was in there trying to sleep they were with me. If I couldn't sleep, they wandered the house with me. Or I took them for 2 am walks since they were usually just as restless as I was."

"Hopefully they start acting normal once they see me."

Seungri snorted. "They're gonna go ape shit first."

Jiyong chuckled. "After that I mean. They go ape shit when I'm only gone for an hour."

Everyone laughed, knowing that the dogs were going to be very active and hyper until the late evening.

"I can't wait to sleep in my own damn bed. I may not have been conscious, but my body is sore. Hospital beds are horrific."

Seunghyun hugged him a bit tighter. "I can't wait to wake up next to you tomorrow. We're both going to have the best night's sleep we've had in a long time."

Daesung turned in the front seat to look at the rappers. "You guys are definitely in need of some catch up sleep. You also might sleep for a long time."

Jiyong smiled. "I'd be happy to sleep for a few days in my own bed. What are the plans when we get home? Like do we want to go out for dinner or just stay in and make something?"

Youngbae spoke up from the driver's seat. "We should probably stay in. The dogs would go extra crazy if we left again, plus I think your mom was going to make dinner."

"True, that would be mean to get them all excited about us being home to leave again." He paused for a moment. "Did my mom happen to mention what she was making?"

Seungri poked his arm. "Yes, but we're not telling."

Jiyong pouted. "Damnit."

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When the car pulled up to the garage, the front door opened and Jiyong saw his parents standing on the porch. Seunghyun opened the door and stepped out before turning around and helping Jiyong out of the backseat. The younger began walking towards the porch when Gaho and Jolie came bounding out the door, barking excitedly. They were running around him, tails wagging so violently they looked like snakes slithering. The rapper smiled as he sat on the grass, letting them get close to him, licking and sniffing his clothes and face. They both decided to try and sit in his lap, causing him to fall backwards. They laid on him instead. Jiyong was laughing and petting both.

Seunghyun stood near the scene with the others, laughing at the literal dog pile. The elder took out his phone and took a picture, smiling that he'd be able to post the photo on Instagram to show their fans that Jiyong was happy and alright.

"I think they missed you."

Jiyong laughed, brighter now that he was away from the hospital. "I don't think we're gonna have the bed to ourselves for a while."

"Probably not judging how they are right now. This is the happiest I've seen them."

Jiyong put each arm over the dogs. "Poor babies. I hope this didn't stress them out to badly, or make them think I tried to abandon them."

They were settling down, content to lay with him and make sure that he wasn't leaving again.

"Hyung, we should go inside, I bet the cats want to see you too." Seungri gestured to the house with a tilt of his head.

"Come on." Jiyong sat up. "Let's go."

Both dogs stood up and began wiggling their bodies energetically, panting with excitement. The followed him closely as he walked to the house. He stepped up onto the porch, hugging his mom tight. When he stepped back he heard someone call out his name. He turned and saw Chris and Charlotte walking across the street towards the house. He waved at them.

"Hey! How have you been?"

Charlotte smiled at him, handing him a plate of cookies, much like when they'd first met. "We've been fine. How are you feeling? It's great to see you home."

Jiyong laughed quietly. "Yeah, I am so incredibly happy to be home. I feel great in all honesty. But I am still pretty tired, but a couple days of resting in my own home will be the best thing."

"That's very true. Whenever I have come back from the hospital, I always feel so much better being home."

He nodded. "I already feel better seeing the dogs."

Chris chuckled. "Yeah I noticed that they were laying on you as we were walking over. They seem really excited right now."

Jiyong scratched Gaho behind his ears. "Yeah, but if we're only gone for an hour they lose their minds when we get home."

"True, they've always been pretty hyper." Seunghyun said as he stepped up beside Jiyong.

"Well, look at you smiling. You must feel so much relief with him home." Charlotte said to the elder.

"Oh god I didn't realize how incredibly stressed I was until he woke up. Like mentally I knew, but physically I didn't. I was just going on sheer force of denial."

Charlotte smiled at them. "Well, I can't say how happy we are that you're home and well. We've been missing our favorite neighbors."

The rappers laughed. "Favorite neighbors huh?"

Chris nodded. "I mean, it might seem rude to pick favorites, but you started yourselves off in the community so well, you made sure to interact with people and you held a neighborhood barbeque to get to know people. Plus you asked about allergies to make sure there wasn't any foods that could have something bad. So, yeah, you are great neighbors and we're really happy to see you home."

Jiyong gave them a small smile. "I'm happy to hear that we're liked. You never know sometimes, especially if you move to a different country, some people aren't too welcoming."

Charlotte offered a reassuring smile. "Some people can be truly awful. Well, we'll let you get inside so you can start resting and spending time with your family. Seunghyun told us you'd be home today so we just wanted to come have a chat to see how you were."

"I really appreciate it so much, thank you." Charlotte gave him a comforting hug and they left Jiyong to go spend his first evening home having dinner with his family. He went to bed that night, snuggled up with Seunghyun and the dogs. Seunghyun slept through the night without waking up at an ungodly hour.

Are the only author notes I'm capable of making anymore apologies??? It feels like that is the case. I have 2-3 more chapters before I think this story will (finally) be done. If anyone actually stills reads my new chapters, thank you for sticking with me and my ridiculous and unpredictable updating schedule. I am so sorry that I always say "this should be done this month" because every time I've said that, while I had intended to actually work on it, I never did. I got lazy and let my depression get the best of me. I let it take over everything, I haven't drawn as much, or done my makeup. I do genuinely hope that I finish this story so I can work on other stories that I've had plot bunnies for, but nothing with new stories would be posted until they were done so I can make sure I don't drag a story out for 2-3 years like I've done with this.