The next morning Yunho stared at his cup like he had just received a divine intervention.

'I'm a monster' he whispered in his hoarse voice, his face red and bloated. Junsu shifted in the chair beside him, sipping his coffee with fury.

'I shouldn't have drunk like that'

'You shouldn't' the younger agreed, slurping the black liquid even louder.

'I have no rights to propose to Jaejoong now. He will never forgive me'

At that, Junsu stopped. His desire to keep slurping like there was no tomorrow was strong but he realized it wouldn't be good for his throat or his pitch black mortal soul. It would be too easy to take advantage of Yunho's insecurities but to strike his enemy while he was down seemed wrong.

'Yunho' he turned to the businessman with a look that judged him an idiot 'you know that Jae forgave me about the poisoning incident the next day? Well, if you didn't know, now you do. Do you really think he cares that much about you kissing another guy? If anything, he may even find it hot. Trust me, it may as well be one of his erted fantasies'

Yunho looked at Junsu like a man who had just lost everything and his sad eyes made the other feel an unfamiliar tickling in his chest, something he had not experienced for a long time. A feeling of compassion.

'You're lucky you don't have a meeting today' Junsu muttered for the lack of anything better to say and looked back into his cup, willing the strange tingling into nonexistence. It was too late to be growing a heart now.

'Lucky? I don't think I'm lucky' Yunho let out something similar to a whine and took his head into his hands 'I cannot return home looking like this' and he sat there like all the world's tragedies had befallen him.

Junsu shrugged, biting into a crunchy cucumber laying abandoned on his plate.

Life worked in mysterious ways. Sometimes things turned out to be really bad when they seemed good and sometimes they went better than expected when expectations were low. Right now, someone up there or, more likely, someone down there was on his side and life was great. His superiority of the situation made him feel all giddy inside, if not a little bit cautious.

'Ok, listen' he interrupted Yunho's meditation of misery, waving his cucumber at him 'we can either make a big deal out of this or let it slide. Whatever you choose just remember that we all make mistakes. Jaejoong made a mistake, Changmin made a mistake, you made a mistake and even I made a mistake. Only Yoochun doesn't make mistakes because he's some sort of a deity or something but look- don't we learn through our mistakes and grow?' and he bit into the cucumber, chewing diligently 'don't we become better people because of them?'

Getting no reaction out of his speech, he frowned.

'Listen. We can make a deal out of this'

Yunho looked up, his eyes indicating hope but his face was pulled into an expression of pain. He looked like the devil had just offered him a pact while, in reality, Junsu wasn't all that evil and Yunho wasn't all that great of a hero.

'How about I hold my mouth and you in return drop that possessive attitude of yours. Loosen the reins, ok? I'm not suggesting you two break up, hell no, but I am saying that Jaejoong should be free to choose whoever his friends are. It heals a man's soul to go shopping with his best friend, you know? Especially if it's on his boyfriend's tab'

Those designer jeans Junsu had seen last week had been damn expensive but his looked great in them and maybe this was God's way of telling him to go make his happy without having to sell a kidney for it.

'I can hold my mouth, Yunho. I can even give you two my blessing if you wish but I can't allow you to monopolize someone's attention. That is wrong. Very very wrong'

The clock struck eight and Yunho flinched. What Junsu said made perfect sense, even if it did sound a bit hypocritical.

He may have tried too hard to keep Jaejoong distracted in order to avoid Junsu's company. And he may have demanded his boyfriend to always tell him where he was going even if it was for his own good. He only wanted to protect him, not control him, the memories of the last time Jaejoong had gotten into trouble still fresh on his mind.

Maybe this was the opportunity to let those wounds heal.

'I guess some things are better left unsaid' Yunho agreed as he let out another deep sigh. Junsu was a part of who Jaejoong was just as much as Changmin was a part of who he was. If Jaejoong could put up with his brother, he could try to accept Jaejoong's best friend.

At that Junsu grinned, his eyes lighting in devilish amusement, his angelic face shining brighter that the morning sun.

'Well then, my dear Yunho boy and future best buddy, want to toast to our new friendship?'

'Go back to hell' Yunho grumbled, turning back to stare into his coffee.

___


Changmin held his breath when he entered the room, afraid to wake up the sleeping man. He slid closer to the bed, taking a careful glance, before breathing out. Jaejoong was in a deep slumber, his face peaceful and calm, and Changmin found it impossible to avert his eyes from him. What was so fascinating about the man anyway?

It's not like Jaejoong was all that good looking. Actually, he was kind of creepy. His skin wasn't that nice up close and those big eyes took too much space out of his face. Long lashes were bothersome and his upper lip was too full. Jaejoong was ugly, Changmin decided and proceeded to stare at him for the next half an hour.

He snapped out of his daze only when the man stirred, yawning and waking up.

'Minny?' the first thing out of his mouth was the nickname Changmin hated so much. He was a man, a real man not some cartoon character or a little girl. Why didn't Jaejoong see him like one?

'Hello'

The warm smile that followed melted not only the ice in Changmin