It wasn't for another few days that Yunho got the courage to be able to try asking Jaejoong about him and Yoochun again. Really he'd wanted to ask if he had tried to seduce Yoochun, but the words wouldn't come to him at that restaurant. Jaejoong had run with his question, and he let him race of with it, too uncomfortable and scared of what the answer might be were he to ask outright.

He knew he'd still been very quiet with Jaejoong when they'd gone out. But he couldn't help it. He told himself that he didn't care if Yoochun were right. He told himself that he could accept it if Jaejoong explained the whole thing to him. He was sure he'd be able to forgive it all. But as long as it was just a possibility, when he wasn't sure if it were true or not, he found his thoughts consumed all the time.

In such an instance, he really would have preferred to be able to just come out and ask Jaejoong about it. But on some level, he was kind of scared to find out what the answer would be. What if Jaejoong turned around and answered him by saying that he was madly in love with Yoochun? What if he'd decided to go back to him, because he was prompted to reconsider his feelings? What if it turned out that Jaejoong wasn't the same as he'd always been; what if he really did see nothing in a ual encounter with a friend? A stranger? What if he saw it all as meaningless? How could he continue to look at Jaejoong the same way when they disagreed about the nature of a value relating to intimate relationships?

Luckily the situation didn't have to rely upon Yunho managing to find the words to ask Jaejoong. Jaejoong himself decided to have a bit to drink in their apartment. Those bottles Yunho had brought home, and left untouched for some time, had all disappeared by the time he arrived home. In the middle of the mess they made in his lounge room, he found Jaejoong.

He had been trying to play DDR after having a bit to drink, and was failing at it particularly spectacularly. Usually Jaejoong was bad enough at trying to maintain his balance. But after having alcohol, he had somehow managed to get even worse. Though surprisingly enough, his timing hadn't seemed to suffer at all; if he weren't stumbling all over the place he would have been hitting the arrows at the perfect time.

“What are you doing?” Yunho asked, amused. Jaejoong looked so cute with how frustrated he was getting at the game. The moment he heard Yunho's voice, Jaejoong seemed to brighten up; abandoning his game to envelop Yunho in a hug, a silly little grin perched atop his lips.

“Yunnie! You're home!” he exclaimed excitedly, Yunho's question clearly not having sunk into his mind. Yunho grimaced as he took in the sight of exactly how much Jaejoong had been drinking before he came home.

“Why did you drink so much?” he questioned lightly, not really expecting Jaejoong to answer in his current state. “Cause I felt like it. I haven't had anything to drink in ages!” he exclaimed childishly.

Yunho rolled his eyes slightly at the answer, but the look he sent Jaejoong was fond. This must have been what he was like last time. If Jaejoong could care for him when he was drunk, he could most certainly do the same. “Well I think you've had more than enough fun for the evening don't you?” he asked as he set about turning off Jaejoong's abandoned game, and cleaning up the pile of empty bottles.

Jaejoong pouted but said nothing as he followed Yunho around the apartment like a puppy. While Yunho set about cleaning up the sink area; which was now covered in piles of bottles, but also some washing up that had been abandoned there earlier in the week.

Jaejoong hoisted himself up onto the bench, observing his actions. The alcohol hadn't affected him too badly, but it enabled him to pause, thoughts pleasantly blank for the moment. “You know I've been thinking about Yoochunnie.” Jaejoong informed him, the comment light as it rolled out of his mouth, but the name was enough to strike something; Yunho's back became just that little bit straighter; tighter, waiting to hear where this conversation was going but not anticipating a good ending to it all the same.

“Oh?” he enquired, trying to make sure his grip on the slippery bottles wouldn't falter. The last thing he needed was to get broken glass everywhere. When he realised the next day, Jaejoong would berate him for his clumsiness were that to happen. He could do without a lecture like that.

It didn't seem fair that Jaejoong could be the cause of the accident, but also be able to punish him for it as well.

“I decided he was insane. He thought I was in love with him! That's the only way to explain it, you know.” Jaejoong stated, nodding his head wisely, feeling very profound at the revelation he'd had. “I don't know about insane. Maybe it was a misunderstanding.” Yunho suggested, distractedly. “Misunderstanding?” Jaejoong questioned.

“Yeah. Maybe he thought you were sending him signals?” Yunho said.

Jaejoong's eyes widened at the suggestion, kicking his feet backwards and forwards, banging into the cupboards behind his feet, as he shook his head vehemently. “I didn't send him any signals.”

“When I spoke with him, he seemed quite certain that you had... Never mind.” Yunho began, but he realised it was pointless. If Jaejoong was this adamant that he had done nothing to encourage Yoochun's delusions of one-sided love, then that was all that he would be told. It could be the truth just as easily as it could be a lie. But it was the story he was being told, and he wasn't going to hear any deviation from it, no matter how many times he asked.

Yoochun was probably lying, anyway.

He hoped.

Despite this, Yunho couldn't help wanting to ask this unguarded Jaejoong about one of Yoochun's other comments. The one that had been messing with his thoughts and feelings since the moment the words were uttered. “Joongie? Have you ever had...?” he tried to finish it, but he really wasn't certain what he wanted to know.

Did he want to know if Jaejoong had ever had a ual encounter? The question could be very embarrassing, and Jaejoong might not want to tell him. Did he even want to hear that Jaejoong had been with someone else? Did it really matter one way or the other if he had?

To avoid the implications of the question, couldn't he just ask Jaejoong if he'd ever had a boyfriend? But then, he may have had and not been going out with them at the time, so he still might not find out exactly what he wanted to know. Or else, Jaejoong could read that subtext into his question, and accuse him of thinking Jaejoong was the sort of person who would have with someone he didn't care about, and get offended.

Why did this have to be the only way he could think of to test the accuracy of what Yoochun had told him? Why did knowing whether or not he was indeed telling the truth have to matter so much to him?

Jaejoong's features were serious as he eyed his friend, “Run down an up escalator? Gotten strip searched? Been d on the bus? Used glow in the dark condoms? Waxed my legs? What?” he demanded, trying to fill in the blank Yunho's question had ended with.

Clearly he couldn't rely on Jaejoong to work out what he was trying to ask. He would have to be totally straightforward if he wanted to get anywhere with this conversation.

“Have you ever had a boyfriend?” Yunho queried. Jaejoong shook his head slowly from side to side as though he were afraid he might lose his balance and tip over if he did the action any faster. Probably a distinct possibility given how much he'd been drinking. Though the forethought the preventative action indicated, told Yunho that the effects of the alcohol were probably beginning to wear off.

“Have you ever had ?” he pushed further, having already received one answer that he was pleased with. He couldn't quite be sure why, but the thought that Jaejoong hadn't been with anyone since they stopped being friends made him feel a bit better. Probably because he was so protective of Jaejoong. If he'd heard no mention of a boyfriend until now, it would mean the relationship hadn't worked out. That means that the guy was probably only interested in Jaejoong to be able to get into his very y skinny jeans, and had scampered off once he got what he wanted.

Yunho really didn't feel like having to try and hunt down one in the entire city of Seoul. He wouldn't be able to ask Jaejoong for anything beyond the basics, but then Jaejoong might realise what Yunho had in mind to do once he found the other guy. It would eviscerate any male pride Yunho still had, after his last girlfriend had commented about his... in the middle of a very public argument, were Jaejoong to interrupt their fight. What if he tried defending the other guy? It would both humiliate and kill him for that to happen.

“Never had the pleasure or the pain, depending on how you look at it.” Jaejoong chirped excitedly, twiddling his thumbs, which were resting somewhere around his knees at that moment. At Yunho's raised eyebrow, he shrugged in an uncaring manner, “What? I know I'd be every guys dream bottom. Just look at me!” he responded arrogantly.

“If you're so desirable then why haven't you had a boyfriend or had ?” Yunho pushed, pointedly. Truthfully he was just pleased at the answer that he had received; he had no real desire to tease the other boy in his current mood. But when someone makes a comment like that, they're just begging to be called on it.

Jaejoong shrugged, in what was clearly an attempt at an indifferent roll of his shoulders, but the movement came out questioning; troubled. “I dunno. No one has ever found me attractive before, I guess.” he mumbled, but it sounded more like a question than a definitive statement.

Yunho considered pointing out that the two statements were mutually exclusive, but those depressed words grabbed his attention. They were not the sullen words of one who is displeased at the way they'd been treated. He'd spoken as if he genuinely believed that was the most likely reason. Jaejoong was the most attractive boy he'd ever seen in his life; he had been since puberty. How could he allow him to go on thinking something like that.

He sighed, turning to face Jaejoong slightly. He could feel water from the bench surrounding the sink he was now leaning up against, soaking into his clothes. He grimaced at the cool chill it brought to his heated skin, but made no move to reorient himself. “That can't be true. Just look at you. How could no one ever find you attractive?”

Jaejoong nodded, but he made no move to speak, and his eyes rested on a wet patch of the bench, where some water had pooled from the clean, but still soaked plates.

He didn't believe him.

Yunho took a step closer, the front of his thighs bumping into Jaejoong's slightly parted knees, his soaked and slightly shrivelled fingers, pressing into the bench top either side of Jaejoong's thighs. The proximity forced Jaejoong to raise his gaze, shuffling back slightly against the overhead cupboards at the closeness.

“You are the most attractive guy on the planet. Any guy who could possibly overlook you doesn't deserve the bacteria living in the dirt you walk on. Don't waste your time being sad that someone like that couldn't recognise how beautiful you are.” he informed him fondly, pleading earnestly with his gaze that Jaejoong would listen to him.

Jaejoong gasped slightly at the tenderness of those words, and Yunho wondered if Jaejoong might have been a little too lucid to hear words like that from him. He put far too much emotion into his words, and there was quite a good possibility that Jaejoong had noticed something was off about what he had said. That there was more hidden within them than simple friendly concern.

But that momentary fear was put to rest, as the clarity he saw in Jaejoong's eyes faded. Instead, a delighted grin made it's way onto his lips as he clasped his hands around Yunho's neck, and firmly encased his hips with his legs. Yunho was startled by the sudden doubling of his body weight, and his hands flew up to grip the bottom of Jaejoong's thighs, to help him keep his perch atop Yunho's hips.

He smiled slightly at the hug, knowing that Jaejoong was probably more than ready for bed after everything that had happened. This combined with his knowledge that he couldn't support his weight for long propelled Yunho out of the kitchen to deposit Jaejoong on his bed.

He was asleep less than a minute after his head hit the pillow. Little tufts of mumbled words, and occasional soft grumbles filled the space.

Yunho was certainly tempted to stay where he was, and just observe him for a little while. When his eyelids started to get too heavy, he would be able to curl himself around Jaejoong, cushioning his warm, fragile form with his own body. He'd be able to sleep with the other boy, calmly, happily and fully aware of what he was doing; he'd be able to do it the right way this time.

Such thoughts made him feel very empty as he made his way back out into the kitchen to finish the washing up.

Darn the fact that he knew he couldn't be trusted to be that close to Jaejoong and let him keep his innocence.