Yunho grimaced to himself as he downed his third drink, in a single go. When he'd shaken the other man's hand, back at the town, he hadn't thought the younger man would latch onto them. No, it wasn't so much that he latched onto them, but more that he'd latched onto Jaejoong. He followed after the older man, always a step behind him. He was always making Jaejoong laugh about something, and they kept having these really animated discussions over completely random topics.

He hated how familiar he was acting, with his Jaejoong. This was supposed to be a chance for Yunho and Jaejoong to be alone; to spend some time just being together. If he'd managed to pluck up his courage and confess his feelings to the older man, even if he couldn't reciprocate those feelings after being seduced for a few days, then so be it.

But now it was that Junsu guy that was closest to Jaejoong. He'd just barged into their holiday, stealing Jaejoong away and leaving Yunho all alone.

Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration. The two made sure, never to leave him out. Junsu was always trying to engage him in their conversations, and Jaejoong kept throwing worried looks, and tentative but reassuring touches to the younger man. Whenever that would happen he would feel better; included.

But then that Junsu would start touching Jaejoong. Sometimes it was just his hand brushing against Jaejoong's arm. Other times he would touch his face or his hair. But the times when he hugged him were the worst. Who was this guy, who did he think he was touching Jaejoong like that?

He knew he was overreacting. Jaejoong had made no advances towards the younger man, and he hadn't been able to detect any trace of flirting going on between them, but their closeness still aggravated Yunho. He wanted Jaejoong all to himself, as selfish as that was.

He knew he was being unfair. He'd wanted to go on this holiday in the first place because he was worried about losing Jaejoong. Although the two of them were still supposed to be in a relationship together, to keep his parents out of his affairs for the rest of the year, he'd felt they were going to grow distant. It was as though Jaejoong didn't want to touch him too much, or get too intimate with him anymore. He hadn't noticed they were being that intimate at all, until Jaejoong started to pull away; to become more reserved around him.

He just knew it had to do with that mark, Mrs Park had left on his neck, after that dinner party a few weeks ago. He knew it had made Jaejoong feel awkward. So many times he'd gone to explain that mark away, to try and claim Jaejoong back again, but he knew he couldn't ever really do that, for the moment. As far as Jaejoong knew he had some secret girlfriend; he was trying not to get Yunho in trouble with.

How could he ever tell Jaejoong that he was really being blackmailed into maintaining a ual relationship with an older woman who was a friend of his mother?

Even if he did manage to tell him, and Jaejoong accepted it, what would it change? It wouldn't be fair to want to try making any moves on Jaejoong until after that whole mess was sorted out. Jaejoong deserved better than being the third person in that sort of arrangement. Even if all of the rest of that were completely done away with, he realised he was still trying to convince himself that he had a chance with Jaejoong.

How many times would it take before he realised that he could never have his friend, no matter how much he wanted him.

He wasn't good enough for Jaejoong, and he hadn't been good enough for a long time.

Maybe he was being selfish trying to keep Jaejoong away from that Junsu guy. They clearly got along great, and he didn't really have any right to try and stop the two from having a relationship. But he didn't like it all the same. Despite how he tried to rationalise that couple to himself, he still found himself stubbornly resisting, clinging onto Jaejoong and refusing to let him go.

He was as bad as that Junsu guy.

That was why he now found himself hovering by the bar. He'd promised to go get the three of them some drinks about 5—10 minutes ago, but he kept drinking his before he took a step away from the bar. He just didn't want to have to make his way back through the crowd; he didn't want to see Junsu draped all over Jaejoong, and his Jaejoong letting him do it.

- -

The two boys were huddled close, around a table off to the side. The noise from the speaker system was practically deafening in the small space of the club. It was so difficult to make conversation in that space, that Junsu had to press himself against Jaejoong's side, mouth pressed right up against his ear. Even then, he still had to shout to be heard over the cacophony of noise in the space.

“So what do you think about Yunho?” Jaejoong enquired, not completely interested in what his cousin's response would be. It wouldn't matter to him if Junsu didn't like the older man, the fact was that he was Jaejoong's friend, not Junsu's so the other boy didn't have to like him. It would kind of if he did hate him, but he would get over it, he supposed.

Junsu gave a thoughtful look for a moment, the look catching Jaejoong's attention precisely because of how rarely Junsu gave looks like it, “I dunno. He seems nice enough, but I can tell he's uncomfortable around me, so he's holding back you know?” but he gave up trying to explain himself at Jaejoong's blank look. He knew Yunho had been a little quiet, but other than that he'd seemed fine, from what Jaejoong could tell at least.

“He's clearly jealous.” Junsu added, but he didn't seem to mind too much. “What? Yunho jealous?” Jaejoong cried in disbelief. Junsu nodded, his look telling Jaejoong that he'd thought that was obvious, and shouldn't have needed to have been pointed out for him. How dare he give him that 'you've got to be kidding me' look, Jaejoong was the one that taught him that look! “Yeah, Yunho's jealous of me.”

“Why would Yunho need to be jealous of you? He's like the iest beast alive.” Jaejoong muttered, his gaze just a little bit too bright as he said that, making Junsu crinkle his features in distaste. “Boo. Jae, while I'm fully prepared to say that Yunho is drop dead gorgeous, that doesn't mean I'm not as well, you know.”

“I would never call you y.” Jaejoong scoffed. Junsu puffed himself up, “Yes but that's because you would be shunned by society if you did find me y. I'm family. But to any one of the guys here, I'm a nice piece of .” he boasted, gleefully.

Jaejoong rolled his eyes at the comment, but a dreamy smile drifted across his features for a moment, “You really think he's jealous of you?” he questioned. Junsu regarded his cousin stoutly before answering with a sigh, “Jae, I'm serious. He's jealous, and as much as I want to be able to say it's because he can't handle the fact that I am walking appeal, I know that's not why he's jealous. He can't stand how close I am to you.”

“I suppose we have been a little close today, haven't we? I...Maybe we shouldn't hang out tomorrow, you know give the two of us some time alone.” Junsu shook his head, grinning, “What is it about you two and your 'alone time'? How much can you two possibly need to have to be able to function like regular human beings? Are you hoping if you try hard enough, you'll eventually spit out a baby, cause I hate to break it to you but biology isn't on your side.”

Jaejoong struck him lightly on the shoulder, rolling his eyes “Why does everything have to be about with you? Yunho and I....we...” but he gave up seeing in his cousin's cheeky grin that no matter what he said it was going to be made into a ual comment.

Why would Yunho need to feel jealous of this kid? Didn't he see how flustered and irritated Junsu could make Jaejoong without even trying?