His cheeks were blazing, “NEVER AGAIN!” he shouted at his friends as he rushed off stage.

The boys were laughing hysterically, “Hyung!! Don’t get so upset! It was just a joke!”

The boy in question was shaking his head hurriedly, peeling the sweat soaked shirt from his body as he changed into clean clothes, his head buzzing. A joke? They made the man of his dreams kiss him as a joke? He was biting on his lips furiously as he pulled on a new shirt, tears stinging the corners of his eyes. He refused to speak.

The other four members of Dong Bang Shin Ki were looking at him, suddenly wondering if this had been such a good idea. “Jaejoong hyung…” it was Yoochun who finally spoke to break the silence.

“Save it!” the golden haired boy said angrily, grabbing his things and rushing from the room.

The other men stared between one another. Jung Yunho, however, was the one who looked the most torn by his friend’s reaction.

“That was a seriously bad idea…” the leader said softly as he too changed his clothes, his head hung.

Yoochun frowned, “We didn’t know he would react that way…” he said softly, trying to console his friend.

Yunho shook his head, “It doesn’t matter…” he said softly, also gathering his things like the man before him and leaving the room to head to the tour bus.

Jaejoong was biting at his bottom lip, busying himself with cooking on the bus, shaking his head. The tears were now falling down his cheeks, but he ignored them, pretending that they weren’t really there. “Because it’s not obvious to everyone how I feel about him…” he whispered, plating the food angrily, setting it out on the foldable table. He finally stopped moving about, sitting at the table in front of a plate. He buried his face in his hands, pulling at his hair as the tears flowed more freely now, “Stupid idiots!” he said angrily, his body shaking with soft sobs.

Yunho opened the door of the bus, walking up the steps and freezing at the site of his friend. “J-jae…” he said softly, setting his things down and rushing to the boy.

“What makes you think you could help?!” Jaejoong shouted at him, pushing at him feebly, trying to hide his face from his friend.

Yunho stared, feeling as though the boy had just ripped his heart from his chest. He’d always been able to comfort his friend in his times of need and now… Now Jaejoong wanted nothing to do with him? He cleared his throat, his voice shaking as he spoke, “Jae… I know you’re upset but… We didn’t mean anything by it… It was supposed to be funny…”

There was a flash of golden hair as Jae turned his head furiously, “THAT’S THE ENTIRE PROBLEM,  YUNHO!” he shouted.

Yunho froze at this. Jae NEVER shouted.  “What do you mean?” he asked softly, looking down at the boy who was still sitting.

“I mean you have no idea what you did!” Jaejoong said, standing up and forcing himself past his friend.

Yunho grabbed his arm fairly forcefully, “Then tell me, please!” he said, almost desperately.

The smaller man turned to stare up into the boys face, his cheeks tear stained, “If we’re so close, you should already know.” he said simply, pulling his arm so forcefully from Yunho’s grasp that it left marks from the other man’s hand.

The leader stared at him, perplexed, “That’s not fair…” he said softly.

“Isn’t it?!” Jaejoong said, turning around from farther down the bus now, “I’ll tell you what’s not fair Yunho! What’s not fair is when it’s obvious how you feel about someone and then they act on those feelings as a JOKE!” he shouted.

The words seemed to suddenly click in Yunho’s mind as he rushed after his friend, “J-jae!” he said, grabbing the boy by his shoulders, “This isn’t about your reputation after all?” he asked

and Jaejoong scoffed, the words from his lips like venom as he spoke.

“I don’t care about my reputation, Jung Yunho. What I care about is YOU. But apparently you don’t pay any attention to the obvious things.” with that he turned, going to the bathroom and slamming the door behind him, leaving the taller of the two men to stare at the place where he’d just been, mulling over his words.

“…Me…?”