Jaejoong’s stomach clenched. There was no way the man in front of him could really be Yunho. If it was Yunho, the universe really hated him. He closed his eyes hard, counted to ten, and reopened them….Yunho was still standing there. Damn.

Jaejoong tried to pull away from Yunho but Yunho only held him tighter, until Jaejoong was surprised he didn’t hear the sound of bones splintering.

“What are you doing here?” Yunho repeated. When Jaejoong didn’t respond right away, Yunho shook him, hard, until Jaejoong’s teeth clattered in his mouth.

“Let go of me,” Jaejoong slurred. He tugged on Yunho’s hands. “You’re hurting me.”

“Good,” Yunho snarled. “Maybe the pain will finally force some sense into your mind.”

Jaejoong opened his mouth, like he intended to defend himself, but Yunho held up a hand to stop the flow of words. “Shut up, Jaejoong. Now, I’ll ask one last time. What are you doing here?” Yunho’s voice was low and dangerous. At any other time, Jaejoong wouldn’t dare argue with Yunho when the other man was this angry, but the alcohol burning in Jaejoong’s stomach bolstered his courage. He refused to be manhandled like this. He was older than Yunho, damn it.

“Well, what do you want me to do? Shut up or answer the question?”

“Answer my question,” Yunho said through gritted teeth.

“I don’t need to tell you anything.”

Yunho clenched his eyes shut tight and tried to count to ten. Isn’t that what his mother always told him to do if he was losing his patience? But he couldn’t think. He could barely breathe. The alcohol and the music and Jaejoong’s stupid face were muddling his brain. The room was spinning and Yunho felt like he was going to be sick.

He opened his eyes again and looked down at Jaejoong. His hip was cocked to the side, his arms were crossed over his chest, and his eyes were narrowed in a glare. His chest rose as he inhaled and exhaled, and whenever the lights flashed in their direction, Yunho could see his pulse at the base of his neck. His cheeks were flushed pink.

Jaejoong had always been pretty, too pretty, but in that moment, he was beautiful.

Yunho jerked his head to the side, like a horse would jerk its tail to rid itself of a fly. He hadn’t really thought that, had he? He had only had a couple of beers to drink, but he must be drunker than he thought. He never had held his liquor well.

“Cat got your tongue?” Jaejoong asked, his foot tapping against the floor in agitation. “Are you going to let go of me, or are we going to dance the tango?”

Every word Jaejoong spoke was like a nail being hammered into Yunho’s skull. Every tap, tap, tap Jaejoong made on the floor with his shoe made Yunho’s teeth clench. The heavy bass that felt like it was pounding in his very blood made a small fireworks show flash behind his eyes.

He was getting a headache.

“Well?”

“Shut up, Jaejoong,” Yunho snapped.

“Don’t ing tell me to shut up! Who the hell do you think—“

Yunho clapped a hand over Jaejoong’s mouth to stem the flow of words. It was a dumb move. Jaejoong’s teeth lashed out and closed around the skin between his thumb and forefinger. Yunho grunted in pain. With his other hand he grabbed a fist full of Jaejoong’s hair and pulled his head back. The rake of Jaejoong’s teeth made his flesh crawl, and he felt the insane urge to bite Jaejoong back.

Surprisingly, Jaejoong did not squirm in his hold. He stood perfectly still, staring up at Yunho through hooded eyes. His neck was stretched taut. His pulse was racing faster than the bass was pounding. There was a flash of white teeth as he smiled—the bastard was enjoying this.

Jaejoong’s tongue s out to wet dry lips, and he his lower lip into his mouth and worried it with his teeth before letting it go. Yunho felt like he was watching the movement in slow motion. Jaejoong’s lips were left wet and red and swollen. The sight excited Yunho in a way he didn’t comprehend, and unaware of his actions, he leaned his head down slowly until his lips were almost flush against Jaejoong’s. Just a little closer and…

“Yunho,” Jaejoong whispered. Yunho felt the words being spoken more than he heard them. Unaware that he had closed his eyes, he opened them slowly. And the spell broke.

Yunho pulled away from Jaejoong. The lead-singer stumbled, caught unaware. When he regained his balance, he straightened up and turned to face Yunho. The younger man stood rigidly, tense as a strung bowstring. Jaejoong chanced a look into his eyes and what he saw there made his heart plummet into his stomach.

“Yunho?” he asked cautiously.

Yunho spun on his heel and turned toward the back exit, walking away hurriedly. Jaejoong hesitated for a moment before following him. They burst through the back door and it banged shut behind them, the loud noise echoing in the small alley behind the bar.

Jaejoong watched as Yunho began to pace back and forth. He was muttering something under his breath, his words too quiet for Jaejoong to catch them. At his sides his fists were clenched tightly. Jaejoong couldn’t see his eyes, but from his profile, he could tell Yunho was angry and confused, and….Could that be fear? Jaejoong’s heart went out to him and he approached Yunho slowly, reaching out to touch him on the shoulder. Yunho spun away from him and pushed Jaejoong away.

“Don’t ing touch me,” he spat.

Jaejoong was thrown off by Yunho’s shove and he went stumbling into the wall. His head hit the brick with a loud smack. Stars burst behind Jaejoong’s eyes and he groaned. Between the booze, Yunho’s confusing actions, and the knock to his skull, Jaejoong’s head was swimming. Feeling dizzy, he sunk down slowly to sit at the base of the wall.

“What the was that for?” Jaejoong slurred.

“Shut up, Jaejoong. Just shut up,” Yunho’s voice was high, thin, strained. He sounded like he was about to cry.

“What the is your problem?” Jaejoong yelled. “I didn’t do a goddamn thing to you.”

“I—you—!” Yunho shouted. He dropped his head into his hands. Jaejoong stared up at him. He had never seen Yunho like this before. For a brief moment, he felt he should take pity on the man. But then he remembered the way Yunho had acted in the club, and the look of disgust Jaejoong had glimpsed in his eyes.

“What about me?” Jaejoong asked, his voice quiet and dangerous.

“Do you not think, Jaejoong?” Yunho asked, his voice muffled by his hands. He looked back at the lead-singer. “Do you not realize what could have happened in there?”

“I understand perfectly what almost happened in--”

“Anybody could have seen us!”

“We were in a corner, it was dark. Nobody—“

“We’re celebrities, damn it! All it would have taken was one person, one, and we—“

“What are you so afraid of? We weren’t—“

“Have some dignity. Stand up. What would people think if they saw the lead-singer of Dong Bang Shin Ki rolling around in the dirt like some common gutter trash?”

Jaejoong saw red. “You ing bastard.”

“You don’t care about anything other than the next cheapest thrill. Our image, our fame, doesn’t mean anything to you, and you—“

“I know why you’re really upset,” Jaejoong said quietly and climbed slowly to his feet. He walked towards the younger man until their chests were almost touching. “I am so goddamn sick of your holier-than-thou attitude. And your hypocrisy. You’re not concerned about the group, you’re concerned about yourself. You’re worried about your own image.

You don’t care that somebody could have seen me in a club. You don’t care that I’m drunk. The only thing you care about right now is that somebody might have seen the great Jung Yunho-ssi about to kiss—“

Yunho was saved from hitting Jaejoong again when his phone began to trill and vibrate. He ripped it from his pocket. “What?” he growled into the phone.

“Yunho! Jaejoong is gone, I don’t know—“

“I have him here,” Yunho said. He shot a poisonous look in the lead-singer’s direction. “We’ll be home soon.” Yunho snapped his phone shut and put it back in his pocket.

“Let’s go,” Yunho said and turned to walk toward the street. Jaejoong followed him slowly. It didn’t take them very long to hail down a taxi. Jaejoong got in the back and Yunho the passenger seat. The ride home was a very quiet, tense one. The ride in the elevator was worse because in that small, metal box there wasn’t much room to avoid each other. Every time Yunho so much as moved an inch, Jaejoong flinched away from him, half-expecting to be hit or kicked or maimed in some way. Whenever Jaejoong drifted too close to Yunho, the younger man would back away from him, like he was afraid of contracting some disease.

Yoochun jumped when the door to the apartment crashed against the wall. He watched as Yunho stormed in, headed straight for his room. Jaejoong entered after him and shut the door.

“What happened?” Yoochun asked. “Yunho looks like he wants to kill somebody.” He patted the seat cushion next to him and Jaejoong sunk down onto it gratefully.

“If he could get away with it, I would be dead and buried already,” Jaejoong said. He leaned his head back against the couch and closed his eyes. “He almost kissed me, Yoochun.”

“What?” Yoochun shouted.

Jaejoong nodded wearily. “Yeah. I don’t think he meant to. I don’t know what came over him. We were drunk and….We fought.”

Yoochun pinched the bridge of his nose to stave off the headache he could feel brewing behind his eyes. Of course they had fought. They’d been fighting constantly lately.

“Are you okay?” he asked Jaejoong. His friend looked awful. His clothes were rumpled and they stank of alcohol and the dirty, grimy streets of Seoul. His hair was tousled and knotted in the back. His eyes looked bruised, probably from stress and exhaustion. On his forehead was a large, red welt. “Yunho didn’t hurt you again, did he?”

“No. I hit my head on a wall.”

“Jaejoong, I don’t understand what’s going on. I don’t understand why—“

“I don’t either, Yoochun.” Suddenly Jaejoong looked sad. “He looked so disgusted, Yoochun. He looked at me like—I felt so dirty under his gaze. Like I was—“

“Shhhh,” Yoochun whispered. He slid closer to Jaejoong and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. Jaejoong let his head fall to rest on his shoulder. “I’m sorry this happened, Jaejoong.”

“Yoochun, do you think—could Yunho—I’m so confused,” Jaejoong whispered.