Another written for the Wishes for Kisses Mini-Fanworks Challenge. Eliza wanted a Jaeho kiss when Jaejoong was still on crutches from his knee injury. She got to beta the result.

Jaejoong knows he's an energy drain, so he tries to make up for it by working hard. He takes care of the other members, practices all the time, does his best not to argue with management and not to argue with Yunho when Yunho's acting as their leader. He's not sure it's enough, but he does try.

Except now he's broken, and if he pushes himself at all, people get upset. Yunho gets upset, more than he ever did when Jaejoong messed up a step. Of course, he never messed up a step this badly before.

Anyway, the inactivity makes him irritable. Knowing he can't do for himself makes him irritable. Knowing he's even more exhausting when irritable makes him irritable. It's a vicious cycle.

"Are you okay, Jaejoong?" Yunho asks, looking at him with soft, concerned eyes. "Do you need a painkiller?"

"I need--" not to be broken anymore. He bites his lip, already knowing how Yunho would take that. Yunho blames himself for pushing too hard, and it doesn't matter that Jaejoong knows better. Yunho's their leader; anything that goes wrong, he blames himself. "No, Yunho, I don't need anything. Thank you."

He expects Yunho to nod and go back to reading, but Yunho just continues to watch him, heavy black-framed glasses making him look even more intense than usual. Just when Jaejoong's about to ask if he's okay, Yunho leans forward and kisses him.

This isn't the kind of gentle kiss Yunho's been giving him since he fell; this is the kind of kiss Yunho used to give him, forceful, almost demanding. Jaejoong meets that force, pushes past it, and Yunho doesn't pull away or try to soothe him back down.

Yunho, it hits him, trusts him to know his own limits now.

That's what he needs.

~END~