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Jeno likes to think of himself as a relatively easy-going person. Most of the time, he's content to let things happen and remains unbothered by them. There are some occasions, though, where staying calm feels impossible – and watching Mark be all over Jaemin with no way of intervening is one of them.
Rationally, of course, Jeno is aware that being jealous is silly and that his possessiveness isn't a particularly attractive trait. But something about seeing Mark lay his head on Jaemin's shoulder for what feels like the hundredth time has all logical thought flying out of Jeno's brain.
He tries not to make his feelings obvious afterwards, continues to laugh and smile and talk to everyone as he normally does. It isn't too difficult, either, because he loves both Jaemin and Mark too much to not let it go. And of course, Mark has no way of knowing why what he did was so upsetting to Jeno anyway, so Jeno can't even hold it against him without feeling guilty.
Still, once he's in their shared room that night, Jeno wordlessly climbs into Jaemin's bed to wrap himself around Jaemin and hold him close, Jeno's front pressed against Jaemin's back and his head tucked into Jaemin's shoulder. It feels like Jaemin can tell something is wrong, because the atmosphere in the room is unusually tense.
For a while, they both just lie there, not speaking, and Jeno starts to wonder if they're going to fall asleep with this tension still lingering between them. It's never happened before, and he finds that he hates the thought of it.
The fact is, the two of them have known each other for too long to let bad communication make things awkward between them, so Jeno finally decides to suck it up and speak. "Nana," he says quietly, his voice muffled by Jaemin's shirt. "I...didn't like what happened today."
Jaemin sighs, a tiny little thing that Jeno wouldn't have caught if he didn't literally have Jaemin in his arms. "I know you didn't," he says. "I mean, I love Mark-hyung. And I love when he's affectionate. But I saw the footage afterwards, and...and Jeno-yah, your face was just –"
"I know," Jeno says, cutting Jaemin off because he doesn't think he can handle hearing about how repulsive Jaemin finds Jeno's obvious possessiveness. "I know, I should have controlled myself better."
"What? No!" Jaemin says, shifting away from Jeno slightly and turning in his arms so they're facing each other. "No, I was going to say that it kind of broke my heart, silly."
"Huh?" Jeno blinks at him a few times.
"Jeno-yah," Jaemin says, the corners of his mouth pulling upwards, "you looked like a kicked puppy. Like you just suffered the biggest betrayal of your life. Of course it made me feel terrible."
Jeno feels even more guilty now – the last thing he wants is to make Jaemin feel responsible for his own twisted jealousy when it wasn't even Jaemin's fault. "Sorry," he mumbles, suddenly unable to meet Jaemin's eyes. "Jaemin-ah, you know I would never – I mean, I know you love affection from all the members. I don't...distrust you or anything."
Jaemin starts smiling for real at that, which has Jeno experiencing both the desire to kiss him and sheer bafflement at the unexpected reaction. "You are so..." Jaemin reaches out and gently pulls Jeno's chin up so he can see that Jaemin's eyes are soft and fond. "I know you don't, Jeno. You're the sweetest, most understanding man in the world. You could never."
Jeno immediately relaxes. "As long as you know it."
"I don't mind you getting jealous, you know," Jaemin says matter-of-factly. "God knows I get jealous constantly."
"Do you?" Jeno asks, genuinely curious. Jaemin has alluded to it in the past, of course, but only on camera – and it's always hard to tell how much of that is a performance and how much is real.
"Of course," Jaemin says easily. "I get jealous when I see you with Mark-hyung, with Jisungie, with Doyoung-hyung, with Renjun, with Taeyong-hyung, with Donghyuck, with Ten-hyung, with Chenle, with Jaehyun-hyung, with Donghae-hyung –"
"That's just...you're just listing every person I know," Jeno says, bewildered.
Jaemin smiles sheepishly. "Exactly," he says. "I think I'm better at hiding it than you are but...you aren't the only one who gets possessive. In fact, you could really stand to be more jealous sometimes."
"Uh," Jeno says, again taken aback by the turn that this conversation has taken.
"I mean, Mark-hyung was all over me," Jaemin says coyly, moving a little closer to Jeno. Their faces are only centimeters apart now, and Jeno swallows. "He had his head on my shoulder and he hugged me and I nuzzled his neck –"
Jaemin is intentionally riling him up. Jeno knows he's doing it on purpose, and he still falls for it. "Stop," he growls and pulls Jaemin in for a sloppy kiss. Jaemin makes a happy sound that gets muffled in Jeno's mouth as he returns the kiss eagerly.
When they pull apart several long moments later, Jaemin has a dazed look in his eyes that Jeno is inordinately pleased to have put there. "That's what I was waiting for," Jaemin murmurs, his eyelashes fluttering. "I really think you should stake your claim even more."
And who is Jeno to deny Jaemin what he so clearly wants? "Okay," Jeno says, tightening his hold on Jaemin and letting some of his innermost thoughts out. "Then I'm going to leave one mark on your body for every time I had to watch Mark-hyung touch you." Jaemin looks like he's going to say something, but Jeno thinks he can guess what it is and addresses it first. "Actually, you know what? I don't think that's enough, not to teach everyone to keep their hands off you."
"So you'll give me more than that?" Jaemin asks, looking excited at the very prospect of it.
"We'll start with three for each time," Jeno says, pausing to kiss Jaemin deeply and getting momentarily lost in it. Jaemin chases after his lips when he pulls away, and Jeno smirks. "We'll see if you've earned more by the time I'm done."
Much later, when they're both sated and Jeno has finished kissing every single mark he's left on Jaemin's skin, Jeno wraps his arms around Jaemin again as Jaemin nuzzles into Jeno's neck contentedly.
"Jeno-yah," Jaemin mumbles sleepily, kissing Jeno's neck subconsciously. "Next time I'll mark you all over, okay? So everyone knows you're mine too."
Jeno smiles and kisses Jaemin's temple. He likes the sound of that a lot. "Okay, Nana. Whatever you want."