A/n: sorry for the long wait. Please blame battle of the writers for that.... anyways let's go.

Mai was at the cafe just across Jade's apartment building, reason? He missed his boyfriend.

He had been finding the right time to tell Jade about the apartment he had gotten for the both of them and asking Jade to move in with him.

But every single time he asked Jade out, Jade always found an excuse. It was weird and if Mai didn't know better, he'd say that Jade was avoiding him.

Mai didn't want to think of that. He hadn't done anything to displease Jade so why was Jade keen on avoiding him?

In any case, Jade had told him that he was spending the day with Uea so Mai was in the cafe hoping to catch a glimpse of his boyfriend when they were leaving.

But the glimpse never came and it made Mai wonder if Jade had lied to him.

He stayed at the cafe feeling dejected before King's call came in. King had told him that something was up with Jade and that was all Mai needed to run to Jade's apartment.

He ran so fast that he almost knocked King over. King had vaguely explained the situation and Mai had explained himself. Still, he was very much worried for Jade, especially after the sight that greeted him when he entered Jade's apartment was Jade crying and holding sakoo for comfort.

"Babe.. let's go." King said to Uea.

Uea was about to protest but King was already next to him, pulling him gently towards the exit.

"Oh and also.. Jade hasn't had breakfast yet." King said before they left.

Once out of Jade's apartment, Uea tore away from King's grip. "Why do you want us to leave?"

"They are adults. They can handle the issues themselves." King answered.

"I don't like it. I want to help Jade however I can.."

"Teerak..."

The tears were forming in Uea's eyes again. "This happened because I wasn't paying attention. I just abandoned Jade as soon as he was dating Mai.... I don't want to abandon him again. I want to help.."

"You are. You have done so much and you are doing so much for Jade I'm sure he appreciates all that but this is a battle they have to face themselves." Net said.

"I just.. I feel like I'm abandoning him again. Just because Mai showed up, like I'm tossing him over to Mai—"

"Hey. Its not like that okay and Jade knows too. He knows you will always be there for him and we are not abandoning Jade. We will be here for both him and Mai if they need support but we also shouldn't cross the boundary. Understand?" King asked.

Uea nodded reluctantly.

"Come on, let's go."

Uea gave one last lingering look to Jade's apartment before allowing King to lead the way.

_______________________________________________

King and Uea had just left and the tension in the room was palpable. Jade had stopped crying but he still kept his head down and continued to pet sakoo. Mai wasn't sure how to start, King hadn't told him the full details, he guessed King wanted jade to say them himself.

But he couldn't just jump into it and asked what happened, that would be insensitive so instead he decided to start simple, with a topic almost unrelated.

"P'King said you haven't had breakfast. Can I go into your kitchen to fix you something?" Mai asked.

Jade looked at him, eyes wide and confused not sure why Mai didn't go straight to the point to either ask questions or end things.

"Y-you want to cook? For me?" Jade asked.

"Of course. I'd love to cook for you." Mai answered.

Jade's confusion only grew. Did King not tell Mai about what happened? Even if he didn't wasn't Mai going to get back with his ex girlfriend? Why was he offering to cook for him? He'd love to cook for him? Was that some sort of reverse psychology?

"Babe..." Mai called out to pull Jade out of his thoughts.

Jade's breath hitched. While Mai often called him that, sometimes 'baby' when Mai wanted to tease, it never failed to give Jade a mini heart attack especially now more than ever.

Did King somehow threaten Mai to not break up with him? Jade wondered.

"What did King tell you?" Jade asked.

Mai was caught off guard by the question since he expected Jade to try to avoid the situation and not confront it.

"He didn't say much, he just asked me some questions and told me some things vaguely. I think he wanted you to tell me yourself." Mai replied.

Of course classic King. Jade cursed King in his mind.

Jade was so focused on cursing out King in his head that he hadn't seen Mai crouch down to his level.

"P'Jade.. would you prefer we talked now or after breakfast?" Mai asked.

Jade averted his gaze "What's there to talk about? You want to break up with me so you can get back with your ex-girlfriend right?"

"What!? No! I- I don't want to break up and I'm not getting back with anybody." Mai said firmly.

"Then why did you lie when you were on a date with her?" Jade asked, the tears he had been trying hard to hold finally streaming down.

Mai's heart broke at the sight. "That wasn't her. That was P'Man's girlfriend. I... I was looking for an apartment so that we could move in together."

"What?"

"Yeah and I wanted to surprise you so I kept it a secret and lied about meeting her. She's a house agent and she helped me find one." Mai explained.

"But she.. she came to me, and she said that you two met that day and were getting back together."  

"Yes I met Fae by chance that day but they are not the same person. They have the same hair colour that's why you thought they were the same. And I told her that I was with you and I was happy with you. I had no idea she met with you and lied to you." Mai said.

Jade was now realizing how foolish he was being.

"I'm such an idiot."

"No, you are not. I shouldn't have kept things from you. If I had told you from the beginning, none of this would have happened." Mai protested.

"I am. I was being insecure and I doubted you, I let her get into my head and under my skin, I started hurting myself—"

"Hurting yourself?" Mai asked in shock.

Jade bit his lips, he thought King told Mai about that, if he knew King didn't, he wouldn't have mentioned it.

"P'Jade.. why, why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you confront me?"

"I, I just thought I shouldn't have. The only relationship I've ever been in, I ruined it by being jealous and I didn't want to do that with you." Jade explained.

Mai swallowed hard and prepared himself "Can.. can I see?"

Jade remained silent but didn't protest so Mai took it as a yes.

Slowly,  he took Jade's right arm and pulled back the sleeve revealing the cleaned cuts, some were bandaged while others were not.

"How long have you been doing this?" Mai asked carefully.

"About two weeks..." Jade answered quietly.

"It must have hurt, right?" Mai said softly mostly speaking to himself.

Jade looked at him puzzled, he had expected Mai to act literally any other way from how he acted.

"Why aren't you yelling? Or telling me that I'm stupid for doing this? Or—"

Before Jade could finish his statement, Mai pulled him into a firm hug.

"Because you are not. Why would I when you are hurting?" Mai soothed.

Jade couldn't help the fresh wave of tears, he wrapped his arm around Mai, burying his face in Mai's chest and allowing himself to sob uncontrollably.

Mai continued to hold him, his hand stroking Jade's hair gently.

"It's okay, cry as much as you want. I'm here." Mai said soothingly.

For a few minutes, Jade cried his heart and soul out, his grip on Mai was so tight it was as if he was afraid to let go.

When his sobs subsided into small hiccups, Mai gently pulled away to look him in the eye.

"Feeling better?" Mai asked gently.

Jade wiped at his eyes, nodded and gave a small but shaky smile.

"I'm sorry, I'm such a mess-" he started but was interrupted by Mai who gently shushed him.

"Don't apologise. You shouldn't have to apologise for hurting... I understand you perfectly." Mai said.

Jade felt like there was more to the statement and waited for Mai to elaborate but instead of elaborating, Mai simply wiped the tear streak on Jade's face before making his way to the kitchen.

Jade hesitated for a moment deciding if he should ask or not after deciding he got to the kitchen where Mai was already taking out ingredients that were still suitable to use.

"What did you mean you understand me perfectly?"

Mai paused for a second, not expecting Jade to think anything of the statement then he broke into a relaxed smile.

"That's right, I never told P'Jade did I?" Mai said mostly to himself

"Tell me what?"

"Up until I met you,.. I had atelophobia." Mai stated casually as he continued with the task of making breakfast.

"...you...what?"

"I was in therapy for years. I was always anxious, always overwhelmed and almost depressed because of it but then I met you and you saved me." Mai said.

"M-me? I ...saved you?" Jade asked

"Yes you did. I had never met anyone so perfectly imperfect. You showed me imperfections weren't bad. You pulled me out of my cage."

"You really think I saved you?" Jade whispered feeling a tiny amount of honour.

"Of course! You did." Mai said firmly.

Jade couldn't stop the happy flutter in his chest at that.

"I should have told you this a long time ago. You helped me, now I'm going to help you too." Mai said as he started to set the table.

"You mean..."

"P'May is a great therapist and you are gonna love her, I promise." Mai said.

Jade wanted to protest but from Mai's tone it was clear the decision had been made.

Mai dished the food and they both ate in comfortable silence.

"Thank you." Jade said.

"No need to thank me. I want to take care of you because I care about you."

Jade nodded shyly, blushing at how casual Mai made his heart thump louder.

Mai had finished the dishes when he noticed Jade on the couch, sakoo next to him. Jade was lazily petting him showing that he was exhausted.

"You look tired." Mai said softly.

"Hmm." Jade hummed.

"Why don't you sleep?" Mai suggested.

Jade nodded, too tired to argue.

Mai smiled as Jade laid down on the couch.

"You'll stay.... right?" Jade asked sleepily.

"Of course. I'm not going anywhere." Mai reassured.

And with that, Jade drifted off to sleep. The best sleep he's had in a while.

Happy New Year everybody. Wishing you all a great year ahead 😊 😘