It was ridiculous, Pitch knew. As many times as he said so, Jack was not his property. Jack was barely his roommate; Pitch had no claim to him. They were not dating. They were hardly flirting. Jack could laugh and touch whomever he wanted.

So why did Pitch feel so God damn possessive?

"Jack," Jamie laughed, leaning his chin on his hand, "that's not how that works."

"Hush, Jamie. I might be on to something."

"You're not. You're definitely not."

As Jack made some silly declaration about how at least it made him feel better, Pitch cleared his throat and tried, again, to get back to his grading. He had already resigned himself to only working on the multiple choice and true/false questions, far too unfocused for anything even remotely resembling an essay answer.

Giggling, or maybe it was maniacal cackling but to Pitch's ears it sounded like gleeful giggling, made him glance up again where he had the dubious pleasure of witnessing Jamie wrap his arms around Jack in a hopeless attempt to take the pencil from him while Jack refused to give up on what all three of them knew was not going to result in a correct answer.

"Fine!" Jamie relented, returning to his own notebook with a decisive air, "I'll work on passing this class, you can work on failing it."

"I bet people said shit like that to Einstein, too."

Pitch and Jamie snorted in unison and it just made Pitch hate him more.

This was stupid. Pitch was immature, but he was not this immature. Determined to get over himself and extend an olive branch, Pitch got up, went to the kitchen, and picked up his kettle, "Would either of you like some tea?"

Jack eyed him warily, "Would I have to make it?"

Pitch… offered Jack a lame look, "I can make tea."

"Well, of course you can," Jack emphasized, finally tearing out his failed page and crumpling it, "but you don't."

Prior to this moment, Pitch had at least understood himself. Now, he was fucking confused, because he was actually irritated that Jack was spilling what were not secrets about their relationship dynamics in front of someone that was not, according to Pitch, included in those dynamics and there was no reason for it, but he felt it anyway.

It was not like Pitch was ashamed or concerned. He didn't usually care if anyone knew about his pet, Jack. It was even a bit of a joke between his fellow grad students. But Jamie. Jamie was not allowed to know. Pitch wanted to look like he took care of himself and Jack in front of Jamie and how fucked up was that?

What was even happening, here?

He didn't know what to say, so he turned back to the stove and continued making his tea.

"Pitch? Are you okay?"

Jack's tone of concern grated on Pitch's ears. Normally he basked in the attention, but with these weird feelings bubbling up that demanded he look more capable than this, he didn't want to hear it right now. He controlled his voice though, because the whole point was to not sound upset, "I'm fine, Jack. Why do you ask?"

The sarcasm was thick and damn Pitch, but he liked it, "Because you're making tea."

Now was not the time to be attracted to Jack. Pitch was so mad at himself.

"You only have limited time to study, I didn't want to interrupt."

There was a suspicious quiet behind him, but Pitch didn't have it in him to turn and watch the silent looks he was sure Jack and Jamie were exchanging right then. He was wise enough about his own foolish stupidity to know seeing evidence of a close relationship between them was not going to make anything better.

He was so focused on not looking that Jack's sudden presence beside him came as a complete surprise. His silly 'pet' stole the tea bag right out of his hands and took control of the mug, too, "I appreciate the thought, but worrying about you is a far worse distraction than making tea."

Now was not the time to be attracted to Jack. Pitch was so mad at himself, but how could he not feel ever so slightly satisfied by a statement like that?

And fighting about it would be suspicious. Pitch really didn't make his tea when Jack was around, because Jack always did this and Pitch always let him, which made this a bigger deal than it was worth. With a tight smile, Pitch nodded, "If you insist."

But Jack didn't look satisfied and Pitch couldn't whisper a word of how he was really feeling, so when he returned to his grading, he shut his bedroom door behind him. Maybe if he couldn't see them, he could focus. Maybe if he couldn't hear their banter. It didn't work. Holy fuck, it didn't work. Pitch was left staring at his papers, pen in hand, doing nothing but trying to appear normal for when Jack would inevitably open his door.

Jealousy was a bitch.

He still found a smile to put on his face when Jack set a steaming cup of tea on his desk, shutting the door quietly behind him.

"Thank you."

"Anytime, Pitch," Jack returned the smile, but there was a nervous edge to it, and Pitch saw it coming when the undergrad leaned his elbows on the desk and asked, "Are you… getting sick or something?"

"You'd know if I was sick," Pitch replied with a sweet, indulgent smile. Without Jamie in the room, he could enjoy the attention and Pitch hated himself for being so fickle about it.

"You're right. You wouldn't be able to resist whining," Jack laughed, but it fell away quickly, "Something's obviously wrong, though."

Pitch cleared his throat. Even if he had the intention of admitting his irrational feelings to Jack, now wouldn't be the time to do it, with Jamie waiting in the other room. Instead, he stuck an apologetic look on his face that begged Jack to forgive him and said, "I don't mean to be a dramaking, I swear. It's just happening that way."

Jack laughed again, and Pitch felt better, but the goal was to end the conversation quickly without ruining Jack's study time any more, so he continued before Jack could get any words in, "I'm sorry. I really don't mean to interrupt. I don't think there's anything you can do, but I'm sure I'll feel better tomorrow."

Jack was unsold, "Are you sure there's nothing I can do?"

Pitch felt a stupid smile pulling at his lips. Now was not the time to be attracted to Jack. He grabbed up his tea to hide it, but the look in Jack's eyes told him he wasn't fooling anyone, "Go study, you."

"Alright, alright," Jack shook his head, reopening the door, "Just knock when you need a refill. I'll appreciate the excuse to check up on you."

Fuck. Jack. Stop being so God damn charming. Pitch's heart couldn't take this. "Fine. Deal. As long as you promise to stop comparing yourself to Einstein."

And that got him the carefree laugh Pitch loved to hear. His heart was so, so screwed.

The knocking system was really working out, Jack thought as he heard the fourth knock of the night and got up from the dining table. Jamie gave him a knowing smile that Jack honestly didn't understand, but whatever. As long as everyone was smiling again.

He opened Pitch's door to grab the mug and…

"It's still half-full."

Jack was confused, but Pitch just batted innocent eyelashes at him and it was too charming, too cute for him to do anything but laugh and fetch more tea.