Cougar has his teeth on his inner cheek, absently chewing as if it's not flesh, but something else. He's clever enough and able to read between the lines enough to know what Jake is saying. The thing is, part of him has always known that. Where his doubt lies is more in the place where he'd never thought it geared towards him. "Pink shirt," he reminds him. "I knew."

He exhales and lets his gaze slide over Jake, his smile as filled with grief as it ever is when he thinks about something like this. "Maybe," he starts, roughly, "I need to stop being so selfish. I keep you from people you could be with, but I am not a good boyfriend." It hurts to say, but he thinks he needs to. "It's no good, though, thinking of you serious, with someone else."