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He leaned against the door to the hospital room, his attention on the television that was playing a rerun of the finale. Considering the way the man in the bed was watching the finale with rapt eyes, Jean decided to remain silent, choosing instead to watch the dance again.
There was no question about why Eren and Levi had won, not with that tango. Not with the way that Eren had been nearly flinging Levi around his shoulders and Levi had gotten through the move without a mistake. There was no other dance that would have compared with it, certainly not Betholdt and Annie’s slightly awkward Pasodoble or with his and Armin’s disastrous freestyle dance. Eren and Levi had just been too good, and Jean was able to take his defeat without complaining, especially not when Armin had worked so hard to make up for everything.
It wasn’t Armin’s fault that he had been pulled in midway through the season, right in the middle of Jean learning a different freestyle routine. The routine that had broken his previous partner’s leg. In fact, Armin had been a miracle worker, considering that he had put together a new routine and taught it to Jean without needing extra time. If anything, it had probably been Jean’s fault that he hadn’t been able to pull himself together on the third to last week.
But, to be fair to himself, he had had a lot going on during that week between practices, his own work and his nearly daily pilgrimage to the hospital where Marco was. If he was honest with himself, his mind hadn’t really been in the competition since Marco had gotten hurt and that wasn’t Armin’s fault either.
With Marco, he had never had to work to get the kind of chemistry that the judges had wanted for the dance, not really. Things had just been easy with Marco; it was just a matter of trusting each other and going with it. He had gotten that way with Armin towards the end, but it had taken effort and that had taken a toll on their scores. That and the fact that, while Armin was brilliant and mixing music or composing scores for their dances, he was a little shaky on his own dance skills. It had taken a while for Jean to nudge him to the point where Armin was confident in dancing in front of so many people.
Maybe if he and Armin had been paired from the start they would have made it all the way to the finale, but Jean wasn’t too worried about it. Eren and Levi had danced a nearly flawless routine and, while he was jealous that they had pulled off a dance like that, he was man enough to admit that they deserved the win.
He was so focused on rewatching the dance, paying close attention the complex technical elements, that he didn’t notice that Marco had spotted him by the door until the volume of the television was turned down.
Jean startled, leaning out around the door to see that Marco was watching him from the bed, a smile on his face. Jean swallowed and gave a small wave before stepping into the room. He noted how Marco’s eyes darted to the bouquet that Jean held, unable to stop the blush that rose to his cheeks.
He had worried that it had been too much, especially when Christa and Hannah had chipped in on what he should take to Marco. They had been the ones who had designed the damn thing in the first place, picking out the exact colors of the flowers that he needed, at least according to him. Jean had been tempted to google the meanings behind the flowers, but he had been too scared to. It would be easier to claim innocence and blame the two girls.
Marco gestured to the chair beside his bed with a laugh. “So you caught me fawning over someone who isn’t you.”
“Don’t worry about it. They deserved it.” Jean flopped down into the chair, settling the bouquet into his lap for a lack of a better place to put it. He noticed that Marco’s eyes dropped to it briefly before they went back to the television. Jean followed his gaze, watching the recaps on some of the more spectacular moves, including the split that Levi went into at the end with Eren bent over him. The close camera angle got both of their faces, catching how close they were to each other and how heavily they were breathing.
Beside him, Marco let out a low whistle. “Wow. I could never do something like that.”
“What are you talking about?” Jean reached out to lightly smack Marco’s arm. “You could totally pull some of that stuff off.”
Marco raised an eyebrow and pointed at his leg, which was still up in traction. When Jean looked away from the white bandage, Marco gestured at him. “I couldn’t have done that with you. I’d need someone like Christa or Armin. Mikasa maybe, but that would be pushing my limit. Besides half of that appeal is the chemistry. You can believe that they’re about to strip each other as soon as the dance is over.”
Jean nodded, turning his attention to the scores that the judges were giving as Marco reached for his water. “According to Mikasa it was a near thing. Apparently, they made it back to the dressing rooms before someone shoved their tongue down the other’s throat.” He heard Marco spit out the mouthful of water he had just drunk turning to smile at his friend. “It’s still up in the air who acted first. Mikasa’s version had Levi being the aggressor and Annie was the one to actually walk in on them, but it had progressed a bit further than kissing by the time she had gotten there.”
“What?!”
He shrugged. “No one has been able to get the story out of Eren, he keeps blushing too much for us to get anything. And you know Levi, he won’t say a word about it aside from that Eren ‘wasn’t as much of a worthless brat as he thought’.”
“Oh that’s bad.”
“That’s what Petra said when she joined us for the wrap party. She said that means that Levi has got it bad. He said it about her before they started dating.” Jean shrugged, watching as Marco processed the information.
To be honest, he had learned too much about Levi at that wrap party, considering his four students had been there to watch their teacher’s last dance of the season. Jean was actively in the process of forgetting most of it, as soon as he passed the information to Marco. The poor guy was cooped up in the hospital for a few more weeks as the doctors made sure that the break was healing properly, completely cut off from the little group of friends they had gathered while they had been dancing together.
For a competitive show, they had managed to become a tight knit group over the weeks of practice and performance, to the point where Jean had most of their phone numbers programmed into his phone, just in case he started missing some of them. From the messages he was seeing on Facebook and the conversations that he had heard at the wrap party, people were already starting to make plans.
Jean leaned forward, taking the napkin that Marco had used to wipe out the water he had spit out. He tossed it into the trashcan before turning back to Marco. “If your leg heals up well, it looks like you might not have as much tough competition next season. Annie and Reiner are signed on for next season, as is Armin, but Christa and Ymir are taking off to try their luck on a different competition circuit, as are Levi and Eren. Petra was talking about some dance things that are coming up as Levi was practically hanging off the edge of his chair.”
“And Eren will go with him?”
“After something like that, yeah. They even went home together. I don’t think they’ll be separating for some time.”
Marco sighed and leaned back into his pillows, a smile on his face. Of course Marco would be happy for Jaeger. Jean suspected that he had been rooting for Eren since the first time that Eren’s massive crush on Levi had made itself known.
He looked down at his hand as Marco tapped the back of it, motioning for him to go on. “What about the others?”
“I don’t know. It was kind of up in the air for all of them.” He bit his lip, fiddling with the bouquet in his lap. “Hannah and Franz have a wedding to plan and I don’t even know what Connie and Sasha are doing. Bertholdt has his Annie and Reiner thing. Don’t ask me how that works but it does.” Jean paused for a moment, trying his best not to notice the way that Marco’s fingers lingered on the back of his hand. “Mikasa said she was going back to teaching kickboxing and all the other martial arts.”
“I doubt she knows all of them.”
“I doubt that she doesn’t.”
That got Marco to laugh, Jean glad of that. There was very little for Marco to laugh at cooped up in bed all day with nothing but the television to keep him company. And, if one thing went wrong, then there would be no more dancing for Marco, which would be a travesty, because Marco had always been so graceful when he danced. Far more graceful than his lanky body would have allowed.
He swallowed and nearly shoved the bouquet into Marco’s face, desperate to change the topic, even if he was the only one thinking along those lines. “This is for you.”
“I was wondering when you would get around to it.” Marco took the flowers from him, twisting to his right to settle them on his beside table. Jean couldn’t help but notice that it was placed in a large vase with two other bouquets, but it was the one that Marco made sure to be facing his bed. He didn’t quite know what to make of the gesture, but he felt his cheeks heat up slightly.
Jean looked down at his hands, trying to get his blush to go down. He was a grown man, far beyond this stupid teenage crush stuff. He had tried it once with Mikasa when they had still been in high school, and it hadn’t turned out well. Nor had the two other times the he had attempted it.
Thankfully, Marco quickly provided a distraction by looking back up at the television and chuckling.
Jean looked up in time to see the quick recap of all of the dancers that had competed and their best dances of the season. Sasha and Connie’s lively Charleston had just ended, changing over to his and Marco’s Viennese Waltz. If anything, the replay just made him blush harder, because he and Marco had been so incredibly close for that entire dance. It didn’t help that Marco had looked stunning in his tailcoat and green vest. Jean suspected that he didn’t look half bad either, but Marco had stolen the entire show with the smile that was always on his face when he was dancing.
And the worst part was how in love with him Jean looked the entire waltz, because he absolutely had been. But he hadn’t known how visible it had been while they had been dancing, or afterward, when he had leaned his head against Marco’s shoulder for a moment.
He looked down at his hands, watching as Marco reached for his hand and tugged on it a little. Jean glanced up, surprised to see the soft expression on Marco’s face.
“That was my favorite dance.”
“Really?” Jean exhaled quickly, intending to laugh but quickly finding that he couldn’t, not when Marco was looking at him like that. “I must have messed up at least five times.”
“No, you did perfectly.”
“Oh. Well then, I wouldn’t mind trying it again”
“It doesn’t have to be in front of an audience if you’re nervous.”
Jean wanted to protest that it wasn’t the audience that made him nervous; it was the fact that it was Marco. He swallowed and looked down at Marco’s leg. “Would you be able to? Even if things don’t go right?”
“I would try, but it might not be as impressive.” The sad smile was back on Marco’s face, but it was gone quickly. “And you might have to lead, but I think you’d be good at it.”
“What are you talking about? The judges were always saying that I was shit when you or Armin let me lead.”
“That’s because you kept second guessing yourself. Just let it happen.” Marco yawned shaking his head and muttering an apology. “Sorry. I get tired randomly.”
“That’s fine.” Jean scooted his chair closer so Marco wouldn’t have to lean so far over to reach him. “I was going to sit here for a while anyway.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I want to.” Jean froze as the words slipped out his mouth, trying to shrug them off as not a big deal. He was sure that it didn’t work. Marco could probably see right through him, although Marco was just too polite to let Jean know.
Jean relaxed slightly as Marco rested a hand over his own, glad that the action calmed him. He leaned closer to the bed, watching as Marco resettled himself into a more comfortable position. Jean was tempted to help by fluffing the pillows, but he was stalled by the feeling of Marco brushing over the back of his knuckles.
When the pillows were finally to Marco’s liking, he settled back with a huff, glancing over at Jean. “You never told me what you planned to do.”
“That’s because I don’t know.” He took a deep breath, keeping eye contact with Marco. “I was thinking of sticking around for a while.”
“That’s good.” Jean looked up at Marco, surprised to see the other man blushing. Marco cleared his throat and shifted on the bed. “I mean, if there’s nothing else that you need to do.”
“Nothing I can think of.” Jean smiled and flipped his hand over, waiting for Marco to take the invitation.
It didn’t take him too long, Marco placing his hand back in Jean’s and sliding their fingers together. Jean glanced down at their hands as he leaned back in his chair, ducking his head to hide the smile that crossed his face.