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“And then my mum’s probably gonna give me a whole basket full of food that I’ll have to hide from all the greedy assholes later”, Jean laughed, untangling his legs and stretching them where he lounged on their bunk. Marco smiled back from his perch on one of the chairs. Not too close, never too close if he could help it.
“Good luck with that”, he said and Jean snickered.
“Be nice to me and maybe I’ll share an apple or something. Anyway, uh … what are you doing?”
And there it was. The question he’d been dreading all throughout Jean’s babbling. All of them were so excited about tomorrow, packing bags and chattering on about their plans and Marco didn’t want to sour anyone’s mood, especially not Jean’s. But now that he’d been asked he couldn’t exactly lie either.
He hummed, scuffed his toes against the wooden floor, a hand coming up to rub at his neck. It was a treacherous gesture but it calmed him, grounded him, if only a little.
“I … I think I’ll be staying. Here.”
Jean’s eyebrows shot up so far they disappeared behind the blond bangs hanging into his face. Perfect.
“No … why? Don’t you … you have sisters, right? Don’t you wanna see them?”
Of course Marco wanted to see his sisters, his family. But…
“We only have one day”, he mumbled, forcing himself to lower his hand again and clasping them in his lap instead. “The ride to Jinae takes half of that already, it’s not really worth it.”
Jean’s eyebrows pulled together then as he looked at Marco, head tilted slightly, like he was thinking.
“But it’s okay!”, he rushed to add. The last thing he wanted was anyone worrying about him. “I’ll just catch up on classes, train a bit, take care of the horses. I don’t get bored easily.” The smile he gave Jean was blinding but his friend still didn’t buy it, brows inching lower and lower with a slow shake of his head.
“Our first day of leave in forever and you want to spend it on base. Studying. And training”, Jean deadpanned and Marco gave a helpless little shrug.
“I guess? I mean, I might as well...”
“Nah, I’ll tell you what you might as well”, Jean said, scooting forward until he was sitting on the edge of the bed, placing his elbows on his knees and staring at Marco very intently. “You might as well come with me! Sucks enough that you can’t make it home, I’m not leaving you alone on base while everyone’s gone.”
Marco blinked, tried to will away the blush he felt coming, shook his head. There was no time to get all stupid happy about Jean’s offer if he couldn’t accept it anyway.
“Th-that’s really nice, Jean. But I … I can’t, thank you. I just...”
“Bullshit you can’t”, Jean grumbled but there was a grin on his face now. Like Marco’s reluctance amused him. “It’ll be fun, I can show you around Trost! You wanted to try those pastries I told you about, right? We can get some and visit the library and I can show you my old school...”
It sounded tempting, so very tempting to spend the day relaxing with Jean, visiting all the places that were important to him. But Marco couldn’t intrude like that on Jean’s first day of leave in forever, right? He had all those plans already…
“I couldn’t make you and your family...”
“Oh shut up, literally nobody minds. My mum would be excited if I brought home a friend.” If he knew how revealing that sentence alone was Jean didn’t show it, still grinning, so beautiful in his excitement.
Marco would love to meet Jean’s mother … he heard so much about her. He’d also love to just stroll around town with Jean, fingers sticky from the sugary pastries his friend had been gushing about and not worrying about training scores and marks for once. And in the end he was just human, good manners or not, and he couldn’t say no a third time, not when Jean was so vibrant with excitement at the thought of spending the day with him.
“I … I guess, if it really isn’t any trouble...”
Jean rolled his eyes.
“Marco. What did I just tell you thirty seconds ago?”
He couldn’t keep away the smirk at the blatant, exaggerated annoyance.
“That it isn’t any trouble.”
“You’re damn right it isn’t. Now pack your bag, the ride might not be as long as the one to Jinae but we’re still leaving early.”
~
Jean’s mother was a short woman with a kind, round face and cracked hands that patted his cheeks before she pulled him down into a hug tight enough to make him wheeze.
“Marco, oh dear!”, she smiled, an excitement sparking in her soft brown eyes that reminded him of his best friend. “It’s such a pleasure to meet you, Jeanbo told me so much about you! Even though … he failed to mention you’d be joining us today.”
She squinted at her son as she finally let go of Marco, though the reprimand was far from serious, amusement still playing around the corners of her lips.
“We only decided last night”, Jean mumbled, stepping into the hallway behind them. “I couldn’t just let him stay on base, right?”
“Of course! Of course, you’re such a good boy! Looking out for your friends like that...”
She pulled her son into a hug as well. Marco watched Jean tense up in his mother’s arms, freezing with his hands at his sides and his back bent uncomfortably. Flighty eyes met his, hesitation obvious in Jean’s gaze, the set of his brow, the tight line of his lips. But Marco just smiled, shrugged, and then Jean slowly relaxed, moving to hug his mother back who kept on praising him for his hospitality before ushering them into the kitchen for a delicious second breakfast.
~
“Sorry, she uh … she’s a bit … much. Sometimes”, Jean murmured as they had made it upstairs into his room and closed the door behind them. The room was nice. Not very big but bright and inviting, with clean sheets on the bed, a filled bookcase tucked into a corner and a sturdy desk underneath the window.
Jean quickly stepped towards it to grab a few sheets of paper and stuff them into a drawer. Marco decided to ignore it. His friend hadn’t exactly expected to bring a guest the last time he’d left his room. So he turned to the bookcase instead, studying what he found there.
“Are you kidding? She’s great! Really funny and sweet. You’re lucky to have her.”
“I guess...”
He heard Jean open the window to get fresh air into the room that still smelled stale and dusty. Marco grabbed a book he recognized, children’s stories and fables about animals, and flipped it open, thumbed through the yellowed pages. It was obviously a well loved copy.
“What about your father?”, he asked after a stretch of silence and turned to find Jean leaned against the desk, watching him. For some reason it made his ears heat up.
“He’s at work already, always stays out late. We probably won’t see him.”
“Oh, that’s too bad. Where does he work? Maybe we can drop by, say hello?”
Jean quickly shook his head.
“Nah, he doesn’t like getting visits. He’s a bookkeeper.”
Marco decided to not push it and placed the book back on the shelf where he’d found it before turning to Jean again.
“So, what’s the plan?”
Jean grinned and reached out to curl bony fingers around Marco’s wrist, pulling him back towards the door. Marco was glad Jean didn’t see how the blush spread down to his cheeks.
~
They bought way too many pastries at the bakery and Marco watched with wide eyes as the lady behind the counter wrapped the flaky little rolls into paper and stacked them in a bag Jean had brought.
“We … we just had breakfast”, he mumbled, voice thin while Jean paid with a casual smile.
“Don’t have to eat them now”, he shrugged and waved the lady goodbye. “We can take the leftovers back to base, make Sasha jealous.”
“I think she’d be more jealous if we brought back meat...”
Jean agreed with a snicker and pulled him outside, touching Marco yet again in all his excitement. It probably meant nothing. And still the slightest contact sent Marco’s heart up in his throat.
“Where are we going?”, he asked as he followed Jean through narrow alleys dipped in shadows even though the sky above them was bright blue and the sun shining, a beautiful day.
There was a strange intimacy in trusting Jean to lead him through a town he didn’t know, taking the backstreets and hiding from prying eyes. It would be so easy to pull Jean into a dark doorway, interlace their fingers and kiss him. Chaste and sweet any mind-blowing.
But no, never in a hundred years would Marco find the courage to risk it. He’d rather keep following Jean, who still hadn’t let go of his wrist, and enjoy what they already had.
“Patience, Bodt”, Jean grinned. So Marco just smiled happily and shut up.
~
They did the complete tour.
Starting at Jean’s old school they spent about an hour lounging on the swings, Jean recalling all kinds of different memories he’d made here and Marco chiming in now and again with stories he was reminded of listening to his friend talk.
Their next stop was the library, Marco insisting on visiting even though Jean kept telling him how it wasn’t all too interesting. In the end is was nothing more than a regular house, smelling of dust and yellowing pages, all three floors stuffed with bookshelves filled to bursting.
Marco still loved it. He spent far too much time browsing the shelves with Jean trailing behind him, fascinated by the sheer abundance of stories and tales, pulling out a few books seemingly at random to pile them up in his arms.
There hadn’t been a place like this in small Jinae, so no matter how normal it seemed to Jean, Marco was fascinated enough for the two of them.
By the time they found a cosy couch and settled down in the warm sunlight streaming in through the window Jean wasn’t complaining anymore. Instead he curled up next to Marco, relaxing with his eyes closed while Marco flipped through the pages, skimming over stories until he found one he remembered from his childhood and started reading it to Jean. His voice was low and soft, carefully wrapping around syllables as he weaved the tale for his best friend.
“...and it was summer-time; summer, glorious summer!”, Marco ended with a laugh to his voice. Beside him Jean slowly blinked his eyes open, lips curved into a lazy smile as he stretched slowly.
“That was cute”, Jean hummed, working out a crick in his neck and rolling his shoulders. He looked like a cat trying to work the sleep from his body. “I liked the part about the blue lights in the sky...”
Marco smiled back. He hadn’t been sure if Jean was even awake during most of the story, his breathing deep and even, face relaxed and content. But they both deserved the rest and it seemed his friend had at least heard parts of the tale.
“Yeah, me too. Fairytales are strange like that...”
They left soon after, Marco doing his best to return all the books to where he’d found them while Jean chatted with the boy working the check-out desk. He’d have loved to borrow a few of the books but considering how he didn’t know if he’d ever be able to return them Marco quickly forgot that idea and joined up with his friend.
Jean took him to the river next, where they sat on broad stairs carved out of grey stone and unwrapped some of the pastries they’d bought earlier. Powdered sugar stuck to Marco’s fingers and lips as he tasted the treat, moaning as the flaky crust melted in his mouth and the sweetness of the filling, a thick paste of apples and almonds and cinnamon, spread across his tongue.
“Good, right?”, Jean mumbled, coyly holding up a hand to cover his lips.
No matter how tough he tried to act around the others, especially Eren, it was gestures like this that betrayed his upbringing, the impeccable manners he’d been raised with. Way too ingrained to just shed in favour of seeming rougher around the edges than he was.
It was endearing. But Marco decided to push down the warmth flaring in his chest at the sight. It was a strange thing to get emotional over anyway.
Instead he nodded and sighed deeply as he took another bite.
“So good”, he munched and Jean snorted, digging into his treat as well.
They sat in silence for a long time, enjoying the sweets and watching ships sail by on the river. Small ones owned by local merchants as well as the much larger ships by the military carrying supplies, sails embroidered with the unicorn emblem.
“That’s gonna be us soon”, Jean smirked, pointing at one of the large ships as it floated by, soldiers strolling across the deck, guarding their cargo.
“You think so?”
“Well, I know my marks are good enough. And you haven’t been slacking either, so … nothing else in our way.”
Marco smiled softly, looked over at Jean who seemed almost angelic like this, face lit up by the sun, reflections of the water dancing across his features and glinting in his blond hair, eyes the colour of aged whiskey.
“I guess not.”
The comfortable silence didn’t last for too long this time because soon Jean spoke up again, twisting on the stairs so he could face him. Marco’s body followed suit with ease.
“So, uh...”, Jean began, voice low and uncertain before he paused. But if there was one thing Marco could be it was patient. He just smiled, waiting for Jean to continue, and in the end brown eyes found his again and Jean gave him a tentative little smirk.
“Today was … nice. I mean, I never showed anyone around before and … I had fun, so … thanks for coming with me, I guess?”
It was so adorable Marco had to try very hard to not just lean forward and pull his friend into a crushing hug. So much vulnerability in those words, so much honesty. It made his heart stutter. But in the end he just smiled and shook his head slowly.
“Thank you for inviting me, I had a lot of fun, too. So much better than studying and training.”
“Yeah?”
Marco’s heart felt like it wanted to explode out of his chest at the shy little question. He wanted to reach out, cup Jean’s cheeks with both hands and tell him how precious he was when he didn’t hide behind whatever persona he thought everyone wanted to see.
But of course he didn’t do that and gave an honest nod instead.
“Spending time with you is always great, couldn’t have asked for a better day of leave.”
It was all worth it for the way Jean beamed at him for a moment or two before the smile turned into a nervous smirk again, Jean’s cheeks tinting a suspicious shade of pink.
“I, uh...”, he murmured, shifting a little. “I’m sorry if … but I...” Just a second warm eyes flicked down to Marco’s lips but it was enough to make Marco’s stomach clench in anticipation as he fell very, very still. “I just … want...”
The sentence trailed off as Jean bit his lower lip nervously. Then, without further warning, he surged forward to push his lips against Marco’s.
It wasn’t anything fancy, just a chaste little kiss, barely more than a light, careful touch. But it still sent Marco soaring as his eyes slipped shut, head spinning with the storm of different sensations breaking over him.
It lasted an eternity of a few seconds before Jean pulled back, cheeks a deep red by now and hands trembling.
Marco reached out to grab one of them, cold and sweaty, and squeezed it tightly. His world was still spinning but with Jean as his anchor even that didn’t feel all too bad.
“Day isn’t over yet”, he breathed, scooting closer until he could lean their foreheads together, feeling Jean shiver at the contact. “Any more plans?”
Jean’s hand flipped in his, their fingers tangling so his friend could squeeze back just as tightly, eyelids slipping closed.
“I wanna kiss you again.”
The words were shaky and hesitant, like Jean still wasn’t sure if he could ask for it like that. But this was definitely a plan Marco could agree with and he made sure to let Jean know in the clearest way possible: By leaning in again.