Chapter Text
Friendship wasn’t something Jack Rose was all too familiar with. As the son of Night Swan, he wasn’t really allowed to leave Swan Tower unless it was with his mom or a guard escorting him, and it wasn’t all that often that it happened. On these rare outings, young Jack would see other kids playing and he yearned to be with them, unfortunately his mother wouldn’t allow for it.
Jack did have one friend, an imaginary one named Gary who was a penguin that loved spaghetti and snowboarding. The two had been the best of friends for a few years until one day they had a huge argument resulting in the end of their friendship, Jack hadn’t seen Gary since that fight. Jack had been alone since then, even after becoming a performer and gaining thousands of loving fans around Eternyx, he didn’t feel any true compassion.
But that all changed the day those four appeared.
Sara, Wanderlust, Brezziana, and Mihaly, four completely random people who showed up in Eternyx to stop Night Swan’s plan to take over the danceverses. Night Swan was the most powerful witch in Eternyx, and the danceverses as well, the idea that a group with little magic powers would try to stop her sounded ridiculous and suicidal.
And yet Jack watched as those four freed everyone from Night Swan’s control.
Well technically three of them freed everyone, Wanderlust had been turned into a swan minion shortly after arriving. But after seeing how hard the heroes were working to save everyone, Jack decided to help them and free Wanderlust from his mother’s control. In the end they somehow defeated the witch, forcing her to retreat and saving the danceverses. Jack figured the four heroes wouldn’t want anything to do with him after that whole thing, however he was surprised when they invited him to celebrate their victory inside their discoball friend. They understood that Jack was never onboard with Night Swan’s plan, him purifying Wanderlust was proof of that. Ever since that day, he was never truly alone as he had his new friends by his side.
First there was Sara, the one who defeated his mother. Jack was surprised to learn that she was from another reality called “Earth”, her appearance there was much different to when she was in the danceverses. Sara was very nice, she initially was the first to invite the performer to the celebration party. She was also knowledgeable in lots of things that most people should know about, but Jack didn’t. Though considering his upbringing, it was understandable why he didn’t understand most things.
Next was Wanderlust, the prince of the danceverses. It was an initial shock that the prince would show up in Jack’s home, and even more so when he tried to befriend him right on the spot. Wanderlust was the type to always have a carefree fun nature, but would get serious when it was called for…that is if you didn’t count the minute before he got corrupted into a swan minion. Even after that fiasco, the blue man held no ill will towards Jack and was still just as friendly afterwards. Jack found that he and Wanderlust hung out the most together when the others weren’t available so it was safe to assume that the prince was his “best friend” without the need for it to be said.
Jack had heard of Brezziana through social media since she was a popular influencer, in fact he was actually a follower of hers. She was the “tough one” of the group, not in a mean sense but rather she stood her ground and wasn’t afraid of anything. She’d been the most hesitant about letting Jack join in the celebratory party, but after the others voiced their approval she was quick to warm up to him and also become a friend. Brezziana would often tease Jack, but it was all in good fun and never meant anything negative about it. On some occasions she would even help Jack come up with new moves for his concerts, all of them original and really putting his footwork to the test.
Lastly there was Mihaly, the most interesting in the group in Jack’s opinion. First off, the L in their name was silent so it was pronounced, “Mi-high” and not, “Mi-ha-ly”. The next thing to note was that they were nonbinary. Jack didn’t know about gender identification until Mihaly explained it to him. In his friend’s case, Mihaly was nonbinary, meaning they didn’t identify as a male or female. After that explanation, Jack quickly apologized to them because when they first met…well…he thought “they” were a “she”. To his relief, the shaman wasn’t in the least bit upset, saying it was something that often happened whenever meeting someone new and that he was the first person to genuinely apologize for making that mistake.
Jack was glad they weren’t mad at him, they had a nice smile and he liked seeing it. He also liked their smell, Mihaly typically smelt like a fresh forest whenever they arrived to hang out and it made Jack feel at ease. He also enjoyed Mihaly’s taste in music as they were pretty similar to his own despite what their profession might suggest. The performer learned a lot about his friend as they sometimes spent time with each other whenever the others were all busy with their own things. While Wanderlust was Jack’s best friend, Mihaly was a definite close second, they were great friends.
So why did Jack feel so weird around them?
As of late, Jack would feel funny whenever he was close to Mihaly, like butterflies in his stomach minutes before a big show. It got especially bad whenever they smiled at him, granted he liked seeing them smile, but now at the same time it made him uncomfortable…but in a good way?
It was all so confusing, luckily he had three friends who could help him figure out what was wrong.
Jack and his friends typically hung out at Luz Solar Retail Therapy whenever they met up. It was one of the biggest malls in Dancity as it had just about everything a person could do to entertain themselves. Jack made his way over to the food court where he could see Wanderlust, Sara, and Brezziana at their usual table. Mihaly wasn’t there and the man was thankful because he didn’t know how he’d be able to discuss his problem with them around.
“Heya Jack!” Sara chirped when she saw him, the other two acknowledged his arrival as well.
Jack smiled as he took his seat, he still couldn’t get over their genuine niceness towards him. “Hey guys,” he greeted back before his smile dropped. “Listen, I wanted to ask you guys something.”
“No, you can’t borrow money from me,” Brezziana said as she crossed her arms. “The last person I loaned money to still HASN’T PAID ME BACK YET.” She was glaring over at Wanderlust who was trying to whistle innocently.
“No, no, I don’t need money. It’s…I feel weird…”
A concerned look appeared on Sara’s face. “Are you sick?” she asked.
“No…maybe…I don’t know, it happens whenever I’m near Mihaly.”
“Mihaly?” the other three asked in unison.
Jack then proceeded to explain to them everything that happens whenever he was around Mihaly as of late, sparing no details. He noticed as he went on, his friends all developed smiles that grew wider and wider, Brezziana especially. “So what do you guys think is wrong with me?” the performer asked.
“Dude, there’s nothing wrong with you,” Wanderlust chuckled, shaking his head.
“There isn’t?” Jack asked.
“No, it’s cute actually,” Sara giggled.
Jack wasn’t one to get angry all that often, but as of now he was getting a little peeved from the way his friends were dancing around the answer. “So what does it all mean then!?”
Brezzina, ironically, was the one to give it to him straight. “You have a crush on Mihaly.”
A good thirty seconds passed where nobody said anything, Jack was slowly processing what he had just heard. “WHA!?!?” he exclaimed, completely dumbfounded.
“You’re in love with Mihaly,” Sara repeated. “That’s why you feel so weird when you’re around them.”
Wanderlust leaned across the table and patted Jack on the back. “Hey man, congrats! I didn’t see that coming, but I’m happy for you.”
Brezziana clasped her hands together and began singing. “Jack and Mihaly, sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G~”
Jack didn’t pay any mind to the coach’s singing as he was thinking about the situation at hand. He…was in love with Mihaly? Love was something he wasn’t all that familiar with. Sure he had thousands of fans that loved him, but really it was just his singing and dancing they appreciated as they didn’t know him on a personal level. Besides that was platonic love and not romantic love which was the topic here. He knew nothing about that given his childhood conditions, his mom rarely cared for him and his dad was MIA. Maybe he should ask his friends for help? While none of them may be in a relationship themselves they at least understood when a person had feelings for another unlike Jack. But if that were the case then the only person he couldn’t ask help from would be-
“Hey guys, what’s up?”
Jack froze up the moment that familiar voice spoke. He turned around and saw his apparent crush. Mihaly had that smile on their face that the performer had grown to love, their eyes looking at him with ease.
Sara, quickly understanding what was going on, decided to speak up to save Jack. “Hi Mihaly, nothing much, just waiting for you,” she said.
“Yup, we weren’t talking about anything in particular,” Brezziana added, giving Jack a smug look.
Wanderlust looked at the two girls with a confused look. “But I thought we were talking about Jack’s-MMMPH! MPMPH!” the prince was quickly shut up by Sara who shoved a handful of fries into his mouth.
Brezziana laughed at this while Mihaly looked on with confusion. “Okay then…” the shaman said before sitting down in the only available seat left.
Which just so happened to be next to Jack.
The performer wondered what kind of joke God had pulled to cause this to happen. He glanced over at Mihaly who had begun talking to Brezziana about something, he couldn’t tell you what the topic was because his ears were tuning out any noise, allowing him to really concentrate on their face. Mihaly looked the same as they always did, yet they appeared even better in Jack’s eyes.
“Uh…Jack?”
The man snapped out of his trance to see that Mihaly and everyone else was staring at him. “Are you okay? You’ve been looking at me for a bit,” the shaman said with a head tilt.
“S-Sorry! It’s just that…um…you look really nice today, you know that?” the performer responded.
Instantly he regretted that and it took a lot of restraint not to cover his mouth shut in embarrassment. He quickly stole a side glance to see that both Sara and Wanderlust had worried looks on their faces while Brezziana had an amused one, she was enjoying him making a fool out of himself. To the man’s relief though, Mihaly didn’t think much about this comment and shrugged. “Thanks, I guess? I mean this is how I always look but I appreciate the compliment,” they responded.
When they turned their attention away, Jack let out a silent sigh of relief after avoiding nearly getting caught. It got easier afterwards as Sara started up a conversation with everyone which eased Jack’s nerves, though on some occasions he’d steal quick glances at Mihaly, trying to understand this love feeling and wondering if they felt the same way about him too.
When the gang finished eating, they headed for Brezziana’s home since it wasn’t too far away from where they were. Once inside, everyone set off to do their own thing, Sara got out a book she’d been reading, Wanderlust chatted with his parents on his phone to check in with them, Brezzina was getting supplies ready for her next video, and Jack decided to watch some TV. Lately he’d been hooked on this show called, “Brizdezilla!” an anime about a woman who gets mutated into a giant on the day of her wedding and uses her new powers to protect Japan from all the monsters around the world. Luckily, Brezziana had a streaming service that had the show so Jack could resume on the next episode he was on.
“Oh cool! You’re watching Bridezilla?”
Jack felt his heart rate increase when Mihaly suddenly appeared and plopped themselves right next to him on the couch, really close in fact. “Y-Yeah, I-I’m watching B-Bridezilla…” he stuttered out.
The shaman didn’t notice as they eagerly stared at the screen. “Are you on episode four? That’s literally where I am too! Wanna watch it together?”
Jack robotically nodded and pressed play on the remote. He felt his nerves ease up as he focussed more on the show and less on the person he was watching it with. Every few minutes, Sara would look up from her book at the two of them and smile, happy to see them bonding over a hobby. This continued on until nighttime began, the moon rising into the sky.
Jack stood up from the couch and stretched, having basically sat down the entire day. “I can’t believe we binged the rest of the first season,” he said before letting out a yawn.
“I know, but it was just too good to stop!” Mihaly chuckled. “I can’t wait for season two to air. You wanna watch it with me when it does?”
For the first time that entire day, Jack felt completely normal when he looked at Mihaly, the butterflies in his stomach were gone. He was about to answer yes but at that instant someone intervened.
“Jack! Buddy! How are you doing?” Brezziana asked, wrapping an arm around the man’s shoulder with a big grin on her face.
“Uh, I’m fine, thanks,” he replied.
“Hey, are you perchance doing anything this Friday night at eight?”
Jack didn’t see anything out of the ordinary about this question so he answered. “No, I’m free Friday.”
Brezziana turned towards Mihaly. “What about you Mihaly?”
“I’m not busy Friday night either,” they answered.
Brezziana’s grin grew wider. “Cool, because I’m not! Have fun on your date!”
With that she walked away, leaving two flabbergasted friends behind. If it were possible, Jack’s jaw would’ve dropped to the floor and maybe even broken through it. His jaw was still hanging down and his eyes bugged out. Mihaly was just as surprised as he was, looking at Brezziana like she had just grown a second head.
The two then slowly looked over at each other, wondering what happens next.