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Being a former Raven, there were a lot of seemingly common things that Jean never had the opportunity to experience. Such things included spending time at a water park, going to Disneyland, and yes– even playing spin the bottle.
It wasn’t that Jean was disappointed about missing out on spin the bottle, per se, it was more that since becoming a Trojan he had begun to realize just how many things he missed out on that everyone else had already experienced.
Once Jean had become more comfortable with the Trojans, however, they took it upon themselves to make up for the experiences Jean had missed out on during his stint as a Raven. So far, they have eaten copious amounts of cotton candy (Jean wasn’t a fan), visited an amusement park (Jean was a semi-fan), and had gone for team surfing lessons (Jean was a HUGE fan, although he made it a requirement that he be allowed to wear a swim shirt… he wasn’t quite ready to show off his Raven scars yet.)
The support of his teammates, particularly Jeremy, Alvarez, and Laila, was why Jean currently found himself sat on the ground in his and Jeremy’s dorm room, surrounded by eight of his other teammates, at eleven o’clock on a Saturday evening.
This particular “new experience”, as Jeremy likes to call them, was going to be Jean’s own personal hell. Sadly enough, he really had no one to blame for his current situation but himself… he knew he shouldn’t have mentioned never having played spin the bottle before.
–
“How was the party last night?” Jean asks Laila, who had come over to talk to Jeremy about practice the next morning. Jean wasn’t at the point where he could comfortably go to parties–which was perfectly fine with him, he wasn’t all that into them anyway–so the team, save Jeremy, had gone without him.
“It was great! There was ungodly amounts of alcohol and we ended up playing spin the bottle,” Laila replies cheerfully, shooting Jeremy and Jean a bright grin on her way to the door.
“I don’t think I’ve ever played spin the bottle,” Jean replies, thinking. The Ravens had played truth or dare–which Jean still has a scar from–but they had never dared to go as far as spin the bottle… not with the Moriyamas around, which they always were.
Laila turns to him, stunned. Jeremy seems less so, by now knowing that Jean’s time with the Ravens wasn’t spent braiding each other’s hair.
“Well, I know what we’re doing tonight then!” Laila laughs brightly, not giving Jean a chance to protest before she skips out the door and closes it in his face.
After staring at the door for a moment Jean turns back to Jeremy.
“You don’t have to, you know,” Jeremy replies carefully, judging Jean’s reaction to the situation.
“No–it’s, fine. I guess.”
Jeremy grins that brilliant smile at him before heading back over to his desk to resume coming up with game strategies.
–
“Ok! So I assume the rest of you know how this works,” Laila begins, turning to survey each person around the circle as they give her a small nod. “Great! So, Jean, basically-”
“Lai, I’m sure Jean knows how to play,” Jeremy cuts in softly, but firmly, from his position across the circle and one person to the right of Jean.
“Do you?” Laila asks, leveling Jean with a quizzical stare.
“Spin the bottle, kiss whoever it lands on. I don’t think it’s that difficult to understand Laila,” Jean replies, working to make sure that it doesn’t come out bitter. He doesn’t want Laila to feel bad, especially after she went through all this effort for him.
“Right. Well, who wants to go first?”
“I will!” Alvarez exclaims. She crawls a couple of steps forward and gives the old wine bottle a hard spin, causing it to spin wildly for a new moments. Gradually, the bottle slows down and lands on Laila. Alvarez grins before crawling forward a couple more steps and giving Laila what was probably a borderline inappropriate kiss considering their current surroundings.
“Who’s next?” Alvarez asks, slightly breathless, and she crawls back to her original seat. Both Laila and Alvarez are wearing matching grins.
Jean loses track of time after that, there were six more people who had to take their turn in between Alvarez and Jeremy, and three more after Jeremy until it would get to Jean. Those six people in between Alvarez and Jeremy pass in a blur, and Jean is honestly just thankful the bottle never landed on him.
He does pay attention when it is Jeremy’s turn to spin.
Jeremy, like Alvarez, crawls a few feet into the circle to be able to reach the bottle better. Unlike Alvarez, however, Jeremy takes a deep breath before spinning the bottle. It spins and spins and spins.
It lands on Jean.
Jean can’t breathe.
Jeremy is looking at him nervously.
Jean stares at him.
Finally, Jeremy crawls the few feet left until he is sat on his knees right in front of Jean. “Jean,” Jeremy whispers, quiet enough so that the others around the circle can’t hear. “We don’t have to. No one expects you to do anything you aren’t comfortable with.”
Jean takes a deep breath and looks into Jeremy’s eyes. He sees nothing but nervousness, hesitation, and maybe a bit of hopefulness in them.
In all honesty, Jean had been thinking about kissing Jeremy since his second month as a Trojan. He brushed it off though, thinking that it was a small crush that would go away with time. Much to the dismay of Jean’s concentration whenever Jeremy was around, this was not the case; his attachment to Jeremy had only grown in the year since. A year filled with Jeremy’s soft smiles, eager encouragement, unrelenting support, and all the other wonderful things that led them to this breaking point.
Jean stares into Jeremy’s eyes for a second more before he decides. Sure, this wasn’t the situation that he had imagined kissing Jeremy in for the first time. But, if Jean’s being honest with himself, he probably would have never had the guts to kiss Jeremy had it not been for this game.
So, Jean smiles softly at Jeremy and leans in, putting both his hands on the back of Jeremy’s neck. His breathing stutters when he feels Jeremy let out a hot puff of air against his lips, which are now touching Jeremy’s.
They stay like that for only a moment, before Jean has had enough, and drags Jeremy the rest of the short distance between their lips, which clash violently together. Jeremy’s laugh is muffled against Jean’s lips, but a second later Jeremy is taking the lead. Their kiss melts into something soft and sweet, yet with passion and desperation echoed in it as well.
Jean, much to his embarrassment, lets out a small groan and tangles one of his hands in Jeremy’s recently trimmed hair. Jeremy lets out a small groan of approval and drags Jean even closer, deepening the kiss so that they are as close as possible.
At the first feel of Jeremy’s tongue against his lip, Jean groans again and opens his mouth, which Jeremy takes advantage of and slips his tongue in, playfully warring with Jean’s own, which has begun its own exploration of Jeremy’s mouth.
Jean and Jeremy are so wrapped up in each other that Jean almost jumps out of his skin when he hears someone behind Jeremy clear their throat. “Uh, guys,” Alvarez downright giggles. “We’re still here you know.”
Jeremy gives her a mocking, yet fond, smile and turns from Jean to gesture at the group as a whole. “If you all wouldn’t mind, would you please get out so I can make out with Jean.”
The group is quiet for a moment before several people burst out into laughter. Jean thinks he hears several people mumble “fucking finally” as they herd out the door, but at the moment he is more focused on Jeremy, who stands in front of Jean and offers him a hand, pulling him up off the ground.
Once he is standing in front of Jeremy, he gives him a soft smile, which Jeremy returns.
“See, spin the bottle isn’t so bad,” Jeremy teases, leaning closer and closer to Jean with each breath.
Jean just mumbles, “Mmm,” before pulling Jeremy in the rest of the way.