Half of a Whole (Jean x Marco)

Chapter 5

It was late. Today's running session had been much longer than usual and, according to Shadis, they were going to keep getting longer for the last year and a half they had left of the acedemy. Then they would be official soldiers, and they wouldn't have to run, unless they were in the Survey Corps, which Jean didn't plan to.

As he and Marco finished off their dinner, Marco put his hand to his mouth, closing his eyes.

"Marco?" Jean asked, looking over at him worriedly. He moved closer, leaning to look at him. "Marco, are you okay?" he asked again, genuine concern in his voice.

Marco shook his head. "Workout... ate too fast..." he stuttered.

Jean stood up, hurrying over to the medic who was speaking with one of the chefs. She looked up as Jean called to her, pointint over to Marco, who was gagging now. She grabbed her bag and walked over to the table with Jean, sitting next to the freckled boy, Jean on the other side.

"He over excersized then ate too much..." she said matter-of-factly, pulling out two little pills and giving them to Marco. He swallowed them instantly, taking a sip of water afterwards. "Those will settle your stomach. Finish your breakfast and lunch tomorrow, and you should be fine."

Marco nodded, leaning onto Jean's shoulder. Jean almost let out an aww, but hid it with a cough, wrapping it around Marco's shoulder, rubbing it with his thumb. He bent his head closer to his friend's ear. "Hey, you'll be fine, Marco," Jean said, trying to sound comforting.

Marco nodded, sighing.

The medic stood up. "Jean Kirstein, right? Do you mind watching over him? Making sure he doesn't vomit, and make sure he eats his food and such," she asked, though it seemed like a demand.

Jean was going to do that anyways. "Yes, ma'am," he replied with a nod, then a salute.

They were dismissed to their cabins a moment later, and by that time, Marco was feeling a bit better, though he did need a little help with staying stable. The boy wrapped his freckled arm around Jean's shoulders, using him as a sort of crutch. 

"Thanks, Jean," Marco said with a smile, and Jean nodded.

"No problem." He looked up as he saw Samuel, Franz, Nac, and Mylius walking towards their bunk-house. Franz had stopped and gone over to kiss Hannah good night, leaving the other three to walk inside.

As he watched Hannah walk off, the larger built trainee turned to look at the duo, smiling. "Hey, you two. Is Marco okay?" he asked mainly to Jean, his calm voice rather soothing, as it always was. 

Jean shrugged. "He ate too much after running," he said simply as Marco stood up a little straighter, placing a hand on Jean's shoulder, still putting weight on him.

Franz nodded, looking back again to Hannah as she called out another good bye. He waved to her, sighing as he looked at the duo. "Oh, how did I get so lucky? I came here to fight titans, and I end up finding the love of my life," he swooned, his face getting pink.

Marco smiled. "You really are a lucky guy, Franz."

Franz nodded, rubbing his nearly buzzed hair while he smiled. "You two should check out some of the other lucky ladies," he said, patting Jean on the back. "There's plenty of them! There are about eighty of us left."

Marco looked away, a small smirk on his face, and Jean blushed.

Franz noticed this and blinked, a little confused. The he smiled, laughing. "Ah, you two dogs!"

Both Jean and Marco froze, though they had no reason to.

"You two do have ladies of your own, don't you? Or crushes?" he asked, his eyes bright. Through the year and a half they had been roomates together, he knew about everything in their lives, including rivalries and how often they cut each others hair.