Family

Moving In

Marco hung his last shirt in his and Jean's now shared closet, and a feeling of triumph washed over him. "That's it!"

"A whole day wasted, you mean," Jean said. "You could have done all this yourself, and yet you dragged me in on your dirty work. I have much better things I could be doing, you know."

"Name them." Marco raised an eyebrow expectantly.

"Well, mainly, I could be drawing. You know, making money so we can eat, pay the electric bill, and have hot running water, for starters."

"Well, that's what I'm here for," Marco shrugged. "So you don't have to worry about that so much."

"Yeah, but I don't want to leave it all up to you." Jean flopped on the bed in the middle of the room. "If you're working somewhere and you have a co-worker working with you, you can't just slack off and make them do all the hard stuff."

"And yet people still ask me why I'm with you," he said, smiling softly. Jean reached out and grabbed his hand, pulling Marco next to him on the bed.

"And tell me; just why is that?"

"Well, for starters, you are way, way, ridiculously attractive." Marco said this confidently, believing in his heart every word that he said. "Also, you're kind, caring, and compassionate."

"Woah there with the alliteration," Jean said, earning himself a tch and a small punch in the shoulder.

"You have a strong sense of morality," Marco continued, as if nothing had happened at all. "You know what you think is right, you know what you think is wrong, and you aren't afraid to let people know. You’re very responsible, and have I mentioned you’re hot as hell?” Jean laughed.

“My turn,” he said, crossing his legs. “You, too, are, as you so eloquently put it, hot as hell. You’re also sweet, considerate, funny, and by god the best kisser I’ve ever known.”

“How would you know? I’m pretty sure I’m the only person you’ve kissed, Jean.”

“Not so fast,” Jean chided, holding up his index finger. “I’ve kissed both Mikasa and Armin.”

“Oh my gosh,” Marco said, realization dawning on him. “Mikasa- she was your first kiss, wasn’t she?” 

“Maybe,” Jean mumbled, avoiding eye contact the boy next to him and fiddling with his thumbs. “I mean, I’d take it back if I could.”

“Don’t say that,” Marco said with a slight shake of his head.

“Oh. I suppose it’s rude to Mikasa if I say that.”

“No, that’s not it.” The freckled teen quickly ran a hand through his hair. “It sounded like you said that for my sake. Honestly, I don’t care if you’ve kissed anyone else. You may have kissed them, but that doesn’t mean you don’t want to kiss me right now.”

“Right now?” Jean asked, a mischievous smiled stretched across his face. “Right now?”

“That’s not exactly what I meant but it works,” Marco shrugged, and brushed his lips against the other’s. “Now no more until Emily goes to bed. She might walk in and see us.”

“Why do you have to be so responsible?” Jean whined as he fell forward to rest his forehead on Marco’s shoulder.

“If I don’t, who will?” Marco replied. “Hm?”

“You just said yourself that I’m responsible, though.”

“Not when it comes to kissing, you’re not.”