Cover page image credits go to: member_ ?mode=medium&illust_id=39406837

A/N: Birthday present for Kyyhky on tumblr! She's got all sorts of amazing stuff especially for Marco x Ace fans of one piece and Marco x Jean fans of SnK (◠‿◠✿)

It hurt.

With each drop of blood that slipped out of him to join the crimson puddle pooling beneath him, the pain intensified. He was scared. He knew he was dying but he didn't want to go out like this. He didn't want to die alone. Not without knowing whether all the people he'd befriended were alright. Not without seeing that person one more ti-

"MARCUS!"

Through the hazy fog of pain, he thought he heard the piercingly harsh but subtly kind voice that had haunted him since the first time he heard it. The voice he was in love with .

"Je…anne?"

Warm fingers touched his cold cheeks and they felt heavenly. Managing a small smile, he mumbled, "Must be… dreaming…" But wait, that couldn't be right. In such a nice dream, Jeanne's pretty honey-colored eyes wouldn't look so sad. Angry was normal. Desperate and scared and oftentimes regretful were also the usual. Never had he seen such a sorrowful, heartbreaking anguish in those insecure but strong eyes.

"Did… Mikuro get… hurt?"

Jeanne shook her head, short ashen hair looking messier in its boy cut than usual. Then she mumbled thickly, "Everyone's fine. Well, everyone we're familiar with. You- you're the only casualty."

"Real…ly…?

"Yeah."

He didn't know why Jeanne was so upset if her crush wasn't in bad shape but it was a relief to know that nobody else was in the same pathetic state as him. A sense of calm washed over his hurting body as he murmured sleepily, "That's… good." It was getting harder to keep his eyes open but he didn't want to close them because then he wouldn't be able to see Jeanne anymore and he'd be all alone again.

A slender hand curled around his blood-slick one and he heard a faint, "It's okay Marcus. I'm right here. I'll be here for as long as it takes so- so just rest. You've done enough. You helped protect all our people from those invading bastards. You were a really brave soldier."

"Did I… help… you?"

Her eyes widened and then softened with something bright beneath all the sadness and pain as she replied, "You did more than that. You saved me when that asshole was about to shoot me. And you made me keep going when I was too scared to do anything."

A tear slid down her cheek and landed on his, warm and kind compared to the cold flecks of blood streaked all over his pallid skin. And the slight curve of her quivering lips was the most beautiful thing he'd had the fortune of seeing, voice wavering when she whispered, "Thank you Marcus. For being by my side."

He smiled and dredged up some mysterious remaining strength to squeeze back, vaguely noting that the pain had stopped at one point. He felt relieved and liberated and ready to face whatever came next. Armed with the knowledge that he had been more than just another statistic to someone, that the person he'd fallen in love with had been empowered by him and would stay with him until the end, he found that facing death's door didn't seem so bad anymore.

He was still smiling peacefully when the last breath of life finally left him.

~III~

As the credits rolled down the screen, Marco accepted another tissue and blew his nose, laughing a little when Jean grumbled, "You're such a crybaby. It wasn't that emotional." Wiping his eyes, the freckled young man tossed the used kleenex into an overflowing trash bin used specifically for when he watched his lover's works and replied, "But it was. Your films are always really bittersweet Jean. I'm amazed you can pack so much emotion into them."

Picking up the DVD case now that he wasn't crying his heart out, Marco looked at the cover and asked, "Why did you make The Untold Story? Most filmmakers don't dedicate entire movies to some random side character, especially when that character ends up dying."

Jean didn't respond for a few minutes, just silently sipped down a beer while they both looked at the cover depicting a smiling Marcus and black and white snapshots of all the people who he'd befriended in the background, the most prominent one being Jeanne since only her image was colored like Marcus's was. A subtle implication of how important she was in the life of this one side character.

At last, the director muttered, "I wanted people to know that just because the main character, his buddies, the cowards, the cool guys, and the brainiacs survive, the characters that are ordinary and who don't survive aren't unimportant."

Understandable. But...

"Why Marcus?"

Turning away, Jean took the half empty bowl of popcorn Marco had completely forgotten about in the midst of watching the movie as he replied, "Because he had a story to tell. And sometimes, those kind of characters don't get the chance to tell that story to anyone else."

As the other man left to get rid of the leftover snack and wash the bowl, Marco looked back at the case and wondered if that was why Jeanne had been included. Blinking, he looked in the direction of the kitchen and called, "Wasn't Jeanne in love with the Mikuro? Why was she the one with Marcus in his last moments? Isn't that the sort of thing done by a lover or even the main character?"

The sound of tap running could be heard since it was Jean's turn to wash tonight's dishes. Over the faint clinking of dishes and flowing water, Marco heard, "He didn't have a lover you dork. Besides, Jeanne was like his best friend so it made sense to have her there instead of anyone else."

Well, that was true. Thinking back to the movie and the way the actors had perfectly portrayed everything to capture every little detail Jean wanted to see in his works, Marco beamed and said to the smiling character on the DVD case, "You're really lucky you know? She could've been with that guy she liked or enjoying the fact that she was still alive instead of holding your hand until you died. I don't know why I know this but I'm pretty sure that dying all alone without ever seeing someone you care about one last time is an awful way to go."

Shifting his gaze to the scowling Jeanne located to the left of Marcus's face, he smiled and added, "You remind me of Jean. I wonder if that's why your names are so similar. And Marcus is even kind of like me! But you and Marcus aren't together like Jean and I are. I wonder why…?"

"She didn't know."

Jean was back, leaning against the doorway connecting their living room to the kitchen and he had that faraway look he frequently got whenever he was thinking about his films. As if he was seeing something no one else saw.

"Jeanne was in love with Marcus but she didn't realize it until after he was dead. It was easier tricking herself into liking the good-looking and strong Mikuro than it was to admit she liked her best friend because she was a coward."

Marco blinked as he leaned back on the leather black couch, scrutinizing Jeanne's perpetually disgruntled face before smiling a lopsided grin and saying, "I still like her a lot. One of my favorites actually. I hope you'll keeper around for all the sequels." He got a glimpse of one of Jean's rare small smiles and it made him feel proud.

No matter how many times he had to wake up in the middle of the night to pull Jean out of a horrible nightmare and no matter how many questions he had about why Jean always looked so sad and even bitter, being the one to take away some of that unhappiness was one of his lifelong goals.

Because having someone always at another's side was clearly something very important to Jean if his movie was anything to go by. And Marco hoped he could do the same thing Marcus had done for Jeanne and take away Jean's loneliness so that he could smile like everyone else.

Standing up, he shook the soreness out of his formerly dormant body before walking over and taking Jean's hand in his as he put on his best puppy face. Jean sighed but the slight flush in his cheeks ruined any feigned irritation he tried to use to cover his embarrassment as he tilted his face up to meet Marco's waiting lips.

Taking the time and care to just slowly explore the familiar territory of each other's mouth, they broke away simultaneously once they needed some air. Marco grinned and pressed their foreheads together as he said, "I love you Jean."

He could feel his lover's blush from the heated skin where their heads came into contact and it made his smile bigger when he heard a mumbled, "Love you too Marco."

Turning off the lights, they made their way to the bedroom for some lovemaking and perhaps some cuddle time afterwards too. Anything to feel each other's warmth for as long as possible until sleep overtook them.

What a time to be alive.