The trembling legs of Jean collapsed roughly into Marco's slightly sweating palm as the giant stood frozen amongst the gang of titans closing in. Strings of saliva hung from their yellowing teeth, emotionless eyes fixed upon Jean as the human slowly backed away further towards Marco's body, quivering with fright. Scared of my own kind, Marco bitterly thought to himself. No, I am not like them. I am Marco Bodt, I am NOT like those titans and I will protect Jean to the best of my ability! Marco looked down at Jean, who stared intensely at the incoming titans, shuffling slowly towards them. One wrong move, and they would all lunge upon him, also risking Marco to be killed if one of them bit Marco's nape. A spark in the back of Marco's mind signalled an idea, but he knew that Jean wouldn't like it.
"Jeaaaan.." Marco murmured.
"Yeah, buddy?" Jean replied, seeming to have lost all hope with a serene, peaceful tone echoing in his voice.
"I...protect..Jean."
Jean's eyes began to sting as he began to hug a finger desperately. Tears began to stream one by one down his face, dampening the tip of Marco's fingers, the soldier's body shaking and heaving as he was ready to say his goodbyes. He felt Marco's free hand stroke down his back like a cat, in an attempt to soothe his weeping.
"Don't worry, Marco. I'm ready to die. You couldn't fight off all those titans on your own, regardless whether you had me to worry about or not."
Marco wouldn't have this attitude. After waving for his attention with a small wiggle of the fingers which Jean wasn't holding on to, he pointed to his temple and flicked his index finger up to the sky.
"You..have an idea?" Jean asked.
"Mhmm.."
"Well? What is it?"
Marco glanced to the titans trapping them and looked down at a curious Jean.
"Trust...Marco?" The gentle titan asked.
"Of course I trust you, why wouldn't – wait...what are you doing, Marco?"
Jean felt the collar of his jacket lift up, being pinched by massive fingers that soon lifted him off Marco's palm. Why is he holding me like this? He would NEVER hold me like this! It's like he's trying to eat me! Jean thought frantically. Like he's trying to...eat...Jean?! The terrified soldier stared down at Marco, the titan's eyes glazed over as his jaws began to open like the gates to hell. Jean began to squirm, relentlessly shouting Marco's name, in a vain attempt to snap him out of this trance. Then, Jean saw something odd. The titan's tongue was rolled back, blocking the oesophagus off so that Jean...wouldn't fall down it? What the hell is going on? His boots touched the soggy muscle underneath the tongue as he realised what Marco was doing.
Marco was hiding Jean under his tongue, pretending to eat him.
Much to Jean's displeasure, the tongue of the titan rolled back over him, concealing him in a claustrophobic, wet prison. He felt the mouth vibrate as he heard a massive gulp! erupt from the titan's throat. After an agonising few seconds in suspense, the heavy footprints of the titans began to fade away, allowing Marco to take some steps of his own, still hiding Jean inside his mouth. Jean soon felt the giant's steps become heavier and more rapid, feeling the titan sprint out of the forest and headed for a beeline back to the castle. When Marco thought he was far enough away from the other titans, and checking for anymore surprises while his lethargy grew in the approaching night, he very gently spat out Jean into his hand, covered in titan saliva.
"Sorry...sorry..sooorrryy..!" a flustered Marco continued to apologise over and over.
A very annoyed Jean waved off his apologies with a single hand.
"I understand the conditions under which you performed that stunt, but unless I know about it beforehand, don't ever do that to me again. You understand?" Jean lectured, wagging a saliva covered finger up into Marco's face.
The lethargic titan dragged its legs across the clearing, the only thing encouraging it was Jean firmly but gently grasped in his hand, holding him with a light monkey grip while Jean curled up into a ball inside the titan's hand to protect him from any other potential titans. Hanji was perched on one of the towers of the castle, scanning for any sight of the titan and Jean. Her glasses fogged up with tears when she finally spotted the pair, shuffling exhaustedly across the clearing, barely making it to the castle's paved stone before Marco collapsed onto his knees and fell onto his side, keeping his hands above the ground before letting Jean out safely onto the pavement. Hanji scrambled down to them while screeching their return, alerting Eren, Erwin and Armin to rush out the door, Mikasa halting in the doorway at the presence of Marco. Marco rolled onto his back, panting with his mouth hanging wide open, checking to see if Jean was okay out of the corner of his eye. Opening his hand, he felt Jean collapse into the heated palm of the giant, the human's steady but heavy breathing putting Marco at ease. Tears began to brim in Marco's eyes, rolling down his cheeks to splash onto the stony floor.
"Jeaaaan..!" Marco wailed to his friend.
"I'm fine, Marco...man, you can be a big baby, you know that?" Jean comforted.
"Jean! Marco!" Eren blurted out stumbling towards them, "Are you alright? How did you escape? Why are you covered in titan spit? But how did I get away and you guys didn't?" Eren stammered, clearly speaking with his heart and not his head.
"Marco saved you. I told him to bite you out of the nape and Hanji got you out of there."
Eren was speechless.
"You risked your own lives...to save me?" Eren mumbled.
"Mhmmm.." Marco replied with a small smile.
"And as for us escaping," Jean continued, "Marco pretended to eat me to fool the other titans."
"He WHAT?! Is THAT why you're covered in...that stuff?" Armin interjected.
"Hey, if I had to be in a titan's mouth, I'd prefer Marco's." Jean replied coolly.
Later that night, Jean performed his usual routine of collecting his dinner and immediately going to sit outside with Marco. Marco was still stretched out onto his back, stargazing when he heard the all too familiar door creak and the same old clicking of boots on the stone. Marco sat up with some energy leftover and offered out his hand, lifting Jean onto his shoulder where the soldier sat between the muscles and folds of skin, taking off his boots before dropping them off onto the stone, relaxing in the titan's warmth.
"You know, Marco...I joined the scouting legion because of you. I didn't want to make your death worthless. But I wouldn't have thought in the slightest, that I would ever see you again, a titan or not. And even though that you are stuck as a titan, I couldn't have been happier to see you again. Whether you are a titan or not is irrelevant to me now, all that matters is that I have Marco back."
Marco, completely blown away, ushered Jean onto his hand and lifted him up closer to his face. Seeing his reflection in Marco's sleepy brown eyes, Jean rubbed the bridge of the titan's nose slowly and lovingly, while not breaking contact with Marco's gaze. A hand cupped around the back of Jean as Marco went in and nuzzled Jean with the tip of his nose. Jean, originally fighting off the advances of the titan, eventually gave in and let Marco nuzzle him all he wanted, while still rubbing his nose with a roughness that would come with a brotherly ruffle of hair. But this wasn't enough for Marco. He wanted to be have Jean's arm wrapped around him again, to stare face to face with him and not have to look down or hold his fragile body in his lethal hands. He wanted to hug Jean again, to have Jean tackle him from behind again. Jean noticed these thoughts rushing through Marco's mind, his eyes losing the glimmer which they had before.
"What's wrong, Marco?"
Marco looked away shyly.
"Did I do something wrong?"
Marco shook his head slowly before placing Jean on the ground. He pointed to his chest and guided his hands to gesture the rest of his body. He stretched his arms out to the side, making himself look bigger to try and illustrate his woes to Jean.
"You...don't like being a titan." Jean concluded.
Marco nodded and looked away sadly. Jean sighed and placed a hand on Marco's toe, craning his neck to look at the miserable titan.
"Look, Marco. I'm sure it isn't easy being a titan and I understand how frustrated you must be. I must be so fragile to you, one wrong move could easily kill me in your hands. But don't you ever forget this in your big titan brain, okay? Inside that massive body of yours, is the soldier from the 104th trainees squad, Marco Bodt. I mean sure, you can't wrap an encouraging arm around me like you used to, nor can we walk side by side down to the army barracks where we would annoy everyone else by chatting all night long, those days are gone now. But what is here, is your spirit, Marco. Don't forget that you saved my life, twice. I wouldn't be standing here, giving you this talk if you weren't there to save me from that titan in the clearing. You may be a titan, but you are still my best friend. You are still Marco Bodt, and I still care about you just as much as I did back in the trainees squad. Turn that big titan frown around, if not for yourself, for me okay?"
Jean felt the ground sweep away from him by Marco's trembling hands, the titan's tears streaming down the cracks and tears in his face while he hiccuped softly from his sobs.
"Come on, Marco. Give me the biggest smile you can! I won't be scared, I trust you completely." Jean encouraged.
Marco gave Jean the biggest grin his face could muster, teeth peeking through the torn skin in his cheeks.
"That's right! Feel any better, big guy?" Jean asked brightly.
Marco nodded, still grinning, his smile only getting wider as his hiccuped sobs grew more violent.
"Shh..come on now, Marco. Calm down. You'll be alright, I'm still here." Jean softly cooed, stroking Marco's cheek where the tears didn't run.
Hushing him into a sleepy state, Marco let Jean off his hand onto the ground and laid back onto the stone, his energy completely run out. Jean, deciding that he would sleep in his own bed, walked calmly over to Marco's hand and gave him a light peck on the tip of his thumb. Marco groaned, realising that Jean would not stay with him that night, but he realised that he would get sick if he stayed out here too many times with him. Jean picked up on Marco's disappointment before turning around to him and smirking, rolling his eyes.
"Alright, alright. Just let me get changed into something more comfortable, okay? This uniform isn't the best thing to be sleeping in."
After Jean came outside wearing a loose, long sleeved shirt and a pair of large pants, dangling around his ankles, Jean curled up in Marco's hand and began to fall asleep almost immediately, exhausted from his near death experience, the heat from Marco's hand pacifying him into a deep slumber. Marco peered down at Jean before giving him a small smile and drifting off to a sleep-like state, still awake yet delving into his mind, in which he only thought of Jean, as his body lay peacefully at rest.
[Oh my! Over 50 followers in a span of about a month?! This is insane! Thank you to everyone who has followed so far and I hope you continue to enjoy the fanfiction. Due to exams and whatnot, updates may be less regular than usually and it could be a couple of weeks before the next one. I'm so sorry! But hey, I'll be working on it, bits and pieces at a time so it's ready in a fair amount of time.]
