A/N: Song in parenthesis by Sir Paul McCartney :)

I have to say, I noticed that a few people stopped following the story... which is strange considering the unfollow was after my A/N about queer characters in the story, which includes Jacques! I must say, way to reveal your true colors :)

Good riddance. Let's clean the homophobes out. Just because Jacsee is a m/f pairing doesn't mean that it's a safe space to be homophobic and bigoted. In fact, I HC that Jacques and Josee are queer - yes, two queer people of opposite sexes can be in a relationship together. I don't want you reading my fic if you're bigoted, Jacsee shipper or not. First and foremost, this is a story about the ice dancers themselves, and because of my personal HCs of them being queer, this means the fic does come across the topic of sexuality. This is my story and I can write whatever I please.

If you don't like, don't read. I don't want the scum of the earth known as homophobes reading my works anyway.

Warning: This chapter does talk about eating disorders, it may be triggering. Please read with caution.

Chapter 3- Quirk (Another Day)

"Sloppy!" Came a shout from the rink, belonging to Josée's mother. She shook her head in the utmost disappointment as Josée waltzed across the ice and did a spin. "Wrong, wrong, wrong!" Although Josée and Jacques spent most of their time on the ice together, Josée's mother insisted on working on her technique without Jacques "distracting" her.

Whatever the hell that meant.

Josée's mother was a complicated subject matter on its own. Jacques occasionally alluded to his opinion that her mother was satan incarnated - which usually was the majority of people's opinions when they talked to her - but Josée had a different opinion on her that was all the more complex.

Of course she loved her mother, that was out of the question. Her mother was probably her favorite person. She worshipped the ground she walked on. At the same time, however, she didn't like the way she made her cry in almost every practice session, but Josée insisted that it was because her mother knew what she was talking about. She was an ice dancer herself. She was supposed to go to the olympics before she got pregnant. It only made sense that Josée was to become one herself. Alas, dear maman was cursed to have a clumsy-whiny-crybaby-of-a-daughter.

So Josée tried to make her proud whenever she could. Now was not one of those times...

"I'm trying, mama," Josée pleaded.

"Not trying hard enough," her mother hissed.

"Je suis désolé, maman," Josée mumbled, her eyes downcast and full of shame. "I'll get better."

All it took was one comment, one little thing, and of course Josée would take it seriously.

"It will get better once you start exercising more," Josée's mother grumbled.

Josée's eyes grew large with concern. "What do you mean?"

Her mother laughed bitterly. "Oh, I'm sure it's nothing," she played off nonchalantly. "The press will start talking about it soon, anyhow."

"Talking about what?" Josée emphasized, her voice squeaking a bit. "Please tell me, maman."

"Well..." her mother started, pointing her finger at her stomach. "Haven't you noticed that you've gained some weight?"

Beat.

"Wh-what?" Josée stammered in surprise. It had to be true. She vaguely remembered Yasmine telling her a few months ago that the press would start commenting on her weight. She thought about it some more. "Really?"

"With the way Jacques struggled to lift you the other day." Her mother clicked her tongue and shook her head. "I'd say so. Olympians have to be skinny, Josée. And it looks like you're on the path to, well, being fat." Josée didn't say anything, nor did she look at her mother. She was too preoccupied with what she put in her head. "Anyway," her mother started, unusually cheary. "That's enough for today. Go change in the locker room... while your clothes still fit you."

Josée blinked back the tears that had started to form. "Yes maman," she said obediently, and hurried to the locker room. The disgusting smell of smoke drew closer and closer, and just when she thought this day couldn't get any worse, she spotted the source of the smoke, which was from Leo and Liv. "Can't you both smoke outside?" Liv scoffed and blew smoke in her face, making the younger ice dancer cough. "Gross!"

"Just get changed and go," Leo snarked. "Don't be such a baby."

Josée scowled and opened her locker. After much contemplation, however, she turned back to Leo and Liv. "So... those are how you stay skinny?"

Liv raised a curious eyebrow, then smirked. "Interested in smoking? You're fourteen, aren't you?"

"God, what took you so long?" Leo asked Josée, taking another puff.

"I turned fifteen four days ago, and no, I'm not interested in smoking. It's a nasty habit that rots your insides."

"Leo," started Liv, realization dawning on her face. "She's not interested in smoking. She's interested in being skinny." Then, she grinned. Josée was reminded of a shark. "It's really that simple. Just excessively limit your calories. All the great ice dancers do it."

Josée frowned. "Are you sure?" She doesn't know why she was asking them for advice. They would likely be sabotaging her... but they were Senior Champions...

Leo and Liv exchanged a look, then looked back at Josée. "I haven't had a full meal since 2003," Liv told her. "It's gotten us gold more often, hasn't it?" Well, Josée couldn't deny that. She nodded slowly that she understood. Liv kept her catlike grin up. "Don't listen to what anyone says, you know. It's not unhealthy. Leo always works out constantly."

"To get that figure skater's body requires sacrifice. We would know," Leo added for good measure. "Since you're too much of a goody-two-shoes to smoke."

"Dieting is just apart of the lifestyle," Liv said. "If you're ever feeling hungry, just drink a lot of water or chew on some ice chips. Oh, and if you ever have to eat, chew your food slowly, you trick yourself into thinking you're full."

Josée didn't know what to do with this information. Part of her knew that deep down this all sounded unhealthy, but... maybe implementing a stricter diet wouldn't hurt.

Right?

A day passes, and no one says anything. The day after, her girl friends finally say something.

"Josée, this is ridiculous," Clara told her after seeing what was on her plate during lunch, which was a few small celery sticks. "I thought you of all people wouldn't be so superficial."

"It's not being superficial," Josée countered. "I'm just..." she paused thoughtfully. "...being mindful of what I eat," she put mildly, starting to nibble on the celery stick slowly.

"Like you weren't before?" Clara asked incredulously.

"I have to say I don't understand this either," Alice agreed as she applied mascara in her compact mirror. "It's not like you're fat or anything, unless by figure skating standards you are? I wouldn't know. I mean, I don't think you are."

"She's not," Rachel replied knowingly. "Josée is too busy caring about what others think."

Josée stopped chewing to glare at the other figure skater. "I don't care what others think!"

"Yes you do. You're still worrying about what Yasmine said two months ago, why else would you be restricting your diet?" Rachel said.

"Wait a minute," said Clara, staring at the remaining celery sticks on the plate. "You mean what you were eating before wasn't restricting your diet?"

"I'm just trying to get rid of a few extra pounds, it's not a big deal. I never said I was fat." Just that she wasn't skinny...

"Does Jacques know?" Alice asked.

Josée frowned. "Why would Jacques-"

"Jacques!"

"...know," Josée finished, rolling her eyes as Alice shouted across the cafeteria to get his attention. "Alice, it's really not necessary..."

"What's not necessary?" Jacques asked, joining their table, along with Nathaniel who waved to everyone while giving Alice a dirty look, which she returned. Jacques eyed Josée with concern. "Are you okay?"

"Josée is being superficial."

"I am not being superficial..." Josée snapped at Clara, before turning to Jacques with a wide smile. "They're overreacting."

"No, you're overreacting."

"Can someone please tell me what's going on?" Jacques asked, losing patience as he looked back and forth between the girls. "Josée?"

"Josée's being silly," Rachel confided. "She's going on this stupid diet that she doesn't need to go on. She's trying to lose weight because she doesn't think that she's thin."

Jacques frowned at Josée. "Is this true? Because you are thin. You're beautiful."

"It's only a few pounds, it's not that extreme."

"You have three celery sticks on your tray."

Josée glared at Jacques' boyfriend. "Thank you for pointing that out, Nathaniel." Nathaniel shrunk in his seat and said nothing. Josée's eyes drift to Jacques' concerned ones, and she resisted the urge to slap him for having such a pitiful look. "It's not a big deal. I'm just trying to watch what I eat and all... we're going to be olympians, remember?"

"Oui, but..." Jacques trailed off. Something didn't feel right about this. "You've never been this obsessive."

Now Josée was getting frustrated. "How is this any different from what you do?" She challenged. "You record your meals all the time in that stupide book of yours. Every fat, every carb... you won't eat anything unless it's labeled. Plus you workout constantly when we're not practicing our routines."

Jacques rubbed his face, slightly unsettled. "That's different. I'm not trying to lose weight, I'm maintaining it."

"My point is," started Josée in an icy tone, "You have no right to call me obsessive."

"Josée..."

The female ice dancer wouldn't hear another second of it. "I'm going to go study in the library," she stated, getting up to throw away the tray.

"Josée, you hardly ate..."

"I'm fine," Josée hissed at Rachel. "I lost my appetite, anyway." And she stalked out of the cafeteria, with her partner watching with worried eyes.

Jacques turned to Josée's friends. "How did... what... I'm very confused. Did someone say something to her?"

"Yasmine, a few months ago," Rachel told him. "But other than that, I'm not sure. I think someone did."

"Maybe it's the tabloids?" Alice suggested. "They always have something to say."

Jacques shook his head. "She would've told me if someone said something..." he muttered quietly. He was still pondering on what it could be. He didn't... he didn't think Josée was ever insecure about her figure, he would tell her she was beautiful at least once a day. Jacques didn't understand what could cause this. Normally she was confident, but there were little slip ups where she would doubt herself, but it was never about her body. But then, a dreadful thought came to mind.

Jacques bit his lip. "Um, 'allo?" He addressed the group nervously. "You don't think she would do something bad to herself, do you?"

Alice, Clara, and Rachel exchanged weirded out looks. It was Clara who spoke up. "What do you mean?"

"Ah, I don't know just..." he trailed off, his stomach began to churn. Something definitely wasn't right. However, instead of continuing, Jacques brushed the thought aside. "Non, non... never mind. Josée wouldn't do that. She's... she's confident. This will pass."

"Are you sure?" Alice asked, furrowing her brows.

"I'm sure," Jacques insisted, more to himself. "It's a Josée quirk... she gets nervous sometimes and overthinks, but... this will pass." It's just another one of her quirks...

Right?

"Jacques, I told you..." Fleur reassured for what seemed like the millionth time, "There's not a lot of fat in it. Eat. It's from the brand I showed you. We went shopping for it together."

It was time for dinner, which was a common discussion within their household. Given that both of his parents were or are currently in a medical profession, they obviously knew what healthy foods to get, but no one was more persistent and adamant about it than Jacques.

"Buck up, son," Hector grumbled at the table. "It's not that serious."

Jacques huffed angrily. "It is a big deal, papa!"

Gabrielle rolled her eyes and sat beside her older sister Bernadette and the table. "God, could we go one day without hearing you and papa argue?"

God... if they could go one hour without arguing that would be a miracle...

Instead of arguing, there was awkward and tense silence, other than the sound of silverware moving around from eating.

Bernadette cleared her throat after a while. "So..." she mused, "I'm really excited to start my new job bartending."

Gabrielle smirked. "Does that mean I get free drinks?"

"No."

Fleur bit her lower lip. "I'm just worried that it's in a rough side of town."

Bernadette sighed and put her fork down. "Maman..."

"I know you'll be careful. It's not you I'm worried about, mon ange."

"It's the only job that'll take me," Bernadette reminded her. "I'm trying to pay my way through university."

"I would rather you focus on your education, dear."

"Didn't you and papa have to work through school?"

"Well, times are different now..."

"I mean, I'm not complaining-"

"Hector-"

"What?!" Jacques' father exclaimed. "If she wants to work, let her do it. Good for her." Jacques resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"May I be excused?" Gabrielle asked her parents.

Fleur frowned. "Are you okay? You haven't touched a thing."

"I'm not very hungry."

Bernadette pushed her plate away as well. "Yeah, me neither."

This was the final straw. "What is it with girls not eating?!" Jacques quite nearly shrieked. The entire table stared at him blankly. Hector eventually groaned and facepalmed at his son's reaction. Jacques shrunk a little in his seat and moved his food around on his plate like nothing out of the ordinary happened.

"Jacques," Fleur began softly, her voice dripping with concern. "Is everything-"

"Oui. Everything's fine. Some people eat, some people don't. It's fine, totally fine."

Bernadette turned to her parents. "He's not fine, something's up with him."

Fleur sent her a look. "Believe me, I can see that."

Jacques ignored his mother's comment and narrowed his eyes at his eldest sister. "Can you not talk about me like I'm not here?"

"It has to do with Josée," Gabrielle chimed in.

"Nobody asked you."

"Jacques, don't talk to your sister that way," Hector said sternly.

Of course, Jacques ignored him and fixed his eyes on Gabrielle. "How do you know if it has to do with Josée or not?"

"It always has to do with Josée."

Jacques looked to his mother for help, but she shrugged. "I mean, she's got a point, honey."

"Maman..." Jacques groaned. He rubbed his forehead in distress. Thus, he gave in: "Josée is worried about food, but she's obsessing more than usual. I'm really worried about her because she already restricts herself enough." He stabbed his food harshly and shoved it in his mouth. "I don't understand why she's being like this."

"Maybe because her dad left her before she was born and her mother is a psychotic rageaholic bitch."

"Hector!" Fleur exclaimed in horror, while Jacques' sisters snickered.

Hector wasn't phased in the slightest. "Oh come on, Fleur, let's be honest. That woman is pure evil. She's the reason I started drinking."

"Hector..."

"You can't deny she's a bitch."

Fleur was quiet for a moment. "Anyway," she started, wanting to get back to the topic at hand. "Josée is having trouble with regulating food? She could always go to us for medical advice if she needs help maintaining her weight." Bernadette and Gabrielle had left the table out of respect. They didn't need to be told that this was going into a much personal matter. "I thought she was already doing that. She just needs to be careful. I wouldn't want her to slip into dangerous territory."

Jacques nodded in agreement. "Oui. She shouldn't worry so much and be so obsessed over food."

Fleur bit her lower lip. "Um, Jacques..." she started hesitantly. "I also think you should take your own advice."

Jacques lifted a brow confusedly. "What are you talking about?"

His mother laughed nervously. "Ah, well..." she trailed off. "When it um... comes to your eating habits, well..."

"Son," Hector's voice boomed over the table. His wife was taking too long. "Your mother read your food diary the other day."

"Hector, please!"

Jacques gaped like a fish out of water and glared at his father. "First of all, it's a journal." This time, he glared at his mother. "Second of all, you looked through my things?!"

"I know, I'm sorry!" Fleur exclaimed, full of shame. However, her eyes were showing concern, and rightfully so. "But I'm glad I did, mon ange. What you're writing in there... it's not okay. The way you have details over every little thing you eat."

"Forgive me that I care about what goes through my body," Jacques snapped.

"Son," Hector started sternly, but it was a little softer than before. "You forget your mother and I went to medical school. We recognize these behaviors, and... it's not healthy."

"It's not like I'm starving myself or am trying to lose weight," Jacques insisted coldly. He got up from the table in a fury. "Never mind. But hey, I now know I can't trust anyone!" With that, he turned on his heel and stormed up to his room and slammed the door behind him. Of course his parents wouldn't understand.

This wasn't being "sick."

Josée was sure on that, or perhaps, something she had convinced herself quite well. This was... this was damage control, Josée insisted. Maman told her to do whatever it takes to keep her weight down; she was almost convinced that Jacques had trouble lifting her in practice the other day. So when she found herself stuffing her face consisting of junk after hardly eating anything all day today, she knew she had to take care of it.

Josée breathed heavily and flushed the contents of her stomach down the toilet and stumbled to get up from the bathroom floor. She held onto the side of the wall to gather her footing, after a while she slowly went over to the mirror to brush her teeth. The girl staring back at her was ashen pale, with dark circles under her eyes due to the hunger pangs keeping her up at night. After brushing her teeth, she gripped the sides of the sink in an effort to steady her breath.

Then, she glanced at the scale that still read the number from five minutes ago.

Josée kicked it frustratedly and stormed back into her room, letting out a muffled scream into her pillow while kicking the bed.

A week passed. Nobody dared to bring it up again. Josée was unusually quiet, but tried to keep up appearances. She was always good at that. Despite the fact that he would rarely see her eat full meals, she did occasionally grab a granola bar rather than the celery sticks, which was certainly better.

Still, the churning feeling in Jacques' stomach persisted, because he knew something didn't feel right. This was a quirk of hers, he tried to insist. But maybe there was something more to it, that it wasn't just her "watching what she ate" more. Jacques was waiting for a week. He was waiting for Josée to tell him something, that there was more to it. That she longed for him to help her out with whatever she was going through. He shouldn't have been too surprised though, since Josée would rarely ask him for help. Besides, nothing happened to indicate that there was a bigger problem lying underneath the surface, and Jacques felt like giving up all together.

Saturday was when it happened.

Because Josée and Jacques obviously didn't have school on the weekend, that was when their longest ice dancing private was with Isaac and the other choreographers. Josée's mother was out of town for business reasons, so that left her by herself. Despite the fact that Josée turned fifteen not too long ago, Jacques was still concerned about her being alone in a house all by herself. He checked up on her, and Josée would grumble over the phone that she was fine. But she sounded like she was a little out of breath, like she had been working out. Jacques tried not to think much of it, since even before this "diet" started she would work out.

It's just another Josée quirk; this was just an unexpected extension of said quirk.

Josée said she would meet him at the ice rink. Little did he know, he had no idea what he was going to see. He spotted her in the locker room dressed in leggings and a tank top getting her skates on, and his heart nearly stopped. Josée hadn't noticed he was there, but he for sure noticed her. She looked... pale. Sure, she was naturally pale, but... she seemed more pale than usual. There were dark eye bags under her eyes like she hadn't slept, and jeez... were her bones sticking out?

After some time of watching her struggle putting her skates on, Jacques made his way over to help. "Josée, let me..."

Smack!

"Ow!" Jacques exclaimed, retreating his hand and rubbing it. "What was that-"

"I'm fine! I'm not a baby, I can do it myself!" Josée snapped, finally managing to put her skates on. She stood up too quickly, clutched her head and groaned. Jacques was instantly at her side to help her, but she brushed him off. "I'm fine, Jacques. I can get up." Jacques didn't respond. After a few seconds, she found good balance and stalked over to the ice rink for their lesson. Jacques rushed after her with his own skates on.

"Are you sure you should skate today?" Jacques asked worriedly. "You're never off balance!"

"I wasn't off-balance," Josée sneered. "I was just..." she hesitated, "...gathering my thoughts."

"Gathering your thoughts about how you were off-balance?"

"No, gathering my thoughts about how my partner is being annoying!"

Now Jacques was getting frustrated. "Forgive me for caring!"

"Jacques, I swear to gold..." Josée warned, her temper already starting to flare. "Shut up!"

"Hey!" Isaac shouted from the side of the rink. Both Josée and Jacques turned to their coach who was frowning in disapproval. "We have a lot of work to go through for this routine, we have no time for arguments." Though there was a hint of concern in Isaac's eyes. Jacques knew that he knew that something was off with Josée. However, unlike him, Isaac wouldn't press on the matter. "Let's start from the back inside twizzle." Josée nodded quickly without saying a word, getting to her position. Jacques lingered after her frame for a few seconds. He didn't know if his eyes were deceiving him, but she looked less steady on the ice. He shook out of his thoughts and followed her.

One of the choreographers, a woman in her late twenties named Avril, whispered to Isaac: "Is she okay? Do you think it's because her mother isn't here?"

Isaac couldn't help but scoff. "Believe me, it would be a hell of a lot worse if she was here." Then, he spoke louder: "Okay, go!"

Josée and Jacques started with the back inside twizzle, and it was just a tad out of sync, but noticeable to the trained eye. Warning bells began to ring in Jacques' head, but continued the routine nonetheless. The next part of their dance Josée was supposed to be lifted as Jacques twirled her around gradually up to his shoulders. Throughout the entire routine so far, Josée hadn't looked at him once. When it came to ice dancing, this was a huge red flag. Communication was everything, and it was done by looking into the other's eyes. Hell, not just with ice dancing, but dancing in general.

There were either three things that was happening. The first that she was avoiding his eyes. The second being that she wasn't feeling well to look at him in the eyes. Then the third happened to be a combination of the two. Jacques figured it was the third option. Despite this, he kept going - he knew that if he stopped mid-routine Josée would have lost it on him, and he didn't need her more mad at her than she already was.

The moment that Jacques lifted Josée, it was a lot easier to lift her - like it had been the past week. Warning bells were turning into warning sirens. He started to spin reluctantly, gradually getting faster as he brought over his shoulders as she posed mid-air. Jacques set her down, and she wobbled on the ice for a few seconds before getting back in-hold position. Jacques broke eye contact just for a moment to see Isaac growing more concerned over Josée's unusual clumsiness. Then he looked back to see Josée had frozen on the spot with her eyes glazed over and staring into space, breathing heavily.

"Josée?" Jacques whispered into her hair. "Are you..."

Josée slowly turned to Jacques. "Jacjac..." she mumbled. "I... I don't-" She staggered on her feet.

Warning sirens were on full blast now.

"Jacques, catch her!" Isaac shouted. Right when Isaac ordered that, Josée's knees buckled over and Jacques caught her in the knick of time before she could hit the ice. He ignored the gasps from the other choreographers and skaters, carrying her bridal-style off the ice - he was right, she was far too light. Jacques looked at Isaac and Avril cluelessly on what to do next. "Lie her down on the floor." Jacques did so. Avril brushed the hair out of Josée's face. "Is she breathing?"

"Lightly," Avril said worriedly. She held one of Josée's hands. "She has a pulse... her hand is very clammy."

"I noticed that when we were dancing," Jacques asked, his voice panicked. "Do you need me to call my maman?! She was a nurse, she'll-"

"Yes go call her," Isaac advised, kneeling down beside Josée. As Jacques started to run to get his phone in the locker room, Isaac shouted: "Jacques, stay calm. She'll be okay." Jacques did not take this advice and therefore panicked more. Josée fainted. She fainted. And she almost fell and if he wasn't there she could've been hurt.

Jacques returned to the rink with his mother on the phone after informing her about Josée. "She'll be here in five minutes. Is Josée still breathing?" He asked Isaac and Avril.

"Yes."

"Yes." Jacques paused, then asked them: "No injuries right?"

"No."

"No." Another pause, then Jacques said to them: "Maman says try bringing her knees to her chest." Avril did so, bending Josée's knees and bringing them to her chest. Suddenly, Josée's eyes fluttered open and darted around the room. She was confused by the sounds of sighs of relief, then she realized she was on the floor, and got even more confused. Frowning, Josée tried to get back up, but Isaac wouldn't let her.

"Stay down," Isaac ordered sternly. "You just passed out. We're waiting for Jacques' mother to get here."

Josée blinked yet said nothing. Jacques knelt down next to her with fear in his eyes, holding her hand in both of his. "Josée..."

He didn't continue because his mother arrived, with apple juice. She shooed Isaac and Avril away and knelt down beside Josée. "Hi sweetheart." She handed the juice box to Josée. "Drink this. Your blood sugar is probably low."

Josée eyed it and shook her head. "No, no. I'm fine, I don't-"

"Sweetheart, it's not a request. Drink the damn juice." Josée sat there shocked at Fleur's assertiveness, usually that was only reserved for her own children. Josée sat upright, with Fleur supporting her back with her free hand. Josée took the juice box and slowly started to sip it. "When's the last time you had a full meal?"

"Yesterday night," Josée lied with ease.

Jacques' mother didn't believe that for a second. "Again. When's the last time you had a full meal?"

Josée pretended to think about it. "Fine. Yesterday afternoon." This time, she glared at Jacques. "At school. Jacques was there. He saw me eat a sandwich."

Fleur turned to her youngest, who still had fear in his eyes. "Is this true, Jacques?" Josée continued to glare at Jacques that said that he better lie.

So he did, while staring at Josée with total disbelief. "Oui. Every last bit of it." He saw her get a little relieved. It made his chest knot.

"Then I'm sure she could join us for lunch later."

"No thank you," Josée said right away, smiling like she did at the cameras. "Maman told me to stay home after practice and prepared for me to eat something healthy, don't worry. Fleur, you know that she doesn't like being disobeyed."

Fleur's lips were pressed together in thought. "I suppose you're right." She paused and looked over at Josée. "But we're taking you home. Understand? Speaking of..." She turned to Isaac and Avril. "We're cutting this lesson short."

Isaac nodded once. "Understood."

Josée's eyes grew wide in horror. "What?!" She shrieked. "I can still skate! Let me..."

"Non, chouchou!" Jacques exclaimed fearfully. "Save your strength!"

Isaac agreed. "Josée, I'm giving you and Jacques the day off."

"But-"

"No buts!"

"But-"

"Tut, tut, tut!" Isaac wouldn't hear it. "That's enough. You nearly fainted today. Go get some rest."

Josée groaned irritably. "Great."

Jacques' eyes cast down. Perhaps it wasn't just a quirk after all...

This Monday, instead of going directly to the rink after school Josée and Jacques set a much later time. This was because Josée's mother was still out on business, and frankly, didn't care to hear about how her daughter had fainted and that Jacques' parents made sure to call Josée every two hours to make sure she was okay. The point on was that she was set to arrive back at a much later time than usual, hence scheduling when Josée's mother would be available to judge their footwork on the ice.

Jacques didn't know how to feel about this. On one hand, he loved it, because it gave him time to spend with his boyfriend, which Josée was not-so-secretly annoyed about because she wanted to practice after school. Nathaniel was sort of a touchy subject, because while Josée didn't dislike Nathaniel - in fact, she tolerated him compared to most of the other boys Jacques had crushes on and girls that he was friends with - he was starting to cut into their ice dancing time, like Josée had feared.

On the other hand, Jacques was nervous for Josée, because she was a lot more nervous about her mother coming home because she knew that her mother would give her a tongue-lashing over fainting on the ice. There was also the fact that Josée's mother was ruthless when she watched them perform, but that was no secret. The amount of times Jacques saw Isaac roll his eyes aggressively and mutter a fair share of curses when she was there was almost impressive.

Right now, classes have ended, and Jacques was looking forward to spending time with Nathaniel. They had at least two hours. Jacques grinned when he spotted Nathaniel waiting by the exit doors. Once Nathaniel's eyes met his, Jacques felt the butterflies in his stomach.

Fantastic.

Jacques' hand slipped into Nathaniel's as they exited the building. "Mon amour..." Nathaniel stopped walking and cupped the side of Jacques' face, bringing him forward to kiss. It lasted around three seconds or so, before they pulled apart and started walking again. "I'm so excited to see you. You're always busy with ice dancing, which I totally get. When I found out you rescheduled when my theatre classes were, I've never been so happy."

Jacques' eyes lit up. "Oui. Stupide school for only making us see each other in science class."

Nathaniel laughed and leaned into him. "Tu me rends heureuse."

"Oui. You make me happy, too," Jacques agreed, smiling. This was nice. He needed a break from this, his head had hurt all week from thinking about Josée, maybe she would be fine, maybe-

"Jacques!"

Unfortunately he couldn't get away so easily.

Jacques and Nathaniel turned around to see Alice, Clara, and Rachel trying to catch up to them.

"Alice, please don't-"

"Shut up Rachel," Alice shut her down. Rachel sighed and sent Jacques an apologetic look. He took this as a warning for what was about to come. Alice turned back to Jacques with a smile faker than plastic. "We need to talk."

Jacques already knew what, or should he say, who this is going to be about. "Hmm? About what?"

"You know exactly what," Clara chimed in, well, more like grumbled. "It's about Josée." Out of the corner of Jacques' eye, he could see Nathaniel rolling his. "She has an issue."

Jacques started to grip Nathaniel's hand so harshly to the point where Nathaniel yanked it away. "What issue?" He was starting to get frustrated. He actually didn't think about Josée for a few seconds, but of course they just had to put this back in his head again. He felt Nathaniel put an arm around his waist. "Josée doesn't have any issues."

Alice scoffed in total disbelief. "You know what," she began, "I know that you worship the ground that your chouchou walks on, and you think that there are no faults with her, and you cherish... whatever the hell your relationship is with her... but you need to wake up and smell the coffee and realize that something serious is going on."

Rachel stared at Jacques' jaw clenched tightly. "Alice, please, maybe we shouldn't-"

"Do you see what she's doing?" Alice asked Jacques, as if Rachel hadn't spoke. "I've seen diets. I've been on a diet... you know, my whole non-dairy routine..."

Jacques shook his head, he didn't want to hear it. "Shut up Alice."

"This is different, Jacques, and you know it," Alice continued again, like she wasn't interrupted.

"Maybe he really doesn't know, did you ever think of that?" Nathaniel sneered at her.

"You have no part in this conversation, so you can kindly shut the fuck up," Alice hissed at the theatre student. Back to Jacques: "You know what's going on. You just don't want to believe this is actually happening and hope it'll go away on its own."

"Shut up," Jacques' voice was raised slightly. "You have no idea what you're talking about. You don't know her at all."

Alice crossed her arms. "You know, I vaguely remember someone telling me a few months ago about them being worried for Josée and how I was basically selfish for not being so concerned, but it seems like you're being selfish here."

...Oh. Oh no.

"Alice, stop it!" Clara yelled, seeing Jacques' darkened expression. "That's enough!"

"What?! I'm not wrong. I've tried to talk to Josée, you've tried to talk to Josée, Rachel has tried to... but the only person who hasn't - and conveniently the person that knows her better than the rest of us - is Jacques, because this is hurting him personally and he's making it about him!"

"It's not that big of a deal..." Jacques said angrily. Nathaniel tried to rub his back comfortingly. "It's just a..."

"Just a what, Jacques?" Alice spoke up fearlessly. "Just a quirk? You always say that Josée has quirks. This isn't a quirk, Jacques. Starving yourself isn't a quirk."

Beat.

...She had a point.

"I know it's not," Jacques said quietly.

Alice was glad that he admitted that at least. But she kept going: "She like, needs help or... she'll keep hurting herself and people will have to force feed her or something."

Jacques shook his head quickly. "Non, non... it wouldn't get that far-"

"Is that what you really think? You know how obsessive and extreme she can get."

Jacques sent her a warning glare. Rachel and Clara noticed his right fist was shaking. "You don't know anything about Josée."

"She's destroying herself, Jacques."

That was the final straw.

"DON'T YOU THINK I KNOW THAT?!" Jacques finally exploded. "God-" He cut himself off from swearing and tried to compose himself. He took two breaths and turned around to Josée's friends, who stared at him wide-eyed with shock. "Where is she?"

Rachel tried to deescalate. "She said she was going to walk home to finish some homework, she-"

"I'm sorry, walk home?!"

"Jacques, calm down!"

"Calm down?!" Jacques repeated, shrieking. None of them understood. How the hell could he be calm? "It would take an hour to walk to her house from here! She could be passed out in the middle of the-" Oh. Oh he had to go. He had to go right now. Ignoring the stinging pain of his hand, he took off without saying goodbye to Nathaniel.

There was always a next time.

He needed to do this now.

...God, why didn't he do this sooner?

There was no time to chastise himself. He pulled out his phone while he walked quickly, dialing Josée's number. "Come on, come on, come on, please pick up." It rang a few more times before Josée finally picked up. "Josée! Where are you?"

"...I'm walking home."

"Get on the metro stop closest to you."

"But it's good exercise!"

"Get on the metro stop closest to you," Jacques repeated, this time more assertively. "Nathaniel had to cancel plans. I'll meet you at your house."

"...Okay." Her voice was quiet, meek, and nothing like the Josée he knew. Jacques got on the metro as soon as he could, tapping his foot impatiently when he sat down.

Too many things were running through Jacques' mind. How was he supposed to approach this? Obviously he couldn't just outright ask, "Are you starving yourself?" Because while that was definitely true, she would lie about it, just like he lied to his mother on Saturday for her. She would be in denial, just like he was about the situation. Jacques felt the guilt well up inside him once more. But... maybe he should outright say it, because there was the chance she would feel cornered and finally come clean about her eating habits. But he didn't want her to feel pressured about it.

Jacques visibly groaned. Why was this so difficult?

Maybe... maybe he should go over his own eating habits, too. Maybe both of them could learn from this-

No.

Oh... God.

Jacques wish he could go back in time where food wasn't so freaking complicated. But that came with the profession, however there had to be a way to minimize the damage.

Ten minutes later consisting of careful thought, he was off the metro and stood right in front of Josée's house. He assumed that she had gotten to her house before she did had she listened to him and took the metro from where she was located. "Josée?" He called out, knocking on the door. There was no answer. Frowning, he tried again: "Josée?" He was starting to think that she had lied to him, that she was walking home.

That was until he heard retching from the other side.

Now Jacques was starting to panic like earlier. "Josée!" His knocking became more frantic. "Chouchou, let me-"

Jacques cut himself off as he processed the advice he was given the past few weeks. Isaac had told him to calm down, his mother told him to calm down, Josée's friends told him to calm down. It was all the same. He knew he had trouble thinking these things through; but Josée was in a serious crisis that he hadn't seen before. The ones that Jacques had seen before, whenever she had doubts or had a tantrum, he was always the calm one. He had to have the same approach when it came to something like this. He might not know what to do yet, but he knew how to calm her down.

Jacques looked down at the front mat. He was so freaked out that instead of knocking on the door like a madman that he forgot Josée kept a spare key under it whenever her mother was away. It was a bad quirk- Jacques stopped the thought at once. Quirk. He shuddered at the word. The word that got him into trouble in the first place. The word that made him think this was under control. He used the spare key and burst through the door. "Josée?" He brushed past the kitchen, which he couldn't help but notice had a massive amount of food left out on the table. He made his way to the bathroom door, which was locked. "Josée are you okay?!"

"Go away!" Josée screeched from the other side of the door. "How the hell did you even get in here?!"

"Leaving your key under the mat is a bad qu- habit," Jacques corrected at the last second. "Chouchou, you sound sick-"

"I'm not sick, leave me alone!"

Maybe she did need space, maybe she-

CRASH!

Yeah no.

Jacques took three large steps back and braced himself. He knew Josée's maman would kill him, but it was absolutely worth it. Jacques charged forward and slammed his back against the door. It creaked just a bit, but it wasn't breaking off like he hoped the door would. This time, Jacques repeats the action, despite the pain, and the door tumbles down. Jacques took the sight in front of him. There was a garbage can that was thrown into the bathtub that must've brought the curtains down with it.

And Josée was retching over the toilet with one finger in her throat, trying to induce vomit.

Jacques' eyes grew wide. "Josée! What are you doing?! Stop!" he cried out, reaching over to pull her away from the toilet. He grabbed her by the waist with one arm while trying to get her fingers away from her mouth. "Josée, stop it! You're going to-"

"No, no, no!" Josée screamed frustratedly. "I have to do this, I have to fix it-"

"Fix what?! You're hurting yourself!"

"It's not working, nothing's working!" Josée cried, tears streaming down her face. She stopped trying to make herself throw up and hiccuped violently. "I have to be thin and nothing's working! I'm a failure, I'm a failure, I'm a failure!"

Jacques tried to cup her face in his hands. "Non, Josée! That's not true! You are thin and healthy."

Josée shook her face away from him. "No I'm not! Mama says so... she wouldn't lie to me!" Then it Jacques' mind it clicked. There was no further explanation for what could have started all of this, he should've known. Upon finding out, he felt rage at first, but that was put to the side when he saw Josée's eyes dart frantically. "It's so..." Her eyes stopped to the scale that lied on the bathroom floor. The numbers were from earlier. It was then Jacques finally noticed how thin she was, and it was bordering on dangerous. In a sudden flurry of emotion, Josée got herself out of Jacques' grasp and grabbed the scale, letting out a scream as she banged it repeatedly on the sink. "It's not fair!" she yelled.

"Josée, stop!"

But she didn't listen, or - it was likely she didn't hear. Josée kept slamming that scale over and over on the sink until the numbers went away and threw it in the bathtub. She stood there and sunk to the floor and sobbed. Jacques sprung into action, a reflex within him since they were children, as he wrapped his arms around Josée's shaking frame. Unsurprisingly, she began to punch Jacques' chest repeatedly, which he absorbed. She eventually collapsed against his body and sobbed into his chest. Jacques rested his chin on the top of her head, trying to rub her back comfortingly. Eventually, Josée's sobs turned into small hiccups, and then she started to breathe slowly.

Josée had tired herself out.

Jacques knew ever since he was little he disliked Josée's maman. But now, in this very moment, he was sure that he didn't just hate her, no - he loathed her.

Jacques had carried her from the bathroom to the sofa. Twenty minutes after she raged herself to sleep, Josée still remained in Jacques' arms as he waited for her to wake up. It wouldn't be long, she was never asleep after these tantrums for longer than thirty minutes. What was she going to do when she woke up? Would she just shout again? Lose her temper? Would she snap at him? Be in total denial over what happened? Jacques had no idea where they stood.

It had been mostly quiet. The only thing that was heard was Josée's light breathing and her whimpering at least twice. When she did, Jacques hugged her a bit tighter and she would relax again. It wasn't common that breakdowns like these would happen, but when they did happen, they were extreme and from a distance seemingly unmanageable, however Jacques usually knew what to do.

Jacques was startled as Josée stirred in his arms. She hummed a bit, before opening her eyes to see that she was on the sofa, in Jacques' arms. It was then she assessed that it must have been a bad tantrum. She blinked and stared at Jacques, who sadly smiled at her. "Hi chouchou."

Instead of pushing him away like Jacques anticipated, Josée rested her head on the front of his shoulder. "I hate this, Jacjac," she muttered quietly, like she was ashamed of something. "I hate it so much."

"What do you hate so much?" Of course Jacques knew what she was referring to. Josée shifted uncomfortably in his arms and stared at her hands. She couldn't even look at him. Jacques felt his heart ache for her, but he knew that she needed to talk about this. There wasn't any more tiptoeing around it. He had to make her say it.

Jacques wasn't exactly sure in the moment what he expected her to say, but it most certainly wasn't this:

"Do you ever stare at yourself in the mirror and cry?"

Jacques felt like a piano was dropped on him when she asked that question. To be clear, Josée did have self-esteem issues now and then. The only physical aspect of herself that Josée was insecure about before her mother's intervention happened to be about her nose. Jacques would remind her how beautiful she was, how elegant she was. The fact that he heard Josée asked such a question was so heartbreaking.

It took one comment, one little thing, and Josée would take whatever her mother said seriously. When she took it seriously, it was serious and therefore it would turn extreme.

But it also made him do some self-reflection on what Josée had asked him. There were days where he had been... a little obsessive about his looks. There were days where he would cave and eat a sweet, despite that it rots your insides, and he hated himself for it. Whenever he looked at his reflection after eating a sweet he would see himself as ten pounds heavier when he knew it was obviously not the case. His parents - health experts - would repeatedly assure him that one sweet wasn't going to kill him, but he would end up going to the gym to burn it off excessively.

In this moment he realized two things.

The first was that yes, he did have a problem with food, and so did she.

The second was that this was exactly how he was going to go on about it. He had to open up, too.

It was worth a try. "Oui, sometimes I get very upset with the way I look," Jacques answered calmly. "I don't like what I see sometimes." Josée sat a little more upright, shocked at the revelation, until settling back into his shoulder again as he continued, "I'd do whatever I could to change this part of me that... hates myself. Because it isn't healthy."

Josée nodded in agreement, her eyes sad. "Yeah..." she said, her voice hurt. "I just don't know what to do. It's just this cycle of not eating, and when I cave and stuff my face, I try to get rid of it, and..." she broke off, a tear sliding down her cheek. "It won't stop. I'm so tired."

"Josée," Jacques began firmly, but gentle. "Do you want to stop?"

Josée hesitated. She reached into her pocket and took out bun-bun and rubbed her thumbs along it. It seemed to make her feel a bit better. "I don't know," she admitted softly. Jacques nodded at the answer for now. It was better than a 'no.' She looked away from bun-bun to Jacques with a fearful expression. "I don't think I can do it alone."

Jacques hummed a little to himself. "Me neither," he agreed. Josée furrowed her brows in confusion, but Jacques went on: "I have been thinking about this lately. You were right. I do write in that book a lot, and I want to stop. I think you want to stop too, but you're afraid to do it by yourself." Josée thought about it, before nodding slowly. "Good. I think... I think we could come up with an arrangement. We can have healthier eating habits. My maman offered to help. We don't have to obsess over our diets."

"Really?" Josée asked, relief filling her voice. She snuggled closer to him. "That would be wonderful, Jacjac, but... I'm not sure it will be easy."

She was right. It wouldn't be easy in the slightest. But they were the best team, they could get through anything. Even something as... complicated as this. Jacques knew that, and he knew that Josée knew it as well.

"One step at a time, chouchou," Jacques said, as he kissed the top of her head. "One step at a time."