Jean walked into the barracks late from doing laps. He had innocently put his foot out to trip Yeager when he walked past, maybe spill his drink or something. Unfortunately, Keith Shadis saw him just as Eren simply stepped over his foot. That hadn’t stopped him from getting a punishment though. Who the hell gets punished for “disrupting morale”?! When he entered the room, he noticed an unusual number of people crowding around Connie’s bed. What the heck?
“Connie, you aren’t joking are you…” Reiner said warily.
Connie blushed and nodded. He said, “Guys… I’m.. I’m serious!” Armin supplied a supporting smile and patted Connie’s shoulder. He then proceeded to glare at the rest of the group surrounding the bed.
“I don’t think you should judge here. It doesn’t really even matter who Connie likes.”
The rest of the boys traded surprised glances at both Armin and Connie, and gave up their line of questioning. After all, it was just curiosity, right? Jean approached the group, thoroughly confused.
“Oi, what are you guys even talking about!” He demanded. Connie’s face grew pale as he stammered, “..I.. I told the guys that I was interested in.. uh..” he paused for a second to try to put it delicately, “in boys as well as girls.”
Jean just stood there with a stupid look of shock on his face. Ten minutes passed before Eren had enough, and punched Jean in the face to wake up him. The rest of the boys had already dispersed, getting ready for bed. Jean grunted at the punch, but he just got into bed and fell asleep. He didn’t need to get into trouble again for “disrupting morale”.
The next day, Jean felt uneasy. He woke up in the morning with his usual morning wood, but he just couldn’t will it away this time. Images of Mikasa filled his head and every time he tried to think of something disgusting (like Eren), he would just get harder. Unwilling to think about the implications, he just went about his daily routine, trying to cover up as much possible. The lucky thing about 3DMG is that it was near impossible to have a boner while wearing it, at least physically. Statistically speaking, there just wasn’t enough room for the average sized guy. Jean liked to think that he was above average in this field.
The first bit of training after breakfast was martial arts. This time, Jean was paired with Connie. They were to practice defending against ordinary citizens using the most minimal amount of force. For Jean, this was simply blocking Connie’s attacks before maneuvering behind him to force him into the ground. Connie whined while he was being pinned by Jean’s knee.
“Jean, what the hell are you doing! Get off of me!” Connie was clearly in no mood to put up with Jean’s incessant teasing. However, Jean’s wheels were turning in a different direction. He let go of Connie before helping him up, flashing him a winning grin. This only creeped Connie out further.
“Hey uh, I’m sorry about yesterday. You know I was only surprised right? I got nothing against gay people.” Jean said.
Connie rolled his eyes. “First of all, I’m bicurious. Second, apology accepted.” He then lunged forward at Jean with another punch. Jean reacted immediately by redirecting his force and throwing him backwards, albeit more gently. Connie managed to stay on his feet this time. The supervising instructor nodded with approval from a distance, then moved on to another pair.
Jean continued with his “sweet” smile at Connie. “Actually, I know exactly how you feel. I wouldn’t be averse to helping you “explore” your feelings ya know.” Connie’s eyes lit up with surprise. He never imagined that Jean would be so accepting, let alone go so far as to help him! He smiled sheepishly at Jean before replying.
“I think that’d be great!”
Jean couldn’t believe his luck. Connie had approached him at lunch and requested that he meet him in the storage shed at midnight. The girls had been suspicious of Jean’s intentions, assuming he had been planning something mean in order to embarrass Connie. However, the boys could only blush and keep quiet.
“Fucking Jean!” Eren muttered. Armin sighed as he explained to Mikasa and Sasha what Connie had informed them of the earlier night. Mikasa’s expression stayed neutral while Sasha started to giggle.
“I so knew it! He totally has a crush on Jean.” Sasha said. Eren just continued to eat, silently wondering if Jean was up to no good again. Honestly, it was a shame. Connie was a decent soldier and a good friend, it wouldn’t be right if Connie decided to date Jean. There were plenty of better looking and more awesome people in the trainee squad (like Armin). There was nothing good about Jean at all.
Armin didn’t look perturbed by the information at all as he glanced at Eren.
Midnight came and Jean felt just as uneasy as he had this morning. Sure, fooling around with Connie might be great. It might even be fun. Jean was pretty sure he wasn’t the least bit gay, but he knew that when the opportunity presented itself, he had to take it. But there was still a nagging feeling in the back of his mind, that he was about to do something he couldn’t come back from.
He heard Connie rustling in his bed, getting ready to go. After he left, Jean waited a few minutes, debating the pros and cons of going through with this. He could get caught. Connie and he might even be expelled from the army. But it would feel amazing, especially after being so frustrated all day. He could just explain to Connie afterward that it was just something guys did to help each other out. No strings attached. Right.
He got out of bed as quietly as he could, and headed to the storage shed.