Chapter Text
Being an idol meant having to appear on variety shows, something Jean was still getting used to, and variety shows meant all kinds of games and punishments. Their group, The Scoutz, appeared for the 2nd time on weekly idol and they were tasked with playing the paper game. It was simple, pass more than 5 pieces of paper onto the plate and they would win meat made by their manager and who wouldn’t want that?
If they lose, they play the game again and the beef gets demoted to chicken and they’ve had plenty of that. The members consisted of Eren, Jean,Hyunwoo,Armin,Connie,Minjae and Marco, all in age order.
For this game, Eren was placed at the start next to Hyunwoo, himself next, then Marco, Minjae, Connie and lastly, Armin. This isn’t the first time they have played this game, fans love to see this kind of stuff, but it’s not like they do this regularly. One thing is for sure is that they do not want to fail. Getting beef is the food equivalent to a vacation and if they lost, Jean wasn’t sure he would be able to eat the chicken with enthusiasm.
In preparation for the game Eren began to suck in air, making his face look slightly like a fish while Hyunwoo began to stretch out his face muscles. Jean looked onto them with amusement across his face before turning his attention back to Heechul and Defconn.
“Alright guys, if complete the mission in under 2 minutes, the beef is yours, if not you get the chicken” Heechul explained the members nodded along.
“Are you all ready?”
“Yes!” they all agreed.
“Alright then. Game Start!”
The game was off to a great start, they have already successfully passed one red sheet, already down the line, then suddenly the game wasn’t so great. Hyunwoo had taken the paper from Eren, but it fell off his lips in passing and everyone groaned, but Eren quickly tapped Hyunwoo to get him back on track and passed him another paper. They succeeded in passing it down, but when Marco came to take the paper from his lips, he couldn’t quite get it. Marco then had came up, grabbed his neck and stood on his tiptoes a little to keep trying to get a grip on the paper. Jean was panicking on the inside while everyone else was yelling out oh and laughing. Jean was tapping Marco, basically saying hurry up and take this goddam paper and let out a sound of distress. Finally, the paper was taken from him and Jean swore he was going to die on the spot. Marco let out a squeal as he passed the paper on and the other members let out various yells. Why did he pick this spot again? Did he like making himself suffer? Well that one was obvious, he was an idol.
The game returned to a smooth flow once again, with the occasional ooh -ing from Defconn and Heechul and the yells of the members, it was a quick game. They just needed one more paper and they would complete the mission. Hyunwoo passed him another paper and turned to give it to Marco, but disaster struck once again. It was as if the idol gods were purposely mocking him and he swore somewhere in the distance he could hear their fans screaming about this. Jean had turned to pass the paper to Marco, just doing the task at hand when the paper fell from his lips, but they were both still leaning forward and their lips connected. Everyone in the room let out a yell while Jean reared his head back, almost colliding with Hyunwoo. Marco ducked his head and laughed with his mouth open with his hand hanging near his chin.
“Ah, really!” Jean yelled out while he shook his head, blushing a bit at the accidental kiss. They just have to pass one more fucking sheet and this happens.
“You guys are running out of time!”
With that, Jean straightened up to receive the next piece of paper. He can’t dwell on the accidental kiss until after the game is over though. It’s one sheet until he can smell the hanwoo being cooked and he’s not going to pass that up over a mishap. Jean feels the familiar tap and moves the sheet quickly between him and Marco. Nothing to yell over that time, suck it idol gods.
They pass a few more sheets between them with no paper dropping or any accidental kisses and Jean silently apologizes to everyone down the line from him because the papers are slightly wet from his mouth being watery. He really loves beef okay?
“And stop!” the Mc’s yelled out to the group. Armin, who was on the end, walked over and handed the plate to Heechul to count the number of sheets. They knew they had surpassed the minimum amount they needed, but the Scoutz still looked on in anticipation.
“So, Scoutz. Guess who’s getting that beef?” Heechul asked.
The group let out a series of cheers and jumped around because they were getting their precious beef. After their manager, Levi, had come out and began to cook everything while the group stood standing. Defconn walked over and clapped Jean on the shoulder.
“Did you have fun?”
“Yes, Sir”
The members began to chuckle at their interaction.
“You happened to kiss the maknae over there, did you have fun with that too?” Jean laughed and hunched over with his hands on his knees.
“I mean he’s good looking!”
“Seriously!” Heechul agreed.
Defconn suddenly appeared in front of Marco and motioned with his hands to take the paper away from him. Marco leaned in and took the paper away with ease. Everyone let out a “ wahh ” and laughed at the way Marco couldn’t contain himself and kept laughing. Heechul suddenly appeared with a piece of paper in his mouth and threw his arms around Marco to get him to take the paper, but he quickly slipped out of his arms. The group was laughing and clapping at the antics of the MC’s.
“Well congratulations Scoutz, you have not only a handsome maknae, but a great paper game player too.” Defconn said.
“That’s all for Weekly Idol and once again these were the Scoutz!”
Heechul closed out the show as the group members waved goodbye and cheered at the camera as their title song was playing in the background.
The members arrived back to their dorm, done with activities for the day and sated with beef. Some went off to go lay down in their rooms and others went off to shower. It was just Jean and Marco in the living room and Jean was heavily aware of Marco’s presence. They were sitting kind of close on a couch that could easily seat four. They were sitting in a comfortable silence watching a rerun of a Music Bank episode when Jean suddenly heard a soft voice.
“Hyung?”
“Mm?”
Jean was met with silence and turned his head to see Marco staring at him and flushing a little bit. Marco motioned for Jean to come closer and cupped his hand around his ear.
“I-I actually kind of enjoyed the kiss that happened by accident today.”
Jean’s eyes widen in shock at the confession. So he wasn’t the only one who found some pleasure in that game today, even though he was freaking the fuck out about it.
“Really?” he managed to say after a moment.
“Yeah, sorry if you think it’s weird or—”
“It’s not weird” Jean interrupted. “Or at least I don’t think so. It’s fine. No need to apologize.” There was no need to be weird about it, Jean thought. If Marco was weird about it that would only make things weird between them and the group didn't need that right now.
A slow smile spreads across Marco’s face as he nods. They sat in a comfortable silence a little while longer, watching the Queens, their Sunbaenim’s and company counterparts sing one of their older comeback songs. Jean had began to hum along, but was cut off by Marco getting his attention.
“Hyung?” Marco questions.
“Yes?”
“You took my first kiss.” Jean’s jaw drops open at what he said and Marco laughs at his expression. Jean felt a little bit bad because he took the Maknae’s first kiss but was also kind of not feeling bad because he was laughing about it.
“Oh my god i’m so—”
“No need to apologize Hyung!” he reassured him “All first kisses are supposed to be bad.” Jean felt at ease that Marco wasn't mad at him, but he had realized something in the comment Marco said.
“Are you saying i’m a bad kisser?”
“Yes.”
“Hey!” With that Marco bolted out of the living room, simultaneously laughing and running for his life as Jean ran after him.
“I’ll show you i’m a great kisser!”
“Sure hyung!” Marco yelled back sarcastically. Jean was in disbelief. He was a great kisser thank you very much and he will prove Marco otherwise. The pair were making a lot of noise running around the dorm and chasing each other and they froze in their tracks when they saw Eren with his arms crossed and an eyebrow raised in the kitchen doorway.
“Are you out of your minds?” Marco and Jean both shifted their eyes away. “We just had a busy schedule today and you’re both still up and running around making all this noise.”
“Sorry hyung” They both mumble at the same time. Eren’s face scrunched up a bit before he relaxed and he dropped his arms. The tiredness was evident on his face and in his voice.
“Just find a quieter activity to do like kicking ass at Mario Kart or something. Anything but running around the dorm. A lot of us are tired and most went to sleep. So keep it down okay?”
“Okay.” They both watched Eren leave and turned to each other.
“Hyung must be really tired if he’s getting mad at us for being noisy.” Marco noted.
“Yeah, he’s one of the more noisy ones himself. This just means we should call it a night.” He clapped Marco on the shoulder. “I’ll see you in the morning” and he began to walk towards his room when Marco called out to him again.
“I hope you keep your promise of giving me a better kiss.” Jean’s lips curled into a smirk and he let out a huff of laughter.
“Sure kid.”
Jean reached his room and saw that his roommate, Armin, was already asleep. Jean thought he probably shouldn’t indulge Marco on the kiss thing or joke about it often, but it’s not as if he was exactly opposed to it. He just thought it might mess up the group dynamic if things got out of hand, but hey it was only a joke right? It’s not like they would actually end up kissing for real right?
(They did, days later during one of their free times when Marco kept bothering Jean about “not keeping promises”. It was after he pulled back and saw the blush on Marco’s face that he knew he was fucked. At least he didn’t get called a bad kisser this time.)