the worst part about returning to manchester had been the shift in their relationship. where jesse once knew he’d be an integral part of marcus’ october thirty-first ~ he now worried that someone had beat him to the priority role on his special day. he’d intentionally ignored the younger boy throughout the duration of training. every time marcus got close he’d tactically slide past bodies to reintroduce distance between them. every time someone greeted his counterpart with well-wishes, jesse would pretend he didn’t hear. when the cook had brought out the cake at lunchtime, he’d excused himself from the celebration entirely.
his odd behaviour had obviously made an impression. he’d caught stray looks from fellow teammates — jesse usually so vocal about any accolade of marcus’ (including turning one year older) had been benched for complete obliviousness. the only person he’d allowed in on the facade had been paul. their mutual friend responsible for getting marcus to the hotel suite he’d booked them in a part of manchester that was made for people that came from class.
by the time he finally heard the door click, the midfielder had practically burnt a hole in the floor from pacing. the room staged with every conventional romantic gesture he could think of — literal bed of roses, moonlit dinner, smart suit. it was more effort he’d put in a date than when they were actually together. he fixed marcus with a crooked smile ~ heart pounding ominously.
“happy birthday, baby.” he murmured, shyly — “i uh- i promised you a date so,” jesse cleared his throat awkwardly. “don’t feel obligated to stay if you have plans with someone else i just… ‘m here to spoil you if ya’ choose me.”
the freshly twenty-four year old had regarded this particular anniversary of his birth with a lackluster that could only be traced back to jesse’s absence. the two falling out of their former ‘norm’ and into more what nearly felt like acquaintances splitting further apart by the day had been gnawing away at him, marcus finding himself chewing at the skin around his nails as he scrolled through direct messages and instagram comments full of ‘happy birthday’s and well wishes for another trip around the sun ----------- but none from the one person he wanted to hear it from.
he’d pouted his way through all of paul’s demands, right down to dressing up for what his teammate refused to describe as anything other than ‘something he wouldn’t want to miss out on.’ the cryptic nature of the phrase was nearly enough to get marcus into the car without any grievances. he’d slipped his phone from the inside pocket of his jacket, checking to see if jesse had reached out. he hadn’t, unsurprisingly, which prompted marcus to sullenly tuck it back inside.
marcus wasn’t sure what he was expecting, or what he was hoping for. all he knew for certain was that he didn’t want to be set up on any blind date bullshit ---- not in a fancy hotel room, not with a woman he’d never met, and certainly not on his birthday. he couldn’t think of anything worse.
he probably looked so fucking stupid when he opened the door.
it was him, all along. “jesus,” marcus breathed, both in response to the lavish preparations and unhinged excitement to see jesse on the other side of the door. there was no delay of advances, no time to twiddle his thumbs and tread through some sappy explanation for how he hadn’t wanted to spend his birthday with anybody else.
marcus’s fingertips pressed gingerly at jesse’s cheekbones as he pulled him in close, lips meeting the other’s softly before he could whisper a soft reply. “of course i choose you.”
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