Chapter Text
The frosty grass crunched under Marco’s shoes as he made his way to school. His nose stung from the cold and he couldn’t feel his hands anymore. He made sure to walk slower than usual, lagging behind his younger sister Marsaili, she was desperately attempting to impress the girl walking beside her, presumably from her class. When they finally made it to school, Marco’s face was glowing a painful pink. He reached the empty classroom and took his seat, his breath clouded his vision as he unpacked his bag. He enjoyed the few minutes of silence before his classmates slowly filled into the room, complaining bitterly about the freezing weather and the school’s chronically broken heating system. It wasn’t long before his best friend Armin took his place next to him.
“Morning Marco!” He said cheerily, taking out a pile of overdue homework, the name Eren Jaeger scrawled at the top.
“Good morning.” Marco grabbed a few of the pages from the pile in front of Armin and quickly helped fill in the correct answers. Marco had long tried to lecture Armin about constantly cleaning up after Eren, but his words fell upon deaf ears and he eventually gave in and just silently helped Armin out.
The two boys had just finished the last piece of work for Eren when the bell rang and their form tutor, Dr Vithaldas, walked into the room. “Good morning class.” Greeted Dr Vithaldas, her face mostly covered by a large knitted scarf. She began to call the register, “Annie?”
“Yes.” Grumpily barked the short, blonde girl.
“Armin?”
“Y-Yes, here Miss.”
“Bertolt?”
“Here, Dr Vithaldas.” Quietly replied the unbelievably tall brunette. Bertolt was Marco’s other best friend. He, Armin and Marco had become fast friends in primary school when the trio played Power Rangers in the playground every day.
“Connie?” Dr Vithaldas paused, everyone turned to see Sasha angrily elbow her boyfriend in the ribs, waking him up.
“What?” The boy groaned, itching his shaved head. Sasha rolled her eyes.
“Eren?”
“He’s at a doctor’s appointment this morning.” Armin said quickly, once again covering for the boy he, not so subtly, pined over. Everyone knew Eren was just asleep.
“Kirsty?
“Here, Miss.” Replied a tall, willowy girl with glasses.
“...Jean?” Signed Dr Vithaldas, knowing well he would not be present. If Jean ever did show up, it was rarely on time.
“Marco?”
“Here!” Replied Marco.
As soon as Dr Vithaldas had finished listing off the other names of Marco’s classmates the door slammed open and Jean Kirschtein walked in. Everyone turned to catch a rare glimpse of the intimidating boy. Jean stood in the doorway, he was tall, falling slightly short of Marco, his ears, nose and lip were pierced and his two-toned hair was cut into a messy undercut. Dr Vithaldas looked entirely unimpressed. Jean smirked and greeted her before slowly walking to the back of the room and taking his seat.
“Now that little performance is over,” Started Dr Vithaldas, “we have a few things to go over. I understand that it is the last week before Christmas holidays, but please do not get distracted in your lessons. This is your final year and if you are looking to do well you need to be focused at all times. You cannot afford to be slacking. I expect a lot from all of you and I know that you will all achieve great grades but only if you are willing to work for it. On that note, Marco I will be needing you to come and see me after school today. You too Jean.” Marco froze. He heard a scoff from the back of the room. Marco began to worry, fiddling with the zipper on his jacket. He had dropped from an A* to a B in his last maths test but he was sure that wouldn’t warrant a lecture from his teacher? Everything else his form teacher said sank into the background as Marco’s mind raced. He’d never been pulled back after school before.
Marco was pulled from his erratic thoughts by the bell for his first class. His classes passed by in a blur, and before Marco knew it it was lunch time. Marco walked into the cafeteria, spotting Armin, Bertholt, Reiner, Eren and Mikasa at their usual table. Marco sat down in the sixth seat and took his packed lunch from his bag. His mum had made a mini calzone for him last night but today he felt too worried to eat.
“You okay?” Asked Eren loudly, drawing everyone's attention to the worried looking Marco. Marco gulped.
“Dr Vithaldas called him back to her office after school.” Armin explained, “And Jean too, obviously.” Eren and Reiner laughed.
“Don’t worry mate.” Reiner said, giving Marco a pat on the back, the unintentional force made Marco feel as though his spine had shattered. “You can’t have done anything wrong.”
“I dropped to a B in Maths.”
“Everyone dropped in the last one, all thanks to that bastard of a sub teacher.” Groaned Eren.
“You’ll be okay.” Mikasa stated, in a matter of fact tone. That did give Marco some comfort. Mikasa was Eren’s adopted sister. She was the most well rounded student in the school and she rarely joked around so her insistence that he was going to be okay meant a lot. Armin dug around in his bag and pulled out a carton of lemon iced tea, he slid it across the table to Marco.
“Thanks.” Smiled Marco, quickly stabbing the straw into his favourite drink. Marco tried to relax and listened into the others begin to gossip.
“It was nice to see Jean today.” Started Bertolt.
“Was it?” Eren asked, snarkily. Bertolt blushed and pulled his sweater over his hands.
“Shut up Eren.” Snapped Mikasa.
“It was. Can’t remember the last time he came to school.” Laughed Reiner, “All he does is lie about my house.”
“It’s funny that you hang out with him,” Said Armin, “and then spend the rest of your time hanging out with losers.” Everyone at the table laughed.
“My little bit of charity work.” Reiner joked, putting his arm over Bertolt’s shoulder.
Marco now felt at ease enough to start eating.
Eren sighed loudly as he picked at his food, “We’ve got maths next, don’t we?” He asked, looking at Reiner. The boy nodded. “I fucking hate that guy.”
“We have him straight after you.” Said Mikasa, “And if you paid attention I think it would do you some good. He’s a great teacher.”
“He’s an asshole.” Eren grumbled.
The bell rang and everyone got up and shuffled off to class.
Marco had a free after lunch and headed to the library with Bertolt to go over their Maths homework before their lesson.
The boys had been working for about twenty minutes when Bertolt spoke up. “Marco?”
“Hmm?”
“Something exciting happened this weekend.”
“Oh yeah?” Marco put his pen down and looked up at Bertolt, his face was bright red.
Bertolt’s hands retreated into his sweater sleeves, “Umm, so Reiner came over to learn how to play League…” Marco began to smile, he had a feeling he knew what Bertolt was about to say. “And, umm… Turns out he actually already knows how to play. And, umm… just wanted to hang out with me. And so he wants to be my boyfriend.” Marco’s smile was now a huge grin.
“That’s so exciting!” Gasped Marco. “I told you he liked you! And now he’s your boyfriend!” Bertolt tried to shush Marco.
“No. He’s not.” Marco raised an eyebrow at him, “Yet…”
“What? Why?”
“I panicked.” Mumbled Bertolt. “And pretty much asked him to leave.”
Marco frowned, “Why? I thought you liked him.”
“I do… He makes me so nervous. I don’t know what to do. What if he doesn’t like me anymore, and I can’t bring it up again so I don’t know what to do. And my dad would be so angry if I went out with a boy. I don’t know what to do Marco.” Bertolt’s voice began to wobble.
Marco looked at Bertolt, pity in his eyes, “Hey, it’ll be okay. We know Reiner, he’s persistent.” Marco laughed, awkwardly. “If your dad gets mad you can always come to mine. My mum loves you, and the food’s always good.” Bertolt smiled.
“You really think he likes me?”
“Hell yeah.” The boys faded back to silence.
The bell rang. Marco’s stomach twisted, he was terrified of the substitute Maths teacher. He and Bert headed towards the Maths room, they were joined by Mikasa and Armin on the way. They reached the room. They could hear the yelling from down the hallway. By the time the second bell rang, Eren burst out of the classroom, Marco could practically see the steam coming from his ears. “I fucking hate him.” He yelled at Armin in passing. Armin turned to run after Eren but Mikasa had already grabbed his arm and she carted him into the classroom.
The substitute teacher scowled at the students as they filed into the room. Marco took his seat and looked up at the sub, Levi Ackerman.
The hour dragged by. Marco was close to tears by the end, Mr Ackerman held so much anger for a man of such short stature. Marco had always found maths a bit difficult but it was essential for him to get into University for Veterinary Science, but this substitute teacher made him deeply regret his decision.
The end of the day drew near. When the final bell rang, Marco found himself dragging his feet towards Dr Vithaldas’s office.