(Disclaimer: I do not own Attack on Titan)


"You're kidding, right?" Eren taunted Jean, smirking. As though his face weren't irritating enough, he decided to go and pretend he forgot all about Marco to mess with Jean.

"This isn't funny, Jaeger," he glared, warning dark-haired green-eyed boy knitted his eyebrows together in confusion.

"Seriously what's wrong?" Jean glared at Eren, remembering the freckled and kind boy that had trained with them for two years.

"You remember that time you plugged the wall with the boulder and there were countless casualties?"

"Uh-huh."

"Remember the trainees that died during that? Like Marco?"

"Hey, I knew you were messed up, but there's no need to pretend there was some guy that pretended to like you that died before." He actually looked concerned for Jean.

"I'm not making this up! He was-" Jean froze for a moment, trying to avoid the word he dreaded saying in front of Eren. "He was my boyfriend."

Eren replied promptly with a harsh laugh. "Nice! Horse face, you have some serious issues!" Eren was just about to leave when Jean lost it and punched him in the face-hard.

"This is not something to joke about Jaeger!"

"I honestly had no idea what you're talking about!" He backed up and raised his hands in surrender and rubbed the sore spot on his face that was turned red where Jean had punched him.

"Eren!" Mikasa ran over, her dark hair swishing just above her shoulders and red scarf covering her neck, worrying for her adoptive brother's health. She must be able to feel his presence because she always seems to show up when he's in trouble. "What happened?"

"Horse Face is going on about some Macko kid," Eren lazily gestured to Jean.

"His name was Marco." Jean crossed his arms defiantly.

"Eren, don't be so rude," Mikasa started to stand up. "He and Marco were dating."

Eren looked genuinely confused at this point. "Who was Marco exactly?"

Mikasa looked at him disapprovingly. "If this is a joke, consider it played."

"No, I really don't remember." Eren looked apologetic now.

"Don't you lie to me," Jean took a step forward before Mikasa blocked him with her arm.

"Don't hurt him." Her cold grey eyes seemed to bore into his soul, threatening him.

Jean sighed and leaned against the wall. Could he really not remember Marco?

"Freckles? Freckled Jesus?" she tried to help ring an imaginary bell of memory for Eren. He just shrugged.

"You're kidding, right?" Jean sighed and closed his eyes, trying to hide his disappointment. Had the idiot gotten amnesia? There was no way he couldn't remember Marco.

"I'm sorry," Mikasa turned to him. "I don't know why he couldn't remember him, unless becoming a titan messed with his memories."

Eren glared at her, but she didn't seem to notice. Jean simply shook his head and walked off avoiding tears. Marco had been his sole reason for existing for the longest time. Sweet Wall Maria, he missed his adorably freckled face and sweet smile and...

Connie bumped right into Jean, bringing him back to reality.

"Crap!" Jean exclaimed, looking down a head to see Connie. "Sorry," he muttered, not wanting to piss anyone else off today.

"What the hell has you distracted?" he raised an eyebrow, making his forehead wrinkle just under his practically bald head.

"Jaeger," Jean grunted.

"What happened?" he smiled slyly. Dammit, if anyone would ask about gossip it would for sure be Connie.

"He just can't remember Marco," he prepared to walk away but Connie grabbed his arm and stopped him.

"Who?"

"You know, freckles, dark hair, tall, my boyfriend."

"You're gay?"

"You're kidding, right?" Connie looked genuinely surprised. "If this is a prank you were pulling with him, it's over."

"No really, what?" Connie scratched at his head, clearly confused. Jean slowly walked off, wondering whatever the hell was going on.

-==~~~~~Time Skip~~~~~==-

Jean sat just outside the survey corps in the grass, looking out into the trees. He had asked around, but almost nobody remembered who Marco was. Mikasa and Christa were the only others that remembered him at all. They had also seemed shocked by the rest of the corp's reactions to hearing his name. Jean wasn't crazy. He needed to leave everyone else and just remember the first person to be nice to him once they got to know him. Heck, to be the first person to take time to know him. Jean could feel tears starting to sting at his eyes and tried to keep them back. He had gotten over his death a long time ago. It happened nearly a year ago, he needed to be over it. He just couldn't get the horrifying picture of the corpse out of his mind.

When he had found Marco, only about three fourths of him remained, half of his face and one of his arms were completely missing and the skin looked charred around it. Some ashes were flaking off his skin and flew in the wind, dancing across the street. At least he was free from this horrible world. Jean had considered joining him a few times before, but didn't have the guts. He was glad he didn't take his own life though. People needed him more than he needed them

He buried his face him his hands, remembering the ashes floating down the road. Some people might say that he was free and the floating ashes were like his soul being released in some cheesy way, but Jean saw they were still trapped within the walls. Unable to leave them. Even in death, chances are he was trapped. With the titans, there was no freedom. He grabbed his light brown hair and started to cry. Had he been more careful, there was still a chance Marco would be alive. Marco dissapeared while fighting titans that Jean couldn't because his maneuver gear wasn't working. It was Jean's fault. If only he'd been more careful...

He heard some footsteps from a distance in the silent scenery, making him jerk up and wipe his eyes clean of any tears. Had anyone heard he was crying it would ruin his tough reputation. He hoped his face wasn't too red and his eyes weren't too puffy as he choked back the rest of his tears. He looked toward the footsteps in the distance and squinted. No, he couldn't be right. This had to be a dream. He was hallucinating. Yes, that was the only explanation. He was so upset he was hallucinating things. Well, hallucination or not, he was going to talk to him.

He stood up slowly, making sure it was who he thought it was. The figure had no uniform on, just a loose white collared shirt and the standard white pants with boots everyone that went through training wore. The figure's head was tan and had dark brown hair that was cut in an adorably dorky way. Jean started walking toward the figure and it started walking faster toward Jean. As he neared, he realized that, without a doubt, the freckled teenager was indeed Marco. He broke into a full-out sprint toward him, crying. Marco also started running, trying desperately to come to they reached each other, Jean's face was completely covered in tears as he collided with Marco, hugging him as tightly as he could.

"I've missed you so much," he whispered to Marco.

"I did, too." He kissed Jean's neck the same way he always used to. "I did, too."