Jean Kirstein remembered him well. He could remember the days he spent with Marco Bodt. The grown man sat on the outdoor porch of his countryside home. Gently swaying on the porch swing, he sipped an early morning coffee. As the sun began to rise, it painted a glorious picture of oranges and pinks around the early sky. The seat beside Jean was vacant, as it was every time he sat on the swing. A light sigh emitted from him, soon rested his head back as the rising sun casts an orange glow on his face. The man smiled in memory of the way the sun would also illuminate the freckled face he knew for years. He remembered that face all too well.

Jean Kirstein sat on that porch and closed his eyes, remembering those old days with Marco.

It was their freshman year of highschool, Jean still wore his glasses then and Marco was shier than ever. As fate had it the two had their lockers beside each other. Marco was wearing a cute little sweater vest and button shirt while Jean came up wearing a black leather jacket and a a deep red shirt, glasses tucked deep away in his pocket. Both of the boys were considerably short to everyone else in there class and it wasn't hard to tell. Marco walked up to his locker and started putting his stuff inside when this other guy walked up. His hair was two different colours with an almost bleached colour on top, he had this grumbly look on his face as he opened up his locker and started dumping his stuff inside. He looked over at the kid that looked like he came from an issue of Nerd's Weekly. Jean got a second glance at this kid and holy shit. He did not know it was physically possible for someone to have THAT MANY freckles. "Hey.." He said to the overly freckled teen.

Immediately Marco looked up, a little startled because he jumped a bit. At first he just kinda stared at the other with the multicoloured hair in almost a mohawk fashion before he realized he needed to say something back. "Hi." It was a brief response but it's not like Jean went out of his way to start an elaborate conversation. Jean barely grunted in response, something like that at least, "The name's Jean." He fixed his crazy hair a little. Now the freckled boy smiled a little in response, "I'm Marco."

And the slightly awkward silence started there for them, putting their things in their lockers for longer than it should have taken them as everyone else was busy and chatting up in the halls. It was more or less an empty void of silence admitting from the two of them. Jean had finished getting his locker together by the time the bell rang. He peeked at his schedule then looked at Marco, "What classes do you have?" Marco's silence was disturbed when the punk like kid spoke again, "My first class is- hey!" He was pushed out of the way by Jean as he looked at the freckled kid's schedule. "Looks like we have the same classes together." Jean nodded to himself as he grabbed a binder and looked at Marco, "Come on."

He left the shy boy a little flustered, "o-okay.." He grabbed a binder of his own and started to follow Jean down the hall. It was only then when Marco noticed another different feature to Jean, "Y-you have your ears pierced?" He stared at the little puncture holes in Jean's ears. Marco was soon peered over at, "Yeah, I got my nose pierced too but my mom didn't want me wearing them at least for today. They 'might scare off an opportunity to make friends." He shoved his free hand in his pocket as he spoke about it.

"Why did you get the piercings?"

"Why not?"

That left Marco quiet the rest of their walk. 'Why not?' The response from the other. That was a very new and interesting answer. Though his thoughts were interrupted as Jean put out an arm in front of him to prevent him from crashing into a wall, "Careful, Freckles." He immediately addressed Marco by a name he sought a little more suited. The dark haired teen immediately looked at him but didn't say anything of the nickname, "Thanks." He quietly thanked Jean for helping him from crashing. "The class is just right there." Marco pointed to the room they were just a few feet from. Jean was about to walk into the class when the bell rang, "Shit." Now they were late on the first day on school. The other quickly hurried in and Jean followed, an entire class of eyes on the two.

The teacher was a short man with black hair and looked like he always frowned, "Take your seats.." He grumbled to the pair who were barely late. After everyone was seated the teacher introduced himself as and began taking attendance.

"Armin Arlet?"

A blonde kid who kinda looked like a coconut put up his hand.

"Sasha Blouse?"

A girl with brown hair put up her hand for she had a bunch of food in her mouth.

Then Marco was called.

"Marco Bodt?"

The quiet boy spoke, "Here.."

"Reiner Braun?.."

One one the tallest in the class with choppy blonde hair said in a funny loud tone, "Present." And a taller brunette beside him rolled his eyes.

"Bertoldt Hoover?" The brunette who rolled his eyes raised his hand briefly.

A few more people were called then, "Annie Leonhardt?"

A blonde girl with quite the interesting nose briefly said, "right here" before putting her face back into her book.

"Jean Kirstein?"

They boy was slouched back in his chair, fest on the back on the desk in front of him. All he did was wave in a salute like fashion as the teacher checked off his name.

"Eren Jaeger?"

"Right here sir!" A brunette boy with crazy green eyes waved his hand.

Mr. Ackerman finished with the attendance and looked at his class. All he saw was a bunch a hooligans but he just began the year as he always did. With the basic introduction of the course. Jean was barely paying attention, actually he was sitting there staring at the back of the freckled kid's head. He got bored of the lame teacher's blabbing so instead he grabbed a pen and poked Marco's back. The freckled kid jumped in surprise and looked back at what had poked him. Jean gave a stupid smile and waved briefly, chin resting on his other hand while his elbow was propped on his desk, "Hey." He said not too loud so Ackerman wouldn't get pissed or anything, not that he cared. "What is it?" Marco whispered right back to him, looking at the pen in Jean's hand. The other shrugged in response, "I was just bored." Which was answered with Marco's sigh. "We don't wanna get in trouble on our first day.. We were already late." Marco started to turn back around but Jean poked him with his pen again. That resulted in Marco huffing and turning around again, "Jean..." He whined a little to the boy he had met less than an hour ago.

Jean made a mocking kissy face, "Oh lighten up freckles." He then proceeded to poke a freckle on said teen's cheek, earning another sigh. When the freckled kid turned back again he noticed the teacher and the rest of the class were staring at him and the boy he barely knew. Mr. Ackerman had his arms crossed in a dickish fashion, "Can I continue with the lesson or are you two still kissing back there?" This made Marco's eyes widen and freckled cheeks go bright red. Before he could fluster anything, Jean, being the smartass he is, spoke up. "Well sir I can't say we were kissing but please don't continue with your lesson." He smirked a little as he leaned back, staring the now angry teacher in the eyes. "If you think you're so smart you can go park your- butt in the principal's office, you and Bodt." The teacher paused to refrain from swearing to the student and pointed to the door. The entire class, but mostly Reiner, went 'oooooh' as Jean then stood up, Marco hesitantly following him.

The two exited the room with the teacher slamming the door behind them. Marco sighed heavily and looked at Jean, "Look what you did. You got us kicked out! My mom is gonna kill me!" He put his head in his hands. "She doesn't have to find out." Jean casually shrugged, "Just don't tell her."

"The principle will probably phone her!" He huffed and crossed his freckled arms, leaving Jean thinking for a second, "Do you even know where the principle's office is?" Jean asked him, scratching the back of his head while Marco shook his. This left the other grinning, "Perfect. Now we have a liable alibi if anyone asks why we didn't go!" Jean clapped his hands together but the other almost stepped back, "Liable? We can just ask other teachers.. And we have to go! sent us there..." He was a little baffled.

"Nah.." Jean shrugged, "He's just got a really long stick up his ass. Maybe a whole tree.." He popped a piece of gum into his mouth, offering one to Marco, "Want one Freckles?" Reluctantly the kid took it, putting the gun in his mouth, "Why do you keep calling me freckles?"

"Why not? You must have a million of them." He shoved his hands in his pockets and started walking down the hall. "Now where are you going?" 'Freckles' started jogging after him.

"Well I was gonna go sit my ass at my locker and pop in my ear buds. You can come in you want."

"Well..." Marco looked around, trying to find an answer. He'd never done anything considerably 'bad' in his life and he didn't know about starting now. "Okay." His answer was brief as he followed the non freckled teen back to their lockers.

The pair spent the rest of first period at their lockers. The two didn't say anything else to each other really but they were sitting there sharing Jean's earbuds and music. Marco never really listened to rock music or dub step but he really didn't hate it, it was pretty good. But over that hour they sat there, they created a little bit of a silent bond by the time the bell ring for first period to end. Marco stood up but Jean sat for another minute or two, finishing up one more song. He looked at the schedule and huffed. "Gross, math."

"It's not THAT bad." Marco shut his locker and started walking to math class, Jean now tagging along beside him. The two didn't even know why they had suddenly become friends or when they established that but they just did. Their class started laughing at them about last class when they got in to math but Jean was cool about it, laughing and chatting with a few other guys before taking a seat beside Marco. For the rest of the day those two stuck together in every class, and to Marco's luck, didn't get kicked out of another class despite how big of a smart ass Jean was to their teachers. Now by the end of the day, Marco was getting his stuff together and walking out the front doors when suddenly Jean fell into step beside him.

"Hey Freckles." He smiled a little to his new friend. "Hey Jean."

"Where are you going?"

"Home. My mom's car is just over there."

Marco pointed to a blue Sedan where a kind looking woman was leaning out of the window and waving to her son. "Gee I see where you get your nerdiness from." Jean looked from the freckled kid to his mother. Marco rolled his eyes, "Okay I'll see you tomorrow Jean." Marco waved as he ran off to the Sedan, leaving Jean standing there awkwardly as he was still waving though Marco hadn't seen. "See ya Freckles." He turned in the other direction and stuck his earbuds in, walking away from the school and down the street.

When Marco slipped into the vehicle, his mother crowded him with questions. Asking how his first day of high school was, if he made any friends and all questions of the sort. "So who was that boy you were with?" His mother looked over at him from the drivers seat. Marco looked back over at his mom, "His name is Jean-" the boy barely finished his sentence before his mother butted in, "Is he your friend? You didn't tell me."

Oh Marco sighed, "Yes he is my friend mom." and his mother went on blabbing and talking about something the whole ride home and even after they got home.