Freckles and Digits

So Jean ended up napping until the next morning. So what?

It wasn't that big a deal.

And at least he didn't have to deal with his parents and their constant nagging…

After taking a shower and changing his clothes, he slipped out of the house and got into his car. He'd woken up just in time to get to campus before classes began. Starting his car up, he pulled out of the driveway and took off down the road.

…

Bored out of his mind in his first class of the day, where the instructor was clearly unprepared for class, Jean navigated down his facebook home page on his cell phone. He had nothing else to do at the moment, anyway. And even after not logging in for about three weeks, he had two whole notifications. Two! Which were just people inviting him to play a stupid candy smash game he had no interest in playing.

Oddly enough, a few people that he knew were in class at the moment were online. There was a status update from Connie talking about some video game party he was throwing this weekend. Mina apparently just found out this morning that her dad was buying her a new car. And Christa shared a picture of a tumblr post about puppies. Those were just a few of the frivolous stories on his home page.

"Why do I still have this thing?" He asked himself.

One of the people he used to hang with in middle school made him make it, and he honestly never used it. Now, he was sitting here, seven years later, with no real reason for having this page.

Just as he was about to pass Christa's puppy post, he noticed in the comments, most of which were a cutesy back and forth between Christa and Hannah, there was one from Marco.

It puzzled him as to why he was interested in what he had to say about this. Moreover, he was a bit surprised that Marco knew Christa.

this is so adorable. i shouldn't be posting on here in class haha

Posted 5 minutes ago

Jean paused.

Marco, the seemingly studious kid, was posting on facebook in class? That definitely changed his opinion of him a bit.

"Way to be normal." He thought with a smirk.

Now, he couldn't resist the urge to check out Marco's page.

The add friend button was up in the corner when it loaded, but he didn't click it. They had just met yesterday. He didn't want to seem interested or anything. Plus, he was creeping. Marco would probably ask him how he'd found him, and he'd have no decent, rep-preserving answer for him.

Marco's interests were all over the place. His music varied from country to indie, and rock to pop with some hip hop, too. That last one didn't surprise him. After all, what modern, suburban child wasn't listening to hip hop these days?

Interestingly enough, there were quite a few Japanese bands and artists listed as well. Utada Hikaru was high on the list, of course. Everybody loves Utada. Even Jean had to admit the woman could carry five tunes in a bucket while walking a tightrope under a meteor shower.

"…"

That was a weird hypothetical description of her talent… but accurate. He'd listened to her many nights before falling asleep.

A smile found its way to Jean's lips when he moved on to movies and saw that in the number one spot on the list was Princess Mononoke. A Miyazaki film. He enjoyed them quite a lot. The fact that Marco had it on his page said he was an okay guy. Just okay. And he hadn't gone for the obvious Studio Ghibli film choice, Spirited Away. Not that it wasn't amazing or anything, it's just so good it's hard to find people who don't like it.

Next were the photos. Yeah, he was being a major creeper now. But that was okay 'cuz nobody would ever know about this but him.

Most of the pictures Marco was tagged in were either in class or on campus with people like Dazz, Christa, one of Armin passing by in the background and waving, and a few other faces Jean did not recognize. He only had two profile pictures. One dated back a few years ago when he was in high school, and the current one was from two months ago, over the summer. It was of him out on an open field of grass. Must've been out in the country, because Jean didn't recall any areas in the city that were that vast and empty.

One picture that he saw on Marco's page was a class photo from when he was a kid. He'd been tagged by someone he evidently went to elementary school with.

And that's when he finally remembered where he recognized him from.

Marco.

Marco Bodt.

The two of them had gone to the same elementary school.

And what he recalled about that smiling, freckle-faced new kid was the many tears that usually streamed down his cheeks that were flushed from embarrassment.

Kids are mean, nasty little monsters. They are creatures who would gang up on anyone who was different, and that's because they are unrefined members of society. Grown-ups do it too, just not as often, blatantly, or callously as children do.

Those freckles sprawled across Marco's face were what he had more often than not been teased about. He was the only one at their school who happened to have them, and it was so unusual that he quickly became the center of everyone's attention.

Jean quickly logged out of facebook when he recalled the time he'd seen Marco sitting in class during recess while he had been on his way outside from the bathroom. He'd been sitting in class, eating his lunch, and holding back his tears as best he could.

Thinking about that made Jean feel incredibly guilty. No, he had never teased Marco for having freckles, but he never stood up for him when he saw it happening.

It pained him now that he thought about it.

And he wondered how that shy, timid kid, who was always crying and hiding from everyone, could be so friendly and open now that he was older.

He couldn't really figure out what Marco must have gone through between elementary school and college to have such a confident and friendly disposition now. But he imagined that maybe it was just that. College. Growing up and being an adult. Most people at this age didn't care about anybody else's appearance to the point of teasing them. Everyone here seemed far past that. And at this point in people's lives, they're usually comfortable in their own skin and have come to accept their faults, if not love them.

If nothing else, Jean was glad that he had seen such a beaming guy yesterday and not a guy with endless tears running down his cheeks.

The instructor finally broke down from her lack of preparation and decided to let everyone go about ten minutes early, and Jean was the first to leave the class. Now he was kind of hoping the day would go by and tomorrow would come. Just to see that smile again…

To relieve some of the guilt he felt about never sticking up for Marco, of course.

It had been a long day at school for Jean. He hadn't run into anyone he recognized. Not Connie or Sasha, not Armin or Mikasa, not Marco, not even Jaeger.

Lying in his bed with his hands connected behind his head and staring out his sunroof window up at the night sky, he shook his leg while trying to falling asleep. Yes, his room had a sunroof in it. It was a mistake the construction team had made when building this house. Instead of just one in the master bathroom, they somehow ended up putting one in his room as well. But it was okay. This was always something he enjoyed about living here.

Since his light was off, he had a nice view of the stars twinkling up in the sky. And he couldn't help but think of Marco's face as he stared at them. They reminded him of the many freckles that graced those tan cheeks.

"What the hell is wrong with me?" he asked himself.

Jeez, lately this guy had been on his mind more than even Mikasa had been. Speaking of Mikasa, he had yet to see her this semester. But they had only been through two days so far. Surely he'd run into her sometime soon, and he would muster up the courage to ask her out again.

She turned him down every time, but he was persistent. She was beautiful, smart, attractive, and was of a different race than everyone else. She was such an intoxicating girl.

He wondered how running his hands through that unique black hair of hers would feel…

Reaching down, he unbuttoned his pants and stuck his hand into his boxer shorts, then closed his eyes as he felt himself already dripping from the thought of her moaning beneath him.

This was going to be his year, he was sure of it.

Wednesday morning.

Jean pulled into the school parking lot and took a minute to find a decent parking space in the crowd of cars, some of which were parked horrendously. Someone had cut him off for one that was close to the building, so after flipping them off, he took one of the spaces that was a bit further from the building.

To his surprise, he saw Marco coming over from the bus stop across the street.

"Marco!" he called after getting out of his car. He cleared his throat after he realized that he'd just yelled, and also because his voice cracked a bit.

Said boy noticed him and smiled, "Oh, good morning, Jean!" he greeted as he hurried over to Jean's car.

"You catch the bus to campus?" Jean asked as he locked his door with his keypad.

"Mhmm. It's no biggie, really. The ride is nice, plus I have my music." Marco replied and pulled his phone out of his pocket.

Jean felt himself growing warm all over as he recalled his little creep session on Marco's facebook page yesterday.

"Are you okay, Jean?"

"Huh? Oh… I'm fine. Just feeling weird. Must've been something I ate… I… uh… I have to shit."

"Haha, well don't waste time. Class starts soon! Let me get your notebook for you so you can get to your poop."

Jean watched as Marco knelt down in front of him and pulled his booksack off his back, then got his notebook out of it, "Thanks." He said when it was given to him.

"No, thank you. I'd be lost without your notes."

That smile found its way back to the boy's face. Jean swallowed a mouthful of saliva and felt his palms growing a bit sweaty. He felt so guilty about how things were for this kid in elementary school.

"Jean, you're acting weird, hah."

"I'm not. You haven't seen weird, trust me."

"Well let's get to class. Oh! I'm sorry… You have things you want to do before you go. It was rude of me to tell you to come with me."

"No, I'm fine going now. Don't sweat it."

"Okay."

Jean stopped at the door to their class and let Marco go in first. And he wondered why he did.

Something about being nice to this guy, and something about that smile he was rewarded with, it really made it worth doing.

Jaeger, Armin, nor Connie was in class. But it was pretty early. The classroom was kind of empty, apart from the early birds who wanted first and second row seats.

Jean took his usual seat and turned to Marco when he sat down beside him, "You're not going to sit in the front?"

Marco smiled, and the sun chose that moment to shine into the classroom through the blinds. "No, I brought my glasses today." He said, and pulled them out of his booksack.

"Oh." The moment he said that, a rumbling in his stomach made Jean stand straight up. "I have to go… uh…"

"That's right! You should've just gone to the bathroom instead of walking with me!" Marco whispered.

"I'll be back."

And with that said, Jean left the classroom in search of the bathroom.

When Armin and Eren entered the classroom, Marco smiled at them. He'd known Armin since freshman year, and thus, he knew Eren. Marco and Armin had been two of the top ranking freshmen who had entered this university, thanks to their SAT scores. Mikasa was up there with them too.

As juniors, those standardized test scores meant nothing to them now. Now it was all about who could get the highest GPA. Armin had him beat by .08 percent, but he was not willing to give up just yet. There were still four more semesters of college to get through.

"Good morning, Marco." Armin greeted as he took a seat in front of said boy.

"Hi Armin." Marco replied.

"I see you remembered your glasses. That's good."

"Yeah, it was tough last class. But kind of worth it."

Eren sat down beside Armin and turned to face Marco. "Taking notes from Jean must've been like nails on a chalk board sounds." He said.

"No, it wasn't bad. And I'm glad he let me use his notebook."

Armin put his hand on his chin in thought. "Marco, is this your first time meeting Jean?" he asked.

Said boy nodded. "Yeah."

"I can't believe that... We saw Jean all the time over the last two years."

Eren decided to speak on the matter, "Well Armin, Marco doesn't hang out with us, and Jean isn't social or likable, so of course they wouldn't know each other." He said. Turning to Marco, he spoke to him with a look of amazement on his face, "Marco, I'm surprised you can stomach sitting next to Jean."

"Eren… that's saying too much..." The freckle-cheeked boy replied.

"Where is he, anyway?" Armin asked. "His booksack and notebook are here, but he's not. Is he getting snacks or something?"

"No, he… saw someone he knew and went to talk to them." Marco lied. He could already tell Eren finding out about Jean taking a poop in the bathroom wouldn't be good for any of them.

"Someone he knew? Maybe it's Mikasa." Eren grinned.

Marco raised an eyebrow. "Jean knows Mikasa?"

"Knows her? Hah, that idiot asks her out almost every other week."

Armin sighed. "He's very determined. But she doesn't want to go out with him."

It was after that statement that Jean came back into the classroom. He walked past Eren, and stepped over his foot as he stuck it into the aisle to try tripping him, then took his seat beside Marco again.

"So you saw Mikasa, huh?" Eren asked.

"The fuck are you talking about, Jaeger?"

Marco bumped legs with him, and Jean looked over to him. Under their lab table, he was holding his thumb up at him.

Smart enough to realize what was going on, Jean rolled his eyes. Not at Marco, though. He was obviously covering for him. He rolled his eyes because now he had to lie about meeting Mikasa.

Or maybe not.

"It's none of your business." He told Eren dismissively.

"She'll never go out with you, you know."

"Shut your dick hole, Jaeger."

"You're the dick sucker, Kirstein!"

"What was that?!"

"Guys, please not today…" Armin interjected.

Jean was about to get up, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. It was Marco.

"Calm down, Jean. Please."

For a split second, he felt like punching Marco in the face for trying to stop him from kicking Jaeger's ass. But that feeling quickly subsided when he recalled what he remembered about him yesterday. Plus, he was so damn innocent. Who could think of hurting this guy?

The tension in their section of the room was cut when Connie entered with his music blarring through his headphones. Not the ear buds, the big ones that most people wear at their computer but somehow they're expensive, stylish, and popular now.

"Morning fellas." Connie said as he took a seat beside Armin.

"Good morning, Connie." Armin smiled.

"Yo." Eren said.

"You shouldn't have your music so loud. That's bad for your ears." Marco greeted.

"Thanks, mom." the short boy said jokingly.

"Hey." Jean added. He didn't know why, but he felt bad being the only one to not say anything.

"Oi, you guys coming to my gaming party this weekend? It'll be a few hours after dodgeball on Friday."

"You know I am. Gotta get in on that Halo and Call of Duty." Eren said with a grin.

Connie stared Armin down. "I guess I can go." The blonde boy said.

"You better! Surprisingly, you're one of the best players we got!" Turning from Armin, Connie looked at Marco "Are you coming?" he asked him.

"Me? Well…"

"Learn to live a little! If you study all day long, you're gonna turn into a book!"

Marco smiled. "Would that be so bad?"

"Yes, cuz nobody reads anymore."

"I disagree, but-"

"You need to come, man."

Jean's eyes were glued on Marco, who was blushing from all the attention being directed towards him. Jean hadn't been invited, so this exchange wasn't really important to him-

"Bring Jean, too. I haven't had the chance to see what he's got." Connie said.

Well, that made it official, now didn't it?

"Any girls coming to this party?" Eren asked. "Besides Mikasa, of course."

Jean was all ears now.

"I may get Hannah and Sasha to come." Connie replied.

"Sasha will come if there's food."

"I think Franz is taking Hannah out this weekend. She was posting something about it yesterday." Armin added.

While Eren continued to speculate about what girls would come to a video game party and Connie encouraged him with suggestions, Jean turned to Marco, "You really going to go?" he asked.

"I might as well. I do go to dodgeball, and Connie will be there, so he'll probably be expecting me to show up for his party." Marco said.

"Well, I guess I can go with you… Do you have a ride?"

"Um… well the bus runs from school through the neighborhood Connie lives in, so yeah I do…"

"That's lame. You need a car, Marco. How are you gonna pick up chicks with no wheels?" Jean asked. He was subtly trying to get into Marco's business because he was still curious about how someone like him got with girls.

"Chicks? Um… well-"

"Good morning, class! Are you ready for another round of notes?" Professor Hanji energetically greeted as she entered the classroom.

She was met with a few groans and sighs, making her shake her head disapprovingly and then start ranting about how unappreciated education was among today's youth. Even though she didn't look much older than anyone in the room…

Jean turned from staring at her and wondering where she got her enthusiasm and energy from this so early in the morning to Marco, whose cheeks were a bit flushed.

Marco smiled. "I can take the bus. It'll be fine."

"No, it's not. I'll give you a ride. It's one night, so don't worry about gas or anything."

"Jean, you don't have to-"

"It's over. I'm giving you a ride. Where do you live?"

Marco's dark brown eyes moved down to his notebook. "Out in the country."

"What's your address, genius?"

"…Jean, my house is kind of far out. Why don't you just pick me up from dodgeball? They'll be starting it for the semester this Friday."

Fridays were off days for Maria University. Thanks to budget cuts, many of the courses offered on that day were cancelled, thus blessing most of the teachers and students with a three-day weekend.

"Okay, where's dodgeball?" Jean asked.

"We play on the old tennis courts. You know where they are, right?"

"Yeah. What time is it over?"

"Three o'clock."

"I'll be there waiting for you. Be looking for my car."

If Jean was going to go to this party, he was gonna bring his A-Game. Helping Marco, who he failed to help in the past, was a nice bonus. Now was as good a time as any to make up for all the times he'd seen this guy crying where he didn't do anything to help him.

Though, he didn't seem to want any help at the moment… Why had he been so insistent on taking the bus?

…

Towards the end of class, Professor Hanji asked a question from the notes that she'd given on Monday. Knowing in his heart that she'd go for him, Jean flipped through his previous notes, where he saw some of his spelling mistakes corrected and his lowercase I's dotted.

Turning, he stared at Marco, who was also flipping through his notes that he had copied from him.

When, to his surprise, Professor Hanji called on someone on the other side of the classroom, Jean quietly got Marco's attention. "Psst."

"What is it?" Marco asked.

"Did you do this spell check to my notes?"

"Oh, yeah! I'm sorry!" the freckled boy whispered.

"…It's fine. Just… don't be so obnoxious about it…"

"Right. I won't do it again."

With her question successfully answered, Professor Hanji solemnly let the class go, saying what a shame it was that class only lasted for 95 minutes.

Jean put his things away and turned to Marco, who was now in the middle of a conversation with Armin. Not really knowing what he wanted to say to Marco, and not wanting to interrupt his conversation, he quietly stood up and decided to leave the room.

Just as he got out of the building, he heard Marco calling his name.

"Marco?" he asked, and turned with his booksack only draped over one of his shoulders.

"Jean, I meant to ask you!" the obsidian-haired boy shouted as hurried out of the building after Jean.

"Ask me what?"

"Can I… Can I have your phone number? Since we're… you know… going to this party and all, I want to keep in touch with you."

"I doubt it'll be so crowded that we get lost from each other. Connie's house is pretty big." Jean said.

"I know, but who knows? I'd just like to have it. We're friends now, aren't we? Plus, we may need to study together sometime."

The innocent look on Marco's face and the pink tint his cheeks and ears had made Jean give in. "Okay, give me your number and I'll send you a text."

"Alright."

After Jean sent the text message, Marco smiled and then sent him on his way with a pat on the shoulders, wishing him a pleasant rest of the day.

…

Just as he entered his next class, Jean felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket. He quickly took a seat near the back of the class, his favorite area of the room to sit, and pulled it out to read the message he'd gotten.

Marco Bodt:

thanks for your number. ill see u friday. oh, and by the way, i dont date chicks.

Jean's eyes widened. He held his phone in his hands and tried to think of how to respond to that. Before he could come up with anything, he got another message.

theyre birds after all :P

After shaking his head, Jean closed Marco's message and prepared himself for class.

At the end of his school day when he was getting into his car, something hit him.

"Wait a minute… Marco… did you… did you work your game on me to get my number…?" he asked aloud.