The costume making progress was somewhat hectic. There was a lot of laughing and an emergency room visit when Connie accidentally drove a needle into his thumb from using the sewing machine. But we got done right in time for the party and it was hilarious when we tried them on. Connie had a wig that he was going to wear which was a black mullet with a white stripe down the center of it. He also had a black slightly too short t-shirt and black leather pants. Plus black boots, a tail, ears, and a flower crown. It was ridiculous and stupid but hilarious, too. We tried to get Sasha in on it but she thought we were idiots. I came to find out soon that Marco was really good at stage make-up and I was really bad at remembering that I had on stage make-up when my eye itched. I had noticed this scar that Marco had on his chest that stretched from his collarbone and stopped around at his stomach. I figured it was from the Jamie situation and didn't ask about it.
On the night of the Halloween party, we almost died laughing when we saw what we looked like in our costumes. It was utterly ridiculous. Marco had an even harder time doing our make up because we kept laughing. Watching Marco do Connie's make-up really made me think that I needed to branch off into different forms of art like he had done. I found myself gaining back that jealousy I had had for him weeks ago. "You're really good at make-up, Marco." I said. He smiled a bit. "Thanks Jean. Do you like the make-up I did for you?" Marco had made my face and pretty much the rest of my exposed skin completely grey with white streaks everywhere meant to simulate fur. I also had pink in some places including my nose. I had whiskers and the signature horizontal 3 bunny mouth. Marco hadn't done his own make-up yet but he was finishing up Connie. Connie had streaks of black everywhere to simulate fur. Plus a streak of white in visible places. Connie couldn't help laughing every now and then and when he would, Marco would stop doing the make-up and just stare at him until he stopped laughing. Through this experience, I had realized that Marco could really be a leader. If he had the opportunity to take the reigns, he would. And he would hold them tight. He knew exactly where to steer the plan, too.
When Connie's make-up was done, he went to look at it and cracked up as soon as he saw himself. Marco smiled in response then started on his own make-up. Someone knocked on the studio door and Connie went and opened the door. Sasha bounced in, literally, wearing a potato sack. Both Sasha and Connie started dying of laughter when they saw each other. Marco smiled and glanced at them before returning to his make-up. I smirked. How were Connie and Sasha not dating yet? I went over to Marco. "You're seriously good at this make-up thing, Marco." Marco smiled and said, "Thanks, Jean." "Where did you learn how to do this?" He sighed and looked at me, pausing his make-up doing. He then went to his desk and came back with his cell phone. I was about to ask him what he was doing when he showed me a picture on his phone. I burst out laughing when I realized what it was. It was a picture of a very young Marco. He was helping some girl with her make-up. She was clearly going to be in a play or show of some sort. Marco looked so younge. Braces and side bangs. "I did it in middle school." He said, grinning. "Oh my God." I said. I laughed loudly at the idea of Marco being in a play, "Wow. You're cool." Marco laughed, too, "I'm the coolest of the cool." Connie and Sasha came over. "What is it?" Sasha said. "Nothing." Marco responded, locking his phone and putting it in his pocket. I was still laughing. "Apparently, Marco's really funny to Jean!" Connie said. "Yeah, Connie! It seems that way!" Sasha added, "Maybe they should get closer!" Then she shoved me really hard right into Marco. I yelped out an "Ow!" When I bashed straight into Marco and he made a disgruntled sound and stumbled but grabbed my arms so as to steady me. I looked at him and he was red. He didn't look at me. I felt my face turn hot and I pulled away from him, whipping around to face Sasha, "W-What the Hell, Sasha?!" I yelled. "Oh come on!" Connie exclaimed. "You always ask Sash and I why we arent dating. Why aren't YOU two dating?!" "Because I don't like him like that! As much as you would love to beleive it!" "But you said-" Sasha started. "Well I lied!" I have a slight temper. Im also extremely stubborn so when someone tells me to do something, I usually do the exact opposite. That's why I said this. I soon found out that disagreeing with Connie and Sasha on this just because I was stubborn, was an extremely stupid.
Sasha and Connie both looked at Marco and I didn't get to see his face when I turned around because he had already turned back to the mirror to continue his make-up. I punched Connie and he yelped. "Dude!" I sighed and kept my distance from Marco for the rest of the time he was putting on his make-up. I knew I must have upset him but it was Connie and Sasha's fault.
When Marco finished his make-up, I commended him on his work and he gave me a sincere smile. Which made me think he was okay... I was wrong, though. We went on our way to Ymir's house. Yep. She lived off campus. And when Connie knocked on the door, Christa answered it. She smiled when she saw us. She was dressed as an angel, obviously, and she complimented our costumes. When Ymir, who was dressed as a drill sergeant, saw us, she bursted out laughing, "What the Hell is this, guys?! Mean Girls?!" We all laughed at that. I didn't really focus on this party. I was really excited before about it but I felt pretty bad for potentially making Marco upset which stressed me out. So, Marco could probably say more about it than I can, which proved to be true later on. All I know is that I was sober for about ten minutes then I was gone and woke up the next day in my own bed, confused as Hell and clean of most make-up. I sat up. Thank God it was Saturday. "Urg..." I groaned as I felt the pain of a hangover come over me. I always had the worst hangovers because I never ate when I was drinking. I was still in my clothes from the night before but most of the make-up was gone. I was so confused. What happened? Somebody must have brought me back. Connie? Or Marco? Whatever. I sat up and stretched slightly, my back cracking. I had to get up, no matter how bad I felt. I had planned to finish some work today. I shuffled painfully down the hall to the community shower. I peeled off my costume and left it hanging up as I stepped into the shower. I felt terrible, not only physically, but it dawned on me how much I could have hurt Marco's feelings. I ran a hand through my hair, sighing, as I washed off the remainder of the make-up left on me. I actually really did like him... A lot. But what could I say now to prove it? Either way, I couldn't say anything until Connie said something to Sasha. I sighed and banged my head on the wall once, which was followed by an, "Ow..." And a rubbing of my forehead. I finished up my shower and grabbed my towel, drying my hair and wrapping the towel around my waist. God my head hurt. I made sure to weigh myself, sighing softly at the numbers… I was way too exhausted and hungover to go jogging this morning. I made way back to my room where I got dressed into skinny blue jeans, a black t-shirt, and my black hoodie with the Pink Floyd symbol on the back of it. I didnt want to deal with contacts so I shoved my glasses on my face, pulled on my black converse and put my blue beanie on. Funny how I think I'll look terrible when I have a hangover unless I try really hard to look put together. I always do it. Even though I know that everyone knows why I'm trying so hard to look put together. So they all know I'm hungover. I stepped outside and the ground was covered in a white layer of snow. I groaned and slapped my forehead. Fuckin annoying snow... I decided to just eat in the cafeteria. Maybe the terrible, strong as hell coffee would help my hangover.
I made my way through the snow and I realized that maybe I should have worn a bigger jacket, boots, gloves, and dried my hair all the way. I sighed in relief as I stepped into the cafeteria, shivering a bit. I noticed a group of people sitting in the cafeteria. Not unusual. I couldn't make out who it was until I got a bit closer. My glasses were shit and needed to be upped in the prescription. I noticed Marco. Marco?! Why? He said he didn't like eating cafeteria food. He was sitting with Reiner, Bertholdt, Annie, Eren, Mikasa, and Armin. I noticed over in one of the lines, Connie, Sasha, Ymir, and Christa. "Speak of the Devil! There he is! The man of the hour!" Reiner boomed at me. Ow... Wait...Did I hear him right? I glanced behind me then turned back to everyone. "Me..?" I said, my voice hurting when I spoke and sounding like it, too. "Yep!" Reiner continued booming. He sounded so loud. "Stoopp yelling." I said. "Oh yeah. He's hungover! My bad man!" Reiner yelled at me. Shit! I covered my ears, "What the Hell is your problem...?!" I exclaimed. "Oh nothing! I just like being annoying." Reiner said, grinning me. My brain processed, finally, that Marco was here... Why is Marco here? "What is going on...?" I said. "I dunno, man!" Eren suddenly yelled at me, glaring at me. "We all saw what you did." "What did I do...? I don't remember anything I did yesterday..." "Oh give him a break." Connie said, walking over. "We all saw what what you did, too, Eren." "W-what?!" Eren exclaimed, "What did I do?" "Dude." Reiner said to me, "You had to be babysat by Marco the whole time. You tried to jump off the building." What?! Pfft! I laughed a bit. "Man... Sorry, dude." I said to Marco. He laughed a bit, "It's fine." "Scoot." I said, pushing my way into the seat next to Marco. He smirked and scooted over. "... What's up with you?" I asked him. He smiled a bit at me, "Nothing. Just a bit tired is all." Yeah. He looked really tired. "Yeah?" I said. "Yeah." He responded, smiling a bit more at me. "Why are you in here? I thought you said you didnt want the food in here." "Im not eating." He answered. I sighed, "Fine." I said, "Whatever." "Having some maritial issues?" Ymir said as she pushed me to get into the seat next to me. I smirked. "Shut up." Marco suddenly slammed his hands on the table, then he stood. Everyone looked at him. "I gotta go get some work done." He said, stepping out of the seat. "Oh. Okay, man." I said to him, "I'll come by your studio later, kay?" He nodded and smiled at me for a moment before he walked away from the table.
I sighed and turned back to everyone. "So." Connie started, "About what you said yesterday." "Which part? I dont remember anything from the party." I responded. "No. Before the party. When you said you lied about liking Marco." "What?!" Reiner boomed, "You said that?! Do you think this is a game, SON?!" I smirked. Sasha laughed at Reiner's response. "Did you really mean that?" Connie asked me. There it is. I sighed... "No." I said, "I just got defensive and stubborn... And I wanted to go against what you guys were accusing of me. Im not ready to ask him out." "You like Marco?" Ymir said. I nodded and looked at her. "Even with the sister thing?" Wait... How did she know? "How do you know about that?" "I was asking Pixis about Marco so I could see who else I was up against and he told me." Stupid Pixis. He was always disclosing personal information. I sighed. "What sister thing?" Bertholdt asked. Great. "His sister was doing some dumb shit as she was driving and she crashed and died." Ymir said. "Hey!" I yelled, "Shut up! That's not even what happened! Some dumbshit ran a red light! Her car literally was in the air before rolling back onto the road and killing her! Marco is lucky to be alive!" I felt anger bubbling in my stomach. "Fine." Ymir said. "Sorry I asked..." Beetholdt said. "But what if when you ask him out, lets say he says yes. What if his entire family is obsessed with his sister and they have shrines everywhere and she's all they talk about?" I stood, "Shut UP!" "Calm down, horseface!" Eren exclaimed. "Shut up, Jaeger!" I yelled at him. "Do you want to fight?" Ymir said to me. "Jean. Dont. Just let it go." Armin said. "Fuck you, Armin!" Armin put his hands up in defense. I knew I needed to calm down but I couldnt. Marco didnt deserve this shit! He was too nice of a person. I swung at Ymir but she caught my fist, flipping me onto the floor. "That's enough!" Christa exclaimed, holding onto Ymir's arm. Ymir managed to get a punch in as I stood up. Right on the eye. I would have a shiner later on. That also busted my glasses and I caught then, shoving them into my pocket. That pissed me off even more. I felt dizzy I was so angry. I managed to get in a punch as well before Reiner picked me up, pulling me away. "Stop!" Reiner boomed at us. "This is ridiculous!" Then he dragged me out of the cafeteria. I didnt know where he was taking me so I just flailed. "Let go!" I yelled. "Nope." He said as we went into the studio building. He wasn't taking me to Marco, was he? Because Marco was not having my shit right now. I basically yelled that I didn't want to date Marco ever yesterday afternoon. Plus, Marco was tired as hell. Reiner knocked on Marco's studio door. I groaned. That's what I get for being an asshat and fighting. Marco opened the door, his eyes widening when he saw the out of context Reiner holding me. "Guess who got into a fight?" Reiner said. Marco sighed. "I cant leave you alone for ten minutes. Can I?" "It's... Actually been seven minutes..." I responded. Marco just stared at me. Reiner put me down. Marco sighed again, pulling me into the studio. "Thank you, Reiner." Reiner nodded before leaving the studio building. Marco closed the door then turned to me, "What were you thinking?" "I was thinking that I wasnt gonna let Ymir disrespect your sister like she was." Marco processed what I had said then he turned a bit red, "You were throwing punches to defend my sister?" "And you and the rest of your family, actually." Marco smiled a bit for a few seconds before he shook his head, his smile disappearing. "Well, I can take care of myself. And you're going to have a pretty bad shiner." "Yeah. Probably. The punch didn't help my hangover. My glasses busted." Marco sighed. "You're reckless."
He headed back over to the chair next to the window and sat down. I walked over to him and looked at his drawing of the city that he was now painting. It looked really good... "That looks great, Marco." I said, rubbing the underneath of my now swollen eye. "Thanks." He responded, looking at me. "... You should get that taken care of." "Can you take care of it for me?" He sighed a bit, "No. But I'm sure the nurse can." He turned back around. "Duddee." I said, "Hanji's crazy. Why do you think I'm perfectly fine with you taking care of my battle wounds?" "You fight Eren. Those arent battle wounds. They're reckless wounds." I smirked. "Just help me!" "No, Jean. You're a grown man." I sighed. Why wasn't he going to help me? ... Maybe it had to do with what I said yesterday... But that wasn't really my fault, was it? Connie and Sasha basically forced me to say it! I didn't have anything to apologize for. They needed to apologize. "All i can do is scold you a little, Jean. But I came here to work on something I need to finish. So no matter how stubborn you are, my answer will not change. Go take care of it yourself." I sighed and gave in. "Fine. Whatever." I then walked out and closed to door behind me.
Hanji was Hanji as she took care of dressing my eye up and making sure it was alright. And the visit lasted an hour and thirty minutes due to her rambling about squirrels the ENTIRE time. I almost wished my eye would get infected and I'd die so I wouldnt have to listen to her anymore. When I finally got outta there, it was two pm. So I headed for my studio and worked on a peice until it was done at around eleven thirty. I realized when I was done, that Marco hadnt asked me to go to dinner. I felt bad for some reason but I was too tired to care and I just went to my dorm room and fell asleep. Maybe things would be better tomorrow.
My thoughts failed me. It didnt get better. It got a lot worse. The only good thing that happened was that my eye wasnt swollen the next day. All I had was a bruise under my eye. Hanji was annoying but she knew how to treat a wound. I was determined to talk to Marco and try to get us to start talking normally again. He obviously wasnt having any of my shit and even if he was smiling at me, he had something sitting behind his eyes that I didnt like. So he was clearly upset with what I said. I just needed him to forget about it. I pulled on black skinny jeans, a green t-shirt, my leather jacket, and my black boots. I grabbed my phone and wallet and headed to Marco's dorm room. I knocked and Armin opened the door. "Hey." I said. Armin put a finger over his mouth. "Hi, Jean." Armin whispered. Dont tell me Marco was asleep. "Is he sleeping?" Armin nodded. I groaned a bit, "But... No. It's like noon." "I know. He's tired." Armin responded. "But..." "You seem needy." Armin said, smiling a bit. "Lemme wake him up." "No. Jean. He'll be really mad. And he's exhausted. You'll just have to wait." I sighed. "Pease." "No, Jean. Sorry." "I will yell at him if you dont let me wake him up nicely." Armin stared at me and opened his mouth to say something but I interrupted whatever it was to yell behind Armin, "WAKE UP, MATTHEIUS!" Armin spluttered but before he could do anything, Marco woke up. He yawned and stretched before sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "He's going to kill you, Jean." "No he wont. We're bros." Armin then turned to Marco and said, "You have a visitor. Should I let him in?" "Is it Jean?" Marco mumbled. "How did you guess?" Marco groaned a bit and flopped back down, rolling over. "Nooo..." He said. "That's a yes!" I exclaimed, pushing in past Armin and going to Marco's bed. "Get uup! We're going to eat breakfast." "I am leaving before this get's bad." Armin decided, stepping out and closing the door behind him. "Jean..." Marco said, "Literally, I'm not going to eat breakfast with you. I'm too tired..." "As opposed to not literally." I said. "Either way I'm not going, Jean." Marco mumbled. "I know you dont mean that." I said. Marco sat up, then. This is where I start fearing for my life. Marco literally stood up, lifted me up, and placed me down right outside in the hallway. Why was it so easy for people to pick me up?! "Dude!" I yelled, after getting over the initial shock. "Dude, what?!" Marco yelled back. Terrifying. Now I know not to get Marco pissed. "I said I wasnt going and I meant it, Jean! I am fucking exhausted from dragging you around during that Halloween party! I didnt even get remotely drunk and I thought it would be easier that way! But no! You're an idiot when you're drunk and I had to babysit you!" I stared at him, shocked, for a few moments. Then I got pissed. "Dude!" I exclaimed, "You didnt have to fucking babysit me! You made that decision! Excuse me for getting drunk!" "You would have jumped off the building otherwise, Jean!" "Why are you so pissed off?!" "Because you said something extremely rude to me right before the party-! No. Wait. You always say and do rude things to me!" What the Hell was he even talking about. "Name one time!" "The time before the party! When you asked if I could go to your house for Thanksgiving and I said no because my family is in a tough situation! And you broke my still life!" "Dude! I remade your fucking still life, got a black eye for your family, And that thing I said was Connie and Sasha's fault!" "No it wasnt!" He was extremely pissed off at me. "And just because you fixed my still life doesnt mean you didnt cause it to break apart!" Was he being fucking serious?! "Dude! What?!" Marco and I glared at eachother for a few more moments before he said, "Jean. Leave me alone. I'm not going to breakfast with you." Then he went back into his dorm and slammed the door behind him. I didnt sleep well that night. Or any night soon after.