Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.
Marco sighed, Armin always recommended the best books even though this was simple but beautiful poetry. Reading was the only thing that could keep him from thinking about his feelings for a brief period of time. He wondered what eternal beauty would be like and reflected on how fleeting this world is, considering humanity's fragile existence.
"Marco what are you reading?" he looked up from his book to see Mina's smiling face peeping from between her two pig tails.
"Poetry by Shakespeare" He smiled " Armin recommended it to me , he always has the best book choices."
" Shakespeare..." she paused and almost swooned " Isn't that that one guy who wrote all of those romantic stories like Romeo and Juliet?"
" Yes but he also wrote a lot of plays and poetry about many other subjects." He went on and on " Like he wrote very grim and depressing plays such as Hamlet and Othello which really cant be considered very romantic …..."
On and on and on about Shakespeare , poetry, and Armin's book recommendations , " wow he is so smart" Mina thought quietly to herself.
" I really like all of these books." He paused and asked her " So what type of books do you like Mina?"
"Well," she stopped to think about it, slightly embarrassed " Hannah is trying to get me in to this one romance novel, and she is really in to it but she is in this awfully lovey dovey mood considering she is really in to Franz"
" Well that does happen to people when they fall in love" He smiled " They do make a really cute couple. "
He was so cute, his smile could light up the whole room, and those freckles of his only made him cuter. She could just melt right there. In fear of not knowing what to say she continued on with a quick answer.
" I know" she played with the tips of her pigtails for a bit " I was meaning to ask you since you are smart and all, I found this book on paper crafts and I kind of need your help... considering you're good at math and that kind of stuff..."
" Sure thing" he said .
Bingo ! She succeeded , finally some alone time with Marco. The thing Mina was working on was a *hexaflexagon, which is a hexagon made out of a paper strip that is folded into equilateral triangles. You can flip it inside out and it has a total of six sides which you can color or draw pretty pictures on.
" Are you sure you wont get too distracted in class with these?" He asked " Keith would kill you"
" No but Shasha might get too amused with these" She laughed " Actually you know Keith will be leaving sometime this week for a few days."
" Oh really." Marco seemed amused " For what?"
" I think that it has something to do with his divorce." She paused slightly " But you know what this means right?"
" Oh yeah!" he seemed pretty excited about this " All of the other instructors usually take a 'secret' vacation when Keith leaves . "
This was going to be a very interesting week. You see Keith just didn't take his anger out on the Cadets but on the other instructors as well. So every time Keith had to go on an errand everyone wanted to take a well deserved break from that hard ass. The other instructors usually make trip and leave the cadets unattended with only a few conditions being; to not break or steal anything and to not get anyone pregnant. Usually the students either went hiking or took a swim in the lake and sometimes they would play crazy games together late at night.
"Mina!" Sasha squealed " Why have you been acting so loopy lately?"
She had been really wishy washy, she had her head high in clouds dreaming about Marco all week.
" You're worse than Hannah when she first started crushing on Franz" Yimir teased, even she was in to this type of conversation but only if it was to torture someone.
The pigtailed girl's started to flush a light shade of pink... oh boy no body really knew about her silly little crush except for maybe... Christa.
" I recognize that look" Hannah jumped excitedly " You like someone !"
" Who is it ?" Sasha screamed " Spill it !"
She was flustered, paralyzed not knowing what to say as she tried to cover those rosy cheeks with the palms of her hand as a group of girls gathered around her. While Mikasa and Annie stayed in a corner and rolled their eyes at their group's juvenile behavior trying to find a quiet spot to read in the girl's bunker.
" Oooh Oooh!" it had now turned in to a guessing game with Sasha blurting out names" Is it Berthold?"
" Hmmmm..." Hannah had to stop and think for a second " Is it Thomas... no …... maybe... Reiner ?"
" Could it be Connie or maybe Dazz !" Sasha bolted out loud as Mina continued to shake her head frantically.
" Could it possibly be …..." Yimir drug out an eery pause "... Marco."
Mina immediately stopped shaking her head frantically and looked at Yimir with dread. Her face was completely red. The other girls cheered in unison as Mikasa and Annie continued to shake their heads in sheer annoyance and disapproval.
" I was right..." Ymir purred through her sultry smile looking quite pleased with herself.
" Yimir," Christa interrupted " Stop teasing Mina!"
She sighed in relief but to her surprise Christa continued " Don't be embarrassed, I'm sure that there is a way to find out if he likes you, it shouldn't be too hard considering that Keith is leaving sometime this week. Like I'm sure you could try to get some alone time with him."
" Or you could always ask Sasha to find out for you!" Yimir laughed cruelly.
Sasha glared at Yimir until Hannah intervened " Or you could always have someone ask Jean, he is Marco's best friend so he is surely abound to know-"
" That or we could get Marco really drunk and make him spill the beans !" Sasha smirked as she held up a stolen bottle of bourbon.
" You know you could just ask him right." Annie murmured, she had finally gotten fed up with this shit. " it's the easiest way to know"
Mina sighed flustered at her situation, she had to find out someway before the other girls decided to blow her cover.
" Girls stop your gossiping and go to fucking bed!" They could hear Keith screaming from the other room. So they quiet down, blew their lanterns off and drifted off to sleep. Finding out about Marco's crush could wait till later, and they were all very determined to find out , that is all except for Annie and Mikasa.
In the morning Keith gave his usual speech regarding that he was leaving tomorrow morning to deal with personal matters. He threatened the students not to fuck anything up while he was gone and that the other instructors were in charge , so they shouldn't try anything funny. They continued on with their daily routine with Keith being more of a hard as than usual but it was mostly just another ordinary day. That is until the afternoon break when everything was nice quiet and somewhat peaceful. Jean and Marco were studying a big oak tree sheltered them from the setting sun casting a gentle shadow over them. They'd been studying together since their first month at the academy ever since they realized that they had a lot in common. He enjoyed Jean's company and that certain spice it brought to his life, he may have been well liked but he simply preferred the other boys company and adored everything about him from his stupid smirk and his little flaws like his bad attitude. So its only natural he would be terrified over loosing their much cherished friendship over something as silly like just a stupid little crush. They'd been jerking off together in that little old shed for around a month or two now , all on the premise of looking at the latest centerfold of a porn mag, and Marco felt guilty.
" I thought I'd find you guys here" It was Hannah " Hey Jean you wouldn't mind if I stole Marco from you for just a little bit."
"Knock yourself out" He got up " I was about to head in soon anyways, Connie needs my help pulling a prank on Dazz"
Hannah sat down next to him and she simply decided that she would not beat around the bush " So Marco do you like anyone?"
" Well not really" He said understanding immediately that she didn't like him that way considering she had Franz " I've been working really hard to get in to the top ten so I guess I haven't really thought about it much."
"Oh" She sighed " Do you at least think that some of the girls here are pretty"
" Why sure" He smiled " There are a lot of pretty girls here like; Christa is angelic, Mikasa has very pretty eyes, I guess Sasha is cute in her own way, and Mina has really pretty long hair"
" But are you sure you don't like any of them, not even just a little?" She smiled hopping to get an answer out of him.
" I really haven't thought about it" He smirked and jokingly said " I'll try my hardest here and when I get in to the military police force I'll be able to get any babe I want"
Hannah immediately nudged him " You've been spending too much time around Jean!"
When Marco got back to the boys barracks he was welcomed back by and environment enveloped in absolute chaos. Keith's screams echoed from room to room and across every hallway. He took a deep breath, how could this possibly happen on the day before he left to finalize his divorce. He wondered what the other boys to piss Keith off so badly but all of his questions were soon answered.
" Bodt were were you !" Keith roared " Get in here and sit down with the rest of these idiots !"
The walked in and quietly sat down next to Jean and Connie. The stench of urine tainted the room and combined with screams it created one of the most abominable environments.
" Now will some one tell me which one of you idiots decided to put Dazz's hand in warm water when he was sleeping!"
Everyone in the room was silent. Everyone even Armin who would have usually notified Keith about the perpetrator's identity . This was indeed quite peculiar. Wait a second …... didn't Jean say he was going to help Connie out with a prank? The weirder question was why was Eren being so silent about it too !?
" If no one fezzes up I will have the other instructors force you to do laps early in the morning until you drop !" He continued to bark at everyone " I don't want to deal with this today considering I have somewhere to be tomorrow, However once I get back I will re-arrange everyone in the barracks and I will even use the old bunker rooms to separate you as necessary! I will not have anymore of this shenanigans ! You hare me ! Now Dazz clean up your mess, it is absolutely pitiful ! The rest of you go to fucking bed now if you want to survive the torture that awaits you tomorrow!"
Keith left the room and left to his cabin where he treated himself to some bourbon and a cigar, which is what he usually did to calm his nerves. A few moments after he left the room broke down in laughter the punishment he spoke of would probably never come as the other instructors were probably leaving as soon as Keith left. Jean had this really stupid grin on his face and Connie was rolling around on the floor.
" So what happened?" Marco asked his friend
" You remember how Sasha was telling us about the panty thief?" Jean smirked looking at his friend.
Marco remembered how a few weeks ago the girls were freaking out because some of their undergarments went missing. Almost any girl he could think of was a victim , any girl from ; Sasha, Mikasa, Mina, Christa, Hannah, Yimir, and even Annie !
" Well Sasha stayed up late one night and found some one snooping thought their laundry baskets !" Jean continued to laugh historically " And it turns out it was Dazz!"
" Yeah !" Connie said " So …...Sasha came to me and asked me to do her a little favor to help get him back and every one here agreed to keep it a secret, considering that he probably stole their female friend's undies!"
Marco remembered how hectic that situation had gotten. Mina was crying about how her underwear went missing and a dark aura surrounded Mikasa for a whole week afterward. Many of the boys were also pissed; such as Franz because no one wants someone to steal their girlfriend's undies, Connie though it was hilarious and had made a bet with the other boys about the identity of the pantie thief, and Eren had made it his mission to catch the culprit because he hated seeing Mikasa like that.
After the mood settled down the boys decided to make plans for the remainder of the week. Reiner proclaimed he wanted to go swimming in the lake, Thomas and Armin decided that they should have a picnic in the Forrest, and some of the other boys had planned a game of doge ball. Connie also announced that he and Sasha had managed to get their hands on a secret stash of wine and bourbon which was hidden in an old and abandoned store room along with a few other props that had been stashed away.
This was going to be such a great week and when everyone had their plans sorted out Jean decided to pull Marco aside to ask him a question that had been bothering him all day. You see all of the girls really did want to know who Marco liked, badly, really badly. Sasha had managed to hunt Jean down during lunch and asked him if he knew who Marco liked. He should have known , especially since after all he was his best friend. Marco usually listened to him and comforted about his unrequited love for Mikasa. So the he was a bit mad that he didn't know who his best friend liked.
" Oi , Marco !" Jean called out to him " I was wondering something. You know how you always try to help me out with Mikasa? Well I just noticed that I've never really known who you like and its been bugging me that you've never told me since... well …... I'm your best friend. So is there anyone that you do like?"
Marco almost instantly felt his blood rise to his cheeks and the craziest grin every spread across Jeans face. He panicked, he couldn't tell him the truth, he absolutely couldn't. His brain was shutting down and quickly running out of ideas.
" So you do like some one !" He wickedly smiled " Spill it !"
" It's a secret!"
" So does this mean you're not gonna tell me?" Jean pouted, as a few seconds of silence followed. " Fine be that way I'm going to make you spill it !"
He grinned evilly and held up both his hands moving all of his fingers simultaneously. You see the best way to get anything out of Marco was to tickle the shit out of him.
" You wouldn't!" his eyes widened he was in trouble now
Jean tackled him on to to the bed that he shared with Connie and Armin. He fell on top of the other boy with his hands tickling his sides as the other boy writhed and twitched in his arms. His cheeks were completely flushed and his heart was beating rappidly.
" Jean stop it" He couldn't stop laughing considering the other boy knew all of his weak spots. He really thought he might actually give in until-
" You idiots!" He had never been so glad to see hear Keith's booming voice from across the hallway " All of you shut up and go to bed!"
So they all went back to their assigned beds, and turned off the lights and waited until they were assured that Keith had completely left. Marco sighed, that was a close one. His heart was still beating fast and he could only be assured that more people were abound to ask him if he liked anyone again tomorrow. He was definitely right about that... Sigh, what could have happened to have triggered this set of events. Meanwhile in Jean, Connie , and Armin's bed Connie managed to reassure Jean that there was a way to find out. Whispering his evil plan in to the blond top's ear as Armin shook his head at his bunk buddy's malevolent ideas.
