Chapter 13

Warning: Slurs

Disclaimer: I don't own Attack on Titan.

It's been a week since me and Mina's conversation. Nobody bothered to ask what happened that made me leave, which made me grateful. The past was hard for me to talk about. My mother did many things to take care of both of us that she wasn't proud of but she did what she had to. Brass wasn't the safest place to live even before the Titan plague. Many gangs and prostitution rings were all around. It got worse after the plague. There wasn't really that many places to work since most of the stores were closed down. Even through all that, she took care of me the best she could, whenever it was legal or not. I am going to live this life the best I can for her; to show her that I'm fine; that she raised me well; that everything is okay.

I went to my locker to get Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck for English class. Then, I spot Marco coming over to his locker. I'm glad that our lockers are next door to each other. That way, I could avoid awkward conversations and embarrassing myself in front of them.

"Good morning Marco!" I greeted him. He looks at me and gives me that model smile of his.

"Hey, Mickey!" He greeted back while he opens his locker. Suddenly, a bunch of magazines and photos fall out of his locker. Marco curses and bends down to pick them up. I bended down too, picking up the magazines. I looked at one of the photos on the floor. There was a man with incredible abs and wearing only boxer briefs. I looked at more of the photos and saw that they are all similar to the others. Some of them were only wearing underwear or jeans. All of them were mean. 'What are these?' Then suddenly, Marco was called out.

"Hey, faggot! Whatcha got there? Gay porn?" said a guy in a jock jacket with a titan on the left side of it. Then, he pushes Marco into his locker. Him and his friends start to laugh and started to call him many gay slurs. They left, laughing down the hall.

I helped him up to his feet after they left. I was extremely worried about him. 'What the fuck is their problem?'

"Are you okay Marco?" I asked him. Marco looks at the ground and doesn't say anything. "Marco?"

He snatches all the pictures and magazines from my arms. He storms off to a nearby trash can and slams the photos and magazines into it. Then he walks quickly away as if he was trying to avoid everyone's stares.

I turned to close his locker for him but then some other pictures capture my eyes. I looked closely at the pictures to get a better look. It was pictures of him and Jean. Most of the pictures were him and Jean. Only two pictures were with everyone. I got even more worried about him. I slowly close his locker and went to my next class.

It was lunch time and sat at the end of the table as usual. I looked down the table to see Marco and Jean in an animated conversation. I watched Marco to see if he's okay. He seemed happy with Jean. Then, Bertholdt calls me out.

"Mickey, right?" he says to me. His voice is low as if he was only trying to talk me.

"Yeah. You're Bertholdt, correct?"

Yeah." He nods his head. "Why are you looking at Marco?" I stayed silent, choosing my words carefully to ask him a question that was bothering me so much.

"Is…Is Marco…gay?" I whispered to him. He seemed shocked by my question.

"Yeah, you didn't know?" He said surprised. "Man, you are very clueless aren't you?" he laughs at me. 'Wow, Bertholdt is really handsome when smiles.' I thought as I looked at him. "He came out freshman year. It's been hard for him though. We accepted him but others have a problem with his sexual orientation."

"Like those jocks?"

"Jocks?" Betholdt gives me a look.

"He got pushed into a locker this morning. I also think that they may have put many dirty magazines and pictures into his locker."

"Oh, those jocks." he said. "They bully him a lot but Marco doesn't say anything sadly. Sometimes Jean gets wind of it and goes after them. We keep him back to avoid trouble with the teachers. You should avoid them as much as possible. Those jocks are nothing but trouble." I nodded in agreement. I don't even want to be even near them. I asked another question that has been bothering me too.

"Does…Marco…like Jean?" I asked shyly.

"…Yeah. We all know except Jean. He's clueless just like you." he pokes fun at me and laughs. I smiled. 'At least I know he doesn't like me.' I felt relieved that he didn't hate me. After that we talked about school, dropping the Marco conversation completely.

After school I hurried to find Marco. I couldn't ask him how he was doing in front of Jean. It could make Jean worried and angry. I finally found him leaning against the school gates.

"Marco!" I called out as I ran up to him.

"Hey!" he smiles.

"Are you okay?" I asked him, out of breathe. He gives me a confused look.

"I'm fine, why?" He asked.

"I was worried about you after what happened this morning. Nothing happened after that, right?"

"Nope, thank you for worrying about me but I'm fine. It happens all the time." He smiles at me.

"Shouldn't you tell an adult or something? It won't stop till you say something."

"No. it's fine really." He smiles but his eyes aren't then a car honks loudly. We turned around to see on old beat-up Mustang in front of us. The window rolls down, revealing a woman with dark hair and freckles like Marco.

"Time to go home Marco." She says sweetly to him. Marco nods and enters the car.

"Do you need a ride?" he asked me with that smile again.

"I'm fine, thank you." I tried to smile back. Then, they drove away. I watched the car drive away down the street with a heavy heart.