Chapter Text
Graduation. It usually happens around May or June, and it’s really expensive and time consuming; the event creeping up on us like a lioness stalking its prey. I nor Marco were the least excited for this night, even though we’d worked out asses off to get here. I think we’d have been more excited if it didn’t cost us $120 for our caps and gowns, plus Senior pictures, our yearbooks, and tickets for family members. The tickets weren’t a big deal, but for some reason they included the price of them in your Senior package even if you didn’t need them.
Anyways, the time had come, and it was currently a Friday evening. Marco and I were both in the bathroom trying to comb each other’s’ hair into a somewhat decent array, however since we’d both chosen to procrastinate on getting haircuts, the scraggly length wasn’t cooperating. We opted for the shaken when wet look. We were required to wear formal clothing under our gowns, and even though I did enjoy looking sharp, wearing all of these layers in June was gonna suck ass.
Once Marco had doused me with cologne and put his own deodorant on, he disappeared into our bedroom to get dressed. Afraid of taking five hundred years to pick an outfit, we had both laid out our clothes a few days before. He wore black slacks, a dark green button up, and a black vest with a grey tie. I chose dark grey slacks, a black button up, and a dark green tie. We both had on black belts and black shoes, except Marco wore dress shoes and I wore all black converse. He couldn’t convince me otherwise no matter how much he begged me and bribed me. I wanted comfort, dammit.
I’d already decided that I was taking him out on a really nice date after the ceremony, because he deserved it after putting up with all of those extra classes just to stay with me through school. I know he did it because he was afraid to be alone, afraid of relapsing, but it still warmed my heart that he’d been willing to go through all of that just to stay by my side simply because I was the one who kept him happy. I felt like it was appropriate to congratulate him. I hadn’t done nearly as much as him, and even though I managed to graduate with all A’s and B’s, he took four extra courses, and pulled through with all A’s and only ONE B. One fucking B out of eleven classes in three quarters of a school year. It was incredible. I only hoped I could be that good in college.
He’d agreed, but he said that he wanted to go Dutch on the pay. I was fine with that, as long as he went with me because I was planning a huge surprise and I was so excited about it, but also so anxious to get it over with that I thought I’d literally explode. This night would be perfect.
In order not to starve through the ceremony, we both decided to go ahead and have a small snack before we left, so I heated us some hot pockets and plopped down on the couch next to my cute freckly lover to hand him his.
“So, you excited about tonight? I know I am. It’s gonna be so long though . . .”
“Ah, yeah. Hopefully no one talks for too long and the valedictorian’s speech isn’t too long. Eh, it was Mikasa right?”
I almost giggled at the name; to think I’d been so infatuated with her just a year ago was a laughable fact. I hadn’t even looked her way since I’d met Marco.
“Yeah, she’s top of our class. I still can’t believe Eren fucking Jeager out-ranked me though . . . I’m gonna be mad about that forever.”
“Oh Jean, please don’t start being angry all the time . . . Don’t turn into the thing that you hate.”
He giggled sweetly, covering his mouth in that stupidly cute way he does when he laughs with food in his mouth. I almost wanted to laugh with him, but thinking about that green eyed jackass always put me in a bad mood. However, tonight I was going to try my best to swallow my pride and get along with everyone, because graduation is supposed to be a good night of saying goodbyes, and as much as I didn’t want to admit it, I might actually miss Jaeger too.
But back to the task at hand. We’d finished our snack and it was now time to start walking if we wanted to get there on time. Obviously we weren’t going to walk down the street in our caps and gowns, so we folded them neatly, mostly because Marco reprimanded me on my folding job, into our backpacks. I couldn’t help but smile as we walked out of the apartment, because the next time we walked into this place, we’d be official adults. How nostalgic.
Not even a year ago, I’d lived here alone, bored, and had the type of outlook on life that may have one day landed me sofa hopping and friendless. I had C’s and F’s in school, not a single person to talk to, and I simply stopped caring. Now, I had Marco, a small but tightly knit group of friends who I loved dearly, and my home was warm and welcoming and beautiful and I was graduating 6th of my class. I couldn’t have asked for a better end to my year.
As Marco and I walked, I slid my fingers between his softly, stroking the back of his hand with my thumb. I earned a slight blush and a smile, which made me smile in turn. God, I really love him. How cute he is when he gets all flushed from a single touch. I held his hand the whole way to the stadium, not even letting go when he broke into a run once he saw Connie, Sasha, Armin, Mikasa, and Eren.
With a few quick hello hugs, minus one from me to Jaeger, we all started to find our seats. Since we were in alphabetical order, I wouldn’t get to sit near Marco. Instead I was seated next to people who I didn’t know at all, which just made me want to leave. I had to bite my tongue though, because if I tried to be a dick and leave, Marco would get mad and wouldn’t go out with me later that night, which was a very important date. There was no way in hell I was letting this opportunity slip away.
The ceremony started about half an hour after we sat down, the principal and school board directors all standing in their stifling formal wear. Most of the men up there, and even most of the other male students, wore coats with their suits, and I could see a smirk on Marco’s face because we’d been smart and dressed as lightly as possible. I actually pulled off an interested face as they spoke, but I wasn’t really paying any attention. My mind was elsewhere, going over some very important words in my head.
When it was time for us to go up to retrieve our diplomas, they called everyone with the last name starting with A to stand in a line at the side of the stage. Once there were only a few people left for A, they called up B, and so on. When Marco walked across, I snapped his picture with my phone and he gave me a thumbs up and blew me a kiss, which I pretended to catch and shove in my pocket. We received a multitude of “aww’s”.
After that, it was a while before the K’s were called up. I was outrageously bored but I had to get over it, and I did so by staring at Marco the whole time. He looked gorgeous beneath the stadium lights, his cheekbones very, very defined. I had to think of old people and other un-sexy things to keep myself from popping a boner. I swear I’m too lewd sometimes. I mean, for crying out loud. I’m at graduation and I still can’t control my libido.
I shook my head and focused just in time to hear the principal call up the K’s, and I yawned when I stood and started walking behind the short line to the side of the makeshift stage. When I was called across, I waved down to Marco and blinked when the flash went off. I blew him a kiss as well, but instead of catching it and putting it in his pocket, he pressed it to his lips and I couldn’t help but giggle and grin hugely.
After that I really didn’t pay attention whatsoever. I couldn’t have cared less about Mikasa’s speech. I didn’t mean it in a rude way, but she had a habit of speaking in a drawl tone, and mix that with boring school speeches and you’ve got a ticket to snooze-ville. I actually almost did fall asleep. I would have if it wasn’t for a message that Marco had sent through like, fifteen people to tell me to keep my ass awake. It was laughable at best, but I still listened to him.
But it did eventually end in a flurry of green and black caps being thrown into the air and a loud bunch of screams from my whole class. I only tossed my cap a few feet in the air because I didn’t want to spend an hour trying to find it, and I didn’t scream. I saw that Marco did though, and I also saw him throw his hat with much zeal, much to my disdain because now I had to help the dolt find it. Speaking of which, now I could go back to clinging to Marco’s side, which I did, along with the rest of our friends.
We spent a while talking and going on about who was going to what college, who was planning on going straight to work, who planned on living together, etcetera. It really was fun, and it wasn’t like I was in a hurry to say goodbye to my favorite people in my life, yes even Eren, but I had reservations at a restaurant in forty five minutes and I’d be damned if I was gonna lose them. So, I nudged Marco in the side and nodded towards the exit. We all gave everyone hugs, some lingering longer than others. In particular, I decided to awkwardly wrap my arms around Eren’s shoulders and rest my chin on his shoulders, mumbling not-as-grumpily-as-I’d-have-liked into his ear.
“Take care of yourself Jaeger. Don’t get thrown in jail or like, die or something . . .”
“Uh, I won’t. You too, Jean. Take care of Marco okay?”
“Planning on it kid. Be good now. I won’t be there to kick your ass back into line anymore.”
I found myself smiling fondly as a pulled away and ruffled his hair like a brother would. I waved again to everyone else and took Marco’s hand, walking away. I knew I’d see all of them again, but Mikasa, Armin, and Eren were going to school in Sina, so they’d be about an hour away, and Sasha and Connie would still be local, but both were double majors, so they’d be busy. It was okay though. Everyone was happy, including Marco and I, and I couldn’t have asked for anything else.
We started walking to the restaurant, our gowns packed away and our caps sitting crookedly on our heads. I put music on my phone and let it play out loud as a background, First Dance by NeverShoutNever playing as I walked on the cement ledge of the sidewalk. I gripped Marco’s hand and sang along as we walked and I literally couldn’t have felt happier because it was so ideal and cute that I could do it all day forever. He couldn’t stop smiling, and that made me so damn happy.
We made it to the restaurant about twenty minutes later, early for our reservation. I rattled off the usual “Kirschtein. Reservation for two.” And both of us were immediately led to a booth by the front window, giving us a pleasant view of the street and surrounding shops. It was gorgeous in this place. The booth we sat in wasn’t lined with the usual sticky fake leather, but with soft velvety cloth, deep blue in color. The table was a deep brown polished wood, adorned only with a salt and pepper shaker and a small dish of sugar. The lighting, low and warm, but still bright enough to be able to see without squinting, made Marco’s face glow with happiness and content. There was a dance floor in the center, with a few elderly couples cutely swaying to the classical music and the sultry female vocalist flowing through the speakers, and I noted that I would have Marco dance with me by the end of the night.
“Marco, will you dance with me after dinner?”
“U-Uh, sure. Why do you want to do that though?”
“Huh? Why? Well . . . I love you and I want to dance with you. I don’t really have another legit reason besides that.”
He blushed cutely and smiled, reaching across the table to take my hand in his.
“Okay then. I’ll dance with you, but after we eat. I’m starving.”
“Fine, Fine. What are you gonna get?”
“I feel like steak and a baked potato, maybe some steamed vegetables.”
I smiled at that, proud of him for eating such a good meal. Ever since Marco had begun gaining his confidence back, he’d been researching how to eat substantially but also healthily. He told me that just because he planned on getting back to a healthy weight didn’t mean he planned on doing it through junk food. Even though I knew he usually tended to get carried away with anything relating to potatoes, I never said anything. He didn’t need someone reprimanding him about food ever again in his life. I nodded across to him, a silent permission to get something that probably cost an arm and a leg in a place like this.
“I think I’m gonna have . . . Lobster tail with scalloped potatoes and asparagus.”
“Ah yes, you and your seafood . . .”
I loved seafood and Marco basically hated it with a passion. The only seafood I could ever get in his mouth was fried shrimp, and even then, it had to be smothered in tartar sauce. So basically when all was said and done, he just ate a clump of fried batter covered in mayonnaise and relish. It was kinda gross.
We sat and talked for a while before the waitress came and took our orders, along with drinks, which landed me with a water and a Dr. Pepper, and Marco with a water and unsweetened tea. I couldn’t help but be unable to tear my eyes from him, even when I was ordering. He looked so good tonight, and I was nervous for a multitude of reasons. Nervous, because tonight was the start of the next step, the beginning of a portion of our life together that may or may not be packed with hardships. Nervous, because this is Marco and even though it was mutually agreed a long time ago that neither of us needed impressing, I still found myself always hopeful, even now, that the things I did made Marco happy. Nervous, because, well . . .
I was letting my thoughts wander. I was shaken back into reality when Marco started talking, telling me about how much he’d miss everyone, and wondering out loud how college would be for us.
“I’m happy, Jean, that I got to graduate with you. It was worth the hard work, really.”
“I’m glad too . . . I would’ve hated college without you. I hope we have classes together.”
“Probably only a few. Just pre-requisites most likely. Our actual major classes are totally different though.”
“Yeah I doubt an art major and writing major will have the same classes.”
“True . . . I just hope you don’t make any enemies like you did in high school. I worry about you.”
“Hey freckle-face, calm your ass. I’ll be fine because I have you to go home to, don’t I? I should worry about you.”
“Ah, I guess roles never change do they?”
“Not at all, sweetie.”
He giggled again, sending cupid’s fucking arrow through my heart once again. Our conversation carried on a bit longer until our food came out, the steaming and decadent plates sat in front of our drooling mouths. We dug right in, albeit politely, mind you, and I instantly moaned softly at the taste. It was incredible, smooth, buttery, and cooked to perfection. Marco sliced a piece of his steak off and put it on my plate, insisting I try it. I’m glad he insisted.
The food was incredible, living up to the restaurant’s expensive air, look, and most of all, price. I was content and satisfied. I’d noticed that the place had filled up substantially as we ate, more and more couples filing onto the dance floor to sway and twirl lovingly with their significant other. I longed to dance with Marco like that, and once we’d polished our plates and relaxed a bit, washing our meal down with the water we’d ordered, I found myself standing. I took a few steps to stand on the other side of Marco, holding out my hand to a blushing freckled beauty.
“Marco, may I have this dance?”
“O-oh. Of course.”
He took my hand and stood, following behind me to the dance floor as a very pretty song came on. It was slow and melodic, enough to slow dance to, but still upbeat enough to be fun. He seemed stiff, so I kissed his nose sweetly and smiled at him, placing my hand at the small of his back and intertwining our fingers.
“Now, just follow along with me and you’ll be fine.”
I whispered it to him, knowing he was only slightly uncomfortable because he’d never slow danced before. It was adorable. As I led him through a dance, I found him relaxing more and more, pulling me closer and closer until I found that he’d taken the lead and my head was leaning softly on his chest. I didn’t mind it, mostly because I liked that Marco had found the confidence to take the lead.
When the song ended, I pulled back and smiled at him, leaning up to kiss his lips and caress his cheeks in my hands. I felt the heat of his blush sneak back up.
“Marco, you’re so cute.”
“Stop it, am not.”
“When you argue like that, you just justify me even more.”
He leaned over, burying his face in my shoulder, and when the next song started, it seemed that he didn’t plan on moving. I did though.
I pushed him back up, positioning us to start dancing again. Halfway through this song, I looked up at him, and decided that it was now or never, and I picked now. Right now.
“Marco . . .”
“Hm?”
How precious . . . He was so into it, so serene. It just made it easier.
“I’ve been meaning to talk to you. I know it hasn’t even been a year since I met you, and we’ve got so much to worry about in our future. I know that a lot of people have made it hard for us, for you, and I know that neither of us planned on being a lifeline for the other. But it’s so beautiful to be someone’s lifeline, and to have them be yours, isn’t it? I just love you so much. You bring warmth and happiness into my life, and you give me a purpose. You make me so excited to get up in the morning, and I just know that I don’t need to worry anymore. I don’t need to be afraid and neither do you. I love you Marco. Please, give me one less thing to worry about in the future . . .”
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the black velvet box, opening it and placing it in my palm as I pulled away from him to kneel down and hold it out to him.
“Marco, will you marry me?”
The look on his face was almost unexplainable. There was overbearing joy, relief, happiness, a bit of confusion, and a steady stream of tears that flowed past an aching smile. His fingers sat splayed across his cheeks and jaw, his shaky giggled breaking through as he fell into my arms and hugged me tight.
“Yes! Yes, Jean, I will!”
There was applause from the crowd of people who I hadn’t even realized were watching, Marco’s and my laughter resonating through the noise. I felt so happy, so exalted, so . . . free knowing that this was reality. Marco said yes. All of the preparation and nervousness and rehearsal had all been for the best, a very enthusiastic ‘YES’ the result. I found myself crying as well, pulling him up to stand and grabbing his left hand to slide the ring on his finger. He wiped his tears with his one hand as I did so, holding his hand up with his fingers splayed as he watched the silver band glimmer in the dim lights. I took his right hand in my left, now adorned with the same silver band that was on Marco’s left hand, and started to lead him from the restaurant, people congratulating and cheering for us the whole way out.
“Come on . . . let’s go home and celebrate.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We walked home completely glued onto one another. I absolutely refused to let go of his hand, and he kept leaning over to kiss me as we walked. I was excited to get home. I just wanted to hold him and kiss him because I was so damn happy that he said yes, so much that I wanted to shout it from the roof top. I was glad that we didn’t meet any problems at the restaurant, and it simply added on to all the good things that were happening that day. I was sure that everyone would be so happy for us.
Once we finally made it home, we ran up to Christa to show off our rings, which earned us a squeal and a huge hug. However, she knowingly waved us off to our room because she could see it in our eyes how badly we wanted to be alone. I was glad that she was so relaxed about it.
I fumbled with our keys, dropping them once and shoving in the wrong one a multitude of times. Marco sighed in a lovingly annoyed way from behind me, already trailing little kisses down the nape of my neck, causing me to shiver with anticipation. I FINALLY got the damn door open and walked in, throwing my bag to the floor and turned around to wrap my arms around Marco’s neck. I leaned up to kiss him hotly, wet lips against my own as his breath hitched in his throat when I rolled my whole body flush against his. He responded by reaching around my body, cupping my ass in his obscenely large hands. I couldn’t stifle the moan that slid from my lips against his.
I found my clothes being shed at an alarming pace, Marco’s hands not fumbling once when unbuttoning my vest, shirt, and pants or when loosening and pulling off my tie. I tried to do the same, my trembling the result of the intense desire to ravage Marco’s sweet body after such an amazing night. I needed him so badly.
He sensed it, helping me along with his undressing until we were both in nothing but our boxers. I pulled him hastily into the bedroom, kissing him with such vigor that our teeth just barely missed clacking together as I carefully led him backwards to the bed. I pushed him onto the bed and lay on top of him, rolling my hips into his while my lips were busy kissing hot trails up and down his neck. I was sure there would be plenty of little purple bruises left over, but Marco had told me time and time again how much he didn’t mind this kind of bruise.
Once we were both moaning and panting against each other, already sweaty and flushed, I sat up to pull off Marco’s boxers, his cock standing in a hard curve against his stomach. I smirked and leaned down, pressing a wet kiss to the tip. I really enjoyed watching him squirm like that. I then removed my own boxers, tossing them to the side as I wiggled my way a bit lower to kiss along Marco’s hips and stomach, dipping my tongue teasingly in his naval while my hands rested on his knees. He stared down at me with intense desire in his eyes, whimpering and bucking his hips when my teeth scraped lightly up his inner thigh.
I felt my own cock twitch, heavy and red with need. I tried not to get too worked up though, because I wanted to pleasure Marco. Pleasure him until he fell limp against me and slept with a huge grin on his face like he always did after good sex. I stared up at him, lust evident in my gaze, and licked wetly from the base of his cock to where precum pooled at the slit. I had to hold his hips down as I suckled wantonly on the head, moaning and flicking my tongue against it. I did that for a while and eventually his bucking turned into pleasurable rolls of his body, after which I decided to take him all in at once, sliding my wet lips down to the base. I sucked hard, pulling off very slowly as the intense suction made him toss his head back into the pillow and moan loudly.
When I had only the head in my mouth again, I plunged down once more, hollowing my cheeks and bobbing my head while I moaned around his cock. I could tell it sent waves of pleasure up his spine because he finally reached down to grip my hair and started bucking into my mouth, grunts of need leaving his lips. We were both a sweaty mess, and when he came in my mouth, I was ready, keeping my lips latched around the organ to swallow every last drop. I thought of it as desert, and judging by the playful glint in his eye, he did too.
He seemed to think that was it for his end of the stick, but he was wrong. I climbed back up his body, laying flush against him, and kiss him, my tongue wandering inside and rubbing his own essence against his taste buds. He moaned, a bit wantonly actually, at the gesture, and reached up to hold my hips firm against his as he rolled against me. I could feel that he was already getting hard again, and that just spurred me on more. I pulled away from our kiss to whisper huskily against his lips, knowing how much of a sucker he was for dirty talk.
“Marco, baby, tell me what you want. Tell me.”
“O-ooh, Jean please, please fuck me. Make me feel good. Take me HARD.”
“Mmm, just what I like to hear . . .”
I sat up between his legs, spreading them as far as was comfortable for him, and admired his body. He long ago stopped being embarrassed by my need to look at him everywhere, instead welcoming it and eroticizing it, it actually turning him on more when I raked my eyes across him this way. He moaned under me, wiggling a bit to expose himself even more. I couldn’t take it anymore.
I brought my fingers to my own mouth, ready to give him a little show, and took our cocks in my other hand, stroking us together as I sucked my fingers like a little whore. He loved it, I know he did, and the extra friction on his cock was enough to make him uncontrollably buck into my hand. I let my fingers go with a lewd pop and eyed his puckered entrance as I positioned a first finger to press it inside. I knew it had been a while since he’d bottomed, so I went slowly, even though my body was begging to just demolish his pretty hole.
He whimpered a bit, but as I wiggled and prodded deeper into him, the whimpers became whines and moans of pleasure. His hips rolled down to meet my finger and when I pressed a second inside, he let out a strangled cry of relief. I scissored them and searched inside of him for the little bundle of nerves that would make his back arch off the bed and my name be screamed from his swollen lips.
I pressed those fingers in deeper and harder and faster, relishing in the sweet moans I received. Eventually I’d added a third finger and reduced him to a trembling, sweaty, flushed, whimpering mess, his rolling and bucking hips down onto my fingers SCREAMING that he was ready. He was ready for my cock and that thought made me bite my lips in excitement.
I finally, to Marco’s relief but also displeasure, removed my fingers and spit in my hand, stroking my cock to prepare it for my needy lover. He looked up at me through glazed eyes, a trail of saliva dripping from the corner of his mouth to his neck. It was so hot I almost couldn’t take it. And I wasn’t even fucking him yet.
I positioned myself at his entrance and with a barely-there nod from Marco, I started to press inside, groaning at the deliciously warm tightness. I couldn’t help it when my hips stuttered a thrust out as I was pressing inside, but the moan I received told me that it was anything but painful. Once I was completely inside, I looked at Marco for approval to move, but was surprisingly met with his hips sloppily rolling against me, trying to get me to move. When he wanted it, he wanted it.
I happily obliged, pulling out only to ram back inside, snapping my hips forward with force. I rolled and gyrated my hips as I began to thrust in and out, trying to find Marco’s sweet spot. His legs were already wrapped around my waist, the heels of his feet digging into the small of my back as if to push me further and further inside.
“A-ah! Jean, please, fuck me HARD. I need MORE!”
I replied with only a loud groan and my hands found his hips, holding onto them as I picked up my pace and pounded him relentlessly. It felt so good, so damn good. I laid my forehead against his and moaned and panted as I thrust into him, shuddering in pleasure when he tightened around me as I finally thrust into his sweet spot. I hit it repeatedly, basking in the way he moaned and whimpered and tightened around me.
“Jean, Jean, Yes Jean more! More! G-gonna cum baby PLEASE!”
“Oh god Marco, cum for me, do it, wanna-ah!-wanna make you feel good . . .”
I slammed into him one last time before he gave in, moaning loudly and arching off the bed as he came all over his chest. When he tightened around me that time, my vision went white with pleasure and I found my hips stuttering and slowing when I released inside of him. It took me a few more thrusts before both of us had ridden out our orgasms, and I collapsed next to him on the bed, panting and spent. I wiggled closer to him, using a pair of boxers to clean his chest off before snuggling up to him and kissing lazily at his face.
“You were . . . so good Marco . . . so good.”
“Mmm, you were too . . . I’m so happy.”
“Me too. I’m so happy you said yes . . . and what a great way to celebrate.”
“Of course I said yes. I could never imagine being with anyone except you, Jean.”
I smiled and kissed him softly, stroking the dark chocolate locks from his face.
“Me either.”
“Hey . . . Jean. What about your parents? How are you gonna tell them? You kinda need them to pay for the wedding, and they have to know about us to do that . . .”
Well, shit. I hadn’t thought about that part. I’d been so wrapped up in trying to make the proposal perfect that I hadn’t even planned that far. It wasn’t like I thought he’d say no, but I just suck at planning ahead.
“Uh, well . . . I guess I’ll just have to tell them.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea? What if they refuse to help pay for it?”
“They need to realize that I’m their son, and if I’m happy, that’s what matters. At least I’m finishing school . . . That should count as something.”
“Ah, I suppose you’re right. Let’s just go to sleep and we’ll worry about it tomorrow. Tonight is special, and it’s time for sleep.”
“. . . Yeah. You’re right. I love you so much.”
“I love you too. Goodnight love.”
“G’night.”