Jean's POV

Marco and I had been hanging out a lot these past few weeks. He would wait on me after football practice and he would either watch, do homework, or play on his phone. I was honestly surprised the coach let him stay because he doesn't like people watching his practices. Of course, our coach is also one of our teachers so he knows Marco isn't real big on sports. Marco was surprised when I caught with him after our last class of the day and was walking with him.

"Don't you have practice?" He asked and I shook my head no. He raised an eyebrow.

"Tonight is our first game of the season, meaning it's Friday." I said, texting Eren about how he was wrong about everything just for the fun of it. "We don't have practice on Fridays that we have games on." I explained further, seeing Marco nod.

"Great. Because we need to work on our art project. It counts as our semester grade, and I don't want to fail because even if I do well, I will get an F if you mess up." He said sternly which made me laugh at him trying to be intimidating. He rolled his eyes.

"Whatever. I don't care, obviously." I said, making him grumble under his breath. "Fuck that class. I'm only in it because I have to be and I'm not playing a god damn instrument." I said plainly, grimacing at the thought of me having to play a flute or some shit. I glanced back at Marco and noticed something. "Mr. Brightside?" I asked and he blushed a bit, making his freckles look cuter than before.

"I like The Killers okay? I can't help that we don't like all the same bands." He defended. I chuckled at him. "And I'm serious, you will help me with this project. There will be no excuses." He stated and I begrudgingly agreed to do my best. I clearly wasn't an art enthusiast yet, and I didn't plan to be.

"I just have no artistic taste or talent y'know? I suck in that department." I stated and he looked at me with pity. "Don't look at me like that. I know what I lack." He sighed and walked to my piece of shit car.

"Take me to my place?" I nodded and got into the car. I drove to his house again this week. I found myself hanging out at his place quite a bit honestly. It was clean and he had a good sound system. His parents were hardly ever home so I never even met them. When we reached his house, however, they were home. "Crap." He said and got out of the car before I even turned it off. I followed suit as he entered the house.

The amazing smell of fresh herbs and sauces immediately hit me and my mouth watered. "Don't say anything stupid, and don't do anything stupid please?" Marco begged and I nodded. Who the hell did he think I was? Some barbarian? Well I guess I was, since I cussed a lot. Marco walked into what looked like an office where an older man was sitting at a desk. Marco closed the door so I was left alone in the foyer.

Fuck that. I thought as I followed my nose into the kitchen. I noticed a middle aged woman with dark brown hair, a little lighter of a shade than Marcos. Her hair was long and wavy, beautiful and soft looking. I pulled out a bar stool and sat down, watching her skilled hands chop vegetables. She turned around to grab another veggie but she jumped at the sight of me. She put her hand over her heart as if it would slow the beating thing.

"Oh my goodness! You scare the devil out of me." She said with a laugh. I scratched the back of my head. "I do hope you are a friend of Marcos and not a burglar or anything like that?" She said while chopping a zucchini.

"I am a friend of Marcos, mama Bott." I said with a smile. She giggled at my nickname for her. "You seem to be good at cooking. My mom always fixed French foods because we came from France." I told her and she smiled again, showing off some small dimples and the same crinkles that Marco had when he laughed.

"I would hope that I was good at cooking! I didn't go to culinary school for nothing!" I laughed along with her. I looked over to see Marco leaning against the back wall of the kitchen with a tight line for lips. "Marco dear, I do hope your friend will stay for dinner?" She asked hopeful. He shook his head but I cut him off.

"I would love to, if that's alright with you?" I asked shyly. The food smelt amazing and I was drooling over just the damn smell. He nodded and smiled once again, telling me how honored she would be to have me. Marco just shook his head and started up the stairs. "I'll just uh follow him." I said and raced up the stairs after him. He stopped in front of a door that wasn't his bedroom. He seemed to be in deep thought.

"Jean." He said my name so painfully, like he was scared of something. "If I show you this room, do you promise to never tell another soul about it? Not even my parents." He pleaded and I nodded. I realized that a nod wasn't good enough. I grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him to me, looking up to stare directly into the brown eyes that I so much wished to drown in.

"If you don't want someone to know something, it's safe with me because I would feel honored to know something that no one else does." I said sternly. "I would never disrespect or disappoint you like that." I said and he nodded a curt nod and took a deep breath. I didn't know what to expect. He grabbed the door handle and turned it, pushing the door open and walking in. I followed him and shut the door behind my before looking at what was in the room.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a very large room with white walls and paintings hung up all around the room, some even going as high as the ceiling which was incredibly high up. I looked around at all of the amazing artistry, noting how detailed each and every one of them were. They each had their own story. I was staring with my mouth agape. I then looked to Marco who was staring at the ground as if it were the most important thing in the room.

"D-did you paint all of these?" I asked. He nodded and I just looked around one more time. "They're.... They're incredible. They're perfect," just like you. "But why did you bring me in here?"

"Well you said that you weren't really gifted in the artistic area so I thought maybe if you seen my attempts at art it would help you blossom." He said with a small, shy smile. Man I want to kiss you. I nearly punched myself in the face at that thought.

"It honestly makes me feel like shit." I said and he seemed a bit hurt so I tried to fix it. "I mean, look at it all. It's fucking perfect. I could never make anything even close to any of this! I can't even draw a stick figure correctly, let alone paint a damn museum worth of amazing shit like this." I boasted. He looked a bit surprised at my outburst about his paintings.

"Well maybe that will help you." He said after a moment of silence. "The assignment is to find something that you think is perfect. Whether it be a tree, or a song, or even a person. You can sketch it, paint it, or even take a picture of it with a camera. As long as you capture something that you find absolutely no imperfections, you pass." He said it all so passionately and as if it were easy. It wouldn't have been easy if I'd been alone in this. But I had an obvious answer.

"Marco, do you want to come to the game tonight?" I asked which was very uncharacteristic for me. Why? Well it's a very simple answer; I didn't want people watching me and me only. I felt watched. I never asked my parents to come, I never asked a friend to come (because they were all on the team with me), I've never been in an actual relationship so that was never a problem. Let's just say, I hated the idea of inviting someone to one of my games.

"You actually want me to come?" Yeah, Marco knew how I didn't like asking people to come.

"Well I mean, yeah. You're my best friend man! And I'm sure you won't come to any other games seeing as how a lot of them are away games. So what do you say?" I asked, trying to play it off.

"Um sure. Yeah why not." He said with a shrug. I smiled when he wasn't looking. I might not like people watching me, but I couldn't help but get butterflies at the thought of my best friend being there to cheer me on. It would be a great game whether we won or lost for me.

Guys I suck. I neglected you for so long but I'm back... Maybe.... School sucks and I got real bad sick not too long ago so I've been behind... Yay a chapter is done!