Chasing Summer

How to Be a Good Top

Before heading to the clinic, I scanned myself over in Petra's full-length mirror, making sure there wasn't any evidence that Eren and I had basically spent half the night making out on the beach. My eyes roamed over my reflection, checking all the visible skin, and that's when I saw it: a hickey that was too high up on my neck to cover up with my coat.

"Shit," I hissed under my breath, running my fingertips over the area. I closed my eyes, pulling up the mental image of Eren sitting on my lap with his arms wrapped around my neck. He'd been kissing me like at any moment I would up and disappear. I had been too caught up in it to realize that he was leaving behind marks.

As I was inspecting my neck, Jean walked into Petra's room, announcing his entrance with his insufferably loud chewing. I caught his gaze in the mirror and watched how his mouth spread open in a wide smile. He'd seen what I was looking at.

"Damn," he said. "There's no way in hell you're going to be able to hide that from Dr. Jaeger."

I turned to him. "Thank you for pointing out the obvious."

He took another bite of his apple before he said, while still chewing, "Actually, Petra can cover that up with makeup. Just slap some of that liquid-y crap on it, and you're good to go, my man." He nodded, eyes crinkling as his smile widened. "Am I a genius, or what? Give me some love, baby."

"Genius, my ass. Just go get Petra. I have to be at the clinic in half an hour."

A few minutes later, I was sitting in front of Petra on her bed. She was applying something to my neck with a white sponge. I had no idea what she was doing, but according to her, she was covering up the hickey with foundation.

"There," she said after several minutes passed by, standing up straight to look over her handy work. "I think I did a good job. Jean, what do you think?"

Jean stepped up to me, observing my neck through narrowed eyes. "I can't even see it, which means he owes us both lunch, because we just saved his miserable ass." He suddenly wrapped his arm around her waist, pretending to be absorbed in his apple. For a moment, Petra looked startled, but both of us noticed how she didn't pull away.

"Well," I said, standing up, "I'll give you money for lunch, but I need to get going. Are you going to drop me off?"

Petra kept staring at the sponge she held as though it were interesting enough to hold her attention for long intervals of time. "Yeah, I can drop you off. I'll, um, go get my keys." She left the room a little too quickly.

I glanced up at Jean, who had this dreamy expression on his face. "Smooth."

"Huh?" He met my gaze. "What are you talking about?"

"You know, when I first met Eren, I refused to believe that I liked him. I even came up with excuses for how I reacted to him. Sound familiar at all?"

"No," he mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

I rolled my eyes. "Stop playing dumb. It's obvious that you feel something for Petra, and I think it's about time that you do something about it. You're making yourself miserable by sitting here pining over her, thinking that you're not good enough, but I know that you are. Honestly, who knows her better than you?"

Jean made it a point not to look at me when he responded. "I get it, okay? Can we just go now?"

"You'll thank me for this later," I told him, persistent. "Plus, if I remember correctly, you kept pushing me until I realized my feelings for Eren and I'm glad that you did that. Or did you forget all about that?"