Roman Holiday

Satellites

As Bertolt walked into his first period class that Monday morning, his eyes immediately went up to the chalk board. The words group project were written in neat handwriting. He simply sighed and took his seat. He never did like group things, unless it was with his friends, but he didn't have anyone in the class he was comfortable with. The only person he seemed to talk to was Reiner.

Bertolt shook his head at the thought, knowing that Reiner would shoot down the idea. Maybe he could find someone that was nice, like that Mina girl or that Thomas boy. Come to think of it though, those two actually seemed to like each other fairly well so they would most likely pair up too. With another sigh, the quiet boy got his notebook out and began doodling random things on his paper.

He was so emersed in his very detailed stick figure that it barely registered with him that Ms. Ral had started speaking. He looked up, putting his pencil down.

"So, in this project you will have a partner and the two of you will work, very diligently I expect, to come up with a presentation of a president. Once you have your partner I Wil assign you a president and you will have precisely three weeks to do this project. So it will be due the Monday after we come back from spring break. You may partner up now." she said with a smile as everyone started chatting about and people violently grabbing their best friends while Bertolt simply went back to doodling. He was just going to wait until there was someone without a partner that he could join up with.

As he was adding more details into his drawing, he thought he felt someone hit his back but shrugged it off as someone accidentally bumping into him or something of the sorts. However, he felt another, and then one more. Finally, a crumpled piece of paper hit his neck and fell onto the desk he was sitting at and drawing. He put his pencil down, furrowed brows gracing his soft features, and picked up the wadded ball. He opened the piece up and smoothed it out to find words scratched on there quickly.

I know you'll ask, so yeah I'll be your partner.

P.s. only because there isn't anyone else that's stupid enough to approach me

Bertolt smiled a bit and turned his head slightly to look over his left shoulder at Reiner. He seen the buff blonde boy sitting there with his arms crossed and a face of concentration nearly. His brows were strained into a straight line and his eyes were narrowed, his pink lips pulled into a taught line as well. Bertolt found the action to be rather amusing. The tan boy picked up his pencil again after turning back to the front and wrote a quick reply before turning in his desk sideways. He made another ball out of the paper and poked his tongue out in concentration.

He threw the ball of paper back at Reiner, it hitting him square in the middle of his forehead and startling him. Reiner jumped a bit a flailed a bit until he realized what it was and glared softly at the snickering Bertolt. Reiner couldn't find it in him to be that angry with the boy, but rolled his eyes nevertheless. Reiner mirrored Bertolt's actions from before unrolling the paper again and reading the response. He rolled his eyes again but gave a thumbs up.

"Martin Van Buren?" Reiner asked with a frown. Bertolt simply chuckled at his response. "I've never even heard of this guy. Who the hell is he?"

"I believe he's the eighth president. Only served one term and died from bronchial asthma, otherwise known as pneumonia." Bertolt answered after a quick laugh. Reiner just looked at him an expression that spoke for itself.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" he finally asked, matching his expression perfectly. Bertolt simply chuckled once more. "Are you even real? Is the government using you as an experiment?" Reiner asked, and Bertolt smirked a bit as he leaned closer to the blonde.

"Now if I told you that, I'd have to hurt you." he said deeply, making Reiner narrow his eyes.

"You couldn't hurt a fucking fly even if it was about to kill your first born." Reiner said with a snort.

"If I said 'yaint', would you stop talking to me?" Bertolt asked, barely containing his laughter.

"I'm going to stop talking to you simply because you asked that question and said it." he replied and Bertolt cackled, causing Reiner to search for something that he was missing. "I can't believe- did you quote a god damn meme?"

And so the day went on as normal, a few more bursts of laughter from Bertolt caused by the big burly blonde boy than usual. Reiner didn't particularly like the kid, but seeing him laugh like that didn't exactly seem revolting either. Bertolt had given Reiner his number without asking for one in return before the class had ended, telling the blonde that if he wanted to work on the project he was almost always available. That earned a snort from Reiner.

As the sixth period history class filed in, Marco searched for his best friend. He hadn't seen Jean at breakfast, pre-calculus, lunch, and now he wasn't seeing him in history either. Marco knew the boy was at school, their parking spots are right next to one another. Just as the bell was about to ring, however, the door opened one last time.

Jean's hair was disheveled, making it seem as if he didn't even attempt to tame it before leaving the house, his eyes were bloodshot and bags were weighing down his eye lids. His face was awfully pale as well, his clothes seemed haphazardly thrown on too. Marco even noticed that he had two separate types of shoe on. While the two normally sat next to one another, Jean took a seat on the other side of the room entirely, almost as if he were trying to get as far away from Marco as possible.

As Ms. Ral told the class about the group project, Jean simply stared out of the window with his head propped up on his desk. He wasn't paying one bit of attention to what it was she was saying. How could he, after all, when he had been up all night tearing himself apart over the thoughts that had been basically boiling in a pot together for months now?

He had finally come to a conclusion, one that he had taken weeks to come to terms with, but there was always a hiccup in self acceptance it seemed. As it is, he had one more problem to face now that was even bigger than just himself. So much of his life could be affected by this one simple thing to occur. Slowly, he had felt himself change and it was only expected to happen anyways. No one should be surprised at his distancing.

He couldn't quite risk himself anymore, the possibility of him finally snapping as it built up inside of him. He couldn't live this way any longer. He was so tired of the ones around him being so judging, so arrogant. He had to be done with it once and for all.

But he was startled when someone dropped into the desk in front of him and he turned to be met with furious chocolate brown eyes. Jean's first move was to be aggravated at him for interrupting his thoughts, but he immediately felt his features soften into one of guilt. He knew his best friend deserved an explanation, he just couldn't give one. Not now.

"Jean." Marco said stiffly. He couldn't quite stand to see his friend like this. "You weren't in pre-calculus today."

"I changed my schedule, I just couldn't change this class because all of the others are full." Jean responded tiredly, leaning back in his seat and folding his arms.

"Why?"

"Do I have to tell you everything?" Jean snapped, making Marco's eyes widen. Jean silently cursed himself for it. "I'm sorry-"

"You're coming over for dinner." Marco stated simply, not quite asking if he wanted to or could. "We've got to talk. You and I are going to talk about your behavior and if we figure it out, then we'll work on our project. If not, then I guess it can wait." he said.

"I'm not guessing that I've got much of a choice here, do I?" Jean asked with an exasperated tone. Marco narrowed his eyes at him, which made him throw his hands up in surrender. "Alright, alright. I'll be there. Sheesh."

Marco walked away without another word.