Healing Takes Time

Chapter 28

I'm gonna warn you guys. There's a lot of swearing towards the end of the chapter, and Jean has a bit of a freak out, so if that'll bother you, you might want to just skim over it.

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Chapter 28

Mom was sitting at the table reading a book and sipping a coffee when we walked in. "You two were out for a long time." She looked over at us above the rims of her glasses. "You didn't get into any trouble, did you?"

Marco looked at her seriously. "No, ma'am."

I just shook my head. "No, Mom. We didn't do anything." She opened her mouth to say something else, but I cut her off. "And before you ask, no, we didn't have sex." She closed her mouth and grinned. Uh huh. That's what I thought.

Next to me, Marco started blushing. "N-no! We wouldn't. People could see us outside!" Mom and I looked at each other before we both busted out laughing. "Hey! I'm serious--that'd be weird."

I nudged him with the back of my hand. "Go upstairs," I laughed. He seemed to pout, but headed towards the stairs anyway. Upstairs, Eren and Mikasa were fast asleep. It wasn't until I looked at the alarm clock that I realized that it was almost quarter til eleven. Wow. We really did stay out pretty late.

Marco stood awkwardly at the foot of my bed. I couldn't help but smile at how uncomfortable he looked. "Did you bring pajamas?" He nodded. "Do you want to put them on?" He nodded again.

We stood there another couple moments before he finally shook himself. "Oh, right." He set his bundle on the bed and pulled out a tee shirt and pajama pants. "I'll be right back."

I nodded, and he went down the stairs again. While he was down there, I changed into just a pair of shorts--hey, I got hot during the night, and I liked being able to keep the blankets over me. I pulled the blankets back and buried myself beneath them, pulling them up to my chin.

A few moments later, Marco came up. He dropped his stuff in the corner and crawled across the bed to get up to the top. I pulled the blankets back again and let him in. Once he got settled down, I reached across him and turned the lamp off.

It wasn't as awkward getting comfortable as it was the night before, thankfully. We were both on our sides facing each other, limbs a tangled mess and bodies pressed close together.

We talked in hushed tones about nothing in particular. It was nice. I still couldn't get over how... relieved I felt to finally talk to somebody. I can't believe I didn't do this sooner. I honest to God didn't know that I could talk this much. I'm more surprised that he hadn't told me to shut up already.

It must've been almost midnight when we started falling asleep. The sound of one of the doors opening and voices kept me awake. They were quiet, but it was dead silent in the cabin except for the sound of breathing, so it was easy to hear them.

It was Mom and Dad. "What was your deal today?" she asked him.

"My deal? What are you talking about?"

I could imagine Mom raising an eyebrow and giving him a stern look. "You were being an ass."

"Oh."

I could tell Marco was listening even if he was pretending not to by the way he had turned his head, so his ear was turned towards them.

"Oh is right. What was up?" I heard a sound like she was setting her book down.

"Nothing was wrong I--hey, don't give me that look." Pause. "Would you quit that, shitty glasses? It's unnerving." Another pause. "It isn't my fault you got hurt! What else did you want me to do?"