Chapter Text
Light poured in from the large window, drenching the small bakery with warm rays, bouncing off racks of freshly baked bread and a large display counter near the entrance of the shop. Pastries, intricately designed with all sorts of glazes and frostings, lined the inside of the plexiglass counter, welcoming customers in with their irresistible quality. It was a fairly slow day to say the least, only a few patrons scattered about individual tables and booths, as was the usual for a Thursday afternoon.
Manning the front desk was Marco, feeling so bored out of his mind that he briefly considered heading into the kitchen and gorging himself on chocolate ganache. He was well aware that this shift was a slow one, but since he didn't have class that day and he got a raise for taking on another shift, he figured it was worth it. After all, he should be grateful that he snagged such a nice job, and not stuck working at a cheap rollerskate drivethrough like his friend Sasha.
Mrs. Jaeger was awfully nice to him, letting him pick his hours and eat the inventory whenever he got hungry. Her son Eren worked there, too, and Marco thinks he has a couple classes with him at Trost University. Eren usually manages the front desk, being the talkative type that he is, but he's got class on Thursday and the full-time bakers are busy enough as it is.
Speaking of full time bakers, Petra poked her head through the door of the kitchen, her cheek stained with what Marco could only guess to be raspberry filling. "Hey Marco, we're going on our lunch brake, think you can handle the shop by yourself?"
"Oh, yeah, go ahead Petra. Bring me back a sandwich? If I keep eating the pastries I'm gonna die of sugar poisoning," Marco said, although now that he thought about it, was sugar poisoning even a thing?
"Tell the kid we're not bringing him back a Happy Meal, he can wait it out for the rest of his shift," Levi, the head patisserie shouted from somewhere in the kitchen. Petra only smiled at Marco and gave him a wink, a sort of 'this'll be our little secret', and turned to leave out the back door with the rest of the crew. Marco nodded graciously at Petra's kindness, and, upon hearing the loud clang of the back door, he focused his attention back on his anatomy notes.
Just as he was starting to drift off, he heard the chime of the door bell, signaling the arrival of a customer. Marco shifted his gaze up to see a peculiar group of teenagers, roughly around the same age as him. There was a slim but muscular blonde girl, with a sharp nose and a messy bun, who was furiously texting away at her phone. Next to her was what could be her tiny, gentler carbon copy. Another petite blonde with big blue eyes and hair like gold string, but when she lifted her hand up to brush the hair from her face, Marco could see thick tattoos, probably stretching beyond her jacket sleeve and up to her shoulder. There was more to her than what meets the eye, he thought.
Finally, almost as unexpected as the little blonde tattooed girl, was the boy standing next to her, an almost annoyed look plastered on his face. He had an undercut, sandy blonde hair on the top and dark brown on the bottom, and Marco could see tiny indicators of tattoos near his collarbone, where his v-neck tshirt failed to cover them. In all, Marco thought they were just some angsty kids here for some bagels. Punk rock bagels, that is. Because they were too cool for regular bagels. God, he needs to stop talking to himself.
The trio approached the counter, and Marco greeted them with his signature line, "Hi, welcome to Shiganshina Confectionaries, what can I get you?"
The small blonde in the middle looked down at the counter with wide eyes, and asked for a slice of lemon merangue pie in the sweetest voice imaginable. After what Marco assumed was her pressing send, the much more intimidating blonde looked up at the selection and asked for an apple danish, no icing. Marco complied and brought the girls their orders, then turned to the other boy and patiently awaited.
The boy eyed Marco up and down, making him slighty more than uncomfortable. The scary blonde broke the silence, saying something along the lines of "Jean, stop checking out the cashier and order something before we leave."
The boy Marco now assumed was Jean shot the blonde a glare, before turning back to Marco and giving him a sultry smirk. "Uh, gimme a tiramisu cake pop...and a big slice of you."
Sharp Nosed Blonde snorted, and Small Blonde pointed a disgusted look to Jean. "Jean, is that really your opening pick up line?"
Jean turned a light shade of red at the tiny girl's remark, and tried to play it off by leaning on the counter. Unfortunately, his hand-eye-coordination wasn't the greatest, and he ended up missing the counter entirely before smacking his jaw on the cold hard glass. The two girls broke into laughter, and Marco giggled, thinking he never saw a shade of red as bright as the one on Jean's face.
Jean quickly regained confidence after seeing he had made the cute cashier laugh, and shot back up to lean on the counter properly. Marco handed him the chocolate cake pop, and Jean licked it suggestively before popping it into his mouth.
"Thanks...Marco," he said, obviously reading the name off of Marco's ID tag pinned to his breast. "I'm Jean, just so you know."
Marco was becoming a bit peeved at this guy's cocky attitude, and gave him a sassy remark. "And why exactly, would I wanna know?"
"Because you'll be screaming it later tonight.~"
Marco and the blonde girls fell into laughter once more, and the smaller one even gave him a slow clap for emphasis.
"Well, since we're introducing ourselves, I'm Historia, but you can call me Christa, and this is Annie. You look familiar, have I seen you somewhere?"
Marco was relieved to be distracted from the arrogant- and, as much as he hated to admit it, kinda cute- guy in front of him, and chatted politely with Christa. "I'm Marco Bodt, and I'm sure I would have remembered such an angel like you."
"Woops, sorry Jean, he's straight," Annie said, not bothering to look up from her phone.
Jean looked a bit dissapointed, and his lips pursed into a thin line.
"Oh, no no no, I was just giving a compliment. I-I'm homosexual," Marco explained. He had no idea why he was telling them this when they just met five minutes ago, but he rolled with it anyways. He noticed Jean perk up, but thought nothing of it.
"Huh, there is hope for you, Jean," Annie spoke again, her monotone voice like a dull lullaby.
"Annie, be nice," Christa scolded her, and turned back to Marco. "Thank you, for the compliment, I mean. But you do look so familiar... do you go to Trost University, by any chance?"
Marco smiled at the mention of his college, and his eyes glowed excitedly. "Yeah, actually! I'm a sophomore."
"So do we! Jean and Annie are sophmores too; Im' a freshmen," she continued bashfully.
"Cool beans!" Marco replied, immediately dreading his choice of words. What was he, a sixth grade middle aged teacher?! "Can I ask how you all know each other?"
"Oh yeah, me and Annie are on the lacrosse team at school, and Jean and I work together at Colossal Ink. It's a tattoo parlor a couple blocks from here. I uh, take it you've noticed the canvas?" Christa asked, lifting up her jacket sleeve to her elbow, revealing detailed tattoos of monstrous humanoids with no skin, and steam everywhere.
"Wow... that's pretty badass," Marco said in awe, wondering how such a cute cupcake could have frosting made of metal.
"You know, if you're interested, you could come by and I could give you a free sample," Jean said, trying to get back into the conversation this whole time.
Christa completely ignored him, much to his annoyance, and continued to make small talk. "We should hang out sometime, Marco, I'd really like to get to know you!"
Marco was flattered at how sweet she was, and they quickly exchanged numbers. They said their goodbyes, and she and Annie walked out, leaving Jean with the bill.
Instead of trying another pick up line, like Marco expected him to, Jean just handed Marco the six dollars and thirty four cents, gave him a wink, and went on his way. As Marco emptied the money into the cash register, he could feel his phone buzzing in the pocket of his apron. He checked the screen, and an unrecognized number had sent him a text.
From: ???
heeeey there qt ;)))))
Marco had a bit of a hunch as to who this was, but played along anyways.
To: ???
who is this?
Not even ten seconds later, a ping came from his phone.
From: ???
its jean lmao u kno the hottie u just saw ;*
From: Jean
hmu sometime babycakes u could bake 4 me & i could give u a tramp stamp
To: Jean
where did you even get my #???
From: Jean
did you rly think christa was gonna keep it 2 herself
Marco rolled his eyes and proceeded to save his new friends' numbers as 'Colossal Dork' and 'Colossal Cutie.' Which name Jean's number was under, Marco would never tell.