Right well, it's been a little while since I last wrote anything, so I must say it's great to be back.
Secondly , this will be the first entry of this ship on here, but it is my current OTP of this series and it gives me the fuzzies.
Anyway there will be more of a blurb at the bottom should you have the 15 seconds care to read it.
~Kit
If there was one thing that Jean Kirchstein would never have believed, it would be that he found himself here. Among the chaos of finding out that not only did Eren have the ability to change into Titan form, but rather four other students in the 104th training squad had the same ability.
And here he was, miles away from the safety of the Military Police, stuck on the wall about to ride out to find the now kidnapped Eren Jaeger. Then again, he wasn't exactly doing it for Eren or the good of mankind either.
He looks up at Commander Irvine discussing the best route with the injured Hanji-san, watching their heads nodding as the Commander traces a line on the map. He turns his head to look out over the wall and tries to suppress the twisting grip of fear that grabs his intestines and tries to pull them out through his ribs.
Then he sees her. She is glaring over the wall as if she'll be able to spot Eren at that great distance. This time it is his heart that twists.
He remembers the first time he ever had the courage to speak to her, his initial stumbling of words as she looked at him with those grey eyes. "Never saw anyone who looked like you." He can feel the tiny drops of sweat on his face. "Your black hair is beautiful." He can still feel the heat of the blush that was in his cheeks. She murmers a thanks as she tucks a stray piece behind her ear and turns to go out the door.
He follows her outside and arrives in time to see Eren tell her that her hair is too long and that she should cut it. He is wounded, much to his own surprise, at the surprising ease she agrees to cut her hair. Who was Eren to dictate that to her and why on earth would she listen? It is Conny who is the unfortunate victim as he lashes out, wiping his hand with such force that he stumbles forward. He knows that Conny is still slightly put off by him after the intense change in his aura as his faith in humanity dies.
It is then he vows to hamper Eren by any means necessary. Throughout the whole of training whatever Eren is Jean is the opposite and voices his opinion loudly with the intent of causing a fight. He takes every exasperated sigh she makes as he and Eren are at odds again as one step closer, as a precious moment and one movement closer in her direction.
When did you become such a sap for another person? His mind chastises. He dismisses it. He knows he'll do almost anything to protect her and so he does so, quietly waiting for her to signal that she needs help.
When they reach the station and they are preparing their attack on the smaller titans he makes sure to be next to her, read to swoop in in case something goes awry. But she kills her titan and Sasha's, once again proving that she really is above par and glaringly out of his league. He continues his promise continues all the way until the attack and he sees Eren's hidden talent.
Jean once again ignores the twisting of his heart as Mikasa and Armin are so ecstatic to see him alive and she holds him close to her and she cries.
Though they have reached an uneasy peace, he still thinks Eren's idealism will get him killed and a mean voice in his head tells him that maybe that's not such a bad thing. It is not because of him that he volunteers to take Eren's place to his hearing.
It's all because she asked and he was well aware that there were others in the room at the time, but he could only see her and he agrees while stifling the blush he can feel on his cheeks. Vaguely he recalls that asking him was Armin's idea and that it was part of some grander plan.
"I am an idiot." he says to himself while in the wooden box that is delivering him to Eren's hearing. He has sort of worked out the plan and he knows that whatever the plan it'll involve need Eren's Titan ability.
He remains stuck in the wooden box for the entirety of Annie's capture, but he hears later of Mikasa's determination to capture Annie when they are at Eren's bedside. Even going so far as to take her on alone and slice off her fingertips that she was using to climb the wall. "Annie. Fall." Have become words of legend in the Scouting Legion.
He leaves to go get some fresh air when he hears the gossip. Mikasa Ackerman was only so intent to take Annie Leonhardt down because Eren Jaeger liked her. He freezes mid bite into his lunch. He remembers Eren training with Annie but that's as far as he remembers it going. Well he wasn't exactly close with everyone back then, so what he really know?
Commander Irvine is finalising the route when Jean thinks of the month of training they endured, learning all about being part of the Scouting Legion. He doesn't see much of anyone at that point, he focusses hard on learning as his heart still pounds when he thinks of a titan and its his fear that he needs to harness if he ever wants to be good at all this. He talks to Marco occasionally, either cursing or thanking him for what he said. But mostly it's 'cause he is a little lonely. It's during this month that he finds motivation for himself. He realises that he doesn't want to die a disappointing death with no one to remember him. He doesn't want to die alone.
Their first expedition was an abysmal failure, he fully calls it that. The formation was easily disrupted but during the ride with Armin and Reiner he thinks he actually redeemed himself a little. They failed to catch the Female Titan and they lost a whole lot of soldiers that they needn't have risked. Furthermore they were stuck at in a tree while titans swarmed around them from below. Then again he wasn't really aware of that plan at all.
He snaps his head back to reality, he hadn't been part of the scouting party with Eren and the team. He arrived with the next wave to what he thought was total chaos. Of the top ten graduates of the 104th training squad, 5 had turned out to be titans and only Eren was definitely on their side.
He stares at her again, he hands are balled up and she is shaking with anger or sadness, he isn't quite sure. All he wants to do is go put a hand on her shoulder and pull her into a hug. Though he doesn't think that his heart could handle that, it would probably burst out of his chest. His blush deepens as he imagines her kissing him in thanks for his support. Her soft mouth on his, her cheeks wet with tears of relief and her whole body pushed into him. He hastily clears his throat.
He then catches Armin staring at him while he stares at Mikasa. His eyes widen with shock and Armin gives him a knowing smile.
It's as they are saddling up their horses when Armin walks up to him.
"You shouldn't be so obvious." Armin whispers.
"How long have you known?" Jean responds, his whisper a barely contain shout.
"Since you were okay with replacing Eren, it's why I had Mikasa ask you."
His mouth drops open. Oh god, she knows!"
"Jean, I'm so glad you came to help Mikasa rescue her Brother." Armin says a little louder than normal as he walks away to his horse.
His face feels like it is on fire as he looks up and catches a look of intense puzzlement on Mikasa's face.
Right well I hope you enjoyed, as you can see I left the ending ambiguous (I think) on purpose as I'm not sure Mikasa has even gotten to know Jean but I'm big on hope. Also I think that as the guy that saved her life she is more attached to Eren that in love with him, also he is the only remaining member of her family still with her (as I said BIG on hope here…)
Jean is my favourite character and coincidentally is Isayame Hajime's favourite too which lowers his chance of death from about 99% to around 97%, I reckon. Seriously he is the George R. R. Martin of the Mangaverse.
Anyways enough of my drivel, please tell me what you thought, although bashings will be very much ignored; I'll sail my ship and you sail yours and we will be like 2 ships passing except we will be confused as to why we have a common passenger hanging out with another and grumble to ourselves that the other captain is clearly insane.
Okay now enough of the drivel, I'm thinking about doing a drabble series and I think Christa should be up next. But if you have any suggestions I'll be happy to try my damnedest
Much love and happiness
~Kit
