Thunder Arlert!
Late at night remains one of the few blessed times of the day when the 104th trainee squad could enjoy a calm and relaxing atmosphere. The lights were all out and each trainee was safely tucked into their bunks, peacefully wandering through their respective dreamlands… Well, except for one of them.
Eren Jaeger just could not drift off into his usual mental candy land of dead titans and lands without walls and the worst part was that he had no idea why either. For the larger part of three hours after the official lights-out and mandatory silence he had been lying awake, tense and uncomfortably aware of his surroundings. The males of the 104th squad shared one room, scarcely decorated with anything but the bunks built against the walls and the table and chairs standing in the open space in the middle of the room. They kept their personal belongings underneath their beds or in the cupboards and wooden lockers next to the entrance.
The bunks were very simple, made of rough planks nailed together to create two- and three-story beds. Each story had enough space for two one-man matrasses with a little bit of empty space in between. Eren had soon realized that the area his matrass covered was pretty much the only personal space he would ever have as a member of the army, and sometimes even that was intruded upon by his childhood friend Armin Arlert – who moved an awful lot in his sleep.
Eren sighed and gave falling asleep one last go. He forced himself to relax, to slow his breathing and ease his heartbeat. It turned out that as soon as he was actually beginning to lose his consciousness he also lost his control over his body and before he knew it he was just as painfully awake as before. Frustrated to no end he finally gave up sleeping for the time being. He looked over at Armin, the little shit was sleeping deeply with his limbs spread out over his matrass and a string of drool going down his right cheek. From the look of it he was dreaming about something pleasant. Eren was just about to get up to wander around the dorm and see if he could find something to pass the time when a lightning bolt flashed outside.
The sudden light caught him off guard and the surprise made him stand too quickly and bang his head against the bottom of the bunk above. Cursing as quietly as he could he stumbled out of the bunk and banged his toe against a rouge chair's leg in the process. Before he could utter a sequence of powerful words that would surely make even the most enraged high ranking soldier blush the thunder came, drowning out the soft sounds of the sleeping teenagers.
Naturally as a result most of them awoke from the noise and stirred underneath their covers. Connie rubbed his eyes and looked down at Eren.
"Was that thunder? Did you fall out of your bed, Eren?"
"Yes and no. Just go back to sleep I'm sure it's nothing to worry about or they will come tell us." Eren replied. He turned around to check on Armin, and sure enough the bang had been enough to wake him up too.
"How close is it? The thunder, I mean." Armin asked and yawned loudly. His blonde hair was messy and tangled and for a moment Eren felt the strongest urge to comb it with his fingers until it returned to its usual soft and smooth state.
"Not too close. Don't worry about it."
Armin stared at him with sleepy blue eyes for at least 6 seconds, not even blinking.
"Why are you not in your bed?"
Eren sighed.
"I just couldn't sleep, I guess it might have been the weather or whatever. Anyway there's no way I'm sleeping now so I'm just gonna go hang out in the common room for a while." Another flash lit up the room.
"Alright, I'll come with you."
The thunder came slightly sooner this time, and with it the sound of rain hammering down against the roof. Eren and Armin walked silently through the corridor from their room to the dorm common room. It was not much of a room, really. Just some spare space between the entrance and the first bedroom. It did have some decent furniture, though: two decent sofas long enough for four or five people to sit in, three armchairs, a low but wide coffee table and a tall bookshelf storing the rather thin selection of books and games they had, most of it being donated by former trainees who left the dorm without bringing it with them either because they forgot or because they considered it too crappy to bother packing. Of course, Armin had already read every single thing in there and he had been the one to testify to most of the content was indeed too shitty to take anywhere with you.
They both sat down on the closest sofa, Armin only after grabbing his favorite of the games from the bookshelf. Titanfall read the faded red letters on the front of the package. It was a card game with very simple rules but many ways to play, meaning it was the perfect game for someone who happens to be Armin Arlert the strategic genius of the 104th squad. Each player had a number of soldier cards they get to use to get rid of the titan cards spread out on the table, and the one who managed to kill the last titan wins and if you run out of soldiers you are knocked out of the game.
Armin stood so far undefeated champion and Eren saw no prospect of him winning but tonight he really could not care less, he just appreciated the company.
While they played the lightning and thunder kept coming and it was clear the storm was creeping closer and closer, too. The rain was coming down real heavy now, making it too difficult to speak normally. Armin finally whooped Eren's butt, slapping the last titan card so hard it fell off the table. He reached down to grab it when an especially loud boom of thunder practically shook the room and made their ears ring.
Armin rose up too fast and fell back against Eren. In a sudden emotional burst of feeling protective Eren wrapped his arms around him. His pulse was banging loud and hard against his skull. Armin said something he could not hear over the loud rain, but he loosened his grip around him and the smaller boy turned his body around as to face Eren. Unexpectedly, Armin took Eren's face into his hands and kissed him softly. Eren blinked in surprise a couple of times but realized he did not mind this turn of events. Honestly he was happy. Happier than he had felt since… Well, ever.
The kiss ended sooner than he would have liked and Armin rested his head against Eren's chest. Eren wanted to say something to him, but even he tried he would have had to yell to make himself heard over the in his opinion incredibly annoying rainfall.
Somebody touched his shoulder and he turned around. A bunch of the other trainees had gotten up and was spread out around the common room, standing in small groups or trying to look out the windows. He and Armin both blushed when they saw and sat up individually. Suddenly, a far more intense bolt than any of the previous along with an instant explosion of sound came, and this time the ground literally shook from the impact. Dulled but clearly present sounds of screaming and yelling penetrated the hammering of the rain and every single one of them reacted to it.
They ran back into their rooms, grabbed their cloaks and emergency equipment kits and yelled at the other boys to do the same. They then rushed out of the dorm just as they thankfully had practiced a dozen times before.
To their horror the first thing they saw was the bright orange and yellow flames against the pitch black sky, coming from the girls' dormitory. They ran towards the building as fast as their legs would allow them to join the girls and help them out. When they got there most of the females were already outside, most of which had managed to get their waterproof cloaks out with them but a few of them were working to put out the fire with their hair and pajamas completely soaked from the rain.
They spotted Mikasa dragging someone out of a window and called out to her. She glanced at them while unloading the girl she just saved to Christa but without answering she turned right around and jumped right back inside the burning dormitory. Eren wanted to rush right in there with her but Armin grabbed his arm and yelled into his ear.
"IT'S BETTER TO HELP THEM EXTINGUISH THE FIRE! MIKASA KNOWS WHAT SHE'S DOING!"
Eren sure hoped he was right.
The flames caved in soon enough thanks to their efforts despite the still raging storm, although the heavy rain certainly did not hurt in this case, and Mikasa came back out alive with the last trainee hanging over her shoulder, blood dripping down from a large cut on her head. Even Mikasa seemed unsteady when she walked over to them. Finally the rain was giving in and the fall
"Mikasa, are you okay?" Armin asked her. She pulled her dripping bangs out of her face and Christa came up behind her and wrapped her in a rain cloak.
"I'm fine. I want to go inside, though. I'm starting to feel cold out here."
The ones who needed medical attention were taken to the infirmary and their superiors sent the girls to spend the rest of the night inside the open room where they all had their breakfasts and dinners. They did keep spare tents in the storages but obviously setting them up in this weather was out of the question. The boys were ordered to return to their dormitory where they would stay until the storm had passed or they were otherwise commanded.
Once tucked back into the comfort and probably very temporary safety of their bunks - the storm had yet to cease and even with the mildest weather they were still training to become part of the army, so in all likelihood they would eventually be eaten by titan regardless of whether or not they survived the night after all – Armin moved his matrass close so he could curl up right next to Eren, and so he did.
Understanding his friend was feeling stirred up, Eren put his arm around Armin and pulled him closer, and adjusting the covers so they overlapped and properly covered them both. Silence had settled among the boys of training squad 104 and only a soft, muffled snoring sound was coming from Jean's place right above them.
"Eren?" Armin whispered. "What if the storm never calms? What if… It devours us… Before the titans do?" Eren thought about it for a few seconds, took his time responding. Surely, if you think about it it can't be that much of a difference in being eaten by a titan and dying as the result of thunder striking the building where you're sleeping. However…
"It won't. If I'm going to die, I won't let it be in any other way than making sure it is while fighting the titans, and there's no way that you'll die before me. I won't allow that either." Eren turned and looked right at Armin and cracked a smile.
"Besides, if I just let you die Mikasa might murder me."