The sun has essentially set, and the 104th trainee squad is getting ready for bed, with their usual efficiency (they want as much free time as possible before lights out). Eren finds Jean waiting for him when he gets back to the bunk house. "Eren, did you hear?" Jean says loftily, and Eren stares him down, did Eren hear WHAT? "There's a creature in the lake," Jean says, still lofty, though he is soon unable to keep eye contact with those glittering green little hate beacons. "A new creature, or rather, an old one, left over from before the walls. There must have been a couple of them living in this area when the walls went up, some ones that got misplaced from where they normally live for whatever reason, and they've been trapped here ever since; this is probably the only one left. One of the upperclassmen told me all about it; he'd seen it several times. It's about the size of, well, YOU, and it's green and scaly and has spikes and a huge mouth with sharp teeth. It's like if lizards had titans versions, this would be it. It can eat PEOPLE like titans, too. I know you really like all that arbitrary stuff that's outside the walls, but I really wouldn't check this out if I were you because it's really really dangerous, and if you die, well I just don't know who's going to join the Scouting Legion and kill all of the titans."
Eren is finished with his evaluation before Jean even stops talking; this can mean NOTHING good, this is obviously obviously OBVIOUSLY a dumb ploy to trick Eren into tramping around the lake chasing after something that isn't even real. How stupid does Jean think Eren IS? Clearly this is a trick, and just about the dumbest one EVER.
"Shut up, Jean," Eren says, and everyone goes to bed without further incident.
"So Armin," Eren says at breakfast the next day. "Do you know much about animals outside the walls?"
"I know some things," Armin says. "I don't have the book about the outside world with me now, so all I have to go on is my memory, unfortunately. I'm afraid I won't be much help. But what did you want to know?"
"Know of any animals that are like lizards, only bigger, about the size of a person, and have sharp teeth?" Eren asks, quietly and secretively, with a hint of disdain.
"Do you mean alligators...or maybe crocodiles?" Armin asks tentatively. "Both are large reptiles that live near water. Crocodiles have narrower snouts than alligators, and they have differences in what teeth stick out when their mouths are closed, and they have the ability to live in saltwater environments, but other than that the two are extremely similar. Depending on their size, they will eat other animals, like turtles or even deer. They eat by ripping off chunks of their food and swallowing it, without even chewing. They can lose teeth over their lifetimes and have new ones grow –"
"Wait," Eren says. "Did you say these things live near water?"
"Yes," Armin says. "Why?"
But Eren won't tell him. Jean is still lying. Jean has to be lying.
"So Jean," Eren says about three days later. He stops by where Jean is sitting, at the end of dinner, surrounded by witnesses. "This upperclassman you said who –"
"Not here anymore," Jean says in one breath, he KNOWS what this is about. "Phased out of the program. I'm really sorry. I was going to tell you before, that one time, but shut up means stop talking, sooo..."
"Wait…you don't think this is about your dumb "lake monster," do you?" Eren says, quickly backpedaling. "I wasn't asking about that, I KNOW that was a dumb trick to get me to go by the lake, I'm not STUPID. I was going to ask you something else, actually, but I think I'll just ask Armin because I just remembered, you're a jerk."
"I never said there was a lake monster," Jean says stuffily. "I mentioned offhand that someone else said there might be one. I can't believe you even remembered I said that… don't tell me you actually thought there was a monster in the lake? I've been to the lake a few times, okay, and I've never seen a thing, no prints, no bones, nothing."
"Shut up, Jean," Eren snaps. "Why are we even talking about this?"
"Well I just can't believe you'd be afraid to go to the lake because of some dumb hearsay," Jean says. "That's something I could talk about; it's pretty funny."
"I'm not afraid, I just don't fall for dumb tricks," Eren snaps.
"You know what, forget it; it's not even my business," Jean says. "You can be afraid, there's nothing to be ashamed of. I'm sorry for making fun of you for that."
Eren is mad enough to strike back but too confused to know how; he opens and closes his mouth.
"Jean, it'd be really great if you'd stop bullying our classmates," Marco says.
"Oh, well okay, looks like the Mean Police have reached the scene," Jean says, but half-heartedly; he doesn't want to fight Marco.
"Just drop it," Marco tells Jean. "Eren, he's just going to keep giving you trouble, so you might as well be on your way." His words are much bolder than the voice that carries them; he certainly doesn't look like he wants to fight Jean either, but some things just must be said.
If it were anyone but Jean, Marco could easily have made himself the next target after Eren skulks off, but it is Jean, and the two just finish eating in uncomfortable silence, not really sure what just happened there between them.
Two days later, and Eren and Armin are poking around the lake after dark.