This evening felt too calm for Jean. Not that he wished for a full force of naked titans (wait, but titans are always naked) to attack them, but he wasn't used to the peaceful feeling. For the past exhausting weeks he had learned that serving in the Survey Corps means sacrificing every little pieces of peace left in your heart, in exchange for fear and alert.

But how could he expect danger, when the wind played with his hair lovingly and the sky was so enchanting- he had never noticed so many colors up there all at once. The grass looked crisp and green, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't see any blood stains there. It was simply beautiful and untouched. Spruce trees went as far as his eyes could see, protecting the whole landscape from the rest of the humans. Yet, it was still hard for him to adjust to this new life.

Meters from his guarding post, was another post at the opposite wing of the safe house, with the potato girl standing on it. She was usually put in kitchen duty, but today Levi assigned her together with him on the night shift. It wasn't his first time on guard duty, he had done it with Armin, Connie, and even Mikasa(-chan) two nights ago, but the idea of staying with that oddball for the rest of the night seemed so inapproriate, without him teasing her. It was the only conversation he could pull with her, to be honest. Plus, it was fun. Especially when she denied her endless desire for potatoes- - oh please, she is so in love with that starchy crop.

"Hey, potato." he said, not too loud, but enough for the wind to send the message to her. As expected, she turned her back on him, repeating the same routine she had done for the last few days whenever he brought up that name. Jean wasn't that dumb, he could tell she was pissed... which was exactly the purpose of the invention of the nickname itself. To forever remind her of the most embarassing, if not radical, moment in the history of cadets training with Keith Shadis.

"Jean, stop already." she said, finally showing her face to him. "I'm not a potato."

..and everytime, her answer got even funnier, well at least to him it was funny. "HA! THERE! You just admit it. Right there." he said, enjoying his time being a jerk.

"Sssshhh...shut up Jean!" she said, putting a finger in the air. Jean scoffed at her 'I'm-busy-being-a-good-guard-now' attitude. She couldn't use that to escape his teasing, he wouldn't let her.

Before he could fire more attacks on her, he saw her taking off the rifle from her shoulder aside. Slowly she grabbed her bow and arrow and adjusted them, ready for an aim. He got to admit, she looked pretty cool holding those weapons, maybe even better than her 3D maneuver gear. It seemed that, Levi trusted her enough for her to take the bow and arrow, despite the constant penalties she got during trainings in the past, despite of what the- -

"WHAT THE HELL, SASHA?!"

In less than seconds, her arrow that was once still in the wrapping of her fingers, shot through the wind, taking down whatever it was between the trees, yards away from their spot. Jean swore he saw something fell to the ground there.

"Sssshhhh...Jean! You're too loud! I almost lost that squirrel!" she hissed, somewhere between panic and excitement. "..and Armin can hear us!"

Jean could just slam his face right onto the table there.

"Did you hear what Armin say about hunting?!" he nearly plucked his hair off, eyes still fixed on those trees where her arrow landed. "What is wrong with you?!"

"Armin said we can't hunt in the mountains.. right? I shot it from here, so it should be okay. I guess." she said, still with her bow firm in her left hand. Jean didn't care if she came from a hunting village or whatsoever. There was a reason on why they were here, and that was to keep Eren and Chris- eh, Historia, from any harm. Away from the humans, living under the radar. What part of that assignment she did not understand?

"It was just a tiny squirrel, Jean. Don't worry.." she huffed, brushing it off like what she did was absolutely nothing. That expression on her face, was the one she used whenever she was caught stealing a bread, or pouring more soup into her bowl at dinner. He hated when she made that face. It could be cute sometimes, he wouldn't lie about that, but she couldn't just put that face on for each and every mistakes she made.

"Well you see, that squirrel over there, just jeopardized the entire human race. Damn it." he couldn't find better words to describe his frustration.

Sasha stayed still, watching over the squirrel after she put her bow down. She took a quick glance at Jean who was still watching her from his post, ready to kill. She couldn't blame herself though, that squirrel moved so fast, and she couldn't lose it just like that. That would be a total waste. Jean was right, but she wasn't wrong either. She made sure she made no sound, and that no blood spilled to the ground. It was a clean shot, she knew, all she needed was that squirrel to prove that everything was safely done.

"I'll be back!" she waved to Jean, before slinging her bow to her shoulder and took the arrow bag down the ladder.

"Hoy! Hoy! Stupid, where do you think you're going?"

Just take the squirrel, Sasha. Don't listen to Jean. Don't listen to Jean. Don't. Don't. Don't.

She heard him making his way down his post as well, and soon another pair of footsteps joined hers on the ground. She walked faster, and finally broke into a run when she heard him shouting and yelling behind her. "HEY! Are you crazy?! Stop!"

The rest of the day had been written in her head: she would zig-zag through the posts, and then straight towards the clearing, grabbed the squirrel and went back to her post before Jean could aim his rifle at her. She would tell Connie about her awesomeness for the day, and Jean would tell everyone how she ruined the day again. Perfect.

It was, until the world spinned, slamming her hard to the mossy ground. She crawled away, feeling Jean's boots under her knees, but soon he grabbed her wrist and locked them behind her back as if she was some kind of a criminal. She was still so far away from the squirrel. This wasn't part of the plan.

"You're not thinking on taking that squirrel, aren't you?" he said as he shoved her back to her guarding station, waiting till she reached the top of the post, making sure she wouldn't make a run again.

The brown-haired girl stood awkwardly up there, facing Jean who was still at the bottom of her ladder. He seemed to be angry. Obviously. "What? I'm not going anywhere."

"Don't try anything funny, potato girl." he shot her his deadliest glance, before making his way back to his station. Even his shift with Eren the other day didn't feel this tiring, he thought as he climbed back to to the top. The next time he's paired up with her, he would ask Levi to be assigned to tend the horses instead. They smelled bad and kicked his head sometimes, but at least those horses were not as crazy as that Sasha Braus.

"Wake up, Jean!"

THREE.

It was the third f*ckin time the girl threw little pebbles to his head. Three times to his nose, to be exact. Where did she even get those pebbles?! Jean would probably applaud her throwing skills if she wasn't so loud. Everyone in the house was sleeping, he was sleeping. He really wished for morning to come faster now so he could be at least have a space of his own after this shift ended, away from the ponytailed creature for good.

"What?" he wasn't even sure if his whisper could reach her, but hell, he didn't care.

Jean waited, but he heard no reply. He lifted his face from the table to see what was going on, or if she was even still in her place.

Luckily, she was, there sitting on the wooden floor staring back at him. The lantern must had done some kind of trick to her face, because she looked somewhat.. Jean couldn't find the right word. Beautiful? No, Mikasa IS beautiful. But that girl is...

He never noticed how perfect those bangs were, framing her slightly chubby cheeks. Those usually hungry-monster-looking eyes, suddenly seemed so human and surprisingly warm. He wondered how would she look like if he took her elastic band away, freeing her long brown hair down to her shoulder, she must be..

"Gaaah you ruined it!" he groaned when she suddenly crawled on four, shaking the wooden bars like a beast in a cage. "I said, do you have any food, Jeaaaaaaaaaan?" she said, squishing her face like a creep through the gap. Thank God he was meters away, he might even see her nose hair there if he was any closer. Jean immediately scolded his innerself for even thinking about those sissy things earlier. Sasha Braus would never be anyone but herself. Freaky and hungry.

. . .

Of course Jean has eaten his bread.

Sasha moved away from the bars, and back at her spot hugging her bag of arrows. If only they were allowed to hunt, they could have deers and rabbits for dinner and in the morning she could make a hot chicken broth. Life would be much sweeter.

Since her attempt to retrieve her squirrel failed a few hours ago, she hadn't shot another arrow because Jean was watching her all the time. Sometimes she felt like the only people here that could truly understand her needs were Connie, Christa, and Ymir, though her words were mostly unpleasant. It was shocking when she first heard about her titan form.

"Jean..?"

"Told you I don't have anything." he replied flatly, now fully awake, leaning against the table with his rifle.

"No, it's not about food. I..well, what was Ymir like? When she became.. a titan?"

Clearly Jean was not prepared for the topic when she saw him staring at the tip of his rifle without words. She wasn't trying to converse, she was merely curious. From all of the members of the remaining 104th squad, she was the only one who wasn't there when everything happened.

"She was ugly." Jean said, and she could sense a hatred planted in those words, "I'm not talking about that shit anymore, okay? You should've seen it for yourself. Where were you, anyway?"

That kid. The arrow. The titan. That very scene was the first to come to her and Sasha wasn't sure if she should tell him. It was written on the report, and the higher ups knew about what she did, but none of her friends knew. One night she knocked on Connie's door to tell her the story, but she saw him crying with a photo in his hand, so she closed the door. The next morning they finally heard about Connie's village, so there was no way she could share the story to him.

She saw Jean and doubted if she could even bring herself to talk about it. What would she be if she told him she defeated a 3 meter-class titan with an arrow to save a child, a hero, a savior? With Connie, that story would simply be an exciting adventure, something only the two of them can joke about during lunch, and a moment for Connie to give her a hug with tears and said, "I'm so proud of you, bro.". But how about Jean? He wouldn't even believe that story in the first place.

"I... was at my village, helping with the evacuation." she nodded, averted her eyes somewere else. To the place where that squirrel fell, to the moon, to the swaying trees far in the forest, to her bow and arrow, anywhere but his eyes.

"Hmm, I see." he said and she nodded again, feeling awkward.

"But I saw something scary though, on my way to the people." she could see him nod while wiping his rifle with the end of his jacket, seemed to be listening. So she continued, "I saw a three meter class titan there, eating a woman.. alive."

Even though it wasn't very clear under the shadows, but Sasha could tell Jean was disgusted. "Her child was at the corner of the room. She was afraid, really afraid. So I ran and took the child out of the shed. The woman was looking at me. She was dying there and she was looking straight to me when I took her child. It was a creepy feeling."

She could hear the sound of his palms rubbing together for warmth before he said, "At least you managed to save that kid."

Sasha didn't know why she smiled. "Yeah, you're right." she said, searching for an expression on his face, only to find grim and sorrow. A pang of guilt hit her as she quickly added, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to- -"

"It's not about Marco." he said, completing the sentence for her. "Go on. Finish your story."

"The end, Jean. My story ended there." she said, resting her head on the edge of the table as her back pressed against the bars behind.

"Don't sleep, finish the damn story." she could hear him loud and clear, but she closed her eyes. Her story ended there for him and only Levi and Hanji should know the rest.

"Tell me how you put the arrows in its eyes."

She opened her eyes. Jean was standing there, firm and bold facing her from his guarding station, demanding an answer he already knew. The report was confidential, she had no idea how Jean could have read it. At that moment, Sasha didn't really know how to react or what to say but to stare back at him, waiting for anything.

"It's so not you, potato. Acting all cool and stuff. Cut it out." he scoffed, chuckling to himself. "Everyone at the squad knew what you did, alright. We stayed silent since you didn't say anything. You're pretty badass after all, Sasha Braus. I'm only saying it once."

Another smile cracked on her face as she muttered his name, "Jean."

With Connie, the moves she used on the titan would be their new kung fu routine.

With Jean, it became a new beginning.

A trust.

"You. Keith Shadis told me a lot about you, Sasha Braus."

Everyone stopped whatever they were doing at the moment when Levi entered their house holding a dead squirrel by the tail. It was clean and bloodless with a perfect hole to the heart. Is that the squirrel she took yesterday? Jean never really thought the squirrel was.. well, really a squirrel. He thought it could be any other animals. Her eyesight is really something, huh?

Hearing her name called, she dropped the bread on the table and made her way to the Corporal. She put a fist to her chest, and the rest of the squad followed as they saluted him.

"Eeh..I'm sorry but, Corporal, you're holding my squirrel. Sir!"

It was like a dejavu, the day when she earned her nickname just repeated itself again. She was being stupid, Levi grounded her, confiscating her bow and arrow for the rest of the week. Amazingly, she didn't seem to be bothered by her punishment, as she happily took her squirrel to the kitchen.

"You can also keep the squirrel, Braus. That squirrel will be your only dinner for the next 30 days."

"Whhaaaattt- -?" she returned to the dining room, soon pleading at him on her knees asking to be forgiven. "I'm going to diieeee Corporaaaaaaal...!"

"Ha! Now we can call you Squirrel." Jean declared, doing a secret high-five with Connie. It wasn't awkward nor friendly between them after their shift ended. But Jean had been thinking about her through the shower this morning, through breakfast and lunch, even when he was brushing the horses..he wouldn't say it was normal. And he finally found the perfect word to describe her. Those hungry large eyes and stupid drooling face of hers, she's not beautiful.

She's just... one of a kind.

Been rooting for this OTP for months but only managed to write this one now #happytears

Sorry for the cheesiness here and there but hope you enjoyed it!

Critics and comments are very welcomed!

Feedbacks would be really helpful :D