Something was wrong with Eren, something was really wrong with Eren. No longer was he picking fights with Jean but if the other boy got into fights with anyone Eren would step in and attack the opposing party. Needless to say the entire remaining 104th cadet group was confused and concerned. Not only had he been inferring in fights but wherever Jean was Eren wasn't far behind. If Jean was having lunch Eren would be at the table across from him, if he was in the stables taking care of his horse, Eren would be in the courtyard next to the stables "training".
Hanji had noticed Eren was acting odd during her experiments and pulled Jean aside to ask him about the strange series of events that had been happening recently.
"Did he ever act like this in training?" Hanji asked Jean
"No, he was the one trying to fight me." Jean almost yelled, Hanji waited for a moment deep in thought.
"When did this behavior start, or when did you notice it?"
"It started when we got to the Survey Corps, after Trost." Jean paused "After he found he was a shifter."
Hanji stood there eyes closed piecing together the information she had gotten from the cadet, suddenly her eyes burst open and she was running down the corridor, leaving Jean standing alone with a mixed look of shock and confusion on his face.
Jean got a few days of peace after his conversation with Hanji, she had taken Eren to the lab and was studying him constantly. In Hanji's lab Eren was upset and violent over being kept away from Jean. One more than one occasion he had lashed out at Hanji, who was now covered in bruises as were some of her assistants. But she had figured out why Eren was acting the way he was, with a somewhat reasonable solution. Hanji summoned the Commander, Corporal and Jean to her lab to inform them of her discovery.
"It appears that the shifter's have some form of mating season." Hanji announced, to her audience. "I'm sorry Jean but you're going to be stuck with Eren for a while."
"Why?" Jean shouted in surprise.
All of a sudden the door burst open and Eren came in, eyes focused on Jean. He tried to back up against the wall but all that succeeded in do was allowing Eren to trap him. The three officers stood there watching, that was when it hit Jean that this was the experiment to prove Hanji's idea. Eren was wrapping his arms around Jean brining him close; Hanji took a step towards them when Eren began growling at her. She backed up.
"So what the brat is attached to the other brat?" Levi asked.
"That's one way of looking at it, although it might be a good thing."
"Hanji elaborate please." Erwin asked his Major
"Well if this is related to his titan form, it might make him easier to control in such a form. However if something happens to Jean Eren will react to the threat making him more dangerous."
Jean stopped paying attention at that stage as he got distracted by Eren who was nuzzling his neck and face. Jean's hands were against Eren's chest trying to push him away, needless to say it wasn't working.
"Jeager, get off me!" Jean exclaimed
Eren response was to growl and seal Jean's lips with his own, Jean continued to try and shove Eren off him. When suddenly Eren was yanked off of him by an angry Corporal, Jean slide down the wall and buried his head into his knee's trying to regain his breath.
"Hanji, how long is Eren going to be like this?" Erwin asked
"Um…a week at least, but I don't think the attention to Jean will go away, it'll be less forceful."
"Will it be like last week where he just followed me everywhere?" Jean asked from his position on the floor.
"Most likely." Hanji answered
"Until Eren has calmed down keep him locked up and away from Jean." Erwin told the group of them, Eren did not look to pleased at the fact they were keeping Jean away from him. As Levi dragged Eren back to wherever they were keeping him, Erwin looked at Jean and told him "Enjoy your peace while you can."
Jean did, or he tried to. He did his training in peace as well as his chores and spent his free time as usual drawing, but the realization that this would be his last week of peace hung in the back of his mind.
The week came and went and Jean peace was broken, Eren was back to following him and just trying to be a close to him as possible. Jean discovered though it wasn't as annoying as he thought, while Eren did those things he still gave him space as well as assisted him with his chores. What sealed the deal was on a training mission in the forest around HQ Jean's gear broke and he fell out of the tree, he wasn't hurt to bad but he couldn't walk on the twisted ankle. He was there for most of the day he was pretty sure they'd forgotten him when he heard a voice scream his name. Eren had found him he wasn't going to be stuck in the forest overnight. Eren approached him with caution as if he was afraid he was going to scare him off, he sat next to his injured squad mate and examined the injured ankle. Eren began to wrap Jean injured ankle with a splint.
"You're good at first aid." Jean mention quietly to Eren, who gave him a small smile before running his hand through Jean's hair in a comforting gesture.
"My father is a doctor." Eren told him "May I?" Eren asked as he went to pick up the boy, Jean just nodded. Eren carried Jean on his back and began the walk back out of the forest towards HQ.
Once there Eren took Jean up to the infirmary, but he was cleared fairly quickly there was little they could do over what Eren had already done but they did give him something for the pain. Eren carried Jean back to the dorm room and helped him into bed and promised he'd be back soon with dinner.
After that Jean let Eren become closer, eventually it became common to see the two of them in their down time together just being "cute" as Sasha described it. Eren was protective of Jean and loved to know that he was close, Hanji was pretty sure that was the titan instincts in that case, they made him very protective of Jean.
When the group went out into the nearby town in their time off Eren would not leave Jean side and if some looked like they were eying him up, Eren would growl and sling his arm around Jean's waist. It was interesting and fairly funny, but the gang including Jean all agree it's better than Eren trying to attack random citizens no matter how lecherous they were.
Hanji's other prediction was also correct when outside the wall titan Eren was very protective of Jean and would defend and protect him from the other titans. But the other half of that prediction was also right if Jean got injured he became aggressive and violent towards the other titans and in some cases fellow soldiers. Eren was also more willing to listen to Jean when in the titan form than anyone else, it made Hanji's experiments a lot easier.
A year had passed and it appeared that it was Eren's mating season again, because he was becoming over protective of Jean and overly affectionate towards him as well. Jean enjoyed it this year for the most part at least, considering it was the middle of winter he was happy for Eren to hold him all night the guy was a heater.
Hanji wanted to observe the difference this year with Eren and see how he reacted when his mate actually wanted to be around him. She of course found a big difference in Eren. He didn't not act as violently unless provoke, he was calm as long as Jean was around and he loved any amount of attention from Jean. Hanji noted that Eren did have other urges but was not acting upon them at this stage, but he was hardly ever away from Jean.
The season ended and Eren calmed back down to normal, the two of them had been running in rain for hours. After dinner and brief shower they group went to bed, Armin had switched bunks with Jean recently so that Eren had him as near as possible. Eren was lying in his bed trying to fall asleep, when he heard Jean shiver and shake beside him. He turned to face the other male who was buried as much as he could into his blankets and pillow.
"Are you okay?" Eren asked
"Just cold" Was the muffled reply he got, Eren reach over and pulled Jean close tucking Jean's head under his chin and wrapping his arms around him.
"Feeling warmer?" Eren said into Jean's hair.
"Yes" Jean said snuggling into Eren's chest falling asleep almost instantly. Eren was happy he Jean, he was going to keep Jean; he was going to keep him safe and warm for the rest of their lives.