i.

They were in the dining hall the first time it happened.

The first week had crawled by impossibly slowly, one day bleeding into the next in an endless monotone that had enveloped them all within its clutches. The dawn had brought upon a new form of training; hand to hand combat. Shadis had been—as expected—merciless, pushing and shoving and driving them to the brink of their physical and mental capacity despite—or maybe because—knowing that most of them had had zero experience with close quarter combat, or even combat in general.

The trainees that had gathered in the dining hall that night were a tired bunch, bruises dotting their arms and torsos like a trail of gems. It was a testament to their exhaustion that even Eren and Jean were incapable of falling into their usual arguments, biting snipes replaced instead with just an expression of mutual annoyance whenever they were to glance in the other's direction.

Beside Jean, Marco was slumped in his seat, upper body resting on the table with his arms held loosely on either side of him. His groan was partly muffled into the wood, "I'm aching in places I didn't know existed."

Seated at the table beside them, Connie snickered, "That's what he said." This elicited a light giggle from Sasha, religiously munching a potato albeit her weary bones.

Jean, nerves already frayed from the day, shot a glare at their direction. It was a harmless comment, carelessly thrown out just to fill in the silence where their exhaustion reigned—he just needed to let some steam out. He only faltered when he felt a hand on his arm, Marco's silent reprimand holding the embers from flaring, "Let it go, Jean."

His friend rolled his eyes, looking away. "Yeah, whatever. We all know Connie has to result to lame-ass jokes to compensate for other things."

"Oi! I heard that!"

Eren made a noncommittal sound from a few tables down, "That was probably his intention."

"Told you he had to compensate for other things."

Connie had made another sound of protest, but whatever he had intended to say in response was cut off with a yelp instead. A foreign weight had unceremoniously slumped against his side, a head resting against his shoulder and strands of brown hair brushing his cheek.

The girl was asleep, snoring slightly, having finished the potato that she had been devouring earlier. The exhaustion had taken its toll, manifesting itself in her slow breaths and gentle swelling of her chest. Connie's eyes widened, awkwardly petting Sasha on the arm while simultaneously trying to avoid jostling his friend. "S-Sasha?"

At the sound of her name, Sasha's only reaction was to curl up further against him, adjusting her head to fit right into the crook of his shoulder without even gaining consciousness. Marco, watching the exchange from around Jean, let out a soft laugh, "Well, will you look at that…"

There was the sound of shuffling feet from behind them and Mina appeared on Sasha's other side. There was a smile tugging at the other girl's lips, a hand reaching out to land fondly on Sasha's shoulder, "I got her." Mina slid an arm in between them, supporting Sasha by her waist firmly before nudging Connie off the bench. He complied, helping to maneuver the sleeping girl out until she was balanced between them, tilting precariously on her own feet.

Sasha made a noise that was part yawn and part mewl at being moved, moving towards Mina this time in her sleep. The dark haired girl laughed, brushing her friend's brown bangs off her face before repeating her earlier sentiment, "I got her."

IOIOIOI

If you've made it this, you have my thanks. This is my first time trying my hand at Shingeki no Kyojin (a.k.a Attack on Feels) so I hope I did a decent enough job.

D.I.S