Eren sat alone in the training grounds, arms loosely looped around his knees. He heard Jean before he saw the disagreeable recruit, but he didn't react, even when Jean plopped down next to him. The silence stretched on.
"…You're a girl." Eren finally stated, just to get it out in the open.
"Yeah." A straightforward, if weary and wary, tone.
"Why are you…?" He trailed off.
"My parents wanted a son. They went into denial when I was born." A shuffle of cloth, probably a shrug of the shoulders. "I was raised as a guy. I'm just lucky that they chose a name that can be used by both boys and girls."
"…Who else knows?" Eren asked, tentative and hesitant.
"Marco. We grew up together, so… yeah." Jean shrugged.
Eren nodded, his head spinning. "What about you? What do you think of…?"
There was silence in reply, and Eren turned to see Jean pensively silent, head buried between slim arms. "Jean?"
"…I think of myself as a girl." The answer finally came. "A masculine one, but a girl."
Eren nodded. Masculine girls were nothing new. Mikasa might have worn skirts and had full lips and shiny hair, but he'd seen her throw full-grown men into walls. Sasha might have had long hair and a nice voice and a pretty smile, but she knew more about hunting than anyone and ate anything she could get her hands on. Annie might have had intriguing eyes and a good figure, but she took down anyone and everyone that challenged her in hand-to-hand. Ymir didn't need an explanation.
(Christa and Mina, on the other hand, were quite feminine, even if they were fairly good at being soldiers.)
So Jean being a masculine girl was nothing weird. Jean being a guy in mind despite a female body would have taken a lot more getting used to, but Eren thought he could deal with Jean being a girl, even if…
"Um… don't you feel awkward sleeping in the same room as so many guys?" Eren asked, slightly uncomfortable with asking.
"Not… not really?" Jean shrugged. "It's not like anyone's going to try something, other than Marco maybe getting a nightmare and crawling into my bed, and we've both done that to each other enough times over the years for it to be no big deal." Silence fell again, not quite smothering in the cool, clear air of the night.
"…Why are you telling me all this?" Eren finally asked, naming the one question he hadn't been able to get off his mind.
Jean made a small noise like an angry cat. "That's not… listen, I figured that if I told you everything straight out like this, you'd be more likely to, you know… not tell anyone."
"That's…" Eren fell quiet, thinking. Honestly, the fact that Jean was a girl, while slightly shocking and more than a little uncomfortable, wasn't something he really needed to tell anyone, unless something medical happened, in which case… "What about Marco? Can I tell him I know?"
Jean made a face, nose wrinkling. "I'll tell him myself."
Eren nodded, and then got back to thinking. The secret wasn't really something Armin and Mikasa needed to know, especially since it didn't really affect them, and it concerned someone that Eren wasn't all that sure trusted them, but—
"Mikasa!" He exclaimed, turning to his fellow recruit. "You… you complimented her hair, right? And you kept blushing, so we all thought you had a crush, but… do you, y'know…" he gestured vaguely, having run out of steam after his initial epiphany. "Are you like Ymir?"
Jean made another angry cat noise. "No! I mean, I don't care for… urgh. Okay, let me put it this way: when it comes to what I find attractive, I prefer men. There have been several rare cases where I found a woman attractive, but that's it. No, I do not have a full blown crush on… on Mikasa."
Eren didn't quite believe that, if only due to the tone Jean's voice held, but he let it go. "Fine, okay. So you don't like women that way. I… okay." He put his head in his hands as a strange thought whisked its way through his head. "…Does that mean that your arguments with me have been some weird reverse pigtail pulling th— OW!"
Eren leaned away from Jean, one hand on his upper arm, where he was sure there would be a bruise in the morning. "A**hole, what was that for?"
Jean glared at him. "Moron. As if I'd ever like an idiot like you."
"Oi, I know I'm not as smart as Armin, but I'm not that bad." Eren glared at Jean with partially wounded pride.
"Tch. Right." The blond snorted and turned to face away from Eren again.
Eren grumbled and turned away again, so that they were once more facing the same way, side by side, not looking at each other.
"…How do you hide, you know…?" Eren gestured vaguely at his own chest, well aware that he was probably blushing right now.
Jean stared at him, as though dumbfounded at his failed attempt at tact. "Okay, one? They're called breasts. So long as you're not a pervert about it, most women probably won't try to hurt you for saying it. Two? I'm thirteen, and freaky skinny. I don't exactly have much to hide that way."
Eren winced, not at all used to talking to girls about… that. Actually, he wasn't all that used to talking to girls. He'd talked to his mom, and Mikasa, but they were family. And the only thing he talked to Annie about was fighting.
"…So what changes now?" Eren finally asked. "I'll keep your little secret, but…"
"We keep going as we have been, moron." Jean sighed, finally standing up. "And nothing changes except for that you know."
Eren wasn't so sure about that.