Eren grunted, moving his eraser to wipe out another messed up line. He was currently sitting up in his bed, using his knees to prop up a notebook he was sketching in. Currently, he was on his fourth attempt at drawing Armin, a feat he found inexplicably difficult. Deciding to quit while he was ahead, he set his notebook down on the ground beside his bed, laying back down and letting himself be mesmerized by the candles flickering above him. Neither Reiner nor Bertolt had come down to the basement for lessons, and Annie hadn't made any attempts at conversation after dinner.

Wait… He thought, Where were those two at dinner? He remembered looking around the dining hall at the time for them, before Mikasa urged him to drop it. Annie didn't seem to care about their absence, or if she did she hadn't shown it, but he found it odd that the two decided to skip dinner and their lesson for the night. I'll ask them about it tomorrow… He decided after a few minutes of silent contemplation. Without a clock nearby, he had no idea how long he'd been in his cell, nor did he how late it was, but he decided that he should try and get some rest for the next round of tests and training.

*Sniff*

Confused, Eren sat up again, wondering what he heard. Straining his ears, he heard another soft sniffle coming from outside. Making his way out of bed, he quietly creaked his cell door open, looking around to find the source of the noise. As he stepped out into the basement, he once again heard a sniffle, followed by a quiet breath, seemingly coming from the direction of Annie's room. Walking over to her cell, he paused in front of the door, pressing his ear against the tarp. To his dismay, he heard a quiet sobbing coming from within. Hesitant to come in, he tapped on the tarp, trying to see if she wanted to talk.

"Annie?" He whispered, tapping on the tarp again, this time making a small ringing as he hit a metal bar. For a moment he thought he heard her moving, but the sobbing continued on. Taking a breath, he opened the door, cringing as it made a squeaking noise. Peeking his head in, he saw she was curled up in a ball, face buried into her blankets. Deciding to try to get her attention one last time, he called to her, "Annie?"

After a few moments, she lifted her head up, hair messily draping over her face, but Eren could see the glint reflecting off her eyes as they stared into his. The two silently stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, before Annie finally spoke.

"You heard me." She said, clearly trying to hide the quaver in her voice.

Eren shuffled awkwardly, looking down at the floor of the dark cell, not bothering to respond. Before he could ask anything, she spoke up.

"It's nothing." She told him, knowing what he would ask her. Of course, the rivers still flowing down her face, coupled with the pink puffiness in her eyes told a different story.

Eren gaped at her response, shocked to see her trying to brush this off. "What are you talking about?!" He said loudly, causing both of them to cringe at how loud he was. Quieter, but still holding the same fierceness, he continued, "You were crying yourself to sleep just now! How can you say you're fine?"

Annie looked down at the wet spot of the blanket she had been crying into, knowing Eren wouldn't leave her be. Clutching the blanket over herself, she caved. "Close the door." She said, reaching down beside her bed to one of her bags, revealing her bare arm and shoulder. Embarrassed, Eren closed the door and turned around against the wall. After a minute, the door opened up, revealing Annie, her hair still messily strewn across her face, but wearing a grey long sleeved shirt with matching pants, standing in the entrance. Wordlessly, she walked back over to her bed, sitting cross-legged and folding her arms. Taking it as close to an invitation as he'll get, Eren stepped inside, seating himself on the other side of the bed.

"Why were you crying?" Eren asked, wanting to work past Annie's offhanded remarks, "And don't just tell me it's nothing."

Annie looked down, "Look, Eren. It's nice that you think you can help me out, but this wouldn't be the first night I've cried myself to sleep." She explained, before muttering under her breath, "Not by a long shot…"

Eren scooted closer, "Annie, please." He pressed on, looking into her eyes. "Tell me why."

Seeing no way out of the conversation, she took a deep breath. "Eren, we live in a world where our lives can end without warning." She told him, "Monsters are real, but you know what's even worse? I'm backed into a corner by those monsters, and even the wall I've run to is turning against me. My comrades are afraid of me and don't even trust me." A whimper escaped her lips, "I'm alone in this world, Eren. And revealing that I'm part monster isn't doing me any favors."

At that, Eren instinctively lunged forward, wrapping Annie in a tight hug. Instinctively, Annie tried to fight her way out of it, wanting to floor him for shocking her like that and invading her personal space. But as she tried struggling, he rested his head against hers, whispering into her ear. "You're not alone, Annie." He said, "I'm here with you now, and I'll have your back as long as you need it."

Annie stopped struggling, letting his words sink in. Slowly, she pulled herself away from Eren, who was staring at her with complete sincerity. She almost immediately looked away from him, as she was getting an uneasy feeling in her gut, and her heart started beating faster than usual. She was hoping he'd take a hint and leave her be, but part of her was hoping he'd hold her close, looking into her eyes and-

What the hell is wrong with me? She thought angrily, letting her head sag down, A moment ago I wanted to knock him into the ground and break his arm, and now I'm melting under his gaze… She didn't even want to shake her head to clear the thoughts, lest she get Eren to continue his soft remarks and make her do something she didn't want to do.

But… Would it be that bad? Unlike the others, he actually treats me like a person. Hell, I've known Reiner and Bertolt since we were children, and even they act like I'm a ticking time bomb… She paused for a moment, Okay, they're right for thinking that, but Reiner goes out of his way to bug me, and Bertolt shies away every time I even look at him…

She sighed internally, It could be worth a shot. If I can take on a titan without ODM gear, I shouldn't have a problem with this… Brushing her hair out of the way, she looked up at Eren, who was staring at her with a confused look. Without warning, she grabbed his shoulders, causing him to flinch back in surprise. Slowly and awkwardly, she pulled the two of them closer together, until the tips of their nose were about to touch. Seeing how Eren was currently tense with fear, she realized that she was still staring at him impassively, and gave him a small smile. As he opened his mouth to ask what she was doing, she closed the gap, pressing her lips against his and wrapping her arms around him. Her heart felt like it was about to jump out of her chest as she led Eren in the kiss.

As soon as it had started, Eren pushed Annie away from him, confusion and fear carved into his face, completely contrasting with Annie's almost dreamy expression. Eventually Eren found himself able to use his mouth, "A-Annie! What's gotten into you?" He stammered, his face turning dark red from what had just happened.

Realizing too late she crossed the line, she ducked her head into her knees to hide her embarrassment, hoping she would die then and there to avoid the conversation that was to follow. What she didn't expect was to feel a hand on her shoulder.

"Annie?" She heard Eren ask, his voice much softer than before. Looking up, she saw he was staring at her, still confused, but fear had left his expression. He gave her a smile as her crystal eyes stared back into his. Unfortunately, the smile soon disappeared, and he asked the question she saw coming from a mile away:

"What do you want from me?"

She sighed, resting her chin against her knees in thought. "I used to be so good at hiding my emotions." She said, "It got to the point where I completely disconnected myself from them. But then Trost happened… All those lives swatted out, some of them people I acquainted myself with over the years of training. Mina, Ruth… Marco…" She felt a pang of guilt, but continued, "When the time came for cleanup, I found myself unable to help as I stared at Ruth's body. Reiner wound up having to drag what was left of her while I stood there, frozen. All of those barriers I built around myself to keep myself distant began cracking. I don't even know what to do with these things anymore; it's been so long…" She paused, looking up at Eren, "When you hugged me just now, I naturally wanted to knock you onto the ground and break your arms for touching me. But you started talking, and my heart started beating around, I felt lightheaded, and even flattered. Next thing I knew, I started thinking about wanting to kiss. I went along with it; it just felt right to do so."

Eren placed a hand against her cheek, feeling Annie instinctively flinch at the contact. After a few moments of contemplation he asked her, "So what now?"

Annie looked at him, slowly regaining her composure, "We can try things out, if you'll be willing to put up with me." At his confused look, she explained, "I will be a bitch at times. I will try to keep my feelings to myself. You might think I'm apathetic about your feelings as well, or you might think I'm overbearing with you. I will not go easy on you during training because we're together. There's a lot of baggage with me, you should know that by now."

Eren looked away for a moment, unsure of how to process the information. Slowly, he responded, "Annie… Do you think this is a good idea?"

"No," She said, shaking her head for emphasis, "Forming emotional attachments with people on the front line is probably the worst decision anyone can make." She paused for a moment, "But it's a bit too late to be trying to make right choices."

"What do you mean?"

"You decided to join the military, aiming for the branch with the highest mortality rate to kill as many titans as possible, and see the outside world." She told him, "I decided to quit the safest position in the military to join the Survey Corps to teach you, and went on to admit that I could transform into a titan so I could fully accomplish this task, even though I'm going against our original plan of secrecy as well as every bit of common sense. Neither of us have any good decisions under our belt, and being together will just be another notch to add."

"But there was something good about our choices." Eren countered, "If I had never joined the military, Wall Rose would have fallen. And that was with just one shifter. With both of us, I wouldn't be surprised if Wall Maria was reclaimed by winter."

Annie allowed his words to sink in, before smirking, "So you're saying you like making terrible decisions?"

"I was defending our decisions, Annie." Eren replied, a smirk crossing his own face. "If we were able to make good out of those choices, then…" Eren trailed off, his face growing flustered, "Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea…"

Annie's face almost instantly grew a pink shade at his response, her smirk faltering. Feeling the uncomfortable rise in her heartbeat returning, she cast her gaze down to the floor, "Maybe…"

Wordlessly, Eren leaned over, wrapping his arms around Annie in a tight squeeze and resting his head against hers affectionately. After a few moments, he pulled away, giving her a goofy grin that almost made her want to punch him in the face.

Almost.

"I'll see you in the morning." He said, standing up and walking out of the room, leaving Annie alone in the darkness. Unable to comprehend all that had happened, and tired from the previous activities that day, Annie collapsed back into bed, sleep instantly taking hold.


Annie awoke to finding herself being violently shaken. Without hesitation, she immediately grabbed the arms shaking her, twisting them as she shot up to stare her attacker in the eye.

Only to see Eren looking back at her with a frightened gaze. Sighing in frustration, Annie decided to let this one slide. "What?" She said, trying to hold back any venom that would slip into her words.

"You should really get up now." Eren urged, "We're starting to run late for breakfast, and last time I missed that Levi gave me a harsh wakeup call."

Annie gave him an unimpressed stare, "Harsher than being shaken like a doll?"

"He dropped a crate filled with sand onto my chest." He said, visibly cringing at the memory. At the continued deadpan, he hastily added "I'm not kidding! I have the crate in my cell!" This got her attention, and she immediately stood up and walked out of her cell, leaving a confused Eren kneeling in front of Annie's bed. A few minutes later, she returned, her face once again taking on a look of fury.

Before Annie could say anything, Eren stood up and held his hands up, "Annie, it wasn't anything personal. He's usually like this with everyone, even his equals." His explanation seemed to calm her down, but Eren could tell that she was still angry. "It was nothing compared to what Shadis would do to us when we messed up, you know that."

Annie grunted a quiet "fine" before pushing Eren out of the cell and slamming the door. Deciding to wait for her outside the basement, he made his way upstairs, only to find himself face to face with Jean.

"What do you want?" Eren grumbled, feeling a mix of anger and guilt rising up.

Jean raised his hands defensively, "Look, Eren, I came here to apologize." Seeing Eren's expression change to one of surprise and mild confusion, he continued, "It was wrong for me to put you on the spot like that, it's just after all that's happened-"

"I forgive you." Eren interrupted, causing Jean to almost reel back in shock.

"Wha- Just like that?" He stammered, wondering how he could brush off what he said.

"Yeah. I mean, it's not like you were wrong at the time. With me going rogue, and so many of our friends dying, I'm surprised more of you guys weren't on my ass." He told him.

"You know more of these guys have your back than they do mine. You've known Armin and Mikasa for years, Reiner and Bertolt always saw potential in you, you're on the same tier of comedic relief as Connie and Sasha, and you know how much Krista cares about you." Jean said, the last name causing Eren to snort in amusement.

"Name anybody that Krista doesn't care about." Eren joked, "That'd be a real front page story."

The two laughed for a moment before Jean returned to his point, "You know what I mean." He said, holding out his hand, "Can we put all of this behind us?"

Eren looked down at the hand for a moment before clasping it with his own, giving Jean all the answers he needed. The two shared a nod, before Jean turned around and began walking towards the dining hall. Eren smirked as his comrade turned the corner, "Who would've thought Jean would be a bigger man."

"He wasn't the only one," A voice called from behind, causing Eren to jump in surprise, only to see Annie making her way up the stairs.

"How so?" Eren asked, unsure of what she was getting at.

"You could have just as easily turned down his apology, or socked him for what he did." She replied nonchalantly, adjusting the bun in her hair. "Frankly, after everything he's done, he deserves it."

Eren smirks, "Hatred isn't always the way to go about things." He told her.

"Oh? Annie wondered, "What happened to the boy in the training corps who wanted to 'kill every last titan?'"

Eren's expression fell, "It was my first night here. I met somebody who'd dedicated decades of hatred to fuel their will to fight."

"Levi?" Annie guessed.

"Hange." He corrected, causing Annie to tilt her head. Seeing this gesture, he continued, "She fought out of the rage she felt towards the Titans and the deaths of her fellow humans as her drive to continue fighting. Eventually, she came to realize that their failure to move forward may have been caused by her hatred, and she changed her drive to one of compassion and knowledge."

Annie looked down, "Her drive was her downfall…" She muttered.

"Hey," Eren cooed, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Let's head to the dining hall, okay?"

"Alright," Annie replied, "I could use a bite to eat before training."

The two began making their way to the dining hall in silence, due to Annie shooting down every attempt Eren made at small talk with short, final answers. Once the two entered the dining hall, they grabbed their breakfast, Annie silently advising Eren on his diet for pre-shifting and regenerating. As the two sat down with their friends, Eren finally noticed all eyeballs were trained on him and Annie.

"What?" He asked, growing uncomfortable with the attention.

Armin was the first to speak up, "Uh… Eren? You and Annie…"

Annie looked over to him, "Yeah? I caught up with him after Jean gave his 'heartfelt apology.'" She explained, letting go of Eren's hand to make air-

The two of them flinched as reality hit them: they had been holding hands.

In the dining hall.

With everyone watching.

Eyes quickly scanning the room, Annie realized that the whole dining hall was looking at the two of them, a wide range of expressions on their faces. Turning to her table, she saw Armin's brain was fizzling out behind his eyes, Reiner had a shit-eating grin plastered on his face, Bertolt had a look of mild surprise mixed with something else, and Mikasa's pale complexion had turned a dark red, distracting her from any of the Oriental girl's true emotions.

Wanting to get the attention off of them, Annie opened her mouth to speak:

"Aah…" She managed to squeak out. The response, coupled with the subsequent pink hue filling her cheeks, only solidified the facts laid out for everyone.

After a pregnant pause, Reiner broke the silence by slapping Eren on the back, "Congratulations, Yeager! Way to man up!" Remembering that Annie was still present, Reiner cringed, readying himself for a world of hurt…

Only to be greeted by a piece of bacon landing on his face. Lifting the bacon off his face, he looked over to Eren, whose held a second piece in his hand.

"Bad Reiner." Eren scolded, slapping the second piece onto his friend's face. Eren's reaction almost immediately diffused the situation, diverting the attention to Reiner, who wore an expression of deep contemplation as he peeled the second piece off. Once the second piece was pulled off, he held the two in front of him, making a shrug before eating both pieces. Despite the situation, the room quickly burst into a round of laughter at the events that had just ensued.

Seeing the attention was drawn off them, Eren breathed a sigh of relief, but the looks from his table demanded answers, though they were much mellower than before.

"So," Armin started, hoping to break any lingering tension, "How long has this been going on?"

"Yesterday." Annie replied, managing to slip her emotionless mask back on.

Mikasa turned to give Eren an unimpressed look, "I don't buy that."

"I do," Reiner replied, throwing Mikasa off-guard, "They barely interacted outside of hand-to-hand combat training. That doesn't mean I'm surprised that it happened." His offhanded second comment managed to throw off both Eren and Annie, who exchanged confused looks.

"What do you mean?" Eren asked.

"After I pitted you against Annie, you started doing the drills with her more often. I saw that your moves and even posture began to mirror hers as time went on. Not to mention every time we were paired up you would steal glances her way." Reiner explained, "As for you, Annie, you wouldn't even do the drills unless you had Eren as your partner, and there's also the fact that you were the one who wanted to teach him your technique." Shrugging, he continued explaining his hypothesis, "Of course, it was obvious that neither of you would make a move at the time, as you both lacked the initiative to do so, not to mention the two of you were probably too deep into your goals to even realize you had feelings for one another."

Everyone looked at Reiner with complete bewilderment at his detailed observations of the two. Seeing the attention he gained, Reiner sighed, "There I go again, preaching like a true smartass."

"So you knew this would happen?" Annie wondered, causing Reiner to shake his head.

"I had my doubts." Reiner responded, "I knew the two of you unconsciously felt something for each other, but I also knew that those feelings would have to be dragged out of both of you, and there seemed to be a very small window of time for that to happen before you both went your separate ways." Pausing to take a bite from his food, he looked over to Mikasa, "That being said, even if they were dating longer than a day, that just gives us more reason not to pry."

Mikasa huffed, turning her attention to Annie, "And why is that?" She glowered.

Bertolt placed a hand on Mikasa's shoulder, "Please, let's not start this now…" He urged.

"Bertolt is right, Mikasa." Armin told her, "We don't need any bad blood within the squad. Especially not when we're supposed to be training together."

"But we're not!" Mikasa protested, "The few days that she's been here, she hasn't been to a single training session!"

"Mikasa!" Eren called sternly, "You're acting overprotective right now! Annie hasn't been training with you guys because she had to transfer from the MP…" He trailed off as he felt a presence behind him.

"We can drop the act now, kiddos."

Turning around, Eren saw Levi staring at him with an unimpressed stare. "If you're going to lie to your comrades, at least have the decency to make it believable." Turning his attention to Annie, he raised an eyebrow, "So this is the other one?" He muttered, his voice barely audible.

Armin's eyes widened, "Other… One?" He wondered under his breath, seeing Levi grab the two by their collars.

"You two are coming with me." Levi ordered, dragging them out of their seats. Begrudgingly, they followed their superior out of the room. As Bertolt and Reiner continued to try and calm Mikasa down, Armin watched Eren and Annie following Levi, their hands brushing against one another's. Though he didn't want to vocalize it, he was beginning to piece together what was really going on.


"I think you know who I am." Levi told Annie, tilting his head in her direction. "But in case you're as dense as Yeager over there, I'm Lance Corporal Levi Ackerman. After the military trial, I was designated as his conditioner after beating him into submission for an outburst." He paused for a moment to let that sink it, smirking at the girls expression darkening, "I want you to remember that should either of you go rogue, I will be the one to kill you. If you act out of line, I will be the one that will smack you. If you try to run off, I will be the one that will drag you back kicking and screaming."

Annie's blood began boiling at his remarks, but knew very well he was trying to get a reaction out of her. "I understand." She spat, hatred leaking out at every syllable.

"Good." He replied, before something caught his eye. Flicking his gaze downward as they turned a corner, he saw Annie idly stroking Eren's palm with her fingertips. Turning his head back forward, he began thinking.

So they've fallen for each other. He mused, This could either cause problems or alleviate them. If we let them stay together, they have incentive to work together and with us, but they could try to escape. If we were to step in and break them up, they would resent us and likely run away or go rogue, but we'd be able to keep them more in line instead of appeasing them. At the very least the new one seems to be relatively reserved, if a bit easily angry. His eyes looked towards Eren, who seemed unaware of his partner's caressing, Eren, on the other hand, is the textbook example of a hormonal teenager. Of all the people in the walls to have such dangerous abilities, how did they wind up with two teenagers.

Turning another corner, he led the two shifters to a pair of double doors. Pushing them open, he led them into what appeared to be a meeting room, with a wide table in the middle. "You two sit over there," He directed, pointing to a pair of seats at one end of the table.

Nodding, Eren and Annie seated themselves, wondering what was going on. Levi seated himself on one side of the table; sitting at Eren's left side. Annie looked around, noticing several more seats were placed.

"What now?" She asked, causing Levi to look back in her direction for a moment.

"Now we wait." He replied cryptically, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a deck of cards. Pulling two out of the deck, he placed them on the table, making a pyramid shape out of them. Still focusing on the pyramid as he pulled some more cards out, he began talking. "So how about we get acquainted with one another?"

"Is this why we're here?" She asked, watching him place down two more cards next to the first pyramid.

A third pyramid, "No. I just think a certain level of trust should be had between a soldier and their superior."

"A few minutes ago you were talking about beating me into submission." Annie observed.

"Were you in my situation, wouldn't you do the same?" He queried, placing a single card down on top of two of the pyramids.

Annie thought for a moment, "I'm Cadet Annie Leonhardt, from Fionn."

"That isn't a city I've heard of." He said, placing another card on top of the pyramids. "Where is it located?"

"Southeast of Wall Maria." She replied, causing Levi to jerk in reaction.

"There are people outside of the wall?" He asked, placing two more cards on the new platform.

Annie paused, "There were at least." She replied, "I was sent here by my father before the fall of Wall Maria. I legitimately don't know if Fionn survived the swarms of titans."

"Did he have your ability as well?" He asked.

"Yes." She replied, "He trained me in Titan Shifting and martial arts until I surpassed his skills, then he sent me to the walls."

"And why would he send you here?" He asked, placing the last few cards onto the pyramid, completing a perfect card house. Before Annie could respond, the door opened again, allowing Erwin, Mike and Hange to enter the meeting room. Erwin seated himself at the opposite side of the table, letting Hange and Mike sit to his left.

"Good morning." Erwin started, "Now, to get things started, we're going to be running different tests on you today."

"Meaning?" Annie asked, raising an eyebrow.

Hange cleared her throat and began talking, "For starters, we'll be doing basic medical checkups. Partly to see if there are any noticeable differences between you two and normal humans. Next, based on those results, we'll be running anatomical examinations to look into these differences. I will tell you now that I will not put either of you under the knife, even if it were revealed that you had two hearts and could live for a thousand years. At the end of things, I want to run psychological tests on both of you." She paused, pulling out a file, "As it is, there are already fundamental biological differences that separate you two from normal humans, regeneration and shifting aside. When Mike originally smelled the two of you, he noticed that you carried a similar scent that he's never picked up from any other humans. I believe that this may be due to pheromones exclusive to Titan Shifters."

Erwin nodded in understanding, "So there you have it. Any objections?"

After exchanging a hesitant glance, the two shook their heads. "None, sir." Eren stated.

"Very well." Erwin replied, "Hange, Mike, they're all yours."

As Hange led the group out of the meeting room, Levi looked up from his exponentially larger card house. "You know what I'm going to tell you." He said.

"Involving Eren and Annie?" Erwin asked, to which Levi nodded. "Entertain me."

Levi sighed, taking the moment of privacy to massage the bridge of his nose "The two seem to have started a relationship."

Erwin folded his hands, resting them on the table. "This could work to our advantage." He replied. "There is information that she's leaving out with us, I'm sure anyone can see that. If she grows to trust Eren, she will be more inclined to confide in those secrets with him. Furthermore, Eren's dedication to the scouts will make him less likely to abandon us with her, making it more likely that we will be able to reign in both of them."

Levi considered Erwin's words. "You believe she knows the Colossal and Armored Titans."

"I don't consider it hap stance that she holds no records inside the walls until a month before it fell." Erwin stated, reminding Levi of an earlier comment Annie had made.

"She said she came from a place southeast of Wall Maria called 'Fionn.'" Levi recalled, "We've gone on expeditions in that direction before the wall fell, but I can't recall any settlements, standing or abandoned, that were found there."

Erwin pondered the information for a moment, "I believe that at present we shouldn't press for more details. We will need to let Annie come out to Eren, otherwise we'll risk losing her cooperation."

Levi raised an eyebrow, "Do we really trust Eren enough with gathering this information?" He asked.

"I believe he's got a better chance at getting it than we do." Erwin explained, "I don't think that she will lie to him, and I don't think he would lie to us if there was an important development."

Levi nodded, "I respect your decision, Commander."

Erwin smiled at his old friend's faith, "And I thank you for it, Levi."


"Alright, you two. Have a seat over on the table. The doctor will be in shortly." Hange requested, leading Annie and Eren into a medical ward of sorts. Unlike the normal stone brick layout of the castle, the walls of the room were smooth and white, with the floor being covered in white tiles. The layout of the room fit with a normal medical clinic, Eren recalling that the Survey Corps was given the most funding in terms of field and station medical equipment, and took the moment to admire the various odds and ends of the room, feeling a wave of nostalgia from the days his father brought him to his workplace.

"What's up with you?" Annie muttered, noting Eren's reaction to the room.

Eren turned his head to hide his embarrassment, "My dad was a doctor." He replied simply.

Annie paused, "Was his name Grisha?" She asked, causing Eren to snap his head in her direction. Before he could ask how she knew his father's name, the door opened again, revealing Hange wearing a white coat and head mirror, with a stethoscope dangling around her neck. Following closely behind was Mike, who was wearing a matching coat.

"Okay, my lovelies, first thing's first; I'm going to need to submit the two of you to the Zacharias Test. Eren, if you would be so kind as to remove your jacket and step up to Mike." Confused by Hange's request, Eren cautiously hung his jacket on a hanger by the door. Walking back over to Mike, Hange continued, "Please hold your arms out to your sides." As he positioned himself into the awkward pose, Hange nodded to Mike.

On cue, Mike walked behind Eren and closed his eyes, leaning towards Eren. Once he was in position, Mike began sniffing Eren, slowly moving his nose around Eren's head, taking in the young shifter's scents. Annie, deeply amused by the spectacle, let out a giggle at Eren's clear confusion and discomfort with the situation, causing Eren to shoot a glare in her direction, only furthering her amusement.

"Turn your head a little more." Mike requested. Eren obliged, tilting his head all the way to the right. "Thank you." After taking a few more whiffs, Mike made a motion to look in the other direction, continuing to smell Eren from the new angle. Once he had finished examining the other side of Eren's head, Mike moved down to Eren's neck and shoulders, scrunching his nose for a moment as he reached Eren's nape, only to continue moving on to the other side after a few deep whiffs.

Once Mike had finished smelling Eren's upper body, he leaned back and snorted, giving a smirk as he reached for a clipboard and began writing. "You're done, Mr. Yeager." As he finished taking his notes, he gave a look to Annie. Wordlessly, she stood up and took her place where Eren had once stood, leaving her jacket behind at the table. "Hoodie too, please." He asked, causing Annie to sigh before taking the sweater off and flinging it over to the table.

Once again, Mike leaned forward and closed his eyes, starting by sniffing the back of Annie's head, making requests for her to turn her head side to side like he had for Eren. As he moved down to her shoulders and neck, his nose scrunched up again as he reached her nape. With her scent fully taken in, he leaned back and grabbed the clipboard again, writing down more notes before going back and writing something down on a previous page.

"Here." Mike said, handing the notes to Hange, "I believe my work here is done." With that, he hung removed his coat, folding it up on one of the counters, and exited the room, leaving a very befuddled pair of Titan Shifters and a curious Hange.

As soon as the door closed, Annie turned towards Eren. "Did I just have some really weird hallucination right now, or did we just let a grown man sniff us like a bloodhound?"

Eren blinked, "I think that just happened." He muttered, before turning to Hange, "Why did you have Squad Leader Mike smell us?"

Hange looked up from the notes, eyes already glimmering with wonder, "His nose is super sensitive, so he's our typical go-to guy for picking up trails, since we can't using hunting dogs." She replied, "And from the looks of it, you two have some very interesting pheromones." Seeing them both tilt their heads in confusion, she elaborated, "Pheromones are chemicals made by living things, be it dogs, bees, or even us humans. We make them to show that we are hurt, sad, growing, or that we're in the mood."

Seeing Eren blush at the last comment made Hange suppress a giggle, while Annie gave a confused look in Eren's direction, wondering why he was embarrassed. Deciding against teasing Eren further, she continued, "According to Mike, the two of you had some common scents that are specific to the two of you, but still deviate slightly. For instance, Annie, yours was more floral, while Eren's smelled more like spices, but the two of you had a close, almost alien scent mixed in that completely overpowered your human smells." Looking back over the notes, Hange quirked an eyebrow, "Also according to him, the napes of your necks seemed to have a strong pheromone that threw him off for a few moments."

"What does that mean?" Eren asked, worried that there was something wrong with them. Looking over to Annie, he saw that she held a similar concern.

Hange gave the two a reassuring smile, easing both of their nerves. "I have no idea!" She exclaimed gleefully, "But we can find out!" With that, she rushed towards one of the counters, pulling out several cotton balls, some pieces of sterile white cloth, and a container of water. Dipping the first cloth into the water and straining it, she directed Eren to turn around before pressing the wet cloth against the nape of his neck. Once his neck was sufficiently damp, she rubbed two cotton balls against it, placing them each into a small glass jar. After that, she performed the same task with Annie.

Picking up the cotton balls from Eren's jar, she held the first one in front of Eren. "This may seem strange, but if you can please take a deep waft of the sample." Seeing nothing more weird about her request than what happened earlier, Eren complied, leaning forward and taking a deep breath into the cotton ball. Once he was done, Hange gave him an interested look, "Well? Anything?"

Eren thought for a moment, "No, nothing." He replied, "It just smelled like a normal piece of cotton."

"I figured as much." Hange told him, dropping the first cotton ball into the jar. She then lifted the second cotton ball to Annie. "If you would?"

Hesitantly, Annie leaned into the cotton ball, taking a deep breath. Immediately, her eyes widened as she shivered for a moment, a blush growing on her face. After a few moments of heavy breathing, Annie calmed down, folding her arms across her chest. "Well?" Hange asked, slightly taken aback by the adverse reaction.

"I just…" Annie trailed off, "I just felt tingly down at my thighs, and I wanted to pounce on something." She said, turning her head towards Eren with her last few words.

Hange's eyes widened, already coming up with a hypothesis for the reaction. Hastily dropping the cotton ball back into the jar, she reached for the cotton balls from Annie. "Annie, smell this now."

Obliging, Annie leaned in warily, taking a deep breath in and out. Looking towards Hange, she gave a blank stare. "Nothing."

Hange nodded, "Like I thought." She said, "Before I have you smell this, Eren, I want you to step away from Annie."

Eren nodded, standing up and walking a few steps away from the table Annie was standing at. Hange raised the cotton ball up to his nose, nodding for him to take a breath. As Eren took a breath, his eyes widened, a furious redness coming from his face as his pupils dilated. Seeing his reaction, Hange lowered the cotton ball, holding Eren into place as he looked towards Annie with a yearning expression as he tried pushing towards her. Like with Annie, the reaction settled down after a few moments, and Hange released her grip, allowing him to step back to the table.

"Well," Hange began, "That proves it. Those were sex pheromones." Seeing Eren's redness, she gave him a stern look, "If I hadn't held onto you when you smelled the pheromone, or if you two had found out about this on accident, you probably would have taken her then and there." Reverting back to her carefree mood, she decided to move onto the next part of the exam. "Alright, Annie, hold out arm, please."

Annie snapped out of her stupor at Hange's words, previously being transfixed on Eren's neck. "Yeah. Sure." She muttered, holding out her arm. Placing her thumb against Annie's wrist, Hange pulled a pocket watch out of her coat pocket, watching it intently for a minute while counting under her breath. After that, she thought for a moment before her eyes widened.

"30…" She muttered, gazing up at Annie, "Annie, your heart rate is slower than most highly active soldiers." Deciding to move onto Eren, Hange scribbled down the number before placing her finger on Eren's wrist and counting again. Receiving the same number again, she looked down in shock. "Impossible…"

Taking the lack of attention on her, Annie took the moment to lean into Eren, taking a deep breath into his neck, moaning lightly as she trembled against him. Almost immediately, her heart began thumping around in her chest, nuzzling into Eren's neck as she began moving to wrap her arms around him, only to feel herself being yanked away by a shocked and angry Hange.

"ANNIE!" She shouted incredulously, dragging the female shifter to another table, "What are you doing?!"

Annie only gave a half-lidded gaze in Eren's direction, "My mate…" She muttered, before her eyes snapped open as she realized what she had said, a heavy blush forming against her cheeks.

Hange's mouth gaped for a moment, shocked by Annie's statement. Turning around towards Eren, she recomposed herself, "Are you two…?"

Now it was Eren's turn to be embarrassed, giving a weak nod in response. Hange looked back and forth between the two before slapping herself on the forehead, "Of course!" She exclaimed, "That explains why Mike didn't notice the pheromones before!"

Eren breathed a sigh of relief, "So, you're not mad at us?" He asked.

Hange sighed, "Maybe a little bit." She admitted, "I would have liked a warning that the two of you were together, but if it's recent then I suppose that can't be helped." She then gave Eren a pointed stare, "Don't think that I want you two sleeping together haphazardly, though. We're in the branch with the highest casualty rates and the job of retaking Wall Maria and the outside world; I don't want one of our secret weapons to be incapacitated because she's got a baby growing in her."

At the last comment, Annie shot her head up in shock and horror, "I have a baby in me?!" She shrieked, causing Eren and Hange to flinch, before the two gave her an incredulous look.

"What?" Eren exclaimed, "We've only kissed!"

Seeing Annie's look of horror hadn't subsided, Hange gave her a confused look, "Annie, be honest for a moment: do you know where babies come from?" Seeing Annie shake her head, Hange sighed, "After this examination, you two are getting the day off. I may be your superior officer, but I owe you this much."

Realizing what was coming, Eren silently prayed that the castle would collapse on them before they finished.

WELL! Hange is giving Annie and Eren the sex talk! As a short explanation, Annie's obliviousness to sex is a product of three things:

1.) Her extremely combat oriented training during her childhood. Fighting and taking down humanity were her sole goals as a warrior, being a mother wasn't. Combining that with her leaving home at the age of 10-11, it makes sense that she wouldn't be taught about the human body beyond how to break it and how to defend hers.

2.) Her staying emotionally distant from others would make her unused to sexual attraction, thus the topic would never come up, and nobody would be there to walk her through it. Reiner, Bertolt and Eren were the three closest people that she had in the manga, and she only displayed more than a mutual respect for Eren (genuinely smiling at him and coming to him to teach him her fighting style) This also means that when she smelled the pheromones from Eren, she wasn't able to handle herself due to a lack of experience with sexual attraction and arousal, and literally threw herself onto Eren when the chance appeared.

3.) A little nod to the scene in the anime where Mikasa wanted to find out where babies came from, but her dad tried pushing the topic to Doctor Yeager. I thought it was funny as shit, even if he got murdered a few seconds later.