A few days after staying up the day I stayed up all night with Reiner, I was finally back on my normal sleep schedule. The day after that had been hell, but Reiner had been as exhausted as I was, so at least I didn't suffer alone. That morning we were doing hand to hand combat drills, and I was going to ask Reiner to be my partner, but was stopped by Bertholdt. As I approached them, Bertholdt spoke before I could get my mouth open, "Alex, will you be my partner? You're really good, and I need a challenge!"

Reiner frowned at him, "Am I not a challenge?"

Bertholdt laughed and waved his hand at him, "Sure you are. But Alex is one of the best fighters in the class! It's because you train and practice with Mikasa all the time, right?"

"Well, I wasn't good before I started taking lessons from her. If you really want a challenge, then why don't you ask her?" I asked.

I could see a drop of sweat run down Bertholdt's forehead, which wasn't unusual. The boy sweated all the time. "Uh, see… Mikasa is kind of scary…."

I smiled and laughed, "I promise she's not really. But sure, I'll be your partner."

After the drill was explained to us, Bertholdt and I found a free spot and began. It was a basic exercise with little instructions. We were supposed to alternate who attacked first, and the objective was to try to knock the other one off their feet first. Other than that, there were no rules. As always, I tried to analyze my opponent before we went to throwing punches, but there wasn't much I really knew about Bertholdt's fighting style. He had never stood out to me, and if I had spared with him before, it had been a long time. I then realized that there wasn't much I knew about Bertholdt in general except he was friends with Reiner and he was quiet. Eren and Armin were closer to him than I was, but I hadn't spent time with him without Reiner and he tended to stand behind him and let him do the talking.

Just as I realized this, Bertholdt made his first move and swung his fist at me. I moved quickly, a little put off from being caught off guard, but could dodge just in time. At the same time I ducked my head, though, he brought up his knee and slammed it into my chin. I stumbled back and fell.

"Are you sure you're really fighting me for a challenge?" I joked as he helped me up.

"That's not the best you can do," he said. "Don't go easy on me just because I'm shy."

"And you don't go easy on me just because I'm small," I countered. "You could've kneed me harder than that."

We kept going for around two hours with a few breaks for water. After the first go, I did do a lot better and only ended up on the ground a few more times. Bertholdt was larger than me and was very skilled, but I could move faster than him and I used my height as an advantage to move around him and his punches and kicks. At the end of the two hours we were both breathing hard and I suggested we spend the last five minutes resting and getting water.

"You're really good, Bertholdt. I don't think I remember seeing you fight before, either," I commented.

"You still put me on the ground more often than not," he said, almost looking upset about it.

"Like you said, I'm good because I get help and train with Mikasa. Without her tips and exercise, I wouldn't be much. I was serious when I said you should go to her for a challenge. She'll put you through it, but you'll come out better than you were before."

He nodded and said, "But Mikasa relies on her strength, skill, and speed. By the end of our sparing, I wasn't winning at all against you. It was like you were using my own body and movements as a tactic against me. You use your brains to your advantage, and you do it within split seconds. That's a different type of talent."

"Oh. Thank you," I said. I wasn't expecting such high praise from him. "I still don't think I'm that great, though. But if you want to work together again, just ask. I had fun sparing with you. If you need anything, just ask."

He smiled and looked down at his feet, "There is something I want to ask you."

"Yes?"

"The other night, Reiner didn't come to bed until after three in the morning. Was he with you?"

A light blush dusted my cheeks that I tried to push back, "Yeah. We were just talking."

"Just talking, until three am?" he had a weird look on his face. He looked torn between being concerned, being upset, and something else I couldn't place.

"I'm sorry, it was irresponsible of us, I know. You didn't wait up on him, did you? I mean, that's nice if you did, to make sure your friend got back safe, but I'm sorry if we kept you up, too."

"No. I tried to stay up but I fell asleep long before he got back. He woke me up when he got in the bed, apparently I was on his side, or something," he looked a little embarrassed about that, and I remembered what Reiner said about Bertholdt's weird sleeping positions. I pushed back a chuckle, imagining Reiner having to move Bert around at three thirty am just to get in bed.

"Still, sorry about worrying you. Reiner told me about when you were kids, and you were his only friend. You probably worry about him a lot."

A small smile pulled on his lips as he looked down again and said, "You have no idea."

I stared at him for a few seconds before saying anything else, trying to figure out what he meant. Then it all made sense. "Oooooh."

He furrowed his eyebrows and looked back at me, "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

In my head, all the pieces were coming together. Bertholdt was almost always at Reiner's side, Bertholdt worried about Reiner, Bertholdt didn't like Reiner staying out late with me, and what Reiner said about Bertholdt being happy with Reiner being his only friend as a kid all added up to one conclusion.

"You're in love with him, aren't you?"

"W-what? N-no, what would make you think that?" he stuttered. He was sweating bullets and his face turned red, and I knew I was right.

"Bert, you can be honest with me. I won't tell him or anyone else if you don't want me to. I promise, and I always keep my promises."

His shoulders slumped, and gave me an unsure look and whispered, "You promise?"

"I promise. I should say I'm sorry, though, that I didn't realize before. I think I'm in love with him, too, now," I gave him a sad look and continued, "But you're his childhood friend. I really shouldn't keep pursuing this."

He laughed, and I gave him a confused look. "Sorry," he said, "it's just that, it's hard to be mad or jealous of you when you're nice like this. And you're right, you shouldn't continue to pursue him. But, I think you'd make him happy."

I widened my eyes at him, and started to reply when I was cut off, "Alex! Come on! I'm hungry!"

I turned around to see Sasha standing a few meters away, tapping her foot impatiently. Ymir and Christa were already walking away towards the mess hall.

"Oh, sorry! I'll see you later, Bert. I can't make any promises about not pursuing Reiner, though. I'm sorry." I hurried away to my friends before he could continue the conversation.

"What were you talking to ole tall-and-sweaty about?" asked Ymir. "It looked serious."

"Nah, not that serious," I shrugged. "Just about different kicking styles."

Christa raised her eyebrows at me, "Bertholdt was that worked up about kicking styles?"

I nodded, "Yeah, he's real serious about his training. Hey Mina, how was your morning?" I smiled and changed the subject as soon as I could.

"No good. I got my ass kicked by Annie," she said looking exhausted.

"Really? I wasn't aware Annie participated in the drills," I said.

Ymir snorted and said, "She normally doesn't. But didn't you see when she got her childhood memories headbutted out of her by Shadis a few days ago? I'd be on guard if I was her, too."

I shrugged, "Fair enough."

At lunch that day everyone was tired and quiet but me. I sat restlessly, and chatted on about everything I could think of, from what exercise I hoped we'd practice that evening to whatever funny joke popped in my mind. No one else seemed to be interested in entertaining me by engaging in conversation with me. Even Connie and Sasha just nodded at me and ate their meal.

"What's wrong with all of you?" I said, getting irritated at hearing my own voice alone throughout the meal.

"We're tired, Alex," yawned Sasha, "We just want to rest before we go back out to do more work."

"But we're going to the classroom next," I pointed out.

"Exactly!" said Connie. "I wish we were going back to bed next."

"But it's only lunchtime!"

"Not everyone has your energy," agreed Ymir. "The rest of us are normal humans who don't get excited over everything."

I looked at Christa to tell her to tell them to cheer up, but she was yawning, and then sat with her head in her hands. I crossed my arms and leaned back in my chair and allowed the table to sit quietly for a few moments.

"You know what we need to do?" I started again.

"What?" answered Mina.

"Something fun. We've been here for over a year and we've barely left the grounds. Even on our days off we just sit and rest. You're all tired because we do the same thing day in and day out. We need to do something different."

"What kind of different?" asked Ymir, pretending to look not interested.

I shrugged. "Anything, really. We could go to town and shop, or maybe go swimming?"

"Swimming!" yelled Mina.

"That's right!" added Sasha. "There's that lake that's not far from here! I'd bet it feel good in this summer heat!"

"Is swimming in a wild lake like that safe?" asked Mina.

Sasha nodded, "Of course! I used to swim in water like that all the time at home."

I nodded too, "Armin, Mikasa, Eren, and I used to swim in the river that went through Shiganshina."

Connie was looking excited, "Let's do it!"

"Our next day off is Saturday, right? Let's go then and invite everyone else. It'll be more fun with more people," said Christa while smiling.

That Saturday afternoon, eighteen of us left from the camp to hike through the forest through lake, including myself, Sasha, Mina, Christa, Ymir, Eren, Mikasa, Armin, Connie, Jean, Marco, Reiner, Bertholdt, Annie, Thomas, Franz, Hannah, and Daz. I was surprised Annie had said yes when I asked her, but she muttered something about, "Better than hanging around here all day," and that was good enough to me.

Since it was my idea, I ended up planning the trip. I figured if we left a half hour after lunch, then by the time we got to the lake enough time would've passed since lunch so our stomachs wouldn't be upset. That would also give us plenty of time to have fun there and get back before dinner.

It didn't take us too long to reach the lake. When we first caught sight of the glistening water, Jean took off running ahead of the group. "I'll be the first one in!" he yelled, and Eren took off after him.

"We'll see about that, Jean!"

The rest of us followed suit and ran behind them. We all threw off our clothes and jumped in in the bathing suits we wore underneath. I ran into the water until I got waist deep and jumped the rest of the way in. The cool water felt good against my skin; it wasn't too cold or too warm. After I resurfaced, I immediately got pushed back down again by Sasha and Connie. I managed to grab Connie's hand before I fell under and pull him with me. When I came up again, Sasha was laughing at both of our angry faces. I splashed as hard as I could at her, and soaked her and the person behind her.

Reiner turned, looking for the culprit with an annoyed look on his face. I laughed and waved at him innocently just before I was tackled from both sides by Connie and Sasha. I went under for a few seconds before I was pulled up again with a pair arms holding mine behind my back. "Get her Connie!"

Sasha was holding me while Connie lunged for my sides and began tickling. I laughed and cried, "Mercy, mercy, please!"

"No Mercy!" yelled Eren as he joined in on the tickling fest with Connie.

"Stop! I can't breathe! Help!" I yelled, even though it was obvious from my laughter that I could. I was laughing so hard at this point I felt like my lungs would burst and tears were blinding my vision.

Then I felt the arms holding mine release me and I was swept out of the water. I looked up to see Reiner grinning back at me while he held me bridal style. "I'll save you, Princess!" he cried and I laughed again.

"Oh, my knight in shining armor!" I made a fake swooning motion and fell back in his arms.

Reiner ran through the water while carrying me as Sasha, Connie, and Eren tried to catch him. By now, the rest of the group was watching and laughing, too. Then Eren caught us and jumped on Reiner's back and knocked him off balance. For what felt like the tenth time, I was pushed underwater, this time by Reiner falling forward. He helped me back up and before I could get balanced, I heard Connie yell, "Chicken fight!" while Sasha jumped on his shoulders.

"Mikasa!" yelled Eren, looking for her so he could secure her as a partner. Everyone scrambled to find a partner for the ensuing battle. Reiner looked down at me and smirked, "Ready, Princess?"

"Do I have a choice?" I smiled.

Reiner squatted down in the water and I swung my legs over his shoulders. He got a hold of my legs and stood up. Being so high up felt odd, and I wasn't sure I liked it. It was a different feeling than using the 3D gear. Using the 3D gear felt weightless, like I was flying. This just felt like my legs had doubled in length, but I could no longer control them.

Within a few moments, the rest of the pairs were decided. It was Connie and Sasha, Eren and Mikasa, Ymir and Christa, Bertholdt and Annie, Franz and Hannah, Marco and Mina, Jean and Armin, and Daz and Thomas. Then the chaos began.

"Stay away from Annie and Mikasa," I said quietly as possible so he could still hear me. "We want to stay in as long as possible. Go after the weak ones first, like Hannah and Franz!"

I felt him nod between as he went around Connie and Sasha fighting Ymir and Christa so he could avoid Bertholdt and Annie. At that moment, my face went red as I realized, oh god, his face was in-between my legs.

I didn't have time to dwell on that little fact, though, because we were soon up against our first opponents, Marco and Mina. All that really needed doing was Reiner slamming against Marco to push them down, but I still reached out to push against Mina's shoulders anyway.

"Looks like those muscles are good for something, my gallant stead," I joked.

I felt him laugh as he turned us around to face Jean and Armin who were approaching us from the side. Jean let a battle cry and charged before Reiner or I fully realized they were there, and Armin already had his hands up ready to shove me off. I stuck my feet out and used them to stop Jean from hitting Reiner while I met Armin's outstretched arms and pushed against him. While he had gained a good bit of muscle mass over the years, my extra training with Mikasa allowed me to keep the title of "Strongest Arlelt Twin."

After I pushed Armin into the water and smirked at him when he came up, "A sneak attack?"

He shrugged and replied, "It almost worked."

Reiner and I kept going like that, avoiding the real threats when we could and taking down all the weaker opponents first. Eventually, all that was left was Eren and Mikasa, Annie and Bertholdt, and Reiner and I. Mikasa and Annie seemed focused on each other, which was normal. Annie and Mikasa had a rivalry going over who was the most quiet and dangerous girl in the class. Bertholdt was looking at Reiner and I, and I thought of our conversation earlier in the week and felt a pang of guilt. Then Eren charged at Bert, and his attention went from us to them. The four of them clashed head on and all the fallen teams started cheering for whoever they wanted to win.

"Annie! Annie!"

"Mikasa! Mikasa!"

"Now's our chance, Reiner. Go, go, go!"

Reiner rushed forward and slammed his shoulders into both boys while I reached forward to shove my arms between the wrestling girls and push them both aside. Neither Annie nor Mikasa was expecting it and they both gave me a look or surprise before they fell in the water with their chickens.

"Victory!" I yelled while Reiner whooped below me before letting me down.

Most of the onlookers laughed and cheered, but I could distinctly hear Marco saying, "Isn't that dirty?"

I didn't care, though. I had beat both Annie and Mikasa. My victory glow was short lived when I noticed Annie panicking when she came out of the water. Bertholdt was helping, and even though the water was only up to her waist, she looked scared. Reiner and Bertholdt helped her get closer to the shore, and I looked at Mikasa and Eren to see if they noticed. Eren still looked too mad about losing to be paying attention, but Mikasa looked back at me, too.

"What's wrong with Annie?" asked Christa, who came up next to me along with Sasha.

I shrugged and started to walk over with Christa and Sasha following me. When we approached I could hear Reiner saying to Annie, "You shouldn't have gotten in the water if you're going to react like that."

"I know that," Annie hissed at him. "I told you I thought I was going to be fine."

"Annie," I said, announcing our arrival as the trio turned to look at us. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she huffed, crossing her arms.

"Are you scared of the water, Annie?" asked Christa.

"Of course I'm not scared of the water. I'm just scared of drowning in it. Which is a reasonable fear," she said, glaring us down as if daring us to make fun of her.

"You can't swim," I realized.

"Why'd you agree to come swimming if you can't swim?" asked Sasha, who didn't realize how rude she sounded. I elbowed her arm, and she looked at me aghast, "What was that for?"

I shook my head at her and said, "You don't have to be scared of drowning, Annie. No one here would let you drown."

"I don't want to depend on you, or these two idiots," Annie replied, motioning at Reiner and Bertholdt, "to save me like I'm some damsel in distress."

I nodded, thinking I was getting to the heart of the problem. It was Annie's pride conflicting with her fear. She couldn't swim, so she was scared of the water. But her pride didn't want to admit that. She wanted to prove to herself she could handle it, which was probably why she agreed to come with us in the first place.

"You don't have to depend on us," I said looking at Christa, who looked like she was having the same thoughts as I was. "We can teach you how to swim on your own. Then you won't need anyone to save you."

Christa smiled and nodded at her, "Learning to swim is easy compared to all the other stuff we do! You'll get in no time, Annie!"

"Yes!" yelled Sasha. "Let's do it!"

Reiner and Bertholdt decided to stand off to the side and watch as the three of us instructed Annie on how to float in the water, kick her legs to keep herself up, and how to move arms and legs to push herself around. The rest of the group was still swimming and playing in the deeper part of the lake.

I was squatting in the water with my arms underneath Annie while she paddled around, practicing on keeping herself afloat while moving, when she squealed and jumped on me.

"What? What is it?" asked Sasha, who had been standing on the opposite side of Annie from me.

Before Annie could answer, I felt something slimy and gross rub against one of my legs.

I squealed too, and kicked out at it with my legs, causing Annie and I to both fall backwards into the water. "It's a fish!" I yelled. "It touched us!"

"Seriously?" asked Sasha, with a deadpan expression on her face.

"Yes, seriously!" I said back.

Annie stood up in the water next to me, "Okay, I'm done. That was the worst thing to have ever touched me, ever."

"But Annie, you were doing so well!" I complained, as she walked to the shore.

Sasha, however, no longer seemed to care about the swimming lessons, "Did you see how big that fish was? It could've been good meat!"

I heard laughter coming from behind me, and I turned to see Christa standing with Reiner and Bertholdt, the three of them laughing at the three of us. I smiled, and laughed back. It was funny.

Before I could convince Annie to try getting back in the water again, the rest of the group came back in. "Shouldn't we be heading back?" asked Armin. "It's getting late."

"Oh yeah, we probably should," I replied, "I lost track of time."

We all headed back through the woods together, wrapped in towels and everyone was still smiling and joking with each other. A sense of calm and happiness washed over me, and I was glad our swimming trip was a success.

A/N: I love writing happy, warm things like this. And I love how cute the 104th was during their training years. I don't there will be many more chapters written during this time period before I get to the actual story plot, or the sad, angsty, not fun part. Enjoy the happy cadets while they last!