The younger boy blinked a few times, unsure of what had just happened, then fell onto his bottom and brought his fingers to his lips. Jean remained quiet, simply staring at the other boy. Finally, Sojin's brain started working again. He jumped to his feet, his face instantly flushing as he backed away a bit.
"What the hell, Jean?!" he exclaimed, glaring down at the injured boy in confusion. All this time, he had thought of their relationship simply as brotherly love. Jean protected him from danger and teased him, sure, but it had always seemed so platonic to Sojin. Thinking back, though, the picture was starting to become more clear in his head. Most of Jean's actions were far too nice to simply be platonic — hell, Sojin had even noticed the difference between how Jean treated him versus everyone else. Perhaps the younger boy's vision had been clouded by his own crush on Eren this whole time. To make things worse, it wasn't as if he didn't like Jean — there was no denying that he was very handsome — but he had never seen him in that way. And if he somehow did end up with Jean, where would Eren play into this? It would be a whole different story if the medic hadn't already confessed to the titan-shifter, but now it would become so awkward. Sojin put his hand to his head, gritting his teeth as he tried to sort through his thoughts.
"Sojin, I'm sorry. I should've given you some warning. I just thought you would've at least had some idea by now…" Jean uttered, regret in his eyes. The younger boy let out a quiet sigh as he walked back over to Jean and took a seat. He stared ahead for a few moments, figuring out what he wanted to say, then turned to look into the boy's eyes.
"Jean…I didn't know. I was stupid for not realizing, but somehow I never put the whole thing together in my mind. I always thought of you as my older brother," he said, shifting his gaze to the ground and thinking for a moment. If he accepted Jean now, he'd have a loving significant other who was both handsome and caring. Sojin winced as his mind wandered to Eren. Love could make a person crazy and the medic could feel its effects. Why was he still so into Eren when he had a perfect person confessing to him right now? After a few more seconds of silence, the medic made up his mind, looking back up at Jean.
"I like you too, bu —" he began, before pausing mid-sentence as something caught his eye.
"Sojin! Jean! I'm so glad you guys are okay!" Christa exclaimed, landing softly before the pair. Sojin glanced at the blonde girl, then back at Jean, unsure of what to do. Jean seemed to be frozen in anticipation of hearing what the medic had to say, a slight look of worry crossing his brow.
"What's wrong? You guys are okay, right?" Christa asked with concern, jogging over and kneeling before the two. Sojin immediately put on a fake smile, nodding happily at his friend.
"Yeah, we're okay! Jean saved me from a titan!" he replied, pointing towards his savior who still wore a blank expression. Sojin glanced over at the injured boy, unsure of what to do. Placing his hand on Jean's shoulder, he gave his friend a gentle shake hoping to snap him out of his trance.
"Oh, right! Yeah, it was no big deal, really. Where have you been this whole time, Christa?" Jean asked, finally playing along with the happiness act. Christa gave the boys a look of confusion for their sudden change in behavior, but didn't question it.
"I was taking down those two titans we saw initially. Armin was supposed to stay with me while you and Eren went to help Sojin, but I guess he got concerned for Eren…" she stated, a hint of momentary annoyance in her voice before switching back to normal. "But anyway, I managed to take them down! I'm glad you two are alright!"
"Same to you! I can't believe you managed to defeat two of them all by yourself! You've definitely improved since back in the day," Sojin said with a smile as he pushed himself back to a standing position. Christa's face lit up at the complement, but her attention quickly shifted to something behind Sojin.
"Oh! It's Eren and Armin! They have someone with them, too…" she said, pointing over Sojin's shoulder. The medic looked behind him to find his two allies quickly approaching, an unconscious boy with shoulder length black hair slumped over Eren's shoulder. His legs and arms were tightly bound, suggesting he was not an ally. Sojin turned to Jean, urging him to stand up as the party finally regrouped.
"Sojin, sorry we didn't get to you sooner!" Eren exclaimed, landing and placing the unconscious boy on the ground. "I'm honestly impressed you managed to fend that titan off for as long as you did."
Eren glanced down at the long-haired boy, before explaining who the newcomer was.
"That's the titan for you. It was a difficult battle, but thanks to Armin's help I managed to take him down. We weren't sure if it was a shifter, but Armin found this kid inside and cut him out. He's been unconscious since."
Sojin took a closer look at the boy. His clothes were all black and quite simple — just a mesh, short-sleeve shirt and slim black pants with a silver belt. From the looks of it, he seemed to be about Sojin's age, if not a bit younger. As far as appearances went, the medic would have deemed him fairly good-looking, had he not tried to kill the boy earlier. Glancing over at Jean, he noticed that the injured boy was also examining the newcomer with a look of interest. A feeling of disdain for the unconscious boy washed over Sojin upon seeing Jean stare, though he wasn't sure if the feeling was caused by jealousy or rage for injuring his friend. The medic shook his head, knowing he had no right to be jealous after he had planned on rejecting Jean.
"We plan to question him when he wakes up and hopefully find out more about Mikasa's location!" Armin exclaimed, snapping Sojin back to the situation at hand.
"Do you really think he'll cooperate with us?" asked Christa, shaking her head. Armin let out a sigh, staring down at their captive.
"We'd better hope so…" the blonde boy uttered. There was a momentary pause before Eren resumed giving orders.
"It's starting to get dark now and our horses are long gone. I think we should call it a night and start fresh tomorrow morning," he stated, rubbing his arm and gazing around at his teammates. Everyone seemed in agreement, nodding simultaneously at the prospect of rest.
"We're gonna have to take shifts watching this kid, though. Make sure he doesn't kill us while we're sleeping," he continued. Armin nodded, offering to take the first shift.
"Titans aren't really active at night, but I think it'd be better if we slept in the trees," suggested the blonde boy. "The branches on some of the bigger trees are so wide that it'll be tough to roll off…but keep your gear on just to be safe."
Everyone nodded, then followed Eren to the biggest tree in the surrounding area. Sojin gasped in awe, just now noticing how abnormally large the plant was. It's trunk extended so high that the boy couldn't even make out the top branches, while each branch was wide enough to pace around on. The party ascended to a branch halfway up the tree, Armin lugging the unconscious boy with him.
"Alright, Armin, you stand guard here. The rest of us will be a bit further up," stated Eren, heading upwards towards the next branch. Sojin and the two others followed, landing swiftly upon the huge tree. Eren pointed to a branch directly on the other side of the trunk, looking at Jean and Christa.
"You two can take that branch for the night. I think we'd be at higher risk of rolling off if all four of us stay on one," he stated. Christa nodded without hesitation, but Jean gave a glance towards Sojin, looking as if he was going to protest. The medic, wanting to at least straighten things out with the titan-shifter, was actually happy to have the chance to have a moment alone with Eren. Jean opened his mouth, but closed it upon seeing Sojin's lack of protest, following Christa around the trunk to the other branch. The black-haired boy felt bad for leaving Jean without an answer, but he needed to receive an answer from Eren first. Still, something about this situation felt wrong. Rejecting someone who had confessed to him for another who had been hesitant up till now just seemed stupid. Even though Sojin knew this, he ignored the fact, desperately wanting to know Eren's answer.
"Sojin, hurry and get some rest," stated Eren, who had already laid down across the branch. The titan-shifter tapped the spot next to him, signaling for the medic to come over. The younger boy obeyed, sitting and staring at Eren for a moment before finally laying down. Even through the tree branches, Sojin could see a bit of the starry sky, twinkling brightly over the canopy. He let out a sigh, unsure of how to start the conversation with Eren. However, it seemed he didn't need to say anything as the titan-shifter began speaking first.
"So…I was trying to gather my thoughts about our whole situation during the horse ride and I think I've got some idea now," he began. Sojin's heart beat increased, not having expected Eren to bring the topic up himself.
"First, I'm sorry for leaving you hanging for so long…that was wrong of me. Second…" Eren paused and rolled onto his side, propping his head up on his arm and gazing at the younger boy. "I guess it took the event of you almost getting eaten by a titan to realize, but I really do like you. I was completely ready to die in order to save you from that attack…and I'm not sure I'd do that for someone I didn't love. My feelings are still confusing — what with Mikasa and all — but for now, I think I can safely say that I like you too."
Sojin, who had been holding his breath during the whole speech, let out a gasp of both relief and surprise.
"R-really? Are you sure?!" he questioned, turning his head to look Eren in the eye. The squad leader nodded his confirmation, a smile spreading across his face as he rolled back onto his back. Eren spread his arm out, placing it under Sojin's head, then pulled the younger boy in a bit closer.
"Don't worry, it's not a dream," he stated with a quiet laugh. "Anyway, it's been a long day for you, so get some sleep. We can be happy about this tomorrow!"
Sojin also let out a soft laugh, a sense of overwhelming happiness welling up inside of him as he snuggled a bit closer to the titan-shifter.
On the other side of the tree, Jean leaned against the trunk staring at Christa, unable to fall asleep. The injured boy winced as he heard every word of the conversation taking place on the opposite side of the tree — the reason behind Sojin's hesitation becoming clear. Even after the two boys had stopped talking, Jean remained leaning against the trunk, a feeling that he had never experienced taking over him. Pure misery.
