Continuing from the last chapter…

(7)

When he woke up, he was warm. Too warm. He knew he was in someone's arms before he even opened his eyes. He knew it was Jean. He listened with his eyes closed for a while. Jean's heartbeat and breathing were slow and even. He guessed that Annie was the one outside of the tent moving around. He could hear rustling and the occasional swish of water. The sharp howl from the wind he remembered yesterday was gone.

He could remember going out for wood. He could remember gathering enough to last for a while. He could remember the cold. After that, he wasn't sure. Either the horse had brought him back and someone had found him, or Annie must have gone to look for him. He didn't know why he was in his underwear. He wasn't sure why he was snuggled up to Jean, either. It took a moment, but he eventually realized that Jean wasn't wearing much either.

What happened?

He thought he could remember talking to Jean at some point, but it could have been nothing more than a half-remembered dream. All he knew for certain was that he was warm and that Jean was holding him. He felt safe, and that was enough to both comfort him and terrify him.

It didn't take him long to worry himself into a state of anxiety. He tried to shimmy his way out of Jean's grasp, but each time he moved, Jean just pulled him closer. Flushed and embarrassed, Armin redoubled his efforts. Jean finally woke up.

"Quit squirming." Armin felt his face darken from pink to red at the sound of Jean's voice.

"Let me go, Jean." He was whispering so Annie wouldn't hear, but a part of him knew she'd probably already seen them wrapped up like they were.

"No." That was a surprise. Armin blinked a few times and looked up at Jean. He was deliberately keeping his eyes closed, but Armin could see the tiny frown on his face.

"Um… Please?" What had come over Jean? Why was he acting so strange? Every other time they'd woken up a little too close to each other, Jean had bolted. Armin could understand that perfectly. This new attitude was puzzling.

"No." Jean finally opened his eyes and looked down at him. "Your clothes aren't dry yet anyway."

Armin looked down, but only found Jean's chest. He couldn't stop the heat rising from his neck to his cheeks. "But…"

"You were freezing to death last night." Armin peeked back up, but Jean's eyes were on the roof of the tent. "Annie's drying her clothes first. And she's wearing mine. When yours are done, then you can leave."

What? Why?

Armin didn't respond. He couldn't think of anything to say. Everything was madness! What had happened to make Jean act so strangely?

"J-Jean…"

"You asked me not to let you go," Jean muttered. Armin flushed dark pink again and tried to hide his face, but Jean wasn't looking at him anyway. "I said I wouldn't, so I'm not." Jean shifted suddenly, rolling from his back to his side and wrapping both of his arms around Armin. Somehow Armin found himself clutching Jean's chest with everything he had. Their legs were tangled together as well.

"What…"

"Just shut up, okay?" Armin looked up and found Jean's cheeks bright red. His eyes were closed and his eyebrows were furrowed, but he didn't really look unhappy. "You… you took care of me, so let me return the favor, alright?"

Armin couldn't respond. He'd doubted that Jean remembered much of what he'd done, but apparently he had. Armin just pressed his forehead to Jean's chest and sighed. Memories surfaced and washed over him, but he just brushed them away. All that mattered was the here and now.

If he'd learned anything from this stupid field exercise, it was that he would probably die the moment he went out beyond Wall Rose with the Survey Corps. With a little less than a year left of his training, he was suddenly determined to make the most of it.

-0-0-0-

The next day, Shadis arrived with a large group. There were wagons, plenty of extra horses, and a dozen field medics pulled from the Garrison. Armin, Jean, and Annie managed to make their way to the rendezvous point together. No one else looked any better than they did.

Three soldiers had died, but nearly all of the horses were gone. Many of them had died from starvation or exposure, but just as many had been slaughtered for food. Armin was fairly sure his squad was the only one that still had at least two horses.

Jean was still acting strange, but he kept it less obvious. Even after Annie had come to get them up the day before, Jean hadn't bothered to conceal anything. Annie seemed to accept it, though, and never once mentioned it. Now that they were amongst the others, Jean just refused to leave his side. Armin was grateful that Jean had at least given up on touching him constantly.

He hugged Eren and Mikasa when he saw them again, but they didn't say much to each other. During that time, Jean had wandered over to Marco and Annie had found Bertolt and Reiner. The ride back was spent in near-silence. They were all exhausted and hungry and still cold, despite the extra blankets and furs Shadis had brought along.

Due to the severe conditions of the field exercise, Shadis gave them all a few days to recover. Armin spent most of his time alone. The rest of it he spent drifting between Jean and Eren and Mikasa. Eren and Mikasa didn't ask what all happened, and neither did Armin. No one seemed to want to discuss what they'd done to survive. Jean didn't mention anything about acting so strange, either, but Armin noticed the shift in his personality all the same. Whenever he went to sit with Jean for a while, Jean would shift closer to him. They were always almost touching as long as they were alone.

Armin had no explanations, but he found he was okay with that. Whatever this was wouldn't last much longer. In less than a year they would all split up anyhow. Jean was bound for the Military Police Brigade and Armin himself was going to join the Survey Corps with Eren and Mikasa. He knew he'd never rank high enough for the Military Police anyway.

With so little time left with these people, Armin just wanted to be happy for a little while.