The soldiers: Eren Jaeger, Levi Jaeger, and their son.

The weapons: Cleaning supplies from the hall closet.

The battlefield: The son's room.

The battle: The mess in it.

Eren, Levi, and their son stood in the child's room decked out in their cleaning clothes, complete with bandanas keeping their bangs out of their eyes and kerchiefs tied around their faces to keep the dust out of their mouths and noses. Levi held two dusters, one in each hand, while Eren carried a bucket of water in one hand and a mop in the other. Their son held onto a dusting cloth. Levi stared at the war zone that was his son's room while Eren and said son stared at him, waiting for something, anything, with bated breath.

Finally, Levi let out a long, heavy sigh.

"Honestly, I'm impressed."

He looked down at his son.

"Remind me never to make you angry. You're your daddy's son alright."

The boy flushed slightly.

"Alright, might as well get to work," Levi continued, rolling his sleeves up. "First we should pick everything up off the floor. Then we'll put the bed and window back together. Then we might as well dust and mop the whole place up anyway." He set the dusters down for the time being, and Eren set the bucket and mop next to them. Levi then bent down to pick up a nearby shirt when he noticed his son picking toys up. "No, not you, baby," he said, catching the boy's attention. "You don't have to do anything. Daddy and I made this mess, so we'll clean it up."

The boy fiddled with the rag doll in his hands. "But…I made this mess…"

"And it was our fault," Levi insisted.

The boy shook his head. "I want to help. I said something really mean and…I'm sorry, Daddy, I'm really sorry…" His eyes began to tear up, and his bottom lip quivered.

Eren looked straight at him and got down on his knees so he was at his son's eye level. "What is it, baby? You didn't say anything—"

"I said that you were the Titan that bit Papa…"

Now the tears were flowing down the boy's face, and Eren felt his heart clench. He marveled at how carefully and maturely his son always picked his words, never saying something he didn't mean. Before rushing up to his room the previous day, he had said, "I'm angry" because he had been. He hadn't said "I hate you" because hadn't and still didn't. And that wasn't the only example. Eren recalled so many of the times he had screamed out in a rage and said things he hadn't meant throughout his youth, and, hell, he still did that sometimes. And here was his son feeling miserable because of one thing said in a moment of sheer terror and confusion.

Eren pulled the boy into a hug. "It's alright, I know you didn't mean it."

"No, it's not alright!"

"Yes, it is," Eren insisted, pulling back so that he could make direct eye contact with his son. "You didn't mean it. You said that when you were angry and sad and scared; anybody else would have done the same thing in that situation. And saying something like that once doesn't make you a bad person. I'm not angry. Neither is Papa. We still love you very much. We will still love you no matter what you do or say."

The boy nodded and hugged his daddy again. Eren hugged back and then pulled away, wiping his thumbs against his son's cheeks. "Alright now, no more tears. We'll do something fun together once we're all done here. And, if you want to help, you can. You can put all your toys back in their box. Do you still want your plush Titan on your bed?" He smiled when his son nodded. "Alright, then we'll leave that one out for now. Papa and I will fold your clothes and put your bed back together. Right, Levi?"

No response.

"Levi?" Eren turned towards his husband, who was turned away from him, seemingly staring at the wall in front of him. "Levi?" Eren said a little louder, and his husband finally turned towards him.

"I heard you. Sorry, I was just thinking." He momentarily glanced away. "Anyway, if you want to help, baby, you can. And Daddy's right, he's right about everything."

Finally the child smiled and rubbed his tears away. "Okay."

Eren navigated his way through the marketplace, heading towards the vegetable stands. He stopped in front of a vendor selling tomatoes and went to pick one up when his hand bumped into someone else's. "Oops, sorry!" he said, looking up, only for his eyes to widen and a smile to appear on his face. "Hi—"

"I'm sorry!" Bertholdt said quickly, taking a step back before realizing who was next to him. "Oh, Eren, I'm sorry, I didn't see you. Go ahead."

"Thanks," Eren said back, picking up the tomato and inspecting it. "Reiner here, too?"

"I heard my name!" the blond man said, coming up behind Bertholdt. "Hey, Eren, what's up? Haven't seen you since…yeah."

Eren shrugged as his smile disappeared. "Yeah, we've been lying low since then, but it's been a week, and we can't stay inside forever. Mikasa's been taking time away from HQ and coming over to help us cook, so we're making dinner for her tonight. It's the least we can do, and I just needed to get out of the house. Levi's at home watching the kid. We don't want to take him out just yet in case it's not safe."

Reiner frowned at this. "You don't need to worry about that, Eren, nothing's happened. A small riot almost started as soon as you guys were out of the downtown area, but we helped the Military Police and Garrison break it up before it got ugly."

Eren did a double take. "What? The Military Police? They're the ones we've been avoiding this past week!"

Now it was Reiner's turn to be surprised. "Wha—? Weren't you guys ambushed by Titans outside the Walls?"

Eren went to speak before biting his lip and saying, "Let's go to a less crowded area. I'll explain everything there."

Fulfilling his promise, Eren quickly paid for the tomatoes, waited for Reiner and Bertholdt to gather their groceries, and then led his friends to a quiet area. There, he sat on a nearby bench and told them the whole story, not leaving out a single detail about who the religious conservatives were and what they had done. Reiner and Bertholdt listened silently, taking in every word, their eyes growing larger with every new revelation.

When he was done, Eren sighed, slumped against the bench, and looked up at the sky. His eyes glanced over when Reiner cleared his throat. "Wow, okay," the blond said, "makes sense you'd want to avoid the Military Police then."

"Yeah, I don't think we can be blamed for thinking that way, but you said that the Military Police also stopped that riot," Eren said back. "What's up with that?"

"Well, the MPs who stopped the riot obviously weren't associated with the same group that attacked you," the blond replied, "because Annie stopped it."

"Did you see them? Captain Levi and the Titan guy? That little boy with them was sobbing and screaming his lungs out!"

"Don't you know? That's their son."

"Their son? Ha! It's a monster they bred to take over humanity. Just you watch, it'll appear over the Walls as a Titan, just like the Colossal did all those years ago."

"Shame on you, blaming the child. It's the Survey Corps we REALLY need to go after."

"I never did trust that shortie and his freak Titan pet."

That did it. Annie pushed Armin out of the way and sped home, ignoring his protests for her to stop. She slammed the front door to their shared house open and ran to their bedroom to put on her uniform and gather her supplies.

Once she was dressed, rifle in hand, Annie ran back to the downtown area, but the townspeople were already starting to form a group. One by one, they gathered together. What had started out as murmurs quickly evolved into shouts and rallying cries. A man called for everyone to protest in front of the Jaeger house.

"If nothing else, we should rescue that child from his abusive parents!" he declared. Most of the crowd agreed with him.

Others had more extreme ideas. "Put them all to death before they can attack us!" someone shouted.

Annie didn't hesitate to use her gear. She flew through the air and touched down in front of the mob, holding up her rifle. "Freeze!" she shouted, aiming at the mob leader. "This is a direct Military Police order: stand down!" The crowd just shouted back at her, and she winced but didn't move.

"You'd defend those Titan-loving psychos?!"

"You should be defending US, not them!"

"And why should we listen to YOU, Female Titan? For all we know, you're on their side, trying to kill us all!"

"They're INNOCENT!" Annie insisted, finger hovering over the trigger. "And, even if they weren't, let the Military Police handle it. For your own safety, civilians should not get involved!" She flinched when the rallying cries only intensified, realizing that she really had no place trying to get the public to trust her.

The mob was about to move forward again when a voice joined Annie's. "Eren and Levi Jaeger are not your enemies!" Armin shouted, holding his arms out to shield Annie with his body. "Soldier Annie Leonhart speaks the truth! Both Captain Levi Jaeger and Soldier Eren Jaeger are loyal to humanity, and both of them have made great strides in winning humanity's freedom. Don't forget who sealed the hole in Trost in 850 and then who killed the Titans there! Don't forget where all of you are standing right now: Zhiganshina! Zhiganshina of Wall Maria, which Eren Jaeger, Levi Jaeger, and the rest of the Survey Corps fought so hard to win back. It's only because of them that we can live here again! That's not the work of murderers! That's not the work of Titan sympathizers! Only people fully devoted to humanity would put their lives on the line like that!"

"So you say they're not Titan sympathizers?" someone from the crowd called out. "Then why is the Female Titan herself standing behind you in Military Police uniform?!"

"Annie Leonhart is a human, just like Eren Jaeger!" Armin heard Annie shift behind him, but she kept the rifle steady.

Armin's words seemed to hit a chord with the crowd. The rallying cries died into murmurs about how he had a point. A few people broke away and left the area, prompting a small sigh of relief from Armin, but a decent-sized crowd still stood. Some of the people in front were about to move forward when gear could be heard, and the Garrison soldiers who had been guarding the Wall joined Annie and Armin. "If you won't listen to these Military Police and Survey Corps soldiers, then listen to us!" one of them ordered. "For order and peace, we of the Garrison command all of you to stand down! No riots will be tolerated!"

And then, one by one, the rest of the soldiers joined the barricade. Despite having no gear or weapons on them, Jean, Reiner, Bertholdt, Connie, Ymir, and Historia stood with Armin and Annie. Sasha watched from the inside of a nearby restaurant as the mob slowly broke up. She wrapped her arms protectively around her eight month pregnant belly and smiled when the Garrison soldiers started guiding the civilians back to their usual business. The mob eventually broke up just as more Military Police soldiers arrived. Any remaining, rowdy protesters were arrested for threats against soldiers. Sasha threw her arms around Connie when he rushed into the restaurant for her.

Annie let out a heavy sigh and finally lowered her rifle. Armin relaxed as well, wrapping an arm around her and bringing her into a hug. "Thank you," he said quietly, "just…thank you."

"Annie Leonhart."

Armin and Annie looked up to see a higher ranking Military Police soldier looking down at them with sympathetic eyes. He paused for a long moment before saying, "You used 3D Maneuver Gear without proper authorization. I must ask you to come to Military Police HQ, where you will be dealt with accordingly."

"Annie didn't do it just for kicks and giggles!" Armin insisted, keeping his arms around his girlfriend.

"I'm sorry, it's standard procedure, even if done with good intentions." The man rolled his eyes. "Trust me, I think it's ridiculous, too, but I have a feeling that the Captain will agree."

Armin's face dropped in disbelief. "This issue has to go to the Military Police Captain?" he asked. "Why would such a high ranked officer—?"

"It's okay, Armin," Annie said, pulling herself away. "He's bringing me to the Captain specifically so I won't be punished."

"What…I don't understand!"

"Armin, are you wondering why these high-ranking soldiers are actually doing their jobs? This never would have happened a few years ago. The Military Police has changed, largely thanks to the Captain." Annie actually smiled and took Armin's hands in hers, squeezing them reassuringly.

"Let's go," the superior before her said, motioning for her to follow, "let's get you to Captain Marlowe Sanders so we can be done with this."

Now it was Eren's turn to be shocked. He leaned over and held his head in his hands, unbelieving of Reiner's story. "Levi and I just assumed that nothing happened. It was quiet so we just assumed that people ignored us, but there were riots and…oh my god." He stared at the ground and felt tears prick at the corners of his eyes.

Reiner gently placed his hand on Eren's back. "Yeah…damn, Eren, I swear, Annie loves that kid of yours. She'd do anything for him. And Armin, oh man, you should have seen Armin. You should have heard his speech!"

"Heh, I already knew that Armin had some serious fight in him," Eren said as he finally looked up. "He saved my ass from the Garrison once, back at Trost before Commander Pixis showed up. And then he snapped me out of my daze or whatever that was so I could plug the hole. And then—ah, whatever, you get my point. The fact that Armin talked them down doesn't surprise me at all. I still just…I wonder, why did Annie of all people…?"

"It's because…"

Both Eren and Reiner looked up when they heard Bertholdt begin to speak. He paused momentarily to gather his thoughts and then said, "This probably isn't my place to say, but she loves your son because he doesn't know about her Titan. He doesn't judge her." A thought suddenly struck Bertholdt's mind, and bead of sweat rolled down his temple. "Wait, Eren, you didn't say anything, did you?! About us and Annie and Ymir?"

"No, no!" Eren insisted. "No, that's all up to you guys, whether or not you tell him. I just told him that there were others like me, not who they specifically were."

Both Reiner and Bertholdt let out long sighs of relief. "Thank goodness…"

Eren smiled at them, finally feeling like he had done something right for the first time all week. He stood, picked up the bag of groceries, and said, "Well, thank you for telling me about Annie and what she did. I'll have to thank her and Armin next time I see them. I should go and tell Levi about them, too."

Reiner nodded. "We'll let you go then. We should get going, too. We'll see you around sometime, okay?

Eren nodded back and headed home. "See you."

Bertholdt was unusually quiet for the rest of the day. It wasn't strange for him to be quiet in public, but he usually lowered his guard when he was home with Reiner. The blond noticed this and while he didn't want to make his lover uncomfortable, also didn't want Bertholdt to keep his emotions bottled up inside. It wasn't good for his anxiety.

"You okay, Bertl?" he asked as they stood at the counter chopping the tomatoes for dinner.

Bertholdt nodded. "I'm just thinking."

Reiner left it at that for the time being, but his curiosity ate away at him all throughout dinner. True to his supportive nature though, he didn't bring it up again. Bertholdt usually opened up to him over time anyway.

It wasn't until they were both settled in bed that night, Reiner hugging Bertholdt from behind, when the brunet finally spoke. "Hey, Reiner?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you gonna tell him about us?"

Reiner was quiet for a few seconds before shrugging and saying, "Not right now. Maybe in a few years when all of this has blown over. You?"

"Same."

Reiner hummed in agreement and placed a kiss on the back of Bertholdt's neck.

They were silent after that for several minutes, and Reiner wondered if Bertholdt had fallen asleep. He relaxed against his partner's warm bronze skin and started to let sleep take him. Despite being a Titan Shifter, Reiner's body temperature wasn't especially high, probably due to his Titan's armored body keeping everything in. Bertholdt, on the other hand, was like a blazing fire at times, which explained his near-constant sweat.. He was especially good to cuddle with on cold winter nights.

"Reiner."

Reiner let out a sleep yawn and mumbled something, only half-conscious.

"Let's get married."

Now Reiner was awake.

The blond sat up in bed and stared down at his partner, his boyfriend, his lover, his…fiancé?! "Bertl, are you serious?" he asked in a loud, disbelieving voice. "Bertholdt Fubar, are you serious right now? Is this real? You're not sleep talking, are you? Oh my god, oh my god…"

The room suddenly felt very hot and suffocating to Bertholdt, so he stayed as still has he possibly could even as his cheeks flushed and sweat started to form on his skin. "I'm completely serious," he said as steadily as he could, though he still tripped on a few syllables, and his voice cracked at the end. "I…I love you, Reiner…and I want to marry you. I want to be married to you. I want…us…"

"Bertholdt," Reiner said, voice firm, "whatever you do, don't feel like you have to do this. Don't feel like you need to do this just to make me happy. If you really don't want to, we don't have to—!"

"I want to!" Bertholdt shouted, sitting up in bed and looking at Reiner with teary eyes. "I want to! I really want to! I just…I thought about everything you told Eren earlier today, about how Armin ran to defend Annie and about how Connie made sure Sasha was safe before jumping in and then about how Eren wanted to go home to tell Levi about your story and…and it just made me realize that I want to be married to you. I don't want to be married to anyone else, just you! I mean, Armin and Annie aren't married yet, but they act like a married couple. They support and protect each other, and Armin takes care of her the way you take care of me, and—! Oh god, Reiner, I don't know, I just don't care about the rest of the world anymore. Annie doesn't care about others as long as the people she loves are okay, and I'm sick of letting the world dictate who I am and who I should be and what happiness I deserve. I don't know if I deserve your love. All I know is that I want to be with you forever, and I'll scream it from the top of Wall Maria if I have to! I'll scream it so that all of humanity can hear it, and I don't care if me looking out over Wall Maria is in poor taste! I'll scream, 'I LOVE REINER BRAU—'!"

Reiner cut him off with a kiss.

When he pulled away, Reiner had tears in his eyes. "Oh god, Bertl, I'm the one who doesn't deserve you."

"Reiner…"

Bertholdt threw his arms around the blond, and the two fell back onto the bed, lips connecting over and over again until Reiner spoke. "What kind of wedding…when?"

"As soon as possible," Bertholdt gasped out. "Just the two of us and the officiant, nobody else."

Reiner nodded. "Whatever you want. Oh god, I love you, Bertl, I love you so much."

A few happy tears fell from Bertholdt's eyes. "I love you, too, I love you, Reiner Braun."

Annie stopped short and looked towards the house she was standing by. In front of her, Armin stopped when he noticed she wasn't with him and turned around. "Annie?"

She looked back at her boyfriend and smiled slightly. "Sorry, just thought I heard something." She caught up with him and placed her hand in his, thankful that she was there with him. True to his word, her superior had taken her straight to Captain Marlowe Sanders himself, who had let her go with a "warning," much to the amusement of the nearby Squad Leader Hitch. To celebrate, Armin had taken her out for dinner and drinks that night, and they were now on their way home.

Annie glanced back at the house one last time, recognizing it and her closest friends', and let out a quiet sigh. Hopefully, one of these days, she would be able to tell Armin how much she loved him and wanted to marry him, too.

END