Chapter 10 - Chuckle

Flickering sunlight tickled her nose, tipping and dancing over her face as it pulled her softly out of sleep's embrace. The gentle rustle of swaying leaves filled the atmosphere, and from some place in the distance she could hear cackling woodpeckers and a nuthatch's trill. Taking in a deep breath of fresh air, she cracked one eye open, smiling timidly as she found a ceiling made of leaves and her suspicions confirmed. She couldn't recall when she had last felt such deep serenity, but it was no doubt thanks to the warmth that had thawed away any remaining pain and soreness. That oh so comfortable, seemingly encompassing warmth and softness of –

…

Oh shit.

Her eyes shot open with her heart spiking in shock. Had she really dozed off? She wasn't supposed to! What if the titan had...!

She darted upwards but then froze in place.

"… done something…" she murmured to herself as she stared. What she found was the least to be expected, but even less expected was the twist of confusion and… warmth unfurling in her chest.

Apparently, she was still situated in the titan's palm, with his fingers curled loosely above her feet. But more than that, they were resting on the ground, nestled in the nook between his head and chin. The rest of the giant frame was tightly curled around her, his knees pulled close and close to touching his head that rested perched on the remaining arm. With the eyes closed tightly and the breathing slow and deep, he proved to be fast asleep, and she could swear to see the tips of his jaw slightly pulled to a faint smile, as if experiencing a pleasant dream.

For several long moments, she stared with her chin dropped open, yet there was no air passing through. Not only had she never expected a titan to sleep during day, she had never thought possible that one could ever look so... innocent about it. Not even the pool of saliva beneath his maw caused the usual repugnance. If she was honest about it, it was kind of endearing in an awkward way.

Using the exceptional occasion, she let her gaze trail along the walls of flesh that were undoubtedly shielding in her. In courageous curiosity, she then lifted a hand to place it softly on his chest, ravished by the feeling of the heartbeat hidden beneath. She couldn't quite dissect the reason, but something about it exerted an almost magical attraction. It just felt so strangely familiar.

If it was due to her touch she couldn't tell, but in the next instant, the titan gave a low murmur as his head readjusted a bit. With the eyes remaining closed in slumber, he exhaled deeply, ruffling her hair in the warm breeze. Granted, its smell wasn't nice by any means, but neither was it traumatizing anymore. Instead of bearing death and decay, its musty scent reminded more of old stone and deep caves, of brittle wood and soft earth after the rain.

Despite the muffled itches of a still defiant reason, she had to admit that she was starting to fully trust this titan.

Careful not to disrupt the peaceful slumber, she moved glacially slowly to turn on the palm, well aware of the position of his digits as she placed her feet onto the soft, grassy ground. She then sneaked through the gap left between the giant's head and knees, suppressing the urge to ruffle his hair as she passed by the scalp. She would definitely have to do that at some other occasion, but for now she wanted to use the opportunity to investigate her environment on her own.

As she rounded the spread fingers of the outstretched arm, she walked on to see what lay behind the titan's shoulders. The forest they found themselves in grew high and strong with different stages of canopies. Large parts of the ground were covered by more or less dense underbrush, but there was enough space to move in between with even large patches of soft moss beneath her feet. Most interesting however was the distant sound of a muffled, perpetual roar. Unmistakably, there had to be a river nearby.

Only now she noticed just how drained she was. She hadn't had access to water for the whole last day, let alone eaten anything. How lucky she was that she happened to be at the right place.

Her attention was caught by a soft curr from overhead. Perched on a branch above the titan sat a jay, its head turned to eye down with open interest, but clever enough to keep its distance. For a moment she worried that it might wake him with their usually noisy calls. For good reason they were called the guardians of the forest, for they were quick to send alarm whenever they spotted predators around. She could well remember her dad complaining about them, as he always did when taking her with him on a hunt, but to her surprise this one remained exceptionally calm, giving not more than some more inquisitive currs as it stood still to primarily watch.

The sound of flapping wings preceded a silhouette of light brown gliding above her head, and with the characteristic flash of its blue wing panel, a second jay took seat right next to its companion. This one however didn't show the decency to share the silence. In the unmistakable chatter of a talkative corvid, it easily caught the other jay's attention, cackling in a vehemence that came near to a tirade.

The performance elicited a cackle of her own. With the first jay enduring the procedure with ducked head, they almost reminded to an elderly married couple. Who knows, perhaps mister jay had slipped out to avoid nesting duties today.

Perhaps it was even glad for the distraction as the titan started to stir, for the second jay immediately took off in a nervous squeak. The other bird followed soon enough as he gradually lifted his head, still heavy in drowsiness as the tapered ears flinched by the noise. Grumbling to himself, he drove some fingers through the hair that had picked up some twigs before unfolding himself, the extensive stretching ending in a cavernous yawn before his eyes blinked open.

All the while, she remained still right as she watched the unsuspecting titan. She had considered to call him out in one instant, but watching him was proving to be much more interesting. If she were to describe it, she would most likely compare it to watching a dancer during training. He was gorgeous in his natural behaviour, but even more so when unaware of being watched.

That was, until he suddenly stiffened.

Like a switch that was flipped, the titan lost all of his ease in one moment. With the eyes widening fully, his gaze darted to the spot beneath him, then to his palm and back to the ground again. Something wilted in her chest as she heard a whine, confusion and worry present in its hoarse tone. He was already sitting up as the hectic search remained unsuccessful.

"Over here" The voice was gentle and reassuring, but not too soft to slip the titan's ears. With the flash of panic still laden in his eyes, his gaze shot down to the spot behind his shoulder, their harsh expression instantly softening as he let out a deep sigh.

"Missed me already?" She added a foxy grin.

Perhaps he picked up on the mocking edge in her voice, for he lowered his head much quicker than usual, successfully catching her off-guard by doing so. Instinctively, she toppled backwards, and would have fallen by the nudge follow-up if it weren't for the awaiting palm – where did that even come from? - behind her.

"Wohoow! Easy there!" she chuckled as she rubbed the bridge of his nose – a gesture that seemed to quickly grow a habit with him.

"Thanks to you, my friend, I had a wonderful nap. Hope you had a good sleep as well? You must have been quite exhausted to sleep during the day. Not that it's a common thing to see." She exclaimed, finding a moment of bewilderment as he blinked repeatedly. She took a mental note to keep a slow pace when talking. After all, she was yet not sure on how many words he could possibly understand. But in the end, he pulled back and nodded with a smile, presumably to answer the initial question.

"If you don't mind, I'd take a look to the river nearby. My lips are already chapped from dehydration."

Unsure if he possibly knew what dehydration was, she was surprised to see him nod in full understanding.

"Alright. Let's go then!" She turned, but then stopped to glance over her shoulder "I mean.. if you want, of course. Feel free to stay here. I may come back later then."

Without even waiting for an answer, she turned her back to head off, feigning nonchalance with a little spring in valiant strides. In truth she knew there was no need to wait for his answer, for she already knew. He was far too curious to leave her side any time soon.

A smug grin plastered her face as she could practically feel the titan's baffled look, the rustling sounds of his movement following shortly after. She wondered if it was by chance that he had brought her here. He couldn't possibly know about human needs, could he? Except… now that she thought about it, he might have been watching her drink next to her hiding spot. The memory sent a faint prickle up her spine. If that was the case, it implied that he had watched her for quite a while back then, before scaring the shit out of her. It almost seemed as if he had waited for the most terrifying surprise moment, or was there a different reason behind it? Was there an ulterior motive in revealing herself in the moment that she had inspected her calves?

Lost in her thoughts, she almost missed that the sounds of his trailing footsteps failed to appear.

Strange. She could have sworn that he would be sticking to her heels by now. So far, he'd shown nothing but outright inquisitiveness towards her, to an extend that he could be almost considered being devoted as a do–

"HOLY-!"

Before even turning completely, her feet flew out underneath her. She barely noticed the way her head hit the ground as she tried to force calm her breath, digging her hands into the grass as she stared up to the canopies. Only that there were none to be seen.

The titan was looming right on top of her.

" -'the hell did you-!?"

Still stunned in disbelief, her gaze trailed down the titan's legs in the distance before swerving to the sides where she found the dark shadows of two towering arms. He was walking on all fours, not even using his full palm but only the fingers for it. A human – no, humanoid form of tiptoeing as silently as a fucking cat.

Her head slumped back to the ground in a loss of strength, and she let out an exasperated sigh in relief. However, she fell back into shock as she looked up to meet his eyes again. The titan's face was darkened by his falling, framing hair, but more than that it was the fierce squint of his eyes that turned his expression into an inexplicably stern one. An angered one, in fact. With a deep growl that was close to a snarl, his head descended from the skies above, the incisors seamed by saliva as they closed in a mockingly slow pace.

"H-hey I didn't mean to upset you, r-really! 't was just a joke, n-not more than some harmless teas-"

Her frightened eyes widened as she noticed a detail. And turned into one of own heated anger.

"Oh, come on!" In sudden resolution, she shoved away his nose with all her might.

"Spare me that pitiful performance! That cheeky smile is giving you away!"

The titan only chuffed at this, covering her in whisps of steam as he found himself busted in the successful prank. Backing off again, he offered a more honest excuse by lending her a hand. For a second she considered ignoring him, let it be only to teach him that it wasn't as easy to make up for her near heart-attack. But in the end, she grabbed the tip of the pointer to pull herself back to her feet, the titan smiling as she accepted the offer, but still unsuccessful to suppress a chuckle.

"Yeah, yeah. Very funny. You're a sly one, aren't you?" She brushed herself off without granting him another look. It was more a statement than an actual question.

"Well, at least that explains some things…" she murmured more to herself as she walked on, ignoring the questioning whimper behind. No matter his reassurances and excuses, scaring her for fun was definitely not a trait she wanted him to keep with her around. He had to know his limits, and ignoring him was an effective way to get her point across, it seemed.

More whines followed from behind, but she kept on with her stern pace. Only after hearing his third attempt of an honest and close to distressed excuse, she finally resigned. Finding an arm towering next to her, she didn't even mind to turn but looked up instead, successfully meeting a pair of bright green eyes as she folded her neck.

"I'm not angry with you, alright? Ok.. yes, I am. But that's not the point. I don't mind being tricked on, really. But playing the scary card is nasty!" At the last words, she pointed up at him to underline their weight.

"Got it? Nasty!"

He nodded in a grunt, but against all expectations didn't even use the occasion to nudge her again. Surprisingly enough, he seemed to be one of the exceptionally cuddly type once she grew comfortable with him, but it was good to know that he could stay serious if needed to be. The titan then switched to walk to her side, but remained on all fours for the time being. Perhaps it was uncomfortable to duck under the low canopy, but more likely he wanted to take in his environment. She witnessed his ears swivelling incessantly to track the bustling wildlife, and every now and then he would stop in his track and take a look in between his arms to check on her position. Admittedly, it won a smile of hers at just how stupid he looked with the head hanging upside down and the long hair touching the floor. But most of the time he was listening to the cooing doves and cackling hawks, and his eyes followed every squirrel and dormouse he could find. Surprisingly enough it touched a soft spot of hers to see his avid interest in wildlife. It seemed to be impossible for a creature of his size to even notice features of such insignificant size, let alone showing interest in them. More so, must have seen them for every single day of his life she presumed. One would rather expect that with time, he'd lose interest in such ordinary things, yet he paid them his full, rapt attention.

She wondered if he had brought her to his home, or territory, or whatever it might be. It seemed as if he knew his way around, considering that he had brought her to a river. But if that was the case, he couldn't have been here for more than five years. Like all titans, he must have come from some place beyond Wall Maria…

Perhaps it was time for another attempt on questions.

In a brisk pace, she caught up to walk next to his shoulder before clearing her throat.

"Hey, eh… may I… ask you something?" she said it in the most innocuous tone she could muster. Yet it seemed like they weren't innocuous enough.

At her words, the titan froze in his movement – a flitting jolt for only the split of a second - before he turned away in purported interest the shrubs, not even granting her a glance. She frowned a bit at the subtle diversion. If there was one big advantage to her insignificant comparative size, then in reading his body language. She would notice every shift of the giant strands of muscle, every flick of his tapered ears and every little hitch of his breath. Hell, she could even hear the thrumming of his heartbeat if she were only close enough. It was almost uncanny how much of an open book he was to her, close to feeling ashamed of unwillingly intruding his privacy. But if one thing, it was a huge chance in reading the thoughts that he couldn't quite communicate, even the ones he was seemingly trying to hide.

Especially the ones he was trying to hide.

At some stage, she wondered how all those details could have slipped her up until now. If only she had known how to read him and his gestures, she could have spared herself so much misery. Spared them both, in fact. If she could have seen through his terrifying outer looks, if she had only taken a moment to set aside her prejudices about titans to truly look behind the facade, would they have become friends earlier? If they hadn't fallen off that cliff, would she have made it back home by now…?

Gingerly, she rubbed her temples, deciding it was for a better not to dwell on if's and when's. Seeing the titan's attention still transfixed on a rummaging shrew, he was likely trying to avoid any questions on purpose. Perhaps he had sensed that she was about to ask something personal.

But there was only one way to know for sure.

She cleared her throat, then added in a volume that couldn't possibly slip him.

"Did you hear me before? It's nothing serious I swear, I just wanted to ask wh-"

There it was again, a brief yet pronounced jolt, before he snapped around his head, growling something jumbled into himself before moving on in quickened pace. In a matter of seconds, he was well out of hearing distance and heading for the treeline.

She groaned at the clear signal as she trailed him. Unnoticed by her, they had reached the river by now.