WARNING: Slight spoilers for the last chapter of the manga

Post War

"C'mon, just tell me, who are you trying to impress?" Pieck asks again after Jean checks himself from the mirror the third time after the Eldia harbor came in to their line of sight "You have a special lady waiting for you back home?"

"No" Jean says, annoyed, before fixing his tie "Why are you so interested in my life, anyway?"

A beat of silence.

"No special reason" Pieck answers, but they both know it's a lie. They've been flirting with each other, delicately dancing around one another, for a year now, but neither of them wants to be the one to make the first actual move.

"Then stop asking" Jean says, putting his mirror away "It's rude."

"Why is it ru- ah" Jean looks at Pieck as she sounds like she's come to a sudden realization "Of course, it was rude of me to assume there was a special woman waiting for you."

Jean raises an eyebrow.

"You have a special man waiting for you, don't you?"

"No!" Jean snaps, face red. The amused look on Pieck's face tells him she hadn't really thought so, either, and this realization made him blush even harder. Not that the embarrassment would make him break off his gaze, one that Pieck held just as steadily. They stared at each other for what must have been minutes before Jean, without breaking eye contact, finally admitted: "I just want to look presentable in front of my mom, okay?"

Pieck just keeps staring.

"It's been three years since she saw you, right?" Pieck asks "I think she'd be just as happy if you showed up dressed in a garbage bag."

"I know!" Jean says, finally breaking eye contact as he throws his hands up in frustration "It's more about me than her, really. I just… I just want her to know that I'm fine, that I don't regret the choices I made."

"Then just tell her so" Pieck says "Or is it that you actually do, but don't want her to notice?"

Silence. Pieck feels like she just hit the nail on the head.

"Jean?"

"I don't know!" the man admits "I'm glad that we stopped Eren before he could wipe out the whole world outside of Paradis, but it's not like I did anything. If I'd just sat back and let everyone else go handle it, I could've been here for the last three years, taking care of her and assuring her that everything was fine. But I didn't, I left, and for what? In the end, I didn't do shit!"

"You fought off the enemy at the harbor" Pieck argued "And helped out a great deal when we fought Eren. I'd be dead without you. And you knocked some sense in to Reiner, too. He wasn't nearly as gloomy after you beat him senseless."

"But I can't tell her all that; I can't tell her about all the bloody details" Jean argued, leaning on the wall "I want to be able to tell her, to show her, something that convinces her that this time apart wasn't for nothing, but I don't know how without telling her about all the violence."

Pieck didn't know what to say to that; she couldn't relate. Her father knew exactly what was going on, and had known for most of the time, so Pieck never had to explain anything. After he'd gotten the treatment he needed, she'd never even thought of talking about why she did what she did. Wasn't the fact that he was alive worth her sacrifice? That's what she'd always thought. Wasn't the fact that there was now peace, fragile as it was, worth of the time Jean and his mother had lost?

"Sorry, couldn't help but overhear" Reiner cuts in as he strides over "You're overthinking it; I've met your mom and know she's the type to just be happy that you're home. Just walk in from the door, announce that you're home, and wing it from there. Seeing you will be enough."

In Pieck's opinion, Reiner had a point, but Jean didn't look convinced.

"Just do it, and you'll see" the blond assured.

"Yeah, sure"

Something in Jean's tone told Pieck that he was not going to do it.

XXXXX

Jean knocked on the door. He could have just walked in, it was his house too after all, but he had concluded it to be better if he knocked. When there was no answer, he tried the door. Locked.

"Mom's out, then" Jean thought, a mixture of relief and disappointment clashing in his head "I'll just come back later."

He turned, nearly having a heart attack when he saw Pieck waiting right behind him.

"What the hell!?" he asks "Did you follow me?"

"Felt like a good idea" Pieck admitted "No one's home?"

Jean sighs.

"No, so I'll come back another time"

"Really now?" Pieck asks "You could just wait for her right there; it's not like you're in a hurry to do anything else."

When Jean says nothing, Pieck stops beating around the bush: "You're stalling, aren't you?"

Jean froze, but only for a moment as he remembered that they'd been through this already and there was no reason to hide it from her.

"Fine, yes I am" he admits with a sigh, sitting down on the steps in front of the door "This isn't easy, you know."

Pieck hums, sitting down next to him.

"Are you afraid she'll be angry?"

"She will be angry, no question there" Jean says "But that's not what I'm worried about."

All Pieck has to do to urge him to continue is to give him a look.

"I can handle her anger, but she can be so emotional sometimes, too" he says, lowering his head in to his hands "It's not like I blame her, but the crying and babbling can be rather overwhelming, especially when I know that she doesn't understand even half of what I've really been doing."

Again, Pieck couldn't relate; while her father could also be emotional, he tended to be so silently. Still, she wanted to do something to help Jean. Maybe lightening the mood was in order?

"Would it help if I held your hand?"

Jean wasn't looking at her, which is why he didn't see the wry smile on her face, so he said: "…I'd appreciate that."

Pieck's face flushed; she hadn't expected that. At her silence, Jean lifted his head, his face going red too as he saw Pieck's blush and caught on.

"It was supposed to be a joke" she choked out.

"Yeah, I kind of got that now" Jean says, just as awkward as they keep staring at each other "But… I think it really might help out."

Pieck blushed even more, internally scolding herself for it. She was a war-hardened warrior, not some school girl; holding hands with a guy wasn't a big deal!

"Oh" she said "Well, one has to help a comrade in a pinch."

Despite what she had just told herself, she still looks away as she takes Jean's hand, and she's pretty sure he's looking away, too. She can't help the laugh that comes out, and the man's head whips around to face her.

"What? What's so funny?"

"You, me" she tells, looking at him with a smile despite the slight blush still on her face "Us."

Jean blinks before he too snorts, smiling at her awkwardly.

"Like two cadets trying to hide their intentions" he says "How long have we been doing this again?"

"Around a year, I think" Pieck says "…Do you think we should stop already?"

"…Maybe we should" Jean can feel his face grow a little hotter, but he tries not to care as he sees Pieck leaning in, and he follows suit.

"Jeanboy, is that you!?"

And then they pull away from each other in a flash, undoing their joined hands in the process.

"Mom?" Jean turns his head to check and, sure enough, there is his mother with a bag of groceries in her hands. And her eyes are already welling up with tears.

"My little boy is finally home" she mutters before running to Jean, who manages to take a few steps off the stairs before his mother crashes in to his arms "You're safe, thank god you're safe!"

Pieck watched the tear faced woman babble at Jean, who was smiling at the woman, his smile looking more content than it had in months. Watching the two of them, she still couldn't understand why her friend had been so worried. And at this point, she doubted Jean understood himself, either.

Good twenty or so minutes later, Pieck accidentally locked gazes with Mrs. Kirstein.

"And who's this?" she asked, looking at Pieck, yet addressing Jean "Jeanboy, you should've said earlier that you brought a friend home!"

"Ah" Jean had forgotten the woman was there "Um, she's- "

"Just leaving" Pieck interrupted, getting up "I was simply accompanying Jean since this was on my way. If you'll excuse me."

She was about to walk away, but Jean went and grasped her arm.

"Pieck, wait" he said "I know you're not in a hurry to go anywhere; if you'd like to, you could stay here and depart with me later."

They weren't needed at the HQ until tomorrow, so Pieck wasn't in a hurry. Besides, Connie had gone off to see his own mom, Armin was still back in Shiganshina with Mikasa, and Reiner and Annie had firmly decided to stay in the HQ for now, out of sight for as much as possible. Pieck would just get bored with them.

Pieck smiles wryly.

"I don't want to impose on your family reunion" she says, and Jean rolls his eyes, smirking "I think you crossed that line when you followed me here."

Pieck laughs.

"Point taken; guess I'll join you, then" she sees Mrs. Kirstein watching them from behind Jean, a delighted look on her face. Uh-oh.

"I hope she doesn't get the wrong idea" the younger woman thinks "But then again, if she did, would she really be wrong?"

She supposed only time would tell.

A.N: I suppose that, in a way, this could be a prequel to the one shot I made for the first day of the JeanPiku Week, the one marked as chapter 47, "Free Space."