(Jean's POV)
It's been a week since Marzia joined the squad. Back at the base, she fits in very well. She helps Historia cook, she trains with Mikasa, and she could listen to Armin talk about what the world was like before the walls in awe for hours, she even helps Hanji with titan experiments. She wasn't at all afraid of Eren when she learned what he could do. If anything, she became very curious. Everyone took a liking to her almost immediately. As for me, I spent most of my time looking out for her. Marco was not being overprotective when he wrote that I needed to look after her. Marzia was very clumsy. Just a week, and I've already had to catch her from falling three times, move her drink on the table so she wouldn't spill it more than once, and I've had to bandage up her fingers at least twice from her cutting herself with kitchen knives when preparing dinner. Which makes it amazing to watch her with 3DM gear, because when she's flying around with it, she's the most graceful being on the planet. It's mesmerizing to watch her fly around as Eren tries to catch her out of the air as a titan.
Once she landed, she caught me staring at her, and blushed. Man, it makes it really hard to be a big brother type figure while she has this crush on me. I'm not going to pretend I don't notice, that's unfair to her. I have to explain to her that I'm here to be her big brother, not her boyfriend. But each time I get up the nerve, I can't bring myself to actually tell her. She's still in mourning for her brother. I can't just break her heart again. I'll give it a little more time I tell myself. The only thing is, the longer I wait to tell her, the more hope she'll have that there's a chance. I kicked the fence I was leaning on in frustration, and the old rotting wood gave out from under me in response. I fell hard on my butt.
"Jean!" I heard Marzia yelp in surprise. "Are you okay?" she asked, worriedly running over to me. "Yeah, I'm fine. I guess I shouldn't have trusted this old fence to hold my weight." I laughed shrugging off the embarrassment. "Nice one, Jean." I heard Connie taunt from the dining room window, followed by the muffled laughter of Sasha trying to laugh with food in her mouth. "tch." I clicked my tongue. "Shut up, Connie!" was all I could think of to yell back. Just then I heard Marzia giggle. "You really should be more careful, Jean. Who's going to keep me from getting hurt if we're both clumsy?" her laugh was adorable. My cheeks started to burn a little. She's so cute...L-Like a sister... I corrected myself. I'm supposed to be her brother. I can think she's cute, just in a brotherly way, of course. I could easily shrug that thought off. But what I couldn't shrug off was how my heart skipped a beat when she gave me her hand to help me up. Ohhh boy. I thought.
(Marzia POV)
It'd only been a week, and already I felt like part of the team. Historia and I cooked, and I trained with Mikasa (She totally has a thing for Eren, but I'm pretty sure Eren's more interested in Captain Levi, if you know what I mean.), and Armin tells the coolest stories about what the world was like before the titans. I love it here. It's a shame I'm going to have to leave here, soon. But I belong with my family, and all my family has passed on, now. So that's where I must be, too. I'm thinking of this as Eren tries to swat me out of the air. He nearly catches me, but I'm too quick, too small for him to catch. I land gracefully in the grass, and start to remove the gear. When I look up, Jean's staring at me. He's been following me around all week. Catching me when I fall, bandaging my fingers when I cut them, preventing me from spilling things. It's kind of like when Marco and I lived at home together except, this is a little different. Jean isn't my brother, and I don't know how else to describe it. He just feels different. I blush as I remember the first time he caught me falling. I'd been getting up from the table to go train with Mikasa, and I tripped over my own feet. Before I knew what was happening, Jean got up from his chair, knocking it over in the process, and grabbed me by the arm and pulled me back upright. "Be more careful." he laughed like it was no big thing. But to me, it was the sweetest thing a guy had ever done for me... Marco didn't count. Just then, I was snapped out of my thoughts by a loud crash. When I looked over, Jean was sitting in the ground among a pile of what used to be a fence. "Jean! Are you okay?" I asked as I raced over to him. "Yeah, I'm fine. I guess I shouldn't have trusted this old fence to hold my weight." he said laughing. "Nice one, jean" I heard Sasha and Connie laughing from the dining room. "Shut up, Connie!" Jean responded. I laughed at the scene that had just played out in front of me. My goofy prince. He blushed a little in embarrassment when I laughed, so I gave him a hand to help him up. He took it appreciatively. My heart started to ache. I was going to miss this