It was the third day of training, the ones who failed the aptitude test yesterday were going to retake the test today. Eren was hopeful after practicing through the night with Armin, Reiner and Bertholdt.

Thomas however woke up feeling tired and a bit sore after being paired with Reiner for the combat training yesterday, the guy was built like an ox, and he was a good fighter too. Thomas had woken up about 20 minutes before Shadis would come charging into the bunkhouse to yell at everyone to get dressed and get in formation, so naturally most of the recruits got up early to avoid his early morning routine.

Thomas had taken note yesterday to not wake Nick up unless "they were about to die", as he put it because yesterday Nick kicked him off the bunk for waking him up from his sleep.

When Thomas turned around to see if Nick was sleeping he saw him with his arms and legs wrapped around his pillow while he was making out with it, getting his saliva all over the pillow, Thomas looked on in disbelief as he continued to watch the session between Nick and his pillow but pulled himself out the bed when he heard him give a soft moan into the pillow.

"What the hell did I just witness?" Thomas thought, bamboozled at what he could be dreaming about to warrant such sexual activities.

"Hey Thomas, what you looking at" said Reiner, now getting up from his bunk with Bertholdt.

"You should come see for yourself" he replied with a grin on his face, "But don't make too much noise, you don't want to wake him up"

Reiner walked over and took one look before he had to physically stop himself from laughing out loud by putting his hand over his mouth, "Oh my god" he whispered, "We have to get everybody up to see this, you get the guys up, I'll go get the girls", Reiner quickly got dressed and practically sprinted to the girls bunkhouse to get them up to see what was happening before it was too late.

Thomas quietly made his way throughout the boys bunkhouse, waking everyone up while telling them to keep quiet in order to keep the show going.

Reiner arrived about 5 minutes later with Mina, Hannah, Emily, Annie, Mikasa, Sasha, Ymir and Krista, known as Historia to Nick, all the boys had already gathered round Thomas and Nick's bunk talking quietly amongst themselves.

"I wonder what he's dreaming about?" Asked Thomas wondering what was going through his head.

"Whatever it is, it must be nice for him, be a real shame if he woke up" replied Jean, finding great amusement from the show.

"Woah" said Ymir, "Lools like the pretty boy is getting some action"

"Don't be mean Ymir" Krista chided in with, "We should wake him up to save him from any more embarrassment" she suggested.

"Why?" asked Jean, "I'm enjoying the show"

"Of course you would Jean, didn't know you were into pillows" Eren joked at everyone else's amusement.

"Shut up Yeager, at least I passed the aptitude test" Jean came back with.

"I'll pass it today for sure, then I'll be able to kill all the titans" Eren replied with.

"Should we wake him up or not?" Annie interrupted with.

"Is that because you can't see the show from down there" came the insult from Ymir.

Annie responded with a glare that could kill, before Krista stepped in by elbowing the brunette, "Don't make fun of her height Ymir, she's fine just the way she is."

"Guys quiet, He's waking up" whispered Armin, as they all turned towards the bunk where Nick's eyes fluttered open as he stared at them all.

"What are you guys doing next to my bed?" he asked, obviously not knowing what he was doing before feeling wetness on his pillow and most of the recruits near his bunk struggling to hold in their laughter.

"Oh no" he thought, "Please don't tell me I was acting out my time with Frieda"

"I hate to say it, but I think you were" Frieda responded to his thoughts with.

The cadets couldn't hold in their laughter any more as they all burst out laughing after Reiner set them off, even the kind hearted Krista couldn't help but laugh, the only one not laughing was Annie, but that was because she was holding her hand to her mouth, clearly trying to hide her smile from the others.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU ALL LAUGHING AT" yelled Shadis as he kicked the door open.

He was met by silence from the recruits all standing next to each other, "ANSWER THE QUESTION OR YOU WILL ALL BE RUNNING LAPS FOR THE NEXT 3 HOURS"

"Well Sir" Armin began before being interrupted by Ymir, "Our dear friend Nick here was just having a very intimate moment with his pillow" she came out with, "Sir" she finished with.

Shadis massaged his forehead before speaking again, "Get in formation NOW, and Meier."

"Yes Sir"

"If you soil your sheets, you will wash them with your toothbrush down by the river, is that clear?"

"Yes Sir" he responded with.

"Good, NOW GET UP AND GET IN FORMATION SHITHEAD", then Shadis left, leaving the recruits to continue laughing at Nick's expense before a glare from him shut wuite a few of them up.

After they were dismissed from the formation, he was stopped by Emily, "Hey Nick, can we talk for a sec?"

"Yeah sure" he responded, trying to be polite.

"I wanted to apologise" she started with.

"What?"

"Y'know for blaming you for my sisters death and all, I talked to Armin and he confirmed that she bled out on the boat and wasn't eaten."

"It's fine, I accept your apology"

"You do?" She asked shocked that he had forgiven her just like that.

"Yeah, there's no point holding a grudge, they're pointless, like revenge, they may fuel your will to fight, but it won't make you feel any better if you get your revenge"

"Are you saying that I shouldn't want revenge for my sisters death?" She questioned getting quite angry at his suggestion.

"I'm saying that no matter what you do, it will never bring her back, this might sound cliche, but what you can do is try and honor her memory, don't soil it by making your whole life about vengence"

"So you mean that I shouldn't be here?"

"No, what I meant was do what you want to do, not what you think you have to do"

"You said not to soil her memory" she spoke with a smirk on her face.

"Yes, why?" He asked not understand where she was going with this.

"Like you soiled your sheets this morning"

He blushed a bright shade of red and just about managed to stutter his way out of the conversation and get into the mess hall.

"He looks so cute when he's flustered" she thought, "Wait what?, I think I have a crush on him" she mused to herself, having gone from hating the guy to having a crush on him in less that 24 hours.

When he entered the mess hall, he immediately saw that there were no empty tables, the only table relatively empty was the on that only Annie and Mina sat at, mainly because Annie scared the rest of the cadets away from her.

He got his food and sat across from Annie, who was successfully ignoring Mina's attempts to make conversation with her before Frieda wandered over and sat next to him.

"I can't belive we got interrupted again, maybe you should sleep in the forest so you won't wake up when we're getting it on" she flirted with.

"Sorry babe, but I like my back functioning properly"

I thought you didn't like the pet names, love" she flirted back with.

"Only when you say them with that sexy voice of yours"

"I'll say them more often if I actually get to enjoy that sexy body of yours" she gave him a flirtatious smirk.

"What are you thinking about?" asked Mina out of the blue.

"Home" he simply responded with.

"Have you meet the king?" She asked.

"Answer these questions very carefully love" Frieda warned.

"Yes, I have", he replied with.

"Did you bow", Annie interrupted with.

He answered without thinking, "No, the nobles don't have to-"

"Shit, I wasn't supposed to say that" he internally flinched at his own stupidity.

Annie and Mina's faces were shocked, to say the least, "You're from a noble family then", Annie stated after quickly regaining her composure.

"Yes"

"Why are you here then?", she asked.

"Answer this carefully love, you never know who could be a spy, or an enemy shifter" Frieda warned again.

"I want to make a difference in this world"

"That's stupid, wouldn't you rather just survive in the interior" Annie responded with.

"No, because I like helping people"

"If you like helping people so much, go volunteer at a hospital or a refugee camp or something" she spat back at him.

"There's no better way of helping people than killing the creatures that drove us into these walls."

"Strange, he didn't say they drove humanity to the brink of extinction, perhaps he knows the truth, being a noble and all, he probably isnt even an Eldian." Annie thought to herself, deciding to tell their self appointed leader, Reiner about this revelation.

"You're starting to sound like Eren" Mina quickly pointed out.

"Hey Annie" he spoke, ignoring Mina's statement.

"What?"

"Do you ever think that we'll be free from these walls?", he asked trying to get an idea of her thoughts.

"Before these humans can be free from the walls, they should make sure the walls can't be broken in the first place"

"These humans" Frieda spoke aloud, "An interesting statement, wouldn't you agree love?"

"It does sound strange, but the chances of her knowing about the other nations is extremely small"

"Unless she's a shifter, it's possible" Frieda said concerned about Annies statement.

"It's possible yes, but the Armoured and Colossal Titans were both male in appearance, unless Marley sent more than two?"

"Just be careful love, you don't know who you can trust"

"Okay Frieda I will"

A similar line of thoughts were going through Annie's head at the same time, "Why did I say that, "These people", he's probably thinking about what I meant by that, I'm so stupid, even if he's dumber than Connie he'll question that statement if he knows about the mainland."

(After breakfast, aptitude testing rigs)

"Eren Yeager" Shadis spoke after Eren had been hooked up to the testimg rig, "Are you ready".

"Yes Sir" Eren replied with the fire in his eyes burning brightly once again.

Nick was hoping he could do it without falling over, the world needed people willing to fight the titans, even if they weren't the best.

"Lift him up" Shadis ordered.

Thomas nodded as he cranked the lever, pulling Eren off the ground as he wobbled a bit before seemimgly gaining his balance.

"His gear is broken, the left side is vibrating" Nick thought, "Quite suspicious that two belts had the same problem with them"

Eren had balanced for about 30 seconds before falling over again, only for the cadets to start laughing at him again.

"Lower him" Shadis groweled out.

"I'm finished" Eren spoke, clearly saddened by the fact he couldn't do it.

"Cadet Wagner, exchange belts with cadet Yeager", Thomas looked at Shadis confused befor swapping belts with Eren and lifting him back up on the testing rig.

Everyone was surprised except for Nick, who had figured out the gear was in fact broken, and Shadis who had failed in his attempts to stop Eren from getting past the first hurdle.

"Your gear was broken Yeager" Shadis interrupted his moment of joy with, "The thigh clasp was bent, if given a functional piece of gear you may not be worthless after all. Quartermaster didn't notice the defect, might have to visit the supply depot and crack a couple of skulls."

The recruits began to whisper among themselves, amazed that two recruits had managed to balance with broken gear.

"So you mean... I didn't wash out?" Eren asked.

"No, you made the cut, keep training cadet", Eren was overjoyed that he could keep going with his goal of killing all the titans to avenge his mothers death.

(Later that day)

Nick was partnered up with Bertholdt for the combat practice today, and he had to say Bertholdt was good, almost as if he had already had training for combat.

"Hey Bert, have you had combat training before?" Nick questioned

"Uh yeah why?" He responded nervously as Nick connected his shin to Bert's left thigh, toppling over the giant in pain, as Nick practically pulled him up and over his shoulder slamming him into the ground and holding the knife to his throat.

"You're too good to be a beginner, but I've never seen that style before, who taught you?"

"Some guy from my village before we had to leave" he responded with sweat over his forehead.

"Right, sorry about the leg" he replied with, feeling guilty about bringing up his past.

"It's fine, but you should partner up with someone better than me though, you've put me on the ground seven times now"

"If you say so"

With that Nick wandered off to find a better combat partner as he looked around to see if anyone didn't have a partner, he saw Annie on her own as he remembered said he would challenge her someday, "Well, looks like that day is today" Nick thought as he called out to her, "Hey Annie, wanna have a match".

She turned around to see who called out to her, to see the newly revealed noble to her and Mina, she wondered if he was as good as her, but there was only one way to find out.

"Alright Meier, but I won't go easy on you" she told him confident she could beat him.

"I don't expect you to, do you want the knife?"

"No, but you have to stab your opponent or make them tap out to win, alright"

"Sure, looks like an easy win to me though" he jested at her.

"Hey guys look" Connie said as he pointed towards the pair, "Nick and Annie are gonna fight", as he spoke numerous cadets gathered around to witness what they thought would be a great spectacle.

"You ready, here I come" Nick said as he moved forwatd making a sideways slash at her midsection, she stepped back to avoid the blow and tried to kick his left knee. He saw the blow coming and raised his leg so her foot would make contact with his calf instead, "Shit, she can kick hard" he thought after the impact.

"Nice kick, but you'll have to do better than that", he taunted trying to rile her up.

She moved forward this time aiming a punch at his face, he opened his left hand and used it to grab her forearm, he used her momentum to swing her around when the fist passed his face and kicked his shin into her side, connecting with the kick, she stumbled back not expecting a counter at all.

"I'll admit, you have skill, but I'm not going down that easy" she spoke coldly, determined to win now.

He stepped forward this time with numerous slashes as she dodged them all, she tried to counter with a puch, but he dodged, grabbed her wrist and swept her legs, making her fall down, as he was about to put the knife against her she kicked the back of his knee, making him stumble to his knees, she used this to lock him into a triangle choke with her legs while he was kneeling above her.

"Looks like she turned it around" said Jean to no one in particular.

"I wouldn't count him out yet" Emily spoke up, "I'm sure he could get out of that"

"Oh yeah how?", it was Eren who spoke this time, not believing there was an escape on the cards for Nick.

"Don't believe me then look"

As they were talking amongst themselves he was on the verge of being choked out by a five foot tall girl who was underneath him, he tried to talk but all that came out were gurgles that couldn't be understood or the occasional bit of drool from his attempted speech.

"Are you drooling on me?" Clearly amused that she had him locked, "I have half a mind to let you go because of that, but no, I'd rather win" she spoke coldly, but confidently at the same time.

He was beginning to feel light headed as he came up with an idea, he could only hope his strength didn't snap the girl in half while doing this. He lifted his right foot up to get a good grip on the dirt and began to lift her up slightly so he could plant his other foot on the ground as well, when he achieved this, he began to lift the tiny girl about five feet off the ground, as he did this he thought, "I hope I don't break your spine"

As she was thinking along the lines of "Holy shit, He's strong."

He slammed her hard into the ground and she let him go as she groaned in pain as he regained his bearings from the lack of oxygen, grabbed her leg and locked in the kneebar.

The cadets watching on could only gasp at the show of strength that had just been put on display for them to watch.

"It's possible that he could be just as strong, or even stronger than Mikasa", Armin thought, slightly worried at the thought of someone stronger than his Oriental friend.

Armin quickly made a note to not get on Nick's bad side. Ever.

"He would make a great soldier for humanity", Reiner thought, his soldier personality coming into play.

"He could be a problem in the future if he's as talented with the gear as he is at hand to hand combat", Bertholdt thought, slightly nervous at the thought of Nick carving up his titan form.

"If he ever does that to my precious Krista I'll tear him apart" Ymir thought, while sliding slightly closer to Krista.

"You may be her friend Ymir, but I'm gonna marry Krista one day" Thought Reiner, getting slightly jealous at how close they were.

"Mina mentioned that he's from a noble family, I wonder if he knew my father, or any of my half-siblings." Krista mused.

"If he was to join the scouts, the titans would have no chance at all", Eren spoke out loud earning some groans from his comrades.

"If he hurts Eren, I'll kill him" Mikasa angrily thought.

"I wonder what type of food he ate in the interior" Sasha thought, drooling at the thought of food from the interior.

"That was so hot" Emily simply thought, wiping the drool from her chin.

As the kneebar was locked in he put an increasing pressure on her knee, forcing her to tap out after a few seconds. He let go of her knee, stood up and offered a hand to her, she looked at it for a few seconds before accepting the gesture and speaking.

"You were a bit rough, aren't you supposed to gentle with this delicate body of mine", she teased in her usual monotone voice.

"Really, because I think you of all people would like it rough"

"Did you just flirt with her?" Frieda interrupted, with a hint of jealousy in her voice.

"Oh really" Annie started before he could respond to Frieda, "Maybe you would like to see just how rough I can be" she spoke still not letting go of his hand.

He could see Frieda, standing behind Annie, staring her down for daring to flirt with her man.

"No thanks, if you remember this morning, I'm in a steady relationship with my pillow and I'm not quite ready to end it yet"

"Thats a shame, I could have shown you some of my, special techniques", she flirted, "Oh well, but I want a rematch" she said going back to her usual voice and walking off, leaving Nick and Frieda on their own in the middle of the field.

"I can't believe she tried that!" Frieda exclaimed, "But you did very well in resisting her advances love, maybe I could reward you later tonight" she purred into his ear.

"You do realise that no one knows that I'm in a relationship, and even then they would think I'm crazy"

"I know love, I don't like not being there too, but we can still have fun together at night"

"What about during the day?" He teased, "There's no fun when I can't hold you, or kiss you, or even just smell your hair"

"Well you did say I had a sexy voice" she countered.

"That's very true, but it gets even sexier when you whisper in my ear"

"Well then" she purred, "I'll have to remember that for tonight then", she then wandered off to observe how the others were doing with their combat training and he started staring at her swaying hips again, just thinking about her made him horny.

"MEIER"

"Oh shit" he thought to himself.

(Later that night)

The bell had just went signalling that the trainees had to get back to the bunkhouses to sleep, but for Nick it was the signal to stop running laps after Shadis caught him "slacking off" and told him he lost food privileges for the night, he had just gotten into bed, his pillow was still wet though, so he swapped it with Thomas' hoping he wouldn't notice, he put his head down on the pillow and as he was just about to sleep he heard Frieda say "They say third times the charm."