IMPORANT A/N: Definitely going to make this a story now, because it's so much fun to write!
Not so important A/N: Follow me on tumblr if you want to see some updates I'll be posting during the progress of the next chapter (link is on my page). And thank you for so many reviews and favs last chapter, I'm flattered beyond words! Every review made my day ^_^ Song used: Blindess by Metric. Let me know what you thought of this chapter!
Inside the Red Zone
An Eren x Annie no-longer-one-shot by: Euregatto
The reason Annie doesn't believe in fairy tales is blatantly, and quite simply, this: they aren't realistic.
If a boy kisses a girl they don't just live happily ever after and skip off into the sunset, hand-in-hand. What happens next? Do they get married? Do they get divorced? How many children do they have? Does one of them die of a gruesome, horrendous plague? Does the other cheat on their spouse with that sexy doctor down the road? (Her overthinking is probably why her father stopped reading her bedtime stories). Seriously, no one just goes on to live an absolutely perfect, carefree life.
Annie, however, is also envious of these unrealistic endings.
She, a girl, kissed Eren, a boy, who's probably her Prince Charming because no one in this society can be rich aside from the king. As much as she would love to merrily skip off into the horizon with him, she can't for many, many reasons. She doesn't see Hansel and Gretel fighting off colossal cannibals. No, they get a witch. And house made of fucking candy. Oh, yes, and dear old Jack gets a single giant. ONE GIANT. In the sky. If Titans lived in the sky humans would be the happiest race on the whole planet.
Regardless, these characters have it easy.
They especially get to live a happy ending because they aren't friends with – drum roll please – Reiner Braun, that guy you have a love-hate relationship with because he smokes like a burning building and rubs his swelled ego all up in your face. As much as he's willing to protect your life, he's also bent on ruining it for his own personal amusement.
So, of course, that night during the monthly camp out he decides to bring to the spotlight his results – the conclusion that his week of snooping around trying to find the next most interesting thing has brought upon him. Annie knows there's something up because he has that smug expression on his normally stoic face. It means, to anyone who's been a victim of his gargantuan mouth, that he is about to make a big revelation.
The night is particularly chilly so everyone crowds in clusters around their fires. Annie meant to sit with normal people – and by normal she doesn't mean Reiner, but that's unfortunately exactly who she's next to.
He leans toward her. "So, Annie…"
She pretends to be disinterested and plays with the vegetables she had roasted on a stick. They're tasteless though. Her gaze casts up to the ring of friends near them and she catches Eren's eye. He smiles, gently waving to her; Jean glances over to see who he's gesturing to and she briskly looks at her food again. Reiner had noticed.
Taking her silence as his permission to proceed, he, for once, lowers his voice. "I was right. You do have a thing for Eren." Her frozen glare snaps up to meet him like 'don't you fucking dare', but he just continues. "Saw you guys behind the shed yesterday. He really is a good kisser, isn't he?"
She makes a move to punch him right in his kisser but Mina's suddenly squealing her ear. "My little Annie is a girl!"
These fairy tale characters also get to live a happy ending because they don't make the mistake of sitting next to Mina Karolina. A handful of pairs of eyes turn in their direction and Annie quickly grabs her friend's shoulders. "Shut up!" She hisses through her teeth.
Reiner turns to Jean and points to Eren, then to her, and makes a motion with the opening of his fist and opposing finger. The other boy snorts behind his hand.
"Will you knock it off?!" She mutters, but every word is laced with poison.
Mina pats her back. "Aw, don't be so uptight Annie! I think it's adorable! There's nothing to be embarrassed about!"
"Yes but it also doesn't have to be everyone else's business!" She glares down at her lap. Something within her pulses and she strokes a genius idea – an idea that just might be one of the most original plans she's devised in years. She gradually returns to reality to find Reiner making snide remarks about her, not that she's been listening, and Franz scolding him in return before he gets another concussion like last week.
Annie wedges the bare end of the stick into the dirt and shoots up, hands in her pockets. "You know Reiner, you've been staring at Christa for a while now."
He instantly flushes. "Oh, uh, y-yeah. She's cute."
"Maybe she should know that. How could you expect to make your move if she remains clueless?"
Reiner has never looked so perpetually disturbed in his life – it borders pure terror, like she's holding a knife against his neck. He sweats suddenly, teeth clenching, body going rigid in his spot. "D-Don't you dare!"
Bingo.
She steps up to the other ring of people. "Hey, Christa," she greets.
The young girl glances up at her. "Oh, Annie! Hi!"
"The she-creature speaks."
"Ymir…" Christa sends a glare in her friend's direction, which is the equivalent to being stared down by a hamster, and Ymir just shrugs. "Anyway, what's up?"
"Listen," Annie starts, coming across as innocent as possible. "My pal Reiner is incredibly shy, so I came over on his behalf to save him some humiliation. He just wanted to say that he"—the next thing she knows her feet are leaving the ground and Reiner is literally throwing her onto his shoulder—"PUT ME DOWN!"
"I'msorryforbotheringyou," he apologizes to their group with lightning speed, "sorrysorrylackofsleepshe'scrazyIknowokbyenow!"
She beats her fists against his back. "Put me down you ox!"
He carries her right back to their spots. "Nothing to see here; everyone go back to your fires!" When they reach their circle again he sets her down. They wordlessly, and quite complacently, take their seats. Mina is snorting as she tries her damned hardest to hold back her laughs. Hannah has her face in Franz's shoulder, clearly muffling her giggles, and he's looking at them like he's a father who found out his kids vandalized a morgue. Bernholdt just blinks.
"You're an idiot, Reiner," Franz declares.
Eren is watching them cautiously from his spot, completely ignoring Armin who's entertaining Connie, Sasha and Thomas with the equations from class they didn't understand. Mikasa notices her brother's staring just as Jean leans towards her. "I think your brother has a thing for Leonhardt."
Mikasa furrows her brow. "A thing?"
"You know, a thing. A thing! …Feelings, Mikasa." Jean leans away from her and gets right in Eren's line of view. "So are you and Annie a thing now?"
Eren frowns. "A what?"
"You have got to be kidding me…" He reaches for a rock and chucks it through the fire, hitting Thomas in the knee. The other boy glances at him. "Tom, help me out here. Do you know what having a thing for someone means? Eren's as clueless as a doornail."
Now all eyes turn to the boy in question. "It means you have these special feelings for someone," Thomas says after contemplating it, "and if you're a thing with that someone, it means you guys are together. You basically make out any chance you can get – or, if you're really into someone, you'll go a little further than that. Sometime later you'll move in together, then get married and have like six kids."
"Oh," is all Eren responds with.
"So?" Jean asks hopefully. "Are you a thing with Annie?"
"Yeah. It seems so."
Sasha nearly chokes on her bread. "You're dating Annie?!"
"She has feelings?" Connie whispers to Armin who just shrugs like 'I guess so'.
Jean snorts unattractively. "
Eren completely ignores them; focusing on Annie again, and when Mikasa peers over Annie is making gestures about shooting Reiner. Oh no, she thinks as a chill runs down her spine, and a ghastly look contorts her face, they're thing is to kill Reiner! They're going to murder him in cold blood! What should I do? Should I say something? When she glances back at her brother and again in the other direction, Annie's now making gestures of shooting herself. They're going to kill themselves after they kill him so they won't have to suffer the consequences later!
"Don't do it!" She exclaims suddenly, taking his hands in hers. "Don't do it, Eren, it's not worth it!"
Eren flushes. "Uh, wow, OK, what's gotten into you?"
"Your life isn't worth it!"
Armin readies himself in case he has to hold her back like last month, when Sasha stole her bread and she nearly tore the auburn a new one. "Mikasa, chill out."
"Is there something wrong with me having a thing with Annie?" Eren is kind of really afraid of his sister right now.
"Yes!" She snaps, shaking their connected fists. "I don't want you to sacrifice yourself for this thing! Promise me you won't, Eren! Please!"
"Okaaay," Eren starts, brushing her off. "Listen… You're a little high maintenance today so-"
A sudden noise fills the silence. It's the strumming of a guitar and gentle singing from a girl in a group several yards away; she's doesn't use her voice often, even though she should, and the lyrics are along the lines of "all the survivors singing in the rain / I was the one with the world at my feet / Got us a battle, leave it up to me…"
Annie feels lips against her ear and a hand takes hers. "Dance with me," the voice coerces, other hand finding her hip. "Come on."
She leans her head back into his shoulder. "I don't dance." Somewhere in the back of her mind a memory slips through – her father teaches her to dance to the miscellaneous music coming from a flute nearby. But it's so far out of her remembrance she doesn't think she can even guess as to what some of the moves are. "It's been such a long time… I don't even remember how."
Eren scoffs. "Then I'll teach you"—just like Dad—"so take my hand." Giving in she accepts his gesture and he pulls her to her feet, locking one arm around her waist. "Let me take the lead," he utters, moving to the steady tempo of the girl still singing at the fire, "and just follow."
Mikasa is watching them dance with her chin on her fists, silently fuming despite her blank features. She is planning her counterattack – they wouldn't dare kill him, though, especially not with so many trainees around. She would have to take action before anything happened… but when? How could she stop them?
"So…" Jean starts, scooting over to her side. "Mikasa… you want to-?"
"I have to stop them," she seethes and gyrates to face him so suddenly he almost literally drops from a heart attack. "You'll help me, won't you?"
"Help you with what?"
"Stopping Eren and Annie's thing. I have to protect Eren, that's all there is to it."
Jean rubs at his chin. "I don't think she's that bad."
"I must put an end to their vile plot…"
"Wow, you really are wound up today. But go ahead, I'm all ears."
Annie catches Mikasa devising some sort of plot with Jean and lowers her voice, leaning towards Eren's ear. "What was that?"
"What was what?"
"You dragged me up so insistently. Someone die?"
He scoffs and spins her around. "Mikasa thinks the whole me and you together scenario is gonna be the end of the world." Off handedly he adds, glancing down at himself, "I'm a little hot. Was this a bad shirt choice?"
Annie keeps a straight face for anyone watching them, but her voice is a suggestive purr. "I think I'd like you better shirtless."
His face flares up. "Uh, duly noted…"
They leave the conversation at that, and Reiner has a victory speech about always being right sometime after the song ends. Mikasa and Jean behave strangely for the rest of the night.
The forest is alive with the melodic chirps of songbirds, the rays of saffron sunlight that filter through the entwined canopy overhead and set the emerald underbrush on fire, and the moss that creeps up the trees like freezing ice. Branches quake as Annie Leonhardt impacts them one at a time, leaping down the thicket and weaving easily through the leaves. She hits the lowest branch and pauses to listen to the chorus of sounds around her.
I'm safe for now.
They had the day to take the gear out for a free spin around the forest with no instructions from Shadis. Reiner's idea of a training exercise was for everyone to play "tag", starting with Millius as "it", and after a brief explanation from him about the rules because she lacked a fun childhood, she instantly wanted no part of their stupid game, which is why she's here – away from everyone else.
The tree shakes suddenly and before she can react Eren appears in front of her. "Boo!"
He's swinging upside down from his gear, eye level with her and goofy grin plastered on his face. She rolls her eyes but smiles regardless. "Oo, scary. I'm terrified."
"I got you something," he remarks, "so close your eyes." She does. "Don't peak!" She can feel him brushing his familiar fingertips along her cheek and ear (which are noticeably warmer than before), and his breath is unusually hot against her skin; he cups her cheeks then plants a soft kiss on her lips. "There."
Her eyelids flutter open. There is a yellow wildflower nestled in the crevice between her ear and skull, petals soft against her pallid skin and stem woven into her hair.
"And now you're a girl," he quips.
"You of all people should know my gender, Eren." She snakes her fingers into his thick chocolate hair, giving it her usual tug. He doesn't flinch at the pain anymore. "Now your next task is to make me a woman."
His cheeks set on fire; he stumbles briefly over his response, earning a light laugh from the blonde. "U-uh… I can't right now."
"And why not?"
"Because I'm running."
"From who?"
He has this smirk playing with his lips, the smug expression she hates because it means he's up to no good – as usual – but also makes him adorable, unfortunately for her and fortunately for him. Utilizing his cords he kisses her nose and reel upwards, landing on the branch overhead. "You! Tag, you're it!"
"I don't want to play," she declares, shoving her hands into her pockets. "That's why I'm this far from the group."
His emerald gaze holds this casual sense of playfulness and curiosity. "Loosen up a bit!" He coerces, reeling down to her level. His arms hook around her waist, pinning her close to him, lips to her brow. "Come on, you can't be mature all the time."
"Or I can remain mature and you can remain immature, and we can complement each other."
He scoffs into her hair. "Just trust me."
Trust, huh?
She suddenly lurches up, mouth colliding with his and body moving to the familiar tempo of his own as her knee comes up rub at the inside of his thigh. "Or we can save the game for later," he utters into her.
He pins her against the battered rigid wood with his body as she wraps her legs around him, lips hot just for her, hands exploring her waist and sneaking up under her sweatshirt. She emits this inhumane sound into his mouth that's practically a purr; he bucks his hips against hers just to earn it again, along with some harsh pants. They're intense, as always, but it's almost impossible to get alone time like this with so many people around – at his best, he can sneak in a kiss right before dinner, when everyone is changing out of their uniforms.
They're deprived, for the most part.
"We shouldn't do this now," she mutters somewhere between the lines.
"Why not?"
"Someone's going to – ah! – wonder where we went. You know Reiner will take this to our graves." She adjusts herself against the wall as he pulls back, lips to her ear but his hands still working to loosen her clothes.
"And who the hell cares?"
"We will when don't hear the end of it."
"Fair enough." He massages her sides, fingernails scraping against the length of the scar she had earned last month from Bernholdt's broken cord that whipped around and into the right half of her ribs. She groans in her throat, vibrating every bone in her chest, and corkscrews her eyes shut to embrace the sensations like fire on her skin. His voice soothes her tense muscles as he says, sensually, "but we'll have to worry about that later, won't we?"
His touch suddenly disappears.
She blinks, swollen lips parted in awe as she watches him step back along the branch. "Eren?"
"If you want a later you'll have to prove it." His cords snap out with a flick of his wrist, impacting the tree several yards away. "Tag, Annie, you're it!" He zip-lines into the forest, disappearing into the thicket of the canopy.
She grunts a small "fine" and follows suit. Her smaller frame allows her to catch up quickly, twirling acrobatically through the branches and swinging mere inches above the ground. He appears within ear shot directly ahead; multiple shadows dart through the underbrush around her as he passes through a clearing. Reiner shoots into her peripheral vision, tailed by Mikasa and Connie. It's a wonder how Mikasa could understand a concept like 'fun'.
"Annie's it!" Eren relays.
"Annie's it!" Mina echoes, crossing along his path and diving down into the thick understory; her exclamation reverberates through the trees, passing amongst the trainees. Annie curses under her breath as her friend and boyfriend disappear from sight.
Eren descends in Mina's wake and shoots back up into the emergent just as Nack passes right by Annie, the leaves he knocks loose shrouding her vision. She draws to a stop against a trunk, peering around briskly for any signs of an easier target. Armin glides under her and she somersaults into the air, streamlining behind him. Just as she suspected he naturally turns and zips towards Eren who was hiding under the ceiling of branches above.
"Found you!" She snaps, taking after him when he reflexively shoots up into the overhead layers. He's howling with laughter in pure excitement and anticipation, a sound that puts a small smile on her lips.
Reiner appears to her left, heavy mass snapping too thin branches as he glides within several meters of her. "I've never seen have fun before!" He remarks snidely. She darts for him, fingers just skimming the seams of his jackets as he twirls out of the way. "And nice flower! Never knew Eren had a taste in the forest's floral."
He dives into the maze of oak wood trunks and she turns her attention to Jean and Sasha who come flying in on either side of her. She swings after them with sudden irritation in her chest and shoots after Jean when Sasha dances out of the path, cartwheeling through the air with an eccentric squeal. Annie releases a burst of gas that propels her forward enough to get within Jean's reach.
He arcs around a tree just as Bernholdt crosses into view. She hits him in the shoulder and speeds off. "Bernholdt's it!" She calls out.
Jean passes over Thomas crouched on a low branch. "Bert's it!" The brunet exclaims, disappearing into the shrubbery.
Annie notices that Bernholdt is right behind her and she drops into a steep dive, twirling with her arms extended to slice through the air and into the entwining leaves. She snaps her cords out just in time to slow her descent and rolls along the ground, over and up to her feet. Above her she can hear the rebounding comments and laughs of her fellow trainees.
That's when Eren hits the grass beside her, digging his boot into the dirt to grind to a halt. "See!" He chirps, knitting his fingers into hers. "It's tons of fun!"
"I haven't had fun in a long time," she mutters, adjusting the flower in her hair. "I'm not exactly the type to have many friends."
"Well, you have friends now." He briefly leans his lips to hers. "And you have me, of course."
"Well that sucks."
"Har-har. Tell you what… let's have some more fun. Meet me outside the boy's quarters tonight after sundown, and we'll get even with Reiner." He pokes her gently with his elbow. "I think it's time someone put him in his place."
Annie raises her eyebrow quizzically. "I'm listening."
High above them Mikasa and Jean are crouched on parallel branches. "They're moving tonight!" He gasps, glancing at her. "We have to stop them before it happens! Let's commence with plan A!"
Mikasa nods. Don't worry Eren, I'll make sure this thing doesn't happen… I promise.