Chapter 3 is here. I hope this is to your guys' liking. :) It's like 30% fluff, not gonna lie, but it covers some important stuff in their developing relationship. Armin and Mina offer their input t Eren and Annie, respectively. I'm using Mina because in the manga and a little in the anime, Mina and Annie are seen sitting next to each other pretty frequently, which leads me to believe they were probably friends, so if you were wondering, that's why. Oh, I've also decided to start incorporating a little more swearing. SPOILER ALERT: this chapter is where the ship sets sail.

Chapter 3:

Annie felt horrible. She finally realized that the feelings she had for Eren were reciprocated, and rather than confessing in return, accepting his offer, and letting him become part of her life, she pushed him away, just as she had pushed away everyone else who she came across. This was Eren. The boy who made her feel like maybe, just maybe, that she wouldn't have to be alone all her life. Eren, whose compassionate eyes wore away at the emotional barrier Annie had spent years building up, begging to be let inside. Promising comfort, trust, compassion, and so many things Annie couldn't even begin to understand.

And she blew it.

The ache in Annie's stomach had ceased to go away since she had driven him away. It had been a week since then, and she had barely eaten. Her performance was becoming significantly less impressive, and she was quickly losing respect among her peers.

But worst of all... Worst of all was that she couldn't tell anyone. How could she let anybody know that she, the great and ruthless Annie Leonhardt, was weak, and sad, and hopeless?

Annie felt that if she just told someone, maybe she wouldn't have this crushing weight in the pit of her heart. But who could she tell?

The only people that she would even consider telling were Bertholdt and Reiner, but if they knew that she was feeling this way they would become doubtful that she would be able to carry out their mission, maybe even call it off altogether.

Annie mulled the predicament over in her head on her bedroll in the woods. Today, and tomorrow also, were devoted a field exercise. Annie's group, composed of her, Mina, Connie, Jean, and Thomas, and two cadets she had never spoken to before, were to trek through the forest with extra 3DM gear and find another group of cadets who were unarmed. Once they found them, they were to resupply them and bring them back to the camp, killing any titans they encounter on the way. Search and rescue.

It wouldn't have been so bad, except for the fact that it started raining a couple of hours into the exercise and now Annie, along with everybody else, was absolutely miserable.

I like you, Annie. No matter what your secrets are.

No, he wouldn't have. She was a monster. If Eren knew what Annie really was, he would hate her guts. Eren had always been very adamant about his hatred of Titans.

"Hey, Annie," Mina called out. It was her turn to take watch while the others slept.

Annie turned towards the dark-haired girl. "What is it?"

"You should try to get some sleep." Mina suggested. "Sometimes it's okay to stop being a super soldier and get some rest, you know."

Annie didn't answer. Maybe... could she tell Mina? Mina wouldn't tell anyone, would she? Annie lifted her gaze to the branches of the tree she was lying under. "Mina?"

"Hm?"

"If I tell you something, will you promise not to laugh?"

Mina giggled slightly. "The queen of apathy sounds a little bit worried."

Annie scowled at the dark-haired girl.

"I won't tell a soul." Mina reassured.

"Well..." Annie said, "I have a problem. And it's a little bit embarrassing."

"That time of the month?" Mina asked.

"What?" Annie whispered, bewildered. "No, that's... No. It's not about my fucking period, Mina."

"Sorry, Annie. Just a thought." Mina apologized. "What is it, then?"

"It's a... B-boy problem." Annie muttered, looking down at the ground again.

Annie could hear Mina stifle a squeal of delight. She turned, and Mina had rushed over next to her and sat down, presumably so she could interrogate Annie. "Who is it? It'd better not be Nac because I already told you I liked him."

"It isn't Nac." Annie stated.

Mina cocked her head. "So who is it then?"

Annie could feel her face getting hot again. "It's... Eren..." She whispered quietly.

"Who?" Mina said. "Sorry, I didn't catch that."

"Nevermind." Annie said, changing her mind. "My point is, I like him. A lot."

Mina giggled quietly again. "Nobody else seems to believe you have emotions, Annie." She grew serious again. "So what's the problem? Did you embarrass yourself in front of him? Is he not interested?"

"No... He told me he wanted to be a part of my life. I said no."

"Why?" Mina asked.

Annie thought for a second. She couldn't tell Mina about the Shifters, so how could she word this? "There are things about me I don't want him to figure out. Things that I've done in my life. I'm absolutely sure that if he ever found out, he wouldn't like me anymore. So I told him no. I didn't want to see his reaction. Because sooner or later, he's going to find out... What should I do"

"Annie..." Mina paused, choosing her words carefully. "If you're that worried that he'll find out, then it probably means you regret what you did. If you regret it that much, then whoever this guy is, he'll understand. You can cross that bridge when you come to it. It's all a matter of whether or not you think he's worth the heartbreak."

"So..." Annie asked, "should I ask if he still wants to be with me?"

"I would." Mina said, "Especially in a world where we could all die tomorrow."

Annie thought about it for a second. She knew it wasn't as simple as Mina made it sound, but she was definitely going to keep an open mind. Maybe Eren was worth the heartbreak. "Thanks, Mina."

"Shouldn't you be taking advantage of your time in sickbay by catching up on your studying?" Armin asked from the bed next to Eren. The two had collided yesterday during training, when Armin's 3DM gear malfunctioned and propelled him sharply left, right into Eren. The two had fallen almost thirty feet onto the hard ground below. Armin had landed on Eren, who only survived the fall because of the Shifter abilities he didn't know he had. The two had been confined to sickbay for the rest of the week until their injuries healed.

Eren was once again lying in the bed, looking up at the ceiling with his hands folded behind his back. His textbooks on titan ecology and repair maintenance of 3DM gear lay on the foot of the mattress, untouched. Armin however, had gone through both books at least twice.

"I've got a lot on my mind." Eren said simply.

"Eren, does this have anything to do with Annie?"

Eren had thought Armin was going to piece it together. Although lacking in combat, Armin excelled at figuring things out, and the two having known each other for years only added to his understanding of Eren. "How did you know?"

Armin smiled apologetically. "Well, you only started acting weird after breakfast with Annie, and you've been getting awfully distracted since you met her."

Surprise, and slight panic, hit Eren. "Does anybody else know that that's what's been bugging me?"

"Not that I know of." Armin answered.

Eren sighed in relief. "That's good. I'd like to keep attention off of her, if possible."

"That's understandable, she doesn't seem to be too fond of dealing with people." Armin agreed. "So what's going on between the two of you?"

"Hell if I know." Eren replied, looking up at the ceiling again. "I told her how I feel, but I don't think she feels the same way."

"What makes you believe that?"

"She flat out said 'No', Armin."

"That doesn't necessarily mean she doesn't feel the same way. Sometimes people have other motives for wanting to stay out of relationships. Did she say anything else?"

Eren turned back to his best friend. "She said that she had secrets, and that if I ever found out about them I wouldn't like her anymore."

"Do you think that's true, Eren?"

"I don't care what she's done. I don't need to know about it, I know enough about Annie to make my own decision on how I feel about her."

"Yeah?" Armin asked. "Well then, tell her that."

"Yeah, right." Eren said, "She's never going to talk to me again."

Indeed, Annie had been avoiding him since he confessed his feelings. Even their regular martial arts training had ceased. Every time Eren had tried to talk to her, in the mess hall or during training, she would walk away and get lost in a crowd before Eren could get a word out. It was spreading throughout Eren like a disease. After a couple of days or so, though, Eren had decided that Annie simply didn't want anything to do with him, so he left her alone. He tried to forget about her.

But how could he?

Sure, Annie wasn't as conventionally beautiful as some of the other girls, and she sure as hell wasn't as compassionate, but there were other things that drew him to her. She was driven, determined, defiant. She wasn't going to let anything, even the whole world, get in her way.

Eren saw a lot of himself in that; maybe that, her demeanor, is what made him so instantly attracted to her.

"Seriously though, you should get reading." Armin suggested. "This information is going to help you kill titans, you know."

Eren gave a faint smile. He was grateful again for his best friend. "Yeah."

Annie's group had located the target group, and they were almsot back to the camp. Two days had been sufficient time for Annie to make up her mind. She was going to go to Eren, apologize, and ask him to be a part of her life just like he wanted to.

If he still wants me, that is. Annie thought. Eren had stopped trying to talk to her a few days before the search and rescue exercise began. Annie was scared that he had given up on her, and she had blown her only chance to finally not be so goddamn alone in the world. She wanted to have someone who genuinely cared and wasn't hesitant to show it. Eren was like that, and could have been even more so.

Had she ended this before it began?

Eren could have been the best thing that happened to her in her entire life. Probably, he already was. And she may have blown it sky-high.

"Hey, Ms. Grumps-a-lot," Jean snapped from off to Annie's right, "focus. We're almost back to camp, and if we're the first team back, we get special privileges. I don't know about you, but I want to rub it in the rest of the Trainee's faces when they see that we're already here. Especially Yeager."

"Eren's not doing this exercise." Connie informed Jean, "He and Eren are still in sickbay from their fall a few days ago, don't you remember?"

Annie remembered...

They were practicing using the 3DM gear in formation. She had been so scared that Eren wouldn't be breathing when she finally made it to their side. The two of them were unconscious, but Annie could feel a pulse. Mikasa and the rest of the formation were already far ahead, except for Connie, who had seen them fall and was rushing to help.

"Annie, grab Eren." Connie prompted, hefting Armin over his shoulder.

"But," Annie began. She felt much more comfortable carrying Armin.

"Annie, they're alive right now, but they might not be for much longer if we don't get them to sickbay as soon as possible." Connie activated his 3DM gear, heading back towards the camp and leaving Annie and Eren behind.

Annie swallowed and grabbed Eren, throwing him over her shoulder just like Connie had with Armin. She pulled the triggers on her handles and the cables shot forward, propelling them through the forest. Annie released more propulsion gas and kept willing the gear to go faster, but it was at its maximum speed.

She made it to sickbay what seemed like years later. Connie was walking out, already having set Armin down into a bed and informed the doctors of what had happened. He made eye contact with Annie.

"I told the docs that you'd be showing up with Eren." They've got a bed set up for him.

"Thank you." Annie said, walking Eren inside. She placed him on the bed. Just as she was about to leave though, she turned ack around. Annie pulled the sheets over him and positioned his head more comfortably on the pillow.

Annie reached out with her hand to brush at his cheek but, her hand an inch from Eren's face, retracted it just as quickly. She turned to leave.

Annie was snapped out of her memories by Jean's sudden cheering. She realized that they had made it back to the campground, and better still, that none of the other trainees seemed to have arrived. Shadis was standing in the middle of the yard, alone. They were back.

"Adequate job, cadets. You're the first group back."

"And our special privileges, sir?" Jean asked, grinning wide.

Shadis turned away again. "Your privileges are that you get to relax until the rest get back."

Jean's smile faded.

"Eren," a faint voice whispered, "Eren, wake up."

Eren's eyes fluttered open. It was dark out. It took awhile for his eyes to get adjusted, but when they did, he saw a blonde girl sitting in the darkness on the edge of his bed.

"Annie?" He whispered. "What time is it?"

"About midnight." Annie responded.

"Oh." Eren replied. He wondered what she came here for. She had made it pretty clear that she didn't want anything to do with him, so what was she here to say? He decided to wait for her to talk.

"I've been thinking," Annie whispered, "about what you said. You wanted to be a part of my life. Is that still true?"

Eren was surprised. "Yeah, but only if you want me there. It seems like you kind of don't."

"I didn't. Or at least, I thought I didn't." Annie turned away. "You've been so nice to me, Eren. So kind. You've been everything I never knew I wanted."

"What do you mean?" Eren asked.

"I was raised to always be on the defensive. My father told me never to let anybody get too close to me, because then they'd be able to hurt me. So I grew up without any friends. I didn't think I needed any. I wanted to be alone, Eren." Annie turned to look back at him, and Eren could see, even in the darkness, the worry and nervousness in her eyes. It was taking a lot out of her just to open up to him this much.

"And then I met you," the suddenly vulnerable-looking girl continued, "and suddenly... I don't want to be alone anymore. I'm sorry for what I said earlier, Eren, I was wrong. I want you in my life, and I want to be in yours. I want you to be someone I can depend on."

Eren was silent for a long time. And all this time, I thought she hated my guts. He was immensely relieved.

"So what do you say?" Annie asked, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

Eren didn't say anything. Instead, he placed his hand behind Annie's head, brought her close to him, closed his eyes, and pressed his lips against hers.

Annie seemed tense at first, but she melted into the kiss very quickly, and was clearly surprised when he pulled away, judging from the shade of red she turned.

"I'd love that." Eren said simply.