"Nix, could I talk to you for a second?"

"Oh god. You never ask to talk to anyone. Am I in trouble."

"I will not hesitate to break your nose."

"I'm coming, I'm coming!"

Nix followed Markov outside of the cabin and leant against the wall. "What is it?"

"You need to talk to her."

"To who?"

"Kita. I can't stress how much it annoys me."

"What annoys you?"

"That you like her, and she likes you. It's simple. She's not going to ask you out, she's just waiting. I would've thought you'd pick up on that, Grim."

Markov patted him on the shoulder and retreated inside again. Nix stood there. His body was tense. His heart was racing. Maybe he was right, of course he was right, he's Markov Kaiser. He's always right. "Girl trouble?"

Nix turned as a large blonde approached. "Reiner. How'd you know?"

"I'll let you into a little secret, I see that face everyday. Bertholdt always pulls it around Annie."

If Nix was drinking then, he would have sprayed it everywhere. "Bertholdt likes Annie?! Well actually I can see why..."

"Back to the original question, so what's troubling you?"

"Kaiser told me that she likes me, and don't get me wrong, I like her too. I really like her. But I don't know how to tell her."

"Who is it? "

"You know already. I can tell you're jealous Reiner. I can see the spite in your eyes."

"I don't spite you, I just like Kita. What does that have to do with you?"

"Because we like each other, but she's waiting for me. Look, I should go back in there."

"I'll beat you to it."

Nix stopped in his path but didn't turn around. "Beat me to what exactly."

"I'll beat you to her."

"I'm sure you will, Reiner."

Reiner couldn't see at that moment, but Nix's eyes were a flaming red. From the outside to the pupil was menacing, devious and challenged red, pure red. "Good luck."

And with that, Nix went back inside, leaving Reiner to think about the conversation.

A day later...

Kita exited the cabin to get a breath of fresh air. She inhaled the breeze, forgetting all about her stresses and worries. The sunset was beautiful, even if you could only see it from inside the walls. The glistening yellow, piercing the eyes of onlookers. The flaring red, encircling the yellow, embracing it, it was red with mischievous power. The orange that surrounded both colours, protecting it and keeping it safe, it shone brightly, yet was dull and stayed back compared to the other colours. Somehow, Kita managed to stare at it until it hid itself from the prying eyes of herself. She heard footsteps behind her, yet ignored them, already figuring out who it was. "Kita. I want to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"I've been holding this in for a while, and I wanted to this quickly to beat competition, but...would you go on a date with me?"

"Reiner, it's a sweet gesture on your part, but..."

Kita kept her eyes fixated on the sun. "I'm taken."

"Wh- By who?!"

"By me." A cool voice replied from behind.

The dark grey haired adolescent approached the two and smiled. "Sorry Braun, but you were too slow."

Reiner's arms drooped and he let out a small frown. "I apologise." He said and sadly left.

Nix came up to Kita and leant on the fence next to her. "The view is really nice." Kita smiled.

"It really is." Nix sighed whilst looking at Kita.

"Ugh, that's so cheesy."

"What! I was trying to be sweet."

Kita chuckled and smiled back at him. "Do you know how long I had to wait?"

"Too long."

Nix put his arms around her back and around her shoulders, imitating the previous sun. Markov calmly left the room and saw his two friends hugging and mentally smiled. He would protect them no matter what. He swore to himself. He promised himself he would never let them down whatever happened, he would be there. He wanted them to be happy, even if he couldn't.

That's how he expressed his emotion.

He exhaled and went back into the cabin, leaving them to it.

"She's taken! After all my preparation and he got to her faster."

"She would've turned you down anyways."

"You don't know that!"

"I do, Reiner. Go pine after Krista again."

Reiner flopped down onto the table and heaved a loud exasperated groan. Bertholdt and Annie both rolled their eyes and ignored him. Eren staggered over and jabbed himself on the corner of the table. "Sorry about that, I got SHOVED!" He yelled at the person who shoved him. "Anyways, as you know...hopefully, Valentines d-"

"Not interested." Annie and Reiner said in unison.

"Alright then." Eren sighed and walked off only to get in an argument with the same person who pushed him, then got sent back to talk again. "We insist that, before our first mission, you come to the Valentines day party. Think of it as a send-out party."

Bertholdt shrugged and turned to Annie, pursing his lips and raising his eyebrows in a 'why not' kind of way.

She couldn't resist the eyes. It was always his eyes. She didn't know why, but they had an effect on her. The searing green that looked inoccent but had seen hundreds of deaths and much destruction. They looked warm, open. Hey looked kind.

They looked like home.

"Fine." She groaned and leant back.

"We'll go then." Bertholdt confirmed.

Reiner just rose his hands and flopped them down again. "What is wrong with you?"

"She's the only girl I had a chance with."

Annie tried to stifle a laugh which ended up in a snicker, and Bertholdt outright laughed his head off. "You're moping about something wrong. You never had a chance with her because she had her heart set on him, not you. She didn't even know you until the other day don't you think it would've been a bit forward?"

"But we were perfect. We could've gone sailing down the river, I serenade her with music."

"That wasn't going to happen anyway, Reiner."

"It would be nice if my friends supported me in this."

"It would wouldn't it. Sadly, no."

"You guys suck."

"Look in the mirror, Braun. You're fussing over a girl that you didn't know."

"I knew her name and face, that's enough. Maybe I just won't go to that stupid party."

"Yeah, just leave Ber and me alone there." Annie muttered, only half joking.

"Will do."

Reiner heaved himself from the seat he was glued to and walked outside depressingly. "What an idiot." Annie sighed as he left.

"I agree."

"I'm not seeing the point of me going. You're supposedly meant to go in pairs to a Valentines party."

"You could always go with Mikasa." Nix teased.

Markov glared at him and his eyes deepened. "Geez, I get it."

"So...how many people have asked you?"

"Four and counting." Markov shrugged off casually.

"Already? It was announced like, five minutes ago!"

Markov simply shrugged again and sat back, watching his two best friends. "Well, be polite if you get any more requests."

"What if he finds a girl?!"

"That's bigger news than us two."

"Challenge accepted, we're going to find Kaiser a date."

"I don't know, that's a pretty big challenge."

"He's right there."

"No offence." Nix added quickly.

The pair scooted off to take on their challenge, which was the hardest one they'd ever faced so far. "That's never going to happen." Markov sighed and rested his head on the back of the chair.

He felt a cold stare down his neck, he assessed it without looking at it. The owner of the stare didn't admire him or respect him on any level. It was Jean presumably.

Markov let his eyes droop down slightly and sighed, then sat back up and stared down into his glass.

"Hey! I haven't seen you around here before, what's your name?"

"Markov Kaiser."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Kita Irne and that's Nix Grim. I don't really know my way around yet, I moved from Japan last week. Nix tried to show me around but he got lost. Can you show us around?"

The girl grinned and the guy smiled a little. Markov thought over the outcomes and finally nodded.

He walked them past the park and kicked a small stone. "You don't talk much Markov, do you?"

"I talk when necessary."

"How old are you anyway? You look our age, but maybe that's just Germany."

"At the moment, I'm 11."

"Really? We're both 10."

"Hey, Markov."

Markov turned to look at the slightly younger boy. "I don't have many friends around here...could we be friends?"

Markov's breath hitched for only a second until he slowly nodded. "Yay!" Kita squealed and hugged them both.

At that moment, Markov swore to himself he would protect his friends, whatever happened, wherever they were.

He would protect them.

Even if he was young.