perception ⸝⸝ aot

3

I'm jerked awake roughly, causing me to groan angrily and open my eyes slowly. I see Jean's stupid face. "Tch, go away, dumb bitch," I push his hand away. He rolls his eyes, "Your dumbass was asleep while everyone walked into Mess Hall and ate their food. Not even your little buddies woke you up."

I grimace and stand up, then look behind me to see the door to Mess Hall closed and locked. "I hate you, Jean," I mumble, he just laughs at his own stupid immaturity.

"No, for real, what are you doing sleeping here? You're homeless too?" He snickers. "Aw it's okay, little (Y/N) can come sleep with me!" He says as if he's cooing a baby.

"Of course you'd want that, fucking pervert," I sneer at him, which makes him roll his eyes. Shadis finally appears out of his cabin and opens the doors to the Mess Hall. Trays of warm food are carried in, which is evenly distributed into equal parts for each cadet.

I run into Mess Hall, soon after, Jean comes in, followed by Sasha. She bolts to pick up her share of food and sits down at a table quicker than me or Jean. I pick up the bowl of warm porridge and the ripe apple with a glass of milk and sit down at my usual spot.

To my surprise, Jean takes a seat in front of me again. "I don't wanna see your face in the morning, please." I groan.

"Oh..." He trails off, probably trying to think of a retort. "Well it's not like I sat here to stare at your-" he puts his fingers up to create quotations, "pretty face. I'm here because it's pitiful seeing you sit all alone. Yeah. That's it."

I hum in agreement, in the most sarcastic way I can and begin to eat my breakfast. I was still extremely exhausted from the lack of sleep I had but I had to power through the day anyway. "Hey (Y/N)!" Eren exclaims as he takes a seat next to me with his porridge, Mikasa sits down beside him but stays quiet, like a lingering shadow, as always.

"Where's Armin?" I ask, looking around the room for him.

"He's getting changed, he'll be here in a bit," Eren says, taking a bite out of his apple.

Jean clears his throat, "Guess you don't need my company anymore," he says with a relieved look. "Finally!" He rolls his eyes and goes to join Marco and Conny. After a few minutes, Armin takes a seat in front of me. He smiles at me, the kindest smile I've ever received from anyone.

"Good morning," He says quietly. His legs brush against mine and he smiles apologetically, I guess he has the habit of swinging them. We eat in silence, with the occasional brush of Armin's leg. I don't mind it, after all, I lack physical touch.

Soon enough, it was time for Eren to redo his test. We all stood in a crowd behind Shadis as Eren was strapped to the wires. Armin, Mikasa and me stood at the front. At Shadis's signal, a man started turning the handle and Eren was slowly suspended into the air.

I swallowed my spit and stared intently, hoping he makes it. He steadies himself and everyone cheers, but he was still wobbling around. Somethings not right. In a second, Eren's head hits the hard ground and he starts yelling for another chance.