𝐁𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐓.ᴀɴɴɪᴇ ʟᴇᴏɴʜᴀʀᴅᴛ, ᴍɪᴋᴀꜱᴀ ᴀᴄᴋᴇʀᴍᴀɴ

『 𝟐 』𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐅𝐄𝐂𝐓 𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄

𝐓𝐇𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐃𝐀𝐘, 𝐀𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐋 𝟒𝐓𝐇, 𝟖𝟓𝟎 𝐀𝐓 𝟏𝟖:𝟎𝟖

⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺

  Even though it had been warm during the day -and quite closely resembled a day that you'd commonly find in the summer months of the year- the evening air had a cooled tinge to it, something you assumed was partially attributed to the blanket of darkness that laid upon the training grounds. That was the reason why your hands were chilled -not in a painful way, they just had a noticeable cold touch to them- causing you to bring them to your sides as you discreetly and desperately tried to warm your poor digits up.

  Currently you were sitting at a table in the Mess Hall, the same three that you had been with during 3DMG practice spread about the table around you -Mikasa at your right side, Armin across from you, and Eren to Armin's left. Each one of you had your dinner trays in front of you, the -rather disgusting, in your opinion- mixture of peas, carrots, and some sort of mystery broth accompanying a much more tolerable bread roll and scoop of mashed potatoes.

  "Hey, Eren?" the intelligent golden-haired boy spoke up, slightly looking at the person he addressed as he messed around with his soup, "I know the majority of what you know about beyond the Walls comes from me, but... What do you think is beyond them?"

  'Oh sweet Maria, here they go again...' you mentally complained to yourself, a bored look sprawling itself comfortably on your features, 'Do they know how to talk about anything else? I mean, I'll admit that the idea of a gigantic body of water is pretty cool, or even endless pits of sand, but as curious as it makes me there's only so much that you can wonder about something until it becomes dull and bland.' Forcing yourself to keep in a huff of air, you wrapped your fingers around the untouched roll on your tray and brought it to your mouth, probably the tastiest thing you had been allowed to eat since you had entered training, 'Not like I could afford many sweets before this though, and especially not after the fall of Maria, that's for sure. The prices spiked up like crazy. '

  You jumped slightly when you felt something brush against your calf, and a quick and careful glance of your eyes downwards told you that the dark-haired girl at your side had brought her leg next to yours, a simple and hidden contact that you found yourself smiling a tiny bit at. Looking up at the tactful woman, you could see her own grey orbs pointed in your direction -although to any onlookers who just took a passing glance at her it would seem as if she was rather focused on her food- with her usual, devoid-of-emotion face. Your heart soared when she sent you the smallest of smiles once your eyes met, once again feeling hope bubble up in you that maybe, just maybe, the girl wasn't embarrassed to be with you like you had thought and she simply was just nervous to tell her adoptive brother that you and her were dating. Bringing your attention once more to the bread you held before your mouth, you took another bite of it and chewed, 'It still wouldn't hurt to train myself and play things on the safe side though, after all, it's still likely to impress her -and doing that is something that I wouldn't hate to see.'

  You weren't going to lie to yourself, all throughout the day since the afternoon you had been mulling over the idea, your mind picking and prodding at the notion until you finally told yourself that you would go through with it and do your best to get stronger, 'It's probably best to start with hand-to-hand training, because even though we're not evaluated on it, it's something that will affect how well I do in other fields. It'll help my 3DMG skill by making it easier to manipulate, it'll help endurance because I'll have better stamina, it'll help we in everyday life really because I'll be stronger,' you reasoned, once again trying to convince yourself that this was the best course of action to save your relationship, 'The only thing it won't help with is our titan classes, but that can be helped by a little bit of studying.'