positions | jean kirstein

chapter ten: red

It's been two days.

And I somehow manage to avoid Jean ever since our second kiss.

I have been spending my time sparring with Vera and hanging out with Hange while they conducted their experiments on Alexander. They both still didn't know about what happened between Jean and I, and I planned on keeping it that way. Hopefully, if I avoid him enough, we can eventually move forward and forget it ever happened.

No one would have to know.

"So," Vera starts as we sat on the ground, trying to catch our breath. "Same time tomorrow?"

"I can't spar tomorrow. I have my squad's dinner," I reply, pulling the ribbon from my hair and letting it down.

Unfortunately, tomorrow is our squad's first bonding dinner. It was a tradition that the Scouts have. The idea was proposed by Hange to the Commander a year ago. They thought it would be fun for every squad to have a designated bonding time since it would help with teamwork and communication on missions. Now, squad bondings are required for every squad at least once every month.

So much for trying to ignore Jean. Hopefully, it won't be too awkward.

The rest of the afternoon flew by and the next thing I knew, it is already the next day.

It was almost time for when we agreed to meet, and I begin to head towards the outdoor table on the outside of the dining hall.

Otto, Sasha, and Connie are already there, and they wave a 'hello.' Otto had offered to do the cooking and meal preparation with the help of Sasha. I had no idea why Connie was there too, but I could only assume it was to watch Sasha and make sure she didn't eat everything before everyone could get there.

"Is everything ready?"

Otto looks up from the plate he was garnishing, giving me a grin. "Almost."

Most of the food had already been set on the table. Otto made a special potato soup with bacon bits and with toasted bread on the side.

"This looks delicious guys. Good job," I say, giving them a soft smile which they return.

Miles shows up shortly after. We are now all here except for Jean.

"Where's Jean?" Connie asks as he takes his first bite of the food. They all turn to me, waiting for an answer.

I shrug. "I'm not sure."

I hear footsteps approaching from behind me.

Speaking of the devil.

Jean walks up, greeting everyone, and takes the empty seat to the right of me. I ignore him and begin to eat the food.

The dinner went by smoothly. Although sometimes Connie can be a dimwit, he never fails to make us laugh. And Sasha was Sasha. I couldn't even keep track of how many rounds of food she ate. I don't know much about Otto and Miles, but they were very kind-hearted people; they were the embodiment of a warm hug. Jean bickers with Connie and Sasha as usual.

That night, we manage to avoid any awkward moments, but I could see Jean sneaking glances at me from the corner of my eye. I ignore them.

I get up, ready to help Miles clean up, when Jean grabs my wrist.

"I need to talk to you."

He did not give me any time to react when he leads me into the empty dining hall, closing the door for privacy.

"What the hell was that?" I say, glaring at him.

"We need to talk." Jean finally releases my wrist.