𝙃𝙚𝙧 𝙁𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙣 𝙋𝙖𝙨𝙩 || Eren Jaeger

𝑒𝒸𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓈𝓎

14
____________

2 YEARS AGO

"Jean, put me down!" Jo laughs.

"What? Don't you want to be with your little friends the lobsters?" He jokes, holding her precariously over the boat's railing.

The sea-breeze sweeps their clothes and the sun bakes their complexions, a youthful, nourished glow warming their faces.

"Oi," Levi calls out from a couple feet away. "You better pray you're actually a damn seahorse, because if you drop her—"

Hanji gasps. "Levi, I taught you about that animal! I knew it, you do listen to my scientific ramblings!"

"Tch."

Jean and Jo exchange nervous looks and he slowly lowers her off the railing, steadying her on the floor. A gust of wind unexpectedly blows them back a step. Johanna's hat is swept off her head instantly. She turns around but there's no sight of it. Lost for good.

"Damn it," she says and smooths down her hair, which for the past couple months has been littered with strands of silver.

Jean knows why she wants it so desperately. "Jo, don't obsess over it. You look..."

"Like a grandma?" She huffs.

"No," he says, an apparent sunburn suddenly tinging his cheeks. "You look..."

Her eyebrows raise smugly. "Are you gonna tell me I look beautiful?"

"Well, I can't now, you've ruined it!" He says, embarrassed. "Here," he takes off his own hat and places it on her. It drops down to her eyebrows, practically blocking her sight, and she laughs, lifting it up a bit.

Her expression switches to surprise. "Woah, want me to get some sunscreen? Your face is really red."

He clears his throat and tears his eyes away from her, looking off to the side. "It's nothing..."

Sasha runs over and overlooks the railing, her hair tousled back by the wind. "Guys! There's the coast!"

Marley's distant outline emerges into view. It already looks so much bigger than Paradis island. To think that in a couple minutes they'll be wandering those city streets undercover, brushing shoulders with all sorts of people, witnessing a whole other culture in motion...

Jo's gaze drifts to Eren, who stands on the other end of the boat, staring not at the vibrant docks awaiting their arrival, but instead at a blank, endless distance. There's an impervious aspect about him. Like a private door that refuses to open past an indiscernible crack.

These days, she spends more time wondering what he's thinking than doing any thinking herself.

╳ ╳ ╳

"WOAH! LOOK AT THAT!"

"Connie, keep your voice down!" Armin hisses.

The marveled young man continues pointing at the strange contraption of black, glossy metal stationed in the middle of the street. "B-but ... that horse!" His big round eyes observe the couple inside it, "huh?! Is that a HORSE?"

Sasha looks at him like he's stupid. "No. It's obviously a type of cow!" She watches as the contraption's motor sputters.

Hanji pipes in excitedly. "It's a car! We heard about them before coming, remember! HELLO, CAR!" She waves at the moving vehicle.