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Jean sidestepped a puddle to avoid getting his boots wet. He was nervous. He wasn’t sure why, it was just Eren. But it was Eren. There were a million different ways he could fuck this up, and about three that could go right.
He paused. There was still time, he didn’t have to go.
But he did. He had to see him, even if it was one more time before Eren was whisked away to the inner wall.
He continued his way onto the greenhouse. Eren was already there, cloak around his shoulders and uniform clean and tidy.
“Hey,” Jean said. Eren jumped and looked up.
“Jesus, don’t scare me like that!” he playfully smacked Jean on the shoulder.
“So, uh, you’re going to the inner wall tomorrow,” he said.
“Yeah,” Eren nodded. “So, what did you want to talk to me about?”
Jean looked into Eren’s bright green eyes. He scratched his neck and started stammering. There was something about those eyes that made it impossible for Jean to form complete sentences.
“I...you-...and me….and...you?”
Eren blinked.
“What?”
Jean closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
“Sorry, sometimes I get lost in your eyes and I can’t form sentences,” he said. He opened his eyes to find a somewhat shocked and amused look on Eren’s face.
“You-?”
“I might like you?”
“Might?”
“Okay! I like you!” Jean crossed his arms. “It’s really hard for me to say, but this could possibly be the last chance for me to say it. So, Eren, I like you. I started liking you from the moment you threw my ass on the ground back at the training corps. I liked you even more all those times you lectured me and the others about normal-Eren-stuff. And-I might have fallen in love with those stupid green eyes and your shitty personality.”
Eren was silent, still in shock.
Jean was blushing as red as an apple.
“You don’t have to say anything, okay?” Jean shook his head. “I just wanted to tell you. And, I never told anyone this before, but, I joined the survey corps because I’d follow your nasty ass anywhere.”
Eren took a moment to let everything sink in. Jean tucked his hands in his pockets and took a deep breath.
“And that’s all I have to say,” he said, idly toeing the dirt of the greenhouse. “Be safe in the inner wall, okay? Come back in one piece.”
“Jean,” Eren found his voice. “Thank you, for telling me all that. I, um, need some time to think about it.” The brunette hugged himself and sighed. “Do you think you can wait until after I get back for an answer?”
“Honestly I wasn’t expecting one, so sure,” Jean nodded. “Take all the time you need. I’ll still be here...waiting.”
Eren let out a breathy laugh and playfully punched Jean’s shoulder.
“Don’t get into too much trouble while I’m gone,” he said.
“Oh, don’t worry,” Jean held up his hands. “Mikasa is excellent impulse control.” Eren laughed and once again Jean felt himself get lost in those eyes.
--
Eren had left. He’d be gone for a few weeks and honestly, no one knew if he’d be coming back. Jean knew. He knew Eren would come back. He didn’t know how, but he called it on his gut feeling that Eren would come back.
He spent the days cleaning, training, moping about. With no one to banter with, it was pretty boring at the survey corps headquarters. He trained hard, considering it was better than moping, and Jean certainly did not want to admit that he was moping over Eren.
Mikasa was an excellent training buddy.
“No, Jean, try it again,” she sighed. Jean watched her execute the maneuver and copied her. “There you go! You’re improving so much.” She smiled at him like a proud mother hen. After Mikasa had taught him all she knew, they’d spar together. Mikasa won most times, but as time progressed, so did Jean’s skills.
He smirked as he pummeled her to the ground.
“You’re getting good, Jean,” she tapped out. “So now that you’ve mastered hand to hand, what are you going to do?”
“Oh, I’ll think of something,” he smiled.
--
“Lower your elbow, just a bit,” Sasha said, gently touching Jean’s elbow. Archery. Jean sucked at archery, but luckily, Sasha was the best archer the survey corps had. “There you go, now let go!”
Jean let go of the string with a twang, and the arrow hit the target. Even though he was in the top ten of his class, some areas weren’t his expertise.
“You’ll do better next time,” Sasha took a deep breath.
“What if I want to do better this time?”
“Archery is all about patience,” the redhead said. “Just be patient with yourself and you’ll be able to do it in no time.”
He mastered it within the week.
Jean moved on to other weapons. Swords, staffs, you name it.
Some people started calling him the ‘jack of all trades, master of none’. Jean frowned, he was a master at all of them. Maybe they should call him ‘Jean of all trades and master of all too’. But that name was a bit too long.
--
It had been two months since Eren had left. Jean got bored of fighting and moved on to something else. Maybe Armin could teach him a few things from what he’s read.
He found Armin in the library.
He found Armin doing the splits in the library.
“Armin?”
“Hm? Oh, hi Jean!” Armin looked up from his book.
“What are you doing?”
“Reading?” Jean raised a brow. “Oh, I’m doing the splits. Krista taught me how to stretch to make myself more flexible to increase my agility. You have to keep stretching everyday in order to stay flexible.”
“Really?” the sand colored man lit up. “Think you could teach me?”
“Sure!” Armin smiled. “Although stretching is really time consuming, so I usually read a book while I do it.”
Jean grabbed a book of a nearby table and Armin showed him the first stretch.
By the end of the month, Jean had read most of the books in the library and could do the full splits, backbend, and was essentially, just as flexible as Armin.
--
After four months, Eren was back. He smelled the crisp mountain air and smiled. It was great to be back. He almost didn’t think he would be back. He thought about Jean all day, everyday, wondering what he was doing, if he was doing okay. He had decided a while back that he’d like to try it with Jean, see where it goes. He certainly never hated Jean, and he didn’t dislike him either. Jean was a good guy, and Eren smiled thinking about him.
He walked down the hallway and into the library, where he was hoping to see Armin. Instead, he found both Armin and Jean, executing perfect splits while Armin was reading out loud from a book.
“Whoa, whoa, wait-” Jean leaned forward onto his hands, elbows resting on the ground, not too far from Armin. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
“It’s not supposed to,” Armin explained. Eren quickly hid himself behind a shelf. He wasn’t sure why he was hiding but he sort of wanted to watch them. “You see…” the blonde went on explaining. Eren wasn’t really listening, he was more focused on the fact that Jean could do the spilts.
Suddenly, they moved into a more complex move, where their chest rested on the ground but the rest of their body was straight above them, back curved like a bow. Eren’s cheeks heated up. How did Jean get so flexible. It was almost turning him on.
The two men continued discussing the book on a higher academic level and Eren almost wondered what had happened while he was gone. He took a deep breath and stepped out, clearing his throat to get their attention.
“Hey guys!”
“Eren!” Armin planted his feet near his head and lifted himself off the ground, Jean copying the same move. “When did you get back?”
“Just a while ago,” he shrugged, giving Armin a hug. “Do you mind if I talk to Jean alone for a bit?”
“Not at all,” the blonde turned and winked at Jean. “Get some, Tiger.”
Jean rolled his eyes.
“Did you tell Armin?”
“Armin knows everything so why even bother hiding something from the blonde nugget?” Jean shrugged. Eren burst into laughter.
“Did you just call him a nugget?”
“Yes, I did,” Jean crossed his arms. “He happens to be one of my very close friends and I can call him whatever I want, just like I do with you and Mikasa, and Sasha...want me to continue?”
“No, you’re good,” Eren shook his head. “Listen, I want to talk to you about what you said before I left.”
“Oh?” Jean lifted a brow, leaning his waist on a nearby table and crossing his arms.
“I might like you too.”
“Might?” Jean teased. Eren gave him a look.
“Okay, this might sound weird but when I went to the inner wall, I thought of what you said all the time and I ended up thinking of you all the time,” Eren lightly paced in front of Jean. “And then I was thinking about you and everything you do that drives me crazy. But then, I remembered your smile, and your stupid hair, and the way you blush when someone compliments you-yeah, just like that!-and the way you walk...and how you listen when people talk to you, and how you always manage to steal apples from the supply crates…”
Eren paused his pacing and looked up into Jean’s eyes.
“I started thinking of you and I realized that I missed you,” he said. “I missed your laugh and the way your eyes light up and your tiny smiles.” Jean smiled. “God, Jean.” Eren almost jumped into Jean’s arms, wrapping his arms around Jean’s neck.
“Eren…?” Jean asked, hugging the smaller brunette back.
“I love you, man,” Eren whispered.
“I love you too.”
Eren pulled away and placed his palms on Jean’s cheeks, the taller man’s arms still looped around Eren’s waist.
“Kiss me.” Jean smiled his usual small, lazy smirk and pressed his lips against Eren’s warm ones. It ended all too fast for Eren. “Do it again.”
“As you wish, your majesty,” Jean chuckled sarcastically, pressing another kiss against the brunette’s mouth. This time, Jean took the lead and slipped his tongue across Eren’s lip, delving in when the brunette parted his lips. Eren pulled Jean closer and the battle began. Their slow, sensual kiss turned hot and messy in a matter of seconds.
They pulled apart, breathless and gasping for breath. Their foreheads touched as the two regained their breath.
Jean placed a kiss on Eren’s forehead and pulled him in for another hug.
“Love me?” Eren asked.
“Till the day I die, babe.”