𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 | eren jaeger

06

; 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐞, 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐨 𝐢 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮— 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒎𝒆.

With the need for expeditions beyond the wall now a thing of the past, the members of the Survey Corps were now finding themselves assigned to tiresome tasks that they never could have imagined taking on when they first joined the Scouts.

"This is so boring! Why do we have to do this?!"

Connie complained as he and Sasha took turns chopping wood to help rebuild an old farmer's broken fences and barn, earning groans of complaint from his colleagues.

"Quit whining!"

A few members who had graduated from the 104th Cadet Corps had been given the task of aiding civilians living in the southern part of Wall Maria with repairing their damaged properties— but considering the vast size of the area, it meant that a lot of work had to be done everywhere.

"Oi, Eren! Help me carry this wood over to Mikasa!"

As [Name] wrapped up a stack of freshly cut wood that she had carved into suitable planks for the fence, she beckoned the Jaeger over with one hand in the air. Beside her, Armin was also toiling away at sawing the chopped up logs from Sasha and Connie into planks, and wiped away at the sweat on his brow.

"Not tired, are we Armin?" mused [Name], tying up a stack of planks to be carried over to Mikasa, who was the one in charge of helping the farmer put together his broken property. Armin went red in the face, and stammered, "N-no! I'll help Eren carry the wood over to Mikasa!"

"Alright."

As soon as Eren approached the pair, he and Armin were loaded up with their planks of wood and on their way to delivering them to Mikasa and the old farmer, who were a considerable distance away. [Name] returned to her task of sawing away at the chopped pieces of wood supplied by Connie and Sasha's combined efforts, only to have her peace disrupted by the appearance of a dark, looming shadow over her and her work space.

"Mind if I help?"

Jean's voice spoke out, prompting a sigh from [Name].

"If you want to, be my guest," said [Name] boredly, nudging her head towards Armin's vacated work space. The Kirstein nodded and took up Armin's position, getting to work at once. There was an awkward silence between the two as they both tried to focus on their jobs, but the elephant in the room just wouldn't allow them to do as they pleased.

"So... how have you been lately?" [Name] clicked her tongue as Jean coughed out the simple question, testing the waters between himself and the Cordtz.

"Not too shabby. And yourself?"

For two people who wouldn't hesitate to leap into a fracas when confronted with one another, their stiff lines of conversation were comical.

"Yeah, yeah, not too bad either, you know..." was Jean's mumbled answer. For a minute, the sound of wood being sawed into shape was all that could be heard, further extending the icy atmosphere between the two.

"Yeah, pretty peaceful times we're having now, right?"

"Yeah, for now, I suppose..."

[Name] looked away from Jean and mentally berated herself, feeling both the burning heat of the summer sun and the heat of embarrassment contributing to the boiling mess that was her face.

Why, Jean? Why would you do this?!

"Um, actually, [Name]... I wanted to talk to you about... you know..."