Archive of Our Own ^beta

You yawned as you sat yourself down on your blue cooler, dropping your gym bag at your feet in the process. Getting your phone from your pocket you checked the time, again, before groaning loudly. Seeing that you also had no new messages, you silently vowed to ride along with Mikasa next time, even if that meant you had to get out of bed earlier; she would also have to pick up Armin, who happened to inconveniently live on the other side of town.

As it was, however, you had to wait for Reiner, who never was as punctual as you’d like him to be. This resulted in people, usually you since your mom wouldn’t let you borrow her car, waiting for him for hours. Okay, maybe not hours, but long enough to make you consider getting out of bed earlier to hitch a ride with Mikasa. Resisting the urge to check your phone again, you took a deep breath and closed your eyes. It was way too early to get pissed off at Reiner, who would only laugh it off anyways. You turned up the volume of the music playing in your ears and tapped your feet on the ground to the rhythm. To block out some of the cold you burrowed further into your forest green track jacket.

As another fifteen minutes slowly passed by, you decided to finally give Reiner a call. You were about to press the call button on your phone when a large hand grabbed your shoulder from somewhere behind you. Screaming, you shut up in the air, stumbled over your own feet and fell face forward on the asphalt of the parking lot. From behind you someone barked out a loud laugh.

“God damn it, Reiner!” you screeched as you slowly got up. You pulled you earphones from your ears and turned around. “Don’t do that!”

Reiner only held up his hands and grinned, wiping imaginary tears from his eyes. “I tried honking but you always play your music so damn loud,” he said, as if that explained why he had to scare you half to death like that. “Besides, you’re way too fun to scare. Just can’t seem to help myself,” he laughed.

The indignation must have shown on your face if his grin was anything to go by. “Yeah, well, help me get my stuff in the car,” you scoffed at him before swiping your scraped palms on your sweatpants. It was still too early to argue with him.

Reiner grabbed hold of the cooler and hoisted your bag over his shoulder. “I thought it was Eren’s turn to bring the beer this time?”

You nodded. “It would be, if he hadn’t lost his money to Jean again in a bet. It ended in Eren getting his ass handed to him by Annie.”

“Serves him right,” Reiner snorted, dropping the cooler and your bag in the bed of his beat up pickup truck. “Get in, we’re already late.”

“And whose fault is that?” you muttered silently as you made your way towards his car. You were about to jump in the back of the truck when Reiner grabbed your arm.

“You can sit up front, I’m not willing to risk another ticket. Besides, Annie’s riding along with Ymir and Krista, there’s plenty of room.”

You huffed and walked around the car as Reiner got his keys from his pocket. “I did pay half of that ticket, you know!”

Shaking his head, Reiner opened the door on the driver’s side and got in, when the door on the other side opened.

“Good morning, Bertolt,” you greeted the tall boy as he scooted down the bench to make some room for you.

“M-morning, [First],” he stammered, pulling up his knees so you could sit a bit more comfortably. He smiled gently at you when you sat next to him. Despite the coldness outside, Bertolt was already wearing his shorts.

“Are you sure you’re comfortable there, Bertolt? We can switch if you like?” He didn’t look comfortable at all, with his knees pulled up and legs smashed together as if he was afraid to touch you. But of course Bertolt was being Bertolt and kindly declined.

“I’m fine, really. But thank you for asking, [First],” he said smiling.

Reiner had been silent during your conversation except for the occasional snicker, but obviously felt that he had to speak again. “Alright, let’s get this show on the road!” He made a fist pump as he started up the car and pulled out of the parking lot, before Bertolt made him hold the wheel with two hands.

The short ride to the park was mostly filled with small talk between you and Reiner, Bertolt listening in but staying quiet. Because it was a Sunday and it was still pretty early there were only a few other cars on the road, making it a swift trip. You were still almost thirty minutes late, though. Reiner parked his pickup next to two all too familiar cars, meaning everyone else was probably already waiting for you. Even Connie’s motorcycle stood parked at the end of the lot. So as soon as Reiner turned off the engine you threw open the door and jumped out of the car. Bertolt smiled at your enthusiasm before following swiftly, shivering slightly as the cold air hit his exposed legs.

In the mean time Reiner had already grabbed the cooler and his and your sport bags, leaving Bertolt to lean in the back to grab his own bulky bag. “Do we have to wait for anyone, or are we good to go?” Reiner asked before he tossed you your bag.

You shrugged. “It looks like everyone else is here already and Jean said he would wait for Marco at the bus stop.” Hoisting your heavy bag over your left shoulder you started off towards the park, the boys following you.

From behind the grey clouds the sun was finally shining through and you looked up to catch the warm rays on your face. Even though it was already the end of spring, lately the weather had been terrible. It seemed like this was going to be the first nice day in weeks. Tilting your chin up a bit more, you grinned up at the sky and risked walking with your eyes closed for a couple of meters. The park was nearly empty anyways.

Apart from a few early joggers and a couple walking their dog the park looked abandoned and was eerily quiet. Because of this you could hear the excited yelling from your friends long before you could actually see the football field. Not one to hide your excitement, you sped up the pace and quickly rounded the hill which obstructed your view from the field. Grinning, you looked at the small group of teens that had gathered there. None too soon the three of you were spotted and welcomed enthusiastically.

Your friends had made themselves comfortable on a number of picnic blankets in the middle of the field, as if to make sure that no one else would use it, their bags strewn around them. Mikasa, Annie and Ymir were neatly seated at the edge of the group, quietly talking amongst themselves, Ymir’s eyes shifting over to Krista every few seconds. Krista had stood up from her place besides Armin to wave at you, Reiner and Bertolt, with Armin following the gesture with a smile. Sasha, Connie and Eren were spread out across the remaining space on the blankets, lying on their stomachs and finishing a package of chocolate cookies.

When Eren spotted you walking towards them he grinned and waved. “[First], finally! We were afraid you were going to be a no show!” he shouted as he sat up, hand moving up to swipe his hair from his face. “I thought we agreed on meeting up ‘round nine?”

You threw your gym bag on the ground with a loud thud and dropped down next to Eren, swiping the last cookie from the pack before Sasha could inhale it. “For once, not my fault,” was all you said before taking a bite.

Reiner set down the cooler and started laughing. “This should make up for it, Eren,” he grinned, slapping Eren on the back.

Stretching your legs out in front of you, you looked around the field. “So, where are Jean and Marco?”

“Marco’s bus was late, but they should be here any minute now,” Krista supplied helpfully.

“Time for a warm-up then?” Ymir asked as she, Mikasa and Annie got up from their places on the ground.

“Or we can wait a bit longer for Jean and Marco to get here?” Connie asked as he rolled himself onto his back, folding his hands behind his head and closing his eyes.

Ymir opened up her bag and pulled out her goalie gloves and a football. “Or we could not,” she said in that flat voice of hers. Stripping out of her green track jacket she grabbed the ball and made for one of the goals, motioning for Krista to follow her.

“Bossy,” Connie muttered when she was out of earshot. Still, he and Sasha got up and grabbed for their own bags. Soon all of you decided to follow their example, except for

Armin, who wasn’t really the sporty type.

You stepped out of your sweats, showing the shorts you were wearing underneath, and you put on your shin pads and football boots before bending down to stretch. Next to you Reiner and Eren were following your lead.

“Fuck, I wish I could have a view like this every morning,” an obnoxious voice said from behind you.

You ignored the voice and instead of rising to the bait you shook your legs to keep the muscles loose. Eren however bent down further with a grin on his face. “I suppose it’s okay, if you’re into that kind of thing. I can personally think of a number of other things that are a hundred times better to stare at than Reiner’s ass.”

Reiner snorted before quickly moving out of the line of fire.

“Fuck off, Yeager,” Jean spat.

“Nice comeback there, Kirstein.

Jean flipped Eren the bird before adding two large gym bags to the collection on the grass.

“Guys, please don’t fight, we only just got here. Can’t you for once try to get along?” a soft voice asked gently.

“The world would have to come to an end before a truce between them would ever happen,” you laughed, turning around to greet Marco. When you spotted him standing behind Jean however, you screamed, making everyone else on the field look in your direction. “Marco! Oh my God! What happened?!”

“Nice to see you too, [First],” Marco said sheepishly, ears turning red from all the attention he was receiving. He rubbed the back of his head with his left hand, seeing as his right arm was held to his chest in a cast and a sling. And to top it off the right half of his face looked swollen and was definitely bruised. Marco was a player for the local Trost Scouts football team and he was occasionally asked to stand in for injured players in the better teams. Small injuries were not really uncommon during those matches. But this was just ridiculous.

“Man! We don’t see you for three days and then you show up looking like this?” Eren added, looking as shocked as you felt

“It’s nothing guys,” Marco explained. “I had a match against the Shiganshina Titans and one of their defenders came on too hard. That’s all.”

Jean shook his head and stopped the tying of his shoelaces to turn around and look at him. “If by ‘that’s all’ you mean a bruised face, dislocated shoulder and a broken forearm, then sure.”

“Don’t be silly, it’s not like I died,” Marco joked. Jean pulled a face.

Reiner laughed and slapped Marco on his good shoulder. “No pain no gain, right?”

“That’s all nice and well, but with Marco out we’re one player short,” Connie suddenly spoke up from your right. The others had come back to the centre spot to see what all the commotion was about.

Sasha however, had a simple solution for the problem. “Oh! Armin can play!”

Eren grinned and nodded his head enthusiastically. “Yes! Armin! No more excuses, we need you!” It was common knowledge that Armin always talked himself out of participating in a friendly game.

Armin looked up from the book which he had been reading on one of the picnic blankets. “Wait, w-what?”

“Put the book down,” Eren ordered, the grin still plastered on his face.

“But I don’t have any shoes, or socks! I can’t possibly play, you’ll have to settle with an uneven number.”
Just as Armin said that, Marco moved towards one of the bags Jean had brought and opened it, pulling out his boots, socks and shin pads. “Don’t worry Armin, I came prepared,” he said smiling.

Armin groaned, but still reached out for the boots. “You guys better not blame me when we lose,” he warned as he slid his trainers off his feet.

“Alright,” Reiner clapped his hands together to get the attention of the rest of the group. “How are we going to assemble the teams this time?” he asked, standing back and crossing his arms over his chest, the forest green of his jersey stretching over his broad frame.

“Scouts versus the rest!” you immediately yelled, throwing both hands in the air. There were six of you who played for the Scouts, so that way the teams would be divided up evenly.

“Fuck [First], that’s just unfair to everyone else,” Eren laughed, tucking his green Scouts jersey in his shorts.

Jean decided to speak up as well. “Besides, I do not want to team up with Arlert if he’s replacing Marco.”

You swatted at him. “Don’t be a jerk. Alright, no Scouts team. Anyone got any other ideas?”

Krista cleared her throat from beside Ymir. “How about we let the goalies pick their teams this time?” she asked, smiling sweetly. Try saying no to that smile.

“But we only have one goalie,” Connie grumbled while looking at Ymir. “How is that going to work?”

“Uh, I can play goalkeeper if you guys like,” Bertolt said suddenly, his voice soft. “I’m not of much use in any other position anyways.”

“Alright, let’s get on with it then,” Jean said. He took off his track jacket and stuffed it in his bag, proudly displaying his last name and the number ten on the back of his jersey in the process.

Ymir threw Bertolt a spare set of gloves before taking a few steps back and crossing her arms, smirking. “Krista.”

Bertolt followed her example and took a few steps back as well, but let his long arms hang down instead. He looked over the small group but you already knew who he was going to pick. “Reiner.”

Reiner only smiled and swiftly moved to his friend’s side.

Not surprised by Bertolt’s choice, Ymir continued. “Mikasa.”

“Annie.”

“Jean.”

“Uh, Eren,” Bertolt finally said after some hesitation.

“Connie.”

“[First]?”

“Sasha,” Ymir said grinning.

“That leaves Armin with us,” Eren said, waving his friend over to your team.

Jean grinned, obviously pleased with his team, and moved down to grab his and Marco’s bags. You and Armin bent down to pick up the picnic blankets to remove them from the field.

“What are you grinning about Kirstein? We’re going to kick your asses,” you told Jean after all the bags were cleared away from the centre spot.

“Try to keep up, [Last], and I won’t humiliate you too badly!” he retorted before running up to his teammates.

Shrugging off his comment you did some last minute stretches before picking up a ball and walking over to where Reiner and Eren were directing your team. Eren was just about to divide up the positions when you walked up to them.

“Alright, so I was thinking Reiner and [First] on defence, I play forward myself and Annie is really fast as well, so she can play offence with me if she’s alright with that?” Eren asked, looking at her.

Annie stared at him with those icy blue eyes and nodded.

“So that leaves Armin on the midfield,” you finished for Eren. You tossed him the ball and he and Annie made their way over to the centre spot to meet with the other team.

Jean and Mikasa were playing as forwards, which didn’t really surprise you. Mikasa was the fastest one out of all of you, so it made sense that she would play offence. Krista was set up as a midfielder, probably because no one else wanted that position, and Sasha and Connie were both on defence, already arguing between the two of them who would get to stand on which side.

“Have fun, [First]! And good luck beating Jean!” Marco yelled from the sidelines. He had made himself comfortable on one of the nearby benches, sitting on the blankets and keeping guard over all of your belongings.

You waved at him before you made your way to Bertolt’s goal. Reiner had waved you and Armin over. “Last minute tactics, Reiner?” you asked. You surveyed the length of the field as you pulled your hair in a ponytail. Jean and Mikasa had already set up near the centre, Jean strangely enough keeping his eyes on you.

Reiner turned to you with a grin that warned you that he wanted something from you that you weren’t going to like. “[First], I need you to keep on the right, that way I can cover the left. Armin will support us when necessary.”

“Reiner,” you started slowly. “No. I want to mark Mikasa.”

“No can do, [First]. You’ve trained with Jean, you know how he moves.” His grin grew wider as he wriggled his eyebrows. “Besides, I would much rather have Mikasa run into me than Kirstein.”

You glared at him. “Pervert.”

Reiner wasn’t impressed, instead he threw his head back and laughed. Bertholdt smiled softly as well, you scoffed. Traitor.

“Oi! Pay attention back there!” Eren yelled. They were about to start the match and Eren especially looked excited to finally begin. He passed the ball to Annie, who immediately turned her way past Jean and then past Krista in the blink of an eye. She really was fast, but Connie wasn’t fazed by her speed and stood his ground, resulting in Annie passing the ball back to Armin. He fumbled with it but managed to get it to Eren before Jean could reach him.

On the other side of the field Eren was now making his advance, swiftly dribbling the ball towards Ymir’s goal. Before he could take a shot however, Sasha tackled him to the ground like she was playing rugby. Both of her arms were wrapped around Eren’s waist as they went down, the ball slowly rolling away from them and into Ymir’s hands. A loud groan echoed across the field from where Eren laid buried under Sasha’s weight.

“That has to be a free kick!” you shouted immediately. Running up to see if Eren was alright you laughed at the situation. From the corner of your eyes you could see Jean standing doubled over from laughing too hard and even Annie had cracked a smile.

“Man, are you alright?” Reiner asked Eren as he helped him get up. “You took quite a smack there,” he said grinning.

Eren dusted himself off and gave Sasha a look of annoyance, who smiled sheepishly. “I’m alright, let’s just get back to the game. And don’t worry about it Sasha,” he continued when she wanted to apologise, “but we’re playing football. Tackling someone isn’t really allowed,” he explained, grinning. “Besides, I really don’t want to end up like Marco.”

Jean recovered from his fit of laughter. “Don’t worry Yeager, Marco never got run over by a girl!” he taunted.

“Asshole,” Eren grumbled under his breath, loud enough for you to hear, as he walked as far away from Jean as possible.

After everyone had more or less returned to their places on the field, Ymir kicked the ball to Connie and the game resumed. Connie swiftly passed the ball forward, finding Krista easily since Eren was still glaring Jean down instead of paying attention to the ball. Krista dribbled across her half of the field without any trouble until Annie came at her from behind. In a blind panic the girl shot the ball forward, bypassing Jean completely, but Mikasa was still able to reach it. She took the ball in the air and turned past Reiner before he even knew what was happening.

“Reiner! Don’t let her shoot!” you yelled, running after her. You were not fast enough to reach her, but Reiner still had a chance. “I thought you wanted to run into her so badly?”

Reiner snorted but sprinted after her all the same. He caught up to her quickly and tried to stop her using a sliding tackle, but Mikasa elegantly jumped over his stretched out leg with the ball and took a shot.

You groaned when Bertolt’s reaction was too slow. Mikasa had shot the ball into the far corner, out of his reach.

Sasha and Connie erupted in loud cheering, high-fiving each other, and Jean grinned triumphantly. Ymir smirked from her place in the goal, gloved hands on her hips.

“Sorry guys,” Bertolt apologised quietly as he fished the ball out of the net.

“Don’t worry about it Bertolt,” Eren said as he jogged back to your side of the field. “Now it’s our turn to make a goal!”

Reiner, who was still lying on his back on the grass, grunted something in agreement.

Bertolt threw you the ball and you quickly countered, shooting the ball forward in Annie’s direction. She tried to break through on her own again, but Mikasa and Jean were both coming for her. She passed the ball back to Eren, who dribbled the width of the field to the other side where he literally ran into Krista. The both of them tumbled down and the ball rolled away to where it was picked up by Jean.

You snorted. Eren was a walking disaster.

Jean immediately took off with the ball, displaying his speed while dribbling. Annie had a hard time catching up to him. When she did however, Jean passed the ball to Mikasa before sprinting past Annie and getting it back again. After the one-two pass Armin made to stop him, but as soon as Jean got close Armin sidestepped him instead of engaging him in a duel.

“Armin! Get back and mark Mikasa! Make sure he can’t pass her the ball!” you yelled at him before positioning yourself in Jean’s way.

Jean grinned at you and moved towards the touch-lines of the field. Now that Mikasa was being marked by Armin and Reiner he had no one to pass the ball too. He had to get past you if he wanted to take a shot.

You followed his movements, crouching down a bit and slightly spreading your legs apart, as you turned up in front of him. “Give it up Jean, I’m not letting you pass,” you said smirking. You knew he was right-footed so there was no way he could take a shot from his current position. He had to work his way inward.

Jean only smirked back, moving the ball between his feet. “Catch me if you can,” he laughed, before trying a step over. He feinted towards your left, as if he was going for the centre of the field, but instead he moved the ball to the right.

Your had already moved your left foot, trying to intercept the ball, when Jean suddenly moved in the other direction. “Damn it!” you cursed. Playing defence ever since you were little you were extremely competitive. You hated it when forwards would outsmart you, especially Jean. Quickly regaining your balance you stuck out your right foot as far as it could go. You managed to kick the ball out of play, but at the same time you also managed to tangle your right foot between Jean’s legs. Your leg had been extended too far for you to keep your balance, which resulted in you falling backwards. And of course you took Jean down with you.

“Shit,” you wheezed as you fell down, air escaping your lungs as you came down hard on your back.

Jean had managed to stretch his hands out in front of him to break his fall, but he still landed hard on top of you, straddling you in the process. He gritted his teeth as his eyes closed in pain. He mumbled something you couldn’t hear before glaring at you. “Fuck, [First]. You hang around Yeager too much.”

Despite the situation you couldn’t help but giggle. “Seriously, that’s all you have to say? You’re losing your touch, Jean.”

“Yeah, well, I’m still trying to recover from a vicious tackle,” he said as he leant down on his forearms to shift some of his weight. This caused him to come down on you even more.

You opened your mouth to speak, but the words got stuck in your throat when you looked up at him. His intense amber eyes looked straight at you and his face was so close to your own that you could feel his breath on your lips. You had never been so close to him before. He had a line of sweat on his brow and a slight blush tinted his high cheekbones. Mesmerized by your closeness you felt yourself bending your neck to reach up –

“God, [First]! Are you alright?”

Jean’s head shot up and he immediately rolled himself off of you at the sound of Marco’s voice.

You let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding. “I’m okay. Thanks Marco.”

“It looked like you hit your head pretty hard, are you sure you’re fine?” Marco looked at you with concern in his eyes as he crouched down next to you.

Slowly sitting up, you nodded at him. “I’m sure. Don’t worry,” you told him. You looked over in Jean’s direction to see if he was alright, but he seemed to be okay as well. He was already standing and he was deliberately avoiding your gaze. The blush you felt burning on your cheeks was still visible on his as well.

“Oi, you lovebirds! Everyone alright?” Reiner had made his way over, followed by the rest of your friends. Smirking, he pulled you to your feet.

“I think it’s time for a short break,” Eren said as he picked up the ball.

Ymir scoffed. “Already? Some of us haven’t seen any action yet,” she said, obviously annoyed.

“But some of us need to replenish our energy levels!” Sasha shouted as she bounded for her bag, fishing out a large bag of potato chips and dropping down onto the grass.

Ymir crossed her arms and rolled her eyes but followed Krista to their bags anyways.

“Think it’s too early for a beer?” Reiner asked as he opened your cooler and peeked inside.

You shook your head in disbelieve but didn’t comment. If he wanted to drink beer before a play you would happily let him. Grabbing a bottle of water yourself, you dropped down and pulled your hair loose.

Jean and Marco sat down next to you on the grass, both already sipping from their own drinks. Jean was still not looking at you and instead sat turned towards Marco.

“[First]! Can you pass me my bag?” Eren asked from behind you, where he was sitting with Mikasa and Armin.

Nodding and reaching for his bag you pulled it towards you. The bag was surprisingly light, considering it was a sports bag, but you shrugged and passed it on. Dropping it behind you roughly, you looked at him too see what he wanted.
Eren thanked you and opened it. Rooting around in the bag he pulled out what he was looking for, a couple of cans of cola. He handed two to his friends before shaking his and quickly opening it.

“Eren, no!” you screamed, but it was too late. Before you could take a step back the cola sprayed out of the can and drenched you and Jean, who was still sitting next to you.

“What the fuck, Yeager?!” Jean roared as he got up. “I’ll kill you this time!” His hands balled up into fists and his whole body was shaking with anger.

The rest of the group cracked up with laughter. Reiner was grabbing at his sides and Connie had fallen backwards from laughing so hard. Even sweet and always polite Bertolt smiled at your bad luck.

Eren laughed loudly and wiped tears from the corners of his eyes. “Oops, didn’t see you there, Jean,” he grinned as he held his hands up in surrender.

Jean lunged for Eren, but Marco quickly pulled him back by his jersey.

“Sorry about that, [First]. I really didn’t mean for you to get hit,” Eren apologised, still laughing at Jean’s face.

“But I still got drenched with soda,” you groaned, trying to wipe the sticky liquid from your face. “And I didn’t bring a towel with me!”

“I brought one, but I left it in Jean’s car. I could go and get it for you?” Marco offered kindly. He released Jean after seeing he wasn’t going after Eren again and was about to stand up.

“No need Marco, I left mine in the car as well,” Jean said, voice still laced with anger. He got up, moved a sticky hand through his hair and looked at you. “You coming or what?”

Surprised by the snarl in his voice you quickly stood, grabbing your bottle of water so you could at least wash your face and hands, and followed Jean away from the field. Just before you moved around the hill you quickly saw a chance to flip Reiner off. He had been making kissy lips at you from behind Bertolt’s back.

The walk back to the parking lot was shrouded in an uncomfortable silence. Jean kept looking straight ahead, not even his eyes were moving in your direction, and you just didn’t know what to say to him to start a conversation. The silence was killing you however, and you opened your mouth.

“I’m really sorry for taking you down, you know, on the field. I slipped and then my leg got tangled in between yours and then –”

“You tackled me to the ground, I could’ve broken something,” Jean said without looking at you.

You snorted. “I lost my balance, it was hardly a tackle. If I had tackled you, you would have felt it.” You looked up to see the corners of his mouth twitch into a smile. “Besides, if you don’t want to risk breaking anything you should join the glee club.”

Jean chuckled. “And miss seeing Yeager hurt himself every Saturday? Never.”

You grinned, happy he was finally talking to you again. “So we’re okay then? No hard feelings?”

“Of course we’re okay. If anything I should ask how you are doing, you went down harder than me,” he answered. “Is your head okay?” He moved some of your sticky hair out of the way so he could feel the back of your head.

Your face flushed as you batted his hand away. “I already told everyone I’m fine. I know how to take a hit, you know?”

“I know,” Jean immediately agreed. “I’ve seen you playing for the girls team. You’re pretty good, not a lot of people make it past you. You’re not afraid of a confrontation either.”

“Uh, thanks. You’re pretty great yourself too.”

“I know.”

You snorted and shook your head. “Don’t you know how to take a compliment?”

“That was a compliment? I thought you were just stating the obvious,” Jean grinned as the two of you finally arrived at the parking lot.

“Jerk.”

“I know.”

You hit his arm playfully as you made a beeline for his car. “Please stop that, you sound like broken record.”

Jean only smiled at you before unlocking his car and grabbing the towels from the back. He handed one to you and then without hesitation he pulled his jersey over his head, revealing the black tank top he was wearing underneath. He dropped the shirt on the hood of his car before he started to towel himself dry.

Following his example, you also pulled your jersey off, dropping it next to his on the hood. You shivered a bit from the cold, since you were now only wearing a spaghetti strap top, but you still poured water from your bottle over your face and neck, to wash away the stickiness. As you were about to dry yourself you heard Jean clear his throat.

“Could I, uh.. Could I use some of that water?” he mumbled as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously. He avoided looking at you directly and instead kept staring over your head.

You grinned, a sneaky idea forming in your head. “Sure you can,” you answered him in an overly friendly tone. This made him look down at you and before he knew it you had squeezed the bottle hard, squirting water in his face and on his chest. You laughed loudly at the surprised look on his face.

Jean however, was not as amused as you were. That trademark grin of his appeared on his face as he caged you against his car with both arms on either side of your body. His head bent down so he could look you in the eyes, water dripping from the still sticky strands of his hair and his eyebrows forming a frown.

“Jean?” Looking into his eyes you just knew you were going to regret your actions.

He breathed out slowly as he moved his right hand to your face. You flinched for a second, but he only moved your sticky hair from your face and behind your ear. “I was going to wrestle that bottle from you, [First], but now that I’ve got you so close again, there’s something I’d much rather do,” he whispered softly.

You blushed slightly and you felt your breath catch in your throat as he moved in even closer. You could feel his breath on your face as he slowly exhaled and locked his eyes with yours.

“Something I would have done back on the field if it wasn’t for Marco,” Jean continued, moving his hand from your hair to your cheek as his eyes dropped to your lips. He licked his own once, before he leant in all the way, brushing his lips against yours.

Your eyes fluttered closed as your lips gently moved against his wet ones. His lips tasted of Eren’s stupid cola, but for some reason that made the kiss even better. You smiled against him as he carefully moved his hand to your shoulder, before breaking the kiss. The both of you were out of breath, but smiling widely as you rested your foreheads together.

“So now that you guys are finished with that, do you think you can come back to the field? The others have restarted the game already.”

You stifled a giggle as Jean’s eyes widened in horror. He quickly turned around to greet his friend, who had apparently been spying on you for quite some time. “How long have you been there, Marco?” he asked as the blush in his face intensified.

Marco only smiled at him and motioned for you two to hurry up. “Not too long. For some reason Reiner seemed pretty concerned with your long absence and sent me to get you.”

You chuckled at the annoyed expression Jean was sporting as you bypassed him. Quickly grabbing your jersey from the hood of the car, you slid it on and tossed Jean his before following Marco back into the park. Turning around to see if Jean was coming, you smiled gently at him when he caught your eyes.

Jean pulled his jersey on as well as he made his way over to where you were standing, leaning down to give you another quick kiss on your lips. Dropping his arm around your shoulders he steered you after Marco and back towards the rest of your friends. “Please don’t tell Eren about this, Marco. He is never going to let me live it down,” Jean pleaded to his friend.

Marco nodded as the three of you walked back in silence. A quite comfortable one this time.

“Finally!” Reiner groaned loudly as you, Marco and Jean returned to the football field. “You got lost in the woods, [Last]?”

“Screw you, Braun,” Jean snarled as he walked towards his position on the opposing team.

“Surely there’s no need for that after what you’ve been doing with [First]?” Reiner taunted and Jean’s face flushed an adorable pink.

Your mouth dropped open in surprise. You were used to Reiner’s vulgar vocabulary, but this was surprisingly rude, even for him. “What’s that supposed to mean?” you asked him.

He held up his hands in defence. “I’m just calling what I’m seeing, number ten.”

“Don’t worry Jean!” Eren supplied from the other half of the field. “I think number three really suits you!” he finished, cracking up.

Jean’s face turned from pink to a deep red. He opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out. He slowly turned around, seeking out Eren, before going after him. On the back of his green jersey, above the large, white number three, it read your name.

Well, crap.