Hometown

Chapter 5 - Hooks and Clips

Just a quick reminder for this chapter, the Aptitude test was the test at the beginning of season one where the cadets' abilities to balance themselves on ODM gear was tested.

~[Y/N]'s POV~

As Mikasa easily balanced herself during the ODM gear training tests, Eren found himself upside down in an instant.

"He sure did talk a lot about killing Titans... not so sure how he's going to do that if he can't even balance himself on the ODM gear." I crossed my arms and watched Eren continue to struggle. Armin turned to me, his face calm, yet the sweat on his brow told a different story.

"He'll be fine. If I can do it, I know he can too. It just takes some practice." Armin and I gazed at Eren, who found himself at commander Sadies' mercy. I turned my head to the side and noticed Jean was finishing up his aptitude test.

"Looks like Jean is done over there. I'm going to give it a go." I said as I began to walk away. Armin turned to me and smiled lightly. 

"Good luck [Y/N]," he exclaimed optimistically. He then went back to observing Eren. Even though Eren annoyed me at times, I had to admit I felt bad for him. I still wasn't entirely sure what had happened to him in Shiganshina, but I knew if he had no parents, just like me, he must have lost them that day. It must've seemed to him that becoming a soldier was the only path he could pursue. We all felt helpless when the Titans came, so I sympathized with him. He needed to achieve his goal. We all did.

As I approached Jean, unclipping his ODM gear, he flashed a quick smile. He then turned back to his equipment.

"You wanna take a turn?" he asked slyly as I stopped in front of him.

"Well that is the point of this, isn't it?" I asked sarcastically. When he finally removed the hooks off his gear, I moved forward and began to fumble with the clips at my waist. My fingers slipped, unable to grasp them as I attempted to hook onto the wires. Jean observed me, a devious expression in his eyes.

"Here, let me," Jean situated himself behind me and carefully hooked the clips onto my ODM gear. He moved back and gestured with his hand to Marco who was operating the crank for the aptitude test. I was caught off guard when the wires yanked me up so abruptly. I found myself losing my balance. I was taken aback when Jean placed his hands on my hips. "Careful there," He said, grinning and speaking into my ear. "Even 'Ms. Perfect' can find herself slipping up on ODM gear."

I felt so humiliated that I could barely move a muscle. Not to mention, Jean was barely an inch away from me and everyone was staring. Even the cadets who were watching Eren fail miserably seemed to look over in our direction. Reiner was amongst them and began looking at Jean with a scowl so cold, I thought it would make Jean's fingers fall off. Finally, I seemed to regain my movement and smacked Jean's hands away.

"I'm fine! Do you really think I'm that incapable of balancing myself?" I snapped at him. Jean continued to smirk as he backed away, raising his hands in the air as though he were sarcastically saying, 'You got me, I surrender.'

I found myself steadily hanging from the wires as I hovered above the ground. I was even upright, unlike Eren. I couldn't contain my excitement. I began giggling and swinging myself back and forth with my ODM gear, remaining balanced all the same. I realized I must've looked crazy to everyone else, so I stopped laughing and moving around. Slowly the cadets began to lose interest in my success and focused their attention on Eren or whatever else was interesting. Although, in the corner of my eye, Reiner was still watching.

~

After a full day of aptitude training, Eren still hadn't gotten the hang of the ODM gear. While Mikasa told Eren he should just forget about becoming a soldier, Armin and I urged him to go through with it and to keep trying. Even though it was logical that he should drop cadet training, I knew it was something he had to do if he ever wanted to feel satisfied. I had a similar feeling.

There were some cadets who performed exceptionally well during the aptitude test, including myself and Mikasa. Though neither of us seemed to have much influence on Eren, who at this point seemed utterly hopeless. As a last resort, we resolved to ask some of the other cadets for help, so we finished our dinner and left the mess hall. Mikasa stayed behind, taunting Sasha with a loaf of bread.

"So who should we ask first? I didn't really get to see how all the cadets did during training today... I was way too focused watching Eren fail miserably," I teased. Eren rolled his eyes.

"Well... out of all the cadets I saw using the ODM gear, Connie was doing pretty well and he seems like he might help, maybe we could ask him?" said Armin hopefully. "I saw him heading over to the men's sleeping quarters." Armin pointed to the cabin across the camp and I raised a brow.

"The mens sleeping quarters? Am I allowed to come?" I wasn't so sure whether it was permitted for me to go along, but I was fine with breaking a few rules. Armin looked taken aback and started blushing profusely at the thought of a girl coming into the men's quarters.

"Well I–" he began, then was cut off.

"Sure, I don't see why not. If anyone gives us a problem, we'll pretend we didn't know," Eren spoke so casually, while Armin was blushing from ear to ear.

"We can't bring her in there! The girls stay in their quarters and we stay in ours! I don't think–"

"Oh come on. Stop getting so jumpy. Are we going or not?" I said impatiently. Eren nodded and Armin sheepishly tagged along. 

The men's quarters was so unorganized compared to the girls'. I noted that a few of the guys had single bed bunks. The girls had two single mattresses placed side by side. Wasn't that unfair? I would've preferred to sleep by myself.

I followed Armin and Eren, who seemed to know where Connie's bed was. We passed by a few cadets who turned their heads in alarm to see a girl walking by. Soon I noticed one cadet changing and I quickly made sure to avert my eyes.  

For some reason, my thoughts began to wonder where Reiner was. Had he gone back to the sleeping quarters after dinner? Was I going to possibly see him? I had been around Eren, Armin, and Mikasa for the majority of my time as a cadet. Reiner was the only other person I had talked to as much as them. After our conversation, he had been avoiding me for most of the day, yet somehow, for some reason, I still wanted to see him.

"Hey Connie," Eren shouted at him as he stood by his bunk. Connie smiled at our approach. On the top bunk bed, which I had thought was empty, Jean lifted himself up and grinned sleazily upon seeing my face. My eyes narrowed. After our little run-in earlier, I began to really detest him. He was the kind of guy who thought he could get anything he wanted. His ego was larger than his horse-face. I just wanted to punch that smug look off his face.

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