Butterfly Kisses ((MARCO BOTT X OC - ANNIE LEONHART X OC))

Chapter 3

After that days training was over, Amelia and a handful of other trainees were tasked with cleaning the horse pens before dining hour — whom of which consisted of Eren, Reiner Braun, Bertoldt Hoover, and Mina Carolina.

Amelia had been fighting her urge to puke at the smell of horse manure as she worked, and found that tedious chores were the worst part of what training had to offer. Those who worked around her had similar looks of disgust on their faces, and for a long time, everyone kept to themselves to finish as quickly as humanly possible.

"Hey," the sound of Eren's voice prompted Amelia to turn over her shoulder as she cleaned the hooves of the horse she had been taking care of. "I finished my side. Need some help?"

"Oh, sure," Amelia smiled crookedly at him as he entered the stall, and watched as he proceeded to refill the water basin beside her. "That was fast."

"I was working with Mina," he explained, not looking up. "She's pretty efficient."

Amelia snickered at that. "Well isn't that convenient."

Eren hummed in response as he took a brush to the horse's mane. "I saw your fight with Ymir earlier. You really know how to pack a punch."

"Seems everyone's either seen it or heard of it by now," Amelia deflated at the topic and threw him a quick glance. "I may have had an unfair advantage, though. I've had formal training."

"Right, your mother is in the Survey Corps," Eren recalled with a nod. "Silica Delaney."

"That's the one." Amelia confirmed.

"Say, I've been meaning to ask you something," he said. She could feel his eyes on her. "I ran into you and your mother last year back in Karanes. Do you remember?"

"Sure I do," Amelia confirmed without looking up. "I recognized your two friends, too."

Eren hummed again and smiled. "I can tell she taught you really well. I noticed the way you were sparring with Annie earlier, too. I was surprised to see it, since she's always slacking off."

"You seem to notice everything." Amelia chuckled as she moved on to cleaning the next hoof.

"You have to in a world like this," Eren justified adamantly. He turned to face her as she looked up at him. "I was wondering, would you be interested in teaching me a few moves?"

"You wanna learn from me?" Amelia looked surprised.

"Absolutely," Eren sounded sure of himself. "I know the gist of it, but I've got nothing on the way you fight."

"I mean, sure, I wouldn't mind," Amelia palmed the back of her neck, suddenly bashful. "I've never been the one to teach someone else before. I'm not sure if I'll be any good."

"That's okay, just show me the moves and I've got the rest." Eren said encouragingly, and offered her a hand once she was finally done tending to the horse. She accepted and he pulled her to her feet.

"Alright then, Yeager, you've got yourself a deal," she grinned with her hands on her hips. "But don't expect me to go easy on you."

"I would hope not." Eren chuckled at her spirit, and once the other trainees had finished their respective stalls, they were finally dismissed to their barracks to clean up.

Amelia partook in idle chatter with Mina as they trekked back to the girls barracks, and as they went, the two were eventually flagged down by Marco, whom was already changed into his casual attire.

"Hey, Ama," he greeted with a bright smile as he approached. "Mina. Where have you two been?"

"Got sacked with cleaning the horse stalls," Amelia grimaced at the thought as he fell in step with them. "You?"