21 | Fear And Shame

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December came with a cold wave, worsened by strong gusts of freezing wind that turned training into a nightmare. Not that it was normally a joyride, but doing Captain Levi's deadly circuits with the added bonus of having to battle the elements of nature was a whole different kind of hell. One of those days they had to suspend all activity and stay indoors after one of the wooden planks of the climbing wall came loose by a gust a wind during morning training and hit Floch full in the face.

A day without training might have sounded like glory to any soldier, but the Scouts knew they couldn't even dream of a day off. Not with Captain Levi.

"Get buckets and rags, time to clean up," he told them after they'd all gathered in the main building, safe from the wind. "This place is starting to feel disgusting."

So Lena and company (with the exception of Floch, who would spend the day in the infirmary with Amalia, tending to his bruised nose) headed for the broom closet to gather the cleaning supplies, trying to hide the disappointment on their faces.

Three hours later, fatigued and dusty, they paused for lunch. Jean sat next to Lena, and she, as always, tried with all her might not to stare at him.

"Jean?" said Armin as they ate, sitting across from him. "There's something in your head."

Jean made an inquisitive noise as he chewed and ran a hand over the crown of his head. It was the perfect excuse to appreciate his handsome profile, so Lena turned toward him and seized the occasion. Then she saw a thin cobweb tangled in his hair on the side of his head.

"On this side," she said in a soft voice, pointing to it. "It's a spider web."

Jean visibly shuddered and swallowed. "Agh, will you take it off?" He stood very still and cocked his head towards her.

Lena forced herself to take a deep breath and brought a longing hand up to that light, shiny hair, which almost seemed to cry out to her for a caress. Then something small and fast moved, and Lena jerked back suddenly, bumping into Sasha.

"What?" Jean exclaimed worriedly, looking at her out of the corner of his eye.

"A spide-"

"Ah! Get it off me! Get it off me!" Jean shrieked, jumping up before she could finish the word. He stumbled trying to get up from the bench and fell backwards. The table erupted in laughter.

"That's why Levi covers his hair!" laughed Hange.

Lena tried to hold in her laughter as she crouched down beside the boy, who was still on the floor shaking his head. "Stay still!"

Jean bit his lip and made an effort not to move, his wide eyes looking in all directions. Lena held his head as she looked at it, resting her hands gently on his jaw. Then she saw the arachnid again, which had moved to the other side of his head in the wake of the chaos, and with a gentle swipe she sent it flying.

"Is it gone?" Jean was breathing hard, and she, crouching beside him, bit her knuckles to stifle her laughter. "Lena!"

"Yes!" she laughed. "Wait, let me take a good look. Let's go to the window."

She pulled him over to the window after helping him up and made sure to remove all traces of spider web, standing on her tiptoes. To check that there were no arachnid bugs or of any kind left in his hair (and for no other personal reason), she ran her fingers thoroughly over every inch of his head, burying them in his hair.

When she decided it was enough she saw that his eyes were closed. The others had already gotten over what had happened and chatted among themselves about something else. All except for Sasha, who was giving her a poorly disguised smirk as she chewed slowly.

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⏰ Last updated: May 14 ⏰

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