Under the Tree [Attack on Titan self insert]

Night of the Graduation Ceremony

-

The next morning wasn't nearly as rainy. Honestly, the training was fun. They were attacking cardboard titan dummies with bits of foam on the neck—the weak spot they had to cut. The only way to kill a titan was a slice in the nape of the neck. Eren was struggling to cut deep enough.
"LOOK, LOOK AT THIS!" Sasha called out to Armyn. He looked over just as he sliced a piece of foam to see her steal Connie's "kill" and bounce around in her ODM gear in celebration.
"Aw, c'mon, Sasha!" Connie yelled, glaring in her direction, "I so had that!"
"You snooze, you lose, Connie!" Armyn laughed and flew off with Sasha.
Eren caught up to him. "Y'know, I feel like you're not taking this seriously."
Armyn shook his head. "Nah, what? I so am! Hey, Eren, race ya to the next one!"
"Oh, you're SO ON!" Eren grinned and started swinging faster.
Armin could see his target. It was so close. He readied his blades to strike, up head-to-head with his twin brother, and finally—
With a woosh, Mikasa cut in front of both of them and stole the shot.
"MIKASA! I WAS SO ABOUT TO WIN!" They whined in unison. "WHAT? NO, I WAS! STOP THAT! UGHH, YOURE SO—" they kept like that until Armyn swung into a tree.
"HA!" Eren pointed and laughed before he hit a tree a few seconds later. They were both deducted points from their training.

-

Later they started working on hand-to-hand combat. Armin asked Armyn to be his partner. He couldn't help but feel like Eren was gonna get his ass kicked by whoever he fought, but... not his problem right now.
"Alright Armin, don't hold back!" Armyn said with a determined glare as he got into stance. Armin gulped and got into stance, except he was kinda stiff and shaky. Armyn frowned. "No, no, hold on," he stood up straight and walked closer to him. "First of all, you're shaking like a leaf. It's just me, I couldn't hurt you if I wanted to."
Armin laughed nervously. "Right. Sorry."
"Second, you're stiff. You gotta relax, seriously. I mean—I kinda doubt we'd really need this at all..." he laughed a little, "but if you ever get in a fist fight you're not gonna do anything to them like that."
Armin smiled a little, raising an eyebrow. "Who are you to talk to me about posture and stuff? You never won a fight, you always got your ass kicked."
He laughed. "Aw c'mon, that's not fair. I only got into fights because of you."
"I wish you hadn't. I could take care of myself."
Armyn shrugged. "What are friends f—?" He grunted and stumbled back after Armin landed a punch to his stomach.
Armin laughed proudly, rushing to see if he was okay. "You said not to hold back, and I know I couldn't overpower you."
Armyn looked up at him, holding his stomach. "You mean that was all an act?!"
He smiled. "Sorry...!"
They practiced sparring for a while more before they stopped to take a break. Armin frowned. "You know why we're doing this right?"
Armyn looked at him. "Uh... no? Why?"
"Well... think about it. It's not like we're gonna be fist fighting a titan." He looked down. "This isn't just combat training. They're training our reflexes more than anything—they're training us to run away."
Armyn thought about it. He guessed he was right. There wasn't much else he could think of.

-

Eren was zoning out a little as they ate dinner, but that was normal at this point. Marco sat next to Jean tonight. They started talking about how excited they were to graduate, and be MPs together.
"Man, won't it be nice to work so close to the king?" Marco looked like he was in another world. "What an honor that would be..."
Jean laughed a little. "If I'm being honest, honor doesn't have any part of it for me. I'm excited to be nice and comfy in the interior... you don't feel the same?" Marco shook his head. "Really? You don't gotta lie."
"No, seriously. That's not how I feel at all."
Eren scoffed. Armyn rolled his eyes at him, knowing what was coming. "Poor Jean, so misguided. You do realize that this was the interior five years ago, right?"
"Eren, can you not?" Armyn hissed. He was ignored.
"What's your point, Jaeger?" Jean glared. Armyn didn't know if he should be offended by the way he said his name or not—it's like the name Jaeger was poison on his tongue.
"I just mean you seem to think it'll be so easy. Are you sure your head will even fit in the interior?"
"Eren, that's enough. Seriously. He didn't even do anything to you."
"No, no, Armyn, let him." Jean waved him off. "He's a big boy, isn't he? He can't have his guard dogs around all the time."
Eren stood up now. "Who the hell do you think you are?"
Jean smirked and stood up. "Someone who knows just how to tick you off, clearly."
Eren growled and stepped forward. "You little—"
"Gentlemen, please!" Mikasa stood up and grabbed Eren's hand. Honestly, Armyn was surprised by how easily that calmed him down. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Marco reach for Jean's hand too, before Jean flipped and grabbed Eren by the shirt.
"See? There's your little guard dog again!"
Before Armyn could really process what was happening, Eren had flipped Jean over onto the ground, knocking the wind out of him. "Holy shit, Eren, how did you do that?" He stood up to see if Jean was okay.
Jean coughed, sucking air into his lungs again. "Where the... hell did you learn that move?"
"Learned it this afternoon while you were fiddling your thumbs, wasting everyone's time." He scoffed down at Jean. As Armyn helped him up, the room went silent. The Commadant had walked in.
"Will someone please explain the ruckus? I sure do hope everyone is alright." Finally, Jean and Eren sat down. No one said anything for a while.
"Sasha passed gas, sir." Mikasa finally spoke. Sasha shrieked as Saidies sighed and left. She was easily calmed with a loaf of bread in her mouth.