❝     hange’s been saying you’re    TALKING WITH YOURSELF    again.     ❞      stable mental health and war-ridden soldiers have never gone    HAND-IN-HAND,    as far as jean knows    (     as far as jean experiences    ),    so jean understands why this is a worry.    but any expectation to    REMAIN CALM    would crumble too if their    MAIN WEAPON     (     god,   eren,    so many are now    DEAD,    what happened,    how the fuck did we get here you   SUICIDAL NUT—    )    couldn’t get it together.    and jean    -    walls,    he    NEEDS     eren to get it together.    all of those lives    ...     (    mina,   thomas,   marco,   erwin,   sasha   )    they would    MEAN NOTHING    if they lost now.    if eren lost now.     and jean’s here,    TWENTY AND WORN,    ready as all hell to collapse    -   but doesn’t   -    and he’s waiting.    he may not be the other’s guy’s best mate,    but he    CAN LISTEN    too.     ❝     ...    won’t tell the commander if you don’t.     ❞     tell me you’re okay    ,    eren.    tell me you’re not     FALLING APART   ,    not after everything.

It’s not often that he’s outside of his ward (truth be told, he actually didn’t want to leave. but duty calls and all that...), and it’s even less-so that he’s been forced to experience blatant mistreatment.

He’s uncertain whether it was due to his own lack of care or maybe it was someone trying to play a practice joke on him, but it was more than enough to have him nearly trip. Ren managed to catch him, firmly planting a foot down in a half-kneel before glancing up.

“Ah!”

“Oh geez!”

It truly didn’t startle him, but he had to act the part. Of course, he had to be blocking another person’s path. Swiftly, expression changed into one to signal apologetic purpose. The near stumble was enough to have him swallow back a cough (and a bit of blood, too.) yet did not prevent him from straightening.

Dusting himself off, Ren offered a grin and a well-humored laugh.