She doesn’t blame him for not noticing her. She’s dull and has a strange expression on her face most times. She’s tried to smile more, but she’s just accepted that it’s just the way she is.

It makes sense that Falco is drawn to someone like Gabi. Gabi, who’s bright and vibrant like the sun. She’s the top of the class when it comes to combat, a clear choice for inheriting a Titan in the future. She overflows with confidence, constantly wearing a grin so wide that it would crack Zofia’s face if she tried to mimic it.

She watches him watch her in class, notices every quiver of his lip whenever he wants to speak up but can’t. At least he’s trying. She’s an even bigger coward than him, only observing him from a distance because she’s too scared to even extend her hand to touch him.

He never notices her watching, not really. The one time he does, he becomes flustered. “I wasn’t staring,” he tells her hastily even as his eyes glance quickly back at where Gabi is laughing with Udo.

“I know,” she says, turning away from him and looking instead at her notebook because she knows he wants to escape from this conversation as quickly as possible. She pretends to not care, drawing unintelligible symbols in the margin of her notes, but she watches as Falco releases a relieved sigh beside her.

She’s not sure if Falco has improved since the first time he picked up the mitt and began to train with his older brother Colt and Chief Jaeger, but he tries hard. She likes the determination on his face, brows knit together as he watches for where the ball will land next. He fumbles with the ball a lot, sometimes only able to have it brush the tips of his fingers, but there are a few instances when he does capture it. There’s always a look of surprise on his face, like he can’t imagine that it has actually happened even though the ball is clearly in the palm of his hands with his fingers curled tightly around it.

It’s rarely ever that he misses the ball entirely. Sometimes it’s because he reacts too soon or because he’s miscalculated where to throw up his arm to catch it. And, occasionally, it’s because his brother has pitched too far.

When the ball whizzes past him, Falco lets out a frustrated groan, angry that he’s let this ball fly past him without even touching a fingertip to it. “I’ll get it!” he says, already running towards it even though its barely just hit the ground.

“Don’t worry about that one!” Colt calls out to his brother. “It was my fault! I wasn’t aiming properly!”

The ball bounces on the ground a few times before rolling on the ground and stopping at Zofia’s foot. Should she throw it back?

Zofia looks up to find Falco still awhile away, but he’s stopped in his tracks. He’s looking at her, really looking at her now and not distracted by someone else. He holds his gloved hand towards her.

“Hey, Zofia!” he yells. “Throw it over here!”

Gingerly she picks up the ball, feeling the weight of it in her hands. It’s much heavier than she thought the small, spherical object would be, but she doesn’t think it’d be impossible to throw. She just has to do it like she’s watched them do it, doesn’t she? Just curve her arm back and swing it in that arc, releasing it at its height and have her hand follow through.

The ball soars through the air and Falco’s so surprised by how well Zofia’s thrown it that he nearly misses it. He just barely catches it but he doesn’t look as unhappy about it as he normally is. In fact, he looks thrilled and runs towards her instead of back to his brother.

“Zofia! You threw that? That was amazing!” Falco says excitedly. “You don’t practice, do you?”

She’s not used to him being so close to her, not used to him actually looking at her instead of past her and at someone else. She looks down at her feet and mumbles, “No, it’s just from watching you guys practice every morning. I was probably lucky just now.”

“Well, you’re really good!” Falco tells her. “Do you have a mitt or anything? Maybe you could practice with us too! It might be easier if we have four people instead of just three. I think Zeke told me he has an old baseball or something, so maybe we could use that and practice together while he practices with Colt.” Zofia can only shake her head. “I don’t really have those kinds of things,” Zofia replies. “It’s not really something I do…”

“Well, okay then,” Falco says, frowning. He’s already taking steps backward, probably hoping to get back to his brother and Zeke instead of wasting his time with her. “I’ll see you later then, Zofia.”

She should probably be thankful that he’s taken notice her even if it’s for a brief second but all she can think about is how pathetic she feels.

The next morning she walks along the same path but this time she promises herself not to glance over at Falco playing catch with Colt and Zeke. She doesn’t even know why she got up at her usual time when she knows they’ll be here. She probably could have stayed in bed a couple of extra minutes instead of being up so early.

“Hey, Zofia!” Falco calls like he does every morning.

Zofia lifts her hand to wave at him but when she looks up she finds that he’s running towards her instead of staying with Zeke and Colt. “What is it?” she asks, startled.

In a gloved hand he clasps a ball that’s more worn out than the one they had been throwing around yesterday. In his other hand he has an old glove that’s clearly seen better days but not totally unusable. He has a wide grin on his face and when he stops in front of her he stretches out the old, worn glove towards her. “This is for you!”

Confused, Zofia takes the glove carefully in her hands and turns it over. The material is a little thin now and it’s been stitched and re-stitched several times already, but he looks so happy to be giving it to her. She has to admit that she’s a little happy about it even though she doesn’t really know why he’s giving her a baseball mitt. “What’s it for?” she asks him.

“To practice!” he says as if it’s obvious. He tosses the ball from hand to hand as he continues to explain. “Because you’re really good. I told Zeke and Colt and they said if you could throw then you should practice. If you want, I mean. Zeke dug out this baseball and Colt gave me this new glove. He said he was going to give it to me anyway since my old one was a little worn.”

She does notice that the glove he now wears is brand new, much newer than the one he gave her. “Then is this one your old one?” she asks as she slides her hand inside the glove. It’s a little bit bigger than her hand, but she likes the way it fits her anyway.

“Er, yeah,” Falco says, looking a bit embarrassed. “Is that okay? It’s a little old. It used to be Colt’s before it was mine, but I’ll save up for a new one for you!”

“It’s fine!” Zofia says quickly. “I don’t mind it. It fits nicely anyway, so I don’t need a new one.”

Falco looks at her strangely, wondering why she’d turn down a new glove, but in the end he just shrugs. “If you’re happy with it then I guess it’s fine,” Falco says. He takes a few steps back, tossing the ball up and down. “Let’s see if you’re as good at catching as you are at throwing then!”