━═━═━═━═━┤➴├━═━═━═━═━

HANGE EXAMINED THE SHINING OBJECT UNDER THE MAGNIFYING GLASS, HOLDING UP THE PIECE OF CRYSTAL WITH A HANDKERCHIEF. She sniffled, pushing her glasses and lowering the hand she had to hold the crystal.

"You made this?" the scientist asked, facing F/n.

"How many times does she have to say it, Four Eyes? She said she did, all right?" Levi hissed irritatingly.

The woman laughed.

"Loosen up, Shorty," she grinned, "We've got plenty of time. Which means-"

"No," he said strictly, "You are not going to experiment on her."

"But-" she tried saying but was interrupted once more.

"Erwin only told you to check her DNA. Nothing more, nothing less."

Hange groaned loudly, rolling her eyes with her head thrown back. F/n just sat there, staying silent as she watched the scene unfold itself right in front of her eyes.

"Well, F/n," she crouched in front of the younger, readying the equipment, "This'll hurt a bit. Just stay still, okay?"

F/n nodded, watching the scientist do her thing. She watched as she took out the syringe and a shiver ran down her spine almost instinctively. Hange, of course, took notice of this.

"You can close your eyes if you want," she smiled reassuringly at her and the h/c-haired woman shifted her gaze to her lap, avoiding the sight of the sharp object.

Hange carefully inserted the syringe into the area between her forearm and bicep. The woman in spectacles let out a shushing sound when she sensed the discomfort from the smaller.

"Done!" she announced, smiling at F/n when she faced her, "Now, I just need a strand of your hair. May I?"

F/n glanced at Levi before looking back at the woman and nodded. The woman flinched when the older plucked a strand from her head but the pain was brief and she merely blinked back at her.

"I'll take these to experiment now," she said, grabbing the two samples which were safely stored in two separate vials, "I'll be in my office if you need me!"

The door shut and the silence grew between the two as they were either not talkative while having a lack in vocabulary and grammar or not in the mood to talk.

Anyone could tell which one is which.

"F/n," Levi decided to speak up, "Why did you do it?"

Why did she do it? The 'it' in that question was referring to why she created the crystal dome. And to answer the question, she did not know either.

"Don't know," she muttered quietly, fiddling with her fingers.

Levi's eyebrows creased more than they already had after hearing her response. But he said nothing else. Instead, he gestured her out of the room and the woman complied.

Entering the room, they caught the attention of many.

"F/n!" Eren greeted her with a smile, gesturing his hand for her to sit at his table where his other friends were too.

She looked at the captain to see him already looking at her. She blinked twice. By the nonchalant look on his face, she assumed that he was all right with it so she just walked towards the table and sat on the seat next to Mikasa.

"F-F/n!" Armin stuttered out, saluting politely at her.

F/n furrowed her eyebrows and her lips curled downward. She shook her head, turning her head to stare at her food instead before munching on it.

Armin looked confused yet slightly terrified with her reaction. But Mikasa managed to catch onto what she was trying to say.

"I think she's trying to tell you not to salute her," she said, voice as bland as ever.

The older female turned to her and nodded as a confirmation and a 'thank you'. The other nodded back, proceeding to eat her food as if the silent interaction between the two was on a regular basis.

"O-Okay! Sorry!"

"It's okay," her timid voice reached their ears and they all turned to her.

"Hey, F/n?" Eren said, "How old are you? If you don't mind me asking."

She gazed at him for a moment before responding, "Twenty-five."

Connie choked on his water while Sasha let a piece of bread drop from her mouth.

"Twenty-five?!" she shrieked, "I-I thought you were- I-"

"You look younger than you are..." the boy's bottom eyes twitch in disbelief after recovering from his fit of coughs.

The woman just blinked at them before going back to eating her food. The adolescents continued to converse amongst themselves, not forgetting to include their newest member by asking questions which she responded with either a nod or a word.

"Have you been training, F/n?" Eren asked, swallowing the chewed food in his mouth.

She nodded.

"With who?"

"Levi."

"Captain Levi?" Armin whispered with enlarged eyes and she nodded.

"You call him by his first name?" Eren asked after and she, too, nodded.

"Are you dating him?" Connie bluntly asked.

F/n blinked at him, confused at the new term he used.

"What?" she asked.

"Huh? Oh! Oh, uh..." the boy made a thinking face before his face lit up, "Like a romantic relationship?"

She blinked at him again.

"What?"

"Like a... Like a... Do you... Do you like him?"

"Like?" she repeated with her head tilted to the side.

"Yeah!" he grinned, ignoring the fact that Sasha was already stealing food from F/n's tray.

She nodded. "Like," she said.

They all stared at her in a mix of shocked, confused and amused expressions.

"You like him?" Mikasa repeated Connie's question.

"Yes," she nodded.

Sasha's mouth fell open.

"When are you going to tell him?" she shook the woman's shoulders back and forth before Mikasa stopped her.

"You don't like?" she asked back and they all shook their heads.

Then it clicked. Mikasa's brain started to connect the dots to which each of them was talking about. The girl pursed her lips and put on a deadpanned look.

A stupid misunderstanding that was going to take a long time for Mikasa to explain to both the clueless woman and the soon-to-be-pouting friends.

┬┴┬┴┤┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈├┬┴┬┴