Beautiful Blemishes

Jean was sitting on his bed in his room and witnessing Armin's team attempting to beat the near-unstoppable Ossiboros.

"Not bad," Jean had to admit. "But of course, Reiner just had to show off."

This wasn't the first time that Reiner showed his physical prowess like that. Something similar like this happened.

A few months ago

Jean, Krista and Reiner were assigned to kill a Pukei Pukei for an improvement test, standing in the middle of a massive simulated arena supervised by their hunting teacher, Mr.Keel and some of the school's security staff for aid.

The area of the simulated arena was octagonal-shaped with sand underneath Jean's shoes with rocky hills spread out the area.

Jean swiped a bit of sweat off his brow, realising the increase in temperature. He looked around, no monster in sight.

" Where's the damn monster?" Jean shouted.

"The monster was released already, find it," Mr.Keel said through the intercom,slightly echoing around the area.

"Wait what?!" 

"We released it as you guys made your way to the entrance. Good luck!"

"Shit!"

Reiner grew more alert, curling his hands into fists as he looked left to right and vice versa. But Krista was unfazed, slowly looking around to find something.

"I see footprints," Krista said as she walked towards the footprints.

The monster had four long toes spread out with one of the toes going in the complete opposite direction compared to the others. Krista kneeled and tilted her head a bit before standing up.

"It's a bird wyvern," Krista concluded. "Only birds have feet like that. Let's follow the trail."

The trio followed the trail until it ended by a group of rocky hills.

"It ends here," Reiner said. "Where is it? Is it hiding or something?"

"That's odd. Typically the monster would've been found unless…"

A long purple snake-like tongue swiped at Krista but she quickly ducked.

"It has camouflage!"

Reiner grabbed the tongue and pulled it, causing the monster to fall off the side of a hill.

"You better duck!" The tall teen shouted out.

Jean bent down as Reiner began to spin the monster around. He smashed the wyvern into a hill before smashing it into another one. The debris flung around and nearly hit Jean but he made a barrier to block the incoming projectiles.

Krista leaped back, summoned her rapier and stabbed deep into the ground.

A sandstorm started to form as Reiner spun the monster faster and faster.

"Fucking idiot!" Jean began to run away from the storm but the wind picked him up and pushed him into the storm.

He closed his eyes to not get any sand in them. He slightly and carefully opened his left eye to see a bit of debris heading his way.

"Shit!" Jean made a sphere-shaped barrier to block it.

Jean held the barrier until Reiner eventually threw the monster, destroying the storm and sending Jean and the debris flying through the air.

Jean crashed into the ground, making the sand around him jump and land on his barrier.

"Piece of shit…" Jean was on his back in his barrier, being buried a couple of feet underground with small piles of sand around it.

Jean kissed his teeth remembering that test. Luckily, the Pukei was delirious from that move, making it much easier to beat that thing. Although, with it mindlessly shooting poison, it made fighting it a bit of a pain in the ass.

He stood up, closed his eyes and rotated his shoulder. He stopped and rotated it counterclockwise, nodding in approval.

"Whatever that nurse put on my shoulder, it worked like a charm," Jean complimented the nurse.

"Thanks."

Jean opened his eyes and flinched, seeing the teal-haired nurse suddenly by the now-opened door.

"Sorry.Didn't mean to scare you. Just doing a quick check-up on you. But hearing you complimenting my medical skills and having a reaction like that, I can assume that you're okay now," The nurse said, leaning by the door.

"Yeah… it even fixed my shoulder problem from the first test," Jean gently rubbed his shoulder.

"If that's the case, then I recommend you to head to the break hall a couple of floors above. We might need this room later on."

"Sure but…" Jean tugged on his hospital gown.

The nurse snapped her fingers. "Oh yeah, your clothes. They're clean, so I'll go get them for you."

The nurse left the room, closing the door behind her. Jean sighed and sat on his bed.

'I'm one step closer…' Jean thought. 'I wonder what Reiner and Krista are going to say to me after this. They might talk shit to me, saying that I had to rely on a few losers to help me. Well, probably not Reiner as much since he has Armin with him but he's been leading the team so far... but for right now, Armin seems to be the one in charge,so maybe I can use that as ammunition.'

Jean heard a rhythmic knock before he got up and opened the door.

"Here's your clothes," The nurse said, handing him a neatly folded stack of clothes and his shoes.

"You forgot my jacket," Jean noticed his missing varsity jacket.

"Your friend has it. She wanted to sew it herself despite informing her about the sewing machine," The nurse explained the missing jacket.

"She?"

"Yeah, a dark-haired girl. She was the one with the katana if I'm correct."

"Mikasa?!" His cheeks warmed up.

"Yeah… that's her name. If I remember correctly from her file."

"Why would she have my jacket?"Jean asked,taking a step towards the nurse.

The nurse extended her right hand, signalling him to keep his distance. "I don't know. Why don't you ask her?"

Jean sighed and took a step back. "We're barely on speaking terms…"

"Barely?Jeez, what the hell happened?" The nurse looked out to the hallway, turning her head left and right to look at both ends of the hallway before she closed the door and whispered, "Did you used to beat her or something?"

"What?! H-Hell no! I've never put my hands on her! We're not even dating! Shit…we're not even friends…" Jean crossed his arms and looked down at the white tile floor.

'Plus it would more than likely be the other way around,' Jean thought. 'Especially with her strength.'

"Oh, that's good. So… what's the connection,then?"

"We were just classmates in primary and middle school,"Jean answered. "Nothing more, nothing less."

"I see…well if she was willing to sew your jacket herself, I think it's a step in the right direction," The nurse said. "Besides, is there anything that you did that could've given her a negative perception of you?"

Jean kept his gaze on the ground as he began to scratch his left forearm.

"Oh. Is it that bad?" The nurse rubbed her neck. "So instead of being on base 0 with her, you're in the negatives?"

"Basically," Jean shrugged. 

"Wow…uh, well my best advice is to tread lightly, making sure you don't step on her toes or anything. Literally and figuratively."

"Yeah, I'll do that…"Jean glanced at the name tag. "Madison."

"You're welcome. But hey, you need to get your jacket, and she sort've given you the opportunity to speak to her again, so…"

"I have to take the opportunity," Jean said, with a bit of newfound confidence.

Madison nodded. "Anyways, I have other patients to check on. Good luck with your romantic endeavour."

The nurse opened the door and walked out of the room before she closed the door behind her.

Jean looked at his clothes and sighed before taking them to the bathroom. He flicked the light switch, making a bright pale light shine around the room.

He took off his gown and let it drop on the floor. He looked at the gown before slowly looking up at the rectangular-shaped mirror across from him. He analysed the physique that he worked hard for, good shoulders, defined arms, a solid chest and rock-hard thighs.

But there was a blemish that made his physique…imperfect. He gently grabbed and pulled at the minor loose skin around his midsection. It wasn't as bad compared to a year ago because of the fact that he had grown taller, but the traces of loose skin still made their residence on his midsection, covering the abdominal muscles underneath.

He put on his clothes and pulled the bottom of his shirt before he turned off the bathroom light, picked up the gown and tossed it in a grey plastic hamper near the door.

He left the room before he started to make his way to the elevator, doing his best to ignore the screams of pain and cries of mercy coming from different rooms on both sides of the hallway.

He stuffed his hands in his pockets and balled them into fists as he continued to walk around doctors, nurses and surgeons going past him at different paces with some of them jogging while others were walking, carefully looking at something on their tablets.

Luckily, the elevator doors were already opened and he powerwalked into the metal box. He leaned on one of the elevator's walls, closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"First time?" A deep voice asked him.

Jean snapped his head to the man next to him. He was massive, probably around 2 meters tall or maybe a little bit over 2 metres with dark skin and short black hair, similar to a buzzcut. He looked to have a strong bulky build with massive arms with veins trailing down to his hands, a tree trunk of a neck and broad shoulders.

He was wearing a loose short-sleeved yellow robe that reached to his knees with loose pants of the same colour and dark brown sandals. His beard was short yet full with a round face, big brown eyes and thick lips.

"Yeah, it's my first time doing this test," Jean answered.

The tall man nodded and scratched his beard with his thick fingers. "Ha ha ha, guess beginner luck, aye?" The man spoke broken Communus through his thick foreign accent.

'Sounds like he's from Merudiem.'

"If you say so, I mean I went to a combat school so, I'm more prepared than the average 15-year-old."

"Hmm, If you ready, you ready," The man nodded. "But it is not easy. I have friends who did it too, but failed and had to try again."

"Did they eventually pass?"

"They passed in the second time. But you, why so young ? Why not wait til older?"

Jean felt his jaw tighten, remembering the incident but he managed to speak through it.

"I…have a debt to pay to someone close to me…an old friend I knew for a while," Jean said, looking down at the elevator floor.

"You too young to have debt," The man softly chuckled. "How much money?"

"A lot.So much that I'm not too sure if it will ever be enough."

"Hmm…" the man stroked his beard as if he was an old wise man. "Well, young man, i'll pray to Obata for you, so you won't be forced out of The Valley. "

"The Valley?"Jean looked back up to the tall man beside him.

"The Valley of the Gods. An endless green valley where good people go after death. A place with fruits, vegetables, grains and wheat for man to enjoy with others with a large running river nearby to drink unsullied water," The dark-skinned man explained.

"Thanks, I'll take note of that."

"My name is Tuboto. Sorry for broken Communus, I don't speak the common tongue a lot."

"It's fine. I can understand what you're saying," Jean said.

Tuboto nodded before the elevator doors opened to the break hall. Jean walked out of the elevator but Tuboto stayed inside.

"You're not heading to the break hall?" Jean asked.

Tuboto shook his head before slightly leaning and pressing a button. "No, not yet. I have…a friend I need to talk to."

"Thanks for the talk," Jean told the tall man.

Tuboto nodded and gave Jean a warm smile before the elevator's metal doors closed once more.

'The Valley, huh?I mean it's not too late. I'm still young, so I still have time, I hope…' Jean turned his head to see small groups of people spread around the break room, turning to their heads to see their new room buddy.

He looked around to see if she was there. In one of the corners of the room across from him, he saw his varsity jacket being sewn by her. Her dark grey eyes focused on his jacket with a thin needle between her elegant fingers and her beautiful black hair tied in a ponytail, but the perfect image was ruined by three people sitting near her with their sight targeted at him. Jean felt his heart pounding as he slowly walked to the snack bar near him and pretended not to see them.

'Okay, so how do I approach this? Maybe with a cool joke or a compliment like "Love to see you work!" no that doesn't sound good. Maybe just something simple like a thank you, yeah a thank you.Okay,3,2,1…'

"Jean." He heard a familiar voice behind him

Jean stood still as he tapped his teeth together. He recognised the voice and tone all too well.

"Y-yeah, who is it?"

"Mikasa. I'm finished with your jacket," She told him. "Turn around."

Jean glanced at the ceiling before he turned around to see the half-Hizurian girl with her hair down, a few inches away from touching her shoulders.

She was wearing her clothes again, even wearing the purple shirt that looked almost as good as new except for the stitches on the side of the shirt. The jacket was neatly folded in her hands but she had a blank expression on her face.No form of an expression. It was as if an android sewed it for him.

"Oh thank you. You didn't have to do this, "Jean gently took the jacket from her.

"You're right. I didn't."

Jean looked down at his jacket.

"However, I did stain your jacket so it's the least I can do," Mikasa added.

"Thanks. I mean it, I really appreciate it,"

Mikasa nodded before she turned and walked away. Jean opened his mouth but nothing came out.

He looked at the jacket and the hole that was on the jacket now snitched shut.Jean grew a grateful smile as he placed the jacket on his shoulders.

Jean glanced back to the snack table. He saw various bags of chips in a plastic bowl in the center of the table, next to them were drinks with various sodas, juice boxes and water bottles. Next to the drinks near the edge of the table were granola bars some with chocolate chips in them and some dipped in milk chocolate with sweet caramel inside. To the left side of the table were small plastic bags of candy, containing a delicious mix of gummy worms, sour watermelon slices and cherry balls.

He began to eye down the snacks in front of him. If he were more undisciplined, one or maybe two of the snack bowls would be empty.

'Moderation,Jean. Moderation,' Jean told himself as he took a water bottle, a bag of chips and a bag of candy and sat down at an empty table that was the furthest from the snack table.

He twisted the water bottle cap open before he took a sip from it and twisted it back. He looked at the television that was monitoring Reiner and his team.

Armin was explaining a plan, creating homemade landmines around the sturdy wyvern. Jean shook his head as he tore open his candy bag and placed a cherry ball in his mouth while he looked at his jacket on the table and softly smiled.