The following morning:
Your POV:
I wake up to Sasha squealing, "I heard people saw you without your hood on!" I open my eyes to see Sasha standing over me, "They said you were pretty cute, but you're hot!"
"Shut up!" I groan and pull the covers over my head. Sasha laughs and pulls the blankets off of me, "Come on, time for breakfast, get up!" I sigh and roll out of bed.
I pull on my uniform and try to decide what I should do with my hair since people will actually see it now. I decide on a simple ponytail.
Sasha swoons again, "You look even cuter with your hair up!" I glare at her and pulled my hair out of the ponytail, and left my (h/l) (h/c) hair to hang loosely around me. Sasha giggled and we head to the Mess Hall.
"Relax," Sasha sighed, nudging me to the side, "I bet no one will even pay any attention when we walk in."
I try to relax myself as we make our way to the Mess Hall. As we walked in, almost all eyes were on me. I turn to glare at Sasha, and we both go and grab our plates.
Eyes were still following me as I looked for an empty table, but no such luck. Then I saw a familiar head of curly black hair and hazel eyes. I sigh with relief when I see Peter look up and smile sweetly at me.
Sasha goes to sit at a table with the rest of her friends, and I make my way over to Peter.
"Peter, what are you doing here? You never eat in the Mess Hall." I ask as I sit next to him. "Since people know who you are, I thought we don't really have to keep our relationship a secret at this point. Plus, I enjoy spending time with you." He replied.
I shrugged and settled down next to Peter, happy to have him here, "So, how are Jack and Ellie?" I ask while taking a bite out of my breakfast.
Before Peter could answer, Hange, Erwin, and Levi sat by us. "I forgot to ask you yesterday, do you still want me to continue calling you by your nickname?" Hange asked as she sat across from me.
"I prefer my nickname if you, please. If we're alone I don't mind if you use my real name." I answer, appreciating that she asked.
Hange glances at me and then at Peter, "You two seem very friendly."
"She used to live with me before she joined the scouts," Peter explained, "I took her away from Lawrence." I hoped his explanation would be enough, but as usual, I was wrong. "So, are you two married or something?" Hange asks, Levi and Erwin seemed interested in that question too.
"Or something." Peter and I answer in unison. I smirked as Peter frowns at me, "I've been around you for too long."
"So are you two in a relationship?" Hange pressed. I exchange a look with Peter, "Um, yeah sure," I answered quickly, "Well, I have to go, see you all later."
"Ah, don't you dare! I have something I need to talk to you about!" Peter yelled after me, "If you're not at the house in a few days, I'm coming after you!" I waved him off and take my leave.
Time skip a week later:
Erwin's POV:
(Y/n) has been well as far as I can tell. People haven't questioned her too much, probably because she gives them a death glare every time they push her too far.
She always has people hanging around her, mostly men though. I've noticed Levi giving stable duty to anyone that hangs out with her for too long... I'm guilty of that as well actually.
I head into the Mess Hall, and I notice Dr. Thompson sitting by himself. I haven't seen him here for the past few days, I assume he is waiting for (y/n).
I take a seat next to him, and he greeted me with a nod, "Have you seen (y/n) today?" I shake my head in response. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't jealous of their relationship. She seems so comfortable around him, enough to let her guard down. I wish she would do that with me, but she is still pretty wary of the rest of us.
"Shit, she hasn't visited me at all, so I'm going to have to do it here. It's her fault for not meeting up with me." Dr. Thompson grumbled as he looked around for (y/n).
Levi, Hange, and Mike notice us and sit down at the table too, "What do you need to talk to her about?" I try to ask nonchalantly.
"There she is, (y/n/n)!" Hange calls to the beautiful (h/c) haired girl. She turns and makes her way toward our table. Peter crosses his arms as she makes her way over, "You little shit, I've been trying to find you, where the hell have you been?"
"Sorry," (y/n) shrugged as she sat down next to Dr. Thompson, "I've been busy, what is it?"
"We've been together for 3 years and 4 days now," Thompson stated.
(Y/n) scowls at him, "Have your balls ascended into your abdomen and have become ovaries? I've never heard of a man keeping track of something like that."
"God, you're a delight to be around aren't you?" Thompson sighs at her as she smiles sweetly. I wish she would smile at me like that.
"Anyway," Thompson continues, "I thought I would buy something for you, for the occasion." (Y/n) glares at him, "What have I told you about saving your money for your old age?"
Thompson waves off her scolding, "I bought a small house," he paused at the menacing look (y/n) gives him, "I didn't use my money, I've been saving up the money you've been giving me over the years that you insist on giving me."
"You took me in! I'm just paying you rent!" (Y/n) replies angrily.
"I never asked you to do that, plus you were pretty much a live-in babysitter for Jack and Ellie, that could be considered payment." Thompson retorted.
"No! You've done so much for me, the least I could do was help you out financially." (Y/n) said, cheeks going red a little bit.
"I'm a doctor, I'm fine financially." Thompson laughs. Before (y/n) could argue anymore, Thompson pulls out a key and puts it into (y/n)'s hand, "What is this for?" She asked him, examining the key in her hand.
"The key to that house I mentioned," Thompson replied, "For you to live in when you're on leave."
We all look at Thompson. Is this a break-up? It kind of sounds like he is kicking her out... Seems a little harsh.
(Y/n) pauses as she lets his words sink in. What happened next shocked all of us.
She stands up, looking at Thompson with a big smile on her face, "Up top." She said to him, offering her hand up for a high five.
Thompson smirks and accepts her high-five. (Y/n) turns to leave the table when he calls after her, "Hey, if you're free tonight can you babysit? I have a date."
(Y/n) turns around a surprised look on her face, "So soon? How dare you move on so quickly." (Y/n) says, pretending to be offended. "I know," Thompson laughs, "How will I ever live with the guilt? It's with Grace."
Another bright smile spreads across her face, "About time! In that case, of course, I'll head over there later." And with that, she left, the rest of us staring after her in shock.
Mike was the first to speak up, "Did she just give you a high five for breaking up with her?"
"Yep," Thompson answers.
"... And did you ask her to babysit your kids, so you can go out on a date?" Levi asked.
"Yep."
"Explanation," Hange said, chin resting on her right hand.
"Our relationship has been a complicated one," Thompson answers, "It wasn't exactly 'traditional'."
"Three years ago, I was able to sneak her away from Lawrence, thanks to the help of someone else. She was getting worse and worse each time I saw her until finally, I had enough." He said, looking down at his hands.
"Lawrence just let you take her?" I asked uncertainly.
"Not exactly," he sighed, "myself and someone else coordinated an escape plan for her. We had to wait for the best time, and for the guards to switch their shifts. We created a little window of opportunity for me to take her."
"Who helped you?" Levi asked. "A person who I am sure would prefer to remain anonymous," Thompson replied and left it at that.
"He never suspected you? After he found out she was gone." Hange inquired.
"If he has, he hasn't made me aware of it. The people he owns are still my patients, so I still see him when I go and do my regular check-ups."
Thompson takes a sip of his tea before continuing, "If someone from the underground is in a relationship with someone above ground for a period of at least 3 years, and that person is also employed above ground, they can gain citizenship." He looks around at us, "That's why we were 'together', but we never acted like a regular couple." He smiled a little sadly as he looked down again.
"Why not?" Hange asked, "She's such a pretty girl, and you're a young handsome doctor!"
"There was a time where I thought maybe she could grow to love me in that way, but it was pretty clear on her part that she wasn't interested." He admitted as he ran his fingers through his curly black hair. "You saw how she reacted when I ended our relationship, that's just more confirmation that it probably never would have worked."
Thompson laughed sadly, "I tried to be secretive and brought women over for casual hookups once in a while, I am still a man after all. One time she caught me though. It may be childish, but I secretly hoped she would be jealous or angry or show any kind of emotion."
"What did she do?" Hange asked
"Offered her breakfast," Thompson answered, smirking, "I think her exact words were, 'You were balls deep in her, the least you can do is offer her some juice or some toast.'"
"So why wouldn't it have worked between you two?" I asked, trying to hide just how curious I was.
"I've only ever known her to love one man, and he died 4 years ago." Thompson answered sadly, "He was a good friend of her older brother's, I don't know much about him. I know it can be a sore subject with (y/n), so I never pushed her for details while we lived together. But what I do know is that when she turned 18, he asked her to marry him. He saved up for years and begged Lawrence to let him buy her. They were married a year when he died outside the walls."
We all raise our eyebrows in surprise, digesting this new information. "All I really know is his name was Malcolm Meyer, and he was in the scouts for a short period of time. Do any of you remember him?"
I thought hard, I don't remember that name, but that isn't too surprising. Before I became commander, I didn't bother learning everyone's name. Best to not get too close to too many people.
"That's how she met Shadis," Thompson continued, "He was the one that broke the news to her after Malcolm died. After his death, she was forced back to Lawrence. She and Malcolm were not married for long enough for her to live on her own. She would have been sent back to the underground if she didn't go back to Lawrence."
"I don't have proof, but I am willing to bet the only reason he ended up agreeing to their marriage, was because he knew Malcolm was in the scouts and probably guessed he wouldn't last long." Thompson clenched his hands into fists, "She wouldn't respond much to physical abuse after a while, so he wanted to destroy her mentally."
Thompson seemed to be surprised by how candid he was being and stopped himself there. "Please, don't tell her I told you this, I don't know if it's something she wants people to know."
We nodded our heads and he took his leave. We sat silently and finished our dinners. So there was physical abuse going on. Hearing this new information just motivated me more to keep her as safe as possible.