"Rise and shine, sleeping beauty! Someone's an adult today!"

Natalie groaned as the bright light from the sun came shining abruptly from behind the previously closed curtains, making her head throb due to her current hangover.

"Close the damn curtains!" She snapped, pulling her blanket over her head.

She heard the sound of Sasha and Connie laughing, and peeked her head out irritably.

"What are you two doing?"

Sasha pulled the blankets off her and pulled her out of bed.

"It's your birthday! Now I'm not the only adult in our friend group!"

Natalie pouted slightly, standing up and running her hands through her bed head.

"You guys have anything planned?" She asked.

Connie nodded, taking a seat in her desk chair and stealing one of her writing utensils, and writing on a piece of paper.

"First, we're gonna have breakfast with all of our friends, minus Maliath 'cause you're still mad at him."

Sasha sat on Natalie's unmade bed, looking up at her.

"Why are you still mad at him, anyway? It's been months since your fight."

Natalie shrugged, going to the trunk at the end of her bed and opening it, pulling out her dark blue button down, and a pair of black slacks.

"It's not something I wanna get into, he doesn't deserve to be forgiven just yet. Call me petty, I don't give a shit."

Sasha and Connie glanced at eachother with a worried look, as Connie went back to writing on the paper.

"To continue with your fabulous birthday celebration, courtesy of your two best friends-"

"Armin's my best friend."

"Courtesy of your BEST FRIENDS, we will also be having dinner at the tavern, followed by some heavy drinking to celebrate your coming of womanhood."

Natalie deadpanned.

"That- don't ever say womanhood to my face again, that's gross. You're a menace to society."

Connie shrugged. "Guilty."

Natalie sighed and set her clothes out on her bed.

"Look guys, I just want today to be chill. I'm not used to celebrating my birthday with a bunch of people, and I'm not used to it being a big deal. So, can we maybe tone it down a bit? No big party, or shit like that. I just want a nice dinner with my friends tonight."

Sasha nodded and stood up, hugging the girl before making her way to the door.

"Sure thing, c'mon Connie."

Said man stood up from the chair and fist bumped Natalie as he passed by her, standing next to Sasha when she opened the door.

"Oh, hey there Yelena." Natalie heard her friend say.

Immediately, she panicked. Yeah, her and Yelena were on good terms, not that she had any reason to be on the woman's bad side, but she hadn't been alone with her for more than a minute or two ever since the incident in the workout room all those months ago.

She looked down at herself and noticed her lack of a shirt, only wearing her sports bra and a pair of shorts that hugged her thighs.

'Damn you, and your sweating during sleeping problem!'

She rather Yelena didn't see her like this. Having your not so secret crush see you first thing in the morning when you've been sweating buckets the night prior and probably smelled really bad? No fucking thank you.

Unfortunately, Natalie didn't have enough time to even think about changing, because next thing she knew, Connie and Sasha were leaving and Yelena was walking through the door.

Immediately, the taller blondes dark eyes trailed across the exposed parts of her body, mainly her abs and legs.

"It smells like a guy was sleeping in here." She finally said.

Natalie's freckled cheeks turned red instantly.

"I sweat in my sleep." She said, then immediately grimaced.

'You couldn't have said anything better?! You're so stupid!' she internally chastised herself.

Yelena let out a soft chuckle, choosing not to comment, and walked over to the desk in the room, picking up the paper Connie had left and read it.

"So, I'm assuming I'm not invited to this dinner turning drinking competition tonight for your birthday?"

Natalie glanced over at her in confusion.

"Why wouldn't you be invited?"

The woman just shrugged, setting the paper down, and taking a seat in the chair.

"Well, I'm not exactly your friend, and your actual friends and your brother don't like me, so I just guessed."

The ravenette furrowed her brows, taking her shirt up off the bed, and putting her arms through the sleeves.

"My brother isn't gonna be there, I'm still angry at him, and I'm sure my friends won't mind. You've helped us alot this past year."

Yelena looked at her through hooded eyes, draping her arms over her lap and man spreading as she gazed at the shorter girl.

"I heard about what happened with him, I'm sorry about that."

Natalie shrugged, leaving her shirt open as she grabbed her pants and pulled them on.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, he just said some things that hurt me."

Yelena's eyebrows furrowed as she tilted her head slightly to the side.

"You say that as if he's hurt you like that before."

The girls blue eyes widened, as she looked to Yelena and frantically shook her head.

"No, no, nothing like that. I just meant that he hurt my feelings, he didn't put his hands on me or anything!"

The blonde woman nodded and leaned back in the chair, letting her eyes trail over the girl once again.

Natalie gulped nervously, looking away from her as she buttoned her shirt, and tucked it into her pants.

"Anyway, I don't think anyone will mind. Besides, I'm your personal guard, so you kind of have to come anyway."

Yelena blinked at her, a lazy smirk coming onto her face.

"So, I'm only coming because it's your job?" She teased.

Natalie's cheeks flushed a soft pink as she averted her eyes away from the woman.

"No, I... I want you to come."

Yelena sighed dramatically, waving her hand in the air nonchalantly.

"I guess I can make time to drop by for a few moments. If it'll make you happy."

Natalie smiled brightly at the woman, revealing the gap in her top front teeth.

Yelena gazed at her for a few moments, an eyebrow raised.

"Huh, never noticed that before."

Natalie tilted her head to the side.

"Noticed what?"

The blonde continued gazing at the girls mouth.

"You have a tooth gap. I haven't noticed it before because you've never smiled with your teeth when I'm around. S'cute."

The shorter woman's eyes widened as her cheeks flushed once again. No one had ever called her tooth gap cute. She was usually made fun of for it, along with the enormous scar on her face.

Natalie pouted softly, pushing out her lips and puffing her cheeks as she looked away from the woman.

"Stop being a tease." She muttered.

Yelena let out an amused hum, before standing up.

"Well, I gotta get to a meeting that you're supposed to walk me to. Now that you're dressed, shall we?"

Yelena held out her hand to the shorter woman, who hesitantly took it into her own.

Immediately, Natalie felt an imaginary spark of electricity shock her body at the feeling of Yelena's cold hand, making her shudder.

Yelena wasn't fairing any better, because as soon as she felt the ravenettes calloused hand touch her own, she suppressed a shiver of her own.

The blonde clenched her teeth, taking a deep breath through her nose, in order to control ever single urge she had to not kiss this woman right here and now.

Letting out a breath of air, she removed her hand from Natalie's, and moved it to rest gently on her upper back, guiding her to the door and out.

"Well, let's get going, then."

Natalie's mind was going a mile a minute. The feeling of Yelena's hand in her own did something to her, and now she was touching her back?! Was this woman trying to send her into cardiac arrest?!

The blonde beside her seemed to notice her internal panic, which caused her to let out a low, husky laugh that sent shivers down her back.

She glanced up at the woman due to their height difference, which she wasn't apposed to.

"Do you enjoy seeing me panic over you?"

Yelena just sent her a smug smile.

"I do. I really do. I can't help it, though. You're just too cute when your face turns red and your cheeks get all puffy."

As she said that, Natalie's face did what she had described.

The taller woman let out an amused sound, subtly tracing her finger along the seam of Natalie's shirt.

"So, when's your birthday?" The shorter asked, looking up at Yelena.

"Today's the eleventh, right? So, ten days from now."

Natalie's eyes widened.

"We share a birthday month and you never thought to tell me?!"

Yelena shrugged nonchalantly.

"I don't celebrate my birthday, so I didn't think it mattered."

Natalie stared at her, dumbfounded.

"If I'm being forced to celebrate my birthday, I'm forcing you to celebrate yours!"

Yelena smirked at the woman.

"Forcing me? I'm not sure you understand how this thing between us works."

Natalie looked away from her, flustered, before stopping in front of a dark, mahogany door.

"I'm assuming this is where your meeting is? Do you need me to walk you anywhere else after?"

Yelena shook her head and wrapped her fingers around the door knob.

"The meeting should last a few hours, so you go ahead and get some breakfast. It'll probably be over at around noon, so head over here then yeah? I won't need to be anywhere else, but maybe we could spend some time together before you have dinner with your friends?"

Her last question was a bit hesitant, but Natalie responded to it with a nod and smile.

"Yeah, for sure. I'll find you later."

She sent the blonde a wave, to which the taller woman responded by gently grabbing her hand and pressing a feather light kiss to her knuckles, before letting her go.

"Find you later." She said, lowly with a smirk.

Natalie felt herself flush once more, before she turned on her heels and walked away.

Yeah, Yelena was definitely trying to give her a heart attack.

She made her way to the mess hall, still feeling slightly flustered, but violently shook her head and slapped her cheeks lightly as she stood in front of the closed double doors.

"Get ahold of yourself!" She whispered, pinching the skin of her hand, before pushing open the doors.

Once she got her food, she made her way the the table her friends were seated at, instantly feeling bitter at the sight of her brother, who was staring at her expectantly, a hopeful look in his eyes.

All of her friends looked away from her awkwardly when she glanced at them, making her sigh as she took a seat beside Eren, who had Mikasa on his other side, and Armin across from him.

She ignored Maliaths attempts at talking to her, getting lost in her own world of blonde hair and dark eyes.

She was so caught up infact, that she almost didn't hear Armin calling out her name.

She blinked at her food, which she had barley touched, and looked up at him.

"Sorry, what were you saying, Min?"

Armin grinned awkwardly at her.

"Lost in thought?" He asked, teasingly.

Natalie shrugged, pushing around her food with a spoon.

"Something like that."

Sasha grinned widly at her from where she was seated.

"Is something or someone on your mind?"

The freckled woman rose a brow.

"Why is that always an assumption with you?"

The brunette shrugged, shoving a spoonful of food into her mouth and swallowing it.

"Well, seeing as Yelena let herself into your room this morning-"

Maliath snapped his head in his sister's direction.

"Yelena was in your room?!"

Eren and Mikasa stared at her as well.

"What was she doing in your room?" Mikasa asked. "I didn't know you guys spoke."

So far, the only ones that knew of her crush on the tall blonde was Armin and her siblings, maybe Eren because he always gave her a look whenever she was mentioned. How could she explain why Yelena was there without giving it away?

Then, she thought of something that wasn't technically a lie, but wasn't exactly the truth either.

"She had a meeting to attend to this morning, I had to escort her. I am her personal guard, though I wasn't expecting her to show up at my room when I wasn't even ready yet."

"Yeah," Connie added. "You were like, in your underwear when she was at the door."

"You were what?!?!" Maliath shouted, making everyone in the mess hall turn their heads.

Natalie glared at her brother, narrowing her eyes, before taking her food and leaning across the table, putting what was left on Sasha's plate and standing up.

"I've lost my appetite. If anyone wants to find me I'll be in the workout room." She said as she turned to walk away.

"Wait, Natalie! Don't leave!" Armin called out, making her turns around.

Armin stood up, walking over to her and leading her back to the table, making her sit back down.

"Don't leave just because you're still mad at Maliath. We're still your friends and you've been spending less and less time with us because you're busy being Yelena's personal guard. What she was doing in your room is your business, and we don't have a right to invade that, but it's your birthday today, don't be in a bad mood because of one person."

Natalie gazed up into Armin's eyes for a few seconds, seeing the pleading look he was giving her, before she looked away and sighed.

"Fine, I'll stay. I'm not eating though."

Armin smiled, sitting back down.

"That's OK, you can always eat something at lunch."

She tossed him a smile in return.

"Damn you and your puppy dog eyes." She teased.

The blonde shrugged. "Hey, it's a gift I use to my advantage."

Natalie decided to ignore her brother entirely, opting to pay attention to he friends instead.

Suddenly, she felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around her shoulders.

"My little sis is now an adult! I'm so proud!"

Natalie sighed irritably.

"Hello to you too, Adri."

The ginger rubbed the top of her head affectionately, messing up her already messy hair since she hadn't taken the time to brush it this morning.

"Aw, don't be like that! You love me!"

The ravenette rolled her eyes with a smile on her face.

"Yeah, yeah, now get off before I punch you."

Adri sat next to their sister with a playful pout.

"Nattie, why are you so grumpy in the mornings?"

Natalie leaned her head on her hand, picking at the wood of the table.

"Well, I was actually having a fantastic morning." She said, thinking back to her interactions with Yelena. "But, it was sadly cut short."

Her sister grinned knowingly. "Does it have to do with a certain person you've had your eye on?"

Natalie's cheeks flared red instantly as she looked away from the redhead.

Adri gasped, shaking her sister by the shoulders rapidly.

"It does! What happened, tell me everything!"

"Wait, Natalie has a crush on someone? Since when, and why wasn't I told?" Sasha asked with a mouth full of food.

Natalie went back to messing with the table.

"Well- I didn't really want people to know. Adri sort of found out by accident, and I didn't want you guys to overreact if I told you."

Armin gave her a worried look.

"Are you sure you want to tell them?" He asked.

With a large inhale of air, she nodded.

"They were bound to find out eventually."

Natalie bit her lip, picking at a hangnail on her thumb.

"I... Have a crush on Yelena. I don't know if it's gonna go anywhere, and I highly doubt it, I don't even know if she feels the same way."

Armin narrowed his eyes at her ever so slightly, sensing her lie.

His eyebrows furrowed. 'why did she lie about that? She told me Yelena has made it obvious she likes her back.'

"Wait," Connie started. "I thought Yelena was straight."

Natalie shook her head.

"No, she told me she was a lesbian the day after she and the other Volunteers arrived on the island. I assumed she was straight as well."

Connie's eyebrows rose in shock. "Wow, and all this time I've been judging her for liking Zeke out of all people. Guess I owe her an apology."

"I got the vibes instantly." Sasha said. "It was just obvious."

Mikasa nodded. "I assumed everyone thought she was gay."

Eren side eyed Natalie.

"I already knew, I also knew that you liked her."

She stared at him in shock.

"How? I've literally only told three people, and Armin swore to keep it a secret."

Eren shrugged. "I could tell."

Natalie narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. "O...Kay, if you say so."

Maliath stared at his sister as she told everyone about how she had a crush on the blonde. It baffled him how she could genuinely like someone so blatantly manipulative. He felt bad for what he had said to her that day, but he wasn't going to support whatever feelings his younger sibling held for that woman.

She gave him an awful feeling whenever they met eyes, her lifeless stare sent chills down his spine every time. She was just creepy.

Breakfast soon ended and everyone left the mess hall to do their respective duties for the day.

Natalie was currently finishing up the headquarters kitchen when she took a look at the clock on the wall.

It was nearly noon, so it was a good thing she had just finished cleaning.

Putting the gloves on her hands away, and drying off the last few plates, she headed out the kitchen doors and to the meeting room Yelena had been in the last few hours.

She stood outside the door during the last few minutes of the meeting, along with a soldier she didn't really recognize.

There must've been another Volunteer in there.

She watched as the doors opened, seeing Commander Hange and Captain Levi walk out first, along with Yelena and Onyankopon.

Hange turned to the two.

"As soon as we have the right amount of materials, we'll start making the railroad, it might come in handy for trade through the Walls. Anyway, we'll leave you two for the rest of the day, have a good one."

They walked away with Levi, probably back the their respective offices to work on stuff Natalie had no idea about.

Turning her head back to the doors, she noticed the tired look on Yelena's face, and smiled.

"Long meeting?"

The blonde came to her side, rubbing the back of her neck and rolling it side to side, probably to pop it.

"You think? As tired as I am from it, the meeting was needed. Now, Paradis has a chance to catch up with the rest of the world technologically."

Yelena turned to the shorter woman.

"Anything interesting happen while I was away?" She asked, walking side by side with her down the hallway.

Natalie shrugged, stuffing her hands into her pockets.

"Not really. I kind of just wanna crash for the rest of the day and ignore this whole birthday thing."

Yelena furrowed her eyebrows.

"Why do you say that?"

Natalie ran a hand through her hair.

"I'm just really exhausted, and it's only been like five hours since I woke up."

Yelena eyed the shorter woman, narrowing her eyes, before placing a hand on her shoulder and stopping her from walking.

Natalie looked up at the blonde with a confused expression.

"What?" She asked, noticing the way Yelena's eyebrows were furrowed.

"Answer me honestly. Are you depressed?"

Natalie's eyes flickered away from Yelena's dark ones, gently pulling herself out of her hold.

"I don't know, maybe. Given the circumstances that are my life, I wouldn't rule out the possibility."

Yelena knew she didn't really have a place to be asking the younger woman such personal questions, but she thought herself close enough to the other to be worried about her.

She hadn't been this close to someone in a long time. Not without malicious intent, that is. She used to think that if she didn't have some poor woman to manipulate easily, than her time spent was worthless and of no use.

Now, however, she found herself genuinely enjoying the company of someone else. She found herself genuinely comforted and intrigued by this woman's presence.

'Damn, I really am going soft.' Yelena thought to herself.

The taller sighed, before gently bumping her side against Natalie's.

"Hey, I get it. I've had my fair share of depression, believe me."

The ravenette gazed up at the taller woman.

"Really?" She questioned.

Yelena nodded.

"It wasn't anything severe, just codependency, and a need to feel worth something, and prove myself to those who I looked up to."

Natalie side eyed Yelena, before leaning closer to her ever so slightly.

"You don't have to put up a front, you can trust me. Or, atleast, I hope you can. I don't know about anyone else, but I trust you."

The blondes dark eyes trailed Natalie up and down, her lips pressing into a thin line.

'It hurts to hear you say that,' Yelena thought grimly. 'Because you have absolutely no reason to trust me.'

Yelena took a deep intake of air, briefly tearing her gaze away from the shorter woman.

"So," she started, changing the subject. "What do you want to do with our remaining time before your birthday bar fight?"

Natalie let out an amused, raspy chuckle.

"Well, I can assure you there will probably be bar fights, most of them by me or Eren, maybe Jean, but I don't think Eren is coming, so that crosses him off."

Yelena's eyebrows furrowed.

"Why isn't he coming? Aren't you two friends?"

The freckled girl nodded. "yeah, we are, but he's been keeping to himself lately, and hasn't interacted with much people since the ceremony a year ago after the retake of Wall Maria. Plus, you aren't allowed to be around him."

Yelena shrugged, stuffing her hands into her pockets.

"No, I get that. Can't fully trust the strange woman who showed up on your island a year ago and said she wanted to protect the Eldian people. Totally understandable."

Natalie lightly smacked her hand against Yelena's forearm.

"Oh, come on, you know that's not what I meant. Back to your question, though. What do you want to do? I'm not very good at deciding stuff for myself."

The blonde tapped her chin in thought.

"I can think of one thing you're sure to love." She said with an ever so slight grin.

Had to split this up into two parts because it was getting a bit too long for my liking.

Also, feel free to leave feedback and tell me what you guys think! You all are kinda quiet when it comes to this story, so I want to hear your thoughts and critiques! However, hate comments, or anything offensive will be deleted, and you will be blocked.

Also also, I'm pretty sure its canon that Yelena is very much codependent on Zeke? Could totally be reading too much into that, though.

Edit: if you want to see some more stuff about Natalie and Yelena, go to my Instagram! Link is in my bio!