Chapter Text
"Um, guys, there is a suspicious male adult emptying items from the shelves into a black bag."
"What aisle, Armin?"
"What aisle?!" Jean echoed disbelievingly, his voice a screech when it came out of Eren's walkie talkie. "You're halfway across the fucking mall, Jaeger. Leave it to someone who's actually in the area."
"Not a chance, Kirschtein," Eren responded, already on his way to the grocery mart. "This is what I live for."
When Eren began his work as a security guard, courtesy of his dad's offer, he thought that all he would do was sit and stand around for hours to keep an eye on the mall. As someone who couldn't stand doing nothing for a long period of time, he thought he would outright despise this job.
But he was so wrong.
Being a security guard was so much more than what Eren expected it to be. He helped missing kids find their parents, protected priced possessions and catched the occasional shoplifter (which was surprisingly often). He kept this mall and everyone inside it secure. This job meant that he was a guardian to the community.
This job gave his life meaning. And he would gladly give his all to it.
"Aisle six."
Eren nodded to himself. "On it."
He didn't slow down when he reached the bottom of the escalator, and instead opted for climbing it two steps at a time while trying his best to avoid bumping into the shoppers.
"Yo, wait a minute," came Connie's voice. "Armin, isn't it a little unprofessional to judge our shopper based on how they act? And look?"
Ymir cackled and Eren winced at the way it crackled in his ears. "Connie, are you seriously trying to have a moral compass right now?"
"Shit, I think Christa's getting to me."
"Your welcome!" Christa chirped.
"Well, Connie, my hunch was correct because as if right now, the suspect is exiting the mart with zero purchase of the items he took." As Armin spoke, Eren could hear the smirk in his voice. "Yet again, I was right."
Connie groaned. "You little smartass."
Eren rolled his eyes with a huff of amusement. Armin shone the brightest when he was on surveillance duty. He had an amazing gut instinct and was able to detect every suspicious activity going on in the mall. Eren had seen him on duty before. Armin had been on his swivel chair with big screen monitors from the surveillance camera surrounding him and calculating eyes scanning over every single one of them.
Eren honestly thought he looked like a genius mastermind. Like every single person on the screen was simply a pawn to him, and he was the one controlling everything that happened to them. It was unsettling, in a way, and a reminder to not get on his bad side. But at times like this, Eren appreciated it.
"Where is he now, Armin?" Eren asked.
"He's still on the same floor. He's close to you. Not hard to spot him. Lanky, black sunglasses, plaid shirt and the most telling: his giant black bag."
"Oh my god! You mean like Santa Claus?! Armin, does he look like Santa Claus?!"
"Sasha!" Everyone yelled at the same time. "Stop screaming in the walkie talkie!"
Eren grabbed his throbbing ear as Sasha chuckled nervously. "Sorry. I was just excited if he might have some candy or cookies-"
"Sasha, you do realise that he's stealing our food, right?" Armin said.
Sasha let out a dramatic gasp. "That damn bastard. Someone catch him!"
"I'm on the way. Just trying to find him," Eren grumbled, pushing his way past the shoppers. His face split into a grin when he spotted the guy Armin described. "I got him!"
"Good, Eren. Now, approach him in a calm manner. Talk to him first before-"
"-trying anything rash. God, Armin. I know! You don't have to tell me this everytime we do this!"
Eren tuned out his friends who thought otherwise, commenting on his explosive temper and recalling previous experiences which may or may not have ended up with Eren having to beg Chief Levi to keep his job after gettibg a fight into Jean and upsettung the shoppers. If anything, Eren would say Jean was the catalyst to his anger.
He focused his attention back on the thief, walking in steady but hurried steps towards him. His fists were clenched at his sides to stop himself from outright running and pouncing on the guy.
When Eren was just a few metres away from him, the thief stilled. Eren couldn't gauge his reaction because of the way most of his face was covered up by a mask but he seemed nervous, judging by the way he was adjusting his gigantic black bag over his shoulder a few times.
It looked like this was going to be an easy capture. Eren was a little disappointed at that, but he supposed he found contentment in the fact that he wouldn't be a further disturbance to the other shoppers.
"Hello, may I speak to you for a moment? Regarding the items in your bag." Eren tried to sound as polite as possible, a winning smile on his face and everything.
But then, completely out of nowhere, the thief shoved him onto his ass and bolted from the scene.
"Fuck!" Eren got back up, immediately starting to chase for him. "We've got a runner!"
"A fast one, at that," Armin said on the other end of the line. "He's already on the second floor."
"What?"
Eren reached the escalator and slid down the rail to avoid the people. From here, he could see the thief again; he was heading towards the food court.
"Sasha, he's heading your way," Eren said as he jumped down the rail and picked up his pace. "Slow him down for me."
"Anything to catch this food thief!"
Eren, still running, watched as Sasha grabbed mayonnaise from a food stand and poured it all over the floor. The thief tried to slow down at the last minute but it was too late and he ended up sliding comically across the floor, arms flying out to try and balance himself before tragically slipping and falling splat on his face.
Eren laughed breathlessly. "Thanks, Sasha!"
She twirled the mayonnaise bottle in her hand with a smirk. "What can I say, food can become a great weapon when the situation requires it."
Eren smiled. He couldn't take her seriously with the hotdog crumbs on her face.
"Stop," Armin said abruptly.
The seriousness in his voice caused Eren to falter in his steps. "Armin, what is it?"
"Something's not right." There was the sound of chair wheels skidding across the floor from Armin's line. "On the other side of the mall, there's... There's someone who looks the exact same as the guy you're catching!"
"Huh? What do you mea-"
"Ahhh!"
Eren's head shot up at Sasha's scream, only to be met with the sight of a banana right in his face. His eyes darted to the left to see the thief pointing a banana at Sasha too.
"What the..." he trailed off, confused at how he was being threatened with a... banana.
"Nobody move or- or- I will use this!" The thief held his stance, gripping the banana tighter.
"Please, no!" Sasha cried.
"Sasha, he's holding a banana," Eren deadpanned.
"Your point is?!"
He sighed.
"Would you two stop playing with Banana Guy? He's just a decoy. His accomplice, the thief who actually has the bag of stolen items, is almost out the mall!"
Eren took a brief look at the empty black bag Banana Guy was holding and cursed himself for not noticing it. That explained how the guy managed to get to a different place so fast; there were two of them. He didn't have time to wallow in his self-pity because in a heartbeat, Banana Guy dropped a bath bomb onto the floor. It exploded into purple dust, clouding Eren's vision. He and Sasha coughed as they tried waving the fog away.
It cleared by a little bit, just enough for Eren to watch the thief run far, far away.
"Damn it," he muttered. Then into his walkie talkie, he said, "Someone check in on Sasha. I'm going to catch this guy."
"I'm close to Sasha. I'll check on her," Christa said.
Eren nodded to himself, back on his trail to catch the thief. Instead of bolting to the ground floor, he stayed on the second and looked over the railing to try and get the upper hand in the situation by observing the scene below him. He scanned the crowd intensely, until he locked eyes on Banana Guy who was approaching the kid's playground.
Eren gritted his teeth. No matter what, he couldn't let this guy harm them.
"Bertholdt, you're next to the playground, right? Stop his accomplice."
"W-What?" His voice came out meek. "How?"
"I don't know, but you need to find a way! You can't let this man hurt anyone. This is our job, remember? To protect the people in this mall."
Eren started to head to the escalator with his eyes still trained on the scene unfolding downstairs. Banana Guy was running straight in Bertholdt's direction. Even from up here, Eren could see him sweating bullets. He prayed Bertholdt could do it.
By all the miracles in the world, he did it. He stuck one of that long legs of his and tripped the thief. He crashed down to the ground hard, struggling to get up. Reiner, who wasn't too far away, got to the scene in seconds and assisted Bertholdt with securing the capture of the accomplice.
One down. One more to go.
"Armin, where's the other guy?"
"Hold on... Eren, behind you!"
Eren quickly dodged to the right, avoiding being caught in a chokehold by Banana Guy's accomplice. He seethed, furious with himself. Things were getting more out of hand. There was a crowd forming, full of onlooking shoppers. Some were confused, some nervous. Eren couldn't let that be. It was his duty to make them feel secure.
He threw an arm back, ready to sock this guy in the face when, in the blink of an eye, he reached into his bag and pulled out a gun.
Wait, no.
A nerf gun?
What it was didn't matter because it didn't change the fact that the thief was holding a gun and pointing it straight at Eren.
Eren held his hands up to come off as less intimidating. "Sir, put the gun down," he said slowly.
"If you want me to put the fucking gun down, you better let me get the fuck out of here with this stuff."
Eren's blood boiled in an instant. "Not a fucking chance!"
He had enough of playing nice. It was time to finish this guy once and for all. He swung his fist at him at the same time the guy reached out and pulled the trigger. There was the instant sound of glass shattering, followed by the screams of the shoppers.
Eren looked at the panic forming around him, then at the man in front of him. He clenched his fists. The situation was getting more and more helpless.
"Requesting for backup," he said softly into his walkie talkie. "I repeat, requesting for backup."
"Occupied," came everyone's response.
He blinked. "What?" He knew most of them were busy but there were at least half who were free. "Connie?"
"I'm lost in the parking lot."
"What- How- Nevermind. Marco?"
"Huh? Oh, sorry. I'm a little busy with sorting out an argument between some customers."
Eren sighed. "Annie?"
No response.
"Annie? Are you there?"
Ymir chimed in. "If I know anything about that girl, she's most probably asleep in some alley."
"Gah! ...Jean?"
"Giving someone directions."
"Great. Now get your ass over here!"
"Don't tell me what to do, dick. I am assisting a fellow shopper to find the items they are looking for to buy. To spend their money on," Jean stressed his words, as if he were speaking to a child. "Do you understand that, Eren? I am helping us earn more money."
"God, I wish this thing could mute you everytime you speak for more than two seconds."
"Fuck you."
Eren wanted to fire back but Jean's words hit hard. He was, indeed, fucked.
He tried racking his brain for some kind of strategy that would ensure the safety of everyone but nothing was coming up. He was no genius. He wasn't strong either. All he had was his will. And in this life, he was hit over and over again with the fact that will alone could only get you so far.
But even with that knowledge, he never once stopped fighting for something he believed in. And it sure as hell wouldn't stop him now.
He was ready to pounce when there was a sudden change in course.
A woman around his height came into his view. She wore their white security guard uniform but Eren had never seen her around the mall in the years he had worked here. No matter who she was, Eren was glad she was here. She looked like she was trying to help him. But if she was new, he was worried this type of exposure so early in the job could be potentially dangerous to her.
Then, she moved and proved him otherwise.
Her movements were swift and surprisingly strong. Eren was captivated with the way her dark hair flowed with her body, watching as she punched the nerf gun out of the thief's hand. For a moment, Eren was trapped in a trance by this woman.
Until it shattered when she grabbed hold of the thief and pushed him off the railing and down to the ground floor.
Eren's eyes went wide. He rushed to the railing to see if everyone was alright, feeling a sense of relief when he found the thief on some kind of bouncy castle that most likely broke his fall.
Still, that didn't make up for the reckless behaviour of the woman.
He shot his head to her. "Why did you do that?"
Her voice was cold and monotonous. "I was eliminating the threat."
Eren sputtered. Eliminating the threat? Who did she think she was, the Terminator? He waved his arms out frantically. "You can't just do that! He could've died!"
She shrugged. "He should be prepared to face the consequences if he wants to commit a crime."
Eren couldn't believe what he was hearing. "He doesn't deserve to die over some stolen apples and cakes that's worth a few dollars. And not only that, you could've hurt one of the shoppers around. Our top priority is their safety."
"My top priority is to get rid of those who do wrong in the most efficient and quickest way."
Eren was simmering with heat. The audacity. His mouth was itching to blow up at her. Scream something, pick a fight.
But then she opened her mouth one last time, and with the same apathy in her voice, said, "Besides, I knew what I was doing."
She walked away, leaving him there to sputter to himself in anger.
It was at this moment. Yes, this exact tragic moment that Eren knew, whoever this person was, he already hated her.
Notes:
Thanks for reading! Next chapter coming soon.
Chapter 2: Cleared Up
Chapter Text
"Quiet down, you fucking brats!"
The room fell silent.
Chief Levi let out a sigh so big his body seemed to deflate with it, hunching in on himself and resting his torso back on the desk behind him.
He pinched the bridge of his nose while somehow making intense eye contact with every single person in the room. He rolled his eyes when everyone looked away, scratching their cheeks awkwardly as if they hadn't done anything wrong.
"Is it so hard for the eleven of you to shut your annyoing-ass mouths for once?"
Eren sank further down into his seat in fear.
In all honesty, Chief Levi couldn't blame them for being a little loud. A lot had happen in the past few hours. They had to face off two shoplifters who were both working together and almost handed their asses to them. Not only that, but one of the two got thrown off from the first floor down to the ground floor by some woman who swooped in at the last second like Batman, paired with the whole brooding, detached mantra and everything!
So, yeah, a lot had happened. It hadn't been this crazy since the time a shopper made Annie laugh and everyone went into a frenzy, thinking the world was going to end. Eren honestly never would have thought an event as insane as that would ever happen again.
And here they were. In a sudden meeting called up by Chief Levi to hopefully explain what the hell was going on.
"Alright, so, I'll just get straight into this because I have a million more important things to be doing than this," he started like how he did with their usual meetings. "Our mall is included in a programme called 'Security Assist of Improvement'. Now what this means is that the selected facilities consisting of security guards will be assisted by one officer from the Police Special Forces. Our officer will be Mikasa Ackerman."
He gestured to the woman on his right and Eren's eyes narrowed.
Mikasa Ackerman, huh?
For some reason her name sparked something in him. He clutched his chest, fist bunching up the fabric of his uniform. It was unrecognisable but it felt like a burning passion. Like how he felt with Jean, but somewhat different.
Eren shuddered.
Anyone who had anything similar to Jean was most probably someone he wouldn't like.
"And finally, over there," Chief Levi nodded his head to the tall, blond man next to Mikasa, "we have Erwin Smith." His voice was soaked with distaste when he uttered the man's name.
"He is-... He is... uh," Chief Levi fixed a bored gaze on Erwin. "What do you do again?"
Eren was surprised when Erwin simply smiled and said softly, "I'm the Head Chief of the Special Forces and am here to observe our top officer, Mikasa Ackerman."
"Great," Chief Levi said flatly. "So that means you might see him around some time." He mumbled under his breath, "Unfortunately."
He clapped his hands once in absoluteness. "Okay, anybody have any questions? No? Then we're done here. Everyone can fuck off."
Mikasa and Chief Erwin exited the room with a polite 'thank you' to Chief Levi. He waved them off and sat back at his desk grumpily to arrange some papers.
"Sheesh," Connie whispered to them. "Someone better help the chief get that gigantic stick out his ass."
Marco tilted his head at him. "I feel like I never understand whatever the heck you're saying half the time you talk, Connie."
"Ugh, Marco. You don't need to understand because everyone else already does."
Marco pouted.
Jean gave a firm pat to Marco's back. "It's alright, bud. Don't mind the bald meanie."
"Oi-"
"Basically, what he was trying to say is that the chief looks more uptight than usual."
"Ohh. He does, though."
"Right?" Sasha jumped in. "What's up with that?"
Eren shot up from his chair as he yelled, "Because this is outrageous, that's why!"
As Eren listened to the impact of his chair hitting the ground, he stilled. Chief Levi looked up from his papers for one brief moment before facing back down again.
Eren sighed in relief.
"Dude, did you just see that? Chief Levi could've killed you and he didn't! Do you know how lucky you are?" Connie said, exasperated.
Ymir shook her head. "Damn, what is wrong with you, angry boy?"
Eren gritted his teeth and tried to not raise his voice as he explained, "Listen, we cannot let this happen. That Mikasa girl is bad news."
"How the hell would you know?" Jean asked.
"And besides," Armin added, "It's not like we can do anything about it."
"Unless- Unless I talk to Chief Levi."
Sasha let out a dramatic gasp. She pointed straight at the chief with zero shame. "You want to speak to Chief Levi when he's like this?! Are you suicidal?!"
"Sasha!" Jean whispered harshly. "Inside voice. Use your inside voice!"
But the damage had already been done.
Chief Levi slammed his hands on his desk and stood up, beginning to approach them with fury in his eyes. "What the hell is going on over there? Didn't I tell you brats to scram?"
"Welp." Ymir stood up. "That's our cue to leave."
Everyone simultaneously agreed and left him there in the blink of an eye, even Armin who shot him a supporting smile and said, "Good luck, Eren!"
Eren gulped in the silence left behind by his friends. It was only him and the chief now. Come on, he could do this.
Chief Levi uncrossed his arms and sighed. "Listen, Eren. You look like you've seen Bloody Fucking Mary herself. Just spit out whatever it is you want to say and get this over with. I won't bite."
Eren took in a deep breath and spilled everything out. "Chief, this is a bad idea. We don't need the Special Forces' help at doing our jobs."
"Honestly, Eren, I wanted to say the same thing." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I was pissed about this programme when it was first introduced. It was condescending and untrusting of our ability to secure this mall by ourselves."
"Then why are we doing this?"
"Because apparently, the disturbances happening here is too frequent."
Eren frowned. "That's not our fault! Can we at least change officers? Please, Chief. Mikasa Ackerman is completely reckless and she's just going to get everyone hurt!"
The chief blinked at him.
"Well, we are in no power to do that, so I guess our discussion here is done. Goodbye and have a shitty day."
Eren held back his groan. "Thanks, Chief Levi."
He was almost out the door when the chief called.
"Hey, Eren." His voice had sounded soft for a moment before returning to its firm seriousness. "Be nice. Don't pick any unnecessary fights. On second thought, don't pick any fights. You have a problem, you report to me. Understand?"
Eren saluted, saying rather reluctantly, "Understood, Chief."
***
It was break time now.
Eren and his friends were all huddled around a table full of food in a burger shop. They did this everytime for their break. Pick a random restaurant to go to and eat there. This was one of the perks of working in a giant shopping complex: there was good food everywhere.
He tried enjoying it but his mind was still stuck on his and the chief's conversation about... Mikasa.
He shook his head. He needed a distraction.
"Guys, the shoplifting incident earlier, we need to talk about it."
Jean arched a brow. "Talk about what, exactly?"
"The incoordination, obviously, Jean! Our lack of strategy!" Eren took a bite of his burger, his mouth still full as he spoke. "It was a disaster. There were so many things that went wrong. First of all, Annie, you gotta stop sleeping on the job. You can get in serious trouble for that, you know?"
She shrugged. "I can wake up when there's trouble."
"Then what was that just now on the battlefield?!"
"I heard that you were threatened with a banana and a nerf gun. I'm pretty sure that's not what normal people would classify as 'trouble'."
"That's not the point! I need you guys to have my back no matter what. What if that was a real gun?"
Jean rolled his eyes. "It wasn't. It was a fucking nerf gun for fuck's sake. Stop being a drama queen. And please close your goddamn mouth. It's disgusting."
Eren was just about to stand up and destroy him when Reiner placed a hand on his shoulder.
He smiled at Eren's questioning gaze. "Eren's right. We need to have each others' back. When our job is to secure everyone but ourselves, the only people that can secure us is our friends."
Eren smiled back at him softly.
"That's... That's so corny," Ymir said with a soft scoff.
Sasha sniffed. "It- It makes me want to share my food."
Connie wiped his eyes. "Can someone please hold my hand? I think I'm going to cry."
"What a bunch of dunderheads." Annie bit down on her fries.
Armin snickered, then Ymir, followed by everyone at the table. In that moment, Eren felt at ease. He always found himself relaxing during their breaks. It allowed all of them to be in each others' presence and laugh over some delicious food.
Minutes passed and they were almost done with their food. Christa used this as an opportunity to speak.
"Hey. You guys think we should invite the new girl next time?"
Eren was confused for a second. Then he audibly groaned.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Jean scrunched his brows at him.
Eren groaned harder.
"Eren, what's up?" Armin asked.
"Armin," he whined. "I can't stand Mikasa."
"Why?"
Eren grabbed fistfuls of his hair as he tried to organise his thoughts. "She doesn't care about this job. I mean, the true meaning of this job, which is to ensure everyone's safety. All she cares about is, quote unquote, 'eliminating the threat'. Like, can you believe that?"
Ymir snorted.
"What?"
"Look, Eren," Armin said, instead. "You can't just judge her on one encounter. And, even if her morals contradicts with yours, it doesn't make her a bad person. Try giving her a chance. Get to know her better. Who knows, maybe that whole thing was just a misunderstanding."
"Hmm..." Eren rested his cheek on his hand, letting Armin's words sink in.
It made sense. Armin always made sense. And now he made Eren look like a dumbass. Everything happened so fast and maybe she had panicked. Or maybe Eren was overreacting and painted her to be more ruthless than she actually was.
He sighed. He guessed first impressions weren't everything.
"Okay, okay. What can I do, then? To get to know her better?"
"Take her out for lunch?" Marco suggested.
Jean whacked Marco's head, causing him to choke on his soda. "That's a date, idiot!"
"Ow... But it's nice."
Eren shook his head furiously. "No no no. I'm not close enough to do any going out with her. I need something simple and convenient."
Christa gasped, hitting her fist down onto her other palm. "How about you show her around the mall to get her familiar with it? Sasha and I were going to do it but you can use this as an opportunity."
Eren snapped his fingers at her. "Right! That's not too bad of an idea."
Ymir rolled her eyes. "That's your only idea."
"Mhm," Armin agreed. "You gotta do it."
Eren considered it. He was still considering it as he and his friends cleared their table, emptying their trash into the bin.
It was only when they stepped out of the restaurant that Eren declared, "Alright, I'll do it."
***
First, he had to get permission from Chief Levi since Christa hadn't. The chief was probably going to show her around before this but Eren volunteered to do it instead. He was genuinely surprised at Eren's change of heart from just a few hours ago, distrustful even. But Eren convinced him that all he wanted was to get to know her better.
With a small glint of suspicion in his eyes, he said, "Fine. I didn't want to do it, anyway."
Eren beamed.
Now all he had to do was find Mikasa, wherever she was...
Actually, where was she?
He hadn't seen her since the meeting. Eren searched around for a bit before resorting to help. He clicked his walkie talkie. It would be easier to find her with ten pairs of eyes spread out across the shopping complex.
"Have you guys seen Mikasa?"
"Oh!" Christa's voice came up. "She's with us! Out in the garden."
***
"What the hell are you guys doing?"
Eren crossed his arms at the sight in front of him.
All the girls were out in the garden next to the mall and blatantly lazing around. Annie was sleeping on the grass field, Ymir was resting her head atop the nest of flowers on Christa's lap, Sasha was picking berries from a bush, and the very person he was looking for sat at the centre of this all.
"Why are all of you here instead of in the mall?"
"We were waiting for you," Christa said. "We want to get close to Mikasa too, you know. So we're just spending some quality time with her before you steal her away."
"What- Okay, uh, okay? I guess I'll be going with Mikasa now." He turned to her. "To show you around the place, if you don't mind."
She shook her head, bangs falling into her eyes.
"Great. Let's go."
Mikasa said her goodbye to the girls, who all got back to work.
She came up to Eren and walked next to him. She took long and confident strides, making it seem like she was the one guiding Eren instead of the other way around.
He straightened himself, clearing his throat.
He then showed her around the mall as promised. They went to the make-up store, food court, clothing's shop. Everywhere. Eren was thorough with his guide and showed Mikasa the ins and outs of the area. Even some of the secret places that could come in handy sometimes (though upon unfortunate encounters, Eren had found out that it had now been used as a place for make out sessions).
Halfway through the tour Eren decided to be sociable.
"So," he started. "Have you done any security guard work in the past?"
"No."
"Are you liking it so far?"
"Somewhat."
Eren waited for her to elaborate but when a full three minutes passed, he realised that small talk wasn't this girl's thing.
Honestly, Eren didn't care. He wasn't good at socialising either. But he was trying to get to know her. He should at least be able to hold a short conversation with her.
"You've met some of us right? The girls? What do you think of them?"
Mikasa seemed to consider this for a second, before responding, "They're nice."
"Yeah, they're pretty cool." Eren smiled to himself as he described them to Mikasa. "Christa is an angel, but she can get real fussy when someone's full of shit. Ymir has the biggest crush on her but is a walking devil. Even so, they complement each other well. Sasha would die for food. And, no, I am not kidding. Being her friend or her enemy depends on where you stand with her food. She can be sweet, though. And Annie..."
He scratched his cheek. "Well, she isn't the most approachable but she's alright. She might put on an unbothered front but she's always lent a helping hand." He reconsidered. "Mostly."
Mikasa was silent, but she nodded slowly. It was something, at least.
"Enough about the girls, I bet you wanna hear about the guys too." He smirked. "Unless you aren't into them or whatever."
She shook her head.
"Alright, let's see... We have Reiner the macho guy and big bro to all. Bertholdt, the tall quiet one. Connie's the bald one and a giant idiot. There's Marco, the freckled one, who's real sweet. He's almost like Christa but softer. Then there's Armin the genius. He's short and tiny but you better watch out for him because that little shit can be scary."
"What about the lanky one?"
"Huh?"
"The one with the horse face?"
"Oh. Yeah. There's Jean, I guess." He shrugged. "Nothing much to say about him except he's a dick."
Mikasa was silent as she took the information in. "Seems like a chaotic group," she finally said.
"Unfortunately. But you get used to it after working together for four years."
"I don't plan on staying too long."
"Well, no matter how long you do," he stuck out a hand, "let's try to get along."
She grabbed his hand and gave one firm shake. "Okay."
"Come on, let me treat you to some ice cream."
Sasha had always said the way to a girl's heart was food. He was hoping that it actually applied to all girls and not just her.
They went to the ice cream stall on the first floor. Eren ordered two cones of ice cream for the both of them. Chocolate for himself and strawberry for Mikasa.
She took it with an unreadable expression.
"Not a fan of strawberry?" Eren asked hesitantly. He probably should have asked her what flavour she wanted instead of winging it.
"No... No. It's my favourite, actually."
He sighed in relief. "Good. You seem like a strawberry person."
Now that he thought about it, Mikasa did seem like a strawberry person. She even kind of smelled like strawberries. It was a pleasant surprise to him. He prided himself in the fact that he now knew something about her.
"Thanks," she said.
Eren threw her a wink. "Just don't tell Sasha. Or anyone, for that matter."
The corners of her lips twitched up. "I'm good with secrets."
Eren grinned.
He had a feeling this was a turning point. A start of something.
He couldn't tell what yet, but he knew it was going to have something to do with Mikasa.
Chapter Text
Nope, nope, nope.
Eren took back every good thing he said about Mikasa.
All that 'maybe I was wrong about her' and 'hey, she isn't so bad'. Yeah, that?
Fuck that.
Eren absolutely cannot stand her. She had zero regards to the shoppers, zero regards to the rules and zero fucking regards to the order of things.
And yet, she did everything a million times better than him.
She was highly skilled, there was no doubt about that. But Eren felt like this made her cocky. Like it made her better than them just because she was the 'top officer in the Special Forces' or whatever.
And, so, maybe she was. But that didn't mean she had to rub it in their faces all the time. A good example would be another shoplifter case that happened that week.
"A male teen has exited the bookshop with unpaid books in his bag," Armin's voice came out of his walkie talkie.
"Where is he now, Armin?" Eren asked, adrenaline beginning to course through his veins.
"First floor, heading near the pretzel place."
"On it," both Eren and Mikasa said together.
Eren backtracked.
Wait, wait, what?
"Hey, Mikasa," he said into his walkie talkie. "I can handle this."
No response.
"Mikasa?"
Eren cursed inwardly. He had a bad feeling about this.
"Armin, where's Mikasa?"
"Heading down... Oh, wow, she's on the second floor now."
"Damn it!"
Eren quickly took off. With how the week had been going, he was worried they were going to have a repeat of last time.
Thankfully he had the upper hand, already being on the first floo-
"Shit!"
He blinked, having bumped into someone. He was just about to apologise when he saw who he bumped into.
"What the-"
"Move," Mikasa said, even though she stepped to the side anyway and proceeded to walk away.
Eren grabbed her by the shoulder, causing her to turn around. She stared at him with such emptiness in her eyes he almost wanted to piss himself. He let go but stood his ground.
"What do you think you're doing?" he asked.
"My job."
Eren sucked in a deep breath.
Calm down, Eren. Remember what Reiner said: Don't give a flying fuck no matter how stressful the situation. That makes you the better man.
With levelled breathing, he uttered out, "I said I can handle it."
She shrugged. "I didn't hear you."
Eren's eye twitched. "What do you mean you didn't-" He gasped when realisation dawned on him, pointing an accusing finger at her. "You turned off your walkie talkie, didn't you?! How dare you?"
"I block out unnecessary distractions to perform at my best."
Eren sputtered. He flailed his hands around in the air as he tried to explain to Mikasa why that was the stupidest thing he had ever heard in his life.
"Walkie talkies are to be turned on at all times! We are a team of security guards. You can't just go solo just because you're some fancy officer. If you want to work here, you need to learn to-"
"Where is everyone?!" Armin's voice cut in. "The guy's escaping! Ground floor, now!"
Eren winced at the sound blaring from his walkie talkie. Armin sounded pissed. He grabbed his ear as he looked over the railing. There was a teen with a backpack scurrying to the exit, halfway there.
Eren clenched his fists. How did he let this happen? How?
Black hair flew past his peripheral view and the whole world seemed to slow.
Eren had no time to react as Mikasa jumped over the rail and down to the ground floor. She rolled to break her fall too, but to Eren it looked like she was just showing off.
He was stunned, jaw wide open and eyes fixated on her. He had forgotten all about the shoplifter and the stolen books or whatever. It was then that the realisation hit him. He had been so worked up over Mikasa that he forgotten what was most important to him. His duties. The people.
Eren felt nauseous at this thought.
He didn't move. Instead, he watched as Mikasa brought the shoplifter to the ground, pinning his arms around him in a way that looked painful. He wanted to yell at her.
You're supposed to talk to him first before pulling out a stunt like that!
But he couldn't.
He could just stare with a giant lump in his throat.
***
Eren let out a big yawn as he rubbed at his eyes.
No matter how many times he woke up so early in the morning, his body could never get used to this. Plus, he wasn't just drained physically. He was drained in all other ways because of-
He breathed in deeply.
No, he will not think about her.
He did that a lot, he realised when he had been lying in bed thinking about her. Fuck. He was thinking about her right now.
He channeled all his energy into not going into a panic. "Okay, Eren. Calm down. She's a jerk, but you need to calm down."
All this tense air was affecting his performance. It was affecting the work harmony too. Armin had told him they could handle his and Jean's blowups (it was entertaining, they said) but this thing he had against Mikasa was a bit much.
Thank god it was Friday today. He didn't have any shifts this weekend so he wouldn't see her for another two days. Eren honestly didn't know how he would act if he had to see her again.
He swiped his card into the register, getting ready to carry out his last shift for the week and get the day over with when Marco called for him.
"Eren, hey!" He smiled. "G' morning."
"Morning." Eren rubbed his eyes for the umpteenth time. "Ah, Marco. How are you so damn cheery this early?"
"No clue, honestly. I feel like dropping dead right now."
Eren huffed out an amused breath. "Good to know you're actually a human and not some mystical angel."
Marco chuckled. "I never said I was."
"Yeah, it's just what everyone in the mall says. I was starting to believe it for a sec." He stuck his hands into his pockets. "Well, I should get going now. I have a shift at the mall jail." He couldn't help but roll his eyes. The mall jail was just a room in the dark corners of the mall used to detain 'serious' criminals, which had never happened. He found it to be the most useless and stupidest thing ever. "See you during break time."
"Wait- uhm. About that." Marco grinned, rubbing the back of his neck. "Can we eat together during our break? Alone."
Eren's eyes widened, momentarily caught off guard. He didn't usually hang out with Marco often (since Jean always stole him away) but whenever he did, he always enjoyed it. He grinned when his shock wore off. "Of course, Marco! Don't need to be so shy about it."
"Ah, well, I want to talk to you too."
There was a flicker of hurt in Marco's voice and it made Eren frown. He elbowed his side. "Are you sure your boyfriend won't mind?"
Marco huffed, his cheeks turning red. "Jean won't even notice me gone."
"Mhm, mhm." Eren rubbed his chin as a show of innocence. "The fact that you thought of Jean when I said boyfriend... Have you been fantasising a lot lately, Marco?"
"Ha-Ha, nice try, Eren. The amount of times I thought about Jean this week is lesser than the amount of times you think about Mikasa in a whole day."
Eren gagged. He waved his hand at him in a shooing gesture. "Don't you have work to do? Get the hell out of my sight."
Marco laughed as Eren started to shove him away. "See you later!"
Eren shook his head at Marco's retreating back.
Their interaction lingered in his mind for the whole day. Marco had said that he wanted to tell him something... Eren was curious on what it was. It was the only thing he could think about.
And for that, he was glad.
Hours passed by and it was finally time for his break.
Before heading for Marco, he bought some pretzels for the both of them. He was about to head to the entrance, where Marco's shift was, when he saw him on the escalator with his head turning around in search for something, probably looking for him.
Eren waved at Marco until he caught sight of him and began to walk towards him.
"Eren!"
"Marco." He waved the pretzels at him.
Marco smiled at them. "Neat. Did you get the caramel too?"
Eren rolled his eyes. "The caramel comes with the pretzel, Marco."
"I know, I know. Just in case." Marco nodded his head to follow him. "Come on, let's go."
He led Eren down to the parking lot. They sat on the bench just outside the entrance of the elevator.
Eren chomped down on his pretzel. "So, what's up?"
"Ah, so, it's a little embarrassing."
Eren swallowed. "I'm sure it's fine. I won't judge."
Marco nodded silently. He dipped his pretzel into the caramel sauce, taking a small bite of it. It was only when he swallowed that he started to speak.
"I don't... I don't really enjoy Mikasa being here too."
Eren blinked.
Then he let out a big grin and let out a loud laugh that echoed in the parking lot. "Finally! Someone with some fucking sense around here!"
Marco frowned and shook his head in amusement. "Eren, you shouldn't be happy about it."
Eren took another bite, saying with a mouthful, "Well I'm fucking jumping with joy."
Marco sighed. He scratched his cheek. "It's not like I hate her or anything. I'm just... jealous."
Eren choked on his pretzel. He fisted at his chest as he coughed harshly.
"Eren, are you-"
"What?! How are you jealous? You are such an amazing person. You're sweet and funny and smart!"
Marco shushed him, a growing blush on the tips of his ears. "Eren, stop. Anyway, I'm jealous because Jean... probably has a crush on her."
Eren raised a brow. "And?"
"I like him..." Marco pouted. "And so it hurts to hear how she's so pretty or how her dark hair is so beautiful."
"But you have dark hair."
Marco pouted harder. "Right?"
"See, Marco. This is why that horse-face is no good for you." Eren placed a hand on his shoulder. "Your way out of his league. If he wants to go with Mikasa, I say that's what he deserves."
Marco let out a small laugh. "Even if he ends up with Mikasa, I won't stop liking him."
Eren scrunched his face up. "To this day I still wonder, out of all people, why Jean?"
"Well... he's nice, caring and a lot selfless than anyone gives him credit for." Marco smiled at him. "One day you'll see it, I promise."
Eren stared at him wordlessly, before turning his head away to a piece of trash on the floor. "Hmph. That day isn't going to come any time soon."
Marco laughed. He bit on his pretzel. "What about you? You love anyone?"
"My mum."
"Seriously?"
"Yup. I take full pride in it."
"Wow. Eren Jaeger really is a softie at heart, hm?" Marco shook his head. "But you know what I was talking about."
"Hmm, well, not really."
"You mean you've never loved anyone romantically before?"
"Yeah." He shrugged. "I don't care. And frankly, I've never understood the concept of having a partner. I mean, I love you, Marco. I love Connie, Sasha, all of you guys. My family and friends all have a special place in my heart. I don't feel the need to make room for something I don't understand."
Marco hummed, resting his hands behind him on the bench. "You're a very passionate person, Eren. I like that about you. Every emotion; sadness, anger, love. You experience it so intensely. Fiercely. But it might be possible that the intensity of your feelings blur them together. You might've loved someone romantically before but you weren't sure because of how intense it feels like any other emotion like, say, hate."
Eren listened carefully, nodding to his words. "It might be that."
"But, of course, there's obviously a chance that you've never loved anyone romantically." Marco shot him a grin. "Nothing wrong with that."
Eren hummed. "I'm curious though. How does it feel? How did you know you love Jean as, uh, something more and not just a friend?"
Marco rubbed his chin, brows furrowing in thought. "I've never actually thought about that before. I guess, in a way, it's different for everyone. For me... it's the way my heart reacts."
He placed a gentle hand over his heart. "It feels so full whenever I'm with him. Yet, it always aches for more, to be closer to him and touch him. I've always wanted to be by Jean's side, no matter the circumstance. And the way my heart just flutters whenever I see him or even think about him... It makes me feel so warm and happy."
Eren looked Marco over with an almost awe-inspiring look. The way he explained how he felt to Eren made him feel warm and happy. But he was a bit conflicted, as with all the times Marco talked about his love for Jean. He just couldn't see what this freckled man saw in him.
"Plus, he's hot."
Eren choked.
Marco laughed.
"I seriously think you gotta get your eyes checked, bud."
"Come on, Eren. Now you're just lying to yourself."
Eren shook his head furiously. "Horses aren't my type."
"Then what is your type? You don't seem very interested in any of the girls."
He stretched his arms over his head, a small yawn leaving him. "Like I said, I don't care. All this stuff isn't my thing."
"Hmm, true. But there is one girl you're worked up over."
Eren raised a brow. "And who is that?"
"Mikasa," he singsonged.
Eren let out a groan. "Okay, we're done here. Break's over. See you never, asshole."
Marco laughed as Eren pushed him off the bench and away from him. "It's true, though!"
"Yeah, yeah."
"Alright, I'm going. First, let me at least pick up my garbage. You know how much Chief Levi hates littering."
A chill ran up Eren's spine, causing him to pause. "Right. I should do the same."
They picked up the wrappers and containers off the floor, putting them in a plastic bag to throw later. Marco said his goodbye, ready to leave.
Before he did, he said, "Oh. And Eren?" He smiled. "You should cheer up about Mikasa. We have game night this Sunday, remember?"
Of course he did. Eren and his friends would hold game nights at each others' houses two times a month, on a Sunday. It was a fun little thing they liked to do together. A way to relax and hang. Though it did get out of hand sometimes-
Okay, most times.
Eren grinned widely. "I'll be there."
Then, softly, he said something he thought would pain him but weirdly, it didn't.
"Marco. No matter what happens... I know Jean has and will always love you. Maybe not romantically, but I sure as hell know it runs deep."
"Thanks... But I doubt he cares that much."
Just then, their walkie talkies buzzed.
"Oi, Marco! Why the fuck are you hanging out with Jaeger! And don't bother lying to me because I'm in the surveillance room with Armin, completely flabbergasted at the sight before me."
Eren rolled his eyes. He flipped a finger at one of the security cameras over them.
"You were saying, Marco?"
"Uh, I should, uh, go."
Eren shooed him away with a smile. "Shut his stupid mouth for me, will ya?"
He leaned back on his hands and watched Marco leave. He stayed there on the bench, for a moment, wondering to himself if he would ever feel the love Marco felt. He didn't reject it. He wanted to settle down, have a family even.
He just hadn't find anyone he'd want to do that with.
Eren got up and left the parking lot.
He didn't have to rush. He was sure, with time, everything would work out.
As for now, he had a Sunday to look forward to.
***
Eren stepped out of his car, onto Christa's driveway.
Sunday had finally arrived and that meant game night was on.
Eren rolled his head around his shoulder, loosening up his body. He had to admit, he was competitive. He was also so ready to kick Jean's ass.
Eren knocked on the door.
The door opened and he was met with the sight of a smiling Christa.
"Eren, you're finally here!" She moved aside to let him in.
He stepped into the house and headed straight to her kitchen. "Yep. I couldn't decide whether to get Coke or Pepsi."
"Oh, you brought drinks? You didn't have to!"
"Christa, you bring buffet of snacks whenever we're hosting at the others' house." He waved the bottle in his hand. "This measly Pepsi is nothing."
"Hehe... Alright."
Eren placed the bottle of soda on the counter, next to the avalanche of food. "Is everyone here already?"
"Yup. Everyone-..." Christa hesitated but tried to keep up the cheery front. "Everyone's here."
Eren squinted his eyes at her.
A bead of sweat rolled down her forehead. "I'll head to the living room now. See ya!"
Eren squinted harder.
What was that about?
He shrugged, not making anything of it as he followed her trail into the living room. Everyone was already comfortable. Eating, drinking and chatting as they waited for him to start the game.
Eren paused.
He rubbed at his eyes with both fists.
No fucking way.
Mikasa, yes, fucking Mikasa Ackerman was sitting down right in front of him, nodding to the loud words making their way out of Sasha and Connie's mouth.
"Eren, sit down-"
"Oh no. No no no."
He backtracked at a quick pace, a finger in front of him.
"Oh fuck no. I'm not fucking doing this tonight."
Notes:
Writing Eren's hate for Mikasa is literally so painful because I freaking love her!!! She's so sweet and nice!!
But alas, it's gonna be like this for quite some time. :)
Chapter 4: Bring It On
Chapter Text
"What the fuck is she doing here?!"
"Eren, calm down."
"No, Armin! What the fuck is she doing here?!"
Jean rolled his eyes with a drawn out groan. "Would you just sit down already? You're such a drama queen."
Eren thought he couldn't get any angrier until Jean had opened his mouth. That annoying, weird haired horse just had to stick in his unwanted input. Eren clenched his fists.
"At least I have a moral compass and don't fall for girls who push people off cliffs!"
Jean sat up at this, a defensive look on his face. "What the hell are you on about, Jaeger?"
"You know exactly what I'm talking about, lover boy."
Jean stood up with gritted teeth, his arm reared back and ready to hit. "Screw you!"
Eren got into a fighting stance as well, both fists in front of him. "Come at me, Jean-boi!"
"I told you not to call me that!" he yelled as he ran towards him.
Eren screamed too. He was about to land a good hit on Jean's face when a fist made contact with his gut. He instantly hunched over, arm curling around his stomach tightly.
"Owh. What- What the..." He wheezed.
Who hit him? He knew for a fact it wasn't Jean. He couldn't fight for shit, let alone leave him panting for air. But then, who else..?
"Tsk tsk. What an idiot."
Eren's head shot up and he was met with a cunning smirk and eyes that looked down on him literally and figuratively.
"Ymir?"
It was rare for her to get in the middle of any type of fight. In fact, she was the one usually cheering them on, using their conflict as her source of entertainment. But now she stood over him with her arms crossed and a dangerous glint brightening her dark eyes.
Eren swallowed. He had always been intimidated by her because of how unpredictable and surprisingly smart she was.
She bent down and bit the air, nearly chomping on Eren.
He flinched because of how sudden it was, but that was enough to send her into a cackle spree. He furrowed his brows at her, annoyance rising up inside him.
"Look at you! You're so easy to pick on!" She wiped the tears from her eyes. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna finish you off. I'm a bit disappointed I have to cut this fight off, actually, but my girl's got something to say to you two dog shits."
"Huh?"
Christa punched his arm. His eyes widened, not from pain, but from surprise.
She crossed her arms and huffed out a breath.
"I invited Mikasa to my house. And you will not disrespect my guess. Man up and be a gentleman for once!" She grabbed Eren and Jean's collar, dragging them to the couch. "Both of you will sit down, play nice, and not be mean to Mikasa! Understand?"
"Understood," Eren and Jean uttered reluctantly.
But Jean added under his breath, "I wasn't the one treating her like shit."
"Ymir."
"Got it," she said and whacked the back of Jean's head.
"Ow! What the-"
"Any misbehaviour from the two of you and I'll have Ymir deal with it."
Eren turned his head shakily to Ymir who was grinning at him with the teeth of a predator. He gulped. He wasn't willing to find out what 'deal with it' meant so he held his tongue and nodded compliantly.
Jean grumbled out a "Fine."
Christa smiled, the sudden light emitting from her blinding Eren. "Great! Now let's get the games started, shall we?"
Eren sank into the pastel blue couch as some of his friends picked a game to play. Beside him, Connie was sniggering at something on his phone with Sasha. He turned his attention to them.
"What's that?"
Connie made eye contact with Sasha and they both threw their heads back and laughed harder.
Eren glowered. "What?"
"Oh, man. Oh good lord." He tried stifling his chuckles with his hand. "You and Jean just got your asses handed to you by Christa! I recorded the whole thing!"
He shoved his phone into Eren's face and he squinted at the shaky screen that captured the scene that had just unfolded. There were giggles from the back, along with commentary from his friends.
"Look! Christa's heading straight for them with none of them noticing!"
"What do you think she's gonna do?" Sasha asked.
"I dunno but it looks like something's 'bout to go down."
Then, as the screen showed Eren getting punched in the gut by her, the screen shook violently, a volcano of laughter erupting from behind.
Reiner's voice popped up. "Woah, you guys are recording this?"
"Yup."
Eren could hear the grin in Reiner's voice as he said, "Send that shit to me."
The video went on, Marco's voice popping up once to sigh and say, "Gosh, why can't Jean shut his mouth for once?"
Eren's mood lightened as he let out a chuckle of his own at that.
It was at that point when Jean, beside Eren, perked up. "What the hell is that?"
Connie instantly casted his screen downwards. "Nothing."
Sasha whispered, "Don't show it to him. You'll hurt his ego."
Jean caught her words and fumed. He reached out to snatch the phone from Connie. But this meant that he had to lean over Eren to get to him.
"Ew, Jean. Get off me!"
He tried shoving him off but Jean was determined to get Connie's phone. Eren grumbled at the unwanted weight on him. He turned his head to Ymir's direction, wondering why she wasn't doing anything about this. He sighed when he caught sight of her cuddling up behind Christa as they looked for a game. Damn it. She was completely useless like this.
Jean grabbed hold of the phone and finally got off Eren. He sucked in a deep breath. It felt like he could breathe again.
"Geez, Jean, you need to lose some weight."
He didn't respond to him because he was focused on the video, getting to the part where he was whacked by Ymir.
"Delete this shit right now."
"No."
"Delete it!"
"No!"
Jean started grumbling unintelligible words, before he said, "Fine, I'll delete it myself."
"Don't be a dick, Jean!" Connie leaped over Eren.
Like literally, leaped. A big puff off air made its way out of Eren's body when Connie landed on him, limbs all sprawled out over him.
Eren wheezed. "G-Get off-"
"Gimme!"
"Let go, baldy!"
"You let go!"
Connie managed to grab hold of his phone, but Jean, that damn horse-face, just wouldn't let go. They struggled with each other, Eren being stuck in the middle of it. For a moment, he sat there in the middle of their meddling with a blank face, wondering to himself, How did my life come to this? Trapped in the middle of two grown men fighting over a phone like, as Chief Levi would put it, 'annoying brats'.
He was snapped out of his existential crisis when Jean's elbow jabbed his side.
Eren's flame of anger from previously rekindled inside him, flaring wildly. He would not let Jean get away with this.
He shoved him to the side. "Fuck off."
Jean blinked. Then he snarled and pounced on him. "Jaeger!"
And thus a cycle of shoving and pulling was formed. Connie was trying to claw at Jean for his phone, meanwhile Jean was trying to push him and Eren off as Eren retaliated in revenge. Somewhere along the way Connie had called for backup from Sasha, who was probably confused as to who's side she was supposed to be on, which led to an even bigger mess.
They were at the peak of their fight and for some reason Eren was holding onto Connie's phone with Jean.
"Get the phone, Eren!" Connie yelled from where he was flipped upside down on the couch.
Eren growled. "Anything that'll piss Jean off."
He and Jean grumbled as they fought for the phone, shoving their elbows into each other. Suddenly, Eren felt someone grab his ankle. He looked down.
"Sasha?!"
"Hand over the phone, candy cane bitch."
Eren's jaw dropped. "I'm on your side!"
Her brows shot up. "Oh." She let go with a sheepish chuckle. "My bad."
"It's al-"
Jean used Eren's distraction, like the asshole he was, to shove him backwards violently.
"Shit-!"
He stumbled back, loosing his footing and thankfully landing on one of the armchairs. He sighed, but paused midway.
Wasn't there someone on the armchair? Wasn't it-
Eren's whole body tensed. He prayed, prayed for dear life, as he turned his head around in horror, that the person he was sitting on wasn't who he thought it was.
Empty, grey eyes met his own. They stared at him, so close to his gaze that they felt more like a painting than something real. Eren's breath caught when he realised. They were beautiful, captivating, flecks of light shining amongst the dark background. Just like staring into the endless blackness of the night sky with stars splattered across like glitter.
The eyes blinked and Eren was brought back to Earth. To where he was.
On top of Mikasa's lap.
He let out a high pitched shriek and jumped off of her like a cat jumping from a bath full off water. He ran across the room, hiding behind Armin and clinging on to him desperately.
"Armin, please don't tell me that actually happened," he begged, so close to bawling his eyes out. "Armin, please!"
Armin gave an almost pained smile. "Sorry, bud. It happened, and we have documentation of it."
He pulled out his phone and showed Eren a picture of him sitting on Mikasa.
"No!" A wounded scream ripped through his throat.
He dropped to his knees, arms limp at his sides as he stared ahead with soulless eyes.
"Hey, we've got a- What's up with him?" Reiner's face came into view. He waved a hand in front of his face before looking back up. "Guys, I think Eren's broken."
"What's new?" Annie called.
Eren dropped his head into his hands and cried, "Screw you, technology!"
***
A bing sounded from Eren's pocket.
He grumbled, taking his phone out without bothering to check his message. He swiftly created a group chat and added all his friends inside.
STOP fucking forwarding that same damn photo to me!!! he typed.
Sasha: sorry ereh 🥺❤️❤️🍪🍪
Christa: oh sorry! i thought you didn't see 😅😚
Marco: Sorry Eren! 🙈
Connie: sOrRy bOo 🤪
Eren rolled his eyes at the waterfall of sorry's flooding the chat. He deleted the group once they got the message. He had learned from many past experiences that having a group chat with all of them was a major headache. They only have one now, with the chief, for emergencies only.
He pocketed his phone.
"So, what are we playing?" he asked.
"Charades," Armin said.
Eren nodded. "Neat. How're we playing? Friendly? Groups?"
"We're counting points. There'll be three groups with four players each."
"Yay! We have an equal number of players this time!" Sasha wrapped an arm around Mikasa, winking at her. "Thanks to this girl over here."
Eren averted his eyes. He was still trying to ignore Mikasa's presence.
"Oh, and, Christa's picking the group members."
This brought an outcry from everyone.
"Hah?!" Jean shot up. "What is this? Fourth Grade?!"
Connie slammed a fist onto the table. "Outrageous!"
Christa placed her hands out in front of her to placate the situation. "Everyone, I'm not that mean. Trust me. I just wanna... spice things up a little."
Eren's heart dropped. He hoped so badly that Christa didn't put him in a group with Mikasa.
As she announced their groups, he crossed his fingers and squeezed his eyes shut.
"For the first group we have me, Ymir, Bertholdt and Reiner."
A bead of sweat rolled down Eren's forehead.
"Second group is Eren-"
He let out a squeak.
"-Armin, Marco, aaand..."
Please not Mikasa! Please not Mikasa! Please not Mikasa!
"Jean!"
Never in a million years would Eren thought he would sigh in relief at his name. Jean sucked but at least he wasn't Mikasa. Overall, Eren's group was pretty good. He had his best friend and local genius, Armin Arlert, another bright genius, Marco Bodt and then... there's Jean. He was tolerable.
"That means the third group will be Sasha, Connie, Annie and Mikasa!"
Connie threw his head back in laughter. "Holy shit. Do you guys realise?"
"What?" Jean snapped. He seemed to be the one that was most unsatisfied with Christa's decision. Probably because he was stuck with Eren instead of Mikasa.
Connie choked out, "So for the first group we have The Gays, second we have The Half-Gays and third we have The Straights!"
Ymir cackled. "Shit, you're right!"
Reiner joined in on the laughter. "So damn right!"
Jean scrunched his brows in confusion. "Why are we The Half-Gays?"
"Cos only half your members are gay."
Jean looked even more confused. "What? But only Marco's gay. Unless..." He gasped. "Eren's gay?"
Sasha snorted, causing her to choke on her soda. Annie handed her a tissue.
Connie facepalmed. "I swear, sometimes you're a bigger idiot than me- You're the gay one."
Jean's eyes widened. "And when did this happen?"
"Reiner said his gaydar was beeping like crazy at you. Thinks you might be bi."
Jean rolled his eyes. "Oh, really? That's great to hear, you know? Great to know that you're fucking discussing my sexuality behind my back like it's the weather."
Connie gasped. "Reiner, he didn't deny it!"
Reiner gave him a high five. "Told you."
"Hey, hey." Marco stuck his arms out between them. "Let's not be disrespectful to Jean, okay? It's his privacy."
"Aww." Connie punched Jean on the arm lightly. "Sorry, Jeannie."
Reiner ruffled Jean's hair. "Yeah, sorry, Jean. We didn't mean to be rude."
Marco beamed. "Good. Come on, let's start!"
As everyone moved seats to sit with their group, Jean shifted closer to Marco.
His voice was soft with genuine gratitude, words only meant for Marco, but Eren caught it.
"Thank you."
Marco smiled. He smiled all the time but this one was different. Eren had seen it once or twice, and everytime he did, it had been directed to Jean.
Eren cleared his throat, scratching the back of his head.
"What in the world is wrong with you?" Jean asked flatly.
There was that instinct to punch him, but Eren held it back and instead stuck his hand out.
Jean glared at it suspiciously.
"Usually, I'm fighting to beat your ass. But tonight is different. Tonight we're forced to work together if we ever want to win. And I sure as hell want to win. What about you, horse-face?"
Jean pursed his lips. He grabbed Eren's hand and gave a firm shake.
"Call me horse-face one more time and I'll murder you."
Eren grinned. "Let's fucking do this."
Click!
Eren and Jean's heads shot to Connie, who had a phone in his hand, the camera directed straight at them.
"Connie!"
***
"Tennis!"
Jean shook his head.
"Sweeping?"
Jean shook his head harder and started swinging his arms furiously.
"Uh, swinging a metal ball?"
"No, you dumbass!"
The timer dinged, signalling that the time had ran out for Eren's group to guess what Jean was doing, meaning that the guess was now open to the other groups.
"Golf," Mikasa said in an instant.
Jean snapped his fingers at her. "Yes! Finally!"
"Whoop, that means another point for group 3." Christa took the marker and added a tally under Mikasa's group on the scoreboard.
Their group was currently leading with six points. Eren's group had four and Christa's had two.
Jean plopped back down next to them. He turned his head to glare at Eren. "Seriously? Swinging a metal ball? Why? Just, why?"
"It's not my fault you can't act."
"Mikasa guessed it just fine!"
"Don't you dare compare me to her."
Jean rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Just try harder than this low effort you're giving me."
"Same goes to you."
Marco pinched the bridge of his nose. "Is it too hard for the both of you to say anything supportive to each other?"
Eren and Jean tilted his head at him in an owl like manner. "We just did."
"..."
"...?"
Marco pursed his lips.
Armin placed a supporting hand on his shoulder. "Don't mind them. They're on a different wavelength than us. If anything, this is the nicest they've ever been to each other."
"Alright then..."
The game continued and Mikasa's group was still leading, now with ten points, but Eren's group was just one point behind. That was admittedly all thanks to Marco and Armin. Some time in the middle of the night, Reiner got up and went to get something from the kitchen.
He came back with several bottles of liquor in his arms.
"Look what I got!"
"Oh, hell yeah!" Connie thrusted his fist into the air. "Now we can really get this party going."
Ymir reached out with grabby hands. "Gimme."
Christa smacked her hands away. "Don't be childish, Ymir." She turned to them with a smile. "I'll get the cups!"
Eren smiled to himself at the sight of the liquor. With the way this night started and the way it was going, he could really use a drink to make it through the rest of it. He needed to get his mind off Mikasa.
Eren downed a shot of tequila and instantly poured himself another glass.
"Next group is group 3!"
Connie whistled. "The Straights!"
Mikasa walked in front of them all and Eren took another shot.
She put a scowl on her face, hand on her hip and a finger shaking in the air.
Eren's face softened as memories of home and warmth flooded him. Mikasa started to sigh the sigh of someone exhausted, yet full of love and Eren was brought back to when he was little.
He had gotten into a fight with the other kids that left him with multiple bruises. He came back home, pissed off, but his mum was even more pissed. Eren tried explaining to her why he got into the fight, but she started to scold him, fussing over all the bruises he got.
Eren remembered how she was so worked up, but surprisingly, at the end of the day, she made his favourite food for dinner.
"It's Chief Levi!"
Mikasa shook her head.
"Huh?" Sasha eyed her suspiciously. "Are you sure it's not the chief?"
Connie rubbed his chin. "Is it an old man telling kids to stay off his lawn?"
Another shake of the head.
"Damn it." He turned to Annie who was sleeping soundly. "Annie, wake up! You're no help at all, you know!"
There was no movement from her. Eren was actually worried she might be dead. Then the timer dinged.
Sasha and Connie both whined. "Aww man!"
Christa looked around. "Anyone want to give it a try?"
"Is it," Eren started, "a mother's tired love for her child?"
Mikasa locked eyes with him, pausing for a second and in that brief moment, Eren was reminded of earlier in the night, how he was so mesmerised by those dark eyes.
She nodded once.
"Correct."
Armin cheered. "Great job, Eren! Now we're tied! ...Eren?"
"Huh? Oh. Oh, yeah." He took a sip of his drink, mumbling, "That's good."
Armin brought his face closer to his. He squinted hard at him.
Eren pushed him away gently. "What?"
"Hmmm. Nothing." He backed off. "Don't drink too much."
"Okay, Armin." Eren smiled at him affectionately. "You don't have to worry about me."
Armin rolled his eyes. "I'm not worried about you. I'm worried about the dumb shit that's going to come out of your mouth when you're wasted. Plus, I'm the one that's going to have to drive you home if that happens."
Eren winced. "Harsh."
Jean barked out a laugh. He slapped Armin on his back. "I always knew we clicked for a reason, Arlert."
Eren grumbled, reaching for the bottle of liquor to refill his cup.
His hand collided with someone else's.
With Mikasa's.
He instantly retracted his hand because the touch burned. It left his heart beating quicker.
Mikasa proceeded to grab the bottle and pour herself a drink. Eren cradled his hand as he glared at her. She looked over the rim of her cup and stared back.
"I'm going to beat you." Eren instantly grimaced at how bad that sounded once the words left his mouth. "I mean, I'm going to win this game, like I always do."
She took a sip, raising a brow. "Do you?"
Eren hesitated. No, he didn't. Rarely, even, but, "I'm not going to lose to you!"
"You will," she said matter-of-factly. "I have and always will be the best."
Eren gritted his teeth. He switched to a bigger glass, filling it up to the brim. He drank every last drop in one gulp, slamming the glass back down to the table.
He turned to Mikasa, who continued to sip on her own drink.
This passive aggressive drinking continued throughout the whole game. Eren would fill up his glass and Mikasa would follow. Mikasa would down a beer and Eren would follow. Eren's words started to slur, his movements clumsy and loud. Mikasa was starting to get tipsy too, he could tell. There was red blush dusting her cheeks and somewhere along the way she had knocked over a glass.
Eren smirked. He didn't know what he was doing, or who he was proving, but he wanted to beat Mikasa in something. He wanted to win against her.
Eren grabbed a bottle of whiskey and started to chug it down.
Mikasa followed.
"Eren!" Armin scolded. "What did I tell you?"
Connie, however, started to encourage him and Mikasa. "Wooh, look at these two! Drink! Drink! Drink!"
Sasha, Reiner and Ymir started to join in on the chanting.
Eren's throat bobbed as the liquor flowed down from the bottle and into the pits of his stomach. He squeezed his eyes shut, the sounds of his friends chants echoing around his body.
He slammed the bottle onto the table when he was done, eyes opening to find that Mikasa had finished at the same time as him. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and got off the couch, swaying as he tried tiget up on the table.
"Hey! What the hell are you doing?" Jean asked.
He grabbed the empty bottle and pointed it to Mikasa. "I'm- hic- I'm going to show you! I'm going to show all of you! The chief, the mall! That I- hic- Eren Jaeger, am a better security guard than Mikasa Ackerman!"
Armin rubbed at his temple, getting up to pull Eren down to the floor. "Okay, Eren, okay. Let's get you down."
Eren tried pushing him away but his movements were too clumsy, so he ended up getting dragged down.
Mikasa got up, swayed a little, but she stood firmly. She met Eren face to face.
"I'm better than you." Her eyes glossed over from the alcohol. "I'm better than all of you. Nothing will ever change that."
Eren clenched his fists. "You little-"
Suddenly, he was knocked down to the couch. He let out a soft groan.
Standing over him, Ymir clicked her tongue. "Whewh, what an idiot."
Everyone decided to call it a night. It was nearing two in the morning and all of them had to get up early for work. Not for the first time, Eren wondered why they hosted these things on Sunday. Plus, half of them were wasted out of their minds.
Eren reached around the table, hands clumsily dropping items off. "Keys," he mumbled. "Where are my keys?"
Armin sighed. "Did you check your pockets?"
"Oh. Yeah." He reached into his front pocket and retrieved his keys. "T-Thanks, Armin. I'll- I'll see you at work."
Armin snatched the keys from him. "Stop kidding yourself, Eren! You can't drive like this. Come on, I'll take you home."
Eren nodded.
He followed behind Armin and out the front door.
"Bye Armin! And Eren!" Christa called.
Eren waved to her, not watching where he was going and stumbling over his own feet. He fell to the ground.
He giggled. "Whoops."
Armin turned around and shook his head. He grabbed Eren's arm and propped him back up. He didn't let go, letting Eren cling to him as he half-dragged him to his car.
Eren caught Armin muttering to himself along the way.
"Don't drink too much, I said. Okay, he said. Well look at us now."
He continued mumbling as he sat in the driver's seat, fastening his seatbelt aggressively. He turned to Eren. "Why won't you listen to me? I'm right most of the time so why keep doing this?"
"I'm sorry... I can't help it."
Armin sucked in a breath. "Do you realise what you just did?"
Eren tilted his head at him, mind struggling to keep up.
"You just declared some kind of petty war against Mikasa!"
"But you saw what she was like! She said she's better than all of us!
"She is, Eren. She's the top of officer of the Special Forces. We're just mall security." Armin dropped his head down to the steering wheel and mumbled, "I don't want to see your heart crushed, Eren."
"Armin..."
He reached out and placed a gentle hand over Armin's. Armin didn't push him away but he didn't look up either.
"All I've ever wanted to do is keep everyone safe." He grabbed his hand firmly, some clarity setting in. "I want to keep you safe, Armin. Mikasa is a threat to every single thing I believe in. One day she's going to get one of you guys hurt. And I will not stand for that."
Armin turned his head to the side with a small smile, returning the hold on Eren's hand. "You've always cared too much. Even when we were little."
Eren rested his cheek on his other palm, propping his elbow on the arm rest. "And yet you've always stuck by my side."
"I like to think of it as the other way around."
"Ha-ha, Armin." Eren let go of his hand. "Come on. Let's go home."
Eren closed his eyes, leaning his head against the door as Armin drove away from Christa's house. He was starting to get nauseous, head spinning violently. He was glad for the silence of his car. But Armin decided to have a conversation with him.
"Eren."
He hummed.
"Back at Christa's house... When you sat on Mikasa's lap, you looked different."
Eren rubbed his forehead. "What..? Armin, I've got a major headache. Please don't bring that incident up. Ever."
"I'm serious, Eren. For how much you hate her, why did you look at her in that way?"
Eren shifted in his seat, stomach starting to become queasy. "In what way?"
"Let me rephrase my question." He breathed in. "Why were you leaning in to her?"
Eren's eyes widened.
What?
The car took a sharp swerve and Eren hunched in on himself, wretching his gut out over the floor of his car.
"Eren!"
He coughed harshly.
"Armin, I don't- I don't feel so good." He covered his hand with his mouth when he felt bile rise up his throat. "Can't breathe, stomach feels sick."
Armin let out a drawn out sigh as he took one hand off the steering wheel to search for something. "That's because you have bottles of alcohol in your stomach." He muttered, more to himself, "You still keep packs of water in your car, right? Ah, here it is."
He handed it over to Eren. "Drink it up."
"Thanks." Eren took it and gulped it down, grateful for the refreshing liquid running down his dry throat. His breathing came out in heavy puffs.
"It's not because of the alcohol..."
"Eren, I'm pretty sure it's the alcohol."
"No, Armin... Not completely. It's because- because-"
Why were you leaning in to her?
Eren puked again.
He didn't understand why he felt this way when he thought about what Armin said. Why he felt so sick to his stomach.
Did he really lean in to Mikasa?
Eren didn't want to think about it, or about her, for that matter.
Doing so only did more damage than good.
Notes:
Thank you to everyone reading this! I'll try to update consistently but I gotta study for finals so schedule might be wonky for a while.
Also, Happy Chinese New Year in advance to everyone celebrating!!
Chapter 5: A Distant Storm
Notes:
Hello! I'm finally back with a new chapter ;)
Chapter Text
"Eren, go to your room!"
"But mum-!"
"No but's Eren! Go to your room and stay there until I get back." Mum looked at him with pleading eyes, whispering desperately, "Please, Eren. Listen to me for once in your life."
Eren clenched his fists, tears welling up in his eyes. He didn't want to do as his mum said, didn't want to hide away in his room while some assholes broke into their house and stole their stuff. It was cowardly. Revolting. It left a bad taste in his mouth.
But what could he do? What could a 9-year-old possibly do in a situation like this?
Mum bent down to place a kiss on his forehead. "Be a good boy."
Nothing. He could do nothing but follow mum's words.
He sat by his bed on the floor, the sounds of his repressed sobs being the only thing filling up the silence as he waited for an agonisingly long moment.
Then there was the sound of a glass crashing to the floor. It pierced through Eren's heart and his eyes widened when midway, there was a loud bang. Eren stood up immediately. He wasn't stupid. He knew what that sound was.
He threw open his door and rushed out as his racing heart beated loudly in his ears. He ran across the stairs, trying to reassure himself all the while that everything was fine.
Please be okay. Please, mum, be okay. Please please please-
He turned around the corner to the living room and his heart dropped at the sight in front of him.
Mum clutched her arm, blood seeping through her fingers and down to the floor. Even as she was defenseless, even as she posed no harm, there was a gun pointed straight at her by the intruder.
Eren gritted his teeth, ready to pounce on him. "You bastard..!"
Mum turned around with a gasp, hand reaching out for him. "Eren-"
Bang.
Eren's eyes widened.
"Mum!"
Eren shot up with a gasp.
He clutched his chest as his heart beated wildly. He could hear sirens in the distance, could still see the blue and red lights. The blood. Blood everywhere-
Eren took in a deep breath.
Everything's fine. Mum is fine. She's fine, so calm down, Eren.
He rubbed at his face grumpily. There was a distant throbbing in his head and he knew he was coming up with a major headache. Getting wasted from last night and waking up from a nightmare was not a good mix. Work was going to be hell. Work...
He wondered what time it was. He took a glance at the digital clock on his bedside table, rubbing his eyes sleepily as he read the red numbers.
He paused.
8:20
He rubbed at his eyes with more urgency, reading it again, and there it still was, the bright numbers 8:20 glaring at him.
"Oh no! Oh no no no!" Eren repeated over and over again as he got out of bed. He jumped from one spot of his room to the other, gathering his uniform and toothbrush.
This was not what he needed right now. He was supposed to wake up at 7, get ready, arrive at the mall at 8 before his shift started at 8:30. He couldn't afford to be late. Not after last night.
"I'm- hic- I'm going to show you! I'm going to show all of you! The chief, the mall! That I- hic- Eren Jaeger, am a better security guard than Mikasa Ackerman!"
Eren groaned, tugging at his hair as he cursed himself for being such an idiot.
"Why do I keep doing this?" he muttered as he rushed from bedroom to bathroom to kitchen. "Why do I- shit!"
He tripped over his feet in his flurry of trying to wrap his tie around his neck while chomping down on a hot waffle, mind overloaded with trying to do everything at once. He ended up falling to the floor with a loud crash.
"Fuck!"
***
"Yikes. You know this doesn't look good, right?"
Eren scowled. "Shut up, Armin."
In the distance, there was laughter from a few of his colleagues, specifically Jean, Connie and Sasha. He turned around to face all of them, clenching his fists at his sides.
"Shut the fuck up, all of you!"
Jean wiped at his tears, walking forward to observe Eren, then behind him at the attendance register. Eren suspected he was looking at Eren's attendance form that was keyed in at 8:40 because he laughed again.
"Well, this is rich. Don't you think, Jaeger?
Eren glared at him. He held his head in his hand, the weight of it causing him to hunch forward. In his panicked and rushed state, he had forgotten to get some painkillers for his headache. The throbbing was only getting worse ever since he had arrived at work. For one, he was ten minutes late. Two, Jean was giving him hell for that. And, three.
Mikasa came to work on time.
Somehow, she did it! Eren couldn't wrap his head around how. She drank just as much as him yesterday. He was reassuring himself that even if he was late, Mikasa would be late too, but she wasn't! And everything was just pissing him off so much because how! How was she still punctual and perfect and a better security guard than Eren-
"Fuck!" he yelled as he socked Jean in the face.
Jean stumbled back, cradling his cheek in his hand. He blinked in surprise before glowering darkly at him. "You asshole!"
He fisted his hands into the collar of Eren's shirt and shoved him to the wall with full force. Eren's head collided with the hard surface, stars taking up his vision. He groaned as he got up, and balled his fists loosely in front of him.
"I'll kill you, Jean..." he stuttered out.
Jean gritted his teeth. "You're insane!"
"Hey, guys." Reiner stood up from where he was sitting with Annie and Bertholdt. "Come on, it's a bit too early for this."
"But Jean!"
"I didn't do anything!"
"The chief's coming!" Bertholdt squeaked out.
"Shit!"
Eren got as far away as he possibly could from Jean, retreating behind Armin who was drinking a cup of coffee. He raised a brow at Eren.
"Help me keep my job, Armin."
He sighed into his mug.
Then the door creaked open, revealing a short man with a look on his face that said he was ready to tear someone apart.
"What the fuck is going on in here?"
Reiner, back leaned against the counter with arms crossed over his sturdy chest, shot Chief Levi a carefree grin. "A little argument, Sir. Sorry if we were disrupting anything."
The chief walked into the room furiously. "Don't you a little argument me, Braun. I'm not stupid. I can hear you damn shits causing a ruckus all the way from outside." He stopped in the middle of the room, locking eyes with every single person in his radius. "Who was it?"
A chill ran down Eren's spine. "Armin," he whispered. "What am I gonna do?"
"Just confess, Eren."
"But I need to be better than Mikasa!"
"Confessing takes bravery. I'd say that makes you somewhat good."
"I wouldn't even have to confess if I didn't get in a fight! Which isn't good!"
"Jaeger."
Eren's heart stopped beating.
"Kirschtein."
Chief Levi crossed his arms. "Centre of the room. Now."
Eren looked at Armin helplessly.
He shrugged. "G' luck." He raised his cup in his direction.
Eren sucked in a breath, walking towards the chief, side to side with Jean. Eren side-eyed him, making sure he knew this was all his fault. Jean glared back.
They stopped a few inches from the chief, both trembling in their shoes as he circled them. He made tutting noises occasionally, cutting the tense silence and causing Eren to flinch everytime.
After one full round, he stood back in their view. "Wrinkled clothes, bloody faces, reeking of alcohol." He waved a hand in the air exasperatedly. "Is this the type of attitude representing the work we do? Is this what I taught all of you?"
"No, Sir," Eren and Jean mumbled, eyes casted downwards.
Chief Levi dropped his head into his hand and massaged his temples. "Why can't you... Why can't you be more like Mikasa?"
Eren's head shot up. "Chief! She's-"
"I'm not going to hear it, Eren." He fixed him with a stern gaze. "Don't get caught up in your emotions. Remember that we are being evaluated throughout this whole programme. So keep on the down low and do your job properly, understand?"
Eren gritted his teeth. "Understood."
"Good." He turned around to everyone else. "That goes for the rest of you. No better time to get started than now. So scram! Get back to work!"
***
Before taking his place next to the jewellery store, Eren went to his locker. He opened it, pausing for a moment as he stared at the contents. He wanted to close his locker back, walk away, and never look back. But the insides of his locker was pulling him in, wrapping its invisible strings around his heart to lure him in for that warm, familiar comfort.
He took in a deep breath and reached inside, retrieving the red scarf he brought to work everyday but never wore. The fabric was soft as he ran his hand over it and he couldn't help but clutch it over his heart, embracing it in a hug before wrapping it around his neck.
He shut his locker door, yelping when he found Armin next to him.
"A-Armin, what are you doing here?"
"Came to check on you." He nodded his head to Eren's scarf. "I haven't seen you wear that in a long time."
"Yeah..." Eren placed a hand over his scarf unconsciously. "I just needed something to remind me of home."
"Did you have a nightmare?"
Eren's breath hitched. Of course Armin could see right through him. He was smart, straight to the point and had known Eren all his life. He knew all too well why Eren had suddenly worn the scarf gifted by his mum. Eren clutched it tighter. It felt intruding, sometimes. Embarrassing, even.
He nodded. "It's stupid. Freaking out over a nightmare."
"It's not stupid, Eren." Armin furrowed his brows. "I've seen you have them whenever we had sleepovers. It scared the shit outta me."
Eren huffed out a laugh. "Sorry 'bout that." His gaze dropped to his shoes. "I just can't help but wonder why I had one today? Why now all of a sudden?"
"Maybe it's your mind telling you to finally go visit your mum?"
"I can't."
"Why not, Eren? You haven't seen her in years."
Eren clenched his jaw, voice coming out strained as he whispered, "I'm scared."
"Maybe this Christmas, then."
"Yeah." Eren fiddled with his scarf. "Maybe."
***
Eren slouched against the wall, resting the back of his head on the cool surface. He squeezed his eyes shut as his breathing came out in short puffs.
The splitting pain in his head was killing him. He really wanted to go to the pharmacy store on the first floor and buy some painkillers but after today's encounter with Chief Levi, that might not be such a good idea. He had shopped on the job a few number of times but it was technically unethical and unprofessional, so he had to wait for his break before he can head down. Stayon the down low and be on good behaviour and stuff.
Eren groaned out loud. It felt like he was waiting for an eternity.
"Eren!"
He cracked his eyes open. Moblit's tilted head was all up in his face, brows drawn up in worry.
"Are you okay?" he asked hesitantly. "You look... awful."
"Just give it to me straight, Moblit. I look like shit, I know." Eren ran a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry but I'm not in a good mood today."
"Ah..." Suddenly, Moblit grinned, and it was so bright it blinded Eren. "That's great!"
"W-What?"
Moblit took one of the sample drinks on the tray wrapped around his neck, handing it over to Eren eagerly. Eren eyed it suspiciously.
Moblit worked for Hange, the owner of a smoothie shop on the second floor. He usually carried samples of her drinks around the mall, occasionally handing some out to Eren and his friends. It was a nice gesture and the drinks were actually pretty good. But don't be fooled by the front act they put on. Hange was an experimental person. She made good smoothies, no doubt, but the process leading up to that was pure chaos. She put a bunch of weird shit in a smoothie, mixing weird combinations together, which had led to a number of stomachaches and toilet visits.
In fact, Eren had learned that Moblit actually always came to him and his friends first whenever Hange made up a new smoothie before serving them to the customers, in case it turned out badly. Basically, she was a mad scientist and they were her lab rats.
"What's in it..?"
"Well, there's coconut water, cucumber, strawberry yogurt. And, uhm, some beans?"
Eren pursed his lips. "Yeah, I think I'll pass."
"Please, Eren! I promise you'll like it. And it'll help with your bad mood!"
He sighed. Hange might unintentionally food poison them from time to time but she and Moblit were good people that made smoothies like Eren had never tasted before. Unpredictable, yeah, but unique.
He took the sample from Moblit reluctantly. "Fine."
"Thank you!"
Eren squeezed his eyes shut as he inched the small paper cup down to his mouth slowly. He took once sip and his face softened. His tongue was met with a cool and refreshing liquid, washing down his throat in such a cleansing way. It was sweet, tasty. He gulped it all down.
Moblit stared at him with eager eyes, getting too close to him. "So... How is it?"
Eren licked his lips. "I need some more of those samples."
Moblit beamed, handing him another cup. "It's refreshing, isn't it? Like, something you'd drink when you're hot and out in the sun?"
"Mm, yeah!"
"Ah, that's perfect! Hange's been experimenting new smoothie flavours because she was requested to serve some at the annual Mall Security Soccer Game." He smiled proudly. "Due to popular demand."
Eren almost choked on his smoothie. Right. The MSSG. With how hectic everything had been lately, he'd completely forgotten about it. Every once a year, the mall security from Paradis Mall would have a soccer game with Titans Mall. It was a friendly way to settle the ongoing feud of which mall had better security.
Eren felt a grin growing on his face. "Good for her! This means you two are gonna be there?"
"Yup! We'll cheer on our beloved security guards, of course. Keeping us safe and helping us not get sued by sampling all our smoothies before releasing them to the public!"
Eren rolled his eyes affectionately. "Well it's a good thing you'll be there. I have a feeling we're going to beat those damn Titans this year."
"I'm looking forward to witnessing that, then. I heard you guys haven't had a win in six years?"
Eren winced. "Yeah..."
Moblit shot him a genuine smile. "Well, good luck. No matter the outcome, Hange and I think you're all pretty neat security guards."
Eren's heart warmed. He clutched at the scarf around his neck gently. "Thank you."
"Mhm. I'll be going now." He walked away and called, "See ya 'round."
Eren waved him goodbye, a lingering smile on his face.
***
"That'll be 3 dollars and 28 cents."
Eren handed a five dollar note to the cashier, returning the thanks after he was handed over his change. He exited the pharmacy with the bag of painkillers in his hand.
He still needed to buy some knee braces for the MSSG. His encounter with Moblit had reminded him that the game was just two weeks away, so he had to get everything he needed beforehand.
"Hey, guys," he said into his walkie talkie. "I might not make it to lunch."
"It's alright," Armin replied. "Some of us might not make it too."
"Oh, okay."
As he stood on the escalator, on his way to the sportswear shop, he half-heartedly wondered who Armin was with, and what they were doing. He shrugged it off when he reached the first floor. He entered the shop, waving a hello to Eld at the counter.
The sportswear shop in their mall was huge.
There were a good number of aisles that stretched out to the back in a way that seemed endless, filled with all types of sports gear and attire. Swimming suits, sneakers, hiking bags. Heck, Eren swore he saw a kayak in here somewhere. Thankfully, Eren had been in here enough times to easily locate the soccer section.
He scanned his eyes along the variety of knee braces, wondering why were there so many and which one was he supposed to choose.
"Pfft, what are you buying knee braces for?"
Eren's head shot to his side, to where Jean had his arms crossed with a smug smirk on his face.
"For the MSSG, duh." Eren grumbled under his breath, "How stupid can you be, Jean?"
"I know it's for the MSSG, dumbass. But do you seriously need those?"
"Hmph! I have sensitive knees, if you must know."
Jean barked out a laugh.
Eren stuck his tongue out at him. "Laugh all you want now, Jean. Your sorry ass is gonna be crying when you scrape your knees all over that scratchy grass."
"Yeah, sure."
"He's right, you know," Marco said from where he squatted, looking through the different types of soccer socks. "Knee scrapes aren't fun."
Jean turned to him, betrayed. "Marco! You're supposed to be on my side."
Marco gave him a sheepish shrug, an apologetic look on his face. "Eren's my friend too, and he makes sense."
"But the both of us are best friends!"
"Aww-"
"Shut up, Marco. Now's not the time to get mushy. Not when you're siding with that-" He gestured to Eren. "With him."
"I'm standing right here, you know."
"I'm not blind!"
"Then have some manners, dick." Eren rubbed his forehead. He could feel his headache coming back. Turning to Marco, he asked, "You guys shopping for the MSSG?"
"Yup. Some of us are here too."
"Armin?"
"Yeah."
"Great, thanks. I'll leave Jean to you."
He winked, trying to do it subtly.
Marco groaned.
Eren stuck his hands in his pocketsas he searched for Armin around the store. This place might be big but he must be somewhere around the soccer section, probably shopping for something related to their upcoming soccer game.
He was so distracted in his search that he ended up bumping into someone smaller than him.
"Oh, sorry- Christa?"
She smiled up at him. "Eren, hey!"
"So you're here too, huh? Shopping for the game, I'm guessing?"
"Mhm! Me, Ymir and-"
"I think these are alright."
Eren let out a big gasp at the sight of dark hair popping up from behind them.
"You," he uttered out.
Mikasa stood up, walking towards Eren and stopping a few inches in front of him.
He held his breath as she tilted her head to the side slightly.
"You," she stated.
Eren's hands started to water with sweat. Fuck. His heart was hammering in his chest too. It was all because of Mikasa. Staring him down with those gleaming eyes, it was intimidating.
"Y-Yeah, it's me. Eren fucking Jaeger."
"I know."
"Good."
They continued to stare each other in tense silence, both too close for Eren's comfort.
He cleared his throat.
"So, what are you- what are you doing here? You guys play sports in the Special Forces or something?"
Christa chimed in from beside them. "She's buying soccer shoes for the MSSG, actually."
Eren's head shot to her. "What?"
He turned back to Mikasa who's blank expression still remained. "You're playing with us?"
"Yes."
Eren wanted to slap his face. Of course! Of course she was playing with them! She was technically apart of their security team, and no matter how unsociable she was, that meant that she was also apart of the extra activities that came with the job.
"Fine." He took a step forward. "We might be playing on the same team, but don't expect me to work with you."
"I won't need you."
"We'll see, Mikasa. We'll fucking see at practice. Or are you too good for practice?"
"I'll be there."
"Good-"
"Goddamn, this is just painful to watch." Ymir wrapped her arms around Eren and Mikasa, bringing their faces too close to each other. "But man if I don't want to see how this all ends."
"Ugh-" Eren tried to shove her away. "Ymir. What the hell are you talking about?"
"You really are clueless, aren't you? Oh, well." She smirked. "Let's just say, there's going to be some big changes around here, and it's going to be a fucking treat to watch."
***
"There's going to be some changes here."
The chief stopped in front of Eren and Mikasa.
"And they involve the two of you."
Chapter 6: Changes
Notes:
Hi! Thank you so much for more than 1000 hits! Here's a new chapter :)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Eren bunched his hands into the fabric of his black pants. He sat restless on the chair Chief Levi provided him and Mikasa. He looked to his side briefly, finding a much calmer Mikasa sitting with her hands crossed over her lap. His heart beated harder.
Eren couldn't handle this-- not knowing what in the world the chief was talking about. He had brought him and Mikasa into their meeting room to discuss some things with them. But the chief hadn't said what yet. He kept dragging on his words, leaving tense pauses between his sentences and honestly, it was scaring the shit out of Eren.
It had something to do with him and Mikasa, the chief was hesitating... Eren just knew whatever Chief Levi was going to say wasn't going to be anything good.
He gulped. "What- What exactly are these changes you're talking about, Chief?"
Chief Levi began to prance around them again. "The both of you are aware of the Mall Security Soccer Game with the Titans coming up next week, is that correct?"
"Yes."
"And the both of you do want to win, right?"
"Yes, Chief."
He stopped behind them, placing his hands on either sides of their chairs. "Then let me ask you two something." He narrowed his gaze on Eren and Mikasa. "Which team are you on?"
"Paradis Mall," they both said.
"Exactly!" Chief Levi walked back in front of them, waving his hands in the air in exasperation. "The two of you are on Paradis's team. On the same team. So you need to work together as a team." He dropped his hands down to his side, facing them impassively. "But let's be honest here, that isn't going to happen, is it?"
Eren shook his head hesitantly.
The chief let out a deep sigh. "This is why, for the rest of this Security Assist programme, Eren, all your night shifts will be with Mikasa."
"What?!" Eren shot up, chair crashing to the ground. "Chief, what are you talking about?!"
"Every single one of your night shift, you wil sit next to Mikasa, you will stand next to her, you will stay on watch with her, you will-"
spend hundreds of hours with her.
Eren's knees began to weaken and he hunched over, placing a hand on his thigh to steady himself. "Chief, you don't have to do this," he whispered.
Chief Levi rolled his eyes. "You're acting like this is the worst thing in the world, but trust me, this will be good for you. Erwin told me it's a good idea to spend time together in the night. Something about the serenity of it and a perfect chance to bond or some shit."
Eren blinked. "Erwin-- You mean Chief Smith?"
"That's what I fucking said, right?"
"No, I'm pretty sure you said-"
"It doesn't matter what I said. What matters is you getting your shit together and being able to tolerate Mikasa for the MSSG."
Eren eyed the chief suspiciously. Since when was he taking up advice from Chief Smith, the very person he had hated so much from just a few days ago. And not only that, but now he wants him to befriend Mikasa?
Eren clutched his heart with a wounded look on his face, betrayed, as he uttered out, "I thought you were on my side, Chief."
"What the fuck are you on about, Jaeger?"
Eren wiped an imaginary tear from his eye.
"Okay- I'm not even going to try to understand the hundreds of things wrong with you." Chief Levi turned to Mikasa. "I apologise for this unfortunate circumstance but you're going to have to deal with him for now. Tell me when he does anything stupid to you."
Mikasa nodded.
"Good." His shoulders relaxed. "See, I like you. You're quiet, compliant, you're... eh, somewhat tidy. Just work on your cleanliness and we're golden."
"As for Eren." He scrunched his nose at him. "Close your fucking mouth. Any one of these insects flying around are going to shit right inside it."
Eren shut his jaw with his hand, but it dropped again when he let go. He couldn't help it after the scene he had just witnessed.
Since when had the chief taken a liking to Mikasa?
Eren stood up firmly, lifting his chin up with a determined look. "I won't disappoint you, Chief Levi!"
He stared at him wordlessly, the furrow between his brow loosening, before he nodded slowly. "You have good spirit, Eren. Use it correctly and you'll do great things."
Eren's face softened. "Thanks, Chief."
He scowled. "Yeah, yeah. I'll have the new schedule put up by this afternoon. In the meantime, enjoy your happiness for today. Night shift starts tomorrow."
***
"-I have night shifts with Mikasa for the next months." Eren banged the back of his head against the wall. "So, yeah, I guess I'm doomed. I hope you guys are doing a million times better than me."
Armin winced. "I can see why the chief did it. What I can't see is why you have to continue your night shifts with Mikasa after the MSSG. I mean, I do understand. It's better for the long-term aspects of this programme, but the chief usually isn't so... future fixated? He's more-"
"-get shit done right now and worry about later later?" Connie finished.
"Yeah."
Eren snorted in disdain. "It wasn't his idea. It was Chief Smith's."
"Whaaat."
"Crazy, I know. Like, when has the chief ever listened to anyone's ideas? Especially to a big shot like the chief of the Special Forces."
"Excuse me."
Eren gasped at the deep, familiar voice, standing up straight in an instant.
He saluted. "C-Chief Smith!"
Chief Smith smiled, saluting in a much gentle manner than Eren. "Hello, Eren." He turned to Connie and Armin, raising a brow. "And to Armin and Connie?"
The both of them nodded, fidgeting in their place a little.
He smiled again. "Nice to meet you three. And please, call me Erwin."
"O-Oh. Okay, Erwin... Sir," Eren said hesitantly. "Is there anything we can help you with?"
"There is, actually. I want to ask, have any of you seen Levi around?"
"Levi... Chief Levi?"
"Yes. I couldn't find him in the meeting room nor guard house."
"Um." Eren scratched his head. "He might be in the janitor room."
"Or any place that's dirty," Connie added.
"Oh?"
"The chief used to work as a janitor," Armin explained. "He loves cleaning too so he usually spends most of his time with the janitors, cleaning around the mall."
"I see." Erwin seemed impressed with this information. "What an interesting man. He never fails to surprise me."
Eren laughed. "Um, yeah. He's definitely interesting."
"Well, I should be going now. See you all around."
"Bye, Sir."
Connie placed his hands on his hips as he watched Erwin walk away. "Is it just me or is he and the chief suddenly all buddy buddy?"
"From what I've seen, Erwin seems like a pretty nice guy. Humble. I'm sure the chief took a liking to him."
Eren frowned. "For better or for worse, I can't decide. The chief seems nicer now, sure, but now there's one lesser person on my side."
Connie barked a laugh, shaking as he grabbed both of his sides. "Who was ever on your side?"
Eren smirked. "You'd be surprised."
***
Marco bit down on his burrito, sauce dripping down his chin messily. Some of it made its way onto his white uniform, forming a very visible, very orange stain on the fabric. He turned to Eren, cheeks still stuffed with food.
"What's up?"
Eren cleared his throat as he eyed the mess around Marco's mouth. "Uh..."
Marco chuckled, grabbing a tissue to wipe it off. "Sorry. This is really good."
"Okay, well anyway, I'm having night shifts with Mikasa starting from tomorrow."
"Bummer."
"For the rest of the programme."
"Tough luck."
Eren studied Marco suspiciously. "So, how's things going with this whole Mikasa-Jean saga?"
"Actually, everything's been pretty good." He took another bite of his burrito. "I've been feeling more at ease lately."
"You mean you're okay with the Dark Knight snatching your man?"
Marco laughed. "Well, no. But Mikasa talked to me about him, told me she wasn't interested. And then after that, we talked about other things like her interests and stuff she does in her free time, how the Special Forces are like." He smiled to himself. "Mikasa is a really interesting person. And nice too."
Eren's face contorted into pure horror. "Not you too," he whispered.
Marco tilted his head at him in question.
Eren chomped down on his burrito aggressively. "Seems like suddenly the whole world's taken a liking to Mikasa. First, the chief. Now, you." Eren glowered at the ground. "What the hell is going on around here?"
"A change for the better?"
"Better for who exactly?" Eren asked, exasperated.
Marco swallowed, a serious expression taking up his face as he mulled over a thought in his head. "Eren..." he started. "Why are you so against Mikasa?"
Eren frowned, picking at the lint on his uniform. "She rubs me the wrong way. She... She scares me. She makes me all nervous and shit. My stomach gets all fluttery. Everytime I see her I tense up because of what she might do next, if she's going to hurt someone I love. I hate to admit this but there's something about Mikasa that makes me feel so- so weak."
Marco's voice softened. "Eren, I think you-"
A ball crashed into Marco, causing his burrito to get smacked from his hands and onto the ground.
His eyes widened.
"My burrito!"
Eren's head shot up to find the person that dare throw a ball to Marco.
"Yo, we're so sorry about that!"
Connie ran up to them. He scratched the back of his head. "Sasha and I were practicing our kicks and she accidentally kicked it all the way over here."
"I didn't do it! It was Connie!" she called.
Connie covered a hand over his mouth to whisper, "Nah, she did it."
Eren shook his head. "I don't care who did it. Why are you two playing ball in the parking lot?"
"We're practicing for the MSSG."
"Didn't we learn from the many broken store glasses not to practice in the mall?"
"That's why we're in the parking lot?"
Eren pinched the bridge of his nose. "You two really are idiots, aren't you?"
"Hey! Don't act like you've never practiced with us on a shift before. The only reason you're not doing it now is because you're on good behaviour to prove you're better than Mikasa or something." Connie arched a brow up accusingly. "Seems to me like you're the idiot."
Eren gestured his arms around them. "Look around you! You could've hit someone's car! You're lucky you just hit-"
Marco whimpered.
They turned their attention to where he was sulking over his burrito that was still on the floor, only half eaten.
Eren patted his back, shooting a glare in Connie's direction. "You have created an offense against our burrito-loving, freckled friend. How dare you?"
"Shit. Marco, I'm really sorry." Connie began to gather the burrito off the floor, handing it over to Marco.
Eren slapped his hand away. "You've done enough damage." He grabbed his own burrito and handed it over to Marco. "Here, you can have mine."
Marco beamed, perking up instantly. "Thank you, Eren!"
As he chomped on his burrito happily, Connie looked between the two of them with suspicion. "How come you two've been having your breaks together recently?"
Eren shrugged. "Marco gets me. We talk."
"About Mikasa," Marco added.
"Marco!"
"Ohoho." Connie wiggled his eyebrows. "So that's what this is, huh?"
"No, that is not what this is! Don't any of you ever try to suggest that this is that. Because it's not!"
Connie blinked at him. "Damn, José. You need to chill."
Eren tangled his hands into his hair, tugging at the brown strands. "I-I can't! I'm freaking out. I can't do night shifts with Mikasa."
"It's just three night shifts each week," Marco said, trying to help.
Eren's breathing started to come out in uneven puffs. "Yeah but like 10 hours each night! I can't do that. It's- It's too much for me."
"Yeesh. Looks like you've got a lot to unpack there, buddy."
Eren looked at Connie helplessly.
He placed an arm around Eren and smirked. "What you need is a golf cart ride."
"A golf cart ride?"
***
Connie patted the side of the golf cart. "I know this isn't really official, but this here golf cart is practically my baby." He walked up to Eren, crossing his arms as he eyed the golf cart with a look of adoration. "I use this to help lost shoppers find their cars in this parking lot. Today, my friend, is no different."
He turned to Eren. "You're lost and I will help you find your way."
Eren scrunched his nose. "So you want me to get on this thing to help me find my way... in a figurative way?"
"Pretty much."
Eren sighed. "Let's get this over with, then. We only have 7 minutes til our break's over." He started to head to the front but Connie stopped him.
"Oi, oi, oi." Connie pushed his back forward, directing him to the back of the golf cart. "You're going to sit right here."
"Why?"
"Because from here, you can see everything around you. There's no doors or windows so you're literally free. Free body equals free mind, right?"
"What?"
Connie shoved Eren down onto the backseat before skipping back to the front seat. "Buckle up!"
Eren searched around his seat but then grumbled, "There's no seatbelts."
"Oh, yeah. Eh, nothing to worry about. I won't go too fast."
And with that, the golf cart started to move at a steady pace. Eren tried to relax as Connie brought them around the parking lot of the mall. He let out a deep breath. The ride was somewhat calming.
"Hey, Eren," Connie called. "I want you to imagine I'm Dr Phil. And you're my patient."
Eren arched a brow up. "Okay?"
"And imagine there's an audience with hundreds of people in front of you, and millions more watching from the cameras broadcasting all around you, listening in on your every vulnerable word."
"Uh, what?"
"Good, now let me ask you a question. What's your current problem in life?"
"Mikasa."
"Mhm, mhm. And why is that? What is it about Mikasa that makes you so bothered?"
Eren intertwined his fingers, staring down at them in deep thought. "There's a lot of reasons, actually. But they're just that-- reasons." He clutched the shirt over his heart. "There's this deep feeling inside of me that I get from her. And I don't really know how to explain it but it feels like fire. Like this wild fire letting loose and bursting out of me."
"And you label this unknown feeling as hatred? Anger?"
"Well, no. Not exactly. What I hate is how foreign it is. How foreign she is." Eren frowned. "One day she shows up, wind flowing in her dark hair with that mysterious aura, and everything changes. And I can't keep up with it. I feel so... so helpless."
He clutched his red scarf. "The one thing I hate most in this world is feeling helpless."
"Damn, I think there's another layer we gotta unwrap here." Connie took a left. "But I don't think 5 minutes is going to be enough for your whole tragic backstory so let's move on to a different topic. What's something good you can say about Mikasa?"
Eren scratched his cheek. "Uhh. I guess she's strong..?"
"Care to elaborate?"
"Don't push me, Springer."
"Geez, alright. Now can you tell me any time you felt somewhat happy with Mikasa?"
Eren racked his brain for a memory of such event. Throughout these two weeks since Mikasa had made her arrival, the only thing coming up in his mind was Mikasa, ugh, Mikasa, ugh, Mikasa, ughhh.
He sat up, eyes widening at one of his earlier memories of her. The day he showed her around the mall. It had been awkward, both of them terribly bad at socialising and the fact that the whole reason Eren was showing her around in the first place was because he wanted to clear up the beef he had with her.
But at the end of the tour, something pleasant had happened. The little moment they shared when Eren had bought them ice cream.
Before he could even realise what he was doing, a small smile started to make its way across his face. "When I found out strawberry was her favourite ice cream flavour."
"Hm, interesting. Very interesting."
"Wait." Eren turned around. "Everything we've said here is confidential right? You're not going to tell anyone?"
Connie turned around briefly to grin at him. "You're on live TV, dude. The whole world knows."
Eren turned back with a grumble. "Dick."
"So, do you notice it? You said that one good thing about Mikasa is that she's strong. But during that time when you felt happy with her, was she what you would describe as strong?"
"No," Eren whispered. "She- She was softer. I saw her smile."
Connie hummed, tapping a finger on the steering wheel. "You know what I think, Eren? If you really want to be cool with Mikasa, talk to her. Open up to each other. It isn't that hard. Which leaves me to one last question. Do you want to be cool with her?"
"I- shit!"
Both Eren and Connie cursed when the golf cart was hit in the side, causing Eren to lurch to his right.
"Hey!" Connie shook his fist in the air at the person that crashed into them. "Where'd you learn to drive?!"
Reiner rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry. I was having some fun with the golf cart."
Connie lit up at that. "Say, wanna race?"
Eren's brows shot up. "What? No-"
"Hell yeah." Reiner grinned, tightening his grip on the steering wheel.
Connie did the same, calling over his shoulder to Eren, "Hold on tight!"
Eren put one foot on the ground, ready to get off the cart. He did not what to be involved in a cart crash today. "I think I should- AHHH!"
Connie had sped up significantly, causing Eren to almost tip over and fall to his doom. He held onto the pole at his side tightly.
"Please keep all body parts in the golf cart, Sir!"
"YOU IDIOT!"
The golf cart moved at speeds not meant for a mere golf cart. It tipped dangerously to the side whenever Connie turned right or left. The cart got some serious air time when it jumped over speed bumps, landing on the ground with such force that it rattled Eren's bones. Eren squeezed his eyes shut as the sounds of wind howling mixed with screams and laughter filled his ears.
Suddenly, Eren felt himself going up. And up and up and up-
He opened his eyes.
"Oh no."
The golf cart was heading up a ramp so high and steep that Eren felt like he was going to fall off.
"We head to the top and drive back down as fast as we can!" Reiner called.
"I was thinking the exact same thing!"
"Of course you were," Eren said to himself in misery. "Of course you fucking were."
Connie grinned. "First one down wins?"
Reiner nodded. "First one down wins."
The two golf carts reached the top of the peak and Connie looked behind at Eren. "Let's do this."
"Please don't," he squeaked out.
Then Connie was stepping on the pedal and they were diving down at full speed.
"AHHHH!"
Eren sobbed as he freefalled to his death. His knuckles were white from where he had the pole in a tight grip.
"Nothing to worry about," he said. "I won't go too fast," he said. Well look at us now you liar!
"Oh SHIT!"
The golf cart took a sudden sharp turn to the left, and with the crazy speed it was going at, it was no surprise that the cart tipped over completely.
Eren and Connie crashed to the ground with the fallen golf cart, the impact causing them to roll a few feet away from it. Eren whimpered, hugging the ground close to him. Every muscle in his body ached so, so painfully. Tears of relief dropped from his eyes and he was glad that whole nightmare was over.
Connie groaned.
And Eren glared at him. He mustered up all the power he had to grab the front of his uniform and scream into his ear. "Why did you that?! Do you have a death wish?! Why did you turn left-"
"Tch."
Eren froze. He stared with wide eyes as Chief Levi glared down his nose at them with annoyance.
"When I said enjoy your happiness for today, I didn't mean drive the golf carts around the parking lot like it's some goddamn Formula One."
"Chief, I'm so sorry. I took no part in this, I swear." Eren stumbled to get up but groaned when something in his body screamed at him to stop. "Ouch..."
The chief sighed. "Can you make it to your shift tomorrow?"
"Yes! Yes, I can." Eren was not about to take a day off with Mikasa around.
"Good."
"Actually, Sir, I think I broke a bone or something," Connie winced, though it sounded fake to Eren's ears. "I probably need to miss my shift tomorrow."
"Yeah, me too," Reiner said. "My, ugh, my arm's feeling kinda off. Might have to miss two days."
"Yeah, yeah."
Chief Levi blinked at them indifferently. "Continue lying to my face and I will have you two work overtime."
They shook their heads furiously.
"Then get off your asses and clean this mess up!"
"Yes, Chief!"
Connie and Reiner sprung to their feet just as the chief walked away from the scene. Eren tried to get up as well but he was struggling a little.
Connie stuck out a hand for him. "Sorry, bud."
Eren pursed his lips but grabbed it anyway. He grumbled to himself as he tried to steady himself on his feet.
"Reiner and I'll clean this mess. You go patch yourself up."
"Hmph, fine."
"Oh, Eren." Connie placed a hand on Eren's shoulder. "Remember what I said, 'kay? You can try talking to her at your shift tomorrow."
"Alright..."
"Seriously, dude. You can only change something if you want to."
"Hmm." Eren averted his eyes to the ground. "When did you get so wise?"
Connie cackled. "Binging Dr Phil and a shit ton of superhero shows does that to you."
Eren snorted. He stuck his hands in his pockets. "Wish me luck for tomorrow. I'm going to need it."
***
Eren went to work feeling pissed.
Night shifts weren't exactly his most favourite thing in the world. Most malls closed at 10pm, but not Paradis Mall. No, this mall was open 24/7!
How great was that.
Eren found it to be somewhat stupid because what was the point of opening up a mall when most of the stalls inside were closed. Another sucky thing about night shifts was that the mall became a ghost town. The mall loses its liveliness and crowded customers because all of them were in their beds sleeping. So with no action or people around, working hours felt longer.
It didn't help that he was going to feel every single painful second of the hour with Mikasa.
He grumbled as he checked in his attendance. He headed to where his shift took place, the mall's second entrance, pausing when he sees someone already there.
Eren took in a deep breath.
You can do this!
He walked up to the one empty chair next to Mikasa and sat down. He scooted to the side a little, uncomfortable with how close the chairs were put together. He took a glance at his left.
Mikasa sat up straight with her hands crossed over her lap and Eren was brought back to yesterday, when the chief had called them both in to the meeting room. He was remembered of the whole reason they were doing this.
To bond.
Eren shifted in his chair awkwardly. He felt like he had to say something. That looming pressure to make up with Mikasa was killing him. Everyone was counting on him to not fuck this up for the MSSG.
But damn it, Eren couldn't bring himself to do it. He didn't want to talk to Mikasa. Why should he? If anything, why wasn't she initiating anything? Maybe if she said something, then maybe Eren might just say something back. But none of them were saying anything, sitting in tense silence until it was break time.
Eren unwrapped his sandwich, taking a grateful bite of it. He loved sandwiches because of how light and tasty they were. Definitely his favourite snack.
Mikasa, however, sat still, showing no signs of moving to go get some food.
Eren gulped down his bite. He studied her discreetly as he ate. There was a part of him telling him that this was a great opportunity. He could use this to ask her if she brought any food, or even offer up one of his sandwiches to her.
Then again, there was another part of him that was completely defiant to what his other side was telling him. All he wanted to do was keep to himself and not interact with her. Both parts of him were stuck in an intense war in his mind, trying to overcome one another and prevail.
Before he knew it, his shift was over and there was an uneaten sandwich in his bag, the product of his indecision.
Mikasa got up, back facing him.
Eren reached out, hand paused mid-air. He could still give her the sandwich, still say something to her.
Eren lowered his gaze and dropped his hand down.
He couldn't do it. His stomach felt sick when he thought about doing any of that. He shook his head, getting up as well. Tonight was definitely not a success, but that didn't matter. Eren felt no regret about his missed opportunity today because there was going to be much, much more opportunities in the future.
He was spending all his night shifts with Mikasa, after all.
For better or for worse, only time will tell.
Notes:
I laughed like crazy writing this chapter lol
Also, when I was younger, I used to see security guards driving golf carts around the mall's parking lot and I actually got the chance to ride on one because we couldn't find our car! Little me thought it was the coolest thing ever.
Chapter 7: Practice
Chapter Text
Ring!
Ring!
Ring!
"Ugh... I'm tired..."
Rriiiiingg!
Eren groaned, rolling onto his back to retrieve his phone. White light blinded his eyes as he unlocked it. He squinted harder at the screen.
"Armin?"
The furrow between his brows deepened as he wondered why Armin was calling him so early in the morning. He let out a huff, accepting the call to find out.
"Armin, what the hell-"
"Eren! Do you have any idea what time it is?!"
Eren winced at the shrill voice blaring from his phone. He held it further from his ear.
"Armin, can you speak a little softer? It's too early for this."
"Early? Early?! It's 9 in the morning!"
"9?" Eren felt his mood sour at that. He snuggled into his blankets grumpily. "That's so fucking early."
"Do you know what day it is today?"
"Huh?"
In the background, Eren heard another voice. It sounded like Jean screaming something at Armin. Then, there was the sound of rustling before Jean's voice was in Eren's ear.
"You asshole! We have soccer practice today! Wake the fuck up and get over here right now! Because of you the chief is having us do laps around the field!"
"Oh shit!" Eren got off his bed, gathering his jersey and toothbrush. He cursed himself for letting this happen again. Practice started at 9 and here he was still sound asleep at 9:15. Eren rubbed his face, grumbling low in his throat. "Damn it, I'm such an idiot."
"Hearing you say that... made me feel so much better."
Eren groaned. "Fuck you, Jean."
"How dare-"
"Give me back my phone, Jean. Chit-chatting with Eren is just going to distract him." Armin popped up. "Hey, Eren."
"Yeah?"
"Hurry up! My legs can't take any more of this! If I die today it's your fault!" He hung up before Eren got the chance to respond.
Eren rubbed at his ear with a pout.
"Ow."
***
"Thanks a lot, Jaeger."
Eren rubbed at his face with a grumble.
This was not his fault. Not really, at least.
He had a night shift yesterday. That meant he was awake up until 5 in the morning! What was he supposed to do? Sleep for four hours? Frankly, that was totally unfair and unacceptable. And now the chief wanted them to run another five laps after he finally arrived at like 9:30 ish. Even for the chief, this was too cruel.
He rolled his sleeves up to his shoulders and stomped down to the chief.
"Oi!" Jean called. "Where the hell do you think you're going?"
"To find justice in this cruel world!"
He walked up to where Chief Levi was talking to Erwin about something. Eren hovered beside them awkwardly, silently simmering with anger, as he waited for them to finish.
After a full three minutes, Chief Levi turned his head to him and blinked, as if he had just noticed him. "Aren't you supposed to be running laps right now?"
"Chief! About that. I think that it's a little unreasonable to punish us for me showing up just a teensy late to practice. I mean, I did have a night shift yesterday."
Chief Levi was silent, seemingly mulling over the thought in his head. "Hmm. I suppose you're right."
Eren's eyes widened. Did the chief just agree with him? Holy shit, he did. He must still be sleeping. This feels like a dream.
The chief nodded to himself. "All of you can stop except for you, Eren."
An arrow of betrayal pierced threw his heart. "What?"
"Since you're so obsessed about being fair, I'd say having you do five more laps is fair. Considering the fact that your friends started early," the chief explained, twisting the arrow deeper into his heart. He arched a brow up at Eren. "Don't you think, Eren?"
Eren sucked in a breath. God, he hated how right the chief was. "Y-Yes, Chief. That is correct."
"Good. Don't worry, I won't have you run laps all by yourself. Mikasa will join you."
Eren's face paled. He'd rather run laps alone than run laps with her. "Chief, t-that's not necessary! Mikasa already did her fair share of laps."
"Erwin." Chief Levi faced him with a passive gaze. "As the top officer of the Special Forces, do you think five more laps would be fair for Mikasa?"
Erwin smiled. "Absolutely. In fact, it'll be better to give Mikasa something a little more difficult than the others to really give her a challenge."
The chief turned to Eren with a nod. "And there you have it. Now start running before I start hunting you down the field myself."
Eren quickly walked backwards and away from him. The image of the chief chasing him was unsettling, to say the least. It reminded him of a dream he got when a monster was chasing him and he was trying to run away but no matter how hard he tried, he felt like he wasn't going fast enough. Almost as if he were running on a treadmill.
Yeah, to imagine Chief Levi's impassive face on the monster...
Eren shuddered. Better get running, then.
It wasn't even halfway through the first lap when Eren was panting harshly. His whole body was so sore and exhausted. Four hours of sleep probably would have been enough for him.
But the truth was, Eren got around an hour of sleep. He couldn't tell, to be honest, because the only thing he remembered doing last night was thinking about his night shift with Mikasa.
Every hour, every minute, every millisecond, he recreated it in his head and thought about it. He spent all night thinking about how Mikasa was right next to him. And he knew he said that he didn't regret anything and he had many other opportunities in the future blablabla, but fuck, there was a throbbing pain in his heart when he thought about that uneaten sandwich.
It wasn't like he had regret or whatever. He just felt a little bad. Concerned, to be exact. Why didn't Mikasa bring her own food? Was she not hungry? Did she forget? If Eren had given her his sandwich, would she have shown him that small smile he had seen before? Embarrassing as it was, Eren spent all night thinking about all of this. And now, he was facing the consequences for it.
As if this wasn't bad enough...
Someone bumped into him, knocking him out of his thoughts.
Eren paused as he watched Mikasa running past him. He gritted his teeth when he realised what had happened. He started to chase after her. "Hey! Aren't you going to say sorry?"
She turned around briefly and said over her shoulders, "Apologies."
Eren scowled. Apologies? What kind of half-assed apology was that?
He picked up his pace, not allowing Mikasa to stay ahead of him. He admittedly struggled, but with sheer willpower he managed to close the distance between them.
He shot her a grin. "I bet I'm faster."
Mikasa said nothing, though she began to speed up. Eren grumbled and bumped into her side. The look on her face satisfied him, but the joy was outlived when she shoved back.
Eren gasped, stumbling back a few feet from Mikasa. He growled.
Two can play at that game.
All of his exhaustion from earlier was long forgotten as he ran like his life depended on it. In this case, it was overcoming Mikasa in a match of the quickest, which, in his opinion, was much more important.
It seemed like Mikasa also thought so because they were suddenly in a battle of shoving and running. It went on until they reached their last lap, the shoving getting more aggressive.
Eren stuck his arm out to stop Mikasa from bumping into him. The finish line was right in front of him.
"Let go!"
He tried shaking her off but she was so damn strong it was near impossible. Just as they were about to reach the finish line, their legs tangled with each other, causing Eren to stumble to the ground.
He let out an ooph when he felt someone drop down on top of him.
Wait-
Mikasa let out a soft groan and Eren could feel the puff of breath against his cheek. He blushed when the scent of strawberries filled his nose. He turned his head to the side, overwhelmed with how close Mikasa's face was. This was just like last time. His heart stuttered when he realised that both his wrists were pinned over his head, leaving him completely trapped under her.
He looked back at her with wide eyes. "W-What?" was the only thing he could utter out because his mind had completely disconnected from his body.
Mikasa stared down at him with an unreadable expression, and he could have sworn there was a light blush dusting her cheeks. He was so shocked by it that he ended up shifting his legs, which prompted her to get off of him.
"H-Hey," he called for her but she walked away without turning back.
Eren frowned, casting his gaze down to his hands. He rubbed at his wrists, the red circles around them made his mind drift to Mikasa's grip on him. Her hands were rough and calloused, which was expected from the work she did, but in a way, they were also soft. And small. Eren pressed his hands together, trying to imagine one of it as Mikasa's. He wondered how small Mikasa's hands would be compared to his.
"Yo."
Eren shrieked, jumping high up in the air as if he had been caught doing something weird.
He grabbed his heart as he panted out loud. "Connie! I just ran five laps! You could've given me a heart attack."
Connie waved his hand in the air dismissively. He grinned at him and wiggled his brows. "So. How did it go?
"Huh? Oh." Eren's face grew warm. He hated the way Connie talked about Mikasa to him. "It was okay. But I didn't really make any progress."
"You didn't talk to her? At all?"
Eren shook his head.
"Dumbass!" Connie punched him in the arm. "How do you call that okay?"
Eren rubbed at his arm. "Ow..."
Connie pinched the bridge of his nose. "I can't believe you."
"I'll do better next time, alright?" Eren sighed to himself. "I never thought the day would come where you would call me a dumbass."
"Bro, I can call you all types of things when you're with Mikasa."
"What does that even mean?"
There was the shrill sound of a whistle, cutting through their conversation like a knife. Eren covered his hands over his ears with a wince.
"What the hell was that?"
"Everyone!" The sound of Chief Levi's screaming answered his question. "We're not hosting a meet and greet where you can all chitchat! We're here to train for the destruction of the Titans!"
Eren cowered under the chief's intense gaze. He must be even more fixed on winning this game than Eren. Chief Levi despised Titans' mall security with every fibre of his being because of how high and mighty they acted, which wasn't so surprising since Titans Mall was somewhat a more sophisticated mall than Paradis. He especially hated that Zeke guy.
Chief Levi cleared his throat. "Before that, I have some small news. Erwin has offered to co-coach this team so you brats better listen to him."
"Yes, Chief!"
He turned to Erwin. "What do we do first, co-coach?"
"First of all, let's do some cone exercises."
***
Eren grumbled low in his throat as he tried to dribble the ball around the cones. He grumbled harder when he hit one and then another one and another and so on. Chief Levi didn't really focus much on the cones back when he was coaching them, but Erwin seemed to be obsessed with them. They'd been dribbling the ball around cones for an hour now and Eren was slowly losing his grip on his sanity.
By the last cone, Eren snapped. He kicked the ball as hard as he can, not noticing how far it went because he went to kick at the cones as well.
"Fuck this! Fuck you, you stupid cone!"
Eren was midway kick when Erwin placed a hand on his shoulder.
"E-Erwin! I'm so sorry. I just got a little frustrated."
"It's alright, Eren." Erwin tapped at his chin in thought. "These cones are a test of agility and I see that it's not something you're used to. You're someone who uses brute force, which isn't exactly bad, but in a sport like this, it is a bit frustrating, isn't it? I'm guessing you've gotten a handful of penalties in the past."
Eren rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Y-Yeah..."
"Not to worry." Erwin pointed in front of them, to where Eren had kicked the ball so far from here that his eyes widened. Erwin grinned. "I'm sure if you find a way to control that force, you'll be unstoppable."
Eren perked up, saluting with a smile. "Yes, Sir!"
Erwin turned to address the rest of the group. "Let's move on to our next exercise. We're going to have a match so I need all of you to split into two groups."
Before everyone could even begin calling out their teammates, Chief Levi stepped forward. "I'll be choosing the teams."
Everyone whined.
"The more you whine, the more I feel like separating you from your buddies."
Eren crossed his arms with a grumble. This sucked ass. With how the chief had been acting lately, Eren knew he wasn't going to miss out on an opportunity to group him and Mikasa on the same team.
"Team A we have Marco, Jean, Annie, Bertholdt, Eren and Mikasa."
Eren's jaw dropped. He wasn't surprised that Mikasa was on his team but the fact that Jean was in his team too and Armin wasn't. And not only that, but Jean's best friend was?
What a load of shit.
"That means Team B will be Sasha, Connie, Armin, Reiner, Christa and Ymir."
Eren went to huddle with his team, displeased with the unfairness of it all.
"Who's going to be the goalie?" he muttered.
"Dibs not it," Jean said.
Annie and Mikasa shrugged.
Marco rubbed at his chin. "I think Bertholdt would make a good goalie. Since he's tall and has long limbs."
Eren raised a brow at Bertholdt. "You good with that, Bert?"
Bertholdt nodded. "I don't like running much anyway."
"Alright, now that that's settled, let's do this."
Marco stuck his hand out and they all placed his hand over his.
"Wait, wait!" Eren paused the cheer, uncomfortable with the arrangement of their hands. Jean's was beneath him and Mikasa's was on top. It was like some kind of bad luck fortune. He arranged their hands so that his was between Marco's and Bertholdt's. "There. Much better."
"Weirdo," Jean mumbled.
Then they cheered "Team A!" before dispersing from the huddle.
Chief Levi flipped a coin, landing on heads which meant Team A got the first ball. He blew the whistle and Eren wasted no time in dribbling the ball in the direction of the goal.
Connie came up at him first, trying to get the ball away from him. Eren tried to escape him but Connie was annoyingly persistent. He went left when he went left and went right when he went right.
Connie smirked. "Ooh, where you gonna go, where you gonna go? Is it right? Or left?"
He pointed behind Eren with a gasp. "Oh my god, Mikasa stole your water bottle!"
Eren whipped his head around, confused when he saw Mikasa standing in the middle of the field, no where near his bottle.
There was a cackle and Eren cursed himself because Connie had stolen the ball from him.
"Sucker!"
Eren chased after him, sighing in relief when Marco managed to steal the ball from him.
Eren called out to him. "Marco, pass!"
On Marco's other side, Jean yelled, "Marco, over here, pass!"
"No, here!"
"Me!"
"Marco, me!"
"No, me!"
Marco looked between them back and forth, hands on his head as he physically melted down. He didn't even react as Sasha snatched the ball from him.
"Hey, I got the ball!" She scratched her head. "What now?"
Ymir wrapped her hands around her mouth and yelled, "Shoot it in the goal, you idiot!"
"Oh yeah!"
Sasha kicked the ball in the direction of their goal, and Eren watched as Bertholdt flinched, allowing the ball to fly past him and hit the net.
Eren slapped his face.
"GOAAAL!" yelled Sasha, Connie, Ymir and Reiner.
Eren rubbed at his temples. Good grief, Chief Levi sure knows how to pick the most chaotic teammates.
He shook his head and focused on where Marco had the ball in the center of the field. He was going to do the kick-off. Marco ended up kicking the ball too far, and it rolled right in front of Reiner, the other team's goalie.
"Oh, whoops."
Reiner grinned as he grabbed the ball and drew it back as far as he can before letting go. The ball flew all the way across the field, a few feet from Team A's goal.
"Holy shit," Eren muttered as he chased after the ball.
He let out a thanks when Bertholdt hesitantly kicked the ball to him. He dribbled the ball to the other side, but halfway there, Connie blocked him again, along with Sasha.
They grinned menacingly at him.
"Give up the ball, Jaeger-boy."
"Yeah," Sasha said, her voice muffled by something in her mouth. "Give up the ball!"
Eren furrowed his brows, not wanting to know what foreign object Sasha was eating. He bit his lip as he tried to figure out a way out of this. In the peripheral of his vision, he caught Annie standing not so far from him.
"Annie!" he called as he kicked the ball over to her.
His jaw dropped when Annie merely stood still with a bored expression on her face.
"Annie!" he said, exasperated.
His shoulders deflated when he realised that the ball was going to roll out the field. Except, it never did.
Mikasa managed to get the ball and Eren didn't know if he should sigh or cry because yay, she got it, but also ugh, she got it.
"Mikasa, pass!" he called to her.
However, she didn't respond, dribbling the ball by herself as she headed to the goal. And damn, if she wasn't like her own entire team. She was fast, and incredibly agile, slipping between the other team like water and, in a way, it was mesmerising to watch. That fact made Eren pissed.
He chased after her, trying to steal the ball away from her. Just like when they were running earlier, Mikasa pushed him to the side. He retaliated, continuing his pursuit to get the ball.
On the sidelines, Chief Levi uttered out, "What the fuck?" He approached them closer and yelled, "What the fuck do you think you two idiots are doing?! You're on the same goddamned team, for fuck's sake!"
Eren ignored him, furious as he and Mikasa started to dribble the one ball together. The goal was right in front of them and with or without Mikasa dribbling right beside him, Eren was going to score this goal.
Armin watched in horror as both of them drew their foot back, determined looks on their faces as they kicked the ball at the same time.
"AHHH!" Armin shrieked, jumping to the side, away from the goal and leaving an opening for them.
Reiner tried to catch the ball but with the force it was going at, it managed to fly pass his fingertips and onto the net.
Eren threw his fists in the air. "Now that's what I'm talking abou-"
He groaned when a ball collided with his head. He turned to where a seething Chief Levi stood, hands balled up in fists at his sides. "That was the most unbelievable thing I have ever witnessed in this shitty life! How is that even possible? How- How-" He buried his face into his hands, mumbling unintelligible words.
Eren scratched at his cheek with a finger. "Uhh."
"Yeesh." Connie crossed his arms. "I think you broke the chief."
Ymir barked out a laugh. "That stunt you pulled was fucking hilarious."
Sasha nodded, trying to mimic the scene. "You were all like, Mikasa, ball. Mikasa, ball! and Mikasa was like, Get the fuck outta my way bitch and then at the end you both were like, COMBINED POWER AGHHH!"
Eren flinched when she squished both her hands together, garbling out nonsense.
Christa laughed, tears dropping from her eyes. "Seriously, it was like some hidden video game move."
Eren face scrunched up at the thought of calling what just happened a hidden move. It was far from that. "It wasn't on purpose. Mikasa was getting in my way."
"Come on, everyone," Erwin called, grabbing their attention. "We still have 40 more minutes of game time left."
Eren's jaw dropped.
40?!
Oh, god. Today was going to be a long day.
***
By the end up their training, Eren's entire body was sore and he was desperate for air and water.
Erwin smiled at them proudly. "Great job today! I'm sure with more practice we can win the MSSG."
Everyone groaned out in pain in response. Erwin sure was nice and all but holy shit was this guy ruthless with his training. It was at times like this when Eren was reminded that this guy was literally the commander of the Special Forces. He felt somewhat honoured that he was getting soccer training from him.
Eren gathered his things and limped his way to the changing room.
"Eren!" Armin approached him. "You going home now?"
"Not yet. If I go home exhausted like this I'm going to drop dead on my bed the second I see it, all sweaty and gross like this. So I'm gonna take a shower here first."
"Ohh, that's actually pretty smart."
Eren smirked at him. "You're not the only one with brains, Arlert. See ya."
"Bye!"
As Eren began to strip off his clothes, he heard voices coming from the other side of the changing room.
"-was good today. I'm surprised, actually," came Erwin's voice.
"Surprised?" The chief scoffed. "I'm fucking baffled. Eren, that kid, he's too stubborn. Same goes to Mikasa."
Eren pouted at the chief calling him a stubborn kid. Sure, they had a 12 year age gap but Eren was 24-ish. He listened closely to their conversation, his attention peaked.
"That is true, but I've never seen a group of co-workers with that amount of spirit for a sport they play once a year. They might bicker often, however, there is great potential in their team," Erwin said, excitement in his voice. "If we increased the amount of training they got, they could've beaten the Titans a long time ago. So how come every year, you've only had practice two times before a game?"
Chief Levi was silent for a moment, before speaking up. "I guess you're probably right. Of course, I want to win, but... I trust them. They're all idiots with young and wandering souls or whatever. They have well-intentioned, pure spirits and I guess, I don't want to meddle with their growth."
He scoffed. "It's not like I have to, anyway. Do you know how many store glasses they've broken from practicing soccer in the mall before the game?"
Erwin let out a laugh. "Is that so?"
"Yeah, I lost my shit, but they still kept doing it like it never happened." He sighed. "But in a way, it reassured me that I was right. That with their own will, they'll accomplish something great. Until then, I'll have to clean up after their shit."
Eren clutched his heart with an absolutely smitten look on his face. He felt like he was going to cry after hearing all that. The chief believed in them. All this time, he'd been cheering them on silently.
Eren wiped the single tear from his eye with a sniff.
I won't let you down, Chief. This time, I mean it.
***
The second Eren got home, he didn't drop dead on his bed.
No, his body might have been nonfunctioning but his mind was whirring with determination. Tomorrow night, he was going to have a shift with Mikasa, so he needed to plan beforehand.
First, he needed to figure out what food to bring so that he could offer it to Mikasa. Probably something strawberry related. Yogurt? Sandwiches?
Eren snapped his fingers.
A pastry! Strawberry pastries were delicious, right? Probably. He was sure Mikasa would appreciate strawberry anything. Alright, so this meant that he had to buy some pastries tomorrow morning before his shift.
Next, planning out what he was going to say to Mikasa.
Eren grabbed a paper and pen, turning on the lamp on his desk as he started brainstorming ideas of how he was going to go about holding a conversation with her. He grumbled at how forced and stupid most of them were, aggressively crossing them out.
How are you?
Do you like eating? I like eating.
The weather looks nice this time of night.
Eren banged his head on the table. The weather looks nice? What was he talking about? They were having a shift in the middle of the night. All there was to see were dark skies and full moons.
He ditched the list. He guessed he just had to go with the flow tomorrow.
Lastly, practicing their encounter.
Eren went to his bathroom, grabbing a bottle of lotion and imagining it as the pastry he was going to give Mikasa. He smiled widely, then frowned when his reflection revealed how ugly he looked. He tried smiling again, this time less strained. It still needed improvement but it was better.
He took in a deep breath. "Hey, Mikasa. I noticed that you didn't have any food with you. Do you want a pastry? It's strawberry flavoured."
Silence.
And Eren realised what he was doing. He watched with humiliation as his face turned red at the thought of him practicing in front of the mirror for Mikasa. Why was he getting so worked up about this?
He slapped his face. "Come on, everyone's counting on you."
"Hey, I got an extra pastry. I figured you might want it since it's strawberry flavoured and all."
He sighed. That sounded much better. Laid-back and less desperate. Perfect, honestly.
He nodded to himself in the mirror.
This time, he was going to do it right.
Chapter 8: Trying
Chapter Text
Eren was an idiot.
He realised this, not as he was dropping down at the pastry shop to buy strawberry flavoured pastries, not as he was revising the words he was going to say to Mikasa.
But, when he was sitting down next to her on their shift.
He realised how weird this whole thing was. Not only going the extra effort to buy food for her but the fact that he remembered her favourite flavour? When did she tell him that, three weeks ago? Why did he still remember that, after supposedly hating her this whole time?
He felt idiotic, seeing her completely unbothered to him while he was hyping himself up the whole day for this exact moment. She was so composed, eyes focused on everything happening around her like she was supposed to do.
Eren, on the other hand, was a mess.
A very idiotic mess.
He couldn't concentrate on anything but her. He kept stealing brief glances of her, for what reason, he did not know. To make sure she was still there? It sounded stupid, but, that wasn't even the worst part. For some reason, his heart would beat harder everytime he spared a look at her. It sped up, leaving him breathless. Maybe it was the thrill of getting caught staring at her, maybe it was the jitters from what he was about to do. But that still didn't make any sense because why?
Why was he so nervous?
Eren let out a frustrated scream, running a hand through his hair.
Mikasa turned her head to him, cocking it slightly.
"Sorry," he mumbled.
Come on, Eren. Get a fucking grip. This is nothing. Just give her the pastry and get this over with.
He took in a deep breath and tried to stay calm. He succeeded, up until it was their break, and his heart started going into overdrive again.
He got out his Tupperware container, opening it and taking out his sausage bun. He nibbled on it mindlessly as he observed Mikasa. She didn't seem to be making any move. She didn't have a bag next to her, nor did she seem like she was going to get up.
Eren's heart jumped.
This was his chance.
He cleared his throat. "Uh, Mikasa."
She met his gaze. "Yes."
"I noticed that you're not eating anything, right now, during our break." Eren winced. That was terrible, and nothing like he had practiced. "So, uhm, I thought- I have some extra food that you might like."
He reached into his bag and grabbed the white bag of pastries, handing it over to her. "They're strawberry flavoured," he added lamely.
She took it from him wordlessly, still silent as she stared into the bag. Eren began to sweat, head filling with doubt as he started to rethink the decisions that had led him to this agonisingly painful moment.
Then, "Did you buy this for me?"
Eren choked.
How did she know?
How the fuck did she know?!
No no no. His plan. His perfectly crafted plan was burning to ashes. And now Mikasa was going to laugh, throw the bag of pastries at him, and think he was some weird creep.
Eren opened his mouth, ready to vomit words of denial when he paused, seeing the look on Mikasa's face.
Her lips were slightly parted, features softening as she took out one strawberry tart. And, in the dark of the night, the only light source emitting from the mall and onto her face, Eren could see a faint blush on her cheeks.
His heart skipped a beat. "Y-Yes, I did, actually."
"You didn't have to," she said softly.
"Well, yeah, but it was bothering me. You didn't bring one last time so I thought maybe you forgot or whatever and I couldn't just watch you not eat anything while I was stuffing my face with my own food so I figured I should get you something. Because I have a conscience, that is. A guilty one," he rambled.
"Thanks." She bit on the tart, munching on it silently.
Eren sighed, going to eat at his own food. He did it. It was finally over. Now he could relax and be at ease with his soul-
"I didn't forget."
Eren blinked. Mikasa spoke to him. First. She was taking initiative and leaving an opening for him. An opening of the beginning of a conversation. Should he go along with it? He should. This was a good thing. He should take it and embrace it.
"Really? Then why didn't you bring any food?"
Mikasa chewed on the tart, only responding when she finished swallowing. "I don't need to eat much."
Eren frowned. "We're sitting down for ten hours straight doing nothing. Even for someone like you, not eating something is a little much."
She shrugged. "I'm used to it. I don't eat often."
"Huh?! What else can you be doing that's more important than eating?"
"Working out. Exercising."
Eren rubbed at his temples. "But as an officer, surely you have some kind of nutritional diet right? Like veggies, meat, fruits?"
Mikasa hesitated. "I normally eat microwave food. And protein bars from time to time."
Eren's jaw dropped.
This was Mikasa, the top officer of the Special Forces, the Mikasa who was punctual and perfect in everything, the Mikasa who always seemed to be better than Eren. This same Mikasa was living off of protein bars and microwave food.
Eren let out a pained laugh.
The world really was cruel, huh?
He sighed. "How come?"
"Food ran out and I didn't bother buying more."
Eren held up a finger in front of him. "Hold on. So if I opened your refrigerator at this moment, what would I see?"
"Uhm... Milk? Some leftovers too, maybe."
"And your cabinets?"
"The protein bars."
"Geez, Mikasa."
Eren never intended to care for Mikasa in any way or worry about her, but damn, was she making it hard not to.
"When was the last time you went grocery shopping?"
Mikasa was silent for a while and he called for her with a raised brow. "Hey? Earth to Mikasa, are you there?"
She bit her lip. "Four years ago."
"Four years..." he whispered. "Four years ago?!"
Eren covered his mouth with his hands in disbelief.
How was that possible? How do you go four years without buying groceries?
He turned his head to Mikasa, ready to question her about it but stopped. She looked uncomfortable, fiddling with the bag in her hands and Eren realised how insensitive he was being. Maybe there was some personal reason for it. Like, she was probably busy with the Forces. Or maybe she was going through some shit.
He let out a deep breath.
"You know what? I'll go grocery shopping with you."
Mikasa's eyes widened slightly. "What?"
Eren nodded, firm as he said, "Tomorrow at 9, let's go grocery shopping."
"You- You don't have to."
Truthfully, Eren knew he didn't have to. He had no clue what he was doing, offering to hang out with her for a day. Mikasa was supposed to be his rival. He was still trying to prove he was the better security guard, after all.
But then again, she hadn't bought groceries in four years. Eren wasn't a monster. He couldn't just stand by and do nothing about it. Plus, he was sure Chief Levi would be proud to find out that Eren had went out of his way to spend time with Mikasa outside of work.
"No no no." Eren waved his hand in the air. "It's no problem. I was planning on getting some stuff too."
"Oh," she said in a soft voice. "Thank you."
Eren fished his hand inside his back pocket, retrieving a pen and paper. He flattened out the paper on his lap. "Since we literally have nothing better to do, let's start on the list now."
"Okay."
"Let's see..." Eren tapped his pen on the paper, thinking about all the possible items needed inside a living person's home. "First, you need some fruits. Bananas... Mangoes... Grapes..."
"And strawberries."
Eren huffed out a laugh. "Of course, and strawberries. Next, veggies, eggs, chicken, fish, oatmeal- wait." He looked up from the list to raise a brow at Mikasa. "Do you eat oatmeal?"
"I've tried it. It's okay."
"Good. That shit is good for you and it lasts long so you don't have to keep on buying more."
Mikasa nodded thoughtfully.
They listed down more items on the list, Eren finding out more about what Mikasa liked and what she didn't like. She seemed to love chocolate related things, like cake and brownies but she despised chocolate cereal, which was oddly specific but okay, he'll cross it off the list.
They had filled out more than half of the paper when a drop of water landed next to Eren's hand, forming a grey stain on the white surface. He blinked, confused at what unknown liquid had dropped down and looked up. Another drop of water fell and landed in the corner of his eye.
"Shit." He rubbed at his eye, feeling more drops splatter down onto his uniform. "I think it's raining."
Mikasa stuck out a hand, water splattering down onto it as well. "Oh."
He got up. "Come on, let's go inside."
They took the chairs and carried them inside the mall, taking protection from the rain behind the glass doors. Eren watched with a mixture of awe and disbelief at the rain that only seemed to be dropping down heavier. He'd never seen it rain on a night shift in months.
Eren barked out a laugh.
Mikasa flinched, tilting her head in question at Eren's sudden action.
She probably thought he was crazy.
Heck, Eren felt crazy.
Every second he spent with Mikasa, he felt himself slowly slipping into madness. So many emotions whirring in his tiny little heart, just like the rain outside. In the way the wind whirled around chaotically in different directions, unable to control itself. In the sound of rain thundering onto the ground, all to similar to his own beating heart.
One thing differed, though.
Where the rain felt cold, Eren felt warm. His heart, even as erratic as it was, even as confusing as it was, held warmth. Warmth that found its way into the chilliest parts of his heart, the parts he had never noticed. Or rather, the parts he had refused to notice.
He huffed out a small laugh. "The weather looks nice this time of night, huh?"
Mikasa looked even more confused at that. She turned to face the rain, probably to search for what Eren saw. Eren couldn't tell if she found it, what she was looking for.
But surprisingly, she whispered, "Yeah. It does."
And for a second, it sounded like she did, like she was the only one in the world who could understand him.
Eren cleared his throat. "So, let's continue, shall we?"
He continued jotting down necessary items, stopping when most of the paper was filled. He figured they shouldn't buy too many things at a time, money might be an issue. He folded the paper into a neat square and handed it over to Mikasa.
Before she could grab it, there was a loud and booming thunder.
"Sweet mother of chicken noodles!" Eren jumped, dropping the paper down to the floor. He sighed and placed a hand over his heart to calm himself.
He bent down to retrieve the folded paper but failed to notice that Mikasa was reaching for it too. As a result, their heads collided painfully.
"Ow, shi- ah fucking Jean!" Eren jumped from his chair at the sound of another thunder, this time louder than the last. His chair crashed to the ground as he tried to steady his breathing.
His heart just couldn't catch a break, could it?
There was the sound of someone huffing out a laugh and Eren shot his head to Mikasa, narrowing his gaze when he found her with a straight face on. Did he... imagine that?
She coughed into her fist. "Why did you call out Jean's name?"
"Huh? Did I..?" Eren placed his chair upright, grumbling to himself. "Must be instinct. He's so annoying, you know."
"I see."
"Anyway." Eren placed his hands on his hips as he stared out at the heavy rain, flinching at the bright spark of lightning. "It looks like it's going to be a really bad storm."
Just as he said that, there was a bright flash of light, then everything went dark.
"Shit." Eren reached into his pocket, taking out a flashlight. "The power went out."
He shone the light onto Mikasa, who stood up. "You alright?"
She nodded.
He sighed, rubbing at his head with his knuckle. "We'll have to go turn the power back on."
Mikasa followed behind him as he lit up their way to the electrical room. Eren was admittedly glad that she was here because not only was this mall big but it was creepy as hell too when it was all deserted and dark like this.
There was a loud bang from the grocery mart.
Eren's body froze. He turned around to Mikasa who stared back at him. He inhaled deeply.
Looks like they were taking a trip to the grocery mart first.
As they entered the mart, Eren's mind raced at the possibilities of what that sound might be. A shoplifter, perhaps. Maybe an item fell down and it was actually nothing serious. There were two other bangs and Eren swallowed.
Or maybe, it was something entirely different, like... A ghost?
Eren shook his head, turning around the corner of an aisle.
Had he completely lost his mind? He might have been scared of the idea of a ghost but in his 24-ish years of life he had never actually seen one. So the chances of him seeing one now was highly unlikely.
Was what he tried to tell himself.
"H-Hello?" he called into the dark. "Who's there?"
"Eren Jaeger."
Eren's brows shot up, and he swore, he almost pissed himself.
He turned to Mikasa. "D-Did you hear that?"
She nodded, expression more on guard.
Eren shone the light around him, searching for the source of the deep, crackly voice. His hands started to lose grip on the flashlight with how much they were sweating.
"Give up. You will not find me."
"W-Who are you? And how do you know my name?!"
The voice chuckled, and it sent a shiver down Eren's spine. "I am one who sees everything."
Eren felt like he was going to faint. His knees were weak, his breath was coming in short. This voice could either be a) a serial killer, b) God, or c) some other higher being. Regardless of what they were dealing with, the thing that was most obvious right now was that they had to get out of this mart.
Eren beckoned for Mikasa to follow him, making his way for the exit as silently as he could.
"Look up."
Eren did, shining his light on two lumps squatting on the shelves.
They let out a demonic scream and jumped down, their torn dresses flying behind them.
"AHHHH!"
Eren screamed, jumping onto Mikasa without a second thought as fear completely took over his body. Tears dropped down his eyes as he clinged onto Mikasa, watching in horror as the two monsters contorted their bodies, screaming unintelligible words as they approached them in twitchy movements.
"S-Step back!" he sobbed. "We'll leave you alone, we swear!"
As they got closer, Eren saw the thin hair hanging over their botched, wrinkled faces and the-
The blood on their mouth.
He buried his fingers into Mikasa's shirt, legs tightening around her waist. He whimpered.
This was it. This was how he was going to die.
In the middle of his distress, he felt Mikasa's arms tighten around his waist and it was silly, considering the situation they were in, but it made him feel so much better.
"Mikasa," he choked out. "Thank you for being here with me."
She placed a hand on his back.
He squeezed his eyes shut as he awaited their doom.
Then, there was the sound of laughter.
Eren opened his eyes back, wide and teary as he stared at the two monsters who were hunched over, laughter escaping them.
"W-What?"
The shorter monster slapped his knee. "Oh man. Oh man, that was hilarious!"
And Eren paused because wait, he recognised that voice.
The taller one hugged her sides, collapsing down to the floor as she sobbed out in laughter. "T-That was the- the best idea you've ever had, Connie!"
Eren could only stare as Connie and Sasha removed their masks. Connie dropped down to the floor with Sasha, cackling alongside her.
"What?" was all he could whisper because he was still in shock from what had happened.
Connie rubbed at the tears streaming down his face. "Sasha and I were getting bored, but then the power went out and we realised that you two were having night shifts together, so we decided to pull a little prank."
"H-Huh? What about t-that voice, then?"
Connie took out a microphone. "You- You mean this voice changer mic- bahaha!"
"So you're telling me, this whole thing was a- a prank?"
"Yes!" He laughed. "Dude, your face was gold!"
"And you're still hanging onto Mikasa!" Sasha added.
Eren's breath hitched, head shooting in front of him to meet Mikasa's gaze. Their noses bumped against each other.
"O-Oh!" He got off of her. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay," she whispered.
Eren rubbed his face with a grumble. He couldn't believe that just happened. He had jumped onto Mikasa out of fear from a nonexistent monster. Thank god she was able to carry him with no trouble. This wouldn't have even happened if it wasn't for-
"And what was it you said?" Connie began to get up, still laughing. "Thank you for being here with me? Oh boy, Eren. Oh my god, I can't believe you actually said that!"
Eren growled low in his throat, fists clenching at his sides. "I'll kill you, you dumb shits!" He went to reach for Connie but he dodged.
"Oh shit! We've awaken the beast! Sasha, run!" Connie grabbed Sasha's hands and dragged her off the ground.
"Come back here so I can fucking show you what a real monster looks like!"
Connie and Sasha shrieked, running away from him, only leaving behind the sounds of giggles.
Eren was about to chase after them when a snort from behind him stopped him in his place.
He turned around, eyes widening when he saw Mikasa hunched over, shaking with her laughter. Strands of dark hair fell into her eyes. Her eyes which were trying to stay open, glistening with genuine glee.
And wow, Eren had never seen anything like it. He had never seen anything as beautiful as this.
He smiled, letting himself laugh with her.
Chapter Text
Eren tapped his finger on the steering wheel. He grumbled as he checked the time on his phone.
9:25
He banged his head onto the steering wheel, eliciting a small honk.
Where the hell was Mikasa?
Eren was currently in his car, waiting outside Mikasa's apartment so that they could go grocery shopping. He arrived a little early, at 8:45, with the assumption that Mikasa was going to come down at 9 am sharp.
But it had been forty minutes and there was still no sign of Mikasa.
She was always punctual in everything, no matter what happened, so what in the hell was taking her so long?
Eren rubbed his temples.
Last night was the most embarrassing night of his life. He literally sobbed into Mikasa's shirt because of Connie and Sasha's stupid prank. And now, he was going to go grocery shopping with her like nothing happened.
But... He wouldn't lie.
Hearing Mikasa laugh like that made everything that happened almost worth it.
And, he wasn't sure how he felt about that. The fact that he felt this way made him scared. He was worried that if he got any more closer to Mikasa, everything would only get more complicated. The simple life that he knew would be thrown out the window because of her.
That irritated him so much, and because he didn't know why he felt so complicated around her in the first place made it more irritating.
He needed to talk to someone about this. A therapist, maybe. Or Connie. No, definitely him. Marco then?
Knock knock.
Eren turned to his left, finding Mikasa knocking on his window. He unlocked the doors and she opened it.
"Finally! What the heck was taking you so lo-" Eren cut himself off, mouth shutting when he caught a proper glance of Mikasa.
She wore a plain, black dress, a thin band around her waist. The dress stopped right above her knees, but as she sat down, it slipped up a little, revealing her mid-thighs and down.
And, wow. Oh wow.
Why did Mikasa's legs look so soft, yet so muscular? And so very wow.
"Sorry," she said. "I don't go out much."
That didn't really explain why she was late but Eren didn't question it. He swallowed. "It's, uhm, it's alright."
He drove out of the driveway, trying to divert his attention from Mikasa's legs that were so milky and strong and-
No.
He must not think about it.
He must not think about it. He must not think about how easy it was for Mikasa to choke him with just her legs. No, do not think about it.
This was nothing. The only reason he was getting worked up was because this was the first time Eren had seen her in a dress. They were going grocery shopping but Eren suddenly felt underdressed wearing his white coloured band shirt and light blue jeans. He felt lame sitting next to her.
He scowled, grumbling to himself to stop whatever it was he was doing. He had to concentrate on the road, not the dumb thoughts he had about Mikasa.
"You talk to yourself a lot."
Eren side-eyed Mikasa.
What.
Was that supposed to be an insult? Or a question?
"I wouldn't say a lot. Just sometimes, mostly when I'm pissed." He blinked, realising what he had just said.
Mikasa snorted.
He rolled his eyes. "Well, okay, maybe I do get pissed often. And maybe I do talk to myself. A lot. But why? Is it bothering you?"
Mikasa shook her head. "I noticed it, and wanted to point it out."
"Oh, yeah?" Eren scoffed. "What other oh so interesting and great things did you notice about me?" he asked jokingly.
"You're very weird, you have green eyes, you fuss over everything, you have bad taste in music."
"..."
"And," Mikasa's voice took on a soft tone. "You're different."
Eren raised a brow. "Different good or different bad?"
"I... I'm not sure yet."
"Hmm. Understandable." Eren fiddled with his grip on the steering wheel. "I know this is probably the most awkward situation to be in but the chief and everyone wants this. For us to, ahem, get along, that is. So, let's try to tolerate each other for the MSSG. After that, we can avoid each other all we want until this programme ends and then, we'll never have to see each other again."
Eren let out a breath. Why did his heart throb when he said that? It felt heavy lying in his chest, as if a sudden weight had been added.
Mikasa nodded. "Okay."
The weight grew heavier.
Eren ignored it, focusing instead on getting to Paradis Mall.
He definitely needed to talk to someone.
For now though, he was going to suck up all his complicated feelings and go grocery shopping with Mikasa.
***
Eren shut the door.
"We're here."
Mikasa looked around them at the deserted land. "Where?"
"Well..."
When Eren's mind was wandering in the car, he came to a realisation that he was going to Paradis Mall. The mall in which he and his friends worked. He was going to be seen with Mikasa the second he stepped into the parking lot. Thus, as a solution, he parked his car a few blocks away from the mall.
Eren explained this to Mikasa as they were walking down the street.
Mikasa was silent, then, she said, "You don't want to be seen with me?"
"It's not- It's not like that! Not really, anyway." Eren scratched his head. "It's just, they're all really childish for adults. So, if they were to see us, together, on a day off, who knows what thoughts will make their way into those imaginative minds of theirs. And I don't know about you, but trust me, it isn't fu-"
Mikasa grabbed Eren's arm and pulled him back, narrowly missing a car.
Eren's eyes went wide. "Holy shit."
"Be careful," she uttered.
"Uh, yeah, thanks."
For saving my life.
They made their way across the street, this time with Eren more focused on the road ahead of him, and reached the mall's premises in a few minutes.
Eren heightened his guard, beckoning for Mikasa to follow him as he hid behind a pillar.
He sneaked a glance at the entrance and asked, "Mikasa, how stealthy are you?"
"Very."
"Of course you are," he muttered under his breath. Louder, he said, "Okay, here's the plan. Jean and Sasha is at the entrance. We'll need to distract them, which is easy. Throw something edible and Sasha'll take the bait, Jean will follow her because he's bad at his job."
"Where are we going to get something edible?" Mikasa questioned.
"Don't worry about that, I've got it covered. We don't need to worry about surveillance cameras either because Annie's on a shift. What we do need to worry about is what's waiting for us behind those doors. So keep you're head down and try not to get noticed because there's no telling what'll happen."
"Understood."
"On my signal, we move."
Eren reached into his pocket and pulled out a Snickers bar. He ripped the top of the wrapper, focusing as he aimed for the spot right next to Sasha.
He threw it.
Sasha jumped for it in an instant. "Chocolate!"
Jean got up. "Sasha!"
Eren waved his hand. "Now."
Mikasa and him quickly made their way past the entrance, going unnoticed by Jean and Sasha. Eren let out a sigh of relief.
They were safe. For now.
"Come on, let's go."
The both of them headed up the escalator. Eren shifted his weight onto his other leg as he stood next to Mikasa awkwardly. He took brief glances at her, wanting to get a better look. He never noticed it before because of how much he was trying to avoid staying in the same room as her but, Mikasa actually looked kind of... pretty.
She turned her head to the side, catching his gaze.
He cleared his throat. "Just looking out for anyone we know."
She turned away.
Before he could sigh in relief, a familiar voice caught his attention.
"-I watched this video of a guy getting fucked by a horse."
"Reiner! You can't just say that out loud in public."
Eren froze at the sound of Reiner and Marco's voices. They were on the escalator opposite them, heading down and almost crossing paths with them.
He grabbed Mikasa's wrist and pulled her down with him, taking cover behind the side of the escalator.
She whispered, "What is it?"
He placed a finger over his mouth. "Shh. They're there."
They waited for Marco and Reiner to pass them.
"Look, I'm just saying. How would it feel?"
"Reiner."
"And I had another thought. Since Jean is our infamous horse-face, does he have a horse dick too?"
"Reiner, I'm crying. Can you see the tears of agony dripping down my eyes?"
"Marco, all I see is bullshit."
Their voices drifted away and Eren was left with terrifying mental images that would haunt him in his nightmares.
He got off the escalator with a shudder and entered the grocery store with Mikasa.
Eren grabbed a cart, pushing it into the store as he asked, "You got the list?"
Mikasa nodded. She took a folded piece of paper from her purse and handed it over to him.
He shook his head. "You can hold onto it and read it out loud. What's first on the list?"
"Fruits."
"Alright, let's look for some fruits."
Eren pushed the cart as Mikasa read him the other items on the list. It was a comfortable routine. Enjoyable, even. Eren would ask for Mikasa's input on which one she thought was better, since this was all for her, of course, and she would respond with that calm and soothing voice of hers. He found himself relaxing and smiling freely in her company.
Though, they do disagree on certain things.
Eren dropped the whole wheat bread into the cart. He tilted his head in confusion when Mikasa scrunched her nose up. "What?"
"I don't like that kind."
"Huh? What kind do you like, then? Whole grain?"
"White bread."
Eren shook his head. "No no no. Trust me, you're better off getting wheat bread. It's just as good as white bread, and, it's much healthier. So just get the whole wheat, okay?"
Mikasa blinked, then she picked up the whole wheat bread from the cart and placed it back on the shelf. She replaced it with a loaf of white bread.
Eren's eye twitched.
He picked up the white bread and intended to put it back but Mikasa grabbed hold of it.
She pulled it towards her. "I want white bread."
Eren pulled back. "You need whole wheat bread."
"White."
"Whole wheat."
"White."
"Whole wheat."
"White."
Mikasa stared him down, not budging from her stand. Eren sighed. If they continued like this, he had a feeling this back and forth pulling would never end.
"Fine, you can get the white bread."
Mikasa dropped it down in the cart, satisfied.
Eren rolled his eyes, continuing to push the cart down the aisle. Not long after, Mikasa strayed from Eren to retrieve something from the shelves.
He watched with curiosity, which turned into horror when she turned around.
"No."
Mikasa ignored him, still holding the box of pop tarts in her hands. "I want this."
"Mikasa, put that back."
"Why?"
"Why- Why, you ask?" Eren looked up at the ceiling in disbelief with his hands over his face. "The only think that sugar-induced monstrosity will give you is cavities, diabetes and misery."
"But I want it."
"I let you have the white bread, didn't I? You don't need that too."
Mikasa casted her gaze downwards. "This was my childhood snack... I haven't eaten them in years."
Eren grumbled, then sighed. He found it hard to resist Mikasa when she looked like that, like a wounded puppy. "Okay, okay. Put it in the cart."
Mikasa perked up, a light bounce in her step as she placed the box in the cart, and for some reason, Eren felt like he just got played.
The corners of his lips twitched up.
He didn't mind it if he did.
***
"Your total is 387 dollars and 99 cents."
Eren sputtered, fisting at his chest from hearing the total amount of the stuff they bought. They might have went a little overboard from the shopping, having gone astray from the list.
He turned to Mikasa, ready to ask if she could pay for everything.
Before he could, she got out her card and swiped it, an unbothered look on her face.
"Thank you," she said as the cashier handed her over the receipt.
Eren carried half of the bags and followed Mikasa out of the store. He spoke up hesitantly. "Are you alright with spending that much money?"
"Hm? Yeah. I earn a generous amount from the Forces and I haven't bought this many things in years, so I have lots of money saved," she said. "I'm also getting compensation from participating in this programme."
Eren blinked.
"Wait, you're getting paid? From this programme?"
"Yes."
"The hell?" He scowled. "Chief Levi's got a lot of explaining to do." He turned to Mikasa. "Is there anything else you want to buy?"
"No."
"Alright, we can head to your place now."
As they made their way to the first floor, Eren realised he had underestimated the weight of the grocery bags. He limped, struggling to hang onto them.
Mikasa grabbed onto a few of the bags. "I'll carry them."
"No no." Eren grunted. "I, ngh, got this."
"You don't."
"I do-" Eren gasped, eyes locking on something ahead of him.
In the center of the mall, sat a grand piano. It wasn't unusual for it to be there. The mall would place one in public from time to time for passerbys to play.
Eren hadn't seen one in ages.
He grinned, heading over to the piano.
Mikasa cocked her head when Eren dropped the groceries down next to the piano and plopped himself down onto the seat.
"You know how to play?"
"Nope." Eren cracked his knuckles.
He didn't no how to play. He'd never taken a piano lesson in his life but Armin had. Sometimes, when Eren would come over to his house, they would play with Armin's keyboard. Armin was great at it. Eren, on the other hand, sucked hard. But he had always found joy in the sounds that came from smashing random keys, so one day, Armin decided to teach him one song.
And Eren, being the little kid he was, thought he was the next Beethoven after successfully learning how to play it after many, many failed attempts.
The melody of Itsy Bitsy Spider resonated around them as Eren tapped on the white and black keys, a wide smile stretched out across his face.
Eren got up when he finished, bowing to the imaginary claps in his mind. "Thank you, thank you. You're too kind."
Mikasa chuckled into her hand and Eren grinned wider.
"I thought you didn't know how to play."
Eren waved his hand. "I don't. It's just that one song."
"I see..." Her expression was focused, as if she were mulling over a thought in her head.
Then, surprisingly, Mikasa went to sit on the seat, hands hovering over the keys hesitantly.
She took in a deep breath and started to play.
Eren leaned against the piano as he listened to the soft melody she played.
Her slender fingers danced along the keys with great dexterity, a sight deeply mesmerising to the eye. Eren was trapped in a trance by it, and, he felt as though he could watch such skillful hands create beautiful sounds forever.
Even so, his gaze wandered, up to the expression on Mikasa's face. From the time Eren had spent with her, he'd notice that Mikasa wasn't a facially expressive person, either a cold or blank look on.
But, in this moment, Eren could see everything.
The happiness, nostalgia, longing. As well as the grief, sorrow, hollowness. And, Eren's heart ached because why did she hold all these emotions? How can she convey every one of them to Eren by just playing a song?
It felt almost... intimate. It felt like Mikasa was pouring her heart out to him, whispering words that Eren couldn't hear but instead, feel.
He wanted to respond to those words. By brushing the loose strand of dark hair behind her ear, by cradling the side of her face in his hand, by embracing her in a hug.
Anything. Anything he could do to tell her he was right here, and she didn't have to look so lost.
Her fingers lingered on the keys after she finished playing, leaving behind silence.
"That- That was amazing, Mikasa," he said.
"Thank you."
"I didn't know you could play so well."
"I only know a few songs." She placed her hands over each other on her lap. "My dad was a pianist. He composed this song and used to play it with my mum. It's titled Beautiful Life."
Eren could see it. Mr and Mrs Ackerman sitting side by side and playing this beautiful song, a younger Mikasa listening to the joyful sounds, maybe even dancing to them. He could picture her spinning around happily to their playing, a wide smile on her face.
"That's... really nice."
"Mm." She whispered, "If only it were true."
Eren's brows furrowed slightly at her words. She still hadn't faced him. He was about to ask her if she was okay when sudden clapping made him flinch, popping the little bubble they were in.
Connie clapped his hands. "What an extraordinary performance."
Ymir whistled and Reiner wiped nonexistent tears from his eyes. "Encore, encore!"
Beside him, Christa sniffed. "Oh my gosh, that was so sweet!"
Eren gritted his teeth. How did he not notice them?
He rubbed his temples. "We-"
"Wait a minute!" Connie yelled. "What are both of you doing here? You guys don't have a shift today."
Reiner rubbed at his chin. "Are you two... on a date?"
Eren's head shot to him, baffled at how he could ever think that. "No! We're not!"
"Really?" Ymir smirked. "You're acting a little suspicious, angry boy."
"Shut up, Ymir. We're carrying out, uh, a special job that Chief Levi told us to do!" He turned to Mikasa. "Right, Mikasa?"
She gave a small nod. "Yes."
Everyone nodded thoughtfully, mumbling that makes sense and oh, right.
"Yeah so-"
"Hold on." Connie arched a brow up, pointing at the groceries on the floor. "Why do you have a bunch of bags then?"
"Uhhh, well. The chief wanted us to get some very important stuff. Yes, yes, that's it." He grabbed the bags from the floor, grunting at the weight. "So Mikasa and I should really get going now. You know how the chief gets. Bye! See you all at practice tomorrow!"
He whispered into Mikasa's ears, "Start walking and don't look back."
She raised a brow in amusement, but followed as he said, never once sparing a glance behind them until they were out of the mall.
Eren sighed in relief. "Thank god-"
"Jaeger?" Jean got up from his chair. "What are you doing here- with Mikasa?"
Eren didn't stop, and called over his shoulder, "Ask Reiner!"
They crossed the road to his car, placing all the bags in the boot and the ones that couldn't fit in the backseat. He plopped down onto his seat with a sigh.
"We survived."
***
Eren carried the bag of groceries up Mikasa's apartment, crawling over hundreds of stairs to the 9th floor. Once he reached Mikasa's doorstep, he collapsed onto the floor with a groan.
"The pain..." he whined, "It's everywhere."
Mikasa walked over him and unlocked the door. "I offered to carry them."
"Yeah, but..."
His pride wouldn't have been able to handle it.
They carried the bags into Mikasa's apartment and Eren looked around as he followed behind her. Mikasa's apartment was just as he'd imagined. Plain, simple, clean. There weren't any decorations nor personal items that might have revealed who exactly she was.
After placing the groceries on the countertop, Eren went straight to her fridge. Mikasa followed behind him curiously.
He opened it, wanting to see just how bad the situation was. Mikasa was right. The inside of her fridge was practically deserted, and he swore he saw a little iced tumbleweed rolling past his eyes. He took the carton of milk out, examining the box.
"This is expired," he stated.
"I didn't realise."
"It's three years old, Mikasa."
"Oh."
He shook his head. "Nevermind, we'll just put this aside." He took it out and stuck his head in deeper to see what other life hazard was in Mikasa's refrigerator. His eyes locked onto some kind of green gooey substance that was oozing out brown liquid.
His face contorted into horror.
"What the fuck is this?"
Mikasa leaned closer to him, to see what he was looking at. "Hmm, I think that's some old leftovers."
"Leftovers? Of what? A rat?"
"Lasagna?"
Eren covered his mouth with his hand and gagged. "Tongs," he choked out. "I need tongs."
Mikasa grabbed it from her drawer and handed it over to him. He muttered out a prayer as he grabbed the unknown object with the tongs and out of the fridge, holding it at arms length.
Before he dropped it into the bin, he uttered, "Go back to the place from whence you came, you wretched demon."
He went back to clearing the fridge, helping Mikasa fill it and her shelves with all the stuff they bought. He clapped the dust off his hands when they were done, smiling at the much more colourful shelves and cabinets.
"Now this is what a living person's home should look like."
Mikasa looked around with a small smile. "I like it."
"Mhm." He faced her. "You know, you should get some plants to liven this place up a bit. Or a roomie." He snapped his fingers. "You can room with Sasha. Her place is filled with food and she certainly knows how to liven up a place."
"That sounds nice. I'll think about it."
Eren leaned against the countertop, resting his hands behind him. "Do you get visits often? Friends from the Forces?"
She shook her head. "I don't have friends."
"Oh. Family, then?"
"I'm an only child. And..." She averted her gaze. "My parents died when I was ten."
Eren's brows shot up. "Oh, I'm sorry."
This was why she looked so sad back at the mall. The song she played must have reminded her of them, of a better time that was ripped away from her.
She shrugged.
Eren felt that same urge he got when he was watching her play. The urge to do something to make her feel better.
He took off the red scarf around his neck and stepped forward. Mikasa looked up, confused, then her eyes widened when Eren wrapped his scarf around her loosely.
"Whenever I felt hopeless or miserable or awful, I'd wrap this scarf around me," he said softly. "It's warm and comforting, and it feels like home. So, I hope it can comfort you too."
His hands lingered on the scarf before he let go, looking up to find Mikasa's face inches away from his.
He rubbed the back of his neck shyly. "You can always talk to us too. I know I haven't been friendly, but everyone else loves you. There's like, eleven people that's willing to talk to you, spend time with you and hang out with you. So, yeah, what I'm trying to say is that you're not alone."
"Really?"
"Of course. Sure, they can be annoying and stuff sometimes, but we've always been there for each other. Just say the word and they'll come speeding down to you in a golf cart and a bag of food in one hand and an audio recorder in the other."
Mikasa chuckled, gently clutching the scarf around her with one hand. "Thank you. I appreciate it."
He smiled. "No problem."
"When should I... return your scarf?"
"Oh, uhm, next time we meet, I guess."
"Okay." Mikasa casted her gaze downwards, away from Eren.
He cleared his throat, jutting his thumb in the direction behind him. "I should get going now, then. See you. Tomorrow."
"Bye."
"Bye," Eren squeaked out, making his way across the room and out of her apartment.
He rested his head against the door and let out a sigh.
All he was supposed to do was go grocery shopping with Mikasa.
How did it end up like this?
***
The sun shone bright onto Eren and his friends as they huddled together on the grassy field for their final practice before the big game. Erwin stood with a smile on his face as he spoke.
"For this last practice, I would like us to focus more on strategy. Strategy, is one of, if not, the most important element in soccer. Pushing out our strengths, analysing our opponents, deconstructing their weak points." He turned to them with a cold glint in his eyes. "That is how we bring the Titans to their demise."
Eren gulped.
"So, can anyone give me a complete analysis of our opponents? For us to begin constructing strategies best suited for the situation."
Eren raised his hand. "You can ask Reiner, Bertholdt and Annie. They know everything about the Titans." He smiled passive aggressively at the three of them. "They used to worked there, of course."
Reiner sighed into his hand. "That was two years ago, Eren. For one summer."
"Doesn't change the fact that you were a damn traitor secretly working in our rival mall!"
"I needed the money!"
Jean rolled his eyes. "Just let them be, Eren. Not everyone has daddy's money to help pay rent."
"Jean, you-"
He was cut off by Armin smacking him over the head. "Sit down, Eren. Don't be childish. Life happens and we find ways to deal with it."
Eren pouted. "I guess... Sorry, Reiner."
"It's alright."
Jean arched a brow up at him expectantly. "And where is my apology?"
"I didn't do shit to you, horse-face."
"Why you little-"
This time Marco whacked Jean over the head.
"Sit down, Jean."
Chief Levi pinched the bridge of his nose. "We're screwed."
Erwin placed a hand on his shoulder and grinned. "Not with strategy we're not."
Erwin taught them the many types of strategies, guiding them as they carried it out on the field. He even brought in the cones at some point, but Eren wasn't as mad as he was before. He found his attention drifting from his task and onto Mikasa.
He wondered how she was doing from yesterday. She looked okay, expression not revealing much, as usual. But Eren still worried, sneaking quick glances at her to see if there was a slip in her expression, something to show how she was really feeling.
Before he knew it, practice was over.
"All of you did great today!" Erwin said amongst their harsh panting. "I'm positive that as long as you try your best, you can win the MSSG! Good luck next week."
Connie raised his arm in the air weakly. "Hurrah," he said, then dropped down face first onto the grass.
Sasha munched on her apple. "Is he dead?"
Jean sighed. "I'll check."
Armin watched the scene with slight worry as he shuffled next to Eren. "Everyone sure is exhausted after today."
"Mhm."
"You're going to take a shower before heading home?"
Eren shook his head furiously. "I'm going straight home. It doesn't matter if I'm all gross and sweaty and dirty. I will drop dead onto my bed and get the rest I deserve."
Armin nodded with a smile. "Out of all of us, you're definitely deserving of a rest, with how you've been trying hard to get along with Mikasa."
"It's nothing."
"Speaking of Mikasa," Armin covered the side of his mouth with a hand and whispered, "I think she's waiting for you."
Eren's eyes went wide. "What?!"
"She keeps stealing glances at you."
Eren turned his gaze to where Mikasa was standing by herself on the field, a good distance away from them. She didn't seem to be looking in his direction.
"You're imagining things, Armin."
"Seriously! How close did you guys get?"
"Not- Not close."
"Right. I heard you guys were out together in the mall yesterday."
Then, Armin winked at him, punching him on the arm lightly. "I guess I'll get going now. Good luck."
"It's not like-... that," he tried to say, but Armin was long gone.
Eren sighed to himself.
He grabbed his stuff from the bench, ready to go back home.
Someone clearing their throat from behind him made him turn around.
"Mikasa?"
Armin was right. Oh god, Armin was right. Of course he was. Shit.
He swallowed. "What's up?"
Mikasa placed something between them, and it was then that Eren realised she was holding his scarf, neatly folded in her hands.
"Your scarf."
"Oh." Eren took it from her, and their fingers brushed against each other. "T-Thank you."
She nodded. Without another word, she left.
He watched as she walked away, then looked back down at his scarf. He brushed a hand across the wool fabric.
A thought popped up in his head.
A thought so ludicrous and out of this world that it made Eren flinch. He shot his head around to see if anyone was close by. There wasn't anyone in sight, the field completely deserted.
Hmm.
He brought the scarf to his nose and inhaled.
It smelt like strawberries, perfume and Mikasa.
Eren blushed.
What did he do? What was he doing? Fuck fuck fuck.
He quickly walked out of the field, trying to convince himself that he wasn't a creep.
He was only curious. He wanted to see what his scarf would smell like after a night with Mikasa (heavenly, it smelt heavenly). That wasn't such an unusual thing, was it? He was just checking.
Yeah, that's right.
Just checking.
Chapter 10: Our Strength
Chapter Text
A week had passed.
Nothing interesting happened in that time.
Everyone continued practicing soccer in the mall, Chief Levi still got mad whenever he caught them, Eren had his night shifts with Mikasa, and...
And nothing.
Nothing changed.
Maybe he got hit in the face with a ball by Ymir because he was too busy watching Mikasa help a lost kid, maybe he didn't realise Connie was making him face Chief Levi's wrath because he was distracted by Mikasa's (surprisingly adorable?) focused expression directed on Christa, and maybe he found himself gazing at Mikasa during their night shifts together and wondered more about who she was.
But, nothing changed.
He still felt the same way he did when he first saw her that day.
Right?
But, that was the problem.
What was it that he felt that day?
Hatred? Jealousy? Dread?
Intrigue? Curiosity? Wonder?
Or was it all of that? All of that and something else. Something more. Something...
Something.
Eren banged his head on his locker, mumbling under his breath, "What is it? What the fuck is it?"
Beside him, Bertholdt flinched. "U-Um, Eren? Are you... okay?"
Eren chuckled in disdain, head still rested against his cool locker. It was a nice relief. His head felt like it was going to overheat with all this thinking.
"Am I okay? I haven't even had the chance to think about that with all the other shit taking up my mind."
"O-Oh. Well..." Bertholdt fidgeted with his hands. "I-I don't really know what you're talking about, but, since you haven't got the chance to ask yourself this, I'll ask you again. Are you okay?"
Eren paused.
Was he okay?
"I..." He lifted his head off his locker. "I can't say that I am. I'm confused and a complete mess. But at the same time, I feel every nerve inside me firing up, every part of me fluttering in excitement. I feel... alive."
Bertholdt shot him a small smile. "That's good, isn't it? Feeling alive... It's a lot better than okay, right?"
"Hm, I suppose you're right."
"So don't worry about it."
Eren couldn't help but freeze at Bertholdt's words. Bertholdt, their local worrywart, telling him not to worry? It reminded him of when Connie called him an idiot.
"Hey, Bertholdt. Do I seem... different?"
"Different? Hmm... well, a little."
Eren spun his body to him, eyes locked on his intently. "Different good or different bad?"
"U-Um." Bertholdt averted his gaze from him as he thought it over silently. "I think... different, in a good way."
Eren's breath hitched.
"Oh my god," he whispered. "Do you think she thinks I'm different good too?"
"Um, I'm sorry, who?"
Eren opened his mouth to respond but a frustrated yell cut him off.
"Fuck! This jersey- I'm stuck!" Connie's head was covered by his jersey, arms sticking out in the air at odd angles as he struggled to put it on.
Jean shook his head as he approached him. "Don't tell me you're stupid enough to forget how to wear a shirt."
"It was an accident! I got a little distracted for one second and then, this happened!"
"Connie, are you hearing yourself?"
"Come on, everyone goes through this."
"Yeah, when we were like, 9."
"Shut up. Are you going to help me or not?"
Jean smirked. "Actually, I have something else in mind." He got out his phone from his pocket, taking a picture of Connie and his debacle. It made a click sound, which Connie must had heard.
He paused. "Did you just take a picture?"
"I'm recording now. Do you have anything you want to say?"
"Screw you, horse-face."
Jean threw his head back in laughter. "Come on, Con. Why're you so mad? I'm just having my... what was that word the villains in your comics use? Ah, yes, revenge. Sweet, sweet revenge."
Eren snickered. "You just called yourself a villain, Jean."
"Shut up, Jaeger. I'm having a moment and I will not let you ruin it."
"While you're at it, avenge me too."
Jean spared a glance at Eren, then said, "Ew."
Eren rolled his eyes. "Wow, Jean. Real mature."
"Hey, hey, everyone," Reiner called. "Let's stop with the goofing around for a second. Did you all forget what day it is today? It's the annual MSSG, so straighten up. We've got a soccer game to win."
Reiner was right.
A week had passed.
And with that, the MSSG had arrived.
***
"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. And now, the other leg."
"Um, Chief."
"What."
"Do we really need to do this?"
"Do what, Eren?"
"This. Standing in a circle and stretching." Eren spared a glance at Titan's guards who were staring at them, snickering into their hands. "They're laughing at us."
The chief sighed. "Do you know what happens when you don't warm up, Eren?"
"We get hurt?"
"Correct. And who do you think will be responsible if, say, you broke your neck during a work activity?"
"Um..."
"Me, your boss. I will not risk that so stick your leg out and continue stretching, Jaeger."
"Yes, Chief!"
It was at times like this where Eren was glad that not many people attended the MSSG. There were less than a hundred people on the bleachers. Actually, less than fifty, no, less than twenty people present. Most were people who worked in the mall and made friends with the security team. Petra, Oluo, Gunther, Eld and so on. The others were some random passerby's, he guessed.
"Woohoo! Paradis!" Petra yelled. She turned to Oluo with a stern look. "Don't just sit there. Help me lift the sign."
Oluo sighed before lifting up a considerably large sign covered in glitter that said PARADIS = DA BEST.
Eren smiled.
There weren't a lot of them but they were enough.
A shrill sound filled the field and it was no doubt Marlowe, the referee, blowing on his whistle.
"All players on the field. The match is beginning. As you've done before, a coin toss will determine the team that starts first. May I have the captains?"
Marco and Zeke went to the centre of the field. They both called out heads or tails as Marlowe flipped the coin in the air.
Zeke got it right, like always.
"Kick-off goes to Titan's team."
Zeke kicked the ball to the front left and Porco reached it in seconds, like always.
The match was only beginning and yet everything was going as it always had, as if Paradis' loss had already been determined.
Eren gritted his teeth. He snatched the ball from Porco before he could pass it to Pieck, instantly starting to dribble it to the opposing team's goal. The other Titan guards started to come at him, trying to retrieve the ball back.
He stepped back a little, already surrounded by three of them.
"Eren!" Connie called from the right. "Over here!"
Eren passed it to him.
Connie took it with a grin. He slipped past their opponents better than Eren, until he was metres away from the goal.
But then, he stopped, and waved his hand in the air in front of his face. "Yo, what the hell? Shit- !"
From the sidelines, Chief Levi yelled, "Springer, what the fuck are you doing?!"
"There's a dragonfly! There's a giant-ass dragonfly!"
Eren wanted to slap his face as he watched Connie flail his arms in the air like an idiot as the Titans stole the ball from him.
They passed it to Pieck who passed it to Porco who then passed it to Zeke and then back to Pieck again. Eren tried to grab it from Zeke, failing when he spun around swiftly.
"Nice try, little bro."
He then passed it to Porco who managed to kick the ball into the corner of the net, Reiner struggling to catch up with the speed of it.
Eren blinked.
"One point goes to Titans!"
Ymir grinned, crossing her arms over her chest. "Ah, with how familiar this is, I'm actually looking forward to us losing."
Eren snapped at her. "We might have an actual chance of winning if you stopped standing around flirting with Christa for once!"
She shrugged.
"Come on, guys," Marco said. "It's too early to start being negative. Jean's going to start the kick-off so heads up."
Eren nodded, getting into position. "Alright, Cap." He waved his hand at Jean. "Jean, pass."
Jean squinted his eyes at him for a moment, presumably assessing him. No one was blocking Eren, making him perfect for Jean to pass to.
But, of course, like the idiotic dickhead he was, didn't pass to him. Instead, he kicked the ball in Bertholdt's direction who had two Titans surrounding him.
"U-Uh." Bertholdt quickly kicked the ball away from him to Christa.
She passed the ball to Armin. He panicked, multiple Titans heading towards him, and tried to dribble away but Pieck snatched it from him.
She was just about to pass it to Zeke when someone managed to get the ball back from her.
Mikasa.
She dribbled the ball skillfully, dodging the other players as Zeke's usual bored expression contorted into mild surprise.
"Interesting..." he mumbled under his breath. "Who might this be?"
And Eren felt himself grin, felt his body swell with pride as he said, "Mikasa Ackerman, the person that's going to beat your ass."
Zeke clicked his tongue, diverting his focus back on the match. "Everyone, block the girl!"
The Titans headed for Mikasa and the ball, just when she was so close to the goal. She might be skilled but having ten people come at you was a lot, even for her. Despite this, she remained calm, taking in the situation for one moment before kicking the ball all the way to Sasha.
Eren had to admit, it was a good call. Sasha was right next to the goal and had no one blocking her way. The only problem was, she stood still.
Sasha looked around nervously. "Um, guys. Do I kick the ball-"
"In the goal!" Jean yelled. "Kick the fucking ball in the goal!"
"In this goal?"
"Yes, Sasha!" Eren stressed.
"Because last time I kicked it in the wrong-"
"KICK THE BALL, SASHA!" Everyone yelled.
Sasha let out a garbled scream, kicking the ball into the net with such power that it caused Colt, Titan's goalie, to flinch.
"One point to Paradis!"
Eren let out a sigh of relief.
Zeke started the kick-off with an even more serious expression on his face. He looked like Armin when he was running over surveillance footage, but more... dangerous. He looked like he had something planned. Something that was sure to be no good.
He kicked the ball far, landing right in front of Porco's feet. Zeke's aim had always been exceptional.
Everything after happened in the blink of an eye.
Porco passed it to Pieck who managed to shoot the ball into the goal. And just like that, Titans gained a second point. A few more minutes of mindless dribbling and the first half was over.
Marlowe blew his whistle. "That's it for the first half! So far we have Titans with two points and Paradis with one point!"
Eren frowned as he followed his team into the locker room. They sat down on the benches, gulping down bottles of water to cool down during the halftime.
Erwin rubbed his chin as he looked them over in thought. "There were a few mishaps but everyone did good on the field. Although Titans are leading with one more point, I'm sure if we reconstruct our strategy, we can overtake them."
Connie shook his head, pouring a bottle of water over him. "Nah nah. That's not happening, Coach."
"What do you mean by that?"
"The first half is basically a warm up for Zeke. His team scores a few goals, if we're lucky, we score some too. But then the next half is where it all goes to shit. They pull out all their tricks and tactics and completely annihilate us." He shrugged. "This is how it's always been and this is how it'll always be."
Eren gripped his shorts with clenched fists.
Connie was right. No matter how much Eren tried to deny it, everything would always play out the same.
Chief Levi clicked his tongue from where he was resting his weight against a locker, arms crossed. "If that's so, why do you still practice? Why do you still play with so much enthusiasm if you know how it ends? Don't tell me all those times you fucked up my mall, all those times you spent pushing each other was for nothing. Why are you still here?"
The room was silent, everyone facing each other with a look of revelation.
They all shared the same thought.
"Because..." Sasha started. "We want to win."
Chief Levi gave a sharp nod. "You believe you can win, isn't it? That's why you still hope, because deep inside you know that you have a chance of winning. So keep playing and win this shit like you know you can."
Everyone stared at the chief with owl-like eyes from hearing him cheer them on for once.
Then, Reiner and Ymir threw their fists in the air and cheered. "Paradis! Paradis! Paradis!" Connie and Sasha soon joined in on the chant.
A small smile made its way onto Eren's face.
They still had hope. And...
He stood up abruptly. "We have Mikasa!"
The room turned silent again and everyone stared at Eren. If it was even possible, their eyes were blown wider than before.
His face started to heat up but he pushed through his embarrassment with determination. "Not everything is the same. This time, we have Mikasa on our team. And maybe... Maybe she's just what we need to win this!"
He caught Mikasa's gaze. She looked just as surprised as everyone.
Erwin nodded. "Mikasa is a valuable player. Not only is she a strong one, but the Titans are most likely unaware of this fact too."
"Exactly!" Eren said. "Zeke's probably busting his mind trying to figure out which move to take next around Mikasa."
"Mm. However, Mikasa won't be enough to win this. From what I've seen, the Titans have four strong points. Zeke in the front, Pieck on the right, Porco on the left and Colt at the back. Remove one of them, and their system falters. Take out Zeke, and their kingdom crumbles. The only way to take Zeke out is for everyone to play their strengths."
"Strengths?" Ymir searched around the room before pointing at herself. "Us? Strengths? Not to be rude but I don't think we can play out something we don't have."
"Not to be rude. Yeah, right." Jean scoffed.
Erwin huffed out a chuckle. "Then it's a good thing that you do have it. Whether you noticed or not, every one of you do have your strengths."
Ymir smirked, raising a brow. "Oh, yeah? Please enlighten us on your highly accurate assessment of our strengths."
***
Eren cracked his neck as he stepped back out onto the field with his team.
On his way, Moblit and Hange stopped them with wide grins on their faces.
"Where's my favourite security guards at?!" Hange yelled.
Chief Levi walked away. "And that's my cue to leave."
"Aww, Levi! I just wanted to say hi to you and your new buddy!"
Eren managed to catch the chief uttering to Erwin, "Whatever you do, don't drink the smoothies. There's a fifty fifty chance it'll mess with your shitting system."
"Hey, Eren!"
Eren gasped at Moblit's sudden appearance at his side. "M-Moblit!"
He handed him a smoothie. "Here you go."
"Oh, thanks!" Eren sipped on it, relishing in that sweet relief he tasted last time.
Moblit smiled at him with a tilted head. "You guys look pumped up for this second half. Think you can make a comeback?"
Eren gulped down the drink and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
"Hell yeah. Zeke has no idea what's coming to him."
***
"Kick-off goes to Paradis for the start of the second half."
Ymir stood at the centre of the field, a carefree air around her. The Titans were tense as they watched her scratch the back of her head, trying to figure out how to kick the ball.
Ymir never started a match with a kick-off before so this was probably throwing Zeke off. He concentrated on her every move, boring holes into her very being.
"Geez, I don't ever want to this again because, man, does- whoops." Ymir kicked the ball slightly to her right, to where Eren managed to get it from her.
She shrugged, a smug smirk across her face.
" Ymir. Calculating, unpredictable. Just what we need to shake our opponents in the start."
Eren dribbled the ball in the direction of their opponents' goal, narrowly missing some of the Titans. But then, both Pieck and Porco came to corner him. He bit his lip as he tried to get away from them.
Then, someone caught his eye.
He grinned.
"Annie! Over here!"
The Titans ran to Annie as he supposedly kicked the ball to her. She stood still with an unbothered expression as he kicked the ball a little to the left of her, going right behind her.
"Annie Leonhart. Silent and skilled. Able to go unnoticed by other players."
Skilled? More like useful decoy.
The ball went right to the person behind her, Marco. He retrieved the ball easily with no one tailing him.
"Marco Bodt. Bright and present. A captain you can always count on."
He dribbled the ball closer to the goal then kicked it to Ymir when he couldn't get an opening. She passed it over to Christa with a wink.
"Destroy them, baby."
Christa let out a battlecry as she kicked the ball into the net with surprising power.
"Christa Lenz. Sweet and small stature that makes her unsuspecting to the fierceness that lies beneath."
She thrusted her fists into the air. "Fucking goal, bitch!"
Eren felt himself light up. They had two points now, which meant that they were tied with the Titans.
Which meant they could actually win this.
Eren spared a glance at Zeke, only to flinch when he found his expression darkening, muttering, "Something's not right..."
Eren smirked at him. "What's wrong, big bro? Having trouble accepting that we can play well?"
Zeke clicked his tongue and turned away from him.
They focused on where Pieck was about to do the kick-off. She lightly passed the ball to her right, intending for it to reach Porco but just before he got it, Connie snatched the ball from him.
Porco turned around with wide eyes. "Shit!"
Connie cackled as he dribbled away. "Bahaha, sucker!"
"Connie Springer. Easily distracted but incredibly agile. Possesses the ability to slip pass opponents in a clean and swift manner."
He passed the ball to Marco but missed. Instead, Zeke got it. He paused for a moment, his round glasses glinting in the sunlight as he observed the situation.
He began to dribble the ball and when he was mid-field, he kicked the ball hard and took a chance at scoring a goal.
Reiner managed to catch it, not budging from his spot, even with the force the ball travelled with.
"Reiner Braun. Sturdy in all aspects. The armour of our team."
He grinned and kicked the ball far away and back into the game.
Christa got it, but the ball was soon snatched from Pieck who dribbled and passed it to one of the Titans. He passed it over to Zeke who got the ball snatched by Mikasa. She passed it over to Armin.
He started to dribble it across the field but Porco bumped into him and got the ball, kicking it into the net.
"Armin!" Eren ran up to him.
Porco had collided with him pretty roughly. Hard enough that Armin was clutching his leg with a grimace. Eren kneed down next to him.
"Armin, are you alright? Is your leg okay? Do you need-"
"Eren," Armin said firmly, making Eren look up at him.
He winked, weakly lifting up a hand to show him a thumbs up just as Marlowe blew his whistle to pause the game.
Marlowe came to check on Armin who winced, then faced Porco with a stern look. "A penalty kick will be given to Paradis."
"Huh?!"
Armin smirked at Eren. "You're welcome."
"Armin Arlert. For what he lacks physically, he makes up with his mind. Brilliantly ruthless."
Eren grinned. "You shit!" He hit him on the leg.
"Ow."
"S-Sorry!"
Eren helped Armin get up as the others got ready for the penalty kick. They needed to get this goal to be tied with Titans again. He wondered who was going to make the shot.
Eren watched with curiosity as Bertholdt was pushed forward by his friends.
"Are you guys insane?! Why are you asking me to do this?!"
"You're tall so you can see over our opponents," Marco explained. "And you have long limbs which is a great advantage!"
"Yeah!" Christa agreed. "Have confidence in yourself, Bertholdt! We believe in you!"
Bertholdt stumbled to the front, grumbling under his breath. A bead of sweat rolled down his head as he stood behind the ball.
He breathed in deeply, then kicked the ball as hard as he can. It flew pass their opponents and hit the edge of the goal but bounced off of it and into the net.
Bertholdt covered his hands over his mouth, eyes wide with disbelief. "Holy shit."
"Bertholdt Hoover. Soft and careful, but possesses great potential."
Connie and Sasha jumped onto him and clutched him tightly as they yelled praises to him.
He blushed. "Thank you, everyone."
Colt got the ball and reared his arms so far back that Eren thought he was going to throw it at a long distance, which was why he ran back. But, he didn't, and threw it at one of the Titans.
She began to dribble it away but Jean managed to snatch it from her. Porco started to chase after him, and just at that moment, Chief Levi yelled at them from the side of the field.
"Hurry up and score the goal, you shitheads! There's only a few minutes left on the clock!"
Jean scowled under the pressure, brows scrunching together as he tried to figure out what to do.
He kicked the ball over to Sasha as he yelled, "Sasha! Pass to Eren!"
"Jean Kirschtein. A quick mind under his brashness. Able to take control of any situation."
Sasha caught the ball, mildly caught off guard from where she was sipping on her smoothie. She kicked the ball over a slew of Titans, and managed to get it to Eren.
She let out a shout of success.
"Sasha Blouse. An unlimited energy and an impeccable aim."
Eren dribbled the ball, but he couldn't get any closer to the goal because of the Titans that started to block him.
He bit his lip.
He couldn't pass it to any of his teammates because they were all on the other side of the field. There wasn't enough time for them to make it here before the end of the game. He racked his brain for what he should do.
In the middle of his distress, a whiff of dark hair caught his eye.
His brows shot up. "Mikasa!" he called as he passed it over to her.
She got it from him, but now the Titans moved onto her. He called for her to pass it back to him, but she ignored him.
He furrowed his brows.
What?
He ran up to her and snatched the ball from her. That was when he saw it. The small smile of mischievousness on her face.
Oh.
Oh, so that's how she wanted to play, huh?
He dribbled the ball away, only for Mikasa to snatch it from him, which made him snatch it again.
There were confused mutters filling the air and he thought he heard Zeke shout out, "What- What's going on? Someone stop them!"
Eren grinned.
"Lastly, Eren Jaeger and Mikasa Ackerman. Both reckless and unflinching in the face of an obstacle of any kind."
Mikasa and him were dribbling the ball together at this point, and Eren reared one foot back, ready to hit.
"One pushes with brute force."
Mikasa did the same.
"The other with calculated skill."
They kicked the ball in sync with similar determined looks on their faces that made Colt tremble. He let out a shriek as the ball flew past him and into a corner of the net.
"Combine them together and you get a powerfully controlled attack."
Eren stood there, mind still unable to process what just happened.
His eyes widened.
"Oh my god," he whispered. "Oh my god, we-"
Before he had the chance to finish his sentence, he was pushed to the ground by Connie, then Reiner, Ymir and the rest of his team jumped onto him.
He heaved.
"We won!" Connie screamed into his ear.
There was the sound of a whistle being blown, followed by Marlowe's announcement. "Times up! Titans three, Paradis four! This means after six whole years, Paradis won the game!"
Eren dropped his head down to the grass with a shaky sigh.
They really did it. They won.
His teammates got off of him as they went to celebrate with those who came to cheer them on. Hange and Moblit threw more smoothies their way, Petra and Oluo sprinkled confetti onto them, and Eren caught a glimpse of the chief and Erwin with proud smiles across their faces.
Eren felt his eyes water. He rubbed at them quickly.
It was only a friendly football game, why was he getting so emotional?
Maybe it was because this showed they could accomplish something, that the sun was finally shining on them. No matter what the reason was, it felt good.
He turned his head to a certain someone and oh god, he was so happy he could hug her. She caught his gaze and tilted her head at him, the ghost of a smile on her lips from when Christa and Sasha had pulled her in for a tight hug.
He raised a hand, and although a question was in her eyes, she raised hers too.
He slapped the hand in a high five, trying to contain his grin but failing as he nodded at her. "Thanks. For helping us win."
She shook her head with a small smile. "Everyone did their part."
"That's true."
But why does it feel like I couldn't have done it without you?
Behind him, Zeke cleared his throat.
He stuck out a hand. Eren eyed it suspiciously before shaking it cautiously. Zeke used the opportunity to pull him into a brief hug, patting him on the back once.
Eren's brows shot up to his hairline. "Zeke?"
Zeke pulled back and coughed into his fist. "That was a good game, Eren."
His lips pulled themselves into a smile. "Uh, thanks."
The rest of the Titans did something similar, exchanging handshakes and wishing them a good game to Paradis. As everyone got ready to leave, Sasha jumped in front of them.
"Guys, guys! Guess what?!"
Ymir raised a brow. "What?"
Sasha vibrated in her spot, unable to control her excitement and bounced up and down. "Chief Levi and Erwin is bringing us out for dinner to celebrate! They said it's on them!"
Everyone's mood elevated to a level higher than before, cheering out loud in celebration.
The day only seemed to be getting better.
***
"-but did you guys see Bertholdt? I feel so damn proud," Reiner said with a mouthful of pizza.
"Right? I didn't know you had it in you, Bert." Connie nudged him with a grin. "But guys, what about Eren and Mikasa?"
Eren choked on his pizza at the mention of his name.
"I thought they were arguing again or something but turns out they were carrying out a goddamn final blow!"
Ymir laughed. "You're lucky you two weren't actually fighting. The chief looked like he was about to blow up!"
Chief Levi's head shot up from where he sat at a table separate from them. He narrowed his eyes on them before continuing his conversation with Erwin.
Eren let out a sigh. "It's nothing like that." He glanced at Mikasa briefly. She was eating a plain, cheese pizza. He wondered if that was her favourite type. "Things just... happened."
"Oh, really?"
Eren rolled his eyes and got up. He had a feeling his friends were going to interrogate every single confusing thought out of his head. "Say what you want, I'm gonna go get some more pizza."
He grabbed a pepperoni pizza from one of the many boxes splayed out on the combined tables. He looked up when he caught someone approaching the table as well.
Eren raised a brow as he watched Jean limped over to get some pizza.
"What the hell happened to you?"
Jean grunted, scowl deepening. "It's none of your fucking busine-"
"Jean scraped his knees on the grass," Marco answered.
Jean shot his head to him. "Marco!"
Eren snorted into his fist, trying his best to contain his chuckles before ultimately failing. He laughed out loud, tears running down his eyes.
"You don't n-need knee braces, huh?" He cackled. "This is fucking priceless!"
Eren's sides were beginning to ache when Jean smacked a pizza onto his face. Eren froze as the pizza slipped off his face.
Jean panted loudly, arm still outstretched from where he threw the pizza. "Shut up, idiot."
Eren growled and grabbed his own slice of pizza to throw it at Jean. "You dick!"
Jean grabbed another slice to fling it at Eren again but Marco caught his wrist, stopping him from letting go of it. He squirmed, trying to wriggle his arm from his grip.
"Marco, let go!"
"Jean, I don't think this is going to end well."
"Fuck that! Eren needs to pay!"
"Huh?! I didn't even-"
Jean flicked his wrist and let go of the pizza, but Eren managed to dodge it by ducking his head. He let out a triumphant laugh.
"You missed!"
Eren's grin faltered when he saw the look of absolute horror on Jean's face. Marco's held a grim look too.
"What have I done?" Jean whispered.
Eren froze. The whole room had went silent, and he wondered who was it that Jean hit. He turned around slowly, the fear already spreading throughout his body.
His heart stopped beating.
A slice of pizza slipped down Chief Levi's face and into his bowl of mushroom soup.
"Jean," Eren whispered. "What have you done?"
"Fuck fuck fuck. Someone- Marco, help me." Jean scrambled to hide behind him. "I'm too young to die!"
Then, the chief clicked his tongue. "Tch, what a mess." He wiped the sauce and oil from his face with a handkerchief before grabbing the slice of pizza by the corner and handing it over to Erwin. "Want it?"
Eren gaped at the scene.
"What the fuck!" Connie yelled.
Sasha grabbed a baguette and stuck it in the chief's face. "Who are you and what have you done with Chief Levi?"
He stared at her with a completely blank look that made her cower. She laughed nervously. "U-Um, I mean-"
He shook his head with a breath of amusement. "You know... I'm proud of you all."
"Eh?!"
Eren fell back, head feeling light. Marco catched him. "Woah, Eren, you alright?"
Eren placed the back of his hand over his forehead, still letting Marco carry his weight. "What in the world is happening?"
Marco smiled down at him. "I think... everyone's just really happy."
Eren averted his gaze from him and went to search for someone else's in the crowd.
Everyone had a form of disbelief etched into their faces, all except for Mikasa.
Everything was going into chaos around her but Mikasa emitted a small, bright light from where she sat. She was smiling at the absurdity of it all, trying her best to hide her chuckles in her fist.
"Hm..." He paused for a long moment before finally saying softly, "I like it."
Chapter 11: Unexpected
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Muscle soreness.
The pain and stiffness felt in muscles several hours to days after unaccustomed or strenuous exercise. Commonly referred to as Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, or DOMS.
To Eren, it was simply known as pain.
Pure. Fucking. Pain.
The ache in every one of his muscles, the inability to move any one of them. It was all expected, after an afternoon of giving it his all playing soccer.
And yet, Eren didn't feel as shitty as he normally would have.
He woke up that morning and welcomed the soreness. He felt so cozy just lying there, there was no urgency for him to get up since he didn't have work today, so he could just lie down cozily and let his muscles sink into his soft and comfy bed. The events from yesterday played over in his mind like a sweet dream, and he could still feel the afterglow of everything.
His mind drifted to Mikasa, and surprisingly, he didn't feel any hostility, or hatred, or whatever it was that he felt before.
Instead, he felt giddy, and light. He suddenly wanted to see her again, wanted to see her smile and laugh and find out more about her and-
"Ahhh!"
He groaned into his pillow, though it came out as more of a squeal, and kicked his legs on his bed like a giddy schoolgirl.
In the spur of the moment, mind lost in cloud nine, he reached for his phone and opened Mikasa's contact. He typed out a simple message. His thumb hovered over the send button, heart beating wildly as he retracted it and then brought it back again and again.
Finally, the desperate need to be closer to her pushed through his hesitation to click send.
Me (9:42) - Good morning.
His heart jumped when he got a reply just seconds later.
Mikasa (9:42) - Good morning.
Eren chewed on his lip as he thought about what he should say next.
Me (9:43) - What're you up to?
Mikasa (9:43) -
Well...
Mikasa (9:44) -
I don't think you'll be pleased to know
Eren raised a brow in amusement at Mikasa's words.
Me (9:44) -
Yeah?
Me (9:44) -
It can't be that bad
Mikasa (9:44) - Working out...
Eren's brows furrowed.
Me (9:45) -
MIKASA TF???
Me (9:45) -
ARENT U SORE AS HELL??
Mikasa (9:45) - No
Me (9:45) -
BULLSHIT!!
Me (9:45) -
You need to rest! We worked hard and won! We deserve to lay back and relax for today.
Mikasa (9:45) -
Calm down
Mikasa (9:46) -
It's a part of my morning routine and it's only for a few minutes
Me (9:46) - Hmmmm
Mikasa (9:46) -
If it makes you feel any better, I ate eggs and bread for breakfast
Mikasa (9:46) -
The whole wheat kind
Eren dropped his phone.
A sudden warmth surged through his body, and, he cradled his cheeks in his palms, feeling just how much it was burning.
He grabbed his phone back with the stupidest grin on his face.
Me (9:48) -
That's good to hear
Me (9:48) -
Was it tasty?
Mikasa (9:48) - It was awful
Eren barked out a laugh.
Me (9:48) -
Come on, you're lying
Me (9:48) -
Whole wheat bread is superior
Me (9:48) -
Admit it!!
Mikasa (9:49) - The fact that you actually believe that is very concerning to me
Me (9:49) - I'M concerning YOU?? Are u serious rn?
Mikasa (9:49) - Did I stutter
Me (9:49) - We're TEXTING!! How would I know if you were stuttering or not??
Mikasa (9:50) - L-L-Like t-t-t-this?
Eren buried his face into his hand with a snort. "Unbelievable," he muttered to himself.
Mikasa was just as frustrating on text as she was in real life. But, she was also somewhat amusing.
Amusing enough that Eren ended up chatting with her for forty minutes without him realising.
Mikasa (10:23) - Hey, I should go take a shower
Me (10:23) -
Oh, alright
Me (10:23) -
See you
Mikasa (10:23) -
Bye
Mikasa (10:24) -
( ͡°ᴥ ͡° ʋ)
Eren blinked, caught off guard by the emoticon Mikasa sent him.
He blushed.
Holy shit.
Holy shit, it was adorable.
***
Eren hummed to himself as he prepared himself a breakfast at half past twelve.
A little late, but he couldn't care less.
He flipped his pancakes, grilled his bacons and dripped a generous amount of maple syrup onto them as he swayed to the tune in his head.
As he dug into his feast of a breakfast, he felt as though he had reached the peak of his life.
He had a fulfilling job, he accomplished a particularly amazing feat with his friends, every moment of his life was filled with excitement because of a certain Special Forces officer.
Honestly, what more could he possibly want?
His chewing slowed as he got lost in his thoughts.
Of course, there were many ups in his life. But, everyone had their downs.
Eren refused to acknowledge his. The red scarf, his mum, the nightmares. He never wanted to acknowledge it, didn't think he could. But then he met Mikasa.
There was something about her that made him want to spend hours talking to her. About the things that bothered him, about the things that didn't bother him. He wanted to tell her everything, pour his heart out to her. Because, he felt like she could understand.
Without even whispering a word, she would understand him somehow and comfort him, and he wanted that so bad. To be closer to her and share things with her. He-
He needed to talk to someone.
***
Eren paced around on Marco's doorstep, fist coming up to knock on the door before retreating. He repeated the action at least ten times before he stomped his foot onto the ground and grumbled into his hands.
All this hesitating and worrying was for nothing.
All he had to do was open the door and Marco would greet him with open arms. He'd invite him inside, listen to his rant, wouldn't judge, and maybe he'd even provide an answer to his increasingly irritating problem.
Just thinking about it was enough to make Eren feel better.
He knocked on the front door.
He held his hands behind his back as he waited patiently, then knocked on the door again when it didn't open.
There was the sound of bustling and someone bumping into something?
Then, the door flew open and Eren's face contorted into disgust.
"Jean?"
Jean's face was red, his gaze unfocused and a hand was perched against the door frame to hold his weight. Eren caught a whiff of alcohol and he scrunched his brows together.
Is he drunk?
Without saying a word, Jean looked Eren over and slammed the door in his face.
Eren blinked.
Inside the building, Eren could make out muffled voices.
"Jean, who was that?" came Marco's voice.
"No one!"
Eren grumbled to himself.
This was a bad idea.
He was about to leave when the door opened again, this time Eren was met with an apologetic smile.
"Eren, what are you doing here?"
"I just, uhm, wanted to hang. But it's okay if you're busy. I can just-"
Marco shook his head. "You're free to come in."
"Seriously, Marco, it's alrigh-"
"No, no, Eren, you can-"
"No, Marco, really I should-"
Eren yelped when Marco grabbed his wrist and pulled him in with a grin. He lured them to the living room where he let go of Eren.
He cocked his head at the couch. "Make yourself comfortable."
Eren looked at where Jean was splayed out across the couch, clearly wasted. He grimaced. "Yeah, sure."
He sat down, kicking Jean's legs to the side to give himself more room which made Jean grumble.
"Fuck off, Eren..." he muttered.
"Marco, your house guest is being rude to me!" Eren called.
Jean grumbled harder.
Marco came back from his kitchen with a tray of drinks, setting it down on the table as he sat down.
"Jean, don't be rude."
"Mmh!" Jean turned his back on them.
Eren picked up a glass of orange juice and took a sip. "What's up with him?"
"He's having a mid-twenties crisis." Marco fiddled with his grip on his glass, shooting Eren a small smile when he raised a brow for an explanation. "Sometimes, Jean thinks too much. And he worries about his life, and where it's heading. You know, that type of thing."
"Hm." Eren averted his gaze to where Jean laid on the couch and wondered. Jean was cocky and always so full of himself that Eren found it hard to believe that he was unhappy.
But maybe, just maybe, he was like Eren, in the sense that there was an empty feeling creeping inside of him, swallowing him up from inside out. And no matter how much he tried to ignore it, how much he tried to fill it up, it wouldn't stop growing.
Everyone had their downs, after all.
"Anyway, what brings you here, Eren? Going through a mid-twenties crisis as well?"
Eren scowled into his glass. "Something like that... Though it's more specifically a girl problem."
"You mean Mikasa?"
Eren sputtered. "W-Well, no-"
Marco huffed out a laugh. "It's alright, Eren. You can tell me."
"But what about him?"
"Who?"
Eren pointed to the lump on the edge of the couch with disdain.
"Oh, don't worry. Jean's not going to be a problem when he's like this."
Eren squinted his eyes at Jean before saying hesitantly, "Alright... So, uhm, so, you see, this is really really really hard for me to say but, uhmmm, uh...."
Marco stared at him patiently.
Eren buried his face into his hands and blushed furiously. "This is so embarrassing," he mumbled. He dragged his hands down his face and inhaled, squeaking out his words in his next breath.
"Idon'tthinkIhateMikasaanymore."
"What was that?"
"I said," Eren peeked through his fingers, blush darkening. "I don't think I hate Mikasa anymore."
"Eren, that's great!" Marco smiled at him. "Why the sudden change in heart?"
"I don't really know what happened, to be honest. She's just... a lot different than I made her out to be. I enjoy her company a lot. Like, really enjoy her company. So much so that I feel lonely when I'm not around her. Even then, just thinking about her makes me feel less lonely."
"Ah."
Eren looked up at Marco, where he took a sip of his drink. He tilted his head at him in question.
"Eren, I've actually thought this before but, what if," he started, "you like Mikasa?"
Eren blanked out. "What?"
"What if you actually like-like--"
"No!" Eren shouted. He repeated softer, "No. No, that's ridiculous. It can't- That can't possibly be."
Marco nodded, though Eren could tell that he wasn't quite convinced. "Then what do you think it is? What do you want to be to her?"
"I don't know... A friend, I guess? But how do I even approach that? I honestly don't think I can. I feel so embarrassed and-"
"Damn right you should!" Jean bursted out all of a sudden.
Before Eren could speak, Jean continued, his words slurred together. "You want to be her friend or her girlfriend or whatever, fine! Good for you! But why don't you try, er, apologising to her or something... first. Do something nice, make up... fucking idiot."
Eren's eyes widened.
Jean was right.
He couldn't just ask Mikasa to be friends, expect her to say yes and then hold hands as they skipped into the sunset. Not after everything that happened. He needed to give her a peace offering. A stepping stone to go from rivals to friends.
"Wow, Jean. You're actually useful when you're drunk. Thanks."
A loud snore ripped through the air.
Eren rolled his eyes with an amused huff. "He sounds like a horse."
Marco laughed. "I think it's cute."
"And I think I should get going now." Eren got up and stretched out his limbs, wincing midway. "My everything still hurts."
"Oh! I have something for that."
Eren arched a brow up as he watched Marco get up and disappear somewhere further into his house. He came back with a small piece of paper in his hand. He handed it over to Eren.
Eren took it questioningly. "What is this?"
"It's a 50% off coupon for a massage! It'll be great for you."
"Woah, this is really nice." Eren clutched the coupon to his heart gratefully. "Thank you, Marco."
"No problem." Marco winked at him. "Enjoy."
***
Ha ha ha.
Ha ha ha.
What kind of sick joke was this?
A soft moan cut through the silence and Eren squeezed his eyes shut. He wanted to cry.
Thirty minutes ago, Eren had arrived at the massage place, glowing and generally in a good mood. The first surprise that he was met with was seeing half of his friends there. Christa, Ymir, Sasha, Connie. It was off-putting, but neat. Apparently Marco had given them coupons too.
Now the second surprise was that Mikasa was also there.
Eren stared at her with wide eyes, mouth agape. The shock only subsided when he found himself in one of the massage rooms. By then, it was too late.
Too late for him to realise that he was sharing a massage room with Mikasa.
And now he had to lay here as he listened to the soft sounds making their way out of Mikasa's mouth.
To be honest though, Eren didn't mind the situation he was in. He was at peace with the fact that he enjoyed Mikasa's company, and not only that, but the massage was great. It was relaxing and calming. Everything was perfect, honestly.
Except for the very fact that he was getting aroused by the sounds Mikasa was making. Everything was hot and the room was getting smaller and Mikasa's voice felt like it was right next to his ear. He couldn't even focus on the fucking massage.
This was so wrong. It was embarrassing, confusing, creepy. Eren was in so much pain. And-
Pleasure..?
Fuuuck. Fuck Marco and his coupons, fuck Eren and his stupid schoolboy horniness and fuck the universe for setting him up in this fucking agonising situation.
Mikasa whimpered, and something in Eren snapped.
He couldn't take this anymore.
He began to get up from where he was lying down. Both of the massagers and Mikasa looked at him in question.
"Sir?"
Eren's feet dropped to the ground and he clutched the towel around his waist tightly. "S-Sorry, I can't do this. I can't-" He cut himself off as he sprinted out of the room.
When he was a good distance away, he rested a hand on his knee, the other one still holding his towel, as he breathed in and out heavily.
So much for relaxation.
He went to gather his belongings, putting on his shirt and pants. As he stepped outside of the massage centre, there was a ping from his pocket.
He reached inside and got out his phone, almost dropping it when he read the text he got.
Mikasa (17:45) - Are you ok?
A beat later, and there was another message.
Mikasa (17:45) - ʕ º ᴥ ºʔ
Eren hid the growing blush on his face in his hands.
Oh, god. Mikasa was going to be the death of him.
Notes:
Ah, this chapter was a liiittle more shorter and calm but I hope you enjoyed ;) ♡
Chapter 12: The Truth
Notes:
Ahhhh hello, I'm so sorry it's been a while since I've updated! 😭I've been busy with life and I hit a huge writer's block for this chapter hahaha... but I'm dedicated to writing this until the end! I hope you enjoy <3
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
On most night shifts these days, Eren was either a) passing time by talking with Mikasa or b) staring at Mikasa as he thought about talking to her.
This time, he was doing the latter.
He still hadn't apologised to her, which meant that they technically couldn't be friends yet. He couldn't figure out a way to do it without coming off as awkward or insincere. He couldn't just apologise to her out of the blue like that, he needed to have a build up. He needed to do something first, like bring her out to a movie. Or take her out for lunch. Or-
Wait a minute.
Eren was in a mall. He had access to all of those things. And more, even. He could proceed with operation give-Mikasa-a-night-to-remember-as-forgiveness-for-being-an-asshole right now.
He cleared his throat, catching Mikasa's attention.
"Hey, Mikasa... Do you want to do something fun?"
She tilted her head. "What do you mean by fun?"
"Well, you know, just fun stuff." Eren gestured around them. "Instead of this boring shit we're doing."
"But we're on a shift..? And haven't you been doing this 'boring shit' your whole life? Also, I assume Chief Levi won't be too pleased if he catches-"
"Mikasa, Mikasa, Mikasa." Eren waved his hands in front of her face exasperatedly. "Just, forget about all that stuff for a second, and think about this. Would you like to do something fun with me?"
She shut her mouth, lips pursed into a thin line as she stared down at her hands in thought.
She faced him with a nod. "Yes."
Eren grinned. "Perfect."
***
There was a cold glint in Mikasa's eyes as she aimed her gun at the zombies on the screen. The sound of bullets firing mixed with the screams of the zombies added to the murderous aura around her.
STAGE CLEARED.
She lowered the gun to her side, nodding once in satisfaction to herself. As if it was a second thought, she turned to Eren and offered him the gun.
"Your turn?"
Eren pushed the gun to her with a strained smile as a bead of sweat rolled down his forehead.
"N-No, thanks. I'm good."
Eren had brought them to the arcade because honestly, what else spelled fun more than arcade? He thought it was a good impromptu plan. Play some games, have fun, and win tickets! And after he won the tickets, he could get something for Mikasa. It was a genius plan.
Except, in order for him to win tickets, he had to actually win the games. And so far... yeah, he sucked ass.
No surprise Mikasa was the one getting all the tickets while he had a measly number of 20 or so. Not only that. After having witnessed Mikasa in her natural element, Eren was beyond terrified and weirdly in awe at her destroying the shit out of all those zombies.
Eren gestured at another game. "Let's play something else."
"Alright."
Eren cracked his knuckles as he went straight for the basketball game. He played basketball during high school with his friends, even now with some of the others occasionally, and he had always been good at it.
Surely Mikasa couldn't be good at everything.
Eren put a token in the slot, and right after came the basketballs. He grinned as he watched them roll towards him, picking one up.
"Say, Mikasa," he said as he aimed the basketball at the hoop. "You ever played basketball before?"
She nodded. "It's one of my favourite sports."
As she said that, Eren felt an arrow pierce through him, making him nearly miss the shot. He turned to Mikasa with a twitch in his eye.
"You're shitting me."
She shook her head. "I rarely play it nowadays." She added softly, "Since I have no one to play with."
Eren watched her quietly. He was slightly annoyed that Mikasa was yet again great at something he did, but maybe, not everything had to be a competition.
He passed a ball to her.
She caught it swiftly, though there was a confused expression on her face.
He grinned at her as he picked up a ball for himself. "Come on. Let's shoot some hoops."
The two of them made a powerful pair together. They managed to score an exceptional amount of points. Eren could say that he was just as good as Mikasa, or better, even. However, because of their near similar skill level, a lot of the balls collided with each other before going through the hoop.
Eren grunted. "Looks like not practicing for a while messed up your game. You're getting rusty, Mik."
"Firstly, the ball isn't going in because yours keeps colliding with mine. So the correct statement would be that you're the rusty one. And secondly," she looked away from the hoop to scrunch her nose at Eren. "Mik?"
Eren raised a brow. "Yeah? It's a nickname..?"
"It's an ugly nickname."
There was a small pout on Mikasa's face that made Eren laugh. "Alright, alright. How about Mika? Or Mimi?"
"You're terrible at giving nicknames," she said, and Eren laughed again.
"Like you can do any better?"
"Erenny."
Eren bursted out in laughter. He wiped at his tears. "Holy shit, I've finally found something you're bad at."
She shrugged. "I think it's cute."
Eren couldn't help but blush at that, lips parted slightly. He shook his head instantly.
Mikasa wasn't calling him cute. She was calling that god-awful nickname she gave him cute.
Eren tried to compose himself as they continued playing. Even with the subtle rivalry between them, they managed to set a new high score together. And the amount of tickets was enough to make Eren marvel like a kid in a candy store. They split it and moved on to the other games.
After this, time was foreign to them. They lost themselves as they played games varying from Whack-A-Mole to mini ice hockey to Dance Dance Revolution. Eren even stopped caring about the tickets (which he was barely getting). Instead, the only thing he was focused on was...
"You gonna get something with those tickets?" Eren asked as he and Mikasa walked up to the counter.
"Hmm... What should I get?"
Eren shrugged. "I bet with all those tickets of yours, you could get yourself the best prize in the arcade." He gestured to a small box at the top of the shelf. "You see that box over there? It's one of the latest smart watch. It's super popular and difficult to get. But I bet you could easily get two with those tickets."
Mikasa nodded thoughtfully. "I see."
"Yeah..."
Eren frowned a little to himself. He had hoped that he could win something like that for Mikasa, but with the amount of tickets he had, a smart watch was out of the question. He still wanted to give Mikasa something, but the only thing he could afford was a small, bird plushy.
They exited the arcade once they handed over their tickets and exchanged them for their prizes. Once outside, Eren handed over the plushy to Mikasa.
"Here." Eren rubbed the back of his neck embarassingly, almost disappointedly. "I wanted to get you something, but this was all I could afford. It's not much and definitely not as good as your smart watch, but I hope you like it."
Mikasa's eyes widened slightly. She took it from him with gentle fingers. "I love it," she whispered.
Eren sputtered. "What?!"
"It's adorable."
"It's ugly."
Mikasa smiled softly. "It looks like you."
Eren's jaw dropped. He gulped. "Uh, oh. Well, I don't know how to feel about that but I'm glad you like it."
She chuckled. "Also, I didn't get the smart watch."
"Huh? What did you get then?"
Mikasa took out a plushy of a ghost? Or some kind of pale skinned creature with black hair. Eren figured he'd seen it somewhere on the back of the shelves. Why Mikasa would get this was beyond him.
She outstretched her arm to Eren and he stared at her in confusion.
"I got this... For you."
"For me?" Eren breathed out, shocked. "Why?"
"I saw it on the shelf, hidden between the other prizes and it..." There was a small blush on Mikasa's cheeks. "And I thought that you might like it."
Eren's face warmed. "Oh." He took the plushy from Mikasa with a trembling hand. "Thanks. It's pretty cute."
She smiled widely at him, sweet and quiet.
Eren's heart beated loudly in his chest.
"You have a nice smile."
Mikasa stared at him with wide eyes.
Eren stared back.
"Wait, did I just say that out loud?"
Mikasa simply shook her head and smiled wider.
"Let's continue doing fun stuff, okay?"
"O-Okay."
Eren faltered behind her just as his heart stuttered in his chest. He swallowed.
Mikasa looked like she was glowing tonight.
***
Connie's mouth opened wide as he let out a big yawn. "Ahh, fuck, I'm bored!"
Sasha rested her cheek in her palm. "Right?!"
"If only we had something better to do than this..."
"Oh! Aren't Eren and Mikasa here?"
"Oh." Connie grinned manically. "Oh yeah. I see where you're getting at."
Sasha cackled evilly, and Connie followed.
Eren rolled his eyes as he watched them from where he was hidden behind a wall with Mikasa. He turned to her to whisper.
"They definitely deserve this."
He tied a piece of paper to the toy car they got from one of the kid's shop, placing it down on the floor. It began to move in Connie and Sasha's direction slowly as Eren controlled it with the controller.
The whirring sound of the toy car caught the two guards' attention. They stared at it with confusion as it approached them.
The car hit Connie's shoes and he picked it up with a raised brow. "What the fuck is this..?"
"There's a note on it," Sasha pointed out.
Connie untied the note, beginning to read it aloud.
"We've been watching you two for a long time. Longer than you could ever imagine. And we think, you would make a great fit for our next victims." Connie furrowed his brows. "Signed by Mr Saw and Ms Ammo."
Sasha squinted at something on the note. "Is that blood?!"
"N-No, this is just a sick joke," Connie tried to reassure himself, but even from here, Eren could see his hands trembling.
He snickered.
"What do we do?" Sasha asked, concerned.
"We find out who's pranking us and make them p-"
Eren signalled for Mikasa to play the recorder. She pressed on the button and an eerie lullaby started to fill the silence.
Sasha pointed at the wall where Eren and Mikasa hid. "I-I-It's coming from over there."
Connie visibly swallowed. "W-We should investigate, shouldn't we?"
"Yeah..."
Connie began to walk in their direction, only stopping to arch a brow up at Sasha who was clinging onto his arm with a death grip. She raised her hands away from him in a gesture of defense, but brought it back to his arm when they started walking again.
Eren pulled his face mask over his head with Mikasa following. Their masks were identical, with Eren's being the face of a clown with a wide frown stretched across it and Mikasa's being a wide grin.
"Time for our sweet, sweet revenge," Eren whispered, an excited lilt in his voice.
Just as Connie and Sasha turned the corner, the beat of the lullaby from the recorder dropped, and Eren pulled the handle of his toy chainsaw while Mikasa got her ball launcher ready.
They pounced onto the unsuspecting duo with a growl.
Sasha and Connie let out similar high pitched screams.
Eren pointed his chainsaw at Connie and lowered his voice as he spoke, "I know every single thing you've done!"
"I-I'm sorry!" Connie tried to say but he was busy defending himself from the small balls Mikasa was shooting at him and Sasha.
Sasha sobbed. "I didn't do anything! It was just Connie! Take him!"
"Hey!"
Eren pointed the chainsaw at her. "No, no. It was you too, Sasha."
She gasped, wide eyes filling with tears. "How do you know my name...?" She whispered out before dropping to her knees, head rested on the ground beneath Eren's feet.
"I'm sorry, Mr Saw! I'm sorry for everything I've done but I don't regret stealing Chief Levi's slice of chocolate cake from the lounge room. If you have a problem with that, end me for all I care!"
Eren paused, then he turned to Mikasa who faced him at the same time.
They both snorted, which soon turned into a burst of laughter.
Eren wrapped his arm around his waist as he chocked out, "You idiots!"
Connie was taken aback by this. "Wha- Wait, Sasha grab his leg while he's distracted!"
"Wait, no-"
Sasha looked up with tears and snot running down her face before yanking Eren's ankle, causing him to fall back onto Mikasa. They crashed to the ground and Eren could only laugh harder.
He pulled his mask off his face. "It's just us."
"Huh?!" Sasha exclaimed. "Then Ms Ammo is..?"
Mikasa pulled her mask off, revealing her face to them.
"Mikasa?!"
Connie glared at them. "You shits!"
Eren shrugged with a chuckle. "You guys had it coming."
"Oh, I'll show you what you have coming." Connie grabbed the discarded ball blaster on the floor and aimed it at Eren and Mikasa. "Sasha grab the chainsaw! We'll show these two lovebirds what payback really looks like."
Eren scrambled to his feet, grabbing Mikasa's hand that she handed out to him after already getting up. Connie shot at them once and Eren laughed harder.
"Shit, Mikasa, let's go!"
As Eren and Mikasa ran away, more balls started to come their way.
"Come back here you cowards!" Connie screamed, but his voice was distant as Eren and Mikasa had already gotten far away from them.
Eren led them up to the roof of the mall, shutting the door when Mikasa came out. He dropped to the ground, laboured breaths making their way out of his mouth. He looked up at Mikasa.
She was steady, and breathing just fine. There was a smile of amusement stretched across her face.
Eren grinned, groaning as he got up. "Serves them right." He gestured at Mikasa to follow him to sit down on one side of the roof.
Unlike Eren, who had unceremoniously plopped down onto the floor, Mikasa sat down next to him gently.
She chuckled. "Will they be mad with us?"
"Pfft. Why would they? Aside from the fact that they started this, they're both just, well, Sasha and Connie." Eren leaned back on his hands, shrugging when Mikasa tilted her head at him for further explanation. "They're goofballs."
"Oh... I see."
Eren hummed.
After a beat, Mikasa spoke up. "I... I was wondering. How did all of you end up working here? Did you know each other before this?"
Eren's brows raised a little at the random question, but he couldn't help but grin as he reminisced about the past. "Ah. I knew Armin since I was eight, or nine maybe. We've been friends for as long as I can remember. Then, I met Marco, Jean, Christa and Ymir in high school. But!" Eren faced Mikasa with a firm look, whispering to her, "Jean wasn't my friend or anything. We were from completely different social groups. The only reason I had to interact with that guy was 'cause he's friends with Marco."
Mikasa chuckled. "I see."
"We met Reiner, Bertholdt and Annie during guard training. But apparently, Ymir and Christa had already known them?" Eren shrugged. "And as for how we ended up working here, I guess most of the influence was from my dad. He used to work here as a part-time job and stuff. Since I didn't really have any ambitions after high school, my dad suggested I work here. Said it was an honourable job and shit. The rest just kinda followed."
"And now you're all working together happily. As if you were in a little bubble of joy," Mikasa said softly.
"Yeah." Eren grinned. "It's nice."
"Do you... ever think one of you will leave?"
Eren hummed in thought. "Of course, I've thought about that before. I don't think I'll leave, but the others might. Like say, Armin and Marco. There's so much potential in them. They don't belong in just a mall. Even Connie and Sasha have their own strengths."
Eren gazed out at the night sky, at the stars that sparkled in the dark. "Who knows, maybe one day, they'll all leave."
"It won't happen."
Eren shot his head to Mikasa. Her dark eyes sparkled, even more so than the starry night. His throat clamped up. "What do you mean?"
"I think, that no matter what happens, you'll always end up together."
The corners of Eren's lips twitched up. "I hope so." He shook his head. "How about you? How did you end up in the freaking Special Forces?"
"It's a long story," she answered instantly.
"And there's still five more hours until our shift ends."
Mikasa averted her gaze, lips pressed in a thin line.
"You don't have to tell me," he said softly. "But I'd really like to get to know you better."
"...I lived in a secluded area with my parents," she started. Her voice sounded detached, empty almost. It reminded Eren of the first time they met. "We had a peaceful life living on our own. Mr Smith would visit occasionally. He was good friends with my dad."
Eren sat up, sticking his face into Mikasa's. "You mean Mr Smith like Erwin Smith?"
"Mm. It was peaceful, up until the home invasion. There were two guys, I think. They broke in one night, with guns and an axe? I don't really remember what happened... I... I don't want to remember." She took in a breath, steadying her voice back to its calm tone. "There was a fight and then both my parents were bleeding out on the floor. My mum's empty eyes were staring at me and I couldn't process it. I couldn't process one of the men approaching me.
"Until something in me snapped. A voice in my head telling me to do something, to survive somehow-"
"To fight," Eren whispered. "Because if you don't fight, you won't live."
"Yeah. The thought took over my body and I followed. I... stabbed them in the heart." She shrugged. "Mr Smith found me there. He became my guardian. And I guess he was somewhat impressed with what I did because a few years later, when I had no exact directions in life, he suggested that I join the Forces."
A drop of water plopped onto Eren's pants and it was then that he realised he was crying. He brought his hand up to his face, feeling the wetness of his cheek. His heart felt heavy in chest. Mikasa's words resonated deep in him. It opened up something in him that made him want to cry his eyes out.
All this time, she was similar to him in a way. At this moment, he felt like he'd known her his whole life. And to finally hear this, her story, it hurt.
Mikasa tensed when Eren wrapped his arms around her, tight and disregarding of personal space. "I'm sorry," he choked out as he sobbed into her shoulder.
He felt her place a hand on his back. Hesitant at first, but it was warm and comforting to Eren. "It's okay," she whispered.
Eren pulled back with a whimper. He rubbed at his eyes furiously. "It's not! I'm the biggest jerk on this planet."
"You're not," Mikasa tried to say, but Eren couldn't hear her.
He was brought back to years ago. "I experienced a home invasion too, when I was ten," he said, to himself or to Mikasa, he couldn't tell. "Everyone was asleep at that point. I woke up when I heard something downstairs, but my mum came in my room to tell me to stay inside. I listened to her. But then I heard gunshots, so I went down, of course. I was scared, even more so when I saw the guy pointing a gun at my mum."
He sniffed. "I acted like an idiot and got my mum shot. Seeing my mum covered in blood, I couldn't help but think, What have I done? Even as she laid in a hospital bed for months, even as the years passed by, I couldn't stop thinking that. That this is all my fault. The guilt was eating me up so much that I moved out right after high school. And I never came to visit since..."
He buried his face in his hands. "I'm sorry. You don't even have the luxury of seeing your parents again and here I am, unable to visit mine because of my selfishness." He choked out, "I'm sorry. I don't know why I'm like this. Why I'm such a terrible person and friend and son. I'm so sorry for everything I did to you."
Eren felt Mikasa's fingers carding through his hair, trying to catch his attention. It felt somewhat nice in his distress, but he didn't look up. Not until she uttered out a single word, soft and testing.
"Eren..."
His head shot up, meeting her gaze with wide eyes. It was the first time Mikasa had ever said his name. And, he never realised how much he wanted to hear it from her mouth until he did.
"I don't think you're a bad person. I think you're the opposite, in fact. You're kind and sweet. And I admire the way you're able to express yourself with so much emotion... I struggle with that. I've always been detached since that incident. I distance myself from anyone who tries to get close.
"But you," Mikasa smiled widely, eyes sparkling. "You barged headfirst into my life, even with all these barriers I've created. Just like you do with everything else, you push your way through it. And I'm so grateful for that because I don't want to be alone anymore."
Eren let out a soft gasp when she held his hands in hers. "Thank you for being here with me."
Eren's mouth parted slightly as he stared into Mikasa's eyes. Her eyes that were welling up with tears, threatening to drop down to the ground.
His heart beated wildly in his chest.
"Thank you, Eren."
Something weird was happening inside of him. A warm feeling settling inside his chest. Calm, cozy. And he was content like that. Blushing as Mikasa smiled at him brighter than the stars they sat under.
"What if you like Mikasa?"
Eren's eyes widened.
Marco's words popped up into his head suddenly. And once it was there, the question kept on repeating over and over again.
Everything stopped. His breath, his heartbeat, everything around him. It hitched as a realisation came to him. It was so absurd and so incredibly out there but it was the only thing that made sense to him in that moment.
He liked Mikasa.
And he blushed even harder because Mikasa was so close to him and she looked stunning. His whole body felt warm.
"Mikasa...," he breathed out. "I hope we can continue learning about each other after this."
She shot him a small smile. "I'd like that."
He smiled back just as shyly.
"Thank you."
***
Eren sighed as he stared up at his ceiling.
I like Mikasa.
I like Mikasa. I like her I like her I-
He sighed again, this time with a faint blush dusting his cheeks.
He couldn't stop thinking about it. That, and the night they had just spent together. He felt like he was in a dream. Who knew liking someone would feel like this?
There was a part of him that wondered how he got to this point. How he ended up liking her like this.
But honestly, he didn't feel like he had to. What he felt towards Mikasa... was something he could never explain. The intensity of it and the complete mystery that it was, he'd never felt anything like this before. Maybe at some point in time, his feelings for her transitioned into this little crush. Or maybe he'd always liked her, in a way. Quick-paced heartbeat, fluttery feelings, erratic spur of the moment decisions.
That was how people got when they liked someone right?
Then, he supposed his feelings for her hadn't changed that much.
He turned his head to the right, to where the plushy Mikasa won him sat on his bed. He grabbed it and brought it to his chest, letting out a deep sigh.
"Oh, Mimi. I like your mama."
He hugged the plushy tightly with a warm face.
"I like her a lot."
Notes:
Thanks for reading!
Chapter 13: What I Know
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Eren had a problem.
Mikasa was ignoring him.
That... hurt to admit but it was the truth. She had been ignoring him for a few days now. At first, it was just little things like not seeing each other often or Mikasa not responding to his texts. Eren just chalked it up to the both of them being busy with their own shifts, so he never really realised the growing rift between them.
Until their night shift together.
He was admittedly looking forward to it, after not seeing or hearing from Mikasa for so long, so he stumbled when he found Ymir where Mikasa was supposed to be.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
Ymir rolled her eyes. "My job."
Eren furrowed his brows. "You don't have a night shift with me today."
"I do now."
"Huh? Then Mikasa-"
"Will no longer be your night shift buddy."
Eren was at a lost for words. He felt his heart sank but he managed to utter out, "Why?"
Ymir shrugged. "How would I know? One second I'm hanging out with my girl Christa and the next second the little shorty's pulling me over and ordering me to switch shifts with Mikasa. I'm not any happier than you about this."
Eren stared down at his shoes in deep thought. This was odd. Why would the chief do something like that all of a sudden? Wasn't he the one that arranged this whole thing?
"Did he tell you anything about why he did it?"
"Well..." There was a flicker of knowing in Ymir's eyes but she quickly turned her head away. "I dunno."
Eren felt anger rise up in him. He stomped in front of Ymir, crossing his arms as he stared down at her. "If there's something you know, tell me. I don't need pity from you."
"Woah, woah. Slow down, kid. Pity? Pfft. I seriously have no clue except... It seemed like a personal request from Mikasa's part."
Eren's eyes widened.
"What?"
Ymir let out a snicker. "Looks like you fucked up big time!"
"Shut up, Ymir. I didn't."
...Did I?
***
Eren left Ymir there as he went to sought out answers.
Mikasa really was ignoring him.
This whole time... and he never realised it. No, he did. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew Mikasa was ignoring him. He just chose to not accept that because it didn't make sense.
Why was she suddenly distancing herself from him? The last time they spoke was great. Wasn't it? Eren tried going back to that night, trying to find if there was anything offensive he did, but he couldn't think of anything. Maybe he did do something that he didn't noticed. He was an idiot like that.
He steadied his breath as he pushed open the chief's office.
Chief Levi sat at his desk, a bored expression on his face.
If the chief wasn't a literal insomniac, Eren wouldn't dare try approaching him in the middle of the night. But luckily for him, he was. And Eren was desperate anyway.
"What do you want, Eren?"
"Chief-"
"Wait, hold it. I think I know what this is about." He rolled his eyes. "Mikasa, right?"
"Y-Yes." Eren slowly approached his desk. "Why isn't she having night shifts with me?"
Chief Levi stared up at him blankly for a moment before looking away. "Why does it matter? Haven't you always wanted this? The last time you were here, you were begging me to not be with her."
"That was ages ago!"
Both Eren's and the chief's eyes widened at his outburst.
"I-I mean-"
"Eren, sit down."
Eren swallowed as he pulled a chair back, sitting down carefully in front of the chief.
He let out a sigh. "Listen. Yesterday, Mikasa came to me with the request to switch shifts with one of the others."
Eren's heart dropped. So it was her request.
"I was mad at first. I asked her, What did he do? But she said you did nothing at all. In fact, she told me you were great to her. She said..."
Eren leaned forward. "What did she say?"
"She said that she needed to be by herself. And that she wanted to be alone." He shrugged. "If that's what she wants, then that's what we-"
"No, that's complete BS!" Eren shot up from his chair. "She told me that she didn't want to be alone."
"Well, shit."
Eren silently turned around, walking away from Chief Levi.
"And what do you think you're going to do?"
"What I always do."
"I hope that doesn't mean anything stupid."
Before Eren pushed open the door, he turned around and grinned, a little nervously, at the chief.
"We'll see."
***
Eren sighed.
Instead of going back to Ymir, he decided to take a walk around the mall. Sort out his thoughts.
It didn't help that everywhere he looked reminded him of Mikasa. The ice cream shop where he discovered her love for strawberry. The sportswear store where they came head to head against each other. The grocery store where he first realised how beautiful she was. And the arcade which reminded him of the fun they had just a few nights ago.
The ache in Eren's heart grew larger. He stopped in his steps and placed a hand over his chest.
"Damn it," he gritted out.
"What I always do."
That was what he had told the chief but he honestly didn't know what he was supposed to do. He had only said that because Mikasa did. So, what exactly would he do in a situation like this?
Eren thought back to Mikasa's words as he began walking again. He was so deep in his thoughts that he ran into the grand piano in the middle of the mall.
"Ow-" Eren cut himself off because at that moment he was struck with a brilliant idea.
Mikasa was the daughter of a pianist. And judging from how in tune she was with playing the piano, music was like a second language to her. If Eren couldn't talk to her privately, then maybe he could communicate to her through music in a public area, where she couldn't possibly avoid him because she would be having a shift.
Now, Eren sucked at playing the piano and the keyboard and whatever but he was pretty good at playing the guitar. And his voice was alright too.
All he needed were bandmates.
He turned around and started jogging before breaking out into a sprint back to where his shift took place.
He rested his hands on his knees as he hunched forward, breathing in and out heavily.
"Ymir!"
She turned around with a raised brow. "What."
"You know how to play the bass right?"
"Yeah, why?"
A smile stretched across Eren's face as he catched his breath.
"How does playing together in a public mall sound?"
***
It was Saturday. Eren had no shifts today. He woke up feeling refreshed.
Even with the lingering thought that Mikasa was avoiding him.
It felt shitty, of course. It stung, but he felt oddly motivated. There was a burning desire in him to reach out to Mikasa and cuddle her tight and tell her that she didn't have to be alone. Mikasa deserved to be happy. She was sweet, hardworking and so beautiful.
Eren would do whatever it takes to get her out of this dark hole she'd found herself in. He was going to show her just how much she meant to him. And if that meant singing his heart out to her in a public area, then so be it.
First thing he needed to do was assemble the band. He already got Ymir on board last night, though she did initially replied with a sharp laugh and "Hell no." Despite that, convincing her was easy. All Eren had to do was say something about looking cool in front of Christa and she was jumping to the offer.
Next, the drummer.
Eren chewed on his toast absentmindedly as his phone ringed.
"Hello? Eren?"
"Good morning, Connie."
Connie's voice was low and raspy as he spoke, indicating that he had just woken up. "Why the hell are you calling me at 8 am in the morning?" Connie's voice became clearer as he turned more alert. "Wait, do we have work today? Oh shit oh shit-"
"Calm down." Eren pinched the bridge of his nose. "It's Saturday. And I'll get straight to the point. I need you to be a drummer for this thing I'm planning for Monday."
"Whuh?"
"Ymir and probably Armin's gonna be in it. We're just performing one song. Are you in?"
Connie was silent for a while, which made Eren unconsciously grip his mug of coffee tightly.
Then, "...Dude, that is the most exciting thing you have ever thought of. I'm having a hard time believing this-"
Eren rolled his eyes. "Yes or no, Connie?"
"Yes! This is gonna be liiit!"
Eren hung up after thanking Connie (not before listening to him gush about how much cooler Eren was).
Now it was time to make a call to the keyboardist. Eren went to take a seat on his couch as the phone ringed. Just as he sat down, Armin picked up.
"Eren, what's up?"
"Hi Armin. Urm, so, I have a favour to ask."
"What is it?"
"Uhhh." Eren blushed. He wasn't worried about Armin rejecting the favour he was asking him. But, he was nervous about what Armin would think about this thing he was doing for Mikasa.
He shook his head. The worst thing Armin could do was tease him.
"So, don't make fun of me, okay? But I need you to play the keyboard with me, Connie and Ymir this Monday. Just one song."
"Oh? What for?"
Eren sank further into his couch, his blush deepening. "You know how Mikasa's been ignoring me, right?"
"She is?"
"Yeah, recently. And I think I know why. So I needed to find a way to speak to her when she's avoiding me like this and I figured, since she was the daughter of a musician, she might appreciate something like this."
"...Wait. Mikasa's parents are musicians? Was? Wha- Woah, Eren. You..."
Eren raised his brow at Armin's confusion. "What?"
"You and Mikasa got to know each other better?"
"Mhm."
"And? You like her..?"
Eren pursed his lips. He could hear the teasing tone slipping through Armin's voice already.
He let out a small huff of amusement.
"I like her. A lot, actually. She's kind and funny, in a way. She's really a great person and I... care about her, so that's why I wanted to do this for her. Because she deserves to be happy."
"Aww, that's so sweet."
The tips of Eren's ears burned. "Hmm."
"You've really changed, Eren."
Eren laughed. "Nah, it's still same old me. Just without all the anger and screaming."
Armin chuckled at the other end of the line.
"You know, she called me kind once."
"Wow."
"Yeah." Eren smiled to himself. "Can you imagine that? After everything I've done?"
"It's not hard to believe."
Eren picked at a lint on his sofa. "Mm, right."
"Really. Remember back then when I used to get picked on for being more... frail than everyone else? And you would always pick a fight with them because of that?"
"Of course. I also remember you saying that you didn't need me to come to your rescue like some knight in shining armour."
Armin sighed. "It's not like you listened."
Eren snorted.
"But... A part of me was glad for that. I didn't like feeling weak and having you protect me all the time, but I was happy that you were there. I was happy that you never left me alone, that you'd be willing to fight for me. I've always admired you in a way because you seemed like angel to me." Eren could hear the smile in Armin's voice as he said, "An angel with severe anger issues and a concerning lust for blood."
Eren rolled his eyes in amusement. "I'm going to ignore that. And, I've always looked up to you too. I never once thought you were weak. And all those people that thought otherwise can go suck it because you were a freaking genius too! I don't know where I'd be without your tutoring."
Both Eren and Armin laughed together as they reminisced about good times.
Eren sighed in content. "It's nice talking to you, Armin."
"I'm always here." He giggled mischievously. "Especially if you want to talk about Mikasa..."
"Hmph."
"You like her~"
Eren's heart stuttered but he tried to play it cool. "Alright, bye Armin. I'll see you later."
Eren hung up as Armin laughed out loud at him.
He sunk into his seat, staring up at his beige ceiling.
He wanted to speak with Mikasa.
***
Eren was currently in front of Mikasa's apartment.
Why was he at Mikasa's apartment?!
Oh, right. Because he wanted to speak to her. He blamed Armin for teasing him about her. Now he felt like a complete idiot showing up at her place but there was nothing he could do but go inside. Plus, he brought a gift for her.
As he walked along the hall, hope started to overtake him. Maybe Mikasa would greet him. Maybe he'd get to hear her voice again. Or see her smile.
Eren's composure swayed when he was face to face with Mikasa's door. She was right inside there.
He shook his head and knocked on the door lightly. "Mikasa?" he called.
Silence.
He sighed, resting a palm against the cold wood. "I miss you, you know. I know we moved too fast. I mean, one second we were at each others' throat's and the next we were pouring our hearts out." He chuckled. "I know it's scary, but I'm here with you, okay?"
Eren placed the thing he bought for Mikasa on the ground, in front of the door and left the apartment.
Now that that was done, it was time to get everything else organised.
Eren, Armin, Connie and Ymir spent the weekends practicing the song they were going to play for Mikasa. Eren was an okay singer. He had been told that he had a nice voice though. And he was no pianist but he'd always been good at playing the guitar.
Hopefully, this was enough.
***
Monday came by in a flash. Eren wasn't even sure if they were ready for this but he was determined. Him and his newly formed bandmates gathered together at the centre of the mall in the morning. When they were there, it was only then that Eren realised that he hadn't gotten permission to perform here.
But they were too far gone, having set all the equipment up already. He'd just have to hope that Chief Levi wouldn't be able to hear them playing from his office. It was just a few minutes long anyway. Surely he wouldn't mind...
Eren yelped when he was suddenly slapped on the back.
"Stage fright?" Ymir laughed. "You look like you're going to shit yourself."
Eren huffed. "No, it's not that. I'm just thinking about the consequences of our actions."
"You mean getting Mikasa to fall head over heels for you?" Connie snickered from where he sat at his drum set.
"Tsk..." Eren turned his head away to hide the growing blush on his face. "No... Nevermind."
Armin smiled at him. "I'm proud of you, Eren. I really hope this works for you."
Eren smiled back. "Yeah. Me too."
They took their places at their positions, with Eren standing behind the microphone stand. His eyes searched throughout the growing crowd around them, all curious as to what they were doing. Eren frowned when he couldn't find the one person he was looking for.
Mikasa.
She must be somewhere around here. She was having a shift here.
He hoped she could hear him. Wherever she was.
He gripped his guitar firmly and stepped forward. All he had to do now was focus on playing. Even if this failed, he'd try again. He'd try again and again because he needed Mikasa just as she needed him.
Eren took in a deep breath.
Because he was so lonely without her.
Notes:
Thanks for reading!
Next chapter will be in Mikasa POV ;)
Chapter 14: The Weird Boy Who Wouldn't Leave Me Alone
Notes:
Hello! It's been SOOO long... I'm sorry😭😭
But I'm back, again! <(￣︶￣)> And I'm here with Mikasa's POV! Enjoy~
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
"Mikasa! Mikasa Ackerman!"
Mikasa got up from where she was helping her squadmate fix a broken table. She thanked her before Mikasa headed to the chief's office. As per usual, Mikasa shut the door behind her before standing in front of the chief's desk.
"Yes, chief."
Chief Erwin smiled at her gently. "Mikasa, sit down."
She waited silently, not curious as to what chief Erwin had called her for. It was always either about her opinion on the selection of her squad members for the next mission or Chief Erwin simply praising her for her contribution in their latest case.
But sometimes, it was about what Mikasa had for lunch, if she was doing okay, if she had made any plans with her squadmates.
Mikasa said nothing.
"Good work with our latest case. Your role played a huge factor in our success."
So it was this, she thought.
"I was only carrying out my task with the best of my abilities," she responded as she had other times.
She was getting ready to leave when, unexpectedly, the chief continued.
"There's no doubt that you are our most valuable officer in the forces. Every one of your assignments has been carried out with exceptional results."
Mikasa looked at him questioningly, prompting him to go on.
"That why I would like to assign you with a solo operation. 'Security Assist of Improvement'. Your mission is to take up the role of a security guard in Paradis Mall and assist with their duties, as well as analyse the scene for any chance at improvement."
Her brows shot up.
Chief Erwin cocked his head to the side. "Is there a problem, Mikasa?"
"No... but, isn't this assignment too... mundane? I don't think it's necessary for me to be apart of this operation. My skills can only be fully utilised out on the field, not in a... shopping mall." She had to hold back from uttering the last two words in disgust.
Chief Erwin let out a huff of amusement. "...Somehow I knew you weren't going to accept this so easily." He leaned forward, intertwining his hands in front of him. "As someone who has known your for more than a decade, there's another reason I'm assigning this operation to you."
A million thoughts races through Mikasa's mind. A terrorist attack? Nuclear threat? Invaluable items that needed protection?
"I want you to learn more about the people we protect, rather than only focusing on eliminating threats."
Mikasa blinked.
He let out a loud laugh. "You think it's ridiculous, don't you?"
She nodded slowly and the chief laughed again.
He started softly, "You're still young, Mikasa. In your 20s and amongst the top rank in our field. However, you still have a long way ahead of you. Think of this operation as an adventure -- or vacation, even."
Mikasa bit her lip. She felt like screaming in retaliation. She was perfectly fine doing this kind of work for the rest of her life! Vacation? This was going to be a nightmare!
But Mikasa kept those thoughts buried inside her and nodded once before leaving.
***
In the dark of the night laid Mikasa on her benchpress. She lifted the barbell as her mind wandered.
She'd been through worst, that was one thing. She'd had her life in danger more than she could remember.
And yet...
The assignment given to her today evoked a feeling in her that she had never felt in a long time.
Fear.
No, maybe not fear. She wasn't quite there yet. It was more like uneasiness, or displeasure even. She was irritated by this ridiculous task. The Chief was messing with her, surely. This whole thing just didn't make any sense to her.
Why would a mall need security guards from the special forces? If there was a planned terrorist attack that needed professionals to take care of, then sure, that would have made sense to her. But the chief made it seem like it was nothing but an exchange program!
She sighed.
It didn't matter anyway-- whatever it was she felt.
Her duty always came first.
***
Mikasa's first day was nothing special. There was a robbery, she acted, she was introduced to the others by her new chief, she carried out her first guard shift.
But one thing -- or rather -- one person stuck out to her.
Eren Jagger.
Jae- Yegg- Jaedre? Yeah, Eren something. That guy... was weird.
First, he got mad at her for stopping a burglary flawlessly. Then, he loses his mind when Mikasa dropped said burglar down the first floor (who landed completely unharmed on a bouncy castle), going on and on about how she should be more careful or how he didn't deserve to die -- like he didn't just commit a crime!
That Eren guy should be thanking her, honestly...
And that wasn't even the end of it. After all that-
He took her on a guide around the mall.
He bought ice cream for her and smiled so brightly when he picked out her favourite flavour and-
It was confusing. He was confusing.
Weeks pass by and Eren continued to irritate her each day. To put it more accurately, he was like a small fly who wouldn't stop buzzing around her. Harmless, but a nuisance.
Eventually, as more days passed, she got used to it. Even started to swat back at him, entertaining his little "rivalry" with her (though Mikasa liked to see their relationship as more of a predator toying with their prey before pouncing on them).
Mikasa thought it was amusing.
Sometimes she found herself smiling thinking about the dumb faces he made whenever he got too emotional (which was all the time)...
***
It was all fun and games at first. Somewhere along the line, their hostility towards each other melted away. Their bickering turned into banter, their fights turned into teasing, and their fiery glares towards one another turned into soft gazes.
Before Mikasa knew it, something- something that she'd never experienced in a long time was beginning to blossom between them.
It wasn't until the night she spent with him, the night they told each other everything, the night they found out they had more in common than they realised. It wasn't until she was lying on her couch at home, with the bird plushie Eren gifted her clutched against her chest, did she realised what she'd done.
Somehow, Eren broke down the walls that had formed around her heart after her parents' death. The walls that protected her from getting her too close to anyone, from experiencing the pain of getting her heart shattered into a tiny million pieces from losing someone.
These walls that had saved her from ever getting hurt again were now in rumbles. And one by one, her co-workers, Sasha, Christa, Connie, Armin -- all of them -- started to make their way into this long deserted territory that was her heart.
And Mikasa had never been so scared in her life.
It was terrifying, having someone you could lose so easily. All these connections that she'd made could be gone in the blink of an eye.
Maybe she was being dramatic, but she didn't care. The fear in her had consumed her completely, making her act blindly.
And so, that night, she made a choice.
Before she could lose them by the hands of the Universe, she cut them off with her own will.
***
It wasn't a surprise to Mikasa when Eren tried contacting her after her request to not have night shifts together.
He even showed up one night at the doorstep of her apartment. He sounded so... so sad and broken that Mikasa was tempted to open the door for him. She almost did, pulling him in and welcoming him back into her life.
Almost.
She only opened the door when she heard his footsteps walking away. She didn't know why she did so. Maybe she hoped that he would look back, that he would see her and they'd talk to each other again.
But no. That didn't happen.
Just as she let out a sigh, she caught sight of something on her doorstep. She picked it up with curiosity.
A plant?
There was a note attached to the pot. She ran her fingertips over the pen lines as she read the words.
Something to brighten up your apartment. :3
Let's talk... please? (We could just talk about interior design if you want)
A soft laugh slipped from Mikasa's mouth. Though her smile soon turned into a frown.
Why did Eren have to be so sweet?
***
Eren didn't bother her throughout the weekend.
She shouldn't say that she was surprised, but damn it, she was.
She thought that maybe he would have at least tried more, but that was selfish of her to think. She caused this, she wanted this --
Didn't she?
But it bothered her. It bothered her so much that she couldn't think about anything else. Her fingers twitched to text him. She wanted to see him again. Shaking her head, she set up a mat and started working out.
When nighttime arrived, Mikasa couldn't focus on her nightly work out routine. Panic surged through her chest in a sudden burst that caused her to drop her dumbbells onto the floor.
She tried pacing her breaths but nothing was working.
Maybe a glass of water would work, she thought as she headed straight to her kitchen. She filled her cup and downed it down. It helped ease her panic, but there was still a throbbing ache in her chest.
She sat down at her counter with a sigh.
Why was she like this?
As she rested her head in the crook of her arm, she asked herself, why couldn't she be normal? Why couldn't she just not complicate anything and mess everything up? Why couldn't she just have friends, or some nice company?
She stared at the plant Eren gave her. It was surprisingly calming to look at. She reached out and grabbed the bird plushie which she had placed next to the plant.
"Could you keep me company, little bird?" Her face warmed, realising how dumb she sounded talking to an inanimate object, but at that point, she didn't care anymore.
"What do you think your dad's doing right now? Sleeping, maybe?" An image of Eren sound asleep took up her mind, and she smiled a little at how cute it was. But she then furrowed her brows. "He's so mean isn't he, little bird? It's his fault I got too attached in the first place. If only he wasn't so nice and caring and funny..."
She sighed.
Who was she kidding?
Eren was surprisingly one of the most nicest person she had ever met. Sure, he was aggressive, and he had a bad temper, and he got unnecessarily loud most of the time. But Mikasa came to learn that it was all because he was passionate for what he believed in, that he cared so much, about people. He could be oblivious at times, but he was deeply considerate.
And unlike Mikasa who always always ran away from her problems, he ran towards his. And maybe to some it was idiotic, but, god, if Mikasa wasn't so inspired by it.
His bravery, and passion and recklessness, his surprisingly gentle side -- Mikasa admired all of it.
If she had an ounce of strength that he had, or even an ounce of his courage, then maybe.
Just maybe, she wouldn't have ended up so alone like this.
***
Mikasa didn't feel anything the next day.
She didn't feel anything as she headed to work as usual. Nor did she feel anything when Christa waved at her and greeted her.
As she spoke to her with enthusiasm about something, Mikasa felt empty.
Mikasa welcomed the emptiness. It was familiar, and calming. This was how she had always felt, and a part of her was glad that she was back to normal. She was happy that the dull ache in her heart quietened.
She was on a mission. Remember that.
Duty always came first.
"Oh my god, Mikasa!"
Christa's shriek pulled Mikasa out of her thoughts. She followed the blonde's wide eyes to where she was staring at something in front of her.
Mikasa's heart stuttered, and it was as if the whole world slowed when she caught sight of him.
Eren.
And Armin, Connie and Ymir.
What in the world were they doing?
Mikasa shook her head.
"I'm going," she said coolly, turning around.
Then, what Eren said stopped her right in her tracks.
"Hi, Mikasa. I, uh, ... First, I hope you're here, listening."
Christa nudged Mikasa in her sides. "Ohoho, I think Eren's going to sing for you."
Mikasa's heartbeat sped up as she blushed. "He's not." Would he...? The thought of it was making her warm up even more, so she stopped thinking about it.
"Second, I think you're amazing. From day one, I guess I've just been jealous of how much stronger you are than me."
"I'm not," she whispered.
"But the more I get to know you, the more I realise how gentle you are and..." He took in a deep breath. "Third, that's why you shouldn't make yourself suffer."
Mikasa's eyes widened. The way he spoke like he knew... Before she could think more on it, Eren started singing.
"I can tell just what you want
You don't want to be alone
You don't want to be alone
And I can't say it's what you know
But you've known it the whole time
Yeah, you've known it the whole time"
Every word that came out of Eren's mouth was like a jab at Mikasa's heart. Every word resonated with her so well it was terrifying.
And his voice. Where does Mikasa even begin?
It was surprisingly soft and unsurprisingly full of emotion.
Mikasa's eyes fluttered shut as she listened to this sweet sound.
"In a few weeks I will get time
To realize it's right before my eyes
And I can take it if it's what I want to do
And I am leaving and this is starting to feel like
It's right before my eyes
And I can taste it
It's my sweet beginning"
Mikasa smiled. All the pain and emptiness that she felt before started to fade away. It was almost as if it hadn't even been there in the first place.
Eren had always been able to make her feel this way.
Light and happy.
"I wouldn't test you
I'm not the best you could have attained"
"Damn right!" Jean said from where he was sitting next to the giant plants in the mall. He crossed his arms. "And god, his voice. I can do much better than this."
Reiner and Sasha teased him but Marco smiled.
"Jean is pretty good."
Jean blushed. "Shhhut up, Marco. Don't tell them that."
Christa huffed, placing her hands on her hips. "I think you're all missing the point here-- this isn't about Eren's voice, it's the thought he put into this! Isn't it romantic?"
At that, everyone bursted out in laughter.
"Eren? Romantic?" Jean cackled, similar to a witch. "In what Universe-- ooph!"
Christa huffed after punching Jean in the gut.
"I will get there
Just remember I know
And I can tell just what you want
You don't want to be alone"
With every word from Eren, Mikasa felt herself blushing more and more. She looked from her bickering friends to Eren and the others in the front. Life was so simple when it came to them. Just having each other was enough for them. She yearned for this simplistic type of life.
A bittersweet realisation hit her.
Nothing she did would matter. Even if she were to ignore them for the rest of her life, or even if she had cut them off sooner or later, it wouldn't have made a difference.
Every one of them had already planted themselves into the deepest parts of her heart-- she had already gotten attached. If something ever happened to them, Mikasa couldn't deny that it would absolutely crush her.
The only difference cutting them off now would make was either her spending her time in this mall in loneliness or growing a spine and allowing herself to welcome them into her life.
As Mikasa happily listened to the sounds of her friends, and the sound of Eren's singing, she let herself be a little more bolder.
She let herself embrace all these complicated feelings she felt ever since working in this mall, since meeting Eren.
And with that, she smiled widely as she let herself admit that her admiration for Eren ran deeper than that of a friend.
That she had feelings for him.
And hopefully, as long as he stayed by her side, she would have the strength to admit these feelings to him.
But for now, Mikasa was happy with not being alone anymore.
Notes:
I hope the chapter was okay! Mikasa is just as dramatic as Eren, in a way lmao
And the song Eren sang was What You Know by Two Door Cinema Club ;)
Chapter 15: Back To Normal, But
Notes:
AOT is finally over, huh? I couldn't help but come back to this work and think, "I should give mall security eremika + the gang a proper ending too."
It's been a long time, but hi again to anyone who's still reading, and hi to anyone who just picked this up. (◠‿・)—☆
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Staring out at the crowd, Eren found that he didn't regret what he did. He also realised that amidst the cheers and the confused murmurs and pointed looks, he couldn't bring himself to feel proud or embarrassed or whatever he was supposed to feel after an impromptu performance in the middle of a public mall because, really, all he cared about was Mikasa.
And he hoped, wherever she was, she knew that.
"Eren Jaeger!"
Oh shit. Oh no.
Eren couldn't even see him yet but from the sheer venom dripping down his voice, Eren was already trembling in his shoes. There were murmurs as the crowd parted to reveal a fuming Chief Levi. Gray eyes met green eyes and Eren couldn't help the yelp that slipped out of his mouth.
Behind him, Connie paled. "Oh, hell no. I did not sign up for this."
"Nobody move. Springer, get back here!" Without averting his gaze from Eren, Chief Levi spoke with barely contained anger. "And you, Eren Jaeger, you piece of constipated diarrhea shit."
Eren winced at the insult. He really messed up this time.
"Why am I not surprised that you were the cause of this-"
"Wait, Chief! Before you, uh, before you..." Eren trailed off, realising from the deadly offended look on Chief Levi's face that he had cut him off.
"Go on, Eren," he gritted out. "Before I chop your head off and dunk it into the garbage like a basketball."
Ymir snickered under her breath.
"Okay, okay. So, first of all, I apologise for always being a nuisance and causing a bunch of problems for you." Eren bowed down to Chief Levi in apology (though it was mostly because he didn't want to meet his steaming gaze). "But I'm not sorry for this. This was me taking responsibility for the mess I've created. This was me growing up and being able to accept and embrace the things I'd usually ignore. I know- I know it just looks like one of my childish shenanigans but I've changed, Chief."
The air was stagnant and silent for a moment too long. Eren's grip on his pants tightened, he swallowed.
Then, there was the click of a tongue.
Eren slowly looked up, apprehensive at the look on Chief Levi's face. He didn't look as mad as he did a few seconds ago, and if Eren squinted, he swore he could see his eyes soften.
He sighed. "The only reason I haven't fired you is because you're the only one who can barely meet my cleaning standards." He muttered a little more quietly, "And it would be a shame to let go of that."
Eren's brows raised up, a grin making it's way across his face. "Y-Yes, Sir!"
"Don't be too happy, little shit." He nodded at his friends. "Arlert, Springer, Ymir, and Jaeger. You're all on cleaning duty today."
The crowd parted again as the chief made his way past them. He paused in the middle, turning his body slightly to face Eren and his friends.
"Oh, and I want this entire mall sparkling before you leave work."
As his figure disappeared into the crowd, Eren's friends groaned out loud.
He huffed out a breathy laugh. "Well, that could've been a lot worst."
"Eren, I swear to god most days I'm not sure if I want to strangle you or kiss you."
All of them looked at Connie with a raised brow, and he shrugged. "Platonically, guys. Chill."
They laughed, and started with cleaning.
As Eren sweeped at the floor, a fond smile found its way on his face. This was worth it. The cleaning and shit, it was nothing. As long as he could do something for Mikasa, this was all worth it.
He hummed, not paying much mind to his surroundings, that when he was suddenly face to face with deep, dark eyes, he jumped.
"Mikasa?!"
She nodded at him once, and Eren waited for her to say something, but there was nothing. Instead, she took a broom from the cleaning trolley and started sweeping with him.
Eren stood there, baffled. After a few seconds of staring, he shook his head.
This was good. This was something. As he spared a glance at Mikasa, he smiled softly. At least she wasn't ignoring him anymore.
They managed to clean up almost half of the mall, with neither saying anything, when Mikasa wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead.
"You don't have to do this, you know," he mumbled.
Finally, she spoke, and Eren failed to suppress the shiver from hearing her smooth, deep voice again. "You're in this mess because of me." She shrugged, clearing the trash collected by the dustpan into the black garbage bag. "I should take responsibility too."
"Ah." Eren tightened, then loosened his grip on the broom. "So, uhm... you heard everything, then?"
She was silent again, before she turned to smile at him. "Yes. And... It was the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me. Thank you, sincerely."
Eren sniffed. "I-It's no problem." He wiped at his eyes with his arm. "I j-just wanted you to know that I'm here for you . And I- I don't want to stop hanging out with you."
"Aww, Ewen, you gonna cwy?" Jean taunted.
"S-Shut up, horse face."
He barked out a laugh. "Not only did you embarass yourself in front of hundreds of people, you're also stuck with cleaning duty!"
Eren grumbled, smacking him on the head with the broom. "You're just jealous."
Jean rubbed at his head with a curse. "Of what, exactly?" His hand landed on his hip, an eyebrow arched. "You embarssing yourself in front of hundreds of people or you having to clean this whole mall?"
Eren smirked. "Of this." He spread his arms out wide. "Encore, everyone!" Just as he said that, Connie began hitting a beat on the buckets with the dusters, Armin ruffled a tune with the garbage bags, and Ymir did a fake riff on her mop. He turned to Mikasa. "And Mikasa!"
"No."
"Okay, no Mikasa!" Eren faced Jean again with a smug grin. "You're jealous I have a successful band and you don't."
Jean scoffed. "You're ridiculous." He met Mikasa's gaze. "I don't know how you put up with this."
"Me too," she said.
Eren's jaw dropped, and Jean let out another one of his ugly, obnoxious laughs. "Well, I'll leave you guys to this. I'm sure you have a lot to do."
Eren flicked him off angrily as he walked away before turning to Mikasa with a pout. "Did you mean that?"
"Maybe."
"Huh?" His pout deepened.
"You are ridiculous." Eren was just about to protest again when she continued, a small smile on her face. "But I like that."
He was left speechless. And so, he didn't say anything. He went on with his sweeping, right next to Mikasa.
***
Things were looking up. Mikasa stopped avoiding him, she became his partner again, and they rarely fought anymore.
When Eren's night shift came that week, he was practically skipping to his plastic chair situated in front of the entrance. He slowed down, however, when he caught sight of someone with a more laid back physique and slightly earthier hair than the shiny black he had grown accustomed to.
"Ymir?" He couldn't help the disappointment that slipped into his voice as he uttered her name out. "What are you doing here?"
Ymir turned around and let out a scoff at the sight of him. She turned her head away from him to continue gazing out at the night sky, pointedly ignoring him.
He clenched his fists and stomped up to her, blocking her view. She stared at him with amusement as doubts crawled their way into his head. Why was Ymir here? He thought he and Mikasa were on good terms and that she would want to continue night shifts with him.
... Unless he overlooked something, and she still hadn't forgiven him. Was she... avoiding him again? The thought made Eren feel sick.
"Oh, man." Ymir threw her head back in laughter. "You really are pitiful, aren't you?"
Eren grumbled before taking his seat next to her. He let out a deep sigh before mustering up the courage to face Ymir again.
"Uh," he twiddled with his fingers. "So, Ymir. What do you say about-"
"Before you ask me to join your stupid band again, Mikasa isn't ignoring you."
Eren's eyes widened and he leaned in closer to Ymir, hanging on to her every word. "Really?" he asked, hope laced in his voice.
"Yeah, I'm just covering for her because she's sick. She'll be back when she's better."
"Oh." Eren felt his entire body deflate with relief. He grumbled at Ymir. "You should've told me that earlier."
She grinned, wide and cunningly. "Well, I certainly don't feel bad."
Eren rolled his eyes. "Of course you don't." He turned to face the dark sky as Ymir let out a laugh, which was more like an amused wheeze.
"I guess you're one of us now, huh? You, me and Marco, all so hopelessly in love."
He spared a glance at Ymir to find a look of adoration on her face and he knew she was thinking about Christa.
"Welcome to the Simp Club, Jaeger."
***
Eren raised a fist up and knocked on the wooden door. He waited patiently a few seconds before knocking again. When there were no sounds of rustling on the other side, he lifted his fist up for a third time but right before it collided with the door, it creaked open slowly.
"Oh, uh, Mikasa," he said, fidgeting on his feet. "Hi."
She blinked at him, probably confused as to what he was doing on her doorstep in the middle of a Saturday afternoon. "Eren?... Am I dreaming?"
Eren let out a chuckle. "Nope. Definitely wide awake. Or I would hope so." He studied her carefully, noting how her eyes were a little glazed over and slightly red, her skin also sickly pale. "I heard you weren't feeling well."
"Oh... Yeah."
"Can I come in?"
She nodded, stepping to the side to allow him to pass. He sidestepped into the room as the plastic bags on his forearms rustled noisily. He heaved out a ragged breath when he dropped them onto the counter.
Mikasa looked at the bags pointedly.
Eren huffed and placed his hands on his hips. "If there's one thing I know for certain, it's that you aren't taking care of yourself properly." The lack of a response from Mikasa was a damning confirmation. He sighed. "So I brought some soup, fever pads, medicine and other stuff."
Mikasa was silent for a long time before she whispered out, "Thank-"
He waved his hands dismissively in the air, his face scrunching up. "No no no. Don't thank me, seriously. I just want you to get better quick so I don't have to deal with Ymir on my night shifts. She's an actual demon. I don't even know what's worse, her very explicit love rants to me about Christa, her trying to initiate me into some sacred Simp Club or her constant bullying of me and my masculinity. Really, I-"
A soft sound of amusement cut Eren's rambling off. He looked up to find Mikasa smiling fondly at him.
"Well, thank you, anyway. I appreciate it."
His face turned warm. "It's no problem. It's what friends do."
"Friends..." Mikasa considered before letting out a cough, she covered a hand over her mouth as she went into a small coughing fit.
Eren put his hands on her shoulder and began pushing her in the direction of her couch. He sit her down there and fixed her with a serious gaze. "I'm going to heat up the soup. Sit down here and don't even think about picking up a dumbbell."
Mikasa snorted. "Okay."
As Eren hummed while heating up the soup using Mikasa's pot in her open kitchen, he realised how domestic this whole thing was. It reminded him of days where he would wait for his mum's cooking while he mindlessly scrolled through TV in the living room. The memory felt like it was from a different lifetime, and for some reason, he didn't feel so anxious thinking about it this time.
He turned off the fire and poured the soup into two separate bowls, putting them on a tray before carrying them to where Mikasa sat. He handed one to her who graciously accepted it with a small thanks.
"Did you make this yourself?" she asked.
"Yeah. Is it good?"
She nodded enthusiastically, shoving another spoon of soup into her mouth. "It's really good."
Eren blushed. "Uh, thanks. Anyway," he shuffled back into the couch, turning his gaze away from Mikasa and onto the TV screen so he wouldn't spend so much time thinking about how cute she looked with her cheeks stuffed with his soup. "Let's watch some movies. Any recommendations?"
"The Conjuring."
Eren almost dropped his soup. He whipped his head to her in dread. "Please don't tell me you're a horror fanatic."
"Okay. I won't tell you that I'm a horror fanatic."
Eren massaged his temple with his free hand. "You're something else. Come on let's watch a Christmas movie since we're in the season."
Mikasa looked at him carefully, but there was a glint of mischief in her eyes as she asked, "A Christmas horror movie?"
Eren chewed on his bottom lip before letting out a groan. "Fine. We'll watch horror."
Ten minutes into the movie and Eren was already regretting every life decision that had led him up to this moment. How was he expected to eat his soup in any semblance of peace when there was a mutilated guy dressed up as the Grinch prying open some other guy's intestines with a candy cane? He spared a glance at Mikasa, eyes widening in horror when he found that she was calmly watching the movie with a small smile on his face. Okay, maybe not a smile, but not a frown either.
"Are you enjoying this?" he asked, half joking and half serious.
She shrugged. "It's kind of funny."
Eren looked at the screen before looking back at Mikasa. Without thinking, he placed the back of his hand against her forehead. "Are you sure your fever isn't frying your brain?"
He felt Mikasa get hotter under his hand and felt her warm breath on his face and he realised then just how close he was to her. He pulled back quickly.
"Sorry," he muttered, heart beating loudly in his chest.
"Maybe I have fried my brain," she whispered.
He shot his head to her but she wasn't looking at him. She frowned a little. "My fever is worst this year."
Eren let out a breathy laugh. "Well, yeah. It's no surprise with that diet of yours." He suddenly shuddered at the chilly air that ruffled him, hugging his body tightly. "Plus, winter seems colder this year."
She hummed in agreement.
They went back to watching the movie, Eren a little more apprehensively. At one point, he had to put his bowl of soup on the table for fear of jumping and spilling it all over the place. Instead, he had his hands on his knees in a tight grip, trying his best to stay alert for any potential jumpscares. He would not embarrass himself in front of Mikasa, which putting it like that was basically pointless since he had done nothing but embarass himself ever since he had met her. But he drew the line at making a fool of himself from a fictional movie.
At the first jumpscare of the movie, Eren let out a screech so high in frequency that he was sure only dogs could here and instinctively grabbed Mikasa's arm.
He shook, taking in deep breaths. A soft sound of amusement pulled him out of his terror. He looked up to find Mikasa's eyes squeezed shut and a hand over her mouth to poorly hide the fact that she was laughing at him.
The breathing that he had just gotten control of was taken away at the sight of her.
Mikasa was beautiful. Even with her skin a sickly shade of pale, her hair a little ruffled and her lips slightly dry and cracked, she was beautiful.
Eren let go of her slowly, as her laughter died down. The corners of his lips pulled up in a genuine smile. "Hey, Mikasa."
She tilted his head at him in question, eyes still shining with glee.
"It's good to have you back."
Her eyes formed crescents as she smiled at him again. "Yeah. I'm glad I'm back."
***
Mikasa was fortunately able to get well after a full day of rest. Eren, concerned for her, insisted she get another day off but she stubbornly pushed that she was fine and that she was trained to recover quickly. Despite still being wary of her health, he trusted her.
Unfortunately, Mikasa's recovery was just in time for the Grinch speech.
"Why do you call it the Grinch speech?" Mikasa whispered to Eren when all of them were gathered in the staff room.
He whispered back, "You'll see."
At that moment, Chief Levi entered the room. He cleared his throat, causing everyone to sit up straight.
"Look alive, everyone." Chief Levi crossed his arms as he regarded everyone in the room with a level stare. "Christmas season is here. You know what that means. Holiday discounts, limited items, and special offers, which means this mall is going to be a lot more crowded in the next few weeks, which also means more lost children, more barbaric fights with shoppers, and more petty thievery. So everyone be on guard, we're in the worst fucking season of the year."
The silence in the room was so unnerving that Eren began to imagine the sound of crickets filling it up. It was no secret that the chief hated Christmas with a passion. Putting aside the noise and socialising itself, he hated the mess of it the most. The hundreds of pounds of glitter, the fake leaves that would shed from the Christmas tree onto the floor, and the stickiness of sweet Christmas treats sold at every corner of the block.
To Chief Levi, Christmas was a Hell specifically designed for him. His birthday sharing the same date was the cherry on top.
Beside him, Erwin placed a hand on the chief's shoulder and regarded everyone in the room with an easy smile. "We sincerely hope you'll all have a wonderful holiday this season. It may be busier than usual but I'm sure we'll carry each other through it with a jolly spirit. A wise man once said: ho ho ho!"
If the room was silent before, now it was like being in a vacuum up in outerspace, completely void of noise.
"Did we just," Connie blinked, "get a Santa speech?"
Reiner barked out a laugh that shook his chest. "Would you look at that? The Grinch and Santa Clause standing side to side in the same room. I'm pretty sure they're fuc-"
"Reiner, shut up," Eren whispered harshly with his eyes darting to the chief in panic. "The chief is going to hear you."
"Oi, brats." Eren straightened at the sound of Chief Levi's voice raised to a higher volume. "One more thing. Erwin and I aren't going to be around for a few days because we've been called down for a meeting on the Security Assist of Improvement programme. So you shits better not fuck anything up when we're gone. I'll personally grab a candy cane and shove it up your ass if anything happens."
"That's sexual harassment," Sasha whispered. Eren couldn't bring it in himself to worry about the chief hearing her because his head was filled with images of the movie he watched with Mikasa. He shuddered.
Erwin nodded to them. "Levi and I will see you in a few days. Notify us if there's any trouble."
"And no games, no parties, no snowball fights, no whatever the fuck nonsense the twelve of you and your one shared braincell is able to cook up."
"Yeah, yeah," Connie mumbled under his breath. "We get it. Geez."
"What was that, Springer?"
Before Connie could further bury himself in his grave, Erwin let out a lighthearted laugh. "We should be going now. See you all."
Chief Levi spared them all one last scrutinising glance before turning away with a huffed out "I don't trust them" and left the room with Erwin.
They sat there in silence for a record of two whole seconds before Connie jumped up from his chair and thrusted a fist up into the air.
"Freedom!" he yelled. Sasha joined him and they both jumped up and down as they chanted, "Freedom! Freedom!"
Reiner grinned. "So what do you guys want to do first?"
"Hey, I have an idea," Eren said with faux cheer. "How about I go do my job? You do your job. And the rest do their own respective jobs."
Eren was met with loud booing from the majority.
He rolled his eyes and stood up, turning to meet Mikasa's eyes. "Come on, let's go."
She nodded and the both of them left the room that was getting increasingly louder with cheers and speeches Eren was sure were ripped off from a bad revolutionary movie.
"I'm surprised you aren't joining them," she said as they walked into the centre of the mall.
He laughed. "Contrary to popular belief, I am responsible and I do take my job seriously."
She gave him a soft smile, which he felt himself burning up at. He rubbed the back of his neck. "And, uh, I personally do not want to face Chief Levi's wrath when he comes back. I've already been in too many close calls."
Mikasa let out a small chuckle of her own. "Okay, then. I'll see you later."
"Mhm, yep. Oh, and also?" He grimaced. "Try your best to avoid their nonsense, because in one way or another, you're going to get wrapped up in it."
Mikasa tilted her head to the side but nodded.
As Eren watched her walk away, he muttered to himself, "May the spirit of Grinch Levi and Santa Erwin protect you from harm."
***
On the first day of Chief Levi and Erwin's absence, Reiner and Ymir narrowly missed the colossal sized Christmas tree in the middle of the mall during a golf cart race and instead knocked into the empty boxes of gifts at the bottom. Christa, being the one who had wrapped up the presents neatly, had been especially pissed and gave them an earful.
On the second day of Chief Levi and Erwin's absence, Jean accidentally hit a shopper with a snowball after trying to get revenge from Connie and Sasha after they had ambushed him with a flurry of snowballs. Marco and Armin had to intervene before the situation could escalate and to prevent the shopper from suing them.
On the third day of Chief Levi and Erwin's absence, Bertholdt almost broke his arm when they had all went for a break at the ice park in the mall. Annie had spooked up behind him by accident and caused him to slip down the ice slide face first and into the snow pit with a painful landing.
After the series of mishaps that happened, Eren figured his friends would take it as a sign to stop messing around and focus on their jobs instead.
He shook his head in disappointment as he watched the others try to jump on Bertholdt in the snow.
***
On the fourth day of Chief Levi and Erwin's absence, Eren was walking to his shift and heard a loud bang that echoed through the mall and rattled his insides with a fear he thought he would never feel again.
Eren's first thought was guns.
His second thought was that Reiner and Connie were probably messing with something, fooling around with a blaster of sorts. Or that Sasha had blown up a cotton candy machine from filling it up with cookies and candy canes.
But the bang came again and Eren knew for certain it was a gun.
For a moment, he thought he might be dreaming becuase there was no way a shooting was happening now, right? His friends were here, and people were here... If there was a shooting, they would get hurt. And they could die.
As he stood there in shock, the crowd pushed him around as they ran and screamed and it felt so real.
Eren hunched down and covered his arms over his head as the crowd around him went into a frenzy while the bangs continued. His shock wore off and he instantly went into action and searched through the crowd for the source of chaos but people kept running into him until a hard shove knocked him to the ground.
"Everyone, please- calm down- shit." He unsteadily rose to his feet with a wince, fingers fumbling to turn on his walkie talkie. "Guys, is anyone there?"
In the years Eren had worked in Paradis Mall, his walkie talkie was always full of bickering and yelling whenever it was on. It was never silent like it was now. And it was weird that despite that, even though everything around him was filled with chaotic sounds of gunshots and screaming, he could only really hear the silence of his walkie talkie.
"Please, someone, please answer me. Armin? Reiner? Marco- Jean?" Eren wanted to cry out in hysteria at the bizarreness of him desperately wishing to hear Jean's voice come out through the other end of the walkie talkie.
He squeezed his way past the crowd, tears burning in his eyes as they threatened to fall down. He needed to focus. Find the shooter and avoid any casualties. That was his job.
Just then, the shooting got louder and more erratic, as if there were multiple people with guns. Eren froze in the middle of the crowd and looked up, body filling with pure horror at the sight above him.
There were several men surrounding the railing on the first floor and pointing their guns at the crowd below them. One of them had a megaphone in his hand that he brought up to his mouth and yelled, "Nobody move! Nobody leaves this building or we'll shoot!"
The crowd slowly came to a halt, though there were some who were still running past the people frozen to their spot to find a chance to escape. It was a feeeble attempt because the entire mall began to close off, shutters falling down on the entrances and exits.
Eren cursed under his breath and slowly inched back until he was hidden behind a pillar. He shakily reached into his pocket to get his phone out so he could call for help from the police.
He bit on his lip when his phone wasn't turning on.
Fuck. Did the shooters do this? If that was the case, then Eren was dealing with people far more experienced than just he alone could handle. He needed backup. From someone, anyone.
He spoke softly into his walkie talkie, crossing his fingers for just one of them to respond.
"Eren?"
He almost dropped to the ground in relief from the voice he heard. He held back tears as he asked, "Mikasa, where are you?"
"Second floor, east wing, the ice room in the meat shop."
"Okay, okay." Eren nodded to himself as he listened to Mikasa, she sounded out of breath. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," she panted. "It's just cold."
Eren rubbed his eyes with his arm as he began to plot a course for the meat shop. "Hang on, Mikasa. I'm coming for you."
"Be careful," she said softly. "There's someone keeping guard."
"Don't worry, Mikasa. I'll fucking kill them before they touch me. You... stay safe."
She hummed and Eren was already running to the east, hands balled up tightly in fists.
No matter what, he wouldn't let anything happen to him or the people in this mall or his friends.
And he would never let anything happen to Mikasa. He thought about the time they spent together, about her laughs, and her sadness, and everything they had went through. And the very thought of losing her filled him with a fiery anger and fear he hadn't experienced in years.
For the first time in a long time, the very depths of Eren's soul was screaming at him to fight and rip apart everything in his path.
Notes:
It's all fun and games until it's not.
Chapter 16: A Man With A Gang And A Plan
Notes:
HEYYYY. It's been too long guys. Life happened a little and I've been going through a little depression. But I suddenly thought about aot and this fic. I had so much fun writing this fic back then and I love them so much. Got so emotional posting this lmao I'm a loser.
I finished the first draft of this a few days ago but I was so nervous to edit and post it. But oh well, less go :). Enjoy!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The meat shop Mikasa had mumbled to Eren in his walkie talkie wasn't far from where he was currently at. Eren had worked in this mall for years. He could walk there with his eyes closed. The only problem right now were the shooters. He wasn't certain how many there were or where they were situated, but Eren had to make sure that they didn't see him. Not even one because he was sure they would alert the other shooters and therefore, put someone at risk.
So, Eren was careful. He didn't run headfirst, didn't act out rashly. But he was determined. Get to Mikasa. That was the goal.
He slipped behind pillars, ducked under columns, and took hidden shortcuts that only he would know. Eren took count of about 10, 15 shooters on his way to the meat shop. All armed. He was sure there were more.
He tried not to let the thought of how this was potentially bigger than him– than any of them could handle. Eren was a security guard at Paradis Mall. And that entailed making sure everything was secure in the mall. Even if the forces they were facing were greatly overpowered.
And he was sure Mikasa would be able to help. She was the coolest, most badass person he knew and he was certain; she would make all these shooters grovel beneath her feet.
Eren leaned against one of the pillars, carefully peeking at the meat shop that was in his sight. There was one shooter there keeping guard.
He whispered into his walkie talkie, “Mikasa?”
Her voice, soft, answered, “Eren.”
“Any info on the guys?”
“Yes. There's two of them. One with a rifle. One with two handguns.”
Two? Why in the ever loving fuck would someone carry two handguns if they already had one dude with a rifle? Eren shut his eyes, then opened them back and got out the taser in his back pocket. Okay. He could do this. He had a taser. And a baton.
They had a rifle and two handguns. No sweat.
If Eren walked to that meat shop, he was going to be shot down like cattle. Or captured, but Eren wasn't counting on that. What he needed now was some kind of plan.
Right, Eren thought. He fished into his other pocket and took out a small monkey toy, the loud cymbal-banging kind. He'd kept it and had wanted to throw it out because Connie and Sasha had been leaving it everywhere as some kind of joke. It was annoying and creepy, but now it may actually save his life.
He turned it on and cranked the thing a whole 360° before throwing it in the direction away from him and the shooter. And there went the ugly, noisy thing, fumbling away with its cymbals banging. Eren winced at the sound. He could hear footsteps approaching until he caught sight of the shooter with the rifle.
He acted quick, extending his taser out and sticking it into the guy's neck. As the guy spasmed and fell, Eren reached an arm out and caught him, gently bringing him down to the ground to avoid unnecessary noise. Eren disarmed the gun from him before handcuffing his wrists behind his back. Each guard only had one. Then, Eren wrapped a cloth around his mouth to prevent him from yelling for help.
Eren went to the meat shop, rifle in hand.
As Mikasa had mentioned earlier, there was another guy, this one with two guns. He instantly pointed both of them at Eren when he saw him entering. But Eren was already holding out the rifle and aiming it at the guy. They both shot.
Eren hit his leg. The guy grazed Eren's shoulder. Eren cursed under his breath and went to shoot again but the guy had two guns, the other which he had already aimed and shot Eren in the forearm.
He dropped the rifle, and was about to lunge at the guy when the armed man acted quicker, grabbing Eren by the throat. As a last ditch effort, Eren reached for his taser. But the man slapped it out of his hand and stomped his black boot on it.
“Fucking brat,” the man muttered under his breath.
Eren bared his teeth at him, clawing at his hands and ignoring the pain in both his shoulder and arm. “I'll kill you,” he gritted out.
The man scoffed before dragging Eren to the freezer room. He opened it, mumbling, “Let's hope you freeze in here with the damn bitch.”
Eren gasped as he was thrown into the cold freezer, the door shutting close before he could pounce on the man again.
“I'll-”
“Eren?”
He paused and whipped his head behind him. Mikasa was on the floor, back against some of the frosted boxes.
Eren instantly went and crouched in front of her. “Mikasa?” His hands hovered over her as he inspected her face and body. No sign of a bruise or bullet wound. Eren felt like he could breath easily again. “You're okay,” he whispered.
She nodded. Her eyes fell to the blood already running down his arm. “You're hurt,” she said softly. She clutched her arms around her knees tighter. “It's my fault. I'm–”
“Mikasa.” Eren's eyes widened. “This is in no way your fault. It's those guys out there who's to blame.”
She looked up at his eyes before her gaze fell down again. “I faltered, Eren."
"What do you mean, Mikasa?" he asked gently.
Instead of answering, she said, "I'm an elite officer of the Special Forces. The whole reason I was sent here was to make this place safer.” Her gaze focused on the knife beside her shoes. It was stained with blood that had dried. “I took down five guys after I heard the bang. I was going to take down more. But then I saw him and I faltered.”
Mikasa’s breath caught in her throat, but she continued, voice so soft Eren almost didn't catch it. “I saw my parents' killer. And I faltered.”
Eren's eyes went wide. “Mikasa…” He took one of her hands and held it in his, giving her a firm look. “You are the strongest person I know. You're brave, and badass and I know you can take down an army of men all by yourself. But I also know that you're human. There are some things that we can't do alone.” His grip tightened just slightly. “And you're not, this time. You have me." Eren's face warmed as he confessed that, Mikasa's also turning as pink as it could in the cold.
He coughed. "And you, uh, have all eleven of us by your side. We'll stand by you no matter what.”
There was a shadow still cast over her eyes, but her expression softened. “Thank you.”
Eren smiled. Mikasa still didn't look okay enough to head back into the battlefield – her hands were shaking – but Eren stood by everything he said. She wasn't going to do this alone.
“You took down five men and I got my ass handed to me by two.” He huffed in amusement, sitting down next to her and leaning his head against a frozen box.
“They had guns and a rifle.” She smiled, a glint of mirth in her eyes. “You didn't do bad for mall security.”
Eren laughed before he winced. A sharp pain shot up his left arm, where he was shot twice. He flexed his fingers. The low temperature of the freezer room was accelerating the numbness in his arm.
“We should leave before we freeze to death,” he said.
“I can last long.”
Eren rolled his eyes. “Well, I'm no match for an elite officer.”
She smiled, then eyed his wounds. “We should fix that first.” At Eren's sheepish look – he'd learnt about dressing bullet wounds but never had to apply the knowledge – Mikasa reached a hand out to gently grab his arm. She studied the wound for a moment before saying, “Your shoulder's only grazed and the bullet went through your forearm. We just need to wrap it before further care.”
Eren nodded, watching as she took out a piece of cloth from her pocket and wrapped it around Eren's forearm. He winced when she pulled on it tightly before letting go.
“Thanks,” he said.
“No problem.”
He slowly got up from where he was sitting, looking around at the room. “We need to get out. Any ideas?”
“The vents are too small.”
“Hidden doors?”
“None.”
A pause.
“So… we're trapped.” Eren turned to face Mikasa who had a grim expression on her face.
Eren's lungs were starting to feel heavy. Mikasa could survive. But Eren knew he wouldn't last long in here. He was racking his brain for solutions and ways to escape but suddenly, there was a loud bang. Eren jumped at the sound. His eyes went wide as he stared at Mikasa. She looked at the freezer door with a similar stunned expression.
“Eren? Mikasa?” called a muffled voice on the other side and relief crashed down on Eren so hard he almost fell to his knees.
“Armin,” he yelled through the door, emotion thick in his voice.
The door opened, revealing Armin and a grinning Reiner by his side.
“Did someone call for a rescue?” Reiner asked, firm arms crossed over his chest.
Eren was so happy he could kiss them both. And he was just about to wrap his arms around Armin when the blond sidestepped into the freezer, assessing the room.
“Everyone alright?” he asked.
Mikasa, slowly getting up from the cold floor, nodded. “Eren was shot.”
Armin whipped his head to him, quickly reaching for his arm. Eren tried to pull back, rubbing the back of his neck. “I'll be fine. Mikasa patched me up. I was honestly just worried about everyone else.”
Armin dropped his hand and let out a sigh. He gestured for them to leave the freezer room. Once outside, they found the guy who had shot Eren was unconscious on the floor, tied up. Eren eyed Reiner. He had a sneaking suspicion he had something to do with it.
“Reiner and I were guarding the entrance when we heard the bangs. Before we could react, two guys tried to jump on us. I fell down quick but fortunately, Reiner beat them up and saved me. Then, we heard yours and Mikasa's walkie talkie message and came up here.” Armin nodded at the guy on the floor. “Reiner took him down.”
Eren turned to the him with bulging eyes. He knew it but still. “You're a monster, man.”
Reiner placed his hands on his hips proudly, arms and chest muscles flexing. “It's an art. Anyway, what's the plan?”
Eren clenched his fists, feeling the rage from earlier creep into his chest again. “We find the rest of us and take the shooters down.”
Reiner hummed. “Crazy, but I like it.”
“Well, that's not a plan,” Armin said. “But let's focus on getting to our friends first.” He rubbed his chin. “According to our schedules, Connie and Annie were in the parking lot while Sasha and Christa were in the surveillance room. Those two places are in the same area, north. Marco and Jean were next to the jewellery store, Bertholdt and Ymir on mall jail duty, both south. Reiner and I will go north, while you and Mikasa go south.”
The idea of splitting up with them made Eren feel sick but Reiner shot him a grin. Eren took in a deep breath. They’ll be fine. Armin was smart, and Reiner was strong.
He placed a hand on Armin’s shoulder. “Stay safe.”
Armin nodded. “I will. You too. Once you get Jean and Marco, let's meet at the mall jail and plan from there.”
The four of them stood for a moment, the gravity of the situation hitting them. They might not find everyone. Some of them may have been taken down, whatever taken down might mean in the context.
But Eren had faith. In Armin, Reiner, and everyone else.
After one more parting wave, Armin and Reiner left, leaving Eren and Mikasa alone.
“He'll be fine,” Mikasa said softly next to him. “He's stronger than people take him for.”
Eren sighed. “I know. I shouldn't worry about Armin.” He faced her, tilting his head. “Ready?”
She nodded.
They headed south. Eren led her through every hidden spots he knew of, while Mikasa led the way in her discreetness. Eren could tell she wasn't at her 100 percent currently, but she still exuded professionalism and skill of someone trained for years in the Special Forces. Eren felt a sense of pride. He was really fucking glad Mikasa was on their side, he realised, thinking back to how much tomfoolery he spent with her.
The jewellery store was in their sights after bumping into a few of the shooters, Mikasa taking them down swiftly. The place was heavily guarded, as expected. Maybe six men. All armed, of course.
Just as Eren was trying to figure out how to get to them, Mikasa slipped past the pillar and went into action. Eren watched with bulged out eyes as she shot down two guys with both the handguns on her, before quickly ducking down from another who tried to whack her in the head. She swept her feet under him, causing him to drop to the ground. With one hand, she picked the guy up and used him as a shield against the fourth guy before throwing him at the one shooting at her. They fell hard, lying on the ground unconsciously. She didn't bat them an eye, proceeding to shoot the last man.
Eren blinked.
He walked over the bodies to her as she entered the store. “And to think there was a time I called you my rival. Why did I even call you that?”
“I recall you calling me Batman once too.”
“Batman is nothing compared to you, holy shit, Mikasa.”
She spared a glance at him. “That's a shame. I was beginning to see you as my Robin.”
Eren groaned, but in the corner of his eye he saw one men approaching Mikasa at top speed, arm already stretched out. Eren acted quickly and extended a fist, but Mikasa was fast too.
The both of them ended up simultaneously socking the guy in the face before he dropped down between them. They both shared a look.
“Rival,” Eren said as Mikasa said, “Robin.”
“What? This isn't going to to be a new thing, r-”
Someone screeched his name out.
“Jaeger.”
Eren froze. He quickly walked over to the source of the sound, finding both Jean and Marco sat on chairs. Jean looked like he'd taken a one second detour of Hell while Marco was–
Eren dropped to his knees. “Marco?”
Mikasa instantly moved forward. She placed a hand over his face and paused. Then, sagged in relief a little. “He's breathing,” she said, but the look on her face did not calm Eren one bit.
Marco's entire top right half was soaked in blood. Jean was holding him up, a grim expression on his face.
“What happened?” Eren demanded. Why was the kindest, sweetest person that Eren knew on the brink of death?
Jean squeezed his eyes shut. “When the shooting came, Marco got people out of the store. I wanted to run, but he stayed. Even as those bastards came, he wouldn't leave until everyone else left. He pissed them off, pissed me off too. We argued, and one them aimed at me but–” Jean shook his head and cursed. “Marco saved me.”
Eren slowly got up, trying to regain his balance. “We'll get revenge on them. Every single one of them.”
Jean furrowed his brows. “We need to get Marco help. Or else he's going to–” He turned his head away sharply.
“He won't,” Mikasa said softly. She assessed Marco's arm and face, finding another cloth to put pressure on the wounds.
“Fuck,” Jean gritted out. “Why the fuck is this happening? Now, when the chief isn't here? God, we're going to die, aren't we?”
Eren took in a deep breath. Jean was panicking. It was the first time Eren had seen him like this, eyes wild and hands shaking around Marco.
“Jean, we need to get him to the mall jail.”
Jean snapped his eyes up at him. “Are you joking, Eren? You want to go out there, with all those gunmen scattered around? And what, die?”
“I'll protect all of you,” Mikasa said coolly. She nodded at Marco. “We need to do it for him. He won't make it here.”
Jean's breath caught. He pursed his lips, but didn't argue. Eren stood at Marco's other side and began to lift him up. Jean carried most of the weight, his arm tight around Marco's waist. They walked through the place, Mikasa keeping a close eye out on anyone threatening. There were a few close calls but they made it to the jail in one piece.
Upon entering the place, Eren's eyes landed on every one of his friends. Armin, Reiner, Connie, Sasha– Everyone. Tears welled up in his eyes but he shook it away.
“You're all okay,” he got out with a choked voice.
Ymir stretched her arms over her head. “I plan to die one day. But today is not that day. Not before I marry Christa.”
She joked but Eren could tell that the air in the room was grim.
“We're so fucking screwed,” Connie whispered out as Eren and Jean went to sit Marco down on a wooden chair. Jean stood close by next to him, hands holding him up.
Sasha held her head in her hands, a panicked look across her face. “I didn't even get to finish my chips! I was in the surveillance room eating when they came in and took me and Christa down! Can you imagine that?”
Annie scoffed, leaning back against one of the cells with her arms crossed. “I was napping,” she said with pure venom swimming in her eyes. “Woke up to people trying to gun me and Bertholdt down so I stopped them.”
“Jeez,” Connie muttered under his breath, rubbing at his face.
“We need to help Marco,” Jean said, voice soft and almost went unnoticed to everyone. But their eyes fell on him.
Christa gasped and quickly went to Marco’s side. “We need a first aid kit,” she said.
Reiner shook his head. “None here.”
Bertholdt rubbed his hands together nervously. “It's not safe out there. If someone were to...”
“I'll go,” Mikasa said.
Eren whipped his head to her. “You–”
“I'm the only one properly trained and experienced for this.”
“But–” Eren grabbed her arm, and said in a low voice so only she could hear, “What if you see him again?”
Her face dropped for a millisecond, but she answered coolly, “If I don't, Marco will die.”
Eren bit his bottom lip.
His eyes widened when he remembered something. “Wait.” He fished beneath the front of his uniform and undershirt, taking out a gold key. He held it up, the key glinting in the warm light. “We can use this.”
Connie narrowed his eyes at it. “What the heck are we going to do with a key? Lock the doors and pray for our safety?”
“No, it's not the key.” Eren stared at it with determination. “My dad worked here decades ago. He told me there was a staff room in this mall. But it was closed off because of some things that happened in the past, a riot or fire, I think. He said to use this key for emergencies.”
Ymir raised a brow. “And where are we supposed to use this key, exactly?”
“A lift. Any lift.”
“So,” Connie placed his hands on his hips, a scrutinising expression on his face, “the twelve of us are just supposed to waltz right out of here and take the lift down to wherever Eren's dad was hiding some kind of secret base from centuries ago?”
“Decades ago.”
“Right, right. Decades ago, guys.”
“Can the lift even hold all of our weight?” Sasha asked curiously.
“There was that one time when we were hiding from the chief and we all fit,” Reiner pointed out.
Sasha frowned. “We didn't have Mikasa that time.”
“Oh, right.”
“Guys,” Jean gritted out, and everyone turned their attention back to him. “You guys better figure something out quick because Marco is literally dying in my arms.”
Mikasa opened her mouth, Eren shot her a look – he knew what she was going to say. He spoke up first. “It's settled. We find the nearest lift and get down to wherever my dad was talking about.”
They weren't crazy about Eren's idea but it was better than doing nothing. Thus, Armin strategically positioned them so Eren and Mikasa were in the front, Reiner in the back, Annie on the left, and Ymir on the right. The rest were in the middle. This way they were stronger on all sides and could easily defend themselves.
Fortunately, the closest lift was just on the other side of their floor and there were practically no gunmen, seemingly taken down by the others on the way to the mall jail.
As they all stepped into the lift, Sasha sighed in relief. “Thank god it didn't beep.”
“Right?” Connie muttered, “Especially with how much you've been eating these days.”
“Hey!”
As the door closed, Eren took a deep exhale, surveying the buttons on the lift. There was one section locked off at the very bottom. He supposed that was where the key was meant to go. He shoved it in and twisted.
The hatch opened and revealed a big, green button.
“Goddamn.” Reiner whistled, impressed.
Ymir raised a brow as she eyed it. “So, if we press this, are we going straight up into space, or down to the center of the earth?” she asked sarcastically.
Eren cracked his neck. “Only one way to find out.” Then, he pressed the button.
The lift went down normally. They silently watched as the numbers counted down with them descending down each floor. It reached the basement parking and for a second nothing happened, until there was a deafening creaaak and the lift began to free fall.
“Holy shit,” Connie got out.
“God.” Jean held onto Marco tighter, Reiner and Christa both trying to make sure the freckled man was safe too.
Ymir grinned, letting out a cackle as her bangs flew up into the sky. “Coolest fucking ride I've ever been on.”
A few seconds passed before the lift fell with a loud thud. Most of them practically fell to the floor, except for Annie and Mikasa who were unbothered.
Eren groaned, rubbing at where his head had hit one side of the lift's wall.
Jean growled at him. “Eren Jaeger, I swear, I will–”
The lift’s door opened, and Jean shut his mouth.
Even Eren was completely at a loss for words at the sight before him.
This was more than a staff room. It was some kind of… staff headquarters. From Eren's spot in the lift, he could see a pool table, dark blue carpeted floors, dart boards and newspapers hanging on the walls and, was that–
A popcorn machine in the back?
“What the fuck, Eren?” Connie whispered. “Was your dad leading a cult down here?”
Eren stood up, the others following suit. “I… I don't know,” he said as they walked into the room. But everyone was too preoccupied with the room to pay any attention to him.
Sasha instantly went to the popcorn machine. Reiner, Connie, and Bertholdt were preoccupied with the pool table. And the rest scattered off to other places in the room.
Jean laid Marco down onto one of the orange couches. “Is there a first aid kit?” he asked, eyes never leaving Marco's face.
Christa came by with a small box in one hand; the first aid kit. “Found it,” she said.
Mikasa took it from her and sat by the couch. She unbuttoned Marco's uniform before cutting his shirt open with some safety scissors. Then, wiped away the blood and disinfected the wound before getting pliers out and retracting the bullet out. The sound was disgusting and she had to reach deep inside.
Jean and Eren winced but never left Marco's side. There were three in total. She then wrapped Marco's arm up when he was done and patched his face up too.
“He'll be okay?” Jean asked.
She nodded as she wiped the blood from her hands on a cloth. “He'll be fine.”
Jean sighed in relief.
With the knowledge that Marco would be okay, Eren got up and surveyed the room. Armin and Bertholdt had found some kind of surveillance room in the back.
Eren's jaw dropped a little. He leaned over where Armin sat on the chair, gaze running over the multitude of big screens in front of them. There had to be more than 20 screens. “Does it work?”
“It's old, but I think I can make it work.”
“That's good.”
Just then, Ymir and Reiner popped up into the room and pointed two blasters at them.
Ymir smirked. “This would've come in handy for our water fights.”
Reiner grinned next to her. “Reckon they can shoot out tennis balls?”
“Oh my god!” Everyone in the surveillance room perked up at the sound of Connie's voice, a flicker of worry flashing in them. Had a gunman found them?
They rushed out, only to find Connie frozen on the spot in front of something.
Eren reached out, “Connie–”
“It's beautiful,” he whispered, staring at what seemed to be some kind of scooter? There were two of them, Eren realised. Maybe even more.
As everyone gawked over the scooters and everything else in the room, the gears in Eren's mind started turning. There must have been a reason Eren's dad had led him to this room for emergencies only. This must be some kind of base for the security team. Something they could use to protect civilians.
“We can save the people upstairs,” he realised.
The room fell silent.
Annie, surprisingly, was the first to speak up.
She tilted her head slightly at him. “You must be an idiot if you think we're going to go up there when we're completely safe down here.”
Eren opened his mouth.
Jean cut him off sharply. “Jaeger, I know you like to play hero all the time but can you just drop it, just this once? They have guns. They'll shoot us all dead.”
“But this is our job,” he argued.
“No. This–” Jean gestured around him. “This is out of our fucking league, so drop it.”
“Look, I know you're scared, Jean but–”
“Eren.” Armin faced him with a serious look. “There are more than 30 dangerous and definitely way more experienced gunmen up there. Statistically, it's a fool's job.”
Eren's brows furrowed, heart clenching. “Armin…”
Beside him, Mikasa placed a hand on his shoulder. He faced her with exasperation, but there was a calm expression on her face. “I'll follow you, Eren. It's my duty.”
And it was odd. How Mikasa was now the one standing by him. After everything he had done. He tried not to let the thought swell in his chest.
He shook his head. He promised her she wasn't going to do this alone. “We can't do this just by ourselves. We need every single person in this room if we're going to take those bastards down. We work best when we work together, remember? Chief Erwin said with our strengths, we're unstoppable.”
“Oh my god, Eren.” Ymir rubbed her temples. “That was a company football match. This is a mall shooting. Do I need to spell it out to you for your small brain to understand?”
“Ymir,” Christa chastised.
Eren clenched his fists. “Do you guys remember when I asked what would happen if we were shot down with real guns? How one day the nerf guns may become real guns?”
Silence took over the room again.
“I know most of us aren't security guards because we grew up wanting to be. We have dreams and things that we want to do. But life happens. The only thing we can do is fight to survive in this world. To keep moving forward.” Eren's voice shook. “Reiner said once that we needed to have each other's backs because if our job is to keep everyone else safe, then the only people in this world that can keep us safe are each other. I believe in every single one of us. And I know that we can do this and that we care too much about each other for anyone to get hurt. Nerf guns or real guns, we can take them down together.”
The air was heavy with everyone weighed down by their own thoughts.
Then, Connie gripped his buzzed head, an exasperated expression on his face. “Goddamn, Eren… You really are going to be the death of me.”
Reiner spoke up next. “I hate to say it, but Eren's right. As mall security, we swore to protect the people upstairs, so we have to do everything in our power to keep them safe.”
Eren looked at the rest, who all seemed like they were about to agree, and faced Armin.
The blond shook his head. “No matter how stupid I think your ideas are, Eren,” he looked at him softly, "you know I'll always try catching up to stay by your side.”
Eren grinned at him.
“You can't be serious.” Everyone turned to Jean.
He finally got up from where he sat next to Marco and stood before Eren. He shoved a pointed finger in Eren's chest. “Don't tell me you're all actually swayed by this suicidal maniac. I'm telling you, if we go out there, we are going to die.”
“I'm not going to let you die, Jean.”
“Great.” Jean threw his hands up in the air. “I feel so fucking safe now that the guy who's always threatened to kill me is telling me he's not going to let me die.”
Before Jean could continue ranting again, Reiner threw his arm around Jean's neck, pulling him into a headlock. Jean tried prying his arm away but Reiner had a strong grip. “Come on, Jean-boi. Let's save the world.”
Jean opened his mouth to refute him, but at the sight of everyone throwing him easy looks and reassuring smiles, he sighed.
“I hate all of you.”
“We love you too, Jean-boi,” Connie snickered.
“So, what's the plan, suicidal maniac?” Ymir asked as she wrapped an arm around Christa’s shoulder.
Eren opened his mouth, then closed it.
Jean let out another deep exhale, looking remorseful in Marco's direction. “Marco would've come up with a good one,” he muttered.
That was true. But they had Armin's brains, and Reiner's brawns. They had Mikasa's skills and Annie's talents. They had a girl that would go crazy over food and a guy with freakishly long limbs. They had a guy with a buzz cut and driving skills that could rival a Formula One driver, a tiny girl with a handful of things under her pocket and another girl who laughed in the face of death. They had a surveillance room, blasters, and scooters.
They didn't have a plan, but they had everything else.
Eren regarded the room. “Let's make a list of everything we have and go from there.” He turned to Armin. “And Armin, try turning on the surveillance room. I'm sure we could use it to survey everything going on upstairs.”
He nodded and the rest dispersed, looking for anything useful they could find.
From the search, they found that they had five blasters, four paintball guns, three scooters, some bulletproof shields and vests. And a half loaded rifle and two handguns, which were a quarter loaded from earlier.
“You'd think a security base would have more guns,” Connie muttered.
A few moments later, Armin called for them with a wide grin on his face.
Eren was already giddy as he entered the surveillance room. It was working. The screens were grey and a little blurry but it was working. He knew Armin could do it.
“Every area's covered?” he asked.
“Yep,” Armin said as he plopped down onto the chair and ran his hands across the keyboard. He switched between different cameras, showing the parking lot, food court, and other places. “There are 40 of them in total divided among five floors. But the main floor consists of ten of them because that's where they're holding all the hostages. In total, there's about seven for each floor.”
“Gang,” Connie said as he squinted at the screen. “I'm gonna be real honest and say that Armin lost me when he said there are 40 of them in total.”
“Well, a quarter of them are already down.”
“Thanks, Armin. I feel so much better.”
“We'll make it work,” Eren said with pursed lips. He looked at Armin. “What's the plan?”
Armin perked up, eyes shining.
“We have launchers but no ammo right? Well, that's an easy problem to fix. Five of you go to the giant sports store on the second floor. Get the tennis balls and anything else that could be useful. Then, split in two. Half approach the third floor and clear that area. The other half to the ground floor to rescue the hostages. Meanwhile, the rest of you will be segregated to the fourth and fifth floor.”
He gestured to himself. “I'll stay here and keep an eye on everything while keeping in contact with you guys.”
Reiner hummed. “Basically, the riskiest job are the tennis ball retrievers.”
“Dibs not it,” Ymir said.
“Hey!” Connie narrowed his gaze at her. “You can't just call dibs all of a sudden.”
“I'm pretty sure that's how it works, baldy.”
Eren nodded in determination. “I'll go.” He turned to Mikasa to find that her face was already set. She was following him.
“I'll come too,” Reiner said. He faced Annie. “Annie?”
She shrugged. “Whatever.”
That left one more person. And Eren couldn't believe he was saying this. He tried not to bite his tongue.
“Jean?”
He glared at Eren. “Why in the fuck–”
“It has to be you,” Armin said from where he was sitting. “Ymir is handy with a paintball shooter and can cover for Christa. Connie is skilled on scooters and the like. Same goes to Sasha. Plus, she's a good shot. And Bertholdt makes for good bait. So that leaves you, Jean.”
Jean chewed down on his bottom lip. “I don't like this.”
Reiner patted him on the back. “Toughen up, Kirschtein. You're with one of the toughest guys, you know, aren't you?”
“Plus, you're with Mikasa and Annie,” Sasha pointed out. “That's basically life insurance.”
Connie rolled his eyes. “Who's gonna tell her that life insurance does not mean life ensure--ance?”
Jean grumbled and rubbed his face. “Fine, I'll go.”
That settled it, then. They gathered around and grabbed their weapons and bulletproof shields. Connie had found some black paint, slapping two fingers of it on either sides of his face, as if he really was going to war, and handed it to the rest of them. Most refused, due to not wanting to get some kind of poisoning from years old paint, but he insisted it was necessary for them to look tougher.
After they were all ready, Eren, Mikasa, Jean, Reiner and Annie stood before the lift. They were going first. Once they had retrieved the tennis balls, the others would make their move, so that they could carry out a synchronised attack.
Eren addressed his friends one last time, face turning soft. “Hey, I– There's no one I trust to do this more than with you guys.”
“Well, Jaeger,” Ymir said, leaning against Christa. “You've always had terrible survival instincts because we're probably the most useless people on this planet to stop a mall shooting.”
Bertholdt fiddled with his hands nervously. “Ymir’s right. But we've been together through countless things. Every shoplifting, every soccer tournament, every stupid prank. Somehow, they've brought us all to this singular moment. I don't trust myself in anything, but I know for certain all of us were put here at this exact moment for a reason.”
Connie's clenched fists shook at his sides. His eyes held nervousness but he tried to grin through it. “I don't know how you do it, Eren, but you're always bringing us into this shit. So you better not do anything stupid and live so I can get my revenge on you one day.”
Eren nodded.
The five of them stepped into the lift, waving their last goodbyes at the others in the room.
Then, the lift shut and the place fell silent.
Operation: Save Paradis Mall and Beat Up Some Assholes was in motion.
Notes:
Pure chaos in the next chapter hehehe.
There's about 3 more chapters left until the conclusion :D
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