Chapter Text
Mikasa plopped down on her couch in her new apartment, covering her eyes with her hands as she tipped her back against the sofa. Her major in finance clashed with her sleeping schedules- a bitter reminder as she slid off her rings on her sofa table.
She yawned- wide, lazy, unrestrained- before sliding her fingers sideways to rub her eyes.
The clock screamed at her from across the room: twenty minutes left before she'd have to socialise again. The second hand rotated mockingly.
Tick tick tick
She was weird with meeting new people. Always closed off, always a fly on the wall. Annie, her best friend, straight up disliked going out and never agreed to it. Annie avoided crowds if she wasn't a hundred percent interested- Annie was the one who'd dragged Mikasa out.
Fine. Sacrifice accepted for tonight.
Annie meant a lot to Mikasa so the woman planned to say her hi's, learn new people, have a few drinks and be home by ten o'clock sharp.
Today was a day for uni students to celebrate the end of another school semester. And they always went all out. Last year, Annie screamed at someone Mikasa barely remembered from her preschool, Armin Arlert. When she asked her about it, Annie shrugged it off, calling him a moron. She figured Annie was too ashamed to tell her what happened since it didn’t really strike as a serious matter. To Armin’s defence it was a club with stupidly drunk students.
Mikasa had that night caught two guys laughingly going behind the bar and serving their friend group beers. It was even funnier when the owner caught them and kicked them out.
A grin tugged at her lips.
Armin was cute, Mikasa admitted to herself. Annie would sometimes not realise she stared whenever he walked by on school grounds. His blonde bangs over his forehead and a button nose with rosey cheeks. Puberty seemed to have hit him a little too late, because Mikasa remembered him as a small mouse with hair down to his shoulders when they were kids. He was definitely taller now too, and more in shape.
Mikasa rubbed her eyes once more, exhaling through her nose.
They didn’t have the chance to catch up, Armin and her. Probably because of Armin’s passive avoidance of Annie. But it’s all right, Annie was important for Mikasa so she was okay with making this ‘sacrifice’.
Mikasa decided it was a problem for later and hid her eyes with her slender fingers, letting her back melt into the sofa. Her chipped black nail polish was due for renewal, and she made a mental reminder to let Annie do them before departing.
A knock erupted.
A quick glimpse at the clock showed the mocking hands reveal how the time was up. The woman realised she had lost herself in reminiscing and forgot to even change from her day clothes. She pulled herself up and let her clothing choice be a non-important matter.
“How long was I on that couch?” The black haired woman mumbled to herself, tugging at her bangs like the hair police waited behind the door.
Annie greeted her when the door opened. In her hand, a bottle of Sauvignon balanced along with her phone and headset. She had her blonde hair combed backwards, and behind her stood a person Mikasa hadn't met before.
“Since when do you take out your piercing?” Mikasa blurted out first thing, not focusing on the stranger behind her. Annie took a step forward, causing Mikasa to sideway automatically, still having her palm on the door.
“Mikasa, this is Sasha” Annie ignored the question with practiced disinterest. Her downturned eyes fixated instead on the wine glasses in Mikasa's open kitchen/ living room.
“Oh- right, Hi” Mikasa shifted her gaze from Annie’s right eyebrow where two dots now occupied the region instead of a black piercing. “Mikasa Ackerman”
“Hi” said the brunette cheerfully, “I’m Sasha."
“How do you guys know each other?”
“We go to the same class” Sasha wadded her way in, also holding a bottle of white wine. “My boyfriend knows Reiner, and I know Jean and they planned the whole thing. I haven’t asked Nicolo- my boyfriend, about tonight but I’m just following whatever comes along”
She rambled on and on. Mikasa tried her best to follow along, nodding out of curtesy. “I’ve heard so much about you, so it’s great I’m finally getting to meet you, Mikasa!”
“Really” The woman smiled warmly as she turned to the blonde pulling out three crystal glasses. “I didn’t take Annie as the talking type”
Annie rolled her eyes, but the corners of her lips twitched. “Can we drink already?”.
The women took a seat at the floor of the living room, letting the sofa table be the center of their pregame. Mikasa took it to herself to watch her consumption as Sasha rambled on and on about her semester year, and how excited she was for tonight.
"How's your mom, Mika?" Annie began, when everything was set and laid out on the table. Cards were being passed around and Mikasa didn't let herself break eye contact from her cards.
"Better. Levi visited her not too long ago. She's been visiting her therapist once a week now so it's moving forward I guess"
"Oh no" Sasha said, clearly feeling like she didn't belong in the room. "Is your mom okay?"
"Oh, right" Mikasa realised the context embodied the elephant of the room. "My moms not been doing too good. I don't really want to talk about it if that's okay with you"
"No, no- I totally understand" Sasha shook her head and held up her hand. The sudden gesture making Mikasa more self aware of her integrity wrapped walls being down. "Sorry for butting in, I hope she's okay"
"No it's fine" Mikasa turned to Annie, who's lips turned upwards sympathetically. "It's just after my father..." She trailed off again, emotionally naked.
Tick tick tick mocked the clock, as the room filled with an eery silence. Mikasa flipped her cards, and put down ace of hearts at the center of the table. Sasha, who suffered from the move, simply pulled the card stack to her hands. The brunette took it upon herself to lift the atmosphere once again when she stated:
"Okay, practical question. How do you feel about the campus tradition? Bars, regrettable make-outs, or in Jean's case– tending bars unpaid?"
Annie's nose wrinkled as she put down a card. Mikasa had already planned her move and put her cards down directly after, feeling victorious. "I go because I dragged Mikasa with me. It's solidarity, sister"
"I go because of Jean's terrible singing voice. Oh we have to sing karaoke tonight too at 104th!"
"No" Annie said in a monotone voice. "Not again"
"Yah, you are babe" Sasha emptied her glass before putting it on the table with a thud. “I think it’ll be just us girls tonight plus Reiner's girlfriend, everyone else are lads according to Nicolo. So we're singing together point blank”
"I'm up for it" Mikasa chimed in, giving up on the cards and instead gazing at her chipped nail polish. "As long as I don't have to sing high notes"
"We have to go to the bathrooms together tonight, that's like my favourite part of any night outs!" Sasha continued, as she reached for the crumpets on the table.
The crumpets her cousin Levi had made with his boyfriend Erwin as a moving gift for Mikasa.
The crumpets Sasha took from her cabinet without asking.
“I don’t even know what the plans are for tonight” Mikasa said, counting in her head every crumpet that lost the battle against Sasha's appetite. Annie put down a 5 of spades, and then a five of hearts, not realising the other two had long since given up.
“Oh! We’re gonna meet Reiner and Nicolo with their friends at the school grounds and hang out, and then maybe visit bars in town. It’s supposed to be a secret tradition where students find flings or some shit. Funny story: I met Nicolo when I puked in the wardrobe on my way out from the club Fritz's” She laughed.
“Oh, right!” Mikasa realised. “We went to Fritz's last year, Annie! Wasn’t that when you screamed at Armin”
Annie looked at her. “Oh yeah, I forgot about that”. Her facade did not fool Mikasa. She did in fact, not forget about that. "Mikasa wow your nails are disgusting. Want me to paint them for you?"
"Yes please and thank you" Mikasa raised her eyebrow, lifting her finger straight forward. "Bathroom- cabinet under the sink"
Annie nodded and quickly left the room, excusing herself from the conversation for a mere second. When she reentered, Sasha restarted the subject matter.
“You guys know Armin? He’s so cute, he always asks me about you, Annie. I didn’t know you had met him before” Sasha interrupted. Mikasa wondered whether Sasha's blood stream had replaced blood with pure Redbull.
Sasha’s remark took Annie's interest as she lowered her wine glass, and raised her eyebrows.
Tick tick tick
“He asks about me, why? I’ve met him like once”
Mikasa tried to hide her grin at Annie’s reaction. She could see the wonder reach the girl’s blue eyes that in every other context were an expression of not-caring.
“Yeah, but like trivial things. “Do you know Annie?”, or “Is she mad at me?”.
Annie’s cheeks deepened with a hue of red. “Can we change the subject?”
“Okay seriously” Mikasa leaned back. “What happened that night?”
“Sasha, do you know anyone else coming?” Annie looked straight at her. The atmosphere shifted, and Sasha picked up the hint.
“Yeah kinda” Her big eyes looking up at the ceiling as she thought. “Well Reiner, Armin and Nicolo of course. Then their classmates Jean and Connie, and oh. Armin’s best friend Eren is coming too. He’s super nice, and really funny” Sasha laughed. “Last year, he and Jean went behind the counter at some bar and started serving the guys beers- they’re not welcome back again, of course”
“I saw them” Mikasa chuckled lightly “I recognized Jean, he’s been liking my tinder and I keep removing him”
“Yeah he thinks you’re hot, Nicolo said so” Sasha admitted. “Hang on. Don’t you have to pay in order to see who likes you on that thing?”
Annie and Sasha smirked at Mikasa as she stuttered. “Oh I accidentally- I mean, my cousin Levi showed me and then there were pop-ups and then it just read “thank you for your payment””
“Mhm, sure” Annie grinned, leaning her arm against the table. “When was the last time you went on a date, Mikasa?”
“You’re single?! But you’re so pretty” Sasha blurted out, realizing the innuendo afterwards.
“Are you saying the only value I can bring to a relationship is by being pretty?” Mikasa responded. "Besides, I like doing my own thing. Being with girlfriends and family. Have you seen the guys at our school? not for me really"
“You know what I mean” She rolled her eyes, reaching for another crumpet. “I just always assume hot people are taken, that’s why I am”.
Mikasa smiled, she really liked Sasha. But she’s glad they’re not flatmates. Oh the terror of the constant headaches due to Sasha’s everyday rambling.
“I don’t know,” She shrugged. “Guys my age bore me. And I feel like I’m too busy with school. And there have been things in my private life” She trailed off. “I don’t think I’m ready to date, is all”
“Don’t forget though, this day is all about meeting other students. Fuck that shit, have fun instead. There is no tomorrow!” Sasha teased. She dropped her cards once and for all, previously fidgeting with them in order to let her fingers be stimulated.
“Oh this is so fun!" The wide eyed girl clasped her hands together. "Annie won’t let me wing her, Connie is cute but he’s bald voluntarily. And Reiner has a girlfriend, and Jean is a no for you... Eren...You’re gonna like Eren! Oh he's so much fun!”
“Didn’t you just say he got kicked out for going behind a bar?” Mikasa twirled the ends of her jet-black hair.
“Yah” Sasha hogged the last crumpet proudly. "He's spontaneous".
Crumbs of the fallen victims dropped on the table, Mikasa realised she would have to wait a while in order to taste her cousins bakegoods once again.
“Do things on your own time frame” Annie jumped in, knowing Mikasa's dating preferences. “Why did you un-like Jean so many times?”
“His pictures were so juvenile, group pictures, beers in hands, tongue out in every picture" Mikasa shrugged. “I don’t think I have high standards, I just feel like the bar is so low for us”
"Tell me about it" Annie folded her arms, still using the table corner as support for her elbow.
“Yeah well, let’s finish these bottles and see what happens. Annie you’re talking to Armin whether you like it or not” Sasha exclaimed.
Annie made a disliking noise and emptied yet another glass in one motion, also letting it make a thud on the table.
The big grass fields both in front of- and behind, the many, many buildings, were hoggered with students from all programmes grouping up on picnic cloths pregaming and chugging disgusting mixes of alcohol all blended together.
Sasha had been trying to localize their group as they passed the fields. Levi, who also went to the school, had offered Mikasa to join his friends if she didn't enjoy the company of “Uncivilized second-years”. And she stored it in the back of her head as a second-plan. She found it quite hard to meet plurious of people for the first time. With Levi, she already knew his boyfriend Erwin, their best friend Hange, and newly made friends Zeke and Onyankopon.
She scanned for her dwarf cousin before accidentally tripping on some girl’s leg, hastily apologizing and jumpingly trying to regain her balance. Annie, who was also very interested in finding someone, didn’t react to Mikasa’s accident. She caught Mikasa's eye contact and tried to put on a facade once more.
Sasha wandered off not too far away, meaning they were relatively close. She kissed a blonde guy before hugging the guys who formed a sitting circle on the grass. Armin, who saw Annie before she saw him, quickly dragged his fingers through his hair and whispered to the guy next to him.
An anxious look was clear on him. Annie and Armin just stared at each other awkwardly. The green-eyed boy next to Armin, and Mikasa, witnessing the horror. Armin slowly raised his hand, not waving. Annie simply looked, her rosy cheeks deepening. The single word broke the still hum of music and chatter echoing from around the campus as Mikasa and Annie approached:
“Hey”
The blonde mans slightly nervous tilt of his head, the small squint in his eyes...
Mikasa waved kindly to Armin, causing Annie to slowly do the same.
Armin lifted his hand in a small wave again, almost in a reflex, before dropping it again, a slight hint of mixing emotions showing- relief and panic, which quickly buried under politeness.
Annie simply waved back once again in a phony matter and tried to act casual as she sat down next to Reiner, who himself tried to show Connie how to shuffle a deck of cards. He was too focused on his cards to notice the sudden tension growing mere by Annie’s presence.
Mikasa caught Armin’s demeanour. He’d dressed up tonight, she could tell. The dress pants and baggy button-up, the faint smell of aftershave which Mikasa smelled from where she stood. He never put extra dedication to his wardrobe any other day, so why today?
“You’re late” Armin stated with a hint of tease, as he placed his empty can on the forming stack behind him. The spot next to him was empty as the brown-haired man had stood up and dug through his bag, his ass freely in the air.
“How long have you guys been here?” Annie raised an eyebrow at the stack of beer cans, forgetting to greet everyone.
“Since six” came a smooth, warm voice. Mikasa directed her head to the source of voice. The man who sat next to Armin straightened his back, holding three beer cans in his hand. He handed it to Mikasa first, the rim cold on her fingertips as they brushed his. Mikasa blinked.
Cute
“I’m Eren. Eren Yeager” He smiled, easy, unbothered, like the kind of person who never tries too hard socially. The smile wasn’t showy, just there oozing confidence. He lingered his gaze at Mikasa, and she suddenly wondered whether she had food stuck in her teeth.
“Mikasa Ackerman”
She hoped her voice didn’t sound as small as it felt. But he noticed it and smiled- not the polite kind, but the kind that crept in slowly. Almost like he found something about her quite funny.
“Right. You knew Armin, yeah? Nice to finally meet you” He raised his hand to greet her.
Her fingers tingled as their hands were shaking. He was the first one to let go and plopped down next to Jean, and the moment passed like that. She didn’t think too much of it and simply adjusted her skirt as she sat down.
Sasha, who was being drunkenly smothered with kisses from Nicolo, broke it off just to give Mikasa a smug expression.
“Students always hook up on these things”
She greeted Connie- the “voluntarily bald one”, Nicolo who was busy making out with his girlfriend, Reiner who she knew from before, this time with a dark haired woman named Pieck in his arms, and lastly Armin of course.
Eren stared at the couple directly in front of him when they returned to making out and remarked:
“Hey! slower please. Jean is trying to rub one out, he likes it slow”.
Not getting to continue teasing them as Jean smacked him at the back of his head when Eren sat down. Sasha broke off the kiss and pointed finger, as her boyfriend put his thumb on her chin to guide her back to his lips. To the couples disadvantage however, Pieck chimed in.
“Guys, PDA.”
Connie, Reiner and Jean smirked as Nicolo let go of Sasha, clearing his throat. He was definitely buzzed. The red picnic blanket hugged their legs as he quickly took a sip of his drink, his arm still around her.
“Guys, hot girlfriend” Nicolo stated simply before taking the brunette in his arms, again much to her appeal. Not seeming to mind their friends looking at them, nor the little ladybug that took interest in Nicolo's ashy blonde hair, freely roaming around.
It was definitely awkward for Mikasa, who half-watched, half-pretended not to. Annie and Armin who sat opposite each other, definitely found it awkward as they witnessed their friends going at it. Armin looked at Annie with a crooked smile, his shoulders tense no matter how much he tried to mask it.
Mikasa couldn’t seem to grasp why the two blondes had this tension. Is it all because of a drunken scream from Annie’s way? One whole year ago?
She shook her head and turned to Reiner, who continued shuffling his card deck as Connie had failed miserably before.
“Uhm, Mikasa" Pieck began, trying to ignore the elephants in the room- well, yard. "-and Annie who doesn't know everyone here- tell us a little about yourselves”
The students gazed at the two girls, awaiting a response. Mikasa clung to her can and blamed Annie for not initiating, who in question suddenly found the grass very interesting.
Great. It was on her.
“Uh” Mikasa began lightly, a phony smile creeping on her face “Well I study finance and take free courses in writing a bit here and there” She felt the eyes of everyone gazing at her make her small, tiny even.
"There's no tomorrow"
Mikasa blabbered, dipping her toes in the extrovert-pool. "I’m trying to learn Japanese since my mom is..” She trailed off, feeling herself get all chatty which was unlike her.
“Music is fun too. Mikasa and I sometimes play for fun” Annie continued, eyes fixated on some students playing around with water guns in the near distance.
“Really!” Eren smirked at Mikasa, his head leaning back. She seriously wondered whether he actively searched for food in her teeth by the looks he was giving her. To play it cool, Mikasa gave him gave a crooked smile and went for her beverage, feeling the automatic action to do so.
“Yah. Bass” Annie said flatly, shifting to her best friend as it was her turn to respond.
“Banjo” Mikasa answered in a failed attempt of a joke.
Okay take your toes out of the pool
Armin laughed lightly at Eren's reaction. The green eyed man’s eyebrows had dragged to a center point as if they were connected by magnets. He grinned in confusion, revealing his canine teeth, before it softly faded.
“Banjo? What kinda band are you in?” Eren turned his head to Annie, who in return was about to respond, perfectly deadpan:
“Interperative reggae” Armin interrupted, and Annie looked at him clearly surprised.
Grins hung in the air as everyone became amused by the women' s- and Armin’s teasing. Eren simply looked around as he straightened his back.
“Oh that’s a first” The green-eyed man said, trying not to display his reaction to this being bizarre… “I didn’t take you for a banjo player. What’s interpretive reggae?”
His facade is so bad
Connie interrupted, sensing Mikasa was about to blow the whole thing off. “You play reggae on your bass and the other person dances sensually to it, interpreting the emotions of the song- duh”
Eren only blinked, clearly zoning out.
He jokingly stood up and motioned his way to Eren, before Reiner dragged him back to earth while laughing. “Connie don’t do that shit”
“The fuck?” Mikasa’s seated neighbor said, relieved he avoided a lap dance from Connie. “I feel lobotomized, what's going on?”
“No, no, no sorry. Sorry” Mikasa waved his hand at Connie, who clearly wanted to continue to mess with Eren. “I play the drums, I just wanted to mess with you”.
He looked at her- not the quick glance people share when they laugh, but the kind that holds a second too long. Her lips shrunk slowly, not knowing whether he would mark her as annoying onwards. Instead, the corners of his lips twitched ever so slightly as he stared into her eyes, before slowly forming a half-irritated, half amused grin on his lips.
Mikasa phonily grinned back once again, feeling how the tips of her fingers tickled as she shrugged teasingly. He nudged her shoulder softly with his arm.
“What a good first impression I'm getting” He said after breaking eye contact, turning to Jean and pointing his thumb at her. Jean, clearly embarrassed from Mikasa's presence, only shrugged in response.
Annie took it as her cue to answer her part of Pieck's question. "I grew up near Bremen" She announces, hugging her legs casually as she stared at the grass. She liked punk music, Greta Gerwig, Vivienne Westwood's collections and the “Final Destination” movies, and she loves apples as a fruit but hates apple juice.
All trivial facts Mikasa already knew, and would score 10/10 if she were to be quizzed.
Mikasa couldn't make out the chatter from Armin as he spoke in a low voice with Annie. She simply nodded and curled her lips, looking away.
She leaned back on her elbows, careful not to hit her head against the tree behind her as she decided to just listen to the chatter around her. Mikasa closed her eyes for a mere second, beer leaving an echoing aftertaste in her mouth.
Through Eren's phone, music played on a low volume as a nice layover for the chats passing around the circle.
Annie had just gotten into a joking banter with Reiner over the upcoming film festival, with Pieck trying to see how many braids she could sneak onto Nicolo's hair as he attacked his girlfriends lips, not seeming to notice.
"Do you–" Armin began, turning to Annie, as he gestured with his hand. By doing so, he had forgotten the fact that his beer can started to skimp out its content...
Meanwhile, Eren started retelling to whoever wanted to listen, as Armin's volume didn't take center stage:
Reiner’s accident of breaking the glass door in their lab room.
"He fucks up the rapport with me, decides to-"
Hearing the story made Reiner miserably fail to shuffle his deck, and spewed cards out in all directions.
It knocked over a drink that spilled over Annie’s lap, and she quickly rose up, stumbling on her feet and accidentally grabbing Armin’s toned shoulder for support, who himself was drenched in beer.
"Fuck!" Annie shouted, He instinctively put his hand on her back to watch her from falling. And so, Armin's elbow knocked over the next beverage leaking over the picnic cloth. It was a domino effect.
They laughed, much to Mikasa’s shock. In her household, stains led to catastrophic reactions. Especially from Levi's ironclad approach. She feels absurd heat of panic rise behind her ears in warmth, contrasting the groups calm approach as they instead laughed. Here, stains were marking fun.
They all jumped to their feet, witnessing the foamed catastrophe mockingly absorbed by the picnic cloth. Nicolo and Sasha broke up their kissing once and for all, and she picked the ladybug off his hair. Wiping her skirt, Mikasa could see from the corner of her eye Armin's red face trying to stabilize Annie on her feet.
“Shit – Sorry!” Annie exclaimed, as she witnessed Armin's white button up drenched in yeast juice. Her hands rested on his shoulders as he tried to help her stand up.
“It’s fine” Armin said too quickly. He's already on his feet, hands moving on her waist to steady her. By trying to st her upright, his elbows catches the rim of the next cup that Jean saluted with. It tips too. Foam spreading on the already destroyed cards like knock off confetti.
"Jesus fucking christ" Connie exhaled, dragging out the e-vowel as he violently shook the cards in the air. "Sit down, Arlert. You too Annie"
Eren lets out a soft, all be it teasing laugh as he shook his head, his hair strands following his motions.
"I think they're cute" Mikasa murmured to Sasha, in which Eren overheard and nodded her way. He nudged her once again and held out his phone.
"Could you hold it?"
Eren, who had gotten beer stains on his hoodie, put his hands near his neck and leaned slightly forwards. His hoodie was pulled out in one swift motion.
In almost a light year's speed, his tan abdomen revealed and Mikasa looked away instinctively. She could feel Sasha’s smugness burn into her skin as she nonchalantly found the tiny splotches on her skirt extremely interesting.
Those arms.
Eren was in no doubt working out regularly. His body was lean but sculpted, his arms being the most defined aside from his stomach, which for a split second exposed in a bragging matter for onlookers. Those Levi jeans fit him like a glove, baggy enough, but revealing if you caught a glimpse. Teasing Mikasa’s brain as to what was hiding underneath.
She felt herself staring, and Eren caught her doing so. She wanted to let herself liquify, hoping the picnic blanket would absorb her too as he gained eye contact with her.
“Is my shirt nerdy? or...”
White cotton, a square print of melting clocks- Salvador Dali- Mikasa’s favorite portrait.
Mikasa simply stared, this time on the shirt. It was just her taste, and she wondered whether his aftershave came as a package deal for the shirt she wanted to rip off and claim as her own.
“No, it’s pretty” Mikasa ashamedly remarked, not realising she still held his phone “I uh– studied Salvador Dali. I love his work”
Eren, who previously only seemed to master the grin, lightened up at their shared interest with a genuine smile. Their voices had dropped without meaning to, and they didn’t realize the group's laughter had blurred into background noise. He pinched the edges of his shirt and looked down with his bangs covering his eyes.
“My mom works at an art gallery so I got it for my bar mitzvah as a kid. It’s starting to get a bit small for me though”
“Fits fine” She said before she could stop herself, definitely agreeing. It was fitting him nicely, like those jeans. She felt her stomach tingling this time as she simply observed his physique, thankful the conversation was her easy excuse to do so.
Before she realized-
“Wait- no way!” Mikasa shot up, startling Armin who jumped in his seat. “I think I’ve seen- Yeager’s Gallery by the waters? Bus number 12?”
“Yeah, that’s the one!” Eren raised his eyebrows. His eyes searched her with a look Mikasa couldn’t put her finger on. He nodded slowly, still observing her as he clung his fingers to his shirt. “You know it?”
“I’ve been meaning to go on an expedition, but I saw how expensive your tours were and-” Mikasa put her fingers on her bottom lip. Eren grinned at her accidental offence, and leaned his forearm against a tree,
“No sorry, it’s not expensive. I..” She laughed, mentally kicking herself. He retorted with the obligatory "its fine" and how the gallery being expensive gives them food on the table et cetera. Superficial stuff.
Snap OUT of it
Mikasa blinked twice.
There's no tomorrow
"Sorry, you're too pretty. What I meant to say was I would love to see your gallery sometime, y'know when I can afford it"
Mikasa didn't register the first part of the comment, and she wouldn't do so until months later when he reminded her of this fact to brutally mock her about it. And of course later that night, what he would say before kissing her at the dusk of dawn. The moment she called him pretty, his light eyes glinting with flattery– and amusement. Caught off guard, he blinked as his ears flushed, the woman in front of him not getting his sudden demeanour.
"Just say when and I can tour you, for free"
Mikasas pupils dilated, and so did his. Feeling the burning sensation of onlookers around them, she turned around. Sasha quickly whispered something in Reiner’s ear, whose eyes focused on the grass as he smirked and nodded. Mikasa shot her a glaring look.
The black haired woman apologised hastily to Eren who still leaned against the tree, thus ending the chat.
Eren didn’t think too much about it and simply pushed himself away from the tree by his elbow. He sat next to Jean again. That’s when Mikasa realised they were the only two left standing, as everyone else had taken their seat and observed them.
“Sorry, sorry” Reiner cleared his throat when everyone took a seat again. “I just hate when people exaggerate stories”
“What-” Eren began in confusion, letting his eyebrows graze each other again. “Oh, no fuck off with that Reiner”
Mikasa was utterly confused. Were they talking about her?
Jean, Nicolo and Eren resumed into laughter and she felt a metaphoric, monstrous spotlight blind her eyes.
Eren suddenly put his hand- which was shaking from laughing- on Mikasa's arm, causing her to tense up.
“He got pissed off, slammed the door- and- and fucking broke the glass” He threw his head back as he and Jean roared with laughter. Jean accidentally smacked Eren, leaning him towards the ground. His hand was still on Mikasa as they laughed.
“It was an accident too. Jesus christ you need to stop drinking car battery acid as your pre-workout my brother” Jean replied slyly.
"I would say that too if I had those chicken legs like you" Reiner retorted.
“Okay” Pieck interrupted, holding up her hands when she noticed Jean's veins pulsating on his forehead. “Let’s play before Reiner breaks the cards- eww do we have another deck?”
Never have I ever.
That was the second plan.
Mikasa and Annie’s big no no to a drinking game.
Annie was experienced in the adolescent lifestyle, sure. But she was not eager to share how she once at a party had taken a shot from Sasha's belly button.
Mikasa wasn’t as experienced, she was fine with being a bystander to most social events.
Connie suddenly interrupted, to what Mikasa first felt like was to her advantage. She was sorely mistaken.
“Guys fuck that shit, we can play Never Have I Ever when we’re at 104th. I wanna get to know these lovely ladies first. So…” He trailed off, pulling out his phone. “I’ve mastered a new drinking game, a getting-to-know-you game, if you will. It’s called, Yeagerball”
Eren shot up.
“Come ON”
Everyone laughed beside Annie and Mikasa, who, like a broken record, remained confused. Armin reached for his shoulder bag, and pulled out a bottle of Jäger, with a picture plastered to it that made Sasha scream as she hugged her ribs when falling on Nicolo's lap.
The evening sun softened, no longer orangey red. It became blue-ish, still clear as day time as the group laughed at the picture Armin had designed the bottle with.
The bottle displayed a picture of Eren- his big eyes closed, and red painted mouth open from snoring. His face was painted white and his left eye star shaped with black make-up.
They had made him the fifth Kiss-member.
Mikasa leaned her head back and let out a pig-like laugh, feeling relaxation from the alcohol strike through her spinal chords and onto her arms. They took turns photographing Armin posing with the bottle, with Annie observing as an indescribable look on her face shined through. Her eyes were only focusing on Armin as he with a big smile held the bottle in one hand and gave a thumbs up with his other.
Eren’s jaw tightened and he blinked slowly, scratching his hair with slight frustration. By doing so, he revealed a ladybug marching around in his dark hair.
Mikasa nudged him like he had her. He let his jaw unclench a little as they gazed on each other once more, this time she was the one grinning.
And before he could argue, Mikasa reached forward and plucked a ladybug from his forehead. Maybe the same ladybug that had marked its territory on Nicolo's soft curls. He simply looked at her with an eyebrow raised as she calmly dragged it, careful not to pluck a hair strand from his scalp.
She just let it rest on his palm, before returning to observe Armin giving a backstory to the photograph. Eren still looked at her, confused by her action.
“Okay” Connie interrupted, balancing on his kneecaps. “Yeagerball waits for no one. Annie, Mikasa, grab two cups and expect to be grilled” He rubbed his hands together.
He explained the rules hastily. You answer or you drink. Rules are: No saying the word “what”, no hesitating to answer, and if two people ask the same question you have to answer, no exception.
Annie muttered to herself: “How is this any different from truth or drink?” .
Connie placed the Yeagerbottle in the center of the circle as the ultimate punishment drink.
“Loser shares this bottle with a person of my choosing” Interest awoke as they started to become more interested, Reiner even putting away his card deck in Pieck's purse.
“Okay first question!”
He tapped on his phone as everyone had their cups filled with spritzers, beers- or in Jean’s case, whiskey- in front of them. Mikasa leaned against the tree behind her as they awaited in suspense.
Connie looked up- first at Jean, then at Mikasa. A sly demeanour exposing.
“Mikasa”
Jean’s ear reddened, and he leaned back on the damp grass as he let out a humongous groan.
“Have you ever rejected the same person five times?”
They all gawked at the question, and silence erupted in the room, before Sasha’s "oooing" echoed as she clung to Pieck’s arm. Erens eyebrows twitched as he looked at the ground, the corners of his lips twitching in amusement.
Mikasa simply rolled her eyes, clinging her bent knees closer to her stomach with one hand. Armin immediately choked on his drink upon hearing the question.
“Connie!”
“Research” Conne shot him off. Turning to Mikasa he grinned: “Answer or drink”
“Uh” Mikasa's ears reddened as she turned to Jean, whose gaze was only fixated at Connie with a slightly annoyed look. Jean turned to Mikasa, said his apologies as he cut off her response.
“Dude seriously not cool- I’ll tell it” Jean tugged at the hem of his shirt, nervousness embodying him. “It was this year, Ymir advised me to download tinder after Marco and I broke up- the first time” Jean turned to Mikasa and showed his lock screen, where he had his arms wrapped around a sunny-looking man. “We’re back together again now”
“WHAT” Sasha blurted out. “You never told me that, when?”
“I’ll tell you later Sasha- I” Jean held up his hands in clear annoyance, signaling: “not the time right now.”
“I’m happy for you” Mikasa answered with a crooked smile, feeling really uncomfortable by this discussion.
“Anyway, I just swiped. Saw Mikasa, thought she was hot. She popped up again hours later, thinking: this app is buggy so I swiped again. Then I realized after the fourth time it wasn’t a bug. And the fifth time Sasha did it just to fuck with me”
“Sasha” Annie exclaimed, clearly amused. “That’s so mean!”
Sasha shrugged. “I’m drunk, I thought Mikasa was hot in the pictures. I would hit that”
Mikasa leaned her head back and laughed. Sasha was growing on her by the minute.
Connie nodded, impressed by the answer. He thanked Jean for his mature answer, but since the question was directed towards Mikasa- he had to drink from the Yeagerbottle.
"So Mikasa, since Jean answered your question like a bitch. You get another one"
"Seems fair, in my opinion" Nicolo gestured with an open palm, the brunette in his arms nodding when she looked up at him.
"Okay... randomising a question here" Connie tapped his phone "Your tinder has since been gone, according to a source?" He pointed to Reiner, not taking his eyes off his screen "Have you since then gotten a boyfriend.. oh wow what a question"
Connie's eyes darted towards Eren for a split second, then to Mikasa. Mikasa was not dumb, even though things were funnier for her, and her hands were warm and the drinks came down consistently. She was sober enough to understand.
The baldie obviously stated the question in favour of someone specific.
She rolled her eyes.
"I feel like these questions are awfully specific" She raised her eyebrow.
"Thems them rules" Connie shrugged, pointing at the Yeagerbottle. "Or do you want to swallow Jäger"
Eren snorted into his glass whilst taking a sip, cupping his hand underneath the mug as he dropped content from his mouth.
"No, I don't have a boyfriend" Mikasa answered simply, amusingly observing Eren wiping his chin, not seeming too bothered by it.
As the hour passed, Mikasa watched the game unfold. The weather remained warm, but the cool winds were remarkable. As the sky caught the hue of the red sun, Mikasa felt good about herself. Her vision was slightly blurred from drinking– a fine reminder for her to start wearing her glasses again.
She had learned how Eren in high school had broken his canine after falling from a party cruise’s bunk bed, the very same canine he broke as a kid, Armin has had a black out thrice in his life, Connie didn’t have any dirt on Reiner much to the muscular man’s pleasure, Jean is not allowed to travel to the US according to him. Mikasa had told how the first time she had kissed someone- was her Harry Potter poster in her room when she was 10.
She glanced at Eren beside her as he was watching too, chin resting on his hand. When Armin nearly spilled his drink again on Annie after a very inappropriately question from Connie, Eren leaned in close and muttered, “Your friend’s doomed”
“Yours too” said Mikasa before she could stop herself. Eren simply grinned at her quick remark.
The rest of the gang were busy talking about Armin’s clumsiness as Eren and Mikasa cornered their conversation. He averted his gaze to the two blondes at first, but then back to the black haired woman. Mikasa glanced at Eren, seeing how he once again embraced his sculpted knees with his forearms in a relaxed posture. He nodded at her and smirked.
“Everything cool?” he said.
“Does Armin like Annie?” She quickly whispered, startled by her own speed. He shot her a smile and winked, obviously answering the question un-vocally. Her, being too blurry-eyed to get it, decided to flee the moment by chugging from her cup. This time it was a spritzer blended with beer from her last round, and it did not taste good. She wrinkled her face and stared at the bottom of it, causing Eren to chuckle at her and reach his hand forward.
“Let me taste”
She ignored his hand, and brought the cup to his mouth. His grin had faded, and was replaced with something steadier, something with more wonder in his expression. He, however, closed his eyes and tasted the beverage as he let his fingers rest on the red cup along with her hand. Atoms distanced between their fingers as he took a sip. When he swallowed, Mikasa observed how his Adam's apple went up and down. Something she never realized was something remarkable for her. He just smacked his lips and nodded slowly, intentionally letting his fingers go on top of hers as he remarked:
“Needs a little bit more salt,” he joked. “tastes good though” He put his hand on the small of her back, a daring choice. Mikasa, however, was all too focused on her previous question.
“Does Armin like Annie?” Mikasa asked once again.
No, she shouted.
Maybe loud enough for people nearby to hear. The low hums of people chatting in the background was replaced with meshes of music from different directions, all the at-the-brink-of-drunk Mikasa wanted to do was make sure Eren heard her. And he did all right, as he cringed at the unfolding of the situation.
Armin froze mid conversation as he wide-eyed glanced between Eren, and Mikasa. His shoulders were tight, hand on his temple as he looked at Eren, then Mikasa, then back as if trying to decide where to place weight he'd suddenly been given.
The beer in his hand, half empty and forgotten, hummed faintly as foam trembled at the rim. He lastly gazed at Annie, and Mikasa could see the way his breath hitched, like he was recalibrating how brave to be.
Eren exhaled a sound halfway between a groan and laugh, dragging his hand over his chin. “Jesus, Mikasa” He muttered under his breath. “Be cool”
She ignored him.
“Wow” Connie said finally, filling the seconds of silence because no one else dared. “Okay, points to Mikasa for honesty”
“Shut up,” Eren said sharply. “Guys. It’s ten o’ clock. How about we go to 104th now?”
Everyone agreed, hastily getting their things as if the awkwardness would remain on the damp grass, and not in the back of their head.
Mikasa felt the grass under her toes feel more real as she slid her sandals back on, the air was cooler, the night had taken dominance over the german city and Mikasa skipped her way to Sasha, leaving Armin and Annie behind who were still getting their things. Sasha held out her arm to the woman as the group's laughter metres in front of them thinned into the distant.
"Sasha" Mikasa tugged at her black bangs.
"Mikasa?"
"There is no tomorrow"
"THERE IS NO TOMORROW" Sasha screamed, causing Eren and Jean to turn around amused at the drunk girls.
"Yeah" Mikasa curiously turned her head, where the two blondes remained.
"No tomorrow, we go big tonight"
As Annie slid her shoulder bag over her head and planned on walking to the girls in front of her, she felt a gentle tug on her hand, and turned around.
Armin stood in front of her, beer stains on his shirt. Rosey nose and a deep look in his blue irises. She parted her lips, observing him as he asked:
“Hey Annie, wanna stay behind a little?”