So I love Riren, but I think there should be more Rivamika out there-because it's really hot, and there's so much potential there
Anyway, this is my contribution. I usually stick to oneshots, but I'm going to try to continue this. Maybe.
000
She tried not to look too relieved when the door finally opened. He'd probably guess that she'd been waiting for him, that her doing homework on the couch was just an excuse to be near the entryway, but Mikasa didn't really care. Older sisters had the right to worry about their little brothers.
She brought it up as soon as he crossed the threshold.
"Eren. This is the fourth time you've come home late this week." Her tone was level and cool as always, but he took it as a provocation.
He glared at her warningly with his bright green eyes, setting the gym bag slung over his shoulder on the ground. "I have soccer."
"Soccer practice ends at six. It's almost ten."
He sighed, "What? Are you going to bitch at me because it's a school night? Mikasa, you're not my mom. I'm not some little kid."
"What have you been doing Eren?" Mikasa ignored him totally, "Have you been smoking? Drinking? You're not involved in any gangs are you? Please just tell me why you keep coming home like this. You look terrible." With each question she took careful steps toward him until she was close enough to pull pleadingly at the edges of his sleeve.
Eren sighed again, a little less angry as he realized that it just couldn't be helped. Mama bear wouldn't be stopped with words.
"The captain's just really strict," he explained, "I'm still only good enough to make last string, so I mess up a lot…he's been keeping me after to do extra drills and…..cleaning and stuff."
As the sentence trailed off, a new gleam stuck in Mikasa's eyes. And the boy wanted to hit himself. He'd been careless.
Shit.
Eren quickly waved his arms in an attempt to halt her inevitable reaction, "It's fine though! I'm getting better! I'd probably be doing extra practice anyway! Really, I actually like it! It's the highlight of my day! I'm so happy that captain gives me such opportunities!"
It was too late though, and the atmosphere surrounding Mikasa had become black and cold.
"He makes you clean?"
He vainly tried once more, "Really it's"—
Mikasa grabbed Eren by the collar, eyes blazing ice.
"What's his name. Your captain's."
Eren swallowed. No matter what he did now he was fucked. Even if he stayed quiet, she'd find out eventually anyway.
A hand to his face, he sighed again. "Levi. It's captain Levi. Just please don't do anything to embarrass me Mikasa. You know how much soccer means to me. Just…please."
She gently removed her hand from his collar, returning to her usual calm.
"I know. Sorry."
Yes, Mikasa knew how much soccer meant to Eren, so she wasn't going to let some asshole team captain ruin it for him.
Eren had always been a good kid, but before joining a soccer team he'd had some anger issues-some problems controlling himself. Mikasa remembered sitting in therapist's waiting rooms, picking up Eren after school from detentions, holding her little brother's hand as he cried that he hadn't meant to beat that kid up, that he just didn't know what had happened, that he hated himself for it. Nowadays he wasn't exactly calm, but soccer had given him a healthier outlet to drain away most of his rage energy.
And he loved the game. No one could beat her brother when it came to hard work and determination. Sadly, the same couldn't be said when it came to actual skill. Eren managed to make the team in both middle and now high school, but he could never brake out of the second string.
Well, he was still just a freshman.
That thought just made Mikasa worry more though. She was a senior. There was only one more year that she could be there for Eren.
The next morning Mikasa and Eren walked to school from their apartment with their neighbor Armin. So far, neither of them had brought up the discussion from the night before. Mikasa didn't plan to. She could handle the situation on her own. She didn't want Eren to worry more than he had to.
There wasn't another word about it, and they all parted ways before first period as per usual.
Mikasa's first class was English. She paid half attention to the discussion on Dickens, but really all she was thinking of was how to track down this "Levi" character. It was a big school and she didn't know that many people to begin with. Mikasa wasn't a loner; she just wasn't very outgoing and didn't really try to be. Aside from the few people she cared about, not many people really came up on her radar.
Levi. The name sounded a little familiar. She could ask Annie or Sasha about him. If worst came to worst she could just wait around the soccer field. No. She didn't want Eren to be there.
Levi. She'd definitely heard it before, but no faces came to mind. Maybe she could ask Eren for a description. She'd have to make up a reason for wanting to know, of course.
"Levi! Yes, you can have the last comment before class ends."
The teacher's voice sent a shock through her spine, pulling her out of her thoughts. How? Had she been reading her mind? But no, that wasn't it. The teacher was gesturing toward her though.
"Actually, I was just going to ask how long the paper is supposed to be," the boy sitting beside her was replying in a tired, flat tone.
Mikasa didn't hear the teacher's answer. She turned her head to stare at him. The teacher hadn't been gesturing toward her. She'd been pointing at "Levi", the student seated right next to her.
All this time, Eren's tormentor had been right before her eyes.
She waited until class officially ended before saying anything. The second the bell rang, she turned toward the boy.
"You're Levi."
He gave her a blank look, and then continued gathering his books.
"I'm busy."
Mikasa guessed that was a bad start. He probably thought she already knew his name, seeing as he'd been sitting next to her for almost a quarter now. It could be seen as an odd opening statement. She'd get straight to the point.
"We need to talk."
This time he looked up with something akin to suspicion, then looked away again.
"No, I need to get to my next class. And you need to get out of my way."
Mikasa realized her chair was blocking Levi form leaving. The way he was dismissing her made her want to trap him there. She glanced over him as he stood up, waiting for her to move. He was pale and dark, short, but with mature, defined features. There was something dangerous, intimidating about him. Of course, she didn't care about things like that. But kids from the next class were already filing in, and this wasn't the optimal environment for a confrontation anyway.
She slid out of her chair and let him pass.
"Meet me by the vending machines before soccer practice."
Levi was already waiting when Mikasa got there. He was leaned against a coke machine drinking from a can with fingertips loosely grasping the rim. He saw her and carefully set the drink on the ground.
"Before you start —the only reason I'm here is because I'm curious as to why the ice queen Mikasa Ackerman is suddenly so eager to talk to me."
Mikasa didn't react to the less than polite greeting. She'd heard the nickname before, and she was getting the feeling that this was just the way Levi talked.
"You're the varsity soccer captain, right?" She had to be sure.
He gave her a tired look.
"Since sophomore year. You really don't pay attention to your surroundings do you? I've even seen you at games this year. God, If I didn't see your test scores I'd think you were an idiot."
Mikasa ignored the insult. It was partly true, she didn't pay attention to things she felt didn't concern her. She'd gone to every single one of Eren's soccer games and hadn't even taken the time to watch anyone besides her brother play. Seeing as he was basically a benchwarmer, this meant soccer games were essentially just outdoor homework sessions.
But that was all besides the point.
"You've been mistreating my brother. I want you to stop."
Levi's eyes narrowed. This hadn't been what he'd expected.
"Your brother?"
Mikasa glared at the question in his voice, like who he was mistreating was the problem-not the fact that he was doing it in the first place, which he didn't think to deny.
"Yes. Eren Jeager."
Levi sighed, careless, like he hadn't noticed how Mikasa spoke through a clenched jaw. "Little brother Eren, huh. Different last names. You must have some fucked up family shit going on or something, yeah? Not that I want to hear about it."
"We're foster siblings." She threw the set response back at him.
"Yeah well, anyway, I don't know what constitutes 'mistreatment', but you can go tell brother dearest that if he can't deal with my methods, he's free to quit at any time. No one's forcing him to be on the team."
Even from his slouched stance against the vending machine, there was something threatening in the way Levi was now staring at her, a warning to choose her words carefully. He wasn't going to play nice.
"Really, because I'd think a decent captain would be able to lead a team without resorting to treating his men like dogs."
Levi straightened his back, taking a step towards her. Had she struck a nerve?
"Like dogs huh," he repeated her. "Did Eren tell you that? Because something tells me you're making some assumptions."
She silently glared at him, not flinching as he took another step towards her.
"Something tells me Eren didn't ask his older sister to confront me like this. The kid sucks at soccer, but he's not a coward or a weakling. And he's never complained about anything before. Actually, he seems to enjoy following my orders— sometimes I even worry he might be getting off on it...so really, I don't think anyone really wants you stepping in like this, not to mention that it's none of your business in the first place."
Mikasa couldn't help raising her voice in protest, "Eren doesn't know what's good for him!"
Her brother was always her business.
And suddenly all her concerns were gushing out of her mouth, in a frantic, un-Mikasa-like manner, "You're preventing him from getting enough sleep. He's exhausted. And he probably isn't eating properly either. Plus there's all the emotional stress. On top of that, now that I know you're an asshole, I don't want you to influence his personality. Or his social interactions. And what about how extra practice time affects his academic performance? I just, I, I need to be sure that he's happy on this team!"
There was a stretch of silence where in Mikasa tried to catch her breath and Levi stared out as if he didn't know how to react. His eyes, opened a fraction, no longer held his lazy, half-lidded gaze.
"Huh. So the ice queen is revealed to be an unhealthily obsessive mother hen." A sigh. "Well, that's not a very attractive trait."
Mikasa scoffed, regaining her composure, "Like I care. Just stop pushing Eren so hard. Stop keeping him late. And stop making him do your fucking cleaning."
Levi frowned.
"Don't get me started on that brat's cleaning skills. Really, I'm doing you and your household a favor."
He wasn't taking her seriously. Mikasa narrowed her glare, about to make a new threat before getting cut off by Levi's raised hand-
"Look ice queen, I only have five more minutes till practice starts, so pay attention." Levi centered in on her with his gaze. "I'm the captain and I make the decisions. You can take it up with the coach, but seeing as you're a regular student and little Eren wouldn't even take your side, nothing would happen. My advice: let it go. Stop obsessing about your little brother and maybe actually pay attention to one of the hundreds of boys always chasing you. Seriously. Jean really needs to get laid."
With that, Levi picked up his empty soda can on the ground and started to walk away.
Mikasa wasn't especially cut by his crude speech. She didn't even really care about getting the last word. But she was still concerned; she wasn't at ease. Maybe she was some over-protective mother hen. Maybe she was being obsessive. Mikasa realized she'd lost. Her normal intimidation hadn't worked against this boy, and there wasn't really anything she could do. But she didn't want the conversation to end here. She wasn't done.
"Wait," Mikasa started, before Levi could leave.
He stopped and looked over his shoulder with an annoyed expression. But he waited for her.
"Is Eren doing well on the team? Does he really enjoy putting in extra work?"
Levi made a face like he wanted to throw up.
"You…wow. The extent of this mother-side of you is really amazing. But, yeah, Eren loves soccer… so much that it's kind of irritating."
Mikasa took a deep breath. "Okay."
Levi raised an eyebrow. " 'Okay' what ice queen?"
"Eren seems to be complying with your treatment so far, so I'll allow it."
"You'll allow it," he replied slowly.
"Yes," she affirmed. "I'll allow it for now, but the moment he says anything, the moment you cross the line, don't think I won't be there, ready to beat your face in. No coach can stop me from doing that."
He scowled at the threat, though he probably didn't know it wasn't figurative. But Levi seemed to decide to leave it alone there. He had to get to practice. So he just nodded in acceptance and started to walk away again.
"God. That was disappointing. The ice queen talks to me for the first time in four years and all she does is gush about her little brother and threaten me with my life."
000
I know this feels very prologue-y...
I tried to capture Levi's bluntness, because that's one of my favorite parts about him, but honestly, I forgot how hard it is to not make everyone OOC -_-
Anyway, comments are encouraged~