A/N: Hello. I'm still getting used to so forgive me if I make minor changes here and there like this one where I couldn't figure out how to get the horizontal line (but finally managed to). Updates should be weekly ones, unless life takes over (which is highly improbable). Reviews make me very happy, especially if you want to comment on the writing and how I should improve on it!
Disclaimer: Don't own
Mikasa kicked the door shut behind her and headed straight for the tattered sofa in the corner of the room, her arms laden with books.
"What's gotten you into such a foul mood?" Annie asked, barely taking her eyes up from her textbook as she ran on the treadmill.
"The usual," Mikasa grumbled, throwing herself down on the sofa. "I don't understand why the rest of the student body finds my life so exciting. Why don't they focus on their own lives?"
Annie rolled her eyes. "I can't believe you're not used to it yet; it's been a whole year."
"And you would think the interest would have died down since then," Mikasa pointed out. She had a point. Ever since entering the school with a full scholarship, she'd done nothing but try to keep her head down and draw as little attention as possible from the rest of the school. She barely talked in class, or to her other peers, and was always either alone, or walking with the same few people she'd come to the college with.
"Maybe you need to face it head on. You know, instead of running away from it," Annie stepped off the treadmill, and shut the textbook forcefully. "You could start throwing out details about your life to anyone who'd listen—that'd turn them off you, for sure,"
Mikasa rolled her eyes at Annie, then returned her eyes to the ceiling.
"What'd you do to them?" Annie asked interestedly, gathering her bathing supplies and clothes, preparing to head out to the communal shower, something she loathed with her entire being, but was utterly dependent on.
"Suffice to say they won't be coming back in the near future to ask if I wore coloured bras,"
"You should really rein in your violent tendencies," Sasha Braus said, barging into the room. "That'll never help you find a nice boyfriend to settle down with,"
"Who needs men?" Mikasa snorted. "I certainly don't,"
"Did you have another fight with Eren? You know I hate it when you guys fight," Annie groaned, skirting the treadmill which easily took up a quarter of the room's sparse space.
"Sure, that's because you never know to side with your best friend, or with your boyfriend." Sasha pointed out, a laugh evident in her voice.
"Well, you're lucky that Armin always plays nice with everyone he meets," Annie rolled her eyes. "
What did you two fight about now, anyway?" She turned to Mikasa.
"The school's local café is hiring, and I wanted to take up a position there to earn some money. He doesn't want me to; he wants me to focus on my studies and make sure I don't lose my scholarship,"
"Somehow, I don't see you losing your scholarship even if you take up ten more jobs and become a circus clown at the same time," Annie snorted.
"Well, maybe he's really concerned!" Sasha suggested. "You know, a full ride and a monthly allowance isn't anything to laugh at!"
"Yeah, but you'd think he'd have more faith in me to manage my time properly, and to know my limits," Mikasa shot back. "I know I can work and keep my grades up at the same time; I don't know why he refuses to back down over this,"
Sasha opened her mouth to say something, but was drowned out by Annie's voice. "Clearly," she said, "Ackerman has made her mind up about this and frankly if she says she can handle it, then she can handle it. So we're going to drop this matter now. What'd you come in here for, Braus? Shouldn't you be in your own dorm room trying to cosy up with your own roommate?"
"Aw, you don't have to be so harsh," Sasha pouted. Though she, Eren, Armin and Mikasa had entered the college together, she and Mikasa hadn't been put in the same dorm room. Instead, Mikasa was paired up with Annie, who had been more than a little prickly at first. After a while, though, the two had gotten to know each other better, and while Annie was fast friends with the four of them now, she displayed a fiercer loyalty to Mikasa than to anyone else—even Eren. Sasha, on the other hand, had gotten paired with a girl who clearly wanted to major in 'Partying', and had gotten expelled from the school for various reasons at the end of the previous year. Her new roommate, Ymir, was sullen and uncooperative, much unlike Annie's own prickly and brash attitude at the start of the previous year.
"Ymir's out—I barely even see her in the dorm at all—and I wanted to see if you guys wanted some dinner,"
"It's four in the afternoon, but I'm not averse to an early dinner," Mikasa said, not attempting the remove herself from the sofa.
"Annie?"
"Let me go shower first," Annie said, wrinkling her nose, and disappearing out of the door.
"I'll check with the guys and see if they want dinner, too!" Sasha beamed, tapping away at her cellphone eagerly, before turning to Mikasa, her face falling a little. "Unless—you don't want Eren there?" Eren and Mikasa were much closer as adopted siblings than a normal pair of siblings usually were, but it also meant that when they were fighting, the tension was far more palpable than usual.
"It's fine," Mikasa said. "Don't let this spoil your evening,"
"No," Sasha decided, setting her phone down. "We'll make it a girls' night! Or evening—whichever,"
Mikasa shot her friend a vague, lazy smile. "Let's go down to the café for dinner—the food is pretty good and you'll see how good the working environment is,"
"I'm not the one you have to convince," Sasha grinned. "But alright! I've heard a lot about it, but somehow have never gone there before,"
"Mmm," Mikasa hummed in a non-committal manner. "Wake me up when Annie comes back; we'll go then,"
"I don't think you should sleep—she usually doesn't take very long in the shower. Mikasa—Mikasa?" But Mikasa had already fallen asleep on the sofa, leaving Sasha to huff and settle back to wait for Annie to return.