A/N: Hello, everyone! How has summer been? Good, we hope.
Sorry about out the recent inactivity. Lots going on, and lots to do! We hope this will make up for it :)
Anyway, have a one-shot! Includes some Reiner/Bert and Jeankasa, because poor Jean just needs some sympathy, no matter how small the amount being given is.
Enjoy!
-Sam and Vic
Laser Tag
"Christa, stop bouncing," an agitated Mikasa snapped at the blonde sitting beside her.
"I'm sorry, It's just I've never done this before!" Christa said, relaxing into her seat. It was her idea to go play laser tag, to get over the stress high school exams brought, but she never believed the group would actually go with it.
Ymir couldn't help but look at her friend and smile. The look of pure joy on Christa's face could make anyone's heart lighten.
Levi's heart (if he even has one) was everything but light, however. His thoughts centered around strategies he would use, and who he would take out first.
"Alright, teens, time to split into groups!" A young lady, who had just entered and was wearing workers' attire, said.
Groups? This changes things,Levi thought, his mouth turning into a thin line at the mention of the word groups.
Mikasa immediately grabbed Eren and Armin's wrists. Ymir placed her hands on Christa's shoulder, while Bertholdt and Reiner looked to each other and nodded. Connie and Sasha fist bumped, knowing they'd be on each other's team. Hanji and Erwin stood awkwardly, while Levi cast a glare in the direction of the young girl with a name tag reading "Mina".
Teams? Tch, he thought, not taking his eyes off of the worker.
Mina, sensing some tension, knew that it would be hard to split the group up without someone being unhappy.
"A lot of preferences," she began nervously, wringing her fingers under Levi's gaze, "How about we have captains choose teams?"
"I volunteer," Erwin said standing up. He cleared his throat and strode over to Mina.
"I will be captain, also," Mikasa stood and walked to the other side of Mina. If this is the only way I'll be on a team with Eren and Armin, then so be it.
"Levi," Erwin announced with pride. He and Levi were in the same grade, along with Hanji. Erwin knew Levi would help his team win.
"Armin," Mikasa smirked after saying so, knowing she had successfully gathered the trio together.
"Hanji," Erwin said, almost second guessing himself. Sure, Hanji was one of his best friends, but she could be a bit... Over-enthusiastic. Hell, if anything she'll come up with the best plan for laser tag that's ever been conceived, Erwin thought, coming to peace with his decision.
Mikasa brought a red nail-polished finger up to her mouth and began chewing gingerly on it. She was thinking over her options. Ymir would be an asset, with her athleticism and competitive tendencies, but of course with Ymir came Christa. Mikasa feared Christa's kind nature would prevent her from doing any kind of serious damage. She considered Reiner and Bertholdt, but knew their size would be a disadvantage.
"Sasha," Mikasa said, knowing her size and speed would be very useful. Sasha leaped over to the three others, and turned to give Connie a reassuring nod.
"Reiner," Erwin countered.
"Connie," Mikasa figured she was doing Sasha a favor, knowing the two were extremely close.
"Bertholdt," Erwin thought he was doing the same with Reiner.
"Ymir," Mikasa now had no choice, seeing as the two girls were the only ones left. She sort of skipped over Jean completely as she considered team members.
"Jean," Erwin said. Jean's face lit up, and soon turned into a glare sent Eren's way.
"Christa," Mikasa said, noticing the petite blonde was the last person left.
"Okay! Now that that's settled, let's get you guys set up and ready to go!" Mina said, motioning for the two teams to either grab a red or blue colored gun and vest.
While Jean was putting on a blue vest, he looked over at Eren and mouthed You're dead, Jeager. Eren mouthed back I'm going to beat your ass, horse face.
"The War will commence in 60 seconds," a robotic voice said from a speaker in the war room. It was eerily dark, and the only things that were visible were pathways and stairs marked by neon lights.
"It's okay Christa, I'll protect you," Ymir said, once again placing a reassuring hand on the blonde's shoulder.
Hanji silently pulled a small camera out of her pocket and turned the night vision on. She peered through the lens and giggled obnoxiously loud, and decided she was ready to film the madness of the laser tag room Project-X style.
"39... 38... 37..." the robotic voice continued the countdown.
Erwin positioned both of the guns he had in his hands.
"How the fuck did you get two?" Jean asked Erwin incredulously. "So not fair."
"I just did," Erwin said, being purposefully vague, while staring meaningfully ahead of him.
"14... 13... 12..."
"Armin, Eren, come here," Mikasa whispered hurriedly. "Listen... If you win, you live. If you lose, you die. If you don't fight, you can't win!"
"Uh... Mikasa, this is laser tag," Eren said, one eyebrow raised, a worried yet amused expression on his face. Armin looked far more scared than Eren. Mikasa glared at them.
"I just want our team to win," she said, taking her gun out of its holster.
"4... 3..."
"Maybe you shouldn't take this so seri-" Armin began, but was cut off.
"1... Begin!"
All hell broke loose.
Jean let out a wild war cry before going to hunt down Eren. "I'm going to get you, Jeager!"
Mikasa broke off into a sprint from where she was standing, already shooting two of the blue team's members, Reiner and Bertholdt.
Reiner was trying to shove Bertholdt into a compact corner in between two neon boxes, to try and hide him from the lasers. However, Bertholdt's enormous size was preventing him from doing so. Reiner was now just standing awkwardly above Bertholdt, who was trying to make himself seem smaller. Once they were hit, they decided to make their way back to the charging station to revive themselves. Other than that, they had no other plans regarding the game and how to possibly protect Bertholdt, even with his height going against them.
Levi was taking down the red team's members slowly and skillfully, making sure not to be seen by smoothly climbing over and on top of boxes. He had already shot Sasha and Connie, but they were too preoccupied to notice.
Sasha had shot Erwin in the back of the head with a paintball gun, and now Erwin was chasing both her and Connie throughout the dark room. While running away from Super-Soldier Erwin, Connie ran into a pole and fell to the ground. Sasha yelped, starting to become concerned for her own safety, and quickly dragged him to a hidden corner so Erwin wouldn't find either of them.
By this time, Jean had found Eren and they were both trying to hit each other first. Eren was shooting blindly and everywhere, while Jean was trying to forge a plan to take down Eren and win Mikasa.
Jean finally came up with the perfect strategy; he climbed up a few boxes and got an aerial view of his opponent. He then shot. There's no way I could have missed him, he thought with his usual confidence.
Somehow, Jean missed. He hit a somewhat scared/confused/happy Christa, triggering Ymir to go off. Ymir began looking around frantically, before noticing Jean sitting high up in the rafters.
"I'm going to get you, bitch!" Her voice rang, high above the techno music that was playing. She then began clambering up the boxes, while Jean started trying to crawl away.
Meanwhile, Hanji was catching everything on tape. She had already been shot by Mikasa, but she had no intentions of recharging. Her laughs could be heard from all corners of the room, sending shivers down multiple spines.
Reiner and Bertholdt had already knocked over at least 1/3 of the room's neon boxes and decorations. Each time Bertholdt tried to fix what he knocked over, he knocked over something else trying to do so. They eventually gave up on the game and focused their attention to other things.
Armin was measuring the trajectory and aim of his shots, and his target was an unsuspecting Erwin. Erwin looks pissed off, Armin thought, not taking the time to wonder why. After about 50 seconds of planning (which he prayed weren't wasted), Armin knelt down to take his shot.
Too late. Levi had already shot Armin and sprinted away, but not before making sure to flip him off.
Armin collapsed onto the ground, placing small, feminine hands over his eyes. I hate laser tag, he thought grimly to himself.
Jean was coming to the end of the boxes, and he knew it was either jump down or go back and meet an angry Ymir. Jean jumped off the boxes and went plummeting to the ground, landing with an audible crack.
"DAMMIT," Jean screamed, grabbing his heel with his hand. He began rocking gently and staring at the ground, until he noticed someone's shoes beside him. He looked up and gulped nervously.
"Oh, hey Mikasa," he said, trying to sound casual while rubbing the back of his neck.
"Shut up," Mikasa said quietly, extending a hand to Jean. The boy looked shock, but took her hand nonetheless. He stood up, being careful not to put pressure on his ankle.
"Oh, thank y-" before Jean could finish, the sound of a player being shot sounded off from his vest. Mikasa sprinted away, leaving a both happy and angry Jean.
"The game is officially over," a robotic voice said, along with the abrupt ending of one of the electronic songs being played.
The lights flickered on slowly. Everyone shielded their eyes in protest, but eventually adjusted after the spots dancing in their fields of vision disappeared.
Levi jumped off of a high box he was shooting people from.
"That's who was shooting me!" Eren said pointing to Levi once he was on the ground. Levi smirked slightly.
"You're a shitty laser tag player," Levi spoke indifferently, then walked out of the war room and went back into the waiting room. Everyone followed, not really knowing what they were supposed to do.
Christa went to the counter to pay with everyone's contributions. Ymir noticed Jean sitting lazily on one of the couches.
"How dare you! How dare you shoot her, you piece of shit!" She shouted angrily, grabbing Jean by his collar and holding him a few inches off the ground. Jean gulped anxiously, or, tried to gulp. He couldn't really do that when he was being choked.
"Alright, Ymir, calm down," Erwin spoke, placing a hand on her shoulder. Ymir whirled around, preparing to bombard him with curse words, but began to laugh instead. "What?" Erwin asked.
"Y-your hair!" She said in between laughter. Soon everyone was looking at Erwin and laughing. Levi was even chuckling.
"What? What the hell is wrong with my hair?"
"Dude, it's pink!" Eren said, collapsing on the floor with laughter.
Erwin began to connect the dots and they all made a picture that looked exactly like Sasha and Connie. "You two, I swear to God, I know you two did this!" Erwin had his finger pointed accusingly at the pair.
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Connie said, casually throwing his paint gun on the couch beside him. Sasha did the same. Erwin huffed and looked away dramatically, his face turning a shade slightly darker than his new hair color.
Hanji was in the corner of the room, deeply engrossed in the video camera. She was laughing loudly and intermittently.
"Hanji... What are you doing?" Armin asked, immediately regretting saying anything. Hanji looked up, her eyes flashing with excitement.
"I video taped everything!" She said, adding a scream to punctuate the sentence.
"What are you saying, shitty glasses?" Levi asked, the conversation piquing his interest.
"EVERYTHING!" Hanji said, throwing a knowing glance in Reiner and Bertholdt's direction. Bertholdt began sweating profusely.
"Everything?" Bertholdt asked quietly.
"Everything," she winked at the pair. Reiner put a reassuring hand on Bertholdt's shoulder. Bertholdt was not reassured.
"So you have evidence?" Erwin asked, raising one eyebrow curiously.
"I have everything, Erwin," Hanji repeated, smirking at him. Erwin turned toward Sasha and Connie and narrowed his eyes.
"Play the video," he said, adapting a serious tone.
"Okay!" Hanji rang. She sat on a couch and pressed 'play.' The gang gathered around her, including Christa who had just gotten back from paying and was slightly confused.
Bertholdt was ringing his hands nervously and Reiner was glancing around the group.
Suddenly, Reiner grabbed the camera and threw it up against a wall with so much force it broke into pieces. Hanji let out a cry.
"I'll replace your camera, Hanji," Reiner said, grabbing Bertholdt's wrist and walking quickly out the door.
The rest of the group watched in awe and then slowly disbanded. Hanji tried to salvage what was left of her camera, but it was no use.
Everyone slowly began filing out of the building, leaving in pairs or groups of three. Connie and Sasha were out the door only seconds after Reiner and Bertholdt left, cackling madly and sprinting away from a furious Erwin. Levi followed, dragging a sobbing Hanji after him. He wanted to tell her that he would make sure Reiner bought her a new camera, but he wasn't really fond of the idea of getting the crazy scientist excited again.
Ymir threw her arm around Christa's shoulders, bringing up events that she found hilarious: Jean falling, for example. Christa didn't exactly find those "funny", but she had a great time nonetheless. This was really a good idea, she thought to herself, smiling hugely.
When only Armin, Mikasa, Eren and Jean were left, Jean decided to make his move. Armin and Eren were in a deep conversation over who they thought won (no one bothered to check the score, although Levi was one hundred percent positive that he was victorious), leaving Mikasa waiting quietly for them on the couch.
"So, Mikasa," Jean began, "Thanks for helping me out there."
"You're welcome," she said in monotone, not bothering to turn towards Jean.
She spoke to me, Jean thought, feeling butterflies in his stomach. She actually spoke to me, and didn't cuss me out.
Armin, Mikasa and Eren eventually left, but Jean still could barely move.
This definitely helped everyone forget about exams.
A/N: Author's Note number two!
Hope everyone enjoyed this and that no one was too OOC. Please, feel free to leave a review or favorite this! It helps us a lot!
Sorry for any mistakes that we may have missed.
Also, huge thank you to everyone who faved Birthday Cake! That was so much fun to write, and we are sooooo glad you guys enjoyed it!
SNK Collection should be updated soon, but ugh. Publishing is a very painstaking process when on a phone.
Thank you for reading!
-Sam and Vic