"Hey, wake the hell up," a voice said, cutting into her dreams, "Es Su Casa, get up."
Mikasa's eyes slowly cracked open and some of the early morning sun blinded her for a brief second. She lightly groaned in response to whoever decided to interrupt her slumber. It was nothing to complain about, though; her dreams had been slowly morphing into nightmares and it was a relief to be broken from them. When her vision focused, she saw her older brother's shorter figure looming over her, his expression that of slight annoyance.
"You fell asleep on the couch again," Levi said, gently kicking the bottom of the couch, "How many times have I told you not to? You've got a bed for a reason."
Mikasa only blinked up at him, tired from the weekend's gruesome training rounds and not wanting to put in effort to respond.
"Today's the first day of school, I hope you remember that," Levi said, turning to walk back upstairs, "Get your ass ready; we're leaving at eight. You've got twenty minutes."
Mikasa sighed and sat up on the couch, swinging her legs over the edge as Levi's footsteps disappeared. Right. Today was the first day of school- high school in fact. She couldn't say she didn't want to go, but it wasn't like she was excited about it either. The past year had been a horrible one, and all summer it was just strenuous training for the upcoming track season. All Mikasa would want to do was rest and do nothing if it weren't for a certain someone that plagued her thoughts ever so often.
"Still sitting around?" Levi came back down the steps a few minutes later all dressed to go. He jingled the car keys around on the palm of his hand, observing his younger sister who looked far from being ready to even move from the couch.
She looked tired, even more so than usual. It'd been about a year and a half since he came back from abroad, and since then Mikasa always looked sullen- nothing like how he remembered her from holidays and occasional summers when he came home. Of course, the complete change in behavior was understandable. With their late parents' deaths just over a year ago, Levi went through his own turmoil himself. But from being abroad for most of his life, his relationship with his sister wasn't so comfortable enough that everything would run smoothly with their parents gone. A full year together and training for long hours over the summer still weren't enough to break the wall between them.
Levi rubbed the back of his neck, not knowing what to say but not wanting to give the cold shoulder either. All he knew was that Mikasa was having the more difficult time coping since she was there that fateful day.
"Come on," he said softly, walking over to her in the living room and holding out his hand, "It's your first day. Mom wouldn't have wanted you to be late."
She looked up at him, the bags under her eyes even more visible under the morning sunlight, and took his offer.
It was the first time Levi openly offered a helping hand.
"I am so sorry, sir," Eren said frantically, bowing his head in apology.
"School hasn't even started on the first day and you're already breaking into my labs," the science teacher grumbled, rubbing his temples, "Hanji, we've talked about this already… a million times. For pete's sake, we've had this conversation when you were a freshman and now you're a senior!"
"I know, I know," Hanji laughed, waving her hand, "But I just needed a tiny bit of iridium bromide for my PCR experiment I've been working on at home and I didn't want to bother you from your busy schedule since it's the first day so-"
"No, no, I don't want to hear it!" the teacher said, frustration hilariously becoming more visible, "If I ever catch you trying to break into any of my labs again, you'll be spending so much time in detention that you won't even get to see another lab until you graduate! If you want to borrow something, just ask, that's all I ask for. Alright?"
"Yes, sir!" Hanji said happily, giving a salute. Her teacher eyed her with suspicion, not buying her declaration of cooperation. She'll break in again; he just knew it. Maybe even in the next ten minutes.
"And who are you, kid?" the teacher said, turning to Eren who was standing nervously beside her, "Are you her new partner in crime?"
"I- I'm her younger brother," Eren said, looking scared that he was already under the line of fire even before the first school bell rang.
"Huh," the teacher said, "Well, I hope you won't start breaking into my classrooms like your dear sister has."
"I won't, sir," Eren blurted out.
"Alright, good. Now off you go," the teacher said, waving them away and turning to fix the lock on the lab's door, "Class starts in fifteen minutes and I better not catch you around here by yourself, Hanji."
"Gotcha!" she said, smiling and grabbing Eren's wrist before pulling him away in the other direction, "Come on, let's go to your Child Development class. That's your first period, right?"
"Yeah, but jeez, Hanji, it's only the first day of school," Eren said, loosening his wrist from her hold and walking beside her, "What the hell do you think you're doing trying to break into science labs?"
"Oh, I always do that," she said, adjusting her glasses and grinning, "That was only the fifteenth time I've gotten caught in three years, so I think I'm pretty slick."
"…Only? I'm surprised that you haven't been expelled already," Eren said exasperatedly. He shouldn't be surprised because, after all, his older sister was always up to something even at home… but her breaking into the school's labs- continuously- made him want to sigh for a thousand years. With just the two of them, there was no parental figure to scold her at home, either.
"Anyway, you want to eat lunch together today?" Hanji asked.
"Armin and I are gonna go check out that club fair during lunch, so no thanks," Eren said as they joined the growing flow of students in the main halls, "Just please don't get into any more trouble, okay?"
"Yeah, yeah. I don't need my little freshman brother acting like my nanny," Hanji laughed, walking away and waving, "Just call me once you're ready to go home, alright?"
Eren watched his sister disappear into the crowd and shook his head. It was his first year in high school and before the bell even rang, he was almost sentenced to detention. The timing was almost too perfect: he was trying to stop Hanji from picking the lock right when the head of the science department came strolling by. And with the pick in his hand from grabbing it, it definitely looked suspicious.
Yup, it was off to a great start.
"Armin!" Eren said, spotting his friend about to walk into the designated classroom, "You're in this class, too?"
"Eren! Yeah," Armin said, smiling in greeting, "It's great to know that I at least have one class with you so far."
They proceeded to walk into the class conversing about the last events of the summer, Armin excitedly talking about his environmental internship at the lakes a mountain over. Eren hadn't spoken to him in the last two weeks because his best friend was busy with his conservational work, so it was great to finally be able to talk to someone other than Hanji.
"Crap, it looks like there a few seats left," Eren said as they saw that the desks were already starting to be occupied with chattering students. He and Armin started to weave their way through the rows of desks, intending to reach the ones nearest the windows.
"Oh? I thought you would've dropped out by now, Eren," a gray-haired boy said as the two passed by his desk.
"Buzz off, Jean," Eren said, frowning at him but continuing to walk towards the free seats. It was just his luck that his first class had the person he could not get along with all throughout middle school. Even if Armin was there, it wasn't going to stop Jean from pulling snide remarks his way like he always had.
"Oh hey, Mikasa, long time no see," Eren said when he came up to the free desk to the right of her. Armin took the seat right behind him.
"Feels weird to be freshmen, huh?" Eren asked as he settled his things down.
Mikasa's face flushed a slight pink and she struggled to form words. He was actually talking to her.
"Y-Yeah, it is. How was your summer, Eren?" she asked.
"It was alright. I didn't really do much except hang around at home making sure my sister didn't blow up our apartment," he said, forcing a laugh, "Yours?"
Mikasa was about to give a tired answer when the first bell finally rang.
"Alright, people," their teacher clapped her hands to gain everybody's attention, "Now I know this is the first day and all, but I'm the type of person that likes to go straight to the point. This is a Child Development class and throughout this year we'll be learning anything and everything about the subject."
"First thing's first: I'm assigning you partners that you'll be doing every activity, project, and assignment with, so in that way, I'm able to evaluate how well you work together throughout the year.
"Alright first pair: Sasha Braus and Connie Springer."
"Awww yeah!" a girl with a brown ponytail and a boy with a shaved head exchanged high fives.
"Then," the teacher said, ignoring their cheer, "Bertholdt Fubar and Annie Leonhardt. Next, Reiner Braun and Krista Renz…"
Mikasa sat apprehensively as other students' names were called out one by one. She only recognized about a quarter of the names from middle school, with the rest completely unfamiliar. She listened for her and Eren's names, wary if either was going to be called first or not.
"Marco Bodt and Hitch Byron. Mikasa Ackerman and…"
Here it is.
She bit her lip and clenched her hands over her knees.
Eren.
Please, let it be Eren.
"…Armin Arlert."
"Ah," she breathed, disappointed.
"I'm sorry that you'll have to be stuck with me, Mikasa," Armin whispered over to her, chuckling nervously. Mikasa politely shook her head to say that it was alright.
She had nothing against him, but she also wasn't too familiar with Armin, either, only having talked to him twice all throughout middle school. However, it was slightly uplifting when she remembered that the blonde boy was Eren's best friend. It was like she was one step below the top of the stairs, and it was definitely better than being at the bottom.
"And since there's an uneven amount of females to males," the teacher continued, "the last pair will be Jean Kirchstein and Eren Jaeger."
"WHAT?!"
"You ready for the new season, Levi?" Erd asked as they all took their seats.
"Why bother asking?" Gunter laughed, "You know Levi's always ready."
Levi only nodded in reply, heavily plopping himself down on his chair. The day had been going smoothly so far with the first three periods having flown by, but he just itched to get out on the track and run. The last bell couldn't come any faster.
"How's Mikasa doing?" Petra asked Levi, turning around in her seat, "I've been gone at camp all summer and I haven't been able to see her yet today. I hear you've been drilling her pretty hard."
"That's an understatement," Auruo scoffed, "He's been doubling up on the training regimen this past summer. Girl looks like she's about to crack in half."
"What of it?" Levi said, leaning back on his chair and folding is arms, "Just worry about yourself, Auruo. Mikasa's just as fast as you are and she's three years younger."
Erd and Gunter laughed and made jokes while Auruo grumbled in annoyance.
"No, but seriously, Levi, is she alright?" Petra asked in a low voice as Auruo bickered with the other older two boys, "Are you doing alright?"
Levi looked at Petra with blank eyes. She was always the mother of their little athletic group ever since he joined the local track team, and he sometimes found her attention a little unnecessary, but this time around it was almost comforting to have someone care a little more.
"I'm fine," he said, half lying and half telling the truth. He paused and then slightly sighed, "Mikasa's… alright."
Petra's brow furrowed, "That doesn't sound-"
Crash.
Everyone's heads immediately turned to the front of the room where the sound came from. Hanji was on the floor trying to frantically get the fallen skeleton display upright again, their teacher shrieking that the display was real with weak bones.
Levi inwardly rolled his eyes. The girl was clumsy as hell always messing things up, so it bothered him to no end that she still managed to ace everything that was thrown out her. Coming from a prestigious academy overseas, he expected himself to come out at the top, especially when the elite had nurtured his competitive side for six years. This woman was just in his way, and on top of that, she was just plain irritating.
"Oh, look who's in our AP Bio class," Erd said, laughing, "This oughta be a good year."
"Are you kidding? I heard this girl blew something up in the labs down the hall last semester," Gunter said, "To be honest now I'm scared to be in this class."
"Oh come on, you guys," Petra scolded, "Hanji's not that bad at all. She may be a little eccentric, but she sure does beat all your brains put together."
"At least I'm not short of being put in a mental asylum," Auruo commented, rolling his eyes, "Ah shit, she's heading this way."
As the rest of the students filed in to get their seats, Hanji was making her way towards the far corner where Levi and the rest of them were seated. She always wanted the seat in the far corner near the back away from the teacher's attention, so she'd have close access to the back lockers as well as the freedom to do whatever the wanted during class when things got too easy for her.
"Excuse me, sorry, gotta get through!" she said, quickly weaving her way past the jungle of bags and books on the floor. Right when she was about to pass by Levi's desk, she tripped over his duffel bag and tried to latch on to Erd's desk for leverage. Her then footing slipped over the smooth floors and she awkwardly landed right on top of Levi's lap in one split second.
"Oh hey there, Levi," Hanji said, grinning as she adjusted her glasses to make them straight again, "What'd you get on the AP Lang test last year? I got a 5, surprisingly enough!"
"Get off," he said through gritted teeth. The warmth of her body right on top of his was uncomfortable and embarrassing.
"I mean, the prompt didn't even make sense. Like I had my outline planned out and everything-"
"Get off."
"-but I just didn't think the prompt really tied in well with the passage we had to write about-"
"Get. Off."
"Oh! Right, sorry," Hanji said, trying to budge her way off his lap. Levi was about a second away from breaking the table separate from the chair because her twisting and turning trying to get up were far from appropriate.
"Uh, this is a little harder than I thought," Hanji said nonchalantly, "Give me a second."
Erd, Gunter, and Auruo tried to suppress intense laughter at the ambiguous choice of words with Petra merely staring at the awkward scene before her.
Levi couldn't take this any longer. He was not going to pop one from this.
"JUST GET THE HELL OFF ALREADY!"
So this was based off my AU from one of my sideblogs on tumblr: shittyandclean. If you want to take a look more into it, you can go ahead and search it up!
And to make this work, I don't think I have a choice but to make them a little OOC lol. If that doesn't work for anybody, feel free to say so because as a fic writer who usually hates OOCness, I would really want to fix it LOL.
Again, as always, the first chapter is the pilot/tester chapter to see if people would actually want to read it. My chapters tend to be on the high word count end, so I wouldn't really want to waste my time writing something that people wouldn't want to read lol.
Thanks for reading! Until next time~
