100 Prompts: Cuddle

A/N: Oh man, so they dropped chapter 118 and you best believe I lost my shit haha. The plot thickens! Have some sleepy Eren to help you cope, maybe. And leave me some feedback! I always appreciate it!
Set shortly after chapter 50.

Mikasa notices, Eren gets really affectionate when he's really tired.

The first time she noticed, she thought nothing of it. Though it wasn't necessarily normal, it didn't seem too out of the blue. She sat, reading an updated manual on her gear in the kitchen, as required by their captain this morning. Her eyebrows met in the middle as she tried to understand what the point even was of reading this nonsense, if she already knew her equipment inside and out just from hands-on experience.

She was starting to suspect that Levi was just keeping her off of her feet while her ribs healed, since she got busted for working out the other day.

But since Armin has had his nose in his book all morning across from her at the table, she assumed it might be worth her time.

Eren had his book half open on the table in front of him, but he had fallen asleep beside her; his cheek was pressed up against her arm while his hand rested gently on her thigh. The slouch in his posture could not possibly have been comfortable, but the way his face looked so relaxed indicated otherwise. She dismissed it, thinking he was just tired.

This last week has been rough for him and everyone knew that he very much had trouble sleeping at night. The experiments and training that Eren had been tirelessly working on with Levi regarding his Titan's hardening ability had absolutely taken a physical toll on him. On top of that, some nights he would just wake up in a panic, blaming it on the stress of feeling like a failure, flashbacks playing so vividly in his sleep.

"It's fine," he would dismiss it when Armin and Mikasa tell him the next day that those bags under his eyes look like they could pack enough shit for all three of them. "Once I figure it out, I'll be fine."

Except he wasn't, and it showed when he would fall asleep randomly during the day like this.

It started off innocently (after all, this isn't the first time he's ever fallen asleep beside her). She assumed that since she was the closest thing around, it made sense to use her as a cushion as opposed to the hard wooden furniture that decorated the entire cabin. Mikasa noticed his breathing slow steadily; the quiet rhythm of his breaths somehow synched with hers as she found it harder to focus on her reading.

As soon as he crossed over into deeper sleep, Eren shifted: he moved his head from the side of her arm up onto her shoulder in a rather affectionate manner, so that she felt his warm breath on her neck. Since there was nothing to support him from behind, the only way to balance himself was his arm now wrapped around her midsection as his whole weight rested on her.

The young soldier froze, eyes wide as Armin raised an eyebrow at their compromising position. Eren was blatantly cuddling her in public.

"You okay?" Armin asks, looking up at them.

"Uh," Mikasa steadied herself with her elbows on the table, the book in her hands now completely forgotten. She shot Armin a pleading look, and he almost chuckled at the panic in her face.

"Just tell him to move."

"Mmm...but he looks so comfortable," she lifts her arm slightly and his eyebrows knitted together slightly at her movement. "I know he hasn't been sleeping well, I don't want to wake him."

Armin shrugs in agreement, "I suppose so. Suit yourself then."

Mikasa clears her throat awkwardly, shifting ever so slightly to get more comfortable (since she now had to be comfortable enough for the both of them) as she attempted to put her focus back on her homework.

But when her efforts seemed futile, she sighed in defeat.

She turned her head slightly to see the peace that decorated his features. He moved again a littlel his hand found its way into her untucked shirt and she gasped as his grip tightened slightly around her waist.

Across the table, Armin tried not to laugh.

Mikasa considered calling his name to wake him up; it seemed more practical and comfortable to sleep on a bed. He seemed so weirdly comfortable as it is, however, and there was no denying that part of her enjoyed this. So she decided against it.

And she would have been fine too if it weren't for the intense thumping in her chest that distracted her from reading. He shifted one more time to press himself even closer to her (if that was even possible, at least she didn't think so) and warmth surged through both of them. The last time he even let himself get this close to her was back when they were kids plagued by nightmares and thunderstorms. But after joining the military, there just weren't opportunities to be this proximate. And she honestly thought they had outgrown this need to be so attached at the hip.

In reality, Mikasa was more confused than she cared to admit. To be fair, the situation would have probably been confusing to anyone, even Armin, for it seemed as though Eren was only this touchy when he was tired or asleep.

At least, that was her theory.

The second time she noticed it, she was cleaning her gear, as Levi had assigned to be the chore for the morning. The young Ackerman sat on the floor, her tools scattered in front of her as she was intent on finishing this before lunch. It wasn't too difficult of a chore, but it required taking some things apart to clean before assembling it back together. It was supposed to be, as the captain had so eloquently explained, 'a task to both clean their shit and teach them about the mechanics of it'.

It should have been an easy task, more or less, until Eren had fallen asleep beside her again. She vaguely remembered him mentioning at breakfast how his lack of sleep could be blamed on another shitty nightmare and anxious thoughts last night. Mikasa knew better than to pry any further if that's all he wished to say about it. Besides, it would give her another opportunity to gather data for her hypothesis.

What she didn't expect was for him to knowingly fall asleep in the middle of their chores, when he knew Levi could come in at any given moment.

Yet, the next thing she knows, his head is in her lap and he's cuddled up to her again. She is wary, for neglecting two chores in a row would probably piss Levi off exponentially this time. Eren had an excuse, she didn't.

Mikasa extends her leg and he groans a little, irritated. She stifled a giggle at how childish he seemed, but nevertheless attempts to wake him up carefully.

"Eren?" she asked softly.

"Hmmm," he moaned gently in response, his voice was deep and husky when he spoke, "stop moving, Mikasa."

As Mikasa's heart drops down into her stomach and she felt all symptoms of fight or flight take action, she realized that he indeed knew it was her whom he was being so affectionate with. She immediately ceases all movement and he relaxes, wrapping an arm around her upper thigh to get more comfortable.

With her heart pounding recklessly in her chest accompanied by a heat that settled in the pit of her stomach, she decides to let him sleep instead as she finishes her task at hand. Never mind the leg he was holding onto, it wasn't necessary for the chore.

Eren seemed much more lively after he woke up, as if that short nap had been all he needed to power through the rest of his chores. Mikasa sat beside him after lunch as it was his turn to clean his ODM gear.

She watched him intently work his way through taking it apart effortlessly. If she didn't know any better, his body language implied that he was indifferent to her presence. Yet, he seemed content with her company.

Although the two had the gift of understanding each other without words, sometimes it was hard to tell with Eren. A whole storm of emotions and thoughts were stirring up inside of her as she resolved to test another theory this afternoon.

"When did you do this?" he asked out of nowhere, his gaze still set on the gear in front of him.

"This morning," she answers simply, fully aware of the erratic patterns of her heart as she scooted closer to him on the bench. Eren didn't flinch. "When you took a nap."

"Oh," he nods approvingly, "that was a good nap."

"Was it?"

He glanced up at her from his equipment, a little bewildered. Perhaps she was just trying to make conversation. He smiled a small smile at her, "Yeah. I feel more well rested."

Mikasa couldn't fight the smile threatening to show on her face, "That's good then. Levi won't say it but he's been a little worried about you."

At that, Eren scoffed, "Sure. What else did he need us to do today?"

"Just clean, I'm sure."

"Ah," he nods in confirmation. "Are you off the hook then, or…?"

"I finished already," she told him. "He didn't say anything else."

"Hm," he hums in response, before Mikasa takes a deep breath and boldly puts her theory to test. He was being quite amicable right now, there might not be a better time. She was already close enough to him and he hadn't moved from her, so she gently leans over and rests her head on his shoulder.

At first, Eren tensed immensely, and had she been watching his expression, she would have seen a cute and rather prominent blush adorn his cheeks and spread up to his ears. He felt warm all over, and her faint scent intoxicated him at her proximity. He inhaled, attempting to relax his heart rate that had skyrocketed at her actions.

She smelled like soap. Or perhaps it was perfume? It reminded him vaguely of those bath and candle stores his mother used to visit with them back then. Suddenly his heart felt lighter, and the ugly thoughts that kept him up at night and pestered him during the day were nowhere to be found. The temptation to just pick her up and take her back to bed to sleep in close proximity for the rest of the day was so strong.

He wondered how he would be able to sleep tonight without this.

When Eren came to his senses, he shrugged her off, doing his best to sound annoyed.

"Mikasa, come on," he snaps gently, afraid to upset her, "I'm busy and people will see."

The girl in question sat up, confused and flustered, and muttered a quick apology before standing up altogether. She wasn't sure where she was going, she just needed to get out of there.

"Where are you going?" he asked, as soon as he felt the warmth of her closeness disappear. Remorse decorated his voice, and he wondered how much of an idiot he would look like if he called her back and confessed what he was truly feeling, just so she wouldn't go away. But Mikasa didn't notice his inner turmoil over her own embarrassment.

"Ah, to clean."

"You said you already-"

"I'm sure Levi will have something," she mumbled in a hurry, and almost missed the look of disappointment in his face if she had left any sooner.

Mikasa had disregarded her theory for the rest of the week, the embarrassment of her bold advancements still haunting her and keeping her from trying to figure out what it was with Eren being so tired around her.

After that last incident, she had spent another five minutes spiraling in her thoughts and theories before deciding it was futile. Maybe there were just some things about her best friend that she couldn't decipher, and that's probably okay.

Eren had fallen asleep on her two more times in that time, in which Mikasa did her best to not nurse the need to know what was up. Especially since each time it was still inconclusive; if anything it only managed to confuse and fluster the poor girl. But this distraction followed her even into training with Levi, causing her to twist her own ankle in the middle of a late-night sparring match.

"Hm, looks like we're even," the corporal teases as he bends down to examine her injury. She scowls up at him, but is far too tired and doesn't have the will to make a snappy retort. What he said next caught her completely off guard. "What's on your mind, kid?"

"Hmm?" The younger Ackerman looks up at him from the ground, clearly not expecting the captain to notice something was up, let alone confront the issue. His eyes looked the same, but there was a softness to it as he crouched down to her level.

"Your mind is somewhere else." Levi states bluntly, as he hands her a pack of ice.

"Oh, uh, right, I just...um…"

"Is it about that idiot?"

Mikasa sank back, unable to make an excuse before muttering a pathetic, "yes."

Levi chuckled, and Mikasa tried to fight the smile on her face. "Don't think too much about it, he probably doesn't even know what's going on either."

It was vague, but Mikasa had a feeling the corporal had an idea what was going on. He just seemed to get it.

"I suppose," she resigns, accepting his hand to help her up. "Thank you."

"Yeah," Levi reaches up to pat her on the head. "Now get some rest. And stop over thinking."

Mikasa gracefully limps back to her quarters, aggravated as ever at being incapacitated yet again, when she spots Eren fumbling with the doorknob to her room.

"Eren?"

"Mmm," he looks at her, eyes half lidded, leaning lazily on the door frame. She realizes he's either sleep walking, or he had gotten up, half asleep, (perhaps to use the restroom) and instead hobbled over to her room unconsciously afterward. Eren steps aside for her to open the door and then follows her in, dazed, as sleep had a confusing hold on him.

She sets the pack of ice beside her bed and tosses her scarf and jacket messily onto the bedside table. Meanwhile, her guest waited patiently for her to finish dressing down. Groaning from exhaustion, pain, and irritation, Mikasa kicks off her boots before turning to face her childhood friend. "It's late, Eren, go to bed."

"Yeah," is all he says, before tackling Mikasa down onto the bed with him ungracefully. She gasped in surprise as he wiggles around to make himself comfortable around her, their limbs eventually tangled in a mess.

Eren eventually settles down, silence and peace overtaking the atmosphere. All except for her increased heart rate that she could feel up in her ears. But even as Mikasa's head was spinning with confusion and she was so sure her ears were a bright vermilion red (the color of sheer embarrassment), she also felt oddly at peace. Despite the dead weight of his limbs resting heavily over her slim frame, and her two recovering injuries, she felt so warm and soft. It was an inexplicable comforting feeling.

He moves once more, burying his face into her shoulder and mumbles something that sounds vaguely like "g'night, m'ksa, love you."

It takes her an hour to fall asleep that night.

Frustrating.

At the end of the week Mikasa decides to leave it at that, concluding that though Eren is maddeningly inconsistent and wildly confusing, that's just how he is.

When she woke up that morning he was already out of bed. A cold, empty feeling threatened at her chest despite understanding that she had slept in and he couldn't afford to do the same without an excuse. It wasn't (shouldn't be) anything personal...right?

The young soldier sat up ungracefully, grimacing as she is painfully reminded of her injuries. All that doesn't matter though when she notices a new ice pack sitting beside her neatly folded scarf and jacket. Only then did she also notice how the side of the bed he had slept on was smoothed down and the blanket that she was sure was a mess from all the moving last night was neatly draped over her figure.

Her cheeks felt warm all of a sudden, but she figured it would be presumptuous to assume...

She finds him sitting on the floor of the kitchen at noon beside Armin, after the squad had finished cleaning for the morning. He was leaning against the wall, just watching the rest of their team goof off around before lunch. Mikasa takes her cleaning bandana off and sits beside him, carefully giving enough space in case he gets all weird about their proximity in public again.

"Hey," he greets her.

"Hi." She glances over to him, noting how relatively perky he looked today.

"You look like you slept well," she comments without thinking.

"I did," is all he says, and she looks away after noticing the way the corner of his mouth turned up into a small smile. Or maybe she was imagining it.

Eren looks over to Mikasa and his expression softened when he noticed how tense she was. Her shoulders were stiff and the way she was sitting could not possibly be comfortable. Her eyes seemed drained, and though she looked content to finally be beside him after a long morning, she definitely looked exhausted.

Mikasa had gotten enough sleep, she told herself. Or maybe not, it was hard to tell. Perhaps it was more mentally exhausting having to entertain the (unwanted?) thoughts of Eren's warm figure pressed up against her all night as she worked through her chores. If it weren't for the way her heart rate skyrocketed every time he moved against her, she thought, it definitely could be something she could get used to. Besides, that was probably the best sleep she's had in a while.

At the end of the day, the most frustrating part of it was that she still wasn't any closer to figuring him out. Should she ever get used to his sleepy affection, it would be absolutely tormenting to have to deal with withdrawal if it ever stopped. Especially since all this was happening without any explanation whatsoever.

The shifter sighed, a twinge of guilt tugging at his conscience. He knew what was up.

"Did you not?"

"What?" Her gaze snapped to him after being yanked out of her spiraling thoughts.

"Did you not sleep well?" The object of her affection repeated slowly.

"I did," she told him easily, smiling at him. But he wasn't buying it.

"Mikasa," he warns.

The girl in question wrinkled her nose, clearly not used to being put in the spotlight by him like this. "I just...my injuries were making it hard to fall asleep I think."

Eren looked at her, guilty. "I'm sorry. I know I move around a lot when I sleep."

She looks up at him again, surprised that he would even bring it up at all. She was under the impression that he just pretended it didn't happen every time. Maybe she was onto something after all.

This time her smile was genuinely, "it's fine, Eren."

He stares at her for a minute, a plethora of emotions fighting their way for a place in his heart.

"Come here," he commands gently. For a moment she just looks at him, confused, as he looks like he'd really rather not say it again. "Mikasa," he calls her name instead, snapping her out of her thoughts, and extends his arm to her, inviting her into his bubble.

She looks at him weirdly at first. Nevertheless, she leans closer slowly until he puts an arm lazily around her shoulder and pulls her in to close the rest of the distance between them. She immediately relaxes, and for the first time in a long time, the two seem genuinely and completely at peace.

Eren rubs her arm affectionately, and she nuzzles up to him, eyes closing on their own accord. He presses a kiss to the top of her head, both of them blissfully unaware if anyone else was watching.

"Thank you," he tells her.

"What for?"

"For everything," he says vaguely, and watches as that doesn't quite satisfy her curiosity. "It's been hard to sleep lately, what with everything that's happened."

"You haven't given it enough time."

"I know, but it's not like we're given that much of a luxury. I don't even know how long we'll be here. I can't just stop to grieve."

Mikasa hums in response, prompting him to control the conversation. He hasn't opened up like this in a long time, but with both of his best friends on either side of him, in the midst of a relaxed day, it just seemed like a good time.

"The nightmares keep me up at night, they're so fresh. Of all our losses, of Hannes...of almost losing you…"

She reaches forward to rest a hand on his thigh reassuringly. "It's alright. I'm here."

"I know. I know, I know." his voice sounds shaky. "I just...I hated seeing it the first time, and it sucked just as much seeing it replay over and over again, especially in my sleep where I had no control over my asshole of a subconscious. Some nights I just didn't want to sleep. But when you were close by, whenever I was on the verge of sleep, just...being so close to you let me submit. It felt okay."

They sat in a comfortable silence for another minute before he quickly adds, "sorry."

"You don't need to apologize," she reassures, finally at peace within herself. It was completely a surprise to get this closure, let alone to know that the real reason for his odd behavior was because of all the comfort he found with her.

"Thank you, Mikasa." He says gently, before turning his attention back to Sasha and Connie arguing over a ladle.

"Hmmm," she hums, fully content, feeling sleep slowly take over her. A nap before lunch in his arms sounded fantastic. "You're welcome."