Day 1 – Scarf

Pair: Eremika

Theme: Romance, Fluff

Summary: Mikasa lost her scarf and felt all miserable... Until Eren found it and wrapped it around her again.

Rated: T

Author's notes: This was originally made as an entry for Eremika week on tumblr, which starts on Nov 9th. But I decided to post it now cause I badly need some Eremika fluff. Too early won't hurt! As always, rate & review are appreciated. Thanks for dropping in and enjoy!

"Eren," Mikasa tugged at her adoptive brother's sleeve, making him turn with a questioning look. She had her eyes down. Sadness hung thickly over her and her expression held such deep melancholy that he couldn't help but notice. It was almost as though he could see dark clouds hanging over her head. "What is it?" he said, quickly being alarmed. Mikasa rarely ever showed her emotions at all, he knew it must be something great to make such sadness showed on her face.

"I…," she tried to speak but stopped. He could see her lips quivered and her breath started to quicken as she struggled to maintain her emotions. Her eyes were filled with feelings almost identical to desperation. His blood began to rush quickly seeing her. What was wrong? The last time he had seen her like this was when they both had to abandon his mother to become prey to a titan.

"I lost… your scarf," she finally said quietly, and he felt himself sighed in relief. He had been expecting the worst. "Gosh, Mikasa… don't scare me like that," he said, pulling away his sleeve from her. Now that she mentioned it he realized the absence of her favorite garment that's usually wrapped around her neck. For years that scarf was always there that it was strange seeing her like this. She almost looked completely bare and empty without it. "It's just a scarf, Mikasa. Don't get so down," he said in an attempt to cheer her up.

"But…," she continued, her voice small. Inside she could feel a jabbing pain at his seemingly care-free words. Eren didn't care at all that she lost it. He didn't feel anything, even though he should know how meaningful the scarf was to her. She felt miserable, so pitifully cold and empty without it. And seeing how Eren didn't seem to mind at all only added to her pain.

Eren watched as Mikasa's face darkened even further at his words, and sighed. He understood the importance of the scarf for her – he had given it to her, after all. But just because she lost it didn't mean she had to act like it's the end of the world. "When did you lose it anyway?" he asked again to her, trying to lift her mood a little.

"Last night, I took it off when I went for shower," she answered. Her voice was still small. "It probably fell somewhere along the way from the girl's cabin to the shower room." He raised his eyebrow. "Have you tried looking for it?"

"I looked everywhere along the way, even with the help of Sasha and Christa. Still we couldn't find it," she said remorsefully. So thick were those feelings in her voice, he could almost see the sorrow she radiated. "It probably got blown away by the wind," said Eren, turning his head to the direction of the girl's cabin, and frowned slightly. It was located right in front of the forest, and as he recalled last night was pretty windy. He wouldn't be surprised at all if the scarf was blown inside the forest and got stuck to a tree there somewhere.

"Anyway," he said, ending his thoughts by giving her a light pat on the shoulder. Training was about to get started and they were running out of time to chat. "Don't stress over it, OK? We'll talk about this later." He waved to her casually before running slightly to his position, just in time before their instructor announced the start of their afternoon training session. Mikasa watched as he drifted away, silent but her eyes radiated a hint of pain that was too obvious for anyone to miss.

Mikasa ran, panting heavily as she tried to make her way as fast as she could. Darkness had begun to descend on the sky, a hint of orange color by the sun in the far west quickly turned into dark blue as the night began to fall. She had wanted to look for her scarf straight after training was over, but today was her cleaning shift. Much to her disagreement, she had to stay in the cabin and do her cleaning duty even though inside she screamed pitifully, wanting nothing but for her shift to end as soon as possible. As soon as her cleaning shift was over she had darted out to look for her scarf, but even in her desperate state she could tell it was impossible. It was already too dark out here.

She threw her back in frustration against the nearest tree trunk and sighed heavily, letting herself slid slightly until she was seated on the ground. Slowly her fingers reached to her neck, miserably trying to feel the garment that wasn't there. She hated that another day had passed without the warmth of his scarf around her neck. Even though for just a moment, she felt like she was back in the times before Eren wrapped it around her – cold, and alone. The feeling of loneliness, of losing everything and not having a place to go home. It was sickening, and she loathed that feeling.

It was in that time, that a much too familiar voice brought her out from her thoughts.

"Here you are."

Mikasa stirred. She didn't expect to hear that voice here. Quickly she turned to the source of the voice, her heart beat faster as she found herself staring into the face of her adoptive brother. His appearance stunned her into silence. His face was flushed, messy. His breath was heavy and sweat was running all over his body. His hair stuck out in a hopeless tangle all over the place. His shirt was tainted with dirt, and a few rotten leaves were still stuck on his shirt and the back of his hair. He looked completely like a train-wreck.

"Where have you been?" she asked, horrified at his conditions. Eren looked like he had just been straight out of a survival training. Hurriedly she approached him, as she drew closer she could see countless fresh scars and bruises on his arms and the back of his hands. "Who did this to you?" she asked, her voice full of concern as she lifted one of his hands into the light to take a closer look at his scars. Eren immediately winced as Mikasa's hands pressed against his bruises. "Ouch! Hey, careful…!" he said, grimacing at the pain. He pulled his hand away from her grasp. "It's nothing Mikasa, I just… fell down."

"Fell down from where?" said Mikasa, her looks puzzled. She couldn't imagine anywhere for him to fall down that would end up with him looking completely messy like this. And how would that explain the dirt and rotten leaves stuck to his body? Unless…

She eyed him with increasing scrutiny in her gaze. "Did you fall down… a tree?" she asked. He turned his sight away irritatedly at her question but answered nonetheless. "Yeah."

"What were you doing there?" her words brought his gaze back. His mouth curled into a silent pout as he tried not to meet her eyes, but failed. She could see a flush of warm red color spread over his cheeks as their eyes met for a moment, inciting a spark that curiously made her heart skip a beat. Hurriedly she turned her gaze away, feeling the same trace of warmth now crept on her face. She knew she was turning red, and suddenly the distance between them felt a little bit too close.

"I was looking for this," he answered. This? she was going to ask but she didn't need to. Right in the next moment she felt a smooth, warm object slowly draped around her like a velvety veil.

She held her breath. A strong sense of familiar feeling rushed her as she traced her fingers through its unyielding softness. Slowly she pulled an end of it and brought it close to her eyes, as though in a dream she saw the object she had been so desperately trying to find now present in front of her.

Her scarf.

"I told you not to worry about it too much," Eren continued, still slightly pouting as she stared numbly to her scarf, too stunned to react. "After all, it's just a scarf." He was trying to act as though it's nothing, but even then she could see a hint of awkward gentleness on his face as he slowly covered her with the maroon scarf.

"Eren…," she started, but closed her mouth again as she could find nothing to say. Suddenly it felt like that time again - when he rushed to save her from the kidnapper and brought her to a new home. And just like that time – once again she was that little girl who was too stunned to react. She simply stared at him silently, wondering at his pure and blatant kindness, so honest that it was often misunderstood. Little by little his gentleness overtook her, wrapping her in, until she found herself completely embraced by it – bathing in a warm and pleasurable feeling that he radiated.

"You always made me wrap this around you, didn't you?" She opened her eyes at his voice, and found his face just inches away from her. He was so… close. She could feel the warmth of his breath, she could count the threads of his fluttering eyelashes. She stared back into his eyes, and found an unmistakable trace of tenderness there behind those pair of green eyes that she adored. Those eyes… He had never looked at her like that in years. Not since the fall of Shinganshina that changed their lives forever. Ever since then she always saw hatred behind his smiles, revenge behind his words. But not this time.

"Mikasa," he called. His body stood close to her, his hand slowly holding her scarf, caressing it softly. She returned her gaze to him, shyly eyeing him behind her curtain of dark eyelashes. As his gentleness resurfaced through all of his anger and hate, she could see him clearly. He was there all along. He had always been that boy who had risked his life to save her six years ago – the boy she had fallen in love with, until now.

"I told you, don't get too attached to this. It's just a scarf," he continued. "Even if you lose it…," he paused and inhaled, scratching his head awkwardly, seeming to hesitate to resume his words. "Even if you lose it… you still… won't lose me," he pressed on, his face getting redder and redder with every words. Mikasa froze.

"What… did you mean?" she asked, her brain seemed to work pitifully slow to digest his words. Eren covered his face in frustration and sighed. How embarrassing. He hadn't wanted to say such things directly but the look on her face when he coiled her with that scarf was almost unbearable. She was attractive – much too attractive that he would be blind not to see her. Her pale, milky skin color. Her pair of enchantingly beautiful black eyes, shaded with a tint of grey, gleaming silently under the dim firelight. And her beautiful strands of black hair – softer than any silk, blacker than charcoal – that always seemed to be perfect no matter what she did to it. He remembered the feeling of running his fingers through her hair, a long time ago, when they were still kids. He recalled the smoothness of it, the enticingly beautiful feeling he felt as he twirled it around in his hand and let it fall softly. Mikasa was beautiful – very much so. And she was completely devoted to him, to the point that he found it frustrating sometimes. He knew she was overprotective for a reason – but he felt it was needless for her to worry that much about him.

Because, no matter what happens, he would never leave her alone.

"Mikasa," he groaned painfully in response. He couldn't believe how slow she was being at the moment, while she was usually sharp. Damn her – forcing him to make another explanation when he's already so embarrassed having to say these things. It should be clear already what he meant by his words, shouldn't it? Inhaling deeply, he gathered all the pieces of his will. Then, with a swift motion, he pulled her body into him, embracing her tightly within his arms. Mikasa gasped. Her heart gave a quick jump and a scarlet blush spread on her cheeks faster than wildfire spread on bushes. "E-Eren…?!" she stuttered, trying to find something to say to react to his assertiveness.

"It means," he continued, ignoring her little gasp and stunned reaction. "We'll always be together, so you don't need to worry, Mikasa." Mikasa's eyes widened in surprise. She couldn't believe her ears. Suddenly everything felt so surreal to her. She had longed to hear those words from him since years ago. And now she heard him saying it to her gently, assuringly, a hint of strong resolve behind his voice.

And Mikasa knew, when Eren said something with such a determination it only meant one thing: it was a promise. And Eren had never broken a promise. Not even once. She felt her heart tremble as his words began to dawn upon her.

They will always be together in the years to come.

Closing her eyes to the kind words, she found herself sighed in relief. It was almost as though a brand new feeling washed upon her. A feeling of calm, of peacefulness. The feeling as though she could close her eyes for a moment and everything will be all right – because right beside him she saw no cruelty in this world. Right beside him she saw the world as she wanted it to be: beautiful. Silently she wrapped her hands around him in return, dropping her head to lean on his shoulder. Her strands of black hair tickling his neck softly as she breathed the salty scent of his skin, mixed with the smell of fresh dirt. His warmth sunk into her deeply, she could feel him in her skin, within her bones, beating with her heart, and flowing with her blood. He filled her in completely until all she could feel and breathe inside herself was him.

"Come on," he said, finally breaking the embrace after a while. His fingers traced around her arm, stopping at her hand to pull it softly into his. "I'll walk you back." As he stood with his back to her, she couldn't help but realize. His shoulder was broad, his back was carrying a fine tone of masculinity. She always protected him so much that she failed to notice. Eren was no longer the boy she used to know – he had truly grown into a man.

"Yes…," she said, squeezing his hand gently in return. Quietly she walked beside him, in a blissful silence that spoke louder than any words.

Author's notes: As usual I would like to thank Anorable, HighQueen, StormyInk, Spoileralert, and Kuro-Shinozaki, my wonderful sources of Eremika inspiration. Comments and feedback always make me happy, so if you enjoy please drop your review, they're always appreciated! If you are hungry for a hot Eremika smut piece, please check my other work, titled Yours Completely. Thank you for reading and please continue to look forward to my next works for this wonderful pair :)