On the first day of summer, although Eren doesn't realize it at the time, he meets the future love of his life; she will ironically be the one that gets away, but he doesn't know that either.
He meets her on a sunny Sunday morning, when blue jays are chirping obnoxiously and filling the warm air with their songs. He's just turned sixteen and it's his first real job where he won't have to cut grass for extra cash or save up money from holidays and birthdays. He's also incredibly nervous and terrified of making a large, irreparable mistake at his new workplace. (What if he accidentally gives a hundred dollars back instead of ten? What if he forgets to leave out a 'Wet Floor' sign and someone breaks a leg and sues?) He's spent most of the early morning greeting customers with a cheerful, "Good morning!" and ringing up their purchases as carefully as possible.
His boss, Levi Ackerman, is an adult who was once a child his mother babysat years before Eren was born. She was a second parent to him for many years when his own weren't around. When Eren began looking for a job, his mother had immediately thought of Levi, who had gone away to college and returned with a business degree. Levi had started a small grocery mart downtown and although it didn't compete in prices with bigger grocery chains, it was thriving fairly well. Customers didn't come for the great deals. They came for the welcoming, homey touches that were around the shop, from the electric candles by the cash register to the smiling faces of its few employees. It's ironic to Eren that Levi, who is so obsessed with neatness and order, has a tendency to leave his shop in such disarray, an organized chaos of sorts.
It's constantly cluttered with objects and knickknacks that aren't really related to grocery shopping. Levi begs to differ, but Eren isn't so sure that perfume and cologne are what customers want when buying groceries. He's been forced to acknowledge in the past that Levi is the one with a degree out of the two of them, so, yes, maybe Levi knows what he's doing more than Eren. Levi often leaves Eren alone in the store, which to Eren seems irresponsible and unprofessional, but empowering all the same, as Eren likes to pretend that the store belongs to him when Levi is gone.
In any case, Eren often feels as though a majority of his days are spent cleaning and reorganizing while pointing out where certain things are to customers, because in all the chaos, they often have a hard time locating particular items.
It's because of the clutter that he meets Mikasa Ackerman. She can't find a single thing in the store she's come looking for, from butter to baking soda. He's mopping the floor where a child had spilled their juice earlier when she comes up to him, asking, "Excuse me… I can't seem to find some of the items on my list. Could you help?"
When he looks up and sees that one of the most beautiful girls to ever approach him was talking – to him, no less – he almost forgets how to speak. She's his height (maybe an inch taller, if his pride will let him admit it) with solemn, serious eyes and pretty lips. She's wearing a summer dress that touches the ground, long and white with printed roses. It's simple but cute and it takes him a few moments to find words. He's proud of his adult-like response when he answers, "Yes, of course, ma'am!" His mother would be so proud of his manners.
Eren soon came to understand that when the girl had said she needed help finding 'some items' she really meant, "I can't find any of them, please point them all out to me." He spends the next twenty minutes walking around the store with her, periodically helping other customers in between. Sunday mornings were often slow, though the rush tended to pick up in the evenings when customers remembered things they would need for the week. She doesn't seem to mind him being interrupted, waiting patiently each time for him to continue helping her after.
Within a short period of time, he finds out her name is Mikasa Ackerman ("Are you related to a Levi Ackerman?" he'd asked, though her confused expression answered him). He finds out she's sixteen, too, and that she's two months older than him. He learns that she's from around the area and has lived nearby for most of her life, only a city away.
"I wonder how come I've never seen you around," Eren comments. "I know most of the people at school."
"You wouldn't remember me even if you had met me," she answers, her tone light as she skims through the brands of butter available. He likes the way she nibbles on her thumb when she's thinking, the way her fingertips skim some of the boxes before she picks a brand.
"I don't think I could forget a face like yours." The words slip out like water from a cracked dam. He knows his face is red and he's praying she doesn't catch the tension he's sure he's emanating. He watches her walk farther down the aisle and for a moment he thinks he's gotten away with the comment. She's biting her nail this time as she's staring at the milk. (He wonders, for a second, if she likes whole or skim. He's pleasantly surprised when she picks a gallon of chocolate milk – his favorite kind, too.)
"I was home schooled, so if you're trying to remember me from your classmates, you're not going to find anything." She speaks with clarity and confidence and it makes her all the more attractive, even if it's at the expense of acknowledging his words. He hears intelligence in her voice and he would place money that reading is a favorite pastime of hers. He's sure she's going to tell him something else, but she hesitates, and he can see her change her mind as she says, "This is all I need today."
He wants to ask her more about herself, but he can't think of an excuse to make her stay. He doubts he'll see her again, as he knows there's a larger market closer to her house. She's only come down to his store because, as she tells him, "My dad offered to get groceries this week since my mom isn't feeling well. I know he doesn't like to do it so I offered to come in for him. He's taking a nap in the car." He thinks she's kidding, but he can't be sure by the serious tone of her voice.
When she leaves, the store seems a little drabber. He finds he has a hard time mustering up genuine hellos to the rest of the day's customers.
She returns the following Sunday.
"Bread," she says, nonchalant. "The bread was moldy at the bakery near my house. Do you have any fresh loaves?"
It's astounding to Eren just how quickly he falls for Mikasa Ackerman. She comes by every Sunday for two months with a different reason as to why she can't shop at the store closest to her. (Last week, she said, her store didn't have a specific brand of cheese, and wanted Eren to see if he had it in stock.) He finds himself looking forward to her regular visits and soon she stops making excuses to come by. She tells Eren she likes spending the mornings there and that her parents don't mind, so long as she stays out of trouble.
She becomes a part of the structure and soon she begins greeting customers too, pointing them in the right direction for things they need. Eren swears more boys start to show up on Sunday mornings than any other day, but Mikasa only laughs and tells him he's over thinking when he mentions it to her.
Levi finds her one morning assisting a young woman to the produce. He hangs back, watching her chat with the customer as she escorts the woman over. He doesn't know what they're talking about, but they're laughing together; her amiable attitude is a change from the norm. He knows she's been around frequently, much as Eren has been attempting to hide it.
As Mikasa is walking away, Levi stops and asks her, "Do you work here?"
Although he knows the answer as well as her, she wants to say that in some ways she does work there, as she'd been spending so much time around recently.
"No," she answers honestly. "But I'd like to."
She starts the following day.
Her first day on the job is a Monday and happens to also be the same day she meets Eren's best friend, Armin Arlert, for the first time. He volunteers on his days off, which are sometimes Sundays and sometimes Mondays but never any other, as an excuse to add community service to his college applications. Armin is scrawny and awkward but Mikasa likes him. She can relate to feeling out of place and Armin appreciates her sincerity, especially of her interest in his books. She asks about his favorite authors and topics; she smiles at appropriate times and Eren can see Armin falling in love with Mikasa, too. They find out they live close to each other, no more than a ten or fifteen minute walk apart.
Soon after meeting, Armin's mom is waiting outside to take him home and he has to go, much to his dismay and Eren's joy – he's looking forward to having her to himself again. As Armin leaves, he waves quickly at Eren but makes a point to let Mikasa know he hopes to see her again soon.
"Armin is smart," she comments to Eren after he's left. "He sounds very intelligent when he talks. I have a feeling he's going to be very famous one day for something."
Eren laughs at her premonition. "Armin doesn't like being in the spotlight. If he ever becomes famous for something, we won't know about it till years later. Anyway, I'm going to be famous before him."
A few weeks after she starts working with him, Eren decides to make his first attempt at asking her out on a date. 'First' implying he had to ask her twice, which he did, because she didn't hear him properly the first time around.
After he asks, she looks at him, confused, and says, "I already have peaches here, why would I need more?"
So he found himself forced to repeat his question again.
With a couple of loud coughs and a red face, he intentionally avoided her gaze as he asked again, "Do you wanna go to the beach?" He knew she understood the second time because she stopped putting peaches on the shelves.
She looked back him - he, who was awkwardly standing behind the cash register, avoiding her gaze and playing with the nickels and dimes - and her face had been almost unreadable, if not slightly pink as well. He's spent so much time with her lately that it only seemed natural to finally, officially, ask her out. Over the last couple of weeks, she had progressively been spending more and more time with him, particularly at the store but also lately at his home. She was coming over after almost every shared shift and staying for hours at a time, always to be dropped off at her home by his parents before it got too late.
His parents love her.
They ask about her constantly when she isn't there and cater to her more than him when she is. She's polite and doesn't speak much when they're around, but they adore her all the same. She tells funny stories about her home life, which, for a single child of an engineer father and homemaker mother who home schooled her, she has a surprising amount of. Her laughter brings out his smile and he finds it hard to be miserable around her.
Eren thinks he might love her, too.
When the night of their first date arrives, Eren takes her to the beach at night. He drives her in his mom's car, one that would later become his after graduation, but he isn't aware of it at that time. He's driving her (a little illegally, for his age) to a place that's special to him. She doesn't seem to mind that he's a slow driver or that the radio in the car is old and inefficient. Warbled love songs play on that radio, but all Eren can focus on is the pretty girl in jeans and a gray sweater next to him.
Her long hair is braided, a look he hasn't seen on her before. He's sure her mom helped her do it for the night and he imagines Mikasa sitting in front of a mirror as her mother is lacing and looping her hair together, chatting about the plans for the night. He can smell her perfume too, a mix of honey and cinnamon. He feels a bit like a beetle next to a butterfly in his ripped jeans and shirt, a favorite old scarf of his swathed loosely around his neck to keep away chill.
The night is cold and under street lamps nearby he sees her nose turning red, watches her rub her hands together and blow warm air into them. He takes off his scarf wraps it around her neck, red like the tip of her nose. Her cheeks turn a complimentary shade of pink as she thanks him. He hugs her as they watch the waves and count the stars, finding patterns among them. It's pleasantly surprising the way her body molds so well with his; it's almost like they are a pair of puzzle pieces that have found their perfect partners.
He takes her to a twenty-four hour diner nearby after. She orders pancakes and coffee. ("No cream, please," she asks. Her exemplary manners make him feel like a wild animal sometimes.) He orders waffles and coffee. ("Extra cream, if you could… Please," he says. He can use good manners, too.) They talk about work, about their futures and things they want from life. They talk a surprising amount about each other.
Mikasa plays with the edges of the scarf and Eren is cutting into his waffles when she asks, "Why did you ask me out, Eren?"
Eren hesitates. Why did he ask her out? Was it out of necessity, since they were already together so much, or did he sincerely want more from her? He finds himself chewing slower than normal. He thinks about how he's not sure he could live a real life any longer if she isn't in it. When she isn't around, he's thinking of her, and when she is around, he just thinks of her even more.
"I asked you out because… because I wanted to spend more time with you," he says, and he hopes she understand that he's too embarrassed to tell her he likes her. He's drumming his fingers nervously on the table, tapping them in a rushed motion when she places her hand on his to still him; her touch calms his nerves.
"I was just curious," she replies. She doesn't let him know of her own worries and insecurities, that she had hesitated earlier only because she hadn't been sure if he was really asking her on a date or just to hang out as they had been lately. She eats her pancakes but only after drizzling an obscene amount of syrup on them (is this why she smells so sweet?) and they talk some more, this time about where they want to go to college the following year.
Eren learns Mikasa wants to become a psychologist. Eren tells her about his desire to become a research scientist who cures childhood illnesses.
"You're cute," she tells him with a curve of her lip. "You're going to make a great dad someday."
His face flushes and he laughs. "No, I think you'll make a better parent than I could ever hope to be." She kicks him under the table and looks away, a lovely, rosy hue dusting her cheeks.
"Speaking of kids…" Mikasa treads slowly with her words. "Why do you want to be a research scientist?"
Eren pauses for only a moment before he answers. "When I was younger, I had a friend named Marco, and he passed away from a disease that even now they're not sure of." She hears his voice catch and immediately regrets her question.
"I'm sorry, you don't have to continue…" She sounds guilty and she starts twiddling with her fingers again.
"No, it's okay, it's a good question," he attempts to reassure, his voice steadying. "It happened a long time ago now. But there isn't a known cure for so many illnesses among children… I want to make a difference in that." Slowly, a smile cracks on his face and he says, "Marco would've loved you."
Still feeling guilty, she again attempts to apologize, but he shakes his head to silence her. "Let's just get you home, okay?"
Eren drops her off in front of her house that night. He makes a point to get out and walk her to her door, despite her protests that she'll be fine walking to the doorway by herself. It's late, she reminds him. She doesn't want to wake her parents up with their voices.
Too bad, Eren thinks, as her parents open the door. They'd clearly been waiting for their daughter to come home safely. He meets them for the first time on their first date and somehow it's fitting, he thinks, since they're still young and both her parents are no doubt curious about the boy they've heard so much of. He shakes their hands, introduces himself by saying, "Hello, I'm Eren Yeager." They kindly invite him inside. He knows he's gone up a few points in their book for walking her to the door and he's glad to accept their invitation despite Mikasa's protests that he must be tired.
When it's ten o'clock, her curfew time, the four of them are sitting around the dining room table talking. Mikasa recounts the beach and tells them how Eren pointed out constellations to her. They tell her parents about the small diner, that the coffee was okay and the food was mediocre, but it was cheap and convenient and they liked it. Eren asks her parents permission to take her out again the following Sunday.
Mikasa pretends not to see the way her parents' smiles widen and she knows Eren is likely to be a welcome guest in her house – with supervision, of course. He's passionate with his words and keeps the conversation flowing in ways she struggles with. He never runs out of topics to discuss and he's always so animated when he talks about her, telling them how the days at work are better when she's there and oh-so-boring when she's not.
She knows her parents will grow to love him, if tonight is any indication.
When he's leaving, her parents step out for, "just a moment," leaving Mikasa to walk Eren outside to the porch. She finds the hesitation right before he kisses her cheek to be endearing.
Mikasa knows she already loves him.