They hadn't fallen apart all at once, not really. It was a slow decent into the madness that their life became in the last few days, a slow painful tearing of what should have been a great canvas, Instead now it laid in ruins around their feet. It had been a comment, a harmless one at that. Some Benefit Gala Mikasa was required to attend. She didn't particularly enjoy formal events and she had suggested he accompany her for once, considering he didn't really like going in front of cameras as her "boy toy" as he had taken to calling it. She had meant no harm and to her own ears it sounded like little more than a suggestion so she wouldn't have to suffer through another boring night alone. He had instead started a fight about her always forcing him into situations that he didn't enjoy, and how she never considered his feelings on the matter even going as far as to suggest she go with her co-star Jean who she knew he didn't get along well with.
She had spoken too quickly, an unfortunate habit she had picked up from being around him and told him he didn't have to go because she was used to going alone anyways. This of course had resulted in him walking away and spending the rest of the night in the room of their shared apartment. Things had been fine for a few days but it wasn't long before they were fighting once more. Him yelling and banging things around, her low, yet stern not to mention callous words bouncing off the walls of their shared space. She knew it would be hard, they both did considering life hadn't always come easy to either of them, yet this wasn't something either of them had been expecting.
Mikasa had known Eren so long she could hardly remember her life without him. She had been seven when her parents SUV had flipped over on a family trip killing both her parents instantly. She had been air transported to the nearest hospital where doctor Jaeger had been in charge of her case. Within a span of a few hours she was not only an orphan but all alone in the world. Both her parents were only children and her grandparents were already gone. She spent week in the hospital but recovered quickly, little more than a ragged scar right under her breast bone and the smallest of cuts on her face, a shard of glass had thankfully only grazed her cheek. It was there that she met the doctors son. When she first saw Eren he was tiny, nothing but a mop of black hair and bright green eyes. Too knowing, too smart for a seven year old. He was one of her only visitors other than a few social workers, coming and going. It had taken a few visits but eventually he brought with him a tiny yellow haired boy he called Armin and as the years passed the three of them became inseparable. Even as she was bounced around from foster homes and orphanages of one thing she was sure, and that was that she would always have the two of them in her life. Or so she had thought.
Acting wasn't something she had considered, not seriously at least, that was until she was walking around the mall, Armin and Eren as always by her side. She had been goofing off, ridiculously large sunglasses framing her face as she made kissy faces at Armin, who pretended to take a picture of her when a woman approached her. She spoke quickly declaring she was a talent scout and she liked what she saw. Mikasa had thought it was a joke at first but when she told her to meet her in the photography studio the next day for a few experimental shots and to call her if she had any questions Mikasa had found herself nodding dumbfound. Luck had rarely been at her side, but she wasn't one to argue.
She had modeled through the end of her Junior and half of senior year, appearing mostly as background in a few shows and a movie. That all changed when she was offered a leading role in a tiny movie. It wasn't glamorous, she didn't have a trailer or a makeup team at her back and call, but it was an actual movie deal and she had gladly accepted. The filming had almost kept her out of prom but Eren had borrowed his dad's car and picked her up. They had made it back for little more than the last ten minutes but they didn't care.
That had been the first time he kissed her, it was sloppy and awkward as one would expect of two people who had waited too long to act on their feelings but they had been inseparable from that night on.
The small movie that she hadn't expected much from caught the attention of critics in a film festival and landed her her first award, The independent sprit Lead Actress award. She had been more surprised than anyone in the crowed and as she made her way up towards the stage in the same dress she had worn to prom Eren had been the only familiar face in the crowd, beaming and proud.
Her career had skyrocketed, a few more indie movies and before she knew it she was part of a franchise so much bigger than she had ever expected. Sure she played little more than a teenage girl caught in the middle of two boys that didn't deserve, a supernatural twist and add to that that it was on the YA top seller and suddenly her name was a household name.
Fame came with many accolades but there were thing no one and nothing could prepare you to give up. Her privacy had always been sacred to her, and this was something that everyone was quick to invade. From nosy talk show hosts to every and any tabloid. Suddenly she went from a nameless orphan to someone who needed a bodyguard.
Relocating to California after graduation had been too easy, add to that that Armin had decided on UCLA and Eren was coming with her, well the transition had been smooth.
Armin was usually busy with school and part time work and Eren too attended a few courses a semester as he tried to decide on a major. Life became easy for the first few months. She was coming home overnight exhausted but she suddenly had everything she wanted. A roof over her head that she could call her own and all the food she could buy. On her twentieth birthday she was awarded her parents bank accounts, trust funds and properties. A tearful day she had only gotten through because Armin and Eren had sat by her side, the flashbacks of the accident only making an occasional appearance as she signed the required paperwork.
Armin graduated early to no ones surprise, and announced he was getting married at the end of the year. That December she wore a hideous dress and cheered as her best friend got everything he deserved. Her and Eren rolled their eyes the whole night when everyone teased they were next, although she knew it was in the horizon. Three years together, a lifetime as friends. What was stopping them?
Armin was accepted into law school the following fall and Eren went into the medical field, something had been avoiding mostly to spite his father, of this she was sure.
She was twenty three when she found herself nominated for an Oscar that same year, and even when she didn't win just the mere thought of being nominated was crazy to her. Armin graduated from Law school and Eren got accepted into medical school. Life was moving too fast and she found herself in the posh Vanity fair party by herself, woozy from too much champagne.
It was the following year when everything started falling apart. Armin had his first child and she and Eren tried to hold it together.
The night he left she was hardly surprised, it had been coming for a while and the final blow out was hardly small, but the two weeks where she all but disappeared afterwards shocked everyone. But for the first time in as long as she could remember she was alone once more, only this time it had been by choice and maybe that, that was what hurt most.