"Mr. Smith," Ms. Green said, stepping aside to let him look into the room. "What are you doing here? Is something wrong?"

Mr. Smith's hard expression did not change. Though he was only about thirty (if the cake that some freshman had made him a year before actually had an accurate number of candles on it), he looked to be at least ten years older, with a growing number of wrinkles around his eyes, chin, and cheeks. His blond hair always seemed to have a few more grey sprigs in it than it did the day before, save for when he would come back to school some days with his hair shorter than before. "I came to see what was going on." He cleared his throat, the sound echoing through the room. "My students were having trouble focusing. You're only a few doors down from me, and apparently that is enough space to hear what sounds like a person dying!"

"Not a person dying, Mr. Smith," Connie broke in, standing up from his desk and holding up his doll. By him sat Armin, whose face quickly became buried in his health textbook. "It's the miracle of life!"

The doll made a robotic giggling sound, as if it wanted to agree with him.

Mr. Smith nearly narrowed his eyebrows. He eyed each student and their dolls, though he watched some students longer than others.

"I apologize for the noise," Ms. Green said. "I know that noise can interrupt on class time, but I promise that we have everything under control now." Her words came out a bit too fast and her smile was a bit too wide.

Mr. Smith wrinkled his nose. "Just put those things in your locker before you come to my pre-calculus class, alright?"

A few students, Mikasa included, nodded.

Now I actually have a reason to dump this thing on Annie, she thought. She's taking Algebra II this year with Mrs. Phelps.

For the first time that period, she smiled.


"I think you're looking at this the wrong way," Sasha said. She held her doll tightly in her arms, her eyes never leaving it.

"How am I looking at this the wrong way? You and I both know that this project is ridiculous." Mikasa crossed her arms over her chest. Her eyes wondered over to her doll, who lay still on Sasha's couch.

"It's better than having to cram for a test and get cramps in your hands from writing notes all the time."

"This thing has to be cared for all the time! I haven't been able to find an off switch, which means that thing could wake me up in the middle of the night." Mikasa huffed. "Ugh, no wonder Annie all but raced out of school today."

At least there would be a track meeting the next day. If worse came to worst, then Mikasa would just have to slip the ugly thing into Annie's backpack.

"So you're saying that you'd rather have a test over this stuff?"

"If it meant that I didn't have to work with Annie!" Mikasa shook her head. "You wouldn't understand, Sasha. You got lucky on this project and get to work alone."

"I figured that I would just recruit my dad and Connie for help. He's always wanted to be an uncle."

"I'm pretty sure that he and Armin already have their hands full." Mikasa sighed. She reached forward and grabbed a cracker from the plate that Sasha had set out earlier. Though the plate was almost halfway finished and covered in crumbs, this was the first one that Mikasa had actually bothered to sit down and eat. "I actually went to our teacher after class to see if I could get switched to working with you."

Sasha looked up from her doll and smiled. "Oh, Mikasa, that's so sweet of you. And as much as I'd like the help, I understand why Ms. Green would say no."

"I never said that she said no!"

Sasha smirked. "Well, you aren't working with me now, so she clearly said no."

Mikasa shook her head. "If it had at least been with someone who wasn't Annie then I would probably be a bit more okay with it. I don't like too many people in our health class, but I don't hate most of them either."

Sasha raised an eyebrow and her jaw dropped. "You actually hate Annie Leonhardt?"

Mikasa nodded.

"Like hate, hate?"

"Yes, Sasha."

"Oh, I didn't know." She went silent. "I know she can be a frustrating partner to work with; we had to a history project together once and you guess who did ninety percent of the work." Sasha absently moved her doll's arms up and down. "I just figured that you guys might have actually been able to work something out, or at least I hoped that you could."

Mikasa's frown deepened. "You don't need to worry about us, Sasha."

The other girl sighed. "I know." She held her doll up. "I already have my hands full, right?"

Mikasa chuckled. "Yes, you do." Mikasa grabbed a few more crackers.

"So, what did you name your baby?"

"Huh?"

"You know, name your baby," Sasha replied. She held her doll up high in the air like she was that monkey from The Lion King. "I named my doll Arthur Jr. Isn't she the cutest?"

"Arthur Jr.?" Mikasa raised an eyebrow.

"I named her after my dad," Sasha replied, holding the doll close. "Maybe I can call up our synagogue's rabbi and have them give her a Hebrew name too." She looked back to Mikasa. "So, what did you name yours?"

"Uh," Mikasa replied, looking back to where the doll still lay on Sasha's couch. "Does Stinker count as a name?"

Sasha pouted. "Of course not!" Her usual smile returned. "Hey, if Annie doesn't care about the doll then you have free reign to call her Mikasa Jr. It's not like Annie would try to stop you."

"I think I'd want to give them a name a little more original than Mikasa Jr." Mikasa looked over to the doll. "Besides, what does it need a name for?"

"The same reason that you and I need names," Sasha replied, "so that we can have something to call each other and differentiate everyone."

"I am pretty sure that no one is going to mistake their doll for mine." Though the dolls had been varying in skin tones, Mikasa had grabbed the only one that resembled her. "And if they do, I won't be the least bit mad if they take it off of my hands."

Sasha snorted. "Oh come on, you've got to at least have a nickname for them. You have to at least pretend to care for Ms. Green."

"Okay, okay," Mikasa replied. "I'll call my baby some corny nickname."

"Which one?"

Mikasa paused. Her parents could be ridiculous sometimes, especially on anniversaries. "I don't think any of my parent's nicknames could quite work on this. How about we just call it BB and be done?"

Sasha sighed. "I suppose I can't force you to name it anything. Though I must say, BB isn't any more original than Mikasa Jr." Sasha shrugged. "Eh, at least little Arthur Jr. here has a friend." She grabbed the other doll from the couch and then placed both dolls on the carpeted floor, where they still, their cold, painted plastic eyes staring into the others.

I can't believe that I played with these things as a kid, Mikasa thought. She had been given a few by her aunt when she was about five or so as a birthday gift. No wonder I was always more interested in my stuffed animals.

"Enough babies," Sasha said, "at least until they start to cry. We have bigger issues to tackle, like our math homework." Sasha stood up and walked over to where her backpack sat. "So, do you have the question to answer ten?"

Mikasa rolled her eyes. "Are you seriously expecting me to suddenly be a math genius? You and I both know perfectly well that I get a B at most in it."

"I know," Sasha replied. "That doesn't mean that I still can't hope that you were able to figure out what the problem was asking! I've read and reread it countless times and still can't figure it out!"

Mikasa got her own textbook from her backpack. Her pre-calculus book might as well have been written in German; there was no way that she was going to understand more than a few words of it (let alone numbers).

"Let's just try and get stuff done," Mikasa said.

Save for their chatting and math discussion, Sasha's living room turned quiet after the two stopped fussing over the dolls. It was tranquil, a joy filling Mikasa that she never would have expected, especially not when she had pre-calc homework to do.

"Can you call Armin and ask him about this?" Sasha asked. By then, she had placed her textbook down and instead pulled out her English notes to study for an upcoming vocabulary quiz.

"I think he's going to start charging me for his services," Mikasa replied. "I'm pretty sure that he won't accept my life savings of two dollars and thirty-seven cents and pocket lint."

Even Mikasa gave up on question ten, turning instead to other homework. Sometimes the two would quiz each other if they were in the same classes, and Sasha had Mikasa read off some vocabulary and names of historical figures to her.

The two continued like that for a while, at least until the sound of the door opening filled Sasha's small house.

"Dad!" Sasha called. She eagerly grabbed her doll and stood up, running for the door. "Guess who finally got that grandchild you've always wanted? Arthur Jr., say hello to Zaydee!"

"Zaydee?" Mr. Braus entered the room and took off his jacket. "Now what's this?"

"A project that me and Mikasa are doing in our health class," Sasha replied. "We're supposed to raise fake babies." She turned back towards where Mikasa sat; by then Mikasa had closed her textbooks and notes and started watching the other two. "Come and show my dad little BB!"

Mikasa picked up the doll and walked towards the entrance of the house. "This is BB," she replied. Her voice lowered the longer that she spoke.

"Mikasa isn't very excited about it." Sasha held it up. "I personally think that it has the chance to be a lot of fun!"

Her father chuckled. "It just might," he replied. His voice was low and rumbled, making him sound a bit like the cowboys from old TVs. Like his daughter, he also had a deep laugh that seemed to fill the room, and matching colored eyes and the same shade of thick, dark hair. He turned to Mikasa. "I'm glad to see that you two came over to study; it's always nice when Sasha brings friends over. Well, except for that Connie kid; you never know what he'll do next."

Mikasa snorted and Sasha turned red.

"Dad, he isn't that big of a troublemaker."

"She's right," Mikasa added. "Whatever prank he won't pull, Sasha will!"

Both Mikasa and Mr. Braus laughed.

"Though I must decline, sir," she said. "At least not tonight. I need to get home soon, anyway." Sasha's family certainly wasn't the richest, and there seemed to be more days where the fridge was closer to empty than full. At most, Mikasa ate a few snacks when she was at Sasha's, nothing more and nothing less.

"Awww," Sasha said.

"I understand," Mr. Braus replied. "Though I will at least have one new guest at the dinner table tonight." He eyed the doll once again. "You said that this was for your health class, correct?"

Sasha nodded.

"Well, I suppose that they could always be teaching you worse." He walked forward. "Welcome to the family, little baby. Arthur Jr., isn't it?"

Sasha nodded.

"What a beautiful name," her father replied. "I couldn't have picked a better one myself."


Things had been going alright, or at least as close to alright as these things could be at that time. That was until Mikasa went over some bumps in the road while riding her bike home and the baby in her backpack started crying. Then she had to pull over, pull the ugly doll out of her bag, and rock it until it stopped crying. By the time she got home, the sun was down and her legs ached.

"Mikasa," her mother said once she entered the house, looking up from the pot that she was stirring. "I know that you texted me that you would be a little late, but I got worried for you. Did anything happen while you were out?"

"Yes," Mikasa replied, "a baby did."

"A what?" Her mother raised an eyebrow.

Mikasa sighed and pulled the doll from her bag. "I mean this plastic monstrosity that I have to look after for health class."

Her mother wrinkled her nose. "You have to take care of that?"

Mikasa nodded. "Considering you know a two or thing about babies, maybe you could look after it."

The other woman snorted. "Not in your dreams, dear. I changed diapers for you and Eren, and that's quite enough for me."

As if appearing because his name was mentioned, Eren entered the room. His eyes widened when he saw the bundle in Mikasa's hands, and quickly ran up to it.

"I know that Armin mentioned this, but I thought that he was joking." Eren pulled the doll from Mikasa's arms so roughly that she was surprised it didn't suddenly burst into fake tears. "Man, this project looks awful. It's a good thing that I just opted for an extra semester of gym."

"I wish I had now," Mikasa replied, taking the doll from him. As much as she wanted to get rid of it, giving it to her brother seemed like too much of a risk.

"So did you adopt him like we did you?" Her mother asked.

"Yes, if adoption is picking it from a pile of robot dolls."

"I like it," Eren said.

"Congratulations, Mister Uncle," Mikasa replied.

"So does this mean that you're really working with Annie?"

Mikasa bit her lip.

"Oh, Mikasa, I thought Armin might have been joking about that too." He looked over her face again, his eyes widening. "Is it true? Cause she helped me with a history project once and it didn't turn out that well."

Mikasa nodded. "Though I doubt that she'll actually do much for little BB."

"BB?" Mikasa's mother asked.

"It seemed a bit more original than just calling it Mikasa Jr."

"Hey," Eren broke in, "I think Eren Jr. would have been a fabulous name!"

"Take it for yourself," Mikasa said, "and you can call it whatever you want."


Mikasa stared at the piece of paper in her hands. Eren had given it to her after dinner. Dinner had been good that night, with some of Carla's best soup, and everyone seemed to have a funny story to tell. It was always fun to have something to laugh about during dinner.

Now, she felt even worse than she had earlier.

He only meant to help, Mikasa thought. Just so that you could keep contact with Annie.

Still, it wasn't as if she actually wanted to call her.

Mikasa looked over to the doll, which lay on her desk. After dinner, she had learned the wonders of its fake poop; now, it wore a poorly wrapped together paper towel instead of a fake cloth diaper.

Which is the lesser of two evils? Mikasa thought, looking from the paper to the doll. Her other hand was in her pocket, wrapped around her cell phone.

In the end, she dialed Annie's cell. Despite all of her wishes, Annie picked up.

"Who is it?" Annie asked in her gruff voice.

"Uh, hi?" Mikasa froze. This wasn't a friendly phone call; this was business! "Uh, hey, Annie, it's me, Mikasa. Eren loaned me your number. I was hoping that we could discuss our health class project together."