AN: Hey guys! As I promised I haven't given up on this fic yet. I made a few minor changes to the first 9 chapters, nothing life-altering. Chapter 10 did become longer, so make sure to catch up on that.

Originally I had planned to wait with editing these until chapter 11 was finished, but I just wanted to update! But I'm working on it, so keep your eyes open. And if you're new here, welcome!

Disclaimer: I do not own Attack on titan/ Shingeki no kyojin.

Chapter 3

Annie turned off the furnace, the soup was ready. All she had to do when she came back was warm it and cook the rest while she ate the soup. She glanced at the clock, just when the digits skipped to eleven she heard the doorbell ring. She took off her apron and went to open the door.

Mikasa smiled at her while carrying a rather heavy crate, Annie let her in.

"Hmm, something smells good." Mikasa noticed, sniffing the air.

"Well, you're not getting any, you didn't do anything yet."

They entered the basement, where they left the crate and put on their gear.

"Why are you taking a camera with you?" Mikasa asked as they walked towards the forest.

"To capture the scenery."

Mikasa remembered Annie's room, so she took all those pictures herself, interesting.

"Well then, we better get started, follow me!"

She immediately went for high speed, getting her trap ready. After going for a few minutes, turning right and coming to a sudden stop. And just as she had expected, Mikasa hung by a single cable, at the last tree before a farm field. She held back her laughter, lifting her camera and snapped a picture.

"What are you doing?" Mikasa shouted as she saw the flash.

"Just capturing the scene." she said before bursting out into laughter.

"You did this on purpose!" she managed to straighten herself and shot her second cable to land next to a still laughing Annie. "Would you please stop laughing?"

Annie tried to hold it in, lifted her camera and snapped a shot of Mikasa's flustered face, before bursting out in laughter again. Mikasa sighed and took the camera, hanging it around her neck, then quickly launched herself into the forest.

"Hey! Give back!" Annie shouted, pursuing Mikasa.

When she almost caught up to her, Mikasa turned left and stopped, hoping to see Annie hanging there as she had. But Annie simply landed next to her, stretching out her hand.

"Give back my camera."

"How can you do that? I always notice to late when you stop."

"I'm just better than you."

Mikasa handed her the camera. "And I hoped to snap a picture of you hanging there."

"You'll need to get better before you have a chance at surprising me."

Mikasa's stomach growled, successfully returning a smile to Annie's face.

"How about we go shut your tummy up?" Annie said and lead the way back to her house.

Annie turned on the stove and took a couple of bowls and plates out of the closet.

"I'll take those." Mikasa reached for the dishes and Annie returned her attention to the furnace.

Soon the soup was warm and they started eating, Annie often turning around to check on the rest of the food. She had done a great job at guessing how much they both would eat, only a few potatoes were left over.

"Annie, that was delicious. Where did you learn to cook like that?"

"I started by making recipes from books, but once I got used to it I just started doing it on feeling."

"There are only a handful of things I can make without needing a recipe, but the result is nowhere near as good as this."

Annie blushed. "If you want to eat here more often you could just say so. You don't need to start praising me."

Mikasa just smiled as they started cleaning the table and washing the dishes. It started raining and the girls decided to stay inside until it had passed. They sat at the table listening to the raindrops pattering the window.

"We got an A on our work the other day." Mikasa started.

"Hmm."

"It was nice of you to help out, I really thought you would've let me do it on my own."

"You still did most of the work, you could have done it on your own and still aced it."

"Sure, I got the information beforehand and wrote everything down, but I made sure to only write down what you told me to. If you were to try I'm sure you'll be at the top of the class."

"I don't care about grades."

"Then what do you care about?"

"... Pictures." Annie replied, demonstratively taking a picture of Mikasa.

"That's all?"

She ignored the voice in her head saying 'you'. "I guess... what do you care about?"

"Well, school, obviously. And my family."

"I thought you lived with the Jeagers."

"My parents died in a car accident when I was eight, Eren's parents took me in, they are my family now."

"... Sorry." Annie placed a hand on Mikasa's arm.

"That's okay." she said with a weak smile. "May I ask why you are living on your own?"

"... My mom died right after she gave birth to me, so I never knew her." Annie's bored expression turned a little hurt as she continued. "Dad came to me one day, giving me a weird apology... then he said he had to leave to do something important somewhere. Never saw him again."

Mikasa placed her hand on top of Annie's. "He just left you? Why didn't he drop you off at family or friends?"

"... He said he was the only person who cares for me... and that I should never trust anyone." she mumbled.

It took her a little before she understood what Annie had mumbled, but when she did, Mikasa walked over to Annie and pulled her in a hug.

"I care for you."

Annie sat motionless in her chair, head pressed against Mikasa's belly, slowly taking in the meaning of what she just heard.

"You do?" she asked quietly.

"Yes." she patted her head. "You can be really annoying and mean, but once you drop the act you're a very sweet girl. A girl... that I'm happy to call my friend."

Annie put a hand around Mikasa's waist, returning the hug. It was hard to put down her mask, but when she was with Mikasa, it just felt right to do so. It also felt good to be able to talk a bit, but she didn't trust her enough yet to do more than sum up the events in short sentences.

"I could say just the same about you."

"So... you're happy to call me your friend as well?"

"...Yes." Annie smiled against Mikasa's belly, glad that the girl couldn't see her face.

The rain stopped and the girls broke off their embrace to go back outside. Without saying much, they flung their cables at the trees, Mikasa taking the lead. Annie's mind was busy with different matters.

In the few weeks that they got to know each other, Mikasa had shown her nothing but warmth and understanding. No matter what, Annie didn't want to lose what they had now. Keeping things like they were was probably best, but it didn't feel like it was enough. She kept following Mikasa for a while longer, trying to decide what she should do. She took a deep breath, attempting to gather some courage, then bypassed Mikasa, having the black haired girl follow her.

Annie slowed down and landed on a thick branch. Normally she would've picked a higher branch, but those weren't strong enough to support two people. Mikasa landed next to her and looked at the view. A big lake stretched out in front of her, reflecting the gray sky. She had seen that lake somewhere before, in Annie's room on the big picture above her bed, and also on different small ones spread over the walls.

Annie sat down, and Mikasa did the same. They both watched a group of deers walk out of the forest to drink at the lake.

"It is a beautiful view." Mikasa said.

"Yeah. This is my favorite place. No matter what happens, coming here always makes me feel good."

"Really? It must be nice to have a place like that, thanks for showing it to me."

Annie looked at Mikasa, who smiled at her and turned her gaze back to the scenery. Annie kept staring at her, silently fighting with her feelings. When she was little, she had a friend, but her father made sure that didn't last long by giving her completely wrong ideas of how friendships work. By now she knew she had to be honest and not to hide her feelings. But simply knowing that, didn't mean she could simply do it. After a few minutes of struggling with herself, she continued the conversation.

"You know... lately being here hasn't been able to make me feel good anymore."

Mikasa returned her attention to Annie, waiting for her to go on.

"I just couldn't stop thinking..." her voice lowered, "... about what happened last time you were here." She stared at the lake, not daring to look at Mikasa.

"Is that why you said I ruined your weekend?"

Annie intertwined her fingers and shyly said "Pretty much."

"Do you have a cell phone?" Mikasa said, changing the subject.

"Yeah, but I'm not sure where it is, I haven't used that thing in ages. Why?"

"So we can text and call each other. Maybe that might be able to cheer your weekends up. Aside from the moments that I am here with you, off course."

"Whatever." Annie huffed, but her blush gave her away.

They got up and went back to the house where Annie started searching for her phone. She found it in a drawer next to the recharger. She plugged it in, hoping it would still work. Mikasa scooted over to Annie, and a teasing smile appeared on her face when she saw the phone.

"I was short on money and this was the cheapest I could find." Annie said, preventing comments.

The phone was pink and decorated with hearts and flowers in different shades of pink.

"I had no idea you were that short on money." Mikasa laughed.

"Shut up! Now give me your number, 'cause I have no idea what mine is."

Mikasa smiled as she gave her number, then realized it was getting late.

"I guess I should be on my way home. I'll see you on monday."

Annie walked with her to the front door, then surprised Mikasa by giving her a hug.

"Call me if you need anything." Mikasa said and quickly returned the hug.

She left and Annie went to print the pictures she took today so she could hang them up on the wall.

She stared at the pictures for a while, thinking. Whenever Mikasa was around, she found herself unable to refuse anything. Then she couldn't control her emotions anymore. She was no longer able to get the girl out of her head, and whenever she thought of her, she got this strange feeling. She didn't even know if it was a good or bad feeling.

"Gah! I don't even recognize myself anymore. What the hell is going on?"