FOREWORD: (Spoilers: Anime Episode 25/Manga Chapter 34) Set after Annie's capture in the manga, when Mikasa chooses to stay by Eren's side instead of attending the meeting with the others. Will probably write the anime version as well. Maybe.

Thanks to Anon for this!

Summary: A stray Mikasa/Eren moment after the female titan ploy.

I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin, or any of its characters.

He dreams with his eyes closed; she dreams watching him.

.

Armin scurries off the bed after pulling his shoes on and follows Jean out of the room. He turns back at the door when he notices Mikasa has not moved.

"Mikasa?" he ventures.

"I think you should also go to the meeting," the soldier says, peering in to address her.

"No, I…" She pauses, and glances at Eren's face. "I think I better stay here."

"I see."

Armin throws her a look and waves, a small smile pulling at the corners of his lips, before he leaves. She feels her cheeks go warmer at the meaning behind it. The door closes on them, leaving her sheltered within her world.

Her eyes go back to Eren's tired face, his closed lids.

She has watched him sleep countless times, especially when they were younger. She remembers the way his head rested on the pillow, arms all about; how his chest rose and fell with every steady even breath he took through his open mouth; and how serene he looked, with his eyelids hiding dreams only he could see. She had mused on what he could have be seeing behind them, and had imagined ashen explosions marvelling at liquid blues, icy whites and flaxen dunes. She had reached out to touch him sometimes. She remembers how it would stir something within him: his breath would expel more sharply, and he would move his cheek towards her fingers for want of her warmth while with closed lids, he dreamt still.

A few lifetimes have elapsed since then. He even sleeps differently now—still and tensed. She wonders whether he would still prod her fingers if she grazed his cheek. And she wonders whether his dreams are still of the outside world, or if they are now filled with titans and loss—worse, a certain petite muscular blond girl he had had so much trouble accepting was an enemy.

Even as she observes him now, she cannot tell what he is seeing.

She used to watch him wake all the time, and knows how slow his body moves and reacts after his slumber, as though protesting against rising. She recalls suppressing smiles at the grunts that would escape the depths of his throat as he would stretch, and how she would stare as groggy grins would always find their way to his lips when his lids finally revealed his silver gems.

It has been a long time since she has seen him wake up like that. She tells herself that maybe this time when he opens his eyes, he will turn to her with a smile on his face. Just like when they were kids. Just like when she let herself believe that his eyes had opened upon his dream.

AFTERWORD: Eren's eyes are grey in the manga, green in the anime. I went with grey since this is a manga rendition.