He's not sure what's the first thing he notices.
It may have been her hair, so dark in the gym's light. It may have been her eyes, gray and hard while looking at them. Maybe it was just her he noticed standing rightbeside Principal Smith as he introduced her.
But he's sure that the next thing he notices was that she was to be addressed as "Miss Ackerman" and that she was going to be their new self-defense teacher.
"In the light of recent events involving one of our students, the school has decided to teach every one of you how to defend yourselves" the whole gym falls silent at the mention of the 'recent events'.
After all, no one expected Marco Bodt to die the way he did.
"For that, we have here now Mikasa Ackerman, who will teach all the students techniques of self-defense every day for an hour before lunch, no exceptions, for four months"
Eren's not sure if he should be thankful for that, or damn the whole universe, because c'mon, the new teacher was beautiful, and he was going to be spending time with her every day (Even if it was with almost one hundred other students).
He was either very lucky, or completely fucked.
He found out it was the latter.
Miss Ackerman made them get in pairs, and of course he was with the Horseface.
"Hey, Eren" Jean whispered to him, trying to get Eren off him, since he was the 'victim' this time.
"What?"
"You think Miss Ackerman is single?" and with that Eren was distracted and gave Jean the opportunity to throw him to the ground.
"Ow, that hurt, man. I don't know, maybe? Why?" he looks at Mikasa for a second, looking away when he sees her with her hand on Connie's stomach, trying to get him to throw a better kick.
"Well, she's good looking. You think I could get a chance?" Jean looks at Mikasa in a way that gets Eren mad, and he's not completely sure why. He gets up, pretending to dust off his pants just so Jean can't see his face.
"Nah. She probably has a husband, she's like twenty three" he brushes it off, even if he wishes she doesn't have one.
"Yeah…I could still try"
"Well, good luck with that Philippe" he says, giving Jean the wooden knife with a smirk.
"I knew it. I never should have told you my second name"
"Not my fault, horse lover. Now come at me"
Jean is in the floor in 0.2 seconds, and that has nothing to do with Mikasa looking on their way.
Two weeks later, he's paired with Annie fucking Leonhardt and he spends more time on the floor than he does trying to block her.
"C'mon Annie, give me a chance" he doesn't even bother getting up; he just lies in there, looking at her with a frown. "You're making me look bad in front of the teacher"
"You do that by yourself"
"Again" he growls, getting up.
This time he studies the way she always protects not only her face but her neck too (they were taught that a hit in the nape of your neck can not only knock you out, but also easily kill you. However, something tells him that Annie has blocked her neck for longer than that). He sees the kick before she tries and is able to block her. He puts her leg back on the floor and using a speed he didn't know he had, he has her on the floor using the same move she has been using the last minutes.
"Good one, Eren!" Armin shouts some meters away, cupping his hands around his mouth so he can hear him.
"Focus, Eren" sounds Mikasa's voice behind him, just a second before he's on the floor on his butt.
"Yes, Miss Ackerman" he murmurs, giving Annie a glare.
Weeks later, he stays in the gym after everyone goes to lunch, rushing to help her with some mats.
"Emm…Miss Ackerman?" he asks, not daring to look at her as he sets the mats down.
"Yes, Eren? Do you need help with something?" she gives him a look she doesn't give the other students. She doesn't give that look to anyone but him, not even Armin who can make her smile, not even to Sasha who makes her snort.
It's a warm look that makes Eren want to spend his whole day with her, and it makes him feel special.
"How old are you, Miss Ackerman?"
"Twenty one, why?" she looks a little suspicious, so he looks away for a second before answering.
"Well…four years is not that much, right?" he can hear his heartbeat in his ears, and his hands sweat and he's afraid to look at her. He doesn't want to see her expression, to see how horrified she must look.
"It's illegal, Eren" she whispers, and she sounds less horrified than he thought she would. Actually…she didn't sound horrified at all. It was almost…almost as it made her upset.
"Well, you're only teaching for less than four more weeks. After that-"
"You're still a minor, and I'm your teacher, Eren" she turns around, hugging herself and looking down "This is wrong"
"I'm turning eighteen in two and a half months! And graduating in four! We can make it work, Mikasa" he turns her around, and even if older she's shorter than him.
"But, I-I'm still older. People are going to look at us, and-"
"You think I care? I really like you-and it's completely okay if you don't, you should have told m-"
"I do" she looks close to tears, and he feels his heart drop to his feet, because something like this, liking somone, is not something that should make you cry.
"Let's get to know each other then. We get to know each other better and if then you think it's not worth it…How about after I get out of here, we go to drink something?"
"Okay" she smiles and he knows it's going to be okay.
For that smile, he would do anything.
Three months later and five minutes into dinner his mother already loves her.