Jeankasa Week Day 6: Bedroom

Title: fuckin n00b
Rating: T
Fandom: Shingeki no Kyojin, Attack on Titan
Characters: Jean Kirschtein, Mikasa Ackerman, Marco Bodt, Scouting Legion, Jeankasa
Summary: High School AU - Jean teaches Mikasa the art of Xbox. And Playstation, and Steam, and Nintendo-goddamnit, they just play everything.
Notes: The couple that plays together stays together! I could have mentioned more games, but I had to cut it before it ended up becoming a wishlist. (Am I the only one who headed in a non-smut direction with this prompt?)

The canteen has descended into a crazed, Battle Royale-esque mob yet again. Jean barely escapes alive.

"Here!" He slams the bottle of water down in front of Marco. "I hope you like it... I almost got killed in there!"

Marco grins. "Jean, have I ever told you how much I love you?" He hands him the money. "Also, um... the chicken rolls look good."

"ARGH." Jean throws his hands up in the air and then crashes onto the bench. He slouches down so that his feet poke out the other side. "If you think I'm gonna do that again, you're insane." He shivers. "People grabbed my butt!"

"Who grabbed your butt?" The enquiry is spoken in a feminine tone that Jean thinks he knows, and when he turns around he sees Mikasa Ackerman, resplendent in black skinnies and a slightly sheer white t-shirt. Of course, she has to approach him while he's talking about butts. Generally Mikasa sticks with the girls, but occasionally she comes over to talk to Eren and Armin. She has never approached Jean directly before.

"Ah, Mikasa!" He jumps up off the bench. "Um, are you okay?"

She wiggles her fingers at Eren, standing somewhere behind him. "Can I talk to you?"

Holy shit. Marco, being his best friend, is kicking his leg and muttering inappropriately.

"Y-yeah, sure!" He motions to the bench.

She shakes her head. "Maybe... somewhere more private." Double holy shit. Marco has ceased kicking him, and seems to be choking on his water.

"Okay!" Mikasa turns to leave and he pursues her, but not before giving Eren the smuggest smirk he can. Marco is flailing his arms in a fashion that he's probably supported to construe as supportive.

He follows Mikasa down the hallway as she makes twists and turns. Finally she leads him into a deserted classroom, the board still bearing a few notes on Vietnam. Mikasa perches on a desk, and Jean sits in the chair nearby.

"This is probably going to sound weird," Mikasa begins, fiddling with her scarf, "but I have to make a request of you." She looks down at him. "Jean, you're the only person who can help me."

Oh, man. He tries to tell his brain to shut up, but as usual, it isn't listening. "Yeah?"

She casts her eyes downwards. "Will you... teach me how to play videogames?"

Jean can't help it; his jaw drops. "Wh-what?"

Mikasa bursts into an explanation, cheeks growing steadily redder. "Eren and Armin play them all the time and they look really fun but they never let me join in because I don't know how to play and it seems like a such a big part of their lives and I want to play together with them and-"

Jean cuts her off by grabbing her shoulders. "So you just want to play videogames with me?"

She nods. "I can pay you and everything!"

"No no no, no money!" He steps back from her. "I'll gladly help you."

She smiles, relief obvious on her face. "You will? Thank you so much!" She bounces up and gives him a brief hug. Jean freezes, arms locked to his sides, but before he can hug her back the embrace has ended.

"When can we begin?" She pulls out her phone.

"Tomorrow evening? You can come to mine, if you want."

"That'd be great! Here, give me your phone. I want to put in my number." He hands it over dazedly as she hands him hers. Her wallpaper is a picture of her and Sasha, faces squished together. Sasha looks ecstatic; Mikasa, not so much. He enters his real name into her contacts, which are mostly filled with nicknames (he's almost sure that 'Hitler's Daughter' refers to Annie), but when he checks his phone later Mikasa has put herself down as 'Raiding Buddy :)', which is so undeniably cute he almost drops the phone.

When he gets back to canteen he leaves straight away, waving distractedly to Mikasa as he drags Marco outside.

"What did she want?" Marco is almost more excited than he is.

Jean shushes him by grabbing his shoulders and shaking him. "She wants me to teach her how to play videogames!"

Marco nods enthusiastically. "Really? That's – oh, now I'm jealous."

"And since all my consoles and stuff are in my room..." he continues. Marco's face undergoes a rather pleasing shifting series of emotions.

"You're going to have a girl in your room?"

"I'm going to have a girl in my room."

Marco just stares at him, dumbstruck. Then he hugs him and knees him in the balls simultaneously.

"You're a real man!" Marco wails into his shoulder as Jean tries desperately to get his best friend off him. "You beat me!"

"Fu-" The bell cuts Jean off, and they almost get bowled over in a tide of humanity as the school surges out of the cafeteria.

During classes Jean finds it hard to pay attention, and his stuffy US history teacher, Mr. Shadis (otherwise known as Keef), gives him detention, but when he drives home he's still smiling. Then, he realises he has to clean his room, a feat he hasn't executed in six months.

He speeds the rest of the way home, almost breaks the front door when he barges in, and spends the remainder of the evening wailing about polish.

Classes the next day alternate between passing unbearably slowly and far too quickly. Marco keeps poking him, but Jean is unresponsive; he only reacts when Bertholdt tells him his shoelaces are untied, in response to which Jean automatically trips. He emerges unscathed, apart from almost knocking Christa over. Mostly, he only notices Mikasa teasing her friends and Eren's cool eyes on him.

When school is over, he waits outside the front door. Marco is delayed, but he isn't complaining about that like he normally would. Mikasa materialises promptly, Marco on her tail. She's laughing at something Marco is saying, and Jean feels a small knot of jealousy harden in his stomach. It isn't anything malevolent, really; he just envies Marco's easy way with people. Jean tends to stumble on his words, mispronounce things, and swear when he shouldn't.

"Look, there's the man of the moment!" Marco waves at him haphazardly; in reply, Jean weakly raises his hand. Anxiety has sapped all his energy.

Mikasa grins at him as she catches up to his pace. He tries to moderate his stride length; his lanky legs mean he tends to walk faster than others, but Mikasa doesn't need his help to walk alongside him. "You have that grey VW, don't you?"

"It goes, that's all I'll say," Jean admits, rubbing the back of his head. "I wanted a motorcycle, but..."

Mikasa grimaces. "They're not as good as they look."

"You have a bike?" Okay, that came out of nowhere.

"Armin and I fixed one up this summer." She sighs. "It wasn't a great one, and Armin and I aren't exactly top-class mechanics, so maybe that's why it broke down all the time. In the end, Eren tried to sneak out one night on it and we found him in the middle of night five hours away on the highway with a broken Honda and a concussion."

He can't help it; he laughs, and Marco joins in. Mikasa's grin grows wicked. "He's still paying us back for the damages... even though we ripped him off."

Marco pats her back. "This girl has entrepreneurial spirit! I like it! Waaaait, there's your car." He proceeds to take off like a bullet. Mikasa looks a little shocked.

"Marco's on the track team," Jean explains, "so he takes every chance he can to practice... aaaand he got shotgun. Do you mind sitting in the back?"

She shakes her head. "I like sitting in the back. More room, you know?"

By then, they've gotten to the car, and Jean wrestles with the lock for a few seconds before finally bursting it open. Marco dives into the car, but Mikasa lowers herself in all ladylike, even if she does show a lot more toned leg than a modest pair of denim cut-offs should allow.

The car starts easily for once, and Marco fiddles with the radio, managing the get the right station without abusing it. Mikasa rests her feet on centre console, bottle green Chucks knocking against his elbows. She takes her feet down quickly when he glances at her, but he waves dismissively at her and she puts them up again.

Jean manages to calm down somewhat while driving, but he still drums his fingers nervously on the wheel. Marco is twisted back around talk to Mikasa, who is talking animatedly, hands drawing invisible pictures.

When Marco gets out (one of his little sisters tries to crawl inside the car and onto Jean's lap to get a hug) he leaves him and Mikasa alone in the car. Luckily, the drive to his house is relatively short.

Mikasa breaks the silence. "Does Marco have a lot of brothers and sisters?"

Jean pauses to think. "Around... five? His mom's a nurse and he's the oldest, so he helps out around the house a lot."

"Hmm..." Mikasa stays deep in thought for the rest of the drive.

When they reach his house (a craftsman, natch), he cuts the engine and lets the car roll free for a few seconds before braking.

"Welcome to mi casa! ...Sorry, that was bad."

She flaps her hand. "I've heard worse."

As per usual, neither one of his parents are at home. His older brother is probably around somewhere, but Jean doesn't really know what Cam does nowadays. Ever since his brother came back from Iraq, he's been like a completely different person.

He tosses his bag onto the couch and Mikasa does the same. "C'mon, this way," he tells her, and Mikasa follows him without hesitation, up the stairs, down the corridor and into his room.

His room is actually kinda nice, he admits. There's a big window bisecting one wall, a low couch just under it; across from it, at the base of his double bed, are his TV and various gaming detritus. The walls are plastered with posters and certificates and ticket stubs and photos. A guitar leans against his desk, which is stacked with papers and highlighters and other implements associated with desperate high-school students. Yesterday, the floor was covered with a fine layer of discarded socks and candy wrappers, but after a rigorous cleaning session the hardwood floor had been unearthed for the first time in half a year.

Mikasa collapses into his couch, legs flying up in the air. "You room is sweet!" she announces, promptly hopping up to inspect the TV.

"I used to share it with my brother, but when he left I got sole custody, and when he came back, I refused to relinquish my claim." Jean makes a face. "Sharing a room is torture, especially if your brother leaves mouldy coffee mugs everywhere."

She winces. "Oh, Eren does that all the time." She then lets out a squeal. "It turns on all touchy!" She waves he finger in front of the Xbox's power button, getting more excited every time in turns on and off without her actually touching the button. "Waaait, that's probably bad for it..." She springs back as if shocked by electricity. "Stop laughing!" She pouts at him.

"I've never seen someone get so excited over a power button..." he comments, letting out a huff of laughter.

"Eren's doesn't do that... Is yours newer?" She roots around and emerges with a controller.

"Marco broke my old one in a multiplayer match against Bertholdt and Reiner," Jean admits, shuffling through a pile of games and managing to find the one he wants. He tosses it to Mikasa, who catches it nimbly.

"Tomb Raider?" She flips the box over. "I've seen the movies..."

"I thought it'd be good to start with – it has good controls, a decent plot, all that." He turns the TV on, and after a few moments fiddling, Mikasa slips the game into the tray. "And, of course, Lara Croft, First Lady of gaming."

Mikasa grabs the controller and flops into the couch, watching the logo flicker up on screen. Her face is a little unsettled.

"You okay?"

"...What if I'm bad?" Her eyes study the controller.

"Everyone's bad at videogames. The better ones just play a lot." She gives him a small smile, selects New Game, and Lara's English accent begins to echo around the room. "A famous explorer once said that the extraordinary is in what we do, not who we are..."

It's funny watching Mikasa react to the game. She winces at Lara's injuries; one memorable moment is the hip-impaling at the very beginning. Mikasa drops the controller and lets out a sympathetic groan of pain. "They abuse her!" she cries.

"There's worse," Jean says ominously. "Much worse."

There are lots more moments, like the QTEs where the man stabs her and the rock crushes her, but it is all worth it for the moment where the title of the game comes up across a gorgeous seascape vista; Mikasa's jaw actually drops. Then, she falls off a cliff.

Two or three hours later, Mikasa's phone chirps. Mikasa swears under her breath as Lara barely scrambles out of the way of one of the shield soldiers. "I hate these!" she explodes, just before he stabs her. She throws her controller down and sighs, before noticing the light beside her. "Oh, my phone...?" Jean moves over and snags the controller, exits to the menu, and quits; they just hit a checkpoint at the Base Exterior, so it doesn't matter that much.

"It's... six?" She looks rather shocked, phone slipping out of her hand.

"Time flies when you're having fun." Jean stands up and stretches, not noticing how Mikasa's eyes flicker to the strip of skin the motion bares. "Do you have to go now?"

She waves her phone vaguely. "Yeah, Eren's collecting me soon." Her hand drops. "Actually, I don't want to leave... You're a good game guide, you know that?"

Jean does a stupid pose, flexing him arm. "Just call me Jean 'Gamefaqs' Kirchtein!" Mikasa snickers as she stands up.

"Same time, same place in two days?" she asks as they walk down the stairs.

"It's a date," he says without thinking, but Mikasa looks oddly pleased.

"I'll be there."

Again, no one is in the kitchen, so they get out without incident. Jean waits with Mikasa on the curb. They don't talk, but the silence is companionable; Mikasa tips her head back and admires the stars, and Jean shoves his hands in his pockets and watches her. Her face is mostly neutral, but her eyes are shining.

"Jean...?"

"Hmm?"

"Thank you."

He is saved from having to respond by Eren's arrival. Mikasa hugs him briefly, and gets into the car quickly.

"Kirschtein?"

"Jaeger?" Jean is immediately put on edge; there is no love lost between him and Eren. There's nothing wrong with him, not necessarily, but their mindsets are totally different.

"...Nothing." And with that the cars sputters into life and speeds away. Jean doesn't look behind him as he goes back inside.

By Mikasa's fourth visit, they finish Tomb Raider. (Mikasa gets really happy at the grenade launcher bit.)

By her fifth, they have completed Portal. ("So this is where the cake thing came from?")

By her tenth, they've made their way through Bioshock. (Jean has to do the injection bits for her.)

The gaming goes on; Jean gets to revisit the seventh console generation through new, increasingly loud eyes. Catherine, Gears of War, Katamari Damacy, Call of Duty, Final Fantasy, Borderlands, Tales, Fable... the list goes on and on and on until he starts borrowing games from Marco, from Reiner, even from Connie. On one long weekend they marathon the entire Assassin's Creed series, from trippy heaven sequence to moustache sage. At the end of III, Mikasa cries.

(Jean does too, but Mikasa isn't telling.)

It's fascinating, though, watching her slowly come out of her shell as she completes mission after mission. Mikasa has a reputation as something of an ice queen, no matter how cliché that is. She's far more reserved than her friends, and doesn't makes trouble in class. Jean doesn't think he's seen her ever not complete an assignment, and as for missing a day of school... she hasn't done that either. She's kinda like a robot, even if she is a rather pretty one.

But Mikasa is not beautiful in the normal sense. Her jaw line is angular, her shoulders are wide, and her waist is thickened by muscle. None of that really matters all that much to Jean because when she smiles, he feels dizzy, and when she laughs, he feels sick.

In a good way.

Maybe he should go to a doctor?

The Tuesday after the marathon Jean sits beside Marco as he always does, pushing his lunch around. Marco is scribbling furiously in German on a sheet of paper, words sloping crazily up and down.

"Long night?" After Mikasa left Jean stayed up stupidly late trying to finish his homework, but Marco looks worse than he does.

"Mom had to do a 24-hour shift again," his friend mutters, adding in umlauts with such vehemence he almost stabs straight through the paper. "I had to help Martin with that nature project, I had to make dinner, and then Marcy got sick so I had to stay up with her..." His head tips forward. "Did you get me coffee?"

Jean shoves it towards him; Marco picks it up and chugs it, heedless of how hot it is. Jean ignores him and gets started on his roll.

There is a thump, and the babble of voices hushes. Jean looks up as discreetly as he can, and from beneath his eyelashes he spots a pair of bright green eyes.

Jean doesn't know why he hates Eren; he just does. It stems from childhood spats and teenage fights and has become near-adult loathing. Originally Eren used to be so intense that it turned Jean off him, but now...

About a year ago, the Jaegers' house burned down. Only Mikasa, Eren and his mom were inside. The two teenagers escaped, but Karla Jaeger did not. Ever since, Eren has gone totally off the rails; he's even been imprisoned. There are rumours of teenage gangs spearheaded by 'that Jaeger kid', and there are rumours that he's in with the mobs and can regularly be found in nightclub bathrooms snorting coke off models, but all Jean sees is a desperate boy clinging to his sister. Wasted potential. You can't destroy energy, but Eren damn near has.

"Yo." Eren waves his hand in front of his face. "You look pretty tired. Busy night?" There's a sneering tone in his voice that makes Jean's hackles rise.

"Yeah... I would sleep in class, but that'd be more your territory." Jean takes another bite, slow and deliberate. Marco stops writing, pen dangling uselessly over the page.

"Huh." Eren leans back, steel-capped toes banging into Jean's legs. "What'd you do last night?"

The urge to say 'your sister' is so strong. "Played games," he says evasively, surveying the space round him. A ring of boys has formed around their table, jaws collectively dropped; nobody in the canteen is even talking. Over at the girls' table Mikasa's back is turned to him as Sasha gesticulates wildly in front of her. Marco's mouth is pressed into a thin line.

"With?" Jean knows he's being led on, but everything about Eren is incredibly infuriating to him right now, from the curl of his lip to his unlaced boots. "Your boyfriend?" Marco drops his pen.

So like the moron he is, he rises to the bait. "No, actually. Your sister."

"Shit," he hears Connie hiss. Eren's face drops.

"About that..." Eren stands up. "Maybe you should stop."

"Why?" Jean matches his glare and stands up too. "Who died and made you her mom?"

Something in Eren snaps, and he grabs Jean's collar and yanks him towards him. Even though he looks skinny Jaeger's actually pretty strong, and as his shirt digs into his trachea he feels his face begin to go red. Jean grabs his hands and tries to pushes him off, but Eren isn't budging. "You," Eren snarls, "Are not allowed near Mikasa. Filth like you-"

"Aren't you the fucking filth here?" Maybe it's the lack of oxygen to his brain, but what Jean says next is idiocy of titanic proportions. "Cutting class, doing drugs, going to juvie...What would your mom think if she saw you like this? "

Eren throws him clean across the room, and Jean crashes through a knot of teenage boys to slam into the wall; he actually slides down the wall. It's like someone has turned up the volume as the canteen erupts into roars and shrieks. When Jean weakly raises his hand to the back of his head, it comes away red.

"You!" When he looks up, he swears he's hallucinating. Peaceful, pacifist Marco has hoisted Eren up by the scruff of his neck and is shaking him violently. "How-"

"Allow me." Mikasa materialises out of nowhere, and she looks absolutely furious. She pulls Eren away from Marco, hooking her arm around his neck and dragging him out the door; the bang of the door as it swings shut sounds like gunfire. Jean tries to stand up, but Marco catches him before he falls again.

"Come on." Marco pulls him up, and Jean lets himself be dragged. His ears are ringing, his vision is blurred and he feels like his muscles are made of wet paper.

Levi is clearing away the crowd, but pauses when he sees them. "Get him down to the nurse, Bodt. I'll handle this."

"Yes, sir." And with that Marco hauls him out of the canteen, and down to the nurse. There's a moderate amount of fussing, but as it transpires he isn't all that badly injured. He does get off the rest of the day's classes, which is nice, since he hasn't studied for that US History test at all.

The nurse has left the office when the door creaks open. Jean doesn't try to stand up; he feels better, but not that much better.

"Jean?" Mikasa's head pops inside the doorway.

Jean waves his arm around, and she takes this as permission to enter. She perches herself on the end of the bed, and with difficulty Jean manages to sit up. Her fists are clenched, and her knuckles are white.

"I'm sorry about earlier." Her head bows as she says this, and her hair falls forward to hide her face.

"Don't." Jean reaches out and pushes her hair aside; she looks up at him, shocked. To be honest, Jean feels the same way. His thumb hooks in under her jawbone. "Eren's to blame, isn't he?"

She nods, hand settling over his where it cups her cheek. "I just... I feel responsible for him. Ever since..."

"His mom?" he prompts.

"Yeah... he hasn't been the same. I've tried everything I can, but I think it's up to Eren, now." She bites her lip, and pulls away from him; his hand falls limply to his side. "See you tomorrow?"

He gives her a thumbs-up; stifling a giggle, she vacates the room. Jean collapses back onto the bed and stretches his hand up.

The hand that touched her face. Holy shit.

He really is whipped, isn't he?

The evening after next, while attempting to put stupid stickers all over Mikasa's Sackboy in Little Big Planet, all Jean can think is "Worth it."

The next Monday their physics teacher, Zoe the Zealous, is sick so for once they get a free class, which is nice, because if Jean had to endure another anti vs. auntie joke he might have snapped. Marco doesn't do physics, claiming that he is allergic to maths, so Jean generally sits beside Armin. This is nice, because Armin actually understands physics and helps him out when he can't figure out how to convert electronvolts to megaelectronvolts. He's like a blond, portable logbook.

Reiner and Annie sit in front of them, Reiner snorting angrily at his book while Annie stares off into space. Knowing her, she probably has tons of homework to complete but she won't do it; the teachers are too scared of her to make her turn in assignments.

"Hey, Armin!" Reiner swivels around. "I don't get this equation, why is it a surd?"

"You're supposed to square here," Armin explains, tapping the scribbled numbers with his pen. "And then you just factorize."

Reiner nods hurriedly, amending his work according to Armin's instructions. "Yeah... Yo, Jean!" Reiner's eyes land on him and Jean's back stiffens. Reiner isn't cruel or a bully, but he has a tendency to ask blunt questions that can get him and others into trouble. "How's Mikasa?"

The entire class tenses, all eyes focused on Jean. This is the quietest he has ever heard his classmates.

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" Jean finishes writing out a quote (I will deny thee nothing) and looks up from his essay on Othello.

Reiner grimaces, and Annie's shoulders hunch. Armin isn't even blinking.

"Everyone knows you like her." Annie's voice is neutral and expressionless.

"So?" Jean drops his pen. "It isn't exactly top secret."

Annie lets out a 'tch!', but doesn't say anything else. Reiner turns around robotically, and the rest of the class lapse into muffled conversation. He can feel Armin's eyes on him, and his pen digs into the meat of his thumb.

"Jean..." Armin isn't talking in his usual mauted voice. "I'm glad you're Mikasa's friend. She's... happier, nowadays." Even if Eren isn't, Jean hears behind his words.

"I'm glad that you approve." Armin laughs shakily, and gets back to work. Jean tries to concentrate on Iago and dastardly co., but the words won't come. Frustrated, he stuffs the essay into his bag and leaves the room.

The radiator outside is for once void of students, so he takes the opportunity to sit on it and get warm, a state of being which is rare in his school. With everyone else in class, the school feels dead.

Except, of course, for one exception.

"Kirschtein." Eren is curled up on a bench at the other end of the corridor, a lump of red plaid and worn denim. He stands up and begins to make his way down the corridor.

"Jaeger." Jean doesn't look up, pulling his phone out of his pocket.

"What you doing out of class?" For once Eren sounds friendly, even though his eyes are still doing that 'intense madman green' thing.

"Free physics. You?"

"I got kicked out of maths."

Jean laughs, but not unkindly. "I don't blame you... La La Levi is a hardass."

There is silence, punctuated by the creak of a door and the distant roar of a teacher. Eren's brow is furrowed, like he's fighting some mental battle.

"Look, Kirschtein..." Eren sighs.

"Yeah?" Jean glances at him, fighting hard not to glare.

"... I'm sorry for being so weird about Mikasa." Jean raises an eyebrow at him. "She's had it hard, so I guess I was worried. She always protects me, so I thought it was my turn, but..."

"She doesn't need protecting."

Eren nods in relief. "Yeah! But if you do hurt her..." Eren grabs Jean's hand, and he almost yells when Eren presses his hand against the back of the radiator, where it is hottest. "You'll be in much worse pain than that."

"I get it! Let me go!" Jean gasps, and when Eren releases his hand he pulls it to his chest, fingers reddened. "Fuck, you're crazy! What the shit has Levi been teaching you?"

The other boy begins to respond, but the bell screeches and the corridors instantly fill, sweeping Eren away.

Later on, as Mikasa makes Master Chief blast Grunts into oblivion, Jean thinks. Not about his sore hand or Eren's acceptance, but something else.

A hard time?

Jean knows hard times well, what with his PTSD-suffering brother and corporate parents, but he doesn't know about Mikasa. He knows she lives with Eren and his father but that's it; otherwise, her private life is a mystery.

"Mikasa?"

"Mmm?" Her hair is scraped back into a stubby ponytail and locks of hair spring out from behind her ears; she pushes them back during load screens.

"Why do you live with Eren?"

To her credit, she doesn't flinch, or even pause the game.

He backpedals. "I mean, if you don't want to tell me-"

"No, it's fine." She brings up the map and studies it. "My parents... well, my mom's Japanese, and my dad's American, but my grandparents are very traditional and didn't like them getting married." Master Chief crouches behind a truck to barely dodge some fire. "But when my Japanese grandfather got sick, fifteen years of silence didn't matter. Kaachan and dad went over to care for him and my grandmother, but they didn't want to interrupt my schooling, so they left me behind to stay with Doctor Jaeger. Also, my Japanese is kinda terrible." She makes a mad dash for the exit. "When my grandfather died, my grandmother wouldn't let my parents leave. She's scared to live on her own. So they officially emigrated and left me behind again... I don't think they'll ever come back." She sighs as the game over screen floats up and she puts the controller to the side. "But lately, they've been asking me to join them."

"And you don't want to?"

She shakes her head. "I'm happy here. I have friends, I have family, and I have a future. Moving would be senseless." She smiles tiredly. "Now, d'you mind showing me how to do this bit?"

Later on, when Eren is due to pick her up, they stand in the shadow of the porch. Clouds scud across the sable sky, illuminated by a gibbous moon.

"Jean..." Mikasa shifts beside him, and suddenly she is standing right beside him, side pressed into his. "I'm glad you asked." She leans up to kiss his cheek and he goes into mental shut down, because holy shit. Is she blushing? She is, isn't she?

He must have gotten a blood rush or something, because everything after that is black. All he remembers is Mikasa clambering into Eren's car, and lying in his bed later with his hand pressed to his cheek.

As winter exams loom, his meetings with Mikasa become increasingly sporadic. There's so much study to do that even easygoing Marco is stressed, and Jean has to conduct several late night counselling sessions with him which mostly consist of his best friend bawling about college, jobs, etc. until Jean finally convinces him that the world won't actually end if he gets a C in geography.

Therefore, saying that he gets a surprise when Mikasa bursts into his room one day before the exams begin is something of an understatement.

"Mikasa...?" He drops his pen and turns around from his desk. She's breathing heavily, cheeks flushed, and for once she's actually wearing a skirt, maroon with thick black tights.

She grins at him rapturously, little dimples appearing in her cheeks. "Guess what?"

He shrugs, and she races over to him to drag him off his chair and dump him on his bed; he lands with a thud and Mikasa crouches down in front of him, nose almost touching his. "Eren challenged me to a match in Battlefield! I wish he picked something else, but whatever."

"And?" His knees lock unconsciously around hers.

"I completely dominated him... and he says now I can play games with him any time!" She bounces up and down, knees knocking against his.

"That's great!" She looks so ecstatic that he has to smile too.

Suddenly, Mikasa's face changes from elated to thoughtful. "... But I'd rather play with you."

Time stops as she pushes him back onto the bed and leans close to him. He can make out each individual eyelash, the flecks of black in her irises and-

She kisses him. Jean can't describe it, because whatever way he tries he'll just be doing the experience a disservice. He sits up and pulls her closer so that she is seated between his legs, skirt riding up.

When they break apart, his lips are swollen and Mikasa's eyes aren't quite focused. Her head falls onto his shoulder.

"Achievement unlocked!" she announces, voice muffled by his skin.

"That was bad." He winds a lock of her hair around his finger.

"Well, you're just gonna have to shut me up, aren't you?"

Jean does as he's told.

When he tells Marco the next day just before their English exam, he faints.