Disclaimer: I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan). I write this for your enjoyment only. I also write this for two of my reviewers, Maesde and Dragonball256, who requested a jealousy, love-triangle type story between Eren, Mikasa, and Annie. This story takes place during their trainee days with the rest of the 104thCorps. It is also my take on how Eren and Mikasa finally admit that they are indeed attracted to each other so enjoy and please review!
The Games We Play
"Oof!" Eren yelped as he was being tackled to the ground by his 'trainer', Annie Leonhart. As soon as he was on his back, the blonde girl sat on top of him, her icy-blue eyes glinting triumphantly even though not a hint of emotion betrayed her delicate features. It took all of Mikasa's willpower not to scream at Annie to get the hell off of Eren since she knew such an outburst would create an awkward situation with so many members of their squad watching. She also felt that something wasn't right since this must be the hundredth time Eren lost to Annie and it wasn't like him to fall for the same trick twice, let alone a hundred times. It was almost as if Eren was deliberately holding back and letting the blonde girl win.
But why? Mikasa wondered as she tried to keep her temper in check. I know he can fight better than this. Does he find being dominated by a woman some kind of turn-on?
Now that she thought about it, Eren almost always lost to the girls whenever training in hand-to-hand combat while he almost always beat the guys and easily too; it couldn't be coincidence as far as Mikasa was concerned. Perhaps Eren was capable of beating practically anyone in their squad, herself included, but purposely loses to anyone he chooses to and the fact that he did not think to balance his victories and losses between male and female opponents was a dead-giveaway to Mikasa, even if no one else in their squad appears to notice.
"Good match, Jaeger" Annie said coolly as she offered her hand to help Eren up. "You look like you've got quite a way to go before you can best me, but you're getting there."
As she said this, Annie remained expressionless but Mikasa was still able to catch the excitement in her icy-blue eyes from her close physical contact with Eren. Not just from pinning him down, but also with every time she touched him as well, no matter how slight; the eyes of jealousy were very sharp, after all. No one could see the desire in Annie's eyes whenever she looked upon Eren but Mikasa alone. And while she used to dismiss the blonde girl's feelings for her foster brother as one-sided, Mikasa was now starting to have doubts since he was proud of his combat skills yet uttered not a word of complaint even after being beaten by Annie for the hundredth time.
Mikasa watched as Eren simply smiled in gracious acknowledgement of his defeat and said "Thank you, Annie. I appreciate it. And as much as I'd love to stick around, it looks like I'll have to be retiring earlier than usual since you've left me quite sore."
Although Eren appeared to sound like he was simply making an excuse to leave, Annie took it as an invitation. "I have some knowledge of massage therapy that my mother taught me. Would you like me to help you relieve some tension?"
Before Eren could answer, Mikasa cut in. "You need not trouble yourself, Annie. I will take care of Eren" she said, more harshly then she intended as she shot her foster brother a look that told him she wasn't really giving him a choice in the matter and not wanting to create an awkward scene, he gave in.
"I appreciate the offer, Annie, but like Mikasa says, you need not trouble yourself; I'm sure you must be tired from training as well so the last thing you need is more work taking care of me."
The blonde girl closed her eyes and lowered her head as if trying to hide what Eren and Mikasa thought was a look of disappointment. "Very well, have a good night, you two. Until next time." And with that, Annie turned and left with the small crowd of spectators following suit now that the show was over.
When they were finally alone, Eren looked like he wanted to say something to Mikasa, probably question her actions regarding Annie, but his foster sister did not give him a chance. Before he could say a word, she roughly grabbed him by the arm and half-led, half-dragged him to a dark corner outside the female barracks.
"Hey, what's the big idea?!" Eren demanded as soon as they were alone and away from the earshot of the others.
"I believe I'm the one who should be asking you that!"
Eren blinked "I beg your pardon?"
"Don't play dumb with me! I've watched you and Annie train God knows how many times and she always manages to get the best of you which looks very suspicious to me because I know you can fight better than that!"
"Whatever do you mean?"
"Is that supposed to fool me, Eren?"
Oh man, a guy just can't win...he thought but instead insisted:
"Look, there's nothing to fool you about, I swear!"
Mikasa glared at him for a moment before scoffing in exasperation and storming away. Either Eren was playing the fool or he really was dense because she didn't know what else to say that wouldn't give her true feelings away.
Later that night, Mikasa left the female barracks in her white nightdress to go for a walk around the camp when she finally realized that sleep wasn't going to come easy, especially after everything that happened that day. Thankfully, it was summer and the evenings were warm enough to walk outside without a sweater or coat. Looking further out, Mikasa noticed that a small campfire was lit outside and that there was someone tending to it. As she approached the fire, she noticed that it was none other than Eren sitting on a log before it, poking at the flames with a stick. Like her, he was also out of uniform and clad in a light tan shirt and brown pants, possibly his sleepwear.
Upon hearing her approaching footsteps, he turned and was surprised to see the very person whose displeasure he was on the receiving end of earlier that evening.
"Mikasa? What are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be sleeping?"
"I could say the same of you" she replied coolly.
Eren regarded his foster sister curiously. Part of him was relieved that she seem no longer upset but part of him also wanted to demand an explanation for her outburst towards him earlier. Unfortunately, he wasn't sure how to go about it in a way that wouldn't make her explode again which was the last thing he wanted since that would surely wake their sleeping comrades. So in the end, he decided it was better not to bring it up at all and instead said "I couldn't sleep. I suppose I'm still a bit sore from training today but I guess it can't be helped. If it's not too much to ask, Mikasa, could you please squeeze my shoulders a bit? It would make me feel a lot better."
As he asked this, Eren held his breath while waiting for Mikasa's answer and hoped she wouldn't bring up the incident with Annie offering to relieve him of tension now that he was asking her to do it. To his relief, his foster sister silently granted his request as she took a seat beside him on the log and made a gesture for him to face her. After Eren complied, Mikasa gently placed her hands on the side of his arms and started to squeeze them, using her fingers to feel for the knots in his muscles. So he wasn't lying about being sore at least which was good.
"It looks like Annie did a number on you…" she said quietly.
"Well, she is a good fighter…" Eren admitted as he relaxed and gave himself up to her care. He also had to admit that Mikasa could be incredibly gentle when she wasn't busy roughing him up.
"No more so then you…"
Eren regarded her curiously. "And just what are you getting at, Mikasa?"
"I find it hard to believe you can fall for the same trick so many times; even you are not that gullible."
Upon hearing the displeasure in Mikasa's voice, Eren had to fight to keep a huge grin from forming on his face. What she said was true; he was a better fighter than he let on but knew that wasn't what she was really upset about. Contrary to what Mikasa thought, Eren was aware of Annie's attraction to him even though his own interest in her did not go beyond appreciating her abilities and respecting her as a fellow soldier. Still, he had to see if his suspicions about his foster sister was correct…
"You're right, I'm not" he confessed "I simply didn't want to hurt her or any other girls of our squad."
"But you don't seem to mind hurting the guys."
"They can take it."
"And what makes you think we can't? Do you underestimate us simply because we're girls?"
"Not at all. I have only the utmost respect for all of you and your abilities. It's just that I'm too much of a gentleman to want to hurt a girl, especially if it's just for combat training…" Eren paused, waiting to see if Mikasa would take the bait; he was not to be disappointed.
"Any girl? Or Annie in particular?"
"Is that what's bothering you? Why would you be upset about me not wanting to hurt Annie? Unless…"
Mikasa raised an eyebrow "Unless what?"
Eren looked her in the eyes as he tried his hardest to resist smiling. "Unless… you're a little jealous…"
Mikasa's eyes flashed, almost dangerously, and for a moment, he thought she might clobber him, but remained calm even though he could see that it took quite a bit of effort on her part. "I don't experience jealousy…" she said matter-of-factly as if the very emotion was a petty thing that was beneath her.
"And why not?" Eren challenged "You're human, aren't you?"
As Mikasa massaged her way up his arms and shoulders to the sides of his neck and ears, she calmly insisted (even though he could tell it was forced) "I am not, in any way, jealous of you and Annie."
"Well, if not, you're sure doing a pretty good imitation of it."
"How so, Eren?"
"Your voice is tensing up; it's a dead giveaway."
"I didn't realize that you were an expert in vocal implications" his foster sister shot back in annoyance.
"I don't need to be an expert to read you."
Upon hearing that Mikasa looked like she was starting to crack and Eren could not help but be pleased.
"Come on, admit it!"
She still refused "You're implying that I'm attracted to you."
"Yeah, well…that kind of goes along with the assumption, does it?" he asked sheepishly.
Mikasa smirked. Two can play this game.
"I think you're mistaken about who's attracted to whom" she replied coolly.
Now it was Eren's turn to raise an eyebrow. "Are you saying that I'm attracted to you?"
"I don't need to say it, you already have. Or at least something like it."
"Whoa, I don't remember us having this conversation…"
"We didn't. You and Jean did."
Eren stared at her in shock. Did she happened to overhear the conversation between him and their older comrade-in-arms the other day? He thought he made sure that he and Jean were alone when he pulled the older youth aside and told him to stay the hell away from Mikasa because she was his and no one else's. And of course, he wouldn't say such a thing if he thought of her only as a sister.
"Mikasa, were you eavesdropping?" he demanded.
Now it was Mikasa's turn to resist smiling. It wasn't hard for her to figure out why Eren didn't mind hurting their male comrades during combat training as well as why none of them dared to approach her even though she knew she piqued many of their interests, especially Jean's.
"Your voice is tensing up."
"Oh, so now you're the vocal expert?"
"I don't need to be an expert to read you."
"I can't believe this… I'm jealous of you and Jean?"
"Are you?"
"N-no, absolutely not!" Eren denied fiercely before calming down when he saw the way Mikasa was looking at him. She had been baiting him and he fell for it just like she fell for his earlier.
"Okay…so maybe… maybe I am a little jealous" he admitted.
"Which means you are attracted to me."
He stared at her as if he had no idea how to answer that so she simply said "It goes with the assumption."
Eren felt himself starting to crack and was about to make a sharp retort when Mikasa suddenly grabbed his face and crashed her lips onto his, catching him totally off guard. It looked like she was the one who cracked under their building tension first. The boy felt like his eyes would pop out of his head when he felt her lips upon his. He knew that this was not how a brother and sister is supposed to kiss. For the past six years they lived and acted as siblings but now they can no longer deny their attraction to each other because they knew they obviously weren't; they weren't fooling anyone, including themselves.
After recovering from his shock, Eren grabbed Mikasa by the shoulders and returned her kiss with a passion and were it not for the fact that they were outside and the possibility of their comrades hearing them and waking, he might have been tempted to take it further but finally had to force himself to stop.
"Mikasa… I think we should take this a little more slowly…" he began after he caught his breath. And for the first time in a long time, she actually agreed with him.
"Yes… you're right. It would be better to wait a bit before doing anything else" she said, a deep pink blush staining her cheeks and Eren could not help but smile. Mikasa looked so cute when she blushed and it was such a rare treat for him to see it since he didn't get to see that side of her often.
After the moment had passed, Eren said "It's getting late, perhaps we should turn in. I'm feeling much better so I think I'll finally be able to sleep now. Thank you for helping me, Mikasa."
The girl smiled, apparently happy that she had gotten something out of taking care of her foster brother, so much that Annie did not even cross her mind again, at least for tonight. "You're welcome, Eren, anytime. It looks like I'll be turning in too. Good night and I'll see you tomorrow."
"You too, Mikasa. Sweet dreams…"
Mikasa suppressed a giggle as she turned and ran back to the female barracks. Oh she was definitely going to have sweet dreams tonight all right...
A/N: So what do you think of my love triangle fic? Or more accurately, love square since it is apparent in the anime that Jean has a thing for Mikasa as well ^^ I want to thank my reviewers for suggesting this; I'm only sorry I couldn't think of anything better since there are already so many good Eren/Mika/Annie fics out there.