Thwack! Thwack!
Annie pounded on the punching bag hung in her garage mercilessly.
Thwack thwack thwack THWACK!
She performed a swift combination of moves, spinning on the balls of her feet like she was dancing. The door behind her opened, but she didn't turn around. Sweat was sliding over her skin, and she paused a moment to pat her face dry with a towel.
"We need to talk." Her father stated, still standing at the door.
Annie went back into her fighting stance, "Yeah." She let loose a volley of quick boxing strikes.
"You are hanging out with your so called 'friends' quite a lot lately. Boys, no less."
She kept her voice bored, but her quick punches evolved into stronger strikes, "So?"
"I don't want you hurt. Boys break hearts, and I don't ever want you to go through that."
"What if I break hearts, not them?" She questioned, wondering why she didn't deny that hearts weren't a part of this at all.
Her father took a moment to respond. "That's no good either, Annie. You can't just go around hurting people- you aren't like everybody else."
Annie stopped mid-swing and grabbed the punching bag to stop it's swinging. "What makes me different from everybody else? I'm still scum like them."
"No you aren't! Annie Leonhardt is my daughter, and she is so much better than the bastards in this town!" He father seethed.
"Yeah, just because I'm your daughter?" She turned her face so she could watch him out of the corner of her eye. "That's awfully presumptuous of you to think you can raise a daughter that goes against humanity's natural scummy nature. Do you think you are better than everyone else?"
"No, no I'm not- but I am sure you are-"
Annie whirled on her father, "I am not! I am a horrible person who hasn't made one good friend her whole life! Can't you let me enjoy what little fun I'm having now? I don't care if they betray me- I can't be alone anymore!"
"Annie… You aren't alone, you always have me, you don't need anyone else."
"I don't want you!" Annie seethed as she shoved passed her father. She grabbed mp3 as she passed the table where she dumped her school bag. She slammed the door viciously and sprinted away from her house. She just needed to get out- this wasn't new.
She easily slowed into her distance running pace, and was glad she had already stretched before boxing. She was still feeling a little tense. On a whim, she takes a turn that isn't on her usual run to distract herself.
Why was her father such a pain? She wasn't perfect, not even close. He was an idiot for thinking that she wasn't scum. She was plenty capable of making her own choices, anyway and she isn't a child anymore, for fuck's sake. Can't he keep his nose out of her business? He was so damn annoying-
Annie was shocked out of her thoughts when suddenly something zoomed into the corner of her vision. She jumped slightly- because she was already worked up- and watched as the person ran ahead of her easily.
Who the fuck runs that fast? Annie thought. Then as she looked closer she noticed the silky black hair, perfect skin, and womanly but muscular stature. It could only be Mikasa Ackerman. Subconsciously Annie increased her speed to catch up, but she didn't seem to be getting any closer. She picked up her pace again, and watched as Mikasa adjusted just enough to keep Annie behind her. It was like that, was it? Annie increased her speed again, breaking into a sprint. Mikasa did the same without even glancing back. Annie pumped her legs furiously, but her shorter stature was putting her at a disadvantage. No matter how fast she made herself go, Mikasa matched it easily.
By now, Annie was about to reach her limit. Being in great shape didn't mean she could full out sprint for a mile after boxing that morning. Mikasa suddenly turned a corner and slowed to a stop in a driveway. Confused Annie automatically followed her. Huffing, she put her hands on her head to prevent a side-stich and watched as Mikasa wiped the glowing sweat from her face. Annie's hate for Mikasa was growing. She wasn't vain, but anyone would get jealous of someone who looked so attractive after working out so hard. She made every other girl on the planet look like pigs.
Mikasa spoke, "You're fast." Annie was too peeved and winded to respond, although she was pleased to hear Mikasa was out of breath too. "Come on." She said, and then walked up the driveway and into the open garage without looking back.
Annie hesitated a moment, but ended up following behind. Mikasa led her into the house and grabbed two glasses out of the cabinets and started to fill them with water from the tap. Annie glanced around in a way that wasn't nosey, but curioius. She assumed this must be Mikasa and Eren's house, and she confirmed it when she saw a family photo of the adopted siblings and a blonde man who must be their father. The house was small and homey, and was very cluttered with papers and folded clothes.
"Sorry about the mess." Mikasa offered Annie the glass of water and she took it gratefully.
"Mikasa! Ay, Mikasa, you back?" A grown man poked his head into the kitchen. He was the same blonde man from the picture. "Oh!" he exclaimed when he saw Annie. "A friend! How rare! I'm Hannes, Mikasa's guardian." He stuck out his hand enthusiastically.
"Annie." She shook his hand twice. Guardian? Not just parent or adoptive parent? She'd have to investigate that later. Annie noticed Mikasa was looking a little softer in her house- she actually relaxed her scowl.
"Annie! Eren's mentioned you, that boy. You beat him up right?"
Annie was a little worried she would be kicked out of the house before she got to finish her water, but she nodded anyway. No use in lying.
To her surprise Hannes broke out into a bellowing laugh, "Good, good! He needs a woman in his life who'll beat on him when he deserves it. Mikasa is to easy on him."
Mikasa grabbed Annie's wrist and tugged her past her guardian, "Hurry up." Annie could have sworn she saw a light blush on the girl's cheeks.
Annie was pulled up a narrow stairway and into what appeared to be a boy's room- it was covered in video game posters and mech action figures. "MIKASA GET OUT OF THE FUCKING WAY! I'M ABOUT TO BEAT- SHIT, WOMAN! YOU MADE ME DIE!" Eren bellowed from his beanbag in front of his TV and game system. He jumped up and got in his sister's face, "Get out of my room, would you? Let me enjoy my weekends in peace, killing people." Mikasa just gestured with her head towards Annie.
He jumped when he saw her, "Ah! Sorry Annie, I was in the middle of, um, just-"
"Grand Theft Auto V?"
His demeanor automatically changed, "You know what it is? Do you play? Wanna add me on-"
"I don't." Annie cut him off before he could really get on a roll.
"Oh. Okay." He said dejectedly. "Wanna try it, at least?"
OOOO
Three hours later, she was still in Eren's room, but now they were playing Wii games. Mikasa always won, no surprise, but after Annie learned how the controls worked, she gave Eren a run for his money, which made him very frustrated, and very amusing.
Without realizing it, she had taken to taunting him- making it appear like he could win, but pulling a big stunt at the last moment and humiliating him. It gave him just enough confidence he never gave up, but made him mad enough he became like a curse dictionary.
Deciding that she was thirsty again, Annie stood. "Can I have a drink?"
"Yeah, yeah, just go down and help yourself." Eren muttered, enthralled in his game. She looked to Mikasa who just shrugged her shoulders. Annie rolled her eyes and started down to the kitchen. She felt a little weird poking around in their freezer, but she really wanted something sugary like a soda.
She heard the garage door opening and glanced over, expecting Hannes to be walking in, but was surprised to see Armin. He didn't notice her at first, and was taking his shoes off when she greeted him, "Hey."
"Hey- Annie!" His eyes widened when he finally realized who she was. "What are you doing here?"
She popped the lid to her coke and thought. What was she doing here? "Getting a drink." Might as well be literal. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, I was bored, and I stop in all the time. It's like a second home here."
They heard a loud yell of "FUCKING SHIT! ASSWIPE! DAMNIT!" Coming from upstairs.
Armin smiled, but still managed to look worried, "Eren's got you playing video games?"
"Yeah."
"How long have you been at it?"
"Three hours."
Armin cringed. "I'm sorry. He gets carried away."
"I don't mind, I beat him every time."
Armin smiled, "Then you'd really whoop me."
"That's okay with me." Annie closed the refrigerator and started back up to Eren's room, and Armin followed. Suddenly Annie was aware that she had been sitting in her own sweaty-ness for the past three hours. She probably smelled like shit. She hadn't really been that aware around the others, but Armin just gave off cleanly vibes. Would he be disgusted?
Annie practically swooped into Eren's room and sat in his desk chair that was on the opposite side of the room from the bean bags- but Armin didn't sit in a bean bag, he plopped on the bed right next to her.
"Hello, Armin." Mikasa greeted.
"Huh? Eren glanced away from his game, "Oh, hey Armin."
"Hi guys. Are we still planning on shopping today, or…?"
"Can we just send Annie with her? I don't want to go dress shopping. I'm a man."
"Send me where?" Annie inquired, annoyed she was being volunteered.
"Homecoming dress shopping." Armin supplied. "I don't really want to go either, but Mikasa doesn't really have girl friends to go with, other than you."
Annie thought about that for a second. She supposed it was true, for as beautiful and perfect as Mikasa was, she had a hard time making friends because of their jealously and her rough personality. And then she took a second to be surprised about being considered Mikasa's friend. Rival was a better term.
"You can get a dress too, while you're there." Eren added. "Fun girl stuff, right?"
"I'm not going to homecoming."
"Oh, you can come with us as a group. It's really fun. Even Mikasa has a good time, right?" Armin leans back against the wall as he talks.
Mikasa looks away, and Annie can only take it as a conformation, Mikasa really does have fun at the dances. How many things was Annie going to get dragged into by this group? She could already tell Armin was preparing his tactis to convince her to go. She can't resist his pleading, so she decided to not waste her time.
"Fine. Whatever. I'll go."
"But it really is a good time- wait, what?"
"I said I'll go." Annie averted her eye from his, for some reason she had the urge to blush. She had a feeling she was going to be blushing a lot soon.
Hello all! Sorry for the two week gap. School's a bitch. but hey, 2000 words. Anyway, I got a little stuck, and then I realized how much I use from my own life for this story. Like it happens constantly. Annie's music choices are my music choices, I wanted to go to the local amusement park, the gang went to an amusement park, GTA V came out, I don't even play it, but it gets mentioned. I'm going to homecoming, the gang gets to go to homecoming. It's very odd to realize suddenly, but it makes sense.
Notice: I don't think this responding to reviews by PM thing is working out for me. I'm changing back to putting it at the bottom of chapters, unless people have problems with it. If i miss you this reply section, let me know, because I started to reply by PM but stopped halfway through because it's a hassle. I am NOT saying I dislike PM's, I like talking to you people, I just don't like responding with three word replies for one PM. So here they are:
Dicliounous57: He is. His heart is kinda in the right spot, but he is a littttttle crazy.
Wanxers: Glad I could get a review out of you X)
Gamekrazy306: Thank you! I tried to keep them as in character as possible. Of course some personality trait would change when they aren't in a world of human eating beasts, but mostly they are the same.
towiaayudothat: Wow, glad you had high expectations haha jk. Yeah, without the threat of something eating them, they need some sort of conflict, right? Oh my goodness, when I write the eventually first kiss ill be fangirling at myself.
Kinkitsune01: Yay, glad you like it! Did you find it on Archive of Our Own? Because I do have an account there, but if you found it anywhere else I didn't put it up and Ill have to break out the ass-kicking.
fmdpjdrf: Your username is the most random thing ever. Just saying. And yeah, I'm trying to make her a softie on the inside, like a charred marshmallow.
Thank you so much everyone!
~Goldflame