Author's Note xv. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Word Count: 1,921
Sasha returned from lunch to the courtyard to continue their dancing lessons. She wasn't going to lie, she found it extremely fun to mess about with her best friends while she and Connie plotted schemes with just eye contact and weird faces.
Their superiors returns, minus one Lillian, who always took naps after lunch. Hange returned to her seat next to the machine, a phonograph or gramophone, as Sasha had learned during lunch, and changed out the record.
Sasha glanced over at her best girl friend as she waited with the other cadets for Levi. Mikasa was absently chatting with Eren, and Sasha felt a twinge of frustration. She knew Mikasa had a crush on Eren; she just knew it. No one had told her, but she'd managed to figure out out.
There was the obvious, being that Mikasa only was in control of herself around Eren, and how in turn only he could coax emotions out of the stoic and reserved heroine. The way she clearly shielded him from anything that might come his way. Then there were the more subtle aspects of it, like how she'd learned to let him grow on his own. She was letting him go for the betterment of himself. How she never let that worn red scarf out of her sight.
Mikasa once told Sasha that she and Eren weren't romantically involved. When Sasha had pressed her for details, all Mikasa did was just… shut down. She covered her face with her scarf and talked to no one.
Sasha finally snapped out of her thoughts when she noticed Connie making weird faces at her.
What are you thinking about, Sash? He asked, and she poked her tongue out at him.
None of your business, nincompoop, is what it meant.
"So hostile," Connie laughed aloud, and winked at her for some reason.
Sasha gave him a playful shove, laughing along with him.
Connie went up on his tiptoes and tried leaning an elbow on Sasha's shoulder, miserably failing because of the height difference. "Really though, penny for your thoughts?" He asked in a low voice.
Sasha sighed and brushed him off. "I can see what's happening" She furiously whispered.
"What?" Connie began, but Sasha wasn't finished.
"And she hasn't got a clue!"
"Who?"
"She fell in love, and here's the bigger catch: he's blind to how she acts!"
"I still can't tell if we're talking about Eren and Mikasa or Jean and Levi's broomstick."
"Shut up and let me finish, Connie," Sasha quietly chided. They were far enough away from everyone so that only he could hear her. Strangely, her voice changed slightly, acquiring a recited tone to it, and it felt as though she were half-singing.
"Ze sweet caress of twilight; there's magic everywhere!"
"We're outside and everyone's swea-"
"Yet even with all this romantic atmosphere, no one seems to care."
Sasha sighed at the end of her strained whisper of a song. She was about to continue when their captain finally came outside.
"I wonder what took so long," she wondered aloud.
"Kids are a lot of work. Believe me, I have… erm… had…. two younger siblings," Connie replied, his voice slowly becoming incomprehensible towards the end. Sasha didn't push it; she knew grieving cycles took far longer than a mere six weeks.
"Hange, did you change the record?" Levi demanded, and Hange nodded, adopting a more formal posture. She began cranking the handle, and an upbeat tune faded in.
However, as soon as the words began playing, Sasha knew she was doomed. Her hands immediately flew to her ears, but she still winced as the lyrics pierced her eardrums.
"I hear your heartbeat to the beat of the drums,
"Oh, what a shame, that you came here with some-one~
"But while you're here in my arms,
"We'll make the most of the night like we're going to die young.
"We're going to die young."
Levi scrunched up his face and held up his hand, motioning for Hange to stop. When she didn't, he aggressively marched over and violently yanked the needle away from the still-spinning record, causing it to emit another zzzt! sound.
Sasha's ears were ringing, and she was positive that they'd never be the same again. I hope this doesn't affect my hunting skills, she thought, then suddenly felt claustrophobic. Not being able to hear everything around her made her feel unsafe and closed in. She didn't like it.
She noticed Connie giving her a concerned look, but she gave him a somewhat pained smile. Her ears would recover for the most part.
Levi took the record off the phonograph and snapped it in half. "Playing that is bad luck, I've decided," he said, and tossed the broken disc off to the side. Hange pouted slightly, but chose another random disc and began playing it.
"Jump into that water and see for yourself
"Take a deep breath and hold it in, hold it in."
Levi stopped the song again, but not to toss it out. He once again used Eren and Mikasa as his dancing dummies, teaching them the basics to something called "swing dancing."
Honestly, Sasha loved it. It was free-flowing and fast paced. Though she found it odd being dipped by someone half a head shorter than she, she enjoyed learning it. The fact that the song was played more or less on loop got rather annoying after a while, though.
The sun bathed the land in golden light when an idea dawned on Sasha on how to get Eren and Mikasa together.
"Hey Connie," she whispered as they stepped back and forth with the beat.
"Yeah, Sash?" he whispered back.
"I have an idea. You know that step where I sorta just get twirled out and then brought back in?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about, but continue."
"Just dance closer to Eren and Mikasa, and I'll do the rest. You'll see. I know what I'm doing." That last part was more of Sasha talking to herself, assuring herself that this wasn't a terrible idea in the slightest.
"Sasha, I swear to god, if you're trying to set them up…"
"What? It's not a bad idea, just trust me."
Connie grinned at her. "I never said it sounded like a bad idea."
The next few moments started out as though they were nothing, then slowed down when her time came.
"But liiife isss, 'oh my god, if I tell him," Sasha watched as Mikasa began to get dipped. She let go of Connie with one hand and began to spin away.
" 'He'll tell her." Sasha used her momentum and aimed a kick at Eren's shin.
" 'And then she will know..." She kicked his leg out from beneath him and his other leg buckled as he began to fall.
" 'That I…" Mikasa began to fall backwards, dragging Eren down with her. Sasha began to twirl back to Connie.
" 'Like her;' " Sasha looked back just in time to see Eren and Mikasa's lips collide as they both crashed to the ground.
The song continued like nothing ever happened, but the cadets stopped dancing.
"Hey Jean, you owe me a sil!" Sasha heard Armin yell as the couple's faces blushed bright red and Eren scrambled off of Mikasa. Sasha wanted to squee. No one noticed when Hange stopped the song.
Eren raced to his feet, his face nearly the same shade as a tomato. Mikasa sat up, vainly trying to conceal her own blush with her scarf.
"That doesn't count, Armin!" Jean called back.
Sasha felt very confused as to what Jean and Armin were yelling about. What the hell did making Eren and Mikasa sort-of-accidentally kiss have to do with money?
She glanced over at Historia, who looked like she was about to explode. From what, Sasha couldn't tell, but at least there was some life in her eyes. She glanced over at Levi and Hange. Levi looked like he was ready to kill everyone for getting so distracted and Hange also looked like she was going to explode, but she clearly would have exploded from excitement.
Eren looked absolutely furious. His fists were clenched at his sides, and he was looking around wildly, his eyes reflecting a look of a wild animal.
"What the fuck is going on?" Historia asked with a straight face, her tone suddenly seriour.
"Does it matter?" Levi dryly inquired. Hange vivaciously nodded her head, but was ignored.
Historia looked their captain right in the eye. "I'd quite like to know," she boldly stated.
"Then why don't you ask who started all this?" he apathetically replied.
All eyes were suddenly on Sasha, and she broke out in a nervous sweat. "I, uh… got sick of them beating around the bush."
"What?" Mikasa asked, a low fire burning in her eyes.
"Oh, come on! Everyone can tell you both care for each other on a much deeper level than just friends," Armin yelled. Sasha covered her mouth to conceal her jaw drop; she never would have expected Armin to be the one who stepped right into Mikasa's fury.
"Dismissed!" Hange called, deciding that they were not going to go any farther with all this going on. Levi glowered at her, but objected, sensing everyone's lack of focus as well.
Mikasa's eyes went wide with shock, and not to be racist or anything, but Sasha was amazed to see her entire iris visible.
She felt Connie tug on her shirtsleeve, pulling her towards headquarters, where everyone could sit down and talk all this out. As she was dragged away, Sasha looked back at the courtyard and saw Historia stalking away as Mikasa looked half embarrassed, half angry, and completely ready to blow off some steam.
Connie dragged her behind a bush and they both ducked behind it. "Are you sure that was a good idea, Sash?" he hissed at her.
She looked through a gap in the leaves at the trio. They appeared to be arguing, but she couldn't hear them. Jean was nowhere in sight. "I don't know, but it was so obvious how Mikasa felt, and she was obviously never going to do anything on her own. Unless you count that time when she thought they were going to die, she'd never make a move as far as we know, so something obviously had to get the ball rolling."
"So you just wanted them to kiss already since the chemistry between them was so obvious?"
"Exactly!"
"Kind of sounds like another couple we know," Connie suddenly laughed.
Sasha shifted her gaze over to him. "Connie…?" she asked. He was leaning towards her, and she felt him gently press his lips against hers.
Her heart stopped for a moment, then another, then it returned with a wild, pounding fury that reminded her of her first real sighting of a titan. Adrenaline pumped through her, though it wasn't bad. In fact, she felt blissful, and while the kiss had been unexpected, she closed her eyes and returned it.
The moment she forgot her surroundings was exactly when Jean shouted above their heads:
"Hey, look at these two lovebirds!"
Actual Author's Note xv. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°). Oh yes I did. I did just write that. Actually I wrote that like, three or four weeks ago, but ohh yes. I regret nothing! Nothing, I say, nothing! Not even the shameless parody of The Lion King's Can You Feel the Love Tonight, even if it was hardly even a parody! Yee~ I'm such a piece of trash *slowly sips milk*. Anyway, if you're new to the fic, then drop a follow if you liked it, or a favorite if you reeeaaaaaalllyyyy liked it. And as usual, reviews are always greatly appreciated! Have a greaaat daayyyy~~