"It seems suspicious to me."
When Pieck spoke, Zeke turned to her. With his boxing gloves still on, he grabbed the punchbag to keep from hitting and walked towards her. His fiancée held a glass of lemonade in one hand and a towel in the other, just as she did every time he trained. Because Zeke liked to punch things when he was stressed, and that's why he had decided it was better to devote himself to boxing than to punch people as he had done a while before, before meeting her.
Then he took off his gloves as she dried the drops of sweat that slid down his chest and face. In one gulp, Zeke drank from his glass, before kissing his girl on the forehead.
"What do you mean?" he asked. Pieck brushed her hair aside, trying to tear her eyes away from his fiance's damp abdomen, the way it rose and fell to the rhythm of every pant, and the drop of sweat that slid over his Adam's apple, tempting her to touch him. But she wouldn't do it until the previous day's conversation had ended.
"I'm talking about the policeman. About his sudden appearance and how strange it is to remove that case after seven years without any clue. It is a dead end; Outside from you, I doubt they can find anything."
Zeke wiped the last traces of sweat from his torso and took a seat in front of the pool table in his basement, while Pieck sat on the edge of it.
"I guess that's why they want me. They think I can help with something if they start from scratch."
"Well, that's preposterous. You said in the trial everything you know, they proved that you had nothing to do with or knew the mastermind behind all of it."
Pieck knew that expression on his boyfriend's face: Zeke's eyebrows arched and met slightly as his eyes expanded and his lips twitched beneath his white beard, a feature that only she knew, after so many years living under the same roof. But that face of his meant only two things:
He was nervous.
He was hiding something.
The tip of his ears also acquired a pink tinge that mixed with his golden hair and nobody else noticed, except Pieck and her suspicion. On very good authority, Pieck knew it was a Jaeger thing to lie and have red ears as a result. She had seen it before in Eren, and also in Zeke, although it was not noticeable in the latter.
But she knew him so well that there was nothing that could escape her intuition.
And she was sure that her fiancé was not telling her a great deal.
"Because you said everything you knew, right, Zeke?" she said, with an inquisitive look, letting her long strands of dark hair fall on both sides of her face.
He did not take long to respond, as if he had been ready for it.
"Of course I told it all. However, it's possible that there was something I could miss." He commented, as calm as possible. She frowned, but deep inside, she contemplated changing her mind according to the circumstances.
"You know what can happen if one way or another you make a mistake, Zeke."
"Pieck, I've already told you everything I know and everything that happened that night and before that. Do you think I want to have that damn midget on my heels after all this time?"
She sighed.
"In case of a new trial, they won't call me again as a jury member. Not to the accomplice's fiancee. So I suggest you do everything in your power to conclude that and get rid of that cop once and for all. I don't know what happened to the case, I don't know what the hell happened to the evidence, which seems to have vanished or never existed, but whoever is behind it, left you in place to pay for their faults, and surely they would do it again this time."
Zeke didn't utter a word until a few seconds later, feeling his girlfriend's dark eyes penetrate his brains as if hammering him.
"I know. I know that."
"All right. Then work together with the police, but be careful and make them keep their word to have your back. Who says you can trust them? Remind them that you are Dr. Jaeger's son."
"My father wasn't much help that time, Pieck."
"Don't use him, but your last name. There is no one in Trost who doesn't know his name, and they'll have to listen to you, not only when it suits them. Dr. Grisha Jaeger's friendship with politicians must be useful in some way. So don't hesitate."
Zeke stood up and nodded. He threw the towel on the pool table and approached his girl, her lips curled into a kinky smile; He stretched his hands to her face and held her before kissing her.
"As expected of Pieck, that's exactly right," he announced, brushing his lips against her mouth. She smiled widely, because she could barely resist Zeke Jaeger's charms and overwhelming breath, moaning as she felt his fingers dig into her ass as he spanked her. She slid her hands up her fiancé's chiseled and strong back, while he buried his face in her neck and rolled his hips between her legs. Zeke never liked the detours when it came to having sex, so he quickly lifted his girl's skirt and yanked off her panties, making the sound of the ripped fabric mix with the pants of two pairs of lungs. Pieck could not deny it: she loved her boyfriend's fieriness, she loved touching the veins that stuck out of his arms when he was aroused and she loved his carved-in-marble boner beyond all understanding. And fuck, the pool table was uncomfortable but very stimulating; so it didn't matter to her if she mistreated her ass as Zeke thrust himself into her. A sex session with a sweaty, athletic and handsome boyfriend made any discomfort worthwhile.
"Zeke, are you ...? Oh shit!"
Damn it, Eren Jaeger. Zeke never asked for a younger brother; they were the worst plagues on earth's surface.
The two bodies on the pool table stopped in astonishment, while Eren watched them open-mouthed. None of the three dared to move, perhaps out of fear of increasing their shame with a simple breath, or in their eagerness not to make the situation worse, which in itself was cumbersome.
"Fuck, Eren! What the fuck do you want?" Zeke yelled, wanting his arms to become wider so he could hide his girlfriend in them. However, he didn't pull off her, and Pieck hid her blushing face on her fiance's torso. Eren snorted, and the slight shrug of his shoulders made Zeke realize how hard he was trying not to laugh.
"Hey, I'm sorry. I looked for you everywhere until I thought you would be in the basement, but not that I would find you like this- ..."
"Eren! Speak, damn it!"
Zeke was desperate. Pieck, embarrassed, and Eren very entertained with the idea of annoying his older brother.
"I came to tell you that I won't stop working with you, but I will move to Armin's- "
"I think it's perfect, now get the fuck off, I'm busy." Zeke snapped with a husky voice. Eren giggled before closing the door and Pieck could sigh, at last.
But then the door burst open again.
"And don't make so much noise, you bastards. I could hear you fucking from above." Eren's laughter echoed through the basement's corridor, squeaking in the ears of his joke victims'. The door slammed shut, and the thunderous laughter was lost in the distance, while Zeke covered his face, disappointed, wondering what he had done to deserve that.
At least Pieck saw it on the positive side, so she swallowed her shame and kissed him again, knowing that they wouldn't have to put up with these awful interruptions. Not again.
They would have plenty of time to worry about Captain Ackerman as well.
Armin Arlert was never the typical high-class boy. Even though he owned the comforts of the son of the owners of one of the best hotels in Trost, Armin never felt pride in it, nor did he find pleasure in frivolity, ostentation, and much less in waste, unlike many others his age. He was rather the type of modest boy, who liked to spend time in the comfort of his library coach, devouring full pages that spoke about yesteryear epic battles, or dangerous fictional worlds, or designing strange construction drawings that someday he could make come true. But more than anything else, Armin loved his time with his friends, whom he had learned to value more than his life, when he noticed from a very young age that his parents were absent parents, but constant workers. Money-making was their child, and Armin, apparently, only the result of a social convention they had to fulfill. However, he had his grandfather, and also Eren, and Aunt Carla, and even Faye, with her adorable childhood crush on him; and last but not least, Mikasa. The blond boy mocked inwardly about how quickly she had fit into the brotherhood he had with Eren, and the strange circumstances in which their friendship had been built, wondering if such ties could ever be broken.
Something told him no. That was not possible. And he was right.
Then he thought of Annie too, and again he wondered if she was his friend, in spite of everything.
He himself answered his question on his birthday's night, when he saw his friends gathered for him in the hall of events of his parents' hotel.
She was not there; Not like other times. There were no calls, no text messages like in previous years ... Nothing. There was nothing.
She was nothing.
But she needed him. Armin knew it deep inside. And Armin was always right.
"Hey, coconut head, I hope you have plenty of beer here."
"DO NOT CALL ME THAT, YMIR !"
Armin's scream was heard throughout the room, even over the music, while the freckled brunette laughed and kissed him on the forehead, throwing her arm over her friend's shoulders. Historia covered her face with embarrassment, chuckling.
"Ymir, leave Armin alone."
"Nah, this little dumbass knows how much I love him, isn't it, dumbass? Here, this is your gift," she said, handing him a box decorated with a golden bow on top. It must have been Historia's work, for Ymir would never have thought of decorating a box.
"Thanks, thanks. But don't call me like that again. I left that haircut long ago."
Ymir let out another one of her noisy laughs that caught the attention of Armin's classmates who attended his party.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but for me, you'll always be a coconut head." God, Ymir had the most sarcastic and irritating laugh when she wanted to. "Happy birthday, Armin," she said later, patting his head. Historia was next, who had always liked to kiss him on the lips, saying that Armin had the most beautiful mouth she had ever seen in her life, much to her wife's annoyance. He only laughed and mocked the jealousy of his freckled friend.
"Thank you so much, girls. Having you here after coming from Shiganshina means a lot to me-"
"Tch, we didn't come for you, silly. We came for the beer."
"Ymir!" Historia's scoldings always drew the best laugh from Armin and the most resounding kiss from Ymir. "Hey! Eren!" The blonde girl shouted when she saw him go through the door. Eren waved his hands at them, stomping closer.
The eyes of the two blondes and the freckled one opened wide when seeing the figure that came after him.
Mikasa's stillness as she walked contrasted awfully against Eren's enthusiasm, whose presence could be felt as soon as he opened the door to the room.
"Hisu!" the turquoise-eyed boy shouted, running towards her to hug her. Historia was so short that she looked like a doll in Eren's arms when he lifted her in a cartwheel. Ymir waited for their hug to stop so she could pull his friend's ear as roughly as she wanted to. "Hey, hey, Ymir! Let go!"
"I told you to get away from my girl, Jaeger, or I'll bust your balls!" Ymir's threat made them all burst into laughter." I've always known you have a thing for her, don't make me kill you!"
"Ymir, let go of him." Armin mocked. Eren hugged his best friend when Ymir let him go, while Historia mocked the scene. "Hi, Mika! "The blond boy greeted her, waving his hand towards her. When Mikasa approached, she was wrapped in a wave of hugs, except Ymir, who greeted her with a hard spank.
"Ackerman!"
"Ymir!" shouted Historia, followed by a stunned Mikasa that jumped before the impact of being spanked, frowning as she massaged the pain spot. Eren and Armin giggled with their fists in their mouths, while their freckled friend cackled.
"Don't do that again, Ymir," Mikasa warned, glaring at her. Ymir just raised both hands in self defense.
"I'm not responsible for your beautiful ass, Mikasa. I wanted to give you a good slap since we were at school. Isn't that true, Eren? This girl's ass is so spankable!"
"YMIR !" Historia's high pitched lecture resounded throughout the room, and Mikasa's face turned bright red as it used to be when she blushed. Eren stopped laughing and swallowed hard; That was a serious question for someone who had stayed centuries enraptured in that thick ass of hers that looked so soft and plump, wanting to touch it with his own hands, wondering what it would feel to rest his head on it, would it feel like a soft cushion or pillow ...
"Someone won't scissor tonight," Armin whispered to Eren as he chuckled, mocking Historia's jealousy and Ymir's laugh.
"That's true!" Sasha yelled, backing up Ymir's sentence when she came out of nowhere next to Connie. Before she could reach them, she tripped over a couple of tables and a chair, and Armin laughed only to watch the show that his old friends, and others not so old, offered to the evening. There were more hugs and much more gifts for the birthday boy, leaving aside the issue about Mikasa Ackerman's irresistible butt, or so she believed. Why should everyone be so noisy? Well, at least Armin was nice to her and tried to keep her away from Ymir and Sasha's jokes as much as he could.
"So you came with her?" The blond boy could not help asking that question to his best friend. Mikasa was away from them, with a glass of punch in hand and talking to some Armin's classmate who tried to flirt with her without much success.
"No," Eren said, his jaw clenched and a fire in his eyes as he looked at the son of a bitch who winked at the dark-haired girl. "We ran into each other at the entrance. She came with her friends."
There was silence. Armin turned his gaze to Mikasa, then to Eren.
"Control your jealousy. I don't want a scene at my birthday party."
"I'm not jealous, Armin," Eren's ears reddened hopelessly. Of course, that wouldn't go unnoticed by his best friend. "But it's obvious that that bastard is harassing her."
Armin's lips stretched into a cocky smirk.
"Well then go save your damsel in distress, Eren. Though I want no fights, okay?" Armin's voice changed drastically, from nice to quite threatening, as well as his gaze. Eren nodded, but he didn't leave immediately until Historia took Armin away to play a joke on him with Ymir and Connie's help.
"Hey, what about Annie?" the girl asked, before reaching the table where the others were. Armin felt as if his world fell down, making him feel dizzy.
But Armin was stronger than he thought.
The blond boy pouted with regret. Yes, he was strong, but sensitive; much more than Historia could imagine.
"Is something wrong with her? And what about Reiner? And Bertholdt? It's weird that they're not here," she insisted, before seeing him breathe dramatically as if all the air escaped from his lungs.
"It's a long story, Hisu. I think ... it will be better to talk about that later, okay?"
The girl nodded, dropping her hand on her friend's shoulder.
"It's okay, Ar, whenever you want. But tell me, is Eren included?"
Armin rolled his eyes.
"What do you think?"
Historia snorted softly, covering her mouth.
"No wonder why I'm not surprised," she chuckled. "But let's leave him alone for now. I think he's busy, isn't he?" A pair of blond heads turned to Eren, watching him walk to the place where Mikasa prayed to heaven for someone to rescue her. Voilá. Her prayer was heard faster than she expected.
"C'mon dude, that is a very pathetic trick, did you know? You can't win all women over with credit cards." Eren's haughty and bitter voice echoed over Mikasa and the (in Eren's opinion) asshole who sadly tried to woo her, showing off his Girard-Perregaux wristwatch and dropping "by accident" his American Express Gold, so enthralled in his ostentatious flirting he did not notice how the girl in front of him rolled her eyes as she sighed with boredom and pity, locked in a straight and apathetic face. So this green-eyed ghost had caught him off guard, unmasking his futile attempt to conquer a girl whose mind was absent during all his verbal diarrhea. Mikasa never meant to say it, but blessed was Eren Jaeger. Blessed, blessed. Blessed when he left open-mouthed and exposed to this creepy airhead, holding her by her jacket sleeve to get her out of such a pitiful scene.
What did Eren have with sleeves?
Why did he never hold her by the hand?
The dark-silver-eyed girl blushed at her own thought.
His hand and feet led her to the long buffet table next to the balcony overlooking the sea, pointing to a tray full of the dessert that turned her mouth into a shameful water fountain.
"To make you forget about that bastard, here's a huge pudding reserve," Eren announced, winking at her. She preferred to take her eyes away from his so as not to embarrass herself anymore. She couldn't help it: her hands unconsciously stretched to the first plate they could reach, holding the spoon in order to take a good piece to her mouth. Eren chuckled as soon as he saw her wrinkling her eyebrows with delight, and he could even hear the chorus that her taste buds sang as she tasted the sweet, bouncing dough of the pudding.
"God!" she exclaimed, and a thin, indecent strand of saliva escaped from the corner of her mouth, to hear Eren's sudden laughter hammering in her ears. "Sorry ..." she apologized, wiping her mouth with a napkin. Eren tilted his head, still laughing.
"It's okay. But you must control that, huh? You can't go drooling around every time you eat pudding."
Ow ow ow. Eren's smile turned on the bubbles in the bottom of her stomach. Sometimes it was bubbles, sometimes birds, sometimes feathers, and sometimes anvils (although this only happened if she was mad at him). The point was that there was always something inside her belly when she saw him.
"... I can't help it, I guess ... There's nothing I like more than this."
The gurgle that Mikasa felt in her stomach had now settled in Eren Jaeger's ears: that girl's voice was so melodic and heavenly that he began to love listening to her speech.
"Pfff. You'll find something one day that you like more than pudding."
"I don't think so."
"You'll see. Slytherin. You will see."
He gave her a broad, warm smile. She wanted to hide her face in response, but she could not, and Eren mocked her again.
"Thank you for getting me out of there."
"You're welcome. I guess the asshole didn't notice the face you had. Why didn't you kick his ass? It was very ... weird to see you could stand him for so long."
Mikasa shrugged as she ate.
"I didn't want to be rude."
Eren nodded, taking a biscuit from one of the trays. He bit it, tasted it, and nodded again.
"Hmm. It's good." He commented, his mouth half full. "Is your foot ok?" he asked. Mikasa nodded as he swallowed his mouthful.
"Swallow before you speak," she murmured with a frown and that bossy tone.
"Wut?"
"Swallow before you speak," Yes. She was pretty bossy.
"Wouldn't you like to be Carla's daughter, maybe? You are a bit like her."
"Sarcasm is not your thing, Eren. And no, I wouldn't like to be Carla's daughter, because then I would have to be your sister and I don't like that. You're annoying."
When Eren let out one of his cocky laughter, Mikasa wondered why she couldn't hate him as before and hissed underneath her breath.
"You're not being honest and you know it."
"Oh no? What makes you think I'm not?"
"I don't know," He took a sip of some drink in his glass. "I just... know."
Change the subject, Mikasa. Change the subject.
She cleared her throat.
"How do you know the girls?"
"Hisu and Ymir?" he asked, holding the glass in his hand and raising his index finger towards the couple. Mikasa nodded and he took a sip of his drink, leaning against the wall. "Oh, well, it's an interesting story. Wanna hear it?" Mikasa nodded again. "When I turned fifteen, my father sent me to a summer medical camp for teenagers," Eren rolled his eyes at the memory. "Armin went with me, and I don't fucking know how the hell Reiner went with us to that place. The point is that Historia and Ymir were also there; Well, actually they were in another camp near us, and we just happened to meet on a campfire night. Pfff, ridiculous," Eren rolled his eyes again. "Reiner was fascinated with her and the next month they were already dating. Armin and I couldn't believe it. We always noticed that there was something between her and the freckled one, and that's why it was weird to see Hisu with Reiner. They dated for seven months until that bastard cheated on her with some random girl. Hisu and I started chatting more since then because she seemed devastated. But I made her realize that Reiner was nothing and Ymir was the one she really wanted. Since then, that freckled bitch insists that there was something between her wife and me, but it's not true. We are just good friends since then."
Eren's guffaw stung Mikasa at the corners of her mouth, making them stretch a bit. For an inexplicable reason, Eren's final clarification about the nature of his relationship with Historia made the dark-haired girl feel relieved. She leaned a little on the table and rested her chin on her hand before letting out a sigh, watching carefully that crooked smile of Eren when he said something funny, or the way his eyes opened when he finished a sentence and breathed to keep talking, or how his eyebrows met when he was concentrated, or how he touched the tip of his nose when he forgot about something ...
"Also, I don't like blondes. Hisu's just my favorite lesbian." he scoffed, wrinkling his eyes when laughing. Mikasa snorted, straightening again. Eren had the amazing ability to magically shit on the most beautiful thoughts.
"Don't you like blondes? So what about Annie?"
Is she fucking jealous?
Mikasa's gurgling rose to her face in the form of a blushing mess.
Am I jealous?
What a shame.
"Looking at it in hindsight, that wasn't something important. It didn't even hurt, to be honest."
She nodded; It was better not to talk, or she would end up saying some other uncomfortably revealing nonsense.
Both of them took a sip of their drinks and Mikasa grabbed another pudding from the tray. The chorus that sang their taste buds made her tongue shrink.
"Hey..."
"Yeah?"
She hesitated, clenched her fists, took a breath and opened her mouth, completely oblivious about Eren's eyes fixed on her.
"About what you said in Armin's car about you and me that night ... Is that true?"
"What? What are you talking about?"
Mikasa sighed and closed her eyes, pleading that Eren didn't make it harder for her.
"You said that you and I ... Well, you slept ... with me and stuff ..."
Eren felt the blood rise inevitably to his face, like champagne filling a cup. And bubbles, lots of bubbles. His stomach bubbled.
"Eh ..." he cleared his throat. "No. I was drunk and talking nonsense. You fell asleep on the sofa and I was on the floor, nearby you ... But don't get me wrong. I just wanted to make sure you didn't feel disoriented when you woke up ... That's all."
If Eren felt proud of himself for something, it was his skill to lie.
But he didn't like to lie to her. It was something different. Agh, the guilt kicked him in the stomach.
"Oh well. it's okay."
Disappointment.
She was disappointed and she didn't know why.
Never, she never knew why. She didn't know anything. With Eren Jaeger, she knew nothing. Absolutely nothing. Shit.
He was the next to speak after a brief silence.
"Did you know that my brother's got some bones to pick with your brother?"
"What?"
Eren nodded, swallowing the contents of his glass in one fell swoop.
"I think Zeke's got into trouble with the police, because your brother went to the nightclub to visit him," Eren chuckled. "I thought he was going to shit bricks when he saw the Trost police captain there. And no offense, but your brother is creepy as fuck."
"Yes. I must admit that that shorty is intimidating."
Eren opened his eyes, stunned.
"You dare to call him that?"
Mikasa shrugged.
"He's my brother. No big deal, though."
Eren let out a whistle of amazement.
"Zeke wears glasses, and also has a protruding navel, like a tiny tongue in his tummy. If I ever mocked that on his face, he would beat the shit out of me."
"I suppose these are the perks of having lived almost all my life with him. You lose respect in some way."
Eren laughed at her comment and saw a smile in her eyes, though her mouth did not move.
"Yes. I guess that's it."
The two fell silent. Armin beckoned them to come to the table, but Eren raised his right hand and told him to wait.
"Speaking of siblings ... Faye has asked me to, in case of seeing you, remind you that she's been waiting for your visit for days."
Eren set the glass on the table and bite the cake again.
"If I get outta here fober and Grisha ifn't home," Eren swallowed again. "It's probably that I go tomorrow."
Mikasa shook her head, covering her face with the hand that held the spoon.
"Swallow, please, ok?"
"I swallowed."
"Agh. You are impossible."
"LOL. I know," he scoffed. "But I'll do my best to visit Faye."
Eren didn't notice, but Mikasa's eyes lit up slightly at the prospect.
"You should spend more time with her. She's your sister and ... she loves you."
A spoonful of pudding and a bit of sponge cake. The prudently jolly music that filled the occasion had Eren's foot moving restlessly from side to side to every beat. Armin, Historia, Sasha, Ymir and Connie laughed at a few tables of them, but for some reason, they both felt comfortable there, nearby the table and the balcony, one arm away from each other, eager to rub their fingers without having the courage to do it.
Such fools they were.
"I love her too ... Even if I don't show it to her often."
"You should do it. You were a total asshole with her too, and in spite of everything, she doesn't stop admiring you. Apologize to her, Eren; she deserves it."
Eren no longer looked as cheerful as before. Guilt kicked him in the stomach, and also his eyes when the tears stung his retina.
"I know it. And I'm sorry."
There was silence. The mumblings and music around scraped their ears instead of their own voices.
"I hope your apologies do have a meaning."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"I hope that they aren't just empty words."
Eren stopped to look at her, but her eyes were set somewhere away from him, again wrapped in that deadpan mask he didn't like at all.
"Sometimes an "I'm sorry" doesn't mean anything, Eren. You get used to saying it so much that there comes a time when you don't really feel it, and then it becomes a routine that you use every time you hurt someone."
He could not deny it: Eren was beginning to feel confused by the sudden and unexpected change of mood.
"What's this all about?"
"It's what I thought of you the first time you told that to me, and that's why I didn't want to talk to you."
"You weren't going to talk to me?" he asked, his eyelids slightly wider and somewhat outraged.
"No."
"And what's this? An onset of sincerity?"
She still didn't look at him. Her pudding was already over.
"Maybe."
Eren nodded, dazed. His eyebrows rose slowly in a gesture of self-disappointment. Maybe she was right; Maybe she ... She made him feel so angry all of a sudden ... Why the hell should it be so absurdly complicated to talk to her without feeling guilty about something?
Or was it that he had so many sins to wash that she was just that imposing force that reminded him that they were there as if wanting to cleanse his conscience?
What if she was the spring where he could wash his faults?
But how?
Even so, with all the discomfort he was beginning to feel, he did not want to hurt her; There was only hunger. An inexplicable hunger to know the most hidden truths inside that beautiful throbbing chest of hers.
"Well, they were not empty words, but it's okay if you don't wanna believe me. However, I also have something to tell you."
Mikasa raised an eyebrow, looking at him and waiting for him to continue talking.
"I think you're afraid."
"What?" she asked, confused and even nervous.
"You heard me. You'll probably punch me when I tell you this, or maybe not. I'm not sharp-eyed, Mikasa; I've never been. I've always been dense, but when I see you, I see fear. I think you're afraid to feel. To find someone who breaks your imaginary bubble world and asks you to let them in. Because I see you in a bubble, did you know that? As if you don't want to be free for fear of letting go of something you should have let go a long time ago. I see you ... trapped in a cage like a damn lonely bird that is afraid of flying, and you feel content with that ..."
Her heartbeat had dramatically increased with each word from Eren, at his pace, at his breathing, as if it were about to come out of her chest. Oxygen clogged her lungs and clung to the walls of her throat until she gasped to recover it.
Speechless, Mikasa stuttered. She felt bare, vulnerable.
But how?
How the hell?
"Feel?" she pronounced a few seconds later, expressionless. "I think I feel more than you think," Eren didn't laugh this time, but it seemed a cruel and funny irony to him the contrast that her words caused against her face. She drove him crazy, especially when he was not able to decipher her thoughts, not even through the dark, silvery lagoon that were her eyes, because they were trapped in her mind, very hidden, and she wouldn't let them out. No, when the turquoise hellfire of Eren's eyes dug deep into her, delving, searching, anxious and hungry as if they wanted to consume her completely.
But he wanted to devour her.
A few meters from them, the room's door opened again. Armin had risen to attend his other guests as they saw him walk to the door and smile at the ash-haired boy who was crossing the threshold. Eren closed his hands into fists at the sight of Jean. Jean gritted his teeth and stopped in his place. The amber eyes glared at the turquoise ones. Mikasa looked at Jean, then at Armin, Armin at her, and then at Eren. Then they knew what was right: not to let them get close by the slightest of mistakes.
"Eren," She said, as she watched Armin push Jean towards the guys' table and not let him move from there. "Eren."
"Eh?"
Mikasa's voice brought him out of a rage trance, plunging him into one of an instant soothing, numbing bliss.
"Wanna go to the balcony? We can talk better there."
Eren didn't nod, he did not utter a single word, actually; but he seemed willing to go wherever she took him.
Mikasa grabbed him by the edge of his sleeve and dragged him to the balcony, despite the cold breeze of early November and the jacket that was supposed to keep her warm.
Once at the lookout, the girl slid the sliding door closed to shield Eren from Jean's view, and Jean from Eren's sight.
"What the hell is he doing here?" he asked in a raspy voice and slightly frowning. A current of air blew, causing her to shiver a little. At that time she envied Eren and his obvious ability not to be affected by the upcoming winter.
"Armin invited him ..."
"That's obvious. But why did he do that?"
"Because now we are in the same campus, and they talk a lot lately. And I don't see anything wrong with them being friends."
Eren snorted, pressing his hands against the edge of the balcony wall.
"Armin is a fucking traitor."
"Don't overdo it. And calm down, ok? You don't want to screw your best friend's party up.," She said, using again that bossy tone of hers, but a little less severe and much sweeter. Mikasa's voice was like hundreds of musical notes that filled his ears and slid to his chest, melting something inside of him.
"Of course not," He said, half hypnotized.
Another gust of wind hit them. Eren looked toward the calm sea of Trost's coast that rocked before his eyes from the overlook and rested his chin on his hand. Mikasa imitated him, trying not to think about the cold she felt with the damn almost-wintry air.
"Hey," Eren's voice broke the silence and the sound of the sea that reached them from the beach.
"Hmm?" she murmured, clenching her jaw so her teeth would not chatter. He was slow to speak again, but Mikasa just waited.
-"What you said to me that night in Armin's car ..." apparently, there were many things to explain about the night at Armin's car. "Was it true?"
"What do you mean?"
Eren turned to look at her. She didn't, because the turquoise eyes penetrated her enough for her to notice and make her feel bare once more.
"Just out of curiosity ... Hmm ... " Talk now, you dumbass. "Did you really like when that horsefac- ... I mean, Jean. Did you like it when he kissed you?"
Silence, and more sea waves, and colder fucking breeze. The blood circulated with an anxious hilarity through their veins, causing two hearts to beat in a flaming frenzy.
Mikasa could have compared her heartbeats to a crowd that bursts into a thunderous applause.
"No ... There is no comparison."
Eren's spirit gave a leap and came out through his mouth in a gasp, to return to him as he sighed. Then he twisted his mouth in a bitter expression. But he didn't look at her, and she didn't look at him either.
"Was it that good?" he asked, a little fearful, anguished, even sweating. Mikasa tilted her head slightly.
"Absolutely."
Low blow. Eren wasn't expecting that; however, Mikasa didn't mean what he understood.
"Fuck..."
"I mean..."
Silence.
"What?"
Mikasa cleared her throat. Damn it, her hands were shaking and it wasn't because of cold.
"It's not that it can be compared to another kiss when you have no previous experience ..."
Eren's eyes opened wide and slowly. His pupils went towards her in a ceremonious trance, but Mikasa didn't dare to look at him. She didn't. She couldn't.
"So ... was it your first kiss?" Eren sensed, as if the realization had hit his throat.
Silence. Again.
"Yes."
"Fuck. I should punch his damn face just for stealing something like that from you. Damn horse."
"Eren," she scolded him. He seemed not to hear her.
"Promise that it won't happen again."
"I doubt it."
"Great."
Silence again. Between airflows and the drowsy hiss of the waves crashing on the beach, Eren Jaeger and Mikasa Ackerman felt dizzy, their souls somewhat frothy, overflowing with a feeling they could not explain.
Then he saw her hugging herself to be able to warm up, so he took her hands between his.
"Shit, you're a fucking iceberg."
Cold and warm. An abysmal and cozy difference at the same time. It was the first time they had touched each other for so long and so consciously that they felt dizzy again. Eren rubbed her fingers, massaged them and blew on them with his breath so she could warm up. And that breath entered her pores, invading her nerves with an electrical current that pierced her spine and belly. Her knees failed, but she did not fall; she was strong, and above all, she knew how to hide her emotions.
Those emotions that were now frightening and exciting, all wrapped in a whirlpool inside her that threatened to come out of her mouth and fall into his.
"Eren," she uttered in a low voice, almost letting the breeze drown her voice. He removed his gaze from her hands and stuck them in her eyes.
-Yes?"
"Forgive me for punching you before."
She saw a crooked smile stretching his lips.
Oh, how she liked that smile. She could no longer deny a fact so obvious to her own psyche.
"I deserved it, right? But promise that you won't do it again."
She shook her head.
"I promise."
Levi was proud of his sister. He had always been, even if he didn't show it. Well, actually, the Ackerman siblings were not very affectionate, but yet very emotional; that's why he was the first one to get up from his seat to clap as loud as he could when the last note from Mikasa's violin echoed throughout the theater. He clapped even before she finished her last piece, one composed by herself, charged with vertiginous cadences that challenged the senses to recall the past; because that's what her symphony "The calamity of a calm sea" was about. About the past, about the misery caused by the memories that little by little became dust, as well as the violent and calm melody of clear and dark tints, of childhood memories, longings, sighs, like mirrors of a past life that she had to leave behind the day her parents died. Silences, staccatos, subitos and fortes, raging cellos and meandering intermezzos, wrapped in the reverberation of the strings that cried out what she couldn't, while the orchestra harmoniously followed the sweet and bitter notes of her old violin.
Levi was the only one who understood what her music was screaming, and he clapped as never before. He, Hanji, Armin, Carla, Faye, Connie, and even an Eren who was about to break his hands amid the frenzy of applause and cheers, not giving a fuck about Captain Ackerman's threats, or what he might do later. Mikasa saw them all and everyone, and also Sasha, who had embraced her on the stage as soon as she was able to get up from her seat next to the other flutes. But her brother was the most enthusiastic of all; Levi was the first to get up and clap, but also the first to go with Hanji to the musicians dressing room to tell her in a low voice, very much in his own way, how proud he was of her. He ruffled her hair, patted her cheek, and refrained from kissing her as his father would have done.
But that was Levi, and she knew it, and it was fine. Because Mikasa felt lucky to be his sister. Although she never said it.
"Mikasa, isn't that ...?" Sasha's voice made her turn her head towards the end of the corridor where the dressing rooms ended. There was Eren, waiting for her, afraid to approach and wondering if Levi would beat the shit out of him right there. But then Carla, Faye, Armin, Connie, her teachers and the university principal came to congratulate her on her excellent debut as a soloist, and she lost sight of him completely, as she was almost suffocated by a wave of greetings. She wouldn't see him again until a couple of weeks later, on Faye's 8th birthday.
Two weeks that would be eternally stifling for both of them. It was a pity that Mikasa didn't own a cell phone yet, or that would have made things infinitely easier.
Easier as Levi Ackerman wished it was all about his parents' murder case. As the results of the van were still late, and he looked the files day after day, without rest, in search of a new track that had gone unnoticed. Because even the surname Leonhardt, the one Zeke Jaeger mentioned, was still a dead end. He only knew one person with that name, but until then, there was nothing that could include that acquaintance in a crime like his parents'. Not a single connection, no fingerprints, no DNA ... Nothing.
Then he saw it. His eyes stopped where they had ignored other times, for it was a blurry picture of a dog snout that was little-paid attention to, and Levi wondered why the investigators had been so negligent seven years ago. The captain opened his eyelids widely in realization, snorted and breathed with agitation, while his mind was busy putting together that old puzzle. Why had something as important as that gone unnoticed? There were no more pictures of his dog, except the one where his destroyed snout appeared on the side of the image, blurry and by chance as if it had been captured by mere accident.
Dante.
He had to go to Shiganshina, to his old house, and unearth Dante.
There was no other choice.
I'll just say this:
Chapter 22 will be intense, with a great Eremika moment that I know everyone expects. Eren and Mikasa must resolve their misunderstandings before a relationship.
So leave your reviews to know that you liked this, remember how important your comments are. See Y'all next chapter.