"So, how did the two of you actually meet?" Mikasa starred at Jean and his girlfriend, who were sitting at the table across of her.

After finding out that Jean had a secret, maybe a little too jealous, girlfriend, Mikasa, Eren and Armin tried to get Jean to introduce her to them. At first, he'd always find an excuse, why that wasn't possible, but after some time, they finally wore him down and Jean agreed, that he'd introduced them to Sasha. They agreed to meet at small seafood restaurant in town, Armin had suggested. Jean and Sasha were already there, when Mikasa arrived with Armin and Eren. She introduced herself, but after that didn't talk much with the other woman, she rather observed her.

At first glance, Sasha seemed ordinary. Her style didn't stick out of the room, she wore a grey shirt and had her hair tied back in a ponytail. She'd probably pass as naturally pretty. She had bangs that ended just above those big round eyes and she had really dark lashes, even though she didn't seem to wear any make-up. However, Mikasa noticed that the other woman's nose was slightly askew, and she wondered, if that came from an injury. She looked ordinary, and yet there was something to her, that made Mikasa feel uneasy, but she couldn't pinpoint what that was. Both Sasha and Jean seemed nervous and somewhat uncomfortable in the presence of the others. They'd try to hold each other's hands, and Jean even went for a quick peck, but they both seemed stiff. Mikasa wondered if Jean had told Sasha about his confession on New Year's Eve and if that was the reason they were so awkward around her? Or was it around the whole group?

Meanwhile, Armin was trying his best to make Sasha feel more comfortable in the group. He asked her about random small-talk stuff like her favourite food and tv-show. Eren started telling an embarrassing story about Jean, but Armin interrupted him before he could finish.

The food arrived and Mikasa saw, how Sasha started relaxing a bit, and even Jean acted more like his normal self. She took a bite of her food and then put the fork down. "So, how did the two of you actually meet?", she asked.

Mikasa could swear that she saw the pair freeze for a second, before Sasha smiled and answered. "A mutual friend introduced us to each other a couple of weeks ago."

"Which one?", Eren asked abruptly. "Jean has no friends."

"That's not true," Jean protested.

"Oh, yeah?" Eren countered again. "Then how come you never mention any friends? Where is this friend, ha? Ha?"

That statement was immediately followed by an appalled "Eren!" from Armin and an excuse in Sasha's direction. "He's rude, sorry."

Sasha just laughed it off. "Don't worry, Jean already warned me that they'd probably start fighting." She paused. "But Marco, the mutual friend of ours died a while back. Accident."

"That's horrible, I'm so sorry," Armin said.

"He never mentioned Marco," Erin whispered, so that only Mikasa, who was sitting next to him, heard.

'That's what I thought too.' But she didn't react to him and took another bite of her food.

The conversation at the table circled back to other topics, the men started telling stories from work and Sasha asked them about other stuff at work.

After some time, someone entered the restaurant, and Mikasa thought that Sasha's expression changed for a second, when she looked at them. Mikasa glanced at them as well. Two women walked hand in hand towards the next free table. One was petite with slightly wavy blonde hair, wearing a pink and white flowery sundress, while the other one was taller, with ripped jeans and a black hoodie, her free hand in its pocket. The tall woman had her short hair clipped to the side and she had a scowl on her face. They seemed like an unusual pair visually, but Mikasa couldn't help but think, that those two could pass as the female versions of Armin and Eren, the latter two even wearing similar clothes. Maybe Sasha had the same thought and that's why she looked?

The blonde sat down and the tall woman stood in front of her for a second, and then went towards the restrooms.

"Uhm, does anyone know where the toilets are?", Sasha asked.

"Sure, they're back there," Eren answered and pointed in the direction, where Mikasa just saw the other woman disappear to. Sasha thanked him and excused herself, walking away from the table.

All this was probably a complete coincidence, but at the same time, Mikasa suddenly felt suspicious. "Sorry, I have to go too," she said and hurried to the back of the restaurant.

E few steps before Sasha arrived at the door, Mikasa caught up with her. When Sasha noticed her, she gave her a smile and Mikasa mumbled a "I have to go as well." She felt like a teenager doing so, because back then it had been the last time when she "had" to go to the toilet in pairs. She let Sasha get in first.

The tall angry woman was standing at the sink, washing her hands. She turned her head to the door, but even if she knew Sasha, she didn't let it show. "I wouldn't go in the stall on the right, it's nasty," she said with a cold voice and turned the water off. Without drying her hands, the woman left.

"Is it just me, or does she look like the female version of Eren?" Sasha asked with an amused tone.

'It was the resemblance, after all.' For the first time in the evening, Mikasa started talking with Sasha.

"You know, I was so nervous meeting you guys," Sasha told Mikasa when they were at the sink, washing their hands. "I was afraid that you thought badly of me, after the incident the other night."

"I noticed," Mikasa answered and then shrugged. "Jean didn't talk much about it and it's probably not my place to ask, but is everything alright between you now?"

Sasha seemed surprised at the question, but then she smiled. "Yes, everything's fine. It was not my day at all, combined with some past traumas and some stupid thing led to another and I landed at your guys' flat. I didn't think about the fact that I might wake up the whole building, I'm sorry."

/

Sasha glanced at the time on her wristwatch. They had already been at the restaurant for three hours and she wondered whether it would be okay to leave now.

When Jean had told her about his roommates asking him to meet her, she absolutely freaked out. After the events in the last days, the last thing she needed was sitting at a table with three cops, but she had dug her grave with her own stupidity when she had appeared at Jean's flat without thinking. Now she had to sit through dinner, because there had been no believable excuse to cancel. For a moment, she had even considered to "break up" beforehand, but that would only had made things worse and would raise unnecessary questions, if she and Jean got caught meeting afterwards. To make matters worse, Levi didn't know anything about her "performance" at the flat and out of fear of his reaction, Sasha hadn't dared to tell him about dinner. Luckily or unfortunately – that was yet to be determined – Historia noticed that Sasha was acting odd during the day and when she found out why, this angel of a woman told Sasha not to worry about anything and that she'd have her back. The moment Sasha had seen Historia and Ymir walk into the restaurant; she had felt like she could cry out of joy. However, she couldn't shake the feeling that Mikasa had noticed her relief.

Three and a half hours, now that was enough of socializing. "I think I should head home, I have an early day tomorrow," she finally said out loud. "It was really nice to meet you guys."

"I'll bring you to the metro," Jean said and took out his wallet.

"Well, we should probably also get going, I have to be at the station at 7," Eren said and started looking for the waiter.

A few minutes later, the whole group left and started walking towards the metro station. Sasha only hoped that she wouldn't have to ride in the same direction as they did, she couldn't remember what she had said her station was.

"So, Jean, are you coming home with us tonight, or are you going with Sasha?" Eren asked when they saw the stair leading to the station in front of them.

"Eren!"

"What? I'm just asking!"

"I'll come home, since I obviously don't carry my bag with me," Jean answered in a snarky tone.

Sasha didn't pay much more attention to their bickering. Just a few more minutes, until they left, then she could get back to Ymir and Historia.

"Ehm, Sasha," Armin started as they all went downstairs. "I just wanted to tell you, that you can always stay over at Jean's, you don't have to worry about us."

"Yes!", Eren agreed. "We don't mind significant others staying overnight. I don't know if I could go with seeing Armin as little as you guys are seeing each other. This way, you can at least spend some time together at night."

To probably everyone's surprise, even Mikasa agreed with the guys. "Yes, please feel free to come by anytime."

Sasha and Jean glanced at each other. It was clear, that he didn't have any idea that his roommates were going to offer such a thing and Sasha sensed, that he was at loss what to do. He might be a believable double-agent, but being a pretend boyfriend sure confused him. Sasha took a deep breath. There was not really an out here, was it?

She snapped back into character and gave the roommates a big smile. "That's really nice of you guys, thank you!"

Fucking hell.