9. Open Your Eyes
"What are you doing?!" Eren yelled at Jean, shoving him off the chair he was lounging on. "Captain Levi will be here any moment!"
"What is your fucking problem, Jaeger?" Jean growled, stumbling a bit as he tried to gain his balance, only to be unbalanced again as Sasha bumped into him from behind. "Oi, potato girl! Look where you're going!"
"Mpppfgh." She responded ineligibly, trying her best to swallow whatever she was chewing.
"Wha-? Actually, never mind." Jean sighed, grabbing a broom as Eren shot him another glare.
The whole squad was in a state of frenzy. Levi had stated very clearly a couple of hours ago before heading for a meeting with Erwin that he wanted the dining hall spotless otherwise all of them would be scrubbing toilets for the next two weeks.
"Mikasa, Armin get a move on guys!" Eren badgered his friends, trying to get the room as clean as humanly possible.
"Calm down, Eren. Don't work yourself up so much." Mikasa advised but Eren ignored her as usual as he pulled up the cloth around his neck to cover his mouth and nose, much like Levi did while cleaning and bent down to scrub the floor furiously.
Armin and Mikasa exchanged a worried look and Jean simply snorted.
"You have a problem," Jean drawled as he swept his broom lazily on the floor, brushing some dust in Connie's direction and earning himself a string of swear words from his fellow comrade. "You think you can be like him if you copy his mannerisms?"
"What? I am simply following orders." Eren shot back angrily. "Unlike your stupid, lazy ass!"
"Oh yeah?" Jean shoved him broom aside angrily as he stepped up to Eren.
"Leave him alone." Mikasa intervened immediately.
"Mikasa, stay out of it. This is between me and Jean." Eren snapped, not taking his eyes off Jean as he abandoned his rag and stepped up to the sneering, brown haired boy.
"Guys, come on." Connie groaned. "I don't know about you two but I don't wanna be on my knees all week, elbow deep in some shitty toilet."
"Eren-" Mikasa began again but was cut off immediately.
"Can you not interfere for once?" Eren growled, his voice low and guttural as his eyes flashed dangerously, taking Mikasa aback.
"You know what your real problem is, Eren? Not your hero-worship complex or whatever the fuck it is." Jean pitched in smoothly, breaking the tension between Eren and Mikasa. "Your problem is your whole freaking attitude regarding each and every thing. About Mikasa." He pointed a finger in Mikasa's direction, making her dark eyes widen with surprise. A hush fell over the whole group as everyone stopped their activities and stood still to witness Jean's little speech.
"He is finally doing it," Sasha whispered to Connie, who nodded wordlessly. Armin simply pursed his lips, wanting to intervene but not finding the rights words to do so.
"What?" Eren asked him after a moment of silence.
"Just how blind can you be, Eren? No one has a right to be this oblivious, not even retards like you." Jean continued, his tone razor sharp and reprimanding. "Mikasa is the only person in this room -apart from Armin perhaps- who would do anything for you. And you not only take her for granted but you push her away." He scoffed, as if the mere thought of it was ridiculous and laughable. " Can't you see how much your shitty attitude hurts her? Grow the fuck up and open your goddamn eyes, Jaeger."
"Jean," Mikasa stopped him by placing a hand on his arm, her face hidden by her hair. "I don't need you to defend me." She added tonelessly.
Eren stood there stunned, his eyes automatically flickering to where Mikasa's hand connected with Jean's arm. He was torn between wanting to punch Jean in the nose and questioning Mikasa. Was it true? Did he really hurt her? He had known Mikasa for a long time and spent a good amount of his time arguing with her, usually over her over-protective behavior and her nagging. Sure, they argued a lot but he didn't actually hurt her, did he? I mean, she is Mikasa…she will get over it. Right?
"I asked you brats to clean the dining hall, not turn it into your private shit show."
"Captain!" Eren immediately stood up straighter, as did everyone else as they saluted Levi, who was observing the scene from the doorway.
Levi walked into the room, looking thoroughly unamused as he glanced around with obvious displeasure. Bypassing a blubbering Sasha, he reached the dining table and swiped his fingers beneath the wooden surface once before bringing it to his face. He rubbed his fingers together, his steely grey eyes flickering to Eren's as everyone waited with bated breath.
"It's filthy." He stated gravelly, wiping his fingers against his pants.
"S-sir, I tried-"
"It was me, Captain." Mikasa stepped forward. "Eren was instructing everyone to clean and I caused a hindrance, delaying the process. If anyone is to be punished, it should be me."
"Mikasa-!" Eren looked aghast and Jean covered his face with his palm after shooting Eren a meaningful glare. Mikasa stood beside him with her arms crossed behind her back, her back ramrod straight and her legs slightly apart as she took the blame for him, her face not betraying even the slightest bit of emotion. Eren's eyes ultimately landed on her scarf –his scarf- which was wrapped around her neck securely and something inside him swelled. It swelled until he felt like he would burst from the feeling.
Eren took a shaky breath when he finally realized what it was.
Guilt.
