It's Monday and Mikasa hasn't heard from Annie at all. She's texted her a few times but was only left on seen.

Are they really over? Annie didn't make it quite clear that night if they were actually broken up or not, she just said "see you later" and walked away, why is everything so confusing? Mikasa shook her head and continued her walk to school while trying to make her face appear more cheerful.

As she walked through the school building she couldn't help but feel like people were staring at her, it's probably all in her head, so she keeps walking to her locker where she see's Armin waiting for her with a worried look on his face.

"Hey Armin, is something wrong?" Mikasa asked not liking the feel of the atmosphere all of a sudden.

"Have you been online at all this weekend?" Armin asked with a bit of confusion and attitude.

"...No, why do you ask?" Mikasa was not liking where this is heading

"There's a picture of you and Annie together from the football game"

Mikasa's heart stopped for a moment…. No, no way this could have happened.

"But we were just talking that night, it must have just been taken out of context" Mikasa spoke quickly trying to find some way around this.

Armin pulls out his phone "Oh really? Because this seems like a lot more than talking" he pulls up instagram and shows it to her.

Mikasa's stomach sank, it was kinda dark but bright enough to make out who the two people were. You could clearly see her face at a kissing angle and Annie's blonde bun with their arms wrapped around each other, normally seeing pictures of them together would make Mikasa's heart flutter but this time it just made her feel sick…

She had completely forgotten about the kiss. How could she be so stupid?

"It's on all the social media sights, it was even posted on the school website for a while until they took it down, but by then someone already took a screenshot" Armin spoke quietly and put a hand on Mikasa's shoulder while taking his phone back.

Mikasa felt frozen. This. Is. Bad. But then she quickly got her senes back and grabbed Armin by his shoulders.

"Is Annie okay? Is she even here today? I have to talk to her." She asked frantically while clutching his shoulders. Is that why she didn't text her back? Had she already known?

"Ow I don't think that's the best idea right now." Armin tried to wiggle out of her grasp

Mikasa's thoughts were all over the place, if Annie knew why didn't she say anything? What's everyone going to think? What about Jean? Sure he's at a different school but that means nothing against social media.

"What if this gets around everywhere? Armin I'm freaking out!" Mikasa clutched his shoulders tighter.

"Ow ow ow! Yes I know you're scared but can you please loosen your grip?" Armin had his eyes squeezed shut

Mikasa quickly let go of him, forgetting he's as thin as a twig. "Sorry…"

"I say let's go to class and just hope this passes over." Armin rubs his shoulders.

Mikasa nods her head and heads off to her first class. When she enters the classroom she keeps her head down and makes her way to her desk but someone stops in front of her.

"You're pretty popular today Ackerman"

Mikasa looked up and was faced with Floch. He's mostly known for his oddly styled ginger hair, it looks like a birds nest on top like what is he even trying to do? The boy is just a dick but nobody does anything about it knowing that he won't stop even if they said something.

"Floch can you please just not do this now" Mikasa glared at him hoping to get the message across.

"Hmm no I don't think I can. So you like making out with girls huh? You think you and Annie can come over to my place later and make out? And then some? Maybe I could join you halfway through and we ca-"

A fist collided with his face then he was on the floor, but not by Mikasa even though she was just about to, someone just beat her to it. She looked next to her and it was the one person she least expected to see.

Annie.

The blonde was breathing heavily clenching her fists, she was about to go over and give Floch a thorough beating but Mikasa stopped her.

"It's not worth it, I think you already broke his nose" she looked at the boy holding his hand over his nose that was already overflowing with blood.

By now everyone in the classroom was staring at them. Mikasa was frozen again, what is going on with her today? Usually she would be able to shrug off what happened and go about her business but it's a little different now. Suddenly Annie grabbed her hand and led her out of the room, they continue walking without speaking until they reach the doors to the front of the school.

"Wait Annie where are we going?" Mikasa finally spoke up, she seemed to zone out the entire walk, not everything has settled yet.

"Anywhere but here, you don't need this right now" they made it to Annie's truck and got in.

"But what about you? Are you doing okay?"

"I'm fine!" Annie suddenly yelled making Mikasa jump.

Annie looked over at her and relaxed a little bit, she started the truck and drove away from the school.

The car ride was silent. Mikasa looked out the window and saw that they had turned down a dirt road, she knew where they were heading, the warehouse. It used to be some sort of factory but was abandoned a long time ago, a while back Annie, Reiner, and Bert stumbled upon it and they decided to make it a hangout space. They brought in an old couch that Reiner's parents where going to throw out along with some blankets and a table they found on the curb somewhere, they ended up spray painting the walls so it would look more "unique" but it was mostly stick figures and a bunch of random lines since neither of the trio could draw for shit. Mikasa looked back at Annie, she had her eyebrows narrowed and her hands clutched the steering wheel tightly. The girl was obviously stressed.

Once they pulled up to the abandoned warehouse Annie put the truck in park then quickly got out and headed inside, leaving Mikasa alone, she got out at her own pace. She walked inside and saw Annie sitting in the couch by the wall with her head in her hands while tapping her foot on the ground lightly. Once she heard Mikasa approaching she looked up and walked over to her, quickly pulling her into a tight hug. Mikasa, still a little in shock over the whole ordeal, wrapped her hands around Annie and held her close. It seemed like Annie was taking this harder than her right now.

"I'm sorry Mikasa, I'm so sorry…" Annie whispered into her chest

Mikasa placed her hand on Annie's head "What are you apologizing for? It's not like you had anything to do with this"

Annie's grip tightened a little "I know, I'm just upset this is happening to you. I mean what are your parents gonna say?"

Mikasa's eyes widened. Her parents, since the picture was on the school website at some point no doubt one of the parents didn't already see it and relay it back to them.

"I.. I have no idea what's gonna happen with them. Annie, what am I going to do?" Mikasa started to visibly shake from the possibilities, what if they make her switch schools again? Or move to a different state? Or what if they disown her? Her breathing started to quicken and her heartbeat sped up.

Annie seemed to notice because she quickly pulled away from her and pulled her over to sit on the couch. She placed her hands on each side of Mikasa's face to make the girl face her.

"Hey you're okay, it's all gonna be okay. I'm here with you and we'll get through this alright." Annie spoke softly while stroking her cheeks with her thumbs.

Mikasa began to calm down a little, she grabbed Annie's hands and held them in her own "What about your dad? We both know what will happen if he finds out"

"He won't find out. He won't dare touch a computer or a smartphone and he doesn't get along with any of the parents in the district so I think I'll be okay."

Mikasa smiled. "Good, I don't think I could handle it if something happened to you as well."

Annie smiled back. She leaned back on the couch and pulled Mikasa down so she could lay on top of her. MIkasa immediately wrapped her arms around Annie's waist and rested her head on the girls chest, they stayed like that for a while, since they were supposed to be in school anyway they had some time before Mikasa had to go back home and face the music.

Annie always knew how to make her feel better, she could do it without saying a word. She's glad they're here together right now considering what happened friday night… wait, Annie was never clear if they had broken up or not that night, should she ask her about that? Or would it just upset her again? Screw it, she needed answers.

"Annie? Are we okay?" Mikasa raised her head to look at her.

Annie gave her a confused look "Yea? Why wouldn't we be?"

"Well after what happened on friday I thought you would break up with me. The things you said made it sound that way at least"

The blonde looked down for a moment then met her eyes again. "I know what I said but I take it all back, just forget what happened that night okay?"

They stared at each other for a moment and then Mikasa laid her head back down on Annie's chest. "Yea okay, as long as we're still together I can do that"

"Of course we are still together, I wouldn't be here with you right now if we weren't"

"You're lying, you would totally still be here if we weren't" Mikasa giggled lightly

"Okay yeah you're right I probably would" Annie let out a small laugh and started running her hand up and down Mikasa's back soothingly.

Mikasa sighed blissfully and closed her eyes. It felt nice to forget about everything for a while.

XX

When they pulled up the driveway to Mikasa's house she was incredibly nervous, she could feel her body start to shake again but then she felt a warm hand wrap around her own. She looked to Annie and squeezed her hand a little before letting go and opening the car door.

"You sure you don't want me to stick around just in case? I can't imagine things will go smoothly in there" Annie asked with a concerned tone.

"I'm sure, it would probably be worse if you were there" Mikasa leaned in and gave Annie a quick kiss before getting out of the truck. "I'll see you at school tomorrow"

Annie nodded and Mikasa closed the door. She watched Annie drive away then turned towards her house, here we go.

Mikasa opened the front door quietly but there was no reason to because her father was already waiting for her. Immediately she felt her nerves kick in.

"Mikasa will you come into the living room please, we have guests" He spoke in a firm tone.

Guests? She didn't even notice the other car parked out front. Mikasa followed her father into the living room where she saw her mother sitting in the armchair and on the couch was... Eren and uncle Grisha? Why are they here? Mikasa sat down next to Eren who didn't bother to even glance in her direction while her father stood beside her mom. The room was quiet as if someone spoke the entire house would explode, Mikasa just kept her gaze to the floor waiting for someone to say something, this was killing her.

Her mother was the first to speak. "So Eren had some news he wanted to share with us"

Everyone looked to Eren as he pulled out his phone and opened up his pictures, Mikasa's heart stopped again when she saw him tap on the picture of her and Annie, Eren stood up and handed the phone over to her parents. Mikasa watched them closely, her father seemed to grimace at the sight while her mom just kept staring at it with a blank expression. Her mother handed the phone back to Eren and another deathening silence fell over them.

'Really Eren?' She thought 'How could you?' Anger now boiling inside her she abruptly stood up and turned towards Eren. "You little shit! You took that photo didn't you?!"

"Mikasa language!" Her mother yelled out.

Eren stood eye level with Mikasa. "I didn't do anything! I was tagged in this on facebook, What's wrong with you? Why would you do something so disgusting!"

"Both of you please stop yelling at each other" Uncle Grisha finally spoke out.

The two glared at one another and sat back down.

"Mikasa" Her father piped up. "How long have you been like this?"

Mikasa scoffed "I've always been like this, but I couldn't tell you because I knew you would react badly. You're all homophobic assholes!" Maybe it was a bit too much but the cats already out of the bag, might as well go all out right?

Her Father frowned and walked over to her. "You will not speak that way to us! Do you understand!"

"You will respect us in our own house!" Her mother shouted from her seat. Guess everyone is yelling now.

"Screw you guys! I'm so tired of pretending to be this perfect girl you always envisioned. I can't dress how I want, I can't talk how I want, I can't even love who I want!" Wait did she just say love? Did she love Annie? This is not the right time to unpack this, but she does wish Annie was here right now.

"Loving another girl is wrong Mikasa! And what about Jean, you know he heard right? How do you plan to explain that to him?" Eren stood too and crossed his arms.

Crap, she had forgotten about Jean. Mikasa pulled out her phone to see if he might have called her but before she could even unlock it her father snathed the phone away.

"Phone privileges are revoked, we don't need you texting that girl"

"You can't stop us from seeing each other, we go to the same school" Mikasa gasped and quickly closed her mouth. Shit why did she have to bring that up?

"We'll deal with that tomorrow. Right now I think it's best if you just go to your room for the rest of the night" Her father spoke in a commanding tone and pointed up the stairs.

Mikasa looked to her mom who kept her head down, she then looked to Grisha who gave her an apologetic look (she knew it was bs), and then she looked to Eren who looked like he was about to burst from all the anger. She glared back at her father then pushed through Eren, heading up the stairs to her room.

Once she closed the door she sat on her bed, hugging her knees. About a minute later she heard a lock click and she walked back over to her door. She went to turn the knob but it wouldn't move, did they seriously lock her in her room? What the actual fuck?

Mikasa turned and pressed her back to the door and slide down to the floor, her hands were shaking again and this time Annie wasn't there to calm her down. She replayed everything that happened today in her head, from what Armin showed her, to Floch asking that question, to watching Annie drive away, then to the fight she had just had with Eren and her parents. A small sob escaped her lips and she felt the tears start to come down her cheeks, Mikasa eventually cried herself to sleep on her bedroom floor.

XX

It was morning. Mikasa had woken up stiff with tear stained cheeks, she slowly got up and looked at the clock on her nightstand, 8:45 a.m., she was already late for school. She put her hand on the doorknob again and tried to turn it, still locked.

"What the fuck" She muttered under her breath. Guess this is what her father meant by "dealing with it tomorrow."

Just then the lock clicked and her door opened to reveal her father on the other side. He was dressed in his work attire while holding a plate with some toast on it in one hand. He spoke in a low cold tone "I'm off to work, you're staying here until I get back." He handed her the plate and closed the door without another word, locking it again.

Mikasa stared at the door until she heard his footsteps fade away, then she looked at the toast. She frowned and placed the plate on her dresser and looked out the window facing the front of her house, she saw her father getting into his car and drive off to work. Mikasa sighed and sat on her bed, this is all so messed up.

Eventually she got herself up to take a shower and change her clothes from yesterday, she threw on a pair of sweatpants and a regular black t-shirt. It was now 9:45 she still hadn't touched the toast her father brought, she wasn't hungry anyway, her brain was spinning in circles. What kind of parents would lock their daughter in her room just because she wanted to be herself? They most likely have no idea what to do so they're just keeping her in here until they decide on something, but still.

Mikasa ran her hands through her hair, wondering what they're all thinking of her now at school. No doubt everyone knows, she still hasn't been able to talk to Jean although Eren probably gave him the low down. But what about Annie? She knew the girl could take care of herself but she's still worried, people can only take so much.

Annie…

Mikasa wanted nothing more than for Annie to be here with her right now, she was actually scared of what might happen when her parents return home. A knock on the window startled Mikasa out of her thoughts, she looked up and her face filled with joy.

It was Annie.

Quickly Mikasa unlocked the window so her girlfriend could hop in, she was about to close it when Annie stopped her.

"I brought a plus one" The blonde pointed downwards.

Mikasa, confused, looked out the window and down the tree. There she saw Armin, struggling, but still climbing up the tree too.

"Armin! Oh my god" Mikasa reached her hand out for the boy to grab and helped pull him the rest of the way up.

Armin was breathing heavily but looked okay for the most part. "I knew… something… was up when… you didn't make it… to school this morning." He eventually got out through his heavy breathing.

Mikasa hugged the boy, not too hard, she didn't want to crush him. "Thank you for checking on me"

Armin smiled and hugged her back "Of course"

She then turned to Annie and hugged her tightly to which the blonde returned. "I'm so glad you're here" she said on the verge of tears. "My parents locked me up here"

"What? That's bull!" Annie yelled

Armin shut the window "They can't do that to you Mikasa, have you tried to call someone?"

"They took my phone. I honestly have no idea what's going to happen next"

"We could always sneak you out the window" Annie suggested.

"No that would make things worse and they would find me eventually" Mikasa started pacing her room. "That bastard, whoever leaked that photo is going to pay" She gritted her teeth and clenched her fists.

Annie grabbed here hands. "Hey let's not think about them right now," she said in an almost shaky voice. "It doesn't matter-"

"Yes it does matter Annie" Mikasa pulled her hands away. "This person ruined everything, and when I find out who it was there will be hell to pay"