I'm super grateful for the support and beautiful reviews I received in the previous chapter from Osravix, chicken2222, Inevi, , Guest (1), Miourf, Guest (2), Guest (3), AanimeIslifeE, PrettyQueen325, Jen, Romiemie, Angryhenry, nimayj, ajanji14, Arechii and Profi.
Thanks a lot and lots of good vibes for each one of you!
Special thanks to Selena (Kaekiro) for looking over the English version!
LAWLESS
Chapter 13. Shiganshina (Part II)
The hours of travel by carriage and ferry, in addition to the unexpected dive in the freezing autumnal waters of the Sina River, ended up draining their energy too early. The trio didn't get to drink half of the beers and wine Eren bought that afternoon. They also weren't able to eat enough cake. At least, if Armin dared to continue celebrating turning twenty-one, they would have enough to drink and eat the next day.
Eren pulled on the covers up to his neck. Sharing a bed with Armin as adults had a certain nostalgic charm to it. It almost felt like one of their classic nocturnal childhood hangouts, where they occasionally pretended to be explorers who camped in unfamiliar and inhospitable places. Other times they only had extensive discussions about anything until they were unable to stay awake. A recurring theme as they grew up was what they wanted to become when they got older and, unlike Armin, Eren's responses tended to vary as he didn't have a clear goal. The illness that attacked his mother is what ended up convincing him to become a physician, just like his father.
The fun nocturnal stays became more complicated with the passage of time. They no longer fit comfortably in bed together and they used to complain to each other because one ended up occupying more space than the other, although the one who took over the bed was always Eren as he was a bit bigger, taller and restless. Except for the winter months, the rest of the year they got angry because it was very hot. Every time they woke up in the middle of the night, they pushed away the one who was still asleep. The last bed-sharing stay was when they were about twelve years old. Armin slept oriented in the common upright position while Eren slept with his head on a pillow at the foot of the bed. That unpleasant night, Eren received a sudden knee in the crotch and Armin a stinky kick in the face. They woke up in such a bad mood that they even argued for the stupidest things and didn't want to see each other for the rest of the day.
After Eren sold his family's house and moved to Mithras, every time he returned to Shiganshina he slept in what once was Armin's grandfather's room. Today was the exception since Mikasa had decided to sleep in grandpa's old room. According to her, the best was for Eren to make the most of the little time he could spend together with Armin, which included sleeping together like in the old days. Luckily, his friend now owned a very comfortable bed with enough space for two people, thus they could avoid last time's unconscious blows.
"So..." said Armin by his side. Shadows vibrated on the ceiling at the flickering light of a candle that was running out of wax. "How's everything going with the Ackerman?"
"Mm...? Fine," answered Eren in a lazy voice.
"'Fine'? That's all?"
"Ugh, obviously that's not all. There are things going on and... I don't know. I don't feel like thinking about that."
Armin seemed to decide not to pressure him about it. He remained silent for several minutes in which Eren began to fall into a pleasant slumber. When he heard his friend's voice again, he opened his eyes and noticed that there were no more dancing shadows on the ceiling. There was much more light than before, for Armin lit a gas lamp after the candle was consumed. That could only mean one thing: conversation spirits, although not on Eren's part. Feeling heavy eyelids, he let out a faint moan at the lack of compassion.
"Are you listening to me?"
"… mmhm," no, he wasn't listening. What did Armin even say before that question?
"I was telling you that Mikasa is... quite peculiar. The first time I saw her, she gave the impression of being a very self-confident person, one of those who knows perfectly who they are, what they want in life and how to obtain it. A woman who does what she pleases and who always achieves what she wants." Tired, Eren looked at him out of the corner of his eye. Seriously? Armin had to start analyzing Mikasa aloud right now? Did it have to be now? "That night at the Reiss', her way of walking, talking and gazing could bewitch anyone. Even though she was wearing a mask, when she asked me about you... I admit that she left me kind of dazzled."
He tried to liven up and ruminate what Armin had just said. He was struck by the use of the word 'bewitch.' So, did Mikasa's performance even leave Armin dazzled? Or bewitched. Eren was already aware that the girl knew how to act and that she was good at it, however he hadn't managed to actually see her in her role as a femme fatale, or whatever that was.
He visualized Mikasa with her satin red gown, the way it contrasted with her pale skin and her black hair. He recalled her dramatic fake fall and the people's reaction. Unintentionally, the corners of his lips curled upward lazily. He used to think that the paraphernalia had been Kenny's idea because he doubted Levi would suggest something so dull, and the same with Mikasa, but now that Eren knew her better, he suspected that it had been her idea, that the trip over was the result of improvisation. Adding to what Armin had just said, it may have been her desperate attempt as she noticed Eren wasn't one of those easy to 'bewitch' fools. Not that Armin was a fool, of course, but he'd always been the most onlooker of the two, and running into a presence like Mikasa's must have heavily influenced his dumbfounded reaction.
"Mikasa was looking for your full attention that night, Eren, and she got it."
Eren clicked his tongue.
"She got my attention thanks to a ruse, not because I got 'bewitched' by her or anything like that," he said as he adjusted his head on the pillow and closed his eyes. "She knew I'm a doctor and that I'd obviously check on her in case she got hurt."
"Still, she did," continued Armin, observing him with suspicion. "Sometimes I wonder if you at least noticed her cleavage."
Eren didn't say anything about it, but he had noticed her cleavage. Since he wasn't a pervert, he didn't focus on it and instead focused on making sure that the then-stranger was doing well. He remembered he had even asked her if she was pregnant, meaning he'd implied that Mikasa had slept with someone and... well, that wasn't something he wanted to even think or imagine right now.
"... I saw her again one morning, with you," Armin was still talking. "She behaved distantly and even contemptuously. Her attitude was able to make me feel like an insignificant worm she could crush at any time. Her very presence intimidated me. But today..." He paused. "Today I saw just a girl."
Eren knew exactly what he meant. He'd gone through a similar confusion.
"Yeah... Mikasa is just a girl who can crush you at any time, whenever she wants," Eren murmured with a trace of pride. His eyelids felt sandy, but he wasn't that sleepy anymore. "Though I think she likes you and she won't do such a thing."
After all, she had even laughed with Armin.
"Ah, but it wasn't just Mikasa's change of attitude what I found interesting today," Eren could almost hear the smile in Armin's voice. "But also the way you interact with her. I notice you two got way closer."
Eren opened his eyes and felt his brow knit, but he tried to relax the muscles of his face.
"That's because we are friends now," he said in a carefree tone, though he stupidly felt like a child who had just been caught in the middle of a mischievous act. "And we have to pretend that we're a couple in public. You already know."
He knew Armin and knew when he wanted to wheedle something out of him. During the afternoon, Eren had heard him make certain comments that he preferred to ignore. Or pretended to ignore, because he remembered very well that one remark about the 'bath of cold water' he seemed to need.
He needed to change the topic. Before Eren could open his mouth to say something else, Armin gave him the sharpest, most evil smile he'd seen on him in a long while.
"You staring at her like an idiot and throwing her into the river with you, was that also part of the act?"
"Hey," Eren protested, sensing the heat that had gripped his face. "I didn't stare at her like an-"
"Sorry, I actually wanted to say: like a lovestruck fool."
What?
Eren gaped. He wasn't... no. Definitely not. Nothing like that. Armin was just bothering him. He surely hadn't even been able to see his face from where he was when everything happened.
"I don't…" he stirred under the sheets. And how dare he call him a fool? "It was an accident!"
"Fine, don't raise your voice. Yes, yes, you're right, it must have been a simple accident," Armin conceded with such a mocking and annoying tone that Eren narrowed his eyes. "It had been years since you rode a bicycle. You lacked practice and should have concentrated more on the road instead of on your companion."
"You know what? I'm done with this conversation," he growled, turning his back on him with a curt pull of blankets.
Eren truly was tired and wanted to sleep, not to continue talking nonsense. The fucking bicycle, the river and those things. It was all an accident, it didn't happen because he was a... silly idiot who stared at Mikasa like a fool, no.
And the... 'lovestruck' part? That was too much. Armin couldn't be serious.
"It's funny because even your ears are red and your mom used to say that-"
"Stop talking. I'm trying to sleep. Turn off the light already."
"At least you don't deny it."
"Armin. Shut up."
Armin sighed and turned off the lamp.
"You're acting like a child, Eren, but I understand," he said softly. "We can finish this conversation another day."
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"Things are very different," Alina muttered. Her bandaged hands ran down her short hair from the nape of her neck to her forehead, over and over again, in an anxious gesture. "Too different."
Alina was sitting by the window, claiming that she wasn't sleepy yet even though it was already past midnight. The nurse in charge of preparing her for sleep tonight had gone to ask for Ymir's help almost two hours ago, surpassed by the resistance of the mysterious patient.
Ymir came closer to her and bent down to catch up.
"What's different?" she asked. It was the first time she heard Alina say something like that.
Alina glanced at the floor, her hands still on her head. She was silent for a long time and seemed to make a huge effort to sort out the chaos that must have been inside her head. Her face contracted, her brow creased and her eyelids tightened.
"Where…? Where is my sister?" she asked in an almost inaudible whisper.
According to the file, Alina didn't have a sister, but Ymir wasn't so insensitive as to contradict someone in her condition.
"I don't know," she said. "What's your sister's name?"
"She..." Alina abruptly closed her mouth and looked around, as if she was seeing the room for the first time. "Where am I?"
Ymir took a deep breath.
"You're in Yarckel's Asylum, west of Mithras. This has been your room since you were transferred to this place months ago."
She watched as the woman's expression disarmed and tears spilled languidly over her cheeks. Despite having been working with people with mental problems for years, seeing Alina crying as if she had just become aware of her situation made Ymir feel a twinge in her chest. Besides, there was something about her that reminded her of Historia. She didn't know if it was a physical resemblance or something deeper.
When Alina gazed at her with bright and lucid eyes, Ymir knew this was the real person under the veil of madness. The one she's already seen before.
"I-It was my father, right?" Alina asked, wiping her tears with bandaged hands, straightening in the armchair as she had done before her hair got cut again. "He sent me here. He is hiding me as if my existence ashamed him and the whole family."
"I don't think Mr. Todenhöfer is-"
"Todenhöfer?" Alina repeated, displeased. "I don't know any 'Mr. Todenhöfer'"
"Mr. Todenhöfer is your father, Alina."
Alina's blue eyes again filled up with tears as she shook her head gently. Suddenly, a painful and ironic smile appeared on her lips.
"I should have known something like this would happen," she mumbled. "An asylum... another name..." she chuckled.
Ymir didn't know what to say. It was the first time that Alina talked about such varied things and for so long.
"You have to help me," she pleaded. "You have to- You have..."
"How?"
Alina returned her hands to her head, letting out a small whimper.
"I-I'm not... crazy," she sobbed as she seemed to resist something trying to take hold of her. Her eyelids tightened with force. Tears flowed and dripped onto her lap as they converged on her chin. She opened her eyes suddenly, as if she had just witnessed something terrifying. "They are... they are dead. They are dead…"
Ymir had to grab Alina's wrists to keep her from biting her hands while, once again, she heard her repeat the same old thing: "It doesn't work."
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Mikasa glanced around drowsily and a little dazed, not recognizing the place where she was. It was a small room, with a desk, a chair, and a pile of books stacked on the floor under the window. An old straw hat hung on the white wall. She rubbed her eyes and she spotted her suitcase in a corner. Eren had left it there when they had both climbed to the second floor with their clothes soaked.
Sighing, she ran her fingers through her hair, feeling knots and a rough texture. She would have to wash it and use balm to untangle and soften it. Mikasa got out of bed and the wooden floor gave a small crunch when she put all her weight on her bare feet. She walked toward her suitcase to get a towel, comfortable clothes, soap, body lotion, shampoo and balm for her hair. On the way to the bathroom she noticed there was no one in Armin's room, whose door was wide open. What time was it? Maybe she'd slept too much. She didn't hear any noise from the first floor. As soon as she entered the bathroom, she quickly took off her pajamas and got into the bathtub.
A quarter of an hour later, Mikasa was already dressed and was carefully removing all the moisture she could from her hair with a small towel.
When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she only saw Armin drinking coffee in silence while reading the newspaper. There were no signs of Eren. Armin greeted her in a good mood when he saw her and, standing up, he excused himself to go prepare her breakfast, even though Mikasa refused by saying that she could prepare it herself.
"Please, I want to do it. You're my guest," he said with a warm smile as he pointed to the table for her to sit down. "I'll be back."
It was easy to realize that Eren's best friend was a good guy with the naked eye. Mikasa had already perceived it the first time she saw him weeks ago.
Armin had smart and kind blue eyes. His face was so beautiful, smooth and clean that he looked younger than he really was. As far as Mikasa knew, yesterday he'd turned twenty-one but he could easily pass for a boy of about seventeen years old. His voice didn't sound as masculine or adult as Eren's, but less deep and more jovial instead, and that also contributed to him not looking his age.
The boy came back a short while later with a mug of hot chocolate and a piece of cake, which tasted much better than the day before. It was wonderful. When he offered her another piece, Mikasa was unable to refuse the offer. She didn't care if he later thought she was a glutton. If she didn't eat more of that delicious cake she would regret it later, she knew it. The moist spongy cake was filled with strawberries and cream, with a slight trace of alcohol behind each bite.
"Eren always finds and chooses the best food. It must be some sort of acquired talent," Armin commented and, at Mikasa's confused look, he explained: "In order not to waste a lot of time cooking, he got used to eating out or buying food and taking it home. When he studied and worked, he paid a woman who was his patient for her to bring prepared food to his apartment almost every day."
"To his apartment in Mitras?"
"Yes, the same one you were once already at... unless you've been there with him on another occasion I'm not aware of," he said, raising his eyebrows.
Mikasa shook her head. She almost didn't remember how Eren's apartment looked like and, since they were at it...
"Where is Eren?" she asked with some urgency, mentally berating herself for not having done it before.
It was as if her brain had just woken up and only now had deigned to issue a warning signal, even though she'd noticed Eren's absence before she had begun to stuff herself with cake.
Armin shrugged and tossed a lump of sugar into a cup, as Mikasa wiped her mouth with a napkin.
"He went to do medical visits."
Mikasa pushed her chair back, standing up. Why had he left without her? Supposedly Levi had also told Eren that they had to go together everywhere.
"I need you to tell me exactly where he is, or an approximation."
"I'm sorry, but I don't know. He just told me he'd be back before noon," he glanced at the wristwatch he wore on his left wrist. "That would have to be in less than forty minutes."
"At what time did he go out?"
"At nine something..."
"Shit," Mikasa muttered.
Eren had been out for a couple of hours now, there was no certainty about his exact location and she had slept more than intended.
"He'll be fine, a lot of people here have him in good esteem. Also Shiganshina is a quiet place where nothing really happens," Armin said with a smile in an attempt to reassure her, but soon seemed to realize his mistake.
Mikasa's face hardened.
"He's not told you anything?" she asked in an unkind tone.
"A-about what happened to your-?"
Her body tensed immediately.
"No," she interrupted him dryly. She grimaced and brought the tips of her fingers to her forehead. "I wasn't talking about that. Don't even mention it."
"I'm sorry, Mikasa."
Armin had lowered his eyes, seemingly ashamed. Mikasa tried to lessen the tension in her body and gradually lowered the defenses she'd just raised by reflex. She was being unfair. Her own reaction and question must have led him to think about what happened to her family. Eren had told him, obviously. Maybe he told him they were going to go to the outskirts of Shiganshina and explained him the reason behind that trip. Either way, the fact that Eren told her secrets to someone she barely knew wasn't something that made her happy, but she couldn't help but understand it. At least in some way, since even though she had never had a 'best friend,' she did have a vague idea about what having one implied.
"It has nothing to do with me," Mikasa clarified, a bit more relaxed. "But if he hasn't told you anything about everything else, then I won't either." She wasn't going to reveal other people's secrets. "What you should know is that neither Shiganshina, nor any other place in Paradis is completely safe for Eren anymore, that's why I was assigned with the mission of protecting him."
Armin seemed to be trying to figure out what Mikasa didn't want to say, until suddenly he gave her a slight nod.
"A while ago, Eren explained to me something about it," his cheerful tone had completely disappeared. He glanced at his watch again. "But I'm sure nothing will happen to him today. He'll arrive at any moment now."
Oddly enough, Mikasa also had the feeling that Eren would be fine. Still, it bothered her not to be fulfilling what she should do. And Eren wasn't fulfilling with his part either... The very reckless went out without telling her, without telling anyone around which sectors he would exactly be around and therefore Mikasa didn't even know where to look out for him, not to mention he could be inside any house. She clenched her hands and glanced toward the front door. She was going to reproach him for his lack of judgment as soon as he returned.
"The truth is that Eren didn't want to wake you up," Armin said. "He was about to knock on your door, but he didn't do it."
"Well, he should have done it," she grumbled, dropping reluctantly on her chair.
Mikasa leaned one elbow on the table and her head in the palm of her hand. She watched her mug. There was some cold chocolate at the bottom. She grabbed a spoon, stirred the brown liquid and drank it. There was nothing else to do but wait. If she went looking for Eren, desperately yelling out his name, she would call everyone's attention and not in a way that would please her or serve either of them.
"Eren just wanted for you to rest," Armin's voice had livened up again. "He even asked me to make as little noise as possible so that nothing bothered you, you know?"
Mikasa's face remained neutral despite the fact that a pleasant warmth flowered in her chest and a slight tingling made an appearance in her stomach. Why did Eren have to be so... tender? That is to say, he could also be exasperating, something she had learned during the ferry trip after he ate her chocolate bread in one bite and burst of laughter when he saw her reaction. But undoubtedly Eren's tenderness, his concern, was the greatest danger to her simply because it disarmed her. He had even made her cry once when he gave her that hair ornament while they were in Trost.
Although, if she was sincere, Eren was dangerous to her for more reasons besides his tenderness.
As if it were an invocation, the aforementioned entered Armin's house preceded by a slight metallic rattle of keys. Absentmindedly, Eren set his medical briefcase aside. Mikasa was already at close distance to him when he reacted.
"… Mikasa?"
She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pushed him without much delicacy, until she pressed him against the wall, leaving scarce centimeters between them. When she looked up she met with his intense green eyes, which blinked in surprise.
"Listen up. First of all, I didn't need to rest," she began to say, monotonous, trying to ignore the way her own heart tried to betray her and ruin the necessary admonition. She tried to stay as firm as possible, as Levi would. "Secondly, you should have woken me up to accompany you. Third, you are irresponsible. Knowing the current situation, you can't and shouldn't be overconfident."
Eren's gaze descended to the hand with which she held him and then rose again, somewhat hesitantly, to her face.
"Mikasa..." he said her name as if he were short of breath, even though she wasn't cutting off his breath at all. "Could you let go?"
Mikasa let him go as soon as he asked.
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Armin cleared his throat and Eren glared at him before he could say anything that would turn the moment into something uncomfortable. He adjusted his shirt's collar as his heartbeat recovered its normal rhythm. Mikasa's attitude had thrown him off once more, particularly because this kind of situation didn't happen since... well, the night of his kidnapping. That time he tried to escape despite knowing it was useless and Mikasa, in a blink of an eye, grabbed him by the arm, slammed him face-first into the wall and muttered a cold warning. Now that she grabbed him by the clothes, pushed him without preamble against the wall and her telling him off felt very different, even though the basic reason was somewhat similar to the first time.
"And? You won't say anything?" asked Mikasa crossing her arms.
Eren gave her an annoyed look, an inevitable reaction to a posture that reminded him of a mother scolding her son.
"What do you want me to say?"
"I don't know, it could be something like 'I won't do it again,' or an approximate."
"Fine," Eren sighed and his face took a bored expression. "It's been clear to me that you think you don't need to rest and that you can function perfectly with a few hours of bad sleep. It's also become clear to me that, since you don't care about your own health, you don't expect anyone else to care either. Honestly, Mikasa, I think you are the most irresponsible of the two. Knowing the current situation, you shouldn't only be alert to the external danger signals, but also to the internal." He unabashedly leaned his index finger on the center of Mikasa's chest, from which she took a step back as if it just burned her. "Yesterday you looked like a person with narcolepsy. That imperative need to sleep consumed you and was beyond your desire to stay alert during the day."
Mikasa opened her eyes slightly. She looked down at the floor and seemed to weigh his words, pursing her lips.
"Alright. I guess you're right," she replied, avoiding to make eye contact with him as if she were ashamed, however she soon raised her chin in a cocky mood, very Ackerman of her, and spoke again. "But it doesn't exempt you from the fact that you've exposed yourself irresponsibly. If you care so much about my health as the good doctor you are, then perfect: let me sleep a few hours more, but don't leave without me. You could have waited for me. We have to go together everywhere, or has Levi not made it clear to you?"
"Yeah, it's just that sometimes I think more about the mutilation threats."
She frowned. "What?"
"I'm kidding," Eren said with a tight lopsided smile.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Armin was still too attentive to this strange exchange. Of course he would... Eren bet the crook was enjoying it and that he would subject him to an interrogation as soon as they were alone. His stomach constricted.
"Well, I'm not kidding," Mikasa hissed, wary of his lie. "Don't go out again without me, understood? You have to take this seriously."
If Mikasa knew to which extent even his own brain was taking this seriously, she would slap him. The general situation with this girl was becoming stressful for Eren, in a way.
"Fine, and you don't keep on lying to yourself about your lack of need to rest."
Unintentionally, the tone of his voice projected his inner exasperation and Mikasa seemed somewhat bewildered by it. She scrutinized his face as if she was trying to decipher what was it that he wasn't saying.
"In that case, it's obvious that you also need an urgent rest, Eren, or you wouldn't have thrown us in the river yesterday."
He heard Armin giggle.
Damn it.
"Ah... so you're mad about it," he felt how the heat rose to his face. "I already told you I was sorry, and I'm still sorry."
"You don't have to apologize again. It was an accident and I'm not angry about that," she took a step towards him. "But... I think you haven't slept enough either, otherwise how did we end up in the water? You weren't focused on the road."
No, he wasn't focused on the road because he lost the notion of what he'd been doing by staring at her, though he didn't have to admit something so awkward out loud, much less in Armin's presence. He suspected he'd piss him off until the end of times for having been right.
Yes, he had stared at Mikasa like a fucking idiot and still couldn't understand why that had happened. Or perhaps he didn't want to understand it.
"Yeah, I'm in need of more sleep," he accepted reluctantly, taking a glance at the table. "Hey, you two didn't eat all the cake, right?"
"There's more in the kitchen," informed Armin who, to his surprise, wasn't looking at him with a mocking smile as he had expected.
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Eren wanted to stop by to see old Hannes and introduce Mikasa to him as his "girlfriend", but they didn't find him at home. He figured the man could be out at the canteen of the moment getting drunk since early with his cronies as always, because the only other possibility was that he was working in a place from which he could be fired at any time. Hannes used to have a stable job as a military police until, unfortunately, his excesses with the drink cost him dearly. To top it off, his wife, fed up with everything, left him for another man a short time later.
Although Hannes was a human disaster, he was a very good guy and both Eren and Armin held him in high esteem. They let Mikasa know it. She had returned to her calm, observant and silent self as they walked through the neighborhood.
"We could check if he's around later, or tomorrow," Armin suggested.
Eren and Mikasa still hadn't agreed on when to take the trip to the mountains, so he thought the best would be to have the next day free in case she wanted to go.
"Let's check again later," Eren said.
They left the narrow street and continued walking for a few minutes until they returned to the center of Shiganshina. It was around three in the afternoon on a Saturday and, as usual, there was a lot of movement and noise in the area. A young man carrying a small child in his arms cordially greeted Eren, who took a few moments to recognize him as one of the many people he'd attended in the past. Then someone else greeted him and he couldn't remember them at all. Eren didn't mind, for it was impossible to remember everyone.
The problem was that, as they meandered through the streets, Eren also didn't remember the exact moment when his arm ended up around Mikasa's narrow waist. His hand rested on her hip, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. He held the position for a while longer and then released her in a phlegmatic and somewhat reluctant movement. Removing his arm suddenly would only have shown his sudden awkwardness. Eren wanted to smack himself on the face when he realized this was one of the suggestions he'd read on the damn list of Hange Zoe that he had, unwittingly, put into practice.
He looked sideways at his female companion. As if sensing his sudden scrutiny, she gazed back at him. The exchange didn't even last a second, as they quickly broke eye contact without uttering a single word.
Neither of them looked for the other to walk together again as the supposed couple they were. Actually, it wasn't necessary for them to do it right away... Maybe none of this was necessary, in the slightest. It was ridiculous after all. Even the way his heart had begun to behave in relation to this whole crap was completely ridiculous, and yet...
Hearing someone shout Armin's name brought him out of his inner turmoil.
"Did you hear that?" Armin asked, searching for the source of the voice. "I think someone called me."
"It's that woman," Mikasa said, pointing at an old three-story house on the other side of the street. "The redhead who is leaning out of one of the windows on the second floor."
Eren spotted a face that became familiar to him, despite the distance.
"I think it's... Hannah Diamand," he entwined his fingers with those of his supposed girlfriend and nodded at Armin to cross the street. "Let's go."
"Eren! Armin!" The girl smiled from above, evidently happy that they responded to her calls. "I go downstairs right away!"
"She looks like the pregnant woman who yelled your name yesterday, when we got here," Mikasa commented in a low voice.
"Pregnant?" Eren repeated.
Hannah opened the door and yes, his old classmate was definitely pregnant. Just by seeing her, Eren calculated she had more than thirty weeks of pregnancy, but it could also be that she was already at full term. The size of a pregnant woman's belly varied quite a bit from case to case.
She let them get inside her house after greeting them and asking if they had time to join her to drink tea. After the failed visit to Hannes, none of the three refused the invitation. As expected with any old acquaintance, though also with strange snoopers, the girl inspected Mikasa with ill-concealed interest. Eren simply took the chance to introduce her as his girlfriend. He managed to do it with ease, without hesitation or awkwardness in between. Mikasa also did her part without complications.
Although Eren had already introduced her as his girlfriend on previous occasions, he'd only done so in front of people with whom he had no connection other than the professional relationship between patient and doctor. Managing to do the same in front of people he knew since he was a child involved another type of social pressure, to say the least.
Eren seized the occasion to apologize for having ignored her when she called his name the day before, but Hannah said there was no problem and offered apologies on her part, admitting she must have realized Eren was in a hurry and had other things to do. From there, the relaxed chat that took place between the four of them flowed in various directions, from greetings to Armin for his birthday to the typical and superfluous observations on the weather while they drank a nice lemon-tea in the soberly decorated living room.
For a moment Eren feared Armin would lose his tongue and tell Hannah about the fucking incident at the river, especially when he made a suspicious comment on the benefits of taking a cold water bath at any time of the year.
"Isn't it, Eren?" the blond asked with a harmless little smile as his eyes shone with malice.
"Yeah," he answered, undaunted in appearance.
"Margot, I have to thank you because you helped to solve one of Eren's mysteries," said a radiant Hannah to Mikasa. "At school we had our doubts about him. We thought that he would end up being an inveterate bachelor because he showed no interest in girls, even though several of them liked him. One of our classmates was convinced that Eren wasn't interested in women, but in men..." She gave Armin a meaningful look. "There were rumors, you know?"
Eren almost rolled his eyes. He would have to get used to having his acquaintances and friends bring up this kind of things in front of Mikasa, right?
Anyway, at least the others seemed to be amused.
"Ah, yes, and there was also the rumor about me actually being a girl," Armin added, shrugging.
Mikasa sweetly glanced at him. "It must have been because you're a very pretty boy, Armin."
His best friend's face lit up like a street lamp and murmured a timid 'thank you' to the compliment of who was supposed to be his girlfriend, and which Hannah seconded. Something stirred inside Eren. A feeling he'd felt the day before after his friends finished their own bike ride, although this time he noticed the remarkable presence of a share of irritation because, if he and Mikasa were playing to be a couple, then it wasn't appropriate of her to openly tell that kind of praise to another man that wasn't him, right? Nor would it be well seen if Eren fawned upon another women that weren't his girlfriend.
"Hey..." he grumbled, leaning towards Mikasa. They both shared the same sofa and were sitting so close their thighs almost touched. "And what about me?"
It sure sounded childish and risible, but he still couldn't help it. He knew that the sudden whispers taking place between Hannah and Armin were due to his question, and he didn't care.
Mikasa's lips drew a nervous smile in the midst of a slightly alarmed expression, as if she had suddenly forgotten completely how to act her role. However, she managed to recover.
"What do you mean, Eren?" she asked, caressing her hair in a gesture between shy and flirty.
Eren opened his mouth and, realizing he was basically asking her to flatter his physical appearance in public, he pursed his lips. He preferred to keep quiet and stop behaving like an idiot. What the hell was happening to him? Luckily, nobody made comments about it and Armin even did the favor of changing the subject and focus on Hannah, her pregnancy and her husband, Franz, who had also been one of their classmates.
The visit lasted a bit over an hour. The trio retreated with the promise that they would come by again to greet Franz before Eren and Margot left Shiganshina in a few days.
"I can hardly believe that this is their first baby," Armin murmured.
They were making the journey back home. They agreed they were going to try to see Hannes another time.
"Yes, with how gooey and sticky they were, I thought those two would be parents before turning fifteen," Eren said, somewhat thoughtful. "There are many couples who have trouble conceiving, though."
"I thought the same thing..." Armin nodded.
Eren wondered if at some point his old classmates ended up thinking they were never going to be able to have children. With moist eyes, Hannah had only implied her pregnancy was a pleasant surprise, so he was sure that she and Franz had gone through many difficulties before they could achieve it. The good thing was that now they only had to wait between two and three weeks to fully become parents.
"How long have they been together?" Mikasa asked.
"Those two? Since they were thirteen, I think, so they've been together for more than eight years."
"Since they were twelve," Armin corrected him.
"Whatever, I don't pay attention to that."
"Eren, please. If you didn't pay attention, you wouldn't even remember it."
"Huh? Don't you ever recall random stuff?" Eren huffed. "Besides it's hard to forget about Hannah and Franz, with how annoying they were..."
Armin chuckled.
"Now that I remember, you were the only bitter person who shouted at them that they looked like a married couple and that they had to stop behaving as such."
"Because they were insufferable."
Eren had had the misfortune of having to sit right behind them during the last months of school and he saw and heard them - which was the worst - smooching almost every time the teacher turned to write something on the chalkboard. It was disgusting.
"I think it's cute," said Mikasa.
"What's cute?" questioned Armin, amused. "Eren feeling overly annoyed by a couple?"
"Armin," Eren growled.
Mikasa smiled. Her cheeks were rosy. She took a moment before answering.
"That Hannah and Franz have been together for so many years, that they are now married and are going to have a child."
Eren stared at her. This time not like an idiot, but with genuine curiosity.
"Yes, it's cute," Armin agreed.
Maybe Mikasa wanted something like that, and here they were, pretending to be a couple. She wasted her time with him in the name of a mission that perhaps didn't even make sense to her, instead of being with someone she was really in love with and with whom she wanted to start a family, if that was what she wanted.
A twinge of guilt, and something else, pierced Eren's stomach.
Eren only managed to feel a bit more normal again once he was alone with Armin. Mikasa had retired to her room with the excuse that she was tired. He couldn't help but follow her with his gaze until her feet disappeared climbing the last steps.
He started drinking with his best friend around eight o'clock at night. They had drunk enough beer. Armin had the tip of his nose reddened and his lips stretched in a constant smirk. Sometimes he chuckled alone, but he didn't say what he was thinking and Eren didn't want to ask him either. He suspected Armin would annoy him for his slip-ups of the day.
"You wanted her to tell you that you're handsome, right?" Armin snickered while drinking beer directly from the bottle. A stream of liquid trickled down his cheek and he wiped himself with the sleeve of his sweater. "You're seriously behaving like a kid, Eren."
Eren ground his teeth. Where had he left the wine?
"It's not that," he denied, flushed, and stood up to look behind the couches. "Tell me, how would it look if I flattered another woman in front of Mikasa?"
"It depends."
"On what?"
"You can flatter someone's general appearance in an educated way and there's nothing wrong with that. It's even well seen."
Eren found a bottle of red wine in one corner of the floor and half hidden behind the curtains. He went to the kitchen and returned with a couple of glasses and a corkscrew. He left things on the coffee table. Armin accepted a glass of wine.
"The issue, Eren, is that you never flatter anyone's appearance and that's why it seems odd to you. In those snobs' parties that you tend get invited to, they always flatter each other," Armin continued in an affected voice. "Oh, Mrs. Krause, you look lovelier than ever tonight."
Eren grimaced. It was true. He'd had to witness that shit over and over again in all those boring evenings. Some of the guests even boldly flirted with each other, but the worst was seeing married men holding women who weren't their wives, taking them through the darkened corridors and then get lost inside some empty room.
He drank a long swig of red wine that left a fruity taste in his mouth.
"You see? It's common. Inappropriate would be to talk about some specific physical part, such as..."
"Yes I know, Armin," he muttered, slightly knitting his brows. "Deep down, I meant something like... I don't know. If Mikasa and I were really a couple..." He sighed and took another sip. "Nevermind."
Armin asked him to refill his cup and drank the contents in a hurry. At that rate, he would be completely drunk in a few minutes, but Eren chose not to interfere. Armin could do what he wanted in this second birthday celebration. If he fell asleep on the couch, then he would put a blanket on him and everything would be fine.
"You want that?" he asked, dragging the words a little.
Eren filled his own cup, rested his elbows on his knees and leaned forward.
"Want what?"
"To be Mikasa's boyfriend, but for real."
"Pfft, what the hell are you talking about?" Eren dodged quickly. He unbuttoned the first buttons of his shirt. Alcohol had him heated. "Of course not. She and I... We're just friends."
Armin laughed. It was a lazy, ironic laugh.
"I'm resisting all I can to not give you the good and bad news about it, my dear and stupid friend."
"You're drunk," Eren dismissed.
"The question is, why aren't you drunk yet?"
"I'm working on it. It's what I want the most right now."
"I think what you want the most is something else, but well."
"Alright, Armin. Enough with the games," he groaned, running his hands through his hair. "I really need to talk about something that has nothing to do with her. Something extremely serious."
He didn't want to think about her, or what is in the fucking list, nor to continue feeling or behaving like a complete idiot despite having all his senses intact. It had been too much for today. He was tired and fed up with his brain malfunction without a drop of alcohol in his blood, and the sudden pangs in his chest and stomach that were related to Mikasa.
In the midst of his drunkenness, Armin settled on the sofa and made the remarkable effort to keep an eye on what he would finally tell him. Filling his own cup a third time, Eren took a deep breath and drank a long, slow gulp of red liquid. The alcohol was finally having some effect on his body, apart from the heat.
"It's about the Reiss... and my father."
And so the words arose from his throat, more fluid every time. Eren told him everything he knew now and that he hadn't been able to tell him before. Everything he suspected about his father's death and what might possibly come. He told him about the existence of the Legion, of which Professor Hange Zoe was a part of, a revelation that caused a small gasp of surprise in Armin. Eren kept drinking as he spoke. He spoke until his tongue got numb, until he was no longer able to articulate words clearly, his vision became slightly foggy and his movements turned heavy.
When Eren finally stopped, Armin drank half a bottle of wine. At some point during the night, both fell asleep - or unconscious - because of the drunkenness.
Eren snapped his eyes open and jerked up in the couch when he heard violent knocks on the door.
"What... the fuck is going on?" He whispered with a dry mouth.
A few hours must have passed because, although he was still drunk, at least he was more aware of his surroundings now. He became dizzy when he sharply turned his head towards Mikasa who, wearing nothing else but her nightgown, went down the stairs in a couple of nimble jumps and gave a quick glance to both him and Armin. The latter was still asleep despite the racket.
She gestured for him to stay where he was and opened the door ajar. An icy breeze crept into the room and Eren's lethargic body shuddered involuntarily.
"Who are you and what do you want?" demanded Mikasa to the source of the knocks. Eren could hear a fluttering breath from the other side. "It's four in the morning."
"I'm so sorry!" said an anguished male voice. "Please, I'm looking for Eren Jaeger, it's an emergency! Please... I'm Franz... m-my wife… Hannah is unwell and needs urgent help!"
A/N: this chapter was going to be at least a thousand words longer but I decided to leave the rest for the next one, of which I've already written over six thousand words since past year (lol). In general it's an emotionally demanding one so I've been writing it slowly.
I hope you had enjoyed the update. Armin being a visionary while Eren and Mikasa are... well, them. A pair of dorks.
Ah, and don't think that because in these last couple of chapters I've centered mostly in developing the relationship between EM then I've forgotten about the plot "behind" it. Everything in its time. Let's say the guys are in some deserved small vacations and you are too.
