Disclaimer: I don't own Shingeki No Kyojin, nor the image. They belong to Isayama Hajime.
Author's Note: It's finally Eremika Week! I'm so excited guys! I hope you enjoy this one-shot! And thank you all who have reviewed, followed or put this fanfiction in their favorites. Thank you all! You inspire me to keep on writing! (this note continues at the end).
Title: Makeover
Prompt: Makeup (from that fake preview for volume 14)
Summary: Mikasa tries makeup for the first time, and encounters unexpected reactions from her friends, specially from Eren. Eremika, Springles, Yumikuri, LeviHan, one-sided Jeankasa, and a surprise couple!
What no one tells you about politics is that it does not only involve ruling a country, it also involves a great deal of socialization to convince the wealthy people of the country to cooperate with you. This is something Queen Historia learned early on her reign. Sometimes, the most troublesome things cannot be avoided. Another thing Queen Historia learned during the first months of her reign was that the best form of socialization is through a ball, and thus, to celebrate the transformation of the last titan back into a human, a ball was going to be held. All former members of the Scouting Legion were invited as guests of honor, and the girl worth a hundred soldiers was no exception.
Mikasa Ackerman was aware of the importance of the event. Even if they all thought the nobles and the rich were awful people that deserved to be eaten by titans, Historia needed their approval if she wanted to secure her throne, and it was in their best interests for the girl to remain queen. So Mikasa early on decided she would do anything in her power to make the ball a success. She helped Historia sending the invitations, preparing the decorations, and planning the security; Sasha was in charge of the menu, to no one's surprise. Yet, there was something she still needed to do: dress up elegantly for the party.
"No." That was her initial reaction when Historia gave her the puffiest dress she had ever seen.
"But Mikasa, you need to wear it for the ball." Historia demanded, using her regal tone.
"I need to make sure the ball goes smoothly. I can't chase after criminals in that dress." Mikasa stated matter-of-factly, while Historia sighed in exasperation.
"Listen Mikasa, and listen well, you will not act as a soldier that day. You are a guest, and as such, you will be enjoying yourself, is that clear?" The young queen hissed at her comrade. She was starting to get mad at Mikasa for being so uncooperative.
"Fine." Mikasa answered, resigning herself to her fate.
"You know Mikasa", Sasha, who had up until then remained silent, whispered to her friend, "You'll also have to wear makeup with that dress."
"I know." She retorted, already dreading the situation.
"You can use this opportunity to surprise a certain someone, if you know what I mean." Sasha said, not at all subtle about whom she meant.
Mikasa couldn't stop the blush that appeared on her face. Covering her face with her scarf, she murmured, "I don't need to impress anybody."
"Whatever you say, but you know you want to Mi-ka-sa~!" Sasha exclaimed, and then walked away, leaving Mikasa pensive.
I don't need to impress anyone… but maybe a makeover's not such a bad idea. She then looked at her dress, and then at herself. Yeah, perhaps I do need a makeover.
The day of the ball finally arrived one Saturday. Everybody, from the servants to the former members of the Scouting Legion, helped with the final preparations. When Mikasa finished her job, she excused herself and went to her chambers. There, she took out all the makeup products she had been able to get in just a week. She remembered how she had to ask Historia to help her learn how to apply makeup, and how she had had the bad luck of having both Sasha and Ymir overhear. Sasha's squeals, Ymir's jests and Historia's knowing remarks still rang in her ears. Couldn't a girl want to look elegant for one night without it being such a fuss?
Mikasa stood in front of the mirror, with all her makeup neatly aligned. She had dismissed the maid who tried to help her, if she was going to do this she was going to do it herself. This makeover had become a challenge for her, and Mikasa Ackerman never said no to a challenge. Taking a deep breath, while mentally preparing herself for the task at hand, she took one item and started applying it on her face.
About two hours later, Mikasa had already put makeup on herself, and had curled her hair. Mikasa could not recognize herself in the mirror. She looked very different from her usual self: the makeup and her new hairstyle made her features look softer, the blush gave her skin a rosy tone, and the lipstick made her lips look fuller. She suddenly wondered that if she couldn't recognize herself, would the others be able to tell it was her? Would Eren be able to recognize her? The thought of Eren gallantly saying she looked pretty made her blush. Shaking her head to get rid of such thoughts, she proceeded towards the wardrobe, where her dress was.
The dress Historia had given her was puffy, sleeveless, and red, almost as red as her scarf. Though Mikasa had nothing against wearing dresses and skirts ─she, in fact, liked them─ the dress seemed to be very uncomfortable. She feared she would either trip with such a lengthy dress, or with the heels she was supposed to wear too. But, if she had been able to master the 3DMG and kill titans with expertise, she could ─and definitely would─ wear a dress and heels with elegance. Decided, she took her dress and put it on. Showtime was on.
While Mikasa was getting ready, Jean, Armin and Eren were already waiting for her in the hall. The three of them were wearing elegant robes, courtesy of Historia. Eren felt dumb wearing such clothing, but Historia had insisted, and besides he would rather wear them than face an angry Ymir. Man, that girl was scary. Sighing, he wondered what was taking Mikasa so long, like really, how much time does it take to put on a damn dress and shoes?
"Stop it." Jean suddenly exclaimed, clearly annoyed at something.
"What?" Eren asked, clueless about what could possibly have made horse face mad.
"With the sighing! You've been sighing for over ten minutes now!" Jean yelled, a vein popping on his forehead.
"I'm bored. Besides, why the fuck do you care, Jean?!"
"Because it's pissing me off, jackass!"
"Well, it's not my damn fault, Horse Face!"
"Who are you calling Horse Face?!"
"GUYS!" Armin, fed up with the constant arguing, shouted.
"WHAT?!" Jean and Eren shouted back.
Armin mentally face-palmed. Idiots. "Stop fighting, you're giving me a headache and I think someone's coming."
As in cue, a figure appeared down the hall, making the guys drop their jaws. Time stood still as the young woman came into view. She was a vision in red: red dress, red heels and red lips. She was walking elegantly towards them with an uncertain look on her face. Scratch that, she was gliding as if she were walking on the clouds. It seemed that she had come out of a dream. Jean started blushing, the red of his cheeks matching the red of her dress. Meanwhile, Armin's eyes were wide and his mouth was open, he could not believe what he was seeing. On the other hand, Eren's expression was priceless: disbelief was plastered all over his face as he screamed at the top of his lungs, "WHO ARE YOU?!"
And just like that, in one moment, time started moving again, and the spell was broken. The young woman halted, looking at Eren with a frown. Turning towards Eren with annoyance written all over his face, Jean exclaimed, "Can't you see it's Mikasa, for fuck's sake?!"
Mikasa? As in his Mikasa? No, it couldn't be. The Mikasa Eren had known since he was nine years old would never wear such an uncomfortable dress or heels, and what was that on her face? Makeup? Yeah, Mikasa was not a superficial girl, she would never apply such a thing on her alabaster face. Yet, when he looked at her he could recognize the features he knew all too well, and the red scarf around her neck was a dead giveaway. Yeah, that was Mikasa alright, as impossible as it seemed.
"Um, is there something on my face?" Mikasa asked, feeling self-conscious at the way Eren was looking at her.
"Of course not, Mikasa!" Armin said all too happily, trying to hide everybody's earlier shock. "You look very pretty, right, Eren?" He nudged Eren on the ribs.
"Huh? Oh, yeah… right…" Eren said, unsurely, his eyes never meeting hers.
"Well, shall we go to the ballroom?" Jean finally spoke, interrupting the awkward silence that surrounded them.
Nodding, they all started walking to the ballroom, Armin escorting Mikasa, since Eren couldn't even look at her. Armin sighed once again. This was going to be a long night.
The night had not gone the way Mikasa had expected… at all. Many people had complimented her looks, yes, and many men had asked her to dance with them, but none of them were Eren. In fact, Eren had not been able to look her in the eyes the whole night. If it weren't for Armin, Mikasa was sure both she and Eren would have been trapped in an awkward, endless silence.
She watched with envy all the happy couples dancing merrily in the ballroom. There were Connie and Sasha ─who were mainly goofing around─, Queen Historia and Ymir, and for heaven's sake, even Corporal Levi was dancing with Hange! That night was supposed to be fun, not such a disappointment. The truth was Mikasa wanted Eren to notice her, to reassure her she looked good tonight, or ask her to dance, hell, at this point even him talking to her like normal would be amazing! But no, they both remained silent next to each other, only speaking when Armin addressed them.
Meanwhile, Armin was fed up with his friends' lack of interaction. He understood that seeing Mikasa like that was a shock to Eren, but that had been hours ago, he should have gotten over it already. Sighing, Armin started thinking about a solution to this unbelievably stupid situation, when he caught sight of blond hair passing by. Suddenly, an idea hit him, one that would benefit his friends and himself.
"Guys, I think I'm going for a drink. See you later!" Armin announced, ignoring Mikasa's and Eren's panicked expressions, and disappeared into the crowd.
The childhood friends found themselves alone for the first time that evening. Eren, realizing he was the reason things had been awkward between them the entire ball, tried to start a conversation but to no avail. His mind was blank: not a single, coherent sentence could come out of his mouth. Damn it all! Now what? Should he wait until Mikasa spoke? No, that wouldn't work, seeing as she was hiding her face in her scarf. Irritated at himself, he was about to start talking when a man ─probably a noble─, approached them.
"Would you do me the honor of dancing with me?" The nobleman gallantly asked Mikasa, reaching for her hand. Mikasa, slightly flustered, was about to turn down his invitation when she heard Eren's voice.
"Actually, she's gonna dance with me right now." Eren loudly proclaimed, so that no more idiots would appear and try to snatch Mikasa away.
"I am sorry, Sir. Since I saw her standing looking lonely, I thought she would be available." The nobleman said in a cocky voice, infuriating Eren further.
"Yeah, well, we were just waiting for a good song, and now's the time. C'mon Mikasa, let's dance!" Eren hissed at the man, and then grabbed Mikasa's hand, leading her to the dance floor.
Mikasa was speechless. After a night of not talking to each other, she was surprised Eren had invited her to dance with him. She didn't have complaints, though, since finally something good had happened. Feeling completely elated, she let Eren take her to the dance floor, enjoying a rare moment of bliss.
Once they had reached the dance floor, Eren realized what he had done, and his cheeks turned red in embarrassment. He was such an idiot! He had acted like a jealous fool, and had dragged Mikasa to the dance floor without even asking her if she even wanted to dance! She probably was angry at him now. Yet, he couldn't help it! His blood boiled in rage just thinking about that disgusting rich pig putting his hands on Mikasa. He wouldn't let him, or anyone for the matter, touch her, ever!
Mikasa, noticing Eren's internal rage, frowned. Now what? She thought confused about Eren's behavior. Could it be he actually didn't want to dance with her? It was a possibility, as awful as it sounded. Sighing, she decided to clear the issue at hand.
"Eren."
"What?" He reacted more coarsely than he had intended to. Instantly feeling bad when he noticed Mikasa had flinched, he added, "I mean, what is it, Mikasa?"
"Are you mad at me?" Her question caught him off ward. Eren then realized how his actions tonight must have been seen from Mikasa's point of view.
"No! Of course not!" He shook his head vigorously, trying to get his message across.
"But…"
"It's not what you think!" Eren said loudly, earning a few sharp looks from the other couples. "I'm not mad at you or anything, so don't worry." He added, quietly this time.
"Then why didn't you talk to me earlier?"
Eren knew that question was coming, but he wasn't sure how to respond to that. Sighing, he said, "I just didn't know how to handle your new look, that's all."
"Oh…" Mikasa whispered, feeling down. "So you don't like it?" She murmured, trying to stop herself from crying.
"Well, it's not that I don't like it…" He said, feeling guilty when Mikasa looked at him all teary-eyed. "It's just that I think you don't need to use makeup to look pretty, not at all. To me, you always look beautiful." He finished his little speech, all red from the embarrassment he was feeling.
Mikasa stood shocked for a moment, and then she gave Eren her best smile.
"Thank you, Eren."
The next day, Mikasa was back with her usual hairstyle, and with no trace of makeup on her face.
Omake
"I never thought you'd come." Armin said, standing next to a lonely figure that hid herself in the shadows.
"Neither did I." She confessed.
"You look beautiful." Armin said, staring into her ice-blue eyes.
She blushed but didn't turn away. Smirking slightly, she retorted, "You don't look half bad yourself."
"Would you like to dance?" Armin asked her, doing an elaborated courtesy.
"I thought you'd never ask." She said, amused at his antics.
Guiding Annie Leonhardt toward the dance floor, he discerned his two best friends already dancing, looking quite contented. Smiling smugly to himself, he thought, Well, it seems my plan worked for everybody.
A/N Cont'd: Anyways, I was actually really excited about this prompt ─I was the one to suggest it! I actually had been expecting to read fanfiction about it for a while, but I just found one in Spanish... and that was it, until today. To be truthful, I was going to write this prompt regardless if it was in the Eremika Week or not, but I'm glad it is since now I can read more fanfiction about it! I hope you liked it, since I had a lot of fun writing it! Also, if you want to know, I imagined Sasha's dress to be lilac, Hange's red, and Historia's gold, while Ymir wore the same clothes as the guys, just hers were gold to match her Queen's gown.
Anyways, happy Eremika Week! See you tomorrow!
