The Little Things
Perfectly 'Normal'
"You're incredible, Eren! I really don't know how you can keep enduring it like that, Eren..."
Armin smiled gleefully as he took a small bite on his piece of bread, slathered all over with the sweetest strawberry jam and coated with a dash of flour sugar - one of his favorite types of snack.
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Eren asked before he took a large bite of his own piece of bread, as bland and empty as it is compared to Armin's, he was never really known for paying any attention to the flavours of his food whatsoever.
Both of Eren's parents was out of the house for the entire day and he was too busy using this as a perfect chance to get another look at the various crudely drawn pictures on the ancient tome that Armin would always smuggle along whenever he comes to pay a visit. Whenever he saw these pictures, his eager mind would always wander off, trying their best to imagine a world of what the words had faintly described.
With the immense help of Armin's book, the boys would always secretly gather together on days just like this very one and try to imagine themselves of how it feels to be standing in a land of freezing ice or the endless waves of sand and dirt or even a place filled to the brim with water and salt, planning everything they could possibly do in such places.
"Whhaagt. Argh. Yough. Talqing. Abot. Errmin?" With his eyes still glued onto the old book, Eren asked again, one word at a time as his mouth was mostly muffled and almost filled to the brim with the crumbs of bread.
"Uh, well..." Armin swallowed what's left of the food inside his mouth as his eyes slowly wandered away towards the wooden ceiling of his friend's new bedroom, a bit uncertain of what to exactly say next.
"Well, Eren, you knooooow what I mean..." He droned on playfully as he rolled his piercing blue eyes around, repeatedly glancing in one particular direction, over and over and over again.
"Hmm?" Eren, very perplexed at first, eventually began to follow the very same direction of his friend's eyes, all the way towards the doorway of his room, only to see it was standing slightly ajar.
"Well, that's a bit strange." Eren seemed so confused. "I could've sworn I already closed the door before..."
Not wanting to waste another second and worried of what might've happened next, Eren immediately leapt onto his own two feet and marched his way towards the doorway as Armin simply smiled on and just continuing on to enjoy his favorite snack. "Don't be too angry now, Eren."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Armin..." Eren retorted, still a bit confused with his friend's words but he just ended up shrugging it off like it was nothing important. After all, he just wants to get back to the ancient book as soon as humanly possible.
Even with his parents out of the house for the entire day, Eren still needs to be extra careful to keep the existence of Armin's ancient tome hidden away from their eyes. You could never know if something completely unexpected would happen all of a sudden and his parents would somehow discover the boys' little secret of them trying to learn more about the Outside World. He doesn't even want to imagine what would've happen next if that were to actually happen...
He immediately perished such a thought as Eren casually approaches the door, grabbing onto its dull metallic doorknob as soon as he had arrived, clearly with the intent of simply closing the door as any sane person in this world would do.
But, boy, was he very shocked indeed when Eren noticed the two beady eyes peering through the small and narrow opening of his door.
"AAAAGH!" Eren reeled his entire body back, stunned.
With his hand still firmly around the doorknob, Eren accidentally threw his bedroom door wide open as he leapt backwards in a sudden panic, only to see the young Mikasa standing idly by outside his bedroom.
"M- Mi- MIKASA?!" Eren couldn't even muster any proper words as his heart was too busy skipping a few beats. It almost felt like he had saw an actual ghost.
W- Wha- What in the..." He kept stammering, struggling to force the words outside his mouth.
"What... What the hell are you doing? Are you... Are you trying to scare me to death?!"
"Oh, Eren..." She mumbled in a hushed tone, her head held low as she tries not to look at Eren's strikingly turquoise eyes.
"What a strange coincidence to see you here." She said it normally and without any emotion, as if she's trying to play it off like it was nothing.
"Coincidence?! This is my room, damn it!" Eren was certainly not amused, however.
"Oh, really? I didn't even notice..."
"How in the bloody hell can you not notice?! Why can't you just-" Eren suddenly stopped mid-sentence as he paused, took one very deep breath and let out the heaviest sigh of his life.
"Okay, okay, okay, look..." Eren whispered, seemingly calming down ever so slightly. "What are you even doing, Mikasa? How long have you been out there?"
"Are you angry?" Mikasa asked meekly, trying her best to hide her face behind the maroon scarf wrapped around her neck.
"No, not angry, it's- It's not that, but..." Eren scratched his head furiously, unsure of what to say as he desperately tries to make sense of the little girl's strange actions. He always had trouble to think, let alone to utter even another single word when she starts to hide her face behind that scarf of hers. It could possibly be his one and only weakness...
"It's, uh... It's just- It's just kind of... weird, that's all."
"I'm sorry..." She whispered, unknowingly twiddling her fingers around.
"Did you want something, Mikasa? You know if there's anything wrong, then you can just say it to me. Don't... You don't have to stand somewhere and just stare at me in... Well, in that kind of way. "
She shook her head, her gaze still directed towards the wooden floorboards below. "No, nothing... There's nothing wrong..."
"Really? Then, uh... What's the matter? Why are you being, well... kind of odd today?"
"It's... It's nothing, It's really nothing..." Mikasa clasped her own hands together as she just lowered her own head, trying to somehow bury her own head within her scarf even more so than usual, not even making the slightest bit of sound as she does it.
And Eren just stood there helplessly at the edge of his bedroom doorway, forced to watch the ever confusing little girl standing in front of him with that depressed look in her eyes as his nerve-wrecked mind was still desperately struggling to make sense of this recently random situation.
...
Calling it an awkward silence between the two children would in fact, be an immense understatement...
...
"Eren... Am I bothering you?" Mikasa suddenly exclaimed, piercing the unsettling silence between them as she slowly raised her head, the very first first time the two looked at each other in this rather disjointed conversation.
"No... You're not bothering me." He sighed, trying his best to not look directly at the young girl's eyes. But he kept failing, though...
"It's just... Sometimes, you would always keep staring at me and it's- It's very, uh... It's very-" Eren couldn't even finish his own sentence, his entire body was frozen senselessly to the bone as he bear witness to the sadden eyes of the little girl standing before him, her head was slowly drooping down like a depressed little animal. Eren just didn't know what else to do or what to say - his mind, as erratic and excited as it usually is, was now a complete and utter blank. A very rare moment, indeed...
The insides of his empty head continued to rattle around in its search for something - anything that he could possibly think off in order to find a way to make the girl smile again. He still didn't understand why is this even happening in the first place, but still... he just have to do it.
"Ah, I know!" Eren stifled a sudden remark, his turquoise eyes were brightly lit up, out of nowhere.
"...Huh?" Mikasa raised her head.
"I- I... I could just stare back at you, Mikasa! Then we'll be completely even! We can just be weird together!" He exclaimed confidently, without even pausing to think what he had just said.
"Uh... What?" Mikasa raised her eyebrows in complete confusion and amazement, her pale cheeks were flushed with a faint crimson for some reason she didn't even want to admit.
"Prepare yourself, Mikasa!" Eren pounded on his chest, clearly determined. He has absolutely no idea why he was doing this or where this would eventually lead him, but he felt like he just had to do something, as strange and confusing as it really is.
"No, on second thought, please don't do it..." Mikasa just turned around all of a sudden and hurried herself away, desperate to cover and blend her crimson cheeks amongst the maroon redness of her scarf.
"Wait, Mikasa! Wait!" Eren, not sure what the heck is he actually doing as always, simply followed her out in the corridor.
"Nope, nope, goodbye." She kept shambling away, trying to brush him off.
"What do you mean? You're the one who started all of this in the first place!" Eren begged and pleaded, demanding her to stop right this instant.
"Sorry but no..."
"Mikasa!" Eren gently grabbed onto her shoulders, immediately halting the shocked girl dead in her tracks.
"Look at me, Mikasa."
"...Huh?"
Mikasa was quiet, barely making any sounds whatsoever as she finally gave in to Eren's nonsensical pleas and slowly turned around to face the strangely excited young boy before her.
"Aha! Now then..." Eren suddenly pulled Mikasa closer and closer until she was naught but a few mere inches in front of him. Her face was still partially covered by the warmth of her scarf, but Eren didn't mind as her eyes - her usually empty eyes - were left completely exposed. Eren leaned in closer, edging his face ever so slightly in front of hers, more and more, slowly. As much as he tries to hold it back, the boy's nervous breath could almost brush gently against the pale and sensitive skin of her crimson cheeks, now in a darker and more prominent shade.
His eyes was concentrating - they were gazing directly into the eyes of the girl as he softly whispered with muffled determination, "Let me stare at you!"
Mikasa couldn't help but to just stand there helplessly still, the boy's eyes was the only thing she could see right now. Her shaking feet wanted to just walk away and leave the boy behind, running for the sweet merciful shelter back at her own room and into the shared comfort of her scarf and the blankets of her bed. But for some unexplained reason, she just can't move. Her eyes... Her glowing eyes were just too busy staring at the young boy for her to move even a single inch, let alone to think of anything else.
She really didn't know what was going on inside the boy's mind or what had inspired him to suddenly do such a thing, but she didn't pay any mind to it at all. Her heart was racing, as much as she tries to hide it, drumming along without any signs of even stopping. Mikasa's personal promise to herself for taking care of Eren wasn't exactly as grandiose or exciting as she had originally thought it would've been. But... This was good enough.
Hidden under the softness of her scarf and completely unbeknownst to Eren, she was smiling, ever so pleasantly...
Armin, on the other hand, whom was perfectly quiet and out of sight for the entire time, was taking a sneaky little peek from inside Eren's room, stealthily peering from around the corner as he watches his best friend and the mysterious little girl quietly staring at each other's eyes right smack dab in the middle of the corridor.
The secretive boy couldn't help himself but to smile ever so pleasantly as he shook his head, clearly amazed and admittedly, a bit baffled at the strange turn of events that had somehow transpired in the hallway.
"But what can I do?" Armin thought to himself as he went back into the room, eager to enjoy another one of his favorite snacks and maybe, take another glimpse at the old pictures in his ancient tome.
"What can I do?"
After all, a staring contest between two children is perfectly normal, right?
...Right?
Hi there!
Nothing much to say over here but I just wanted to thank you for taking the time to read the chapter. I hope you're enjoying the story so far. If all goes well and according to plan, there might still be a bunch of chapters left I want to write so we're not even halfway done yet! As always, all reviews and favorites are much appreciated. Do tell me if there's anything lacking whatsoever. Anyway, thanks again for reading.
Have a very good day!
-ParagonFlynn