Note that this is not a chapter about the PAIRING of Annie/Mikasa.

Annie and Mikasa: Approaching the Unapproachable

When Jean Kirschstein was with his group (his actual friends, not the punks he sat with in detention), it was unlikely that anyone sharing a hall with them could avoid hearing their loud laughter and dumb jokes. "Jean, look, it's your girlfriend!" called Connie Springer as the boys laughed over a joke that only someone with a fifth grade sense of humor would find funny.

Jean paused and looked around, expecting to see Marco turning around the corner. He perked up at the thought; this wasn't a hall he usually saw him in, and the more time they interacted throughout the day, the better. However, the freckled boy was nowhere to be seen. Jean raised an eyebrow. "Huh? Marco's not-"

"Not Marco, dumbass. Mikasa." Sure enough, she was there, spinning the combination into her locker. Jean's expression immediately fell and his cheeks flushed pink, both out of embarrassment and anger.

"Seriously? You're gonna bring that up again? Come on, I was just a kid! And she's… pretty…"

"She's scary," Connie countered. Suddenly realizing that her adoptive brother was amongst them, he shot a nervous glance in Eren's direction, but he seemed unfazed by the comment. If anything, he agreed. This reassurance made Connie a bit cockier. "…I dare you to try and flip her skirt."

Now that got Eren's attention. "That's disgusting," he snapped.

"It's brave, is what it is," Jean retorted. "Not that I am, but it's not like she'll kill me," he added in a mutter. Connie grinned mischievously, the expression mirrored on the faces of the rest of their group.

"So are you saying you'll do it?" Connie pressed, bouncing on his heels. Jean shrugged, a tiny smirk forming on his face.

"I've done it to prettier girls. Why not."

This response received a wave of positive feedback from his group (minus Eren), including whoops of encouragement and slaps on the back. Jean handed his books to his nearest friend, cracked his neck, and swaggered over to Mikasa. He leaned his elbow against the locker to her left so that he was visible to her only when she went to close her locker door. He expected her to at least jump a little, and was quite disappointed when he received no response at all. "Well hey there, Miss Ackerman…Don't you just look scrumptious today."

Slowly, Mikasa clicked her locker shut and just continued to stare blankly at Jean. "…have you broken up with Marco?"

Jean's smirk vanished at the mere mention of such a thing, but he immediately forced it back onto his face. "'Course not. But who says I can't have a little fun on the side?" Deciding he wanted to get this done and over with as quickly as possible, he began to reach for her skirt, only to have her turn and start to walk away from him.

"It seems like common sense. It's disloyal."

Hearing the murmurs and snickers of his friends, Jean hurried after Mikasa, pathetically reaching toward her. "No, no, it's not disloyal if it's just-"

"You're flattering. But please. Don't touch me." Mikasa paused only to give Jean a stare cold enough to make his veins freeze over. His hand fell to his side.

"Uh, r-right. My bad. Won't… happen again," he stuttered. They continued their stare down- fear against intimidation- until Jean doubled back and scrambled off to his amused awaiting friends.

"Whoa there, tiger, you sure had that in the bag. You're so smooth!" Connie laughed, gripping his sides. Their whole group joined in, causing Jean's cheeks to flush pink. Eren was the only one not laughing; he simply wore an "I-told-you-so" expression.

"That was pitiful, horse face. How could you even THINK you'd be able to manage doing that to Mikasa? Stupid," he commented.

Jean's face glowed redder and redder and his fists clenched tighter and tighter. "Yeah?! Well, if you guys are so cool," he looked back and forth between Connie and Eren, "why don't you go… hit on Annie Leonhardt!" he spat. Despite being one of the tiniest girls in the school, Annie Leonhardt was not someone easily overlooked. For one, she was always flanked by Reiner Braun and Bertholdt Fubar: two hefty members of the football team and childhood friends of hers. Her face usually lacked emotion, only ever bearing a cold or frowning expression. Moreover, she always managed to have top-notch physical fitness scores and was reputed to be capable of knocking anyone senseless if they got deep enough on her bad side.

"Hell no!" was Eren's immediate interjection while Connie just abruptly sobered. "I don't ever want to need to associate with her. Besides, unlike some people, I'm actually a loyal boyfriend." He narrowed his teal eyes at Jean, who only tensed as if prepping to throw a punch. "Speaking of, I need to go meet up with Armin." With that, he shifted his backpack and shouldered out of the crowd, disappearing to locate his boyfriend.

"…well? Are you gonna do it?" Jean, slightly more relaxed now, prodded at Connie.

The short teen jumped. "Huh? Uh…" He shook his head and stood up, chest out, arms crossed boastfully. "'Course I am. I'm not some coward."

"It'd be better to admit you don't wanna die and just back down now, but hey," Jean shrugged, a slight bemused smirk on his face, "whatever floats your boat." Connie narrowed his golden eyes at him and strutted away from the group, around the corner to the hall where Annie's locker was known to be. "Don't worry about her bodyguards! Jaeger says they're pretty decent dudes, even if they're former Titans," Jean called after him, referring to the fact that Annie, Reiner, and Bertholdt all had recently transferred from Sina High's rival high school.

Connie flapped his hand in response, not even turning around to look at Jean. He stuck his chin in the air and walked right up to Annie, a list of pick-up lines flowing through his head. There she was, her small form almost invisible between her two large friends… All he had to do was charm her with his words, smack her butt, and walk away, then he'd have earned the respect of all his friends; no, everyone in the school-!

"Are you looking at me?" Connie snapped out of his glorifying fantasies at the sound of Annie's harsh tone. How long had he actually been standing there? The answer to that question would be about 30 seconds, though Connie was hardly aware of that. His brain started to shut down, not only from embarrassment that he had zoned out while in the zone, but also from Annie's stare alone. The depths of her cold blue eyes seemed to emit an icy ray that could pierce through anyone.

"H-huh? Wha? Who, me? Naw, I… I wasn't… I was just- I gotta go," he sputtered, legs turning to jelly under her frozen gaze. He staggered back a few steps, trapped in the limelight of Annie's blue eyes and her friends' curious stares, then doubled back and retreated around the corner to where Jean stood watching bemusedly.

"You are such a hypocrite," he accused with an amused smirk.

"Not fair!" Connie snapped, his face glowing. "Mikasa's a cool chick, Annie's scary as shit!"

"Oh, she's not actually that intimidating." Eren passed them now, Mikasa in tow, one arm around Armin's shoulders and the other carrying said boyfriend's book bag. He paused as they walked by. "She just needs an attitude adjustment."

Jean raised an eyebrow at him skeptically. "Are you saying you have the guts to talk to her, Jaeger?"

"Yes, actually, I do." Fueled by the constant urge to look tough and cool in front of his dear boyfriend, Eren shifted Armin's bag from his elbow crook to his shoulder and took his turn approaching Annie Leonhardt.

"Eren, don't tell me you're going to talk to her," Mikasa whispered, grabbing her adopted brother by the arm. Eren immediately slipped his arm out of hers, smiling confidently.

"Relax, Mikasa. I'm just going to tell her to lighten up." He patted her on the shoulder and continued on his way.

Eren nodded his head at Reiner and Bertholdt as he walked up, having known them from the football team, and they nodded back, but then gave him cautious looks. Assuming they were only reminding him of their positions of Annie's bodyguards, Eren ignored them. "Hey, Annie, right? You probably know me, Eren Jaeger. I just wanted to-" He didn't get the chance to complete his sentence.

Perhaps he should have looked past Reiner's warning expression and noted the obvious tension in Annie's body. The combination of being bothered by Connie and just plain having a bad morning had put Annie especially on edge, and Eren had managed to push her over. She moved impossibly fast; in an instant, she slammed her locker shut, spun around, hooked her foot behind Eren's heel, and knocked him off balance, delivering a swift punch to his chest to guarantee that he would fall, leaving nobody with time to react. Reiner and Bertholdt just stood there in shock while Eren collapsed with a look of bewilderment. The bag on his arm tumbled to the ground along with him.

Mikasa responded the quickest; Eren, Bertholdt, and Reiner were still frozen when she sprinted to Eren's aid. She grabbed Annie (whom was still in her fighting stance) by the collar and shoved her against the lockers, a fiery look in her eyes. Annie instinctively grabbed at Mikasa's wrists the moment she was touched. "Don't you ever touch Eren again," Mikasa growled. Annie only glared at her, but unlike everyone else, Mikasa didn't even falter. Her intense gaze was just as strong. Narrowing her eyes, Annie tightened her grip on Mikasa's wrists and yanked herself free. She trudged off silently. Bertholdt and Reiner snapped back to their senses and hurried to return to her sides.

"Are you okay, Eren?" Mikasa asked gently, helping him to his feet as he sat in a daze. Armin rushed over as well, ignoring that the contents of his bag had been strewn across the hall and instead assisted Mikasa in balancing Eren.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just…. Damn," he breathed, eyes still wide.

"She's trouble, Eren… You should stay away from her," Armin insisted with concern in his tone.

Eren gave a slight nod to his head, regaining his composure now. "Agreed."

The day progressed normally from there, and the morning's awkward events slipped everyone's minds. Soon enough, school had let out for the day, the students went home or to their afterschool activities, then said activities were wrapping up as well. Eren had been the last to leave the locker room since he was texting Armin, who had stayed after for chess club, telling him to meet him by the buses. By the time he emerged, all of his teammates had either found their cars in the parking lot, gotten on the bus, or lingered to flirt; likewise, the cheerleaders were either sneaking peeks at the remaining football players or finding their own rides home. That left Eren and Mikasa to be the only ones on the field.

"You know, Mikasa… All the other cheerleader hang out together," he noted as he watched the members of the squad split into three groups: two piling into two similar, expensive-looking cars, and one under the arms of hunky football players. "All except for you. Doesn't that bother you?"

"No," Mikasa answered without a moment of thought. Because it truly didn't bother her. Eren, however, found that hard to believe. He narrowed his eyes, adjusting his duffel bag and looking sideways at Mikasa as they made their way to the bus lot.

"Don't get me wrong, it's totally cool that me and Armin have always been your only close friends, the only people you hang out with. We've always been a trio, and that's never been a problem. But we're high schoolers now. You really need other people to hang out with."

Mikasa stayed silent. It wasn't like she was ignoring Eren's words, or that she was hurt by them; she just didn't find them relevant or sensible enough to respond to. So she let him continue. "What about dating? You don't even try to display interest in a relationship. The only one you had was back when you dated Jean for a day when we were 12. Not to mention that you really only did that at all because the day before, you'd confessed your love to me and got turned down."

Now that got a reaction out of Mikasa. She froze, eyes widened slightly, the faintest blush sweeping across her cheeks. They had promised to never speak of that again, what a low blow… Eren, already a few steps ahead of her, stopped and looked back, his eyes widening in alarm at her sudden signs of distress. He softened his demeanor and back-stepped to her side, resting his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry. I just don't like you being so lonely, okay? I want you to be happy."

"I am happy," Mikasa insisted, her cool composure recovered already. Eren opened his mouth to argue further, but sighed and let it go.

"Come on. Armin is waiting for us."

Meanwhile, Reiner Braun was having a similar conversation with Annie as he drove her and Bertholdt back to their flat. "I hate to say it, Ann, but it's kinda sad how you just sit up in the bleachers all by yourself whenever we've got practice. Kinda makes you look like a loser," he mentioned, looking at her in the backseat with the rearview mirror.

"Excuse me?" Annie said with a hard glare.

"Not that you are," Reiner covered up quickly. He let out a heavy sigh. "Look, all I'm saying is that there's no reason Bert and I should be the only people you hang with. You had so many other friends back at our old school!" Annie raised an eyebrow skeptically."…okay, maybe it's just that you had a lot less enemies. My point is-"

"Shut up and focus on the road," Annie interrupted. Reiner and Bertholdt exchanged a glance, sighed, and the drive was silent from then on.

The following day, cheerleading practice was cancelled last minute, leaving Mikasa to sit in the bleachers as she watched Eren practice drills with his team. Not that she had a problem with that; she loved watching Eren play football. He was so passionate about it, so dedicated… It was no wonder he was the team's MVP.

There was only one problem with this arrangement, and that was that Mikasa wasn't alone in the bleachers: Annie was already there when she arrived, sitting alone in the highest corner. Mikasa's instinct was to simply ignore her presence, and sit far away from her in the front row. However, as she went to take her seat, Eren's words from the prior day suddenly started ringing in her head: You really need other people to hang out with. I just don't like you being so lonely, okay? Hesitating greatly, she slowly made her way up to the spot directly in front of Annie, being careful not to look at her for more than a brief glance as she sat down. A few minutes passed, and Mikasa grew content that Annie was ignoring her presence and she would not have to worry about having a conversation with her. She focused on watching Eren and eventually forgot why she'd sat in that spot in the first place.

"…you. You're that friend of Jaeger's , right?"

Mikasa glanced over her shoulder at Annie's words, not because she acknowledged she was being spoken to, but only as a reaction to hearing sound. She almost returned her attention to the football field, but then she realized that Annie was looking directly at her and seemed to be anticipating a reply. "…yes. I am," she confirmed tentatively.

It once again fell silent between them, and Mikasa started to wonder if she had imagined Annie speaking to her, but after nearly a minute, the blonde girl spoke up again. "…Bertholdt and Reiner. Tell Jaeger to let them know I have to leave for detention soon. I'll be gone by the time they're on break."

Why would I do that for you? You're a stranger and a bitch, was Mikasa's initial thought. However, she decided that verbalizing that would be terribly rude, and instead brought herself to ask, "Why do you have a detention?" Annie hesitated before responding.

"…someone ratted me out for killingMs. Zoe's salamanders."

Mikasa's eyes widened just a bit. Half of her science class that day had consisted of Hanji rambling about how distressed she was at finding one of her students had "betrayed her trust by depriving her of precious specimens." Apparently she had found the assailant… For some reason, it hardly surprised Mikasa that Annie was the one to do it. "What benefit could that possibly have?"

Annie only shrugged.

"…I bet you're lonely." Mikasa did not really intend to say that out loud, yet she didn't exactly regret doing so. It was a necessary point.

This time, Annie didn't pause before replying. "That's bullshit," she spat automatically, narrowing her eyes. Most people would cringe at her abrupt ferocity, but Mikasa didn't even falter.

"I feel the same way," she told her calmly, actually meeting her gaze. A sort of sadness flickered across her eyes. "And I know what it's like to have everyone be afraid of you." Annie looked away before Mikasa could take note of any emotion on her face. Geez, she was so difficult… Was everyone this tedious to talk to? ….Eren's words once again repeated themselves in Mikasa's mind. "Annie, I don't trust you. But we should be friends."

"I don't want friends," Annie snapped.

"Neither do I."

A silence fell between them yet again, but this time, the tension was high. They continued to gaze at each other, neither one faltering, until Annie stood and spoke up. She turned her head away, though her eyes were pointed toward Mikasa. "I'll see you around, Ackerman. …Mikasa."

Mikasa's heart skipped a beat in her chest. What was she doing, befriending Annie Leonhardt? She was trouble, she hated her. …but she could always give her a chance. And besides, Eren wanted her to make a friend. "Yes, I'll see you. We should… study together, tonight."

Annie gave a slight nod to her head and started walking down the steps; she paused and turned back. "Do you also have a geometry exam tomorrow?"

"Yes."

"Okay. We can study for that, then. And don't forget to tell your boyfriend to let Reiner and Bert know where I am right now." She continued on her way, leaving Mikasa to feel uncharacteristically dazed.

Not 20 minutes after Mikasa and Eren (along with Armin) had arrived home, the doorbell rang. Everyone knew where the Jaegers lived- the only house in town that was on a hill- so Annie hadn't any trouble locating it, and didn't even need to ask. Mikasa didn't bother to announce that she'd get the door; Eren and Armin were too preoccupied sharing a bowl of chips and kissing dip off each others' faces and finding the most comfortable positions to cuddle in to even notice the doorbell went off. The moment Annie and Mikasa walked in the room, however, they felt the atmosphere drop noticeably enough for them to both look up. Eren's expression transitioned from one of adoration to one of horror; the bowl of chips fell to the ground as he scrambled to his feet.

"What the hell is she doing here?!" he demanded, baffled as to what reason Annie'd have to being in his house.

"You told me I needed to make friends," Mikasa responded simply.

"Yeah, but not with-" Annie shot him a glare that shut him right up. He huffed and turned to Armin, who was trying to clean up the spilled chips and looking equally as frightened. "C'mon, let's go to my room." Armin stood up straight and nodded, setting the chips on the coffee table before following Eren down the hall to the stairs that led to his bedroom.

"Do you have condoms up there, Eren?" Mikasa called after him. Either she was trying to make a joke, or was legitimately concerned that Eren and Armin would have sex; her monotone voice made it impossible to tell.

"MIKASA!" Eren shrieked back in disgust.

Annie seemed completely unfazed by Mikasa's personal question. "It must be a pain to look after him like he's some child."

Mikasa sat in the spot Eren had been moments ago, pulling her geometry textbook out of her bag. Annie sat beside her and did the same. "I feel like I'm obligated to. His mother asked me to watch out for him after she was in a terrible accident." She flipped to the page she needed to study; Annie looked up at her, her hand on her own textbook.

"…is she dead?" Mikasa glanced up at her casually.

"No, she's in the kitchen. She's just in a wheelchair now."

"Hm." Annie skimmed through her textbook until she located the page Mikasa was on. "…having parents is only degrading. Everything has been so much better since it became just me, Reiner, and Bertholdt. The solitude is preferable."

A reel of dark memories flashed in Mikasa's mind. She had to blink to clear her head of the haunting thoughts. Dare she share them with Annie? "…I have to disagree. I watched my parents be murdered, when I was young," she hesitantly digressed.

Annie stared into Mikasa's face, masking all emotions. "It was nice of the Jaegers to take you in," she said after a brief pause. "It's good to know there are kind people in this sick world. Though…. You should know that I'm not one of them."

"I know you aren't."

That wasn't where Annie expected Mikasa to end her response. She thought she'd have more to say, give examples of why she wasn't a good person, explain that she didn't see a cruel girl like her as a real friend. But she didn't. Annie pulled her book into her lap, and gazed down at the text. "We should start."