Disclaimer: I don't own SnK
Monday started out uneventful, and continued that way, much to Mikasa's relief. She enjoyed moving from class to class in a precise manner, without having any sudden interruptions or altercations between Eren and someone else that she had to settle. After classes, she packed quickly and was, as always, the first one out of the door, even before the professor who stayed back to entertain questions.
When she got to the front of the café, she worked briskly to unlock the door, got in, and then locked it up again. She flicked the lights on from a small hidden compartment in the wall, before heading down to the counter to get the cloth to wipe the tables down again. She had just flicked the appliances near the counter on when she heard a sort of desperate hammering at the glass door. She looked over to see Marco standing outside, still banging away.
She crossed the room quickly to open the door, where he fell into the café and let the door shut behind him.
"Sorry—I just saw some guys whom I owe money too and I didn't bring it out with me today and I really really don't want to get into it with them," he said, brushing his hair back with a sweep of his hand.
"Right," Mikasa said, arching an eyebrow.
"Don't worry; no one knows I work here, so they won't be coming in," he said, before heading back into the kitchen. "You can open up shop now, by the way,"
Mikasa turned the sign in the window so that "we are OPEN" was now facing outwards, and the outside was closed off to the employees until they locked up for the night.
No one came in for the next two hours, excepting Reiner and Bert who chased Mikasa into the kitchen for her lunch while Reiner took over the front of the shop for the next couple of hours. When she re-emerged from the back room, Rivaille was already in his usual booth, plate and cup in front of him. Reiner was lounging on a stool by the cashier, a blank look in his eyes as he looked over the almost-empty shop.
"I honestly feel like this café would close down at any time," he told her when he noticed her by his side. "Doesn't this seem hopeless to you?"
She rolled her eyes at him. "Since when were you Mr. Glass Half-Empty? Did Christa reject you again?" Bert had filled her in on Reiner's ongoing obsession with Christa Lenz, a pretty petite girl who took Engineering alongside the two friends. Reiner had attempted to ask Christa out at least 42 times, according to Bert, and had been rejected by her all of the 11 times which he had succeeded. At this point, everyone else was less than sympathetic towards Reiner in this issue, because getting rejected 11 times didn't mean anything except the fact that she wasn't the least interested in you, thank you very much.
Reiner heaved a sigh, before sliding off the stool dejectedly. "Maybe I should just give up, right?"
"One of these days," she told him in all seriousness, "You're going to actually mean it,"
Reiner just sighed and retreated into the kitchen, leaving Mikasa to perch on the recently vacated stool. The rest of her shift passed in sections of studying, staring out vacantly over the mostly empty café, and occasionally refilling Rivaille's tea. He barely looked up from his books when she came over, and the only thing he ever said was a simple "Thank you." —certainly nothing to suggest that they had met before.
When she was bored, she found herself studying Rivaille from her place on the counter. His hair was styled in an undercut, and he was wearing his trademark white cravat, as usual. His movements were precise and calculated; superfluous motions did not suit him at all. Everything on the table, too, were organized into neat piles that sat close to each other, with what seemed like a uniform width of space on all sides. His studying was as methodical as she'd ever seen it—moving from one subject of interest to another without overlap.
When Reiner came back out for his last shift, he eyed Rivaille strangely. "It's way past his usual 5 hours of study," he told Mikasa. "I wonder what he's still doing here,"
"Well, he's getting his check now," she pointed out. "Do you want me to do it before I leave?"
"No, it's okay. I've been getting his check for the past year or so; any changes in his schedule and he might die of a heart attack," Reiner said.
Hearing that, Mikasa was unable to repress a smile. Clearly she had not been the only one to notice his fastidious following of a schedule he seemed to have memorised already. "Alright then, I'll go into the back and see if they need help before I leave," she agreed.
When she emerged from the kitchen after bidding goodbye to the other two, Rivaille was already gone and Reiner was left out in the front room alone except for an elderly couple sipping on the last vestiges of their tea.
"I'll be going off first," she told him.
"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow," he said, wiping down the counter unnecessarily.
She left the café quickly, mentally deciding what she had to do first when she got back to her dorm. Suddenly, she noticed a figure peeling itself off the wall of the side of the building, and without thinking, dropped into a defensive stance.
"It's just me," Rivaille said, stepping into the light and catching hold of one of her hands about to fly into his face.
"Oh. Sorry, I'm just a little touchy after last Friday. What are you doing here?" She let go of her position, and started to walk.
He fell into step next to her, adjusting his speed to match hers. "Walking home, of course,"
"You don't have to walk me back, you know,"
"I know."
A silence stretched out between them.
"If you're uncomfortable with my presence, you can just tell me," he offered.
"No, it's fine," her brow furrowed. She wasn't sure why he was doing this, but she wasn't going to pass up the additional security he gave.
They walked back to the dorms in a companionable silence, with Rivaille following Mikasa through the backs of buildings and over grasses patches, with only the occasional—no, more than occasional—tch of annoyance when the mud got onto his pristine black shoes.
"It's just mud; it won't even show on your shoes," she finally said.
"It's disgusting," he replied. "Just because no one else can see it doesn't mean it's not there,"
"You could have just taken the concrete path back,"
"Yes, I could have." He didn't elaborate more on that point after that, and they walked on in silence for a while more, before they stepped onto yet another grass patch, prompting a tch of disapproval from him again.
Mikasa was more than a little relieved when she saw her dorm up in the distance—walking with Rivaille wasn't as bad as she had been expecting; it would even have been nice if not for his constant noises of disapproval. She disliked mud as much as the next person, but clearly his feelings for mud went beyond dislike to complete and utter disdain.
"See you tomorrow," he said tonelessly, before continuing down the blessed concrete path which they'd gotten onto a few minutes before.
She looked after him thoughtfully for a while, before shaking her head to dispel all thoughts of him and continued on into the dorm. What he did didn't really concern her, after all, and if he wanted to walk her home, then she was, as far as she was concerned, only benefitting from it.