Mikasa went back to the classroom to grab the lunch boxes so that she and Eren could eat together. The two of them lived together in the condo unit since their middle school days, and Mikasa practically acted like a mother, elder sister, or a wife to Eren already, cooking for him and cleaning the house. Eren also helped her with the household chores, but cooking was Mikasa's forte.
Today, just like everyday, she cooked a nutritious lunch filled with rice, veggies, and tuna. Eren had to eat fish and veggies because he doesn't prefer them that much. And as someone who was always told many a time by Eren's mother (who also became her foster mother before Carla's demise) to take care of him, Mikasa took the task to heart.
"Eh? Where could he be?" she thought.
Armin was also not in his seat, so she asked Annie, who just came in, if she had noticed Armin elsewhere.
"How would I know?" Annie asked before sitting on her chair to sleep.
Mikasa frowned. Annie was one of the most intelligent girls in class, but she was the laziest too. She often excelled in science experiments even though it was against her beliefs to interact with the people, but she was doing it merely for the grades. She skipped classes most of the time, but still managed to ace her tests. It was Bertholdt who often tell Annie what to study. Mikasa did not like Annie's style because she always thought that you can get what you want if you work for it. And Mikasa studies to get good grades, though she did not even seem to break a sweat just to master a lesson.
Mikasa strode to Eren's table and pulled the handle of the drawer. He left the earbuds behind, she noticed. It might only mean that he was using his headset again. And when Eren was in the mood to be emo and angsty, he usually stays on the rooftop.
~~.
She raced to the rooftop and saw her pretty boy sitting on the cement, leaning against the wall, with eyes closed. She could tell he was listening to Eld Jinn again because Eren must have turned the volume up. It was not the best way to care for your ears, but Eren doesn't even care. He never does. The sight of him strumming to an invisible electric guitar was another thing she noticed.
He looked so peaceful and handsome that Mikasa's heart skipped a beat.
"Eren..."
Calmly and silently, Mikasa approached him, knelt, and sat on her legs. The sight of him, even if he never spoke, was enough to make her heart melt. She leaned forward to get a close glimpse of his face.
Ever since he had given her scarf to her, she had opened a special place in her heart only to him. They were foster siblings, of course, and Mikasa was especially touched when Eren took care of her, protecting her like how a brother would.
Eventually, when Mikasa learned to fight, everything was turned upside down. Most of the neighborhood kids before feared Mikasa than they did fear Eren, for Mikasa never back down a fight. She had been a legend in the neighborhood for knocking out three front teeth of a local bully. Because of dental aesthetics, the kid got his teeth back, but he was still utterly humiliated to be defeated by a scrawny girl. And since then, she had protected Eren, much to his disgust. It hurt his pride that he who was supposed to protect his sister, was now the one being protected. If they could give Armin his autonomy, how come Mikasa never let Eren be?
Mikasa could not remember how it all started, but as they grew up, she eventually developed romantic feelings for Eren. However, she had not realize it all these time. What looks like as concern for her irritated him to no end because he found her too annoying already. It was always, Eren here and Eren there, and he felt so suffocated. Her protectiveness mostly was the cause of their fights. But in most fights, Eren felt triumphant that most of the time, it was Mikasa backing down and lowering her head. To his chagrin, he would often be the first to say sorry whenever Mikasa would hide the lower half of her face with the scarf and try to hold the tears from falling.
She could stand up against everyone, even if it was Levi-sempai. But then, her main weakness was only Eren, who could break her emotions and pretenses that she had been keeping in front of everyone else.
With the peace they were having that time, Mikasa wished that it should last. Eren's lashes looked so soft, she thought, and his face looked so smooth that she could not see pores on his skin. She wanted to flung her arms around him and hug him. She wanted to kiss his cheek.
Hey! Where did those thoughts come from? Why was she thinking of Eren this way? It couldn't be, she thought. They're family!
Yet, her heart was telling her otherwise. Why was she always in denial regarding her feelings? She could, at least, be honest with them.
But then, Eren could be so dense, and Mikasa could be so cowardly when it comes to confessing her feelings for him.
As they often say, be careful what you wish for. What had happened next was something that she wasn't prepared for. Eren turned his head to his side and accidentally had his lips on to hers.
There went her first kiss!
Mikasa was glad that Eren was her first kiss, but she did not expect it to happen this way. She had often heard from the romantic Hannah that kisses should be romantic, and a girl should receive it on dates. But this was really unexpected, and she did not know if she should be happy with this or not.
Yet, her heart raced, and her eyes stayed open in shock. Eren still had not removed his lips from hers, probably from the shock too. Nevertheless, after about five seconds of the accidental kiss, Eren leaned his head back and apologized profusely, stuttering.
"Go-g-gomen... gomen..." he told her.
Mikasa felt her cheeks burning. Her hand found its way to her red scarf, and she covered her cheeks to prevent Eren from seeing her blush. But Eren was blushing too. She found something strange as well. While she could go on all day staring at Eren's teal-green eyes, this time was different. She had a hard time even to maintain eye contact.
"Daijoubu, Eren," she softly whispered.
And yet, she already wanted to just shower him with her hugs and confess. She could no longer hide it, but she had to.
"Mikasa," he called out.
The way he said her name was music to her ears. His voice always had that effect of making her muscles melt like she had lost important electrolytes to keep them strong.
"Hai?" she asked.
"Did you... bring the bento?" he asked.
Mikasa nodded silently and sat beside him. She brought out the bento that she had prepared and spread the little hankies in front of them to place the receptacles on top. As she was doing this, Eren was silently studying her.
"How do you know I'm here?" he asked the very obvious.
"You come here everytime you leave your earbuds in the drawer of your desk," she said, her gaze never leaving her task. "So, I surmised you're here again to deal with your angst."
A lopsided smile lit up Eren's face. Much as he gets annoyed with her constant pestering, there was nothing like her who knew him so well. Like a book that one reads over and over again.
"Eat now," she ordered him calmly.
"Yes, Neechan," he teased her.
Mikasa shot him a glare which looks like she was saying that he was trying to be funny when he wasn't.
"Eat now because we only have thirty minutes left," she said as she grabbed her own bento.
Eren turned off his playlist and brushed his headset to let it hang around his neck. He grabbed the bento and the chopsticks prepared by his foster sister and started digging into his veggies.
"Tuna and vegetables?" he asked, making a slight face on the squash on his bento.
"Eat them," her order sounded more like a military mandate than an order from an elder sister.
The two ate silently afterwards, forgetting the little awkward moment of the first kiss. After their meal, Mikasa accepted the bento from Eren and packed the utensils away. As she was wrapping the lunch boxes with the kerchiefs, she could feel the warm breath—his warm breath, on her cheeks. Eren's so close, she thought, and she froze on her seat.
Her heart pounding hard, so hard that she cringed that her heart was betraying its sound. Her cheeks erupted to all shades of red when she felt his arms around her neck.
And it was when she realized that Eren had redone the red scarf around her neck.
Still, there was silence, and two throbbing hearts. After Eren was done, Mikasa looked up to him with her curious eyes, albeit still as calm as ever. Eren's captivating green eyes studied her again.
"Instead of always nagging at me for taking less care of myself, should you be taking care of yourself as well?" he gently told her.
"Eh?" she asked.
"The weather's a bit cold," he told her. "And you didn't wrap your scarf well."
Mikasa nodded. It was this scarf—his scarf, that was making her warm all these time. "Thank you."
She checked her watch and saw that it was a few minutes before the afternoon session.
"Let's go," she calmly told him.
The two of them stood up and dusted the dust off the back of their uniforms. Eren stooped down to retrieve the bento and told her he would be bringing it in her stead. He held up a hand, and Mikasa just looked at it.
"Why are you acting so strangely around me?" he asked before grabbing her hand.
Mikasa allowed Eren to lead her down the stairs to their room. All the while, she thought that Eren was gently caressing the skin of her hand. With her free hand, she covered the lower half of her face with the scarf again.