Chapter 20: Friends
"WHAT WAS THAT?"
The couple turned from each other to see Eren gaping and pointing at them in shock, mouth wide open and blubbering unintelligibly. Armin's eyes were wide but he hid a smile behind his hand as he pushed Eren's mouth up. Ymir rolled her eyes and pulled Krista up against her. An angry Reiner stormed away with Bertholdt on his heels – a predictable outcome.
"It's called kissing; I'm sure you've done that with Annie," Ymir mocked, grinning evilly.
Eren's face steamed and he flailed his arms around. "W-w-what?! We've never done, I mean, damn it!"
Ymir roared in laughter but doubled over when Krista punched her gut. At this, many people smiled, but Mikasa was not amused. When Ymir straightened up, the first thing she saw was a pair of eyes nearly as black as coal giving her the coldest glare she'd ever received. Krista looked between the two and her eyes went wide at the brief terror she saw in Ymir's eyes.
"Mikasa?" Krista asked hesitantly. The blonde was ignored and consequently shoved lightly by the black-haired girl, who had pushed herself nose-to-nose with the tall brunette. Ymir scowled and clenched her fists, but deep inside she felt small at the look in Mikasa's orbs.
"What do you want?" the brunette spat angrily, trying to appear confident. She rubbed her gut lightly and glared at Krista, but Mikasa quickly stood in her way and continued her blank stare down. It unnerved Ymir greatly, as well as the other teens in the group, because Mikasa only ever acted like this with Annie.
Armin came forward and put his hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged it off while glancing back at him impatiently. He flinched but nodded slightly, backing away and keeping Eren behind him. The entire area was quiet as they watched Mikasa slowly lift her hand. Ymir grit her teeth and tensed, but even then, the slap still stung like hell.
The sound resonated across the field, a stunned silence so quiet the trees rustled in the developing tense atmosphere. Mikasa pulled her hand back to her side and returned to her seat, ignoring Sasha and packing her things. Ymir's face stayed to the side, even as Mikasa stood next to her with her bag. The brunette's fringe covered her eyes as her head fell forward slightly, a guilty shadow cast over the grass. Her lips quivered in anticipation, wanting to return the physical abuse with choice words, but instead they remained boiling deep within her gut.
Without looking at her, Mikasa hitched her bag on her shoulder and squeezed Ymir's shoulder painfully.
"That's what you get for causing her depression. Take good care of her, or I'll kill you." Her nimble feet ended the warning as she padded across the grass.
Ymir rubbed her cheek gingerly, wincing at the sharp sting. She grinned slightly at Krista, who had shaken herself from her stupor, and pointed at the mark innocently.
"Kiss it better?" she teased, winking.
Krista blushed furiously but nodded, leaning forward to brush her lips delicately over the tall girl's freckles. Ymir smiled genuinely and glared at Connie when the boy snorted. She opened her mouth into a snarl and he hurried away to the tree, a metaphorical tail between his legs. Eren and Armin returned to their lunches, Eren ignoring Armin's teasingly prying questions about his and Annie's relationship. Jean and Marco exchanged a look and stepped forward, smiling.
"We're happy for you guys, really," Marco started, fidgeting slightly when Ymir looked at him, "but it'll take a bit of time for us to get used to Ymir."
"Yeah," Jean agreed, "because we don't know her that well."
"I – we – understand. I'll make sure Ymir behaves and becomes better at interacting with other people," Krista responded, hiding a smile behind her hand.
"I'm right here," Ymir muttered irritably, rolling her eyes.
"I know!" Krista chirped.
Ymir sat down next to Krista on a patch of grass and they shared a lunch. They were left alone by the others and that was fine by them. Krista fed Ymir some of her food but Ymir snorted and refused to do the same when she asked. The blonde continued to plead with Ymir until the brunette finally sighed and put a piece of bread to her lips.
"Here."
Krista smiled sweetly and opened her mouth to accept the food. Ymir grinned and purposefully missed, shoving the bread into Krista's nose instead. The blonde squeaked in protest and pushed Ymir away. As Ymir laughed, the bell rang, and all the students stood to move on to their next class.
With great reluctance on her part, Krista bid Ymir goodbye and turned away, but stopped short when the brunette grabbed her wrist and spun her around. Ymir pressed her lips to Krista and gave her a short, passionate kiss that left the blonde breathless. Krista stuttered and put a hand to her lips as she stumbled to her next class. Ymir grinned and walked down the hall, scaring a few students with her uncharacteristic good mood.
In Levi's class, Krista made extra sure to sit near Eren, Jean and Marco within a speaking distance, because it was crucial she discussed Ymir's situation with them. They had to understand the circumstances behind her disappearance, as well as the truth about Berik, and the situation with Ymir and Reiner.
Marco turned to Krista with a shy smile and she returned it with one of her own. Beside him, Jean and Eren were predictably bickering.
"Alright class! Time to start the lesson!" Levi announced, entering the class with a closed carton box in his arms. He deposited it on his desk and turned to the students with a smirk on his face. Eren's face paled and he nudged Jean, who swallowed nervously and slouched in his seat.
"Before we begin, I have an important announcement to make," Levi paused and surveyed the class with a smug expression, "you all have a project to work on for the next three weeks!"
A collective groan erupted from the teens, followed by Eren slamming his palms on his desk and standing up, pushing his chair back. He glared at his teacher and drew in a deep breath.
"Sir, with all due respect, we just had a unit test the other day! You can't make us do another stressful evaluation!" the tall teen argued.
"Eren, sit down and shut up. You didn't even let me explain the goddamn project," Levi replied, nodding in satisfaction when the fuming student sat down in frustration, "this is how it's gonna go: I need more grades to add to your final one, because so far we've only done three unit tests. So, this project will replace yet another unit test with something much more 'fun'. In a group of four, you will prepare a presentation on proper family and house care. This will sum up all we've learned to date."
This seemed to placate the students, for they nodded and turned to potential group members with grins. Eren immediately moved his desk next to Krista, the feet scraping against the floor loudly.
"EREN!" Levi snapped. "What the hell are you doing?"
"I'm setting up my group!" Eren shouted. Krista watched as he shoved Marco's desk straight in front of her and then Jean's desk in front of him. The result was a group of four desks facing each other. The blonde sighed in relief – this would make the discussion she had planned so much easier, and she had Eren's stubbornness to thank.
Levi sighed and opened up the box, pulling out folders with evaluation rubrics and lesson plans. He handed out the rubrics and walked around with a clipboard against his arm.
"Alright guys," Eren said, grinning, "how are we gonna do this?"
"Wait," Krista interrupted, "I need to talk to you guys about something first."
The boys turned to her and smiled encouragingly. Krista took a deep breath and steadied her nerves. "It's about Ymir."
Marco averted his gaze and Jean slid a hand down his arm in comfort, grabbing hold of his hand under the desk. The freckled boy smiled at his boyfriend and Jean nodded and smiled in return. Eren regarded Krista with a curious look.
"What about Ymir?" he asked.
Krista fidgeted in her seat but pressed on. "I want her reputation cleared, I don't want people to be afraid of her anymore. Enough is enough – she's already gone through too much, and she doesn't need to be put through anymore."
Jean immediately started but Marco pulled him down. "Krista, we just told you that we don't know her that well! And she treated us like crap ever since she moved here! Even more after Berik died!"
"I understand that, I really do, but you don't understand Ymir – you don't even care to."
"Because we don't feel any inclination to love her, like you do. You love Ymir, so of course you're willing to overlook her faults–"
"That's not true, Jean!" Krista cried. "That's not true at all! I love Ymir because she has faults, I love her because she's human, because she has no one else to love her, because underneath the cover she puts on she's not cruel, or mean, or evil – she's lonely."
"So you took pity on her."
"At first, I did," Krista admitted, "she looked terribly alone, and I could sympathize. But then, it grew to genuine curiosity – I wanted to know: 'who is Ymir?' and I was drawn to her, because there was something about her I couldn't resist. I don't know if it was the tragedy I saw in her eyes, or her open rebellion, or maybe it was something between attraction and a desire to enter her life."
Marco looked at Jean and squeezed his hand tightly when the other boy looked down, a guilty expression on his face. Eren sighed and shuffled his feet around slightly. Krista clasped her hands together and heaved a shuddering breath.
"Whatever it was, it doesn't matter. All I know is that I love Ymir with all of my heart, and it hurts to see others looking at her with venom," Krista continued, "and I know that my friends would support and understand me before anyone else."
The boys exchanged a look and sighed. The blonde looked at them hopefully, praying for a positive response.
"We would support you," Jean said, "but we know next to nothing about Ymir. All we know from her actions is that she's harsh and mean. Don't you remember? She treated you like shit when you first met her!"
"She does act that way, yes, but it's a defence mechanism. She was afraid to get close to anyone because of what happened with Berik–"
"Berik? Where does he come in?" Eren interrupted.
"Berik was like Ymir's brother. His death destroyed Ymir's confidence in friendship, especially after all she went through to get that friendship after she lost her family."
Eren grit his teeth and closed his eyes, feeling shame. She had lost her family, had lost Berik, had lost everything, and he hadn't even tried to help. If Mikasa knew, she would feel just as guilty as him.
"I'll do it," Eren declared, "I'll help you restore Ymir's reputation!"
"Thank you, Eren. Marco, Jean? Will you help me too?"
"Of course we will, Krista," Marco assured, "right, Jean?"
"I need to think about it."
"Jean."
"Marco."
"I'm sorry, Krista, Jean's being difficult."
"It's okay, I understand. The only thing I would ask Jean to do for me would be to talk to Reiner or Bertholdt. The first step in fixing Ymir's image would be to fix the relationship between her and Reiner."
Krista stared at Jean in a pleading manner, along with a kick to the shin from Eren and a painful hand squeeze from Marco. Jean kept his mouth shut from screaming in pain and returned the kick to Eren, who then proceeded to grit his teeth and kick harder. Finally, Jean slammed his forehead on his desk and slumped forward.
"Okay, I can do that for you," Jean sighed.
"Thank you. I just need you to ask Bertholdt to speak with Reiner when you guys go to rehearse tonight. There's been a huge misunderstanding between them, and only those two can solve it."
Eren clapped his hands together and grinned. "Alright, now that we've got that outta the way, let's focus on the project: how is this gonna work? Are we splitting it?"
Krista smiled excitedly. "I can handle making the presentation boards! All I need is for you guys to bring me the information and we can split what we have to say by board."
"Oh!" Marco's eyes lit up suddenly, "we can split the project into four categories: health, safety, family and cleaning. Each of us can make a board for our respective category, but the thing is, we'll link them all together so that it's a group presentation, and not just done individually. How about that?"
"That's a great idea, Marco!" Eren exclaimed.
"Yeah!" Jean agreed, grinning at his boyfriend.
Behind Marco, Levi smiled and nodded to himself, scratching a note into his notepad. When he saw Jean lean in and kiss Marco on the cheek, the lead snapped and he blinked several times to process what happened. He caught Eren's cheeky grin and turned away angrily. Krista giggled and leaned forward.
"I'll do the health part, because Ymir and I have lots of experience in that area," she laughed, clearly an inside joke between her and her girlfriend, "is that okay?"
"It's great!" Marco chuckled, "I'll take the family part, because my mom has plenty of expertise in that area and can help with that."
"And I'll take safety."
Both Eren and Jean glared at each other and stood from their desks, glaring heavily. "I'm taking safety!" Eren shouted.
"No! I am!" Jean yelled.
"SHUT UP, JEAN! WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT SAFETY?"
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU KNOW ABOUT SAFETY, DUMBASS? YOU'RE ALWAYS GETTING YOUR ASS WHOOPED BY ANNIE!"
"JEEEAAANNN!"
"ERRRREEEEENNN!"
"I'M GONNA KICK YOUR ASS LIKE I WOULD KICK A TITAN'S!"
"BRING IT, LOSER."
Eren and Jean butted heads while Marco pulled on his boyfriend's arm desperately. Krista fidgeted unsure of what to do, then went to Levi to ask for help, and explained the situation to him. The short teacher came back and slapped both boys' necks with his ruler, causing them to flinch back and glare at him. He had an unimpressed look on his face, and when his eyes slid to look at Eren, he smirked. Eren paled.
"Eren will take the cleaning segment of your project," he concluded in a monotone voice.
The bell rang then, censoring Eren's choice expletive, and Krista quickly slid out of class to meet up with Ymir. She walked on air, her eyes dreamy as she thought about her love, her bottom lip caught between her teeth in a love-struck daze. She hugged her book bag in her chest and ignored the fluttering of her heart as she thought about Ymir's husky voice and her expressive brown eyes. All she wanted to do at this moment was sink into her embrace and bathe in bliss.
In her inattentive state, she failed to notice the group of girls gathered in front of her. She bumped into one of the girls, who whirled around angrily to glare at her.
"S-sorry," Krista stuttered, shaking her head, "I wasn't watching where I was going." She tried to sidestep, but the girl, a familiar redhead, blocked her path.
"Damn straight! What the hell is wrong with you? Oh! You're her, the lesbian dating the monster of the school!"
Krista flinched but glared at her. "She's not a monster! And labels don't matter to me – I love her, and that's that!"
"You hear that, girls? She loves her. How sickening."
"You don't know anything!"
"I know everything, Miss Reject. Nack told me everything after I sweet-talked him, the poor fool. I know what happened between you and your family, and how Ymir practically dumped you then took you back after she saw how hopeless you were."
Krista shook her head, not believing their lies. They didn't know Ymir, they didn't know what she went through to sneak into her heart, the struggles they faced, and the pain they experienced. They thought they could make her doubt Ymir with a few choice words?
"Leave me alone, you clearly don't understand the connection between Ymir and I, and you never will. She's waiting for me," Krista excused herself and pushed the girl aside. The redhead's eyes widened in fury and she reached a hand out to grab the blonde's shoulder when a hand struck out against her own. It was a calculated strike to her wrist, and it made the aggressive teen clutch it to her chest in pain.
"What the fu–"
"Watch it," Annie muttered coldly, "or I'll cut your tongue out too."
The redhead swallowed nervously and nodded, backing away into the safety of her clique. Annie sighed and turned to Krista, who smiled at her in appreciation. Both blondes began to walk toward the exit, but Krista frowned behind her in confusion.
"Aren't you going to wait for Eren?"
"Eren goes to pick up his sister every day after school. I can't take that away from him."
"I understand."
Annie shoved her hands in the front of her sweater – she was notoriously rebellious nowadays, wearing a sweater over her uniform shirt and refusing to take it off, particularly from the area around her neck – and sighed, glancing at Krista from the side.
"So, you and Ymir are an item now?" she asked tentatively.
"Yes!" Krista answered happily, grinning widely, "we're together, and we're both very happy."
"Ymir isn't causing you any trouble, is she?"
"If by trouble you mean refusing to eat her vegetables then yes. If not, then no, she's been perfect with me."
Annie pressed her lips together in thought and nodded. "Alright."
"So, how are you and Eren?" Krista prodded, wanting to keep the conversation going.
"We're fine; he's a very sweet boy. I'm happy with him."
"You should smile more Annie, I'm sure he would appreciate it."
"I should."
They went down the stairs and moved close to the walls to avoid the throng of excited teens. As they finally exited the school, they noticed that Ymir was nowhere to be seen. A disappointed Krista sighed and turned to Annie with a smile.
"I'll just wait here for her. You can go on without me," Krista said, smiling in reassurance. Annie shook her head stubbornly and leaned against the wall beside the door.
"I'm waiting for Eren," she replied instead.
Krista giggled and leaned beside her, watching the other students chatter as they left for their homes. The bus wasn't scheduled to come for half an hour, but Krista no longer concerned herself with the bus – she had Ymir now.
"Annie," Krista started suddenly, turning to her friend.
"Hm?"
"What would you say to helping me help Ymir rebuild her image?"
"I would say leave me out of it."
Krista flinched but kept firm. "Ymir is a different person now than before! She's not a saint, but she's different, I promise you!"
"I don't care, I never trusted her, and I never will."
"That's unfair, Annie. You didn't even give her a chance."
"And I won't."
"I know what happened to her, with Berik and Reiner."
"That doesn't change anything."
"It does! Because both you and Reiner blame Ymir for Berik's death, when really it was that Titan's fault! Do you know how hard it was to convince Ymir it wasn't her fault? Do you know how much pain she was in? It was excruciating for my own heart."
Annie said nothing, and as she spotted Ymir turn a corner, she pushed off the wall and walked to the bus stop. Eren walked out then, bidding his best friend and sister goodbye as he rushed off to greet Annie.
Krista shook her head and walked to Ymir, giving her a tight hug. "I missed you," Krista murmured in her love's collarbone. Ymir closed her eyes and rested her forehead atop the crown of Krista's head. She smiled and wrapped her arms around the blonde, and the smaller teen relaxed fully.
"I missed you too," Ymir replied, a grin stretching out on her face, "I thought about you a lot in class!"
Krista blushed and giggled. "You did?"
"Oh yeah, I totally did." Ymir snickered to herself but groaned when Krista pinched her arm. The blonde pulled back to frown at her girlfriend but smiled instead, leaning up to kiss her. Ymir happily complied, and they ignored the cooing noises Sasha made as she pointed beside Mikasa. The stoic girl simply sighed and pulled Sasha to her lips to silence her, evidenced by the gluttonous girl's muffled moans.
Armin simply stood to the side, laughing sheepishly to himself as twirled a letter around in his hands. He blushed as he opened it, skimming over the contents of the page before closing it and pressing it to his chest. When Krista finally pulled away from Ymir's hungry lips, she spotted Armin reading the letter again and watched his expression soften into something extremely familiar.
Sasha wiped the drool from her chin when Mikasa let her go, and blushed when Mikasa pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "You have always been there for me," Mikasa whispered, "and I am ever so grateful for that. Eren is a good brother, but he is sometimes too preoccupied for me. Thank you, Sasha."
The brown-haired girl simply stared at her girlfriend, unable to speak past the incoherent noises she made. Mikasa smiled lovingly, though it was small, and intertwined their hands together. Seeing Krista getting intimate with Ymir made her realize just how lucky she was to have Sasha in her life – a beacon of joy and happiness and hope.
Krista walked up to Armin, Ymir in tow, and asked him about the letter.
"Oh, this?" Armin mumbled, blushing, "it's a letter from someone. A girl."
"Haha, so, what's in it?" Ymir teased, reaching forward to grab it from the boy. Krista pushed her arm back and glared at her lightly while Ymir rolled her eyes and smirked. Armin put the letter into his pocket and chuckled.
"It's a confession letter. And she says she wants to meet me for an official confession in an hour from now. But…"
"But?"
"She's moving away, so she wants to know if I'll feel anything for her, and she's willing to enter a long distance relationship with me."
"I'm sorry, Armin. You finally find someone and they're taken away from you."
"Oh no! Don't misunderstand – I know who this is, and she is a very intelligent and sophisticated girl. I admire her very much, and we're close to graduation, so she'll be moving back here to attend university. There's nothing to worry about."
"As long as you're happy. Right, Ymir?"
"Sure."
"We'll have to be going now," Krista said, waving at her friends. Mikasa waved back, but Sasha was still stuck in a daze, completely forgetting about her friends. Armin waved back and leaned against the wall next to the doors, bidding Mikasa and Sasha goodbye as well.
Krista stuck close to Ymir's side as they exited the school yard, walking down the pavement to their shared home. Suddenly, Krista had an idea, and she smiled as she let go of Ymir's hand and told her to move forward without her.
"What are you doing?" Ymir asked blandly, a bored expression on her face.
"Just trust me."
"Krista–"
"Don't you trust me?" Krista pouted.
Ymir sighed. "Of course I do – that was a stupid question."
"I know!" Krista chirped. "Just turn around and walk in front of me!"
"Whatever." Despite Ymir's obviously annoyed tone, she complied and walked forward slowly. Her bag remained on one shoulder, and her back in a slouch. Perfect.
Krista ran forward and put her bag beside Ymir's as she jumped up and hooked her legs around her waist. Her arms went around Ymir's neck and her face beside her girlfriend's cheek. Ymir jumped and stumbled but remained upright.
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Ymir shouted irritably.
"Carry me home!"
"No!"
"Plea–"
"Don't even start with me."
"But, Ymir!" Krista pleaded. She smiled and trailed feather kisses along her cheek, tracing her jaw and the outer rim of her ear. Ymir shuddered, feeling her resolve waver and weaken. Krista bit lightly on her earlobe and kissed the skin under it.
"Please?"
With a heavy sigh and a roll of her eyes, Ymir picked up both their bags in one hand and kept a firm grip on one of Krista's thighs with the other. Beside them, other students watched in shock as Ymir agreed to such a childish request. Slowly, their previous image of Ymir cracked, and she began to seem more approachable, though not by much.
"Just shut up, Krista," Ymir grumbled.
"I love you."
"Shut up."
"I loooove you, Ymir."
"Shut it."
Ymir smiled slightly when Krista pecked her cheek in apology and nuzzled her face into her neck, breathing lightly and trailing her lips along the column.
The bus rushed past them, and at the back window sat Bean, watching their interaction with interest and a plot brewing in his mind.