A/N: Sorry for the late update. This chapter was wrote a while ago, but updating on this site is a bit cumbersome for me. The process is usually as follows: open up password-protected LibreOffice file of fic [this site does not allow me to copy-paste fic]. Save a non-password locked copy [this site can't open locked copies]. Go in to the new copy and find all the HTML code in the doc and delete it, replacing the italicization, bolding, breaks, or whatever format code was there, with Libre's formatting functions [this site doesn't render code]. Upload the document to this site. Update the chapter using the uploaded document. Delete the non-locked copy of the chapter. off my hardrive.

That means that a fic's chapter might be done, but it may not get uploaded here for a while, especially if the chapter is long. I post updates sooner on sites that have a simpler update process for me. I love this site but it doesn't make it easy for me to update.

Mikasa Ackerman's wrist hurt. It had been hurting for a long time now, with every movement she made with it. It hurt when she went to bed at night, and it hurt when she woke up in the morning. Carpal tunnel syndrome? Probably. She had dug out one her adoptive father's old medical dictionaries and looked it up a few nights ago, and she matched all the symptoms.

She'd been warned, by the old lady who managed the grocery on the day shift, that she needed to pace herself. That inhuman speeds could not be maintained for hours and hours on small, delicate muscles and nerves without damage occurring.

Mikasa hadn't cared then, and she didn't care now, as she shoved gallons of milk and heads of lettuce across the scanner at lightening speed. Her wrists tingled, pain occurred in them, it was all very far away. To go slow was to freeze in place indefinitely, to die of boredom, even pain was better.

To work in a grocery store was a terrible job. It took so short a time to learn how to do everything, and then your mind was free, free to wander and roam where it wanted, even if it was simply to the most painful, upsetting recollections it could dredge up. At least the misery passed the time.

She could feel the ache in her wrist, and remember the exact twinges that had woken her up last night. She could offer a receipt to a customer, and remember the snarl on his lips. She could see the manager's disappointment as Jean once again bagged a chemical like bleach with a food item like strawberries, and the exact color of those angry green eyes floated across her mind.

She'd had no reason to suspect anything amiss last night. No reason to think that her world would be tilted once more, if only in the slightest, and in a way it had before, and probably would again.

Mikasa hadn't been groggy with sleep when it happened. The twinges had awoken her, and she'd laid in the dark silently, not wanting to move, not wanting to glance at the red glowing numbers on the alarm clock and see if she only had a few hours more to sleep. Finally she'd kicked off the cloyingly warm blankets and sat up. The glare of the clock let her know that it was only a little past eleven. Good.

She was only in a bra and panties, anything else was intolerable to sleep in while the A/C was broken. Eren might yell at her if he caught her wandering around without any clothes, but her chances of encountering anyone were low. The hallway wasn't visible from any of the other rooms except Eren's bedroom, and he always kept his door closed. It was a shame; his flustered face was pretty cute.

Mikasa ducked into the bathroom with a t-shirt and pair of shorts folded under arm. No reason to deliberately borrow trouble. She shed her lingerie and climbed into the shower stall, twisting the cold water knob. No reason to bother with the hot; the tiny hot water heater in the apartment took forever to spit out hot water, and she didn't plan on being in there that long. Just a quick rinse to sluice off the grime from the grocery store. The feel of the cool water on her face was heavenly. She didn't actually get very dirty as a cashier, but it gave her a grubby feel, touching objects held by many hands, dirty money, wearing the same overly thick and warm clothes for hours and hours while standing in the warmest part of the store.

Finally clean feeling, she towelled off and dressed.

Her stomach was hungry; she hadn't bothered eating when she came home, simply gone straight to bed, tired from working till close. Everything she cooked burned anyway. She didn't know if Eren had gotten home and cooked anything. She swiped at the wet, glistening locks plastered against her skin with a shower comb. Hadn't she brought something home from the grocery store? That didn't make any sense, she never shopped there. Even with a discount she didn't want to be there any longer than she had to, and Eren preferred to do the shopping.

She went, defenseless and unsuspecting into the kitchen. Poking through the nearly empty cupboards, she noticed the bag of cheap, russet potatoes lying on the counter. That brought to mind when that crazy girl had thrown a bag of them at Jean. Her lips quirked up in a smile. She had liked the look of that girl, warm golden-brown eyes and a big goofy grin that made you want to smile back. And she'd brought her something later on...the bread! That was what she'd brought home from Titan Food.

When she met up with Eren on her lunchbreak, she'd left it with him, wrapped in its neat little cloth bag that looked hand-stitched, smelling of good things. Maybe he'd eaten all of it? He was a growing young guy...maybe. When did people stop growing for good?

That didn't stop her from searching for it though. Finally, she thought to look in the trash, thinking he might have thrown the bag away. That would have been a crime; it was a nice bag, and she'd have to return it to the girl who'd given her the bread.

She did find the bag; it was lying on top, with only a dented Pepsi can on top of it. She brushed the can aside, and grabbed the bag's string. She was alarmed at the heft of it; there was still bread inside. Pulling it out, she could see that the entire loaf was still left. Bizarre; had there been something wrong with it?

"Good, you're up."

Mikasa looked up. Eren was standing in the hall doorway. Despite his words, he looked anything but pleased to see her.

"What is it?" she asked quietly.

She was wary, but not particularly surprised. Her brother had a short temper and a tendency to take everything very seriously. Eren walked over to the loaf of bread she'd layed on the counter. He unclenched his fist and let a mangled scrap of paper drift from it down onto the loaf. It looked like a piece of notebook paper.

"What's that?" she asked.

"Don't play the innocent! You know exactly what it is."

"I don't know what it is, Eren."

Eren snatched the paper back up and unfolded it forcefully, almost tearing it in the process.

""I'm love with you. Let's date." he read, nearly spitting the words out.

He looked at her. She looked back, showing as little emotion as ever. If he was hoping for some giveaway, some tell, she wasn't providing it.

"The FUCK, Mikasa?"

"Did you find that with the bread?" she asked.

"Where the fuck else would I have gotten it?"

Her mind was working. She wasn't as sharp or analytical as Armin, but it didn't take much to guess at who had written the note. It had to have been the girl who'd given her the bread in the first place. The girl was in love with her? She'd barely met her!

Meanwhile, Eren was ranting on.

"I should have known you wouldn't give up, this is just like highschool all over again. In fact-"

"Eren-"

"What?"

"I'm not in love with you."

"Ha! That's what you've always said. Once you knew how badly it creeped me out anyway."

"I'm not." she insisted firmly.

"Then who sent this note?" he asked.

"I think it was this girl from the grocery store."

"What's her name?"

"I don't know."

"Uh-huh. Why would this mysterious girl give the note to you then when I go in the store every day?"

"It wasn't meant for you."

"So you're saying that some girl gave you a love note and you just accidentally gave it to me. And I'm supposed to believe that?"

"Why wouldn't you?" Mikasa asked, irritated.

"Oh maybe because you snuck around and told people you were my girlfriend for years, and tried to scare away any girl or guy who tried to date me, and even tried to enlist Armin to help you..."

"That was only with that one girl, and she would have been terrible for you."

"I couldn't even keep a girlfriend until I was 18! You'd bully them away from me!"

"If they were so easily intimidated, they weren't worthy of you. And besides, you had Annie."

"That's only because you couldn't cow her, because she was the only one who could kick your ass."

"That's not true." Mikasa said.

"She threw you in the river when you tried." Eren said.

Mikasa chose to ignore that embarrassing fact.

"Besides, it was for the best." Mikasa stated.

Eren threw his hands up in the air in frustration.

"It's like talking to a brick wall. How the fuck was keeping me forcibly single a good thing?"

"You're gay." Mikasa pointed out. "It would have been pretty hard on you if you got all attached to a girl before you knew that."

"You just don't even fucking get it. It was not your decision to make. You do not run my fucking life!"

"This is all a simple mistake Eren. You can ask the girl in question-"

"The only mistake was sticking with you! You always have to meddle and try to ruin my life."

He stormed away, back into the hallway. Mikasa could hear his door being thrown open, and things being slammed around. He emerged from the room with a dufflebag under his arm.

"Where are you going?" she asked, as he headed toward the door.

"Away from you."

"Eren!"

The door slammed in her face.

"Eren." she said softly, to the silent apartment around her. "When have I ever been able to bake anything without burning it?"

Next chapter is already written and should be up soon, once it's edited for this site.

As always, any feedback is appreciated.