Pairing: Mikasa/Eren

Setting: In trainee days; Genderbend AU

Rating: K+

Words: 2083

Notes: This was a request from Callicature who asked for a genderbend of jealousy when Eren goes to train with Annie instead of Mikasa. Genderbends are always tough because as much as Mikasa has male tropes and Eren can have feminine ones, I'm so used to Mikasa showing those male roles but still being feminine and Eren struggling with some masculine roles but still very much being the man of the relationship that it's hard to find that gender reverse balance for me and I make Eren too Tsun-Tsun. But I hope you enjoy! I've gotten a few requests for another genderbend so I hope this fulfills that lol

Also I find changing the names in genderbends really takes me out of the story and the world, they all keep their names , so don't be too confused by a male named Annie haha

A Twist

Eren wiped the sweat off her face as she walked back into the cool shade of the dining hall. Maybe joining the military in the middle of the summer when they trained outside in heavy uniforms wasn't the smartest idea in retrospect but it was the earliest enrollment date and she took it. She pulled her hair out of her ponytail before brushing any stay brown strands back up into her tie, happy to get some of her sticky hair off her neck and face. She saw Armin and Mikasa sitting at a table across the room, eating whatever food they were offering today, an extra tray on the table left for her.

"Hey, Jaeger."

Eren turned her head at the voice; she knew it well only because it was the voice that was drilling her moments ago. Annie was standing near the door to the dining hall, watching the others around Eren walk in. She stopped where she was and walked over to the boy to see what he wanted.

"Yeah?" she asked standing a bit away from him; it was hard not to, after she was used to him kicking her on her ass all through training. It was just a day arraignment Eren thought, but for the rest of the week Annie had asked if she wanted to train with him and Eren easily went away from whoever she was training with to train with him instead. She saw Annie take down the biggest girl in class in one move, Eren wanted to learn that. She pretended to put up a fight but with Annie but Eren felt like she was actually learning something for once, like she was finally getting somewhere in this training.

"You didn't do as bad today as normal," he said simply.

Eren had to think for a moment to see if that was actually a compliment. "Uh, thanks. I think."

"I don't mind it, you know." He leaned slightly up against the wall behind him. "Training with you, if you'd like to keep training together." Annie normally kept to himself more often than not; in fact, Eren was pretty sure this was the most he had said to her even despite their training for the past week.

"I guess it depends if I want to end up on my ass every day from now until graduation."

Annie just looked at her blankly.

"Ah, yeah, I'd actually like that." Eren gave him a smile before thinking about her words. "The training, not the getting knocked on my ass every day."

He nodded and walked away, like that's all there was to it. Eren didn't mind though, she was starving, though she couldn't keep a smile off her face. She was gonna show them all that she had more than enough of what it took to be a solider, especially with Annie's help. When she started to walk over to where Mikasa and Armin were still sitting, she already saw Mikasa's eyes on her. She took her seat next to Armin where her tray was waiting and avoided Mikasa; she already knew what he was gonna ask her about.

"Eren, hey," Armin said with a smile in between bites of her food. "How was training? I couldn't really see you."

She picked up her spoon and dipped it into the soup to spin around the contents; Eren didn't even want to know what was in it. "Good, it was real good. I feel like I'm finally getting somewhere, you know?" She spooned down a few bites. "How about you?"

Armin shrugged, her blonde hair brushing against her shoulders as she did. "Ah, well, it would help if they didn't put me up against Reiner. I could barely reach her, let alone knock her over."

"Don't worry about it," Mikasa spoke up, breaking some of his bread in his hands. "It's more or less exercise anyway, just to keep us in shape."

Eren felt a twinge of annoyance; easy for him to say, no one could even come close to him in training. "What's that supposed to mean?" That annoyance was easily replaced with guilt when she heard how harsh her voice came out.

Mikasa didn't seem bothered by it though, he just looked up at her with his dark eyes Eren knew all too well. "When is hand to hand combat gonna come in handy when we're fighting titans? By the way, what did Annie want?"

Eren could feel a smile tug at her lips. "Oh, he just wanted to ask if I wanted to keep training with him, that's all." She looked back down at her food, but she couldn't help but feel a little giddy. She finally had a chance to get better, to show Mikasa she wasn't the weakling who couldn't do anything for herself. Eren was not missing out on that.

"Did you say yes?" Armin asked before placing some bread in her mouth.

"Well, yeah, why wouldn't I?"

Armin glanced over at Mikasa before looking back down to her food.

"What?" Eren asked, trying to eat some of the soup on her tray.

Her tablemates were silent for a moment; Armin staring at her food and Mikasa pulling at his bread before he looked up at Eren. He looked indifferent on the subject but Eren saw it in his eyes, he was upset.

"Why didn't you ask me? I would've helped you."

Eren felt her jaw clench; she knew it was only a matter of time. "I didn't ask you because I can do it myself. I don't need your help okay."

"He's not even that great," Mikasa said, fingers twitching to the end of his scarf. "He's got good form and strength, yes, but there is more to it than just that. I can probably help you better than him, at least I know you and how you work."

"If you knew me, than you'd already know I can do just fine without your help. Thanks." She held her bowl up to her lips and drank down the rest of her soup before putting it back down on her tray, harder than she intended to. "I'm going to shower. I'll see you guys later." She didn't even wait for a goodbye from the either of them, she just left through the doors.

Eren knew she shouldn't have behaved that way, she knew she shouldn't have snapped at Mikasa like that and just got up and left but it was so irritating. Ever since they got here Mikasa could do nothing wrong; he was the star cadet at the top of the class, and Eren just barely got by most all the time. It wasn't fair, Mikasa didn't even want to be here, she did; this is what she wanted to do, what she needed to do.

She sighed as she stepped into her bunk; thankfully everyone still was at lunch. It wasn't Mikasa's fault she knew. Mikasa was always one step ahead but it never stopped him from taking care of Eren. She just wanted to look after him for once, for him to stop treating her like he owed her this great debt. That wasn't want she wanted.

She fell down on her bed, on arm falling over her eyes. She never wanted to hurt him, she'd never want to hurt him; she just wanted to do things on her own. Why couldn't Mikasa ever see that? Why couldn't he see she wanted to be strong enough to be his partner, not the person he had to save all the time whether because he feels like he has to or because he actually has to.

Eren groaned, rolling over so her face was in her pillow. Like always though, she managed to let her anger get the best of her and bit off his head for no reason. Eren didn't even know why he stuck around her at this point, but she knew when she was good enough, she'd make it up to him. She'd show him she was good enough to stand next to him.

For what seemed like the tenth time this minute, Eren was back down on the dusty ground with Annie looking over her. She groaned as she tried to sit back up; her body already felt like a titan knocked her down, not a boy who was the same height as her.

"You aren't doing very well today," Annie stated like Eren couldn't tell that for herself.

"I hadn't noticed," she said pushing herself back up to her feet but not without a glance behind her. Mikasa was fighting with Jean nearby like he had been for most all of training today. He was doing much better than the Jean of course, but that's not what bothered Eren. She hadn't talked to Mikasa since lunch the other day; she saw him at dinner but they didn't say anything despite Armin trying to get them to start a conversation. Eren was still angry and Mikasa was still upset; neither one much for talking it out.

Eren felt bad about how she treated him, but she was also too embarrassed to bring it back up so she had taken to being distracted watching Mikasa spare with Jean and that stupid smile on the two tone haired girl's face as they fought. Mikasa was all business like he normally was, his red scarf blowing lightly in the breeze every time he knocked Jean down. Well, at least it wasn't just Eren.

"I see there's something you noticed." Annie was still looking down on her, his hands across his chest.

She scowled but didn't say anything as she jumped back to her feet.

"Your rival?" Annie asked once Eren had taken her fighting pose again.

"No." She gritted her teeth. "My friend, my best friend along with Armin."

Annie arched his eyebrows as he reached out to lower Eren's arms some. "I didn't know friends glared at each other."

"It's a long story." Even if Eren wanted to say anything else, Annie didn't give her the chance; she was on her back again within moments.

"He looks over here a lot too, but unlike you, he doesn't end up on his back because of losing his focus."

"Yeah, that's because he's too good to do something stupid like losing focus," Eren grumbled mockingly rubbing her head as she hauled herself back up to her feet.

"No, it's because he probably knows what he's fighting for."

Eren wanted to ask what the hell he was going on about but the lunch bell cut through the yard causing everyone to head towards the mess hall, including Annie. Eren followed behind the crowd, not quite feeling as good as she was yesterday.

Mikasa and Armin were just sitting down at a table when Eren finally got in, Mikasa placing an extra tray down on the table for her. Eren hated the way she lashed out at him, not when he didn't deserve it. Annie's words kept playing in her ears. Mikasa knew what he was fighting for, what was Eren fighting for? To beat Mikasa? To beat the titans? To join the Scouting Legion? For her mom's memory? For Armin? For Mikasa?

"There you are, Eren," Armin said when Eren sat down next to her at the table.

Mikasa looked up but didn't say anything, that usual look on his face.

"How was training today?" Armin asked, taking a bite of her bread.

Eren heard her, but she was looking at Mikasa; she knew his face better than her own, his dark hair, pale skin, the deep red color of his scarf at his neck. They hadn't met till they were nine but at the same time Eren felt like Mikasa was always by her side. Eren didn't want it any other way, no matter how much better Mikasa was than her, no matter how much she had to climb to get to his level.

"I'll fight you when I can beat you, Mikasa," Eren said simply, her eyes locked on his. So it wasn't much of an apology, it wasn't much of anything really but it was all she had right now.

A small smile pulled at his lips, one not many people got to see. "Deal."

She turned back to Armin. "Awful, how was trying to take down Riener today?"

Armin groaned. "It was Ymir today. Why don't I ever get paired with Kris? At least he's my height."