As excited as Mikasa was to wake up next to Eren, this wish was not fulfilled today.

When she awoke, she felt around for him, realizing that he had already gotten up. Once her senses had properly come back, she could smell eggs cooking.

Imagining seeing him again in the light of day, made her extremely nervous for some reason. She quickly tried to find the cause of her anxiety and did some soul searching.

"It's not that I didnt enjoy last night." She thought to herself. In fact, she had enjoyed it very much! Maybe even too much? Was this nervousness that she didn't trust herself to not immediately grab him and try to pick up where they left off?

Yes and no. Last night was perfect. The setting and the time of day. She decided that if they were to pick things back up, she wanted it to be at night and in a bed. That way, she could feel perfectly safe. And she needed to feel safe, because yes, this was Eren. And she trusts him. But also, she has never been like this with anyone else, or even close! So she had to be perfectly comfortable. It was the perfectionist in her shining through.

Now that Mikasa was sure she knew how she felt, she went to join him.

Eren on the other hand had no idea Mikasa even cared to revisit the place they were in last night. As willing as he was to let her sleep, he couldn't imagine how any amount of exhaustion could have stopped him from wanting to continue being physical and he couldn't help but take it as a light rejection.

In turn, he planned on giving her space and not pushing it. Because maybe she had been uncomfortable last night but just not wanting to disappoint him?

"Morning." Mikasa said, rubbing her sleepy eyes, to announce her presence.

"Oh hey!" Eren grinned back. "How'd you sleep?"

"Good. How about you?" She asked in return, not feeling optimistic about what his answer would be.

"You're never going to believe this."

"What?" asked Mikasa suddenly very intrigued.

"That was the best nights rest I've had in years." He said looking into her eyes. "Seriously." He finished, casually turning back to the food he was preparing.

Mikasa couldn't help but feel flattered.

"I'm so glad to hear that. Is that for us?" She asked, pointing to the food.

"Yes. And I've just finished so dig in."

They ate the first few bites and Mikasa thanked Eren for the kind gesture.

"So I've been thinking." Eren said through mouthfuls of food. "I want to cut my hair. Would you be willing to do it for me? Like the old days?"

Mikasa had always cut Eren's hair for him growing up, so of course she would do it. While she liked his longer length hair, she couldn't deny that his current look was a little foreign to her.

"Yes of course." She replied with a smile.

When they were finished eating, they headed outside to their picnic table and Eren set down the razors and scissors, preparing for his hair cut. Mikasa told Eren to turn around so that she could have access to the back of his head.

"So what are you wanting to do with it? Back to the original Eren Yeager look?" She asked excitedly.

"Actually no." Eren said. "I've always wanted to try out Captain Levi's hair cut, and now that he's not around to know I copied him, I want to do it."

"HA!" Mikasa scoffed back. "Please no Eren. You really are such a Captain Levi fangirl and it's getting old."

"Hey!" He said turning around to look at her. "This is my hair you know? Not yours. Who said you could have an opinion on the matter?"

"Fine, fine." She chuckled. "Lets compromise shall we? I'll only do your hair if I can make it a less dramatic version of his style. Deal?"

"Fine…" Eren sighed, pretending to be sad, but in reality, he was just thrilled Mikasa cared so much about how he looked.

Time passed and silence fell over them because Mikasa was focused on getting this right.

Slowly, Eren started to get tense, as he felt how close their proximity was. He wanted to stop her in her tracks and kiss her senseless again…

"There!" Mikasa declared, right as Eren was about to lose his resolve. "All done. What do you think?" She asked, holding up a hand mirror.

"Oooo!" Eren said checking himself out in the mirror. "I really like it. Thank you." He said, staring into her eyes.

"You're welcome."

When the eye contact started getting awkward, and Eren wouldn't break it Mikasa started feeling like they were two magnets trying everything they could not to connect. But since she had decided she wanted to wait until the night time she spoke up with a heavy breath.

"…Well! I've been thinking, and yesterday's sparing match wasn't totally fair was it? With your intentions being to have me beat you half to death. So what if we had a rematch today? My pride can't have you thinking you can beat me." She said challengingly.

"Oh I'm so down!" Eren said standing up and heading for the house. "Meet me by the trees in 10 minutes and remember.." He said pausing at the door to look back at her. "You're the one who asked for it." And then he disappeared into the cabin.

"Yeah right. As if." Mikasa thought to herself.

They both changed into some workout outfits quickly and next thing, they were warming up by the tree again just like yesterday.

Except today, they made friendly conversation which was much more pleasant than yesterday's anger. Once they were both ready to go they stood up and assumed fighting position. They started circling one another.

"Okay so today, let's make it a goal not to break each others bones shall we?" Eren said with a smirk.

"Ha ha. Very funny." Mikasa replied. "You act as if you aren't fully healed now."

"Well yes, I can heal, but that isn't true for both of us now is it?"

"Did you just imply that you're even capable of getting me in a position to hurt me like that? I'd like to see you try." She egged on. Eyes narrowing and voice dropping.

"You're on." Eren whispered back before lunging at her and trying to strike her, which she easily dodged.

The first round went longer than Mikasa would have liked. She had planned to pin him down in under 30 seconds just to prove how wrong he was about being able to beat her. But to her dismay, she found she couldn't pin him until over 2 minutes had passed. But eventually she did get the better of him.

"Ha!" She declared, sitting on top of him, pinning his limbs to the ground. "Eat your words Eren."

"No way!" He shot back. "I'm just getting warmed up, you'll see. Best two out of three?"

"Okay fine. But when I beat you in all three rounds, you have to admit you were wrong." She replied, helping him off the ground.

They began circling each other once more, before Eren pounced at her first again. This round lasted at least 5 minutes long. They dodged, kicked, punched, weaved, and wrestled intensely the entire time, both waiting for the other to show a weakness.

Finally, Eren saw an opening and took it. Before she could react he was tackling her to the ground, and putting her in a body block she wouldn't be able to wriggle out of.

"Got you! I told you. I just had to warm up…" He said as she struggled against him. She tried her hardest to get out, but eventually she had to admit defeat. "That means we are 1 for 1. Whoever wins this one takes the title as the second strongest person on earth. After your best friend Captain Levi of course." He finished with a wink.

"Ugh!" Mikasa groaned. "You are so annoying today. Just shut up and let's do this." She said, bringing her fists up by her face again, genuinely frustrated that they were currently tied.

They began circling each other for the last time, but this time Mikasa was pissed and wanted to prove her point. She shot at him like bolt of lightning, which Eren, moving just as quickly, dodged.

This round was particularly difficult. They really were, very evenly matched when it came to hand to hand combat. Especially now that Eren had gotten so much practice as a titan.

At one point, it seemed like Mikasa was going to win as she had properly begun to pin Eren down, but he quickly wriggled out of her grip, and they continued at it for a while longer. Finally, Eren again saw an opening and took it.

"No!" He heard Mikasa yell.

And before he could get her in a proper pin, she had all but wriggled out. But Eren couldn't have that. His ego was on the line. Plus, after ALL these years, he wanted to beat Mikasa for once!

So before she could get away, he readjusted his grip and tackled her hard. He had probably been rougher than he had intended, but he knew she could take it. She fought back as hard as she could for a good thirty seconds before realizing nothing she did would result in her freedom. But that didn't stop her from continuing to try.

"Mikasa. Mikasa! Give up already!" Eren yelled. Trying to get her attention. "I won! Just accept it."

Mikasa was desperate to turn the tides now, too stubborn to admit Eren had finally grown into himself.

"What do I do?!" She thought to herself. Back on the ground, Eren towering over her, she wracked her brain for a solution. And then it hit her. Her right arm barley had enough room to pull it off…

She reached up to the top of her shirt and began pulling it down, down, down, revealing her cleavage. The lower she pulled her shirt, the more her boobs began to pop out.

Eren went from laughing victoriously to ghostly white in a second. His eyes widened with every inch Mikasa lowered her shirt. Right as she was about to expose too much of herself, she felt his grip loosen.

That was all it took for Mikasa to break her arms free and turn the tides. She flipped them around and pinned him down, holding him tight in a body lock.

"Damn it!" Eren yelled. "You freaking cheater!" He yelled at her before she got off of him laughing at her victory.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." She said in a voice of mock innocence. "Looks like you now have to admit I'm still stronger than you are."

"Like hell I'm admitting that! We both know that last round goes to me." He said getting to his feet. "But all the same." He said grabbing Mikasa's hips and pulling her against him, "There are worse ways to lose…"

She stared up at him blushing now. Had she bitten off more than she could chew? No. But despite how bad she wanted to give in, she squirmed out of his grip and started fanning herself off.

"It's hot today isn't it? We should go swim at the lake. Don't you think?" She asked awkwardly backing away.

"Sure." Eren replied. "Sounds like fun."

"Great." Said Mikasa backing away towards the cabin. "Then I'm gonna go get ready and then let's head out." She all but ran back to the cabin, shutting her door behind her.

She leaned against it, looking out her window dreamily, and sliding down the door to sit on the floor. The chemistry between them was going to kill her, she found herself wondering if waiting until the night was even going to be an option at this rate?

"Mikasa?" She heard her name being called right above her as Eren talked through the door. "I'm going to make us a little picnic. Do you want me to make you a sandwich?"

"Oh.." Mikasa scrambled trying to sound like she wasn't right next to the door. Once standing she said. "Yes please! Thank you!"

Eren heard everything and was pretty sure he knew exactly what had happened. "She is so cute." He thought to himself. Oh how he wanted to throw open the door and go rip her clothes off right now... but he really was trying to let her set the pace.

And if she wanted to go swimming, then they were going to go swimming, and Eren was going to do everything he could to keep his hands off of her…

"This will be a challenge." He thought to himself.

—

Once they were both changed into their swimsuits, and their picnic was all packed, they began the hike up to the lake. The walk wasn't too far, but it did have a gradual incline. Most couples would have broken a real sweat climbing up there, but not Eren and Mikasa. They had done much worse.

When they got to the top of the hill, the view that met them was pristine. The water was so blue it looked fake, and directly behind it was another huge mountain. Though it was summertime and swelteringly hot, the very tip of the mountain behind the lake had some snow on the caps of it. The trees surrounding the lake were vibrantly green, and when they turned around, they could see the most amazing view of the whole valley with the tiny little village nuzzled at the foothill.

"Now this.." Eren began awe struck. "This is exactly what I pictured when I pictured the outside world…. This is everything…"

"Yeah…" Mikasa agreed, still too dumb founded herself to do anything other than gape at the view. "This is freedom."

"You get it. You get me." Eren replied with a chuckle.

After they stared for a few minutes longer, they decided to go down a bit to where the beach met the water and laid out their towels and picnic blanket. The day was so hot, and though he was just fine after their small hike, Eren found he still wanted to cool down. So he took off his shirt.

Mikasa had seen Eren without his shirt many, many times. Yet in none of those instances had she seen him the way she saw him right now. She always knew he had a great physique, but now that they had opened the 'touching each other' door, she couldn't help but stare even more awe struck at his body than she had at the view.

Eren continued doing a few things to set up for the day before he noticed something had changed in Mikasa's energy. He hadn't realized what it was though, so he looked over his shoulder and asked genuinely.

"You okay Mikasa?"

Forcing herself to come back to reality, Mikasa quickly shook her head, pulling her eyes off of his body and looking into his eyes.

"Yes!" She said, flustered. "Just lost in thought is all." And she turned away, pretending to fix something on her sun dress.

"Was she just checking me out?" Eren thought to himself. He had always known he was good looking, but he never really cared if anyone else thought he was. Until right now. The thought of Mikasa finding him attractive, made his chest swell with pride.

"Come on over!" He yelled to her after a while had passed. "Let's eat our sandwiches."

"Sounds good!" Mikasa called back. She had gone down to the water to watch some small fish swimming in the shallow. She came back and sat down on her towel and they began to eat.

"Isn't it funny to think about all the comments we got growing up about us being a couple?" Eren asked. "And how emphatically we always responded that we were 'just friends' or 'just like family'? If only those people could see us now huh?"

It was true that the pair had been teased for how much time they spent around each other all their lives, but Mikasa never thought Eren really paid attention to that the way she had.

"I know." Mikasa responded. "I sometimes miss everyone we left behind, but then I think about how relentless the teasing would be, and it makes me never want to see any of them again." They looked at each other and laughed a little bit.

Because the last statement was obviously not true. But it was true that they would never have known a moment of peace, had they become a couple without running away together. Eren took another bite of food.

"The very worst would be Hange. She would make it her mission to make our lives a living hell." Eren said. "Then Connie and Sasha. They would have a hay day humiliating us. Jean would be bitter because he's always wanted you. And Armin would just be thrilled for the two of us."

Mikasa was caught on something particular that he had said.

"Hold on. Back up. Jean wants… me?!" Mikasa asked, completely stunned.

Eren looked at her with a bit of shock on his face before laughing uncontrollably.

"Stop it!" Mikasa said, pushing him a bit. "Stop! Maybe I heard you wrong but that's what I thought you said."

"Oh no!" Eren said wiping tears from his eyes. "You didn't hear me wrong. You're just so dense it's cute." He said still catching his breath. "Yes Mikasa. Jean has always loved you."

"Okay." Said Mikasa, getting defensive at being called dense. "And how do you know that huh? Because to me it's not that obvious." "Did he also just call me cute?" She thought to herself.

"Oh trust me, I just know."

"You just know? That's not a real answer Eren, and if you ask me that means its more than likely untrue."

"I can assure you that it's true Mikasa."

"Okay give me examples or else I'm not buying it."

"Fine." Eren replied turning his body to face her, getting ready to debate the topic. "Let's start with the fact that he is always asking about you and staring at you. I notice it every time and he tries to play it off. And Connie and Sasha are always teasing him about you which means they know something too." But he got cut off by Mikasa.

"Oh come on Eren. Everyone teases everyone about dumb stuff like that in the regiment."

"Okay fine!" Eren said raising his voice. "How about the fact that he and I never got along huh? Why do you think that is? Sure, it started with the fact that he's a horse face loud mouth, but shortly after we both realized we loved the same girl and that's why it never really died down. I mean come on! Remember when he first met you and complimented your long hair? Well I like you no matter what your hair looks like so of course I encouraged you to cut it off. Anything to get him to stop ogling at you…"

This seemed like something Eren was relatively worked up about, but Mikasa couldn't figure out why for the life of her.

"Okay…" She said quietly. "Okay I believe you. But Eren… why are you getting so worked up about this? It's not like he and I are ever going to actually be a thing. I choose you."

Suddenly she felt her face fall as a thought hit her.

"Right?" She now asked Eren. "Eren there isn't something you're keeping from me is there? Something you left out from the other memories?"

Eren was silent for a second, clearly thinking about how to respond.

"Nope. Nothing at all. I just…" He broke off getting upset. "Sometimes I realize that no matter the universe, I'm going to die young. And the thought of you not having a family, or someone to love you breaks me. But the thought of that person not being me?…." He paused not wanting to make it so she felt like she could never move on once he died, without betraying him. "It's hard." Is all he dared to say.

This was obviously something that had crossed Mikasa's mind before in passing, but hearing him say it made it so much more real.. and painful. She also felt confident that there was something Eren was leaving out and that he had lied to her, but she was weirdly okay with that. Because the truth was that, no matter what she did, he would die someday. And although right now, she couldn't even imagine moving on with someone else, she couldn't promise she would feel that way 10-20 years down the road.

"I know…" She responded. "It's hard for me to think about too." She said sadly. "So let's not think about it! Let's get up and go get in the water and have fun in our little world we've created while we still can. Okay?" She asked optimistically. Standing up and reaching her hand out to help him up.

"Okay." Eren said with a small smile. He took Mikasa's hand and stood up.

"One sec." Mikasa said releasing his hand. "I need to take my dress off." Mikasa timidly began taking off her sun dress, painfully aware of Eren eyeing her with interest.

Eren swallowed hard and felt his stomach drop. This would be the first time in a long time he had seen this much of Mikasa's body, and the first time seeing this much of her after allowing himself to imagine her sexually. Slowly the dress lifted up her thighs, revealing her large, muscular, feminine, and extremely attractive thighs. It lifted up over her butt and then slowly over the rest of her. Eren was mesmerized but tried to play it off by looking off at the pretty view again. She was wearing a black one piece swimsuit. It wasn't anything crazy, but Eren thought the body wearing it was.

"Okay lets go." She said walking up to him and grabbing his hand again.

They walked to the water and got in up to their knees before Mikasa suddenly stopped and let go of Eren's hand.

"Holy shit!" She yelled. "That's way too cold!"

"Oh stop being such a baby!" Eren yelled back continuing on. "It feels amazing." He said, diving head first into the water, fully submerging himself. He came back out of the water and shook his hair off a bit before wiping the remaining hairs out of his face. Looking extremely good while doing it. "See? I'm just fine. Come on you can do it."

"Nope. No way am I getting fully wet."

Eren got a mischievous look in his eye and started walking towards her.

"Well unfortunately you don't have a choice."

And then he started playfully chasing Mikasa all around in the water, her laughing and screaming as she tried to get away from him. When he finally caught her, he grabbed and threw her over his shoulder. She continued playfully kicking and screaming. Because of course she could easily have gotten out of this if she had really wanted to.

"Eren! No please!" She begged through her screams.

"No way!" He replied. "This is your punishment for nearly killing me yesterday."

He dove back into the water, but this time keeping Mikasa over his shoulder, completely submerging both of them.

The cold of the water, temporarily knocked the wind out of Mikasa. She held her breath until Eren brought them both back up, placing her on her feet but keeping her body close, arms wrapped around her waist.

"You jerk!" She yelled at him, though a smile lined her face.

"Hey you deserve it and you know it!"

Eren realized he was still holding her close and swiftly released her.

They spent the next hour simply being young adults, having fun for once. They had swimming races, jumped off of rocks into the water, and had breath holding competitions. It was truly a day to remember. Once they were content with the amount of time spent in the water, they decided to go back to shore and lay out in the hot sun to dry off.

"Be careful not to get a sunburn Mikasa. Your skin is so fair I'm afraid it'll happen quickly."

"You act as if I haven't spent most of my life outdoors on our missions. I'll be okay."

They laid out in the sun for a while and even started drifting off at some points. Eren couldn't help but steal glances at Mikasa's body. They were mostly dry now and good thing too, because the sun was starting to set and it was about to get colder.

"What if I just crawled on top of her right now?" Eren thought to himself. "Would she really push me off? Probably not, and then I could finally do what I've been dying to do with her… NO!" He shook his head back to reality and reprimanded himself for thinking such an impure thought. This was Mikasa after all! He really did want her to be as comfortable as possible. And though she might reciprocate his feelings, the thought of her just going along with it because she was trying to make him happy made him sick to his stomach. He was going to have to put his selfish, carnal desires aside and put her first. And putting her first meant he was going to keep being chaste with her.

"Well should we head back?" Mikasa asked, breaking Eren out of his thoughts.

"Yeah sure."

They packed up all their belongings and by the time they were finished, the sun had begun to dip beyond the horizon.

"Eren! Come look at this sunset!" Mikasa exclaimed.

Eren ran to the top of the little hill by the lake to look down at the valley. It was the most majestic view he had ever seen.

"Wow…"

"Yeah." She replied. "I never even knew something so beautiful could exist."

Eren turned his focus from the sunset to Mikasa. She turned and met his gaze.

"I did." He said with a smirk.

She blushed but flirted back. "You're so cheesy."

He grabbed her waist and pulled her in and kissed her slowly. This kiss was more like their first kiss. Slow, sweet, and chaste. Too quickly, in Mikasa's opinion, he pulled back and looked at her.

"Let's get back home." He said grabbing her hand.

They ran the whole way home as the sky entered a baby blue state that it always does right after the sun fully sinks below the horizon. It was a beautiful feeling to run through the woods like this. It felt a little bit like the night they ran away together.

When they got home, Eren offered to make Mikasa a hot bath to get clean in which she eagerly accepted. He boiled some water and got the temperature just right for her. She thanked him and took her time bathing herself. Once she was finished, it was Eren's turn to clean off.

While Eren bathed, Mikasa was in her room freaking out. It was night time and they were about to share a bed. She could finally let go of all of her reservations and give in to her desires.

Eren exited the bathroom and changed into his t-shirt and sweats that he liked to sleep in. He walked into her room and saw she was already in bed.

"Thanks for such a fun day Mikasa. I truly don't know if I've ever had such a good time."

"Yeah me too. It was such a blast."

"Well… goodnight." He said, and he went to close her door.

"Wait!" Mikasa called after him, feeling her stomach drop. "You're sleeping in your own bed tonight?"

"I don't see why not. My bed is dry now after all."

But the truth was that the thought of spending another night with Mikasa and not being able to touch her, would be too much. To save himself from misery, he was going to remove himself from the situation.

"Oh… Okay…"

"Goodnight Mikasa." Eren said again.

"Goodnight." She replied, extremely disappointed.

When about 30 minutes had passed and Mikasa was still tossing and turning due to the built up sexual tension having no where to go, she decided to act before thinking and got out of bed. She practically ran into Eren's room and threw the door open.

Eren panicked at the sudden noise and jumped out of bed.

"Mikasa!" He exclaimed. "You scared me. What's wrong?"

Mikasa hadn't thought this far ahead and had no idea what to reply. So instead of using her words, she walked into his personal space and laced her hands together behind his neck, bending him down to meet his lips with her own.