Eren had never recalled seeing Mikasa smiling so much as she did while lying in his arms, holding one another in his bed.
They hadn't actually gone that far. That was too much, too soon for both of them. But it had been enough; the kissing, the passionate capturing of one another's lips, hands wandering as they held each other.
"What happens now?" Mikasa asked softly, eyes closed and nuzzling her head against Eren's collarbone.
"No idea," Eren admitted with some amusement. They were both socially inept in their own ways. What did couples even do really?
"More of this is fine," Mikasa murmured contently. "How long?"
"At least a few more hours, I guess, if we want," Eren answered with a shrug, glancing at the window to guess the time.
"No. I meant how long have you felt like this?" Mikasa asked softly.
"Longer than I knew," Eren answered, pulling her closer. "This sounds creepy in my head, but you smell really nice."
Mikasa blushed. "Thank you. And that's not creepy at all."
"Well of course not it isn't to you. You've been sniffing my scarf for years now," Eren teased, getting a jab in the stomach for his efforts. "Hey, hey, watch where you throw those," Eren said with a pained smile.
"I am watching," Mikasa retorted bluntly.
Eren sighed happily, running a hand through her hair. "If they don't find a way around this, I want to make some happy memories with the time we have left."
Mikasa fell silent. "And if they do...?" she questioned nervously.
"Then I guess we'll make a lot of happy memories," Eren retorted softly.
Mikasa smiled. "Sweet, but horribly corny."
"Gee, thanks," he retorted with a fond eye roll. "Now go on, get out of here."
"You're kicking me out of the bed? Isn't that the girl's job?" Mikasa asked with a raised eyebrow.
"You kick me, and I'm healing broken bones," Eren retorted. "And yes, I am. Because I just remembered something important: you didn't eat anything before we left."
"Aren't I normally the one fussing over you?" Mikasa countered with a frown...no, not a frown.
"Are you pouting?" Eren asked with half a smirk.
"No," Mikasa denied as she sat up. "What about you?"
"I will eat whenever I'm sure that headache doesn't come back," Eren assured idly, flopping back onto the pillow.
"Make sure you do," she said, smiling as she leaned over to give him a kiss, making them both blush a bit.
Eren watched her leaving fondly but frowned as she opened the door and stopped, seemingly frozen. "What is it?" he asked as he got to his feet as well and came to the door, peeking out to see what had stalled Mikasa. "Oh, what the hell guys?" Eren asked with a deadpan expression, eyeing his friends who were standing in the hallway with gobsmacked looks on their faces.
Except for Armin, he looked disturbingly pleased and proud, eyes sparking in a way that made the small boy seem terrifying in some way.
"Okay, you all are liars," Floch said, glaring at the rest accusingly.
"We didn't know!" Sasha swore defensively.
"Shut it, not the time!" Jean said through gritted teeth. "Headache my ass you bastard! What did you do to Mikasa!?"
Eren gave him a very blank expression, debating the many things he could answer that with before looking back at Mikasa who was annoyed and just slightly blushing, and..."I did that," Eren answered, jabbing a thumb into Mikasa's face. Or, more exactly, the hickey mark just above her scarf.
Jean looked like he died a little bit inside.
Connie meanwhile, just gave Eren a thumbs up. "Great job man! About time you made a move!" Connie said with a chuckle. "So, did she let you finish in-"
Sasha sighed, putting him in a headlock to cut him off. "Well, I'm sure we ruined something sweet. Come on, let's go," she said, heading off with the others following her as she dragged Connie away. All except Armin.
"Did you have to point out the hickey?" Mikasa asked to Eren.
"In his defense, you'd have a hard time hiding some of those, even with the scarf," Armin said with a teasing tone.
Mikasa blushed, rubbing her neck and chin while Eren looked to the side. "We didn't even go too far, we just kissed. A lot," Eren said in embarrassment. "What were you guys even doing here?"
"Mikasa had been gone a while, so we thought something happened to you," Armin answered with a shrug. "So, when's the wedding?"
Mikasa flushed harder as Eren groaned. "Really, Armin?"
"I have been waiting for this day practically since I met you two!" Armin said with a smile of false innocence. "And believe me, I have plenty of teasing saved up for this."
"Keep it up. I'll be sure to tell any girl you date about how you dressed up as the queen," Eren shot back.
Armin's smile turned awkward at that before silence came over the three.
And they proceeded to start laughing, clutching their stomachs from full belly laughter shaking their bodies.
It was a welcome change, a relief even, to just feel like three friends messing with one another instead of soldiers in arms.
"Well, there was another reason we were looking for you two," Armin said once that was out of their systems. "We received word that we'll be heading to the capital tomorrow."
"The capital?" Eren repeated in surprise.
"Why?" Mikasa asked with a small frown.
"Because there is going to be a meeting with all the important members of the government, and the...remainder of the Scouts. It's about what we learned in the journals," Armin explained with a frown. "So, in all seriousness, if you're going to do...anything, either do it now or wait until afterward."
To their credit, they didn't blush this time, just nodded. "Thanks for the warning," Eren said, pausing briefly. "Armin? Are you okay?"
"Huh?" Armin said in surprise.
"I've been so wrapped up in...everything that happened, so tired while trying to process what I read and remembered. I haven't had the chance to ask how you're holding up with what happened," Eren explained with a concerned look.
"You mean, about eating Bertholdt? His memories? Almost dying?" Armin asked, sighing as he ran a hand through his head. "To be honest, I don't remember...what happened to me. It's a faint blur really."
"That might be for the best," Mikasa said softly, having heard from Eren the state Armin had been in, charred from head to toe, alive only by some miracle.
"The fact that I...became a Titan and ATE Bertholdt? That, well, yeah. That one gets to me," Armin said, paling a bit. "But the memories haven't shown up yet. Not like yours have."
"I'm pretty sure the journals triggered mine, reading them anyway. That or it's because I was the son of the last Attack Titan," Eren stated thoughtfully. "Or maybe it's just because I'm finally using my Titan after not knowing about them for years."
"Maybe," Armin said evasively. "So...I'll just leave you two to it."
Eren sighed once Armin left. "Well, that happened."
"You were the one who kicked me out of bed," Mikasa reminded with a small smirk.
"Yeah, yeah," Eren accepted with a sigh, blinking as Mikasa wrapped her arms around him.
"And I've lost my appetite," Mikasa said in his ear, pulling him back into the room by his shirt.
For once, Eren didn't protest.
Timeskip
The minute Historia saw them all, her heart grew heavy. There were so few. Even with all her closest friends in the Scouts surviving, that didn't lessen the blow of seeing such causalities. Almost all the Scouts, save these brave handfuls. So many had been snuffed out, and in their darkest moment, she had to wait in safety as queen instead of helping them as another soldier.
But even with the tragedy their victory had cost, there was some merit for celebration. They had survived and won, Wall Maria was taken back after all these years.
Yet on a more personal level, she was happy for her friends…particularly two of them.
"Congratulations, Mikasa, Eren," she said without prompt.
"Huh? What for?" Eren asked in confusion.
Historia just gave them an amused look.
"She knows," Mikasa said with a frown, rubbing her neck and chin. "Is there another one?"
Historia giggled. "Don't worry, Mikasa. I can just tell," she assured, smiling warmly.
"Are we...that obvious?" Eren asked, a bit concerned.
"It's nothing to worry about," Historia assured before her eyes softened. "I read the report of what happened. As Queen, I feel like I must personally thank you, Eren."
"Don't let his head get too big," Jean muttered.
"Me? If anyone, it's Armin and Floch you should be thanking," Eren deflected.
"Yes, but if you hadn't had that idea, even Hange wouldn't have thought to use a smaller dose. Thanks to that, we have the Colossal and the Armored Titans," Historia pointed out. "Though, I can't say how grateful everyone within the walls is to all the Scouts. Especially those that couldn't return home."
There was a moment of silence there.
"But yeah, we get it," Connie said with a grin. "Eren gets extra credit for actually having an Armin-moment."
"I'm sorry, when did I become an adjective?" Armin asked in bewilderment.
"Trost," Jean, Sasha, and Connie all answered.
"Definitely Trost," Sasha added with a sage nod.
"Still, it's a bit hard to believe. I had a chance to skim the journals, but still," Historia said with a scowl. "Just when I think I hit the bottom of the horrible things my family is responsible for, I find there is another layer. It makes me wonder if I even should be queen."
"Hey," Eren said with a scowl "If you were Mikasa, I would head-butt you right now."
"He would, he has," Mikasa agreed without pause. The others were torn between being impressed and shocked at the admission.
"You're not your family. None of us are our ancestors. You choose to stand against your father and everything that Coward King stood for. We all choose to put our life on the line, for a future we might not get to see," Eren said as he placed a hand on her shoulder-
There was a jolt that ran through Eren's entire body, catching everyone's attention.
"Eren? You okay?" Sasha called out with a head tilt. "Cause you're going to make Mikasa jealous."
He didn't move.
"Hey, Yeager, what's up with you?" Jean called, a wary edge to his tone.
"Eren?" Mikasa spoke, glancing at Historia, who was looking at Eren's face in confusion.
He wasn't looking at her. He was staring intently at something...above her? Behind her? But when she glanced, there was nothing there. "Eren, what is it?"
Eren slowly removed his hand, bringing it to his face to pinch the bridge between his eyes. "I'll be back. I need to talk to Erwin."
Without another word of explanation, he turned and left.
"Wait, Eren, wha-" Mikasa started, but he didn't stop.
It hurt more than normal, him ignoring her, and it showed.
"Mikasa? Don't...take that personally," Historia said with a perturbed look on her face. "Eren looked very...determined about something."
"Think it's going more to do with the Titan-memory stuff?" Connie suggested.
"It might be," Mikasa admitted, less hurt and more worried now. "Eren did get rather...lost when recalling Mr. Yeager's memories the first time. But what could make him react like that and not tell us?"
"I'm sure we'll get an answer out of him soon," Jean assured, despite his curious scowl.
Just what was that suicidal idiot up to now?
End of Chapter
Well, the Vanguard Variable is now in full swing. Eren and Mikasa are a full item now, Floch is getting closer to the others, and something big just happened. Hope you all enjoyed this.