Chapter Text
Jean let out a boisterous laugh as though the mere thought was amusing. Eren couldn’t help but feel slightly offended at that. Mikasa was undeniably beautiful, that was a fact, in fact Eren was astounded when he saw her again to see the way she’d matured, but for them to laugh at the thought of him attaining Mikasa was insulting.
“What’s so funny?” Eren asked, progressively becoming angrier.
“The fact that you’re fucking lying.” Jean countered, Eren watched as he aggressively breathed through his nose, what had him so pissed? “Mikasa was overhead at school talking to her brother about babysitting at the Jaegers and he was pissed because he didn’t want her around you, so I know you’re lying.”
“He’s not lying, Sasha was there and she told me the same.” Connie added, giving Jean’s story a sense of credibility.
“Shut the fuck up.” Eren seethed. He couldn’t understand why Jean was vying so hard against him, he knows he most likely should have stopped earlier and just explained that his comment was a joke but Jean’s reaction kept feuling something in him. Plus it’s not like it was hurting anyone and it would provide an explanation on why Mikasa would be around his house often which wouldn’t leave him socially reclusive, also he doesn’t mind her company so the thought of it wasn’t so repulsive.
“Use some logic, why would she tell her brother.” He made a pointed gesture using his hand, emphasising the word brother. “That she’s coming to my house to chill or something when he hates my fucking guts, and that’s without being her boyfriend. Do you think he’d let her come?”
Jean parted his mouth to speak but the words died on his tongue, he was absolutely convinced he was right but the logic of Eren’s explanation also made sense. Even with that knowledge though some aspects still didn’t make sense, he still remained skeptical on the whole ordeal.
“Exactly.”
Connie put his hands up in a manner that almost mimicked defensiveness, “aye, all I’m sayin’ is lucky bastard, but if you’re lying…” he sucked in a breath of air through his teeth, “can’t lie it’s peak for you.”
“Bet you 100 that you’re lying.” Jean challenged. He was left utterly perplexed, conflicted between a state of two minds. One half of him (the lesser half) believed that there might be a slight minuscule very miniature fraction that perhaps Eren may have potentially been saying a semblence of truth; they were childhood best friends after all so perhaps they could have reconciled. Yet the other part of him desperately held on to the idea that it was false as something else lingered behind that desperation.
Like the fool he was, Eren charged in head first, confidently announcing “you’re on” before brashly hitting the key to end the video call.
Only then did clarity sink in, hitting him full force. He should have felt somewhat embarrassed, and he did, although layered beneath that embarrassment hid a sense of anticipation, not in seeing if Mikasa would agree; he was dreading that, but in seeing how the whole ordeal he more or less created would play out.
“And you’ll never guess who was caught making out at the party, which I can’t believe you didn’t come to by the way.”
Mikasa twirled a forkful of pasta answering a semi-interested “who” just before she placed it in her mouth.
“Pieck and Porco, which I totally called, I mean it was obvious he had a thing for her I’m just surprised it didn’t happen sooner y’know?” Sasha paused her vivid recount of details to eye Mikasa’s pasta, the more she started the more she started craving it.
“Hey ksa can I come over, if I don’t get some of that I think I’m gonna pass out you know how I love your cooking?” At this point she was almost salivating, she had even attempted to reach through the phone to grab a bite but was brought back to reality as soon as her finger touched the screen.
“You can’t,” Mikasa raised a brow in amusement, “I’m not at home remember.”
Sasha wailed as though she had just been told the most tragic news (which in her defence she was) and face planted down on her desk. “Oh shit yeah, where are you again?” She asked although it was muffled a little by her face on the desk.
Mikasa hesitated in answering, she didn’t want to put Eren in a situation where he’d be left embarrassed (because although she hadn’t mentioned it even she had felt second hand embarrassment finding out he was the one who was being babysat) but in the end she needn’t say anything as the sound of Eren’s footsteps caused her to hurriedly end the call with an abrupt “bye sasha, speak later.”
Even though she hadn’t done anything wrong Mikasa felt like her thoughts insinuated otherwise (regardless of the fact Eren would likely agree with her) so she quickly flitted her her gaze downwards to the wooden panelling of the floor. If she had looked up, she would have found Eren unknowingly mirroring her actions although for a much more valid reason, as unlike Mikasa he in fact had done something wrong.
Eren once more broke the awkward silence asking “you alright?”
To which Mikasa responded “yeah.” but neither of the teens made an attempt to continue the conversation after that brieft exchange.
Yet this time it was involuntary, as Mikasa thought over how to break the awkwardness with her former best friend while Eren thought how to casually broach the topic of asking his former best friend to be his fake girlfriend.
He just decided to go for it, “so you got a boyfriend?”
Mikasa stilled at the impromptu question, her face flushed red as all coherent thoughts left her head. She hadn’t really been expecting to cover such a topic today, much less with Eren of all people, more so sasha. She used to have a minor crush on Eren but she got over that when they entered highscool, she thinks… Okay maybe she hadn’t but that wasn’t entirely her fault she’s seen glimpses of Eren around school as he developed and he matured very very well. Besides she wasn’t the only one who liked him, practically all the girls did, he was just a crush that lingered, no biggie.
“No.” She answered curtly.
Eren wanted to let out a sigh of relief but he held himself back, “right.” He walked over to where Mikasa sat and took the chair opposite, “this is gonna sound completely crazy but I’m just gonna say it anyway, do you want to be my girlfriend?” He maintained eye-contact with her silvery greys.
The red hue of her cheeks deepened, “w-what-!”
“Fake, of course.” He added seeing her alarm.
“Oh. Why?”
Eren’s cheeks developed the faintest shade of pink as he recalled his previous behaviour, “just ‘cause the boys were asking what you were doing at my house and I didn’t really want to say babysitting, so I sorta let it slip you were my girlfriend.” A half truth.
Mikasa thought it made sense, she had thought the same initially, but she didn’t know if the whole idea was that appealing to her, even if it was Eren asking.
She played with the silver rings adorned on her fingers, “I don’t know Eren, it seems a bit-”
“Please Miks?” Without even thinking Eren grabbed her hands. He doesn’t know why he did it, perhaps to plead with her or convey his sincerity but while holding them he couldn’t help but notice how soft her hands were. His eyes were drawn to her nails too, they were cute painted black with smiley faces and angry skull faces. “I promise it won’t be weird or anything, you get me? Like we’ll create rules and shit so you’re comfortable.”
Mikasa faltered at that, Eren had always been persuasive, after all he was the boy who managed to convince her to climb their tree which resulted in her breaking her arm when they were six. She smiled fondly recalling how Eren would pull her pigtails if she would hesitate slightly when he was talking her into his wild plans, he even called her miks like old times.
Maybe she was deluded or bored or blindsided in her affection, so she replied “what type of rules and how long for?”
Eren’s eyes lit up. He knew she hadn’t agreed yet but it was a step in the right direction since she was at least willing to hear him out. “Oh, um?” He hadn’t thought this out very well, “like 3 to 4 months and like obviously if you agree we’ll discuss the rules further.”
Mikasa nodded, clearly thinking on what he was saying. “I guess it could provide an explanation.” She shrugged, finally settling on agreeing with Eren’s plan, “but it is kinda a weird ask you know.”
“Believe you me, I know.” Eren shook his head and ran a hand through his medium locks. He was an idiot but at least he had an excuse now, besides he one upped Jean too so that was a bonus. “But it’ll be fun to hang again Miks, huh?” He bared a grin showcasing his pearly whites.
Mikasa stifled a laugh, “yeah sure I guess but we are in the same high school you know so we could’ve hung out whenever.”
“I know but you know me, I’m oblivious. As soon as you moved out of the neighbourhood I’d thought you were gone forever,” he admitted, “could’ve saved all those visits back to your house had I known.”
Mikasa couldn’t hide her smile, “that’s true, I’ve moved back into the neighbourhood too by the way, dad bought a new house.”
Eren’s grin deepened, “sweet, can’t wait to come over. I haven’t seen mr Ackerman in years.”
“You’re more than welcome I’m sure my dad will be happy to see you too and-” she was going to add and Levi too however that would’ve been a lie and they both would’ve known it, Levi was very expressive when it came to his feelings on Eren.
“Yeah, I mean we need to keep up appearances,” Eren told her steering the conversation back to the initial topic, “but we’ll hang for sure.”
“Speaking of appearances, how are we going to go about this in public, like you said there definitely need to be some rules.”
Eren ran his tongue through his cheek. “well obviously this has to stay between us, you can’t tell anyone.”
“No one?” Mikasa clarified, she had wanted to tell Sasha at least.
“No one, oh and if we have any issues with each other we tell the other immediately and probably the most important thing is we go to most socials together.”
“Okay.”
“Anything you wanna add?” He probed.
Mikasa pondered on his sentence for a moment, drumming her long black nails on the table. “No, but about socials just keep in mind my dad wants me home by 1am.”
“Cool, so you wanna come with me to a party tomorrow?” He proposed cheekily.
“Sure, I don’t go to many parties though so we’re gonna have to stick together.” She told him playfully.
“I know, I would’ve noticed you if you had.” He unconsciously gave her a once over, then grinned fully this time baring his slightly sharpened canines.
Mikasa crossed her arms and raised a poised eyebrow as if to say “oh really?”
Eren chuckled, “trust me, you have no idea.” I’m fact saying he looked closer at her face into those beautiful ashen eyes annunciated by her long black lashes, he thought that if she were there he probably would’ve perused her, her beauty was not one to be questioned.
“Oh shit.” Eren cursed brining his head down to his hand, suddenly he’d remembered something.
Mikasa jumped alert at his sudden outburst, “what?”
Eren didn’t answer for a while, continuing to murmur under his breath. It was clear to anyone that he was deep in his head thinking on this sudden realisation.
Just as Mikasa was going to ask about what was wrong again, Eren’s head shot up. “Look Miks, since we’re a couple,” he put the couple in air quotation marks using his fingers, “we’re gonna have to do couple stuff right?”
“Right?” Mikasa answered tentatively, she thought that was obvious?
“But we haven’t been around each other in ages, let alone being a couple.” He looked at her to see if she was understanding what he was insinuating but she was seemingly oblivious as she nodded along waiting for him to finish, the expression on her face told him she had no clue.
He sighed, “so y’know in order to convince everyone else that you’re not a babysitter and you’re my actual girlfriend means we’re gonna have to practice so we get comfortable with each other.”
Mikasa continued nodding the suddenly stopped once she process what he was saying.
Oh.
“Right.” She answered confidently, although her palms were slightly sweaty. The thought of doing romantic things with Eren made her feel an abundance of mixed emotions, of course she felt a tad excited at the prospect yet she also felt nervous, what if she were bad? She hadn’t had a boyfriend before, only crushes so she was quite inexperienced while she knew Eren wasn’t so what if that altered the perception of how they’re viewed as a couple and the whole school saw them a laughing stock and-
“Hey.” Mikasa turned to the sound of his voice. Oh, he was sitting beside her now? She hadn’t even noticed she must’ve gotten too wrapped up in her own head. “Don’t stress it, it’s not a big deal okay? We’ll only do things you’re comfortable with and if you decide you’re not comfortable we won’t do it.” He rubbed her back soothingly, careful to maintain some distance.
“Sorry.” Mikasa blurted out. She hated her tendency to overthink.
“Don’t apologise, it’s all good.” He grabbed her lithe wrist gently, “come.” She looked up at him questioningly, “let’s go to the couch it will be more comfortable.”
Mikasa let him drag her to the large plush couch and took the seat beside him. Her stomach was a flurry with butterflies.
“We can start with something simple yeah? Why don’t you just hold my hand?” He extended out a hand expectantly waiting for her to take it.
She lightly grabbed it and he interlaced their fingers. He really loved the softness of her hands, they were so small too, it was cute.
“Hey mika?”
“Yeah?”
“Will you paint my nails like yours?” He rotated their interlaced hands so her nails were facing upwards, he doesn’t know why but he was really drawn to them (maybe he just thought the skulls were cool).
She propped her legs on the couch and turned to face him, “sure. I have my brushes in my bag, I’ll do it for you a bit later.”
“Cool.” He let go of her hand, “you wanna try something else? Like a hug?” He asked.
“That’s fine.”
He rose to his full height first and offered her his hand, pulling her up. When she had last seen Eren they’d been the same height, around 5’2 or so, but now he’d shot up. She looked him up and down, guessing that he might be around 6’1, it was so strange to her that he was now taller than her. She herself was on the taller side of women but even then there was a considerable difference between them, she’d never had to look up to meet Eren’s intense gaze, it made her feel blushy.
He caught her off guard as he wrapped his arms around her waist. Instinctively, she placed her arms around his neck, tiptoeing in order to properly hug him. She could feel every inch of him from his hands heavy on her waist to his toned chest, gained from his hours of football. Likewise, he could feel her soft outline too as her full chest pressed against his own, warmth radiated off of her.
She pushed him away, smiling. “What next?”
He rested his body weight on the arm of the chair, “mmm, depends on what you’re comfortable with.”
She picked up his hands, holding them in her own, “strangely, I feel really comfortable with you Eren.”
Eren squeezed her hands, “i’m glad.” He brought her closer to him, “then if you’re comfortable enough with a kiss I think that will be beneficial to our performance, it doesn’t have to be on the lips of course if you don’t want it too, just general.”
“Eren, I’m fine, it’s okay.” She assured him. She tapped her cheek, “cheek first.”
He stood up and cupped her left cheek and bent down to kiss her right, then he pointed to his own cheek and winked.
She puckered her lips and pulled his head down, planting a soft kiss on his cheek. “Oh,” she rubbed her thumb across his chiselled cheek, “sorry I left a lipstick mark.”
He caught her hand in his, “It’s fine.” He sat back down. “You wanna try for real?”
“Okay.” Mikasa responded, having gained a lot more confidence, “but I haven’t done this before.”
“I’ll teach you.” He spread his legs apart and motioned for her to stand in between the space. “Just a peck. We don’t have to do more than that in public.”
“Here, put your hands on my shoulders.” She followed his instructions effortlessly while he put his hands on her hips. “Is this okay?”
“Yeah.”
Eren licked his lips hastily causing Mikasa to unconsciously lick her own.
“May I?”
Mikasa nodded as he moved a hand to her back, pulling her down. She leant down, puckering her lips. She could almost feel his minty breath on her lips.
“Well,” a clap, “what have we here aye?”
The two quickly pulled apart with extreme rapidity, looking to who interrupted them.
“Zeke.”
“Hello my adorable kid brother, nice to see you again.”
“It’s been four days. Where have you been.”
He shrugged his jacket off, “Ooo, wouldn’t you like to know.”
“Whatever.”
Zeke obnoxiously took his glasses off and walked around the room, stopping when he got a good view of Mikasa. “Oh hello Mikasa, how are you?”
“Hi Zeke, I’m good, how are you?”
“Good, very good thank you.” He ruffled her hair and Eren’s too, then bent down as though he were talking to children. “So what’s going on here.” He gestured between the two of them.
“Nothin’, don’t worry about it.”
“Mmm, okay.” Zeke shrugged pretending to walk away, “orrr, you were gonna do something naughty.” he prolonged the last word.
“Zeke please, shut the fuck up.”
Zeke ignored him, “you know I always knew you two would get together one day,” he coughed into his hand murmuring “since you were five” and “I said it first”before continuing, “but anyways how cute!”
Eren groaned, “Zeke get out, you’re literally in college act your age.”
Mikasa giggled then quickly slapped a hand over her mouth.
“Oh, I understand.” Zeke clapped his hands in amusement before going upstairs to his room.
“Sorry about him, he’s so weird.”
“Don’t apologise, I don’t mind. Zeke’s funny I meet him in the supermarket sometimes.”
“He’s a bastard.”
Suddenly a yell came from upstairs, “Technically you are but hey who’s talking.”
“He’s so annoying.” Eren turned to Mikasa, “let’s just do my nails.”
Not needing to be told twice, she ran to her bag and grabbed her tools, continuing to do eren’s nails for the remainder of the evening till they matched hers.
“Gimme your hand.”
She extended her hand towards him, allowing him to hold it within his. He snapped a picture of their matching nails for his gallery, then showed her.
“Wow, looks cool, I’m sure people will take note of our couple-esque tomorrow.”
“Yeah, for sure.” Eren sent a message on his phone, then looked at her. “Hey what time do you want me to pick you up tomorrow, it’s start’s at 7pm at Con’s?”
“Um, maybe like 8-8:30pm? I need some time to get ready.”
“Cool, I’ll be there, make sure you’re ready.”
“I will.” She reached over and grabbed her phone from a side table it was resting on and opened Sasha’s contact.
Sash
Hey, I have something to tell you and I need your help.